a little faith

face it, originally uploaded by McBeth.

I still say a church steeple with a lightening rod on top shows a lack of confidence.

-- Doug McLeod

jammed up

overflowing, originally uploaded by McBeth.

There's the given and the expected
I count my blessings while I eye what I've neglected
Is this for better is this for worse
You're all jammed up and the dam's about to burst.

I hear the owl in the night
I realize that some things never are made right
By some will we string together here
Days to months and months to years
What if everything we have adds up to nothing.

-- Indigo Girls

the best things

a watched pot, originally uploaded by McBeth.

Don't despair too much if you see beautiful things destroyed, if you see them perish. Because the best things are always growing in secret.

-- Ben Okri

virtue isms

the other way, originally uploaded by McBeth.

The excessive regard of parents for their children, and their dislike of other people's is, like class feeling, patriotism, save-your-soul-ism, and other virtues, a mean exclusiveness at bottom.

-- Thomas Hardy

well seasoned

harbinger, originally uploaded by McBeth.

Summer makes me drowsy.
Autumn makes me sing.
Winter's pretty lousy,
but I hate Spring.

-- Dorothy Parker

prodigy

two tracked mind, originally uploaded by McBeth.

If I was the protagonist of a movie, she said, I’d be they lady who, no matter how many times she tries, could not remember the differences between the movie theater that offers terrific afternoon matinee prices and that other one.

what are you suggesting

bean juice, originally uploaded by McBeth.

If I asked for a cup of coffee, someone would search for the double meaning.

-- Mae West

one out of four

gravity holds us down, originally uploaded by McBeth.

The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you.

-- Rita Mae Brown

directionals

reading leaves, originally uploaded by McBeth.

Painful as it may be, a significant emotional event can be the catalyst for choosing a direction that serves us-and those around us - more effectively. Look for the learning.

-- Louisa May Alcott

making plans

princess daydreams, originally uploaded by McBeth.

Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.

-- Gloria Steinem

surprises

red shutter, originally uploaded by McBeth.

The remarkable thing is that it is the crowded life that is most easily remembered. A life full of turns, achievements, disappointments, surprises, and crises is a life full of landmarks. The empty life has even its few details blurred, and cannot be remembered with certainty.

-- Eric Hoffer

choices

possibilities, originally uploaded by McBeth.

Remember to be gentle with yourself and others. We are all children of chance and none can say why some fields will blossom while others lay brown beneath the August sun. Care for those around you. Look past your differences. Their dreams are no less than yours, their choices no more easily made. And give, give in any way you can, of whatever you posses. To give is to love. To withhold is to wither. Care less for your harvest than for how it is shared and your life will have meaning and your heart will have peace.

-- Kent Nerburn

watching for signs

mum, originally uploaded by McBeth.

I used to wait for a sign, she said, before I did anything. Then one night I had a dream & an angel in black tights came to me & said, you can start any time now, & then I asked is this a sign? & the angel started laughing & I woke up. Now, I think the whole world is filled with signs, but if there's no laughter, I know they're not for me.

Brian Andreas, Story People

fleet

steadfast foundations, originally uploaded by McBeth.

Being noticed can be a burden. Jesus got himself crucified because he got himself noticed. So I disappear a lot.

-- Bob Dylan

theirs to ours

wanilla wodka, originally uploaded by McBeth.

Maybe it's other people's reactions to us that makes us who we are.

-- Fox Mulder

un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq

five cubes, originally uploaded by McBeth.

He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.

-- Chinese proverb

weapons down

getout 'n stayout, originally uploaded by McBeth.

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

-- Mahatma Gandhi

costume change

coming alive, originally uploaded by McBeth.

If death meant just leaving the stage long enough to change costume and come back as a new character...Would you slow down? Or speed up?

-- Chuck Palahniuk

remember this day

remember this day, originally uploaded by McBeth.

These things that leave you so frustrated will pass.
They will.
When a day like this happens again you will know what it feels like because you've been here, before, today.
Even though you will cry and feel just horrible, because that's what you do, it will pass.
And you'll feel a whole lot better knowing that ,
at least,
you're trying to do something you believe in.
That's something.

to the library boys, who will never read this

fidget works her warm fuzzies, originally uploaded by McBeth.

First of all: I'm old enough to be your mother. Even if I wasn't I am a fellow student who wants to just get through this time so I can move along to what comes next. You don't have to be a dick when someone asks you to not do something annoying. Try using some of the manners that I hope I am not wrong to assume your guardians taught you.

When I asked you to please lower your voices because I couldn't concentrate you were awfully attentive to my needs, like that cosy little moment when you suggested that I go into the 'Quiet Room' section of the library if I want quiet. Really, the way you are looking out for me nearly brings a tear to my eye it is just that touching. But c'mon dudes, look at the situation! I am seated at a school computer - in a LIBRARY. It's not like I can yank the cables out from the back of the Dell and drag computer guts into the Quiet Room to do this non-interactive online work. I have to sit at one of the school computers where it is set up and plugged in, to do this thing I'm doing. You don't have to be in a library to share the best secret hunting spots you've discovered across the tri-state area. Go somewhere else to yack.

Yes I concur with you, the library is indeed a public place. But it is also a LIBRARY, where people are doing homework and research and reading and studying. Were you raised in a barn or something? Did nobody every teach you the concept of indoor voices? Use them. Trust me on this one... annoying and interesting are two very different animals. You're not that interesting. If I squint a little I can understand why you'd think you have every right to carry on a loud conversation about hunting and blowing up crows with inappropriately large guns, but the thing is not all of us think you're awesome or that your immaturely gruesome hunting stories are exciting. Not everyone else seated around you wants to hear what you expect you should have every right in the middle of a LIBRARY to chortle over. Want to hear about my menstrual issues? Mmhmm, thought not. Context, my little friends, context.

And try some freakin' manners. Sheesh.