Ok so it's been almost a year again. Damn I'm lazy at this whole blog upkeep thing. Shut up. I'm sure a bunch of you are too. Don't deny it, either. I've seen some of you out there with spaces that aren't even skinned, let alone have content in them.

So onto the first order of business. I finally got myself a laptop. A decent one at that. I've been wanting a new (new being something made within the last 1-2 years, unlike the relic I used a year back) laptop and finally decided on the Dell Studio 15. Like all machines, it's not without it's quirks. The mark of a good user is being able to identify and either work around these quirks, or try to fix them. Since I really only have one of these quirks to worry about (knock on wood,) I decided to just wait it out and let it fix itself when it needs to. The girl still needs a name though. Yes, like cars, computers are referred to as the female gender. No, it's not sexist. I know a few who refer to their machines as guys, so let's move on to the next topic, shall we?

Self help books. I imagine they've been around since the human race became so bloody insecure about itself. For all you religious nuts, I present: The Bible. A 2000 year old self help book that's heavy as all hell if you know the right publishers. Now before you go bashing my head in with scriptures, or the book itself, realize I'm not Atheist. I'm Agnostic. I'm open to the idea of religion, and the fact that some (or most) require it to see them through the coming days. I'm personally not convinced by it. Besides, isn't it better to keep an open mind about all things? I mean really. Half the wars that are happening in the middle east are holy wars. Wars based on closed-minded religious beliefs.

Okay okay. I have to stop that and get back on track. Self help books. Right. Not the Bible. Something published in the last 50 years. Like maybe THIS ONE! I really wish I had more information on this book, other than it was published in 1983. What was the guy thinking with both the title AND the cover of this book? 1983. Just on the heels of the biggest potfest in history (the entire 70's) and he comes up with this title. I really hope it was intended to be satirical in nature. And what's with the portrait picture? Do these authors really really think that in order for us to trust them, we need to see their faces first? I'm sorry, but if I saw that book on the shelf, my reaction would have been the same as it was when I first found the book in a pile of donations; laughing hysterically.

There was another book that was found a few days before this one on sexual exploration. It had another portrait-like cover, with the man sitting casually in the great outdoors. This author, well, looked like Grizzly Adams. Obviously it wasn't him. If I remember the picture correctly, it looked to be about mid to late 70's, the author was white and had an afro (as it was the coolest thing to have in the 70's. Thank you, Jimmy.) I was terrified of the book, as I believe was my colleague who found it. Not because it was a book on sexual exploration, but because of that damned cover page. If we didn't see these authors' faces right away on the front cover, I'm sure we'd be more inclined to take a second look at their books.

I managed to find Dan Clark's official website. The book shown above is out of print, as expected given it's age, and is only briefly mentioned in Dan's biography as his first published book. Oh well. I just wanted to poke fun at portrait covers anyway.

There's much more to rant about, but I'll save that for the next post.

-=Keep it real?.. I'd rather keep it digital.=-