Friday, September 2, 2011

Six Pants None the Richer

Savannah, Georgia

The ride in to Savannah yesterday was the easiest of the four, save for all the chaffing. I don't expect it to get any hotter than it has been further along the trip. I'll be going North along the coast until North Carolina, so I reckon I'm in the clear for heat.

I arrived yesterday in a panic, not having a place to stay nor the internet to find one. I hadn't bathed since Waycross and was covered in the bodily detritus and excretions equivalent to a 150 mile ride. Smelly and anxious, I found downtown Savannah from the help of a bum and a Houseman. Looking around for skyscrapers to find the center of the city, I saw some bike kids and chased them down, asking if they knew where the hipsters hung out. They told me about the local coffee shop which is nigh indistinguishable from one in Tallahassee. From there I was able to contact the lead organizer for Savannah bike polo, Nana Vash. I've been staying with him and his roommates, all of whom are fun guys.


We went to some bar and between the other people who dressed like me, the old, rustic brickwork, and the humidity reminded me of Tallahassee. I started thinking about how much I enjoyed Tallahassee, and that if this place made me feel similar I might want to move here. Then I realized I shouldn't immediately fall in love with every city I stay in. Presumably, I'll be able to find similar experiences in other cities too. But I wonder how different they'll actually be. I'm not out of the South yet and I'm drawing conclusions about cities of which I have no knowledge.

One of Nana's friends, J, said he knew a guy who shot a two year old in the head on accident the other day and turned himself in. I guess some things do stay the same no matter where you go.

Waste

When I started thinking about waste it seemed like a legitimate concept somehow based in reality and judged by common sense. Upon any sort of reflection it's much less than that, being a wholly egocentric and instrumental concept. Regardless of intent or use, I can't think of anything that doesn't decay or fall into disuse given sufficient time. An idea of waste isn't about how much is used but how much isn't. Despite how much of a meal is eaten, it's how much of the food is left proportional to the start that defines what is waste or non-waste. Either way, if the food is eaten or thrown out, it will become non-food as a result of both, but only one is considered "waste."

It's also based on relative worth based on who makes the judgement. A half-eaten fast food meal isn't considered the same waste to a soccer mom as it is to someone in poverty, just as the opulence of the super-rich is horrifically wasteful when considered by human beings.

But waste has nothing to do with the item, beyond its perceived utility and scarcity to people. Remove everything that could judge things as waste and you remove the concept itself. The universe becomes a system of change and nothing more without anything to label one form of substance better than another. So I think I'm justified in saying, that throwing at all of my anime was a WASTE, Mom.


Georgia Kill Count
Armadillo: 10
Chicken/Crow/Other: 3
Crab?!: 1
Deer: 1
Dog: 2
Frog: 5
Hawk/Vulture: 4
Locust/Butterfly/Dragonfly/Etc.: Innumerable
Opposum: 5
Racoon: 4
Snake: 5
Skunk: 1
Unknown: 5

2 comments:

  1. I like your thoughts about waste as a concept, although just because it's worthless on a cosmic scale doesn't mean it is not valuable in the short-term on a planet with scarce and diminishing resources. Also, that dog pic - LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL CUTEST. DOG. EVAR!!!!!!!!!

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  2. Maybe, but I think conceptually it still lacks any intrinsic quality to the idea of waste. Even with human judgment there is a great breadth of opinion between what does or does not constitute waste. The hippie thinks it all is, the evangelical businessman thinks none of it is. In summation, goddamn Pagoda, you are one of my favorite dogs.

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