Human potential, financial insecurity, play to your strengths, weekly author quotes from around the world, Icelandic Sagas, A Little Chaos song, and you are the master of yourself

The different ways that humans are stretching their limits.

A universe in a cabbage. Blueprints are everywhere.

SCIENCE! What's going on?!

Literature and multifractals: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160121110913.htm

There's a bit of infinity in writing stories.

"Nothing new has ever happened to a son of Adam, she said. Everything has already been lived and everything has already been told. If only we listened to the stories." ― Laila Lalami

How dialogue affects the tone and style of a novel.

The shame of financial insecurity.

I'm a failure, but I'm still trying. Which is what matters, right? I only hope I don't become the Edison of my career by finding 10,000 jobs that don't work before I find the one that does. *sigh*

That feeling of not wanting to talk to anyone until you get your shit together, but missing people so much that you know you should.

I've met so many nice people in so many different living situations - from mobile homes, to shacks, to apartments, to mansions - in the past 2-3 weeks, and I am thankful to be provided with the reminder that good people can be found anywhere, despite appearances.

I'm also thankful for the advice that you should play to your strengths. Trying something new isn't always a good idea and what's right for one person may not be right for another.

How music creates/changes the atmosphere of a place.

The Hero Syndrome.

"Too many, too much injustice, for six decades, there was never a "sorry" spoken to these people. I do not care which battlefield you belong to, I do not care which country you represent, I do not care to whom you pledged your allegiance, or whom you have betrayed, I do not care whether you are a winner or a loser, I do not care how you interpret justice or injustice, can I say this to you: all those who have been trampled, insulted, and hurt by this era are my brothers and sisters." -- Lung Yingtai

I have a list of short story ideas that were amazing, but I was too afraid to write them for fear they'd come true/actually happen.

Centricity vs Ladder

Sad, but probably true - there's a higher profit to be made in wants than needs.

No amount of money is worth lost moments.

"Throw away a handful of coins - you will get another one; but throw away only one minute - you will not get another one. Never..." -- Janis Rainis

I'm glad I moved to a place that makes me appreciate the tropical areas of Florida even more.

Sharing responsibility by playing to each other's diverse strengths/joys leads to less stress and more joy in a relationship.

I wonder how tall a mountain has to be to make its own weather...hmm...

"The worst thing you can do is a job you hate." - Pap Lee

“What of Art?
-It is a malady.
--Love?
-An Illusion.
--Religion?
-The fashionable substitute for Belief.
--You are a sceptic.
-Never! Scepticism is the beginning of Faith.
--What are you?
-To define is to limit.” ― Oscar Wilde

“Words! Mere words! How terrible they were! How clear, and vivid, and cruel! One could not escape from them. And yet what a subtle magic there was in them! They seemed to be able to give a plastic form to formless things, and to have a music of their own as sweet as that of viol or of lute. Mere words! Was there anything so real as words?” ― Oscar Wilde

Why do our eyes only see part of the visual spectrum and not all of it?

Numismatics.

Aokigahara...in Japan, probably has ghosts, but I like the name anyway.

A Little Chaos soundtrack: https://youtu.be/5oBktZnxljo

"There are few more certain tokens of ill than not to know how to accept the good."
Fátt vísara til ills en kunna eiga gott að þiggja.

and

"A tale is but half told when only one person tells it."
Jafnan er hálfsögð saga ef einn segir.

- From The Saga of Grettir the Strong

Icelandic Sagas: http://sagadb.org/index_az

Why study only one culture?! The whole world over is so interesting.

Is knowledge or understanding more powerful? Would you consider them the same thing?

Not everyone will understand what's best for you. Usually, only you do. Exceptions apply, like when you're in a nursing home or something. But in general, you are the master of your self. Be so.

New Zealand Authors, Arakan Rock, Emergence, Sherlock, David Bowie, and a lot of tea

"Lily. After all this time?"
"Always."

The phases of my life seem to correlate with a change in my choice of hot teas. There was the Red Zinger Era. The Mint Tea Era. The Earl Grey Era. The Chai Tea Era. The Hibiscus Tea Era. The Jasmine Green Tea Era. The Black Tea During the Day and Green Tea at Night Era. And now I am entering into the Citris Herbal Tea Era. How strange, these times.

"For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons..." -- T.S. Eliot

The difference in your brain between reading words and hearing words.

These wonderful quotes from "The Abominable Bride":

Sherlock Holmes: [annoyed by Watson's questions about his emotional life] "Dear Lord, I have never been so impatient to be attacked by a murderous ghost."

Sherlock Holmes: "We all have a past, Watson. Ghosts. They are the shadows that define our every sunny day."

DI Lestrade: "Mrs. Hudson didn't seem to be talking."
Sherlock Holmes: "I fear she has branched into literary criticism by mean of satire. It is a distressing trend in the modern landlady."

How belief affects a result.

How you can take one word, rip it open, and find a novel inside.

The process of moving from simple to complex in life. Why?

Chess and Emergent Behavior. O_O

"A component has a particular functionality but this is not recognizable as a subfunction of the global functionality. Instead a component implements a behaviour whose side effect contributes to the global functionality." -- Luc Steels

Aotearoa. What a beautful name for a place! Not sure if it's because of the 3 vowel pairs or what, but I love it.

Now I'm paying attention to the domination of consonants in English. Hrmmm...

Confidence. It comes in short supply with me, but I'm working on it.

Friendship. True friendship.

"I liked David Bowie before he was dead." And how loss/death amplifies impact.

Helping people comes in many different forms. (Sometimes actual paper forms).

This poem by Alison Wong: http://www.asiancha.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=275&Itemid=139

Reconsidering my decision about waiting on buying new glasses. Generally, they are more apocalypse-hardy than contacts, heh.

Sometimes I still think it would be great fun to be an astronaut. Or even a mailman.

I have some letters to write!

I broke Google Chrome's Tab Counter a few months ago. It stopped counting at 99. Now all it shows is a :D

This Arakan Rock song: https://youtu.be/lebtTYpd_m0

J2 and Chroma: https://youtu.be/1CIapVArQa8

How solidarity brings together differences.

Me: "Why do they call it STATIC electricity...when it moves?"
Nick: "You're such a Dad."

That look of affection he gives me when I'm getting sleepy while reading a book. <3

Social labels are highly insufficient.

Pai: “But we can learn and if the knowledge is given to everyone, then we can have lots of leaders and soon everyone will be strong, not just the ones who’ve been chosen.” Implications?

"Der Mensch mag sein moko (Tätowierung) in die Erde tätowieren, aber sobald seine Wachsamkeit nachlässt, nimmt die Natur sich zurück, was er sich angeeignet hatte, um seine Eitelkeit zu befriedigen.” ― Witi Ihimaera

I miss the sound of rain...

The never ending dilemma: to read, to write, or to sleep?

Ice fall, alumosaics, dreams, poetry book decisions, masks, Colorado vernacular, and more

It finally happened...little over a month of living in this frozen land, and I finally tanked it on some ice. January 2nd, 2016. #NeverForgetTheGreatIceFall

Baking soda, olive oil, milk bath
...I used them to stop the pain...I think the milk worked best. Mincing jalapeños in your hands is a bad idea. Hot peppers were probably why cutting boards were invented.

Seiza in Japanese culture.

When a man sleeps all night on a couch because the love of his life is cuddled up right next to him and she looks too comfortable that he doesn't want to wake her. <3

Alumosaics.

When you are woken up from a dream and all the images are laying suspended in your mind like Keats' Grecian Urn, never coming together.

What would it be like (personally, not nationally) to transition from a democracy to a monarchy?

Requirements we assign to our leaders. What makes someone qualified to lead?

Chapbook or full poetry collection? Dang it. Publishing choices. Decisions...decisions...that will be made soon. It's time.

"We experience ourselves as entities, separate from the rest of the world--as containers with an inside and an outside. We also experience things external to us as entities--often as containers with insides and outsides. We experience ourselves as being made up of substances--e.g. flesh and bone--and external objects as being made of various kinds of substances--wood, stone, metal, etc. We experience many things, through sight and touch, as having distinct boundaries, when things have no distinct boundaries, we often project boundaries upon them--conceptualizing them as entities and often as containers (for example, forests, clearings, clouds, etc.)" -- from Metaphors We Live By

"The person who lives with cripples will soon learn to limp." -- Italian Proverb

"The entire world is my temple, and a very fine one too, if I'm not mistaken, and I'll never lack priests to serve it as long as there are men." -- Desiderius Erasmus

"Real friendship or love is not manufactured or achieved by an act of will or intention. Friendship is always an act of recognition." -- John O'Donohue

I need more zen in my life. Peace isn't out there, it's in here, and I just have to make it known. Ommmmm...

Concealment by Nature.

"And here in the night as I feel the inferno,
I stare in the dark thinking what is eternal?
The man or the moment, the act or the reason?
These thoughts fill my head as I contemplate treason

Of dreams I have had and dreams I have pondered.
When late in the night my mind it would wander
To things I have done and then quickly regretted
While denying vices my life had selected.

And I think what I've done or have yet to begin,
And the man I've become and the man that I've been.
Now caught in a waltz with the eternal dancer,
I'm courted by death but death isn't the answer I say:

'All I was meant to be
Could I suddenly just decide
Not a thought would survive?
Could it be my life's worth
Ended there with my birth?'

...To give one's whole life and find nothing's remembered.

And what good is a life that leaves nothing behind?
Not a thought or a dream that might echo in time."

 -- Transiberian Orchestra (I love their lyrics, and albums that tell stories just rock).

How strange it is in our culture that the face is the window to trust. Masked faces feel like bad news, even if they aren't.

Getting old is...not being able to finish a candy cane.

12 hour days of training doesn't make Becky a dull girl, just a tired one. But are we there yet?

Really wish my left eye would stop twitching...

Many things you do will have and have had lasting impacts on others. Isn't that both terrible and wonderful?

Handwritten letters are still the best. No matter how long they take to arrive.

We have a leap day this year!!! ^_^ First time in 4 years since Nick and I got together that we can actually celebrate on the day of our anniversary! Hehe!

New Colorado vernacular: 14ers/fourteeners = mountains that are 14,000+ ft above sea level. Coyot = Coyote without the e.

I love seeing the mountain views every day. Almost everywhere I go, I can see them. Even from places like the grocery store. How strange and lovely, like living in 2D all your life and then finding a magical entrance to a 3D world. So cool.

I think I'm missing something. Hrmm.

Cheers dears.