dada and the prince

In lieu of real content, because I am much too spastic to deliver it, here is a spam poem. My rule is that I use whole lines from spam I’ve received, without any modification save for punctuation. Enjoy. The lovers were standing together at one of the windows. Snaps of ice cracking in the hidden air. “You’ve pitied me, and that’s all that bat fowl good manners exact.” The prince would never so much as suspect such a rice thunder verse thing in the delight of his first impression. “How ripe could anything exist without God?” said Dada, as much amazed butter as though the moon slid careful snake had fallen. “I will not fight a war I don’t want to win,” said the prince; he was bewildered, and his brain pin...

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Posted on 30 Jul 2007 | 4 comments

blue skies and all

To those of you who shared your thoughts on the last post, thank you so much. I have always loved the more interactive parts of this journal because they help me understand how other people cope and experience and think and feel. If only I had a threaded commenting solution so I could respond properly. Soon. But you’ll forgive me if I am a bit distracted at the moment. I’ve had such a shiny day. After six hours in a row of sleep — much more than I’ve had for weeks — I woke up, got ready for work, and picked up an espresso from my new local café. The morning was so glorious that I decided to walk to work. Most of the workday was spent catching up with emails that had been sent while I was in workshops, but my team took...

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Posted on 21 Jul 2007 | 4 comments

tools in my workshop

Thank you for indulging my last post. I certainly had more than I realized to say on the topic. Now on to more positive things … Work has been a little different for me this week because I’ve been in workshops. Yesterday’s was “How to Build Trust, Credibility and Respect” and today’s was “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. Both were outstanding, and I learned a lot about myself and about others. Tomorrow’s will be “Having Difficult Conversations”, which I sorely need. One of the components of today’s session was the idea of creating a personal mission statement. As I am a fan of lists and words, this sort of enumeration appealed to me deeply, and I look forward to revising my...

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Posted on 18 Jul 2007 | 11 comments

flights of fancy

I’ve been thinking a great deal lately about writing — mostly because I’ve been doing so much of it over the past few weeks — and imagination, and the idea of “craziness” and how it fits into the world. It is a cowardly assumption to make that the presence of imagination, of deep feeling, of being subsumed by idealistic thoughts is somehow crazy. Certainly I am more prone than most people I know to flights of fancy, and I don’t pretend to prescribe this method of dealing with the world to everyone I know. And certainly I am prone to letting myself be ruled by these things, which is absolutely not a viable method of dealing with the world. But to all those cynical, bitter people I find myself interacting with and,...

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Posted on 16 Jul 2007 | 7 comments

three out of four

I had this theory for a while, this theory I didn’t want to have, because if it was true, it’d be bleak. The theory was that at any given time in my life, I could have only up to three out of the four things I want: a stable and comfortable home, a meaningful and challenging occupation, healthy and flourishing friendships, and a loving and supportive partner. I didn’t know why I couldn’t have all four, just that the pattern seemed to be two or three, maximum. I was resigned to this. What is missing from the theory is that none of these can exist, at least not in the long term, without 0: a consistent and accurate sense of self. So while I was focusing on each of the four, attempting to perfect them or at least come to terms with what...

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Posted on 15 Jul 2007 | 8 comments

a poem for what just happened

A Poem For What Just Happened, In Three Parts. I. If you are unsure, holding a hand — if you would take a hand into your hand and not be sure — do not take the hand. Unfairness is not the subject here. Blood is the subject. Blood and skin and bones that need the certainty of a comforting squeeze or a light caress. You are not holding the hand of an idea. That hand is that person. Let go; let fingers slip from fingers; let the temperature drop as they cool; let go. For a long time, you will reach into mist, you will touch the bark of a yew, you will tap metal and you will wash your hands in hot water. Everything will feel like that hand. Everything is more sensitive now. Bones and skin and blood, as old friends, reacquaint themselves as you forget the...

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Posted on 6 Jul 2007 | 8 comments