Words

"Oh, winter's rains and ruins are over,
And all the seasons of snows and sins;
The days dividing lover and lover,
The light that loses, the night that wins;
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,
And in green underwood and cover,
Blossom by blossom the spring begins."

Algernon Charles Swinburne

"'I'll never be a poet,' said Amory as he finished.  'I'm not enough of a sensualist really; there are only a few obvious things that I notice as primarily beautiful: women, spring evenings, music at night, the sea; I don't catch the subtle things like 'silver-snarling trumpets.'  I may turn out an intellectual, but I'll never write anything but mediocre poetry.'"

This Side of Paradise

F. Scott Fitzgerald, you have my heart.

Weekend Words

"It was right then, between when I asked about the labyrinth and when she answered me, that I realized the importance of curves, of the thousand places where girls' bodies ease from on e place to another, from arc of the foot to ankle to calf, from calf to hip to waist to breast to neck to ski-slope nose to forehead to shoulder to the concave arch of the back to the butt to the etc.  I'd noticed curves before, of course, but I had never quite apprehended their significance." - John Green


And one more John Green Quote.  Seriously, read the whole thing.  I'll even do lots of random line breaks to keep your attention.  (Admit it, you skim when it's longer than six or seven consecutive lines.  CONSECUTIVE!  I mean honestly, who's attention span is that long?)

"Maybe it's more like you said before, all of us being cracked open.  Like, each starts out as a watertight vessel.  And these things happen - these people leave us, or don't love us , or don't get us, or we don't get them, and we lose and fail and hurt one another.  And the vessel starts to crack open in places.  And I mean, yeah, once the vessel cracks open, the end becomes inevitable.

But there is all this time between when the cracks start to open up and when we finally fall apart.  And it's only in that time that we can see one another, because we see out of ourselves through our cracks and into others through theirs.

When did we see each other face-to-face?  Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours.  Before that, we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade but never seeing inside.  BUt one the vessel cracks, the light can get in.  The light can get out."

Randoms

A few quick thoughts between my goodbyes.

- "Hmmmm five pairs of clean underwear left.  10.. 11.. 12.. days till till I go home.  Zero quarters for laundry."

- "How do you cite scriptures?  Are they a book?  Cite: author's first name and last name.  Ummm God?  and... God."

-"Wow I like this outfit.  It only took me until six thirty p.m. to get it right.  Let's see.  I wore it Monday night.  So my Tuesday classes haven't seen it yet.  But that's too close.  Wednesday classes didn't see it.  Ok so I'll wear it again on Wednesday.  And then the next week on Thursday.  Perfect."

-"Yeah it's Gish.  Hard G.  Not jish.  Would it kill you to find that out before you announce it to everyone?"

-"Who am I to write about the uncomfortable psychological repercussions of getting kickballs aimed at my head in elementary school when there are stories of abuse, addiction, cancer, and lost family members?  Who am I to deem my experiences important - experiences covered in teasing self deprecation to hide the pride that really is the purpose of sharing this?  Who am I too see my quiet awkwardness as worthy of any note?  No one. That's who."

-"Shoot.  I owe Ryan bananas."

-"Email those people about a job application follow up."

-"Cancel my netflix!"

-"I want calves like that.  Rising gracefully above the delicate strength of my sharp ankles and defined feet.  I want calves like that. Marbled skin supple and so taught that if split, it would curl and peel back like flower petals, revealing compact powerful muscle that flexes with every movement.  I want calves like that.  Capable and beautiful."

-"When I part my hair in the middle it looks an awful lot like this:

-"Does Wal-Mart sell bridal shower worthy lingerie?  Oh, and bring hummus."