Random Thought Friday

As you can see, I've decided to add an image to my Random Thoughts. Let me first say a few words about Jackson Pollock. I don't, for one second, want to suggest that Pollock's work is in any way random. Upon first glance, however, one might think it looks random. But on closer examination it is clear that there is control. The following passage from the National Gallery of Art explains it more effectively than I possibly could:

To achieve the complex and subtle structural interlace that characterizes his mature work, Pollock had indeed dripped, poured, and spattered his pigments across the vast expanse of raw canvas. The painting is the result of both split-second decisionmaking and happenstance, choreography and chance. Each physical "performance" was a unique, spontaneous, and unrepeatable event, but the final product was always subject to artistic will. I can control the flow of the paint," Pollock contended. "There is no accident."

So, why am I using the Pollock image? Although I have labeled my Friday Thoughts as "random" there is, as in Pollock's paintings, "a complex and subtle structure interlace." Sometimes it takes me a while to figure out the connections, but they are there.

Now, on with the thoughts:

• This year is my 20th high school reunion. I'm not going. I wouldn't be caught dead in attendance. (Sort of like Kevin Costner being cut out of The Big Chill.)
• I really need to write a ranting post about being sandwiched in between two totally narcissistic generations.
• I have two large planters of pansies and I love the process of dead-heading. It reminds me of my great-grandmother.
• Dead Heading would be a good name for a band.
• Based on my collection of "books to read this summer," I have turned into a big academic nerd. It's a good thing I want to be an academic for the rest of my working life.
• Oh wait, I was always a big academic nerd. Seriously, what other kind of person has a favorite developmental theorist?
• Fresh cut grass is one of my favorite scents, but if I mow the lawn I have a massive allergy attack.
• Someday I would like to have a huge flower garden. But not one that is structured. I enjoy the randomness of garden colors.