And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, Jared Chambers
The Art of Manliness
- She is attractive, of course, but is that her chief asset? (Try to imagine her ten years from today.)
- Do you want her because she is popular–because other men have wanted her? (Don’t be a copy-cat!)
- Could you spend seven consecutive evenings in her company without being bored? (If the answer is affirmative, it is a good sign.)
- Do you have similar tastes in most things?
- Is she a good sport?
- Is she reasonably healthy?
- Is she a flirt? Does she make you jealous? (Decide whether you can stand the strain; your jealously will persist until you grow indifferent.)
- Are you constantly irritated by some small mannerism of hers? (You can’t be terribly in love.)
- Does she tell lies? Do you mind?
- Is she a nag?
- Is she quarrelsome? (The Bible warns, “It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house.”)
- Is she hard on other people? (Don’t judge by her behavior to you.)
- Is she trying to reform you? How do you feel about being reformed?
- Has she tried to boss you? (Maybe you need a boss.)
- Would she put up with all your faults if she knew them?
- When you quarrel, who capitulates first? (A combination of two stubborn mules is bad.)
- Do you agree on children, or a career, or both? (Better settle this beforehand.)
- Does she expect you to support her in a definite style? Could you count on her cooperation in hard times? Would she go to work if necessary?
- Will she help you get ahead? Or will she pull you away from your work?
- Can she handle money?
- If you marry her, will you also be marrying her family?
- Does she let you get around to see your old pals? (If you have been too infatuated to notice, make it a point of finding out.)
- Are you proud to present her to your friends? (If not, reconsider.)
- Do you hope to reform her? (Give up the idea. People change, but not according to plan.)
- Do you know her faults? Are you willing to live with them?
- Do you still think her perfect? (You’re wrong, of course, but marry!)
I know. Oh, oh, I know.
They are coming.
Santa Barbara with the fiancee. Time to leave sunny southern california to where the weather is frightful. Christmas music isn’t the same when the sun is out and you’re at the beach.
Frost before the storm, the snow flurries will arrive, tonight, maybe tomorrow.
oft over used, the word, not the lifestyle,
because to love, it must take your all, it is living, to love, there is no substitute,
if you love, than you live, else you try to love, you try to live,
there are distractions, many they are, but there are no substitutes, for true love,
for life, to remember before you were born, and after you died,
to remember what it’s like to love when you haven’t, what it’s like to not love when you have,
I know I love
Between the billion shots of the sky, sunsets and fewer sunrise, all can be encapsulated in a few words - “you had to be there.” Until our photo reproduction can fill the void of infinite space (the visible universe is finite, I know) it will never suffice. It’ll get better, but until then we will still adore the photographs that capture the color, the clarity and the composure (mine sorely lack, taken with a phone from a moving vehicle, but you get the idea). I’ll still be taking and viewing these photos, but it won’t be the same as that’s what closing our eyes are for, to imagine yourself there. Remember the last sunset you truly watched, who you were with, alone and contemplating or together and contemplating. That is, until the stars come out.
writers block (or is it writer’s block?). Some say it exists, some say it doesn’t, but when I’m trying to finish co writing a novel, rewrite my most recent, start something for nanowrimo (won’t happen), write sweet things to my sweetie, tumble and finish my application, somewhere in between, my mind sort of fizzles, and I can’t think anymore. I need to let my mind rest for a moment. Sometimes I can get on a writing binge and pound out pages, other times I’ll go weeks with nothing to show. Granted, even when I release the words from within, maybe five percent is good enough to be edited, the rest needs to be rewritten. Going by that percentage, my math is not so good any more, how many rewrites do I need to do? It doesn’t matter, it’s not exact. I’ll write this only one time, and I’ll be lucky to read it through more than once for errors.
I need to binge on writing again. It’s been too long.
