I'm not afraid that someone I love shall find love for or from another,
I'm afraid to lose hir love because of who I am.
I'm even more afraid that ze won't understand how very loved ze is.
However many I might love.

-- Michael Sjögren

A propos a friend who didn't like his image in the mirror

'nuff said.

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.

—- Ira Glass

I just stumbled upon this quote, and found it both true and inspiring. Having been a computer programmer for almost 30 years, I can tell you that there were years of experimentation, and a lot of what I did back then are quite horrible, seen with my eyes today. And still, I wouldn't have done without those years...

Ref, the quote above is really edited, the whole quote is in the third clip.

The Swedes are said to mix weird things. I once tasted smörgåstårta and it isn’t half bad. It just looks and sounds disgusting when it’s put in front of you. It’s not a real cake, but more like a sandwich that have been turned inside out and dolled up to look like a cake.

-- "Exotic Food" by Humon Comics

Love requires you to be kind when you are angry, patient when you feel anxious, compassionate when you judge others, caring when you feel apathetic, trust when you've been wronged, let go when you want to hold on and always know that the other person is you.

-- Conscious Living on Facebook

I see relationships as intricate dances that two people enter, no matter what else goes on around them or who else is waiting in the wings the goal is to focus solely on that dance, on the steps, and part of the art of dance is gracefully switching partners, whether the other partner is a job, a child, a friend... no matter what it is that takes the dancer's attention from the intricate dance.

HAD I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

Ref

Any society, any nation, can be judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members ; the last, the least, the littlest.

I saw this quote, again, on facebook this time. I hold this as true, I have for a long time, and I believe I always will. This is probably a main reason why I always end up around the same spot when I try the political compass.

I've sometimes (and sometimes often) been accuseed of being selfish for wanting to be me and living accordingly (as much as I can). It's an accusation I've had some difficulties with, it's loaded to me. Yet, I haven't been able to grasp that concept, that it would be selfish to want to be myself. Others that I've talked with have simply said that it's ok to be selfish, to think about oneself. I've listened, but I've obviously not been able to accept that completely, or I wouldn't write this entry.

Oscr Wilde said something interesting on the subject, I stumbled upon this just a few moments ago:

Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.

-- Oscar Wilde

This is something I can listen to, easily.

[ I saw this just a moment ago and couldn't believe my eyes, because I've said something very similar a few years ago without realising this man had already said it. No wonder I admire him! ]

I believe in everything until it's disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your mind. Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?

-- John Lennon