abracanabra | Entries tagged with quote

We owe most of our great inventions and most of the achievements
of genius to idleness - either enforced or voluntary. The human
mind prefers to be spoon-fed with the thoughts of others, but
deprived of such nourishment it will, reluctantly, begin to
think for itself - and such thinking, remember, is original
thinking and may have valuable results.

~ Agatha Christie

After I noodled at Doc about my serial plotting* (and explained that I wasn't putting everything in--I decided to leave out both Cthulhu and zombies):

Doc:
Awesome is like sugar water
And you're like a hummingbird
But not just any hummingbird.
You're Jason Statham in the hummingbird production of Crank
Because you have to eat six times your body weight in sugar a day, or you'll die
You have nothing left to lose.

* Circus of Brass and Bone = The Stand + The Postman (book) + Carnivale (TV show) + 1/2(Golden Compass)

Oh, and I'm planning on using an episodic structure sorta similar to World War Z.

Phil, tromping down stairs with laundry: "Argh! Masculine husband doing laundry! Masculine laundry! Stinky laundry! Laundry full of man-sweat!"

He makes me laugh, even as he does chores that I can't right now (no lifting for another few weeks).

05/13/2009 - Wednesday, full work--but I'll always have full(ish) work now, so I guess I should switch to "downtime" or "no downtime"
* Did 2 crits for MinnSpec meet-up this Sunday. My future is made of crits. Crits for MinnSpec this Sunday, crits for WisCon's writers group, crits for OWW if I want to get any more sections out, crits for Critters (eventually) to keep my ratio up...the list does not stop.
* Processed Critters acknowledgment that they've loaded Vicesteed ch. 28 up into the queue.
* Read and printed crits of Vicesteed d2 ch. 8-12.
* Posted writing log.
* Low potential freewriting, but based on an interesting quote: "Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature."
—Eric Hoffer
* Finished and emailed off belated MinnSpec crit.
* Began redmarking Vicesteed ch. 18.
* Read Critters newsletter.

08:50 Dear Sales Guy, Nope, still can't estimate how long it'll take to get something done until I know how much of it there is.
13:23 "A meal without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye," - saying quoted on Hearing Voices.

10:37 Phil, driving me in to work: I didn't get home until 5 AM. Me: ! Phil: It's okay, I'll drive *between* the pink elephants.
15:27 "Pride & Prejudice & Zombies" - Everything's better with zombies! ping.fm/gXVgt

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09:16 Seeing people scurrying around wearing autumn-weight jackets. It's 10 below, people!
15:01 Coworker re QC: "Well, they're only machines. We need to fix their mistakes."
17:18 Manager: "Watching people puke makes me laugh."

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21:45 Interesting article about concept photography (DPS): ping.fm/kkbaX
21:58 "Halloween is like the one time a year life turns into a John Waters movie" - ping.fm/N9fZC

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09:08 Holy shit! I won a room makeover!
09:16 And if you've ever visited my pink-and-green house, you know we need some room makeovers. The question now is--which room?
09:34 Now on MPR: Cars as the "ultimate MySpace."
11:12 Coworker behind me (to her computer): "You scuzz-ass motherf***er."
18:19 Re: winnings. Alas, it's a makeover (paint and shelves and a consultant), not a remodel. Still something badly needed!
18:20 Got my zombie season t-shirt! Hooray for teetrade!

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11:13 Duh! award-winner: "People who vote early are likely to be less undecided."
17:40 I made a soup! From squash! And we liked it! ...These are all minor miracles.

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Japan has better toilets than we do. That's the general gist of the Scientific American article, "From Thrones to Robo-Commodes: The Pitfalls of Inventing a Better Toilet". The article holds this gem about how they made a toilet that, er, washes your bits after you're done:
This is a 48-page TOTO history published by Weekly Sankei magazine in 1985, five years after the company had relaunched the Washlet. Its heroes are Mr Kawakami, a TOTO engineer, and his portly, cheery colleague, Mr. Ito. Kawakami and Ito are entrusted with improving the Washlet. The nozzle has to be accurate, and to make it so, they need to know the average location of the human anus. Facts like this are not easy to find, so they turn to the only source material available, which is anybody on the company payroll. Their workmates aren't impressed. "Though we are colleagues," one says with politeness, "I don't want you to know my anus position."

But Kawakami and Ito eventually prevail. Three hundred colleagues were persuaded to sit on a toilet—in private—and to mark the positions of their anuses by fixing a small piece of a paper to a wire strung across the seat. The average is calculated (for males, it comes to between 27 and 28 centimeters, or 10.5 and 11 inches, from the front of the toilet seat), but that's only the first hurdle. Mr Kawakami is now tasked with improving the Washlet's ability to wash "the female place". He needs to know how many centimeters separate a female's two places, and is initially at a loss. Obviously the best place to research female places is in a place with females, preferably naked ones. That's where the strip club comes in, though most strip club clientele are unlikely to react as Mr. Kawakami does, by shouting, "Three centimeters!"

08:51 "if a young lady misses her period, Pliny wrote, induce menstruation by slicing three hard-boiled eggs, reheating them on the hearth, an ...

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11:37 My aunt: "We have to either bless or curse what I have here."
11:58 Dad: "Boil up some spaghetti." Mom: "That's not my forte."
13:39 Dad: "...now this is about football, not about brains, but it's similar."

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06:44 The nights are getting colder, and the mornings are darkening.
11:13 Receptionist: "Mike, you have calls on 1 and 2." Pause. "You go, Mike."
14:52 Cold feet, I have not missed you, but I see that you're back anyway. Phil hasn't missed you either.
15:11 It is cold enough to warrant my fleece slippers.
15:28 Gah. I pretty much lost the last two days to escaping a funk. Nothing got done.

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07:05 ++Swordwork in the back yard while the world wakes up around me.
08:53 WalMart is against Obama? One more point in his favor!
10:15 Boss: "It's Minnesota. You don't hear any complaints until you feel the gun in your side."
10:16 "Fear and Loathing" is the midnight show at the Uptown this Sat.
14:27 Dear body, just because there was exercise and then shower does not mean it is time for nap now.
19:10 Phil just told me to change my dress because I looked "like he'd bought me for $20."

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08:23 "Within hours of his demise in 1955, Albert Einstein’s brain was salvaged, sliced into 240 pieces and stored in jars for safekeeping." - ...
09:12 CSA pickup today, and I'm already behind because I hardly cooked last week.
09:22 So tempting & easy! Ice Cream in a Bag. (NYT) ping.fm/A7rT2
09:47 Dear editors: Having a contest where the "prize" is unpaid publication? Not cool.
11:04 Favorite phrase of the day: "man-sized pant stones" - from this article re creativity & time ping.fm/fq6i0
13:41 I don't even get cupcakes too often and I'm *still* tempted! shirt.woot.com/
20:16 Americana magic realism short story podcast, very good. ping.fm/qyNxO
20:47 Note to self: set up an Etsy account to sell prints and stuff.

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08:01 They finally cleaned the NgithOwl fridge, blocking the emergence of the Ancient Ones for another decade.
10:51 "You don't say everything. You leave a space in the poem for the reader to enter and fill in." - Ondaatje.
11:30 From doc title: "Combustible Gas Channel." Brilliant! All explosions, all the time!
13:52 Rather annoyed that Twitter has stopped emailing me friends' updates. Now I get nothing at all.
13:55 Postman to 2 tall pretty girls mailing a (wedding?) dress to Russia: "It's a totally different postal system. A totally different mindset."
13:57 Fellow postal patron handed me his business card as he left. Tattoo artist. Do I appear new-tattoo-probable?
15:52 Writing, I keep realizing that something will work differently in zero-g and having to go back and fix it. Today, sponge-baths.
23:38 Why is it that good political and other discussions seem to always necessitate not enough sleep & too much alcohol?

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10:31 If I had butter, I would make pancakes or French toast. ::grump::
11:13 "I am learning to get online myself," said McCain, "and I will have that down fairly soon." - via Slate.
15:32 Hellboy II - Funny, great action scenes, a thrill a minute, and actually had some (*gasp*) depth. Minor plot idiocies aside, a great movie.
21:14 Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King - good sword-and-sorcery version of The Ring Cycle, critically flawed by lousy main actor & blue-happy DOP.
23:10 Fascinating NYT article re habit, advertising, and public health: www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/business/13habit.htm

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06:58 Smoke on the Water Ancient Japanese-style is *awesome*. Via prof_vencire: tinyurl.com/2om3w8 #
06:59 Feeling stressed already, though there's no reason I should be. Off to work. Oh, maybe that's it. #
08:36 Am going to be only QC person at NgithOwl for 2 weeks...while still handling on-site elsewhere. Ahahahahaha! #
10:12 Could anybody *maybe* come to dinner with me tonight? My treat? See cloudscudding.livejournal.com/607087.html. #
13:28 Coworker: "...going into a big open space and shooting a whole bunch of people." [Person walks by.] Me: "A bad thing! We're saying it's ... #
14:16 Cookies and brownies at the on-site! #
15:11 Dear Amazon, just because I've purchased *fiction* recently doesn't mean I want whatever updates you send. #
15:52 The headless gap(?) mannequin baby, Dar, reading comic book today and I find this very funny. tinyurl.com/5ewhzq #
16:52 Awkward "i know you from somewhere but can't recall more than that" moment at the library. #
16:52 Have dire suspicion she was one who told me of job. Urk. Shoulda played the no-memory card for humor, too late now. #
16:55 I rather enjoy the strange modern poetry that Jott mistranscriptions form. #
20:44 Mystery shop succesful. Food tasty. Was totally made. #
22:47 That's why I don't do mystery shops more often...so many questions that demand ridiculously detailed answers. #

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This poem (received in yesterday's Writer's Almanac) expresses quite well how I feel about singing...the only thing it leaves out is the cringing feeling when somebody suggests a sing-along!

Poem: "Tin Ear," by Peter Schmitt, from Country Airport. (Copper Beech Press).
( Tin Ear )

It's only in the choice acoustics
of shower and sealed car
that I can finally give voice
to that heart deep within me
that is pure, tonally perfect, music.
But when the water stops running
and the radio's off, I can remember
that day in class,
when I knew for the first time
that mine would be a world of words
without melody, where refrain
means do not join,
where I'm ready to sing
in a key no one has ever heard.

Reviews, Recipes, and Random Slices of Life

Being the journal of an all-too-human writer, reader, and eater of deliciousness

Quote: Idleness

Circus of Brass and Bone

Masculine Laundry

Writing Log: Critiquey-d, Critiquey-dum.

Points of Interest: I Like Cheese. And Eyes.

Details of the Day - Ridiculous Enjoyable Things

Details of the Day - The Joys of Coworkers

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In Modern Japan, Toilet Cleans You.

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Poem - Tin Ear

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