Saturday, December 05, 2009

stone, idea, suspicion

Posted by PicasaThis stone, which I photographed in my collapsible mini studio, is about three inches high and two inches wide at its widest point. I have had it for a long time and like it very much.
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My mother told me that I was born between 3.30 and 4.00 in the morning and I have often wondered if that is why, when I am awake at that time, good ideas come into my mind. Last night it was a big idea, and this morning it still seems to be big. I am afraid that I cannot reveal its nature, though. Ideas can be like buds or parcels full of surprises and rich rewards. Or they can turn out to be fireworks, which rocket into the sky and go pop without any of the hoped for extravagance. This particular idea, which seems at the moment to be pulsating with life and promise, could still turn out to be a dud firework. So, chiefly to avoid anti-climax, silence must prevail on the subject, but its presence remains for the time being a beautiful thing to treasure and to work on.
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I bend over to photograph a leaf, shiny with rain water, and pressed flat onto the pavement. A man passes and skirts me with an expression on his face of profound suspicion.

5 comments:

Lucy said...

I tried to develop the theory that one is at one's best at the time of day when one was born, and asked around a number of people.

I was born some time in the early to mid-morning, and, depending on what time I get up, I am generally a morning person. The 3 am waking tends to be a time of fear and trepidation, but perhaps that was how I felt, just beforehand, about being born!

However, my survey, which was anecdotal and very limited, didn't seem to yield any conclusive results; as many people seemed to contradict the idea as confirm it. Perhaps it's one for the blog, to get a wider sample.

Hope the idea proves fruitful anyway, or at least interesting while it lasts...

Unknown said...

I wonder whether any thorough objective studies have been made on this topic? It would indeed be interesting to hear if others have a theory about influence of the time of birth.

Roderick Robinson said...

I'm not sure of the time but I am aware of my weight (over 10 lb, a burden to my mother ever afterwards) and the fact that it was a Thursday. Thus I have far to go.

Many are willing to admit to being morning people, fewer to being evening people. I belong to the latter sluggards and if it weren't for the comity of nations I wouldn't go to bed til after 1 am. For the moment, however, that is all in the past. Night merges into day as I lay awake and bug-eyed, considering plot details, tapping out sonnet scansion and agonising about whether I've over-done it in commenting on someone's blog. Any minute now I'm going to go down with what Mistress Quickly called "a quotidian tertian".

The Crow said...

I'm reading a book by Maurice Cotterell, "The Terracotta Warriors," in which he presents the theory of ancient cultures about our destiny - well, personalities, anyway - being determined by sun activity at the time of conception and birth. Having to do with the influence of the sun's magnetic forces on genetic mutations which affect personality. Not certain I buy all of it yet, but perhaps there is something to what you surmise, Plutarch, regarding the time of birth and its effect on our creativity and energy levels.

I am a morning person. I was born around 7:30 on a Friday morning. I think my body has become accustomed to rising early for me to get to work on time, but that doesn't necessarily explain my being more creative in the morning.

Some of my best writing, though, is done late at night, after things have percolated in my brain all day.

Interesting question.

:)

Unknown said...

Except in rare circustances I can do nothing worthwhile after five in the afternoon. That's on a good day. On a bad day I tend to want to put my feet up after 8 in the morning.