O' the day - 1.31.07

How well do you ever really know another person, inside and out? We build our lives around a very fragile trust, that the ones we love most will do us the least emotional damage. We depend on an innate selflessness that is present in varying degrees, and turn a blind eye to those actions that don't fit the structure we've created for others to live within.

O' the day - 1.30.07

I'd rather be the last thing you see at night
Than the first thing in the morning,
Head cluttered with dream-detritus;
Let me be the end of your day,
The culmination of time well-spent,
What you crave at the finalization of it all.

O' the day - 1.29.07

The idea of the "great divide" in America, whether racial, economic, or political, has been on my mind greatly as of late. The fact that presidential hopefuls are stirring the pot two years prior to an election hasn't helped; as if we didn't have enough divisiveness and partisanship already, we will be delivered a nonstop diet of "bash the other side of the aisle" from now till the election, and even afterward. The spewing of absolute disgust and hatred for the other party has begun anew, and there is no doubt this will be the ugliest campaign yet.

O' the day - 1.22.07

The idea that moving to the center in a highly partisan situation, in order to get laws passed, might not be a good thing is an utterly foreign thought. Standing up for one's principles and refusing to give in is a laudable measure; holding up legislation for a failure to compromise on the tiniest issue is another thing entirely. Representatives must not forget whom they are representative of, and the fact that it is our voice that should be speaking, not theirs.

O' the day - 1.19.07

Everyone's just trying to get closer to free -- whatever that entails personally. Throw off the baggage, open the mind, do away with doubt -- freedom of the soul is a bear but oh so worth it.

O' the day - 1.18.07

Is it a wrong or bad thing to continually listen to something that you disagree with, that makes you angry, to daily deal with what you wholeheartedly oppose? Or is it simply valuable fodder for writing, an emotional idea folder from which to pluck the topic of the day?

O' the day - 1.17.07

Read a great quote that said that rage was the only reason the writer continued writing for his employer. Are we all, as writers, fueled by anger and dissatisfaction? Does the best writing spring from a passion of this sort, albeit anger or despair or frustration? And what does this say of our readers, who absorb our emotion in words and phrases and paragraphs? Do they feed on rage as if it were filet?

O' the day - 1.16.07

Being taken seriously is a very powerful thing. The ability to view yourself as others do -- knowledgeable, thoughtful, capable -- becomes a coup that you've pulled off, without realizing previously that such a thing was even possible. Far from acquiring a big head, maybe it's the first step in attaining the wisdom one supposedly gains as he ages, one in a succession of ever greater latitudes.

O' the day - 1.15.07

I wonder about retirement sometimes. Not just the "will I have saved enough money to live on?" issue, but the thought of a permanent weekend; will I actually enjoy it, or will I wish that I had back the days of early rising, and office camaraderie, and accomplishment at the end of a big project? Will I still be me if I'm no longer working?

O' the day - 1.12.07

I realize I haven't seen it all, politically speaking, but isn't this first 100 hours eerily similar to the first 100 hours of a Congress just a few years back, when the Republicans won heavily in an election and retook the majority? Each side, at their (seemingly) appointed time, claims that this time, decisions will be made to last, to change the world, to make our little lives better. The more they make global changes, the less they make truly usable, lasting differences.

O' the day - 1.11.07

I've learned today (while listening to NPR, of course) that people cannot be segregated into good and bad, evil and pious; those living in the underbelly of the mob world and those serving the poor in the food kitchens simply "operate in a different moral context." They're not so different from me and you; we just choose an opposing more, or the lack of such altogether.

O' the day - 1.10.07

College athletics, as we've so recently debated, is out of hand, monetarily speaking; we've placed so much emphasis on the all-importance of winning football games that we've lost the initial reason of education. Especially in the South, we've put football ahead of work, family, and religion; as the president of Birmingham Southern recently said when debating whether to revamp their sports program, "I'd rather face God than football."

O' the day - 1.8.07

Finding it difficult to shift gears today, from forget-it-all weekend to hard-at-task Monday; feels so much easier to just fall into a sleepy drone, lulled by the promises of a warm bed and an empty schedule.

O' the day - 1.5.07

Listening to ELO's "Mister Blue Sky" on the way in this morning - "Mister Blue Sky/Please tell us why/You had to hide away for so long." Ironic, considering both the weather (tornado watch till 10) and my mood of late (swing watch until an undetermined time), since this is such a positive, upward-looking song. Trying to use this to kickstart the mood, and start the year (my Year of the Boar!) on a happier note.

O' the day - 1.4.07

It's all an issue of perspective, I think. Big or small, self-important or unassuming, high-up or lowdown, it all depends on who you are and the context in which you view your life. Assume the best and you'll be hugely disappointed; assume the worst and you'll likely be pleasantly surprised.

O' the day - 1.3.07

Angry today. Just hormonal, I'm sure, but knowing that doesn't alleviate the rage, full-out and encompassing, that fills my head and heart. Trying to calm it with music; sometimes soothes the beast, but often gets overlooked in the blindness that is mood swing.

O' the day - 1.2.07

The thought of starting a new year fresh with no past and no preconceptions wars with leftover depression that once again, a year has passed with no great thing, no "pitch for the angels" having been accomplished.