Wednesday, October 31, 2001

"Any prince who has come to depend entirely on promises and has taken no other precautions ensures his own ruin. Friendship that is bought with money and not with greatness and nobility of mind is paid for, but does not last and it yields nothing. Men worry less about doing an injury to one who makes himself loved than one who makes himself feared. The bond of love is one which men, wretched creatures that they are, break when it is to their advantage to do so; but fear strengthened by a dread of punishment is always effective." - Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, Chapter XVII.

Saturday, October 27, 2001

DISCLAIMER: I should mention that I am not actually attracted to this person and know nothing about him, not even a name.

I am not attracted to guys with frat-boy haircuts and golf shirts. Call me crazy. I prefer the Ethan Hawke thinking-girl's-boy look.

Why am I always so hung up on looks? For the moment, I can't even think about what type of brain I might be attracted to. Looks are easy, I suppose.

Saturday, October 20, 2001

AND NOW IT"S A GROUND WAR: I am vvv glad they decided on the name 'commandos' for these Special Forces soldiers. It's a get-the-job-done kind of name. Think the Taliban will fall soon.

THE NUMBERS ARE STAGGERING: I keep thinking of how many people were affected directly by the WTC massacre. At the moment I have 75 people in my email address book. Another 115 reside in my cell-phone directory. There are probably 500 contacts in my day planner. Then there's my enormous family including all stepparents. Add in church friends, close friends, and just the normal people I am in contact with regularly who aren't friends - my manicurist, my hair stylist, the woman who shampoos my hair, the lady who cleans my teeth, the chiropractor's office, clients, other doctors...All the people who died had these people in their lives as well. And those people are all affected. Then there are those who lived in the neighborhood, who came home to find ashes of people and belongings along with a fine layer of WTC concrete on everything they own. Everybody who worked in the area. People who stood transfixed with horror watching the burning luggage, fireballs and jumping victims. People who ran for their lives from the crowd. All the injured. And then we watched it on CNN. It's really staggering. This continues to be horrible.

On any given day there are F-14s flying over my city. The trails are comforting in a way they could never have been before September 11.

I am so glad they are called 'commandos.' I used to think whenever I'd hear that in a movie that it was a stupid name, but now I think I know why they picked it.