Narcissus-X Proffers Plenteous Provisos

(Narcissus-X, proffering plenteous provisos.)

Periphrastic pleonasms, ostentatious expositors, banished vulgarians! Narcissus-X willingly assists the Lemming, proffering plenteous precepts, purling pearls or pairing purlins by the penguin portal.

Narcissus-X further declares that the Lemming's retreat continues. But fear not for the Lemming! For Narcissus-X is at hand, elevating this banausic blog through profound vaults of obsidian splendor.

Not for naught has Narcissus-X ascended the nadir of nattering Nibelungian nabobs. Had the Lemming sought Narcissus-X, sought artist, sought art, spotted snakes with double tongue, weaving circles round him thrice; then might the Lemming have leaped large lengths of miles.

But time twists and moments pass as pigeons on the grass, alas! Narcissus-X is here and the Lemming's path is knotted through haunts where slithy toves gyre and gimble in the wabe. Mimsy are the borogoves, when the mome raths outgrabe: and many hunt the snark in vain.

Time, tide, and Plato's fifth solid, surely shall return the Lemming to this blog. But not today.

This isn't Shakespeare, but neither is Narcissus-X.

• From the Lemming, selected by Narcissus-X
  • "Remember the Paths"
    (July 24, 2015)
  • "Ashikaga Yoshiakira's Birthday, Independence Day, and All That"
    (July 4, 2015)
  • " 'Let Me See That Map!' "
    (February 6, 2015)
  • " 'We Saved You a Piece' "
    (January 30, 2015)
  • "Pip: Not Your Usual Fluffy Christmas Rhyme"
    (December 5, 2014)
• Profundity and penguins, from Narcissus-X
  • "Narcissus-X and the Gloomy Dane"
    Narcissus-X (August 12, 2015)
  • "Penguin, Penguin, Burning Bright: Narcissus-X Ponders"
    Narcissus-X (September 5, 2014)
  • "Narcissus-X Listens"
    Narcissus-X (July 25, 2014)
  • "Angst and the Artist: Interview With Narcissus-X"
    (May 30, 2014)
  • "Jabberwocks: A Guest Post by Narcissus-X"
    (June 11, 2010)

Lemming Tracks: What Gives With These Posts?

Apathetic Lemming of the North presented a dancing duck; and a couple of mildly arcane posts about a star that hasn't exploded on schedule for decades, and planets that may or may not exist. Also what I think about moving planets around, terraforming Venus, and other topics you probably don't hear discussed at the corner cafe all that often.

Has the Lemming Lost It?

There's a good explanation for those posts: I limit the content of this blog strictly to things I'm interested in.

And, today, what I grabbed off the top of the barrel were those three items.

Normally I rummage around a little more: but I've got something I call the flu, and am taking it easy.

Lemming Tracks: It's Been Quite a Week - and it Ain't Over Yet

The Lemming has had quite a week. Make that quite a month.

My second-oldest daughter got married.

My father's condition took a turn for the worse.

My new son-in-law got really, really, sick; couldn't eat; a scary several days.

My son-in-law got better, my father got worse. Lots worse.

My father died.

I buried my father and mother's remains yesterday.

And it isn't over yet: I've got the other half of their remains left to bury in Illinois. They were cremated, you see, and the ashes comingled. It isn't as gross or weird as it sounds.

I need to get a bulletin ready for the local Knights of Columbus council. Before Sunday, if humanly possible.

But, hey: no pressure.

The point of going into this detail of my everyday life is in case you've noticed a slight change in tone in these posts. There's more about what's happening with me and the family, at Through One Dad's Eye, whose URL is smalltowndad.blogspot.com, because I changed the name of the blog after starting it.

Oh, well. Life goes on.

Lemming Tracks: What's With All the Quotes?

The Lemming's had quite a weekend. Shoveling manure on Tuesday probably caught up with me Friday night.

My left lumbar region and I are on speaking terms again, but the sensations I've experienced were a bit distracting. And, there's a local Knights of Columbus bulletin that needed to be done this weekend.

I didn't have time to do my usual look-around for post topics, and didn't want to leave today postless, either. ("Postless?" If that wasn't a word before, it is now.)

Hence, the quotes.

The Lemming plans to be back tomorrow, with a more diverse set of micro-reviews.

Lemming Tracks: The Lemming's Cooling Down

Literally. My fever's well below 100 today, and may stay there. Or, it may not.

In a related matter, there hasn't been a new post on this blog since Friday. In a way, that's not doing too badly. Another blog of mine hasn't been updated since April of last year. Actually, I've been having a bit of a time keeping up with the Lemming for a few months.

The Lemming Sits Down and Thinks: Out Loud

I don't do New Year's resolutions, but this year I did some re-evaluation during the big holiday season. I haven't come up with any firm conclusions yet, but there are going to be some changes.

Like getting blog posts out on time. (Famous last words?)

First, though, I decided to let my hair down a bit. A process which, in my case, looks like that photo.

As 2009 starts, boredom isn't an issue for me. When I'm not watching the unfolding story of humanity and the universe, I'm dealing with:

• Health issues
  • Major depression
  • Diabetes
  • Obesity
• Economic issues
  • Laid off for two and three quarters years and counting
  • Still haven't restored a reliable, steady, income
• Family issues
  • Daughter getting married
    (good news)
  • Father dying
    (not-so-good news)

Otherwise, though, my life has been pretty tranquil.

Has the Lemming Lost it?!

This post isn't as off-topic as it may seem. The Lemming is mostly interested in what shows up on the Internet, but I blog about blogging, too. Sometimes.

And, since I've got an insider's view of this blog, I thought that sharing some of what's been going on behind the scenes might be of interest.

The Apathetic Lemming of the North: 2009

Assuming that I manage to evict the bug that's been having a party in me lately, posts should be coming on the three-per-day basis that I settled on last year.

Until I change my mind.

It's funny, what a fever does to one's ability to concentrate - and make sense.

Other Blogs

I doubt that I'll add another blog to the collection any time soon: That sort of extra responsibility I don't need right now. As far as the more interesting (to me) ones go:

Narcissus-X

This blog is, in a way, my favorite. Around spring of 2008, though, I discovered that there might be quite a lot more of that wack job of an angsty artist in me than I realized.

And, although he's fun to write for, I found that encountering him in the corridors of my mind was a little disconcerting.

Which is a sort of explanation for why you haven't seen posts from Narcissus-X for a while. Another issue with the Narcissus-X blog is a sort of story line that I'd considered introducing. It looked good at first blush, but probably wouldn't have been all that entertaining. I mean to say: Narcissus-X, cured?

A Catholic Citizen in America

The header's description, "Following Catholic beliefs and practices in America: One man's experience," won't change: for now, at least. Posts have been more of my response, as an informed Catholic, to news and events than I'd planned at first.

Like everything else in this changing world, that may change.

Through One Dad's Eye

I haven't been updating this personal blog as often as I'd planned - and hoped - to. Changing that will take a reform of my daily schedule. Starting with establishing a daily - and weekly - schedule.

I've been handling tasks as they came up, and as I thought of them. That's a very laid back, comfortable approach, but it doesn't get things done as reliably as I like.

Another War-on-Terror Blog

Posts for this blog take more time to write than for any of my others: It's the research that does it. That daily/weekly schedule should keep me from spending too much time on it. But, that may mean fewer posts.

Loonfoot Falls Chronicle-Gazette

I've been writing a 250-word post for this blog every Friday for quite a while now. I'm starting to know more about the fictional small town of Loonfoot Falls, Minnesota: and am enjoying the process.

Actually, that's almost every Friday. Last Friday's post didn't get published until Sunday night. Good thing, too. Not only did the stuff I'd put together in Friday's mental fog deserve oblivion, but the delay gave me an opportunity to have a supporting character make a post, explaining the delay.

The Lemming is Hot!

To paraphrase Jar-Jar Binks, in that Star Wars movie, "fever's back!"

If you're still reading: thanks for the interest, and I hope this quick look under the hood of a blogger's head was worth the time. I hope to be back tomorrow, with a more usual assortment of posts for Apathetic Lemming of the North.

Lemming Tracks: The Lemming Emerges

The Apathetic Lemming of the North emerged from obscurity today, appearing in the upper left corner of this blog.

Lemming Tracks: The Lemming's Back, and Getting Caught Up

I'm back, and starting to catch up on my blogging.

"Apathetic Lemming of the North" should be back up to speed by tomorrow night. Thanks for your patience. I hope that the next time this sort of thing comes up, I'll have my ducks in a row, and be able to stay up to date.

Blogs and the Blogosphere: and the One Thousandth Post on "Apathetic Lemming of the North"

This is my thousandth blog post on "Apathetic Lemming of the North: A good enough reason to put several links about the Internet and the blogosphere in one post.

I'd hoped to find some up-to-date information about how many blogs there are now, but what I found was a information that's a few years old. Either people have stopped trying to keep track of the blogosphere's population, or this isn't one of my better days: maybe both.

Here's what I found:

---

"Yahoo cites huge potential online ad market in declining Microsoft’s bid" InternetRetailer.com (February 19, 2008)

It looks like there are one billion (American definition: 1,000,000,000) people using the Internet these days. That's a lot of people.

---

"Measuring the Impact of Blogs Requires More Than Counting" Wall Street Journal (May 26, 2005)

There were tens of millions of blogs in 2005: about 3.5 million of which were active; with between 350,000 and 900,000 posts per day.

Nothing to Say, But That Hasn't Stopped Me Before

No entries yesterday: Sorry about that.

I didn't have the Internet connections I thought I'd have.

And today, what I have is very slow. That should be different by tonight.

Thanks for your patience! The lemming should be back, fairly soon.

Why "Apathetic Lemming of the North?"

Several people either asked me why I chose "Apathetic Lemming of the North" as this blog's name, or told me that it didn't make sense. They were more polite about it, but that's the gist of what they said.

I made a quick explanation, in "Rise of Apathetic Lemming of the North," the first post in this blog. It wasn't very complete, since I was eager to go out an find interesting blogs to blog about.

Now, it's time to go back and do a more polished job.

Lemmings are rodents that are so stupid, they blindly follow their leaders in mass suicides. At least, that's what 'everybody knows.' The facts are a little more complicated. ("Why We Should Always Question.." is a pretty good place to start, if you're looking for the lemming behind the lens.)

The suicidally stupid lemmings of contemporary folklore led to the rodents' name being applied to classes of people.

"Lemming" meant "narrow-minded, biased fans" in the 1980s. Fans of wrestling's WWF were the first to carry the label, but it spread.

I remember it being used as a label for those who didn't agree with people in the anti-war movement at least as far back as the 1970s. "Lemming" still seems to mean "easily-led dupe who doesn't agree with me" to this day, as its use in at least one comment dated October 21, 2006, demonstrates.

Apathy, of course, was anathema to the anguished campus activists of the sixties and seventies. The cultural pressure to care: deeply, passionately, hysterically, led to the slogan "Apathy is Rampant, But Who Cares?" I still treasure the sight of those words, emblazoned upon a bumper sticker.

That's where I come in.

I'm apathetic. I must be. I think that

• The spotted owl will flourish, as long as there are virgin ponderosa pine forests and K-Mart signs for them to nest in.
• It's not necessary to retrofit everyone's home with wheelchair ramps and/or elevators to upper floors (I'm not making this up: it could have become a plank in one party's platform)
• Protecting union members from plutocratic oppressors who tear bread from the bleeding lips of the starving masses isn't quite the issue that it was a century ago

What is considered important, and what's not, in America seems to be determined in the coastal cultures. Since my priorities don't even come close to the stereotype Starbucks-frequenting, Armani-wearing, New York Times reader, I must be "apathetic."

I can live with that.

Lemmings are stupid, easily led people. I've learned that they're people who are so dull and boring as to actually work for a living. It may even be a mainstream word by now, as this blog name hints: "Smart Lemming (manage your career or it will manage you)."

Given that a "lemming" is someone who is so un-Timothy-Leary-like as to not "turn on, tune in, drop out," and has been known to have a job, I must be a lemming.

I can live with that, too.

So, I'm an "Apathetic Lemming."

I thought "of the North" is pretty obvious. Minnesota was as far north as America got, before Alaska became a state, and my home state is still the most northerly of the contiguous states, thanks to that surveyors' hiccup, up by Lake of the Woods.

When I started this blog, I decided to have some of my qualities reflected in the name. "Apathetic Lemming" appealed to me.

Then I discovered that there were quite a few "Apathetic Lemmings" out there: although I submit that none were as apathetically lemming-like as I am.

"Apatheticest Ultra-Lemming" sounded silly, so I called this blog "Apathetic Lemming of the North," instead.

Rise of Apathetic Lemming of the North

As if the world didn't have enough blogs already, here's another one.

Mine. My fourth, to be more precise:

• Another War-on-Terror Blog
• Apathetic Lemming of the North
• Starting a Small Business Without Losing My Mind
• Through One Dad's Eye

Why so many? I'm following the one blog - one topic rule. That makes each blog easier for folks to find, using search engines. It also makes a blog easier to read for anyone who isn't me.

Apathetic Lemming of the North will be my blog on other blogs.

Why "Apathetic Lemming of the North?" "Lemming" has been a term used to describe narrow-minded, biased fans: in the 1980s, of wrestling's WWF, later for any promotion.

I remember it being used as a description of those who didn't agree with people in the anti-war movement at least as far back as the 1970s. "Lemming" still seems to mean "easily-led dupe who doesn't agree with me" to this day, as its use in at least one comment dated October 21, 2006, demonstrates.

I am not particularly interested in the great causes some of this continent's coastal cultures: the oppression of the spotted owl, for example.

Even worse, I hold views which are contrary to the faith of such bastions of relevance as Amherst and Berkeley.

I am, therefore, not only apathetic, but a lemming as well.

A quick Google search showed that at least one other person of the 6 billion or so on Earth already used the "Apathetic Lemming" moniker. To differentiate myself, I have dubbed myself "Apathetic Lemming of the North." Appropriate not only because I live in one of the northern tier of the contiguous states, but because some of my views will almost certainly be viewed as cold and heartless.

I don't agree, but then I'd rather be alive than feel good: and assume that others feel the same way.

Enough introduction. To the blogosphere!