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To continue the saying-nice-words thing, "extravaganza" is another of my favorites.

Our Nooma video today was about how death is the engine of life. I knew about the seed-has-to-die-to-become-the-plant thing, but I hadn't thought about how food must become dead before it can nourish us. Good stuff. We ended up talking more about image and ego and how much we try to be a certain way and why. One of my friends mentioned cleaning before people come over, and I started thinking about one of my best friends growing up. She had two sisters and a dog, and their house was always a gracious and fun mess. I don't remember ever seeing her kitchen counters because there were always stacks of dishes. It was one of my favorite places to be! Her dad had the first DVD I ever saw (Stigmata--didn't watch it, just looked at the disc itself), and he dreamed of having a motorcycle. One time, I went over there for New Year's, and we did snap-n-pops right on the kitchen floor! Inside! That was also the first time I saw What Not to Wear. And there was almost always something chocolate to enjoy at their house.

So the lesson (for me) is, cleanliness is overrated. I never went to someone's house and wanted to come back because it was so clean. I want to come back because I love them, enjoy their company, and feel at rest there. Personal hygeine is another story, but at least as far as spaces go, there's a lot to be said for a welcoming disarray. At the very least, your guests are never afraid of messing something up.

Hundredth Post!

Sometimes when I'm by myself, I say nice words out loud. I usually start with "striations" and "cumulonimbus."

Haiku

For the next two weeks in poetry class, we are working on haiku and a related form, waka, or tanka (5-7-5-7-7). The length gives me the luxury of starting early so I can get the mediocre stuff out before turning in something dazzling. Here's some of the mediocre stuff that I actually like well, but don't find quite "poetic" enough to turn in. Then again, maybe I could just say I'm re-envisioning the haiku.

James Lee Burke is a
beautiful name. Let's say it
again: James Lee Burke.

What if you were the
first man to hear a heart?
Wouldn't you be afraid?

This one has a title: Terms I Forgot for Disconcertingly Long Periods of Time.
Bruschetta. Challenge.
Zodiac. Beside the point.
Posthumous. Candide.


They are really fun to make. It's the kind of thing one can do while waiting in line or something.

Some men fighting in, I think, the Civil War experienced a condition called soldier's heart. Then in World War I, the same condition was called shellshock, in WW II battle fatigue, and now it's post-traumatic stress disorder (or syndrome). What a shame that we're getting less poetic. On the other hand, someone with a good ear renamed dephlogisticated air and called it oxygen. So we're not going altogether downhill.

My Gift to You

Yo, check it. I was reading an eHarmony Advice article on romance, and there's a section on cooking. Among its sentences, we find, "Add some wine and candles, and Don Quixote will start looking like a slacker in comparison." Now, I don't know much about Don Quixote, but I never thought of him as romantic. I think the eFolks might mean Don Juan. If I'm right, this is funny. Funny enough to share with the world. You're welcome.

Coinage

I've repurposed the word "fruity." Instead of meaning dippy, sentimental, schmaltzy, or whatever negative thing you might think it means, it now means delicious, sustaining, energizing, juicy, and good for you.

I know a lot of really fruity people.