Fortuna Faveat... may fortune favor us

Kurt Vonnegut II, RIP

I don’t have many heroes. Kurt Vonnegut certainly was one of the few. He changed my life.

I can’t precisely tell you how he did so. In fact, I can’t say what changed. But I know that after reading Slaughterhouse-Five as a sophomore in high school, my world was never the same.

Then came Breakfast of Champions, then Sirens of Titan, Galapagos, Cat’s Cradle. Each of these books greatly affected me over the years. They keep this absurd world we inhabit in perspective. Looking back at these icons of American letters, I couldn’t help thinking “if this isn’t nice I don’t know what is.” Thanks, Kurt!

For an informative bio of this genius, check out the LA Times biography (PDF) via the Chicago Tribune. (Ed. Note: this excellent bio seems to be gone from the online archives of both papers, so I am preserving it here in PDF format. So it goes.)

High Explosives, anyone?

One of my oldest friends, Ben Farmer, asked his lovely girlfriend Leighanne to marry him. Or was it the other way around?

I don’t know, they are traveling through South America and I haven’t heard it from anyone but his mum. Yes, I said “mum”. I am celebrating the Oz in us all!

Raise a glass to a fair dinkum aussie and his pommy bride-to-be! Cheers to you both!

I wonder if Leighanne will continue to allow Ben to chew on dynamite once they are married?

Ed. Note: Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!!! Oy, oy, oy!!!

Jennifer Bany, Esq.

Don’t call it a comeback, she’s been here for years! That’s right, almost 28 of them. Scary. Fresh from her emotional victory over the Kansas State Bar Exam, you know she is ready to ring in a new year.

I’ve never been one of those people that thought getting old was weird or that turning 30 made you soooooo old. But turning 28 does seem quite odd. It seems an acceptable age for my older friends and family, not for my contemporaries and *gasp* me! Not just yet, but July is right around the corner.

Here’s to Ms. Bany! Nothing but the best for you and your old man in your new year!