a blue world
in a black sky
and a little bird
who flew so high
so high
a wind blew
and a rain came
and the little bird
went home again
again
mama bird said
oh little one
you can't come home
when there's no sun
no son
back you go
get out there
go fly high
in stormy air
stormy air
a blue world
in a black sky
and a little bird
who flew so high
so high
a wind blew
and a rain came
and the little bird
went out again
again
20 September 2016
19 September 2016
pursepous
a few weeks ago, i decided to pare down my everyday carryall from a large backpack to a purse. "grow up" i said to myself. so i took my backpack stuff and stuffed it in my purse. uh. oh em gee? how much freaking stuff do i freaking carry around??
obvs i need to go back to the backpack.
just kidding.
obvs i need to get rid of some of this shit.
right? i mean, that's the right choice, right? right. of course, right. right.
so, okay, i need to get rid of some stuff. how hard could that be? just take some stuff out and don't put it back in. easy.... easy. hm. this? nope. that? nope. i 100% absolutely need every single thing i am carry around. i mean, not like "every day" per se, but like in case.
.....i need three pens in case the first two don't work.
.....i need multiple packs of kleenex in case of a nose-running emergency.
.....i need a tape measure in case something in the world is unmeasured.
.....i need a watch in case the unmeasured quantity is time.
.....i need a plastic fork, knife, and spoon in case i have food but no way to eat it.
.....i need barrettes and wet wipes and a groceries bag and cough drops and... and... and...
i need it all!!
what to do. what to do. i considered again returning to big ol' backpack. sweet big ol' backpack. backpack didn't ask me to make choices. backpack held all my stuff in all its many interior pockets. backpack didn't judge. backpack just loved -- loved all my stuff. backpack was inclusive.
being still unsure, i talked it over with a trusted advisor, and she in all her wisdom said, "just take out one thing each week." oh, hey now. even i can do that! the first week, i took out the extra pad of paper and a couple of pens. then i took out the watch. then the extra kleenex. and, so on, but pretty soon it got down to the difficult stuff. i mean, who does NOT need a plastic fork, knife, and spoon?? you know you do, so shut up.
sigh.
i needed my wallet more. i needed my burts bees more. i needed my actual journal of paper more. i needed some things more than others and so i made lots of choices and this picture shows what didn't make the cut.
so, i did it!
well, sort of.
thing is....
honestly? i still feel like i have too much stuff. that said, i also feel like i need all the stuff. i can't figure out anything else to take out. the iron pills? my phone charger? sure, some people don't carry around a journal, but damn, what the hell is the purse's purpose if not to carry a journal? and reading glasses? and hand sanitizer? and a tiny screwdriver?
i mean, what? what else could be the pursepose?
18 September 2016
bookish
i was holding my book list to the end of the year, but i went ahead and published it to share with someone who is looking for audiobook recommendations. that's just the kind of caring and sweet person i am. it has nothing to do with being too lazy to copy the list into an email or somesuch. my nice totally outweighs my lazy.
as you can see in the book list post, audiobooks have so far by far won the content consumption race. unless i completely stop listening and read like a million1 books, audiobooks will come out on top, and i'll let you in on a little secret: that's not going to happen.
audiobooks have revolutionized my daily commute in such a dramatic way that i actually look forward to getting in the car. although, not in such a dramatic way that i want to be in the car for an hour (which is what it often seems to require these days), when i do end up in the car for an hour, the experience is closer to enjoyable on the scale of hellish to enjoyable.
i was reading on my lunch hour, but every day now i seem to be working on my lunch hour. a year ago, i would exercise on my lunch hour, but for the past year, i haven't had access to shower facilities for post-exercise return to work. at first, i switched from exercising to reading & eating. now, i have successfully made the shift away from doing anything self-related during the workday2. i realize this is not an incredibly healthy practice, so feel free not to lecture me.
this has made me a bit nostalgic for reading. maybe i'll go do that3 now.
1where "a million" means 23.
2restroom visits excluded.
3where "that" is watch tv.
as you can see in the book list post, audiobooks have so far by far won the content consumption race. unless i completely stop listening and read like a million1 books, audiobooks will come out on top, and i'll let you in on a little secret: that's not going to happen.
audiobooks have revolutionized my daily commute in such a dramatic way that i actually look forward to getting in the car. although, not in such a dramatic way that i want to be in the car for an hour (which is what it often seems to require these days), when i do end up in the car for an hour, the experience is closer to enjoyable on the scale of hellish to enjoyable.
i was reading on my lunch hour, but every day now i seem to be working on my lunch hour. a year ago, i would exercise on my lunch hour, but for the past year, i haven't had access to shower facilities for post-exercise return to work. at first, i switched from exercising to reading & eating. now, i have successfully made the shift away from doing anything self-related during the workday2. i realize this is not an incredibly healthy practice, so feel free not to lecture me.
this has made me a bit nostalgic for reading. maybe i'll go do that3 now.
1where "a million" means 23.
2restroom visits excluded.
3where "that" is watch tv.
16 September 2016
creepy peepers
targeted ads are like stalkers, peeping in through my microsoft windows, watching me take a virtual bubble bath. word on the street is the millennials like the creepy buggers. is that true? those weird children like all sorts of weird shit. as for me, today i got an ad for tickets to the wiggles in baltimore, and as i am in neither the baltimore demographic nor the wiggles demographic, i feel this is pretty much a win for stealthdom.
that said, there IS a bit of peeping that would add value at online retailers - look in my cart and tell me if i am freaking ordering two of the same bloody thing! see, i have all these pretend dollars to spend at banana republic (the parent company of gap and old navy), so i loaded up a virtual cart of old navy cardigans and one dress. when i got the shipment notification with a list of my shipment (i.e., the former occupants of my shopping cart), what to my wondering eyes should appear but two (2!!) of the dress.
what the hell, old navy?? in what universe do people want two of the exact same piece of clothing that isn't a standard tee shirt or somesuch? in what universe?? not this one, that's for damn sure.
how hard would it have been for old navy to have stopped and asked me to confirm that i want 2 of x? yeah, i am thinking not that hard. "you have ordered two of the exact same thing. confirm?" i mean, they are churning up a custom email based on the contents of my cart as soon as i put anydamnthing in it. maybe "two of the exact same thing" could trigger a wee alert? seriously, as long as you are looking, make yourself useful!
i cherish your thoughts on this grave matter.
that said, there IS a bit of peeping that would add value at online retailers - look in my cart and tell me if i am freaking ordering two of the same bloody thing! see, i have all these pretend dollars to spend at banana republic (the parent company of gap and old navy), so i loaded up a virtual cart of old navy cardigans and one dress. when i got the shipment notification with a list of my shipment (i.e., the former occupants of my shopping cart), what to my wondering eyes should appear but two (2!!) of the dress.
what the hell, old navy?? in what universe do people want two of the exact same piece of clothing that isn't a standard tee shirt or somesuch? in what universe?? not this one, that's for damn sure.
how hard would it have been for old navy to have stopped and asked me to confirm that i want 2 of x? yeah, i am thinking not that hard. "you have ordered two of the exact same thing. confirm?" i mean, they are churning up a custom email based on the contents of my cart as soon as i put anydamnthing in it. maybe "two of the exact same thing" could trigger a wee alert? seriously, as long as you are looking, make yourself useful!
i cherish your thoughts on this grave matter.
15 September 2016
caught blogging
yesterday fbi director james comey advised us all to put a piece of tape over our webcams when we're not using them. i can't decide if that's bizarrely paranoid or immensely practical. i mean, it seems pretty bourne-identity to me. i assume my home wireless security protects my email and bookkeeping - why shouldn't i assume it's protecting my camera? along those lines, who is going to mess with accessing my webcam? all that they would see is me nodding off while attempting to compose a wee blog.
14 September 2016
12 v's to the printer
my computer wanted to update tonight. i was all like, fine, let's update, but then it told me it would take SEVERAL HOURS. omg. what the hell, ubuntu. who has several hours to update their computer? not i, said the fly.
admittedly, it's from v4 to v16. that's 12 v's, so i guess it's reasonable to assume that would take some time. probably 1 or 2 v's would be quicker. why did i wait until the v's were up to 12? hmmm, well, i really have no idea how that happened. oh, wait, this is how it happened - ubuntu never asked to be updated before. jeez, ubuntu. it's been years. YEARS. and you're just now asking to be updated? and, not like 1 or 2 v's... T.W.E.L.V.E. V's!!
you might wonder if i wondered: why, for all these years, wasn't it asking to be updated? i mean, computers ask to be updated all the time. didn't it strike me as strange that this one wasn't asking? well, i certainly would have wondered that, except for the fact that it HAS been asking to get updated. it's been asking like all the time -- and i've been giving it permission! if it's been asking all this time and i've been saying okay all this time, how did it get 12 v's behind??
*sigh*
aaaaaanyway....
now i am sort of at a loss. do i update? i probably should. the system would probably work better. but... hours? HOURS?? and - AND - what exactly would be better about it? what would this update improve? better be something worth hours of my life because the same message that said it would take hours also said it was irreversible. what if i take this hours-long irreversible path, and when i get to the other end, i can't print? what then??
admittedly, it's from v4 to v16. that's 12 v's, so i guess it's reasonable to assume that would take some time. probably 1 or 2 v's would be quicker. why did i wait until the v's were up to 12? hmmm, well, i really have no idea how that happened. oh, wait, this is how it happened - ubuntu never asked to be updated before. jeez, ubuntu. it's been years. YEARS. and you're just now asking to be updated? and, not like 1 or 2 v's... T.W.E.L.V.E. V's!!
you might wonder if i wondered: why, for all these years, wasn't it asking to be updated? i mean, computers ask to be updated all the time. didn't it strike me as strange that this one wasn't asking? well, i certainly would have wondered that, except for the fact that it HAS been asking to get updated. it's been asking like all the time -- and i've been giving it permission! if it's been asking all this time and i've been saying okay all this time, how did it get 12 v's behind??
*sigh*
aaaaaanyway....
now i am sort of at a loss. do i update? i probably should. the system would probably work better. but... hours? HOURS?? and - AND - what exactly would be better about it? what would this update improve? better be something worth hours of my life because the same message that said it would take hours also said it was irreversible. what if i take this hours-long irreversible path, and when i get to the other end, i can't print? what then??
13 September 2016
spooning
light. dark. light. dark. light. dark.
most of the time it's dark, of course. they reach in here maybe 6, 8 times per day. i mean, how many times do you need a spoon? not very often. maybe 6, 8 times per day.
but that's fine with me because what happens when they take me out. they stick my head in a hot cup of coffee or a cold bowl of cereal. and then? then? haha. ha. 9 times out of 10 they poke me in their mouth!
uurrrrgh. *shiver*
give me the good old cutlery drawer anytime.
-----------------
the book which i'm currently listening to describes a writing exercise where you take the point of view of an inanimate object. i am not sure i am on the right track here.
most of the time it's dark, of course. they reach in here maybe 6, 8 times per day. i mean, how many times do you need a spoon? not very often. maybe 6, 8 times per day.
but that's fine with me because what happens when they take me out. they stick my head in a hot cup of coffee or a cold bowl of cereal. and then? then? haha. ha. 9 times out of 10 they poke me in their mouth!
uurrrrgh. *shiver*
give me the good old cutlery drawer anytime.
-----------------
the book which i'm currently listening to describes a writing exercise where you take the point of view of an inanimate object. i am not sure i am on the right track here.
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