Attitudes

Certainties

....it took ambivalence to be that way. I don't think I want to return to that kind of open-mindedness.

Perfection

I'm caught for a second by these words....And then I detect a pitfall: if perfection is dissatisfaction, where does happiness come in?

Marginal Parenting

I am a marginal parent.

Taking it Personally? No, Just Annoyed

Something's become clear to me. The difference between taking things personally and being annoyed.

Value and Respect

One observed: "They value you, but they don't respect you.

Self Quoting
It's great to be right. I love being right. Which is why when someone shows me to be in error,...

End of the Year

For the changes in my attitude that I have started to make, I call it a good year

Handshakes

I made a mistake tonight.

Touchy about Touching

How do you handle things like "friendly swats" or "pats" that come from someone you don't want touching you without turning into the Human Torch?

A Blogger's Bill of Rights

My weblog policy is consistent with these assertions of rights.

Money 2

Money is a useful tool. So is a hammer.

Stoicism vs. Buddhism

Imagine Seneca and the Dalai Lama sitting together in the same room. Someone brings in a box of chocolates.

Thank God For Judgemental People

Once I heard a woman -- who was totally unaware of the irony in what she said -- declare "I hate judgemental people." I do not

The Value of a Conscience

Must be hell, he said, to have a conscience, then.

Tough Love

Not becoming a codependent is where the philosophy of Tough Love had its origins.

The Fires

What can we learn from the ashes?

sally's life of leisure

The people who discomfit me are the ones who think that their life of chosen work entitles their opinions on anything to go unchallenged.

Ageism
Today, I had my first ever, live-and-in-public poetry reading. I've been wanting to do it for a while, but have...

About Never and Always

Be suspicious of absolutes.

Political?

I don't have time for people who don't have a clue about what they are doing, who don't make an effort to understand the criticisms that are lodged against them, who don't ask themselves "what have I done here?"

Post Nine Eleven

We often say 'Live for today'. That's America's problem these days. We're all still standing at the Battery watching the twin towers come down.

Right Wing Roaches

They call me "Communist", "disloyal", and "coward" because they're outrageously afraid of me. Me -- who packs no gun, who pays his taxes, who speaks out against any violence including violence against them. How much more irrational can you get?

Humility vs. Belittlement

Where humility aids you in gaining a true sense of yourself, belittlement merely turns you into a tool for others.

Grrrrrrls vs. Women

Yes, Shelley, I too see the word "SELL-OUT" blazing from that rapturous conclusion.

Best Intentions

I just looked at the clock.

Pointing Back At Me

I simply said "When I listen to that kind of stuff, I feel the angry well up in me. I don't like living like that."

Writing About Place

We need not erect a mystery religion around an oak tree: just look at the tree, its slotted leaves, the acorns, the trunk, and the branches. Write about that.

The Letter B

Mom told me that the only thing she'd paid for was a report card of straight As: $10. I got one once in my senior year in college. She made excuses and I received nothing.

The Cat Woman

I had an online friend -- lost now in a history that got trashed in a hard disk crash about seven years ago when the net was young and people didn't blog -- who slept with seven cats every night.

I'm Not Different. I am.

I'm secure with being myself in the world. But the fear these critics of mine show when I mention what I like -- the way they parody me as a snob and a know-it-all -- says a lot about them.

A Picture Speaks

Somehow this speaks to the state of my mind....

Tedious Advice

My struggle has been to keep from feeling alone, to simply be myself even though others preferred to isolate me as a weird jerk.

Cynicism's True Nature

[20:46] [Songbird] Hey!!!!! you are cynical

Joel 101

Two things you should know about me

Pessimism

If you like to live in a tranquilizing cloud of unknowing, skip this message. If you don't mind gritty truth-telling as I see it or if you suspect that you might have a case of Dissociative Identity Disorder that needs curing, read on.

Thoughts after watching "Pollock" again

It's the madness of a saint wanting a desert all to himself

The Bright Side of a Dark Holiday Season

Lucky us.

Roads Not Taken

There's something about those intervals when one has nothing but time on one's hand that leads one to forgo reading, writing, and other constructive activity for looking back over the map, for seeing where one has been and try to guess how we came to choose that route.

Thomas the Child Redux

I don't believe that we should bomb and I don't believe that everything is OK, even as a tool for momentary solace. I believe that things can be OK if we work to effect them so.

Observing States of Mind

Are my friends who believe in the Not in Our Name statement but won't sign paranoid or did I make a mistake to come out? It happens in my life, in my mind. Therefore, I note it.

The Courage to be a Big Weakling

I've learned that it takes courage to say "no" to a woman who wants you to push her car up a hill; courage that is not too dis-similar, if somewhat milder, than that of a teenaged girl rejecting the advances of an amorous boyfriend.

Sustained Personal Involution
Sometimes I think that I'm the most interesting character I know. At least I try. Maybe it is because I...