Yep, Still Not Out of Material...

Click to visit the artist at Nearing Zero.

Langston Hughes

While researching something completely different I ran across an author that I think will become a new favorite - Langston Hughes. He speaks to me. The first poem I encountered this evening was Dreams.

Dreams

Hold fast to dreams,
For if dreams die,
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams.
For if dreams go,
Life is a barren field
Covered with snow.

Exactly what I needed to hear.

Racing through the poems available online like a child in a candy shop I found that a poem that is also quite perfect for my political side. It is lengthy so I won't quote it, but check out Let America be America Again.

Thank you, Langston Hughes. You died before I was born but your writing feels like it is from a friend as it reaches across time to me.

And Today Was a Day Without Caffeine...

OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets

Actually these were my husband's results. Mine were only slightly lower.

A Slice of God in Every Package

Yep, it's Sunday again which means it's God and Cheese Day. Jim Brown reported back in 2001 that a slice of Meal-Time cheese had become God. How could we here at the Thoughts not have heard about this before? Since Jim is writing from Wisconsin we have to believe that he knows his God Cheese when he sees it.

Their List Has Cowbell!

Nerve put together The 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time. They point out that "There's no more sure-fire way to kill something's intrinsic comedic value than to try to examine what makes it funny." But shouldn't the assessment be based less on analysis and more on laughter volume, tears, and sore abdominal muscles? That's how I judge my comedy. And I have to admit that in my opinion they picked some really good stuff.

We Are the World

By way of the PhD Blog I discovered the Better World Club. They claim to be an eco-conscious alternative to AAA and will even give us a discount based on our fuel efficiency. Have you heard of them? Do you use them? Any opinions?

Oh, How I Have Suffered...

I've found myself saying more than once to someone, "You don't understand. I don't just write because I want to write. I write because I have to write." So this entry from Have Coffee Will Write struck a cord with me. If you like that quote check out his whole chapbook.

Well, I Imagine This Test Can Turn Out Badly...

You Are a Ring Finger

You are romantic, expressive, and hopeful. You see the best in everything. You are very artistic, and you see the world as your canvas. You are also drawn to the written word. Inventive and unique, you are often away in your own inner world. You get along well with: The Pinky Stay away from: The Index Finger

What Finger Are You?

A Little Night Music

What Your Taste in Music Says About You

Your musical tastes are reflective and complex. You are intellectual to the point of being cerebral. You are very open to new experiences, and even more open to new ideas and theories. Wisdom and personal accomplishment are important to you. You are naturally sophisticated. You are drawn to art, especially art by independent artists. You are likely to be financially well off... and not because you were born that way.

What Does Your Taste in Music Say About You?

Elvenology

Someone came to the Thoughts searching for elvenology and it leaves me wondering - what is the correct term for the study of elves?

More Geek Chic

We need our own show on HGTV. Here's a nice collection of Home Decor for Absolute Geeks.

I Guess I Should Learn Elvish

You Are Most Like Liv Tyler

“I don't want to spend so much time obsessing about myself.”

What Modern Bombshell Are You Most Like?

The Other 18% is Caffeine

You Are 82% Creative

You are an incredibly creative person. For you, there are no bounds or limits to your creativity. Your next creation could be something very great... Or at least very cool!

How Creative Are You?

It's a Dog's Life

For today's pop psych fun, go and compare yourself to your dog in this online quiz. I will have to admit that the fuzzy creature snoozing on my feet right now turns out to be mentally healthier than me.

Friday Random Ten: Watts Bar Lake Edition

1. Probative
2. 380th Air Expeditionary Wing
3. Arctocephalites
4. Quebecor World
5. Studstrup
6. Gosport and Fareham R.F.C.
7. Paul Campbell
8. HMS Discovery
9. National Narrowcasting Network
10. Paul Kennerley
    

I'm With the Band...

I got this game from Scoops. "Here's how the meme goes: Go to Wikipedia. Click on "random article." The first one that comes up is your band's name. The next is the album title. The next 15 are the songs on the album."

His band, Darwin Glass, turned out great. I kept myself from editing my results or skipping anything to get a completely random read. My best guess is that this is a slightly political, very weird folk/country group. Potentially from Europe. That have a weird fascination with both time and geography. Apparently they are fans of Darwin Glass because track #10 looks like a cover of a Darwin Glass song.

Band Name: Watts Bar Lake
Album Title: 2007 Kerry Intermediate Football Championship
Track Listing:
1) Patricia McKay
2) What You Don't Know
3) Martin Mere
4) Charlotte Eagles
5) Thirteener
6) Lateral coital position
7) 1996-97 United States network television schedule (Saturday morning)
8) Yasir Hameed
9) Horsleycross Street
10) Discrepancy of hypergraphs
11) Neuviller-lès-Badonviller
12) Marlinton, West Virginia
13) Malcolm Gladwell
14) TTE
15) 2855 Bastian

Yep, That About Explains It...

From the brain/cpu of the Cuddly Cyborg.

Jealousy

I'm jealous of my neighbors.

We live in a rather countrified suburb. The lots are nearly an acre, there are two lakes, and directly behind our house is the bordering set of woods for a large working farm. On clear, lovely nights like this, when the dogs and I go out to scuff around in the yard (they are doing their business and I am usually checking Dilbert Blog on my crackberry or gazing at the stars) the noises of the neighborhood carry over the hills and dales, through the sparse woods, and dance around us like fairy sounds. Dogs yip and yap. Cars rumble down the quiet streets. But the part that makes me jealous, bone-deep and soul-wide jealous, are the Neighbors Across the Way.

The Neighbors Across the Way take advantage of any nice night to gather on their porch. They talk and laugh and carry on, making every pleasant night of the spring, summer and fall (sometimes even the winter) sound like the best part of a biennial family reunion. I can never hear what they are saying, just the tone and the laughter. Some nights I think there might be beer involved - the laughter barks louder and more insistent, and other nights I think there may be friends or cousins over because a tone of sarcasm or suspicion may creep in. But most nights there is just the convivial, dancing tone of people who are truly enjoying one another's company. As though they have somehow managed to tap into the universal truth that our time is limited, our loved ones may be gone at any moment, and each second must be treated as the sacred gift that it is.

Random Ten

1. Madonna - Live to Tell
2. Jamie O'Neal - Shiver
3. Jesse Cook - Breeze from Santes Maries
4. Huey Lewis & the News - Heart and Soul
5. Annie Lennox - Waiting in Vain
6. Chicago - Will You Still Love Me?
7. Dire Straits - So Far Away
8. The Cars - I'm Not the One
9. Jewel - Foolish Games
10. Creed - Don't Stop Dancing
    

Rock Me Aristaeus

Yes, it is time for another edition of Sunday is God and Cheese Day. Today we learn that Aristaeus was the "rustic god of shepherds and cheese-making..." And apparently he was named by Bill and Ted on one of their cross-time adventures because "his name was derived from the Greek word aristos, 'most excellent'..."