What would our minds be like if the sun didn't rise and set each day?
I know, i know, it's really the earth turning, and we wouldn't have gravity etc blah blah, you can work out all the details of how there could be such a situation.
All i'm wondering is, what would be our concept of TIME. would we measure it by how fast we walked, or by the time it took a rock to fall from a cliff, the time it took a seed to sprout or a plant to grow?
We think ahead in series of days.
Maybe we'd invent clocks even without having had sundials and stonehenge? No we don't have the stars either, that's cheating. No seasons. Ok so what is time then?
Meet me when the.... What is 'when'
Yipes.
Do we only have time because the earth turns relative to other stuff in the universe?
Dec 16, 2015
Dec 10, 2015
a grant to watch hoses
i'm thinking it would be of great value to the human race for someone to get a grant to study hoses. to set up cameras to film them full time. not just hoses, but electtrical cords, strings of xmas lights, string, skeins of yarn, ribbons, you know what i'm talking about!
maybe it should be crowd sourced, camera kits could be given out and the citizens of the world could record the storage of these items.
we will never know WHY they become entangled, unless we learn to communicate with them, but we can at least seee how they do it and when. do they entangle just when you go to get them, or just when you store them, or slowly over time.
or, oh dear, perhaps like that poor cat in a box, they only entangle if they are not being watched, in which case the camera surveillence would be a waste of time.
but wait! maybe not! then we would know how to keep them neat... just never leave them unobserved!
maybe it should be crowd sourced, camera kits could be given out and the citizens of the world could record the storage of these items.
we will never know WHY they become entangled, unless we learn to communicate with them, but we can at least seee how they do it and when. do they entangle just when you go to get them, or just when you store them, or slowly over time.
or, oh dear, perhaps like that poor cat in a box, they only entangle if they are not being watched, in which case the camera surveillence would be a waste of time.
but wait! maybe not! then we would know how to keep them neat... just never leave them unobserved!
Nov 22, 2015
My Cinderella Complex
Always i have disliked cleaning the bathroom. But i also like a clean bathroom, so i do it. For years i never realized there are people who like to clean a bathroom. Once on a retreat i ended up taking the bathroom cleaning job. What a look into my own mind! How angry at having this job, yet believing it was only fair that i took a turn. How sorry i felt for myself on my hands and knees washing the floor, confused as usual about what product and which rag thing to use on which part of the room. Only then, when i began mentioning it to people, did i find out some people LIKE this job. So now on retreat i always sign up to chop vegetables, which, because i like it, gives me no insight, but i have no guilt about not taking my turn at the worst job.
At home my method for cleaning is: notice it is needed, and plan it for the next day. Spend the next day thinking i need to now go and clean the bathroom. Late in the day, realize i have not done it and now it is dark and not much day left, grab the cleaning supplies, and do it. It ends up only taking about 1/2 hour but has used up parts of two days!
At home my method for cleaning is: notice it is needed, and plan it for the next day. Spend the next day thinking i need to now go and clean the bathroom. Late in the day, realize i have not done it and now it is dark and not much day left, grab the cleaning supplies, and do it. It ends up only taking about 1/2 hour but has used up parts of two days!
Oct 8, 2015
Hearing Aids are not like Eyeglasses
This was not the first time I'd had a conversation with someone whose partner or parent had hearing aids and never wears them. I got to thinking about it...maybe people think it's like glasses. The expert tests your hearing, and then programs the aids to your hearing profile, you go away, and that's it for awhile.
Trouble is, it ISN'T like that! It's more of an art, a cooperative effort, and it is an effort. It takes time, attention, and work. Otherwise they are uncomfortable, which may be felt as physical discomfort when it is actually discomfort from things sounding subtly weird or harsh.
I've had hearing aids for at least 25 years, and I've gotten more aware and demanding. Now I like trying out new ones to see how the technology is progressing. (Yes, you have to buy them, but the ones i try usually have a generous trial period of several months, and i've gotten extensions).
When I'm trying a pair, I have to of course go to various restaurants, a movie, concert, lecture, meetings, parties... try them in every setting. A trip is great, to see if finally I can understand the announcements in the airport...nope, still can't even now. I have to nudge someone near me and say "what did they say? what row is boarding?"
So what I do now is make a chart or spreadsheet of PLUS, MINUS, and INTERESTING and during the day I add things like "couldn't hear man with deep voice very well" or "traffic sounds too loud" or "aids screech when i hug someone" or "i could understand the movie mostly!" or not, etc. Then go back to audiologist and tell her. She'll tweak them, then you go home and do it all again until between the two of you they are as good as you can get them.
Or else she recommends trying a different brand... yes there is a difference in the sound of a brand, kind of like stratocaster vs gibson if you know what i mean.
So all i'm saying is if your partner isn't wearing them, you'll have to drag them around on outings and quiz them about the specifics of what they are and are not hearing, until they get the idea and start to believe that they are part of the solution and things can get better. Otherwise, we deafish folks just start turning off our attention and smiling mysteriously when people are talking, and we don't even realize it!
Trouble is, it ISN'T like that! It's more of an art, a cooperative effort, and it is an effort. It takes time, attention, and work. Otherwise they are uncomfortable, which may be felt as physical discomfort when it is actually discomfort from things sounding subtly weird or harsh.
I've had hearing aids for at least 25 years, and I've gotten more aware and demanding. Now I like trying out new ones to see how the technology is progressing. (Yes, you have to buy them, but the ones i try usually have a generous trial period of several months, and i've gotten extensions).
When I'm trying a pair, I have to of course go to various restaurants, a movie, concert, lecture, meetings, parties... try them in every setting. A trip is great, to see if finally I can understand the announcements in the airport...nope, still can't even now. I have to nudge someone near me and say "what did they say? what row is boarding?"
So what I do now is make a chart or spreadsheet of PLUS, MINUS, and INTERESTING and during the day I add things like "couldn't hear man with deep voice very well" or "traffic sounds too loud" or "aids screech when i hug someone" or "i could understand the movie mostly!" or not, etc. Then go back to audiologist and tell her. She'll tweak them, then you go home and do it all again until between the two of you they are as good as you can get them.
Or else she recommends trying a different brand... yes there is a difference in the sound of a brand, kind of like stratocaster vs gibson if you know what i mean.
So all i'm saying is if your partner isn't wearing them, you'll have to drag them around on outings and quiz them about the specifics of what they are and are not hearing, until they get the idea and start to believe that they are part of the solution and things can get better. Otherwise, we deafish folks just start turning off our attention and smiling mysteriously when people are talking, and we don't even realize it!
Jul 22, 2015
Mar 4, 2015
Feb 17, 2015
Mike's coming home soon
One morning he woke up as a giant palmetto bug. This is not what he had been right along.
His wife woke up and was on the wrong train, traveling a route completely different from her planned trip.
Their daughter's husband turned back into a scorpion and was banished from the house.
Like Harry Potter, their grandson was protected by the love surrounding him, and remained the angel he had always been.
What evil forces had been angered or awakened?
Jan 25, 2015
birthday musings, is the best yet to come?
it's my birthday! started out windy dark snowing hard. now the sun is out. i wonder what it was like the day i was born? i think mom told me but i've forgotten.
in the book Americanah, which i read recently and liked very much, there's a sentence about how Lagos doesn't revere old buildings as other countries (USA, GB) do, but just tears them down to build something new, and that is because Britain, USA, etc see there best as in the past, whereas Lagos sees their best as yet to come.
in terms of my birthday, something to think about. how much am i revering the past, how much letting it go as i look forward to the future?
in the book Americanah, which i read recently and liked very much, there's a sentence about how Lagos doesn't revere old buildings as other countries (USA, GB) do, but just tears them down to build something new, and that is because Britain, USA, etc see there best as in the past, whereas Lagos sees their best as yet to come.
in terms of my birthday, something to think about. how much am i revering the past, how much letting it go as i look forward to the future?
Mike in November
nov 27 2014
doing tonglen for mike this morning. brought up some questions about what we want from a friend, and will we still be their friend when that is gone? then thinking of Mike as a teacher, what do we want from a teacher ? made me think of chogyam trungpa taking off his robes...wearing a suit...he was then rejected as a teacher by both students and friends. How did some of his followers and friends make the switch? and when he lost use of one side of his body, how did some people continue to be his friend and student?
i thought of Mike, and what I just read about the perfect situation for a writer and scholar being prison.
and i thought about 5 telling me how z got a new massage client who remarked it was the first time she'd had a quiet (non-talking) massage....and she keeps coming back.
mike is still our teacher if we can learn.
doing tonglen for mike this morning. brought up some questions about what we want from a friend, and will we still be their friend when that is gone? then thinking of Mike as a teacher, what do we want from a teacher ? made me think of chogyam trungpa taking off his robes...wearing a suit...he was then rejected as a teacher by both students and friends. How did some of his followers and friends make the switch? and when he lost use of one side of his body, how did some people continue to be his friend and student?
i thought of Mike, and what I just read about the perfect situation for a writer and scholar being prison.
and i thought about 5 telling me how z got a new massage client who remarked it was the first time she'd had a quiet (non-talking) massage....and she keeps coming back.
mike is still our teacher if we can learn.
Jan 19, 2015
reading Writing a Woman's Life
nov 11 2014 (i keep finding these posts i never posted)
i've been re-reading and old book i saved to see if i want to continue to give it shelf space. lots of Writing a Woman's Life goes
right over my head now that i am so long away from scholarly thinking and
writing. the book is amazingly interesting; not as out of date as i'd
hoped...the put-down term Chick Lit comes to mind...
i did come upon a phrase that reminded me of a recent discussion about a woman who had been asked to leave the opera in France because she was wearing a veil over her face. The discussion had to do with whether France is saving women from religious oppression of womankind, or is it denying them religious freedom. The sentence in Writing a Woman's Life is p.41/42 :
i did come upon a phrase that reminded me of a recent discussion about a woman who had been asked to leave the opera in France because she was wearing a veil over her face. The discussion had to do with whether France is saving women from religious oppression of womankind, or is it denying them religious freedom. The sentence in Writing a Woman's Life is p.41/42 :
To put it differently, as Elaine Marks does, American feminist critics see women as oppressed by sexism, "their voices unheard within the dominant culture," whereas for French critics, women are repressed, equivalent to the unconscious, and therefore not representable in language.
think about this difference...and if in the case of
repressed, how to determine what is repression and what is personal
preference!
later: almost finished Writing A Woman's Life. it is like reading history, and making more sense of it all. it's like "Oh so that's what
happened,"
one of the women in my book group is waiting to read it. she loved the mystery we are reading for the group, "Death in a Tenured Position" and wants to know more about Carolyn Heilman and her writing.
she mentioned she is in another book group in town, of younger women (probably in their 40s and 50s as compared to ours -- we are in our late 60s and 70s) and they are reading Gone Girl. i said i'd started it but didnt get very far and did not like it nor want to read any more of it. she was amazed and said same thing happened to her.
her theory is that it is an age thing.
in which case it is a good example of something Heilman mentions, that we take things to be personal often not realizing they are political or historical (sociological?)
one of the women in my book group is waiting to read it. she loved the mystery we are reading for the group, "Death in a Tenured Position" and wants to know more about Carolyn Heilman and her writing.
she mentioned she is in another book group in town, of younger women (probably in their 40s and 50s as compared to ours -- we are in our late 60s and 70s) and they are reading Gone Girl. i said i'd started it but didnt get very far and did not like it nor want to read any more of it. she was amazed and said same thing happened to her.
her theory is that it is an age thing.
in which case it is a good example of something Heilman mentions, that we take things to be personal often not realizing they are political or historical (sociological?)
Jan 11, 2015
xmas
i love this quote... it got me through xmas this year. so often Garrison Keillor is not at all what people think he is... he is totally not from Mayberry. but we do all go through it together even if we are going through it by ignoring it or rejecting it.
"A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together."
"A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together."
Jan 9, 2015
farewell to second life (for now? forever?)
little by little Second Life and First Life conspired to bring me out of the virtual world. complications with SL's software quirks brought down TSMGO, The Show Must Go On, and i couldn't find anything as fun. i quit working, so my scheduled changed. the people i knew and loved dropped out of SL as their lives changed. Osprey died. yet i kept my land for lucy and mudpie, kept premium membership, my homes. the software changed again and changed again and mesh came in and who knows what now. i finally this year dropped my premium status gave up my land and homes, and at my new house in First Life , out in the wilds, the internet is sooooo slow it is hardly worth peeking in now and then. so i'm cutting the cord.
when i log in for some reason now, i am like Rip van Winkle. everyone is a stranger, nobody from before is around. i am wearing out of date clothing, out of date body in fact! i've come from the past.
when i log in for some reason now, i am like Rip van Winkle. everyone is a stranger, nobody from before is around. i am wearing out of date clothing, out of date body in fact! i've come from the past.
Remembrance of summer in the old house
i must have written this draft at our old house, when i still had a job, and it was summer!!
i think of my father when i adjust the bamboo shades on the porch. because the strings go around little cleats! i love tying the string around the cleats and love knowing how to do it. it makes me think of my father and sailing and the cleats someone invented that you didn't have to make the knot around (boo!)
i like pulleys too, and the shades have pulleys. it's a chore adjusting all the windows and shades before i go to work. and then everything is open in the evening to let the cool in.
Vermont people who laugh in the face of 30 below 0 Farenheit get crazy when it is 90! they never heard of drinks with ice in them, cold washcloth on the neck, wearing shorts and sandals (not black) and a hat, sitting in the shade, or god forbid, keeping the windows and curtains closed!
they want to let a little air in! BUY AN AIR-CONDITIONER they scream!!
i can't imagine why my friend thought 85 degree weather was a good day to bake a pie, and then complained because her house was so hot, and would not believe that her rayon dress was not the coolest clothing she owns!
mostly they wait it out. my neighbor used to take a cooler and pillow out back and sleep on his trampoline!
best place to sit out the afternoon heat is on a rock in the middle of the frigid stream.
when it's gone on being hot for more than a week, i have run out of summer recipes, and cool clothes to wear to work!
but i love it....all too soon we will have good sledding weather back!
i think of my father when i adjust the bamboo shades on the porch. because the strings go around little cleats! i love tying the string around the cleats and love knowing how to do it. it makes me think of my father and sailing and the cleats someone invented that you didn't have to make the knot around (boo!)
i like pulleys too, and the shades have pulleys. it's a chore adjusting all the windows and shades before i go to work. and then everything is open in the evening to let the cool in.
Vermont people who laugh in the face of 30 below 0 Farenheit get crazy when it is 90! they never heard of drinks with ice in them, cold washcloth on the neck, wearing shorts and sandals (not black) and a hat, sitting in the shade, or god forbid, keeping the windows and curtains closed!
they want to let a little air in! BUY AN AIR-CONDITIONER they scream!!
i can't imagine why my friend thought 85 degree weather was a good day to bake a pie, and then complained because her house was so hot, and would not believe that her rayon dress was not the coolest clothing she owns!
mostly they wait it out. my neighbor used to take a cooler and pillow out back and sleep on his trampoline!
best place to sit out the afternoon heat is on a rock in the middle of the frigid stream.
when it's gone on being hot for more than a week, i have run out of summer recipes, and cool clothes to wear to work!
but i love it....all too soon we will have good sledding weather back!
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