~ the evolution of dreams ~
January 31, 2007,7:30 p.m.
breaking
when you’re caught in the middle of life it’s hard to keep things straight. i’m stuck. i need peace and silence and a break from things – i need to get out. i can’t figure out how to work this thing. i forget life is organic. i forget that when you have to make scary decisions they are scary because you don’t know how they will turn out, and you might be making a mistake.
is that our curse? to see the potential disasters of a decision that we can only hope will be good?
when there are hearts in the balance, the devil plays games with your soul.
is that our curse? to see the potential disasters of a decision that we can only hope will be good?
when there are hearts in the balance, the devil plays games with your soul.
Labels: grief
January 22, 2007,3:14 p.m.
gadgets
a few weeks ago, i was sitting in the manulife centre with toni and my brother. we were talking and eating before going to see casino royale. (daniel craig, i didn’t do you justice when i greeted the news that you were the new james bond with tears of fury. i desperately wanted christian bale to get the part. happily you exceeded my expectations and did a fine job. thanks man. i was worried for the multi-billion bond industry. i was also stark staring mad at the searing loss of pierce brosnan which happened one film too early, in my opinion).
as we were getting ready to leave our table and go to the movie, my cell phone - pictured here - was knocked off the table. i didn’t think anything of it at the time - after all, i’ve had this phone for nigh on three years, and it’s been dropped a few times (not excessively, but it has) and it’s been fine. apparently this one plummet was going to do it in.
i noticed last week that the top-right hinge had a little crack in its casing. a few days later and that crack wrapped all around the hinge, up to the top. it only took another two days before a chunk of the hinge (topped by a light that notifies you when someone’s calling and you’ve put the ringer on silent mode) fell off. now, when i opened my phone, the top half was threatening to disengage.
faced with the need to purchase a new cell phone, toni and i did some research and decided between two - a motorola or a sanyo - that were within my budget. we went to bell world, and after looking at the phones and testing them out, i finally chose this one:
here it is, pictured open:
i’ve been having a lot of fun with the sounds and camera. i’m thinking about getting a bluetooth usb so i can share some of the photos i’ve taken with the phone so far, as some of them are really priceless.
ttfn
sappho
as we were getting ready to leave our table and go to the movie, my cell phone - pictured here - was knocked off the table. i didn’t think anything of it at the time - after all, i’ve had this phone for nigh on three years, and it’s been dropped a few times (not excessively, but it has) and it’s been fine. apparently this one plummet was going to do it in.
i noticed last week that the top-right hinge had a little crack in its casing. a few days later and that crack wrapped all around the hinge, up to the top. it only took another two days before a chunk of the hinge (topped by a light that notifies you when someone’s calling and you’ve put the ringer on silent mode) fell off. now, when i opened my phone, the top half was threatening to disengage.
faced with the need to purchase a new cell phone, toni and i did some research and decided between two - a motorola or a sanyo - that were within my budget. we went to bell world, and after looking at the phones and testing them out, i finally chose this one:
here it is, pictured open:
i’ve been having a lot of fun with the sounds and camera. i’m thinking about getting a bluetooth usb so i can share some of the photos i’ve taken with the phone so far, as some of them are really priceless.
ttfn
sappho
Labels: gadgets
January 19, 2007,12:58 p.m.
at the core
at the core, there is:
and so, we kill, through the flaws of humanity.
please, please, please let our generation, and the ones to come after us, help make this better. please let us refuse to inherit the hatred and mistakes of the generations that have come before us.
please.
found a bit later today, from the many faces of american muslims by laura miller, on salon.com. i've bolded a sentence in the quote, as i think it relates directly to what i'm talking about earlier in this post. i don't think of the sentence in relation to just radical muslims, i think of it in relation to people who are radical with their religion, no matter what kind it is:
the inability to accept that people do not share the same beliefs;
the inability to feel, understand, and believe that those differences are fine
and so, we kill, through the flaws of humanity.
please, please, please let our generation, and the ones to come after us, help make this better. please let us refuse to inherit the hatred and mistakes of the generations that have come before us.
please.
found a bit later today, from the many faces of american muslims by laura miller, on salon.com. i've bolded a sentence in the quote, as i think it relates directly to what i'm talking about earlier in this post. i don't think of the sentence in relation to just radical muslims, i think of it in relation to people who are radical with their religion, no matter what kind it is:
The story of how Saied rejected this ideology is one of the most significant in Barrett's book. At a conference for a Muslim youth group in Chicago, he and a buddy got into a debate with an older, more moderate Muslim man. This man greeted Saied's knee-jerk tirade by arguing that "the basic foundations of American values are very Islamic -- freedom of religion, freedom of speech, toleration." Others joined in, all of them able to quote passages from the Quran that support pluralism. They did not back down, and finally Saied and a friend who came with him had exhausted their Islamist ammo. They both realized that this -- the free exchange of sometimes conflicting ideas -- was a part of the life they had abandoned when they were radicalized. It was as if a spell had been broken; Saied's friend likens the conversation, which lasted for hours, to deprogramming.
,10:45 a.m.
link
alexander manu is a pretty interesting guy. toni and i heard him speak last night at the rotman school of business; his lecture was entertaining and i was fascinated by his sophisticated use of powerpoint :) we got his book, which i am now reading. i am always at cross-purposes with these things - it's mainly the business lingo that turns me off - but i must say the core ideas are very thought-provoking.
Labels: books, ideas, links, technology, the future
,9:56 a.m.
miami
in spanish class, we practice speaking as much as possible. this is actually more fun than it sounds, because the questions assigned to us are usually pretty personal in nature, which can be amusing. for example, our first class involved the following questions about our morning routine:
what time did we get up?
what time do we shower?
how long do we shower?
do we eat breakfast?
when do we eat breakfast?
what do we eat for breakfast?
when do you get dressed, before or after breakfast?
etc. etc.
in my most recent spanish class, we were assigned to groups, to ask questions based on a text. then we had to ask a series of questions loosely connected to the theme of the text, to each other. one of the questions was whether or not we had ever been to miami. when the beautiful gay man in my group asked me if i had ever been to miami, i shook my head and replied "no." (that "no" encompasses student loans, travel debt from trips to europe - you get the idea. it was a big "no".)
"oh sappho," my fellow student said with unutterable sadness and reproach. "you haven't been to miami?" (that last phrase was spoken with a kind of horrified disbelief, as if i'd said i supported bush or harper, or mass genocide, or trying to feed carrots to worms.)
"have you?" i asked, grinning.
"oh yes," he said certainly. "many, many times."
at which point our teacher called for our attention, and we were obliged to abandon our conversation. but i was secretly smiling to myself, thinking, of course, i am dying to go to miami. my inner gay man is just screaming to get out.
what time did we get up?
what time do we shower?
how long do we shower?
do we eat breakfast?
when do we eat breakfast?
what do we eat for breakfast?
when do you get dressed, before or after breakfast?
etc. etc.
in my most recent spanish class, we were assigned to groups, to ask questions based on a text. then we had to ask a series of questions loosely connected to the theme of the text, to each other. one of the questions was whether or not we had ever been to miami. when the beautiful gay man in my group asked me if i had ever been to miami, i shook my head and replied "no." (that "no" encompasses student loans, travel debt from trips to europe - you get the idea. it was a big "no".)
"oh sappho," my fellow student said with unutterable sadness and reproach. "you haven't been to miami?" (that last phrase was spoken with a kind of horrified disbelief, as if i'd said i supported bush or harper, or mass genocide, or trying to feed carrots to worms.)
"have you?" i asked, grinning.
"oh yes," he said certainly. "many, many times."
at which point our teacher called for our attention, and we were obliged to abandon our conversation. but i was secretly smiling to myself, thinking, of course, i am dying to go to miami. my inner gay man is just screaming to get out.
Labels: people, spanish class, travels
January 16, 2007,8:03 a.m.
article
from where's the outrage? on salon.com. watch the ad for a free pass to read the whole article.
What does poetry have to do with politics? Nothing -- and everything. It is too late to stop the fatal endgame of Bush's war. But at least we can honor those who have died in that war, Iraqis and Americans alike, by refusing to look away from their deaths. Poetry, as the great Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz once wrote, is a witness. And if we the living highly resolve, as we must, that these dead shall not have died in vain, the only way to do so is by ensuring that we never again launch an unjustified war.
On that subject, the poet should have the last word. Here is another Turner poem, whose title means "friend" in Arabic, prefaced with a quotation from Sa'di, the 13th century Persian poet.
"Sadiq"
It is a condition of wisdom in the archer to be patient because when the arrow leaves the bow, it returns no more.
It should make you shake and sweat,
nightmare you, strand you in a desert
of irrevocable desolation, the consequences
seared into the vein, no matter what adrenaline
feeds the muscle its courage, no matter
what god shines down on you, no matter
what crackling pain and anger
you carry in your fists, my friend,
it should break your heart to kill.
Labels: articles
January 12, 2007,8:30 p.m.
beautiful things
got up early, found something's missing
my only name.
no one else sees but i got stuck,
and soon forever came.
stopped pushing on for just a second,
then nothing's changed.
who am i this time, where's my name
i guess it crept away.
no one's calling for me at the door.
and unpredictable won't bother anymore.
and silently gets harder to ignore.
look straight ahead, there's nothing left to see.
what's done is done, this life has got its hold on me.
just let it go, what now can never be.
i forgot that i might see,
so many beautiful things.
i forgot that i might need,
to find out what life could bring.
take this happy ending away, it's all the same.
god won't waste this simplicity on possibility.
get me up, wake me up, dreams are filling
this trace of blame.
frozen still i thought i could stop,
now who's gonna wait.
no one's calling for me at the door.
and unpredictable won't bother anymore.
and silently gets harder to ignore.
look straight ahead, there's nothing left to see.
what's done is done, this life has got its hold on me.
just let it go, what now can never be.
so many beautiful things...
so many beautiful things...
now what do i do
can i change my mind
did i think things through
it was once my life
it was my life at one time
~ beautiful things, by andain (means swathe in french)
click here to listen to the remix by DJ Tiesto.
my only name.
no one else sees but i got stuck,
and soon forever came.
stopped pushing on for just a second,
then nothing's changed.
who am i this time, where's my name
i guess it crept away.
no one's calling for me at the door.
and unpredictable won't bother anymore.
and silently gets harder to ignore.
look straight ahead, there's nothing left to see.
what's done is done, this life has got its hold on me.
just let it go, what now can never be.
i forgot that i might see,
so many beautiful things.
i forgot that i might need,
to find out what life could bring.
take this happy ending away, it's all the same.
god won't waste this simplicity on possibility.
get me up, wake me up, dreams are filling
this trace of blame.
frozen still i thought i could stop,
now who's gonna wait.
no one's calling for me at the door.
and unpredictable won't bother anymore.
and silently gets harder to ignore.
look straight ahead, there's nothing left to see.
what's done is done, this life has got its hold on me.
just let it go, what now can never be.
so many beautiful things...
so many beautiful things...
now what do i do
can i change my mind
did i think things through
it was once my life
it was my life at one time
~ beautiful things, by andain (means swathe in french)
click here to listen to the remix by DJ Tiesto.
Labels: music
January 11, 2007,10:17 p.m.
what was i saying?
when is it appropriate to take down xmas cards? some of them i am sick of already – others i want to keep up for a while, like nat’s card with the penguins sliding down a sparkly blue hill. at what point is it sad to still have your xmas cards up? because there is a point where that’s the case. where, if it’s noticed they’re still on display, it’s a little, well, blasé. like, you need to work a little on your housekeeping, and get a life while you’re at it.
this is my absolute favourite photo from new year’s. i have no idea what i was saying. it looks like i want to inhale the head of the person sitting across from me. big vacuum mouth!
and on a sad little note, i think i will have to replace my ibm. it has joined the likes of my printer. RIP ibm.
this is my absolute favourite photo from new year’s. i have no idea what i was saying. it looks like i want to inhale the head of the person sitting across from me. big vacuum mouth!
and on a sad little note, i think i will have to replace my ibm. it has joined the likes of my printer. RIP ibm.
Labels: new year's eve, xmas cards