A few days ago, Suzanne and I watched the movie 28 Days. Its a decent movie in which Sandra Bullock's character has to spend some time in a rehab clinic. Mid-way through the film, the character played by Steve Buscemi answers a question about relationships from one of the clinic patrons by saying:

After six months, go buy yourself a plant and then after a year, if the plant is still alive, buy yourself a pet. And then after two years, if both the plant and the pet are still alive, then it would be a good time to resume relationships.

Now I'm not the only person who considered this useful advice, but its especially potent considering that today, a mere sixteen days after we brought a dog back to the pound, my snake is about to die.

I won't even descend into the depths of my unintentional serial herbicide.

What does that say about me? I admit it, I have trouble remembering to wash the dishes, change the oil, mow the lawn, water the plants and feeding pets. All things that require thinking outside of myself regularly and tending to the needs of others.

But I also forget to eat and sleep too. Most people would define that as eccentric tendancies, a term that for most people doesn't imply any particular malice. Its just someone so focused on a strange subset of the large number of things can could conceivably capture one's interest.

I figure as long as I'm producing neat stuff, nobody can really fault me for my impracticality in other areas. I just have to admit that I'm not cut out to be the sole provider for any living thing.

Everybody thinks Thomas Edison was a great guy, but I bet his plants died too.

July 14, 2003 - July 16, 2003

No Comments | #3155

Unless noted, all content on epistolary.org is © Copyright 1999-2008 to Rob Carlson with all rights reserved. All information is verified when possible, cited as appropriate and applied in the real world at your own risk. Send all feedback to rob@vees.net.