Jaded

Some time ago, I read an article about E Prime as a linguistic tool and loved the idea -- simply delete the words 'to be' along with all its forms from your vocabulary. Don't categorise people or experiences. Try to say, "She practises law," instead of, "She is a lawyer." (Although I don't know how to convert, 'He is on his way to the market,' into E Prime.)
I find that the older I become, the more I tend to categorise and label everything I come across. The more I refuse to accept anything on an 'as is' basis, the less able I become to feel wonder in the way that a child does. The less capable of being able to marvel at anything around me I am, the more cynical I become. And that isn't what I want to be.

Fleur De Lys

Fleurdeliser : marquer un criminel d'une fleur de lys

I'm in love with the theme of the fleur de lys. It has been used as a royal emblem since time immemorial. It has also often been used to brand those who commited crimes against the French King. Prostitutes. Thieves. Huguenots.

Toy Store

I walked into a glorified hobby store this afternoon and felt as though I'd gone back in time by about two decades. The place was full of lots of colourful toys suitable people aged five and above which I remembered playing with years ago. You know, paints, stickers, block prints, copper etchings, faux stained glass. The works. The shop itself, for some reason beyond my comprehension, was situated next to a shop selling designer sarees in a relatively posh building and naturally, the prices reflected this. It made me think of a letter a friend had sent me some time ago about possible projects which could be initiated to help children living in an area in which conflict is rife.There is no reason why origami paper and coloured pencils should be the preserve of the rich. The manufacturing cost for most of the items in the shop, for example, must have been next to nothing... latex moulds to make plaster of Paris models? The same material that one can buy OTC for close to nothing in a pharmacy suddenly costs over a hundred times more simply because it's shaped like a bus. Or a building.Toys simply shouldn't be priced so high that a child doesn't have a chance to enjoy being a child without belonging to the social elite.

Waltz

Have you ever done something with someone so special that you wouldn't want to do it with anyone else ever? That you hate the thought of doing it with anyone else so much that you'd do anything to avoid being able to do so? That you'd pretend that you didn't know how to just so that you wouldn't have a single memory in your mind associated with it except with that one person?
Close your eyes and you can still imagine him supporting you. When was the last time you trusted someone so completely? Do you think you'll ever do so again?