May 10th, 2007

Another icon of my past is gone.

Kilgore Trout died on April 11th, 2007.

Well, not Kilgore exactly… his alter ego and creator Kurt Vonnegut.

His obituary in the New York Times highlighted his quirkiness in eschewing the social status of his time. He was a World War II veteran, caught in the firestorm of the bombing of Dresden, Germany by Allied forces. He was a rabid anti-war activist during the Vietnam war. And, interwoven in said obit, was the fact that he coined and often used the phrase “And so it goes”.

Now, you’d think that a literary lion like Vonnegut would die, as expected, from the standard heart attack, or from a long illness following a courageous battle with cancer.

But, no. Even in death, Vonnegut was slightly out of step with reality and stepped off the planet in a way that might have been woven into the plot of one of his books.

He died as a result of brain damage caused by a fall in his home. Or, as he might have written in… he died from a bump on his head.

And so it goes.

With the exception of XM radio, you can’t tune in to radio or TV without being bombarded with car commercials!

Low financing, the best rated cars… and so forth (Another Vonnegutism).

We just leased a Honda Accord after my 2000 Elantra met an untimely demise and was totaled. No, I am not going to tell you about it.

Our decision was based upon Consumer Reports rating. And the price was right.

And still they blast me with commercials! OK, I BOUGHT THE FREAKING CAR ALREADY! LEAVE ME ALONE!

But, Noooooooo….. I have to hear Benz commercials for a lease for a mere $799 a month.