Found in my electronic chapbook.
The goal should not be to protect ourselves from suffering, but to be strong enough to bear it. Writer”s block, for instance, can stem either from the fear of failure or from insulating ourselves so well from the desire to succeed that we weaken our motivation to write. p. 59
From The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer”s Block and the Creative Brain by Alice W. Flaherty.
With the extra bench out of the way I shifted the stacks of books to the left, occupying the space formally dominated by the bench and collected the last of my books off the floor at the base of my bookshelves. When I finished, everything was moved next to the banker boxes and I was able to vacuum for the first time in months.
(I have no remorse for the colonies of mites and spiders I surely disturbed)
I popped open my love seat/dual recliner and pulled out a double handful of clutter that had slipped through the cracks. I found a spoon, four black ribbons I use for bookmarks, a mechanical pencil and an assortment of tissues and other waste paper. And popcorn.
I’m finding popcorn everywhere. And I don’t really eat all that much of it. But the unpopped kernels are showing up in nooks and crannies in every room. It’s a wonder that some of it has germinated.
I spent some time on line today researching the best way to tackle my vinyl tile floor. The consensus among the three web sites I looked at is that ammonia is my best approach.
The weather prediction for Saturday is 67 F with a 60 percent chance of rain. I’ll need to have the windows open and the fans blowing to put up with the ammonia smell.
I suppose that when you’re already blocking voters from actually, well, casting a vote, it’s only natural that you’d be fine with letting voters watch you actually count the votes cast. At least that seems to be the logic of the military dictators of Myanmar. If the crime wasn’t so heinous, you’d have to laugh.
From the Associated Press:
Voters will be allowed to watch ballot counting to ensure fairness in a May referendum on Myanmar’s proposed constitution, an election official in the military-ruled country said in a news report.
Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party expressed skepticism, however. Critics say the draft constitution itself is a sham designed to perpetuate military rule and to keep Suu Kyi from running for office.
Allowing voters to observe ballot counting will help ensure that voting is conducted according to international standards, the government-controlled Myanmar Times newspaper on Thursday quoted Hla Soe, chairman of Yangon’s Referendum Holding Commission, as saying.
Suu Kyi’s party said in a statement that the draft constitution fails to guarantee democracy. Continue Reading »
I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is The Whole Invisible (Something) Category.
Many years ago I remember a humorous magazine spoof on wine snobbery that explored the correct carbonated soda to serve with what foods. Jeff VanderMeer, however, isn’t laughing; and, St. Brigid bless him, he may have just sent me on a summer mission.
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog brain bump I present: From My Dad.
Yes. I read. A lot. If I could make a deal with the devil it would to not die until I had read all the books I wanted to. Britain’s Telegraph has a list of the 50 best cult books, a category the paper admits it couldn’t really define. But the list is here. I’ve read 24.
Found in my electronic chapbook.
The thought of a life of happy mediums depresses me; if enjoying my work passionately means that I become agitated when I can”t work, that seems like a fair price. p. 59
From The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer”s Block and the Creative Brain. by Alice W. Flaherty.
I’ve had a worthless piece of furniture in my living room for more than eight years: the extra, two-person bench that goes with my dining room table. I sit on the one bench, but the other has been used a grand total of twice when I had a few friends over. That’s it. Today I decided that the bench had to go.
I looked at the two and decided to disassemble them both to collect all of the undamaged pieces in one bench I’d keep and make repairs (a couple of wood splits that I fixed with carpenter’s glue, clamps and some long screws) to the other bench that I’ll donate to a good home.
The unassembled bench is now in my bedroom awaiting transport. The space I liberated removed both a lane-blocking bit of clutter and a horizontal surface that had held stacks and stacks of books for several years.
Now I’m ready to move onto the push to clear the living room floor.
If only Republicans could bar Democrats from voting United States Vice President Dick Cheney’s world would be perfect. How envious he and all the other Neocons be of the generals in Myanmar who are systematically barring those who wish to vote against the dictators sham constitution from voting at all.
From the Bangkok Post:
Many Burmese nationals living in Singapore were prevented from voting on their country’s draft constitution Sunday when they refused demands from embassy personnel to remove red “Say No” T-shirts.
An estimated 1,000 citizens lined up in front of the embassy for the third straight day of the five-day period designated for those abroad to cast ballots ahead of voting in the country on May 10.
“It’s a sham referendum,” said Myo Mying Maung, spokesman for the Overseas Burmese Patriots. “It’s not free or fair.” Continue Reading »
I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.
Instructables said:
The last (and most covert) method for destroying a RFID tag is to hit it with a hammer. Just pick up any ordinary hammer and give the chip a few swift hard whacks. This will destroy the chip, and leave no evidence that the tag has been tampered with. This method is suitable for destroying the tags in passports, because there will be no proof that you intentionally destroyed the chip.
All hail Little Brother!
Free people may be rendered slaves through fear, as Naomi Wolf chronicled in The End Of America. Blogger Curly got a lesson on how easily we slip into a police state.
My mind runs around thinking of things like tax disc, lights, body damage, and satisfied myself that all was in order, so I turned into Beach Road, parked up and approached the police officer. He wants me to go back to my car switch everything off, lock it and get into the back of the police car!
Crikey, what the hell do they think I”ve been up to? If, like me, you have never been in this situation in your life before perhaps you can imagine the slightly panicked state of mind.
“You wish to speak to me?”
“Yes sir, if you don”t mind stepping into the rear of my car”
“Is there something wrong with my car or my driving?”
“No, no sir, nothing like that at all, we are responding to an emergency call from someone in The Sundial who has reported you as taking pictures of children in the play park”
“Play park? I haven”t been near any play park! I”ve been on the beach and in the fairground, and I”ve never been anywhere near The Sundial either, surely you must have the wrong person?”
“Sorry sir, but we tracked you on the CCTV cameras, got your registration number and that”s why I need to talk to you, you are exactly as described”
After confirming name and address, date of birth, electoral roll, and telephone number, I offered to get my camera and show the officer all of the pictures that I”d taken this afternoon (click the thumbnail above, for an example). Continue Reading »
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog brain bump I present: From My Dad.
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