Bookplate-Pasting Thoughts

23-9-08
People often think I'm oblivious when I'm not, which can be very useful. On the other hand, people also tend to think that I know things when I don't, which can be anything from inconvenient to disastrous, depending on how much they think I know.
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(After stamping a book w/an author named Andrew)
If Andrew ever writes a book, I will laugh my head off- and then congratulate him profusely.

24-9-08
Blessed are the forgetful,
for they shall not be
burdened with their past.
...or with strange, senseless seeming successions of numbers. (i'm pretty sure i meant call numbers here)

25-9-08
Many people think that they are good listeners. They think this because people often tell them their problems and/or life stories. This is such a widespread phenomena that there's a comic about it. However, I have watched and listened to (not to mention overheard. ;) ) a lot of people, and my experience is that, if you define a good listener as someone who cares about the person they are listening to and their problems, most people are actually not very good at it at all. So do these alleged listeners really get dumped on because they are good listeners, or is it because our culture makes us good talkers? I think it is the latter. We dump on everyone. We exchange stories as a way of relating to each other. But if a person doesn't have their own tales to contribute, or if they seem sufficiently sympathetic, then things change. Often a person will end up telling someone their life story, without ascertaining, first, if that someone even cares or wants to hear it. It's more about the talking than the listening.
From a completely different angle, I also think that we are bad listeners. If we were good listeners, even despite the fact that people were dumping on us, we would care, not complain.