October 12, 2017

2017.10.12
"The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When love and hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth then hold no opinion for or against. The struggle of what one likes and what one dislikes is the disease of the mind."
Sengcan, Hsin Hsin Ming
Not sure it's humane to adopt this stance when other people haven't, and are suffering, but it's an intriguing lens.
FB's "5 years ago" feature reminded me of these Tom Swifties I posted:

"Well, that was average," said Tom, meanly.
"Ow, my balls," said Tom, testily.
"Meanest. Waitstaff. Ever!" Tom yelped.

My bandmate Nate came back with
"I dropped the toothpaste," said Tom, crestfallen.

Which I thought I had heard but inspired me to:
"I couldn't possibly eat another bite of marsupial steak!" said Tom, ruefully.
and later:
"My robot cyber canine will be worth every price to design and produce it!" said Tom, dogmatically.

That inspired Nat to go with
"I think I might be gay," said Tom, half in earnest.
which was visceral enough that I responded with
"I just drew an obscene image of genitals to illustrate Nat's last joke," said Tom, graphically.
and
"It was a really startling and funny joke to be introduced to," said Tom, being all meta.
I really like Tom Swifties that work on multiple levels, both the simple pun but where the quote is accurately described in the emotion.
I've heard various pundits point out that they've never seen their smartphone in a dream, but last night I was totally taking some One Second Everyday footage at some kind of birthday party in one.