The Pear-Shaped Pete

72. read all unread books in library

how am i supposed to do this when free books keep falling into my lap?

and then there's the library . . .

i need to isolate myself.

Sorprenderse, extrañarse, es comenzar a entender. - Ortega y Gasset

The Old Man of the Earth stooped over the floor of the cave, raised a huge stove from it, and left it leaning.  It disclosed a great hole that went plumb-down.
"That is the way," he said.
"But there are no stairs."
"You must throw yourself in.  There is no other way."
                                                       - George MacDonald, The Golden Key

i spent the week reading jane yolen´s book touch magic, well maybe reading isn´t the best way to describe what i was doing.  it was more a case of stealing a few paragraphs between swimming, eating, starting campfires, taking LJT to the outhouse and other camping associated activity.

for some time i have been extremely bothered by the grand majority of books out there for children.  they seem to be written with imbeciles in mind, the text is dumbed down, the story (if there even is one) is weak, the characters thin and unsubstantial.  these sorts of books are often brightly coloured and clearly  some marketing exec has put a great deal of work into making the book appealing to children.

this is the first mistake.  books, i think by their very nature are appealing to children (and adults).  a well written story absorbs the reader so that they cannot put the book down.  if a marketing expert has designed the book i'm willing to bet that the story is so boring that it will be abandoned rather quickly, which i suppose doesn't matter to the publisher as long as the print run pays for itself and a profit is made.

at the library LJT often gravitates towards these books that look so exciting. once read at home they are set aside and never picked up again until i dig them out to bring back (half of the cargo i shuttle around in the buggy - aside from LJT - are these worthless books).

i am now going to make it mandatory that anyone who wants to give LJT a book must first read jane yolen's words so that we might have more chance of quality books entering the house and less trips made to the salvation army to drop off rejects.

**and: stop buying books from costco or sam's club or the superstore.  it just isn't worth it.  these stores are never worth it in my opinion.

so, to offer some reflection regarding the importance of stories and make believe i offer jane yolen's words, and from some other wise people too.

"One of the basic functions of myth and folk literature is to provide a landscape of allusion. With the first story a child hears, he or she takes a step toward perceiving a new environment ... Stories lean on stories, art on art.  This familiarity with the treasure-house of ancient story is necessary for any true [i would say complete HPJ] appreciation of today's literature.  ... The second function of folklore is to provide a way of looking at another culture from the inside out.  ... The study of the myth-making process, of those things that come together in a culture and propel a folk towards a coherent mythology, may be a very sophisticated one indeed, but its beginnings are back in the tales themselves. ... Like a kaleidoscope, a folktale is made up of large and small units - motifs - incidents that, like bits of colored glass, are picked up as the tale travels from story to story, from country to country, from culture to culture.  Shake up the folktale kaleidoscope, and these motifs rearrange themselves in an infinite variety of usable and attractive forms. ... The great archetypal stories provide a framework or model for an individual's belief system.  They are, in Isak Dinesen's marvelous expression, "a serious statement of our existence."  The tales and stories handed down to us from the cultures that preceded us were the most serious, succinct expressions of the accumulated wisdom of those cultures.  They were created in a symbolic, metaphoric story language and then honed by centuries of tongue-polishing to a crystalline perfection."  Yolen, pp 15-17

"In art, truth that is boring is not true." - Isaac Bashevis Singer

"Just as the child is born with a literal hole in its head, where the bones slowly close underneath the fragile shield of skin, so the child is born with a figurative hole in its heart.   Slowly this, too, is filled up.  What slips in before it anneals shapes the man or woman into which that child will grow.  Story is one of the most serious intruders into the heart." Yolen, p 25

"Disney was a man who believed that we "recognize [good and evil] instinctively" and he supposed that any retellings of fairy tales could be approached in this simplistic manner.  But the power of the tales is that they are not that simple after all.  They are as evocative, as sensual, as many-faceted, as disturbing, as slippery as dreams.  They offer a moral, they speak to the human condition, but it is not always the condition or the moral one immediately sees." Yolen, p 41

"The dragon is a more enduring animal than a pterodactyl.  I have never yet met anyone who really believed in a pterodactyl, but every honest person believes in dragons - down in the back-kitchen of his consciousness." Kenneth Grahame

"The world is much larger than I thought ... I thought we went along paths - but it seems there are no paths.  The going itself is a path." C. S. Lewis' Green Lady, Perelandra

"Ladies and Gentlemen: There are five hundred reasons why I began to write for children, but to save   time I will mention only ten of them.

Number 1) Children read books, not reviews. They don't give a hoot about the critics.  
Number 2) Children don't read to find their identity.
Number 3)   They don't read to free themselves of guilt, to quench the thirst for rebellion, or to get rid of alienation.
Number 4) They have no use for psychology.
Number 5) They detest sociology.
Number 6)   They don't try to understand Kafka or Finnegan's Wake.  
Number 7) They still believe in God, the family, angels, devils,   witches, goblins, logic, clarity, punctuation, and other such obsolete stuff.
Number 8) They love interesting stories, not commentary, guides, or footnotes.
Number 9) When a book is boring, they yawn openly, without any shame or fear of authority.  
Number 10) They don't expect their beloved writer to redeem humanity. Young as they are, they know that it is not in his power. Only the adults have such childish illusions."   Isaac Bashevis Singer

Mi Tarea

The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

comenzo: viernes, 29 de marzo de 2007

terminare: viernes, 26 de marzo de 2010

things in purple have been completed
things in green are in process

101 Things:

1. subscribe to a magazine
2. solve computer dilemma
3. write will
4. have a fortnightly dinner party again for a year (0/26)
5. go to the dentist
6. take LJT to the dentist
7. find an income
8. make black lace fingerless gloves
9. time to go skinny dipping again
10. hacer un libro de las fotos de abuelito
11. dejar crecerse el cabello
12. send at least one postcard when away from home
13. componer la pursela de plata
14. tarjeta de credito
15. componer la camera
16. Ir a Algonquin otra vez
17. ir a un museo cada semana durante un ano (2/52)
18. crear un horario de ejercicio y yoga.  y hacerlo.
19. comenzar pagina de moda de la calle (ottawa)
20. Temezcal
21. viajar en tren por lo menos 4 noches
22. renew passport
23. sort boxes in storage
24. move into a more suitable place
25. detox cada 90 dias (0/11)
26. hacer la 30 horas de hambre (0/3)
27. un postre cada semana nada mas
28. me levantar antes de las siete cada manana durante 2 semanas (0/14)
29. tatuaje de oscar
30. tatuaje de los cartuches
31. piercing nuevo
32. bicicleta:
a) componer la culebra
b) construir un fixie
33. find a dance/music class for LJT
34. aprender manejar
35. completar mis cursos
36. aprendizaje de hacer pan mejor
37. curso de bailar
38. cursos a Venus Envy
39. hacer el retiro en teotitlan
40. casarme con chema
41. trabajar con Sipaz u otra organizacion
42. save 5$/day during one year (0/365)
43. abrir una cuenta de rrsp
44. regresar a san cristobal de las casas
45. comenzar curso de cafe
46. otro bebe
47. escribir una carta cada semana
48. voluntar con el centro del crisis en ottawa
49. ir a eventos de Human Powered Transport
50. pasar la noche con LJT (con palomitas, pelicula, juegos y todo) una vez cada mes (0/33)
51. keep track of all books read during the 1001 days
52. have fotos taken with LJT
53. pap once per year (1/3)
54. sort out bc
55. allergist with LJT
56. visit guelph at least once per year (0/3)
57. go to MTL at least once per year (0/3)
58. sandbanks
59. go bicycle camping again
60. set up import business
61. si me ayuda apreder zapoteca
62. tomar clase de baile con Sensual Fitness
63. ofrecer clases cada ano con Comunitas
64. comprar 5 libros excelentes de cocinar (0/5)
65. escribir carta a m.
66. escribir carta a t.
67. viajar con mi mama un fin de semana
68. ir a los maritimes
69. read 5 biographies (0/5)
70. read 5 histories (0/5)
71. preserve enough stuff to keep us happy through the winter
72. read all unread books in library (0/51) - and don't buy more until finished
73. see the northern lights again
74. hear the wolves + loons at night again
75. change to a more ethical bank
76. unplug on the weekend for at least three months (0/12)   
77. make one notecard per fortnight
78. luna de miel en la sierra
79. grow a lotus plant
80. go to the ocean again
81. buy some new underthings
82. besa chema en la lluvia
83. visitar gaspe y ville de quebec
84. comenzar un libro de proyectos educativos de LJT
85. guardar los recuerdos de abuelitos
86. hacer el examen cada semana
87. eat at tapas bar every summer with friends (0/3)
88. create a plan for a restaurant
89. take omega 3-6 twice daily for two weeks (1/14)
90. leer todo mis libros de John Holt y Ivan Illich otra vez
91. tell LJT a story once each week for eight weeks (0/8)
92. take LJT on a wonderwalk once each month for six months (0/6)
93. trabajar con la cooperativa de bicicletas
94. go to the wild bird rescue centre this time as a visitor
95. canoe through the rideau canal system
96. trabajar con la cruz negra
97. componer la bicicleta de LJT
98. comprar esta falda
99. wear sunscreen every day months may through september, then work up to everyday (added bonus: the doctors will stop harrassing me about it)
100. make the balcony beautiful: lots of veggies growing, place to sit, candles and twinkle lights
101. manejar a mexico.  dejar de volar en avion.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as new year's resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

Some common goal setting tips:
1. Be decisive. Know exactly what you want, why you want it, and how you plan to achieve it.

2. Stay Focussed. Any goal requires sustained focus from beginning to end. Constantly evaluate your progress.

3. Welcome Failure. Frequently, very little is learned from a venture that did not experience failure in some form. Failure presents the opportunity to learn and makes the success more worthy.

4. Write down your goals. It clarifies your thinking and reinforces your commitment.

5. Keep your goals in sight. Review them frequently, and ensure that they are always at the forefront of your thinking.