Ampersand

You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don't make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can't take their eyes off of you.

~ Maya Angelou

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This ampersand has got it all backwards.

Wait, I mean the ampersand is backwards. The messages are actually pretty nice.

Sleep

Even a soul submerged in sleep is hard at work and helps make something of the world.

~ Heraclitus

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Given what my friend Heraclitus said, I'm not sure if that saying, "If you snooze, you lose" is actually true. 

Language

All you can do is try to be less crap at English.

~ Jason Dixon, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

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I like language a lot. I like to play with words to create new things.

For example, I'm going to write a story about a person who knows another person. (pause) Stay with me. I know the plot is weak at this point, but there is more.

Anyway, one of the people is named Sam. But then the other person gets a concussion and forgets Sam's name and everything about Sam.

I'm going to call the story "Samnesia."

I know that the title is the best part of the story, but I don't care. And you're not literature critic, so shut up.

And if you happen to actually BE a literature critic, shoot me an email and let me know what ideas you have for a good rest of this story.

Sponge

It is time for me to chuck in the sponge. To retire from films and stage. The heart for it has gone out of me; it won't come back.

~ Peter O'Toole

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I feel the same way about black licorice.

Impossible

It is impossible to suffer without making someone pay for it; every complaint already contains revenge.

~Friedrich Nietzche

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Sometimes when I do a blog I have a photo and then find a quote. Sometimes I find a quote and then look to pair it with the right photo. In this case, I have had the photo for a while. 

When I read this quote, though... Wow. It really struck me.

I can get sucked into negativity and complaining. While that may serve as a release in the moment, in the long term it just makes me feel worse. That's not to say that one should avoid pointing out injustice or cruelty. The point is to take action - and complaining is not action.

Like I complain about fruitcake sometimes, but do I take action to change it and eliminate it? I do not. That isn't productive.

Also, in the scheme of the world today, fruitcake is pretty low on my list of concerns.

Shoe

Let your dreams outgrow the shoes of you expectations.

~ Ryunosuke Satoro

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The wooden shoe kicks the milk,
The milk spills on the floor.
The mother grabs the sweeping broom
And chases brother out the door.

His wooden shoes go "Cloppity Clop Clop"
As crying and yelling he runs.
Mother hits him in the head and shoulders
His arms and legs and buns.

The neighbors they all gather round
To laugh at the funny scene
But stop when mother looks at them
Because she is so mean.

Cloppity Clop Clop
Stoppity Stop Stop
When mother has the broom in hand
There is neither pity nor stop


So... sometimes - as I've shared - I write my blogs in advance. I wrote this one a couple of years before I posted it. I had to look up this poem to make sure I made it up. I did.

I didn't really probably have to look it up. I mean, have you read the poem here? If so, you know no one else would have written it.

Moon

The moon is a friend for the lonesome to talk to.

~ Carl Sandburg

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By the time this posts, I will be on vacation. I won't have my phone on. I won't be on a computer. I will be reading and writing and resting and swimming and having conversation about things other than work. I fail a lot when it comes to appreciating the things around me.  I get too caught up in doing things for my job or to immersed in social and other media. 

I know I'm not alone in that. I think a lot of people struggle with these things too.

In fact, they're probably way worse at appreciating the things around me than I am. Mainly because of them aren't around me. 

I appreciate that.

Gratitude

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, won, or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experiences of living every moment with love, grace, and gratitude.

~ Denis Waitley

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I think we should be thankful throughout the year, not just during Thanksgiving. I try to appreciate things I see in my daily life, when I'm driving around aimlessly, when I'm traveling with intention. Like the photo here. I'm thankful I saw it. And I'm grateful I don't live across the street from the people whop ut up this display. 

Why?

"Daddy, why do people have to be dead?"

~ Stephen King

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If that kid asked me, I'd say, "One reason, kid: Zombies." 

I think that might inspire the kid to read a lot about life and also it might inspire the kid to quit bothering me because I'm busy.

I try to be inspirational for future generations.

Time

In these times you have to be an optimist to open your eyes when you awake in the morning.

~ Carl Sandburg

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History repeats itself. I forget that sometimes. If you want to know what happens after now, look at what happened after the last time that was most like now, then you'll know.

Other things are like this, too. If you want to know how your mom will react to a profanity-infused rant, think about how she responded the last time. I suspect it wasn't good - unless it was about that one person. You know who I'm talking about. If it's about them, then you're probably okay.

Fallen

I have been enlightened. I have fallen into poetry and it has swallowed me up.

~ Keith Haring

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I once fell into a snow pit and it almost swallowed me up. Not really. It was just hard to get up in my snowmobile suit. Plus I was quite short then. 

Chips

Let the chips fall where they may.

~ Idiom

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My dad taught us to play poker from a very young age. He used to give us all $1.00 in pennies and we would play until someone was out of pennies. You got to keep all the pennies you won. 

That's how I paid for college. I was really good.





Note: This may be true or not, but it is NOT a lie. Poker players don't lie. They bluff.

Walk

The ballet of the good city sidewalk never repeats itself from place to place, and in any one place is always replete with new improvisations.

~ Jane Jacobs

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God's on your side...


                                              walk.


God is on your sidewalk.

Farm

No race can prosper 'til it learns there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.

~ Booker T. Washington

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Being born and raised in Iowa instills a sense of respect for agriculture in kids - even if they didn't grow up on a farm. Everyone is connected to farming. Everyone knows at least a little bit about corn and pigs and hay. Everyone understands farming is hard work. Everyone understands the role weather plays in farming. Everyone knows Old MacDonald had a farm.

Moon

Yours in the light by which my spirit's born: - you are my sun, my moon, and all my stars.

~ e. e. Cummings

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But you are not all of his glow sticks, so keep your ego in check.

Vacation

Vacation, all I ever wanted.

Vacation, had to get away.

Vacation, meant to be spent alone.

~ The GoGo's

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A logic puzzle...

IF vacation is meant to be spent alone, and 
IF "Vacation" is a GoGo's song, and
IF Leslie's nickname is GoGo,

THEN:

What the hell, Leslie?!!

Service

Always render more and better service than is expected of you, no matter what your task may be.

~ Og Mandino

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I wouldn't think people would need assistance wrecking garages. Isn't that a natural skill for most people - even if we don't tap into that skill set all that often?

Fixing

I believe there's a kind of hope because the breakdown and repair are happening simultaneously.

~ Katherine Bigelow

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So the name Seymore comes from St. Maurus who was known to have cured a number of people throughout his life. He didn't cure any cars, but I think it's just because there weren't cars around. I bet he could have cured cars. I can't vouch for this garage, but with a legacy of St. Maurus, it might be a good place to go.

Also, "Seymore's Optometry Shack" is a good name for an eye doctor, I think. Well, maybe not the "shack" part, but I haven't seen the place yet, so I don't know if it's a shack or not.

Dinosaurs

The dinosaurs never knew what hit them.

~ Michio Kaku

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I don't think it would bother the dinosaurs to know that we now use them / their images for candy dispensers. From what I've read their brains were too small to even really understand what that means.

Rapinoe

Be honest about how you approach failure. Don't just be critical of yourself, because that can be self-serving. Approach it honestly, assess your performance, assess the areas where you have fallen short. Correct them and move on. Don't dwell on it. Don't hold on to it.

~ Megan Rapinoe

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I saw a headline yesterday that said, "Megan Rapinoe Steals the Show at the Women's World Cup Parade."

(pause)

The show was literally for her and her team. And if it was a male athlete who won the awards for most goals and best player, I don't think that would be the headline. 

I think whoever wrote that headline should not just be critical of themselves, because that can be self-serving. They should honestly assess their performance, assess the areas where they have fallen short, correct them and move on. 

Faces

What you feel inside reflects on your face. So be happy and positive all the time.

~ Sridevi

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When I sit in public and work on my blog, I know I talk to myself. And I make faces at myself. And I laugh - sometimes a little too loudly for cultural norms or the social expectations of the venue where I am writing.

But I don't ever, EVER make faces at a face of Ava Gardner on a stick.

Because I forgot my face of Ava Gardner on a stick at home.

dammit.

Unknowns

One great use of words is to hide our thoughts.

~ Voltaire

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We do hide things in words. Like the secrets, mysteries, and hidden staircases in Nancy Drew books. Things hidden. Things concealed. Things unknown. 

Also, it would be cool if behind these books was hidden a journal of Nancy Drew's thoughts. Then that Voltaire quote would be true on so many levels. 

Or if it wasn't a journal of her thoughts, maybe a sketchpad. Then we could see what Nancy Drew.

Floating

She was a mind floating in an ocean of confusion.

~ Caroline B. Cooney

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So there was this kid's soccer team trapped in a flooded cave that got rescued. I was listening to the news about it and the reporter asked this other reporter guy if they would have to teach the boys to scuba dive in order to get out of the cave.

The guy's response was, "Yeah - that's an idea they've floated."

I'm not a reporter.  I was a journalism major for a few semesters. I don't remember a course specifically on word choice because I think that was something they talked to us about in every course. I'm not sure that "floated" was a very sensitive word choice in this situation.

The last thing those boys needed was to be reminded of Pennywise the Clown.

Why?

That's why we're here, after all, to help others.

~ Carol Burnett

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One of the ways I try to help people is not buying them things like this. 
You're welcome, people.

Cafe

And the idea of just wandering off to a cafe with a notebook and writing and seeing where that takes me for a while is just bliss.

~ J. K. Rowling

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I wonder how many J.K. Rowlings wandered off to the Slabtown Cafe with notebooks ready to see where it took them only to find the Slabtown Cafe closed and a no trespassing sign on the door? I wonder how many stories and characters and fantasies and dreams and worlds and ideas we lost because the Slabtown Cafe closed?

I don't know the answer, but someone should write a book about that. They could call it "The Cafe of Lost Dreams" or "Dinner Specials" or "Closed." I don't think they should call it "The Slabtown Cafe" because people would think it was a cookbook with a lot of ways to cook canned, processed meat products.

Of course, someone could write that book too. I would make it available only in hardcopy, though. If you sent it electronically, people would probably think it was just Spam.

(pause)

I would say I am sorry, but we both know that isn't true.

Past

When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago.

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

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When I am tired, I look at people from my past with whom I don't have closure or dogs available for adoptions. Neither of these are good things to do when we are tired. 

Movies

I grew up in a drive-in theater, from the time I was eight, working in a snack bar watching four features a week. It was silent theater in the sense that this was a drive-in which meant that I often saw the films going with no sound. But I learned to tell stories through action.

~ Twyla Tharp

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I think I would have loved to grow up in a drive-in theater. Maybe I did. Maybe I was in fact Twyla Tharp in a previous life. I know that's complicated because she's still alive, but I'm a complicated person.