Puzzle

Oct. 18th, 2021 02:39 pm
pjthompson: quotes (quotei)
Random quote of the day:

“Being privileged doesn’t mean that you are always wrong and people without privilege are always right. It means that there is a good chance you are missing a few very important pieces of the puzzle.”

—Ijeoma Oluo, So You Want to Talk About Race



Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Desus and Mero, Beyoncé, or the Marine Corps Marching Band. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

 
pjthompson: quotes (quotei)
Random quote of the day:

“When we identify where our privilege intersects with somebody else’s oppression, we’ll find our opportunities to make real change.”

—Ijeoma Oluo, So You Want to Talk About Race



Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Desus and Mero, Beyoncé, or the Marine Corps Marching Band. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Future

Feb. 11th, 2021 02:53 pm
pjthompson: quotes (quotei)
Random quote of the day:

“The affluent experience the future in the form of technology, while the poor experience the future in the form of calamity.”

—Robert MacFarlane, “What lies beneath,” The Guardian, 20 April 2019



Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Desus and Mero, Beyoncé, or the Marine Corps Marching Band. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Awakening

Aug. 17th, 2020 01:35 pm
pjthompson: quotes (quotei)
Random quote of the day:

“Thank God for the efforts of Black Lives Matter―we’ve seen an awakening in this era in a way we didn’t see in Daddy’s era in terms of people coming to grips with white privilege. [White privilege] has never been uncovered, revealed and discussed by those in the white community in history.”

—Rev. Bernice King, The Huffington Post, January 16, 2017



Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Key and Peele, Celine Dion, or Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Sentient

Sep. 6th, 2019 12:55 pm
pjthompson: quotes (quotei)
Random quote of the day:

“Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.”

—Oliver Sacks, “My Own Life: Oliver Sacks on Learning He Has Terminal Cancer,” New York Times, February 19, 2015



Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Key and Peele, Celine Dion, or Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Musings

Jul. 24th, 2019 03:21 pm
pjthompson: (musings)
*
I've come to the conclusion that I'm not young enough to be absolutely certain I know the truth. The shades of grey multiply with each year. But that's okay. The things that important are beyond those kinds of thought processes. We can feel around their edges, if we try real hard and remember they're always changing shape anyway.

*
I’ve been sick for the last few months, all sorts of unusual gastrointestinal and stomach issues, about every two weeks, interspersed with bouts of feeling absolutely fine. I finally went to the doctor last Friday. He thought it might be pancreatitis brought on by a medication he prescribed just about two months ago, because that’s one of the rare possible side effects. I’m not sure about that because people are usually hospitalized for pancreatitis and he didn’t suggest that. True, I resisted going to the doctor all that time--because that’s just what I do. I finally took myself off that medicine in late June. I’ve been gradually improving, sort of, although I’ve been sick again for the last 4 days. Each bout of this is milder than the last, but I am definitely sick of being sick. I think doc was mostly baffled by my symptoms but agreed with my decision to take myself off the medicine. He is having blood and other tests done, but no results yet.

*
Today's Google doodle is quite wonderful--and quite emotional for me. Maybe it's because the moon landing was one of the seminal events of my young life; maybe it's because we had hope then that the world might come together now that we could see how tiny and fragile our Earth was. I've never had that kind of hope again--well, maybe for a short time when the Berlin wall came down. Hope is as fragile as our Earth suspended in the immense blackness of space.

I should also add that I had that kind of crazy hope again when President Obama was elected. But.

*
I bet the phone answering system in Heaven is Hell.

*
Great article by Maria Popova at Brainpickings: The Banality of Evil: Hannah Arendt on the Normalization of Human Wickedness and Our Only Effective Antidote to It

*
Best fortune cookie fortune I ever got? After a long dinner conversation with my artist friend about whether we should continue to pursue our art or give up: "Art is your fate, don't debate." My friend got the same fortune. We told a mutual artist friend about it and went back to the same restaurant, partially because of the food but partially because of the fortune. We got the usual run-of-the-mill fortunes but our other friend, who had also been questioning whether to give up the art, got "Art is your fate, don't debate." #Synchronicity

*
That feeling when you listen to a piece of music you loved in your youth that you haven't listened to for a long time...but it no longer works. #NotOdeToJoy

*


*
The Universe is infinite, yet small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.

*
SOCIAL EXPERIMENT: Someone on Twitter posted, "If you come across this tweet, reply with the grade you were in when you had your first nonwhite teacher." Oh God. I can't remember even one, even in college. THIS IS SO BAD.

*
People are surprised that a large segment of the public are credulous and strenuously resist logic. Even a casual reading of history shows this has always been so. The difference now is that we have entire news outlets and social media sites promoting the lack of critical thinking.

*
Everyone is a conflicted human being. We have to admit that to ourselves or risk getting ourselves into a lot of trouble.

*
It's interesting: Because I just write and push through without editing to get words on the page, my first drafts always have a lot more of my working class origins in them. I leave some of that language in if it suits the character, refine it if not.

Privilege

Jan. 26th, 2016 10:33 am
pjthompson: quotes (quotei)

Random quote of the day:

“Decadence: an amnesia as to how privilege is gained that precipitates its loss.”

—Alain de Botton, Twitter, 6/6/11

privilege4WP@@@ 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

 

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

pjthompson: quotes (quotei)

Random quote of the day:

“It is the wretchedness of being rich that you have to live with rich people.”

—Logan Pearsall Smith, “In the World,” Afterthoughts

 rich4WP@@@

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

pjthompson: quotes (quotei)

Random quote of the day:

“It is the wretchedness of being rich that you have to live with rich people.”

—Logan Pearsall Smith, “In the World,” Afterthoughts

 rich4WP@@@

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

pjthompson: quotes (quotei)

Random quote of the day:

“Snobbery? But it’s only a form of despair.”

—Joseph Brodsky, “Flight from Byzantium,” Less Than One: Selected Essays

snobbery4WP@@@

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

pjthompson: quotes (quotei)

Random quote of the day:

“Snobbery? But it’s only a form of despair.”

—Joseph Brodsky, “Flight from Byzantium,” Less Than One: Selected Essays

snobbery4WP@@@

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

pjthompson: astronomer (observing)

Feb 15
And then there’s my shredded Achilles tendon…People grimace when they see me limping down the hall.

Feb 15
“Seek simplicity and distrust it.” —Alfred North Whitehead said. Simplicity is sounding real good right about now. Mom’s escalating pain issues have led to a rush MRI this afternoon, maybe a bone scan.

Feb 15
New favorite indie bookstore name: Libros Schmibros

Feb 16
Back in the ER with Mom. I think I’ll start bonking my head now.

Feb 16
They admitted her. Not life threatening, I don’t think.

Feb 17
Is life anything more than a series of disappointed hopes?

Feb 17
I turn on the TV to distract myself and the first thing I hear is Sally Kirkland saying, “She died at 97.” The opening to Paper Hearts.


Feb 18
Medicare not seizing our asset vibes would be nice, too. I’d rather not be homeless.

(Note: I got this wrong. It’s MediCal/Medicaid that seizes your assets.)

Feb 19
Mom is going back to the rehab today, perhaps permanently. They finally found that her terrible pain is from severe spinal stenosis. They may try to do an epidural nerve block if nothing else helps. Her spirit is good, her fighting spirit undiminished, so we’ll see how things go.

Feb 21
I’ve been sitting here all afternoon saying “Oh my God” over and over to myself. Rollercoasters suck.

(Note: I learned that my house might be protected after all.)

Feb 24
It may be a measure of my worry that I was seriously listening to Joel Osteen this morning. Not any crazier than my previous money making scheme: buying Lotto tickets. Both Lotto and Osteen require unfettered faith, something I sometimes have in microbursts.

Feb 25
No matter how bad it gets, my life is not as bad as Fantine’s…or millions of other people around the world. Everything is relative.

Feb 28
Heard Jimmy Cliff driving to work so “The harder they come, the harder they fall, one and all” is the theme of the day.

Feb 28
There’s a difference between taking off your shirt while running to show off your manly chestal pulchritude and taking off your shirt while running and having manly chestal pulchritude. We can tell the difference, guys. And not just cynical old broads like me.

Mar 1
I am so tired of grown up stuff.  Can I run away now?

Mar 2
At home nursing a strained back. Life is good.

Mar 2
Why is it in movies and on TV when a scientist sees something unbelievable he removes his glasses? It’s become a total visual cliché.

Mar 3
The strain has progressed to spasms. I’m at urgent care.

Mar 3
Back still very unhappy and so am I. Two muscle relaxers at least make things bearable.

Mar 4
Back doing better but I’m still spending the day with my heating pad and my drugs. What part of driving with a strained back is not good did I not get? Pass more muscle relaxers.

Mar 5
I’m beginning to think the main job requirement for weather “girls” is “Must wear at least a C cup and adore tight clothing.”

I’m definitely watching too much TV since the back injury.

5 Mar
OMG the political phone calls the last week!  Once or twice an hour sometimes on two phones and me a couch prisoner! Just got another an hour before the polls close. Argh! Very hotly contested mayoral campaign.

8 Mar
Since hurting my back and unable to reach the floor without pain I’ve turned into a ham-handed bumbler constantly dropping things on the floor.

11 Mar
*sigh* I’m sitting at my desk at work with a pillow and a heating pad tucked behind my still-spasming back.

12 Mar
My new favorite bumper sticker: “What would Scooby do?”

12 Mar
I don’t want to be a grown up anymore. Can I crawl into a hole instead?

13 Mar
White smoke… Bring on the papas and beer.  Always thought it amusing that in Spanish and Italian pope/potatoes are the same, with only the article differentiating. Las papas de El Papa.

13 Mar
The Queen of Clueless Privilege strikes again: http://bit.ly/WnGOex   Yes, Amy F. Grant and Katie F. Couric are also queens of clueless privilege, but Gwyneth Paltrow is the original Clueless F. Queen.

14 Mar
Mom called twice this morning to check the time of her doctor’s appointment and once for me to tell her how to fold boxes from paper. Both equally important.

15 Mar
They found the violin that Wallace Hartley played as the Titanic sank:  http://yhoo.it/10XBK4u 

15 Mar
Some good news yesterday: Mom is responding so well to therapy she won’t need an epidural and may be coming home soon.

Also, my back is slowly getting unstrained. Driving still remains a painful challenge, but I can sit at my desk with only occasional spasms.

With all the drugs I’ve been taking for the back my Achilles tendon isn’t hurting at all anymore.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

More

Jul. 10th, 2012 10:12 am
pjthompson: quotes (quotei)

Random quote of the day:

 

“You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.”

—William Blake, “Proverbs of Hell,” The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

 


Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

More

Jul. 10th, 2012 10:12 am
pjthompson: quotes (quotei)

Random quote of the day:

 

“You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.”

—William Blake, “Proverbs of Hell,” The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

 


Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Privilege

Jul. 22nd, 2011 08:54 am
pjthompson: quotes (quotei)

Random quote of the day:

 

“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.”

—Joseph Campbell, Reflections on the Art of Living: A Joseph Campbell Companion

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Privilege

Jul. 22nd, 2011 08:54 am
pjthompson: quotes (quotei)

Random quote of the day:

 

“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.”

—Joseph Campbell, Reflections on the Art of Living: A Joseph Campbell Companion

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

pjthompson: (Default)
When you have to spell certain words so the cat doesn't know you're talking about her. M-i-n, of course, but also c-a-t and k-i-t-t-y. If you say any of those words out loud, Min thinks you're talking to her. In the normal course of events this isn't such a big deal, but during the day on the weekends when she has to be locked into my wing of the house because the bird is flying around and I'm out in the front room talking with the roommate, Min thinks she should be included in the conversation. Either that, or I'm supposed to spend all my free weekend time in our suite of rooms with her. She'll stand at the door, jiggling it to try and make it open, and caterwauling. Eventually, if you ignore her she'll wander off and go to sleep, but if she hears "Min," "cat," or "kitty," she's right back at the door caterwauling.

W-h-i-p-p-e-d.

I've worked really hard to spoil her this bad. I am proud of my accomplishments.

Photobucket
pjthompson: (Default)
I've got nothing to complain about. I live a privileged life, all told, and so far my health is holding up. I have a roof over my head, more than sufficient to eat, a job to pay the bills, a second job that I mostly love except when novels refuse to finish themselves without my assistance.

I even managed to write 1000 words this morning. It fought me every step of the way (or I fought it, hard to say which). It was, in fact, a fight scene and I'm bloody sick of writing fight scenes—but it's written now. From this point on it's just writing the heart of the book, the thing that I've been aiming at for 484 pages. The thing that makes the entire enterprise stand or fall. (Mommy!)

I don't know why I should be nervous about that, especially not after the disaster of Night Warrior/The Making Blood. No, I'm sure that failure to stick a clean landing isn't playing any part in this refusal to take that final jump and finish the course. Nope, nope, couldn't be that.

I'm going to go to the post office and do some other errands, then maybe I'll come back home and try to write some more.

Spread the lolbook:

http://jimhines.livejournal.com/tag/lol

(courtesy [livejournal.com profile] nikwdhmos)
pjthompson: (Default)
My roommate's cat, Underfoot, or the Princess Pussepotte as I call her, is senile and often loses track of where the humans are in the house. Instead of seeking them out, she stands in the middle of the room and launches into the most heartbreaking caterwauling. As soon as a human appears, or yells, "What's the matter, Undie?" the caterwauling stops and she can go about her business. She doesn't like thinking she's alone in the house, I guess.

The other trick she's started to play lately is, "I want someone to go to bed with me." She'll walk into any room where humans are gathered and give an insistent-sounding meow, then she'll scamper off a few feet. If no one takes the hint, she'll return and repeat as necessary until someone finally clues in and follows her. She inevitably leads them to my roommate's bedroom where she either jumps up on the foot stool and thence onto the bed, or stands flicking her tail until someone lifts her upon the bed. Then the human in question (anyone will do) is supposed to sit down next to her on the bed and administer scritches until she can relax a bit from her ordeal--maybe a minute or so. Then you are free to carry on with whatever menial chores (like getting ready to go to work) you were doing before she required your facilitation.

Maybe she isn't senile, just spoiled rotten?

She certainly has complete faith that whoever occupies the house is going to fall right in with her wishes and commands. Oddly enough, we do.

One of my friends said, "You know tortoise shells: they're one-half crazy and the other half nuts."

I'm beginning to think she's right.

Thankful

Nov. 24th, 2005 12:42 pm
pjthompson: (Default)
I'm thankful for the basics this year: a roof over my head, sufficient to eat, clothes, a job, a way of getting around town, a space in which to do my creative stuff. Because I've been reminded throughout the year in big ways and small that these things are hard to come by for a lot of folks in this world, and easy to lose through bad luck, bad timing, Nature (human and otherwise). I am oh-so-far away from rich by American standards, but compared with three-quarters of the world's population, I live like a princess.

And I've been thinking a lot about that other part of the world—some of it right here in this country, which is pretty much the gold standard for high living. There's enough wealth to go around. We should all share more, according to our means. I hope to share more in the coming year, as much as I can.

I think about Frank Garcia, a local restaurateur (Casa Escobar) who out of his own pocket every Thanksgiving feeds a traditional dinner to anyone who wants to show up at his restaurant. Last year, his parking lot wasn't big enough to hold all the people who came to his dinner so this year he's rented a local concert venue to get them all in—an estimated 15,000 people. He says he does it because he grew up poor and knew what it was like to go without on Thanksgiving, and because life has been good to him (he worked hard for it, too) and he wants to say thank you.

"I see a lot of people," he said, "who are so poor all they've got is money."

I am thankful for people like Frank Garcia.

I am thankful for people who don't believe it's hip to be cynical and cool; who think it's okay to let your feelings show sometimes. I am thankful to care, and thankful for everyone who cares.

I am thankful for my friends, in town and out, online and off, and the friendship they have given me this year. I hope I have returned it in full measure. I hope to keep on swapping it in the coming year.

Thank you. Life has been good to me. Has it been good to you? Then, please, pass it on...and be thankful.

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pjthompson: (Default)
pjthompson

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