Stop

Times New Roman is the most decisive of fonts.

~ Abbott Elementary

- - - - -

You'd think they'd use that font on stop signs.
 

Nearby

He who lives in our mind is near though he may actually be far away; but he who is not in our heart is far, though he may really be nearby.

~ Chanakya

 - - - - -

Lily is always in my mind and in my heart. She is also nearly always nearby. 

I love having a dog.

(I know this may not seem like a profound post, but it is a profound truth.)

Fortune

In the end, all things will be known.

~ A fortune cookie I got when I had lunch with Myles last summer

- - - - -

I have known difficult times. I have struggled sometimes. Not as much as some. More than others. I have been fortunate, however, never to be in such a state of despair that I swiped a fortune cookie from the grocery store just to double-check on the future. 

I hope it all worked out for you, whoever you are.

 

Student

Some people are

so much sunshine

to the square inch.

~ Walt Whitman

- - - - -

They say teachers shouldn't have a favorite student. Maybe. They don't say anything about teachers not having a least favorite student.

Thank goodness for that.

 

Alley

Easy Street is a blind alley.

~ Wilson Mizner

- - - - -

Person 1: I thought Easy Street was Bruce Springsteen's band.

Person 2: No. That's "E Street"

Person 1: Oh. And blind alley is...

Person 2: A pointless direction or going in a certain direction mistakenly.

Person 1: Oh. I thought a blind alley was where they hang curtains partway down the bowling alley so you can't see the pins.

Person 2: (silence)

Person 1: I just made that u---

Person 2: I know.

Person 1: This was a nice talk.

Person 2: Talking with you is a blind alley.

Person 1: I like to think that talking with me is easy and without worries. Talking with me is E Street. (pause) Hey. Where are you going?

Sign

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign

Blocking out the scenery, breaking my mind

Do this.

Don't do that.

Can't you read the sign?

~ Les Emmerson

- - - - -

When you see a fence or a sign that says you can't go somewhere, you want to go there more, right? That's because there is something interesting there. I'm not telling you to ignore the signs, I'm just assuring you there is something there you would be interested in. Of course, that thing could be someone screaming at you to get out of there. Still, those things can make for some pretty good stories. But I'm not telling you to ignore signs. I'm not the boss of you. 

I sure do wonder what's over there, though.

Don't you..?

Shows

If television's a baby sitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who won't shut up.

~ Dorothy Gambrell

- - - - -

I don't know what kids think when they watch television. I keep asking them, but they ignore me or else say, "BE QUIET, I'M WATCHING MY SHOW!"

Personally, I think that kind of comment is a sign of maturity because when I ask old people why they watch TV, they ignore me or else say, "BE QUIET, I'M WATCHING MY SHOW!"

The more we change, the more stay the same or also the more we do not change.

Salt

In our community, there was always salt, pepper, and love.

~ Miss Linda, the Yakamein Lady

- - - - -

Some spices and seasonings are fussy. They are showy or have to be handled with special care or, at the other extreme, may be kind of worthless in the long run. On this planet, the thing I think is the most noble, worthy, and unfussy is probably salt. Salt really is salt of the earth.

Bus

I hated school. Even to this day, when I see a school bus, it's just depressing to me. The poor little kids.

~ Dolly Parton

- - - - -

One time I dreamt that I was going to one of the NCAA women's basketball tournament games. For some reason, I didn't get to go. Instead, I ended up riding a bus home with some of the cast from Abbott Elementary. I'm really glad that show is on or else I might not have known everyone who was on the bus with me.

 

Interruptions

Maybe that's what life is -- just a series of interruptions.

~ Rose Walker, The Sandman

- - - - -

Me: I think life is more --

Lily: WAIT! Did you see that?

Me: See what?

Lily: That squirrel!

Me: No. Life is more than just --

Lily: There it is again! That squirrel!

Me: Stop. Life is more than --

Lily: HI, SQUIRREL!!! HI!!

Me: Lifeismorethanjustaseriesofinterrup--

Lily: I LOVE SQUIRRELS! Let me out so I can play with the squirrel!

Me: --tions. (sigh) Unless you're a dog.

Librarian

The librarian is the most important educator in the school. What she doesn't know, she can find out. This is not an opinion, it's a fact. Do not share this fact with Mrs. Mudford.

~ Bonnie Garmus

- - - - -

If you doubt the fact in the quote above, go to the library and ask a librarian to find out if it is true. She will. And she will tell you that it is, in fact, the truth.
 

Time

One must work with time and not against it.

~ Ursula K. LeGuin

- - - - -

It is okay to work against turmeric or rosemary, though. 

Mysterious

Mysteries abound where most we seek for answers.

~ Ray Bradbury

- - - - -

 

Do you see how there was a playing card on this at one point? A jack. Or a king? It's like the Shroud of Turin except on wood and of a playing card. Of course, the Shroud of Turin was denounced in 1309 as a fake. This thing in this picture is not a fake. It is real. I saw it. 

Days

We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.

~ Marcel Proust

- - - - -

The other day I was typing a message to someone. At the end, instead of typing, "Enjoy the rest of your day," I typed, "Enjoy the rest of your days." It made it sound like one of us was about to move on in our epic journey across the sea.

(pause)

I wish I knew more people who went on epic journeys across the sea. I don't like so many people around me.
 

Bees

Every saint has a bee in his halo.

~ Elbert Hubbard

- - - - -

She loved her first husband more than her second. The first man she married, she married for love. They were perfectly suited for one another. He brought her joy nearly every moment they were together. He called her a saint who made his life whole. She called him the bee's knees and her favorite person on earth.

Her second husband was a husband of necessity. He was fine. He suited her needs for a companion and someone to strategize with. For him, however, she was truly a dream. As with her first husband, he saw her as his soul mate - perfect in nearly every way. She called him the bee's ankles.

Truth

All truths are not to be told at all times.

~ Samuel Butler

- - - - -

I hear people saying that the facts are indisputable, but I see that doesn't stop people from disputing the facts.

Robots

You just can't differentiate between a robot and the very best of humans.

~ Isaac Asimov

- - - - -

One time I was writing about a conversation I had with Chat GPT. When I entered what the robot said to me, Grammarly found an error. It was then that I realized that if robots ever start to take over, all we have to do is put them at war with other robots.

I saved the world.

Sasquatch

Beasts were babies once, too.

~ Michelle Boettcher

- - - - -

Is it a baby bigfoot or a littlefoot?

Or maybe a sastot.

So many mysteries in the world. 

Attention

Paying attention to things. It's how we show love.

Frank from The Last of Us

- - - - -

I'm really glad they don't have smell-o-vision for The Last of Us. I know the breath of those mushroom people has to be pretty bad. And moist.

 

Journey

I wish I was 

homeward bound

~ Paul Simon

- - - - -

I think the "Odyssey" is a brilliant name for a minivan. Just as Odysseus traveled home and encountered challenges after the Trojan War, so do parents of children travel home and encounter challenges in their mini-vans. Do those challenges and journeys really compare? Well, you can compare them, so yes.

Nature

A lack of humility is a sure way to have a problem with nature.

~ Jose Martinez Amoedo

- - - - -

"You made a mistake on that sign," Morgan said.

"Whatcha mean?" asked Nigel.

"You put 'Nature Trial' instead of 'Nature Trail'," Morgan said.

"Why don't you take a hike down that path before you decide if I made a mistake or not," growled Nigel.

Monsters

Scary monsters are like hula hoops, they come in and out of fashion.

~ John Malkovich

- - - - -

I bet monsters are scared of things, too. Maybe they have their own version of monsters. Maybe humans are monsters to monsters, just like humans are monsters to humans. Maybe they are scared of pole dancing, as depicted by the monster in the background above.
 

Isolation

Solitude vivifies; isolation kills.

~ Joseph Roux

- - - - -

We live in pretty isolated times right now. "Social media" is not really all about being social. It's about sitting in the dark and spewing horrible things onto other people's social media sites. We've all done it. We've all perpetuated some sort of ill-will on others because we felt alone but had access to a platform and decided to go on the attack.

(pause) 

To that one person - sorry about what I wrote, that one time.

(pause)

You know who you are.

(pause)

All of you know who you are.

Creativity

My dream is to have a creativity barn in my backyard, which is full of instruments and every kind of paint and oils and paper, and you can just go in and make something.

~ Allison Janney

- - - - -

My dream is to live in Allison Janney's creativity barn. 

(pause)

With her permission. I don't want her to get weirded out by this post.

Dip

I gravitated back to the theater again, and when I heard about this little, independent movie called 'Lady Bird', I thought, "This will be a project where I can dip my toe back in the water.

~ Laurie Metcalf

- - - - -
 

Kirk loves Anderson Erickson French Onion Sour Cream Dip. You cannot order it online here, but apparently, you can in Belgium. I don't know if, given the choice, Kirk would prefer Anderson Erickson French Onion Sour Cream Dip or to meet Laurie Metcalf.

I don't know why he feels like he has to choose. He could easily go over to Belgium, see her on the street, order some dip, and have the best of both worlds.

You have dream bigger, baby brother. Dream bigger.

Ask.

The power to question is the basis for all human progress.

~ Indira Gandhi

- - - - -

There are  lots of interesting questions in the world. Why is this monkey on this bike? Why did the shop owner think this was a good display? Why did that woman ask me one time if I was there for the Tri Delt reunion? How could she think that would be a thing for me? 

Words

Don't gobblefunk around with words.

~ Roald Dahl

- - - - -

I saw this sign about a year ago. I love signs. I love church signs especially. They often highlight specific messages and organizational values of their faiths and congregations. They often are the marketing and PR for their specific church. What a church posts on its sign is a message about what that church stands for, values, and practices.

They make me laugh. And also think and reflect. Sometimes it's more the laughing part, though.

 

Ideas

I never measured my ideas by money.

~ Dan Katz

- - - - -

I have most of my good ideas in the morning. I have most of my bad ideas very late at night. I have most of my medium ideas -- who am I kidding? I don't have medium ideas.

Food

Good food should belong to everybody.

~ Thuy Pham

- - - - -

There are a lot of food and cooking shows I like to watch. Food is really personal and often emotional. The idea that the food that nourished us helped make us who we are is very moving to me. My brother Erik, for example, probably was who he was mainly because of Count Chocula.

Steps

Sometimes it's not how big the steps are, but the direction in which the steps are going.

~ Nishan Panwar

- - - - -

Sometimes it's how big the steps are. 

 

Fire

No one in need of a rescue gets the savior of her choice. They usually get whoever's closest.

~ J Ryan Stradal

- - - - -

A lot of times we rescue ourselves. Who is closer to us than us? Unfortunately, we sometimes have to rescue ourselves from problems we created for ourselves. Like accidental arson or mishap murder.

Also, I'd probably watch a show or listen to a podcast called "Mishap Murder."