Tired

Let's start by taking a smallish nap or two.

~ Winnie the Pooh

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After spending a week in Canada with two dogs, I learned where the term "dog tired" comes from. It comes from the idea that dogs get tired.

 

Us

To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.

~ Mark Twain

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This is what it would look like if Mark Tennant painted a photo of Leslie and me at the bottom of an elevator shaft.

Tired

she's strong, but she's exhausted.

~ r. h. sin

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"No! I CAN DO IT MY OWN SELF!" Lily shrieked. The poor pup worked herself to exhaustion trying to make some roller blades so she could skate with the other dogs. Unfortunately, she was a dog, had no tools, and had no opposable thumbs. And "the other dogs" she wanted to skate with were kids from the neighborhood whose parents put the childrens' rollerblades on for them.

Yes, I could have gotten Lily skates and put them on her, but she isn't allowed outside of the backyard, so it would have really just been cruel, wouldn't it? Besides, if I had done that, she wouldn't have given up on the skates and built that helicopter instead.

Truck

Anyone singing about trucks, in any form, in any song, anywhere, literally just stop -- nobody cares!

~ Kacey Musgraves

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I think that is harsh. I'm not saying it isn't true (I've not done any research on the topic, to be honest). I'm just saying it is harsh.

 

Gratitude

I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

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We should give thanks every morning. There is potential in the day we each have things for which we should show appreciation. Like you can show appreciation for this blog. 

It doesn't have to be appreciation in the form of money, but that is one way to show appreciation. 
 

Supper

You learn a lot about someone when you share a meal together.

~ Anthony Bourdain

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There are times when asking, "HEY - What's for supper?!" is particularly awkward.

Gratitude

Through the eyes of gratitude, everything is a miracle.

~ Mary Davis

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I don't know if dogs can feel gratitude or not, but I know that they can feel joy. To me gratitude is a path to joy, so maybe dogs just skip a step. 

(pause)

This would be an even more clever post if it was Skippy peanut butter instead of Jif.
 

Life

Not how long, but how well you have lived is the main thing.

~ Seneca

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 Don't let others tell you whether you are living your life well or not. If they do that, you won't be able to hear your shows on TV.

Goals

What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal.

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

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I think the original version of this quote was "What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goalie." And then Nietzsche became a huge soccer fan and updated his maxim.

Carnival

Though the carnival life is gonna always shine, you can't turn back the time.

~ Maria McKee

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 As I drive by the little carnival in the mall parking lot, I think of how much I would have wanted to go there if I was a child. Then I think of how sick I got the time I went to one of these things and the ride operator let the ride go on too long. "Silly young version of me," I think. "You're so naive. You have no idea how many times you're going to throw up in the future." 

Granted, most of those times had nothing to do with carnival rides. I'm just telling you what I was thinking. Leave me alone.

Things

We've made ourselves miserable with wanting.

~ Mercy Torres

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I heard it said once that the things you own, own you. I see a lot of people trying to buy themselves happy with trinkets they collect or clothing or other stuff. I do that on occasion, too. During the pandemic, for instance, I bought things for other people because I couldn't be physically with them. It was a way of coping.

Would I be rich if I hadn't done that? No. Am I rich because I shared that I was thinking of them and I am lucky to have those friends and family? No. I just told you I spent a bunch of money. I'm not rich!

Nature

When I speak of silence, I often use it synonymously with quiet. I mean silence from modern life, silence from all these sounds that have nothing to do with the natural acoustic system.

~ Gordon Hempton

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People (all the time, it's weird): What's your favorite dance, Michelle?

Me: Avoidance.
 

Truth

People need truth. Music lacks truth at the moment in my opinion.

~ Yungblud

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What is true to one person may not be true to another. For example, I am super smart. That is true to me. That may not be -- wait, that's a bad example.

Spider

When spiders unite, they can tie up a lion.

~ Ethiopian Proverb

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Some people are scared of spiders. I think that is silly. I'm scared of spider FANGS. But only the spider fangs that can penetrate human skin. 
 

Desk

If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?

~ Laurence J. Peter

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I usually have a pretty organized desk. It gets piles occasionally - mail, materials for teaching, books, and so on - paper things mostly. However, you might be wondering about the hammer in this photo of my desk. "Is it because you were so frustrated you were about to pound your keyboard or computer?" you ask.

No. What kind of anger management problems do you think I am dealing with? Sheesh!
 

Upset

(Photo by Kirk Boettcher)

No matter what I do, you're going to be upset about something.

~ Bianca Del Rio

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The other day I was talking with a colleague at work. We were discussing how stress can affect us and how some people project their stress on others. I shared an instance where I had tried to support someone recently and she kind of blew up at me. I told my colleague I hadn't meant to upset the person.

I said, "I don't actively set out to upset people." (pause) "Anymore."

Home

How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof thinking of home.

~ William Faulkner

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Why are you on instead of under that roof if it's raining, William Faulkner?!

Sheesh.

Fall

Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.

~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

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There is a new beauty when leaves change - even as they begin to die. Even when they are completely dead and lying on the ground, they can be beautiful.

The same cannot be said about people.

Snow

Kindness is like snow. It beautifies everything it covers.

~ Kahlil Gibran

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And, like snow, if you pee on kindness, it sort of ruins its beauty.
 

Buildings

We shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us.

~ Winston Churchill

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There are all different types of buildings. I've said it before, but I think I might have liked to be an architect. I do have some questions, though. Like, why are there A-Frame houses but not C-Frame houses?
 

Toilets

You spend your whole life trying to get known and then you spend the rest of it hiding in the toilet. 

~ Bob Fosse

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I think a good thing to do for your partner on your anniversary is to clean the toilet. It's kind of a symbolic apology for all the shit you did in the previous year. 

Why, yes, I AM working on a relationship guide. 

Why, no, I do NOT yet have a contract for that book.

Why do you ask?

Kabillion

Hold on and take a breath

I'll be here every step

Walking between the raindrops with you

~ Lifehouse

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There are lots of things that are difficult to count. Raindrops. Trees. Stars. Grains of sand. 

The other day I was writing something to someone and I said there were a "kabillion" of something. My machine autocorrected it to "Kabul Lion" because I use that phrase a lot. 

I think my dad runs autocorrect now. He was always quizzing me on the capital of Afghanistan before we talked a lot about Afghanistan in the U.S.

Also, I think my dad continues to do things for his own amusement, even in the afterlife. I guess the truth is - if you can't do things for your own amusement in the afterlife, when CAN you do things for your own amusement?

(Answer: Almost all the time.)

Job

If you don't feel it, flee from it. Go where you are celebrated, not merely tolerated.

~ Paul F. Davis

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I was at something recently and a presenter or speaker (again, I can't remember where this was) said, "I really look up to student affairs faculty and staff. You teach research. You're out there driving golf carts..."

(pause)

Yep. That pretty much sums up what we do.
 

Knowing

The heart of another is a dark forest, always, no matter how close it has been to one's own.

~ Willa Cather

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There are a few things I know about the people who own this vehicle simply because of the sticker they have on their window. Nearly all of those things are good. The things that are bad probably reveal more about me than about them.

 

Fog

The house was very quiet, and the fog - we are in November now - pressed against the windows like an excluded ghost.

~ E. M. Forster

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That is some great writing, isn't it? Nice job E. M. Forster.

Also, nice job whoever built the house E. M. Forster was in. I thought ghosts could just go through walls and windows. Guess not. 

Roots

I have not lost hope because I am persuaded again and again that, lying dormant in the deepest roots of most, if not all, cultures there is an essential similarity, something that could be made if the will to do so existed -- a genuinely unifying starting point for that new code of human coexistence that would be firmly anchored in the great diversity of human traditions.

~ Vaclav Havel

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I hope you're right, Vaclav Havel, but I bet that essential similarity or genuinely unifying starting point is not lutefisk.

(Happy Lutefisk Day!)

Arrow

Fate's arrow, when expected, travels slow.

~ Dante Alighieri

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If you ever see a man walking around carrying arrows and paper towels, you know he's a Bounty hunter.

Play

It is a happy talent to know how to play.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

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In this case, the children are playing that great old game, "Seance."

Time

Our sense of time portends our doom.

~ Kevin Behan

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That's why I don't wear a watch.