Delilah Says

I’m a planner by nature. I like strategizing, I like routine and I really like lists.

But if you are thinking Monica Geller, stop right now because I could mess up a given space faster than Jerry any sloppy teenaged boy. My room often resembles a post hurricane zone. Surprisingly, most people mistake this for being disorganized but I assure you, I know exactly where everything is. The systems are all up here in my head. What may look like a giant pile of clothes on the floor to others is actually a carefully classified selection of garments to me. So I’m sorry if you tripped on it but I sure hope you didn’t disrupt my arrangement.

Anyway, every morning I make a ‘To Do’ list. Sometimes it’s in my head, sometimes on a post-it and sometimes it’s on the back of my colleague’s meticulously typed project report. Lately these lists have been getting longer and my temper, shorter. So with aim to alleviate the trauma caused by work related stress I decided to make a list of things to do before this year is through. Down below is a draft and I’ll probably keep adding to it until I reach 20.

Suggestions and tips are most welcome.

1. Take a train somewhere (yeah I have never been on a train in SL)
2. Visit the Museum
3. And the Planetarium
4. Paint something – a wall, window or canvas
5. Bake cookies for other people
6. Meet new people (stole this one from Sabby)
7. Meet 3 old friends I have been ignoring
8. Watch at least 3 classic movies, y’know the boring but good substance ones (suggestions?)
9. Read at least one good classic. Contemplating Dostoyevsky or something by Gogol since I do like Russian literature.
10. Organize or contribute to a charity project
11. Redecorate my room
12. Go on a second hand book shopping spree
13. Do something I hate – try eating fish and not give up after one bite
14. Make a Lemon Freeze
15. Explore a different genre of music, maybe Salsa, Ska or Tango (suggestions? )
16. Take the bus on weekends
17. Watch a few Hindi movies (any recommendations?)
18. Aerobics – Jazz or regular

So there. It’s not much but just a few things i want to do and have been putting off.

“I’ll never work for a female boss”

Said my friend, over the weekend.

“They don’t know shit” he added for emphasis.

This was in reference to a newly appointed female CEO.

While I was more amused than annoyed at this blatant display of sexism, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of father he would make to a daughter someday.

Would he teach her to always feel second best?

Or tell her she can be anything she chooses to be.

And how would he feel, if his daughter was told that she isn’t good enough just because she’s a female.

As for my daughters, this is what I would say, well some of it ; only Nicole Blackman says it better.

Daughter 

One day I’ll give birth to a tiny baby girl
and when she’s born she’ll scream and I’ll make sure
she never stops.

I will kiss her before I lay her down
and will tell her a story so she knows
how it is and how it must be for her to survive.

I’ll tell her about the power of water
the seduction of paper
the promise of gasoline
and the hope of blood.

I’ll teach her to shave her eyebrows and
mark her skin.

I’ll teach her that her body is
her greatest work of art.

I’ll tell her to light things on fire
and keep them burning.

I’ll teach her that the fire will not consume her,
that she must take it and use it.

I’ll tell her to be tri-sexual, to try anything
to sleep with, fight with, pray with anyone,
just as long as she feels something.

I’ll help her do her best work when it rains.
I’ll tell her to reinvent herself every 28 days.
I’ll teach her to develop all her selves,
the courageous ones,
the smart ones,
the dreaming ones
the fast ones.

I’ll teach her that she has an army inside her
that can save her life.

I’ll tell her to say Fuck like other people say The
and when people are shocked
to ask them why they so fear a small quartet
of letters.

I’ll make sure she always carries a pen
so she can take down the evidence.
If she has no paper, I’ll teach her to
write everything down on her tongue
write it on her thighs.

I’ll help her to see that she will not find God
or salvation in a dark brick building
built by dead men.

I’ll explain to her that it’s better to regret the things
she has done than the things she hasn’t.

I’ll teach her to write her manifestos
on cocktail napkins.
I’ll say she should make men lick her enterprise.

I’ll teach her to talk hard.
I’ll tell her that her skin is the
most beautiful dress she will ever wear.

I’ll tell her that people must earn the right
to use her nickname,
that forced intimacy is san ugly thing.

I’ll make her understand that she is worth more
with her clothes on.

I’ll tell her that when the words finally flow too fast
and she has no use for a pen
that she must quit her job
run out of the house in her bathrobe,
leaving the door open.
I’ll teach her to follow the words.

I’ll tell her to stand up
and head for the door
after she makes love.
When he asks her to
stay she’ll say
she’s got to go.

I’ll tell her that when she first bleeds
when she is a woman,
to go up to the roof at midnight,
reach her hands up to the sky and scream.

I’ll teach her to be whole, to be holy,
to be so much that she doesn’t even
need me anymore.
I’ll tell her to go quickly and never come back.
I will make her stronger than me.

I’ll say to her never forget what they did to you
and never let them know you remember.