It's the simple things...

Jul 08, 2002

Give me work to do,
Give me health,
Give me joy in simple things,
Give me an eye for beauty,
A tongue for truth,
A heart that loves,
A mind that reasons,
A sympathy that understands.
Give me neither malice nor envy,
But a true kindness
And a noble common sense.
At the close of each day
Give me a book
And a friend with whom I can be silent.

Keywords: | poetry | philosophy | books |
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"How much influence would you allow others to have on you?"

May 30, 2002

This one comes from the “If” Project. New questions posted every month.

If family or friends had issues with the one you are romantically involved with, would you listen? How much influence would you allow others to have on your relationship?
Definitely, I’d listen. I may completely disregard their comments, but I’ll listen. If nothing else, it would alert me to new pitfalls to avoid with family members.

My immediate family is fairly live and let live. They trust me not to be a complete assface when it comes to choosing my friends, associates, and what have you. If one of them had something to say to me about someone with whom I was romantically involved, chances are it would be a rather important something: like “he just made a pass at my girlfriend, I don’t think he’s completely straightforward with you” or “I remember seeing him last week on ‘Cops’.” I was engaged to a guy who was of a different ethnic background, and after I’d been dating him a year, my dear aunt was heard to remark to my mother, “Oh, you mean she’s still dating one of -=them=-?” (Of course, this is the same aunt who urged her son to dump a girl because the girl had cervical cancer and wouldn’t be able to bear his children; so in retrospect it’s really not too surprising.)

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Bernard Pivot's 10 Questions.

May 11, 2002

So the Friday Five is on its second week of hiatus, and Heather (former Blogger Insider partner) has pulled the comments links off of her web site because of some abusive posters who went and ragged all over her because they didn’t like what she blogged about (it was her kids. She talks quite a bit about her kids. And some arseholes bitched at her for it. And she got tired of the whole thing, and yanked commenting off of her blog. And the Friday Five kind of counted on commenting.) Sew ennihew, here’s another linking meme to play with. Feel free to do the same thing in your blog. You can find the questions here.

1. What is your favourite word?
Lethlogica. It describes that state wherein you can’t remember the word you want to use. Though what happens when you can’t remember the word to describe the state when you can’t remember the word you want to use? And how many times can it subreference before it times out the semantic loop?

2. What is your least favorite word?
It’s not a word, it’s three words: “No more coffee.” That one’s a total bummer.

3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
Being challenged —or more to the point, learning a new way of doing/thinking/being. I’m like a kid with a new toy. I’ve just got to show off!

4. What turns you off?
Being required to do substandard work when there is no reason not to do good quality work. Either that, or sitting idle for days at a time…which happens far too often in the tech industry.

5. What is your favorite curse word?
Bloodyhell. And yes, in my vocabulary, that’s a single word. My favourite insult is “oxygen thief”.

6. What sound or noise do you love?
Purring cats. It’s quiet, it’s soothing, and I hear it when my cats are curled up next to me.

7. What sound or noise do you hate?
Brendan Perry’s voice. In the eighth track of the Dead Can Dance album Aion, he manages to go sharp and flat in the same measure. That takes some doing — and I wish he’d not do it ever again.

Some days, I hate having perfect pitch.

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Some days, I think it would be interesting to be a professional writer: a columnist, or something. I do enough writing already, and get the occasional compliment hither and yon, so I’m entertaining others as well as myself.

9. What profession would you not like to do?
Parent. There is no formal recognized workplace structure in the first world, the benefits are wildly uneven and highly subjective, and the hours are lousy.

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
“Oh hi, cool, okay, library’s off that way, the ailurophiles are meeting in a few, and yes there’s coffee and chocolate.”

Actually, it would be really nice to hear the same thing said to a lot of people as they enter Heaven: “You weren’t perfect, but you all tried, you really honestly tried to be good humans, and most of the time you were terrific humans. No one else knew, but you did, and that was enough. Do you know how many others’ lives you made better just by being a good human? Do you know how easy that is to screw up, how delicate a balance that is, and how few people realize that from moment to moment? You did good, you fell occasionally but you kept trying, now it’s time to come home.”

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Thursday Threesome: Bed, bath, and beyond.

Apr 29, 2002

Sometimes, weekly questionnaires like this just fall flat on their faces. Other times, they’re interesting. More often, it’s a mixed bag. I’ll give this one a go and see what happens. As usual, all spelling corrected to conform to Canadian norms.

Onesome. Bed. You spend a few hours a night there, so tell us about your bed — size, favourite sheets, comforter…oh, and do you make it or leave it unmade?
I have a queensize futon that also converts into a couch…or at least, it has that capability. My comforter cover is blue, the comforter and great big heavy blanket are both king size, and I use king size pillows. And that’s all the detail I’m going to release until the coffee table book comes out.

Twosome. Bath. OK. How much time does it take you to get “ready” on the average day — from first step into the bathroom to stepping out fully dressed.
I admit it, I’m something of a hedonist. If I have the opportunity to take a long hot shower, I’ll do just that. I’ve actually got it baked into my morning schedule — I wake up a bit early just so I can take my time (and get all the *!&#%^ conditioner out of my hair.) Once I managed to get all through the routine in 10 minutes; but that was rather atypical. Average time getting ready is about 30 minutes. Most of that is spent in the shower.

Threesome. Beyond. What is your favourite room/area of your home? Tell us all about it.
Directly in front of my bookshelves, choosing what to read; or sitting on my sofa or in bed, reading whichever book caught my fancy that nanosecond.

Keywords: | Thursday | routines | memes |
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