vaccuous villains

i'm sitting in books a million, joe's cafe, listening to modest mouse. there are others in the cafe, each attending to their own business and interests. a black man in a florida state baseball cap sits in the faux leather, gray chair next to my table. he has his headphones on as he begins perusing through three books containing countless comics each... all about wolverine. i think of samuel l. jackson's character, the unexpected arch-villain in unbreakable. the woman next to him is old; early seventies maybe. she's reading and puffing something that produces what looks like smoke. i'm initially indignant. is this a blatant disregard for florida's indoor smoking prohibition? but when the end of the object lights up blue with every inhale, i realize that she's toking on some sort of high tech repiratory devise. it's reminiscnet of a fancy smoke from the 20s -- the great gatsby era. i think of cruella de ville from 101 dalmations. soon the woman is fast asleep and her husband comes over to wake her so they can leave. the black man also leaves after thoroughly enjoying, with sporadic laughter, his comics. villains did not surround me... just people who resembled the villains in my head. how many times, in like manner, have i projected villainy on those around me? defeating and dismissing the deviants of yesteryear frees us for trust today.

yin and yang - achieving balance at chic-fil-a

so i’m sitting in chic-fil-a freezing my ass off because they have the a/c turned down to like 50. i’m on the computer working for a couple hours when i decide that i can’t take it anymore, so i go outside instead. it’s probably close to 90 out here, but i have my iced tea, so i can endure it for about an hour. but then it's too much; i have to come back into the arctic before my shirt is soaked and the seat of my pants seems to indicate incontinence. i decide to get a coffee to help cut the edge off the cold, and it works for a while. but soon i’m shivering again and make another move for the outdoors. by now it’s after 5pm and overcast and no drinks are necessary.

Mafia Wars Wisdom

I held out for a while, but once they added Moscow as a destination for the deviant I couldn't resist. And now I can't stop. The facebook game, Mafia Wars sets you up as a mafia member doing jobs, running rackets, collecting loot, fighting others who play the game, buying vehicles, armor, and weapons for your arsenal, picking people off on a hitlist, putting people on a hitlist, etc. What more can I say - the game is awesome! And it works quite well with my lifestyle. I'm on the computer pretty much 8-10 hrs a day, so I keep the game up in a tab and check in on my status every once in a while. It takes a while to earn energy and influence points to do jobs or shake down a racket, so it doesn't consume you every minute of the day like other gaming options might. But it is quite addictive. Initially I would lose just about every fight I had with another mafia, but now, after acquiring 20+ chain guns and tommy guns, etc and 25 towncars, get-away cars, etc, body armor and bullet proof vests, and as a result of loading up my defense points, I seem to be winning more than I lose. I think the key is a good defense. Afterall, in mafia wars and in life, you can't continually be on the offensive. You'll burn yourself out. Keep a low profile and run your rackets, but be ready with the whack weaponry when some punk tries to jack your sh#t.