Posthuman Blues

One of the "tacky figurines" I purchased today (at a dollar store) is a nicely packaged female "Nordic" alien. For the uninitiated, the Nordics -- tall, blond quasi-humans often reported by alien abductees -- have become part of the contemporary UFO folklore. My "Nordic" figurine basically looks like a female crew member of the starship Enterprise. She wears a blue jumpsuit complete with a cryptic emblem near the breast.

The presence of "Nordics" aboard UFOs is unsettling from a "politically correct" perspective. They're creepily Aryan, like denizens of an alternate post-WWII Germany. (Note to self: I'm surpised this meme hasn't caught on among paranormal conspiracy theorists. After all, the Third Reich was busy designing disc-shaped aircraft up 'til the end of the war, and the book "Hitler's Flying Saucers" attempts to make sense of the fact that Barney Hill recalled the "leader" of his "alien" abductors wearing a Nazi-like uniform. I suppose that if you really wanted to go "out there," you could suggest that a clutch of technologically inclined Nazis escaped Germany and is presently scheming to take over the world using flying saucer mythology as a smokescreen. I don't buy it, but I'm sure some people would.)

I really don't want to go to work tomorrow. I'm emailing the polished version of my manuscript to my publisher this week and I want it to be perfect.

I'm still doting over my car. Compared to the other cars I've driven, this one is like a spaceship. I drove it through the ATM a while ago just for the hell of it. It has a great sound system but, alas, only a tape deck. I'll have to make copies of favorite CDs on cassette, or maybe buy an adapter for the DiscMan knock-off I won at the office Christmas party last year. It's still unwrapped, awaiting a good excuse for me to use it.

"I know the barricades
And I know the mortar in the wall breaks."

--R.E.M., "World Leader Pretend" (playing in the background as I write this)