happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know

May 28: valorous

I felt particularly valorous this afternoon when I mercilessly squashed a big, quick spider as it darted away along the windowsill.

---

1. Who is your favorite fictional character? What would you do if you met him or her?
   ironically, I just finished rereading the book this afternoon (for the fifth - at least - time), so this is particularly fresh in my mind. My favorite fictional character is Everett Chance, from The Brothers K by David James Duncan. Had I met him before the incomparable Natasha did, things might have been different, but since they were obviously meant to be together, I would have to confine myself to asking a million questions about his Papa (and brothers, and the Famous Scientists) and basking in his deliriously wonderful verbal strangeness. 
   I love that book, and that character, so much.
2. What part of the human body do you find to be the weirdest?
   
   noses. Have you ever really looked at them? Spend a day focusing primarily on noses, and you'll see what I mean.
3. What song reminds you of a specific time in your life? What about it makes that time so memorable?
   
   just about any song will remind me particularly of something specific. To pluck up just one example:
   "Corner of Your Heart" by Ingrid Michaelson (from Girls and Boys) reminds me of a doomed relationship with someone I still love to pieces. It's the second line, in particular -
   There's a corner of your heart, just for me
    - that brings me back to that feeling, of knowing that we loved each other but at also that it was not going to last. That I wouldn't remain there, filling his heart, but that I would always have to be tucked in back, in the corner. It's bittersweet.
4. Show and Tell. What comes to mind first when you see this picture? Or, tell a story if it reminds you of one.
   
   
   Public Domain Photo
   this picture reminds me of some very ill-fated attempts at growing herbs that I made while living in the Mitten. There was basil, for sure. And I think parsley. Possibly oregano. It was part of a larger experiment in household economizing that probably cost 2000% more than it saved, both in money and time. (There were lots of dry beans and bulk foods divided into single servings at that time, too.) The herbs were a particularly poor choice because the cats found them impossible to resist. They would rip the seedlings out of the pots and eat them whole, spreading soil everywhere and causing a general ruckus. Once we figured out that we had to cat-proof them, we managed to actually make them grow, but we weren't overly skilled at producing a useful crop. Too much water, sun, fertilizing...I don't know. I wasn't in charge of plant life at the time. In any case, we never had the opportunity to dry anywhere close to what's shown in the photo above.

[from the original source; the title quotation is by Ernest Hemingway]