Emilie Richards's Blog, page 19

Sunday Inspiration: If We Learn Nothing

In observance of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Sunday Inspiration is one day early this week.

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Sunday Inspiration: Do not ask your children

“Do not ask your children
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is the way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples and pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.”

― William Martin, The Parent’s Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for Modern Parents

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Spam: Take Two

My apologies to everyone who receives this blog in their email. For some reason the video is just fine online at my website or you can find it on YouTube here.

Unfortunately for some undetermined reason it doesn’t show up in the email version.

Nor did my old “spam poem” have the correct link. Here’s the correct one. That one was purely my own fault.

Apologies. But I thought the video was too much fun to miss. Enjoy.

 

 

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Spam and Other Ways to Spend Your Free Time

With the season officially over here in Chautauqua, NY, I find I have more time on my hands now. So, of course I started looking for ways to spend it. And I remembered….my spam folder.

Are you getting more spam than usual these days? Do you suppose the spammers are increasingly desperate, or do they just have more time on their hands?

Or maybe they think we do? I have a little time, so I’m sharing some of my best.

Here’s one I got this week. Do we think that English was not the spammer’s first language?

It looks like someone logged into your account from a device “iPhone XR” on August 24, 2021. The login took place somewhere near Norfolk, VA, United States (IP = 70.184.161.131), and do something with your card.

Please verify your account information now, or your account will be locked permanent soon.

The address was not (gasp) from Apple, as claimed. It came from a long string of letters, which I’m sure was a mistake. Maybe somebody’s cat walked across their computer keyboard at a crucial moment?

Just a tip. If the poor grammar doesn’t seal the deal for you in your own spam email, click on the address until you can see who it’s really from.

Then last week I got this one from “Netflix”:

P𝅶𝗅𝖾𝖺𝅶𝗌𝖾 U𝗉𝅶𝖽𝖺𝅶𝗍𝖾 Y𝗈𝗎𝅶𝗋 P𝖺𝅶𝗒𝗆𝖾𝅶𝗇𝗍 D𝖾𝗍𝅶𝖺𝗂𝗅𝗌
𝖶𝅶𝖾’𝗋𝅷𝖾 𝗁𝖺𝅶𝗏𝗂𝗇𝅶𝗀 𝗌𝗈𝗆𝅶𝖾 𝗍𝗋𝗈𝅶𝗎𝖻𝗅𝅶𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝖼𝗎𝅶𝗋𝗋𝖾𝅶𝗇𝗍 𝖻𝗂𝗅𝅶𝗅𝗂𝗇𝅶𝗀 i𝗇𝅶f𝗈𝗋𝗆𝅶𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗈𝅶𝗇. W𝖾𝅶’𝗅𝗅 𝗍𝅶𝗋𝗒 𝖺𝗀𝅶𝖺i𝗇, 𝖻𝗎𝗍 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗆𝖾𝅶𝖺𝗇𝗍𝗂𝅶𝗆𝅶𝖾 𝖸𝗈𝅶𝗎 𝗆𝖺𝅶𝗒 𝗐𝖺𝅶𝗇𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝗎𝗉𝅶𝖽𝅶𝖺𝗍𝖾 𝗒𝅶𝗈𝗎𝅶𝗋 𝗉𝖺𝗒𝅶𝗆𝅶𝖾𝗇𝅶𝗍 𝖽𝖾𝗍𝖺𝗂𝗅𝗌.,

[image error] 𝖴𝅳𝖯𝅳𝖣𝖠𝅳𝖳𝖤 𝖠𝖢𝅳𝖢𝖮𝖴𝅳𝖭𝅳𝖳 𝖭𝅳𝖮W𝅳

Thanks but nope. I just have this weird feeling that since my Netflix is still working fine and a different cat seems to have walked across a different keyboard, I should send this email to my spam folder, too.

So enough of me. When I told my son about the spam that’s been slipping through, he sent me the above video. I highly recommend you watch and enjoy. I sure did.

How about you? Craziest spam you’ve gotten? While it’s not nearly in the same category as the video here, Enjoy this poem I wrote using mine more than ten years ago. After all, we have to work with what we’re given, right?

Maybe I’d better just spend my time working on another book.

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Sunday Inspiration: Life isn’t always fair

“Life isn’t always fair.

Some people are born into better environments.

Some people have better genetics.

Some are in the right place at the right time.

If you’re trying to change your life, all of this is irrelevant.

All that matters is that you accept where you are,

figure out where you want to be,

and then do what you can,

today and every day,

to hold your head high,

and keep moving forward.”

-Lori Deschene, author

 

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Sunday Inspiration: Spider Web

“Humanity is like an enormous spider web, so that if you touch it anywhere, you set the whole thing trembling… As we move around this world and as we act with kindness, perhaps, or with indifference, or with hostility, toward the people we meet, we too are setting the great spider web a-tremble. The life that I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place and time my touch will be felt. Our lives are linked together. No one is an island.” -Frederick Buechner

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Sunday Inspiration: Don’t let that happen

“What if you wake up some day and you’re 65, or 75,
and you never got your memoir or novel written;
or you didn’t go swimming in warm pools or oceans all those years
because your thighs were jiggly and you had a nice big comfortable tummy.
Or you were so strung out on perfectionism and people-pleasing
that you forgot to have a big, juicy, creative life, of imagination
and radical stillness and staring off into space like when you were a kid?
It’s going to break your heart. Don’t let that happen.” -Anne Lamott

 

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Imagination and Empathy

This week at Chautauqua Institution we heard four wonderful lectures on empathy, all different and thought provoking. Did you know that animals experience empathy? Did you know that Virtual Reality can help us understand what other people experience? Have you thought about the way that setting boundaries in difficult relationships might help you empathize safely?

I love this quote by J.K. Rowling about the way our imaginations help us to empathize (or empathise in the UK) with others. Can you put yourself in another person’s life and imagine what they have experienced and how it’s made them the person they are? Novelists do this all the time, although we get to manipulate the facts and situations. In real life it’s harder, isn’t it? But so worthwhile.

It’s been a great week with lots to think about. I’m glad I can share a little with you.

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Sunday Inspiration: Good Humor

“Good humor is a tonic for mind and body.

It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression.

It is a business asset.

It attracts and keeps friends.

It lightens human burdens.

It is the direct route to serenity and contentment.”

-Grenville Kleiser

I haven’t laughed so hard since the beginning of the pandemic.

This was Humor Week (officially The Authentic Comedic Voice) at my beloved Chautauqua Institution, and it was hilarious. Lewis Black, Bill Ingvall, Benji Lovitt, Leighann Lord, Ego Nwodim, and others — not to mention a visit to the National Comedy Center down the road in Jamestown, NY — had me guffawing for a solid week.

And it felt so good! Laughter may not cure Covid, but it certainly goes a long way to curing a lot of other maladies in our world today.

Have you had a good laugh lately?

By the way, have you heard this one? Helvetica and Times New Roman walk into a bar. “Get out of here!” shouts the bartender. “We don’t serve your type.”

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The Guest House: An Unexpected Research Gift

I spent much of July acquainting you with The House Guests, my latest novel. Months ago, as I did research , I came across this powerful poem by Rumi because of the similar title. Today I want to share it with you.

Does “The Guest House” relate directly to “The House Guests?” I think it does, especially if you read last week’s blog. When you’ve read the book, let me know your thoughts. But even if you don’t, take and absorb Rumi’s words, across continents and centuries, and originally in a language I’ve never spoken.

Powerful still and because…

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

— Jalaluddin Rumi, The Essential Rumi translation by Coleman Barks*

^As an Amazon Associate I may earn a small royalty if you purchase from this link.

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