viva la vida

Watching the Tree

savannahlsteele — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:45:09 +0000

I picked up Watching the Tree while bumbling through the self improvement section of my local library. I figured its worth it to myself to brush up on Chinese culture… I mean, most people are Chinese as it turns out.

The book gives a solid overview of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism… I appreciate the author’s personal narrative… her overlapping experience in China and the US. I would recommend it without reservation.

(The title of the book is based on a story wherein a boy goes out into a forest to hunt. He is surprised when a hare runs into a nearby tree, knocking itself out. The hunter has made his catch. The next day, he goes out to the same tree… and watches it. The story basically warns us not to a fool who doesn’t understand that change is the only thing that doesn’t change. No tree watching here… only life long learning.)

The Uncarved Blog

savannahlsteele — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:00:39 +0000

I was, as previously stated, stuck with a blog that I have outgrown, until I accepted that it must either fizzle or grow with me.

Reading The Tao of Pooh helped immensely.

The lesson of the uncarved block is simply that the block is what it is… things are as they are. Not needing fixing, fighting or fussing, the uncarved block accepts itself, and can be respected as what it is. This blog is in transition and that is what it is. It is not my personal blog–where I divulge and dish to a secret audience–It is not meant to bore the reader with a lot of impractical jib jab… academic in nature, is also is what it is… but this makes my online existence fragmented and, for lack of a better description, itchy.

Still, I stumble over the uncarved block to find my answer… and so, note the changes… viva la vida will remain, but with a new tag line… The continuation of research and learning after undergraduate life, the development of an academic, or other, career, littered with a few simple posts of inspiration, humor and inquisition. A blog of wanderings and questing for career fulfillment, proper fit and certainly productivity… with no judgement for paths not taken, roads untraveled and books unread.

I begin anew. Join me.

The Tao of Pooh

savannahlsteele — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:05:26 +0000

My favorite lesson from Benjamin Hoff’s The Tao of Pooh is the lesson of Cottleston Pie. I have been reciting Pooh’s wisdom “a fly can’t bird, but a bird can fly” and “a fish can’t whistle and neither can I,” to remind myself that there are some things that some are meant to do, and others that are simply not useful nor realistic.

The book is a quick read, worth the time–lighthearted and gentle.

Thoughts of today

savannahlsteele — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:26:10 +0000

Everything yields to diligence.
~Antiphanes

I keep telling myself that continuation is a good place to start… But to continue with what is a good question.

As I repurpose this blog to a sort of catch all for my business endevours I wonder–am I abusing my captive audience by just spattering my ideas here across the blank box higgdley piddily with little discression?

The answer to that is an infinite yes… but we can expect a few more posts of similar content until I sort out some of the answers.

Grad school? Work? Independant research? Poetry? Flight from the current environment?

I figure I need more time to figure.

This blog will yield to me, for my diligence with it.

Thank you Sir

savannahlsteele — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 18:31:01 +0000

I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
– Sir Winston Churchill

My spirit has been pinching at the rest of me lately, wondering if I am overlooking a key component of health…

And so, what do I do? Search wiki how for “how to be at peace in the moment without simply vegetating in front of the television for hours.”

Thus, more on spiritual wellness soon.

Why am I smiling?

savannahlsteele — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:07:54 +0000

The person who smiles when something goes wrong has found someone new to blame it on.

I am waiting still, stillness, and sillyness for the next phase of this journey… but for this week, I think a small postlet will suffice.

I have done nothing to prepare for the GREs, I have purchased sculpty clay and and am making beads and I have chosen to decrease the number of volunteer shifts I take at the resturant every week…

Mellon. Watermellon.. . Mays. Maybes.

And short poems on my other blog… the classified one.

Emotional extremes

savannahlsteele — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 02:45:51 +0000

The aspiring psychiatrists were attending their first class on emotional extremes. “Just to establish some parameters,” said the professor to the student from Arkansas, “What is the opposite of joy?”

“Sadness,” said the student.

And the opposite of depression?” he asked of the young lady from Oklahoma.

“Elation,” said she.

“And you sir,” he said to the young man from Texas, “how about the opposite of woe?”

The Texan replied, “Sir, I believe that would be giddy-up.”

Jack Handy for the Week

savannahlsteele — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:58:17 +0000

“If you go flying back through time, and you see somebody else flying forward into the future, it’s probably best to avoid eye contact.”

Repurposing the Blog

savannahlsteele — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:53:41 +0000

I must repurpose this blog… Still a Mellon Fellow of life… Now, researching first hand, an artist myself… working through mental illness… Posting weekly jokes and doing my best

getting back on the horse

savannahlsteele — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:17:25 +0000

Sometimes you fall off the horse and other times the horse just bucks you right off and snorts at you as you writhe in pain on the ground. I’m not sure which just happened to me, but either way, I’ve returned to a steady trot with research.

Also, I’m looking forward to a small conference next weekend, a good chance to continue working with good colleagues face to face on some of our research objectives.

More to come on the conference and my work after dinner.