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.
Wednesday!
I am in headless chicken mode again — getting ready to head off to North Carolina to teach a weekend workshop of fabulous wacky brain training.
So today’s Items! may be (Item!) a bit more chaotic than usual. If that’s possible. Which I don’t really think it is.
Item! Post No. 31 in a series that has pretty much become a tradition despite itself.
Item! Walking the path.
Remember Waverly Fitzgerald (Waverly!) who got me to name my moons and then you played with me? Wasn’t that beautiful?
I loved this post from her called The Path.
So sweet.
“My path is more like a maze. My work is five blocks south and three blocks west of my house. I haven’t really worked out the math but I figure there are probably at least 45 ways I could walk those blocks, depending on which block I turn at, and that’s not including the occasional alley (I love alleys).”
Her book Slow Time is such a favorite of mine, and she is an outstanding teacher. So smart and so kind and so curious and so full of play.
Love.
Item! I heart Christine Bougie.
You might know Christine Bougie if you hang out here a lot in the comments.
I’ve been listening to her music all week.
Oh. My. God.
The album is Hammy’s Secret Life and it’s fantastic.
She’s @christinebougie on Twitter.
Item! Don’t mess with Pisces!
Super interesting (and funny!) post from Shannon Bowman about her conversation with the Pisces moon.
She takes the wacky-talking-to-yourself stuff that I do and takes it somewhere completely new.
Of course, I know pretty much nothing about astrology other than that I like hanging out with Virgos (hi, Colleen and Mark and Hiro!). And that apparently I am the posterchild for pisces.
But the fabulous fish drawings knocked me out with their freakishly accurate description of my good and not-so-good traits.
And the post is still really great even if you’re not into any of this.
Pisces: “What do you always tell people about Cancer?”
Me: “Crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside.”
Pisces: “Ok, good. Well, you already have the crunchy part covered, so you’re not ready to work on that yet. You have to get the middle part down first before you can put the shell on; otherwise you’re just empty inside.”
She’s @clover on Twitter.
Item! This is the best comment I have ever had the privilege of receiving.
It’s from the brilliant Wendy Cholbi (whom I adore) and she wrote it in response to this bit I wrote on the Shivanauts blog about the Retreat in Taos.
“Here’s a poem I wrote during the retreat (it’s a double dactyl, which is an eight-line poem with a specific syllabic stress pattern that makes it perfect for wacky observations — also the stress pattern helps me remember the correct way to pronounce “shavasana”):
Higgledy-piggledy,
Holy shavasana!
Dancing with Shiva is
breaking my brain.Molecules, neurons and
thoughts reassembling
into a radical
new kind of sane.I feel obligated to explain that there’s an implied “Batman” after the “Holy shavasana!” line. Because I always hear it in an excited cartoony voice in my head.
Time to submit this comment before I chicken out…”
I. Love. Wendy.
Holy shavasana, Batman!
She’s @wendycholbi on Twitter.
Item! Stuff changes.
So back in May (really? that long ago?) the fabulous Laura Fitton aka Pistachio and I taught a class about how not to be strategic.
And not in an ironic “ten ways to NOT succeed in business” sort of way.
Actually about the strategy of not being strategic. And how that is our sneakified way of being successful.
Specifically it was about using Twitter and social-media-ey stuff in a non-gross, non-overly-intentional way to have fun and get your thing in front of your Right People.
But without being (or feeling) icky or weird.
Anyway, we were going to raise the price back up to something semi-normal, and then we both got crazy-busy.
So. Last I heard, it was going up to the regular price of $64 on September 6.
Item! “What an extraordinary question!”
This post from Mahala Mazerov is so completely perfect.
Some questions are so outrageously inappropriate … that you don’t really have to answer them other than acknowledging that yes, they are … extraordinary.
What a great lesson.
“It makes a thundering statement while saying very little, and prevents getting hooked into any ugliness. Used skillfully, it cuts through so cleanly that nothing more needs to be said.”
She’s @LuminousHeart on Twitter.
Item! Update from the land of the Peculiar & Hilarious Shivanauts!
The “peculiar and hilarious” thing comes from Melynda’s sweet bit about Butterfly Wishes.
I really haven’t been doing anything on the Shivanauts blog other than planning for Berlin and the two months of madness fabulous workshops to come.
Well, that and working on the manual.
But things are moving and shifting under the surface. Go-go-gadget-epiphanies! Or something.
Item! Comments!
I’m still having fun with the theme of words that are cool to say over and over again.
So let’s stick with that.
And anything you think I should be reading!
That is all.
Happy reading.
And happy Blustery Windsday. See you tomorrow.
Thank you for the link to Shannon’s blog– I can tell I am going to become a fan of hers. I have a Pisces sweetie, and Virgo-me is moving toward getting better at loving his Pisces-ness.
And Wendy’s poem! Love!
I like to say the word jaguar. Try it. It feels good in the mouth.
And I have this tingly feeling that you might just maybe dig my teacher’s tarot blog entry from today? It reminded me of you (what you I know from gobbling up your blog for the past few weeks) http://tinyurl.com/nf6wnx Is putting a link to it okay?
.-= Darcy´s last post … Memoir triple header =-.
Two posts I loved reading this morning: Colleen (she’s @Communicatrix on Twitter)Wainwright’s lovely post on getting her passport renewed. And the Resistance List by Ken Robert at Mildly Creative.
Word of the day: Translucent.
Love and hugs,
Hiro
.-= Hiro Boga´s last post … Sunday Poem #5 =-.
Thanks for the intro to all of these peeps. I adore Wendy’s poem and the juxtaposition of the silly cartooney voice with the power of the Dance. I can’t wait to read more from Shannon. And I read & loved Mahala’s post earlier this week, no better role model for handling a situation like that than Pema Chodron. Very cool.
I just read the first five essays of @gapingvoid’s book “Ignore Everybody” and love it. And I second Hiro’s suggestion of Ken’s “Resistance List.”
.-= Briana´s last post … A little manifesto type thing-ey =-.
@darcy: jaguar does feel good in the mouth! jaguar jaguar jaguar ..
that is such a good reminder. I walk the pup 2-3 times a day. Usually, we take the same route. I should really mix it up. I can’t wait to read her book now!
thanks for the links!
a good word: memoir
.-= elizabeth´s last post … if at first you don’t succeed, paint again =-.
awww shucks. that’s really nice. I think this is the nicest place to hang out online.
.-= Christine´s last post … I love Donny Hathaway =-.
Thank you thank you for Hammy’s Secret Life! I’m always on the lookout for good, happy, wordless music, and this is not only that, but also in the weird country vein I’ve been jonesing for (like the music from Firefly).
Perfect. Thank you! *hugs*
Well it’s not a word, but a name. Years ago, when I worked in the library, there was a professor named Dr. Leggewe who would come in all the time. So I’d always have to say “Lllllleggewheeee” (to myself of course).
Lllllleggewheeee … heee Still makes me smile.
Ok… soooooooooooo I’m totally psyched because I entered my blog in a contest and I am one of the finalists. And I feel ewey-gooey “m-word”-ish asking for this, but if there is one thing Havi’s Very Personal Ads have taught me, it’s to practice asking for what I would like to happen. I would like to win this because I really need the external validation right now when it comes to my writing as I have been in a pretty fragile place.
If you like what I have written, would you vote for me?
My “name” is MelZoom there.
http://www.beliefnet.com/Community/2009/08/Vote-for-the-Blogging-Contest-Winner.aspx
As for what Havi asked for:
Things to check out–
Pretty pretty watercolors, free e-cards, calendars, quotes, etc @ http://www.herondance.org
Words–
burgled–as in ‘Houses in West London are Less Likely to be Burgled.’
defenestrate– to throw out a window
(defenestration– the act of throwing something out a window)
@darcy–jaguar… love it!
@serena– I had a principle named Mr. Olala. Oh-la-la. tee-hee.
.-= melissa´s last post … Skunk! =-.
Oh, Melissa, I love the word “defenestrate”. Just last night my daughter and I had a very cool and funny discussion about the differences between “defenestrate” and “fenestrate”. We decided that if to defenestrate someone is to throw them out the window, than to fenestrate someone is to throw them into a building through a window…we agreed to keep track, while watching movies, whether someone is fenestrated or defenestrated…
Another word I love is “curmudgeonly.” As in, the main character in the Pixar movie “UP” was very curmudgeonly. I love the way that word feels in my mouth and my mind.
“Defenestrate”… Oooo! Don’t forget auto-defenestrate. The act of throwing ONESELF out the window!
I’m also fond of “Triskaidekaphobia”, or fear of the number 13. Not the phobia. The word. In fact, a LOT of the phobias have cool words to go with them… Asymmetriphobia- Fear of asymmetrical things.
Catapedaphobia- Fear of jumping from high and low places.
Heehee.
Burgled. Now that is a STRANGE word.
.-= G. Romilly´s last post … 10 Inspirational Needlework Blogs =-.
Oooh, Monangahela and Youghiogheny because Bullwinkle said it really well in one of their episodes.
And I am grooving on these books:
Learning by Heart by Corita Kent and Jan Steward
Visioning by Lucia Cappachione
and
What it Is by Lynda Barry (a book on writing that makes it so much less scary)
.-= Andi´s last post … Just Playing Around =-.
Holy shavasana Batman, but it’s FUN to be an item! I wondered if something I heard yearzzzz ago was powerful only in my head. So pleased Pema Chodron’s wisdom came through and we can stop struggling over questions that don’t need to be answered. (I just wrote a follow-up post that comes from a different angle, when the question is fine but your answer makes you squirmy.)
Since you’ve been so kind to mention me, Havi, I feel it would be quite inappropriate at this time to wrestle you regarding ownership of the Pisces posterchild award. Let us just splash each other playfully in the ocean. Oh, mermaids! Pisces posterchild mermaids, what do you think?
Favorite word of the moment: nap.
.-= Mahala Mazerov´s last post … Skillful Answers to Disgraceful Questions, Part 2 =-.
You’re lovely, Havi, to make me an item! How exciting!
And thank you, Mahala, for the Pisces posterchild mermaids image… that is definitely going in the file for future use. A.Mazing.
I think my favorite word of the moment is barbazoni… it’s fun to sing like a preschooler!
.-= Shannon Bowman´s last post … Gently Used, Part 4 (Technical Edition) =-.
Thank you so much for turning me on to Christine Bougie! I’m so glad Hammy’s Secret Life isn’t a secret to me any longer. Love that little twist of Steely Dan-ness in there.
Word love = anaranjado. Not because I speak Spanish at all, but it sounds so cool when said slowly and I do have a thing for shades of orange.
There is a band (it’s just one guy! no, it’s really like two guys or something!) called Shpongle. I don’t know much about them, but I do like to say Shpongle. Shpongle!!
The word “heteroskedastic” popped up in my work the other day. (It means “differing variances” and describes a certain type of sequence of random variables, sez Wikipedia.)
I love that it (a) was used correctly by the non-native English speaker who wrote the paper it was in thoug I had to look it up and (b) sounds like a shuffly little nonsense song (a la “skidamarink a dinky dink,
skidamarinky doo”) even though it is a push-glasses-up-on-nose-serious kind of word.
“Holy heteroskedacity, Batman!” also works nicely.
Mahala’s post has also stayed with me in the nicest way this week.
.-= Sandra´s last post … No goldfish were harmed in the making of this drink =-.
Wow! I did a little dance around the desk, singing, “I was mentioned in Havi’s blog twice in one week.”
Then I got to the part about Virgos, and was even happier to be in such good company. Because I’m one too.
It’s not the Pisces moon that does me in but the Capricorn moon. I even wrote about it in the Slow Time book. I used to warn my daughter when the Capricorn moon was approaching because that’s when I always laid down ultimatums.
My nominee for words that sound good said over and over: irk!
.-= Waverly´s last post … Lavender Cheesecake =-.
I bet you’d enjoy this post, Havi: Off the mat, into the world
.-= claire´s last post … Mind kinda blown =-.
Flabbergasted is a good word. So is twitterpated.
Both describe how I felt when I realized that not only was I an Item, but my comment actually gave you the title of today’s Item! post!
::happydanceofjoyjoy::
Holy shivanautical peculiarities, Batman!
Now to go explore some new music (I love that Christine Bougie has a name-your-price feature for downloading her music — it lets some people pay what they can afford, and others be as generous as they want, and how can you not love that?).
Oh, and for some reason I’ve been liking the word “smock.” And there was a Calvin & Hobbes strip years ago where Calvin said “I just like saying smock. Smock smock smock!” And I laugh every time I think of it.
Do the people who like the word jaguar say it the American way (JAG-wahr) or the British way (JAG-you-wahr)? Cuz they’re interestingly different, methinks.
Actually, plenty of words are great when said in a British accent (says me the American yokel). Like “massage,” which gets accented on the first syllable and sounds delicious. Or the way “schedule” schloops in with no hard “c.”
Oh, this is way too much fun. Words! I love them!
.-= Wendy Cholbi´s last post … Welcome to the Wendy & Meredith Show! =-.