Rites of passage, plus eavesdropping
May. 25th, 2006 09:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
resonantKidlet's out of town without me today for the first time ever. (Class trip to the state capitol.) I don't think I'm very worried about them, but it feels weirdly unmoored to know they're not in the same area code any more.
In other news, here's my latest collection of things read, seen, and overheard.
from an e-mail from Mom: "I handle stress better than I used to. (Sorry about your childhood.)"
Kidlet: "Sometimes I don't tell you about my nightmares, because I'm embarrassed to tell you about them, because a lot of them are about poop."
speak-o of the week: "a dime a dolphin."
"There are three things that are real: God, human folly, and laughter. Since the first two pass our understanding, we must do what we can with the third." -the Ramayana
"Often a sign of expertise is noticing what doesn't happen." -Malcolm Gladwell, Blink (I want to use this concept in a Fraser story sometime)
"I had to read everything twice, first to see if it was a horse, then to determine if it had four legs, a head, and the other necessary parts." - Kate Wilhelm, Storyteller.
"The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbors, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all." -Voltaire, and more or less my philosophy of fanfiction
"Words ... pick up flavors and odors like butter in the refrigerator." -John Steinbeck
"I knew from long experience that there was no surer way of inhibiting sleep than to dally with plots at midnight." -- C.S. Forester
edited 2019 to retroactively correct the kidlet's gender pronouns
In other news, here's my latest collection of things read, seen, and overheard.
from an e-mail from Mom: "I handle stress better than I used to. (Sorry about your childhood.)"
Kidlet: "Sometimes I don't tell you about my nightmares, because I'm embarrassed to tell you about them, because a lot of them are about poop."
speak-o of the week: "a dime a dolphin."
"There are three things that are real: God, human folly, and laughter. Since the first two pass our understanding, we must do what we can with the third." -the Ramayana
"Often a sign of expertise is noticing what doesn't happen." -Malcolm Gladwell, Blink (I want to use this concept in a Fraser story sometime)
"I had to read everything twice, first to see if it was a horse, then to determine if it had four legs, a head, and the other necessary parts." - Kate Wilhelm, Storyteller.
"The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbors, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all." -Voltaire, and more or less my philosophy of fanfiction
"Words ... pick up flavors and odors like butter in the refrigerator." -John Steinbeck
"I knew from long experience that there was no surer way of inhibiting sleep than to dally with plots at midnight." -- C.S. Forester
edited 2019 to retroactively correct the kidlet's gender pronouns
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(no subject)
Date: 5/25/06 02:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/26/06 01:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/25/06 03:58 pm (UTC)Or a sign that you're Sherlock Holmes.
(no subject)
Date: 5/25/06 06:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/25/06 06:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/25/06 04:17 pm (UTC)There was an emotionally disturbed midget. And nine dead gay guys. And a cattle prod. But it's not as exciting as one might think from those details.
Some items from co-worker, from the cafe or breakroom at work, who is the best ever at catching some real gems:
Yeah, I’ve eaten a banana with the peel on.
The author of this chapter apparently had thrown the towel in the ring.
When she asked how my trip was, I said, "It was a good thing you weren’t there."
I just don’t jump in the pond without checking how deep the water is.
The map don't show what the roads are like at midnight.
That’s why you are my senior advisor in all matters. You are southern and sensible.
"Any concerns?" "Global warming, the funny sound coming from
the right rear suspension, the slugs eating the lilies of the valleys...."
Let me finish tying my boots and then you can use my butt groove.
Nine years of pleading ignorance has worked well for me so far.
So he’s expecting another baby—this time with his wife.
(no subject)
Date: 5/26/06 01:47 pm (UTC)The map don't show what the roads are like at midnight.
That's ... deep.
"Any concerns?"
"Global warming, the funny sound coming from the right rear suspension, the slugs eating the lilies of the valleys...."
This reminds me of my high school English teacher, who used to give us an instruction and then say, "Questions? Comments? Moans? Groans?"
I used to collect quotes at work and post them in a file on the shared server. It's actually one of the few things I miss about that job.
(no subject)
Date: 5/25/06 04:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/26/06 01:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/25/06 05:07 pm (UTC)Great quotes. Thanks for sharing.
(no subject)
Date: 5/26/06 01:50 pm (UTC)For a brief period after that, she said she wasn't going to have children (this is a kid who's obsessed with babies) because if it were her who got hauled out of bed to go into the bathroom in her bare feet and plunge out the overflowing toilet, she just couldn't handle it. But I think she's gaining confidence in her toilet-fixing skills.
(no subject)
Date: 5/25/06 05:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/26/06 01:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/26/06 06:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/25/06 05:24 pm (UTC)It's funny how people always talk about kids going off and doing things as "growing experiences." But I think that should apply to their parents; little kids don't tend to realize the importance of what they're doing until much later so it doesn't affect them as much, but their parents know and worry and have to realize they can't always shelter and protect their children. (Either that, or I was a very oblivious child...)
(no subject)
Date: 5/26/06 01:55 pm (UTC)The kidlet is a much less nervous child than I was, and skipped off with her bag lunch without so much as a backwards look. I sent her off with $5 to spend in the museum gift shop, and she came home with a semi-transparent squeezy ball full of plastic maggots and cockroaches.
(no subject)
Date: 5/25/06 06:17 pm (UTC)This? Is something I'm going to have to say to my daughter soon, I think. *g*
(no subject)
Date: 5/26/06 01:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/25/06 06:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/26/06 01:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/25/06 06:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/26/06 01:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/25/06 08:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/26/06 02:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/25/06 10:18 pm (UTC)Kidlet: "Sometimes I don't tell you about my nightmares, because I'm embarrassed to tell you about them, because a lot of them are about poop."
You made these up. They're too hilarious.
"Words ... pick up flavors and odors like butter in the refrigerator." -John Steinbeck
What a great way to explain connotation. LOL.
Thanks for sharing these! M.
(no subject)
Date: 5/26/06 02:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/26/06 12:56 am (UTC)And don't Malcom Gladwell and Kate Wilhelm, each in their own way, totally rock?
(no subject)
Date: 5/26/06 02:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/26/06 08:40 am (UTC)*bursts out laughing* That's awesome!
I got an SMS today that said: Overheard conversation - I got her a lovely coffee table book. She's got a lovely coffee table, but she didn't have a book, you know, to put on it.
(no subject)
Date: 5/26/06 02:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/26/06 12:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/26/06 02:04 pm (UTC)An awkward sentence may bring the reader back to reality, as a breaking stick may alert the feeding deer.
(no subject)
Date: 5/26/06 05:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 5/26/06 02:41 pm (UTC)I like that one. :)
(no subject)
Date: 5/27/06 01:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 6/1/06 05:43 am (UTC)