Category: etc.

day by day nothing changes / everything is different

Wild Geese
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting–
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
–Mary Oliver, Dream Work

sometimes a handful of words arrange themselves into a perfect pattern and echo the sounds your heart needs to hear.

Peter’s Laws for the Navigation of Life, the Creed of the Sociopathic Obsessive Compulsive

1. If anything can go wrong, fix it! (To hell with Murphy!)
2. When given a choice, take both.
3. Multiple projects lead to multiple successes.
4. Start at the top and work your way up.
5. Do it by the book… but be the author.
6. When forced to compromise, ask for more.
7. If you can’t beat them, join them, and then beat them.
8. If it’s worth doing, it’s got to be done now!
9. If you can’t win, change the rules.
10. If you can’t change the rules, then ignore them.
11. Perfection is not optional.
12. When faced without a challenge, make one.
13. “No” simply means begin again at one level higher.
14. Don’t walk when you can run.
15. Bureaucracy is a challenge to be conquered with a righteous attitude, a tolerance for stupidity, and a bulldozer when necessary.
16. When in doubt, THINK!
17. Patience is a virtue, but persistence to the point of success is a blessing.
18. The squeaky wheel gets replaced.
19. The faster you move, the slower time passes, the longer you live!
20. The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself!

(via girlsack, but words by peter safar, the father of CPR! you’d expect such a feisty attitude from the man who figured out how to cheat death ;)

I don’t reblog many things on this site, but this is special and needs to be shared and remembered. Sounds like an ace method for a simple, joyous life.

Funny that this might not have meant much to me a year ago, but really hits home now. No matter how your week has been going, take heart!

from jens lekman’s blog, small talk:

I’m reading a book. It’s a book about the climate changes, it’s thick and it covers a lot of evolutionary theory. It talks about spandrels, characteristics that are simply byproducts of another characteristic. It talks about the chin.

“The chin is where it is because it is the only bridge that can merge the human jawbone, whose function for the organism is obvious – to allow food intake. But the chin as such has never been subject to natural selection. It lacks adaptive origin.”

I put the book back on the shelf. Anyone with a heart (and a chin) knows that the function of the chin is so much more than a bridge between our jawbones. It’s there to be kept up when the times are hard. It’s there to lean against a lovers shoulder, or rest against a clenched fist. It’s there to measure the length of a tear, a finishing line if you will. How could these features not have affected natural selection?

—

also, it is imperative that you listen to this Tiny Desk Concert of his, at least in the background as you go about your business, and there is this pitchfork interview too, if you are so inclined.

some screenshots from my family group whatsapp chat and others with friends — i have shingles! horrors. but laughter is the best medicine, and i love these people for the funny advice and abundant emojis that have been pouring in after i sent out whatsapp warnings. they crept up on my left torso all of last week and today the doctor confirmed that i officially have the power to give chickenpox to anyone who has not had it yet. hugs, anyone? at first i was secretly relieved to be able to postpone the clinical interviews that i had scheduled for the work week, but burning pain is perhaps not an ideal tradeoff for procrastination? sam says “oh my poor juju!!!”…indeed. she is a little bit addicted to painkillers now. keeping fingers crossed that it won’t get worse!

While we’re on the topic of ACJC, look at the ridiculous number of (crinkly) t-shirts I acquired from various school events, orientations, council and dance! I had to do a spring cleaning and let a few of these go, but couldn’t do that without taking a family portrait..

Indulging in a little fantasy shopping —

1. i adore the look of maps after familiarizing myself with so many this year, and think they make the best travel souvenirs! i’ve slowly been collecting links for items emblazoned with vintage map prints, and these three things are on the top of my wishlist:  a scratch map (totally rad concept), organic cotton map-printed cushions (!!! so much love), travel notebook.

2. had successfully managed to put these out of my head for a while, but fell in love with repetto ballet flats all over again after sam reminded me. i’m not about to plonk down hundreds for a pair of shoes instead of some plane tickets, but i suppose i can dream!

3. the Cambridge Satchel Company bags have been everywhere lately, knockoffs included, but The Brooklyn leather satchel by ONA looks like a functional, alternative way to rock a satchel without jumping on the brand bandwagon. rule of thumb: if it’s “in”, i’m out!

Plus it makes you feel like you’re living in a French song :) Need to get one of these t shirts asap, I wonder if they’d be large enough to lop the sleeves and crew neck off and wear as a drapy tank…all the better to feel the bicycle breeze and beat the heat with! (From cicle.org)

I miss my bicycle. Have thought many times about getting one here but the hill I live on is too evil. Don’t fancy the idea of having my neighbours whoosh by in cars while I pedal uphill, red-faced! On the plus side, going downhill might be pretty badass..

Final Answer: Tracking Number 8754 5132 7761.. for a beautiful brown leather vintage bag from one of sam’s favourite retro vintage stores in Hong Kong! It is lovely, buttery soft and HAS TASSELS! I wore it out yesterday while on my bike, and it made me feel like a very cool bicycle messenger because it just fits so perfectly that way. THANK YOU!!

Continue reading “How I earned my 22nd birthday gift (In Progress)” →