The Mind's I



Perspective...

Inspirational thought
by Keali'i Reichel

I am sitting here wanting
memories to teach me
to see the beauty in the world
through my own eyes.
I am sitting here wanting
memories to teach me
to see the beauty in the world
through my own eyes.

You used to rock me
in the cradle of your own arms.
You said you'd hold me
till the pains of life were gone.
You said you'd comfort me
in times like these-
And now i need you.
Now I need you...
and you are gone.

Since you've gone and left me,
There's been so little beauty-
But I know I saw it clearly
through your eyes.

Now the world outside
Is such a cold and bitter place
Here inside I have few things
that will console
And when I try to hear your voice
Above the storms of life
Then I remember all the things
that i was told.

I think on the things that made me feel
So wonderful when I was young
I think on the things that made me laugh,
Made me dance,
made me sing
I think on the things that made me
Grow into a being full of pride
I think on these things,
for they are truth.

I thought you were gone,
But now I know you're with me
You are the voice that whispers
All I need to hear.

I know a please, a thank you
And a smile will take me far
I know that I am you and
You are me and we are one
I know that who I am
Is numbered in each grain of sand
I know that i've been blessed
Again and over again


Surfing...

Edge
To arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves.
Great mission statement, isn't it?

The Art of the Personal Home Page
This place has some interesting essays on the art of putting up and maintaining a personal home page. Not graphics or anything like that but ideas and motivations. It's a great read for those of you out there that want to put up a website for the first time and it focuses on the things that many people don't think about when they first put up a website.

Cyberslacker
I haven't been able to check it out fully, but it looks really funny...



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January 19, 1999
Hark! Er.. Harp!

Eileene at work
Here I am chugging my Arizona tea before I leave work. No two entries tonight. Just one. I was really busy this evening with Fen Journals. It needed a serious update. I spent most of the evening making new banners and adding new people. After I updated the site, I sent out a newsletter which I think I will be putting out every month or every two months, depending on how much news will come out of the 'burb.

Tonight, I watched Felicity. It wasn't bad! It involved Felicity and Noel (yum) deciding and planning that they "want to have sex". I spent most of the show drooling and fixating on Noel (don't tell Mike!). I wonder if I would sleep with my RA if I was single and thought he was a really great guy. Probably. I've never really had a problem with crossing castes. The only concern that I would really have would be the silly rule that I came up with when I was in high school: don't date someone that is in "close proximity" to you on a daily basis. So, I never dated anyone in the high school. Gossip was terrible when you're together and even worse when you're not. So, in that manner I probably wouldn't have dated an RA... but maybe I would. Never say never. Well, they didn't do it, but they are definitely "dating". There was a scene where Felicity strips down to her Victoria Secrets underwear (strap tank top and thong panties which I almost didn't believe I was actually seeing) and she gets Noel to take off his shirt (yum) and she unbuckles his belt (boxers? briefs? I couldn't tell). Felicity was acting quite rough and I thought it was great. You just don't see too many aggressive females; and the ones that you do see tends to be rather creepy. I think Felicity is a very honest portrait of an awkward teenager tasting freedom. I made the effort to watch it because I saw the "zany-style" commercials for the episode this past week. "I think it's time for us to have sex." You go, girl.

The President's State of the Union Address was tonight. I decided not to watch, since I'll be hearing about it all day tomorrow anyway. That's probably going to be the focus of the next Interconnected Lives article... Other than the Times Square Ball dropping, I can't really think of any other major event that people across the nation would write about.

Work was pretty unexciting. I was tired after work but instead of taking the bus home, I decided to walk home. I walked through Grand Central Station and did some major windowshopping. I walked into Papyrus, a store that sells beautiful paper and cards. I was so tempted to buy something from there. Instead, I bit my lower lip and continued on my way. I did stop into J Peterman. The 50% off sign just drew me in. A majority of the stuff in the store was on sale! Some of the items were absolutely gorgeous... perfect incentives for me to lose some inches (if I had the money to buy them). I found a beautiful green winter sweater that might replace Mike's sweater that he unexpectedly ruined (it's still a mystery). The sweater he lost was terribly heavy (he describes it as "chain mail" and it is unusually heavy for wool) and was wonderfully warm. I purchased the green winter sweater in hopes that it could take that ruined sweater's place. Unfortunately, it wasn't even half as dense and heavy as the one Mike lost. Ahh well. It was still a bargain. Down from $150 to $50. Cheap.

---

I want to buy a harp.

It just stuck me how cool it would be if I could play a harp. I spent a little while today surfing and I decided that I would get myself a lap harp. Definitely. Something small and that can travel with me. Sometimes, I'm disappointed that the instrument that I primarily play is the piano. You can't lug a piano with you easily. You can lug around a lap harp. I've always been jealous of Els who can brandish her guitar and start playing it anywhere and sing to it. I tried playing guitar in high school and I just couldn't do it. My fingers doth protest too much. I was trying to get them to curl where they were used to remaining flat and remain flat where they were used to be curved (curse the evil alto sax!). So, the guitar was out. I could sing but it always sounds awkward to sing with no background... but I think with a harp, I can change all of this. I want to be able to take my harp with me to, say, an outing with Mike and sit down in a field, eat a picnic lunch and play. And sing. So, I started surfing the web for harp-related sites.

Odilia's Harp
This looks like a center for information on the online culture of harp-making and playing.

Song of the Sea
Harp, dulcimer, and bagpipe manufacturer up in Maine. This looks like a good place for me to possibly get my harp.

Celestial Harps
Cheap handmade harps. If I decide to not spend too much money on a harp upfront, I might just buy the cheap $400 model that they have and use it as a springboard to buy a more expensive model later. I don't know if I want to do that, however. Even if I decide not to take it up, I would want my harp to be an interesting display piece in my home.

Lyon and Healy
Beautiful harps, all very much out of my price range. I figure, I could probably learn a bit about what makes a "quality" harp from this site.

WM. Rees Instruments
Harps and psalteries. Another potential place for me to get my harp...

I told Mike that I wanted to buy a harp and he was convinced that my "piercing friends" got me into the over-done and over-hyped American Celtic movement. That got me slightly irritated. Alternative movements like the goth subculture and the celtic subculture really irritate him, but I think that's because he just doesn't understand the appeal of them. Plus, he makes fun of most subcultures. He is a card-carrying member of the geek/gaming subculture and occasionally ridicules the less-socially adept members. Mike doesn't have much in the way of social skills, but he does know when he's acting like a complete munchkin. So, I have to give him some credit. It was just irritating that he assumed that I was following the "celtic" trend. I've been exposed to it before via Brendan (a student at UIUC), and I didn't get into it then. I don't care much for it. My desire for playing a harp came genuinely from me and a longing for an instrument I can lug around and play, not to fit into any group. I hope that Mike could tell I was irritated: I tried very hard to give my voice that "I'm irritated" edge.

---

One of my favorite sites has been shut down. The International Lyrics Server which is one of my favorite stomping grounds when it comes to finding the lyrics to my favorite songs was shut down last week on accusations of copyright infringement by music publishers. I'm torn by this issue. I think that it is important to protect copyright so that no one could profit from a writer/musician's work. However, I also believe in the free distribution and transfer of information (bless the old-time hackers!). I think a compromise would be that stuff like the International Lyrics Server should exist as a wonderful resource on the web, however with information on each set of lyrics regarding the copyright information for that particular piece. That way, the copyright is noted in full and the information still can be distributed freely.

© Copyright 1999, Eileene Coscolluela
[woolgathering]