it was a day

[keryx]

Tell me a line you like to read, look at, sing, or think about when the ridiculousness of a day of shitty things finally wears off and you just want to cry.

Comments

this always makes me happy

[hope-persists.livejournal.com]

In the show window was a large jar of freckle salve, and beside the jar was a sign, which read: DO YOU SUFFER FROM FRECKLES?

“What does the sign say?” ask Pippi. She couldn’t read very well because she didn’t want to go to school as other children did.
“It says, ‘Do you suffer from freckles?’” said Annika.
“Does it indeed?” said Pippi thoughtfully. “Well, a civil question deserves a civil answer. Let’s go in.”

She opened the door and entered the shop, closely followed by Tommy and Annika. An elderly lady stood back of the counter. Pippi went right up to her. “No!” she said decidedly.

“What is it you want?” asked the lady.
“No,” said Pippi once more.
“I don’t understand what you mean,” said the lady.
“No, I don’t suffer from freckles,” said Pippi.

Then the lady understood, but she took one look at Pippi and burst out, “But, my dear child, your whole face is covered with freckles!”

“I know it,” said Pippi, “but I don’t suffer from them. I love them. Good morning."

[we-are-pliable.livejournal.com]

We're all gonna die, we're alllllll gonna die
we're all gonna die, we're aaaaaaaaaaall gonna die
we don't know how
and we don't know when
we don't know how
and we don't know when
but we're all gonna die
- Scout Niblett

OR

If you can cope in this hopeless hepatitis pissrag, molotov cocktail, monobrow shithole, baby, then you can cope anywhere at all.
- mclusky

or

You still hold a greedy grace
as you tidy up the place
but it'll never be clean, Jeane.
- The Smiths

I tend to crave more bleakness/ melodrama/ wallowing rather than try to cheer myself up. If I want to cheer myself up, I sing "You are the Light by Which I Travel Into This and That" by Jens Lekman to myself and think of my best pals.

[we-are-pliable.livejournal.com]

Oh and:
"For need can blossom into all the compensation it requires. To crave and to have are as like as a thing and its shadow. For when does a berry break upon the tongue as sweetly as when one longs to taste it, and when is the taste refracted into so many hues and savors of ripeness and earth, and when do our senses know any thing so utterly as when we lack it? And here again is a foreshadowing-- the word will be made whole. For to wish for a hand on one's hair is all but to feel it. So whatever we may lose, the very craving gives it back to us again. Though we dream and hardly know it, longing, like an angel, fosters us, smoothes our hair, and brings us wild strawberries."
Marilynne Robinson

[onceupon.livejournal.com]

I admit, I am an utter cheeseball. So, inevitably, I remember the final scene of the Muppet Movie. "Life's like a movie, write your own ending, keep believing, keep pretending, we've done just what we've set out to doooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Thanks to the lovers! The dreamers! And youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"

I seriously tear up in a good way every damn time.

[snidegrrl.livejournal.com]

And what, monks, is Right Effort?

A monk rouses his will, makes an
effort, stirs up energy, exerts
his mind and strives to prevent
the arising of unarisen evil
unwholesome mental states.

He rouses his will and strives to
overcome evil unwholesome mental
states that have arisen.

He rouses his will and strives to
produce unarisen wholesome mental
states.

He rouses his will, makes an effort,
stirs up energy, exerts his mind
and strives to maintain wholesome
mental states that have arisen, not
to let them fade away, to bring them
to greater growth, to the full
perfection of development.

This is called Right Effort.

Mahasatipatthana Sutta

[rikhei.livejournal.com]

I like to watch this video:

[rikhei.livejournal.com]

Oh, I also like this quote from Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire:

"But I suspect, some days, that beauty helps protect the spirit of mankind, swaddle it and succor it, so that we might survive. Beauty is no end in itself, but if it makes our lives less miserable so that we might be more kind - well, then, let's have beauty, painted on our porcelain, hanging on our walls, ringing through our stories. We are a sorry tribe of beasts. We need all the help we can get."

[keryx.livejournal.com]

Hee. I like it.

[justbjen.livejournal.com]

Always do what you want, and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind
- Dr. Suess

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart.
Helen Keller

this helps...

[bookgrrrl.livejournal.com]

Re: this helps...

[snidegrrl.livejournal.com]

Oh. My. God. I let out an audible gasp.

Re: this helps...

[keryx.livejournal.com]

Dude, it does. I hadn't seen an otter video in awhile!

all my girls, stand in a circle and clap your hands, this is for you

[belladonnalin.livejournal.com]

Well, there are always these two Qwantz cartoons.

And, also:

Saul Williams, Coded Language

and, no fucking kidding:
Ashlee Simpson, L.O.V.E.

Re: all my girls, stand in a circle and clap your hands, this is for you

[keryx.livejournal.com]

ZOMG. I can't believe an Ashlee Simpson song got me all teary.

Re: all my girls, stand in a circle and clap your hands, this is for you

[belladonnalin.livejournal.com]

THIS IS WHAT I'M SAYING.

It's a good song, a good kind of "these are the girls that I love, my friends are the most important" song.

[orkid.livejournal.com]

[keryx.livejournal.com]

Beautiful. Thank you!

[snidegrrl.livejournal.com]

This video does it for me. Although I think it's been moved from the top spot by those otters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfUqVa-Y3go

[keryx.livejournal.com]

AWWW! Goat! Want!

It's very cute.

[maryjholliday.livejournal.com]

Maybe it'll catch. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWi6QVsW-qA&feature=related

Rosario Dawson makes me happy every time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QwLA0T4Gz8&feature=related

I apologize for not knowing how to insert YouTube links directly.

[turbogrrl.livejournal.com]

oooh, the gratuitous boobie bouncing scene!

I counter with "always look on the bright side of life": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1loyjm4SOa0

[maryjholliday.livejournal.com]

Yes, I suppose it's gratuitous. But that kinda makes me happy, too.

[keryx.livejournal.com]

That is NOT gratuitous. That is totally ESSENTIAL boobie bouncing!

[maryjholliday.livejournal.com]

Does that mean it helped you to feel better? ;)

[keryx.livejournal.com]

That, and it was vital to the plot of a highly entertaining movie. Cause you know, the audience falls a little more in love with her just as Dante does. The boobies totally help.

[firecat]

I found this song via a Neil Jordan movie, The Good Thief. Unfortunately I don't know if the overall broody wonderfulness of the song comes across just by reading the lyrics.

"A Thousand Kisses Deep" by Leonard Cohen & Sharon Robinson

The ponies run, the girls are young,
The odds are there to beat.
You win a while, and then it’s done –
Your little winning streak.
And summoned now to deal
With your invincible defeat,
You live your life as if it’s real,
A Thousand Kisses Deep.

I’m turning tricks, I’m getting fixed,
I’m back on Boogie Street.
You lose your grip, and then you slip
Into the Masterpiece.
And maybe I had miles to drive,
And promises to keep:
You ditch it all to stay alive,
A Thousand Kisses Deep.

And sometimes when the night is slow,
The wretched and the meek,
We gather up our hearts and go,
A Thousand Kisses Deep.

Confined to sex, we pressed against
The limits of the sea:
I saw there were no oceans left
For scavengers like me.
I made it to the forward deck.
I blessed our remnant fleet –
And then consented to be wrecked,
A Thousand Kisses Deep.

I’m turning tricks, I’m getting fixed,
I’m back on Boogie Street.
I guess they won’t exchange the gifts
That you were meant to keep.
And quiet is the thought of you,
The file on you complete,
Except what we forgot to do,
A Thousand Kisses Deep.

And sometimes when the night is slow,
The wretched and the meek,
We gather up our hearts and go,
A Thousand Kisses Deep.

The ponies run, the girls are young,
The odds are there to beat . . .

[keryx.livejournal.com]

I'll have to see if I can find the audio somewhere. The words are lovely.

[firecat]

You can buy the song on Amazon (DRM-free) or iTunes.