Journal Entries
Tones from the Tome
Posted Nov 10, 2001
If you prepare to be pleased, eventually you will be.
If you prepare to be disapponted, you never will be.
Those who seek offense rarely fail to take it.
Any experience worth sharing is worth demonstrating rather than talking about it.
You can't be kind if you only talk to your kind.
Sometimes, your best is not good enough. Other times, your worst is better than all the rest.
Confucious didn't say any of those things. That's not even his name.
Marx was not a Marxist, Victoria was not a Victorian, Darwin was not a Darwinist, Christ was not a Christian, Paul was not a Paulist, and Carl Sagan was not a Saganist.
God is not stupid. Neither are we, if we really think about it.
Reassembly is not the reverse of Disassembly.
I have nothing to say, but if I did, I would be kind enough not to say it to you. Somethings are better left to the mirror.
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Latest reply: Nov 10, 2001
Avoiding the Basics and other ways of jogging in place.
Posted Nov 8, 2001
Nature abhors a vacuum and most people can't find the spare bags.
It is difficult to receive a good education. In most cases, you must hunt it down. If you luck onto a good teacher or parents who happen to use their brains, good for you. But all this applies to you, too.
Knowing the word doesn't mean knowing it's definition.
Knowing the word 'hairdressing' is not the knowledge of the process.
Curiosity is regarded by many as a superficial thing that can be dismissed as often as possible and indulged in when it is permissable. Most people go to the bathroom far more frequently than they indulge in curiosity.
Unfortunately, if one takes one's curiosity to the library or an expert or a university, there are many barriers to the slaking of that curiosity. In the library, the barrier may be in not knowing where to begin. Many librarians won't know either. So your curiosity may be blunted on the very first outting by ignorance. That's okay. Take your time. Curiosity doesn't spoil. Keep your eyes and ears open and eventually you will find a clue to where to begin. I usually begin in the children's section. Those books are written by adults who should know something. Then I can progress upward.
Experts can be like teachers. Experts can be like drill sergeants.
A good expert will be interested about your learning path in the subject, hoping to learn something new. A bad expert will demand and expect and require and probably won't let you anywhere near the subject because it's probably the only thing in the world that person has the slightest grasp of and they don't want any competition.
University is a misnomer. Centre for Arrested Development is more like it. If you weren't curious about this when you were eight, then why are you curious at 18 or 38?
You must be unstable. Is this a subject you hope to read in? Ah, a ditherer!
Despite all this, there is no excuse for avoiding the Basics. Learn a little bit about Science, Medicine, Auto Mechanics, Electricity, Cooking, Computers, Birdwatching. And while you're learning, ask questions but don't just talk. Just because you've learned to parrot the words doesn't mean you know what you're talking about.
Which reminds me, um, does anyone know where I can find an entry on enameled lapels?
Apologies to all those who have found both rocks, so they can bang them together once they get their face out of the way. I've only found one rock so far. Apologies because this rant was prompted by the Creationism and Evolution thread I was reading the beginning and end of. (not curious enough to do the middle)
Discuss this Journal entry [6]
Latest reply: Nov 8, 2001
I thought I might just sit down and think.
Posted Nov 7, 2001
I thought I was going to go apply for a job today. I didn't.
I thought I was going to vacuum today. I didn't.
I thought I was going to take a spanner to the novel today. I didn't.
I thought I was going to make the child clean her room today. I didn't.
What I did do was fart around for three hours trying to figure out why all my web pages became three sizes too big and all my help script was three sizes too small. One thing I had to have help for from a person. I asked two, but only one knew. The other thing I fixed in just the same I'd messed it up, by accident.
Incompetence is not a lack of confidence
It's a lack of knack
I'm not as dense as my mom insists
with her usual lack of tact
I'm just a fellow who lists
when he should have tacked.
Discuss this Journal entry [18]
Latest reply: Nov 7, 2001
I thought I might just sit down and think.
Posted Nov 7, 2001
I thought I was going to go apply for a job today. I didn't.
I thought I was going to vacuum today. I didn't.
I thought I was going to take a spanner to the novel today. I didn't.
I thought I was going to make the child clean her room today. I didn't.
What I did do was fart around for three hours trying to figure out why all my web pages became three sizes too big and all my help script was three sizes too small. One thing I had to have help for from a person. I asked two, but only one knew. The other thing I fixed in just the same I'd messed it up, by accident.
Incompetence is not a lack of confidence
It's a lack of knack
I'm not as dense as my mom insists
with her usual lack of tact
I'm just a fellow who lists
when he should hazve tacked.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Nov 7, 2001
Time and death, without sauce.
Posted Nov 5, 2001
Being of an uncertain age, I remember things. Being of an uncertain brain chemistry, I forget things. I remember things I forgot years ago and I can't tell you what I had for breakfast yesterday. Some things I remember like they were yesterday and my Mother says they never happened. I do remember the day John Lennon died. I don't make Yoko jokes. If it hadn't been for her, he wouldn't have had that extra decade. I do remember that. I don't remember when Kurt Cobain died. I do remember when Frank Zappa went. And Chet Atkins. And Charles Shultz. And Smythe. I remember the name of my first grade teacher and I called her when my child was in the first grade. She was very touched that I remembered. She's dead now. So's my seventh grade science teacher and my sixth grade math teacher. But the ******-****-****-***** who molested my brother and I when we were twelve and thirteen, he's still alive! You know, I TOLD! but it didn't mean a thing. Nice to know you can depend on adults when it really counts.
Discuss this Journal entry [46]
Latest reply: Nov 5, 2001
Tonsil Revenge (PG)
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