Reality

I'm a lover of what is, not because I'm a spiritual person, but because it hurts when I argue with reality.

~ Byron Katie

- - - - -

If you just stop and take a look around, the world can be a beautiful place. There really is beauty in the trees and the people around us and the light sometimes glowing green in the world and in the loud honking of the cars behind you at the stoplight..

Cake

I wanted to buy a candle holder but the store didn't have one. So I got a cake.

~ Mitch Hedberg

- - - - -

Is it real or is it cake? I do not care.

Franktographer

If you've lived, you can be a mentor.

~ Leah Hughes

- - - - -

This is Frank. Frank is my mentor. If you don't have a mentor, you should get one. Not Frank, though. He's busy. Or maybe just get yourself some Mentos. Maybe that's what you need. I don't know your life. 

 

WIND

The little cares that fretted me,

I lost them yesterday

Among the fields above the sea

Among the winds at play.

~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

- - - - -

Depending on how strong the wind is you might not only lose little cares, but also little cakes or even little cafes. Or big ones. I mean, the wind can be pretty powerful.

Notes

He said forgetting was easy; it's the remembering that wears you down.

~ Diane Wilson

- - - - -

I write down a lot of things. I like to keep notes because it helps me concentrate. Also, my handwriting isn't that good, so I can write what I REALLY think during meetings and people can't read it. I think that is probably good for me as the writer and for everyone else as the non-readers. 

Win-win.

Mountains

You can get all As and still flunk life.

~ Walker Percy

- - - - - 

One time on the first day of class I said, "If you get 95 points out of the 100 points for this course, you don't have to do the bonus assignment because you'll have an A. Unless you feel like you need to get all 100 points, which I don't know why that would matter."

The students stared at me. 

I think getting all the points maybe mattered to some of them.

Writing

Never take a writer

for granted.

~ Nikita Gill

- - - - -

I was going through my old journal as I got ready to start my new journal to make sure I had done everything I needed to do based on notes in my old journal. I came across this idea I had:

Write a monologue about a person who was bullied at school as a child and also they were homeschooled.

That's the kind of idea you don't want to get lost in one of your old journals.

Nose

Sometimes opportunities float right by your nose. Work hard, apply yourself, and be ready.

- - - - -

I'm naturally curious.

Or nosey.

Unbearable

Even the most unbearable things become fossils aftter a while.

~ Patrick Ryan

- - - - -

Even the most unbearable people become fossils after a while, too. And, ironically, the same is true of bears.

Justice

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.

~ Abraham Lincoln

- - - - - 

You can hold people accountable and they might learn something. You can show kindness and care and they might learn something else. Or you can ignore them and what they do all together and they will learn something still different.

It depends on what you want to teach. And your mood. 

Mustache

Whenever I'm sad, I just imagine if babies were born with mustaches.

~ Liam Payne

- - - - -

I have an idea for a TV Show. It's called Manopause.

That's all I've go so far. Just the title.

Wisdom

Inside every large story there are always plenty of smaller ones.

~ Fredrik Backman

- - - - -

I love this quote. I love the idea that the big stories are not the whole story. The big story is far less than the sum of its parts. The big stories matter but neither more than less that the little stories.

And if you ever started to tell a story and you forgot what you were going to say and you were around my mom when it happened, she would tell you, "It was probably a lie."

You and I both know she's probably right.

Writing

I suppose half of writing is fighting the revulsion you feel when you sit down to do it.

~ Flannery O'Connor

- - - - -

I like to write. I like the part where everything flows super smoothly and what you have created is complete and you are really satisfied without having to second-guess yourself.

I mean, I would like it if writing was like that.

I still like writing, but it has never been like what I said. However, I'm pretty sure I'd like it if it was like that. Instead you write something and think, "I should find a synonym for 'like' for this blog post."

Motivation

My toxic trait is when I find out someone doesn't like me, I try to make it worse.

~ Sweet Motivation

- - - - -

Sure there have been people in my life who haven't liked me. I'm not always likable. But that isn't my goal. I sometimes lose sight of my goals, though. Like when my finger gets on the lens while I'm taking a photo. Or when I take a nap. or when I get a spam text.

Anyway, my goal is to try and pet a lot of dogs.

Birds

If you want to, you can find a million reasons to hate life and be angry at the world. Or, if you want to, you could find a million reasons to love life and be happy. Choose wisely. 

~ Carl Welsh

- - - - -

Honestly, I don't have time to find a million reasons for anything right now.

Mushrooms

If only one could tell true love from false love as one can tell mushrooms from toadstools.

~ Katherine Mansfield

- - - - -

If you have false love, it probably makes your stomach hurt the way toadstools do.

Quiet

The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

~ Ram Dass

- - - - -

I like hanging out with Leslie. She is pretty quiet. I am also quiet sometimes. Is it the same as hanging out without her? No. Companionable quiet is a bit better, I think. Unless your companion is the Tasmanian Devil from Looney Tunes. That would not be quiet at all. Even when he isn't spinning around and stuff, he breathes loudly and moistly.

And just to be explicitly clear, Leslie doesn't do that.

Miracles

Want to perform a miracle? Forgive yourself.

~ Rune Lazuli

- - - - -

I think forgiving yourself is indeed a miracle. I mean, its not like turning water into wine or walking on water or raising the dead, but still, it's fine. 

 

Listening

[I am a] book historian who tells students constantly that if they listen to the audiobook, they are literally reading 18th century novels the way the large chunk of the original audience experienced the book. Silent, solitary reading by eye alone is so, so recent!

~ Dr. Emily Friedman

- - - - -

I think audiobooks are fine. They are just like real books. Some are good and some are not good. Which is just like people. Some are good and some are not good. Which is like my blog posts. Some are good are some are not good. And if my blog ever gets made into an audiobook, this post will have come full circle.

 

Art

Art isn't in the tools, material, and equipment that you use. It's in the way you see the world.

~ Rick Rubin

- - - - -

I have probably posted about this before, but it is important enough to me that I want to post about it again now. I hate it when I take a nice photo and someone says, "That's a nice photo. What kind of camera do you have?"

I always tell them, "Art isn't in the tools, material, and equipment you use. It's in the way you see the world. Your photos are rubbish because of your outlook, not because of your camera."

No one every asks me that same question twice.