A German Ballade

My life is brilliant.

My life is brilliant, my love is pure
I saw an angel of that I'm sure
She smiled at me on the subway
She was with another man
But I won't lose no sleep on that
'Cause I've got a plan

You're beautiful, you're beautiful
You're beautiful, it's true
I saw your face in a crowded place
And I don't know what to do
'Cause I'll never be with you

Yes, she caught my eye
As we walked on by
She could see from my face that
I was flying high
And I don't think that I'll see her again
But we shared a moment that will last 'till the end

You're beautiful, you're beautiful
You're beautiful, it's true
I saw your face in a crowded place
And I don't know what to do
'Cause I'll never be with you

You're beautiful, you're beautiful
You're beautiful, it's true
There must be an angel with a smile on her face
When she thought up that I should be with you
But it's time to face the truth
I will never be with you

Wonderful Mental Overload

The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up in the morning and doesn’t stop until you get to the office. – Robert Frost

So true. Comically true. Ironically true - especially when you really need it to work!

Cyrano thinking last night.
Style-Guide thinking at work.
Political Science thinking tonight.
Speech night thinking tomorrow. Must.write.OO.first. Ahhh!
Debate thinking every day.
Debate intensive-study thinking on Saturday.
SAT-prep thinking every day.
Emotional thinking. Futuristic thinking. Happy thinking. Confused thinking. Thinking with friends. Thinking alone. Thinking outloud. Frustrated thinking. Excited thinking. Thinking thinking.

New thoughts. Strange thoughts. Interesting thoughts. Thinking thoughtful thoughts.

Isn't that what life is? One big journey of thoughts?

At work this morning, I'm assisting our Research Writer and Publications Editor create a style-guide providing boundaries for future Park Publications. It's an interesting project - and there's much to learn in the process....like the following 20 Rules of Writing:

1. Shun and avoid the employment of unnecessary, excess extra words.
2. Make certain all sentences are full and complete. If possible.
3. Avoid cliches like the plague.
4. Take pain's to spell and, punctuate correctly.
5. BE consistent.
6. Don't approximate. Always be more or less precise.
7. Avoid pointless repetition, and don't repeat yourself unnecessarily.
8. Don't use no double negatives.
9. Don't never use no triple negatives.
10. All generalizations are bad.
11. Take care that your verb and subject is in agreement.
12. A preposition is a bad thing to end a sentence with.
13. Don't use commas, which aren't necessary.
14. "Avoid overuse of 'quotation' marks."
15. And't don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
16. Reserve the apostrophe for it's proper use and omit it when its not necessary.
17. Avoid run-on sentences they are hard to read.
18. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
19. Never use that totally cool, radically croovy out-of-date slang.
20. Avoid those long sentences that just go on, and on, they never stop, they just keep rambling, and you really wish the person would just shut up, but no, they just keep on going, they're worse than the Energizer Bunny, they babble incessantly, and these sentences, they just never stop.

Los Angeles: then and now

“This river flows on down nearly at ground level through a very green, lush, wide-reaching valley of level soil some leagues in extent from north to south;…which runs continually onward with a great amount of trees, lie very large, very green bottomlands, looking from afar like nothing so much as large cornfields…to my mind this spot can be given the preference in everything, in soil, water, and trees, for the purpose of becoming in time a very large plenteous mission…and so we have proclaimed it The River and Valley of Nuestra Senora de los Angeles de la Porciuncula.”
-Captain Gaspar de Portolo, August 2, 1769

As a debater traveling through Los Angeles multiple times each season, I found this 18th century description of the area comically sad. I wonder what Captain de Portolo would say about modern day LA:

"The struggle to perform well is universal: each of us faces fatique, limited resources, and imperfect abilities in whatever we do. But nowhere is this drive to do better more important than in medicine, where lives may be on the line with any decision. In his new book, Atul Gawande explores how doctors strive to close the gap between best intentions and actual performance in the face of obstacles that sometimes seem insurmountable.

Gawande's gripping stories of diligence, ingenuity, and what it means to do right by people take us to battlefield surgical tents in Iraq, labor and delivery rooms in Boston, a polio outbreak in India, and malpractice courtrooms around the country. He discusses the ethical dilemmas of doctors' participation in lethal injections, examines the influence of money on modern medicine, and recounts the astoundingly contentious history of handwashing. And as in all his writing, Gawande gives us an inside look at his own life as a practicing surgeon, offering a searingly honest firsthand account of work in a field where mistakes are both unavoidable and unthinkable."

It's my new flashlight-under-the-covers-past-midnight read. It's wonderful.

Laundry-Room Facelift

It's epic, folks. It's exciting. New! Bold!
B-e-a-utiful!

After nearly 16 years of daily use and abuse, the very neglected laundry room finally recieved some well-deserved attention.

Scrubbing, sweeping, dusting, priming, taping....all in preparation for the glorious roller!

Be afraid, thou boring white! Shutter, you stained ceiling and dreary walls!

It's epic, folks. It's exciting!

New! Bold! B-e-a-utiful!

Much more than they've got planned...

"I guarantee it
I want much more than this provincial life
I want adventure in the great wide somewhere
I want it more than I can tell
And for once it might be grand
To have someone understand
I want so much more than they've got planned."

Today's Tomorrow

The day's doings: Researching certain govermental policies from the above country and whether we should (or should not) support them.

The day's findings: A beautiful piece of evidence....from tomorrow!