Leland Torrence wrote:
> "relatively perfect"
> Yo Gabby!  Please explain how I might use this term in the future.  Is this
> like the two meter rule?
Leland,

As I see it perfect is a state of mind, not an objective reality, and as 
such like any other non-absolute subjective quality it is relative to 
other criteria. In the case of the stone floor to hold grout joints of 
even width and parallel lines as perfection would result in an 
installation that did not meet the perfection that would please the 
aesthetic eye of the particular judge, the owner and future primary 
occupant of the bathroom. The grout will make a considerable difference 
in going from dark lines now to alabaster lines that will reduce their 
visual register. The variations in grout line, along with the vein color 
variations and existing stains in the stone reinforce the most important 
story for the owner that the installation is twice salvaged.... as that 
is their business of architectural salvage not so much the authenticity 
of salvage as it is the illusion and the story. As in a cast metal table 
they picked up for $25 then gussied up in the back corner of the lot 
sells for $800 not so much as it by itself is valuable as much as it is 
sold by the overall context of the showroom/garden area that pulls on 
one's imagination -- the surrounding objects and the conscious subtle 
and intended imperfections of the built environment reinforce the story. 
So if you can find anyone that will believe you when you say relatively 
perfect then have a go at it!

As a child as punishment for a modest joke in the school cafeteria I was 
told to stand and face a painted concrete block wall. It actually had 
more to do that a few years earlier I had given the cafeteria attendant 
woman's son a good and smart bloody nose when he said something 
particularly crude about my mother and after he had hurled at me and hit 
with a snowball with a rock in it. So the woman was predisposed to have 
it out for me (her husband was the local well driller -- I spent many 
hours watching him work -- such a curiously kool profession). 
Regardless, one can stand at close proximity to a concrete block wall 
and be bored and feel tortured, or one can find it entertaining. I found 
it entertaining to study the imperfections, the spider lines, the bumps 
of mortar, to map out the wall. For the most part none of us looks at 
the world in this manner, we would not ever be able to stand it and some 
of us would go mad in the process, if we have not already... but I think 
it is interesting that if we know to do it that we can go to that place 
of small details and focus. Attendant on this was that the cafeteria 
attendant was frustrated when she approached me to release me from 
torture I was very happy to describe to her how sincerely interesting 
the wall was. I got more pleasure from that.

Two young women approached us as we were standing in the garden the 
other evening and asked if they could do a photo shoot the next day of 
John Giorno. He is to be their guest of honor at a spoken work festival 
in Montreal. They were given permission as long as nobody saw them do 
it... the owner (away on the left coast) of the site charges a hefty fee 
for photo shoots at the site. I did not get to meet John Giorno. Nor did 
I hear him in the garden.

][<en

--
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://listserv.icors.org/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>