BOOK: Consider The Lobster - David Foster Wallace
HOW I FOUND THE BOOK: My friend Eli was kind enough to introduce me to DFW, mainly due to his philosophical proximity to several other writers I closely identify with. In a lot of ways, DFW tends to be a modern-day version of Alan Watts. I had read a transcript of the only speech he ever gave, titled This Is Water...and to say I was very interested would be an understatement.
--
Consider The Lobster is a collection of various essays and articles written by DFW that cover a broad range of topics. The articles in the book are original uncut versions of articles that were originally published in magazines. All provide a level of journalistic depth and breadth that are truly masterful. The stories elicit many thoughts, emotions - but they are often presented in way which causes the reader to react in their own way. The reactions are not spoon-fed by DFW, who though he may be very clearly a genius of the highest order (which he very clearly is) - he does not take his audience as idiots. His ability to put you in the situation is uncanny, and the scope of his description and reasoning were true eye and mind openers with regards to "connecting the dots" of many different aspects of our culture and our place within it.
The only real issues I had with the book stemmed from his enormous penchant for footnotes...which break up the flow of his prose with regularity (mostly due to the fact that they're all definitely worth reading, and on occasion are the true meat of the article). It's also handy to have a dictionary on hand - DFW's vocabulary is simply astounding.
The subjects of DFW's prose are so widely varied, yet they are all somehow treated objectively - to the point where the reader has no other choice but to open their mind to the nature of his experience. DFW's presentation of his subjects goes way beyond the superficial standards of many journalists - and he takes his time in doing so. His ability to paint as clear as possible the subject and the atmosphere of their reality is masterful - and keeps the reader on the aforementioned path to objective observation. Simply put; it's this kind of open-minded investigation that can truly change perception. It's very easy to see or hear something and make a value judgement - this is something we all do pretty much all the time...yet this leads me to think that maybe the time granted to an author by forcing his audience to read in a sequential order is to their advantage.
Consider The Lobster has definitely given me a much wider perspective on politics, philosophy, linguistics, talk radio, and so many aspects of American culture - but most of all I feel I have a wider perspective of human nature...and I that's the real gift in reading Consider The Lobster.
- Chris
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Ragged Mountain - 9/11/2010
This past weekend was spent in central Connecticut - a trip with Eli, Gabe & some friends of theirs I didn't know beforehand. The purpose: climbing Ragged Mountain - a gorgeous hunk of rock near Meriden, CT. Friday night was spent with Eli & Gabe playing Dominion & Gheos - and catching up. Saturday morning we were up bright and early and headed to the rock. After a refreshing walk through the surrounding woods to the cliff (refreshing if you spend most of your time in NYC), we got to the main climbing areas - and pleased to be the first ones there setting up. We picked out 2 routes in the Weissner Slab area (a huge hunk of the cliff fell off a long time past and lays diagonally against the wall, like a single domino trying to push down the whole mountain). One route was designed to be easy, with options for making more challenging - and the other went through a hole existing at the top of the slab and decending into the cavernous space between the slab and the main wall. The wall was in total about 100 feet of vertical climbing, with fantastic west-facing views of the surrounding area from the top.
I took my first ascent of the day pretty early: a warm up climb over the middle of the Slab - it was a quick 5.4/5.5 climb sloped inward for the first half. It was a lot of fun, and you can use some inventive moves just for kicks. I got the top of the slab, enjoyed the view for a minute - then appraoched the sheer vertical face, and I just rocketed up the wall to the top. It was a stark contrast from my past outdoor experience at Lantern Hill. I definately brought my A-game and I was buzzing the rest of the day!
We had way more people than we had harnesses, so there was plenty of downtime between climbs. I took some of this time chatting with everyone, but also setting aside some sketching time! I make 2 sketches on the day - one from the top of the rock looking west - the other of Gabe belaying another climber:
Throughout the day - I made another 5 ascents of the mountain, all of them harder than anything I've done in a rock gym. I was climbing extremely well and really having a great time. At one point, I was able to hang onto an undercling 80 feet up as Wasp stung my middle finger. Everyone down below was laughing at my yell and watching me swat the air with one hand and holding onto the rock with the other.
Everyone was climbing really well, and I'm happy it was a fantastic time all around. I was able to snap one picture: sunset from the top of the rock as I was cleaning up the ropes & webbing from the day's activities:
I spent Saturday night with some laid-back discussions with Eli about books, life, philosophy, etc...it's always great to have conversations like that. I don't think people have lively discourses enough these days - it helps to keep my mind open to new viewpoints & ideas.
- Chris
I took my first ascent of the day pretty early: a warm up climb over the middle of the Slab - it was a quick 5.4/5.5 climb sloped inward for the first half. It was a lot of fun, and you can use some inventive moves just for kicks. I got the top of the slab, enjoyed the view for a minute - then appraoched the sheer vertical face, and I just rocketed up the wall to the top. It was a stark contrast from my past outdoor experience at Lantern Hill. I definately brought my A-game and I was buzzing the rest of the day!
We had way more people than we had harnesses, so there was plenty of downtime between climbs. I took some of this time chatting with everyone, but also setting aside some sketching time! I make 2 sketches on the day - one from the top of the rock looking west - the other of Gabe belaying another climber:
Throughout the day - I made another 5 ascents of the mountain, all of them harder than anything I've done in a rock gym. I was climbing extremely well and really having a great time. At one point, I was able to hang onto an undercling 80 feet up as Wasp stung my middle finger. Everyone down below was laughing at my yell and watching me swat the air with one hand and holding onto the rock with the other.
Everyone was climbing really well, and I'm happy it was a fantastic time all around. I was able to snap one picture: sunset from the top of the rock as I was cleaning up the ropes & webbing from the day's activities:
I spent Saturday night with some laid-back discussions with Eli about books, life, philosophy, etc...it's always great to have conversations like that. I don't think people have lively discourses enough these days - it helps to keep my mind open to new viewpoints & ideas.
- Chris
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Labor Day Weekend
I packed a lot into what proved to be a Labor Day Weekend full of gorgeous weather! I'm going to try a new way to recapping what I've done - so any feedback on the approach is welcome:
Friday
- Friday night I decided to get some extra training in at Tiger's. I was told there would be high-belt classes where we could perfect finer points of our technique. Turns out it was just a ploy to get people to show up for Friday night classes. Regardless of the fact I was one of the higher-ranked people in the class, my hour of grappling, followed by an hour kickboxing provided a lot of practice on techniques that had been giving me fits all week (open guard from ground with a standing opponent & creating angles while kickboxing).
- Met up with Alexandra and Krista @ Cosi's afterwards - where I had probably the best smoothie ever (Strawberry with protein & yogurt). I'm sure the "best smoothie ever" was partially due to being sapped of fluids for 2 hours in a really hot dojo, but damn did it taste good.
Saturday
- Met up with future bridal-party member Brian for some golf @ the Dunwoodie Golf Course in Yonkers, NY. It's only the 2nd time I've been on a course all year, and I knew I needed to practice for a future outing where I don't want to embarass myself. Anyway, it was also the first time Brian and I just "went golfing"...and it was bit bizarre because the Brian and Chris that hung out at Mahopac High 10 years ago would have chuckled about how "adult" we were. I was glad we got to walk the course, even though there were a lot of hills, as it was really pretty awesome. Lots of tree cover, interesting terrain, and great weather. I played the best round of golf in my life, hitting a 105 that included several pars and bogeys. A bunch of tricks I had learned from Gabe last week while in Rhode Island were a huge help, and cut at LEAST 20 strokes off my score - so kudos to him. Brian would probably prefer his score not be made public knowledge :)
- That evening, Brian, Christine & myself, grabbed some burgers @ Rambling House, an awesome pub in the Bronx - before they so graciously drove me back home to the UES.
Sunday
- I went with Alexandra and her family to the Scandinavian Festival in The-Middle-Of-Nowhere, NJ. (Neecong, NJ). While the event was scandinavian enough in flavor - it was basically an excuse for a lot of vendors to sell Scandinvian-themed objects that unless directly imported from a Norse land, usually had Made in China stamped to the back. There was some fantastic Scandinavian cuisine, accompanied by such Norse classics as Italian Ice, Kettle Corn, Funnel Cakes, Fried Oreos, Meat Kebabs & Lemonade *groan*. While I was able to get some tastings of Lingenberries, Sweedish Meaty Breadballs, Red Cabbage and Bread Crackers in - it did seem a bit disengenuous to not put more focus on ethnic cuisine.
- Alexandra quickly signed us up for the 1st Annual Wife Carrying Contest - a request that I would be hard-pressed to deny for 2 logically-sound reasons:
1. It would be painfully obvious that her family would deem me unworthy of their daughter should I refuse to participate. (As Alex put it: "If you can carry me, you can marry me")
2. I routinely wrestle and kickbox with guys in the 170-200 pound range, so carrying my much lighter fiancee shouldn't be that tough, right?
- Besides, who doesn't like feeling like a "donkey" once in a while? Thankfully the competition was at the end of the day's festivities, after the warrior "reenactors" did their best "reenacting" of battles with wooden sticks covered in foam and duct tape. We lined up in the center "pen", and were quickly surrounded by about 500 rabid fans, and we were all introduced to: The Course:
1. Leave pen with woman somehow attached to your person - as fast as possible (you're being timed, after all!)
2. Turn corner (so as to realize how difficult it is to change course with another person attached to your person)
3. Football Tire-Stepping Drill with 5 Small tires (if you had size 14 feet you'd realize how things like this make "Klutz Kreuter" nervous) This is supposed to emulate sneaking out of the town with your chosen woman to avoid the townsfolk noticing
4. Turn corner and jump The Hurdles. (Log on ground, Log 1 Foot off of ground, Log 2 Feet off of ground). This is supposed to emulate jumping over animal pens of sort
5. Run 20 feet or so through a winding path of trees This is supposed to emulate...oh whatever you get the point by now...
6. Climb up and back down a 3 tiered box structure (which must have been built by a one-eyed dwarf after one hell of bender - because this was the shoddiest piece of craftsmanship since I helped my buddy Dan build that platform bed last year)
7. Jump into and run through 2 Large kids wading pools, filled with 1 foot of water each. (Note pools had rims that were about 2 feet high. Also note that pools are last obstacle, conveniently placed where your legs are absolutely BURNING in agony. Also note that pools are made of plasic, and with my engineering education I realized quickly that water + rubber + plastic = LOW FRICTION ENVIRONMENT)
8. Finish back in pen
- I will note here that we both had to sign a waiver, and the geniouses that planned this thing at LEAST had the foresight to buy a helmet for the women to wear...but this really was flirting with disaster.
- Anyway, Alex and I decided to go with what we termed the Modified Fireman's Carry, as opposed to such classics as the Estonian Wife Carry or the Piggy-Back Carry. We got to race in the middle of the pack, and we were encouraged that I seemed to have a pretty good shot at winning Alex's weight in beer (I think this is the first mention that this is the prize for winning this gong-show...but it really didn't matter for reasons #1 & #2 above - so I neglected to mention it).
- So I raced out of the gate, the fasest start yet! The announcer apparently made a mention of this saying "He must really want that beer", but all I heard was the THUD THUD THUD of my bare feet tramping the earth - I was in The Zone. I rounded the corner, hopped through the tires quickly, but cautiously given the whole "giant-feet" thing...and then set my mind to The Hurdles.
- It's at this point where I forgot many important physics lessons, including - but certainly not limited to:
A. Weight Distribution
B. Centers of Gravity
C. Momentum
D. Pivot Points
- I cleared the first 2 hurdles without a problem...except that I was going WAY TOO FAST. I assure you that right now you've underestimated how fast I was going: I WAS GOING WAAAAAYYYYY TOO FAST. I had about 0.0001 seconds to decide if I was going to stop and step over the 2 food hurdle, or just jump it and hope for the best. Those of you that know me are already shuddering - knowing I picked the latter option.
- I cleared the hurdle with style (but devoid of any grace whatsoever), and landed with all of my weight (and Alexandra's) way way way way to far in front of my Giant Feet. This caused a Center-of-Gravity nightmare, where no matter how fast me feet tried to keep up - I was completely aware that were were going down.
- At this point Alex must have known what was up because she was like a cat. As I tripped over my big toe (which did try valiantly to catch up - but failed) she sprung from my shoulders and immediately went into a ninja roll 10 feet in front of me - which was prompted with a loud, collective "ooohhhhh...." from the pretty supportive crowd. I wasted no time mulling the fall (a 15 second penalty), and got right back up into a full run towards Alex, already standing and ready to go...I just grabbed her legs and slung her over my shoulder - I don't even think I spoke...I just channeled my inner Norseman and was determined to finish this thing.
- Needless to say the rest of the course was painful, but we forced through it, with Alexandra holding on for dear life with every limb and joint she could...and we finished in 52 seconds (after the penalty). The winning time was 31 seconds, meaning without the fall we would have been close...but the tournament wasn't without controversey as the winner's "woman" had to weight far less than the 108-lb minimum...but all 26 competing pairs maintained the good-spirited nature of the competition, and watched the winner take home a measly 4 cases of beer.
- We ended up getting interviewed for a local NJ paper (since she's from NJ), and wait...there's more:
VIDEO LINK
- I was treated to plenty of shoulder rubs and pampering the rest of the day for all my hard work though, and not to mention the event has helped endear me more to my future in-laws and escpecially my fiancee.
- We took NJ Transit home on the Gladstone Branch - a line I've never been on before. It was a really pleasant train ride though some fantastic greenery - a really relaxing cap on a great day.
Monday
- Monday was spent with a gathering of buddies @ Sheep's Meadow in Central Park - to enjoy a picnic and outdoor board gaming. Our group consisted of 8 people, where we enjoyed lots of snacks - and some games of Blokus, Telestrations, Dominion and Kill Dr. Lucky. It was as relaxing and fun a day as I ever remember having on Labor Day.
What a weekend!
- Chris
Friday
- Friday night I decided to get some extra training in at Tiger's. I was told there would be high-belt classes where we could perfect finer points of our technique. Turns out it was just a ploy to get people to show up for Friday night classes. Regardless of the fact I was one of the higher-ranked people in the class, my hour of grappling, followed by an hour kickboxing provided a lot of practice on techniques that had been giving me fits all week (open guard from ground with a standing opponent & creating angles while kickboxing).
- Met up with Alexandra and Krista @ Cosi's afterwards - where I had probably the best smoothie ever (Strawberry with protein & yogurt). I'm sure the "best smoothie ever" was partially due to being sapped of fluids for 2 hours in a really hot dojo, but damn did it taste good.
Saturday
- Met up with future bridal-party member Brian for some golf @ the Dunwoodie Golf Course in Yonkers, NY. It's only the 2nd time I've been on a course all year, and I knew I needed to practice for a future outing where I don't want to embarass myself. Anyway, it was also the first time Brian and I just "went golfing"...and it was bit bizarre because the Brian and Chris that hung out at Mahopac High 10 years ago would have chuckled about how "adult" we were. I was glad we got to walk the course, even though there were a lot of hills, as it was really pretty awesome. Lots of tree cover, interesting terrain, and great weather. I played the best round of golf in my life, hitting a 105 that included several pars and bogeys. A bunch of tricks I had learned from Gabe last week while in Rhode Island were a huge help, and cut at LEAST 20 strokes off my score - so kudos to him. Brian would probably prefer his score not be made public knowledge :)
- That evening, Brian, Christine & myself, grabbed some burgers @ Rambling House, an awesome pub in the Bronx - before they so graciously drove me back home to the UES.
Sunday
- I went with Alexandra and her family to the Scandinavian Festival in The-Middle-Of-Nowhere, NJ. (Neecong, NJ). While the event was scandinavian enough in flavor - it was basically an excuse for a lot of vendors to sell Scandinvian-themed objects that unless directly imported from a Norse land, usually had Made in China stamped to the back. There was some fantastic Scandinavian cuisine, accompanied by such Norse classics as Italian Ice, Kettle Corn, Funnel Cakes, Fried Oreos, Meat Kebabs & Lemonade *groan*. While I was able to get some tastings of Lingenberries, Sweedish Meaty Breadballs, Red Cabbage and Bread Crackers in - it did seem a bit disengenuous to not put more focus on ethnic cuisine.
- Alexandra quickly signed us up for the 1st Annual Wife Carrying Contest - a request that I would be hard-pressed to deny for 2 logically-sound reasons:
1. It would be painfully obvious that her family would deem me unworthy of their daughter should I refuse to participate. (As Alex put it: "If you can carry me, you can marry me")
2. I routinely wrestle and kickbox with guys in the 170-200 pound range, so carrying my much lighter fiancee shouldn't be that tough, right?
- Besides, who doesn't like feeling like a "donkey" once in a while? Thankfully the competition was at the end of the day's festivities, after the warrior "reenactors" did their best "reenacting" of battles with wooden sticks covered in foam and duct tape. We lined up in the center "pen", and were quickly surrounded by about 500 rabid fans, and we were all introduced to: The Course:
1. Leave pen with woman somehow attached to your person - as fast as possible (you're being timed, after all!)
2. Turn corner (so as to realize how difficult it is to change course with another person attached to your person)
3. Football Tire-Stepping Drill with 5 Small tires (if you had size 14 feet you'd realize how things like this make "Klutz Kreuter" nervous) This is supposed to emulate sneaking out of the town with your chosen woman to avoid the townsfolk noticing
4. Turn corner and jump The Hurdles. (Log on ground, Log 1 Foot off of ground, Log 2 Feet off of ground). This is supposed to emulate jumping over animal pens of sort
5. Run 20 feet or so through a winding path of trees This is supposed to emulate...oh whatever you get the point by now...
6. Climb up and back down a 3 tiered box structure (which must have been built by a one-eyed dwarf after one hell of bender - because this was the shoddiest piece of craftsmanship since I helped my buddy Dan build that platform bed last year)
7. Jump into and run through 2 Large kids wading pools, filled with 1 foot of water each. (Note pools had rims that were about 2 feet high. Also note that pools are last obstacle, conveniently placed where your legs are absolutely BURNING in agony. Also note that pools are made of plasic, and with my engineering education I realized quickly that water + rubber + plastic = LOW FRICTION ENVIRONMENT)
8. Finish back in pen
- I will note here that we both had to sign a waiver, and the geniouses that planned this thing at LEAST had the foresight to buy a helmet for the women to wear...but this really was flirting with disaster.
- Anyway, Alex and I decided to go with what we termed the Modified Fireman's Carry, as opposed to such classics as the Estonian Wife Carry or the Piggy-Back Carry. We got to race in the middle of the pack, and we were encouraged that I seemed to have a pretty good shot at winning Alex's weight in beer (I think this is the first mention that this is the prize for winning this gong-show...but it really didn't matter for reasons #1 & #2 above - so I neglected to mention it).
- So I raced out of the gate, the fasest start yet! The announcer apparently made a mention of this saying "He must really want that beer", but all I heard was the THUD THUD THUD of my bare feet tramping the earth - I was in The Zone. I rounded the corner, hopped through the tires quickly, but cautiously given the whole "giant-feet" thing...and then set my mind to The Hurdles.
- It's at this point where I forgot many important physics lessons, including - but certainly not limited to:
A. Weight Distribution
B. Centers of Gravity
C. Momentum
D. Pivot Points
- I cleared the first 2 hurdles without a problem...except that I was going WAY TOO FAST. I assure you that right now you've underestimated how fast I was going: I WAS GOING WAAAAAYYYYY TOO FAST. I had about 0.0001 seconds to decide if I was going to stop and step over the 2 food hurdle, or just jump it and hope for the best. Those of you that know me are already shuddering - knowing I picked the latter option.
- I cleared the hurdle with style (but devoid of any grace whatsoever), and landed with all of my weight (and Alexandra's) way way way way to far in front of my Giant Feet. This caused a Center-of-Gravity nightmare, where no matter how fast me feet tried to keep up - I was completely aware that were were going down.
- At this point Alex must have known what was up because she was like a cat. As I tripped over my big toe (which did try valiantly to catch up - but failed) she sprung from my shoulders and immediately went into a ninja roll 10 feet in front of me - which was prompted with a loud, collective "ooohhhhh...." from the pretty supportive crowd. I wasted no time mulling the fall (a 15 second penalty), and got right back up into a full run towards Alex, already standing and ready to go...I just grabbed her legs and slung her over my shoulder - I don't even think I spoke...I just channeled my inner Norseman and was determined to finish this thing.
- Needless to say the rest of the course was painful, but we forced through it, with Alexandra holding on for dear life with every limb and joint she could...and we finished in 52 seconds (after the penalty). The winning time was 31 seconds, meaning without the fall we would have been close...but the tournament wasn't without controversey as the winner's "woman" had to weight far less than the 108-lb minimum...but all 26 competing pairs maintained the good-spirited nature of the competition, and watched the winner take home a measly 4 cases of beer.
- We ended up getting interviewed for a local NJ paper (since she's from NJ), and wait...there's more:
- I was treated to plenty of shoulder rubs and pampering the rest of the day for all my hard work though, and not to mention the event has helped endear me more to my future in-laws and escpecially my fiancee.
- We took NJ Transit home on the Gladstone Branch - a line I've never been on before. It was a really pleasant train ride though some fantastic greenery - a really relaxing cap on a great day.
Monday
- Monday was spent with a gathering of buddies @ Sheep's Meadow in Central Park - to enjoy a picnic and outdoor board gaming. Our group consisted of 8 people, where we enjoyed lots of snacks - and some games of Blokus, Telestrations, Dominion and Kill Dr. Lucky. It was as relaxing and fun a day as I ever remember having on Labor Day.
What a weekend!
- Chris
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