otoh

I happened to catch part of A&E TV’s Breakfast With the Arts on Sunday and heard a young singer/songwriter named Corrine Bailey Rae. She described one of her songs as being about “the space between your head and your heart.” That phrase so caught my imagination that I don’t even remember which song it was. (I swear, sometimes I think that people standing next to me can hear the noise in my head.)

Anyway, while the physical distance between head and heart is a scant few inches they often seem to be miles apart. In fact, I think (or feel) that they must dwell in separate worlds. And if I hadn’t been so self-involved, I could probably tell you whether that’s what her song is about.

[Update: To clarify, this is a photo by me, not of me.]

Technorati tags: blog~personal~otoh~photo~hnt~otohPhoto: Head to Heart

Feat of speed:

• Asafa Powell ran 100m in 9.77s, an average speed of 36.9kph (22.9mph).

Feat of distance:

• Javier Sotomayor high-jumped 2.45m (just over 8 feet).

Feat of endurance:

• Arulanantham Suresh Joachim stood on one foot for 76 hr, 40 min.

Feat of strength:

• Paul Lynch performed 124 consecutive one finger push ups.

Feats don’t fail me now:

• This morning I got up and went to work… again.

Technorati tags: Feats~blog~personal~otoh

[This bit of fiction is even more inscrutable than usual. Whatever you call someone that publishes something that no one else is expected to understand, that's what I am.]

I dreamed of Egypt — a play on words, I know, for a city built on Denial. I passed the gates to one Kingdom, but didn’t go in. Soaring edifices and stairways paved in gold. Two jars with lazy eights seem to go on forever, but they’re chipped and crumbling. Beyond this point, there is no turning back.

I hear music from my past — scratchy and tinny, the hi-fi tilts and wobbles. The record skips, playing the same phrase over and over as if repetition makes it more true. We hold hands and dance around the issues. Beyond this point, there is no turning back.

Then I’m in Winnipeg, dying. I said I wanted to be here — I thought I did. But I can’t bear to continue the journey. Once the choice is made it doesn’t matter how hard we try to hold on. Our hands will never touch. Our hearts will never let go. Beyond this point, there is no turning back.

Technorati tags: I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night~blog~personal~otoh~sydca

Winston Churchill said, “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.” Here’s what I stumbled over today:

I was reading a short story by Sherwood Smith this afternoon and came across the line, “I get a different answer at midnight than I do at noon.” It happened to be in the context of parental doubts, but that hardly matters. Occasionally I read something that just seems to resonate with truth. This did for me and my mind was on a million tangents instantly.

Who am I? — I get a different answer at midnight than I do at noon.

Why am I here? — I get a different answer at midnight than I do at noon.

Where am I going? — I get a different answer at midnight than I do at noon.

Should I…? — I get a different answer at midnight than I do at noon.

What’s right? — I get a different answer at midnight than I do at noon.

What difference does it make? — I get a different answer at midnight than I do at noon.

Hey, babe. Ya wanna? — I get a different answer at midnight than I do at noon. No, wait. That answer is always the same….

Technorati tags: Midnight v. Noon~blog~personal~otoh

I watched Annie Hall [refs here and here] this weekend. I’ve seen it before, of course, but I recently saw the DVD on sale for something under $10 and it was a complete impulse buy.

I’m not a huge fan of Woody Allen (or the whole “New York is the best and if you don’t live here or WANT to live here there’s something wrong with you” genre), but I’ve always liked this film. If nothing else it’s notable for winning a slew of awards including the Academy Award for Best Picture the same year that Star Wars came out and for spawning a fashion trend for women (layers with a tie). It was the 70s and incredibly that wasn’t even close to the worst fashion trend of the decade….

Anyway, like most other guys I luuurved Diane Keaton [watch the movie, it's in there]. There’s an early psycho character by Christopher Walken. And I’ve always enjoyed Carol Kane, who has a small part and a great line, “No, that was wonderful. I love being reduced to a cultural stereotype.” In fact, there are tons of quotable quotes from this film.

[after sex with Annie] Alvy Singer: That was the most fun I’ve ever had without laughing.

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[In California] Annie Hall: It’s so clean out here.
Alvy Singer: That’s because they don’t throw their garbage away, they turn it into television shows.

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[a guest is calling his meditation guru] Party guest: Hello? I forgot my mantra.

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Alvy Singer: Love is too weak a word for what I feel - I luuurve you, you know, I loave you, I luff you, two F’s, yes I have to invent, of course I - I do, don’t you think I do? [told ya it's in there]

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Alvy Singer: Lyndon Johnson is a politician, you know the ethics those guys have. It’s like a notch underneath child molester.

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Alvy Singer: Hey, don’t knock masturbation. It’s sex with someone I love.

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And my favorite scene:

[Alvy and Annie are seeing their therapists at the same time on a split screen]
Alvy Singer’s Therapist: How often do you sleep together?
Annie Hall’s Therapist: Do you have sex often?
Alvy Singer: [lamenting] Hardly ever. Maybe three times a week.
Annie Hall: [annoyed] Constantly. I’d say three times a week.

And, I hate to admit this, but there are times when I’ve been nearly as neurotic about relationships as Alvy Singer. I’ve learned not to try to recreate moments though [it's in there]. But I still wouldn’t want to belong to a club that would have someone like me as a member [it's in there]. Maybe I need fifteen years of analysis… or maybe I need another Annie….

Technorati tags: title~blog~personal~otoh

On a recent episode of CMT’s Crossroads Rosanne Cash introduced a song that she wrote when she was half as old as she is now. “I was a very precocious 14-year-old,” she quipped. Which, I suppose, only approaches being half as funny if you know that she’s really now 56.

I met a girl nearly half my life ago. To say I love her still would be at least a half-truth. But I can’t tell you even half that story.

I remember being half my father’s age. I was as old as he was when I was born. I had lived half as long. But half as well? I’m not so sure. He’s the one I first heard say, “Don’t attempt vast projects with half-vast plans.”

Too many days staying up half the night have taken their toll. The difference between plutonium and me? Plutonium has a half-life more than I do. I don’t attemmpt to be a great wit, but I’ve been told I’m half-way there.

Technorati tags: Better by Half~blog~personal~otoh

It’s mercy, compassion, and forgivenes I lack, not rationality. ~ From the movie Kill BillIf your vision doesn’t cost you anything, it’s a daydream. ~ John Maxwell

Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. ~ George Washington

You can’t be liberated in your thinking if you’re conservative in your approach. ~ Monty Roberts

A teacher does not have the right to put a cap on the aspirations of his students, no matter how unreal those aspirations might seem. ~ Monty Roberts

…I am in the presence of greatness. I had better do my job with patience, diligence, and competence. ~ Monty Roberts

Just remember, in choosing, that we often resist what we most need. ~ Julia Cameron

The history of human intelligence can be seen as the brain’s search for ways of communicating effectively with itself. ~ Tony Buzan

Lying is a social lubricant

The next time someone asks, ‘How are you?’ answer, ‘How would I know?’

You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they will be there long before any of us. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons. ~ James Thurber

If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. ~ Will Rogers

Heaven goes by favour. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in. ~ Mark Twain

The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven, not man’s. ~ Mark Twain

If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun. ~ Katharine Hepburn

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them. ~ Joseph Brodsky

Art is the means we have of undoing the damage of haste. It’s what everything else isn’t. ~ Theodore Roethke

Poetry is the one place where people can speak their original human mind. It is the outlet for people to say in public what is known in private. ~ Allen Ginsberg

Privacy protects us from abuses by those in power, even if we’re doing nothing wrong at the time of surveillance. ~ Bruce Schneier

These may not be the peaks of the mounts of wisdom, but I think you can see them from here…. If this peek at these pinnacles, such as they are, has piqued your interest the previous parts of this series are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. (If you’re keeping track, there are 216 quotes in rotation now.)

Technorati tags: blog~personal~otoh~Or You Could Just Keep Pressing F5 - part nine

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at a Travel Expo at the Convention Center. Some of it was intended for travel agents and other tourism professionals, but there was quite a bit for “consumers”. I got to talk to people from all over the world — people that want us to come visit from the U.S. There were too many for me to mention them all, but here are a few highlights:

I talked with people that have organized volunteer service programs around the world for more than 20 years. And I learned about a company that analyzes your DNA and then helps you book a tour to wherever in the world your ancestors are from. Both are really cool ideas in very different ways.

I stopped first at the booth for Korea since I hope to travel there next year. I had a taste of kimchi and chatted briefly with a couple people there. China, understandably, probably had the largest booth of any country. We had a great time talking to the Croatians (and a Canadian that has been to Croatia several times). And I was quite taken with the display from Georgia. Not the Georgia that I drive through a couple times a year. THIS Georgia.

Their tourism board rep told us about places in the Caucasus mountains where we could go hiking and whitewater rafting. She told us about the vineyards in the eastern part of the country. I asked about how practical and safe it is to rent a car and go out in the country-side to places away from where most tourists go. (She says that most Georgians speak English and most are glad to have visitors. [She speaks five languages and is learning two more. I feel like an idiot by comparison.] Travelling by car is definitely doable.) Then I commented on how beautiful the photos are across the back of the booth. “Here,” she said handing me a disc. “This is a photo CD with some of those photos on it.” Photos like…

Keli Lake

Mt. Kazbek

Svaneti

And most of the day I’ve had this Beatles tune in my head:

Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the West behind
and Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia’s always on my my my my my my my mind.

Technorati tags: Georgia on my Mind~blog~personal~otoh

Life is full of firsts that we find memorable: first step, first kiss, first love, first loss…. Life is full of memorable lasts too, but we often don’t know something was a last until far after the event. Old friends and lovers have disappeared from my life but never did I know that the last time I saw them would be the last time that I saw them. It’s possible, of course, that I may see some of them again. So what I think now was the last time I’d ever see them isn’t really.

You tell me today that you’re leaving
But just think a while I’m sure that you must know
Today might be the day that you walk away
But you left me a long, long time ago

Today’s just the day that ends it all
Except the usual memories that always linger on
And today might be the day that you walk away
But you left me a long, long time ago

I’ve never sat a deathbed vigil. I’ve never had to face impending death that closely. Those I know that have died did so unexpectedly and/or at a distance. So I sometimes wonder if I should make sure every time I see someone I love that they really know I love them. Do you treat people as though you may never see them again or always as if you know that you will?

I stood with helpless hands and watched me lose your love
A little more each day then it was gone
And I kept wondering just how long until this day would come
Just how long could your pride keep hanging on

So please don’t say you’re sorry, don’t say anything
Don’t try to say why you must leave, just go
And today might be the day that you walk away
But you left me a long, long time ago

by Willie Nelson

Some people never say goodbye; they say “See you later.” The assumption is that there will always be another time. It may not be in this lifetime though. We never really know. I’m not convinced we will see each other again in some other life, or that we would really still know each other if we did. But it seems rather morbid to me to treat every parting as though it might be our last. I rather like Kurt Vonnegut’s proposal. (I think it was in Breakfast of Champions.) Every story should end with

My online access has been a little flakey lately so I’m going to try getting a short post in. Just wondering: If you were reading a post about a sexual encounter that said, “They told me to take my close off.” Would you keep reading?

And just in case I don’t get another post up tomorrow, enjoy the full moon tomorrow night!

Technorati tags: Prurient Interests~blog~personal~otoh~sydca