We're Going Back To Mindbenders

Because Tea goes to the doctor's office doesn't sound like very much fun.

I mean, the loud disco music was kind of fun, but mostly weird. And beyond that, it wasn't all that interesting. Although, I did see Krystal, and she, rather uncharacteristically, gave a very intelligent overview of neurology to my mother. I really do think that she's hiding some relatively serious brains.

We shape our dwellings, and, afterwards, our dwellings shape us.

We build houses, but when living in them, we are affected by them. For instance, Thoreau lived in a cabin to make his thinking more cabin-like. This was documented in Walden, which I read last summer and am going to reference in every single mindbender I write this year.

My daddy is a builder. I know people build houses. One of my earliest memories is of sitting in my father's pickup truck, looking out the window at the big, rotating cement truck and the masons pouring thick liquid stone into the foundation of a house. I was brought along to more realtor's open houses than I care to count. From all of this, it's been made clear that people build houses different ways for different reasons.

There are the cookie-cutter homes of standard suburbia, each built identically to match the people within them who have followed their cookie-cutter paths towards the American Dream. Houses for the wealthy, however, are grander and more unique. They are designed to allow the rich to easily demonstrate their wealth and prestige to their neighbors. They are often gaudy, with expensive fixtures and extensive floor plans. The houses are shaped by a compendium of workers, and they eventually attract a rich buyer, who eventually moves in.

Guess what? I'm going to go watch American Idol, so I'm leaving you with a cliff hanger. I'm sure you're really, really riveted.