Weekend Offender Quotes

Is there any chance the tutor is, you know, gay?” I held my breath, waiting for his answer. “What, like I hand out a survey?” He laughed when I blinked, worried I’d just offended him. “I’m just messing with ya. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t play for my team. Though if he did, he’d be a little out of my league.” He sucked in and patted his stomach, which was made somewhat flat by his efforts. “Nothing a couple of weeks at the gym and giving up bread for the weekend wouldn’t take care of.” I rolled my eyes. “Shut up.” He sighed. “I love being a guy. Need to lose five pounds? Go without ketchup for a couple of weeks. Problem. Solved.” We shouldered our backpacks and trudged up the stairs. “I really hate you right now.

On Friday, August 9, for example, amid a rising tide of urgent war matters, he found time to address a minute to the members of his War Cabinet on a subject dear to him: the length and writing style of the reports that arrived in his black box each day. Headed, appropriately enough, by the succinct title “BREVITY,” the minute began: “To do our work, we all have to read a mass of papers. Nearly all of them are far too long. This wastes time, while energy has to be spent in looking for the essential points.” He set out four ways for his ministers and their staffs to improve their reports. First, he wrote, reports should “set out the main points in a series of short, crisp paragraphs.” If the report involved discussion of complicated matters or statistical analysis, this should be placed in an appendix. Often, he observed, a full report could be dispensed with entirely, in favor of an aide-mémoire “consisting of headings only, which can be expanded orally if needed.” Finally, he attacked the cumbersome prose that so often marked official reports. “Let us have an end to phrases such as these,” he wrote, and quoted two offenders: “It is also of importance to bear in mind the following considerations…” “Consideration should be given to the possibility of carrying into effect…” He wrote: “Most of these woolly phrases are mere padding, which can be left out altogether, or replaced by a single word. Let us not shrink from using the short expressive phrase, even if it is conversational.” The resulting prose, he wrote, “may at first seem rough as compared with the flat surface of officialese jargon. But the saving of time will be great, while the discipline of setting out the real points concisely will prove an aid to clear thinking.” That evening, as he had done almost every weekend thus far, he set off for the country.

Daimon had been out of prison for about six years. Do the math—two days per weekend, times fifty-two weekends per year, times six years—the numbers are staggering. I think a person could conservatively say Daimon had gotten away with committing three hundred burglaries. The actual number will never be known but is probably closer to six hundred. “Oh,

By holding onto past trauma, we deny ourselves healing. By feeling self-conscious, we deny our own self-worth. By finding fault in other people's actions, we deny ourselves compassion. By feeling hopeless, we deny ourselves faith. By collecting excuses, we deny ourselves our own power. By clinging to our losses, we miss out on the miracles happening now. By feeling skeptical, stressed, worried, paranoid, or anxious, we deny ourselves contentment and trust. By feeling envious of the others, we deny ourselves abundance. By waiting for the weekend to come, we deny ourselves presence and gratitude. By becoming offended or defensive, we deny ourselves peace. By holding a grudge, seeking revenge, or gossiping about other people, we deny ourselves security. By seeking attention and validation, we deny ourselves completeness. By operating on autopilot, we deny ourselves inspiration. By reacting to situations unconsciously, we deny ourselves discernment. By closing our hearts, we deny ourselves love.

By collecting excuses, we deny ourselves our own power. By clinging to our losses, we miss out on the miracles happening now. By feeling skeptical, stressed, worried, paranoid, or anxious, we deny ourselves contentment and trust. By feeling envious of the others, we deny ourselves abundance. By waiting for the weekend to come, we deny ourselves presence and gratitude. By becoming offended or defensive, we deny ourselves peace. By holding a grudge, seeking revenge, or gossiping about other people, we deny ourselves security. By seeking attention and validation, we deny ourselves completeness. By operating on autopilot, we deny ourselves inspiration. By reacting to situations unconsciously, we deny ourselves discernment. By closing our hearts, we deny ourselves love.