R.I.P. Mr. Vonnegut.

Sadly (for us), Kurt Vonnegut died yesterday. He was 84 years old.

I say "for us" because it had become quite clear that he was more than ready to shake off his mortal coil - so in that respect I'm happy for him. I'm not happy, however, knowing that we'll no longer get any new words from him. He was one of my favorite authors - it's good to know that I can always return to his books and will be able to enjoy his genius anew each time.

I'm not one for long speech-ifying at times like these - so I'm simply going to end this post with a quote from my favorite of his books, Hocus Pocus: "I think William Shakespeare was the wisest human being I ever heard of. To be perfectly frank, though, that's not saying much. We are impossibly conceited animals, and actually dumb as heck. Ask any teacher. You don't even have to ask a teacher. Ask anybody. Dogs and cats are smarter than we are."

Farewell, Kurt - if I were to react to your passing as I suspect you'd want me to, well, then I'd have to laugh like hell.