Riddle Me This

I was cleaning out my inbox and ran across this riddle I wrote a few years back:

I’m never at a loss for words
Though silence is my tone.
I’m filled with good ideas,
Though none of them my own.

I like to think I keep my place
Quite neat and orderly.
But you might say I’ve got
A nasty case of OCD.

What am I?

Samurai Movies

I watched a samurai movie (13 Assassins) over the course of a few workouts this week.  I haven't seen many of them, but based on my limited experience, it appears they follow a similar pattern which I have tried to detail in the matrix below. As movie buffs are well aware, the parallels to U.S. westerns are considerable.

Dream On

Two observations I made while dreaming last night:

While watching people dance on a plane: "How high we hold our hands while dancing is hard-wired in us from birth."

While on the receiving end of a sales pitch: "I have decided that opportunities are not worth very much because somebody is always trying to give me one."

I think maybe I'm smarter asleep than awake.

Blogger in Therapy

From the New Yorker.

How Life Works

There's something about this ad that made me laugh. At first I thought it was the pretentiousness of the sponsor's name, How Life Works. And I must admit to being rather impressed by the line-up of information offers: eating whatever you want and staying thin; vacationing in tropical climates while women in bikinis wiggle their butts at you; and remembering more and maintaining your brain.  Gee, it sort of feels like they have most of society's dreams, fears and aspirations covered in one ad.  Nevertheless, I resisted the urge to click.

And then it hit me--the name isn't pretentious at all.  This is something advertisers have known all along--how life really works.  

Success

I just ran across a quote from Seneca: "Failure changes for the better. Success for the worst."

Despite my agreement, I doubt that I will be pursuing failure as a self-improvement tool.  The price is too high.  Instead, I'll take my chances with success.

Which reminds me of the little boy's prayer: "Lord, if you can't make me a better boy, don't worry about it.  I'm having a real good time just the way I am."