One night, I dreamed I had made a pact with the devil for my soul.
I gave him my violin to see if he could play.
How great was my astonishment on hearing a sonata so wonderful and so beautiful, played with such great art and intelligence, as I had never even conceived in my boldest flights of fantasy.
I felt enraptured, transported, enchanted: my breath failed me, and I awoke.
–Tartini’s Dream by Louis-Léopold Boilly (1824)
Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now! Imagine first that the present is past, and second, that the past may yet be changed & amended.
Logotherapy by Victor Frankl
Thomas Dolby – She Blinded Me With Science (YouTube )
A pretty name as one would wish to read, must perch harmonious on my tuneful quill.
There’s music in the sighing of a reed; there’s music in the gushing of a rill; there’s music in all things, if men had ears: their Earth is but an echo of the spheres.
Don Juan by Lord Byron
Intervals of peace come even in the midst of danger. We can take advantage of these intervals if we possess enough inner strength.
The I Ching or Book of Changes
Reflect on the spirit embodied by monks at the Monastery of Christ in the Desert. Their daily work period is for 3 hours until 12:40 PM. Asked of one monk what he does when the bell rings but he feels that his work is undone, he replied, “You get over it.”
Four Hours by Oliver Burkeman\
How much energy could be harvested from this string of lightning strikes?
On March 27th, 2021, a series of severe thunderstorms crossed middle Tennessee, causing widespread flooding and putting on an impressive lightning show.
While most of the lightning stayed up in the clouds, the occasional bolt went to ground, and “cloud crawlers” put on a spectacular display every so often, too.
Which famous son* of a famous father preferred to spend the night of his old man’s celebrations brawling in a bar five hundred yards from the party, rather than hobnobbing with his family?
Our spies tell us a punch was thrown, and his faithful assistant was unable to Hold It Back. A father-son competition for publicity? Dad definitely won this round.
*As Hold It Back was the name of one of Jonny Rokeby‘s albums, nobody could really be in much doubt which father and son were in question.
Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith
I been wukin’ on de railroad
All de live-long day;
I been wukin’ on de railroad
Ter pass de time away.
Jojo was a man
who thought he was a loner
But he knew it couldn’t last.
Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona
For some California grass.
Get back, get back,
Get back to where you once belonged.
Get back, get back,
Get back to where you once belonged.
Get back, Jojo.
“Is Tucson in Arizona?” John checks with Paul as The Beatles write “Get Back” – New Yorker cultural-comment