Stuff we talk about around here:Item! Horse quartets? Not even the weirdest thing I obsessed over this week.
A somewhat goofy mini-collection of stuff I’ve been reading, stuff I’ve been thinking about and oh, some completely random crap.
Basically the stuff that never gets mentioned here because I’m not the kind of person who can just make some teeny little point. Not into the whole brevity thing, as the Dude would say.
Actually, I’m under the strict compulsion to write ten pages about anything on my mind. So this is me. Practicing brevity.
Oh, February. For a short-ass month you are full of the Items. Item!
Item! Post No. 53 in a series that you’d think we’d all be done with by now but oh no, you’d be wrong.
Item! Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog.
Okay. This is the best thing ever .
I can hardly stand how much the best it is.
“In this fyne book of sparklie vampyres, Bella Cygne moveth from Essex to Yorkshyre to lyve with her fathir, who ys a sheriff and escheator.
At a scole ful of recentlie coyned stereotypes, she witnesseth the fayre skyn and fashion-sprede slow-mocioun hotenesse of the Cu Chulainn clan, the which have all eaten long ago of the magical Irisshe Salmon of Really Good Hair (oon byte of this magical salmon and ye shal have good hair for evir).
Aftir Bella doth see the hottest of the clan, Edward, stop a wagon wyth hys bare handes, fight off twentie churles, and brood so much he did make Angel look lyk Mister Rogeres, she doth realise that the Cu Chulainns are vampyres. But they are good vampyres, who drinke wyne.
Ther is considerablie moore sexual tensioun than in Piers Plowman.“
I’m pretty sure I got this from Léan who is @leannich on Twitter. I also finally learned how to pronounce her name (yay)
Item! Mapping Sovereignty.
Visuwords is an “online graphical dictionary”.
Since mapping words is one of my favoritest things ever, you can imagine how happy I was to see this.
It’s like watching Dance of Shiva. LOVE.
No idea where I got this. Bonnie? Maybe?
Item! Rethinking things. Also: the Dopp-Down Menu.
Sarah wrote a terrific piece about designing a better drop-down menu for gender.
“I want to be able to define my gender as ‘female, androgynous, genderqueer.’ And I believe that if we were all encouraged to, we would come up with a great rich vocabulary that uniquely characterizes ourselves in all the ways a two-option gender set is trying to do, but failing at.”
And then, because the internet is awesome, someone made a sample drop-down menu for her. Kind of.
She’s @sarahdopp on Twitter.
Item! Horse quartet! Horse quartet! Horse quartet!
Really, nothing could possibly make me happier than this page.
Instant bad-mood-dissolver.
Warning: if you work in an actual office, do not start playing with this. Or do it with the sound turned down low.
But you might end up like me obsessing over Swedish horse quartet music forever.
I got to this from Rami who refuses to get on Twitter and expects me to still love him anyway.
Item! Bipolar bears!
Given that I spent a good couple of decades in serious panicky anxiety mode over this one (Beware The Inescapable Impending Doom of Doom Because One Day The Madness of Doom Will Come And Take You Away) …
… you wouldn’t think I’d find this funny.
But I did.
And you know what? I actually found it kind of reassuring that I could laugh about this.
“Bipolar bears have even been known to try to copy human mating rituals, though at times this is quite awkward. They seem to find human flirting rituals confusing, and have even injured themselves trying to seductively remove their fur. They have, however, become somewhat expert at pole dancing.
A distinction should be made between bipolar bears and bi-polar bears.
The latter are ordinary polar bears who are attracted to both sexes; whereas the former are manic-depressive, but can be of any sexual orientation. The confusion is exacerbated by the fact that, when in the manic state, bipolar bears are willing to have sex with just about anyone or anything.”
And yes, I understand that bipolar ≠ funny. Not. Funny. Not even slightly.
Also having people in your life think you are bipolar. Devastating.
But thank you Uncyclopedia, for letting me be non-serious and silly with a subject that has played one hell of a touchy, painful, awful thing in my life.
Item! Read this.
Michelle wrote a beautiful piece called Arrested.
About relationships and listening and the unexpected.
“Huh?
I can’t remember what the right thing is because what I want to say is, “That’s ridiculous, you’re great.”
Oh my God, he was listening. Sort of.
I can’t remember what to say, but I want you to know that I believe in you.
And there I was, arrested all over again.”
She’s @laughingdowndog on Twitter.
Item! This is how to do a conference.
Crash it.
And then win a dance contest you didn’t know existed.
That’s how cool Kelly is. I love her.
“I don’t usually crash teacher conferences. But my teacher-friend was in town, so my dance partner and I drove down to see her. (Yes, I have a dance partner. Yes, this is his full-time job.)”
She’s @copylicious on Twitter and she’s the reason I started this blog.
Item! Update from the land of the Peculiar & Hilarious Shivanauts!
The “peculiar and hilarious” thing comes from Melynda’s sweet bit about Butterfly Wishes.
Let’s see. I have started writing up some of my mad hot buttered epiphanies from the retreat and will post soon.
And we had a lovely guest post from Elizabeth the Bee about patterns and our relationship with practicing.
Good stuff. Lots to think about.
Item! Comments! Here’s what I want this time:
- Things you’re thinking about.
- What a Havi and Selma playground would be like if we opened one.
My commitment.
I am committed to giving time and thought to the things that people say. Even though asking for what I want still feels awkward for me, I’m just going to remind myself that this is a thing I’m practicing.
That is all.
Happy reading.
And happy Blustery Windsday. But balmy for Claire! See you tomorrow.
Twitter: escapeivrytower
Okay, bipolar bears and bi-polar bears is the funniest thing I’ve read all week! I’ve got lots of loved ones who have bipolar, and I suspect they’ll think this is hysterical as well.
A Havi and Selma playground? Ponds! Merry-go-rounds! Lots of trees for sitting under! Mmm, playgrounds for grownups.
.-= Julie´s last post … Would anything have kept you out of graduate school? =-.
Twitter: annaline_39
Horse Quartet in stereo is even better, yay for a laptop and a desktop LOL :)
I am wondering if the roads will be good enough to go to stitch and bitch tonight, and grateful that we have the minimum amount necessary to be a winter storm rather than the feet of snow everyone east of here is getting.
I think a Havi and Selma playground would have lots of forts, a labyrinth, an angel refueling station or two. A beatiful clearing for doing Dance of Shiva, and a great big kitchen table :)
.-= Andi´s last post … For Aisha =-.
Twitter: happyfuzzyyarn
Huh. I’ve often found human flirting rituals confusing. Maybe I’m a bear.
.-= Riin´s last post … New stuff =-.
Twitter: emilyroots
Still a bit confused and shaken up over this morning’s shaking. I mean, I know there are faults everywhere, but we just don’t. get. earthquakes. here. Tornadoes? Sure. Yes. I know what to do for those. Go to the basement. Or alternately, run out onto the front porch and look at the sky. (This was always my dad’s method, anyway.) But an earthquake? Uh. Nope. Didn’t cover that in grade-school emergency procedures…
But the Horse Quartet is a nice distraction. A really nice distraction. And I played it loud. In my office. To drown out the power tools next door. Maybe I’ll leave it on all day.
.-= Emily´s last post … Looking Inward, What Are All These Snakes Doing in Here? =-.
Twitter: copylicious
I almost got sucked in to the Geoffrey Chaucer blog and souffe fer my forte desire to peruse the rest of ye items, wouldn’t have made it back to see thar be an item about me! OK, I can see why Old English is so appealing–it’s ALMOST like pirate talk! I love that he has a “Lynes of Picke-Vppe” post! http://houseoffame.blogspot.com/2006/05/to-kalamazoo-wyth-love.html
Twitter: leannich
I’m so glad you love Chaucer Hath a Blog! I laughed so much the first time I found it that I nearly broke myself. Best. Thing. Ever.
(Mind you, Horse! Quartet!)
What I’m thinking of right this second, is how I’m going to manage to sneak out to the kitchen and chop vegetables without being stormed by my two-year-old and forced to turn him upside down repeatedly for twenty minutes. It’s great fun, that, but tiring on the triceps!
A Havi and Selma playground would be amazing. Lots of soft surfaces for landing on, and climbing frames with totally non-challenging bits and other bits that you look up at and laugh at the thought of ever going up there – but nobody’s going to try and make you, so that’s all right. And swings, just because. And roundabouts and seesaws and trampolines. And many many fabulous people to play with. Cool!
.-= Lean Ni Chuilleanain´s last post … Eleventh and Fifth! =-.
Twitter: spiralsongkat
I would love to go to a Havi and Selma playground! I think it would have pirate ships to climb on, and Shiva Nata studios with lots of options for appropriate or inappropriate music, and bathtubs, and beautiful outdoor spots for yoga and meditation and journaling, and swimming pools that you absolutely don’t have to dive into (but you can if you want), and a ginormous roller derby rink, and glorrrrious cafes and bars — and yes, Andi, I completely agree, there would be Angel Refueling Stations everywhere. Oh, Gods, I’d want to make an annual pilgrimage! (‘Cause I’m assuming it would be in Portland, so I couldn’t get there every day.)
Unsurprisingly, I’ve been thinking a lot about snow, and about being snowbound. We got nearly thirty inches over the weekend, and we may get another foot today. I still love snow, I completely forgive it for its excesses…but I’ve never been truly snowbound before, and it’s a strange feeling. Still, we have food, heat, hot water, electricity, even Internet. We’re doing all right.
.-= Kathleen Avins´s last post … Snow daze =-.
I think a Havi and Selma playground would look exactly like the Adventure Playground in Berkley, CA, out by the Marina, where everyone is Building the Playground All The Time. Little kids, big kids, grown-ups helping, there is a zip line and places to climb and places to hide and things to water and things to paint and places to squidge in the mud, and if you think of something new you can add it Yourself.
How cool is that?
.-= lee´s last post … What’s next? =-.
you can see it here:
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/contentdisplay.aspx?id=8656
.-= lee´s last post … What’s next? =-.
Twitter: LeilaLEvelyn
I’d love to create a playground for adults but without too much noise and madness. It’s one of my biz dreams to run a play space for adults in search of their lost mojo
And I loved your Bi-Polar Bears and ummm I was once labelled as a little bipolar thing myself – so neeeurgh. There’s humour everywhere as long as it’s enveloped in kindness too – it’s ok no?
Re-read one of your posts about pain too yesterday and combined it with Mega’s Idea Cataylst Workbook – got me acupressuring my way (in spire of sooo much resistance around this stuff) and I shifted from SUPER, OVERWHELMING, I’M GONNA HAVE A BREAKDOWN to…calm, neutral position. Amazing, awesesome stuff.
xxx
.-= Leila Lloyd-Evelyn´s last post … Stumbling, falling, starting over. =-.
The Havi and Selma playground would have a ball pit that was big enough for grownups to swim around and get lost in.
Twitter: LeilaLEvelyn
Oh my God. I missed the sound of the horses before.
Oh my word. Blissfully funny and sweet. Oh my word!!!
.-= Leila Lloyd-Evelyn´s last post … Stumbling, falling, starting over. =-.
Twitter: victoriashmoria
I think the Havi and Selma playground would have Dance of Shiva-inspired jungle gyms. Eight-foot tall Pirate Queens doing Level 5 with legs. And 3-foot high Selmas with handles for people to ride (sorry, Selma).
Bipolar bears and the Horse Quartet – hilarious!
.-= Victoria Brouhard´s last post … Is Your Business Not-Quite-Born? =-.
Twitter: tamihackbarth
Michelle’s Arrested made me cry. In a good way.
.-= Tami´s last post … Yoga+Music365 (day42) – Phases and Stages by Willie Nelson – The In Case You Missed It Edition! Volume 1 =-.