Month: October 2011

Whinge

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Another lovely Britishism that means whine.

 

Reader:               How do you pronounce whinge?

Yearstricken:    Whinge rhymes with unhinge.

Reader:                Are they related in any way?

Yearstricken:     For some of us.

Books Will Find You

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My sister and I exchange books. We hang out in used bookstore looking for some author to take home for the night. And we’ve found some great books that way.

Last week, one of my colleagues at work expressed his conflict between wanting to write and finding time to write. A few days later, I lent him Anne Lamott’s book, Bird by Bird. It’s a copy I bought at a used bookstore in Japan several years ago. This colleague had recently purchased a book about sauces and had been reading that. So a small community of three voices was formed: the author who talks about food, Anne who talks about writing, and the man himself. Now, he is writing again, stories based on his conversations with those two authors.

A book is the earliest recording device, a way to preserve a voice, to converse with people in the future. The quill, pen, recording button, or keypad, allows the author’s voice to escape linear time and to live forever in the present. Of course, forever is longer for some authors than others.

Back in Japan, I think Anne was hanging around that bookstore waiting for me. She needed to meet someone new, and so did I. In a very low-tech way, I made a link to her voice by passing along her book.

While we like to think we find books, it’s probably closer to the truth that books find us.

You Were Here

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Darts on blouses are useful for younger women as a sign marker, You Are Here. In old age, the darts keep pointing, but the breasts have been there and seen that. Now, they are off exploring the belly and making plans to visit the knees before they die.

I Wonder Who Planted More Apples, Johnny Appleseed or Steve Jobs

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In 1996, friends in Japan gave us an Apple computer, a first generation PowerBook. It seemed more like a little treasure box than a computer. My only other point of reference was a Wang computer I used for a year at a job. No comparison.

 

Random thought: I always wanted to work at Wang and answer the phone, “You wang? Sorry, wong number.” Alas, I never had the chance; they went bankrupt.

 

Anyway, back to that Apple computer. It was love at first click. In fact, I’ve never even looked at a PC, much less flirted with one. (I’m forced to use non-Macs at work, but I always wash my hands when I get home.) At home, we are completely Applefied – computer, phones, and other gadgets. We compute, write, work, surf, and connect on our devices. They’re like a tiny electronic orchard that we tend to, plugging them into the wall for a little “Apple juice” when they get thirsty.

 

We enjoy them. And part of that enjoyment is their ease and elegance. A perfect blend of beauty and utility.

 

For that, we can thank Steve Jobs. He spent his career planting Apples around the world, which made a lot of people happy, including us. He will be missed.

 

 

Gobsmacked

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It’s British and means your jaw hit the floor and stayed there because you were too astonished to close your mouth.

Reader:            I was gobsmacked when I read your blog.

Yearstricken:   I’m so glad. I really enjoy gobsmacking others.

Reader:            Yes, there’s really nothing quite as bracing as a good gobsmack.

Yearstricken:   Well, tally ho and all that, I must get back to my blog. There are still so many gobs to smack.

People I Have a Hard Time Trusting

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Women with skinny hips. I find them neither funny nor fair. From behind, it may look like I’m carrying small squirrels in my hip pockets, but these are genuine Texan saddlebags. If you’re from Texas, you’re authorized to carry them with you wherever you go. It’s on your birth certificate. In fact, they are de rigueur, and define my figure, which is getting bigger. Whoa, Trigger. You need to get off that horse.

All right, folks, move away from the rhyme scene, nothing to see here.

Where was I? Oh yes, I have a hard time trusting women with skinny hips. While I love all things Japanese, including the people, I still haven’t quite gotten over my resentment at all those skinny-hipped women. For them, it’s probably genetic, so it’s more forgivable, but for the rest of you, there’s no excuse. You should know better.

Furniture Envy

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I forgot to post an image with yesterday’s poem about my dresser. Today when I went into the room to get a picture, I was shocked to see the chest of drawers sticking out its tongue at both the dresser and mirror.

The chair apparently stepped in to referee and told me the dresser and chest had been threatening to sock one another.

I had no idea any of them read this blog.

Although I was disappointed in the bad behavior of the chest of drawers, I choose to believe in its better nature. We all need to get things off our chests sometimes, but there’s really no place for envy. After straightening things up, I asked the bedroom set not to speak of the incident to the other furniture and appliances.

I just don’t have time to write poems for all of them.

Ode to My Dresser

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You don’t quite live

up to your name

but then, who does?

At least you are steady

and always there

when I need you,

never refusing the things

I give you,

good at keeping secrets.

You still have your memories

of woods, rain, and birds

to comfort you

as you stand there patiently

not minding as I now grope,

now neglect you,

gathering dust day after day

listening to the alarm

at five o’clock and never

quarreling with the mirror

whom I so often greet with a smile,

but don’t even say hello to you.

You Can Change the World by Looking

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“To look closely at the world is to alter it.” (George Steiner, Real Presences)

How often do you look closely and carefully at the world around you?

Patience and love turn sight into insight. People, nature, and objects reveal themselves slowly. Quiet yourself. Under the long gaze of love, everything is altered.

Including you. How you see the world determines how you act in the world.

What are you waiting for? Start looking.

 

 

 

(photo by seynard)