Live from Austin!

Got a henna tattoo at the weekend. It’s a geometric sun symbol, on my left upper arm. I’m deciding how I feel about tattoos and trying out various ideas before possibly getting the real thing.

I used to think it was something I’d never do; I was never that into self-decoration, and I couldn’t think of anything that would still be meaningful to me in twenty years.

And then I did. I’m considering getting the logo of the Weimar bauhaus as a tattoo. The bauhaus is a constant influence on me—from my web designs at work, to the choice of furniture in the living room. (I refuse to give up capital letters, though. You can thank me now.)

Coming home, I was sat next to the guy with Tourette’s Syndrome. At least, that’s what I assume it is; I’m no expert. He’s often travelling either to or from Davis Square. He sits and basically babbles whatever enters his head. Sometimes he tries to read a book or magazine, and you hear bits of the text incorporated into his vocalizations. Tonight it was mostly unintelligible; if it was a foreign language, it wasn’t one I recognize.

Sometimes he can clear a radius of two or three seats around him. When I failed to move, he moved a seat closer; perhaps hoping I’d try to strike up a conversation.

According to The Independent, UK police are being told that they can’t use words like “homosexual” and “bisexual”, because those are medical terms “used to criminalize lesbians, gay men and bisexuals in the nineteenth century”.

Which makes me wonder—just what the hell am I supposed to say instead of “bisexual”, in order to be politically correct? (This is a serious question.)