annagrammar

hm

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 19:04:21 -0400

Sometimes I wonder if I’ll look back on this time in my life and write, “Ten years ago, before I was lonely”…

"Lord - Protect my family and me. Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair...."

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:03:00 -0400

“Lord - Protect my family and me. Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just. And make me an instrument of your will.”

lessons never learned

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:41:29 -0400

I don’t want to get all maudlin and self-pitying here, but I am so sick of toxic people. You know the type: people who are charismatic and friendly and who everybody loves, but upon closer inspection, or upon an investment of trust, it soon becomes apparent to a discerning person that the toxic person is really only looking to be universally liked—he or she is not interested in or capable of being a real friend.

I met a lot of these people in college. I’m easily duped by them, I’m not sure why, and when I figure out just how deceitful they’re capable of being I end up feeling stupid and guilty for allowing myself to trust them. But what’s my alternative? Trust no one? I’m careful, but I’m no misanthrope. It just makes me so mad that there are people in the world like this, and that they get away with it. It’s a very dangerous pathology that I don’t really know how to combat and I keep falling prey to it.

(via)

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:27:00 -0400

(via)

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:27:25 -0400

(via)

withwanderlust: Pixdaus: God Gave Us Pics! God I love ballet.

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:36:39 -0400

withwanderlust:

Pixdaus: God Gave Us Pics!

God I love ballet.

(via misscedar)

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:27:38 -0400

(via misscedar)

pterodactyl: caro: One week to go! so pumped. Ain’t...

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:11:34 -0400

pterodactyl:

caro:

One week to go!

so pumped.

Ain’t nothin’ better than Chuck Bass in a sweater, except Chuck Bass in a clean white suit.

cantstopbookblogging: (via) That’s what my library-going...

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:08:32 -0400

cantstopbookblogging:

(via)

That’s what my library-going outfit looks like.

glitterati: (via eatsleepdraw)

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:06:46 -0400

glitterati:

(via eatsleepdraw)

Tumblr book recommendations....

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:13:03 -0400

madeinthedark:

I know a good number of you are avid readers like myself. I am trying to update my list since I have been on a reading binge. Can you guys make any recommendations? I like it all from young adult to the classics. I hope to see some great reblogged recommendations. Thanks, everyone.

Books I think everybody should read:

The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Hey, Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland

Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

Good Omens by Neil Gaimen and Terry Prachett

Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger

Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munro

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Howards End by E.M. Forster

Also, I recently read and loved Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway.

peterwknox: ronen: or: ‘has begun’ This feel right to me, but...

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:06:49 -0400

peterwknox:

ronen:

or: ‘has begun’

This feel right to me, but I can’t find a rule to back it up. Grammarians?

It’s not incorrect per se, but certainly awkward.

Maybe it would be better if it just said “so-and-so is now following this group”.

unicornology: (via paperbackgirl)

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:51:44 -0400

unicornology:

(via paperbackgirl)

Wise.

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:36:58 -0400

jackieheartsb:

I was talking with a good (male) friend yesterday. We’re both in serious relationships and the discussion revolved around how some churches require marriage counseling before they’ll allow you to use the facility.

He said, “The best thing I ever discovered in my relationship was that she [his girlfriend] will never be perfect.”

I kinda cocked my eyebrow up at him for further explanation.

“If you expect perfection, you’ll be angry and disappointed. You have to treat someone like they’re human,” he said.

This conversation brought to light something I’ve struggled with for years: accepting mistakes simply as they are. Those phrases you hear so often, for instance, “water under the bridge,” or “no use crying over spilled milk” are actually good freaking bits of advice.

Learning to accept imperfection is the best (and certainly cliched) relationship tip I’ve received, and even though I’ve heard it all before, maybe this time it’ll actually stick.

Who cares about being perfect? I want someone interesting, and you can’t have a conversation with anyone unless they’ve made mistakes in life, lived through it and moved on.

I totally agree that you can’t expect people to be perfect and I try to keep that in mind in all interactions I have with people, and also keep it in mind when I’m being too hard on MYself, but the flip side of that is that you CAN expect people to try and improve that which is flawed about themselves because you should also be doing that. I think it’s your responsibility, when you realize that you have a problem, to try and ameliorate that problem. It doesn’t mean you’ll succeed, or that you’ll completely eradicate that flaw, or that you won’t grow three new ones while you’re not looking, but ongoing moral and emotional self-improvement is essential. Confession and absolution are meant to clear the slate to make room for a new direction, NOT to give you space to keep making the same mistakes over and over again. If you hurt someone and you know it and you’re sorry, their forgiveness is conditional upon you trying not to hurt them again. You will, of course, hurt them again, because that’s the nature of human relationships, to get back to the “no one’s perfect” thing, but if you do it in the same way, knowingly, that is wrong. It just is. It doesn’t make you a bad person, maybe, but it surely makes it more and more difficult for the people in your life to trust you and stick around.

I feel like I’ve spent these past few months in a moral black hole, because I don’t just want to do what is right for me, I want to do what is right PERIOD. I try very, very hard to be good and not be selfish, because selfishness is one of my biggest pet peeves in people. Of course we’re all selfish, including me, but I try hard not to be. And I feel like I’ve been getting a lot of advice from a lot of corners, and it appears to have settled on one extreme or the other, like a reverse bell curve, and I’m not sure I like either of these choices—sometimes I feel like option A is the best, the right thing, and sometimes I feel like option B is the best, and I can’t help but take other people’s feelings and situations into account, and I end up very confused and paralyzed and sad. I’m sick of feeling like I can’t trust people. I’m sick of whining to the Internet because I only have one friend who is willing to support me the way I need support and I can’t be bugging her all the time. I’m sick of this even still being an issue!

There’s this Ignatian spiritual theory, that we all move in and out of periods of consolation and desolation. Loyola defines desolation as the “darkness of the soul, turmoil of the mind, inclination to low and earthly things, restlessness resulting from many disturbances and temptations which lead to loss of faith, loss of hope, and loss of love. It is also desolation when a soul finds itself completely apathetic, tepid, sad, and separated.” I don’t want to be all emo about this, but I feel like my life is generally moving through a period of desolation. I guess I should just accept this and look for ways to find answers in the darkness.