"An artist is identical with an anarchist [...] You might transpose the words anywhere. An anarchist is an artist. The man who throws a bomb is an artist, because he prefers a great moment to everything. He sees how much more valuable is one burst of blazing light, one peal of perfect thunder, than the mere common bodies of a few shapeless policemen. An artist disregards all governments, abolishes all conventions. The poet delights in disorder only."
--G.K. Chesterson from The Man Who Was Thursday
Hey ya Clats, have you read The Man Who Was Thursday yet? No, of course not. That's alright. Welcome to C.O.T. Reading Assignment #1. After reading this utterly entertaining and, actually, rather short piece of surprisingly good British fiction, you will understand 1/4 of what Church on Thursday is. Okay, maybe 1/5. You have one week to read it, agents. It shouldn't take most of you more than a day. That allows 6 days for you to locate this semi-obscure classic. Alright, on to other news.
Today I went into Yreka to run errands. Not very interesting. What was interesting is that there seem to be pockets in Yreka that are out of Karmic whack. I won't offer a condensed explanation yet...it shall have to suffice to say that there is a very noticeable shift in people's behavior from one end of Yreka to the next. For example, I go to get my truck smogged at Finwall's. The people there are very nice to me. Then, I go to DMV to get my damn truck re-registered in California. One of the people is nice, the other is a fucking fuckface (I chock that up to DMV). Then, I go to the Northern part of Yreka to procure my caffeince-addicted ass some coffee (from "Biscotti's", it's called). My coffee costs $3.75. I leave a five dollar bill with the cashier and find a seat. She makes a snide remark to the couple ordering next to the effect of "I guess he doesn't want this" (referring to my ample $1.25 tip)and slams my tip into her empty tip jar. Very interesting behavior, me thinks. Then I go to G&G hardware--in so-called Central Yreka--to purchase a few items and they are semi-kind to me, though a bit stand-offish. What has occurred to me is that I had passed through three different Karmic (for lack of a better word) zones within a, perhaps, 2 mile radius. I went from Finwalls, in South Yreka, where the people are--as one expects them to be--very decent, to North Yreka where the person in question at the so-called cafe was a notch above a prison guard in terms of politeness, to Central Yreka, where the people were somewhat in the middle of the two extremes. Does this seem weird? To encounter three extremes of politeness (nay, common decency) within an hour and a half and, maybe, two square miles. Yreka is a very fucking strange place. Maybe it's because it is one of the last vestibules of the Wild West. Maybe it's mining residue in the water. Maybe it's top-secret government experimentation akin to the MX-80 project...I don't know. Maybe the people are just socially retarded at a much higher rate per capita in Yreka. I don't know.
Anyway, if you don't live in Yreka--or have never been here--I guess you could care less. Maybe I should be more Zen about things and follow your lead. Or maybe I should call the people who are socially retarded on their socially retarded behavior...nah. I've done that. It only causes the deaths of innocent trees and people.
SOOOOOOOOO...in other news. Rex's apartment burned down. Any Murrayites who are not already privy to this information, be good little C.O.T. Agents and get Rex drunk and give him an evil hug. Love is in the air in C.O.T. land...well, maybe it's not love. Maybe it is. I don't know...but I ain't-a-gonna say who, not matter what "it" is. It just makes me happy, that's all. The A's are ever so close to toppling the stupid Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of California of the United States of America. Go A's! If the A's lose, bad things will happen to birds and other small animals, I guarantee it.
Anyway, buckaroos, I'm rambling (as always). I will leave you with one more quote from Mr. G.K. Chesterston and the very very very important novel he wrote The Man Who Was Thursday.
"Yes, the poet will be discontented even in the streets of heaven. The poet is always in revolt."
As ever, your King of the Wild Frontier, FELIX

¶ 9:19 PM //   

Hello again C.O.T. Agents (and spies),
Since Rhinestone Charley Allen was good enough to get the damn Blog up and operating, I reckon I should be using it. Let me begin by saying that I'm as bored as a Republican in a library around here. Please don't piss me off by saying "Only boring people get bored". Siskiyou County--specifically, Grenada (population 235)--is a really boring place, that is if you don't go to sleep by 9:00. Everything closes by 4:30, except for bars and gas stations. I can usually entertain myself in a bar without much effort, except for I live about eight fucking miles from the nearest bar. Tonight I went to Mt. Shasta, since I heard tell that there's a cafe/cabaret that stays open until the late hour of 10 p.m. I done got there at 9:00 and it was closed. The Vets Club--a bar--however, was open...so I went in there. Me like The Vets Club. It's on the cusp of "dive bar'. It's, supposedly, the oldest bar in Mt. Shasta. It's the coolest bar in Mt. Shasta, me thinks. It's dark (a plus), has a pool table (usually a minus). A dead jukebox, wood floors, sort of the makings of a Marilyn Monroe shrine. I was trying to write THIS there, but I was interrupted by, I think, a drunk guy with a black eye who wanted me to transpose his poetry. I politely declined. I don't know what it is--if it's me or what--but almost every time I go into a bar with a book (especially a notebook), people come up to me and want me to write down their life story, or a poem or whatever. Maybe I should stop refusing. Anyway, some guy at the end of the bar bought everyone a round and since I was there I guess I was included under the umbrella of "everyone"...thus, my Lite beer from Miller was complimentary. I left a four dollar tip anyway. There was a pretty girl there (not drinking) who made a triumphant exclamation when she saw that the A's won. That girl could have been an ugly old hag, I wouldn't know...being an A's fan ups a girl's hotness like 80%. Normally I would have loved to sit in that bar and drink like Dylan Thomas, but NOOOOOOOOOOOO, I had to leave because I don't want to get a baby DUI. What the fuck?! Why can't live back in the 50s (or even the 70s) when you could order your car built from the factory with a mini-bar? Why do I have to live in this ANTI-FUN society. And, by the way, California is the most ANTI-FUN state--except, maybe, for Utah. I guess that's why the majority of people in Siskiyou County are always frowning. They can't go anywhere and have a good time. I mean it, too, the people here all have perma-frowns--even the way they talk has a course edge to it. You know, Mt.Shasta isn't as bad as Yreka about that. Actually, the last couple of times I've been there the people are remarkably more friendly than Yrekans or Montagueans or Grenadians...ah, most of you probably have no fucking ideer what I'm talking about. Come to think of it, though, maybe it is a NORTH COUNTY thing. It is! I'm sure of it. Oh well, unless I want to move, I'll be suffering the North County doldrums. Still there? You must be as bored as I am. I was thinking about trying to compose something more interesting but...I can't right now. I think I'm going to go to Denny's in Yreka--at one time a great source of inspiration for me. But I done figured that I should put something up. There, I hope you're happy. As ever, your most evil weevil, Felix

¶ 10:01 PM //   

A little technical info from Rhinestone Charley...



If you notice a missing menu on that crazy left hand side, don't sweat it friend. Just hold your goddamn horses 'cause I'm working as fast as I can. Well, no, I'm probably not, but I am working on it and the menu will be up with a blog option and (hopefully) a message board and maybe even a new-fangled roll-over type menu.



I hope all you secret agents are enjoying the COT and I hope you crazy kids keep reading and writing and drawing such pretty pictures. Oh yeah, and post comments on the blogs if you want. And sign the message board when it comes up and if you're having troubles with something, let me know.

¶ 12:07 PM //