Mayıs 2013
7 gönderi
10 etiket
“Τί καινὸν εἴη τεθεαμένος; Γέροντα τύραννον.”
– Ancient Greek saying attributed to the philosopher Thales and translates as “What is the strangest thing to see? An aged Tyrant.”
Made me think of Syria. There must be a hidden irony somewhere given that Thales is also the name of a multinational group that “designs and builds...
10 etiket
Question As Sharp As Cutlery
Him: So, why is a woman like you not married?
Me: (laughs)
Him: No, really... you're a catch-
Me: (laughs harder)
Him: -intelligent, beautiful-
Me: (still laughing) I'm divorced!
16 etiket
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6 etiket
Nisan 2013
16 gönderi
10 etiket
I moved towards the taxi.
“Perhaps we should walk?” He said
“Do you want to talk?”
“Yes.”
I didn’t mind the walk although it was chilly. He is interesting and worthwhile to listen to. Yet I wondered why is it that we always make others articulate our desires.
12 etiket
“Come back! Don’t run away…”
– The two gentlemen murmured to me as I rushed past them in the lobby late one summer evening in London.
14 etiket
9 etiket
The problem with loss of appetite is that I forget that others need sustenance, even if I don’t. I sat down at my desk to see the jumping spider, perched on one of the now dead thyme sprigs, glaring at me with his four eyes as if to say: “Well, would you take a look at this. Are these acceptable living conditions? Have you seen the number of wilted African violets? And all these...
9 etiket
“A woman, unless she is an idiot, sooner or later meets a piece of human wreckage...”
– Cesare Pavese
14 etiket
13 etiket
6 etiket
“Happiness is unrepentant pleasure.”
– Socrates
9 etiket
“Hope is not a method but it’s all I can think of.”
– The Colonel, during a morning meeting. He was quoting a general he had met in Iraq years ago, during the Second Gulf War.
11 etiket
6 etiket
“The doctor sits me on a table and asks me to stick out my tongue.
I do.
I ask...”
– Lacey Roop, from “The Parts of Humans Science Can’t Explain”. Lovely little piece of poetry.
8 etiket
“A wink is the same as a nod to a blind man.”
– Raymond Carver, “Cathedral” (via mythologyofblue)
8 etiket
16 etiket
13 etiket
“Dear Nick,
I hope things are clearing. It did cross my mind, last summer,...”
– In 1986, 23 years after the death of Sylvia Plath, celebrated poet Ted Hughes wrote the following letter to their 24-year-old son, Nicholas, and, quite beautifully, advised him to embrace his “childish self” so as to experience life to its fullest. Tragically, during a period of...
14 etiket
Mart 2013
6 gönderi
16 etiket
10 etiket
9 etiket
“I’ll always have time for you” is one of those promises that lovers make when it gets late that I have been hearing a lot recently.
14 etiket
11 etiket
“If it’s meant to be, it will be.”
– He said over dinner and I smiled. He surely must realise that Fate has always come in the form of a woman.
11 etiket
Şubat 2013
5 gönderi
22 etiket
Notes
Over these past two months, I have not taken a single photograph.
Guilt.
I have no reason to feel guilty; I owe no one photographs.
Reason and logic have little to do with it - there is no “reason” why making photographs makes me happy.
But it does, and I miss it.
I don’t know where creativity comes from.
I don’t know where it goes to hide either.
I never thought...
18 etiket
Soldier Talk
I’ve been meeting a lot of former soldiers lately. Men who have seen active service in the last two years. I find them to be quite unusual.
I introduced the Israeli to an American, who was former air force intelligence. They got along ok, at one point bonding over what their favourite type of Glock was. I introduced the Israeli to a British infantry officer (who has terrible scarring on...
16 etiket
“Relating the ancient world to the world I am surrounded with makes it more...”
– My father.
I receive the Metropolitan Museum e-newsletter; I recommend it to anyone. It features little excerpts from curators about themes and objects inspired by (I suspect) the British Museum’s “A History of the World in 100 Objects” series.
I came home from work to find the...
“What happens in the heart, simply happens.”
– An oft-quoted line from Ted Hughes’ poem “Child’s Park”. Poetry can be such a relief, to see others put into words feelings I cannot.
9 etiket
Like A Boss
Checking in with my girl friend this morning over the phone, I hear in the background her latest conquest ask “Would you like sucuk with your eggs? Or anything else?”
Clearly, both of them are doing it right.
Ocak 2013
12 gönderi
8 etiket
15 etiket
This Is A Service Announcement, Do Not Adjust Your...
Due to unexpected technical issues, I will be unavailable for the foreseeable future. This is the direct fault of Apple Inc., and metal fatigue. Please address your letters of complaint to Mr Tim Cook or to the laws of physics. Or both.
[In the interim, I will try to remember what I use to do with my free time before I had access to a computer and the internet. It was 13 years ago… Half of...
12 etiket
“Would be like giving someone a baby lion (yes, you) on loan for a weekend. Very...”
– Alexander, on the prospect of anyone having me over for the weekend. Rawr!
11 etiket
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9 etiket
12 etiket
“Dünyanın amına Sera koyuyor.”
– My darling mother. It was initially my new heels, which prompted her to say that. I was rushing out to meet a friend for coffee. The comment took me by surprise and after the laughter died down she explained.
My mother frequently talks to our relatives on the phone. Recently when they have asked...
14 etiket
11 etiket
12 etiket
On Bibliophilia
I have fallen in love with books before. It is a gradual process. I have to get to know them first. Whether at 2,000 words or 3 chapters or the cover or 500 pages in - at any depth in - they are unpredictable. I never know how they are going to make me feel. I pick up books mostly on instinct. It takes time to figure out if it is working between us. Reader and read. Lover and beloved.
But,...
12 etiket
“I think that’s the happiest email you have sent me in years. Make it last.”
– This came as some surprise. He is best placed to accurately comment; I have been emailing him for 11 years.
Aralık 2012
23 gönderi
12 etiket
11 etiket
10 etiket
15 etiket
