R.T.L.B.: Don't be an asshole, illustrated

"It's easier to be an asshole to words than to people" is the hover over text when you view this cartoon on xkcd.com. Ain't it da truf?

Rule To Live By: Don't be an asshole!

R.T.L.B.: Love. And Breathe.

From Randall Munroe's xkcd.com

Happy Valentine's Day, all y'all. The bleak mid-winter is passing and dearth in posts soon resolving.

Today's Rule to Live By: R.T.L.B:
Keep breathing. Love helps.

From Mark Tonra's James

My valentines to you:

"Where there is love, there is life."
- Mohandas K. Gandhi

"The true beloveds of this world are in their lover's eyes lilacs opening, ship lights, school bells, a landscape, remembered conversations, friends, a child's Sunday, lost voices, one's favorite suit, autumn and all seasons, memory, yes, it being the earth and water of existence, memory."
- Truman Capote, Other Voices, Other Rooms, 1948

"The world is too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but love."
- William Sloane Coffin

And as ever, R.L., you're paramount in my thoughts today, and my heart is with CarolinaMom.

R.T.L.B.: Don't be an asshole

From Hugh MacLeod's Gaping Void

This Rule to Live By (R.T.L.B.) is actually Erin's Commandment, boiled down from the original 10.

This resonates. There's no cheek factor in using sexually derogatory words - asshole is an equal opportunity offender. Like the other rules, it's impossible not to break this one upon occasion. I can be sorely tempted to return assholiness with assholiness, but I don't like assholes. I try to shut that mess down on the quickfast, as I'm not into self-loathing as a sport.


Now a classhole, I could stand behind. They're often the life of the party.

From xkcd.com.

R.T.L.B.: No Whining

From Richard Bach's Illusions:

"There is no such thing as a problem
without a gift for you in its hands.
You seek problems because you need their gifts."

"Argue for your limitations,
and sure enough, they're yours."

From Hugh MacLeod's Gaping Void

R.T.L.B.: Be Particular

"Take care to get what you like
or you will be forced to like what you get."
- George Bernard Shaw

Jill Connor Browne nailed it with her admonition in The Sweet Potato Queen's Book of Love:

Be Particular!

From Hugh MacLeod's Gaping Void

R.T.L.B: Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say

WW*Y*D? Any rules to live by? I have a few. Some old. Some new. Some borrowed. Many learned, forgotten, and learned again.

Here's one:


Fa' real. The most treasured relationships in my life are those in which genuine communication happens. Words are backed up by those actions that speak louder.

The genuine relied upon in the past can reach the end of its lifecycle. What was, wasn't. Change is a constant. One of the sucky parts of change is that it takes time to find the genuine in the new. Patience is something I'd like to find in pill form. Even with my patience dosage metered out, I sometimes discover that what is, isn't.

What would happen if we all took the 24 hour challenge described on Andy Nulman's blag here? Would we all have our own little Jim Carrey film, or would we be liberated as Andy suggests?

Say what you mean. Mean what you say. Dammit.

"Be who you are and say what you feel,
because those who mind don't matter
and those who matter don't mind."
- Dr. Seuss