some good thoughts...

in light of all the awful happenings in india, and that today is thanksgiving, here is a video that i'm appreciating right now.



the video is actually for this book on wisdom by andrew zuckerman.

my heart is heavy

and i feel rather ill. india is such a big part of who i am, i feel like i just got the wind knocked out of me. big time.
i was uh, right here, six months ago.


at least 100 people have been killed and over 200 injured. such incredibly sad news.

photo from times of india. story over at the nyt.

thankful for the small things

with one class down and three (and a half? does business count??) to go before the semester ends, i'm a smidge stressed.

but you know what? i have food. and many people don't.



it would cost the world $3 billion dollars year to make sure that every child in the world has food.
sounds like a lot until you realize that wall street bonuses to ceos were about $36 billion dollars (according to letterman. i had no idea.)

a little bit goes a long, long way. check it out here.

tell me something good

a reminder of what's really important. by andre jordan.

these photos

warm my soul.
these beautiful photos (of her sweet husband and sweet pooches i assume) are from the author of the beautiful la porte rouge. the light, the man's face with his dogs, the glimpses of their interactions, the ocean... all just beautiful.

this is

ingenious really. i think the musical accompaniment is a nice touch.

all i want to be...

a mini rebellion against my torts/memo work, perhaps??? a great print by clifton burt

Fishing on the Susquehanna in July

by Billy Collins

I have never been fishing on the Susquehanna
or on any river for that matter
to be perfectly honest.

Not in July or any month
have I had the pleasure--if it is a pleasure--
of fishing on the Susquehanna.

I am more likely to be found
in a quiet room like this one--
a painting of a woman on the wall,

a bowl of tangerines on the table--
trying to manufacture the sensation
of fishing on the Susquehanna.

There is little doubt
that others have been fishing
on the Susquehanna,

rowing upstream in a wooden boat,
sliding the oars under the water
then raising them to drip in the light.

But the nearest I have ever come to
fishing on the Susquehanna
was one afternoon in a museum in Philadelphia

when I balanced a little egg of time
in front of a painting
in which that river curled around a bend

under a blue cloud-ruffled sky,
dense trees along the banks,
and a fellow with a red bandanna

sitting in a small, green
flat-bottom boat
holding the thin whip of a pole.

That is something I am unlikely
ever to do, I remember
saying to myself and the person next to me.

Then I blinked and moved on
to other American scenes
of haystacks, water whitening over rocks,

even one of a brown hare
who seemed so wired with alertness
I imagined him springing right out of the frame.

some eye candy

to ease the pain of all this contracts reading..."amsterdam" by matte stephens

i love it every time.

when peeing, ruby simultaneously squats and lifts up one leg. how wonderful is that?

not fun anymore.

i have had the hiccups for 22 minutes now. and counting.

if philadelphia

doesn't have something like this, i think i may just have to start one up.
portland's annual wordstock festival is approaching. a day to celebrate books and authors and readers. with workshops, readings, food, writing competitions, and a "text ball."
i am in love with this idea and need to do some research to see if philly has something like it.

smart stuff

just found out about change.gov, a website documenting the transition of the obama administration into power. i'm impressed, not only by the speed with which it was put up, but (more importantly) by its invitation to the public to become involved.

what i'm appreciating today

- 5 found pennies
- a smoochable pooch
- i wasn't called on in contracts
- my dryer lint screen is fixed. i can now dry my clothes in the dryer instead of draping them over all of my furniture (a la my house in india)
- evening meditation

and last, but certainly not least
- obama. and all those who worked so hard for him to get where he is today. all those who share his enormously important beliefs.

i feel proud to be an american today.

not to get all mushy

but boy do i love this.

david sedaris

on undecided voters:

"i look at these people and can't quite believe that they exist. are they professional actors? i wonder. or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention? to put them in perspective, i think of being on an airplane. the flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. 'can i interest you in the chicken' she asks. 'or would you prefer the platter of shit with broken bits of glass in it?' to be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked."

uhhh, yup. yup i agree with you there.

today.

in case you needed a reminder.

tomorrow.

all day i have had a knot in my stomach.
i am nervous.

totally unrelated, i had an awful day.

totally unrelated to that, but i love it, so i'll post it:

3 days...

and i'm loving this:

4 days to go

and i am just plain nervous.