Optima Durant...

R. Crumb may be old news, but find me a better social critic and I'll find you a Guantanamo Bay detainee. I still find great solace in his particular brand of humor and horror.

Opitma Durant is the motto of the grade school I attended in my yonker years. It means "The Best Endure." But looking around at my peers, I am tempted to ask, "Endure what?" Ulcers? Drug addiction? Plush nepotistic banking jobs? Self loathing? Bird Flu? Life on Earth? What exactly am I supposed to be enduring?

Lately, not a day goes by where I'm not somehow roped into to an existential camel clutch with the meaning of life, (the 78 year terrestrial experience that is, not the great 107 minute movie). So far the meaning of life has the upper hand. But I figure a few more months of contemplating my navel and I'll be ready for that rat bastard.