bobbasil

[bobbasil]

I sometimes remind my students to write as if they are writing and not as if they are speaking.

In my late teen years my own problem was that I spoke not as if I were speaking but as if I were writing, a quality in conversation justifiably irritating to those nearby. I solved my problem by addicting myself to hitchhiking.

I spoke as if I wanted to know somebody and to get to my destination, even if I didn't have one.

[bobbasil]

I had lunch out in Surrey today at the fabulous Fresgo Restaurant, with two friends I have trusted with my life. Sunday blessings.

[bobbasil]

Initiative and creativity supplement one another. Taste supplements neither, no matter how nifty.

[bobbasil]

West End Community Centre. This marvellous painting stopped me on my walk.

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At Jack Hyde Park, Tacoma.

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Heading south this morning on the Amtrak train. First trip back to the United States this year, and my first trip ever with my new eyes (post cataract surgery).

[bobbasil]

Grandsons jamming.

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I am drawn to people whose judgment is better than my own and who are better than me at what I do very well.

[bobbasil]

I smell like instant milk. Because of instant milk.

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Visit their website.

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Cataract surgery in a bit (right eye).

[bobbasil]

No better reading than The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. Words become neighbors.

Crud, curd, crowd!

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Were lack of curiosity an excuse, and it isn’t, then that would be my excuse.

[bobbasil]

Which came first, the chicken or the sin?

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God punishes liars when they tell the truth.

[bobbasil]

Very nasty splinter.

[bobbasil]

A 'gentle reminder' is rarely either. It's a passive aggressive phrase. To wit, it is aggressive. The word "reminder," sans preceding adjective, is an improvement if also typically euphemistic.

'Gentle' is inappropriate - a lie, really - because you are essentially asking people to change their day. You are sending them a ROUGH reminder.

I am pickier than most people on this point ("picky" being too gentle a word, some might say).