Is That All There Is

Oh yeah, the blog. I'd almost forgot about it. Truth is, I was thinking of dropping the blog, and, judging from the thousands of emails I've received demanding its return, it doesn't appear that it would be missed. But be that as it may, the fact is that I like to core dump my consciousness onto the internet every now and then, and in that way, I suppose, this blog is good therapy. So what the hey. As Frank Zappa, the fervently anti-drug musician and composer, once said "I don't need to use alcohol and drugs to get all weird - I was born that way", to which I say "here, here", and offer my blog as proof.

Which places the burden squarely on my shoulders. If you're reading this then I have to assume it's because you have come here expecting something interesting and informative and worthy of your time, and that's really too bad. I'd much prefer you came here because you've got nothing else to do, in which case this blog shouldn't waste any time that would have been otherwise misspent. In either case, whether compelling or frivolous, I suppose I should find something to write about.

How about the economy. That's topical and blogworthy. Are we in a recession or are things just a little slow? And if so, who's to blame ? Is it government or big business? Is it us? Are we to blame? No, let me assure you it's not us. We were just innocent dupes. Just innocent, gas-guzzlin', status seeking, materialistic, maxed-out, consumption-crazed, leverage every last penny in our pockets dupes. If what we were doing was wrong, then America is wrong, and if America is wrong, then someone should have stopped us before it was too late. But they didn't stop us, did they? So now I say it's up to them to make it up to us. Damn, where's my rebate check?

The old saying goes that when someone else loses their job it's a recession, and when you lose your job it's a depression. If that's the case, then I would have to call this a fin-de-siecle. The fin-de-siecle is what they called that time around the end of the 19th century when the fabled era of European excess, opulence and decadance called "La Belle Epoque" came to a violent and bloody end as Europe descended into chaos and a succession of world wars that would eventually collapse the great European empires and rearrange the pecking order of the great world powers. I think we're going through something like that. Nothing serious, just the violent end of the world as we know it. I don't know if the Fed has any kind of fin-de-siecle policy, but I guess another interest rate cut wouldn't hurt.

What bothers me, though, is that if this is the end of an era of opulence and decadence, then how come I didn't get in on any of it. All those years of riches and gaudiness and moral turpitude, and all I got out of it was this lousy 401k. Man, if I would have known it was all coming to an end I would have made more of an effort to be greedier and more promiscuous. All those wasted years, and now, of course, it's too late. You kids in the audience - let that be a lesson to you.

Anyways, what difference does it make now. The question is where do we go from here? Beats me. Time keeps slipping through my hands and I still haven't found my life's purpose or written that libretto or held that woman I dream of every night. Tilted at windmills, that's all I've done. I've just been tilting at windmills.

I did have an idea about doing a video podcast where I'd ride my motorcycle around and visit all the great opera houses of Europe. You know, sort of a travel podcast for opera-loving motorcyclists. I figured it would be a good idea because that way I could combine two of the things I love the best - opera and motorcycling - and maybe make a little coin off of it too. I'll admit it's a bit niche - sort of a combination of Great Performances and Then Came Bronson (anyone old enough to remember that show?), but you know podcasting exists to serve niche markets. It would be perfect, but then I got to thinking, ok, so I ride my bike and go to these opera houses, and then what? Do I look into the camera and say something like "Sure, I scraped a peg or two on the way in, but say, that La Scala is some opera house, ain't it?" Somehow I couldn't see the advertisers lining up to sponsor something like that.

So anyway that was my great idea. I admit I'm not really the entrepeneurial type. I just don't have that sense of the utility of things, that sense of giving the people what they want (take this blog for example). I'm more interested in the things that interest me, I suppose, much to my misfortune. Oh well, I guess we can add "internet media mogul" to the list of job titles never to appear on my resume, along with librettist and promiscuous money monger that is.

Oh, the hubris, the hubris.