look up.
the ten best things I saw today
1. the sun coming up, unhidden
2. running shoes hanging from power lines, strung up by their laces
3. the old lady with magnificent sunglasses paying with pennies on the bus
4. the fiftysomething italian barista at my favourite coffee place, berating the twentysomething barista for his inability to flirt
5. the currents in the inlet, glimmering in the afternoon sun
6. six new leaves on the plant that was dying at my office
7. people all over my office watching the muppets on youtube
8. a baby in an octopus costume that had only six legs (sixopus?)
9. an email from an irishman, making me laugh
10. love everywhere
the ten best things I heard today
1. the coffee maker finishing a brew cycle
2. the crazy tiny birds in our bird tree
3. the couple washing their car near our house, laughing hysterically when she vacuumed up his parking meter change
4. herb alpert and the tijuana brass
5. the shower blasting into action at 6 am
6. presley giggling upstairs
7. the son of the corner store owner practicing his violin on their roof
8. my roommate singing
9. my phone ringing with a good number on the call display
10. love everywhere
the ten best things that gave me hope today
1. my friend finding resolution to a problem
2. the sound of my own voice saying something tough but true
3. the memory of lying in a field under a starry sky
4. people saying thank you
5. intentional daydreams
6. vacation plans
7. the weather report for this week
8. twirling in my living room
9. smart people writing smart things about the world we live in
10. love everywhere
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:53 pm
I’d like to know a bit more about the baby in the octupus costume, Meg. 8 limbs would be remarkable, but 6 is still unusual.
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Er… ‘octopus’. (It’s 5.45 a.m.)
May 22nd, 2007 at 11:51 pm
One of the Ten Best Things I Read Today: this post.
May 22nd, 2007 at 11:57 pm
Hmmm … I’m sensing a theme here.
May 23rd, 2007 at 8:50 am
Dick, it was the baby of a friend of a friend. We could only count six legs. Maybe he was sitting on two? But the legs were so large, I don’t think that was the case.
His actual legs made up two of them, then the other ones were stuffed and stuck out to the sides. So cute.
May 23rd, 2007 at 9:15 am
You made me smile. Thanks!
May 28th, 2007 at 10:03 am
My sister who has worked with children who bully and who are involved in swarming incidents told me that running shoes, thrown up on electrical wires are the result of a bullying/swarming incident. What apparently happens is that the kid who gets swarmed gets their shoes taken away(among other things)and then they’re thrown up on the wires as a symbol of conquest. Have you (or anyone else) heard about this? If true it would change your position on seeing them being one of the 10 best things you saw this day.
I’m just catching up on your blog so am moving backward, but sorry for your recent loss (May 26). Does it feel strange to you to broadcast such intimate information about yourself to the big wide world?
DJ
May 28th, 2007 at 10:23 am
Hey DJ! Thanks for your comment.
While shoe tossing may be something bullies do in some circumstances, it actually is a fairly traditional and silly thing that occurs in my neighborhood with people in their late teens or early twenties… people in a partyish mood. Nothing untoward.
I worked with children for many, many years, and wouldn’t celebrate anything that happened as a result of bullying.
If you look up shoes being tossed over power lines on the Web, you’ll find everything from your theory to a last day of school thing to a new shoes thing to a gang initiation thing to a rite of passage thing to heaven only knows what.:-)
I just know what it means where I’m from.
As to broadcasting intimate information, it’s a funny thing, isn’t it? :-)
But a death in my family isn’t really an intimate experience in that it needs to be kept quiet or secret. How I deal with it may be something quiet, but my grandfather was a man worth publicly celebrating. I’m happy to tell people about him.
Blogging is really an exercise in choices, regardless. There’s a lot I hold back that other people might share, and a lot I share that other people might hold back. You just do what works for you, and let the chips fall where they may. Everyone I know (friends, family, co-workers) reads this space, so I draw the lines as I discover them.
Thanks again!
May 28th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
Hi Meg,
I’m glad to hear there are other reasons why shoes are tossed on the lines. I felt sad before, everytime I’d see that, thinking there was evidence of another kid being bullied.
I am thinking about what you said about blogging being about choices about what to write and what to hold back. I am always curious, from a kind of sociological perspective, about personal information sharing over the public space of the internet vs the private world of face-to-face contact. How information is received and perceived - what mood people are in, what else is going on in their lives, what else about their life experiences will colour their perception of what I’m writing. Such as when I read what you’d written about the shoes on the line - my information about this was different from yours so I couldn’t figure out why you’d celebrate it. Even writing this comment, I am trying to be careful to explain myself clearly so there is no misunderstanding whereas if we were sitting down together and talking we could convey so much information by our gestures, facial expressions, tone, instant clarifications, etc.
I don’t know exactly where I’m going from here… maybe if we were talking :))!
Anyhoo - I have to run now, but nice ‘talking’ to you!
DJ
May 28th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
I think, as with most conversations, eventually you just have to take the chance of being misunderstood if you’re ever going to be honest about anything.
I’m a pretty polite person, and I don’t write about anything particularly rude or controversial on my blog, but people will take exception nonetheless if they disagree with you, or have no context, or don’t like your tone… whatever the case may be.
But that’s the way it is with writing or expressing yourself anywhere. If you’re going to put it out into the world, whether it be in a book or a magazine or in a gallery or on a wall or on a blog, you will have to take the chance that someone will take it the wrong way.
I can live with that. I wouldn’t have chosen writing as my plan for the rest of my life otherwise. :)