\nToday I went to Amazon.com to look for a book. On the front page, it
\nhad some book and music recommendations, including the album “Lateralus”, by Tool.
\n“Hmmmm,” I said, as I clicked on the link “Why was I recommended this?”\n<\/p>\n
\nThe next page said, “We recommended Lateralus<\/cite> (Tool) because you recently \nWhaaat? What the heck does Virgil have to do with Tool?\n<\/p>\n \nThe Aeneid, tr. Robert Fitzgerald, Book IV, lines 465-469<\/b> \nAs to the event, a few words. Do not think \n“Sober”, by Tool<\/b>\n<\/p>\n \nI am just a worthless liar. \nMaybe that Amazon database is onto something.\n<\/p>\n \nA funny thing happened yesterday. I was walking out to my car when I \nFinally, I saw a little head bobbing up over the wooden fence. \n“Ummmm… can I help you?” I said.\n<\/p>\n \nTurns out he had dropped a homemade birthday card over the fence. \nSo I’m a Mister now. Crap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “We recommended Lateralus<\/I> (Tool) because you recently purchased or rated Undertow<\/I> (Tool), Toxicity<\/I> (System of a Down), and The Aeneid<\/I> (Virgil).”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goer.org\/Journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goer.org\/Journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goer.org\/Journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goer.org\/Journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goer.org\/Journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goer.org\/Journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goer.org\/Journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goer.org\/Journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goer.org\/Journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\npurchased or rated Undertow<\/cite> (Tool), Toxicity<\/cite> (System of a Down), and
\nThe Aeneid<\/cite> (Virgil).”\n<\/p>\n
\n(Aeneas’s weaselly parting words to Dido, Queen of Carthage, who later kills herself.)\n<\/p>\n\n
\nI meant to be deceitful and slip away.
\nI never held the torches of a bridegroom,
\nNever entered upon the pact of marriage.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
\nI am just an imbecile.
\nI will only complicate you.
\nTrust in me and fall as well.
\nI will find a center in you.
\nI will chew it up and leave,
\nI will work to elevate you
\njust enough to bring you down.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nheard a kid say “Hey, Mister!” I looked around — I didn’t see the kid,
\nalthough I did see a middle-aged man across the parking lot. I kept
\nwalking. “Hey, Mister!” And then another, “Hey, Mister!”\n<\/p>\n
\nThe kid was just strong enough to jump up for a second and call,
\n“Hey Mister!” — not quite strong enough to hold himself up or climb
\nover. Anyway, he was talking to… me<\/em>.\n<\/p>\n
\nI picked it up, reached over the fence, and handed it to him.
\n“Thanks, Mister!”\n<\/p>\n