We'll be out before the crowds arrive :) wandering NYC today.
I like Vox because Vox is a serendipity engine.
Spending time on Vox is akin to walking through Grand Central Terminal in New York City - you never know what you'll experience, who you will meet, or how these things will touch your life in ways great or small.
Effortless sharing of words, pictures, sounds, and books has built a diverse world of unexpected terrain. People sharing their favorite books, heart-felt words or candid pictures create potential new paths and connections that moments ago never existed for me.
A twisty network of real people hold everything together, guiding you in surprising ways even as you add your own turns to an etherial map. It is a slippery sort of map - one you can never quite view in its entirety, but each section has its own sort of logic as you travel along.
Online space has become increasingly organized and purpose-driven. It is a wonderful feeling to connect to Vox and say to myself, "I wonder what is going to happen today."
When I first came to Vox, this quote from an Antoine de Saint-Exupéry book immediately came to mind:
Transport of the mails, transport of the human voice, transport of flickering pictures — in this century, as in others, our highest accomplishments still have the single aim of bringing people together.
- Wind, Sand, and Stars (1939)
Months later, I can say Vox has met and exceeded the electric promise I felt that day.
So Christmas passed, and I have nothing left to write about it seems :)
Not really. Rather, I caught some soft of weird virus and slept for a fairytale-esque amount of time. But I feel 100% better now. Which is good, because I'll be on the road to NY later today. Stay tuned for the fuzzy cameraphone pics for a few days!
Christmas weekend was enjoyable. We walked around Portland, ate sweets and listened to a jug band belt out Christmas carols on the street. We wrapped presents. We unwrapped presents. Food-wise there was fondue (apple-smoked cheddar) Christmas eve and I made lobster-stuffed shells on Christmas day. And of course there was a supporting cast of cookies, chocolates and other assorted goodies.
I got some great stuff including How to Survive a Robot Uprising which is exceptionally well put together and hilarious. It is easily broken into chunks of reading, perfect for digesting while traveling.
Thanks to everyone who commented on The 25 Pictures of Xmas series! It was a lot of fun to do and helped put me in the holiday spirit. If you were busy or something Christmas Eve, you might have missed LEGO Santa, which turned out to be one of my favorites. I staged him in front of a page from our "Night Before Christmas book", with some cottonballs to stand in as snow in the foreground.
Hey, this turned out to be another Christmas-related post after all! Don't worry - a Nintendo Wii also turned up under the tree, so that gives me something new to focus on once the last of the candy canes are licked.
This is the twenty-fifth picture in the 25 Pictures of Xmas series:
Santa arrives via lobster boat in Kennbunkport, Maine. I hope his spirit made it to your corner of the world as well :)
Cue exit music:
This is the twenty-fourth picture in the 25 Pictures of Xmas series:
This is the twenty-third picture in the 25 Pictures of Xmas series:
This is the twenty-second picture in the 25 Pictures of Xmas series:
This is the twenty-first picture in the 25 Pictures of Xmas series:
Time for some nostalgia, bah humbug and ... weirdness. Something for everyone!
I watched a lot of The Monkees at an impressionable age with no lasting effects, aside from having to wear a ski hat when playing guitar. But one memory that always stuck with me was of a haunting chant-like song they did in one of their Christmas episodes. I realized it was probably online by now and here it is:
A thousand singing herons I saw passing,
Flying overhead, sounding a thousand voices,
Exhulting, "Glory be in the heavens, and peace on Earth, for Jesus has been born."
It flows a bit better in the original.
If you are firmly in the "bah humbug" camp at this time of year, here is a song you can sing when gathered around the family piano this weekend:
Kill the turkeys, ducks and chickens;
Mix the punch; drag out the Dickens
Even though the prospect sickens,
Brother, here we go again
Finally, there is this...song....which is one of the oddest Chirstmas cover tunes you'll ever come across:
