Let us now quote famous men

For starters, I don't mean famous in the way of Kim Kardashian or the octo mom. I mean the more quaint kind of famous that one attains when they are credited with inventing the essay. Certainly, like you, I find the invention of a passe writing style to be of little use when I'm flipping through an US weekly. However, on occasion I find time to sit down and survey the world as it appeared during the 16th century to a frenchman.

I've just put lil s down for a nap. Unfortunately, the guys who are fixing our gutters have chosen to show up concurrently. The upshot of which is a lot of hammer pounding on the gutters just above lil s's bedroom window. Consequently, in lieu of sleeping, she is now yelling at the ceiling. The timing was not impeccable.

From "The Wage Slave's Glossary"

Alienation-"Marxist theory explains that alienation is a systematic result of wage slavery. Deprived of the opportunity to conceive of destinies, deciders of their own action, and owners/users of the value created by their work, (I had to pause briefly to exchange a check with the guys who were resloping the back gutter. I thought about engaging him in a conversation about alienation but decided it was probably not the time) workers in a capitalist social order are alienated from: the work which they produce; from working itself (which, in a factory setting, tends to be an interminable sequence of repetitive, trivial((first paren. is theirs, pause briefly to calm insanely screaming child. Now the thread is totally broken, and I'm realizing I should spend less time on work alienation, and instead, create a glossary of my own for raising kids. Firstly, I tried to talk Marx with her, but she was busy pointing at her blanket and pacifier on the floor. She also smelled like she'd been up to something, which is what happened yesterday. I'm not sure if the first term in my glossary should be inpoopsniac or napbomb-The act whereby a child, about to go down for a wonderful nap, poops themselves awake. I'm not sure dad's have time for Montaigne.)) and meaningless motions; from themselves as producers; and from each other."

The world is sort of a crazy place example 1: A person can stand in front of a mirror and wonder if there is too much going on with the inclusion of a scarf, while a couple of hundred miles away another person can be coming to terms with the death of a loved one, or the discovery of something tragic, Penn St., and yet, the first person is not struck down with a bolt of lightning or floored by this intuition but can actively wonder again, if too much is going on with the scarf.

I recently took a month off from weightlifting after re-injuring my elbow in a pull-ups accident. The accident being that I am no longer supposed to do pull-ups. Anyhow, like any intelligent person, after taking a month off from weightlifting, I decided to introduce a new regimen. Consequently, and I knew this was going to be the case when I could feel the workout immediately, I've been discovering new and painful muscles in my body, and I'm trying to find out if it's possible to move without actually moving any of those muscles. It's difficult. (Anyhow, this whole working out after a long time off bit just makes me resent even deeper those folks on facebook who post things like, "Seven mile run, wooo!" I don't actually resent these people's accomplishments, but rather, their celebration of them. If I had ever taken a seven mile run in my life I'm fairly certain I'd finish it by calculating where it fell in the top ten worst decisions of my life. Can't we all just be honest and say that exercise, though invigorating, usually kind of sucks? (((I've now finished my evening workout and after claiming that I was "feeling really good" I'm now realizing that the slight stiffness in my lower back is a fairly good indicator that I won't be able to get out of bed. Woooo! Working out!))).

Wait, this post was supposed to be about Montaigne. Let's just give him a listen.

I like this guy:

"...these are my humors and opinions; I offer them as what I believe, not what is to be believed. I aim here only at revealing myself, who will perhaps be different tomorrow, if I learn something new which changes me. I have no authority to be believed, nor do I want it, feeling myself too ill-instructed to instruct others."

Ah, humility.

This is taken from his essay "On the Education of Children"

"Let his conscience and his virtue shine forth in his speech, and be guided only by reason. Let him be made to understand that to confess the flaw he discovers in his own argument, though it is still unnoticed except by himself, is an act of judgment and sincerity, which are the principal qualities he seeks; that obstinacy and contention are vulgar qualities, seen most often in the meanest of souls; that to change his mind and correct himself, to give up the bad side at the height of his ardor, are rare, strong and philosophical qualities."

Ah, humility. And, I live in Washington D.C. Michele, what is this, change your opinion after careful consideration. My opinion is law! This is why we hate the French. Go back to the sixteenth century and take your