camaraderie
It's great to be able to laugh with the people you work with.
encounters
I don't know what I'll see by the wine store each time I pass it. Sometimes it's a family with kids who've gotten their faces painted. Other times it might be a man on a cigarette break, or a woman screaming at the back window of a car, where she sees her own reflection.
hazy
A bottle of wine, some boardgames, and some bad television make for a lazy evening.
opacity
Many problems come from mental blocks. When you're convinced from the start that you'll do badly you generate a self-fulfilling prophecy. You can't think about anything else aside from how badly you'll do. Why is it so much easier for me to see this tendency in other people than it is to catch it in myself?
ostensibly
People can't admit they've shown up just for the booze and food, so what they do is throw in some lofty speeches that they can pretend to pay attention to while getting liquored up.
sorrowed
Calling up a friend I haven't spoken to in a while to find out he's in the hospital on his birthday.
year-round
At the Shakespeare Garden, poetry and stinging insects are perennial.
Showing posts with label clarity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clarity. Show all posts
Friday, November 2, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
Week in Seven Words #108
banality
Online dating has been mostly a bore so far. When you meet people in person you experience them as the complex 3D creatures they are, and not as small photos supplemented with the same descriptions over and over - "intelligent, fun-loving, one-of-a-kind" - like personal ads in a Lake Wobegon newspaper.
fulcrum
Time has to be balanced in your mind so that you don't tip too much into the future or sink too frequently into the past.
indurated
In the night my thoughts are cold black diamonds.
reaching
I talk into the phone, knowing that he's there at the other end even though I can't hear him.
second-rate
Sometimes you look back on your week to find that one of your prominent memories involves a pitched battle with a backed-up toilet. Oh well.
slipping
When I'm feeling low about my writing I think of the words as weak magnets sliding down the front of a fridge.
sussing
At the library I spot a DVD Whisperer. He caresses their spines and speaks to each one - "Should I watch you tonight? Or you?" - then cocks his head and listens for the answer.
Online dating has been mostly a bore so far. When you meet people in person you experience them as the complex 3D creatures they are, and not as small photos supplemented with the same descriptions over and over - "intelligent, fun-loving, one-of-a-kind" - like personal ads in a Lake Wobegon newspaper.
fulcrum
Time has to be balanced in your mind so that you don't tip too much into the future or sink too frequently into the past.
indurated
In the night my thoughts are cold black diamonds.
reaching
I talk into the phone, knowing that he's there at the other end even though I can't hear him.
second-rate
Sometimes you look back on your week to find that one of your prominent memories involves a pitched battle with a backed-up toilet. Oh well.
slipping
When I'm feeling low about my writing I think of the words as weak magnets sliding down the front of a fridge.
sussing
At the library I spot a DVD Whisperer. He caresses their spines and speaks to each one - "Should I watch you tonight? Or you?" - then cocks his head and listens for the answer.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Week in Seven Words #18
diminution
I no longer admire her. I acknowledge her achievements, I respect her work and intelligence, but in certain ways - through carelessness, unthinking conformity, and a disregard for conscientious inquiry - she has diminished herself. Probably not to most people who know her - she's the same to them; but to me she's different now, a knowledge I hold to myself quietly and tiredly.
fireflies
When I walk home in the dark, fireflies tap at my elbows.
schlepp
Tote bags, grocery bags, a cart, multiple trips to the grocery store, then to the community house where I'm throwing this meal (I don't know how many people will show up, only that it will be more than the number who said they're coming) - and it feels good later on to just sit and watch everyone chatting and eating; getting a few quiet 'thank you's and some help cleaning up doesn't hurt either.
soothing
Vanilla yogurt on thin wafers - a cold sweet treat for a hot afternoon.
transported
My feet insist on walking. Across one river, beside another, down streets with cobblestones and giant flower pots, bright window shutters, fan-shaped windows, fountains, flower baskets hanging over painted doors, memorials, wreaths, sun and shadow, horses clopping, beds of crisp green grass. Different neighborhoods disclose secrets to me, down side streets that are still and golden.
untangle
There's a point where I can't stay at my desk anymore; the doubt has pressed in deep, and my thoughts have tangled up in absurdities. I head out, go to a quieter place where the traffic noise is muffled and the smell of grass and clover is intense. A few minutes after I leave, one of the problems resolves and the tension in me eases.
whirl
The fun of washing dishes past midnight, when I'm sleepy and a little swimmy with drink. The water whooshes into and over the pots, plashing and singing, racing in a bright stream.
I no longer admire her. I acknowledge her achievements, I respect her work and intelligence, but in certain ways - through carelessness, unthinking conformity, and a disregard for conscientious inquiry - she has diminished herself. Probably not to most people who know her - she's the same to them; but to me she's different now, a knowledge I hold to myself quietly and tiredly.
fireflies
When I walk home in the dark, fireflies tap at my elbows.
schlepp
Tote bags, grocery bags, a cart, multiple trips to the grocery store, then to the community house where I'm throwing this meal (I don't know how many people will show up, only that it will be more than the number who said they're coming) - and it feels good later on to just sit and watch everyone chatting and eating; getting a few quiet 'thank you's and some help cleaning up doesn't hurt either.
soothing
Vanilla yogurt on thin wafers - a cold sweet treat for a hot afternoon.
transported
My feet insist on walking. Across one river, beside another, down streets with cobblestones and giant flower pots, bright window shutters, fan-shaped windows, fountains, flower baskets hanging over painted doors, memorials, wreaths, sun and shadow, horses clopping, beds of crisp green grass. Different neighborhoods disclose secrets to me, down side streets that are still and golden.
untangle
There's a point where I can't stay at my desk anymore; the doubt has pressed in deep, and my thoughts have tangled up in absurdities. I head out, go to a quieter place where the traffic noise is muffled and the smell of grass and clover is intense. A few minutes after I leave, one of the problems resolves and the tension in me eases.
whirl
The fun of washing dishes past midnight, when I'm sleepy and a little swimmy with drink. The water whooshes into and over the pots, plashing and singing, racing in a bright stream.
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