Sinister: Cigarettes burning too quickly for comfort.

[Ruvi Simmons]

In an effort to write a little it less this time, I am only going to give
myself the time it takes to smoke a cigarette in which to complete
this...well, I quail to think of a suitable name for it. Screed? I shouldn't
really be smoking since I am still recovering from the flu, but it is
proving impossible to restrain myself. Indeed, the softness of my willpower
often gives me cause to lament. But anyway, enough of that, I am finally
feeling myself convalescing after several dreary, depressing days, and so I
shall shun such negative thoughts. Yesterday I was driving back to London,
or rather, being driven back since I can't drive, and the sky was overcast
with thick, billowing cloud. However, as we were whizzing past Hatfield, the
clouds began to break and golden shards of sunlight started to stream down,
warming the cold, barren fields. It felt, well, it felt like nature was
trying to tell me something, or at least that there was something I could
learn from it if I chose to. Nights and winters may seem long when one is
immersed in them, but they come and go. The fields that are now unploughed
and in a deathly slumber will, soon enough, begin to come back to life, and
become the home of growth and rebirth. So, what I learnt, obvious as it may
seem and difficult as it may be to bear in mind the next time night
descends, is optimism. Optimism and energy is what is needed to make the
most of a life that is all too short as is.

My cigarette has already run out, but I'm not feeling too inclined to stop
myself just yet. I'm aware of the woeful scarcity of any mention of Belle
and Sebastian yet again, but I don't really have much to say about them. I
would be listening to them, but I can't be bothered to plug in my
headphones. If I could, however, I would put on Fold Your Hands Child etc.
etc., which I've decided, having spoken to people about it, is a criminally
underrated and maligned album.

Since instead of writing this I should really be doing some reading, I shall
try and exercise just a little discipline. I can't really remember any good
jokes to end with, so instead how about a lovely quote?

"Down with wisdom! Forget everything I have said. Let us be neither prudish
nor prudent. I drink to merriment. Let us be merry and end our course on law
with folly and with food...How splendid is creation, how filled with gaiety,
the world glittering like a gem in benefaction of summer...My soul flies out
to virgin forests and savannahs. Everything is beautiful. The flies swarm in
the sunlight and the humming-bird is born in the sun. Kiss me, Fantine." -
Victor Hugo.

There. Over-long and superfluous it may be, but I can't help thinking that,
in some ways, it is relevant.

Ruvi.

+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
    +---+  Brought to you by the undead Sinister mailing list  +---+
    To send to the list mail sinister at missprint.org. To unsubscribe
    send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to
    majordomo at missprint.org.  WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister
 +-+  "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students"  +-+
 +-+  "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list"  +-+
 +-+       "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper        +-+
 +-+   "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000   +-+
 +-+       "peculiarly deranged fanbase" "frighteningly named       +-+
 +-+           Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000           +-+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+