Chair

I wonder what chairs think about all day - "Oh! Here comes another asshole!"

~ Robin Williams

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As I write this, I am sitting in a bad chair. I will be getting a new one soon, but for now I have this not so good one. You don't really appreciate a good chair until you are sitting in a broken one. Kind of like most things. Because you're so ungrateful.

Imagination

Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.

~ Mary Oliver

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What is the difference between "imagination" and "hallucination"? Well, spelling for one thing.

Sharing

(photo from internet posted by Janet Beadle - Abbie's mom. Thanks for inspiring this blog entry.)

It ain't no fun if the homies can't have none.

~ Snoop Dogg

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When I was in maybe 10th or 11th grade, we had Mr. Hakeman for Sociology (and I think another course, I forget what it was). Anyway, he had a rule in his class. No gum. And if you got caught with gum, then you had to bring in gum the next class to share with everyone.

Carmella Kennedy got caught chewing gum one day. Mr. Hakeman told her to bring in gum to share with everyone in the next class. She brought in a package of these tiny size chiclets. I am not sure I ever had more respect for a classmate in my life. And I was jealous that I hadn't gotten caught chewing gum and done this same thing.

I don't know where she is now, but all respect to Carmella. This is probably one of many things that inspired me to appreciate people who violate the rules - without causing permanent damage to anything or hurting anyone.

People are the best sometimes.

Grass

Sitting quietly, doing nothing,

Spring comes and the grass grows by itself.

~ Toyo Eicho

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And the grass grows a little better with a little dog urine. But too much dog urine is not good for the grass. Everything, as they say, in moderation. Even dog urine.

Advice

                                               

My grandmother once gave me a tip:

In difficult times, move forward in small steps. Do what you have to do, but little by little. Don't think about the future or what may happen tomorrow. 

Wash the dishes.

Remove the dust.

write a letter.

Make a soup.

You see?

Advance step by step.

Take a step and stop.

Rest a little.

Praise yourself.

Take another step. 

And then another.

You won't notice, but your steps will grow more and more.

And the time will come when you can think about the future without crying.

~ Elena Mikhalkova

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My grandmother once gave me a tip, "If you have something to ask me, ask me yourself don't send your brother in here to do it!"

Different grandmothers, different kinds of wisdom.

Autumn

Notice that autumn is more the season of the soul than of nature.

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

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I love autumn. I love it. it brings me so much joy. It is as if I have held my breath all summer and now I can breathe again. 

Lily agrees.

Heart

You never know what's in a person's heart until they're tested, do you?

~ Fanny Flagg, Fried Green Tomatoes

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I do think you learn more about a person's heart when they're tested, but I don't think everyone has to go in for heart tests. Sometimes we can just learn things without a medical procedure.

Skylines

Only from the heart can you touch the sky.

~ Rumi

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Rumi didn't know a lot about space walks. I still like some of what he says, though.

 

Love

The best portion of a good man's life: his little nameless unremembered acts of kindness and love.

~ William Wordsworth

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I sent my brother a card that said, "My brother shit his pants on a roller coaster. This is one of my many nameless (though not wordless" acts of kindness and love toward him. I'm a good sibling.

 

Scars

To be alive at all is to have scars.

~ John Steinbeck

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That mean lion in the Lion King was the most alivest of all, then. (pause) Well, at least he was aliver than his brother for most of that movie. 

Reflection

I am who I am, not necessarily the successes I have achieved.

~ Connor Weir

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It's important to pause sometimes and think about who you really are. That way when people tell you something about yourself that isn't accurate you can say, "You don't even know who I am!!!" with a lot more conviction.

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

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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

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

Franktographer

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

~ Leah Hughes

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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I'm naturally curious.

Or nosey.

Unbearable

Even the most unbearable things become fossils aftter a while.

~ Patrick Ryan

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