9.28.2002
vivid dreaming
has been the case for me lately. Very wild, colorful and extremely detailed dreams. My life is so full right now and I know that at night my brain is in a processing frenzy. For the first time in years, I'm truly excited about my work. I take it home and I feel good about taking it home. I know that I'll be working on my upcoming vacation (my fault for starting an ad campaign with materials deadlines that occur the day I return) and it doesn't bother me that I'll be doing that. School fills me with incredible ideas and it has completely changed how I'm working and being in my life--gives me new outlooks on how to manage my team, how to turn negative and draining salespeople into manageable individuals and how to find ways to feel creative, be creative and to tune into my writing side.
I've been listening in the car to some really wonderful CDs--part of a collection called Poetry Speaks in which poets from Tennyson to Plath read their own works. It's incredible to hear Louise Bogan read, to hear Walt Whitman, to hear the wonderful dramatic tones of Edna St. Vincent Millay, T.S. Eliot, Dorothy Parker, Anne Sexton. Hearing poetry is so much more amazing than reading poetry and to hear Plath read her famous poem "Daddy" you feel her pain, and when e.e. cummings reads "anyone lived in a pretty how town", you understand it in a way that you simply cannot in reading it yourself. I have loved how hearing the poems infuse me with even more desire to write and create. If you love poetry and you have a commute, then consider picking up some poetry audiobooks. Yesterday in the driving rain, something normally quite stressful for me, I found myself feeling peaceful and calm and focused.
Doing the Artist's Way has been incredibly grounding for me. Even though it means I'm up at 6AM every morning, I have been reveling in the fact that I have discipline in my writing life at the moment, even if I'm not creating something cohesive. I think that even after the 12 weeks are up I will continue the writing. I find that it clears my head so that the day in front of me feels good, exciting and positive. I definitely recommend it to anyone, not just writers--but to anyone who wants to help them find a more creative side of themselves, be it in art, music, decorating your house, teaching, working, anything. There is an Artist's Way at Work as well--which I have and looks to be incredibly helpful for people in the business world. I may start it after I finish the first book. It's wonderful to feel so inspired, so motivated.
11:05 AM | link | up| archives |
9.25.2002
my friend greg
updated me...the quote is not Shakespeare...he says:"
The quote on your website about the leader beating the drum of war isn't Shakespeare it's Thomas Paine from "The Rights of Man" (written in the 1790s). A very interesting essay, by the way."
Except that I can't find it anywhere in that essay. It DOES sound more like Paine though, I have to admit. Enlighten me further, Greg?
But according to Snopes, it is definitely not, as we assumed to be the case, attributed to Shakespeare OR Caesar.
7:56 PM | link | up| archives |
9.22.2002
wow
i mean, I always knew that my great uncle was a smart man and famous for vitamin c, but I had no clue about the extent of his reach. Next time I see the RDA on a package I'll know the source.
7:36 PM | link | up| archives |
9.21.2002
today
i got a new cell phone, got plane tickets (had to go downtown to the Delta ticket counter to change existing hard copy tickets) for our October trip to Boise, made reservations for the Cape (Truro) for the weekend before Boise, bought a red leather couch, bought six dining room chairs, picked up a cheap boom box and razor blades, got an oil change for my car and new wiper blades, and we ate at Marino's and had crappy service.
I am completely exhausted.
9:37 PM | link | up| archives |
9.20.2002
the wisdom of the bard
My friend sent me this...it is supposedly attributed to Shakespeare...
"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war
in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor,
for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword.
It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind...
And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood
boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no
need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry,
infused with fear and blinded with patriotism, will offer up all of
their rights unto the leader, and gladly so.
How do I know?
For this is what I have done.
And I am Caesar."
However, in my searches, I can't find that Shakespeare was the one who actually wrote it. If someone can enlighten me, please do.
It is, quite timely, however.
11:29 AM | link | up| archives |
9.17.2002
Emotional Lexicon
Right now is one of those times when
I wish I could remember all those laws
of motion, relativity, jumps away from inertia.
I struggle to remember how movement precedes
sound, how motivation leads to creativity, how
wind can stutter and back vertebrae kink up
into new piles of pain. Terminology lost
to new buzzword clutter of bandwidth, scope
and collaboration—how can I paint the
necessary pictures anymore? What happens
when words dissolve and images slide sideways
off the page? You can’t say—your words
have slipped away into the cacophony that is left
after it all stops.
c. 2002 clk
11:11 PM | link | up| archives |
9.16.2002
figured
it all out. This was fun--Joe figured out over half of them. I had a handful and I compiled the rest from the comments and emails I received. Thanks for the help! My creative thinking teacher will love this one.
11:11 PM | link | up| archives |
my friend
Greg sent me this puzzle...which I know some of the answers to....help me fill in the blanks?
Number One (for those of you who are still scratching your head) is 26 Letters in the Alphabet.
1. 26 L in the A : letters in the alphabet
2. 7 D of the W : days of the week
3. 1001 AN : arabian nights
4. 12 S of the Z : signs of the zodiac
5. 54 C in a D (with J) : cards in a deck with joker
6. 9 P in the SS 9 planets in solar system
7. 88 PK piano keys
8. 13 S on the AF stripes on the american flag
9. 32 DF at which WF: degrees farenheit at which water freezes
10. 18 H on a GC: holes on a golf course
11. 90 D in a RA degrees in a right angle
12. 8 S on a SS : sides on a stop sign
13. 3 BM (SHTR) blind mice (see how they run)
14. 4 Q in a G quarts in a gallon
15. 24 H in a D: hours in a day
16. 1 W on a U wheel on a unicycle
17. 5 D in a ZC : digits in a zip code
18. 57 HV heinz's varieties
19. 11 P on a FT players on a football team
20. 1000 W that a P is W words that a picture is worth
21. 29 D in F in a LY days in february in a leap year
22. 40 D and N of the GF: days and nights of the great flood
23. 50 W to LYL: ways to leave your lover
24. 99 B of B on the W: bottles of beer on the wall
25. 60 S in a M: seconds in a minute
26. 1 H on a U horn on a unicorn
27. 9 J on the SC jurors on the supreme court
28. 7 B for SB: brides for seven brothers
29. 7 W of the AW: wonders of the ancient world
30. 15 M on a DMC men on a dead man's chest
9:47 AM | link | up| archives |
9.15.2002
mmmm sushi
was good last night. We went to New Ginza after a long day at Brimfield. They have SO much stuff there...no way we could see it all. After five hours I think we only managed half of the fields. We did walk home with a gorgeous mahogany table, some various fireplace implements, some jewelry and postcards. I found a wonderful real photo card of Seattle--I really should get my scanner hooked back up so I can show you. Alas, too lazy.
The table looks great in our dining room--now we just need chairs!
The sushi was incredible. Yum yum. I did manage to lose control of my chopsticks, however, and dropped one of my gyoza in the soy sauce, splattering the table and Joe in the process. I'm not so bad eating with chopsticks, but that one just slipped away.
Joe brought me home a chopstick wrapper from a Harvard Square Chinese place...and it has one of the little poems that crack me up. It's similar to one I posted a year ago, but with some variations:
(note that grammatical and spelling errors aren't mine)
Two little sticks
They're made out of wood
And they help you
To pick up your lunch
Your lunch
And if you practice
Then you'd get good
And you'll find you can pick up
A bunch to munch
Eat noodles with chopsticks
Eat dumplings with chopsticks
Eat sushi with chopsticks
That's fish!
Don't eat soup with your chopsticks
That's no good with chopsticks
And jello with slide off
Your dish
I eat with chopsticks
Can you eat with chopsticks
Doctor told us
Be intell eat by using chopsticks
Lots of people use chopsticks
So try eat your chopsticks
Right now.
11:06 AM | link | up| archives |
9.13.2002
courtesy of
John, my dear friend Niki's wonderful husband (doesn't he owe me money for losing on some 80s Name That Tune game?), comes a wonderful rendition of what happened ages ago when a man named Jason transcended time and was befallen by disco.
Check out John's photos too. I would give anything for a gorgeous copy of this picture he took, or this one.
This makes me realize that I have at least 12 disposable cameras that need developing. I kid you not.
10:51 PM | link | up| archives |
9.9.2002
my cat is
apparently a pagan, an "evil" creature. He kills mice, is impossible to train (hmm...wonder why he doesn't jump on the tables, why he will sit up for treats...wonder why my other cat used to play "fetch" with me? All my cats have come when I call them), is blatantly promiscuious (wait, most HUMANS I know have a predisposition to this), licks himself inappropriately (LICK IT, LICK IT, I yell at him), and abuses catnip.
Wow. Hey mom, see, I'm not so bad...my CAT is the true pagan!
8:40 PM | link | up| archives |
9.5.2002
ok so i
had heard the song before but I had NO idea that HE sang it! Wow! (bit of a download but worth the wait!)
11:01 PM | link | up| archives |
today was
hell. That's all I can say. I'm okay, and I suppose in the end it could be positive for me, but I am shaken, sad, disappointed, confused so it's hard to concentrate on that.
It's amazing to me to that a year ago I was twiddling my thumbs, dying for work...and now I have more than I know what to do with.
~ and no, I didn't get the MBA Marketing Mgmt class...they wouldn't let me take any MBA class as an elective (my prof was fine with it...the prof of the class probably would have been ok but the head of the MBA dept said I had to have taken the GMAT, and all the pre-reqs to do it. Hell, I have more marketing management experience than 98% of those damn students in the class. Amazing!). So, I'm taking a class called Investigating Authentic Problems, which will probably be a hell of a lot more interesting anyway. What do you think?
CCT 640: Investigating Authentic Problems description:
The best way to get better at problem solving is to experience the thought,habits of mind and actions needed to tackle real world messy problems! Problem-based learning (PBL) is a powerful process that simultaneously develops problem solving strategies and disciplinary knowledge bases and skills by placing individuals in the active role of problem solvers confronted with an ill-structured real world problem. This robust CCT process is shaped and directed by students with the instructor as metacognitive coach. Students, not instructors, take primary responsibility for what is learned and how. Instructors are "guides on the side" or metacognitive coaches, raising questions that challenge students' thinking and help shape self-directed learning so that the search for meaning and understanding becomes a personal construction of the learner. To facilitate the process, students will use a PBL model that has been field-tested and published by the instructor to investigate and propose solutions to interest-based, authentic problems.
7:01 PM | link | up| archives |
9.3.2002
back to school!
wow. What a trip it was to be back on campus again. I arrived early today to handle some details on my account, to get my student ID card and to get my orientation packet. Being there during the middle of the day, I realized that I felt very much like I do when I walk around Harvard Square in the fall--I felt old. It's been nearly ten years since I graduated from college. Fortunately for me, I look like an undergrad so I suppose that I looked like I fitted in even when I didn't feel like I did.
I'm very excited about my Creative Thinking class. The teacher is enthusiastic and dynamic and I think that I will be learning a lot this semester. The homework will be significant though, so I know my time will be tight. I'm trying to fit in an elective for a later time period (politics at my company...I've had flack for having to leave early to get to class so I have to switch out of the creativity in arts and lit class that I was dying to take. *sigh*). I'm hoping to get into a marketing mgmt class as an elective, but I have to get the professor to waive the pre-requisite so I'm in a waiting period at the moment. Cross your fingers for me that I can get in. I think they will be good classes to take together.
I can't wait to buy my books now! I have one already...a thickly bound book of photocopied articles and the required info I need for my course. It's going to be a lot of reading and writing. One of the options I have for my final project in the class is to do Julia Cameron's Artist's Way, which I have always wanted to do but lacked the discipline. Doing it for this class might just be the answer. Why did I lack the discipline, you ask? Because it involves getting up a half hour earlier each morning, rolling out of bed and writing three pages. Every day. Before you do anything else. Before you shower, get ready for work, go anywhere. So naturally I have a bit of resistance to this, but I think that what would come out of it would be really amazing, so this might just be the impeteus that I need to follow the program. I have a week to decide if I want to do that or not, so I'll let you know.
Niki is back to school as well. I envy her though--she is back fulltime and I am only in evening classes. So, sandwiched between my ever-busy work (and the buttload of politics which I have found myself unwillingly in the middle) are my classes and the massive amount of work they will require. I would give anything to go fulltime!! It is great though, to be back in school and feeling a bit of the creative spirit that has been dormant for so long.
9:27 PM | link | up| archives |
9.2.2002
yesterday i picked
up a book while Joe and I were out antiquing...it's a cookbook that I could swear my mom used to have. It's dated 1973 and entitled "The New Joys of Jell-O." I have always loved Jell-O as a kid. My mom used to make finger Jell-O, or knox blox as we sometimes called them, because we used Knox Gelatin with the Jell-O. She would also make an assortment of funky Jell-O salads. This book has many of them, some of them really yummy sounding such as Strawberries Romanoff or Ported Cherry Dessert. Then again, it has many other recipes that I would NEVER try. Jellied Fresh Vegetable Salad is this really disgusting looking white molded thing that uses lemon Jell-O, tarragon vinegar, sour cream, celery, radishes, cucumbers, green peppers and scallions. BLECH! I wish I had the scanner hooked up...the picture says it all. I'm glad they don't have the Jellied Turkey Salad in pictures--lemon Jell-O, cup of cooked diced turkey or chicken, red or black grapes, celery and tarragon leaves. Sorry...Jell-O surrounding my turkey sounds less than appetizing. The Jellied Avacado Ring ranks right up there. The book also has the BEST 70s pictures...people in cheesy clothes all standing around eating jello. There is a great picture of three people sitting near a fire at a ski lodge and in the foreground on the table is the freakiest jello dish...looks like it has lemons and corn, peas and carrots embedded in the Jell-O loaf. The pictures are great...they all have that strange sort of yellowish glow that pictures from the 70s seem to have. It's in the decor, the clothing, the carpets, the wallpaper. They were way too fond of yellow and gold back then.
Which reminds me that we had orange carpet in our living room, yellow walls and weird gold paisley flocked wallpaper in the dining room. The carpet in mine and Misty's room was this strange lime green color. We were in style, baby! And we LOVED Jell-O (sans Turkey, mind you).
10:00 PM | link | up| archives |
