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cabal cabal Wednesday, March 31 2004
On the days when I don't drink caffeine, I find myself feeling unfocused and uninspired about everything. Without caffeine, writing difficulties aren't my only problem; I can't even sit down and read an article all the way through. I've said it before I know, but technology has brought out and aggravated a severe attention deficit condition that was never in evidence back in the days before powerful multitasking computers. I find myself spread too thin across vast amounts of information, trying to read it all in parallel. And it's not just the things on my computer screen that distract. I have so many things I could be doing just in my laboratory that I find myself creatively paralyzed.
I've been trying to train myself not be psychologically and creatively dependent on caffeine. Today was actually a caffeine-drinking day, but in order to force myself to perform without depending on caffeine, I made myself write two Randomly Ever After entries before allowing myself my first cup of Red Rose tea.
While I was out on a housecall, Gretchen picked up her long-time friend Annie from the Rosendale bus station, where she was arriving from New York City. Annie has been living in Los Angeles all the years since I left, working on her music career (among many other things). When I returned home, Gretchen and Annie were sitting on the couch, having spent the preceding two hours talking about global conspiracies, which is one of Annie's latest obsessions. I couldn't really fathom Gretchen being particularly interested in this subject, but it was still at least an hour before she would request - nay - demand, that some other topic - any other topic - be discussed.
Gretchen and Annie relocated to the first floor computer, where Annie began showing Gretchen TheyRule.net, a website that mapped out the interconnections of the global corporate conspiracy using a sophisticated dynamic presentation written in Flash.
Later I was up in my laboratory when Gretchen came by looking for a spare plastic bag. She found one, and it just happened to be full of loose DIMM and SIMM memory boards. She took them out, wondering what to do with them, so I offered to take them. My hands approached hers and Bzappp! A huge spark of static electricity leapt painfully between us. It was the worst possible thing to imagine happening while handling loose computer memory. I immediately tested some of the memory, but it seemed okay. I don't know what has to happen for static electricity to destroy electronic devices. Despite all the warnings, I've never actually known of any damage I could definitively blame on a static discharge.
After numerous delays
[REDACTED]
we all went out for dinner at La Pupuseria, the authentically El Salvadorian restaurant on Broadway in Kingston. Annie speaks fluent Spanish, and our waitress (who spoke very little English) brightened up immediately upon hearing such good Spanish coming from a gringo.
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