On Fall

Red leaves make me happy.

Announcement

My name is Rudy and this turns me on:

(The caption should read: some of my books awaiting there place on a yet-to-be-purchased bookcase¹; they patiently rest on my coffee table, some are estatic by the recent fondling and attention, others are weary of my too frequent moves, and those in a small pile are scared-to-death, somehow aware that they are on their way out².)

Use of Repetition to Soothe the Mangled Mind

I just turned-in my report on the color vision test I blogged on about a week ago. We are supposed to write in the third person or passive voice, which I find very easy to slip into, but difficult to split with, hence the dry title of this post. For reference, the title of my report was Evaluation of the Color Vision of an Extant Hominid Aged 29; I was trying to be cute while poking fun at the third-person. Throughout my report I referenced myself as Subject A, never once did I reveal a gender, and I even included a few block quotes of the inner-dialogue that went on in my mind during the tests as if they were being said to this passive administrator of the test. Call me crazy.

I don’t think I would score very well if numerical grades were assigned. I haphazardly threw the report together. Before handing it in, I realized a bunch of things I didn’t do. Like thorough explanations of the plots and tables, nor did I include any references! Oops. Too late now, but unless I am mistaken, I think the grades are: zero (did not turn-in anything), check (turned-in something), and a check-plus (which requires further exploration into the subject of the report, which I tried to do, but couldn’t get an article where the eigenvectors of the Farnsworth-Munsell 100-Hue Test were calculated and discussed. Procrastination rocks). Check.

Anyway, to stop my mind from wandering, that is, to stop my mind, I find the following repetitive tasks helpful:

• Bicycle Slaloming - I may have mentioned this before. This is a pleasure I seek when I am on my bicycle and riding around downtown Rochester. I weave through the poles that support the walkway through Barrett’s Place, an alleyway between the Eastman Theatre and Java’s Cafe. Going uphill is more difficult and so, requires greater concentration; my pedal pumps must be timed perfectly or I might collide my shoulder or handle bar with the aqua-blue poles. Usually on the third or fourth circuit, I am without mind.
• Parking Block Walking (read Parking Block as Tight-rope) - on top of the East Ave Parking Garage. I pace on the string of parking blocks, back and forth, until my mind is clear and I remain in this zen-like trance until I realize I’ve done it and then all the thoughts violently fill the void.
• Kite String Winding - I particularly like winding the full length of the string while the kite is flying high and strong. The tug-of-war gravity and I play against the wind and my kite is truly transcendent.

Why do I find it necessary to stop my mind once and a while? You should try it, then you would know.

Dangerous? Hardly*

If there is safety in numbers, I’d rather be alone.

* I am saying this now so that in the future, if I ever get mugged, I can say, A pseudo-wise man once said, “If there is safety in numbers, I’d rather be alone.” Today he got mugged.

Cloud Corral

The cloud banks were amazing today. I managed to miss all the deposits of rain, but I was able to watch large, puffy, and surprisingly low clouds fly across the sky. At sunset, I drove the circuit around campus known as Andrews Memorial Drive. (I still have to be here for another couple of hours but this brief “escape” was recharging.) By then the bank of clouds lay on the horizon in every direction while the sky above was clear and darkening blue. With poetic license, the clouds encircled my steadily shrinking world.