October 9th, 2011 → 6:33 am
“You alone are you.” – Sonnet 84
I couldn’t decide this morning whether to add yet another encomium to the mountain of praise already out there on Steve Jobs, or, to write about my birthday which also happened this weekend. In the end, the above quote seemed to fit my sentiments about both. Steve Jobs was clearly a unique visionary, alone in his creativity and spark. And this weekend I was reminded again that I alone am myself; I alone am responsible for my foibles, I alone am responsible for my happiness, I alone am responsible for my life. Amen.
Filed under: Blog & Other & Self/My Life
October 1st, 2011 → 6:36 am
“I am a feather for each wind that blows.” – Winter’s Tale
It’s been one of those weeks. Difficulties at work, stress with the in-laws, miscommunication with friends. I’m tired and feel like a feather, blown about this week by unexpectedly strong winds.
Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life
September 27th, 2011 → 7:51 am
“Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.” – As You Like It
This morning the New York Times has a tear-jerking op-ed about a man named Energy Maburutse who was born with the bone disease Osteogenesis Imperfecta, but despite his handicap has made it all the way from a poor village in Zimbabwe to a decent college in America. I love stories like this. This one especially because I happen to have Osteogenesis Imperfecta myself.
Filed under: Blog & Other & Self/My Life
September 19th, 2011 → 8:35 am
“I could endure anything before but a cat.” – All’s Well that Ends Well
Apparently Shakespeare was not at all fond of cats, which is too bad, because I love them. I guess this marks my second disagreement now with the great bard (though, like the first disagreement on economics, I can certainly come up with a twist that brings us closer together: think feral cats of the 16th century). Since my husband and baby have been away all week, my cat NoMe and I have been comforting each other and cuddling at all hours of the day, in all rooms of the house. We’re thick as thieves right now…
Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life
September 15th, 2011 → 7:23 am
“This must my comfort be,
That sun that warms you here shall shine on me.” – Richard II
My husband took my baby and flew off to Nevada to visit his brother. So I’m home alone.
It’s scary quiet in here…
Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life
September 9th, 2011 → 6:08 am
“Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased,
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow,
Raze out the written troubles of the brain,
And with some sweet oblivious antidote
Cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff
Which weighs upon the heart?” – Macbeth
Sometimes life just gets to me and I feel blue. I wish there were a way to minister to this heartache of the mind, except to simply wait and let time pass….
Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life
September 2nd, 2011 → 5:25 am
“…where care lodges, sleep will never lie;
But where unbruised youth with unstuff’d brain
Doth couch his limbs, there golden sleep doth reign.” – Romeo and Juliet
I’ve been having trouble sleeping again lately, though when I get up in the middle of the night and shuffle to my baby’s crib, at least he is sleeping soundly. It seems that Shakespeare must have had some sleep issues as well because I can find a number of quotes from him about sleeplessness and tormented dreams. Here’s to the insomniacs among us!
Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life
August 22nd, 2011 → 7:02 am
“The labour we delight in physics pain.” – Macbeth
Today is the first day of the new semester at UMSL. Welcome back to school! Hopefully teaching will bring me joy (as it usually does) and physics (i.e. cure) the pains in my hip and in my heart!!
Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life
August 20th, 2011 → 12:12 am
“I know no ways to mince it in love but directly to say ‘I love you.'” – Henry V
I still miss you Grandma. And I wish I could tell you, laughing over cappuccino at a cafe along Bagdat Caddesi, that I love you very much. Seni cok seviyorum buyukanne.
Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life
August 18th, 2011 → 7:41 am
“The private wound is deepest.” – Two Gentlemen of Verona
My grandmother passed away yesterday. It’s hard not to have regrets, private thoughts deep in the darkest recesses of your heart. When my mother lay supine in a coma, days before her own death, my grandmother bent over her body and cried “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so very sorry,” over and over again. We each enter our own personal hell when someone we love dies, and I’m still looking for the anodyne that helps to draw out the pain…
Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life