I had forgotten how strongly this poem affects me. It spoke to me again, a repetition with a difference, today.
THE TWO VOICES
~ Alfred Lord Tennyson
Edited Aug. 24th – I can’t believe I posted the whole poem! It’s LONG!
Google it or read here.
It’s been a while since I did some of these. Just as fun – and a bit inaccurate – as always.
|
You See the World Through Blue Colored Glasses |
 You live your life with tranquility. You have faith that things will work themselves out with time. You judge all your interactions through the lens of hope. You try to get all the facts before forming your opinion. You face challenges with wisdom. You know that all bad things pass, and you have the confidence to see problems through. At your worst, you can be cool, melancholy, and detached. You sometimes have to step back from emotionally charged situations. |
If you really want a treat, get yourself some rose-colored glasses. The world really does look better. My current sunglasses are amber. My old rose mirrorshades are too scratched up to wear anymore, and I haven’t found a new pair that was the right color and the right price…
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You Are 40% Extrovert, 60% Introvert |
 You’re a bit outgoing, a bit reserved Like most people, you enjoy being social But you also value the time you have alone You have struck a good balance! |
Hmmm… that actually seems about right. I’m not sure that it’s so much a balance as a situational flexibility. The extroverted side feels a bit less natural to me – a little over-energetic – and I can’t sustain it over long periods of time. I sink into a very comfortable groove when I’m alone – daydreaming, reading, listening to music, writing, observing, thinking, questioning… That’s my center.
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Never Date a Virgo |
 Demanding, picky, and a total perfectionist – there’s no way you want to live up to Virgo’s standards. It’s not that you couldn’t please a Virgo… you would just hate yourself for doing it. Instead try dating: Libra, Leo, Aquarius, or Aries |
So noted (My husband is a Libra).
| Where's your dream home? |
Mountains
 You might like to live in the mountains! With the cooler temperatures, and nature all around you. |
Absolutely! But as long as we’re fantasizing about that, I’d also want some sort of personal flyer or hovercraft. Driving on mountain roads can get to be a bit tedious after a while.
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You Are Not Destined to Rule the World |
 You are destined for something else… Like inventing a new type of cupcake. You just don’t have the stomach for brutality. But watch out – because many people do! |
Not destined to rule the world? Darn. Because I’m not brutal enough? And here I was thinking that it was the lack of meekness thing.
|
You Are A Lily |
 You are a nurturer and all around natural therapist. People see you as their rock. And they are able to depend on you. You are a soothing influence. You can make people feel better with a few words. Your caring has more of an impact than even you realize. |
Nurturer? I’m not liking the way this is going. First cupcake inventress, now this. It’s true that I’m very good to have around in a crisis, but I don’t really think that “soothing” is the first adjective that would come to mind…
So here are some about how the various places I’ve lived might continue to have an influence – or not:
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You Are 52% Massachusetts |
 You’re likely a Massachusetts transplant. Big rotaries still scare you, and you probably live outside of 495. |
Yes. Big rotaries scare me, but being born in Massachusetts and living there for more than 20 years didn’t change that. And yes, I think every place I ever lived was outside 495.
Hey, not bad. You enjoy a little bit of the rural life. Next time you’re in the midwest check Iowa out. It’s not so bad.
Iowa City wasn’t really so much about the rural life. The quiz didn’t even ask about the Amana Colonies! The best question was about the festival that is held in Pella; I was really, really tempted to select “Window” festival…
You got 127 points. You’ve finally lived long enough in France for other people to notice your existence!
Sure, NOW! Actually, I would move to Paris in a heartbeat if I could make a living there. I miss it.
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You Are 32% California |
 You’re not from California – don’t try to game this quiz! |
Ok, I’m not really sure that a summer near UCLA really counts… but it was fun.
| HOW GEORGIA ARE YOU?
Your Result: IMMIGRATE
YOU MOVED TO GEORGIA FROM SOME OTHER PLACE. YOU SEEM TO HAVE SOME INTERSEST IN THE STATE AND HAVE TRIED TO UNDERSTAND OUR HERITAGE AND HISTORY. ALTHOUGH YOUR NOT BORN AND BRED, U HAVE SOME PRIDE. |
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| BORN AND BRED |
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| DAMN YANKEE! |
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| HOW GEORGIA ARE YOU? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz |
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I’ve been here in Georgia since 1992. Most Georgians still place me in the “damn Yankee” category, but Atlanta is a little bit different. There are people from all over the world living in Atlanta. I’ve tried to understand the heritage and history, but I would have to say “not really” on the pride. The weather is great, and I’ve met some wonderful people here, but it’s a tough place for me to live in many ways.
|
You Are Pinot Noir |
 Sophisticated and worldly, you probably know more about wine than most drinkers. You have great taste, and you approach all aspects of life with a gourmet attitude. You believe that the little things in life should be cherished and enjoyed… and of the best quality possible. And while you may take more time to eat a meal or tour a city, it’s always time well spent. Deep down you are: A seductive charmer Your partying style: Refined. And you would never call it “partying” Your company is enjoyed best with: Stinky expensive cheese |
Stinky expensive cheese? Gah!
|
Your Famous Last Words Will Be: |
 “What we know is not much. What we don’t know is enormous.” |
Always a fount of information on the gender wars, my long-suffering friend Troy has made the two offerings below.
The fact that I first typed “font” is actually funnier to me. A “font” of information. Hee hee. I know that “font” can have a similiar meaning to “fount” but the latter is more precise. Besides, all I can think of is spurting bits of Arial (be kind in the comments – heh-heh). See what kind of sludge my mind enters after being exposed to this trash?
Enjoy these if you do, critique them if you don’t. I can see the humor – I can – but…. I’m trying to discourage further deliveries along this kind of subject line. Hear me, Troy? I like the pictures better – the birds, the bear, your studio, girls with tiaras… all of that is fine (hug).
“This has to be the funniest video I have ever seen.”
Translating the Words of Men
“I’M GOING FISHING” Means: “I’m going to drink myself dangerously stupid, and stand by a stream with a stick in my hand, while the fish swim by in complete safety.”
“IT’S A GUY THING” Means: “There is no rational thought pattern connected with it, and you have no chance at all of making it logical.”
“CAN I HELP WITH DINNER?” Means: “Why isn’t dinner already on the table?”
“UH HUH,” “SURE, HONEY,” OR “YES, DEAR…” Means: Absolutely nothing. It’s a conditioned response.
“IT WOULD TAKE TOO LONG TO EXPLAIN” Means: “I have no idea how it works.”
“I WAS LISTENING TO YOU. IT’S JUST THAT I HAVE THINGS ON MY MIND.” Means: “I was wondering if that redhead over there is wearing a bra.”
“TAKE A BREAK HONEY, YOU ARE WORKING TOO HARD.” Means: “I can’t hear the game over the vacuum cleaner.”
“THAT’S INTERESTING, DEAR.” Means: “Are you still talking?”
“YOU KNOW HOW BAD MY MEMORY IS.” Means: “I remember the theme song to ‘F Troop’, the address of the first girl I ever kissed, and the vehicle identification numbers of every car I’ve ever owned, but I forgot your birthday.”
“I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT YOU, AND GOT YOU THESE ROSES.” Means: “The girl selling them on the corner was a real babe.”
“OH, DON’T FUSS, I JUST CUT MYSELF, IT’S NO BIG DEAL.” Means: “I have actually severed a limb, but will bleed to death before I admit that I am hurt.”
“HEY, I’VE GOT MY REASONS FOR WHAT I’M DOING.” Means: “And I sure hope I think of some pretty good reasons soon.”
“I CAN’T FIND IT.” Means: “It didn’t fall into my outstretched hands, so I’m completely clueless.”
“WHAT DID I DO THIS TIME?” Means: “What did you catch me at?”
“I HEARD YOU.” Means: “I haven’t the foggiest clue what you just said, and am hoping desperately that I can fake it well enough so that you don’t spend the next 3 days yelling at me.”
“YOU KNOW I COULD NEVER LOVE ANYONE ELSE” Means: “I am used to the way you yell at me, and realize it could be worse.”
“YOU LOOK TERRIFIC.” Means: “”Please don’t try on one more outfit, I’m starving.”
“I’M NOT LOST. I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE WE ARE.” Means: “No one will ever see us alive again.”
I finally got the email I wrote to myself in April of 2005.
Matt Sly and Jay Patrikios from DearFutureMe.org included my email in their published collection Dear Future Me: Hopes, Fears, Secrets, Resolutions
I’ve edited out the amount of my student loan and the number of years it took me to complete the Ph.D. here, but here is the rest:
The following is an e-mail from the past, composed on Sunday, April 3, 2005, and
sent via FutureMe.org– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Dear FutureMe,
Your past me is at a crossroads. The Ph.D. is done, but appears to have been a waste of time. I hope that I am wrong and that later events will show that everything was good and necessary. B will be five in May and I’ll be 41 in a couple of weeks. Everything is beginning to bloom and I’ve planted ferns from Gramma – we just visited her to celebrate in our small way her 88th birthday.
I’m looking at this tome that took up so much of my life – and looking at the lack of teaching positions, the chances for me to get a job here that will allow me to pay back most of my debt before I die and feeling as though I should have gone to law school. In the future, will I still feel this despair? Will I see a meaning for this path I chose?
All in all, I would rather have been enjoying my life instead of living in dread and insecurity all those years. I am writing this to you, future me, so that you can review the situation (cf. Oliver!
).
The simple things are what bring me the most enjoyment. Look around. What surrounds you now? What have you chosen?
I don’t feel like the Ph.D. was a waste of time, although it took too long and the long-term financial costs are extreme. I never did get a full-time academic job, but I am very happy with my technical documentation admin position. I’ll be 44 in a couple of weeks, and Gramma is still doing great living on her own (although she did recently have a pacemaker put in). Law school is still something that I wish I had done, but I don’t feel regret about it the way I did a few years ago.
My humanities training turns out to be excellent life training, and my experiences carry an inner richness that wouldn’t have been possible without learning how to tolerate and even relish the dynamics of complexity.
All in all, I like my life and I like me – much more so than I ever did before. What have I chosen? For the most part, pretty good stuff.
Mommy brag warning!
Our son’s “Google doodle” made the cut and he is one of only six finalists at his elementary school to have the opportunity to enter the big Google contest.
The contest theme is “What if…”. The kids had a template of the Google logo, and then designed their own drawings around it.
At Google we believe in thinking big, and dreaming big, and we can’t think of anything more important than encouraging students to do the same. So we hope you’ll gather those art supplies and some 8.5×11 paper and encourage your kids to enrich us all with their creative visions of our world, as it is and as it might be.
The thing that has Ben most excited is the possibility that his drawing would be showing on the Google home page for a whole day. He didn’t make any big deal about being one of the six winners from his whole school. I love that kid so much.
His drawing has an underwater theme, with fishes in two of the letters.
There are other prizes for the winners, to wit:
The National Winner will win a $10,000 college scholarship to be used at the school of their choice; a trip to the Googleplex on May 21, 2008; a $25,000 grant towards the establishment/improvement of a computer lab for their current school; a laptop computer; and a t-shirt with their Google Doodle printed on it. Their doodle also will be displayed on the www.google.com home page for one day. The National Finalists who did not become the National Winner will win a laptop computer, a trip to the Googleplex on May 21, 2008 and a t-shirt with their Google Doodle printed on it. The 36 Regional Winners who did not become National Finalists will win a trip to the Googleplex on May 21, 2008 and a t-shirt with their Google Doodle printed on it. The 460 State Finalists who did not become Regional Winners will each receive a Doodle 4 Google certificate.
A trip to the Googleplex?!? Me! Me! I wanna go!
If you haven’t blogged in the blogswarm against theocracy, there is still time to do so.
Or – read some of the entries and leave a comment.
Some of the posts are extraordinary this year.