Survivor

Last night, I read Survivor, the book Ben got me for Christmas. I was surprised to read that this was the same guy who wrote the book Fight Club. It's got the same gritty, bizzare, desperate feel, the same absurdist attitude. It opens with a hijacker planning his own airplane crash after letting all the passengers and crew off, with him talking to the black box to explain how he got there. Interesting and fun read. I couldn't put it down until I'd finishd it five hours later.

I read this morning about a stampede that killed 345 muslims during the Hajj pilgrimage. This seems to happen almost every year. There's a certain part of the Hajj where they throw stones at three low walls representing the devil. For some historical reason, its located a a bridge. The thousands of thousands of pilgrms are crammed up there and trapped. What caused this deadly stampede? Some luggage fell of the back of a truck and some people tripped. I can understand the sacred symbolism of location and site, but why not open it up a bit? the bridge is over a major road. Just reroute the road. The bridge is almost sadistic as people just as frequently topple over the edge as become trampled. Sad, sad, sad.

Suki seems to be more needy than usual. I don't know if that's because she's on a diet and trying to win my good graces, or what. It's impossible to do anything without her jumping up next to me, or trying to sit in my lap.