Trying to use up that fund left over after buying everyone else presents? (Hah!) Try the January Sale at Harrods. Some items are just for sale in the UK, so contact your long-lost cousin and see if you can use her address. Planning a visit to the UK? Stay in style and comfort!

While in the UK, visit the queen (or just listen to her Christmas address).

Does anyone know why I got 3000 hits on the 17th of December between noon and 2 p.m.? Did I accidently delete an email I should have read?

No one gently wipes the rain from my eyebrow. No one has coffee with me in the morning. No one makes my bed a warmer place. No one waits to tell me it will all be alright. No one notices the sadness behind my smile. Yet I am not alone.

... and speaking of life. How about an annuity? First find out what it is, then get more details, and then buy it! New year, new annuity!

I've just decided that what makes a good religion is it's attention to themes that persist over time. Any religion that focuses on trends, social norms or other iconoclastic tools has it all wrong. Think about it! What really lasts in any religion? What is the core of any belief? How do you really end up practicing your faith each and every day? Is it the clothes you wear? No. Is it about how many times you turn up at the religious building? I don't think so. It's all in how we relate to the powers and/or forces of the universe which has nothing to do with whether or not a memorized or extemporaneous prayer is said or if meditatation is used instead of prayer. Some themes are: love, understanding, compassion, memory, respect for the good, peace, and trust. I may need to start a new blog!

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Yesterday it was cold and rained all day. So I went to the Robert Lazzarini exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art. I thought I was ready for this. There are pictures of the phone booth plastered all over town as well as in the newspapers. I thought that when I saw the skewed booth in person it would be disappointing, but it wasn't. When I came into the room I thought for a second that the ground had tipped. I know that seems cliche but that's what happened. The way the exhibit is set up you have to kind of curve around into the room and then it's right in front of you. Everything is white -- the floor, the walls, the ceiling, so you lose your sense of perspective. It's like being on the deck of a ship at sea. I guess if you've never been at sea you might not have that same experience. I could also compare it to being in a plane and watching the sky tip when the plane banks. It's a lot more sudden than that, though.

It's really weird to be close up to something that looks like it's been squished in a wet magazine. I did have a moment where I thought how easy it would be to make these images on the computer. That's what Goo is for. But these were real things, not pictures of them. It was like looking through crack in space and seeing another dimension. It made me wonder how I look to those in a different space-time. Maybe I look all stretched like that.

The guns were unbelievable. I had to go back to the sign on the wall and read the description, and, yep, sure enough, they really are made out of steel and wood. I just can't fathom how someone could make something so crooked but so right.

The skulls evoked a different sensation. They look more like crafted pieces; probably because warped skulls crumble. These had to be fabricated. It was still weird, though. I was impressed by the teeth. They were hand painted and looked just like teeth.

What strikes me is here's a guy spending a lot of time making these detailed, structurally correct skewed items and making them perfectly real. In the real world we have real people making things unskewed but not perfectly. It's sort of like a commentary on the quality of work these days or on the amount of effort people put into comprehending the whole. Whatever else the artist might be trying to achieve, he definitely changes the viewer's perspective.

After that experience, I took a walk through the Dutch and Flemish art to reorient myself. Whew!

It's Friday! Need a laugh? This site is not always up to the minute but it will make you laugh. Today I'm reading the "Things to Think About." My favorites:

• Why are they called buildings when they're already finished? Shouldn't they be called builts?
• What would a chair look like if your knees bent the other way?
• Why is it that when you transport something by car, its called a shipment, but when you transport something by ship its cargo?

It's great. It keeps me from asking really serious questions.

I really am making no time for this. It's been very busy at work, so that cuts down on my blog time. Also, keeping up my AOL Journal takes some time that I would have spent here. Well, something to work on.

I've added a new permalink to "Recommended Sites." It's John Scalzi's "Utterly Uselss Writing Advice." It's most excellent. Check out his AOL Journal, too. (Apologies to Blogger.)