Baby baptism today at church. Thinking about it now, I am struck by how insignificant it seemed at the time. But, it must really be a momentous occasion. This baby can't say she was not given a chance. Or maybe she can, if her life is bad enough. But she can't honestly say that God has done nothing for her. She probably will say it at some point. If she is like me, she will live most of her days not thinking much about what God has done for her. I hope she is better than me.
We dunk 'em three times, all the way in. She starts crying after the first dunk. I don't know if she cries underwater. Crying, silence in the water, crying, silence in the water, and then she is back in a warm blanket. She is carried around the church later. It looked like Father was trying to show her the icon on the ceiling: "Lord let thy servant depart in peace..." Such a strange thing to remember death at the moment when a new life is being shown around her future church. I know that in Christ life and death are close together, but the strangeness is there nonetheless.
All of this dunking and parading around: she is in our hands, we will make her cry, cause her distress.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
The Whiz-bang Ending to "If You Want to Write" by Brenda Ueland
1. Know that you have talent, are original and have something important to say.
2. Know that it is good to work. Work with love and think of liking it when you do it. It is easy and interesting.
3. Write freely, recklessly, in first drafts.
4. Tackle anything you want to-novels, plays, anything. Only remember Blake's admonition: "Better to strangle an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires."
5. Don't be afraid of writing bad stories. To discover what is wrong with a story write two new ones and then go back to it.
6. Don't fret or be ashamed of what you have written in the past. How I always suffered from this! How I would regurgitate out of my memory (and still do) some nauseous little lumps of things I had written! But don't do this. Go on to the next. And fight against this tendency which is much of it due not to splendid modesty, but a lack of self respect. We are too ready (women especially) not to stand by what we have said or done. Often it is a way of forestalling criticism, saying hurriedly: "I know it is awful!" before anyone else does. Very bad and cowardly. It is so conceited and timid to be ashamed of one's mistakes. Of course they are mistakes. Go on to the next.
7. Try to discover your true, honest, untheoretical self.
8. Don't think of yourself as an intestinal track or tangle of nerves in the skull, that will not work unless you drink coffee. Think of yourself as incandescent power, illuminated perhaps and forever talked to by God and his messengers. Remember how wonderful you are, what a miracle! Think if Tiffany's made a mosquito, how wonderful we would think it was!
9. If you are never satisfied with what you write, that is a good sign. It means your vision can see so far that it is hard to come up to it. Again I say, the only unfortunate people are the glib ones, immediately satisfied with their work. To them the ocean is only knee-deep.
10. When discouraged, remember what Van Gogh said: "If you hear a voice within you saying: You are no painter, then paint by all means, lad, and that voice will be silenced, but only by working."
11. Don't be afraid of yourself when you write. Don't check-rein yourself. If you are afraid of being sentimental, say, for heaven's sake be as sentimental as you can or feel like being! Then you will probably pass through to the other side and slough off sentimentality because you understand it at last and really don't care about it.
12. Don't always be appraising yourself, wondering if you are better or worse than other writers. "I will not Reason & Compare," said Blake: "my business is to Create." Besides, since you are like no other being ever created since the beginning of Time, you are incomparable.
And why should you do all these things? Why should we all use our creative power and write or paint or play music or whatever it tells us to do?
Because there is nothing that makes people so generous, joyful, lively, bold and compassionate, so indifferent to fighting and the accumulation of objects and money. Because the best way to know the Truth or Beauty is to try to express it. And what is the purpose of existence Here or Yonder but to discover truth and beauty and express it, i.e., share it with others?
And so I really believe this book will hasten the Millennium by two or three hundred years. And if it has given you the impulse to write one small story, then I am pleased.
2. Know that it is good to work. Work with love and think of liking it when you do it. It is easy and interesting.
3. Write freely, recklessly, in first drafts.
4. Tackle anything you want to-novels, plays, anything. Only remember Blake's admonition: "Better to strangle an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires."
5. Don't be afraid of writing bad stories. To discover what is wrong with a story write two new ones and then go back to it.
6. Don't fret or be ashamed of what you have written in the past. How I always suffered from this! How I would regurgitate out of my memory (and still do) some nauseous little lumps of things I had written! But don't do this. Go on to the next. And fight against this tendency which is much of it due not to splendid modesty, but a lack of self respect. We are too ready (women especially) not to stand by what we have said or done. Often it is a way of forestalling criticism, saying hurriedly: "I know it is awful!" before anyone else does. Very bad and cowardly. It is so conceited and timid to be ashamed of one's mistakes. Of course they are mistakes. Go on to the next.
7. Try to discover your true, honest, untheoretical self.
8. Don't think of yourself as an intestinal track or tangle of nerves in the skull, that will not work unless you drink coffee. Think of yourself as incandescent power, illuminated perhaps and forever talked to by God and his messengers. Remember how wonderful you are, what a miracle! Think if Tiffany's made a mosquito, how wonderful we would think it was!
9. If you are never satisfied with what you write, that is a good sign. It means your vision can see so far that it is hard to come up to it. Again I say, the only unfortunate people are the glib ones, immediately satisfied with their work. To them the ocean is only knee-deep.
10. When discouraged, remember what Van Gogh said: "If you hear a voice within you saying: You are no painter, then paint by all means, lad, and that voice will be silenced, but only by working."
11. Don't be afraid of yourself when you write. Don't check-rein yourself. If you are afraid of being sentimental, say, for heaven's sake be as sentimental as you can or feel like being! Then you will probably pass through to the other side and slough off sentimentality because you understand it at last and really don't care about it.
12. Don't always be appraising yourself, wondering if you are better or worse than other writers. "I will not Reason & Compare," said Blake: "my business is to Create." Besides, since you are like no other being ever created since the beginning of Time, you are incomparable.
And why should you do all these things? Why should we all use our creative power and write or paint or play music or whatever it tells us to do?
Because there is nothing that makes people so generous, joyful, lively, bold and compassionate, so indifferent to fighting and the accumulation of objects and money. Because the best way to know the Truth or Beauty is to try to express it. And what is the purpose of existence Here or Yonder but to discover truth and beauty and express it, i.e., share it with others?
And so I really believe this book will hasten the Millennium by two or three hundred years. And if it has given you the impulse to write one small story, then I am pleased.
Anxiety Be Gone!
Yes, I am all against anxiety, worry. There are many people, you can see, who consider worry a kind of duty. Back of this I think it is the subconcious feeling that Fate or God is mean or resentful or tetchy and that if we do not worry enough we will certainly catch it from Him.
But they should remember that Christ said that we should cast off anxiety so that we could "seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and His righteousness" (i.e. live creatively, greatly, seekingly, in the present) "and all these things" (beauty, happiness, goodness, talent, food and clothing) "will be added unto you." Of course He is right.
pg. 56 If You Want to Write
But they should remember that Christ said that we should cast off anxiety so that we could "seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and His righteousness" (i.e. live creatively, greatly, seekingly, in the present) "and all these things" (beauty, happiness, goodness, talent, food and clothing) "will be added unto you." Of course He is right.
pg. 56 If You Want to Write
Elvis Costello - Radio! Radio! (SNL)!!!
You had better do as you are told! You better listen to the radio!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Thankful!
How deep can my thankfulness go?
In words? As deep as the sea.
In life? As deep as God wills.
He's the thankfulness in me.
In words? As deep as the sea.
In life? As deep as God wills.
He's the thankfulness in me.
David Byrne Interview!
I can't watch this video without laughing until I cry: please don't judge me.
Weezer - El Scorcho!
Here's the story: The lead singer of Weezer was going to Harvard in his off-time after the band hit it big. He was mildly famous, really rich, and pretty smart: time to get some college ladies, right? Wrong! His leg somehow got broken, so he was wearing a brace and feeling pretty old and lame. He fell in love with a half-Japanese girl who didn't want to have anything to do with him. You can imagine how he felt: powerless, desperate, at the end of his rope. Well, you don't have to imagine how he felt because it's all in the song!
Dire Straits - Romeo and Juliet Live
The sax solo sux. The rest is pure, headband-sporting gold. What an honor to have such awesome rock on my blog!
Dire Straits 2
I can't do the talk like the talk on the TV
And I can't do a love song like the way it's meant to be.
I can't do everything, but I'll do anything for you.
I can't do anything 'cept be in love with you.
And all I do is miss you,
And the way we used to be.
All I do is keep the beat,
And bad company.
And all I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme.
Julie, I'd do the stars with you baby, anytime.
And I can't do a love song like the way it's meant to be.
I can't do everything, but I'll do anything for you.
I can't do anything 'cept be in love with you.
And all I do is miss you,
And the way we used to be.
All I do is keep the beat,
And bad company.
And all I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme.
Julie, I'd do the stars with you baby, anytime.
Potato!
I just spelled potato with a "e" at the end. For the record, I blame my error, and my announcement of the error, on the people who thought it was newsworthy that Dan Quayle made a spelling mistake. We become what we mock!
Coffee Shop Meeting
I don't know how much I trust a man that blurts out the following before we've exchanged names: "What are you about 35?". Me, laughing, delighted, incredulous: "What?!"
"Are you about 35 years old?"
"No! I'm 28!"
"Oh....Sorry!"
"That's okay. Most people think I'm younger than I am." This is true, but most of these people know how immature I am. I don't think this guy had enough time to pick up on it.
Him: "How old do you think I am?"
"Um...I don't know. 33?"
"Oh man! Most people think I'm younger than I am too. I'm 32!...No, wait, is that right? What year is it?".
I was freakin' lovin' this guy!
"It's 2007."
"So...", scratching his head and doing some math. "Yeah, I'm 32."
God Bless coffee shop losers!
"Are you about 35 years old?"
"No! I'm 28!"
"Oh....Sorry!"
"That's okay. Most people think I'm younger than I am." This is true, but most of these people know how immature I am. I don't think this guy had enough time to pick up on it.
Him: "How old do you think I am?"
"Um...I don't know. 33?"
"Oh man! Most people think I'm younger than I am too. I'm 32!...No, wait, is that right? What year is it?".
I was freakin' lovin' this guy!
"It's 2007."
"So...", scratching his head and doing some math. "Yeah, I'm 32."
God Bless coffee shop losers!
Friday, August 24, 2007
Country Song!
I’m gonna need another sitting,
If this painting’s gonna work out.
I’ve forgotten what you look like.
That you’re pretty I’ve no doubt.
All that I remember,
Is that your eyes were pale blue.
But once I got those painted
I didn’t know what else to do.
If you give me one more sitting.
I promise that I’ll make it quick
If you give me one more sitting.
I promise it’ll stick.
So darling: give me one more sitting
Wear your best dress and do your hair.
Just sit there and look pretty
And I’ll stand here and stare.
I know the first session wasn’t too good.
You were right, I was being rude.
You might be relieved to know
That I've decided against a nude.
Oh darling: help me to remember
What I can’t seem to forget.
What I remember of you so far
Is too beautiful to quit.
Now, your nose was slightly freckled.
Your front teeth had a gap.
Your hair was long and golden.
I draw a blank after that.
Your hips were curved like tear drops.
Your hands: tiny like a doll’s.
The rest of you was so nice,
I can’t remember it at all.
Your nails were red like match tips.
Your ear lobes, white like pearls.
To put some color to the rest of you,
We’ll have to give it another whirl.
You don’t know what someone looks like,
Til’ you’ve seen ‘em at least three times.
I’ve got an opening on Friday.
Should we say round half-past nine?
If this painting’s gonna work out.
I’ve forgotten what you look like.
That you’re pretty I’ve no doubt.
All that I remember,
Is that your eyes were pale blue.
But once I got those painted
I didn’t know what else to do.
If you give me one more sitting.
I promise that I’ll make it quick
If you give me one more sitting.
I promise it’ll stick.
So darling: give me one more sitting
Wear your best dress and do your hair.
Just sit there and look pretty
And I’ll stand here and stare.
I know the first session wasn’t too good.
You were right, I was being rude.
You might be relieved to know
That I've decided against a nude.
Oh darling: help me to remember
What I can’t seem to forget.
What I remember of you so far
Is too beautiful to quit.
Now, your nose was slightly freckled.
Your front teeth had a gap.
Your hair was long and golden.
I draw a blank after that.
Your hips were curved like tear drops.
Your hands: tiny like a doll’s.
The rest of you was so nice,
I can’t remember it at all.
Your nails were red like match tips.
Your ear lobes, white like pearls.
To put some color to the rest of you,
We’ll have to give it another whirl.
You don’t know what someone looks like,
Til’ you’ve seen ‘em at least three times.
I’ve got an opening on Friday.
Should we say round half-past nine?
Strange Poem!
I think I need to have some predicaments.
Otherwise I might have to taste peace.
I'm gonna need to start solving some problems.
Give me a blackboard, an eraser and a week.
I'll see you when I've answered my riddles.
I doubt that I'll be recognized.
My face will be shrouded in splendor.
But I'll use my knowledge to open your eyes.
See you in a week!
Otherwise I might have to taste peace.
I'm gonna need to start solving some problems.
Give me a blackboard, an eraser and a week.
I'll see you when I've answered my riddles.
I doubt that I'll be recognized.
My face will be shrouded in splendor.
But I'll use my knowledge to open your eyes.
See you in a week!
Wonderful Night!
The soft green of the sunset soaked leaves,
The dusking quiet of my empty home,
The autumn whisper that breathes from the east,
The peace that comes from being alone.
The dusking quiet of my empty home,
The autumn whisper that breathes from the east,
The peace that comes from being alone.
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