As If!

"I'm just sayin..."
This is the catch phrase of the year.

What does it MEAN, "I'm just sayin'..."?

As if words aren't the very things that give life to all ideas.

JUST sayin!

It seems to me there is no such degree as "just" in this equation.

If any of us believed our words were really this trite,

we wouldn't even bother to speak or blog, right?

Mixed Signals

Quote of the Day: Order is Power!?

The Universe needs to stop sending mixed signals.

Transverse Lines

It looks like it's time to dig into Constructing the Universe, a book that's been haunting my bedside reading stack for almost a year now. Here's the thing: This book was loaned to me by a woman who believes deeply in astrology and it's application to our artistic egos. She determined I should read the book when our conversation about astrology turned to the topic of math as an art form integral to the construction of the universe--and thus, an innate part of the human psyche--not a subject to be feared, in other words.

So, yesterday, I'm reading my horoscope in the City Weekly, and what does it say? It says exactly this:

In his book Signs of Success, astrologer Steven Weiss says "The question 'Do you believe in astrology?' is like asking someone if they believe in art." I agree. Picture a no-nonsense physicist gazing at a Kandinsky painting, with its teeming blobs of mad color and exuberant shapes, and declaring it to be a superstitious eruption of delusion that's not based on a logical understanding of the world. Like Kandinsky's perspective, astrology at its best roots us in the poetic language of the soul, and isn't kindly submissive to the values of the rational ego. It's here to liberate our imaginations and encourage us to think less literally and to visualize our lives as mythic quests. I bring this to your attention, Sagittarius, because right now it's crucial that you spend some quality time in modes of awareness akin to Kandinsky's and astrology's.

Then, as if to drive home the point even further, I open this month's issue of DWELL, and what's the focus? Bauhaus architecture! (Kandinsky lectured at the Bauhaus school; fellow blogger, The Mop, features the band Bauhaus on his blog tunes.)

The Universe, it seems, has determined that I am spending far too much time in the realms of literal thought. Funny. How does the Universe know anything about what I'm thinking? And why is the Universe always siding with my friends and family who are constantly urging me to push the boundaries of what I deem possible for myself? It's maddening really--all this random "order" in the Universe. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. An object in motion stays in motion--until acted upon by some outside force. I guess for me this force manifests itself in the form of "Free Will Astrology." I get it, I'll start reading the book! I'll actively pursue my life as a mythic quest; but I'm warning you, Universe: you started this! You underestimate my aptitude for abstraction!

Things to Remember

Here's the thing: I don't want to go another month before I post again, but I just can't settle on a topic.

Yesterday, while nearing the last mile of my run, I came up with two separate blogging ideas: a list of things I MUST remember, and a photo log of why I really didn't post anything in October. The problem is that ever since I saw Deenie Wimmer's enlightening report on the dangers I expose myself and my family to while blogging, well, I'm just so apprehensive...I mean, what if someone steals the photos from my blog post that I've stolen from somewhere else on the web??? What if a completely random person I don't know decides to remember MY list of things to remember...except alters the list to make it funny? I would feel so violated.

It's frightening, really. But with the new President coming to office in eleven short weeks, and this new era of hope hovering in the air, I'm going to break free from the reign of terror in which I've been living. I'm going to post that list AND the photos. Enjoy!

Things I MUST Remember

1. It's never as cold outside as I imagine it to be while looking out my front windows.
2. Running makes me feel good.
3. Oxygen is great for the brain.
4. Running feels good.
5. x equals negative b plus or minus the square root of b squared minus 4 ac divided by 2a
   

The last thing I don't really think I must remember, but I decided that a list has to be either 3, 5, or 10 items. I'm a bit compulsive that way.

As for the photos, I promise I will post them soon...stay tuned.

I Ain't Afraid of No Ghost

October.  It's a long month.  31 days.  When I was a kid, the end of October meant we would dress in costumes, secretly steal the the pillow cases from our bedding, and head door to door on foot for as many hours as we could tolerate being out in the cold.  We didn't limit our stops for candy to just the houses of people we knew, we braved the unknown.  Sure, there might be cyanide, or razor blades hiding in the treats, but we didn't care.  

This October, oh so many years removed from that dangerous childhood, I stood in my yard moving pavers in the half-dark begging children passing by to take more than just one piece of candy.  Store-bought.  Obviously, very safe candy.  Nothing that could cause immediate death or bleeding.  Still, by the end of the evening I was left with a bowl more than half-full of Nerds, Take-5's, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  Next year I'm going to splurge and actually buy full sized candy bars.  The only kids who will benefit are those brave enough to knock on the door of a house that doesn't have a pumpkin on fire outside...and of course those who listen to the crazies who were brave enough to try in the first place.  

So, it's a long month, October.  Yet, I didn't manage to post a single blog thought.  I've been in a funk.  I thought finishing a marathon would pull me out of it; but something about running 26.2 miles in rain and a minor head wind killed my finish line elation.  Then, a week later, there was the Ghostbusters episode.  I've been mulling that idea around for the past three weeks, but I just couldn't bring myself to give it voice.  Every time I thought about writing it, my thoughts quickly turned to the October my grandpa died and appeared to me in the form of a beautiful buck.     

Okay, so this is all really weird and maybe too personal.  Deenie Wimmer would probably say this is drawing the line on "staying safe". The internet is a dangerous place after all, and who knows how any of my 5 readers out there might use these random thoughts against me, but I'm going to live dangerously here.  I'm going out on a limb the trick-or-treating pansy children in my neighborhood were unwilling to straddle.  I'm going to hit "publish post".  I'm not going to look back (except to check spelling and spaces and what-not).