Rabbits

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.

~ John Steinbeck

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Kids are funny. Most of them love Peeps which are just marshmallows shaped like rabbits and rolled in sugar. But if you take a REAL rabbit, skin it, and roll it in sugar - kids don't want anything to do with it! 

Searching

You can't be in love with a Google search.

~ Taylor Swift

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Or with an Ingles search -- amiright, Taylor?
 

Books

You can't judge a book by its cover.

~ English Idiom

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Lily believes sometimes you can indeed judge a book by it's cover.

Going

People don't leave home because things are going well.

~ Vanessa Vaselka

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I think there are two kinds of people - people who run to things and people who run away from things. And I think we become whichever kind of people based on our lived experiences. Some of us have things we legitimately should run away from. Others may not and instead have things we want to run toward.

I imagine there are other people who prefer just to stay put. Nothing wrong with that - unless you're hogging the middle aisle of the grocery store. That's just annoying. 
 

Wash

Look after your laundry, and your soul will look after itself.

~ W. Somerset Maugham

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I was watching a show one time and the characters were at a dinner party. In front of everyone, one person called out a guy she was living with, I think her significant other (I don't remember the specific dynamics of their relationship) for always leaving clothes in the dirty hamper. I hate it when couples call each other out in front of other people just to embarrass one another. When I said to Leslie, "I hate it when people do that," she responded, "You hate it when people do what? Air their dirty laundry?"

Fragile

. 

I suppose I have found it easier to identify with the characters who verge upon hysteria, who were frightened of life, who were desperate to reach out to another person. But these seemingly fragile people are the strong people, really.

~ Tennessee Williams

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We are each fragile in our own ways. Breakable. Brittle. What causes that vulnerability is unique to each of us. It's like a recipe. A recipe for making something that you can break easily. Like a havreflarn cookie. 

You know what I mean

Writing

The easiest thing to do is to NOT write.

~ Samuel L. Jackson

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So I have a very active inner life. My mind can go on a roll and combined with my interest in storytelling, a lot of things can happen in there. What is weird is that I know my way of writing and storytelling is my own. Each of us has our own way. Sometimes I think my way is wrong or bad and the whole team of other people in the world who are writers are doing it "right."

Hahahahahaha. That's not true. I mean, I think it, but it isn't a true thought.

The true thought is: There is no TEAM in "writing."

Burden

This is what normal looks like when you've had my f***ing life.

~ Sam, Gen V, Season 1, episode 8

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I wouldn't want to bear the weight of the world on my shoulders. I wouldn't want to have to forever roll a boulder uphill. 

I guess I better not do the things those guys did.

Mail

It seems a long time since the morning mail could be called correspondence.

~ Jacques Barzun

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It seems a long time since the morning mail could be called the morning mail.

Parking

Life is a journey, but don't worry, you'll find a parking spot at the end.

~ Isaac Asimov

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Then there was the time we were sitting a CVS parking lot waiting for our COVID-19 self-test results. Suddenly, the Battle Hymn of the Republic started playing on a bell tower in town. Now, what you may or may not know is that Julia Ward Howe wrote the lyrics to the song using the tune from John Brown's Body - as in "John Brown's body lies a mouldering in the grave." Mouldering means to slowly decay.

And what you may or may not know is that John Brown's Body is a set of lyrics set to the old folk tune Oh! Brothers which includes the lyrics "Oh! Brothers, while you meet me on Canaan's happy shore?"

When people talk about "Going parking" I don't think this is what they mean. 

(pause)

Also, do people even talk about "Going parking" anymore?

Glamorous

I love glamour and artificial beauty.

~ Dita Von Teese

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Evangeline couldn't agree more with Dita. They weren't friends and didn't run in the same circles, but Evangeline loved artificial beauty - in part because her entire head was artificial. And they didn't run in the same circles, but Evangeline had no legs.

But, oh my, was she glamorous.

Distraction

If you don't separate yourself from you distractions, your distractions will eventually separate you from your goals and the life you want.

~ @HustlersNTheHood1

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And sometimes those distractions are people. People who say, "It's funny when she does that mean thing to other people, but I don't like it when she does that mean thing to me."

Did I say distraction? Apologies.

I meant sometimes those people are assholes. Distracting assholes, maybe, but assholes nonetheless.

I would say, "They know who they are," but I am confident they have no idea who they are. 

Snakes

Those who give you a serpent when you ask for a fish, may have nothing but serpents to give. It is generosity on their part.

~Kahlil Gibran

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How did they get those serpents, though? And why did they keep so many of them?

Life is a myssssssssstery.

Patience

Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you. Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late. You don't have to like it... it's just easier if you do.

~ Byron Katie

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I love the idea of things happening for me rather than to me. I have shared this idea with others. I tell them that it works for me think that way unless I am stuck in traffic or with bad drivers. Then I just get annoyed.

I'm not sure why. Unless I'm headed home, I'm probably not in a big hurry to get where I'm going, anyway.

Dancers

Dancing is the poetry of the foot.

~ John Dryden

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Some dances are like a haiku - short and to the point. Others are like a sestina or chant royal - longer and more complex.

And the ones that are like a limerick... well, maybe don't do those in public.

Pupoet

Not everyone who drinks is a poet. Some of us drink because we're not poets.

~ Dudley Moore

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If Lily were a poet, I think she would write mainly odes. Ode to a Treat; Ode to a Hike: Ode to Belly Rubs. But if she drank, I bet she could write a good limerick, too.

There was a young puppy from town

Who followed nice people around.

She'd wag her sweet tail

And then without fail

Would flop belly up on the ground.

Love

Love is a really scary thing, and you never know what's going to happen. It's one of the most beautiful things in life, but it's one of the most terrifying.

~ Ariana Grande

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I've heard it said that in every relationship one loves more than the other. 

(pause)

Sometimes you can tell which one is which.

 

Road

Take me home

Country roads

To the place

I belong

~ Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert, & John Denver

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Roads don't always take us where we expect. Sometimes we think certain others are going to stay on the journey with us. However, some people just don't belong on the road with you. Sometimes they are in there and you have to navigate around them. Remember to trust them when they show you who they are and find relief in that. You don't have to listen to them or be obliged to them or cover up for them when they mess up. They messed up their relationship with you. Let them be.

And if they aren't on the road with you, also remember that it's one less person you have to share your roadtrip snacks with.

Michelle

I learned a long time ago that the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side.

~ Maya Angelou

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I sometimes wonder, if I am ever on a TV show, if the captioning might read "Indistinct chatter." for everything I say.
 

Leader

A leader isn't someone who forces others to make them stronger; a leader is someone willing to give their strength to others so that they may have the strength to stand on their own.

~ Beth Revis

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In the case of dogs, a leader is someone who is at the front.
 

Jumping

Those who don't jump will never fly.

~ Leena Ahmad Almashat

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They say sometimes you just have to jump in with both feet to do exciting things. Dogs jump in with all four feet which is why you might think they are twice as good as people. 

(pause)

That's not true.

Dogs are way more than twice as good as people.

Ears

When the ears of the student are ready to hear, the cometh the lips to fill them with wisdom.

~ Three Initiates

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I watched a show one time and it included a character named "Prozac" which I thought was a weird name for a character. Turns out it IS a weird name for a character since her name was actually "Rosa" and I just misheard.
 

Learning

She never returned to school, although the college counselor pushed competitive courses and applications on her, and learning was her drug of choice.

~ Tess Gunty

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sadvising \səd-ˈvīz-ing\ (verb) the act of giving bad academic guidance 

August

The first week of August hangs at the very top of the summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and the those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. it is curiously silent, too. with blank white dawns and glaring noons and sunsets smeared with too much color. Often at night there is lightning, but it quivers all alone. There is no thunder, no relieving rain. These are strange and breathless days, the dog days, when people are led to do things they are sure to be sorry for after.

~ Natalie Babbitt

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This is really good writing. The first week of August historically has been a time I do not look forward to. This almost makes me look forward to it. Almost.

We'll have to see how it plays out this year...

 

Courage

Life shrinks or expands in proportion with one's courage.

~ Anais Nin

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 You can't have courage without rage. Turns out you can't have a garage without rage, either. 

Cat

Confidence is not, "They will like me." Confidence instead is, "I'll be fine if they don't."

~ Christina Grimmie

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And for some cats confidence goes even further to mean, "I'd prefer that they didn't."

Anger

"Anger is a funny thing. And it does funny things to us if we keep it inside. I encourage you to consider a question: Who benefits, my dear, when you force yourself to not feel angry?" She tilted her head and looked at me so hard I thought she could see right into my bones. She raised her eyebrows. "Clearly not you."

~ Kelly Barnhill

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I've seen anger in some people. Most of the time I didn't think it was very funny at all.

Lizard

And there's nothing wrong with being a lizard, either. Unless you were born to be a hawk.

~ Leigh Bardugo

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Whether you were born to be a hawk or a lizard, you're probably not reading Leigh Bardugo's work.

Sight

With these hungry eyes

One look at you, and I can't disguise

I've got hungry eyes

~ Eric Carmen

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I offered my friend Maureen a dollar to go into her next optometrist appointment and tell her doctor she's got "hungry eyes."

I don't think she'll do it, but if she does, that will be one of the best dollars I've ever spent.