we're dancing animals

Kurt Vonnegut talking about when he tells his wife he's going out to buy an envelope:

Oh, she says well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And, see some great looking babes. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And, and ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know. The moral of the story is, is we're here on Earth to fart around. And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And, what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And, we're not supposed to dance at all anymore.
Interview Public Broadcasting Service (2005)

[post courtesy of http://www.idiolect.org.uk/notes/ whose blog I admire enough to add to my blogroll... thanks tom!]

you are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building. around you is a forest. a small stream flows...

you may recognize that begininng of the classic text game "adventure" (use the link to play online). it was an inspiration for many early pc gamers. made before pc's (1973?) and now used by my 9 year old son in discovering the magic of imagination in interactive fiction. regular fiction is pretty good for that too. we just finished reading "the wind in the willows" together. on my own, I'm in the middle of "the satanic verses", "a portrait of the artist as a young man", and "I am charlotte simmons". not to mention studying for a microsoft certification and reaping profits from increasing fuel prices while listening to podcasted lectures from stanford on philosophy, global warming and how life began. in addition to hiking and camping with the cub scouts and on top of all that, helping my deaf mom the packrat clear out her stuff, sell her car and pack what's left for her pending move. oh yeah and working full time too. last but not least, being a good husband. these things take time. so that's why I've got nothing more important to post right now. I hope you understand. now, I must go to a retirement party and have a few...