Yesterday was a decent day, highlighted by having lunch with a great buddy - some silly talk, some gossip, some semi-serious talk about peace, the Anti-War Rally scheduled for today, etc. Last night I spent a good amount of time just listening to music, trolling chatrooms, the usual Friday Night in Manhattan. In the middle of this, I suddenly had to hear Devo's Beautiful World. Then I rememberred that someone had used the song for a T V commerical, and I knew I had to find Devo's video - one of the few videos from 20 years ago that actually added to a song, rather than distracting like most musicvideos do. Beautiful World is a great song, but I had to find the video (thanks winMX!), while searching for that, and thinking about Andy's pessimism (which I share, except when someone else articulates it, I feel the need to argue), I went to an old box in a closet looking for old buttons - you know, back in the 80's when we all wore our fave bands, or anti-Reagan slogans proudly on our jackets (my fave was "Jane Wyman Was Right"). Seems I had saved tons of Jesse Jackson '88 buttons; but I found one small button that alleviated a small amount of my pessimism, and helped my teeny tiny bit of optimism for today's Peace Rallies around the world - my Free Nelson Mandela button - a sentiment that meant a lot to me, but way back then, I honestly didn't think I'd see the day. I'm rambling again, not terribly coherent, and quite conscious that I need to get my ass (and assorted other body parts) into the shower and off to work. My heart and mind will be with everyone out there in the cold saying Not In Our Name; but I will readily admit to a hefty amount of pessimism, and know that at the same time, the Beautiful World video will also be playing in my mind.