A seething mass of turgid drama.

I had dinner last night with a friend who I hadn't seen in a couple years. Good pizza and chattage. It meant I got home around 10 PM, and I'm feeling that lack of sleep today. But I don't do this sort of thing very often and it was good to catch up.

The pizza was at a small chain called Blue Line. It's got an elevated train as its logo. I overheard the couple next to us asking each other if it was a BART train. Yes, that's right -- it has nothing to do with serving Chicago-style deep-dish pizza and the Blue Line being a Chicago train. Nope. BART's trains were originally blue with red accents (hence the original name, "Blue And Red Trains") and this is a homage to that forgotten bit of Bay Area history.

...I forbore to interject this into their conversation in a withering tone, but it was a close thing. Though I did not manage to forestall an eyeroll.

I had an odd dream that I, unusually, remembered: civilization was broken because the structure of the universe had been irreparably damaged by time travel. Apparently traveling to the future caused time rips or something, but because civilization had collapsed due to these rips, we made very short time trips to the future to collect resources so we could muddle along. Of course, the daughter of the protagonist, feeling like she could be a hero, made a long trip to the future to collect a huge amount of resources... and this was the cause and reason that the time rips had broken the structure of the universe. Closed loop. Which is how I like my time travel plots, so it's nice that my subconscious cooperated.

A friend asked for a short spooky holiday story. I make no claims that mine is great literature, but I enjoyed writing it.
( Part One )
( Part Two )

My view toward religion can vaguely be summed up as "libertarian agnostic". If you find comfort believing in God, Allah, Jibbers Crabst, or nothing at all - good for you. It's none of my business.

It's when you try to impose your beliefs and religious strictures upon me that I get pissed off.

"Bacon is born from belly, and to belly it returns."
"If you have never had home made bacon, it is an effing miracle unto itself."
"Where does the Church of the Divine Bacon stand on its Protestant cousins such as guanciale, back bacon, pancetta, and so forth?"
"There is room on the church for our cousins for truth is found by many routes and revelation may be found in even the simplest pork products."
"Indeed and though humble it is in such humbleness that glory exists. Guanciale and pancetta can be discussed among theologians who enjoy the deeper mysteries."
"And what is the official statement regarding the co-mingling of bacon with other, less enlightened, ones such as water chestnuts and lettuce and tomato?"
"As the angels adore the Divine yet are not divine in their own right, so lettuce and tomato support the heavenly state of Bacon."
"Bacon does not judge. Bacon is welcoming. Bacon is accepting."
"Bacon first cures itself, then Bacon cures all else."

"You know, there's more to being an evil despot than getting cake whenever you want it."
"If that's what you think, then you're doing it wrong!"

I had lots of dreams last night that I remembered. My favorite is the one where I was the doctor for Jar-Jar Binks. In the dream I realized that the Lucasverse predates Hippocrates, so I ethically could - and perhaps should - let Jar-Jar die.

Saturday, I went to buy a set of kneepads for the play. The fight scene gets a bit vigorous, and I finally figured out that this is why my left knee has been bruised for several weeks continuously. Anyway, this is a verbatim transcript.

(Me walking around, looking confused)

Perky Sales Assistant:	Can I help you?
Me:	Where can I find kneepads?
PSA:	For...?
Me:	Knees.

Feel free to reply with suggestions as to what else I might have said. Thanks for the training, Al Jaffee.

The singer-sausage king died yesterday, at the age of 81. Supermarket shoppers might remember him best for his eponymous line of sausage patties, bacon, and breakfast sausage (originally called "pure pork sausage"), for which he did many hammy commercials.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews riot in Jerusalem

Here's what bothers me the most about the situation:

"In recent weeks, ultra-Orthodox Jews and authorities have clashed repeatedly over the Jerusalem mayor's plan to open a municipal parking lot on the Sabbath. Ultra-Orthodox Jews oppose the idea because driving is forbidden on the Sabbath, saying the move would violate the city's religious status quo."

This offends me for the same reason imposing any religious restrictions offends me. Driving is forbidden on the Sabbath? Great - don't drive. But don't tell me, a non-adherent of your faith, that I am forbidden (or compelled) to do so. The same goes for eating fish on Fridays, wearing a niqab or burqa, displaying images of Mohammed, having an abortion, and so forth.

Don't tell me what to think or what to believe. Especially don't tell me how to behave based on your morality. I am capable of making my own choices.

What I'm reading: Brandon Sanderson, Warbreaker