Another Saturday is half over. The Ides have once again passed, and Caesar is dead. Rendering long-passed memories into digital whims, I stare out into the streets, and cluttered ocean beyond. A cruiser, seven stories tall, meanders out of the bay, brushing by the park and winking arrogantly as she passes. I turn to catch scattered moments away from the functions and find I am often lost for words, pushing thoughts, rather than ideas into complex plastic notions. I seek inspiration, but she is a rare and elusive courtesan, and does not seem interested in my company today.

Fifteen minutes later, I find myself five blocks further south of Broadway, munching contentedly on a wrap at the local Breadgarden. The fact that food can ensure the freeness of thought in a meandering mind is proof enough for me that I should eat more than Eggo waffles for breakfast. I am sitting at a windowed perch, looking out onto Granville. Across the street sits the infamous Shabusen: Japanese Yakiniku House, where I took Karin for all-you-can-eat sushi when last she visited. That was three weeks ago now, but I can still taste the wasabi fumes reminding me that unlimited sushi and bbq is not for the inexperienced. My first visit with Markian, and his multi-talented cousins, expanded my skills beyond the realms of take-out and the simpler sushi-boat experiences. Rather, I was thrown into the complex rules and strategizing of the world of sushi-unleashed. I don’t claim to be an expert, but I have surpassed amature status.

I am still watching: wrap yet unfinished I see an angry man in a ragged jacket across the busy road. he is yelling a passers-by, as he slowly makes his way down the sidewalk.

I, myself, am being watched by curious onlookers. It seems that me and my curious Mr.V will be long a puzzle to people more accustomed to seeing laptops, cell phones, or – at some simpler level – only newspapers. Having often pondered the benefits of a neo-Luddite lifestyle, breaking free of technology, I find that completely stepping back from the grumbling corpse we call progress is a fatal decision in itself. One cannot exist in this state of mind without embracing somethings from among the spectrum of societies inventions. I should never dare to declare what those somethings could be, but in my own thoughts I think there are a handful of technologies which are both more useful, and less dangerous than others. And in saying so, it is fair perhaps to quote the spirit of Sun Tsu’s Art of War: Know thine enemy. One step back from declaring war on technology, I often only embrace it to better understand it.

My wrap is gone: my drink nearly drained, and I wonder if perhaps I should hasten back to my apartment, perhaps to only do some chores that I often tend to put-off until a weekend arrives. Later: bowling or movies? It’s time to cast your votes…