Food or sleep? Sleep or food?

How nice to find another good Jeffrey McDaniels poem at the end of an exhausting twelve hours of work!

The Quiet World

In an effort to get people to look
into each other's eyes more,
and also to appease the mutes,
the government has decided
to allot each person exactly one hundred
and sixty-seven words, per day.

When the phone rings, I put it to my ear
without saying hello. In the restaurant
I point at chicken noodle soup.
I am adjusting well to the new way.

Late at night, I call my long distance lover,
proudly say I only used fifty-nine today.
I saved the rest for you.

When she doesn't respond,
I know she's used up all her words,
so I slowly whisper I love you
thirty-two and a third times.
After that, we just sit on the line
and listen to each other breathe.

September 1, 1939

W.H. Auden
I sit in one of the dives On Fifty-second Street Uncertain and afraid As the clever hopes expire Of a low dishonest decade: Waves of anger and fear Circulate over the bright And darkened lands of the earth, Obsessing our private lives; The unmentionable odour of death Offends the September night. Accurate scholarship can Unearth the whole offence From Luther until now That has driven a culture mad, Find what occurred at Linz, What huge imago made A psychopathic god: I and the public know What all schoolchildren learn, Those to whom evil is done Do evil in return. Exiled Thucydides knew All that a speech can say About Democracy, And what dictators do, The elderly rubbish they talk To an apathetic grave; Analysed all in his book, The enlightenment driven away, The habit-forming pain, Mismanagement and grief: We must suffer them all again. Into this neutral air Where blind skyscrapers use Their full height to proclaim The strength of Collective Man, Each language pours its vain Competitive excuse: But who can live for long In an euphoric dream; Out of the mirror they stare, Imperialism's face And the international wrong. Faces along the bar Cling to their average day: The lights must never go out, The music must always play, All the conventions conspire To make this fort assume The furniture of home; Lest we should see where we are, Lost in a haunted wood, Children afraid of the night Who have never been happy or good. The windiest militant trash Important Persons shout Is not so crude as our wish: What mad Nijinsky wrote About Diaghilev Is true of the normal heart; For the error bred in the bone Of each woman and each man Craves what it cannot have, Not universal love But to be loved alone. From the conservative dark Into the ethical life The dense commuters come, Repeating their morning vow; "I will be true to the wife, I'll concentrate more on my work," And helpless governors wake To resume their compulsory game: Who can release them now, Who can reach the deaf, Who can speak for the dumb? All I have is a voice To undo the folded lie, The romantic lie in the brain Of the sensual man-in-the-street And the lie of Authority Whose buildings grope the sky: There is no such thing as the State And no one exists alone; Hunger allows no choice To the citizen or the police; We must love one another or die. Defenceless under the night Our world in stupor lies; Yet, dotted everywhere, Ironic points of light Flash out wherever the Just Exchange their messages: May I, composed like them Of Eros and of dust, Beleaguered by the same Negation and despair, Show an affirming flame.

Made My Morning

This email from Ann reminded me of why I love her so much:

Okay kind of random but this funny thought came to my head while I was on the train: neurotica. Imagine it - porn with neurotics!! They're so awkward they never even manage to have the sex!!!

That was it.

Dating Conundrum

[Ann] 

christine, i don't get this whole "going on dates" business
like...are you supposed to flirt? or just be yourself?
i guess some people are naturally flirty.

[me]

no, i totally understand the conundrum

i was wondering that too after my blind date a while back

i treated that date as if i were making a friend

[Ann]

i knooow!

[me]
and had i been attracted to the guy, i would've regretted it

but i guess if you want the guy, you have to flirt?

[Ann]

like i wonder if that gives the other person the impression that i'm not interested at all

[me]

you're asking the wrong person, girlfriend!

I still don't know the answer to this conundrum. I'm just a friendly person, and flirting isn't necessarily easy for me. Is it possible to flirt in a friendly, casual way? I would make myself cringe if I actually followed the advice I see in magazines (playfully touch the guy's forearm to show him your interest, give him a coquettish look from under your eyelashes, etc). I want to be friendly and make light conversation to put the guy at ease, but is that sending the message that I'm not that interested? Does he expect me to be more nervous and shy? What's a girl to do? I think my guy friends would be uncomfortable if I asked them...

Oxford Comma and Quotation Marks

I finally bothered to look up what an oxford comma is: it's that last comma before the 'and' in a series of listed items. "For lunch I had a sandwich, salad, (oxford comma!) and coffee." I think I read somewhere that it's optional, but I'm sticking with it. On the other hand, I can't stand that silly rule that punctuation marks must always go inside quotation marks! I don't ever have to turn in a paper again, so I'm doing away with that rule. How is it that such a nonsensical (at least in my opinion) rule is still in place? What if you're repeating someone's words to them as a way of seeking explanation? As in: "What do you mean 'I can't find Penny'?" If I had put that question mark in front of that quotation mark, it'd be as though the other person was asking the question, "I can't find Penny?" See what I mean? Maybe I'm not making any sense at all.

Am I a Magpie?

Why do I want these sparkling earrings so very much even though I'd be too cowardly to actually wear them around? Perhaps I am a human magpie.

"In common with jackdaws, magpies are attracted to shiny objects and are notorious for stealing rings and other jewelry left on windowsills or tables out of doors."

So, keep a close eye on your jewelry when I'm around! Just kidding.