Sunday night
Jorge Luis Borges writes (or falsely attributes another as having written, as is his wont) in Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius that "Mirrors and copulation are abominable, for they multiply the number of mankind."
I thought for some reason that there was a connection between that and between the point that I wanted to make, which was that rereading old emails and browsing Amazon.com, my normal Sunday night activities, really gives one an incredible perspective on their past. I realise that that point has more to do with Everything is Illuminated than that Borges quote, so let's go with that instead.
I have all 5534 emails that I've sent and 3636 that I've received and considered worth saving since since 9 Sept. 1995 filed
away on my computer. I give good email. I think Banana has promised to anthologize our correspondence at some point when one of us (her,
it's looking like, as there is no glory in faxing) is famous enough to make that commercially viable. Sorting by date and just scrolling
through recipients' names provides a remarkable reckoning of the different strata of my existence. There are clumps of correspondence
with old friends, old girlfriends, old people (no, not old people) whom I was hoping to convince to be my girlfriend by giving
good email, old and still current friends, flurries marking the start of baseball season and the accompanying trade talks (apparently one
of my top priorities in the spring of '97 was trading Ed Sprague and Cecil Fielder for Tim Nahering and Jay Buhner), the Spec years, the
GLOATs/WOADs/SpecWords, ACTV, Iranian Encyclopedia folks, futile job applications, London, etc., etc., etc. If you are ever in my apartment and bored
(the chances of that happening being negligible, I admit) ask to read my old emails and I will happily oblige. If you have a vague
recollection of my sending you something that you didn't save but should have, ask and I'll resend you a copy.
The relevance of Amazon.com being that a direct result of my having purchased things like picture books for my (not so baby anymore)
cousins and kitchen knives as housewarming/engagement presents (if you haven't already been lucky enough to get a house or get married,
now you know what's coming) I get all sorts of wacky recommendations when I visit their web page. And despite previous purchases I really
don't want to buy a copy of Peter Rabbit or a knife blade sharpener (which, being a civilised sort, I already own), but it's nice
to be reminded of things I've purchased and enjoyed or given to others to enjoy. Contrary to my vocation and what I'd imagine most
would guess, I'm not a big fan of capitalism, but damn it if things don't just make you happy sometimes.
I thought for some reason that there was a connection between that and between the point that I wanted to make, which was that rereading old emails and browsing Amazon.com, my normal Sunday night activities, really gives one an incredible perspective on their past. I realise that that point has more to do with Everything is Illuminated than that Borges quote, so let's go with that instead.
I have all 5534 emails that I've sent and 3636 that I've received and considered worth saving since since 9 Sept. 1995 filed
away on my computer. I give good email. I think Banana has promised to anthologize our correspondence at some point when one of us (her,
it's looking like, as there is no glory in faxing) is famous enough to make that commercially viable. Sorting by date and just scrolling
through recipients' names provides a remarkable reckoning of the different strata of my existence. There are clumps of correspondence
with old friends, old girlfriends, old people (no, not old people) whom I was hoping to convince to be my girlfriend by giving
good email, old and still current friends, flurries marking the start of baseball season and the accompanying trade talks (apparently one
of my top priorities in the spring of '97 was trading Ed Sprague and Cecil Fielder for Tim Nahering and Jay Buhner), the Spec years, the
GLOATs/WOADs/SpecWords, ACTV, Iranian Encyclopedia folks, futile job applications, London, etc., etc., etc. If you are ever in my apartment and bored
(the chances of that happening being negligible, I admit) ask to read my old emails and I will happily oblige. If you have a vague
recollection of my sending you something that you didn't save but should have, ask and I'll resend you a copy.
The relevance of Amazon.com being that a direct result of my having purchased things like picture books for my (not so baby anymore)
cousins and kitchen knives as housewarming/engagement presents (if you haven't already been lucky enough to get a house or get married,
now you know what's coming) I get all sorts of wacky recommendations when I visit their web page. And despite previous purchases I really
don't want to buy a copy of Peter Rabbit or a knife blade sharpener (which, being a civilised sort, I already own), but it's nice
to be reminded of things I've purchased and enjoyed or given to others to enjoy. Contrary to my vocation and what I'd imagine most
would guess, I'm not a big fan of capitalism, but damn it if things don't just make you happy sometimes.
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