Tag: human condition

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personal

Veterans Day 2007

Three Koreans were captured in Normandy fighting for the Nazis

Some of the first “Germans” captured in Normandy were three Koreans. They were captured by the Germans from the Russians, who captured them from the Japanese, who forced them to fight in the first place.

Crazy right? Fact is usually stranger than fiction. You know, unlike what you might have heard, the average age of men killed in Vietnam was 23 years old; in WWII, it was 26.

That sounds even crazier to me.

———-

Angry over a NATO issue, French President Charles de Gaulle is said to have demanded that all American troops leave French soil. President Lyndon B. Johnson responded, “Does that include the ones buried at Omaha Beach?”

It’s so easy to forget them, isn’t it?

Location: 17:00 yest, giving legal advice off West End Ave
Mood: drained
Music: I’m so tired but I can’t sleep

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personal

Saving the world, or at least visiting

Stanislav Petrov saved humanity once

Dunno if you know about this guy Stanislav Petrov but he saved humanity by pretty much doing nothing. I like Heroes as much as the next guy but this, as real life, is something else.

To make a long story short, due to a bunch of insane coincidences, the Soviet Union ’round this time in ’83 thought the US launched all our nukes at them and he was ordered to counterstrike with all of their nuclear weapons.

He refused. Because he wasn’t insane.

He knew we wouldn’t have launched against them for the same reasons. Then, he lost his career for saving the world. How’s that for a thank you?

I too did almost nothing today but I didn’t save humanity because of it.

Did manage to get a haircut though.

———-

I’m going to Oktoberfest on my own for the last three days and I just spent the last three hours trying to book a hotel.

My German has gone to crap.

Location: mentally, over there
Mood: tired but excited
Music: do the good thing hey hey I saved the world today
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Not enough time, Pt II

Men live on average 26,280 days

 

Yesterday, I was out with Nadi and we were drinking until 3AM. The waitress, Heidi, comped us two pitchers of beer. Today, I went back with two other friends and pounded another three pitchers.

Told the girl I was with that prior to 2006, I only ever kissed seven girls. She seemed to not believe me.

But it’s true.

———-

More fun with math – new numbers for US life expectancy:

  • US citizens live, on average, 77.9 years.
  • Women in the US live for 79.10 years.
  • Men get their ticket punched earlier at 72.2 years.

To put this into better perspective:

  • Women live for 28,871 days
  • Men live for 26,280 days.

Been kicking here for roughly 12,500 days.

In other words, I’m about halfway there to finding out if God’s there or not. If I find out, I’ll try and email you. Maybe less. Maybe more. I guess it’ll depend on how much sleep I get and how accident-prone I’m gonna be.

Regardless, it’s so damn short, isn’t it?

You and I, man, we can’t sit around waiting for our real lives to begin. The race is long, yes but not long enough.

Never long enough.

Location: 12AM, 72nd Street, asking her how her week was
Mood: contemplative
Music: And I was lost for words In your arms

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Birds of a Feather / Circumstance

Your friends are mirrors to yourself

Well, I had both a fantastic and craptastic weekend rolled into one. Lemme sort and get back to you.
Did go to a new church with a girl that had the nicest grey eyes though.

———-

  • Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it. – Ernest S. Holmes
  • Our environment, the world in which we live and work, is a mirror of our attitudes and expectations. – Earl Nightingale
  • I am no Einstein. – Albert Einstein

OK, I just threw that last one in to screw with you.

I told you I cut a few people recently, yeah? They no longer reflect who I am. The people with whom you choose to surround yourself are mirrors to your values.

I submit that the five things that you wrote down that you admire about someone are five things you respect about yourself, wish you had yourself, or think you can have yourself, if only circumstances were different.

Conversely, the five things that you don’t admire about that other person, you secretly fear you could be, do, or have, yourself – again, if only circumstances were different.

Love that word, circumstance.

You and I are only ever separated from everyone else by that one thing and that one thing alone.

Ah, but what a thing that is…

Location: 3PM yest, upper east side
Mood: disappointed
Music: One time a thing occurred to me what’s real and what’s for sale?
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You and Me

(c) Derik Leong

Her: You’re awfully self-involved.
Me: It says right there, “logan lo dot com”
Her: Still…

———-

I like you.

The fact you’re reading me makes me like you. That says something about me, I know.

In fact, not only do I know that is says something about me, I know what it says. But that’s neither here nor there.

Let’s play a game, shall we? I play it all the time when I’m out and about. It’s not mine, someone once told it to me. Anyway, I feel we should, cause I like you more than all the people I meet when I’m…doing what I do.

  • Make a list of about five things you admire about someone (or various persons) you love, loved and/or respect.
  • Make a list of about five things that you don’t admire/don’t respect.

Keep it to yourself, send it to me, tell your mom, it doesn’t matter.

We’ll talk about it Monday, yeah?

As always, I’m off to bed to lie awake for a while.
Location: upstairs, studying
Mood: tired
Music: home, only just a few miles down the road I can make it, I know I can