A LESSON ON HAPPINESS, FROM A MASTER. SOMETHING TO SHARE FAR AND WIDE :

on today of all days, 

it's important to remember the good.

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to learn from the past and focus on the future.

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i present my friend and co-conspirator,

jim, 

and one of the loveliest posts i have read in years.

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tell me this doesn't move you:

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JIM'S TIPS FOR HAPPINESS

JENNY HOLZER IS STALKING MY ASS :

who wouldn't?

you might ask,

and i'd be flattered.

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but for those of you unfamiliar with ms. holzer's oeuvre,

she is a master wordsmith,

who puts her insight and wit about our culture,

into (normally) solid objects,

as if wit is trapped in bronze or stone.

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sometimes they are installations that project light,

sometimes they are cut into marble,

i, personally,

would kill for any of her work in bronze:

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you may notice i've been a long long time fan.

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recently, she has begun to twitter.

amazing.

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just sporadic bursts of art,

delivered to your account.

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she is the only person i follow on my mobile device,

and her words coming to me,

randomly,

suddenly,

have become startlingly prophetic.

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right when i was disappointed that someone i cared about was not living up to their end of the friendship, i received:

YOU CAN'T EXPECT PEOPLE TO BE SOMETHING THEY'RE NOT.

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fine.

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when at a consulting job,

where things were winding down and i was feeling a little redundant,

this poster was being hung behind me in a cubicle:

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and holzer txts me:

A STRONG SENSE OF DUTY IMPRISONS YOU.

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gee.  thanks.

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when unreasonably angry last week:

MURDER HAS ITS SEXUAL SIDE

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uh. huh.

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when procrastinating about a difficult phone call:

BELIEVING IN REBIRTH IS THE SAME AS ADMITTING DEFEAT

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bitch.

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i'm beginning to think she's following me.

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i also love the things you learn from FB :

like how garance dore, 

the blogger, 

pictures herself in red margiela:

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or how the perfect new york sunset looks to bethany tucke

from her living room, one august night.

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or how my mother looked, 

even though her long emails elucidated the trip in great and vivid detail,

during her long two month stay in the limoges area, 

painting, and cooking, and exploring france.

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like how sarah gavigan and i looked last week at cherry pop,

dancing our asses off

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or how some people

chose to survive the insufferable heat and smog

we recently survived here in los angeles:

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knowledge isn't always pretty, people.

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i kind of love it when friends on facebook get startlingly lovely all of the sudden -

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luckily,

ms. katy dickson has never had any self-esteem issues,

but dayum.

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THANDIE NEWTON - pretty girls all in a row :

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girl is under-rated.

girl is a rock star dresser, though.

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