Priceless

my old Sony boombox: $100: musical and poetical communion with Kurt Cobain, John Lennon, Trent Reznor and others

one US Airlines Ticket to Hawaii: $750, exposure to a mute version of the "Smallville" movie: vistas of black volcanic rock, jacuzzi visions of my island kingdom, friendship with a 6-foot sea tortoise

dinner for two at the Black Sheep, 10 drinks: $82.75, a mild hangover: a night with Aphrodite, induction into watersports, fond memories

a bag of weed, a plain, red glass bong:$115, my work ethic for a couple days, sound sleep: tutorship by Orpheus, an opportunity to write "The Borderlands"

a gold watch by Seiko: $150, my frugality: a daily reminder of my value, dreams of myself as a movie star

a one year subscription to Discover: $45, humanist enlightenment: membership in the brave new scientific world, an opportunity to learn of humanity's brotherhood with life from the depths of the sea to the depths of the earth

a realist: the solaces of cynicism, the ecstacies of optimism: a man who knows both the price and the value of things