Do you know the me I know?

This past week and a bit has been a pretty surreal one. I’ve come into information that I did not really want or need to know, been put in a situation where a lot depended on how quickly I reacted and laughed till my sides were in stitches. So what is the purpose of telling u this? Well in the process of all these happenings, I’ve learned or re-learned a few things about myself, which I’ve decided to share, so here’s my list…

Oh, oh , oh before that I do have to tell you what I learned about Dr. Seuss, the blue egg, green egg (was there a red egg too?) dude. Theodore Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss dropped out of college before receiving his PhD. The pseudonym Dr. Seuss was perhaps wishful thinking on his part. But hey what the heck, the man made his millions. Now what does that tell you about busting your butt to get those paper certificates which you either keep stuffed in a drawer somewhere or is sitting pristinely in a frame on your office wall?

Okey so slight digression there, which by the way I seem to be doing a fair bit of lately. The list already, Chermaine, get with it…

1. I still have my temper :D
2. I’ve a really whacky sense of humor which was lost temporarily but is now back in full force
3. I enjoy a good verbal sparring
4. I don’t take too kindly to being lied to. Honesty is top most on my list
5. I am obsessed with chocolate covered godiva strawberries and mangoes
6. Intimidating me will get you no where
7. If I say I trust you, value it. If it waivers and dips, it’s gone
8. I have walls built against walls and all for good reasons
9. I can’t and won’t change so don’t bother making me your cause
10. I love speed only if I am behind the wheel. Must be the need for me to feel like I am in control of my life and where it is going AND
11. I learned the new buzz word in DC…bitchassness

So there you have it. A little insight into c’est moi

Aimless Ponderings

Ah, the many mysterious questions life poses! Where have we come from? Where are we going? Whay are we here? And most important of all, is it really illegal to kill a preying mantis?

The world is full of oddities requiring anecdotal explanations. Pondering the little things keeps us out of the trouble we tend to get into when we are poking into the big things. For instance, the next time you find yourself boiling up into a stew over the latest political scandal, why not take a moment to consider why is a score of zero in tennis called "love"? (for lack of something more exciting to think about)

So since I got you thinking about it, here's an explanation: I'm assuming that this tennis term is not very lovely for the players. But, no matter; the word's origin has nothing at all to do with amore. Love is really a distortion of the French word oeuf, which means egg, as in goose egg. Love is definitely a kinder way of refering to zero points than goose egg.

Alright , I now go on to ponder if Dr. Seuss is really a doctor...

Delirium

Blackness, darkness, icy starkness
Stalk you, hound you and surround you.
Sinking sadness, growing madness
Blur your senses, break your fences.

Lightning, thunder, come and plunder
Come destroy us when we're joyous.
Misfortune sow, and shower woe
Till we're blighted and benighted.

Silence, silence, deathly silence!
Cries of pain rise up in vain.
No one hears, no help appears,
Only silence, lonesome silence.

Begone! Away! You cannot stay!
I love my gloom and empty room.
The faintest light would numb my sight.
I live in night, I am the night.

The Examined Life is No Picnic

I have come to realize that I already know most of what's necessary to live a meaningful life - that it isn't all that complicated. I know it. And have known it for a long, long time. Living it - well, that's another matter.

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandpit at school.

These are the things I learned:

Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
And then remember the Dick and Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK