Not Exactly A Dry Observation

There comes a time when you really can’t wait any longer for a sunny day, and a “less rainy” one has to suffice.

Some Things Are Just Better In Black And White

Female Taxi Driver:  If you can use me again sometime, call this number.

Philip Marlowe:  Day and night?

Female Taxi Driver:  Uh, night’s better. I work during the day.

– The Big Sleep (1946)

Focus On The Candle, Not The Flame. Focus On The Candle, Not The Flame

I’ve been kicking around since I heard the news whether or not I should write this post.  Even fiercely guarding the privacy of those involved, it’s not something I really have any right to mention, and I really, really don’t want to talk about it at all.

But because I’ve been there, I know full well that’s precisely why I have to mention it.

The short form of it is that one of L’s current contemporaries and potential future partner in crime has been having a bad time at day care . . . a very bad time, the “finally another teacher reported the actions of this teacher who should never have been around children in the first place” kind of bad time.  This aforementioned contemporary of L’s is safe and well now, and the comfort I take from that is almost enough to keep at bay the rage I’m still feeling since I heard the news.

Like I said, I’ve been there.

So this candle is for ____ and family.  I glad you’re out of that situation now, kiddo, and I’m even gladder you have the kind of parents that know exactly the right and appropriate things to do from here.  Words can not express how much I respect both their decisiveness and their restraint.

This One Is As Obvious As It Is Hard To Do Sometimes

When other people consistently tell you how something you do affects them, you’ll be right more often than you’re wrong if you grant them the benefit of the doubt and assume they’re telling you the truth no matter how hard a time you have believing them.

It Just Makes Them Angrier

Sometimes the only thing worse than doing the “crime” is not being ashamed for having done it.  Having done this in situations both when I should have been ashamed, and when I truly had nothing to be ashamed of, I can tell you from experience that doing this, not even when you’re “right,” doesn’t win you any points with the judge.

Mirror, Mirror

Sometimes when I’m looking at someone and seeing all their faults, I manage to notice that at least some of what I’m seeing is my own reflection in their eyes.

Status For 4/20/12

So after a serious discussion with my web designer, I have been promised things will be completed on that front this weekend, but not in time for this update.

This isn’t the most welcome of news to me, of course, but there are times one has to recognize that further pushing on my part would be as unwelcome as it would be counterproductive, so . . .

We wait a little bit longer.

It’s Going To Be A Long Year

Lewis Rothschild:  “People want leadership, Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they’ll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They’re so thirsty for it they’ll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there’s no water, they’ll drink the sand.”

President Andrew Shepherd:  “Lewis, we’ve had presidents who were beloved who couldn’t find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight. People don’t drink the sand because they’re thirsty. They drink the sand because they don’t know the difference.”

– The American President

You Wouldn’t Need Courage If It Were

Despite what fiction would have you believe, taking a courageous stand is no guarantee of success.

You Just Can’t Beat The Personal Touch

Sometimes it occurs to me that so many people devote so much care and energy in crafting their own personal hells that the idea of Hell as a separate reality just strikes me as a waste of resources.