Listening: Arcade Fire "Neon Bible." When I got my first copy of "Funeral" from Eileen, it took me about 10 tries to really get this band. Now I'm hooked. Their songs are so lush, complex and orchestral, I find something new in them on each listen. No other band can speak to me, lift me up, exhaust me, the same way they can.

Reading: Freakonomics for my book club. Also Ask and It is Given, a recommendation from my opera teacher, and Everyday Matters, a recommendation of my artist's group.

Thinking: My head hurts. There's been a serious lack of caffeine today. And now it's so late in the afetrnoon that I shouldn't even start.

Plans: Making steamed mussels in white wine for dinner. This is the first quiet night at home in a while. Maybe I'll light candles.

Happiness: I'm so happy my sister and I are on good terms again. We never had a huge blowout fight or anything -- there was just this underlying current of discord. But then I created this little book of drawings and collages and stickers. I wrote out exactly how I felt, how much I missed having my big sis in my life, how much I love her. And it worked, just like magic.

Since then, some of my friends have joked that I should collage for world peace.

But you know, I wonder if they're right.

I've been creating a lot of art lately. I've been sending out homemade cards and making little drawings for people and giving friends some of my framed photographs. And it makes people SO HAPPY to receive something unique and original and pasted together with love.

My friend Margot wrote a poem about me, and it fills me with complete joy to even think about it.

I wonder what tomorrow would be like if everyone sent a handwritten note or drew a picture or gave someone a poem. Let's try it.

"This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness."
-The Dalai Lama

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 03, 2007 at 5:42 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.