The intellectual equivalent of a ham sandwich.

Posts tagged ‘Du Jour of the Week’

Kids These Days

Edna herself!

Safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand:
Come and see my shining palace built upon the sand!
– Second Fig, by Edna St. Vincent Millay

I was thinking about this poem today, a favorite of mine, and it occurred to me. One might argue the project I am working on is an ugly house built upon the sand. Of course, that’s a pessimistic view, so I’ll just gleefully stick my head in the sand and not walk further down that road.

But what else could this beautiful two line poem convey?

Kids. Kids are in desperate need of a solid foundation and sometimes life throws other things their way and they find their youth spent upon the sand (and not the actual sand, like those lucky southern California kids, with their unchanging perfect weather and what nots).

Stability is key for youth, it allows the youth in question to be the unbalanced object in a world of constants. If instead the kid is growing up surrounded by change – parents, house, schools, friends, whatever – then something stable will hopefully jump up. And most likely that stable item or person won’t be recognized, and almost certainly it won’t be appreciated, but perhaps one day it will be.

But if there is no stability, that kid could end up the stable item and miss that topsy turvy lifestyle (in later years, when money is available and responsibilities are relatively few, that topsy turvy lifestyle could be found and be quite detrimental – I’m looking at you, child stars). Or perhaps the kid will be the unstablest of unstables, and shock the comparatively stable adults who can’t help but get angry at this child. Maybe instead of anger as the chief emotion, patience should instead be the one to try to go to first. Another beautiful line:

Hold on; hold fast; hold out. Patience is genius.

George, the party animal.

This gem is from the tongue-tying-ly named George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon.

I figure any kid who represents a shining palace is certainly representing such a thing on sand. Because one wrong comment can show the lack of foundation that shining palace is built upon.

And, as a person who thinks of himself as living in a pretty lovely house on solid rock, I’ll remind you that when you live in the ugliest house on the block, you don’t have to look at it … you get to look out at all the shining palaces built around you. (A judgmental paradise.)

What’s my point? What is the purpose of this Andy Rooney Jr. kind of rant? I guess I’m just suggesting that people remember that we are all built upon a foundation that is part sand, part concrete, and that all of us should try to serve as concrete rather than sand in the lives of those around us, and even those who may be far away but who we value.

Sincerely,
That Old Sentimental So-and-So

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Obvious Observations, part 1

I’m 30 now. And married. And I think these two things entitle me to have formed some pretty obvious observations.

For example, I’m sitting and having lunch (I’m here trying to read a book to be a better coder but instead I’m doing this …). At a table near me are three high school kids. Two girls and a guy. The girls are laughing a lot. Now, maybe this guy is the funniest guy in the world. But you know what? Probably not. (He’s too handsome to be that funny, no one needs to be both funny AND attractive.)

When I was younger, if I said something trying to be funny and a girl laughed a lot, I didn’t get it. I didn’t think, ‘oh she’s flirting‘ or ‘oh she likes me.’ I thought, ‘that wasn’t that funny, why is she laughing?’ And if I had a crush on the girl laughing, it was a neurotic, self-harming thought like, ‘that wasn’t that funny … is she mocking me?’

Thankfully, by the time I turned 28 and met my now wife, I’d managed to sort out a few things like – sometimes people laugh really hard at dumb things because they happen to find them funny and sometimes if someone is interested in you they ask questions about things they probably find boring not to confuse you but to show interest in you and make you feel like a hot shot.

You heard it here first folks. Think back on your conversations – if someone laughed a ton and things you said that aren’t that funny, or if someone showed a lot of interest in your joy over something most consider boring … that person just may like you. Or maybe they are setting you up to mock you at a school assembly. You can’t be sure.

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Was That You?

The area where my work is located is also great for jogging. It’s a suburb of Houston that has a lot of sidewalks and you can map out a bunch of different routes for different mileage. Plus, since I lived near work for so long, jogging around that area makes perfect sense.

Except.

Except for the occasional honk from a co-worker driving by. But wait, you might think, isn’t that nice? A little cheer from a co-worker? Yes, you’re right, it is nice.

But.

But what if at that moment I’m doing something I’d rather a co-worker didn’t see?

  1. Getting angry at a car waiting for a light to turn green that has pulled up onto the walkway. (Darn you.)
  2. Getting angry at a car inching forward to turn right on red while only looking left (meanwhile I am to the driver’s right hoping he/she sees me and trying to determine what to do).
  3. Musical butt (sorry … but it’s true)
  4. The runner’s nose blow (where you use a finger to plug one nostril, then just BLOW from the other nostril and whala, nasal passage re-enabled!)
  5. That time I grew out my Abraham Lincoln/Amish facial hair and ran shirtless during the summer (6’3 of skinny whiteness with a thick tuft of neck beard … blech) (Thankfully this is not a current scene that can be witnessed, but I do can still easily look like a nut while running – as seen here)

 

Thank you for supporting your local jogging enthusiasts while they are out doing their thing, just please wipe the memory from your mind if I look crazy/mean/smelly.

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