Never Apologize

These are wise words. I’ll add just a couple of things.
If you don’t tell your friends and loved ones what you think and how they feel, they have no way of knowing.
I have met people who never express their thoughts and feelings, except through oblique hints, and then become angry because those around them lack the power of mental telepathy.
However, there is a difference between stating your feelings and expressing your feelings. If you have negative feelings and you want to be listened to, it is wise to express those feelings in a calm manner.
Also, there is a difference between blaming people for what they do (lie, break promises, fail to listen) and blaming people for how you feel. Your feelings are your own, not anybody else’s.

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I don’t claim to have always followed this wise advice in my own life.  Do as I say, don’t do as I did.

Tiffany's Non-Blog

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A good question to ask

This is a good question to ask for nations as well as for individuals.

This flow chart by Gustavo Vieira Dias is taken from 13 of the Year’s Best Infographics by Kyle Vanhemert for Wired.   Hat tip to kottke.org.

The Holstee manifesto

Click on The Holstee Manifesto for background.  Hat tip to Brain Pickings.

Thinking outside the box in everyday life

Somebody years ago said the essence of the bohemian lifestyle is to use things for purposes for which they weren’t intended—orange crates for bookcases, empty Chianti bottles for candle holders.

Click on 99 Life Hacks to make your life easier for more like this.  Or look below.  Hat tip to kottke.org.

What every young man should know

My morning energy drink

When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is to heat an oversize mug of skim milk in my microwave oven.  Then I put in a spoonful of Ovaltine and a spoonful of instant coffee.  The spoonful can be either a level teaspoonful or a heaping tablespoonful, depending on my mood.  The delicious mixture makes me energized to face the day.

Recently I shared my recipe with some friends of mine, who liked it a lot.  I would be pleased to think others might like it, too.  If not, no harm has been done.

It is not food.   Instant coffee is of course not food.  The main ingredient of Ovaltine is sugar.  Skim milk is barely food.  It is like a no-fat Starbucks drink.  But I do not make the mistake of regarding it as a substitute for food, as some of my acquaintances do with Starbucks-type concoctions.  After I dress and wash up, I eat a bowl of Total and skim milk, or sometimes oatmeal and skim milk.

Formerly my morning drink was a mug of hot water, with spoonfuls of instant cocoa and instant coffee.   In my working days, I would sometimes feel exhausted but have more work to do.   I would drink the cocoa-coffee mixture, take a short nap or doze off, and wake up feeling like a new man.   Years later I started drinking a cup of warm Ovaltine and milk – the stereotypical old-guy drink – when I had trouble getting to sleep.   Now a spoonful of instant coffee turns my bedtime drink into my wake-up drink.

Henry Miller’s 11 Commandments for writing

• 1.  Work on one thing at a time until finished.
• 2.  Start no more new books, add no more new material to “Black Spring.”
• 3.  Don’t be nervous. Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand.
• 4.  Work according to Program and not according to mood. Stop at the appointed time!
• 5.  When you can’t create you can work.
• 6.  Cement a little every day, rather than add new fertilizers.
• 7.  Keep human! See people, go places, drink if you feel like it.
• 8.  Don’t be a draught-horse!  Work with pleasure only.
• 9.  Discard the Program when you feel like it—but go back to it next day.  Concentrate.  Narrow down. Exclude.
• 10.  Forget the books you want to write.  Think only of the book you are writing.
• 11.  Write first and always.  Painting, music, friends, cinema, all these come afterwards.

Click on Lists of Note for more lists.

Click on The Reality of Henry Miller for an appreciation of Henry Miller by Kenneth Rexroth.

Click on Henry Miller wiki for his Wikipedia biography.

Click on Kurt Vonnegut’s eight rules for writing fiction for another writer’s rules.

Abbott’s admonition

If you don’t like the answer, you shouldn’t have asked the question.

NASA Skylab rule

Don’t do it if you can’t keep it up.

Egan’s rule

When all else fails, ask yourself what’s logical.

Jim Hightower’s advice

Never buy a pit bull from a one-armed man.

Never sign anything by neon.

Always drink upstream from the herd.

Gretchen Rubin’s secrets of adulthood

The days are long, but the years are short.

Someplace, keep an empty shelf.

Turning the computer on and off a few times often fixes a glitch.

It’s okay to ask for help.

You can choose what you do, but you can’t choose what you like to do.

Happiness doesn’t always make you feel happy.

What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.

You don’t have to be good at everything.

Soap and water remove most stains.

It’s important to be nice to everyone.

You know as much as most people.

Over-the-counter medicines are very effective.

Eat better, eat less, exercise more.

What’s fun for other people may not be fun for you — and vice versa.

People actually prefer that you buy wedding gifts off their register.

House plants and photo albums are a lot of trouble.

If you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough.

No deposit, no return.

How to open a wine bottle without a corkscrew

You need to be wearing shoes (or have a shoe handy).

Click on this URL to see what I mean.

Don Montana sent me this link.