Beauty contest winner, me

It is the close of a busy and vexatious day — say half past five or six o’clock of a winter afternoon. I have had a cocktail or two, and am stretched out on a divan in front of a fire, smoking. At the edge of the divan, close enough for me to reach her with my hands, sits a woman not too young, but still good-looking and well dressed — above all, a woman with a soft, low-pitched, agreeable voice. As I snooze she talks - of anything, everything, all the things that women talk of: books, music, the play, men, other women. No politics. No business. No religion. No metaphysics. Nothing challenging and vexatious - but remember, she is intelligent; what she says is clearly expressed… Gradually I fall asleep — but only for an instant… then to sleep again — slowly and charmingly down that slippery hill of dreams. And then awake again, and then asleep again, and so on.

I ask you seriously: could anything be more unutterably beautiful?
H. L. Mencken

Yoga for regular guys

If this video wouldn't have come my way via a trusted health-related newsletter, I doubt I would've gotten past the first 10 seconds. It is a video made by the 19-year-old son of a disabled Gulf War veteran -- as an encouragement and tribute to his dad -- and testifies to the power of diet, exercise, tenacity, optimism, humor and faith, to radically transform a life.

Hokey? You don't know the half of it. Dramatic music, the whole shtick. But please watch. It's only 4 minutes and it's important to me that all my peeps know this stuff!




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Intelligent design

Can you figure out what this is? Look closely and think, think, think. This particular item has been singled out of thousands of similar items for Best Design honors.

Check out my other blog, Culture Chakra, for more juicy tidbits.

The Epiphany

Don't expect to receive any chatty phone calls from your divorce attorney friends this week. Every year, during the first full week of January, divorce petitions are filed at a level nearly 50% higher than any other week.

The week of the Epiphany.

It seems that long-held resentment, simmering tensions, and excruciating days of holiday togetherness can unravel the threads holding a shaky marriage together. The sheer exhaustion that comes from seemingly endless holiday tasks, cooking and cleaning and shopping and baking and wrapping, can blunt well-honed coping skills. But the worst must be the grinning and greeting, the extended family and the mounds of baggage they bring, and the expectation that the wife perform for days on end wearing a tight bright holiday smile. It's enough to make an unhappily married woman resolve to make a change. 2008 is going to be a better year.