Thought of the Day: “Taste”
“I thank God I have low tastes” — Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Thought of the Day: “Your Thoughts”
“”If in the last few years you haven’t discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your pulse. You may be dead.” —Gelett Burgess (via The Writer’s Almanac)
2007 Two Weeks In:
Today is the 13th day of 2007, a number with no special signifcance for me. You might have some. If you suffer from Triskaidekaphobia, stop reading now and seek help.
Over here, I’m amazed at how busy the first two weeks of the year have been. Part of that’s because I was out of two for the last two weeks of December and am now catching up with friends I haven’t seen in a while. Part of it the excitement of beginning a new year and wanting to attend every meetup/lecture/party/flea circus that Upcoming throws at me. But mostly it’s because I’ve laid out 7 massive New Years Intentions (my wise friend Holly calls then “intentions”, something you will do instead of “resolutions”, something you wanna do but probably won’t) which will set the map for for my accomplishments this year.
It’s exciting as hell to see in print (okay, legal pads tacked to my bathroom wall) all I want to happen for myself and my community this year. I haven’t quite figured out how to pace myself so I don’t feel constantly behind (Behind? It’s still January! The insanity!) but like they said in Stripes, “We are willing to learn.”
I’m going to do a giant post about said New Years Intentions soon. In the meantime, what are your New Years Intentions?
Thought of the Day: “Common Sense”
“Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.” —William James (via The Writer’s Almanac)
Thought of the Day: “Your Example”
“The power of your example is far greater than what you say.” —The Dropkick Murphys.
Thought of the Day: “All Things”
“Men cannot be all things to all men. They cannot, unfortunately, be all things even to themselves.”
—Danny Kaye eulogizing Harry Cohn, founder of Columbia Pictures.
(from An Empire of their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood by Neal Gabler, which I just finished reading)
Thought of the Day: “Who I Am”
“I want to know who I am. And where I came from.”
—Louis Leaky
Thought of the Day: “What I Have Learned”
“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” —Sir Isaac Newton, whose birthday is today (via The Writer’s Almanac).
Thought of the Day: “Innocence”
“The knowledge that makes us cherish innocence makes innocence unattainable.” —Irving Howe
Thought of the Day: “Sentimentality”
“I like grit, I like love and death, I’m tired of irony. … A lot of good fiction is sentimental. … The novelist who refuses sentiment refuses the full spectrum of human behavior, and then he just dries up. … I would rather give full vent to all human loves and disappointments, and take a chance on being corny, than die a smartass.”
Amen to that.
—Jim Harrison (via the Writer’s Almanac)