Helen Burns
Not many times I find people I can identify with.
But there is one fictional person that I could relate with. She is one minor character who takes it on stride when a teacher despised her.
“Then learn from me, not to judge by appearances: I am, as Miss Scatcherd said slatternly, I seldom put, and never keep, things in order; I am careless; I forget rules; I read when I should learn my lessons; I have no method; and sometimes I say, like you, I cannot bear to be subjected to systematic arrangements. This is all very provoking to Miss Scatcherd, who is naturally neat, punctual and particular.”
- Helen Burns in Jane Eyre
犀利人妻
我现在了解为什么《犀利人妻》会有这么大的回响，大家议论纷纷“小三”的话题。
戏剧写实，贴切的描述人妻的内心，全心全意为家庭，但是老公出轨后世界完全破灭。非常为谢安真不平和愤怒，但也开心她是最后的胜利者。看这部戏好像上完人生的一堂课， 学了好多道理。看见人心有时多么矛盾挣扎； 一个决定要承担的后果； 要怎样活出自己的人生。里头的对白非常有深度，下面几句我非常喜欢：
“我不是苯，不是没有感觉，是愿意相信你”
“人生就是要越活越安定，不是越活越任性”
“白米饭才是你因该要天天要吃，天天都不能少的正餐”
“我结婚就是一辈子的事情”
“嫉妒已经使你更丑了”
“我想做一个什么样的人，不应该是因为别人怎么对我而改变”
“我们决定要做什么样的人，其实都要付出不一样的代价”
”超越伤痛的唯一办法，就是原谅伤害你的人”
“当你对一个女人说你爱她，她就是你的责任”
“一定要记住别人对你的好，不要记住别人对你的不好”
“人之所以痛苦，是因为在追求错误的东西”
“我们不是婚姻的附属品，只是我们人生的一部分而已”
“如果你因为错过阳光而流泪，那你也会错过星星”
27 Club
This is an interesting email I received from Claude Johnson – a guitar resource website that I randomly subscribed ages ago. Most of the time I deleted their emails once I realised there are not much resources I can get, and these are mostly ad emails wanting me to purchase their stuff. But I decided to open this one because of the title:
Hi Gwen,
What do Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Kobain, and Amy Winehouse have in common?
That’s right… They were successful musicians who all died at the age of 27 as a direct or indirect result of drug and alcohol abuse.
First, let me extend my condolences to her family, friends, and fans. If I could do anything to take away your pain, I would.
Now, I know you guitarists are probably thinking:
OH NO YOU DIDN’T…
You didn’t just say Jimi Hendrix in the same sentence as Amy Winehouse.
Actually, I did (lol)… I went there.
Chalk it up to one of the trappings of being a rock star — you have so much money that partying yourself to death becomes a real possibility.
I’d be lying if I told you I never experimented with drugs and alcohol when I was younger.
But these days, I “get high” on life and its simple pleasures.
I’m talking about stuff like playing guitar, taking hot showers, eating a bowl of spicy noodle soup at my favorite restaurant, and working on exciting projects.
So that’s my answer. Do what you love. Find your passion. Follow your bliss.
Like my friend Jack Frost says, “You can fall in love with the guitar.”
It’s all about momentum.
Habits (both good and bad) live and die by momentum. If you’re not practicing guitar each day and you want to build the habit, try this:
Just schedule 15 minutes for yourself, pick a time slot in advance. Write it down.
Now here’s the key: Do it for 5 days in a row.
That should really start you on the path. Then, expand it to 30 minutes and beyond.
Even the laziest, sloth-minded among us can sit still for 15 minutes and pick a few notes.
Use that tiny bit of discipline and it can snowball for you into a really good thing.
Also, keep feeding your brain new information to keep you inspired. That’s a better way to “feed your head”… And it’s a big reason why I’m excited about the Guitar God Club…
You can keep learning new lessons and get new jam tracks DAILY to keep you fresh and excited.
The email continues to sell the packaged online guitar lessons.
Quite a hard twist there, what has the 27 Club got to do with learning guitar?
Anyways, the main message does make sense, and applies to not just guitar playing, but any passion we are pursuing. Most importantly, find the Right passion.
Drugs and alcohol are clearly not something you want to be passionate about.
We as Christians want to be passionate about God! As in the email, it’s all about the momentum, or Pastors will call it “rhythm”. If you don’t practice the guitar, you lose passion for it. Similarly, if you don’t get in touch with God frequently, you risk backsliding. We need discipline to be on fire for God. It works vice versa, it takes true passion to sustain our walk with God.
Willows whiten, aspens quiver,
Little breezes dusk and shiver
Through the wave that runs for ever
By the island in the river
Flowing down to Camelot.
Four grey walls, and four grey towers,
Overlook a space of flowers,
And the silent isle embowers
The Lady of Shalott.
There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with colours gay.
She has heard a whisper say,
A curse is on her if she stay
To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be,
And so she weaveth steadily,
And little other care hath she,
The Lady of Shalott.
And moving through a mirror clear
That hangs before her all the year,
Shadows of the world appear.
There she sees the highway near
Winding down to Camelot;
There the river eddy whirls,
And there the surly village churls,
And the red cloaks of market girls
Pass onward from Shalott.
His broad clear brow in sunlight glow’d;
On burnish’d hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flow’d
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
As he rode down to Camelot.
From the bank and from the river
He flashed into the crystal mirror,
“Tirra lirra,” by the river
Sang Sir Lancelot.
She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces through the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She look’d down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack’d from side to side;
“The curse is come upon me,” cried
The Lady of Shalott.
Lying, robed in snowy white
That loosely flew to left and right –
The leaves upon her falling light –
Thro’ the noises of the night,
She floated down to Camelot:
And as the boat-head wound along
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her singing her last song,
The Lady of Shalott.
(Excerpt from The Lady Of Shalott)
