November 18, 2005

• FRIDAY FIVE
  

  Appetizer – When do you feel impatient?
  I feel impatient with this question because patience is one of the “virtues” I most lack. For example, in the last few seconds one of my cats, who just finished getting me to feed him, headed for the door like usual, I opened the door for him to go out and he just stood there and then turned his back and walked away without going out. I think it’s a new trick they’re learning just to pick on me because one of my other cats has started doing the same thing. You’d think this would be such a tiny thing that I’d just shrug and maybe even laugh, but Life presents probably 10,834 of these moments a day. Can you imagine how hard it must be to be a Saint? Peace of mind is probably the condition I most want to achieve before I die. At this rate, I’m running so far behind I don’t know if I’ll ever get there.
  Salad – How many times in your life have you had a broken heart?
  My heart probably looks like the turkey carcass after Thanksgiving dinner. Thing is, once it’s been broken the first few Really Heavy Duty Times, it develops callouses, and the trouble with that is, you never quite let yourself be totally vulnerable again and so you probably miss certain depths of feeling reserved for those same Saints that can do patience (see above).
  Soup – Name a book you would like to see made into a movie.
  The Catcher in the Rye – by J.D. Salinger. Haven’t read it in 40 years but remember thinking it was wonderful at the time. Apparently lots of other folks did too. Don’t think there’s ever been a movie made. Maybe the author wouldn’t permit it. He was a strange cuss. Hasn’t given an interview, published anything new, or made a public appearance since. He’d be 86 about now.
  Main Course – If you could thank one teacher for what they taught you, who would it be and what would you thank them for?
  Oh so long ago. Hmmm……Actually, now that I think about it, my first sponsor in Recovery would qualify. Ten years younger than I and a foot shorter, she kept me on task during those first harrowing months, learning how to live in a chemical-free world with deep spiritual balance. On December 5, that first jump start will have worked for 21 years.
  Dessert – What is your favorite kind of pie?
  Not much of a pie eater – never have been – but I guess pumpkin. I’ve been looking for a pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving. Haven’t found it yet, but I know it’s out there.
  

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  Deep Thought: “You might think that the favorite plant of the porcupine is the cactus, but it’s thinking like that that has almost ruined this country.”
  Today I am grateful for: Balance wherever I can find it
  Guess the Movie: “They made us all train for this day. “To be fearless and proud and alone. To need no one, just sacrifice. All for the Fatherland.” Oh God, all just empty words. It’s not the way they said it was, is it? I just want someone to be with. The only thing I feel is afraid.” Answer: Das Boot, 1981.
  Bush in ‘Nosedive’ as Murtha Urges Iraq Retreat
  by Josh Gerstein
  President Bush’s power appears to have reached a nadir in Washington, with important legislative measures stalled in Congress, top administration officials shadowed by a leak scandal, and mainstream politicians launching strident critiques of America’s strategy in Iraq.
  The administration’s current impotence was on clear display yesterday as a bipartisan group of senators tripped up a White House-backed reauthorization of the Patriot Act, a major appropriations bill was voted down on the House floor, and a moderate Democratic congressman, Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, called for an immediate withdrawal of American forces from Iraq. (Rest of article here.)
  

  • 2:35 pm
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