[There is nothing like a song]
"No need to press for conceptual perfection. The concensus of the wise has been that music is unique among the arts because it operates on the same plane as the unmediated, the given. It belongs to sensation itself, to bodily existence and, for that very reason, it elevates that existence in a way no other art can match. Music takes hold of you on levels of your being that precede intentional articulation, levels of being that contain what you can put into words.

"And that is why words, when they are sustained by the immediacy of music, have a unique power. They represent, they articulate–-and they penetrate, they fill dumb bodies with meaning."

Mediated, Thomas De Zengotita

This book is fantastic. And scary. It's one thing to live a mediated life and not really know it (though living a mediated life implies that you know you are acting or "in the moment" constantly, so you have some concept of what's going on) is one thing, but living a mediated life and realizing what that means and its symptoms suddenly means that you second-guess everything you do and try to reduce the amount of acting you do. But it's just not that easy. It's not a question of being genuine anymore. We all perform, all the time. Being yourself is a performance.

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Go here for some fun South-bashing if you haven't had your fill today.

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Phil has the flu. His mom came up and took him to the doctor. Aw.

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Got to see Kristin and Jimmy very briefly the other day. Visited my mom for her birthday Sunday. Hung out with Amber and Whitney for a couple of days. Made one of the most random and unfulfulling spontaneous runs to Walgreens ever. We wanted to light a fire but it just wasn't working, so we took off to the store to get a starter log. They're out of season, of course. So we bought tons of candy instead.