the point, however, is to change

a couple of people have asked about the significance of the header. plainly put, there's not much. keys have affected me quite a lot in 2009**, and they are an interesting concept to ponder and don't just have to be a piece of metal. so come up with your own interpretation, that's the idea. if you're stuck for one, maybe you don't have... the right key. ooohh. a gateway to knowledge.

anyway this weekend was a special one. saturday was "new contact lenses day." this is a day that comes not often enough---the visually unimpaired will never fully grasp the pleasure, moisture, invigoration and courage that comes from a fresh pair of monthlies (there of course are downsides to shitty vision, such as the inability to become an astronaut, or go swimming without goggles and not bump into fish). new contact lenses day is an all-day spa for the eyes, and we all know that the morale of the body is directly tied to that of the eyes.

sunday morning i shrugged off a hangover to go for a walk through a cemetery. this is not something i'd ordinarily do, but this is a special cemetery, for it contains the grave of the one and only karl marx, pictured here. ironically however, you must pay to visit said cemetery, with an extra price levied for a map directing you to karl's grave. perhaps to soothe the ghost of comrade marx, i instead snuck a glimpse of someone else's map. take that, bourgeoisie.

by the end of my walk, the aristocratic blood toxins had succumbed to the iron-willed onslaught of proletarian liver enzymes. glorious glucose was then distributed equally amongst vital state organs.

poor karl must be turning in his grave.



** i tried to find a way to write that line without sounding sappy, but i couldn't do it. i am fully aware that it sounds as ridiculous as, say: "i am deeply moved by your crockery collection." trust me, no sappiness intended.

the coldest winter was cold

"young male seeks female companion. looks, personality, interests, charisma--these are all unimportant. what i am instead after is a high core body temperature and a healthy metabolism. said companion will share my bed, and radiate warmth consistently throughout the night. in return, i will provide carbohydrates (most likely pasta with sausages) as fuel for the task. personal hygiene and neutral body odour are important."

i am not the warmest of men lately. historically, i am quite internally toasty, and i pride myself on the fact that my bodily furnace keeps me nice and warm when others are rugging up; however the warmth has disappeared for some reason.

at its normal peak, internal body temperature reaches ~38 degrees celsius. for comparison, a hot cup of coffee reaches ~60 degrees celsius. i do not feel like a cup of coffee that has sitting around for a couple of minutes. i feel like a pizza that has been half-eaten, left in the fridge for an hour or so until someone says "maybe just one more slice," at which point they bite into the pizza and find not warmth, not refrigerated chills, but some motley combination in between. that pizza is me, and i intend to find out why.