By seven-thirty-five, he is again seated at his desk, leaning back, his hands behind his head, and going over the script in his mind as he stares moodily out the window or at the wall before him, on which hangs a large photograph of Carl Sandburg, inscribed "Edward R. Murrow — reporter, historian, inquirer, actor, ponderer, seeker — Yrs., Carl Sandburg".
If you stay alert, you can succeed to King Tai's throne: a coveted curved booth in the back of the bar which wraps cozily around a six-person group, or two people, if you don't mind resentful stares.
However, if you do not mind strange stares and/or possible harassment, then feel free to go all out.
A loop of punts blocked, of field goals tipped, of returns fumbled — it blazes through his mind as he stares out the window, clear into darkness.
He likes the picture of himself in his own mind as he stares out sternly over the river, frowning in sunlight, his fingertips resting on top of the inner tube, his other hand on his hip, Huck Finn on the shore of the Mississippi, an Indian brave with a quiver of arrows on his back, getting ready to go down to the canoes.
Deeply subjective or phenomenal aspects of our experience, that may more easily be ignored elsewhere in the philosophy of mind, seem to stare us in the face here, where what is at issue centrally seems no informational content or broad functional role but simply "whether you're happy or sad".
This 17th-century Dutch artist created his peep show to demonstrate the optics of illusion and the way the mind completes a picture: stare through the little holes in the side and you will see a three-dimensional interior, created by the magic of perspective painting.
But another front-engine monster, the Dodge Viper, came to mind when I stared down the SLS's mammoth hood: it's like a Stonehenge monolith tipped on its side.
Actually, however, she does not mind being stared at.
