The Sublime Roundabout

I love people. I love the sound of people - the laughter, the moans and groans, the arguments and shouting, the sweet nothings whispered between lovers... I love people. I love the smell of people - the sweat and fear, the joy and sunshine, the warm human smell that is uniquely us... I love people. I love the feel of people - an unending, undulating ripple of humanity, textured across the face of the planet like a textured fabric, at times thin and stretched, at other times thick and varied and piled, but always warm... I love people. I love the taste of people - which maybe sounds a little weird, but taste and smell are intrinsically and inseparably linked, and there is much of a person's history and culture and hopes and fears and LIFE tied up in the way they taste... I love people. I love the way they look - vibrant faces full of light, bright and bright and bright, bodies in motion that speak of the divine in all of us, animated and animal, caressing one another with ou...

If you don't get this, please let me know and I'll ignore you for the rest of our natural lives. (PS - Right click and "open in a new tab" to see the full sized image. Thank you.)

I walk among my friends They're the very best kinds of friends They don't mind if you've been away for a while And you don't mind if you hear their stories over and Over again Because their stories take you places New places and old places Old faces and new faces The smell coming from their pages is equal parts Paper and dust and history and Hopes and dreams and joy and terror It smells of stardust and dank cellars Fresh apples and stale blood Sunshine and wind and rain and snow (Does snow even have a smell? Yes, it does - a stale smell of old refrigerators) Green grass stretching for miles and old leather It smells of afternoons spent avoiding the rain Snuggled and secured in my bed Ah, the smell of books!

The problem is not what you took from me Whatever I had was for you anyway And you were free to take it all No, the problem is what you gave to me The problem is that you showed me something That I can never have again Like taking candy from a baby And I won't ever be the same

You really need to check this: http://www.npr.org/2016/09/22/495008808/watch-clinton-deadpans-on-between-two-ferns I'm dying. Just... DYING!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!

So we're reading scriptures the other night. We've recently started reading the Book of Mormon over again (we'd finished a couple of weeks ago) and we read in 1 Nephi chapter 8 where Lehi gets the vision of the Tree of Life. What occurs to me is the difference in the two versions of the Vision that are recorded in the Book of Mormon. Lehi's is one chapter, with the different aspects of the Vision presented pretty much as they were seen in the Vision, with very little exposition or commentary. Nephi's subsequent vision, which occupies 4 chapters (chapters 11-14) focuses actually very little in the specific details of the vision. Instead, his vision is much broader in scope. Nephi actually gets the meaning and interpretation of the things, and as a result his vision is much more nourishing and complete, putting things in the correct context and focusing on Christ as the central part of the plan and history of the world. As I pointed this out to Elise, we talked...

Saw this: I think this is not only well-presented and exceptional, it's interesting to note that we're headed a certain direction in all of this. We have changed the nature of our planet, and the lasting repercussions on the world we call home are yet to be known. We ought to be more interested in helping things stay predictable and stable, rather than gambling on a future that is unknown and unknowable.

The rain last night felt cleansing The thunder shaking away my fears Which is strange - I'm usually afraid of thunder But in this, I felt the hand of God And I knew He was close He is powerful and mighty And He loves me And just as I was sheltered in my home Warm and secure in my bed His love and strength carry me Through the storms of my life Even if they're only in my own heart Malachi 3:2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:

I drove past your work today It wasn't the first time Each time, I feel a deep longing to see you To look again into your angelic face And hear your sweet voice But I am terrified that my heart will melt And even more terrified that yours will not So I went on down the road Heart and soul empty A victim of my own fear

I'm going to just admit something right off - I like graffiti. I do. I like its subversive nature. I like that it is unsettling and disturbing. I like that it smacks of danger on the part of the artist as well as questionable legality and destruction of property. It challenges what is acceptable and makes everyone notice. Even if you hate it, it's been successful in that you noticed it. Here's an interesting video (I don't love the associated animation, and there's a longer version available if you're inclined, but it gets the point across): As the video points out, graffiti is nothing new, nor is it limited to a certain region. I've seen graffiti on walls in my hometown as well as on other continents. The Great Wall of China has graffiti. I've seen remote park benches along desert trails that are have graffiti, overlooked by graffiti on canyon walls that is hundreds of years old. I've seen "positive" graffiti, beautiful murals an...

I found this article interesting: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160908-the-language-rules-we-know-but-dont-know-we-know Here's the key paragraph: Adjectives in English absolutely have to be in this order: opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose Noun. So you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife. But if you mess with that word order in the slightest you’ll sound like a maniac. It’s an odd thing that every English speaker uses that list, but almost none of us could write it out. What's interesting to me is that it works. It really does. We like things in a specific order, and things that are out of order become awkward if still understandable. It's also true that we've decided universally and unilaterally that this is the way it ought to be, even if no one ever bothers to write it down. As someone who is married to a non-native English speaker, I can vouch for the fact that while this order is real and si...

Sometimes you see something that causes you to reflect on your own significance: I don't know about you, dear reader, but I like to think that everything that's going on in my life is of great significance and import, that decisions I make have lasting repercussions, and that therefore I am important in some grand scheme... Then I see something like this. And it's truly humbling. I am grateful to be alive, to be able to perceive such miracles as the deep reaches of outer space , and to be a small part of an even smaller part of the universe. It's amazing, and while I don't think about it often, I am always overwhelmed by the grandeur of it all. And I'm glad you're here, too, to share it with me.

On my recent trip to Korea, I was reminded just how difficult a language to learn Korean is. This morning I came across this article:  http://www.businessinsider.com/the-hardest-languages-to-learn-2014-5 . Here's the graphic: In the lower right corner you'll note that Korean involves many of the challenges associated with Chinese - they use many of the same characters as Chinese, and while the sounds in Korean are not tonal, that's actually helpful when it comes to Chinese because that's how you'd differentiate between otherwise similarly-sounding characters. In Korean there is no difference, so many Chinese-borrow words end up sounding exactly the same, which is why you have to know Chinese characters to know the difference. Much can be inferred from context, but to truly reach a level of fluency you have to know some Chinese. So now you know. Korean is difficult. And that's what makes it cool that I can do it, albeit more in conversational than in writin...