Unlikely Pair

they say goldfish have no memory
i guess their lives are much like mine
the little plastic castle
is a surprise every time
it's hard to say if they are happy
but they don't seem much to mind

from "Little Plastic Castle" by Ani DiFranco



"Constant discovery is the eternal joy of the ahistorical."

Photo copyright by Kurt Markus (apparently the only photo in existence for TM)

from "The Longest Silence" by Thomas McGuane

These quotes seemed more similar when I stumbled across them on the same day, but they still seem funny to me when placed together...

Ani DiFranco's lyrics refer to the personal act of rediscovering something already known--put with her funny but tongue-in-cheek frankness, while McGuane's classically worded quotation refers to rediscovering truths that already belonged to the world's collective consciousness. Personal vs. universal application of the same concept, which is a great means of contrasting the two authors.

Ani DiFranco's thoughts seem to be a fatalistic acceptance that we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes. McGuane's quote is more of a criticism of the lack of historical knowledge dooms us to ignorance of the world (or to "joyfully" (re) discover things that were already known by others).

---End of thought #1. Beginning of a different thought---

So, I got a fortune cookie from Pei Wei yesterday:

It made me stop and think "Well, there are worse fortunes to be had--and there is certainly no lack of ordinary things, is there?" I'd like to think this is true about me, anyway...

Maybe that's what fortune cookies are all about--you keep the ones you like and throw out the ones you don't like, claiming that somebody else got your cookie today and this one doesn't apply to you (or am I the only one who thinks that way?). That's kind of what life is all about, isn't it? You have choices: Am I going to take the high road or the low road? Am I going to be happy or am I going to let this get me down?

By the way, please don't use my Lotto numbers...I don't feel like sharing my jackpot!