odin's speech

this is a speech that the norse god, odin, makes to primitive man to explain to him how to behave. i am posting it here because i think that it is still very valid in our modern era. i am copying this from d'aulaires' norse gods and giants, so the speech is probably not a literal translation from the norwegian, but it's great anyway.

"your friend's friends shall be your friends; your friend's foes shall be your foes. tread down the path to your friend's house and don't let it overgrow with weeds," he said.
"always keep your door open to the tired traveler. the man who comes to your house with shivering knees needs a place by the fire and dry clothes and warm food.
"when you enter the house of a stranger, look into cupboards and dark corners to see if a foe might be hiding. then take the seat that is offered to you, and listen more than you speak. for then no one will notice how little you know.
"always have a bite to eat before going to a feast; a hungry man is not a bright speaker.
"it's an unwise man who sits awake worrying all night. when morning comes he will be too tired to think and matters will be still more tangled."
and last, he always said, "men die, cattle die, you yourself must die one day. there is only one thing that will not die- the name, good or bad, that you have made for yourself."

ideals

everyone must have an ideal. if you don't have an ideal, you will never be happy with who and what you are. as they say in south pacific,
you got to have a dream,
if you don't have a dream,
how you gonna have a dream come true?

therefore, i will state my dream.
my dream is to be a happy person,and to inspire others to be happy, too.
my dream is to live in the simplest possible way, so that i don't have to worry.
my dream is to have a slinkster-cool daughter and name her demeter.
my dream is to plant flowers in people's minds, so that we can all do what we really want to do when we want to do it.
i have a dream today!

wow, that turned out like a poem!

(i apologize to whoever owns the rights to dr mlk's dream speech. i didn't intend to plagiarize.)

good things

ok, i just took a trip thru the wonderland of fashion blogs. here are my discoveries:
http://lookbook.nu/#more
http://thestylishwanderer.com
http://hipstermusings.com
http://girlmeetsnyc.blogspot.com/
http://misspandorapandora.blogspot.com/
and these blogs all have links to other cool ones!
feel free to explore.

the best day ever!

today was the best day ever. it was like, a return to something that had long been buried under politics and homework and weather. we just SDJKLF. that is exactly how i felt. SDJKLF. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
here is a sure-fire way to make your day the best one ever:

*do something you've never done before, or not in a long time.
*hug a stranger or semi-stranger.
*sit in the street and philosophize.
*sing in public.
*proclaim yourself to be the tooth fairy.
*scream THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER! at the top of your lungs.

i deeply, DEEPLY apologize for the corniness of this post. it sounds like a chain email, i kno. the next one will be better, i promise.

black blog

the reason that i gave my blog a makeover in black (besides the fact that it looks wicked cool) is that it is good for the enviornment.
when your screen is covered with mostly black, your computer is using less energy. i am obsessed with making my screen mostly black. one really good thing to do it make your desktop background black, or center the image and make the rest of the screen black.
green is the new black.