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Welcome to blog entry #342. Wow. Just give me a minute. THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY TWO. That's almost a year, which is funny because that's my goal: a year.Indulge me as I revel some more.
THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY TWO (342) in a row, daily, consecutive, no breaks, blog entries, some of which are quite long.
Yeah, yeah, nay-sayers. I know some of you are regular readers and you're wondering: "So, Tower..." (I hate being called Tower but I have grown accustomed to it as everyone in the Ultimate world calls me that... so I guess I no longer HATE IT...I just do not prefer it...) "what's your current unfinished count?"
Right, true. But even though my current unfinished count is at SEVEN posts (not counting an eighth one that is currently "finished" but that I want to revise), these are only unfinished in MY ESTIMATION. Because, after all, something is posted for those "unfinished" entries. Granted some of the text spells out "this is unfinished," but hey, I could take that down and then just leave them there, like sketches. Nah... I will "finish" them soon, even the one originally posted in January 19th (my birthday). Feeling a bit of shame on going live with that one before I had it "finished."
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Anyway... back to the regularly scheduled programming.
Keeping with my "hiatus" from the long, endless, live in concert jam session and drum solo blog entries, I am confining myself to one subject today. I was going to explore two subjects and continue with yesterday's ruminations on my plans for the blog, but I am saving that for another day. It's these "add ons" that cause these blog entries to grow. How much can you all read anyway? Are you even reading these words now? How do I know you exist? How do I know I exist? How do I know that this instrument through which I am communicating with you exists? What is "existence" anyway? How is it defined? Who defined it and when?
Obviously, too much NIGHTVALE (see a repeated item to follow).
ONWARD.
As you all know (and if you don't check out the handy KALAMAZOO COLLEGE category located to the right), I attended a small private school called Kalamazoo College. This is a supposedly well known school, though I have to question: "with whom?" After all, I could take a random poll of my students at either of the online schools for whom I teach and I bet money that none of them have heard of it.
In fact, when my father suggested I consider going, at the age of 17, I had not heard of it. I had to go see it for myself and got caught trying to go the wrong way on a one way street (Lovell).
Watch how I tie all this content together.
Questions of existence and knowledge of Kalamazoo College's existence reminds me of a unique property of the school. It's a small school. Most students lived on campus and ate in the cafeteria, so everyone pretty much knew everyone at least by sight. "Oh yeah. that guy who always wears the army coat" and "oh that girl who never wears shoes." But the Kalamazoo College schedule kept some students off campus at all times. All four of the classes (freshmen through senior) were never on campus all together, mainly, because the campus was not big enough. Long periods of time would pass between seeing people of different graduating classes. But when these folks returned, there was always this moment: "Oh, I had forgotten you exist. I used to see you around all the time, every day, and yet it's been at least half a year, maybe longer, since those times. I missed you even though I have never spoken to you and don't know your name. I am glad you exist and have returned to my orbit."
Granted, there were plenty of people you knew and remembered and were in contact with the whole time they were gone (not as easy to do in the pre-email/ smart phone/ tablet era). But there were others who were either nameless but familiar faces or people whose names you did know but had only the occasional contact with.
This phenomenon, which I call Recursive Memory Recurrence, is still happening today.
How many of your Facebook friends do you only communicate with once a year when their birthdays pop up on your home page. And then you're like "Oh yeah, THAT person."
Same thing.
Class reunions make this more dramatic. Not long ago (as time is measured with advanced age as it was four years ago), we had our class reunion (25 years), and I saw people whom I had not thought about in twenty-five years. Same effect: Recursive Memory Recurrence. All those memories flood back. Some of these people are actually "good friends" with whom I drank or played games or ate meals or had long, existential conversations about the meaning of a particular line in a Monty Python movie. Others were those people whose names I knew or did not know but knew their faces. I still know their faces, and I know most of their names, too. But the memories recur and are applied again to the recurrence until the next iteration.
Is this like reincarnation?
...yeah... yeah, some pictures are just more fun if seen three times...
HIATUS TEXT: REVISED 1402.18: I have been trying to maintain a hiatus from large or over involved blog posts beginning with the start date of my hiatus on January 20th (almost a month ago) during which time I logged 21 posts, which I consider "Hiatus Shirts." By this term, Hiatus Shirt, I mean the shirt is not one that would cause me to write a great deal on the subject it features. These are shirts about which I can write anything, either a lot or a very little. The hiatus will continue, though as it has for the last few weeks, not consecutively as I will continue to mix Hiatus and Non-Hiatus shirts. The blog's year (365 shirts) draws close to a close. (I like the double word use in that previous sentence.) I hope to finish strong with some good entries with high quality content and imagery on some beloved subjects. To earn this time, I will need to intersperse shirts of little consequence, what I have come to call Hiatus Shirts.
My original goal of working ahead remains. I need time to write the enormously lengthy text to complete the extensive love letter to certain beloved popular culture icons featured on my many special shirts. Even with "Hiatus Shirts," I will try to share some worthy content as I have either an idea, a new suggestion of something to read/look at/listen to, or another installment of my various features, such as the WHY T-SHIRTS item, the WEEKLY COMIC BOOK LISTS, and the SHIRT I AM ACTUALLY WEARING TODAY among others. BTW, this is the standard HIATUS TEXT that I will include in every "hiatus shirt" entry.
Thanks for reading. I am always honored that people have taken some of their valuable time to look at my ongoing web writing project. Keep checking this address. I promise to make it worthwhile.
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REPRINTS BELOW
I may reprint the next two items (edited from the original versions that were posted in T-shirt #339: DEAD CAN DANCE) until everyone is infected. What if my digging, egg laying, slime-oozing spores did not properly bore under your skin and spread their terribly delightful influence the first time.
Do not close the browser.
Do stop reading.
Trust me.
I'm a doctor.
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WELCOME TO NIGHTVALE
COMMONPLACE BOOKS: WELCOME TO NIGHTVALEWelcome to Nightvale is described as
WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE is a twice-monthly podcast in the style of community updates for the small desert town of Night Vale, featuring local weather, news, announcements from the Sheriff's Secret Police, mysterious lights in the night sky, dark hooded figures with unknowable powers, and cultural events.
Do Not Approach the Dog Park: Welcome to Night Vale
by ALEX BROWN: a snippet:
In the darkest spaces between nightmares and hallucinations is a place unlike any other. The town is populated by hollow-eyed messenger children and ominous hooded figures, haunted by non-existent angels and towers of roaches in deer masks, and tormented by a tiny underground army and wheat and wheat byproducts. A hellscaped sky stretches its gaping maw over the Sand Wastes and Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex, and citizens who aren’t busy battling their evil doppelgangers or being converted into buzzing shadowpeople defined only by the absence of light in the vague shape of a torso and limbs go about their daily lives and try not to get on the bad side of the City Council or the Sheriff’s Secret Police.WELCOME TO NIGHTVALE WIKIPEDIA
Welcome to Night Vale.
THE STRENGTH OF NIGHT VALE'S LIVE SHOWS
WELCOME TO NIGHVALE: Where David Lynch meets the Twilight Zone
WELCOME TO NIGHTVALE: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Check it out!
Trust me.
I'm a doctor.
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It's really good stuff.
Trust me.
I'm a doctor.
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And now, just because, with no purpose, no order and little explanation, I present to you:
THE OBLIGATORY COMIC BOOK COVER GALLERY
COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 23 shirts remaining
- chris tower - 1402.26 - 18:33
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