Potpourri....

Chicken Little, Weeds, Video Games, Oil, West Nile. I have to dialogue with myself about whether the Spider video I watched here is wholesome, healthy humor...

What would you do....dodododododododododo...

Maybe as a result of more stuff-sifting, I was also looking for Magnificat. Not the one by Bach, but the one by Nicola Porpora. Singing it in choir helped me complete my undergraduate studies in four years despite transferring from the East Coast to West Coast in the middle of everything. But, instead of sacred music, I found myself viewing a video of Squirrel College! I mean, that place where I was first introduced to the fine study of literature. (Several girls in it make me think of people I knew.) I also could imagine that the announcer of "One of the fundamental quirks of the quad..." was someone I had met there. (Literally!) I also watched this from the third institution of higher learning I attended. So, sacred music I was introduced to on my last road trip, what say you? "C'mon." Shove, shove. "It's funny!"
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English Assignment...Video Project...

Balulalow

I loved Balulalow when I was thirteen and I heard it sung in the more advanced section of the Northwest Girls' Choir.

Something I saw today

I saw some women playing some musical instruments like this one.

What an organ sometimes is!

On the way home, I was surprised by how my feet & legs hurt. (Reinforcing the fact that I need to apply to more jobs.) But I listened to a CD of music from this stalacpipe organ. On my road trip, I noticed that it can actually be good to listen to while driving because it's all relaxing, yet the slightly jarring sound of water droplets keeps you alert. (I feel like writing something…what...dear old squirrelly one who once resembled some kind of morose Eyeore in the produce section…art thou feeling better about thyself…less disappointed by the one who displays a failure to appreciate thy great gifts…such as that thou art the rescuer of the precious embodiment of sweetness and light from the wicked cat molesters… instead, drawing attention to thy little failings in a disturbing way... suggesting thou might be like some old white kitten reborn...hmmm... organs put me in a weird mood...like, I should be listening to some old Shaker or Moravian music now...except, did Shakers even use organs…)

Driving is, like, the best therapy...

After I spend a period of time on a road trip, sometimes I don't feel content to be in one place. Such was the case today. I had a whole day to do "necessary and useful things" but I could not stay in one place. I had to drive! And see some forest. I listened to more linguistics lectures and a CD that someone made for me years ago. It had the alternate version of "Talula" on it. I just watched this Fool on the hill/Horses clip. It's a good thing I drove around today. It was actually a question of sanity. Now I feel more cozy and content about sifting through, and donating, old things. And, for some reason, I am feeling rather interested in quilts. Who knows though, maybe it wasn't just the driving around, but also a shift in eating patterns. They've improved recently. Today, I actually felt thrilled by the discovery that this dip thing I made did not change from a pale green hue, even after sitting in the fridge overnight. It was a blender concoction with dill and celery and avocado and garlic cloves and almond milk. It wasn't bad, but it might have improved, taste-wise, with some cilantro and maybe a little onion. I brought the blender with me on my trip, but I got temporarily blind sided at my grandmother's. The race was on! Those healthy eating habits were beat out by the presence of desserts, cheeses, and cured meats.

Spinning!

Mit Glas.
(Also known as "a brittle transparent solid with irregular atomic structure.")

All about H

"h is easily threatened because he is concerned he will lose his status. It is very important to him that he be chosen first all the time, and has been since he was a puppy with his littermates. h lived with a big dog (H) and was impressed by how tall he was and how when he looked up he could see his belly. h likes to have is belly rubbed because it makes him feel taller because he associates it with how tall H is. He likes to be high up and look out windows because it makes him feel more important and he believes it makes him taller. h also believes he has exceptionally beautiful paws. D really likes the fenced in backyard. He thinks h is ok but not a normal dog. He thinks larger dogs, like H, are normal dogs. D feels h is sometimes placed before him and he doesn't like that." (Results from a pet psychic!)

creative writingsssssssssssssssssss

In storytelling, a narrator might think, you know, if one squirrel finds it necessary to follow another squirrel around as part of a creative process, wouldn't it make sense if it didn't actually happen unless both Squirrel A & Squirrel B had their sh*t together, on all levels, so, why not break that down to four: physical, mental, emotional, & spiritual. Career-wise and wise-use-of-self-expression-wise and health-wise (p, m & e. And s?) would lend itself to that. But then, that's not how LIFE is (supposedly.) Or actually, it is sometimes how LIFE is, for some people, but on the whole, or in part, society is addicted to its chaos-driven tales, so chaos still reigns supreme, for some.

Useful information

It was very cool to drive up north and see almost nothing around me but dark green trees and lavender clouds in the sky at dusk. And the sign for the 45th parallel (halfway to the Northpole.) And a sign for Elk-Crossing. ("I think they're just on someone's farm," someone explained to me later.) I saw opening ceremonies (different from the clip I just watched) on a little farm that seemed out in the middle of nowhere. It was interesting to experience a series of simultaneously fun and stressful days and a lot of stress-y seeming dreams (at night or in the morning or during naps) and drive and drive and drive everywhere and finally come "home" to the hovel-with-potential that I currently reside in, and feel just a smidgen of the impulse that a lot of my neat-freakish relatives must feel, like, all the time. So, now, all I'm doing is freeing myself of possessions (that looks like too many s's) and then, the next phase of life. Dun dun dun. It will have to involve lifestyle changes. (Good ones.) Today I listened to Allegheny Front (while probably doing absolutely nothing to improve the air quality!) on the PA Turnpike. They also talked about canning, which I saw a bit of as a child, and which was briefly discussed at one get-together I attended.

No internet for over a week! Ha, what a luxury.

Random thoughts on books and such

None of this interferes with my appreciation of this book! But, I do kind of like those books that have stories with animals in them. Sometimes, I could want to write one about a squirrel who follows another squirrel around in grocery stores, finishes up a creation, and then gets accolades for it. But then, I think: I'd rather just post links about the works of Natalie Babbitt. When I found out The Eyes of the Amaryllis (and once again, the image on the paperback I possessed in 6th grade is no where to be found on the web) had been made into a movie (and to think, I never knew, all these years!) I felt sort of like I'd been socked in the stomach, but in a good way. Herbert Rowbarge leads me to think back on this carousel. Also, I wanted to post a link to the movie Housekeeping, because I was reading some reviews of the book, which I have never read, and because I remember my little 15-or-16-year-old-flannel-shirt-wearing-self watching some of it on cable and thinking that there should be more films like that. "Haunting Pacific Northwest scenery!" I'm going to take a trip to the Midwest. I believe that I could watch this one with family members. (If it's ever available...)

A fruit to try (or smell?)

"One day...there was a durian on the altar...I was trying to recite the Lotus Sutra, using a wooden drum and a large bowl-shaped bell for accompaniment, but I could not concentrate at all. I finally carried the bell to the altar and turned it upside down to imprison the durian, so I could chant the sutra. After I finished, I bowed to the Buddha and liberated the durian." Page 4 Teachings On Love by Thich Naht Hanh. Well, after reading that, naturally I felt very curious when I saw this fruit at the store. I bent forward to smell it...it was not unpleasant nor particularly strong-seeming to me. But maybe it is a different story when it is cut open? Durians at the Durian.

A good meow story

Or maybe it's better to say, a good yowl story. I note that it mainly focuses on the positive (the heroic cat!) while not ignoring the negative (about the insurance). From Independence, Kansas, which I visited a while back. Oh, I miss those road-tripping days. :-)

Vegetables!

Eat them. Drink them. Today I went to a new Asian supermarket that's very close to me and was completely bowled over by all the choices. Four kinds of bok choy. Several kinds of some other "choy" vegetable on either side of those. GEODUCKS. No, those are not a vegetable, I just couldn't believe that they had them. It was kind of a magical experience...at the end of it, the check-out lady gave me a large, attractive plastic tray for free. Is this clutter? I asked myself. No, it is a gift. I took it home and covered it with a towel. Now it is where I put the blender to dry out after I've washed it. I would like to try this concoction of peaches and greens and rosemary.
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Also, nothing to do with vegetables, but I found an Ekova video: Siip Siie
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Later--The question below looks different to me after I have been looking at some financial things. But, I know that I will eventually return to a more peaceful state of mind. In a harmonious environment! Bok Choy picture

Risk

Does risk-taking contribute to health or longevity? My friend's husband is reading Healthy At 100. It looks interesting. Is offering an opinion risk-taking? An opinion, like this: if a person is going to follow another human to help himself create something, then he might as well try to learn something beneficial from that and then use his work to create a healthier world, forgoing self-aggrandizement and the promotion of apocalyptic themes. That reminds me of the following situation: a little girl being traumatized by a show on T.V. and the grown-ups don't care because they are just too sucked into being entertained. Question: Why are so many people more driven to go for material wealth and reaping external accolades instead of creating a more harmonious environment on the planet?

Wo ist....

Where is my copy of A Tree Grows In Brooklyn? (A book I really like.) I was going to quote a scene about Francie's mother being on her knees and scrubbing the floor while she was pregnant, telling Francie that she doesn't get along with women, tears coming to her eyes when she remembers her best girlfriend from adolescence, telling Francie that she needs her now even though before she always favored Francie's brother, her sisters coming, and then Francie being sent off to an errand but not escaping before she hears her mother scream. Then a subsequent passage that made me want to throw the book out. Well, I could get it from a library, anyways! I still like it. But, I can't find it. Maybe it's already gone...