To begin:
CMG: One sentence describing the last five years of your life: DB: The problems of the mind cannot be solved on the level of the mind.

Not having a roommate simplifies the choices you have when looking for ways to distract yourself. In my better moments, I revert to cleaning and cooking food at intervals that pass muster as far as self-preservation goes. More often, I smoke a cigarette and then read over something without sufficient concentration. (The current over-reading phenomenon has structural similarities to the over-reading phenomenon of the late 02/early 03 period, but the motivational nexuses diverge in significant, but ultimate uninteresting ways.) Where is anything good around here, anyway?
My credit card company has continued to up the ante, raising my maximum balance or whatever it’s called. In response I have dropped the hammer on the outstanding balance and made it go dead. This is, in many ways, the outstanding achievement of late 05/early 06.
Do I sound negative? That is not the intention. I am going for that stream-of-consciousness digression-laden tone that mixes sophisticated resignation with “after school special” flair. While watching the first three episodes of the Sopranos last Saturday, I wondered if there was any Achilles’ heel to the show. It appears, at this point – no. That said, at some point in time (meaning: never) we Americans may grow out of our infatuation with the morally flawed character whose moral flaws don’t include an inability to sound the depths of his conscience. By “grow out of” I mean: “literalize the metaphor of.”

Also:
DB: Precedent doesn't discourage me anymore. I think we live in a time when unprecedented things (for the good and bad) are happening faster than we can comprehend.

Speed is of the essence.
Cultural consumption is at a standstill, due to limited access and you wonderful people not sending me artifacts you enjoy.
Limited comprehension had a good quarter – the price-to-earnings ratio has held steady against a weak dollar and the irrational exuberance of all those investors who still we’re getting out of this alive.
I realize that not talking about anything makes it difficult to sustain a conversation, but this isn’t a conversation now is it?

From a co-worker and friend who lives where I used to live:

"Making the most of the Philipsburg Bar scene - Last night I spent fours hours discussing everything from whether or not the civil war was a civil war to the knights templer to whether or not we live in an oligarchy with guys nicknamed Alley Earl, Lefty Mike and Boots. Life is good, but I got one hell of a hangover."