Stopped inspiration

She walked as though on a fair ground,
her mind dancing in mirrors,

That's as far as I got with a poem I was suddenly inspired to write some weeks ago. I don't know about everyone else, but don't you think that it's strange to be given a nudge of inspiration just to have it dry up two lines later? And something else about inspiration: why is it that inspiration often comes at night just when you're trying to get to sleep? Too many times I've turned off the computer and gone to bed just to be roused by inspiration for the school essay I had been writing. I'm done school, and done writing essays, so I'm seldom roused with inspiration these days, but I still thought I'd bring it up.

light cascading off her thoughts.
Such it should be
when one has thoughts of flowers.
Kaleidoscopic flowers...

A strange house now

Now that I've moved out of my parents' house and into an apartment with my wife, things are a little different at home. I don't feel like a stranger by any stretch, but I can't just leave my underwear on the floor either. I guess the only thing that has changed is that I'm a guest now when I come over... but I'm still loved.

And my parents still cook really well too!

Flattery and truth

Can something that is true and honest also be flattering? Should it? If you tell a really beautiful person that s/he is beautiful, is it also flattery? Perhaps the answer is determined by the person receiving the truth (I almost wrote compliment); if they don't consistently feel that they are beautiful, they might feel flattered... Whereas, if a person who is routinely told s/he is beautiful is told they are beautiful, will they and should they feel flattered? Is flattery always dishonest, to a degree?

I've never lied when I've told you that you are beautiful.

Hetero lifemate

Robert Shanks is my hetero lifemate, which is to say that he is the same gender as me and I have known him all my life. I said, in my first post, that I would say more about Rob later, so here is my piece.

Robert and I met when we were 1 year old (or not quite yet) at mothers and tots swimming. In a speech at my wedding, Rob tried to explain our attraction, and it might have been that we floated well together. I think it may have more to do with both of our mothers being of the chatty variety. Before long, our mothers were meeting for tea on weekends, and Rob and I would crawl around together. A friendship was built, as well as many forts, many lego devices and many elaborate plans to keep our mothers chatting and drinking tea long after our afternoons were said to be over.

I've known Rob longer than both of my younger siblings, which carries with it a special weight. We went to different schools; Rob in the English public system, and me in the French Catholic and public system. But weekends were our time. When we lived down the street from each other, our favorite activity was playing in these huge boxes in his basement. When Rob's parents moved in, they furnished the house with a new fridge, washer+dryer, freezer and who knows what else, and the boxes were preserved. We pretended the boxes made up the Millenium Falcon, and that we were Star Wars characters. We easilly spent three years worth of weekends in those boxes.

After highschool, we would go to different universities. I stayed in town so as to not have to pay rent on campus, whereas Rob left town and went to Waterloo. We don't see so much of each other now, but we stay in touch. Our paths are different, and I don't think we'll be having many more weekend sleepovers. I didn't have much of an orbit when I was young, so I tended to gravitate around Rob. He remains my hetero lifemate... we could get together and fall back into the same comfort that characterized our weekends in highschool. Emailing and blogging have now become the windows we use to look in on each other now.

Good luck with wherever your path takes you, Rob!

I need a two bedroom apartment for my red bowls

I got to work early this morning, worked a good 9 hours, and brought my laptop home from where I continue to work. Actually, I've been in my pyjamas since I got home and now I'm just blogging while laying on my back listening to the Ottawa Senators.I don't have much to say right now.

Things at work are good, and things at home are good. Josephene and I are starting to think about moving into a bigger apartment. Right now, we live in a really nice bachelor apartment in a really nice part of town. We want to stay in the neighbourhood, but apartments and houses are ridiculously expensive. Just to give you an example, Josie and I went to see a house just down the street that was on market for 500K$. We made an appointment to see the place, and the real-estate agent was late, but she called us and asked what our budget was. We didn't have a number in mind, but when she told us what the owners were looking for, we asked not to ever call us again. We'd be happy to stay in this apartment for another long time, but we want to start having kids and you can't predict if a baby will be a crier or not. Is it silly for a family of three to think of staying in a bachelor apartment just because the neighbourhood is nice?

Josie and I bought some really nice red ceramic mixing bowls on the weekend. The bowls have a spout, and can also be put in the oven. They can also go in the dish-washer, and the micro-wave, but we don't have either of those. Josephene really likes the colour of the bowls, and she keeps wanting me to find her a quaint two bedroom apartment that matches her bowls. Let me know if any of you know of a nice two broom apartment in the New Edinburgh area for a reasonable price that would match a set of red mixing bowls. Josephene would like it to be quaint.

Whether in a 2broom, or a bachelor, mixing bowls still make chocolate chip cookies.

About the name

My best friend, Rob, came up with this name a long time ago.... 4 or 5 years ago, maybe. He asked me if I would write a poem with the title "Dancing in Mirrors" and I said OK. I'm no poet, but I thought the name was pretty cool. I wrote the title down on the white-board I had in my bedroom and there it stayed for 4 or 5 years. I'll talk more about poetry later, cuz now I'm writing about the name of my blog.

Rob's blog inspired me to start a blog of my own. Rob's blog is pretty cool; you should check it out. It's called "Sen no kotoba" and can be found at http://floatingice.blogspot.com/. I'll talk more about Rob later, cuz now I'm writing about the name of my blog.

Now we're four or five years in the present and "Dancing in Mirrors" is going to be the name of my blog.

My mirror gives me a slim body and a fat head.