Respite
Latin for “storm tossed but not sunk.” Approximately. More elegantly translated (via Wikipedia), “He who rises with the wave is not swallowed by it.” This was the motto of the school I attended in Paris, France during middle school – and I later learned, this is also the motto of the city of Paris. Figures. It also quite possibly fits as the motto of my life – recently and otherwise – or perhaps a motto I must keep in mind, one to which to aspire. I try to avoid thinking of the tragic sea-related stories that cross my thoughts – The Old Man and the Sea, the horrible shipwrecks of recent weeks, my lack of kayaking activity due to huge storms and sewage spills on alternating weekends.
I haven’t blogged in quite a while. I’m busy. I just survived Israel’s biggest, most important wine expo, and holiday wine tasting season is huge and right in front of me. I’m often overwhelmed. And despite this, I find my calmer moments to be lonely ones, yet because of complete mental, emotional, and bodily depletion, I find I can do nothing but watch TV like a zombie, and in my better moments, read quality science fiction. I wonder, in the few more lucid minutes, how I have entered a less “examined” phase in life. My ideas feel fuzzy and buried deep within my brain. In these few brighter times, I yearn to write a few words – yet although I have started once or twice – I just couldn’t spit out anything even remotely coherent. Lists.
This post is a small attempt to force myself to take a break, to be me (I have literally 2.5 business hours left before the weekend, I had been frantic, but this post is helping). Fluctuat neg mergitur feels quite like a motto of coping, of getting by. It implies triumph over adversity, sure, but there is a darker flip side of this view, a hanging on by the skin of one’s teeth. Living, somehow, under the constant threat of defeat. Life hanging by a delicate thread. I need to focus on the aspects of my life over which I do have control. It will make rising with the waves easier.
Without further ado, here are some great articles I’d like to share
Blithe Spirit: the story of the unique English-aged “early-landed” Cognac. Fascinating.
Dirty Words of 1811: add some true gems to your vocabulary, impress your friends and enemies alike, and swear like an erudite sailor. My personal favorite: “Born under a threepenny halfpenny planet, never to be worth a groat” – a remarkably unsuccessful person. And I love the word groat. Feels nice in the mouth.
Seinfeld’s Productivity Secret: An oddity. I had been unaware of Jerry Seinfeld’s method of getting things done, but this article is weirdly inspiring.
How to move to Paris with no money: this post is exactly what it says – a step by step guide to getting by and settling in Paris with absolutely nothing. A dream of mine. Very cool to think about.
My sister bungee jumping new New Zealand: so brave.
Irène Sharon Hodes 