B is for Bad Poetry

Just discovered the (bad) poetry of Pamela August Russell.

Contains such fun verses like:

Security Question (Please Choose One)

A) What is your mother’s maiden name?
B) What is the name of your first pet?
C) What is it with your heart that it breaks so easy?

and

Tea For Two (A Tragedy)

It wasn’t until after
I poured the second
Cup that I realized
I was alone

and also:

You with the stars in your eyes
Put them back in the sky
You are ruining it for the rest of us

This reminds me of Grooks by Piet Hien:

Problems worthy
of attack
prove their worth
by hitting back.

and

Taking fun
as simply fun
and earnestness
in earnest
shows how thoroughly
thou none
of the two
discernest.

and:

We ought to live
each day as though
it were our last day
here below.

But if I did, alas,
I know
it would have killed me
long ago.

and:

A poet should be of the
old-fahioned meaningless brand:
obscure, esoteric, symbolic, —
the critics demand it;
so if there’s a poem of mine
that you do understand
I’ll gladly explain what it means
till you don’t understand it.

and finally:

Here lies, extinguished in his prime,
a victim of modernity:
but yesterday he hadn’t the time —
and now he has eternity.

Rejoice: German-style board-games now available in India

I have been a fan of German-style boardgames (aka Eurogames or Designer Games) for over 10 years now. My friends know that I have a big collection of these games, and this year, we’ve started the concept of ‘Games Night’ at our place where 10-20 people show up on a Saturday and play these games until Sunday morning.

I bought most of these games while we were staying in the US, and kept adding to the collection on every US trip. Unfortunately, my US trips have stopped, and my collection is now no longer fresh. That is why I was particularly happy to see this website which now makes these games available in India. Very cool. I haven’t ordered from them yet, so cannot comment upon their customer service etc., but hopefully soon.

Those who’re wondering what’s the big deal about these games is, here are the salient features:

  • These are board games, to be played with real people, face to face, not computer games
  • These are games that are not as stupid, and mindless as monopoly, but also not as brain-bending as chess
  • These games are designed to be played by families or groups of friends – lots of interaction, lots of fun, and get over in a couple of hours.
  • The games have beautiful components

For a more detailed explanation, see the wikipedia page

Random Quotes – 2

This is a bunch of interesting quotes I’ve collected over the past few months. Maybe they are connected to each other, and maybe they are not:

The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent
– John Maynard Keynes

Source: Wikipedia. See also this relevant article, about the US government bailout of financial institutions in September 2008.

Quotes of Kenneth Boundling, economist, which sound strangely more relevant after the global financial meltdown:

Mathematics brought rigor to Economics. Unfortunately, it also brought mortis

Nothing fails like success because we don’t learn from it. We learn only from failure.

Source: Wikipedia
Switching a little:

There you have it. Admiration for raw, undirected cleverness winning over a questioning of fundamental importance. I wish there’d been someone in the room like Fight Club’s Tyler Durden (played by Brad Pitt), who responds to a smart remark by Edward Norton’s narrator character with, “Clever. How’s that working out for you, being clever?”

Source: RibbonFarm.com

But let’s not worry so much about the crisis. Paul Graham points out that now is the best time to start a startup. However, many people think of doing startups, but not are not willing to quit their current job yet:

People wish to learn to swim and at the same time to keep one foot on the ground.
– Marcel Proust

Source: BrainyQuotes

But where do ideas for startups come from? Proust again:

The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.

Enough about money. Let’s focus on love and happiness. Here’s Proust again:

Let us leave pretty women to men devoid of imagination.

We only really think when distressed, we shouldn’t worry about striving for happiness so much as “pursuing ways to be properly and productively unhappy.”
– Publisher’s Review weekly paraphrasing Proust

Source: How Proust can Change your life