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Archive for August, 2008

Once upon a time

published on: 21.08.2008 in: All entries

My love and I passed a younger couple in love. She, head strong and confident. He, shy and clumsy. I said, "he looks like you. I mean, he looks like you a long time ago. Before I was writing even. That’s when you were still impressed by me."

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The only way to win

published on: 20.08.2008 in: All entries

On the Olympic news yesterday, they showed footage of a Dutch three-time gold medal winner. When she won the first one eight years ago, she was ecstatic, even surprised. "Everything was so right, absolutely everything. And yes, that’s when you win a medal," she said. That comment is now haunting me.

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Writing again

published on: 19.08.2008 in: All entries

Nowadays, everyone writes. Everyone writes about writing. And everyone writes about how everyone writes about writing.

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The writer’s trap

published on: 18.08.2008 in: All entries

Voice. Inner voice. Authentic inner voice. Purely authentic inner voice. Style. Personal style. Individual personal style.Uniquely individual personal style. Tone.Genuine tone. Specific genuine tone.Divinely specific genuine tone. Write.Just write.Simply just write.Bloody hell simply just write.

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Yesterday & today

published on: 17.08.2008 in: All entries

Yesterday, I saw my entire family on my father’s side. I hadn’t seen most of them for about five years. Nothing much had changed. My cousin summed it up on meeting my sister’s youngest child. He said, "so this is your third? How lovely. Well, this is my second wife." Today, I realized even the […]

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The pear tree

published on: 15.08.2008 in: All entries

My son kneeled over a puzzle. He was looking at one of the pieces: a pear tree. The pears looked like little green drops. He said, "the tree is crying," gave me a huge smile and then went on to go about some other business.

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Gliding by

published on: 14.08.2008 in: All entries

Upon arriving at my office space this morning, I opened the blinds to discover two men had posted themselves outside my window. I waved at them and they jokingly asked whether I was opening up for coffee. It was an amiable start of the day. I hadn’t consciously registered they were wearing black suits. Neither […]

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Goddess

published on: 13.08.2008 in: All entries

Word magnets first appeared about ten years ago. I was living in New York at the time. My roommate and I had stuck all the words up on our refrigerator and never bothered to give them any logical order. In fact, back then nothing we ever did had any logical order to it. But one […]

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Two steps back

published on: 12.08.2008 in: All entries

Two weeks ago, I was still in Rio. I had been afraid to go back. My diary entry read: "My aim now is to obtain wisdom. To become a wiser, more complete human being. To be freed of convictions and expectations. To be at ease with this world and the people in it. I want […]

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Quotation marks

published on: 11.08.2008 in: All entries

The hairdresser had rolled up her sleeve. Through the mirror, I was able to decipher the tattoo on the inside of her arm. It said: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” I asked her whether she’d made that up herself. “No,” she said, “Socrates.” I considered the concept of engraving someone else’s ideas about […]

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