“A person’s tongue can give you a taste of his heart.” — Ibn al-Qayyim
“We need old friends to help us grow old and new friends to help us stay young.” — Letty Cottin Pogrebin
“A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.” — Unknown
“Weekends are a bit like rainbows: They look good from a distance, but disappear when you get up close to them.” — John Shirley
OK, I know I am not a perfect writer and I am far from perfect as a grammarian. I thought this fast, easy, five-question grammar quiz was quite a challenge and it made me grateful for dictionaries (online or otherwise). One question, for example, is which of the spellings above is correct? To find out, visit the link below to test your knowledge and understanding of grammar. [ Isn’t is a strange feeling when you see something written that you have never read before; only heard? ]
The Quickest Grammar And Spelling Quiz You’ll Ever Take
See previous Words Worth entries HERE
“I gravitate towards gravitas.” — Morgan Freeman
“You are not required to set yourself on fire to keep other people warm.” — Unknown
“We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.” — Lao Tzu
“If we like them, they’re freedom fighters, she thought. If we don’t like them, they’re terrorists. In the unlikely case we can’t make up our minds, they’re temporarily only guerrillas.” — Carl Sagan
You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically, to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. ― Stephen Covey
See previous STATUS QUOtes and perhaps another quote by Stephen Covey HERE
“Gossip is the Devil’s radio.” — George Harrison
“What does it matter how one comes by the truth so long as one pounces upon it and lives by it?” — Henry Miller
“It’s a kind of tired that sleep can’t fix.” — Unknown
“A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in.” — Robert Orben
NOTE: This is part of a serialized narrative of a 2015 Japanese vacation. Please see below for links to previous postings.
Our group had a very busy first day in Tokyo especially considering the traveling involved the day before. To wrap up our day, we strolled a bit through the Ginza section of Tokyo.
On the way, we passed this modern-looking clock/sculpture portrayed here in a black and white image of Taro Okamoto’s Young Clock Tower.
We walked through the Ginza Mitukoshi department store where a master craftsman metal artist was creating a teapot as we watched.
We noted some of the intersections had a multitude of crosswalks and once the traffic stopped, people walked across the street in many directions including diagonally. Look at all of the crossing lanes in the picture below!
The unique building below is a Koban or Japanese “Police Box” (as they are some times called) located at the Sukiyabashi Traffic Square. When it comes to “Police Boxes,” this is sometimes referred to as the Jewel of the Ginza Strip because of its location and probably the cost of the real estate upon which it is built! One article suggested that there are 6,509 koban throughout Japan (see this link)
It was a long day and our troop was very tired, but happy and full of wonder as we pondered all that we had seen and done. We were a little rag-tagged, but were heading back to the hotel to rest and prepare for the next day.
Here was the scene from our hotel window upon our late afternoon return. The Tokyo Sky Tree has a prominent place at the rear!
…And a sneak peak at the sunrise the next morning!
Tokyo (2015) Day 1 – Meiji Shrine
Tokyo (2015) Day 1 – Imperial Palace East Gardens
Tokyo (2015) Day 1 – Sensoji (Asakusa Kannon) Buddhist Temple
“Let go or be dragged.” — Zen Proverb
“The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do.” — Sarah Ban Breathnach
“Ignoring the signs is a good way to end up at the wrong destination.” — Unknown
“I try not to break the rules, but merely to test their elasticity.” — Bill Veeck
When we play clubhouse pickleball, and by that I mean “out to have fun and not in a tournament,” it is always good to keep the play lighthearted.
I am a concrete sequential person and I like things to be done in a certain way and in a certain order and BY THE RULES, BUT…when we are having fun on the pickleball court, I wonder if we can RELAX a bit.
I don’t mean ignore the rules. Rules are there for a reason and they keep the game standardized, etc., but in a crowded gym with balls flying all around I think we can all agree to make certain allowances.
Perhaps you know, or maybe not, that if a player is waiting to receive a ball and the server hits the ball in the receiving-partner’s side of the court and the ball hits that partner or he touches it, TECHNICALLY this is a fault and a point for the serving team.
Here is the rule from Section 7.F. of the IFP Rulebook:
“In doubles, if the serve strikes the receiver’s partner, it is a point for the serving team, providing it is not a let serve or a fault serve.”
I should think, however, that in the scenario mentioned above (i.e. crowded gym), if the receiving player’s partner deliberately reaches out to catch the ball so it doesn’t go willy-nilly all over the place and head for another court thereby disrupting play, we can BEND that rule just a bit.
What do you think?
“No deal is better than a bad deal.” — Mark Cuban
“You can be lonely anywhere, but there is a particular flavour to the loneliness that comes from living in a city, surrounded by millions of people.” — Olivia Laing
“To those who are given much, much is expected.” — Maya Angelou
“We use 10 percent of our brains. Imagine how much we could accomplish if we used the other 60 percent.” — Ellen DeGeneres
Perhaps this is why Mark Twain suggested that if, given a chance, he would choose a dog over a person. Loyalty is a hard commodity to earn, but this animal was dedicated to his owner. It was sad that the owner was never to return because of his untimely demise.
“The more I know about people, the better I like my dog.” – Mark Twain
You can read more about this story at OddityCentral
Did you ever hear the story of Hachi (Hachikō)? Hachi is held up as the prime example of loyalty and the Japanese have built a statue to salute his dedication and loyalty. We saw it when we visited Tokyo!