Category Archives: Lucubrations

Jayson Gallaway

April 22, 2020

Each time you light your lighter, your lighter gets lighter until your lighter is too light to light.


During this time of regular daily televised updates by various municipal, state, and national officials, I have developed an entirely new appreciation for the comedic theater art that is sign language interpretation.  I’ve become so fixated with the almost kabuki-like expressions employed by these good folks during these pressers…it’s amazing and oftentimes hilarious.  I’m sure there is a very legitimate reason for them doing this, and am admittedly totally ignorant about the whole sign language deal other than I think it’s great that our deaf brethren can be informed by watching TV, but I have become so fixated on the various interpreters that I don’t really hear any of the message being conveyed.  I’m trying to think of a way to make a drink game around their faces, but I can’t come up with anything that wouldn’t get everyone completely shithoused inside of five minutes.  Then again, some people might say that is the definition of a good drinking game.  Especially now, when everybody’s either out of work or working from home, day drinking is not only totally acceptable but really de rigueur.


I heard some pathetic moans about Earth Day today.  All of the stupid rallies were gloriously cancelled due to the high likeliness that all hippies are currently simply swimming with disease.  They really are.  That aside, however, I’ve never understood Earth Day.  You don’t really mean it.  You can’t.  In order for it to be legitimate, you need to not only have other options, but to have thoroughly explored those options.  But this is in all probability the only planet you’ve ever actually lived on.  How do you know it’s all that great?  Saturn is fucking lovely this time of year…spend some time up there and you might think boring old Earth ain’t really all that.  But also you probably don’t have a choice.  I mean, it’s not like if you get pissed off at the earth that you can leave it and call the lawyers.  You’re stuck here.  So celebrating Earth Day is rather like giving the spouse you are in a loveless arranged marriage with anniversary flowers if that spouse was in a coma and had no idea what you were doing (I really hope the hippies don’t think the earth actually knows that’s it’s Earth Day or that it’s being celebrated).  Anyway, that’s why I think Earth Day is stupid.  Earth itself isn’t much better.  It actually kind of stinks.  It’s not nearly as rank as Uranus, but, of course, nothing is.

N.P.: “Never Dance Again” – Sunset Neon, Blue Stahli

Spent the day in the studio.  Been spending most days that way lately.  Which is great…I just don’t know when I’m gonna be able to work on the base for this year’s tan.  I hope you’re continuing to do well, dear reader.

N.P.: “Kiss” – Sunset Neon

The extroverts are getting restless.  Weenies.
Today was okay.  For a Monday.  Didn’t get enough writing done.

N.P.: “The Best (feat. Alice Merton)” – AWOLNATION

Another fine day basking in introverted glory.  I so don’t want this to end.  Work on the book(s) is going well.   Starting again tomorrow morning.

N.P. “Destruye” – Rabia Sorda

Whiskey and wings and movies today.  “1917” should have won Best Picture of the Year.

N.P.: “Stronger Without You” – Julien-K

Congratulations, extroverts: under our leadership, the introverts have given you one full month without a mass shooting.  A month without any suicide bombings.  A month without hostage situations.  A month without kidnappings. A month without prison riots.  Hell, there hasn’t even been a decent bar fight since St. Patrick’s Day.  And all you had to do was learn how to spend a little time alone.
But really…those above statistics are true, yet not one gun was confiscated, not one amendment was abridged, no legislation was passed, yet it was the single most effective solution to each of the above-mentioned problems ever implemented.  Now, I know that the present Way of Things is unsustainable.  My only hope is that when the extroverts once again slavishly give in to their compulsion to be close to other people, and assholes start shooting or blowing those gatherings up, rather than instinctively attempting to limit the constitutional rights of others, it would be a lot more convenient, effective, and constitutional to consider modifying your own behavior.  I know it’s an almost impossible concept for the extrovert mind to grasp, but it’s true: it is within your power to permanently end most of the above acts of barbarism.  Previously you’ve dismissed this sort of thinking as impossible, but you just did it.  And you survived.

N.P.: “In the Hall of the Mountain King” – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Worked on the book some more today.  Starting to get into the new rhythm of things, and it’s really working for me.  Gonna get back to it.

N.P.: “Was Ist Hier Los?” – Eisbrecher

Today was a damn fine day, dear reader…damn fine.  Wrote the shit out of the book.  Finally figured out what to do with the opening, plus added to an already interesting chapter.  Still going, so I wanna get back to it.  Hope you’re staying well.

N.P.: “The Bazaar” – The Tea Party

People seem very uncomfortable with the idea of thinning The Herd.  But imagine village life instead of city life.  Imagine living in an area where you were one of 300-500 people, and there was no other village for 50-100 miles.  Everyone would have a job or a role, and if you got sick, people would feel your absence.  It would be noticed.  Because you would live in a world where there aren’t dozens of other people who are available to fill in for you.  Either you show up to work or the work doesn’t gets done, and there are so few people that all jobs are essential: the group is, on some level, going to suffer because you were unable to perform your role.  I’m telling you, dear reader, suicide rates would plummet and the number of people whose lives would “have meaning” would skyrocket.  People born into today’s society are extraneous and they know it.  And they live most of their adult lives with this gnawing feeling that they really are just a number, doing some awful job that was created for them because well, we have all these goddamn people, and they need to work.
Look, there really are too many people.  A society that has time to bitch at each other about what pronouns they want to be called and which bathroom they get to use is a society with far too much free time.  If we cut the population in half (or better), people would be far too busy surviving to have time to be stupid.

N.P.: “Don’t Bring Me Down” – Electric Light Orchetstra

Each day is better than the one before, dear reader, because each day is another day since the extroverts were removed from power.  Things have never been so peaceful.  At least not since ’73.  I’m too busy basking in The Quiet to write.

N.P.: “Coming Home” – Ulver