Hi Tim,

Tim, what's up with the word vessel? It's something you would use to hold water but also something that would float on (therefore repel?) water.

Can you think of any other words that can also be used to mean their own opposite?



stay gold pony boy. x

[in best Michael Kors voice] Hiiiii guyzzzz.

Tim, I decided to not drink alcohol for the entire month of April. Do you have any tips to help me make it successful?

I guess it depends on why you are not drinking. If it's just 'cause, then you can probably...just not drink? I don't know, if you don't have a problem, then it shouldn't take too much willpower not to do it.

If you have a problem with drinking, then willpower probably won't do it. It might do it for a month, but then you'll be right back where you started.

That lady was not pissed when Ryan did not hit that mailbox last eve in the BP van. Thanks again!

NO PROBLEM.

Did you know that it is alleged that Thomas Edison would nap holding ball bearings in his hand over a metal bowl? When he totally zoned into that great humming quasi-sleep, his hand would relax and the ball bearings would clang into the bowl, startling him to awake, clear and refreshed. This probably works.

I heard that story.

Wouldn't this make for a two-minute nap? Is that enough? I mean, dude invented the light bulb and the phonograph, so maybe he was onto something.

The Razor's Edge is an excellent Maugham book, translated decently into a great WWI-era film starring non-slapsticky Bill Murray (great).

I 'saw' the movie at one of those marathon video parties that kids used to have in the old days, before the Internet. It was probably 4AM and I don't remember anything but BM looking pensive at one point.

I was wondering who I should choose: The obsessive-compulsive co-worker or barrista who bought me a balloon and cakes for the birthday.

These people are potential romantic interests? I will assume so.

Uh...it is difficult to say, given this level of detail.

But on one hand you are dealing with someone's OCD and on the other hand someone is giving you cake. So I say the barista.

Also, who should buy the cable and who should be able to rip it off, me or the downstairs neighbor?

Your neighbor should buy the cable.

Tim, what is the one thing you have done as a parent that you used to sneer at other parents for doing, before you became a parent yourself?

Nothin'.

Parents are weird, though. It's no wonder there are so many screwed-up people in the world, given how freaky parents can get about their kids. Not that you need freaky parents to be screwed up, but I'm sure it helps.

Do you read to your daughter at bedtime/read together at bedtime? Which is your favorite book to read?

We read a lot. She just started reading. MINDBLOWING. "Oh, this letter is from Grandma." "How...did you know that?" "Her first name starts with G, and this is a G."

Favorite book is probably My Friends or Tadpole's Promise.

Just went to first movie in 4yrs, and it had to be Horton Hears a Who. Piece...of...shit. My daughter wasn't that into it, either, I don't think.

does this shit make me look fart?

The meaning is unclear.

I just got to these.

My feelings about this thread are neutral.

Extend it if you wish. Let it die if you wish.

As always, I appreciate your interest

A request, politely expressed.

Let's try to restrain ourselves a bit.

We could do this one time a month or something.

Literally, I am neutral. I will do this every other day for a year or never again. Doesn't matter.

Dear Tim,

I also have the same question. What are some of your secrets for staying off the sauce for a whole month?

Many Thanks,

Chet

I hate to be a dick, but I guess my main response is to ask why you are quitting, and why only for one month.

I think drinking is awesome for anyone who can do it and lead a regular life in addition.

Weird, the same thing is happening to me. I just don't have time for fiction any more.

I still read a lot but it's always factual. Maybe I am just burned on fiction, I just don't know.

I think having seriously heavy, fucked up shit happen in your real life makes it harder to suspend one's disbelief. This has been my experience at least.

I also have zero use anymore for lurid documentary stuff. Not just COPS or whatever, but also more reasonable stuff like The First 48, or whatever.

Steve and I were talking about it once, when I still watched some of it, and he was, like, "I just don't enjoy watching people who are fucked get fucked over and then have the fucked people who fucked them over get thrown in jail."

I saw his point then, but now I find I feel the same way about things.

The whole industry of just purely farming human misery for pop entertainment is disgusting. Nancy Grace and the like. Jesus Christ it is gross.

There's this incredible documentary called Domestic Violence by this guy Lawrence...Lawrence something or other. Anyway, 4hr doc about domestic violence. Great date movie.

It starts off with this total COPS-style thing of this hick couple, dude has been beating on the woman, she's not into pressing charges once the cops are there, dah dah dah. You're watching it all jaded and shit. Seen it on COPS.

Then there's 4hrs of exploring domestic violence.

Then there's another COPS-style thing to cap it off at the end. Reads completely differently at that point.

You are someone that understands how to play the instrument very well. I would like to play my instrument very well. I devote at least an hour a day to playing the instrument. I have been doing this for the last six years and I know nothing about music theory. Every few weeks I will learn a new trick or chord that I abuse until it becomes part of my repertoire. It is taking forever, though. I have friends that have been playing for three years that are twice as good as I am. I have no natural talent for playing of the instrument but I think about it a good deal. I want nothing more than to play this instrument well. Aside from cheese. I don't think I could give up good cheese. Do you have any secrets? Maybe an instructional video that I could watch? Do I have to give up cheese?

I do not know if you are right about the first point. I have no idea if I am a good musician. I can do everything I want to do, but most likely this is because my tastes and level of competency have converged.

I've long ago given up trying to do anything I can't already do, is what I'm saying.

Todd Trainer once said something to the effect that trying to play an instrument one way or another is kind of a losing battle, in musical terms. You should just play an instrument the way you come to it naturally, and you will make unique music.

That music will change over time, but it will always be yours.

I think this is a key insight. I like to think that this is what I have been doing, for better or worse.

PS: I have been working out a lot, lately. Usually just skateboarding or playing basketball. Spring weather has made me infinitely more active. My sex drive is through the roof and I am angrier than usual. Is there any way for me to keep my testosterone levels down (without reducing my cheese intake) or I just have to suffer through this for a few more years?

I don't know how old you are, but while testosterone lets up eventually, it probably won't relinquish its hold on you for many, many, many years. If ever.

There's a great E.M. Forster quote about being this kind of prisoner and expecting the confinement to end at various points in one's life. But I can't remember it.

Anyway, yoga would calm you down. It wouldn't do anything to reduce anything else, to say the least, but it would calm you down.

tommydski wrote:

tmidgett wrote:I haven't read a novel or seen a dramatic film for ages. I don't know what happened.

Weird, the same thing is happening to me. I just don't have time for fiction any more.

I still read a lot but it's always factual. Maybe I am just burned on fiction, I just don't know.

[Not a question for Tim]

Chickenshit. Watch and learn:

Hi Tim,

Is Tom just burned on fiction?

tmidgett wrote:I've long ago given up trying to do anything I can't already do, is what I'm saying.

Todd Trainer once said something to the effect that trying to play an instrument one way or another is kind of a losing battle, in musical terms. You should just play an instrument the way you come to it naturally, and you will make unique music.

That music will change over time, but it will always be yours.

I think this is a key insight. I like to think that this is what I have been doing, for better or worse.

PS: I have been working out a lot, lately. Usually just skateboarding or playing basketball. Spring weather has made me infinitely more active. My sex drive is through the roof and I am angrier than usual. Is there any way for me to keep my testosterone levels down (without reducing my cheese intake) or I just have to suffer through this for a few more years?

I don't know how old you are, but while testosterone lets up eventually, it probably won't relinquish its hold on you for many, many, many years. If ever.

There's a great E.M. Forster quote about being this kind of prisoner and expecting the confinement to end at various points in one's life. But I can't remember it.

Anyway, yoga would calm you down. It wouldn't do anything to reduce anything else, to say the least, but it would calm you down.

On music: Thought so. Good. I never wanted to "shred" anyhow.

On testosterone: I'm eighteen. Still puberty I guess. I could just be a belligerent douchebag. I'll just work on being a controlled belligerent douchebag.

I'll look up the quote.

Thanks.

emmanuelle cunt wrote:Hi Tim,

Is Tom just burned on fiction?

He already answered this non-question.

This is why we can't have nice...people.

Russell!

I am not Tim (and could never be Tim) but, if I may be allowed to breach protocol, I can answer your question!

These words are examples of contronyms or Auto-antonyms, I think 'cleave' (to bring together or separate) is often used as the most common example. There’s a brief description at Wikipedia, and also a list of self-contradicting words.

There's several reasons such words have come about – some people ascribe the drifting of meaning via slang usage (such as wicked or Michael Jackson's 'bad' which, confusingly enough, means good!), others are thought to have come from reflexive French verbs and there is also this explanation of one class of contronyms:

Dust is part of a series of noun-verb conversions related to coverings of things. If the noun gives a covering that is natural to the thing, then the verb means remove the covering. If the covering is imposed, the verb means put the covering on.

Dust is part of a series of noun-verb conversions related to coverings of things. If the noun gives a covering that is natural to the thing, then the verb means remove the covering. If the covering is imposed, the verb means put the covering on.

So you get shell an egg, peel a banana, but paint the furniture, wax the floor.

(I now have a question for Tim if he has time.)

Tim, Our daughter Mimi is ten days old today, we love her like there's no tomorrow but as you might expect with such a young baby who needs to be fed every couple of hours (and tends towards being entirely nocturnal) the sleep thing is quite hard going. So far I've been keen to support Clare in the middle of the night – make her a cup of tea, change or comfort Mimi if she needs it and generally keep her company so she doesn't think she has to cope alone.

I have to return to work next week and have been thinking about how I might function on 2-3 hours sleep each night (i.e. barely), cold logic suggests I might try the sofa for a bit until she's sleeping a little better (10 days old is nothing) and friends have said that sleeping in shifts is common and it's preferable to be able to face the working day and help out with childcare in the evening rather than walking around disgruntled and zombified but I still don't really like the idea. I was wondering, if it's not too personal a thing to ask, if you had to face such a compromise and how long it was before you got a semi-decent night's sleep?

Yours, with craggy eyes

Chris

cjh wrote:Yours, with craggy eyes

Chris

[naughty]

How does that Half Man Half Biscuit track go again?

[/naughty]

cjh wrote:Russell!

I am not Tim (and could never be Tim) but, if I may be allowed to breach protocol, I can answer your question!

These words are examples of contronyms or Auto-antonyms, I think 'cleave' (to bring together or separate) is often used as the most common example. There’s a brief description at Wikipedia, and also a list of self-contradicting words.

There's several reasons such words have come about – some people ascribe the drifting of meaning via slang usage (such as wicked or Michael Jackson's 'bad' which, confusingly enough, means good!), others are thought to have come from reflexive French verbs and there is also this explanation of one class of contronyms:

Dust is part of a series of noun-verb conversions related to coverings of things. If the noun gives a covering that is natural to the thing, then the verb means remove the covering. If the covering is imposed, the verb means put the covering on.

Dust is part of a series of noun-verb conversions related to coverings of things. If the noun gives a covering that is natural to the thing, then the verb means remove the covering. If the covering is imposed, the verb means put the covering on.

So you get shell an egg, peel a banana, but paint the furniture, wax the floor.

Thank you, Mr Chris! Wikipedia doesn't list mine. Perhaps I can penetrate their barren Vs with my cheeky vessel.


I think you should ask Tim if he wants to pop down to your upcoming jig. I need someone to talk loudly to about the latest NME cover star whilst you sing your ballads.

Hey Tmidgett:

Will you take one for the team?

Hi Tim,

Rob A. here; nice to see you yesterday in the cafe...

You seemed interested in the book I was reading about the cholera outbreak of 1854... It's "The Ghost Map" by Steven Johnson.

http://www.theghostmap.com/

And on the cheery subject of "Domestic Violence" mentioned above, it's by the great Frederick Wiseman. You may be ready to move on to his equally penetrating "Welfare" or "Public Housing." The latter was was shot at Chicago's Ida B. Wells housing project and is pretty engrossing. And there's also "Domestic Violence 2," which I've not seen.

Oh, I'm supposed to ask a question... Are BP tees available? And maybe one white SKWM tee left, size L?