Where is my left foot?

The linked page has a guestbook and photos.

Elissa Hadley, beloved daughter of John and Cecilia Hadley succumbed to cancer on August 27, 2006. She was born in Atlanta on April 1, 1970, graduated from UGA, and had made Athens her home for the past 16 years. She leaves behind a small immediate family; mother, father, grandmother, Elizabeth Bickers of Gainesville, aunt, uncle and 3 cousins; and legions of friends. All will celebrate Elissa’s talents, humor, passion for life, and love of others, in Athens on a Sunday to be announced in September. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Town and Gown Players Community Theater, P.O. Box 565, Athens, GA 30603 or Nuci’s Space, Resource Center for Musicians, 396 Oconee St., Athens, GA 30601 (www.Nuci.org)

Brace yourselves, this is truly powerful stuff.

As the gentile portion of an otherwise jewish family, I find this set extraordinarily enlightening, and perfect. I received it from my wife’s stepsister’s father-in-law, Frank Nankin, who sends approximately 83 different emails a day, those mostly forwarded from “Ron Sisk”, who obviously abuses the “send” command like a teenage boy with Hustler:

Subject: WHY THERE ARE NO GENTILE JOKES

All we ever hear are Jewish jokes, so here are some gentile jokes.

A gentile goes into a clothing store and says, “This is a very fine jacket.
How much is it?”
The salesman says, “It’s $500.”
The gentile says, “OK, I’ll take it.”
*********************************************************
Two gentiles meet on the street.
The first one says, “You own your own business, don’t you?
How’s it going?”
The other gentile says, “Just great! Thanks for asking!”
**********************************************************
Two gentile mothers meet on the street and start talking about children.
Gentile mother 1 (said with pride): ” My son is a construction worker!”
Gentile mother 2 (said with more pride): “My son is a truck driver!”
**********************************************************
A man calls his mother and says, “Mother, I know you’re expecting me for dinner
this evening, but something important has come up and I can’t make it.”
His mother says, “OK.”
**********************************************************
A gentile couple goes to a nice restaurant.
The man says: “I’ll have the steak and a baked potato, and my wife
will have the julienne salad with house dressing.
We’ll both have coffee.”
The waiter asks, “How would you like your steak and salad prepared?”
The man says,”I’d like the steak medium……the salad is fine as is.”
The waiter says, “Thank you.”
***********************************************************
A gentile man calls his elderly mother.
He asks, “Mom, how are you feeling?
Do you need anything?”
She says, “I’m feeling fine, and I don’t need anything.
Thanks for calling.”
***********************************************************
Now you know why there are no gentile jokes.

Bill Griffith’s Zippy today applies for a job at:

“Jollibee”,

a Filipino fast food chain. The lack of Madison Avenue luster makes the food even less appealing than our own dreck.

Another day, another impending tropical system. To shutter, or not to shutter? We are gassed up. The kids have no school tomorrow, and probably the day after.

Kramer called, despondent, to tell me that original Gong drummer Pip Pyle had died on the way home from a gig, and who he had spoken with via email yesterday.

Elissa Hadley, an amazing singer with an astounding, moving voice, who we knew when we lived in Athens, passed away this morning at 1:30 a.m. in a hospice in Atlanta. She was a sweetheart, too sweet for this world.

It was at her persistent insistence that Tom Lewis and his new bride Suzanne had their first date a little over a year ago.

A short film about a remarkable artist.

More amazing paintings by Paul Laffoley.

Video Testimony

This morning I have been unsettled and disgruntled. Okay. So, I am working, and listening to music, and then iTunes shuffles randomly and mysteriously provides what I have been looking for, “Moving to Florida”, a bonus track on the seminal 1984 “Psychic, Powerless, Another Man’s Sac” by the Butthole Surfers. This leads to more listening, and then an unsuccessful search for the lyrics to “Woly Boly”, then to the Butthole’s bulletin board, where I found the above link, describing how despite any evidence, the U.S. Govt. has seized $124k from a dude who was trying to buy a truck, and happened to be stopped by the cops while carrying the cash. The genius bar at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled that since he was carrying lots of money, he was guilty of something, and they’re keeping it. Read the ruling, and the dissent by one judge here.

Now, back to “Psychic, Powerless, Another Man’s Sac”.

Right now, man…

In a conversation with Tom Lewis (and Susan) this past weekend – sitting outside the Starbucks on College Square in Athens, GA in the early morning hours – I had an insight into a person I worked with in the kitchen at a GC course in Lebanon. The discussion involved some photos I had given (humorous) captions to, during another earlier course that I was helping in a logistical capacity (designing posters for a performance team). The critical caption, which apparently generated a strong reaction in one of the people pictured, was “Flanking the Donut Thief”. I had utterly and completely put this jape out of my mind, and it took me a few seconds to reassemble the scenario, as I hadn’t thought about it since the events.