Missed Opportunity

Quite sleepy ... awoke after three hours sleep (less than I need) to handle some morning appts and I can't wait to return to bed.

My understanding of the Maslow hierarchical pyramid tells me that it's only after solving our needs for food, clothing, and shelter can we begin to worry about love or purpose or what the hell to do with our leisure time. I was thinking...

Our government, in a misdirected attempt to attempt Darwin, will provide Gov't housing. Personally, I think that program is a disaster and would be better served by private interests, but others (mostly gang members) love public housing. Uncle Sam will also give away food, cheese most often, to keep people from starving. I've eaten that cheese, and prefer Ramen.

But ... and I bet you saw this coming ... I've never heard of a government clothing program (other than for prisons). How cool would it be if there was government clothing? We would soon recognize the blue plaid design, or whatever they came up with, as government-supplied clothing and I have no doubt it would be an instant punk fashion.

I love the idea of government clothing, much more than their attempts at housing or feeding! How was this crucial part of the necessities of life overlooked? Would their be any more shame in wearing those clothes than there is in living in the ugliest building in the city?


Work progressed slowly over the weekend. I got inspired (intimidated) by Pat Holt's rule about avoiding "to be" verbs and sentences. I got one chapter written without using one, but I think the flow and rhythm of the text suffered (I've yet to read it).

I attacked the next chapter with an eye to removing some, but not all, and met with more favorable progress. You know, the verbs *are* the thing. Many flat sentenceds, and I'm beginning to be able to spot them, just need a better verb. I've always had trouble noticing my own flat sentences as well as when I'm telling. I would love to create a list of lame verbs, the ones that should be replaced 95% of the time.