A Birthday Thought

They say that fifty is the new thirty,
Forty the new twenty-five,
I say that those are just numbers,
Be glad for each day you’re alive.

I’ve known those that were old by their twenties,
And ninety year old tennis freaks,
Because life is about how you live it,
Not a matter of years, months, and weeks.

So get out there, enjoy each new moment,
Take time to laugh, dance, and sing,
Play, keep you mind fit, eat healthy,
And ignore the pointless age thing!

This is for all my friends who I value for who they are not how long they’ve been around!

Instructions, by Neil Gaiman

Every now and then I see or hear something that just seems to stop me in my tracks.  Something that just makes me prick up my ears and listen, breath a little slower and realise places within myself that I’ve forgotten.  When I came across this link via Neil Gaiman’s Twitter feed, it was one of those moments.  This is a poem by Neil, read by Neil, and soon to be published as a beautifully illustrated (by Charles Vess) children’s book.  Oh, and before anyone gets any ideas, I’ve already ordered myself a copy

Trust the wolves, but do not tell them where you are going…

Google’s Android Speech Recognition Poem

I’ve got a phone running Android 2.1, and so decided to have it transcribe a poem as I created it in my normal speaking voice. This is the result:

Poem

I’m going to write a poem using google’s voice recognition,
Might not even reinfield now the seasons exposition,
Sometimes the word snakes on a long,
Does it really matter,
Songs I’m happy to feel myself beside a hatter.

Not really what I was saying, but entertaining all the same.  I think I may need to speak a tad slower next time!

The world is my personal snowglobe

Looking out my study window,
the blizzard wind howls by,
the snowflakes stop their downward spiral,
and pause just to say “Hi!”

The world it is my personal snowglobe,
the wind the hand that shakes it,
someday soon the sun will come,
and hopefully will melt it!

not the best poem ever, but when faced with yet more hours of digging, every little helps

Don’t care? At your own peril

While sat at my desk I overheard a coworker say “I don’t care” and it brought a nursery rhyme streaming back into my head:

Don’t care was made to care,
Don’t care was hung:
Don’t care was put in a pot
And boiled till he was done.

I can remember my grandmother telling me this when I was quite small, and since then I know the phrase “I don’t care” has more or less vanished from my language.  I don’t know the history of the rhyme itself, some research needed there, but I know the effect of being taught that response to those words at such an early age has stuck with me.  My grandmother’s lesson was simple, I should care, I should pay attention, because to not do so could lead to severe consequences.

So next time you go to use the phrase, think about what you really mean to say instead because “I care, but I can’t solve your problem right now” or even “I have more important things to worry about than that” is better than a simple, lazy “I don’t care”.