December 2011
Nurse Reveals Top 5 Regrets of the Dying →
I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
I wish I didn’t work so hard.
I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
I wish that I had let myself be happier.
“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts,...”
– Charles Bukowski
Resolution Addition:
Get out of credit card debt by the end of 2012. Easier said than done.
Best Fiction List of 2011 →
So, so, so much better than USA Today’s list.
Note: Not a single King or Austen to be found. Wonderful!
USA Today's Top 10 Books of 2011 →
I’m at a loss for words.
Best books include the obvious (King), a story of a one trick pony (Austen), and a typography book? And that’s the best this past year had to offer?
Yep, loss for words.
Cognition Unrecognized
Constantly battling with the lack of words, feelings and thoughts that cannot be conveyed through the formal English language. Like fighting a war with no weapons, like climbing a mountain barefoot, the battle has become my world. There are times when I think something that I could never explain to the fullest capacity, as though along the way, essential pieces fall to the wayside. I get there...
To Do:
Set up an eye exam appointment.
Set up a dentist appointment.
Set up corresponding time to meet up with my friend who’s back from her first semester abroad in Finland.
Buy new glasses… Or three. (After the new year.)
Vacuum.
Finish up the first chapter of the book.
Finish reading the first book of short stories tonight. (Three left! :-()
Meet my gurlfriend(s) at the bakery for...
Christmas Eve: Unintentional Annoyance
Our family is rather close. Some of us, per usual, are closer than others. But what has upset me throughout the years is what a lot of people see as high school cliques invading what used to be one big, happy family.
There are three in particular. Get there late, leave early, and never once volunteer to join the family in festivities. When the two youngest kids open presents, it’s not...
Christmas Eve
9 year-old little sister: This present has my name on it too! Can I open it?
Mom: Hand it here. Let me see. [Pause.] No.
Little Sister: Why?
Mom: Because this one needs to wait for Christmas.
Little Sister: Christmas?!
Mom: Yep. You can open it on Christmas morning.
Little Sister: But that's forever away!
Me: Not really.
Little Sister: When's Christmas?
Me: Tomorrow, silly.
[Little Sister is the happiest person in the world right now.]
“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.”
– Ernest Hemingway
“No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.”
– John Keating, Dead Poets Society
The National - “Vanderlyle Crybaby...
2011: The Year of Warmth
So many people are already discussing 2012 and leaving behind this year. We have over a week of time left and I’m busying myself, setting up the new year to be infinite times better than this one. For those counting, this has been this second worst year (even with my high hopes on December 31st) I have ever had—right behind 2005. They say that what you’re doing when the clock...
“I hope things are beautiful. And if they’re not, then I hope you remember...”
– I Wrote This For You
“I wanted my life to begin now, at this instant, just when I was ready for it.”
– Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi
p.62
2012: Resolutions and Bucket Lists →
Permanence needs a personalized spot on the homepage.
Longreads: Reads According to How Much Time You... →
Pretty brilliant website, actually.
You pop in how much time you have (from less than 15 minutes to over an hour), and it will give you a list of titles typically read within that time.
New York Times: The Ten Best Books of 2011 →
I go to take a nice, warm bath and another...
It seems like that happens every time I get time to spend with my lovely sea salts and deep conditioner. And then I miss the news by an hour or so every single time.
Dad says I should take more baths. I say they should stop stealing my thunder. After all, those bath salts were so relaxing and my hair is so soft now.
Not to mention the wonderful smells!
But yea, dead dictators. Humph.
“Courage and virtue are lesser
Powers than evil and sloth:
Consider how easy it...”
– Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart
“She exists for more. More exists for her.”
– Mark Z. Danielewski, Only Revolutions
“It was never meant to be sensible,
fully understandable. The digger wasp,
for...”
– Stephen Dunn, from Work and Love
Orangette: "In My Better Moments" →
Basically how every writer feels when writing.
To Describe an Inhalation
To say it’s frightening is a gross understatement. It’s absolutely terrifying. It’s the difference between life or certain death… Or rather, a darkness so thick, existence won’t be validated. It’s the constant five seconds away from utter destruction and no map home. Again.
It’s hard to candidly explain to someone the inner working of the mind. In...
“People, like nails, lose their effectiveness when they lose direction and begin...”
– Walter Savage Landor
“They’ll tell you that you’re the ground. Remember that you hold up...”
– I Wrote This For You
Just Emailed My Editor
for the first time in a month, give or take.
I’m crossing fingers and toes that she isn’t upset with me. And that she’ll be happy that I’ll be getting in the article assigned really quickly now.
Eek.
EDIT: I absolutely adore my editor. She’s just ecstatic that I remembered and am still sure to be working this close to graduation and the holidays. She’s...