1.05.2014

may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world

I'm coming around on the idea of resolutions. We sort of make them all the time--or at least, most of us seem to try, at various points, to adjust course and moderate what we're doing so it's going in a more secure and positive heading. Why not do it at the start of the year, when we seem to naturally reflect on what's been and look forward to what will be? It's more than a changing calendar: it's a fresh start. Or, it is if you frame it that way.

So I'm thinking about my own resolutions. What's on my list? (I'm phrasing this all in general terms, but the "resolution" part is both more internal and more specific.) Job, house, health, write...and keep picking off the dead leaves when I see them, so that the plant's not trying to send nutrients in a direction that's pointless. (Yes, that's a metaphor.)



Just like the majority of the world, it seems, I'm living in a deep freeze these days. Record cold temperatures with very low windchill, and almost endless snow. Unlike the great majority of similar industries and smaller concerns in my area, though, my place of business will be open tomorrow. We perform a non-essential service, and temperatures are expected to exceed -40°F. I don't understand the kind of ego that cannot at least protect the lives whose joy one so loves to trample on a daily basis. I mean that theoretically, of course.

This article about chairs for readers is very charming and drool-inducing. #10 is super cute but I would give up on it pretty quickly; I get tired of holding a book like that anymore. #11 is amazing.

And speaking of books, I found some inspiration:

“If you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling. You must write every single day of your life. You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next. You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads. I wish you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you. May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories--science fiction or otherwise. Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.”
[Ray Bradbury]

7 comments:

  1. I haven't written this to you lately, but I really REALLY hate your boss.

    In more positive light, that quote from Bradbury is pure gold. And I love you.

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    1. That first feeling is almost universal, particularly today.

      Bradbury's genius! And I love you, too. Hugs!

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  2. Now I am picturing you with books on your head. Hey Amy, nice hat!

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    1. I would at least acquire a book hat, if not wear such a thing. ;)

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    2. The mere concept of a book hat makes me shiver with excitement. Or maybe I'm just cold. Still....

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  3. It is rather odd that we denote the first of the year as an arbitrary day of resolution. I suppose it is the symmetry of the year change, but time is a random construct, so...

    The truth is that the people in charge of your place of work have cold, black hearts, so this weather gave them strength. Imagine what their dark souls must actually look like when they get up in the morning before they put on their skin suits. Yikes!

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    1. You always manage to leave me smiling (or chucking, or hold-my-stomach-laughing), even through the bleakest times. Thank God for my friends!

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