in the arbitrary human attempt to impose order on the chaos, friday is a lovely thing.

tomorrow my daughter competes in her second kung fu tournament.  this one will be tough for her since she's on the bottom rung of her group.  she's a 13 year old green sash competing against 13 to 17 year old green, red, and black sashes.  luckily her weapon form, fan, is not a common one (especially for green sashes) and she is doing it well right now.  her hand form, first form, is also strong but i'm sure there will be many other competitors doing it.  she's also just been asked to join her kwoon's demo team.

we've had a mantra since she began talking: smart and strong, can't go wrong.  i'm glad she is both.

We do, doodley do, doodley do, doodley do,
What we must, muddily must, muddily must, muddily must;
Muddily do, muddily do, muddily do, muddily do,
Until we bust, bodily bust, bodily bust, bodily bust.

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Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae.

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Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand

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1492. As children we were taught to memorize this year with pride and joy as the year people began living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America. Actually, people had been living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America for hundreds of years before that. 1492 was simply the year sea pirates began to rob, cheat, and kill them.

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There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don't know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president.

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Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile!

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There is no order in the world around us, we must adapt ourselves to the requirements of chaos instead.

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If I were a younger man, I would write a history of human stupidity; and I would climb to the top of Mount McCabe and lie down on my back with my history for a pillow; and I would take from the ground some of the blue-white poison that makes statues of men; and I would make a statue of myself, lying on my back, grinning horribly, and thumbing my nose at You Know Who.

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