A Trip to Lourdes; More "π"

When I got home Monday, I felt exhausted. So tired in fact that I was in bed by 8. Tuesday I decided it was some kind of bug, or a resurgence of what started two weeks ago. Tuesday and Wednesday I slept. This morning I went to the doctor and got a new round of antibiotics and other assorted meds. This evening, I feel better. No headache, no sore throat, just congested and tired.

To say this is irritating is an understatement. But what do I do about it? To steal a line from Woody Allen, "I'm gonna give it another year, then make a trip to Lourdes." Years of allergy shots did nothing but waste my money. The nasal reconstruction didn't help a lot. And four years of the autogenous vaccine was another blunder.

Sunday night, I saw the beginning of "π" on the Sundance preview. (I'd seen the ending earlier in the day.) A film made for $60,000 that manages to transcend it cheapness; indeed, the raw look enhances the story. "π" is about a young Jewish mathematician who is examining numeric patterns. He believes that a certain number may hold the key to myraid patterns from natural changes to stock market fluctuations. At the same time, a group of ultra-orthodox Jews are convinced that the number is the unspoken name for Jehovah. Or it could be that the number means nothing. Or it may be that there is no number.

None-the-less this is a film about obsession. A couple of viewers at IMDB compared the intensity of the obsession to that of "Taxi Driver." Interesting how obsession runs through American art. From Ahab to "π". But maybe that's because this is a such an obsessive culture. The desire to win, at almost any cost. Athletics, business, games, personal life, etc.

On a side note, I discovered that there does not appear to be an html symbol for Pi.

(Update 02/07: Obviously I was wrong.)

That's all I can come up. My brain is too numb.

PAX!