pain in the neck.

You know, like when you didn't sleep on your back or alternatively on your side with a bolster the way experts have repeatedly told you to do, and ended up with a severe pain in the neck.

Just got off the phone with my former landlady. 

Such a pain in the neck.

Some people think they can get away with highway robbery by yelling over the phone. Well, I've had the unhappy experience of being yelled at over the phone before by a person with a much higher voice frequency. I was more amused than angry or hurt at how juvenile she was this time. So I suppose it didn't scare me as much as she'd hoped.

My action plan? To be as civil as possible. I left barbaricism a long time ago and have no intention of returning to that old way of life. But being civil doesn't mean I give up being firm. 

And I suppose, as someone very wise once said, "If they are your enemies, you are under orders to love them." (C.S. Lewis)

On another note, 

I went to the park with someone very important. 

=)

so someone posted this:

...and called Christians "sexist, chauvinistic, judgemental, xenophobic" and backward.

I'm sorry,
you said who was judgmental?

I don't get angry at this stuff anymore.
I just get really amused.

Jerry Seinfeld:

‎"We are all throwing the dice, playing the game, moving our pieces around the board, but if there is a problem the lawyer is the only person who has read the inside of the top of the box."

Ok. So my job is to read the inside of the top of the box.

talking about listening...

Neighbour's alarm went off for the longest time. Nobody was in when I checked. I wonder how their dog tahan-ed man (which, incidentally, is the same dog here). 

Anyway, I couldn't do anything about it. since this lousy neighbour doesn't have her neighbour's number. And the sound of the alarm was killing me.

So I went to the piano and...

Pressed the E key. 

And was glad to find that my perfect pitch is still perfect.

Alarm just stopped. Yay.

lesson #1.

"Mind over matter" means,

if you don't mind,

it doesn't matter.

-Uncle TP-

I'm sure that's not what "mind over matter" means.

But Uncle TP's definitions are quite spot-on sometimes.

In the past month, I think I've learned to shrug off things that don't really matter.

For example, if I'm hearing the same question the third time, I smile and repeat the same answer the third time, and tell myself that it's just deja vu.

Or if someone tells me I did something which I'm absolutely sure I didn't do, and it really doesn't matter if that person believes it or not, I smile and shrug. 

But learning to shrug off things that don't really matter also means that I've learned not to shrug off things that really matter.

For example, if someone says something that is totally against what he or she should believe, it usually means that there is a statement beneath the statement, and I shouldn't dismiss it as an annoying start to an annoying argument.

Of if someone asks a question that he or she should definitely have known the answer to, it usually means that there is a question beneath the question, and I shouldn't dismiss it as pure ignorance.

All in all, I think people behave the way they do for a reason. While it's true that sometimes people simply want attention, I think a lot of the time, people are holding the door wide open for someone to come in. And a simple decision to not roll my eyes or to wave my hand dismissively can be the difference between a meaningful conversation and a general one.

I would think that deep inside, everybody wants to have meaningful conversations. 

No, opinions don't count. 

Disagreements and "views" don't really count either.

You can get all of that in a court of law. and i tell you that they're not always enjoyable.

A meaningful conversation is one that makes you prop your right elbow against the inner part of your car door and put your index finger to that part of your chin just below your lower lip as you drive away from that conversation. 

It's what makes you think twice, or at least pause, before you tell anyone else about that conversation, because it meant something to you.

It often brings back memories of the past, and questions about the future, because meaning is attached to who we are and who we want to become.

It's not easy to have a meaningful conversation with someone,

but it's a skill worth learning.

I think I need to learn to listen.