Beggars Banquet...

As my hair goes from brown to silver I have been taking measures to down play the role of things like alcohol and overeating in my life. You know moderation in all things. For the most part...

Yesterday, my friend Johannes broke his ten day cleansing fast with a gigantic feast lovingly prepared over two days by a pair of beautiful Persian sisters. Ten days is a long time to go without food ("I'm one-quarter Christ, he made it forty days," Johannes joked, dizzy and sallow, planted in a canvas chair in his jungle backyard). But our host's famine was soon to be countered by a gluttonous marathon of ingestion. Beginning at sunset, course after delicious course was carried into the garden, described to the assembled guests in both Farsi and English, and slowly devoured. Johannes, who ate sparingly and drank a glass or two, came to life. His demeanor passed through every gradation, from quietly detached to Zorba the Greek. The setting progressed from cloister to carnival. Fine wine was flowing as though the Claret levees had been compromised. Gazpachot did not disappoint as far as intake is concerned. A memorable night of overconsumption if ever there was one.

A detail, throughout the evening, avocados were dropping off of the trees around us like shrunken heads splatting to the ground: suicides? sacrifices? hard to tell.

Here it is twelve hours later and well, it's been a slow Monday for sure. Strangely, when I got home all the lights in my neighborhood were out. There had been a blackout. I followed suit. Sometime this morning all the electronics came surging and whirring and beeping back to life. What a racket. My computer insisted it was 4:30PM December 14, 1969. OK. Why not. I received a chain email (in power point format no less) which always produces a slight queasy feeling. I have no idea what to blog about today. I recall someone saying something last night about a species of drunken squirrels who hide fruits in trees so they ferment and become alcoholic... I recall many fragments of interesting conversation, but none seem to fully materialize in my current state. Best get to work. Onward...

("Les Tortues pour Le Vivre" from "Les Diners de Gala")