Peace, Be Still

1. Listening to Paul Simon's "Call Me Al" (I need a photo opportunity, I want a shot at redemption!)

2. Watching Shakespeare in Love. (Peace, be still, as Othello told Desdemona before he thrust a cushion in her face)

3. Reading Maria Headley's Year of Yes. (Why doesn't anyone crawl up to me on the subway to lick the mud-encrusted soles of my feet?)

4. Reading Lysistrata when I'm supposed to be doing something else.

5. Listening to Mark play. (especially when he sings, 'Mr Beer-belly, beer-belly, get these mutts away from me, I don't find this stuff amusing anymore')

6. Adorning my nails with purple glitter.

7. Hanging out with Nits at After Five, when Jairus is playing.

8. Gazing at my dove of peace carrying the olive branch tile.

9. Writing poetry with Katherine. Or prose. Or poetic prose. Or prosaic poetry.

10. Hanging out at the beach at midnight with Tristan, drinking cask wine and munching on prawn cocktails.

11. Making up friends to play with. (refer to 10)

12. Believing six impossible things before breakfast. (sometimes even seven)

13. Dancing to the music in my head.

14. Wearing flowers in my hair so I can pretend I'm in Hawaii.

15. Answering, ‘only to excess’ when someone asks me if I drink.

16. Drunk writing. Drunk texting. Drunk Facebook status-updating.

17. Talking to strangers on park benches. Or cafes. Or sidewalks

18. Hanging out with Jackie at a cafe where she has a book and I have a book and we are both free to be as anti-social as the good Lord made us.

19. Quoting Lewis Carroll to explain the Meaning of Life.

The question is,' said Alice, `whether you can make words mean so many different things.'

`The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, `which is to be master - - that's all.'

20. Being a mass of contradictions and telling those who point it out that "...a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds..."

Peace.

Be still.