Big Important Thoughts, China Mieville and Some Job Possibilities

This is kind of a disjointed post, or, if you will, several posts in one. Leap now with me from one thought to another, completely unconnected thought, and be less linear. It's good for you. Let us start with large and important thoughts, vital questions and the nature of the universe, shall we? First up on our list is the Zit Question: Has anyone, ever, anywhere, managed to ignore and not pop the giant zit on their chin? I can't do it. I tried, but I just can't make it through. And why, why do zits happen at the same place over and over again?

Einstein said, famously, that e=mc squared. This has something to do with the speed of light, right, and also something to do with the fact that no matter is ever created anew in the universe, it just changes from state to state. Or so I think I understood, once, long ago, before I burned that last vital brain cell with a shot of tequila one dark night. Except he obviously wasn't thinking about leaves and leaf mold. See, there is no way that the nutrients in the soil sucked up by a tree equal the amount of leaves that then fall off that tree, go under the hedge and then eventually turn into soil. Not in mass or space or anything do they equal out. This is, over years, a bunch of soil, which means that the earth is actually getting bigger, kind of like a rubber band ball. That is matter that's been created. Also, kids. And puppies, and kittens, and even horrid tiny hairless baby mice, eerp, they too are new matter. So, sucks to be you Einstein. There is so new matter, and I figured this all out this afternoon smoking a cigarette in the back yard and looking at the new matter under the hedge.

China Mieville is a genius. I'm reading Iron Council and while people said that it wasn't as good as The Scar I actually like it even better. However, it reminds me of a theory I have about British authors vs. American authors: to wit, British authors are tougher. American writers get sentimental and don't kill off their major characters; British writers don't care and in fact take a kind of fiendish delight in oceans of gore. They routinely kill of their entire cast of characters; they let babies be eaten, hundreds be masscred in entirely new ways and they don't care. Witness not only China Mieville but also Jeff Noon, who is incredibly tough on his characters, and early (before he became an American) Neil Gaiman who has gotten much nicer and more sentimental since he basically switched countries. This theory is still under construction. Don't mind our dust!

I agreed to take a horrible job with Kelly Services in a call center selling cosmetics. I really don't want it, so let's all hope that something else comes up in the next week before I start. Actually something may have - a strange Craigslist ad looking for people to proofread magazine articles might actually be for real, so keep your fingers crossed for that possibility to materialize. It's almost real money AND I don't have to leave my house. Yeah.