Wise Madness

With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
-Steven Weinberg

The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will be good.
-Bertrand Russell

Too much sanity may be madness and the maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be.
-Miguel de Cervantes

The only way to find the limits of the possible is by going past them into the impossible.
-Arthur C. Clarke

June 05, 2009 - 2:44 p.m.
The Hovendile Edda
I'm annoyed right now. I put clothes in the washing machine and went back down to the laundry room 39 minutes later when they were supposed to be ready. Instead I found the cycles interrupted on two of the machines and the doors opened. One was still at 37 minutes so it happened right after I left. I don't know if somebody did something or if it was a glitch in the machines. In 11 minutes I'm going down there again. The clothes better be ready for the drier then.
Good news they were.
I just had a non-stop allergy attack, the kind that wears me out just from sneezing. Actually it isn't over yet. It's raining, isn't that supposed to wash the pollen out of the air.
Last night I played bridge with Roy. We did better than last time but not much. We really have to get back into shape.
Playing bridge can be a great psychological learning experience. Roy perceives bridge totally differently than I do.
I'm planning on yet another road trip this summer. Roy and I are going to the North American Bridge Championships in Washington DC.
I was supposed to be fun and quirky today. It's hard to be fun and quirky on demand. I actually had something specific to write about but I forgot what it was. You've heard me say that before.
How about this. Do you ever have guest stars in your dreams? Last night mine was Bob Newhart. I didn't dream about Bob Newhart, he was simply playing the part of someone in the dream. Do I owe him royalties?
I haven't been reading much lately. I have been vegetating too much. I am trying to remedy that. My guess is that not one of my Gentle Readers has read what I'm reading now; J.R.R. Tolkien's The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrún. It is a retelling of the great Nordic poems from the Elda Edda. He used the same poetic forms as the original. There are also notes from a lecture that Tolkien gave at Oxford on the Eddas. It's fascinating stuff. I wish I could have been in his class. Have any of you read the Eddas? Am I the only one with a liking for Icelandic poetry? It's based on different principles than modern English poetry. There is no standard meter. The lines are to be read in pairs, they are actually half lines. The key is a metrical balance between the two halves alliteration. Here's a sample, a scene you might know from other versions of the legend including Das Rheingold.
(The dwarf spake darkly
from his delvéd stone:)
'My ring I will curse
with ruth and woe!
Bane it bringeth
to brethren two;
seven princes slays;
swords it kindles –
end untimely
of Ódin's hope.'
I am going to make sure to read every day. The problem is getting my mind to focus. Perhaps I can get myself back into shape so that I can read eight hours in a day like I used to.
The weather is miserable today. I think I'm going to forgo my grocery shopping. I'll try to get to Bed, Bath & Beyond before I see Red Molly tonight. I got a coupon in the mail today and I'm using my car anyway.
I have to remember to stop at Dunkin' Donuts because it's free donut day.
I won't get any of that done if I don't finish this up.

Photo Top 10 Countdown - June 10, 2009
If I Only Had The Nerve - June 09, 2009
My New Hood - June 08, 2009
Old Father's Tales - June 07, 2009
Duck Dodgers in the 20th and a Half Century - June 06, 2009

Email me: GordonLew at gmail

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Horvendile June 05, 2009

powered by FreeFind