what is it about the songs one listens to while driving in the night-time? i don't know, but they definitely have an effect on me. some of my lasting memories seem to be of songs listened to in the car...
anyway, today's song was 'fast car'. by tracy chapman. logging it lest i forget.
that song does magic, don't you think?
the title makes this post sound preachy, but it's not. well, not so intended anyway. yesterday just after cooking dinner for a friend, i apologized for there (possibly) being too much salt. he immediately looked up the poem below and made me read it. i'd like to think it has changed my life. maybe by putting it on this blog i can make myself read and learn from it more often, so here -
JUST KEEP QUIET AND NOBODY WILL NOTICE - Ogden Nash
There is one thing that ought to be taught in all the colleges,
Which is that people ought to be taught not to go around always making apologies.
I don't mean the kind of apologies people make when they run over you or borrow five dollars or step on your feet,
Because I think that is sort of sweet;
No, I object to one kind of apology alone,
Which is when people spend their time and yours apologizing for everything they own.
You go to their house for a meal,
And they apologize because the anchovies aren't caviar or the partridge is veal;
They apologize privately for the crudeness of the other guests,
And they apologize publicly for their wife's housekeeping or their husband's jests;
If they give you a book by Dickens they apologize because it isn't by Scott,
And if they take you to the teahter, the apologize for the acting and the dialogue and the plot;
They contain more milk of human kindness than the most capacious diary can,
But if you are from out of town they apologize for everything local and if you are a foreigner they apologize for everything American.
I dread these apologizers even as I am depicting them,
I shudder as I think of the hours that must be spend in contradicting them,
Because you are very rude if you let them emerge from an argument victorious,
And when they say something of theirs is awful, it is your duty to convince them politely that it is magnificent and glorious,
And what particularly bores me with them,
Is that half the time you have to politely contradict them when you rudely agree with them,
So I think there is one rule every host and hostess ought to keep with the comb and nail file and bicarbonate and aromatic spirits on a handy shelf,
Which is don't spoil the denouement by telling the guests everything is terrible, but let them have the thrill of finding it out for themselves.
i don't know how true it is, and scientific it is clearly not... but yesterday i was talking to a dear friend in india who i hadn't spoken to in a while. and he mentioned how he was suddenly reminded of me while he was busy at work, for no reason in particular, and that he had later seen a missed call from me at around the same time.
i love these coincidences, they're of the most special kind - when i'm thinking of someone and missing them and then, out of nowhere, get a call or an email from them.
of course there are many such occasions when i have thought of people and not heard from them, and then, not thought of people and heard from them. the former is simply normal, and the latter a pleasant surprise. but it is these special times that i crave the most. for they renew my belief that we are capable of developing connections at that deep a level. you know what i mean?
and just in case you were thinking this blog is all about daily activities and the mundanities of life -
:)
i now have a new camera. it's a digital slr. one of those things i'd never dreamed i'd possess. i have to admit that i'm happy today for earning lots of money, for without it i'd never even have considered buying this camera. nor for that matter would i have bought a guitar i didn't know how to play. or books that i haven't and perhaps just won't read, like the one i bought yesterday - "iwoz" (autographed by the author himself).
i feel so guilty admitting this, but yes, it is good to earn money. because i guess there are some things that money alone can buy. and that sucks. life shouldn't be like that. after all, there is a god isn't there? if god thinks i deserve a canon e350d digital slr, he should simply drop it in my lap and not wait for me to have enough money in my bank account. no, really!
there's no day like saturday. no, not even friday. and not sunday. there's nothing that compares to the feeling of having yet another day to the weekend, and to the feeling that a new weekend just started. saturday mornings are the best.
today was not a saturday, it was a monday. i've decided that from now on, i must find five to-dos to complete every day. it will make my day feel worthwhile. today i did the following - mail letter 1 to dmv, letter 2 to palo alto court, letter 3 to air india office and then called michael fredericson for a new referral, and called wells fargo to check on cheque.
there, so today was a productive day. and the plan is to make each day a productive day. but for saturdays. saturdays will be zero to-do days. saturdays will be saturdays. uff!
don't get me wrong, me (since i'm writing to myself). this blog isn't for nostalgia to find an opening and come gushing forth. it would just be nice to remember tomorrow who i was today, ad infinitum.
nostalgia is also allowed though, once in a while.
tired of writing in verse alone. after all, people do use prose to communicate sometimes. and thoughts just as deep in fact, if depth is what i'm afraid to lose. as if all my poems ooze depth anyway.
so this. so i can remember. stuff. like memento - is how i like to think about it. if you're anyone but me reading this post, know that it was written not for you, but for me. but you may read it, if you would so like.
in school, i would love the feel of a fresh new notebook. newly covered. ready to be filled in. the first page was always empty though. for saraswati i think. any writing on the first page will always seem wrong.
i feel the joy one feels on newly found freedom. it's nice to know that i can come back anytime and it will still be there. ha.
