Whooohooo! I‘ve ordered a birthday gift for myself for next week! I‘m getting a footrest type of stool to go with my armchair in the library.
I got lucky and found one that fits the style of the room and – even better – fits under the antique desk where our TV resides, so I can hide it away when I don‘t need it.
Here‘s (hopefully) a picture:
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We might say that someone’s outfit or hairstyle is “on point,” but those style achievements pale in comparison with the strength and tenacity involved in a ballerina dancing on pointe. Perhaps “on pointe” could go in the urban dictionary as “working hard enough at something difficult to make it look easy.”
Where do you see yourself or others being “on pointe”?
That’s such an interesting approach to something I find very difficult. I guess you could say my English is “on fleek/on pointe” or something like that. You can’t tell how many years of hard work I’ve invested to get to this point of being de-facto bilingual. Actually, it feels so normal, so natural to me that I tend to forget that being fluent in any foreign language is an achievement. It’s hard to keep in mind that while many people speak English as a foreign language, not all of them are able to read books in English, and very few are able to translate English books or write novel-length stories in English. That is an accomplishment and I shouldn’t forget that.
As for other people… I think there’s always talent and most of all hard work and patience and persistence behind anything “on pointe”, no matter if it’s fashion or dancing or cooking or coding.
Some problems are overwhelming, and very possibly insurmountable. It’s a good thing that we generally don’t have to take on those problems by ourselves.
Who encourages you to persist?
Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “Ulysses”: “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
(Daily one-minute reflections and meditations: Daily Compass)
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The religious/philosophical/spiritual community that I identify with the most these days are the Unitarian Universalists. I like how they don’t ask me to leave my brain at the wardrobe, but they also allow space and time for what cannot be rationally explained, for faith and spiritualism.
I thought I’d do the ”Daily Compass” – a daily meditation, moment of introspection – posted by the online UU community “Church of the Larger Fellowship” in October.
So of course I didn’t. ?
Here’s my second attempt. I’m going to post each day’s Compass first, then the one I’m working on to catch up… Hopefully, I’ll stick with that!
Here we go:
October 7:
“Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.”
― James A. MichenerWhat aspects of your personality come out when things aren’t going well?
I get irritable and impatient and snap at people. If I’m not feeling well, I often just need space/time/quiet, not a dozen questions on top of everything else. If things are going really seriously awful, I’m actually better – I manage to keep calm and figure out emergency plans and getting things done after all. I’m no good with laziness and incomptence and shit in between. Of course it also depends on who’s around. I have trust issues and unfortunately one way to find out if I really trust you is that I don’t hide a seriously bad mood. ?
October 1:
“O snail
Climb Mount Fuji
But slowly, slowly!”
― Kobayashi IssaWhat have you accomplished over a long period of time?
I’ve written several novel-length stories. Each took months and months to write.
I’m also dealing with several chronic issues. Living with them is an on-going challenge and I guess also an accomplishment.
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[community post copied from saysomethingsaturday on pillowfort]
(It’s Saturday night, strictly speaking already Sunday.)
1. Something interesting I learned this week.
There are at least a dozen different ways to make the breadcrumbs for Schnitzel or Cordon Bleu. I know because HH (=Hufflepuff Hobbit aka husband) is obsessed with finding the One True Method of making them. (There are worse obsessions; everything he’s tried out so far was delish. I’m afraid I’m not very helpful…)
2. Something I accomplished this week.
I wrote a thing! A scene from the life of my World of Warcraft character, the night elf and druid and champion of Azeroth Nachtblau: A Morning at the Garrison
3. An interesting piece of media/link/song/etc that I discovered this week.
Today the song “Waterfall” by Mogli came on while I was marinating in a lavender bubble bath. Thanks to my old Bose speakers in the bathroom that was one of the most surreal sound experiences I’ve had.
“Waterfall” by Mogli on YouTube
4. A joke.
I did find some of the “weird teacher” tweets pretty funny that Jimmy Fallon collected for his show.
5. Comment on others’ saysomethingsaturday posts.
Will do!
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Silence.
I appreciate silence. All kinds of silences.
The icy, breathless, peaceful silence of falling snow. The soft, wistful silence of an autumn’s day, the only sound the wind rustling the leaves. The silence of heavy breathing after you’ve had sex or laughed or cried together. The pause of hard thinking. The stillness of perfect presence. The comfortable quiet after a good meal.
But in recent years silence has started eating me up, inside out. In conversations or discussions where once upon a time I would have objected or argued passionately, I say nothing. Or at the most “I disagree.” Thoughts, dreams, questions, experiences I once would have shared on my blog or LJ or Dreamwidth remain secrets. Emotions unexpressed, fears unmentioned. In the shower, in a lavender bubble bath, on a walk, on the train I think about essays I’d like to write, about a series of blog posts I’d like to share. I compose them in the silence of my mind and that’s where they stay.
Silence surrounds me and fills me up. Invasive, enveloping.
I’m not sure how to break this habit.
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Way back on LJ, my friend Sc0ffy started this Friday meme. It’s really simple.
Five Things Friday: List five things you are grateful for this week.
In no particular order:
Tl;pra. (Too long; please read anyway – I know I’m rambling, but if you want to know what’s up with me, this is all I’ve got. And honestly, why should I post something I don’t want people to read?)
Anyway: I got HH a new iPhone for his birthday, and it’s up and running now (still need to check some settings for him this w/e, but basically it’s set up to suit him and he adores it – he keeps flirting with Siri, it’s too funny). Last week we got some sewing done at the little sewing studio downtown – we got table runners for the dinner table that match the curtains made, and bows to tie back the curtains in the living room, and we had the curtains for the library trimmed. (And we only procrastinated on that since last Christmas.) We removed the old, ineffective fume cupboard in the kitchen. We probably won’t get a replacement and rely on the window instead, to save energy and reduce garbage (those replacement filters…). I’ve ordered new lights for over the stove that I need to put up this w/e. Earlier this year we got the smoke detectors now required by law put up (with magnets, for easy removal – which turned out to be a very wise solution indeed since the smoke detector in the hallway thinks we’re trying to burn down the house when we cook steak! – never mind that we like our steaks actually medium rare on the rare side of things…). The cable company switched over to only digital channels two weeks ago, which caused some mayhem for a few days (and traumatised poor HH who was dozing in front of the TV when the screen went dark at midnight on the day of the great switch-off), but we managed to get things sorted, and both TVs are working again. Last but not least, I’ve ordered enough cat food to keep the cats in chicken and tuna until the end of the year.
The list goes on (as does the to-do list, of course, but I really need to keep in mind that I/we keep crossing things off on that, too!).
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