4 July 2000

Reading:  The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav.

Thinking:  I really wish to hell the fireworks would stop rattling my windows.

On a day when most people grill outside, I cleaned my apartment most of the day, then went to a steakhouse because I expected it not to be crowded.

On a day when most people flock to downtown Houston to watch the fireworks, I stepped outside, saw a bunch of annoying suburbanites, and came back inside to write in my journal as the fireworks are going off all around.

On a day that most people view as just another work-free day to guzzle beer, I wondered why not one person has mentioned the Declaration of Independence.

Usually, the conventional and mundane don't bother me, because I just don't have time to worry with them.  Today, for some reason, they have.  Perhaps it's because this ought to be regarded as rather an extraordinary day -- a day that commemorates that, for the first time in history, a nation was founded upon the proposition that all men are created equal -- and I have trouble sharing such an extraordinary event with a bunch of idiots who could care less.  I'm not sure.  I enjoyed reading the 4 July entry on Erzse's website today -- it made me feel less alone with my thoughts.

* * * *

I'm looking forward to work tomorrow.  I'm looking forward to returning to the dissertation tomorrow.  I'm looking forward to the gym tomorrow.  I'm actually looking quite forward to tomorrow.

As for Independence Day -- Happy Birthday America.