Twice around the neck should do nicely….

Posted on May 3, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

“And then I woke up.” — Smart Bee

That, I think, is better….. I’ve searched and struggled, and tried a hundred different ways to open up these Pearls, and nothing works more than once. But, I’ve decided. if I use an ending for my beginning, it could work as a template…. I just write that first line, and follow it up with some of my favorite nonsense, or maybe a poetic quatrain…. or just some oatmeal, figuratively speaking. I may never speak in the literal sense again; things always seem to get serious when I do, so why should I put myself through that? And figurative oatmeal is a piece o’cake, so to speak, without frosting, so that works, too…. Let the Metaphorse be with us!….

I would be very appreciative if anyone can tell me what I said above, literally….. I don’t think it can be done, but I wanted to check with the experts. I wrote it with as few contact points with reality as I could, without it starting to look fake, or as if I was just putting in the time, without any real effort. If there isn’t anyone who knows what I meant by the above, I’ve accomplished my task; if it makes any sense, I’ve screwed it up, again, and we’ll have to start over….. You don’t really want me to have to do that, do you? I didn’t think so…. once through is plenty, when it comes to my intro sections, so it seems…..

Perhaps I should do this more often…. ‘this’ being a very early up, call and jump into cab, zip to hospital lab, and back again, all before starting in on this Pearl. The intro section is sort of writing itself, even though all my eyes want to do is close up shop, & go back to bed….. which could yet happen. In fact, I think that’s a good idea, and goodness knows it won’t hurt anything, as nobody is currently reading my blog anyway…. got a total of five “Likes” yesterday, matching the previous 24 hours, and making it three days now with virtually no visits from anyone, not just regulars…. Is there a WordPress vacation going on, or something?…. Ah well, since I write for me, not for anyone else, it doesn’t matter anyway…. Therefore….. NAP TIME!…. I’ll be back….

“Life eludes logic.” — Smart Bee

Aha! That explains all of it! Now we can get on with the normally scheduled activities of the day, since Smart Bee has taken over the creative process completely. I suppose I could chalk all of it up to getting up so early, but, that’s never been acceptable before, and I doubt it would fly now. Though I’m a firm believer that the worm should have stayed in bed, being the bird is usually a better bet, at least for breakfast. And, yes, we are already lost again, somewhere in the vast fields of illogic…. which, as we all know, is right next door to chaos. Rather than fall over into that realm, I think we should just rip off our clothes, and dive in….. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

It turns out that my inclination to rant is connected to my overall feeling of security….. For over two years, I took shot after shot at the BRC, organized religion, the sex slavery trade, global warming, overpopulation, and whatever else came under my scrutiny that caused even the slightest degree of outrage.

During all that time, I was struggling mightily to survive in the real world, living on a small fixed income, “depending on the kindness of strangers”, and more importantly, friends, to help me get through each month. The outrage at the issues that concern me seem to have been driven, emotionally, by my economic status, and my anger at the slowness of the federal bureaucracy…..

Now that I’ve been awarded my Social Security benefits, I am no longer in danger of starving, and can look forward to retirement with a bit more positive outlook, since I’ve doubled my monthly income, into a bracket that, while I can’t be labeled as affluent, it does give me the wherewithal to be comfortable. Since that happened, my outrage is harder to find, and I am having a hard time getting worked up too much over the stuff that was bothering me for so long…. I’d hate to think that I’m so shallow as to lose my radical position to bribery…. Money, while it won’t buy happiness, certainly keeps one more comfortable while looking for it…. and, since I was relatively happy when I didn’t have it, there is no reason not to be happy now.

Since I’m not inclined to rant, Smart Bee has been quite cooperative in pulling out acceptable groups of pearls, including the seven-star harlequin variety below…. This one has a message, but, the message is more non-verbal than spoken wisdom…. You’ve got to just close your eyes, (AFTER reading them, of course….), and let them percolate in your mind…. the message will float to the surface after a moment or two…. if not, well, you’ve had a nice little nap, and we can go on….. Enjoy!….

“Remember what the dormouse said… FEED YOUR HEAD…” — Grace Slick

“I don’t ask questions, I just have fun!” — Bugs Bunny

“He can’t be a man cause he does not smoke the same cigarettes as me.” — Mick Jagger

“As you believe, so it is for you.” — Richard Bach

“The laws of conscience, which we pretend to be derived from nature, proceed from custom.” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book i, Chap. xxii, Of Custom

“And the people bowed and prayed, to the neon Gods they’d made.” — Paul Simon

“His philosophy was a mixture of three famous schools: the Cynics, the Stoics and the Epicureans – and summed up all three of them in his famous phrase, ‘You can’t trust any bugger further than you can throw him, and there’s nothing you can do about it, so let’s have a drink.’” — Terry Pratchett, ‘Small Gods’

I keep telling you, it’s all in the wrist, see?…..
__________________________________

A poem leaked out this morning, so, here ’tis, such as it is…. I hope you like it…..

Funny Bones

Dreaming the way home, lost, unseen,
from the dance, where
he felt so free, and clean.
Sorrow couldn’t find him there.

Waiting, filling up the hours, hoping,
some connection can be found
keeping busy as bees, coping.
Love creeps in, without a sound.

Fat days, skinny nights, passionate
visions of semi-conscious entities,
cannot seem to fully illuminate
or hide our innermost frailties.

Resolute, find the perfect sense, codify
simple rules with every breath
never waiting, anxious to modify.
fear nothing in life, not even Death.

~~ gigoid ~~

__________________________________

Since I don’t have a rant in me today, I’m going to cheat, and go with a really old Pearl, from October of 2011, before changing to the format we see today…. I like it, and so will you…. (that’s a pre-hypnotic suggestion of a subliminal nature, so you may as well just go with the flow, and enjoy it…. Resistance is futile…..)

Ffolkes,
It’s really too bad that we can’t just shoot somebody when they deserve it; I’ve got a long list of folks who do, as do all of you, I’m sure. But the cops get real upset about it, and then the neighbors will talk behind your back, even the dog probably won’t like you anymore. Plus, later on, when you’re feeling all regretful and stuff, it’s just a pain, and all in all, not worth the bother. Insulting them to their face, or sending them into financial ruin, will just have to satisfy that urge for blood; hell, make it good and nasty, & maybe they’ll go shoot themselves! That’s the ticket…..

In case you couldn’t tell, I woke up with crankypants already on, and I’ve been looking for something or somebody to let it out on for the last hour or so. Feeling this way, and not having an acceptable outlet, is extremely frustrating, and as a former psych tech, I know it’s not good for me to keep all this bottled up inside. I suppose I could go out and find some unarmed idiot to get into an argument with, so I can let it all out on them.

But that isn’t kosher, (kosher means anything not touched by pig blood), nor is it a good policy for improving one’s karmic burden. But then I’d feel like dirt, because one of my own pet peeves is when someone dumps crap on me that I don’t deserve. In the final analysis, that is a lose-lose situation, with both parties walking away feeling worse than when they started.

Ah, the hell with it. I’m just going to go out the way I am, and the world can just deal with me the best it can. I’m outnumbered, so at least it’s a level playing field to start…..I guarantee it won’t end that way……let you know tomorrow how it went……if I survive. The world at large has some pretty good crankypants, too…..

Euripides was wont to say, “Silence is an answer to a wise man.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Of Bashfulness

“He is the best of men who dislikes power.” — Mohammed

“As long as there have been humans we have searched for our place in the cosmos. Where are we? Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe. We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.” — Carl Sagan

Life must go on;
I forget just why.
– Edna St. Vincent Millay, ‘Lament’, Second April (1921)

“And the vision that was planted in my brain still remains.” — Paul Simon

So ends the bloody business of the day.
– Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
– The Odyssey of Homer, Book xxii, Line 516

A fitting end to another gem….. y’all take care out there…..
__________________________________

All things considered, this went well…. It certainly stood up to the proofing, only needing on letter change, and one line of the poem that needed to be smoother. If I were still working for the government, I could say it was good enough for that, but, since I don’t work for them anymore, standards have to be a bit higher…. Fortunately, it does meet those standards, insofar as they exist around here at all, so…. I think if you use some oxygenated cleaning solution on that, it will come out okay….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

–
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

We’ll obfuscate the prepositions after lunch….

Posted on April 8, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Some of y’all may have noted that today’ post is very late, for me…. I had a early morning appointment with my doctor, to go over stuff before I travel, and I got back to find the power off, after a severe wind storm last night…. So, it’s now, 11:40 AM, when I’ve normally been posted for three or four hours….. C’est la vie, I guess, so I’ll just bite the bullet and get to it….

Sovereign myrmidons drew new pictures without resistance, so the dance of woodland fairies held court, in the palace under the hill, near the old wise woman’s cottage. None of the fabled ogres came to observe, or object, as one last merry tune played, before the dawn chased them home, while in Cobh, a dragon wept in silent sympathy…. Echoes of gay laughter haunt the empty hills, while in the cottage, the old woman stirs the fire, humming an ancient tune….

Well, that was a bit odd…. I’m totally in the dark as to either why I wrote that, or what it means, but, it IS another paragraph, which, by my count, makes it enough to call this an intro section, pitiful as it is…. Due to the lateness of the hour, part of the following will be taken from the archives, so I can get this up before dinner time…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

Okay, what I’ve found here are three sections of a Pearl from late in 2011…. they all seem to go together, so I left them in place, with a crooked dividing line to separate, rather than the straight lines that separate the current sections….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I heartily accept the motto — “That government is best which governs least”: and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which I also believe — “That government is best which governs not at all”: and when men are really ready for it, that is the kind of government that they will have.” — Henry David Thoreau

A just lament from a pastoral patriot, one who carried a more pure vision of what the founding fathers were trying to achieve for their ancestors (us) than can be found in today’s society. Today’s government is too busy attempting to legislate morality to stop and consider the truism, as vocalized by Will Rogers, “The people never suffer as much as when Congress is in session.” It’s too late to change it now, however; we missed our chance already. Our beloved ruling class has too much invested in the way things are to ever entertain the faintest notion that things would get better, or be better, if they’d just stop trying to regulate everyone’s behavior to suit some outdated, discriminatory Judeo-Christian notion of propriety. Besides, there’s no money in it, and we all know that is priority number one for politicians.

Back around the 16th or 17th of December of last year, (2010) Michelle Bachman gave an interview ahead of the Iowa caucus preliminary elections, during which she stated unequivocally that, if elected, she would assert all her influence to reform the Supreme Court, to bring it more in line with Biblical Law. Yup. She said that. No shit, I’m telling you she did. Like all her peers in that particular flock of Republican geese who gathered in Iowa for the caucus, she gives me the distinct impression that any of them, if elected, would consider themselves King, or Queen in Ms. Bachman’s case, and would magically assume the power to change society with a wave of their royal scepter.

I wouldn’t doubt for a moment that she holds that image of herself (as a white-robed, chaste Christian soldier in God’s army, waving her newly interpreted King James version at the evil influences rampant in the Supreme Court and Congress, and all the Democrats while we’re at it, by God, banishing them all to a fiery lake of molten lava in deepest Hell) in a dear place in her heart, where she can take it out and look at it any time she feels picked on by those mean old media bullies, while some romantic Disney movie music plays in the background….. can you believe this crap? At this rate, they may as well just cancel the Republican Convention next year right now; there won’t be any viable candidates left if they keep opening their mouths…..

“It’s said that ‘power corrupts’, but actually it’s more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power. When they do act, they think of it as service, which has limits. The tyrant, though, seeks mastery, for which he is insatiable, implacable.” — David Brin, The Postman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms!”" — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Letter to Colonel W. S. Smith, 1787

I am serving notice here, to all and sundry who would abridge my freedoms for the sake of security, expediency, or any other reason: I will resist you unto death, yours or mine, it matters not at all to me. I would rather die than submit to such indignity, and will use all of my not inconsiderable martial skills to remove you from this plane of existence, should you be so unwise as to ignore this warning. I don’t believe in leaving live enemies on my back trail; that’s just basic strategic policy. You should should write it down, lest you forget, to your unending dismay….and my sheer delight…..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Joyous distrust is a sign of health. Everything absolute belongs to pathology.” — Nietzsche

So, what he’s saying here is that Doubting Thomas was correct, and that is heartening; for those having chosen to tread the path of reason, doubt is one of the most formidable tools available. In order to reason, first one must admit to being ignorant; only then will the mind learn how to walk toward the light of knowledge. Doubt is especially potent when used to examine the outrageous assertions made by public figures, and should be applied liberally in the special case of political pundits. Every word that leaves their mouths must be examined for veracity, because it is a proven fact that they will lie at the smallest opportunity.

One of my favorite bumper stickers was originally stated by someone who understood this principle; it says “Question Authority”. It doesn’t mean deride authority, or challenge authority, or any other adverbial direction; it just means to apply one’s natural tendency to doubt to those who are in authority. It’s an unfortunate fact that, given the opportunity, those in authority will abuse the privileges that accompany Duty, and they always require close observation to prevent them from falling prey to temptation. Doubt is the liberator of truth from the clutches of evil, and is worthy of our respect for that…..
__________________________________

As mentioned, this is one of my poems from last year, during a two month period when my urge to create them exploded, having been dormant for about 40 years…. 50-some poems later, they’re still leaking out on occasion, but, not yet on demand…. and I really need one for today, so, back we go to the old stuff…. As every day this month, this is for the April National Poetry Writing Month Challenge, with the updates to be found here: http://www.napowrimo.net/ (I still don’t know if I’m doing this right, but, oh well….)

Intelligent Crimes

The value of wit is often said to cause harm,
for those who think, such is its greatest charm.
The new and the bold cannot be fulfilled
if innovation and change is left unwilled.

Society behaves at its base as a mob
conformity and submission its primary job.
Any sign of rebellion against the mob’s rule
is met with resentment, naming such rebel the fool.

Intellect and talent are looked at askance,
expressing artistry stands nary a chance.
To stand out from the rest of mankind
is fraught with danger, for body and mind.

Often I stand to watch in solemn dismay
as beauty and joy are left by the way,
ignored and reviled by the unwashed masses
who prefer darkness, and acting like asses.

With shouts of derision the normals make known
their fear of intelligence, greater than their own.
They hope to stop all semblance of progress;
for thoughts and ideas, they couldn’t care less.

The world struggles on in spite of all opposition,
managing to maintain its advanced position.
Pulling the foolish along in spite of reluctance,
helping each to learn the survival dance.

Hard though it may be to keep up with the future
genius manages its plans, to develop and nurture.
In the final analysis, those who live by reason
enjoy life the most, season to season.

~~ gigoid

__________________________________

Rather than go an entire day without creating SOMETHING, here is a harlequin pearl, a seven star, with some rather pointed pieces…. There IS a point they all point at, but, it may not be entirely clear what that is without a bit of number crunching, so you may want to have a calculator at hand…. Lucky you, though, as it won’t be on the Quiz….

“The major problem–ONE of the major problems, for there are several–one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them. To summarize: it is a well known fact that those people who must WANT to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem.” — Douglas Adams, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”

“It is the individual’s task to differentiate himself from all the others and stand on his own feet. All collective identities… interfere with the fulfillment of this task. Such collective identities are crutches for the lame, shields for the timid, beds for the lazy, nurseries for the irresponsible….” — C. G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections

“Lies written in ink can never disguise facts written in blood. Blood debts must be repaid in kind. The longer the delay, the greater the interest.” — Chinese author Lu Xun, 1926

If you knew 9 more things, you’d be an idiot. — Smart Bee
(Are you talkin’ to ME, tough guy????… )

“In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.” — Buddha

“All is flux, nothing stays still.” — Heraclitus (540?-480? B.C.)

“Contrariwise”, continued Tweedledee, “If it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.” — Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832-1898), Alice in Wonderland
__________________________________

“Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well.” — Buddha

And isn’t that fortunate for us all?…. This took forfuckingever to get done… it’s past 1:30 PM, and I’ve yet to proof…. Be right back…. ‘Kay, it will have to do…. it feels a bit fractured, but, the pieces seem to all be in one tidy area, so we’ll go with it…. I’m outta here….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

–
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Standing by with unqualified operators….

Posted on March 30, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Well, let’s see what kind of trouble I can get into this morning….. Murphy threw cold water in my face today, precisely at 0437…. That’s in the AM, by the way, in case the use of military time didn’t clue you. He didn’t bother to explain why, just grinned at me, then disappeared, so I’m sure he’s got some sort of booby trap set up for me, to hit me when I’ve relaxed and forgotten about him. SIGH…. there are times, such as this, when I wonder what life might be like without his unkind attentions, and though it might affect the balance of the universe somehow if he weren’t around to see to that, I’d be willing to try it out, just to see if I could deal with it any better than I do with him dogging me…. In fact, I’d give serious money to try it…..

Sadly for me, money won’t buy my freedom from Reality, or the elements of Chaos and Entropy that are as much a part of life as are Order and Beauty….. There are people who believe that money CAN buy happiness, but they are deluded, and exist in a way that prevents them from ever really connecting with the universe deeply, or experiencing the finer parts of life, that only come when one is open to compassion and love. Moreover, they are completely unaware that they are missing out on anything….. I suppose that means that I must once again come to my own terms with the events that Murphy perpetrates in my life, and just smile as if it didn’t hurt…. For me, the alternative is unacceptable….

Wow, how did I get so serious? It’s too early to rant; even I have limits, and two paragraphs in is NOT where I like to begin letting it all hang out, even if the target deserves it…. Hell, I’m barely awake, even though I’ve been up an hour now, and have sucked down an appropriate amount of coffee. I’m so out of it, actually, that I just tried to think of a joke to put in here, and it caused a stabbing pain right behind my eyes, like I’d been struck by a brilliant blast of light right in the face, or a left fist to the temple…. ouch!…. Maybe serious isn’t so bad….

Nah, I’m not in a serious mood…. Of late, I’m experiencing a bit of how the universe maintains balance over the long run, as the past two and a half years of relative misery is countered by a period of positive support by reality, in the form of an influx of resources.

I’ve been steadily using those resources to set up my life for retirement on a different level than it has been thus far, and the concomitant release of built up stress is delightful, as well as liberating…. I’m only glad I am able to appreciate it; I’ve known many people who would complain about even good things that happened to them, but, as I’ve said before, I’m not one to look a gift frog in the gums…..

Why is it that the quality of what I write in the intro is so variable? I can’t seem to find a method, or a format, or anything that is consistent, allowing me to segue into each day’s work smoothly, unless I go through all these rambling, blathering contortions….

Of course, in the course of writing these every day, I DO get a lot of practice at different styles, and get to let out my imagination to play, especially when I do a fictional opening. But, I can never seem to get it just the way I want it…. Oh well, I guess you could say that is a metaphor for life, in a way…. we can’t always get it just the way we want it…. So, I’ll just get on with the rest of today’s dive, and go with the flow, like I had some kind of choice….. Shall we Pearl?…..

“I just stepped on a factoid!” – Zippy
__________________________________

If the intro section is any indication of how things will go today, I am firmly convinced that ranting would be problematic, for one of us, if not both….. Rather than chance any ripped clothing, or lost hair, I’m going for an old school rant, which is to say, a pearl, very pointed, and very obviously sarcastic about its subject…. Today, just in case it isn’t so obvious, I’ll tell you, this one is about our Beloved Ruling Class, and their hobby, governing nations….

“Democracy, which is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike. — Plato, The Republic. Book VIII. 558

“A stiff neck usually supports an empty head.” — Smart Bee

“The voice of protest, of warning, of appeal is never more needed than when the clamor of fife and drum, echoed by the press and too often by the pulpit, is bidding all men fall in step and obey in silence the tyrannous word of command. Then, more than ever, it is the duty of the good citizen not to be silent.” — Charles Eliot Norton, True Patriotism, 1898

“Anybody who wants the presidency so much that he’ll spend two years organizing and campaigning for it is not to be trusted with the office.” — David Broder

“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.” — Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Abigail Adams, Paris, Feb. 22, 1787

“A politician will always tip off his true belief by stating the opposite at the beginning of the sentence. For maximum comprehension, do not start listening until the first clause is concluded. Begin instead at the word “but” which begins the second, or active, clause. This is the way to tell a liberal from a conservative–before they tell you. Thus: “I have always believed in a strong national defense, second to none, but … ” (a liberal, about to propose a $20 billion defense cut).” — Frank Mankiewicz

“Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man. How’s that again? I missed something.” — Robert A. Heinlein

As a chef, and an artist, of sorts, I know that odd numbers are more attractive to the eye, and to the mind, than even numbers…. So, I should stop here, with seven pearls, which, I might add, made their point beautifully. But, the following pearl just seemed to fit perfectly as the last comment for this subject, and I couldn’t resist adding it as a post-script…..

And, as in uffish thought he stood
The Jabberwork, with eyes of flame
Came wiffling through the tulgey wood
And burbled as it came

– _Jabberwocky_, by Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson)
__________________________________

Having decided NOT to rant today, due to a distinct lack of outrage, I’ve sublimated with old-school pearls, in sections one and three, one with the BRC as its target, one focused on the priestly hierarchies, both of which hopefully demonstrated my opinion (low) of both entities. In keeping with that sentiment, and to replace the rants with what is at least my own work, I offer this poem, that I wrote last October, prior to the Presidential election by about two weeks….. I hope you enjoy it….

Intelligent Crimes

The value of wit is often said to cause harm,
for those who think, such is its greatest charm.
The new and the bold cannot be fulfilled
if innovation and change is left unwilled.

Society behaves at its base as a mob
conformity and submission its primary job.
Any sign of rebellion against the mob’s rule
is met with resentment, naming such rebel the fool.

Intellect and talent are looked at askance,
expressing artistry stands nary a chance.
To stand out from the rest of mankind
is fraught with danger, for body and mind.

I often stand and watch in solemn dismay
as beauty and joy are left by the way,
ignored and reviled by the unwashed masses
who prefer darkness, and acting like asses.

With shouts of derision the normals make known
their fear of intelligence, greater than their own.
They hope to stop all semblance of progress;
for thoughts and ideas, they couldn’t care less.

The world struggles on in spite of all opposition,
managing to maintain its advanced position.
Pulling the foolish along in spite of reluctance,
helping each to learn the survival dance.

Hard though it may be to keep up with the future
genius manages its plans to develop and nurture.
In the final analysis, those who live by reason
enjoy life the most, from season to season.

~~ gigoid ~~

__________________________________

In 1980, when my son was a baby (born in December of 1979), we started watching Sesame Street, both together, and by ourselves, just about every day. When he was about five months old, he was so alert, and interested in the world around him, that we could plop him down in his car seat, on the floor, where he would sit, serenely watching the entire hour-long show, making happy noises, babbling to the muppets, and closely watching all the action on the screen.

I learned, by watching with him, that the show was made for children, but with the knowledge that adults were watching, too, because much of the humor in the show was too obviously aimed at the adults…. I also found I enjoyed watching it, though it was, of course, somewhat repetitive in nature at times….

One of the best skits, or lessons, that was repeated frequently was one called, “Which of these is not like the others?”, wherein a group of four items…. pictures, letters, fruits, balls, or statements…. would be shown together. One of the items in the group was obviously different, such as one blue bird in a group with three red birds, or a puppy with three kittens, etc…… The lesson for the kids, of course, was to teach how to recognize patterns, and differences between patterns, a useful skill for all humans….

Having decided earlier today not to rant, I’m substituting old-school pearls, in place of my customary thousand words on various targets. This pearl is patterned after the Sesame Street skit, and has one aphorism grouped together with several others (you are adults, and can have more than just four to pick from….), which is a of a different nature than the others….

All of them have been painted with a coating of sarcastic impudence, I hope, as they speak about organized religion, tongue firmly in cheek. The single exception is an idea that is contrary to all the religionists believe to be true, thus setting it apart, as being rational…. It shouldn’t be too hard to find, and the others will give you an idea of how today’s rant might have progressed, had I written it…. Enjoy!

“Religion is the fashionable substitute for belief.” — Oscar Wilde

“Cockamamie is a word that comes to mind.” — Smart Bee

PHILISTINE, n. One whose mind is the creature of its environment, following the fashion in thought, feeling and sentiment. He is sometimes learned, frequently prosperous, commonly clean and always solemn. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“Probably all the organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended from some one primordial form, into which live was first breathed… There is grandeur in this view of life … that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being, evolved.” — Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

“Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Give a man religion and he’ll starve to death praying for a fish.” — Smart Bee

“Adam and Eve had many advantages, but the principal one was that they escaped teething.” — Mark Twain
(Sorry, couldn’t resist….)
__________________________________

“And never think about the past. No regrets, ever.” — Robert Heinlein

I’ve always tried to take this advice; it’s good stuff….. In keeping with that policy, I’ve decided to post this mess, even though I haven’t proofed it, or checked it to see if it will be either legally actionable, or, worse, terminally boring….. I’ll do that now, & be right back…..

Well, okay, that’s not bad, all things considered. I’ll take it…. And, before I can change my mind, I’ll be on my way, out into the Big Blue Room, to see what kind of mischief I can find to get into out there in the real world….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

–
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Negative! Do NOT scotch that beezul…..

Posted on March 29, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
It is hard to believe, I know, but, it’s true….. If I hadn’t already had coffee, I wouldn’t have believed it myself, but, I’m considered by most to be a cynic, so, people expect me to have doubt about most everything, and rightly so….. This, however, is really, really hard to accept, as it goes against the grain of everything we were taught about reality when we were children, for starters….. The fact that it also is extremely offensive to almost anyone with a sense of taste, or style, is just added to its negative impact. Maybe we could just convince it to go back to where it came from? It’s worth a shot, I think….

Oh, didn’t I mention that? Sorry, I get carried away, and forget, well, everything….. Ah, hell, I give up…. It was all a sham, as usual…. I had hoped, by the time I finished the first paragraph, to have come up with some idea as to what the devil I was talking about above, so I could do a 180 degree turn, and leave you all breathless with admiration, and gaping surprise at my cleverness. Instead, I’m once again forced to be honest with you, and admit my failing…. SIGH….. Sometimes, I guess I’m too clever for my own good…. I just wish that was an event that occurred infrequently, rather than being the norm for this blog…..

However, I’m nothing if not realistic, so we’ll go on, despite having embarrassed myself unmercifully; an author needs to have thick skin, especially considering the nature of what I generally write….. In fact, I need to have thick skin, and a strong stomach, but we won’t dwell on that, as it is controlled by a bit of medication…. gotta love modern chemistry, eh? It would be nice if they could come up with an inspiration drug, wouldn’t it? Just pop a pill, and, voilá, floods of ideas pour out of the subconscious…..

I used to be able to use my conversations with my old friends, Mr. John Daniels, and Mr. James Beam, for that, but, I lost my tolerance for hard liquor when I couldn’t afford to drink, so, that’s no longer an option…. SIGH…. I miss them…. Jack was a funny guy, and nobody can tell a ghost story quite like Jim…. Old friends are the best, aren’t they? Plus, neither of them seemed to care if I plagiarized them; they’re just that kind of guys…. But, we lost touch over the last couple of years, and right now, I’m not ready to take up the habits I had when younger, as I can’t keep up like I used to…. or, my liver can’t keep up, which has the same end result…. C’est la vie…. When one becomes a man, he puts away the toys of the boy he was….

I have a few good reasons for drinking
And one has just entered my head
If a man can’t drink when he’s living
How the hell can he drink when he’s dead?

~~ Smart Bee

I see that I’ve managed to blather and ramble enough to call this an intro, and since I have nothing further in my head that I can think of to babble about, I suppose we’d best get on with the day’s dive….. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“Have the courage to act instead of react.” — Earlene Larson Jenks

Why is it the shortest aphorisms have the greatest depth to them? This is so deep, one needs scuba equipment to explore its depth safely, or drowning in one’s own ignorance seems certain. This indictment, or call to action, however one views it, is part of what makes the world such a dangerous place. Albert Einstein said it very well, with a quote of which I’m very fond, even though it is an indictment of me, along with everyone else who fails to act at certain times in life….

In my own life, I know that those times when I have failed to meet the dictates of honor weigh upon my conscience most heavily. As much as I feel badly about those acts in my life where I know I caused pain to others by my own lack of control, I feel worse, if possible, about those times when I failed to act, when I knew I should….. No failure of courage is more dishonorable in my eyes, and I will never forgive myself for those acts, or those times when I failed to act, even if God will…. Whether we like it, or not, duty remains duty….

At this point in this narrative, it would be relatively normal to begin a rant about modern society, and how little courage most people show when confronted by evil acts. And, on most days, I would do so…. but, I think the little pup in the picture says all I have to say, and says it much more effectively, than I could hope to do. So, I’m going to leave it at that, and just say this…. We all have choices in life; the choices we make will determine whether or not we can look ourselves in the eye each morning when we look in the mirror…..

“Do not confuse “duty” with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect,” — Lazarus Long
__________________________________

I’m not sure why, but this poem of mine, from last year’s prolific output during September, seems to capture some of the flavor of the above section, so, here you go….

Accentuated Lessons

Bold statements of calculated intent
Become common rule of the malcontent.
Avarice assumes such attractive wear
Beguiling deception, illusory and fair.

Grasping and pulling with ghostly hands
Legally proper in all the signatory lands.
Seeking and finding each vulnerable soul
Anguish as payment for exacting the toll.

Wraiths of commerce’s invisible dead guards
Still haunt the dreams left in sad empty yards.
While absentee nobles sit in stiffly elegant splendor
Served by sad-faced detainees in abject surrender.

Escape from reality is illusory at best
Often we falter and fail its daily test.
Only when focused on inner strength
Does peace stay with us for any length.

Peace lies within, always…..

~~ gigoid

__________________________________

I’m feeling lazy this morning, even though I slept well; probably my inner nature asserting itself…. Any who, I’m going to cheat a bit again, and put in a pearl from an older Pearl… from 2012, that is, so not too much older…. It’s not bad, and seems to fit in to today’s scheme…. Enjoy!….
—————————————————

“If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you; but if you really make them think, they’ll hate you.” — Don Marquis

This is a lesson that I didn’t learn until I was almost out of high school, even though I had ample opportunity to do so. I guess I was less skeptical of human nature then, having had less direct experience at dealing with all its idiosyncrasies….. but, learn it I did, to both my everlasting regret, and my endless gratitude, for a gift that has lasted a lifetime. Being able to tell the difference between the two states, to wit: thinking and thinking they are thinking, has been invaluable in preventing trouble, as well as remedying it when it occurs. Which is alladamtime, in the vernacular of the streets of Rome….

“No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says; he is always convinced that it says what he means.” — George Bernard Shaw

I was a very good student in high school, and though I didn’t carry that tradition into college, during those teen years of the early 1960′s, I was considered a reference source by most of my classmates, and ended up tutoring them fairly often in the course of joint studying, assuming a teaching role. (Being such a reference source can also be a potential problem, but that’s another story….) This was my first real exposure in how human nature affects learning, and what works with some people to get them to comprehend what they are trying to learn won’t work for others, who are not as invested in the process of using their mind for anything other than counting change for a dollar…..

“Then you should say what you mean,” the March Hare went on. “I do,” Alice hastily replied; “at least – at least I mean what I say – that’s the same thing, you know.” “Not the same thing a bit!” said the Hatter. “Why, you might just as well say that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing as ‘I eat what I see’!” “You might just as well say,” added the March Hare, “that ‘I like what I get’ is the same thing as ‘I get what I like’!” “You might just as well say,” added the Dormouse, which seemed to be talking in its sleep, “that ‘I breathe when I sleep’ is the same thing as ‘I sleep when I breathe’!” “It IS the same thing with you, ” said the Hatter. — Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”

This conversation from the other side of the looking glass creates in me a very strong sense of deja vu…. Many of the conversations I’ve had while acting as a tutor to my peers sounded just like this, only we were discussing mathematics, which makes it that much scarier…. But, it also highlights the problem for those of us who act as tutors to our peers, relating back to the original quote…. When teaching others, you must find the right mode of speech, the right way to approach the student in a way that they can comprehend the lesson…. A good friend sent me a poem yesterday which states the difficulty perfectly (Thanks to Shawna Alexander, who also forgot to send the author’s name…)…..

Which is better?

A genius knows when to dumb it down
A smart man knows when to know nothing
And an idiot can be all three
Well what does that mean?

You’re only as smart as others allow
So if you’re too smart to be understood,
To others your intelligence level goes down
So to truly be a genius you must know when dumbing it down is good

To know nothing isn’t unintelligence
It’s best for different situations
Though very different from a genius,
A smart man recognizes when on his knowledge to put limitations

An idiot is in the best position,
Because it’s second nature for them to put it in layman’s terms
An idiot has the best potential for genius if it’s his intention
And being an idiot is how others feel their intelligence is confirmed

Thus we can see that in order to successfully teach, one must be flexible enough in their own persona to be able to assume the characteristics that will ensure a successful lesson, by speaking to the student at their level of understanding, and by fooling them into using their mind to think with, rather than just using it to find their way home every night….

“Neither man nor woman can be worth anything until they have discovered that they are fools. The sooner the discovery is made the better, as there is more time and power for taking advantage of it.” — William Lamb Melbourne
__________________________________

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but hasn’t the fine line between sanity and madness gotten finer?” — George Price

The answer to that would be a resounding “Yes!”…. Well, you can tell the Pulitzer Committee to stand down; we won’t be needing them to meet in special chambers to award this any prizes….. But, it’s not exactly the worst Pearl ever created, either. It has the distinctly advantageous quality that I so admire in a Pearl, which is to say, it’s done, and I’m not doing it over…. Y’all will just have to chew it up the way it is; swallowing is optional…… I’ve done enough damage for one day, so….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

–
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Plainly, it isn’t wise to bump OR grind….

Posted on March 20, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
While it is true that I did travel there at one time, the stories that have been circulating regarding my, allegedly, legendary trip to Kansas have been exaggerated to an extreme…. I left no broken hearts, or heads, behind, no dead bodies were found in my hotel room, nobody got married, pregnant, or abandoned, and that dwarf wasn’t even looking for me! And, while I’ll admit I was talking to the old lady with the dog and the pony, it isn’t true I was trying to retain their services; that pimp wasn’t even in the room with us!…. The reporter just got mad because I lied to him about the priest…. So, you can just put aside your shock and disgust, as none of it actually happened, and if it did, it wasn’t my fault! It was those damned girl scouts, with their damned cookies!….

Hi there….. Regarding that first paragraph: you may ignore it at will…. No excuses, and no complaints, I guess. I wrote it pre-coffee, so I can’t put the same expectations on it that are valid post-salvation. Given that stricture, it isn’t too bad, all in all, though I think I could have been a bit more graphic in the line about the dwarf…. a dwarf is always good for some laughs, but you’ve got to use good imagery, or you lose the total effect of the contrast in their overall appearance when interacting with, shall we say, less fascinatingly grotesque creatures, such as ourselves….. In my opinion, I could have been clearer in my expression there…. Oh well, tomorrow’s another day, and the dwarf is on retainer….

Now what? Here we are, three paragraphs in, and, so far, nothing is manifesting itself for inclusion. I’m beginning to think I’m going to have to just break down and write a template introduction, that I can just plug in each day at the start, to get me moving, in SOME direction, if not on a specific vector…. You know, something like, “Here’s today’s news,,,,”, or, “Another day dawns without hope here in America….,”, or, “OMG, shut that window, NOW!”…. You know, something gripping, that will pull ffolkes in without hurting or insulting them, and lead them gently into the body of the Pearl…. I’ve considered this idea for some time now; it’s an attractive one, that could conceivably save me a lot of time and worry over getting the intro done…..

But, what fun would that be? I think part of what I enjoy about blogging like this is the freedom I feel to NOT restrain myself in such ways, to allow myself the mental freedom to go anywhere my crafty little grey cells want to go, and say whatever I want to say, within the bounds of good taste and compassion… I do skate a bit close to the edge of the one about good taste, so it’s good for me to keep watch on that….. and if I cop out and make a template, that sense of alertness might get dulled from disuse….. All of our mental strengths are exactly like muscles, and will grow soft and useless if not exercised, so it’s good for me in that sense to have to be creative, in a small way, each morning, first thing….

Plus, it gives me the opportunity each morning to put together five or six of these nonsensical gems, full of absolutely diddly squat (hmm… Spell Checkers are funny… it didn’t like “diddly”, but was okay with “squat”… Oh, right, that’s actually a word… What, they’ve never heard of Bo Diddly?….never mind…), which I find to be both a good warm-up for the typing fingers, and a good warm-up of the grey cells, giving the coffee a chance to work its magic before I get into anything serious (And, as long as I can avoid the use of too many parenthetical comments in one paragraph)…. Yesterday’s intro, which grew into a pretty good-sized rant, happened for just that reason, to wit: I got into what I was writing before the coffee was fully on board….. a dangerous habit to form….

Why look! What’s this? I do believe it’s happened again! I’ve found another complete intro section, just laying here, ready to go…. What do you know about that? Now, don’t get all antsy, and upset with me…. SOMETHING has to go in this section, so what’s wrong with some deliberate nonsense, and a bit of prattle? Nothing, that’s what… Besides, it’s all finished now, so you won’t have to try to figure out if it will ever get anywhere significant…. It won’t. It’s done, It’s time to dive…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“Better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a lamb.” — Smart Bee

I’m in a mood today, one that, if typical of such, will not yield to any sort of alteration or modification into something less abrasive, or more tasteful… In other words, I don’t know why, but I feel like biting somebody. I have no reason to feel this way; all is proceeding quite smoothly in my life just now, pretty much, so I don’t have any really good reasons to feel grumpy.

No excessive pain going on, money and food are in the house, computer’s functioning well, as is the internet service. I have plenty of reading material, and I just finished watching all seven Harry Potter movies last night. I could ask for fewer sirens at night stopping just up the block, but, alas, there is nothing I can do about my neighbors’ behavior late in the evenings…. My lady friend isn’t feeling well, but, I think, and hope, she will feel better, so I’m only worried a little about that, not enough to cause a grump….

I could also ask for Social Security to move a bit faster, but, they have already shown me over the last two years what their typical pace is…. Their bureaucracy’s automatic cruise control is set at “crawl”, and isn’t going to go any faster anytime soon. I received verbal confirmation of my approval for benefits on Tuesday, the 12th, when the caseworker told me she would be sending out a packet of information for me, with the notice of the granting of my appeal of their original denial (long story….)…

Any who, that was eight days ago, so, I speculated, then, that she might send out the information the next day, or perhaps on Thursday, and I would receive it a couple days later. The office from which the packet is to be sent is here in the same town, so I thought, hmm, two days to go 30 blocks would be a reasonable estimate, even for the USPS, for a 10 X 12 inch envelope…. HAH! So much for speculation about the USPS…. Serves me right for assuming ANYTHING…. Especially for assuming normal behavior from an organization that has already proven to be broken, and abnormally anomalous, or anomalously abnormal, or both….

I suppose I’ve found why I’m grumpy, as these last two paragraphs show on whom my subconscious is placing the blame, squarely…. So, before I give Ms. H., my new case worker at SS a call, to ask WHEN she might be sending the stuff to me, I’m going to put together a pearl, with a specific type of pearls in mind for the search process… those that bring me peace of spirit in some way…. Enjoy!…. Oh, and, given my tendency to not be able to shut myself up, I’ll put any thoughts that occur to me about the pearls in parentheses, which is as usual as it probably is annoying….

“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” — Agatha Christie

“1 four letter word is sometimes worth 1000 pictures.” — Smart Bee

(Which may be why there are so many of them….. We humans are nothing if not hilariously and prolifically vulgar….)

“In the midst of the word he was trying to say,
In the midst of his laughter and glee,
He had softly and suddenly vanished away
– for the Snark *was* a Boojum, you see.”

– Lewis Carroll, The Hunting of the Snark

POETRY, n. A form of expression peculiar to the Land beyond the Magazines. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

(Ambrose was a Grand Master of Sarcasm, and a social critic of immense genius…. )

” What is it the Bible teaches us? – rapine, cruelty, and murder. What is it the Testament teaches us? – to believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a woman engaged to be married, and the belief of this debauchery is called faith.” — Thomas Paine — The Age of Reason

( Sorry, sometimes I can’t help myself…. This one isn’t particularly soothing to most ffolkes, or folks, nor is it part of the connective tissue for this pearl; it just sounded like something I might use for a rant some day, and I saved it before I could stop myself….. Just ignore it, please, or set it aside for later perusal… Thank you for your cooperation….)

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” — Albert Einstein

“Not to laugh, not to lament, not to curse, but to understand.” — Spinoza

I don’t know about y’all, but, after those last two, I’m soothed…. Okay, okay, we’re going! No need to shove!….
__________________________________

Here is an obscure little poem from Keats; I like it, which is all it needs to get included here…. but, it’s also a nice example of classical romanticism, with precise cadence and rhyming, and very personal imagery… I hope you enjoy it, as I do….

A Dream, After Reading Dante’s Episode Of Paolo And Francesca

As Hermes once took to his feathers light,
When lulled Argus, baffled, swooned and slept,
So on a Delphic reed, my idle spright
So played, so charmed, so conquered, so bereft
The dragon-world of all its hundred eyes;
And seeing it asleep, so fled away,
Not to pure Ida with its snow-cold skies,
Nor unto Tempe, where Jove grieved a day;
But to that second circle of sad Hell,
Where in the gust, the whirlwind, and the flaw
Of rain and hail-stones, lovers need not tell
Their sorrows. Pale were the sweet lips I saw,
Pale were the lips I kissed, and fair the form
I floated with, about that melancholy storm.

~~ John Keats
__________________________________

“We are the protagonists and authors of our own drama. It is up to us; there is no one left to blame. Neither the system, not our leaders, nor our parents. We can’t go out and hang the first amoeba.” — Rebecca McClen Novick

Oh. My. Goodness. This is the perfect quotation for a rant on global warming, or overpopulation, or climate change, or any of the other immediate threats to our species’ survival one may consider. It begins at exactly the correct point to have a discussion about what might be done, for whatever can be done, can only be done when people admit the need, which, obviously, entails accepting the responsibility for causing it in the first place… Duh!….

But, as I said above, I’m in a mood, which isn’t the time to start ranting…. Outrage is necessary, and a touch of anger to fuel the outrage…. but, in a mood like this, I would likely get vicious, and lose track of what I promised to keep track of, to wit: good taste…. Instead, I’ll do what I always do in such situations, and fall back on yet another old-school pearl… I’ll make it a short one, with only five aphorisms, as small as I can find, on the subject at hand, again to wit: Our own particular brand of human foolishness, or, as I labeled it many years ago, the Principle of Bozoid Tendencies…..

“If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.” — George Bernard Shaw

“These round things Asur has attached to his sled: they take the wood away from the Earth-Mother, they make it move too fast; they turn around and round in a strange, e-ville fashion. Indeed, they are ungodly, and Asur should be stoned to death forthwith.” — Translated from proto-Indo-European — scratched on clay tablets, circa 6500 BC

“I haven’t committed a crime. What I did was fail to comply with the law.” — David Dinkins (Mayor, New York City) — Answering accusations that he failed to pay his taxes.

“Yes, many primitive people still believe this myth…But in today’s technical vastness of the future, we can guess that surely things were much different….. I think we’re all Bozos on this Bus!” — The Firesign Theater

“An INK-LING? Sure — TAKE one!! Did you BUY any COMMUNIST UNIFORMS??” — Zippy the Pinhead

Well, there you go…. Perhaps I should have known better…. Ah well, at least it’s all over now, but for the shouting….
__________________________________

I’ll try not to shout so loudly it will awaken those who decided to nap early….. I probably should be ashamed, but, I’m not being paid for any of this, so I have nothing to feel ashamed about, other than the entire content herein…. Too late now, I’m committed…. Or, will be, once I go back and proof it…. which, I will now do, in the interests of getting something else, anything at all, done today…..

It isn’t often I can write myself speechless…. but, there is a first time for everything, I suppose…. Here it is, such as it is…. WYSIWYG, and that’s the truth….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

–
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Dragons seldom require advice…..

Posted on March 2, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
It is an old threat, but, if I ever find that guy, I will make damn sure he spends the rest of his short life regretting he ever lived….. What guy, you may ask? Well, actually, its a whole slew of guys, each as problematic as the next. They all inhabit this planet, but, as far as I can see, that is their only claim to any relation to other humans, because they just don’t make the grade when it comes to species loyalty, or, as a preacher would call it, morality. All of these men, and the occasional woman (generally brain-damaged) all spend their days working against the best interest of humanity at large, though their words may say otherwise…..

Yes, it’s once again time for some ranting against the BRC. In the last days, I’ve been somewhat preoccupied with other matters, and haven’t had the right degree of angst to rant. Since the election last year, most of the politicos are keeping a low profile, as far as possible. Oh, the POTUS is busy challenging the GOP, graciously trying to slip in a few reforms, and the GOP is busy maintaining their image as clueless white assholes, while the rest of us are trying to get on with living our lives without their interference.

Mostly, though, it’s been pretty quiet on the political front, if you don’t count the gun control issue (which has been raging for well over 200 years without a rational resolution….) (please, note the use of the word rational…. that is the single reason political entities will never find any such solution, as they are constitutionally incapable of that condition of mind, or of achieving any such results…. it just isn’t in them to do so….), and the economic shenanigans being played out this month….

So, I haven’t spent more than a minimum of time picking at them, since it wasn’t very interesting stuff, anyway. I’m hoping for one of them to make some really idiotic remark that I can use as a springboard, so I’ll peruse the news (hey, say that out loud…. it’s a neat little rhyme….) to see if there are any eligible remarks by a pundit, or a talking head. It usually doesn’t take more than a day or two for one of them to say something really dumb, so we’ll see what we see…. Maybe even today…. I’m tired of picking at the priestly hierarchies, and talking about global warming and overpopulation, so I’ll take a few shots at the idiots in Washington D.C. for a while…. I’m looking forward to a little fun….

Now, be aware, this may or may not happen today. I will remind you that Pearls, and pearls, are dependent on the availability of pearls, and on the nature of those pearls. (I know, a bit confusing…. just stay with me, it will get better….) So, if Smart Bee is in the right mood, or there is a good headline worth stealing, I’ll jump on it for a politirant…. (yes, I just made that word up….), as opposed to a religirant (twice, how handy!). We could conceivably end up with both, or neither, as both are likely to appear at times. But, I’ll be keeping my eye on the asses who make their money off the people by governmental decree as opposed to tithing, to ascertain where my shots might be most effective…..

As usual, though, I’ve rambled through several paragraphs of meandering conversation, while the day keeps getting older. Since I’ve already consumed the greater portion of the intro section for this, I should go for my dive, and get this slow on the road. Which I will now proceed to do…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

What we have here is a typical Pearl in the making…. that means I have no idea whatsoever of where it is headed. I’ve ranted in the intro, a bit, then wrote a politirant in the third section, to keep the two separate. I don’t wish to completely numb your minds with another rant, so I’m going with a random old-school pearl, in hopes of getting a worthy group to go along with the rest of today’s post. You are, no doubt, hoping I can find a good group, too, to help you stay awake…. so, here you go….

“If you can’t annoy somebody, there’s little point in writing.” — Kingsley Amis

Thou shalt not get caught. — The Eleventh Commandment

“My atheism, like that of Spinoza, is true piety towards the universe and denies only gods fashioned by men in their own image, to be servants of their human interests.” — George Santayana

“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

“Do you think there’s a God?” “Well, SOMEbody’s out to get me!” — Calvin & Hobbes

“You are old,” said the youth, “as I mentioned before,
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door –
Pray what is the reason of that?”

“In my youth,” said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
“I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment — one shilling the box –
Allow me to sell you a couple?”

– Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”

“Hello. Just walk along and try NOT to think about your INTESTINES being almost FORTY YARDS LONG!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

There you go…. a rather eclectic group, but well seasoned, I think…. Enjoy!
__________________________________

For some reason, when I’ve been ranting, I turn to Emily Dickinson to soothe my spirit, though her work is not always soothing. This one is merely deeply insightful, as well as a good example of her unique style and viewpoint…. She always takes my mind away….. She also never used titles, so her poems are generally referred to by the first line…. In that vein, here is….

I measure every grief I meet
With analytic eyes;
I wonder if it weighs like mine,
Or has an easier size.

I wonder if they bore it long,
Or did it just begin?
I could not tell the date of mine,
It feels so old a pain.

I wonder if it hurts to live,
And if they have to try,
And whether, could they choose between,
They would not rather die.

I wonder if when years have piled–
Some thousands–on the cause
Of early hurt, if such a lapse
Could give them any pause;

Or would they go on aching still
Through centuries above,
Enlightened to a larger pain
By contrast with the love.

The grieved are many, I am told;
The reason deeper lies,–
Death is but one and comes but once
And only nails the eyes.

There’s grief of want, and grief of cold,–
A sort they call ‘despair,’
There’s banishment from native eyes,
In sight of native air.

And though I may not guess the kind
Correctly yet to me
A piercing comfort it affords
In passing Calvary,

To note the fashions of the cross
Of those that stand alone
Still fascinated to presume
That some are like my own.

~~ Emily Dickinson
__________________________________

“He who imitates evil always goes beyond the limits of the example, whereas he who imitates what is good, always falls short.” — Confucius

Perfect! If ever a quote could be applied to fit one group of people, this one would; it fits the folks who occupy elected office in this country like the proverbial glove. Ooh! Ooh! Here’s another one…

“Ignorance: When you don’t know something and somebody finds it out.” — Jethro Burns

Okay, that’s a good start…. Now, we all know that politicians lie to us…. It’s what we’ve taught them to do, by our calm acceptance of all the other lies they’ve told, from the very beginning. We expect them to lie… then, when we catch them at it, there is this huge public outcry, as if it had never happened before.

Sometimes, the behavior of the American public toward the political beast reminds me of a shark…. to wit: no memory of the past to slow down their willingness to rush into dangerous situations….. For millions of years, sharks and dolphins have lived together in the oceans. For just about all that time, whenever a shark attacks a dolphin, it gets killed, unless the dolphin is injured in some way, or, it is a baby inadvertently left alone. Always, if things are even, the shark dies, because the dolphins are smarter, and faster swimmers.

After millions of years, you would think the sharks might learn to let them alone, but, they don’t, which is evidence of their lack of ability to learn. The American voting public has the same problem…. they never learn to expect to be lied to, and always seem surprised to learn that their elected officials are, shall we say, less than perfectly honest? It, quite frankly, drives me nuts…. What is it about people that does that to them? Why are they so unwilling to use the mind that sits between their ears, rather than just carrying it around from toilet to toilet, which is all most folks seem to do with it? (Almost forgot it was a question….) I wish I knew….

“There is one way to find out if a man is honest–ask him. If he says yes, you know he is crooked.” — Groucho Marx

I’m starting to feel a bit of anger, actually, and I have a hard time not letting it out on the voting public, the idiots. But, it really isn’t all their fault, as the people who run for office are the ones who are actively imitating evil, and, obviously, exceeding the limits of their example. And the voting public can’t help never being able to quite reach the good for which they reach. This is why I get angry about it…. The folks who run for office tell the public they are going to work for the people when they are elected; we all know they are lying, but we elect them anyway. Now, how stupid is that? Pretty stupid, in my book…..

On the one hand, the stupidity displayed by the politicians is deliberate, in its adherence to principles of theft and prevarication; on the other hand, the stupidity displayed by the voting public is, perhaps, not deliberate, but at minimum, misguided, and, ultimately, just as evil, in placing its trust in evil people. In the dispassionate view held by the universe, stupid is as stupid does, and the sentence of death is the same for both types of stupidity, deliberate and unconscious. It doesn’t care about why, it only looks at results….

What can be done about this? Not a damn thing…. Not only do I find that most people are unconsciously stupid, but they are stubborn about it, even when it is clear how being stupid is hurting them. Rather than use their minds to find a new way of dealing with these issues, they retreat into platitudes and dogma, and run right back out to vote for another idiot who promises them manna from heaven, or, more accurately, from Washington D.C. If confronted with their idiocy, they become even more stubborn, as they are unwilling to accept they might be wrong, and refuse to either examine any evidence of being wrong, or, will deny its existence altogether.

The politicians, who choose to live in stupidity, by lying and cheating and stealing from their own people, don’t even WANT to choose otherwise. Why should they? They’ve got it easy, with a ready supply of host bodies on which to practice their symbiotic parasitism, a body that not only accepts all their lies, but encourages them to even further depredations with their complete acquiescence with whatever the politicos want. All the politicians have to say is that the public is in danger, from this, that, or the other, and the public will allow them to do whatever they choose, as long as they feel safe from whatever fictional fantasy they have been told is dangerous…..

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift; the rational mind is faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” — Albert Einstein

It’s an interesting spectacle to observe from the sidelines, but it arouses in me a strong feeling of sadness, with the anger underlying, as I watch, day after day, as so many millions of foolish people get taken advantage of by a few assholes. It definitely makes me want to buy a gun, even though I would only use it if pressed; I have a feeling I may get pressed some day, if I continue to make noise about all this.

I’m fairly well protected thus far by a lack of notoriety; the BRC and the PTB aren’t going to worry about me until I have an audience a lot larger than a couple of hundred folks, of which perhaps fifty regularly read my work. If what I am saying began to gain popularity, and was being read by millions, I’d be in danger; until then, I’m as safe as I can make myself with the tools at hand… which, if I say so myself, are not entirely inconsequential…. If I said any more, I’d be giving away my precautions, and that wouldn’t do, so, just rest assured… I am ready to deal with anything short of assault weapons, with what I have on hand…..

“Many, if not all, of my presidential opponents are certifiable idiots.” — Miriam Defensor Santiago — The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 1993

See? I’m not completely alone! Actually, if you pay close attention, you will note this was uttered by a politician, about their peers, so it really doesn’t count as support of what I’m saying here. What, exactly am I saying here? Hmm, okay, since I’ve already written about 1200 words or so on this, it’s a good place to wind it up…. so, here goes…

Ffolkes, you are being lied to, daily, and hourly, by those who have been elected to office to look out for your interests. I hate to tell you, but those folks never intended to do anything of the sort. So, it would be a good thing if everybody in this country would OPEN THEIR FUCKING EYES AND GET A DAMN CLUE!!!!!….. I don’t think I can say it any clearer than that….. That’s all, for now…..

“Ignorance kills daily. “– Smart Bee
__________________________________

Well, maybe it’s not Hemingway-esque, but, it’s certainly gigoidal…. Gee, this making up words is really cool! Any who, I’m done for now; I’ve created all the confusion I can in 2500 words or more, so I’ll go try to find some trouble to cause out in the Big Blue Room.

I’ll be facing a dangerous situation later, as the library is having its annual used book sale, and I have money in my pocket…. I have a feeling, if I attend the sale, that last part won’t be true when I get home…. I’m a sucker for books, especially on sale, cheap…. I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s effort…. it certainly was….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

–
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Scintillating displays of lug nut fasteners….

Posted on February 23, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Have you ever seen one of those silly little toy poodles, or a cockapoo, for heaven’s sake, trying to mate with a big dog? No? Hmm, me neither. Oh well, I was going to ask you a question, but, since you’ve never seen it,… Never mind….

Don’t ask, you DEFINITELY don’t want to know…. In fact, forget the above paragraph even exists…. I beg of you. If word of stuff like that gets out, I could lose my writer’s hack license….. then how would I eat? Oh, wait, it doesn’t pay me anything to write….. Well, never mind that, too….

Let’s hope third time is a charm…. We’ll try this…. Good morning! It looks to be another nice day here in California, and we’re all looking forward to the local flea and farmer’s market (or is that farmer’s flea market?…) at the center of the downtown area later today. There’s word there may be clowns…. so, keep the children and women at home, come on down, and take a few shots yourself! They allow the use of live ammo, and no penalties for collateral damages to local business, even if a clown crashes through their display window while trying to get away….

You don’t mean to tell me your town doesn’t have clown shoots? Hell, we’ve been holding them here every week for years, and the state government hasn’t ever bothered us about permits or anything. We have a direct line to the Barnum & Bailey winter HQ, where they’re happy to provide us with a number of their most nimble specimens each week, as they tend to breed like, well, clowns, when they’re in winter quarters, and they always have more lying around than they need themselves. It works out well for everyone, even the clowns, as they are fed & kept warm right up until they’re released for the shooting events….. Why, they even provide them lazy suckers with free noses!…..

Okay, my whimsy button got stuck, sorry…. I couldn’t seem to come up with anything remotely interesting to start with, so I just let my whimsy out, intending to allow it a few moments to play…. but it got stuck on some dried up Peanut Butter, and threatened to go on for quite a few paragraphs…. which COULD have been disastrous, given the tendency clowns have of getting into EVERYTHING while looking for spare jokes or hand-shake buzzers. It’s all good now, though; I think I’ve got them back in the bottle. I was afraid there for a moment, but, it worked out okay…. Nobody got squirted, did they? Good, there were more lapel flowers in that herd than was safe….

Now that I am thoroughly ashamed of myself, I will try to find the proper attitude of atonement, so the rest of this Pearl doesn’t crash and burn…. I’ve obviously pissed of the gods of literature, and must be punished. I’ll go abase myself at the altar of Smart Bee, and see if that doesn’t appease them at least a little…. I don’t know, they’re a tough room…. Oh well, little choice now…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

Smart Bee is a very interesting piece of software… a database of over a hundred thousand quotes, poems, excerpts from historical documents, entries from the Devil’s Dictionary, and numerous other fascinating bits of information. In addition to the quotes, aphorisms, and proverbs that provide me with subject matter for rants and/or discussions, it also provides me with items such as the following useful paragraph. I offer it here, to my fellow authors, as a resource for a phrase that all of us tend to use on occasion, especially those of us who write about politics or religion in modern society, or in history….. it’s quite valuable in that regard, as it gives us a large group of words from which to draw what we need for our purpose…. To wit:

“This “brain-damaged” epithet is getting sorely overworked. When we can speak of someone or something being flawed, impaired, marred, spoiled; batty, bedlamite, bonkers, buggy, cracked, crazed, cuckoo, daft, demented, deranged, loco, lunatic, mad, maniac, mindless, non compos mentis, nuts, Reaganite, screwy, teched, unbalanced, unsound, witless, wrong; senseless, spastic, spasmodic, convulsive; doped, spaced-out, stoned, zonked; {beef, beetle,block,dung,thick}headed, dense, doltish, dull, duncical, numbskulled, pinhead; asinine, fatuous, foolish, silly, simple; brute, lumbering, oafish; half-assed, incompetent; backward, retarded, imbecilic, moronic; when we have a whole precisely nuanced vocabulary of intellectual abuse to draw upon, individually and in combination, isn’t it a little <fill in the blank> to be limited to a single, now quite trite, adjective?” — Smart Bee

See? Now, isn’t that just perfect? Now, when you’re looking for just the right adjective to apply to some random Congressman, or Senator, or Popish sort, and you’re tired of all the ones you’ve been used to using, here is a list that will thrill the heart of any true curmudgeon. I mean, look at it! Complete, creative, and chock full of straight talk about the folks we love to hate.

What isn’t readily apparent is the versatility of this list….. Grab yourself a thesaurus (Roget’s will do….) and you’ve got an even larger universe of words from which to choose, as you can take each of those above, and plug them into the book of synonyms for an expanded list for your use. Handy, eh? And so affordable….

So, in the spirit of public giving, I hope you enjoy this little gift from gigoid, and Smart Bee, and find it to be as useful as I do…. It’s just about as good as using Shakespeare’s insults, which have been compiled in a document worthy of reproducing here…. I found this recently, though I first saw it many years ago, on a WordPress site… THE LITERARY MAN ( http://literaryman.com ), one of the blogs I follow, and had to save it for my own use…. It’s also a valuable resource for anyone who wishes to put someone down in a classic, erudite fashion…. Use it as you will….

__________________________________

À Bas Ben Adhem

My fellow man I do not care for.
I often ask me, What’s he there for?
The only answer I can find
Is, Reproduction of his kind.
If I’m supposed to swallow that,
Winnetka is my habitat.
Isn’t it time to carve Hic Jacet
Above that Reproduction racket?

To make the matter more succinct:
Suppose my fellow man extinct.
Why, who would not approve the plan
Save possibly my fellow man?
Yet with a politician’s voice
He names himself as Nature’s choice.

The finest of the human race
Are bad in figure, worse in face.
Yet just because they have two legs
And come from storks instead of eggs
They count the spacious firmament
As something to be charged and sent.

Though man created cross-town traffic,
The Daily Mirror, News and Graphic,
The pastoral fight and fighting pastor,
And Queen Marie and Lady Astor,
He hails himself with drum and fife
And bullies lower forms of life.

Not that I think much depends
On how we treat our feathered friends,
Or hold the wrinkled elephant
A nobler creature than my aunt.
It’s simply that I’m sure I can
Get on without my fellow man.

~~ Ogden Nash
__________________________________

“I represent a sardine!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

At this point, after reading that line, you might just be wondering if I’ve slipped my leash again…. and, you’d be justified in that thought. However, rest assured, I’m perfectly sane, if somewhat metaphorically, so it’s all good, right? Right…..

Now, such a bald statement from our old pal is liable to make one think at first that he is either kidding (not bloody likely….), or he is currently having hallucinatory delusions of being a seafood lawyer, or fish solicitor, as my British friends would say. While both of those are possible scenarios, similar in nature to Zippy’s previous episodes of verbal gymnastics, neither is correct in this instance, as I happen to know that he is teaching a lesson in metaphorical manipulation, or, as it is commonly known, lying his ass off, to keep you preoccupied while he is doing something else he doesn’t want you to see, or know about…. He’s tricky that way….

I suppose he might be trying to tell us he is a theatrical/literary agent of some sort, and has a sardine who a) has written the next best seller, entitled “The Truth About Tuna”, an exposé of the fishing industry, b) has a voice like Pavarotti, c) juggles three seahorses while riding a motorized wheelchair, or d) paints incredibly lifelike pictures of cruise ships, from an underwater view…. He might, if that is what he meant, but, it isn’t…. It is all just a distraction, a hullabaloo to draw your attention away from his real purpose, which has to do with several cases of motor oil, a rag-time band, two Senators, and a motel out on Route 666….. You really don’t want to know, now, do you?

No, really, ffolkes, I had a reason to show Zippy’s little gem off today, and it was really a good one…. So, it’s really too bad that, by the time I finished with the second paragraph above, I completely lost track of whatever it was I had to say about it….. That, of course, is embarrassing, but not as much as having to turn tail, right in the middle of a pearl, or what SHOULD have been a pearl, and go old school, just to save my ass from complete well, asininity (what else?….)….

So, here is what Smart Bee came up with, and taken together, the pearls all DO have a point…. just don’t ask me what it is, because even if I knew, I don’t think I can be trusted today to say it correctly, or even interpret it accurately…. So, you’re kind of on your own…. Don’t worry, they’re all safe, just pointed a little….Enjoy!….

“Look under enough rocks and you’ll find _something_ slimy” — Smart Bee

“And gentle Dulness ever loves a joke.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Dunciad, Book ii, Line 34

“Don’t edit reality for the sake of simplicity.” — Smart Bee

“No people do so much harm as those who go about doing good.” — Mandell Creighton (1843-1901)

“A thief believes everybody steals.” — E.W. Howe

“I have a feeling that at any time about three million Americans can be had for any militant reaction against law, decency, the Constitution, the Supreme Court, compassion and the rule of reason.” — John Kenneth Galbraith

“My way of joking is to tell the truth. It’s the funniest joke in the world.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

Well, there you have it, such as it is…. Ta then, luvs…..
__________________________________

I’m a bit hesitant to go back over this, but, here goes….. Well…. I seem to have been determined to keep things light today; it’s all covered with a thin coating of insane hilarity, that never quite breaks through into genuine hysteria, but indubitably hovers on the edge of falling over into pathetic silliness. I guess I had to shrug off the heaviness picked up over the last couple of days of processing stress….. Ain’t Life Grand!…..

If nothing else, it might provide y’all with a smile or two, or maybe even a chuckle…. I don’t think you need to worry, though…. I didn’t see anything that should make you blow milk or tea out through your nose from guffawing…. We always have a medical professional on call; they can be here in mere seconds, so no worries, mates…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

–
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Bubba won’t know, he’s a Rotary….

Posted on February 22, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Struggling for emotional control isn’t a new experience, not for those of us who deal with the joys of PTSD. There are times when it is impossible, and tears begin to flow at the drop of an emotion, strong or not. On those occasions, I may as well just go back to bed, because getting anything constructive done will be more effort than its worth. Other times, it’s better, to the extent that it takes more emotional impetus to break my control; those days I spend staying very busy, so that those strong emotions remain below the surface of my attention, thus allowing me a degree of control over any outbreaks of angst and salty water leakage on my face…..

So, it doesn’t surprise me, particularly, to find myself in that latter state this morning, as I spent much of the day there yesterday, and it seemed to work okay…. I got through the day without any major mishaps; no casualties, or injuries requiring stitches, and, thankfully, no major breakdowns in public. THOSE are a pain in my old butt when they happen, as I’ve always considered myself to be a person who is able to present a calm, equable demeanor to the world, and it’s humiliating to find myself on the sidewalk, waiting for a signal to change, with tears pouring down my face, while I fight back sobs….

That image doesn’t exactly fit in with my own, or, rather, with the one I would hope to present to the world at large. Unfortunately, it does fit in with my state of mind when some kind of emotional storm is produced by some stressful news, or a stressful experience of any kind, and it’s something I need to either cure, or learn to cope with, as it isn’t going to go away on its own. How I will do that remains, at least at this point, a mystery to me…. which doesn’t bode well for the immediate future….. Stop right there…..

Okay, I caught myself, so that’s good…. I was about to fall into a mind trap of my own making, one I’ve encountered previously….. I was allowing my depressive feelings to color my judgment, and using that coloration to fuel the depression itself. If I continue in that vein, I would soon be blubbering, and lost in sadness and angst for the rest of the day, so I’m glad I realized what I was doing….. I do have a tendency to let myself indulge in such maudlin depression sometimes, and fall into the trap of not seeing how I’m keeping myself there…. It takes a while sometimes for me to catch up to myself, and dig my way out, so I’m glad I realized where I was headed, and took that hard turnaround in the last paragraph…..

Okay, so here’s where we ended up….. it’s all crap, but it’s five plus paragraphs of fair prose, if somewhat querulous in subject matter, and presentation, so I’m going to let the intro fly the way it is…. We’ll go on from here, to the daily dive, into the incredibly vast ocean of human thought, and see if I can’t find something a bit less peevish, and a bit more erudite about which to write…. as our old friend and incurable optimist, John Carter, said, on the occasion of his first trip to Mars….. “While I live, there is hope!”…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Albert, though absolutely correct in his assessment of the danger of atomic war, was somewhat premature in this prediction of the form our doom will take. He, himself, were he alive today, would probably agree that we now face a much graver, if no less permanently fatal, danger, one with even more grave consequences for humanity than an atomic holocaust. There is a possibility, slim though it may be, that we could survive an atomic war, though civilization would be in greatly reduced circumstances. The danger we now face is worse, in that it allows no possibility whatsoever that we will survive it at all….. None….

I’m referring, of course, to the effects of global warming, and the continuing assault on the environment made inevitable by human greed and avarice, and to humanity’s massive denial of the facts that are being shoved in our faces. This denial is so strongly entrenched that it prevents most people from even looking at the evidence that is available, because, mostly, they don’t WANT to see it. It makes them afraid to even think about the subject, so they refuse to do so, in spite of the fact that doing so will eventually cause their demise, as well as that of everyone, and everything, they hold dear….

I spend a lot of time, and words, on trying to convince people that this issue is not one that is going to go away, and will not be solved by ignoring, or by denying, its presence. I try to always point out that none of my predictions are confined to this blog, that there is ample scientific evidence, freely available, online, or in libraries, and news reports, that shows very clearly just how little time we have left to stop our depredations on the environment, and that demonstrates quite plainly how critical it is to find some way to correct the damage we’ve done. Otherwise, there is absolutely no doubt at all that we, as a species, will join the ranks of the Dodo, and the T-Rex, and all the other promising life forms that once existed on Earth, that are now extinct.

If you have, or know of, any evidence to the contrary, I hope you will be kind enough to show me where I can look at it; I would be thrilled to find some hopeful data on the subject. However, I’m fairly confident no one will take me up on that, because, to my extensive knowledge, there is no such evidence, so it would be hard to produce out of thin air…. which is what we all will be breathing in the relatively near future….

Normally, at this point, I’d go into my usual rant about the responsible parties in this mess, to wit: the Beloved Ruling Class, otherwise known as the 1%, or the Corporate Masters and their Pious Lackeys, the Priestly Hierarchies and Political Hacks…. They hide behind their private estate, or bureaucratic, or sacred, reinforced concrete walls, and watch, as the rest of us labor on their behalf, as the atmosphere continues to become overloaded with millions of tons of particulate matter every second, and the oceans are filled up with toxic unnatural substances that cannot be destroyed, or eaten, or otherwise used to enhance life. Our planet is being turned into a refuse dump, and we are about to lose our jobs as subsidized scavengers…..

Today, however, I’m reserving my anger for the Universe at large, for its cruel, dispassionate treatment of me and my family, so I don’t want to take the time for my usual indictment of those assholes…. Besides, there’s always tomorrow, right? I can say that now, and maybe for a time, but, I won’t be able to always say it…. We have been served our final notice of eviction ffolkes, and, any folks listening in…. The landlord, a lady by the name of Gaia, is tired of our constant degradation of the property, and wishes us to vacate, so they can repaint, and put down new carpets…..

“You know,” he added very gravely, “it’s one of the most serious things that can possibly happen to one in a battle — to get one’s head cut off.” — Lewis Carroll, “Through the Looking-Glass”
__________________________________

Random Visions/Coloring Between the Lines of Grief

Everywhere is dark, and shining,
with points in dissonant pain.
Sharp, senses dull past divining,
tears burn, a torrential rain.

Escape! Flee within to cower,
find an unconscious cave.
Call on Morpheus’ power
deny reality’s beckoning wave.

Light breaks, drawing the inner eye,
leading to the slippery slope.
Risk is critical, we may only sigh,
yet welcome, for bringing hope.

Sanity seems far out of reach
Insanity’s a stronger friend.
Decisions made will merely teach
our way toward Death to wend.

Lost, while still on familiar ground,
the future yet undesigned.
Making way on paths unfound,
to Now, as yet undefined.

~~ gigoid
__________________________________

“Know that which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy the imperishable soul.” — Bhagavad Gita (c. B.C. 400)

I first read the Bhagavad Gita when I was about 17, and, along with the Tao Teh Ching, it has had a profound effect on my life, and the attitudes I bring to living it. The above verses are what led me to my belief in the mind’s immortality, as a form of energy like any other in this Universe, thus, subject to the Law of Conservation of Energy. This has served to remove the fear from Death for me, as I am now able to view it as a mere change of form, to one whose characteristics I do not know, or remember, from previous changes. (How would you know you were alive, unless you had once been dead?) Once fear is removed, Death becomes just another part of living, and is welcome as such, for the inherent beauty it possesses as the complement to Life…..

“All anger arises out of obstructed desire.” — Bhagavad Gita

This is the second verse from the book that I found to be extremely valuable in learning to live with dignity, with honor, and without fear. This statement, by its very nature, implies that our anger is under our control, placing it into our bag of assets to be used when needed, rather than in our bag of liabilities, or, emotions that keep us from reaching our potential as humans, like fear, anger, greed, etc….. Fear can be seen as the desire to be safe from harm, obstructed, and thus comes under the aegis of our emotions that can be changed, by merely changing our desire…. By learning to deal with fear, anger becomes our ally, rather than our enemy…..

In turn, these two principles, when used conjointly, give us the emotional freedom to make clear decisions about reality’s demands and issues, without our emotional responses coloring the decisions with their negative outlook, and tendency toward denial and obstruction. We become immune, or at least, indifferent, to the emotional storms that plague most people’s minds and hearts, for we know how to adjust our attitudes to suit the conditions under which we find ourselves, instead of falling prey to letting the circumstances dictate our response. True freedom, indeed…

Today, when I found this, I was immediately reminded of all of these ideas; concepts I had lost track of in the distractions of living. As I remembered, the pain and anger I’ve been feeling since hearing the news of my brother’s illness fell away, no longer able to sustain their hold over my emotions. I am once more able to see how this is not an issue to be angry about, but rather one to use as an opportunity to grow, and to perhaps be able to give my brother the love and support he needs, despite what he may want, in his own grief…. He is afraid, and trying to keep from either showing, or sharing that fear with his family, and I won’t allow him to die that way, or to be without his family, when it is so unnecessary…..

So, I am feeling better in that respect, and though I am still filled with sadness, I know now that is just my own self-pity, feeling sorry for myself for having to face HIS death, which reminds me of my own…. Grief is, in truth, misplaced in looking at death, and in reality is more of a solace for the living, than it is a tribute to the dead; our grief is more a feeling of loss in ourselves than it is sorrow for their passing. But, it is not a time for sadness, ultimately, but rather a chance to acknowledge the beauty of a Universe that gives us this opportunity to experience the change in our consciousness….

I’m betting that when we change over, we are in a place where our minds are much more in tune with the very base of reality, and able to direct the formation of the next form it takes…. Hey, that makes as much sense as any of the other suggestions of what happens that I’ve heard, and has the advantage of fitting the facts of observable, recordable reality, pretty precisely….. and if I’m wrong, well, I’ll deal with that when I get there….

I’ll tell you this quite frankly…. if the Christians are right, or the Muslims, or any of the other organized institutional churches, then I will definitely have a few words for whatever is passing itself off as God, to answer for the actions of His/Her/Its followers…. and I won’t be taking any BS for a response….

“And now there is merely silence, silence, silence, saying all we did not know.” — William Rose Benet
__________________________________

Well, I don’t know about y’all, but I feel MUCH better…. Proof positive, better out than in…. Ffolkes, what we have here is a Pearl of Virtual Wisdom, of the finest grade, shiny and new, and all original, outside the few short quotes…. Get it while it’s still steaming! Me, I’m gonna go enjoy the sunshine, while I can…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

–
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Subtle signs of imminent success….

Posted on February 19, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
As the author of the original Theory of Bozoid Tendencies, it is not unknown for me to provide entertainment to the world at large, by acting out my own particular brand of nose-honking, giant-shoe wearing, pie-throwing hilarity. I didn’t, however, expect to find myself in the position of having my own brain commit a mental screw-up of such major proportion as to challenge Barnum & Bailey for the most clownish activity in a single event, all for the sake of a rant that would otherwise have been overlooked as being pretty tame, compared to some that have been set free in this venue. However, when the nose grows, you have to let it show….

Ayn Rand is NOT Anais Nin, by any stretch of the imagination; just ask Google, as I should have done…. One wouldn’t think so, anyway, unless they read my rant from yesterday, wherein I completely transposed the two, not just once, but, numerous times. I can only plead E.O.A., a medical condition for which there is no known remedy or cure, other than quasi-voluntary euthanasia…. (E.O.A. = Early Onset Alzheimer’s…) I can also only apologize to the shade of Ms. Nin, who didn’t deserve my accusatory defamation, since the ideas that prompted it belong entirely to Ayn Rand…..

Somehow, in the vast cavern of emptiness that I call my mind, the two names were interchanged, one for the other, and I ran with it all the way to the wrong goal, on the wrong field, in the wrong stadium, in the wrong city, in the wrong country, on the wrong continent, and on the wrong planet…. Other than that, I stand by everything I said…. Embarrassing as all get out, you betcha, but, honoring the truth includes exposing my own transgressions, if I expect to have the right to examine those of others….. Damn it…..

On a more positive note, if nothing else, my literary, and literal, faux pas DID give me a certified excuse to write the above paragraphs ahead of time, (i.e., yesterday….) which I jumped on right away, as it will give me a bit of space in the morning to come up with something appropriate for the intro section, other than the hyper-entropic convolutions I’ve been spewing recently. Not to say they’ve been bad, just frighteningly random, to someone who is fond of their serenity….. and that is probably quite enough of a head start…. everything after this point is fresh; everything before this point is, well, not stale, but not fresh…. you know what I mean….

I’m going to try make it difficult to tell though, so, no worries….. Actually, I’d thought to spend a bit more time apologizing for my foolishness, but, I figure some of y’all got a good laugh out of it, so I can probably get by with what I’ve got so far, without having to worry that guilt will rise up and smite me later on. And now, of course, I’ve begun to babble, James Joyce-style, which means we must be getting near the required number of words and paragraphs to meet the intro standards….. thank goodness!

Not that I was getting nervous or anything, but I’ve already had to wring out my t-shirt twice since starting today, so maybe we should just let all this go, and get on with the true object of today’s post, to wit, some cogent postulations on events in reality. Or, I could take a break here, and let it percolate for a bit….. Nah, it would no doubt get snatched up by Murphy, who would then proceed to change a letter here, a word there, and before I know it, another letter from a lawyer to report more legal action against me….. No, thanks, I’ll just stay right here, and get started on today’s dive for something to chew on…. Shall we Pearl?
__________________________________

Yesterday, on Monday, the 18th, another blogger came by the blog to read my post, and made the comment below…. It was such a compelling comment, I am reproducing it here, verbatim, to attempt to give it the attention it deserves, as a very good question indeed….

“I just finished a book by the NY Times ‘The Ethicist’ called Be Good. It was about how to be ethical in various practical circumstances. It made me realise how little I care about being ethical in many minor ways. Just by living it seems that we inflict suffering – it’s impossible to be completely in the right at all times, or for one’s impact on the world to be only good (car driving, for instance, or milk drinking). So the aim is to minimise the bad rather than eliminate it – every bad thing not done is something to feel slightly better about.???” — butimbeautiful, 2/18/2013

In the final analysis, I agree with the part of this that states that it isn’t possible to be perfect in our attempts to be completely ethical, without entering into the realm of good vs. bad, and having to make a decision that is not exactly the most ethical, or that will cause pain or hurt to another. Sometimes, as is pointed out, we must do so for the sake of our own safety, or for another ethically acceptable reason, but, mostly, it turns out to be a decision based on expediency, or, what is most convenient, or most comfortable, for the person making the decision. Ms. beautiful surmises, then, that the aim should be to minimize the effects, and to accept the karmic burden without guilt over things we cannot control….. if I am reading it right….

I am compelled by my own beliefs to disagree, to a certain extent…. In my mind, ethical perfection is a goal, one that we are constantly trying to reach…. Once we start lowering our own standards in the struggle to reach that goal, we take the risk of allowing this expedience to become an acceptable reason to abrogate our duty; it becomes not an anomalous decision, but a common one, used any time we have our own reasons to not wish to comply with a certain ethical request, or decision to be made. There is an old saw about the “slippery slope” one enters when deciding to make ethical decisions, and this is exactly what it refers to…. taking that first step onto the slope is risky, and often disastrous…..

I think it is better, most of the time, to try to maintain one’s ethical standards, no matter the cost to my own feelings, or to anyone else’s. The respect I gain for myself by doing so can easily outweigh any guilt or discomfort I might feel from having to let my standards down, and makes the effort worthwhile, in my mind. I’m not always going to succeed, as I am human, like everyone else, but, if I can, I will NOT lower my standards for the sake of expedience….

So, I guess what I’m saying is, I agree that we, as humans, cannot always meet the ethical standards we set up for ourselves…. but, it is a mistake to believe that not meeting those standards is okay…. I think that ethical perfection is not only possible, but critical, and the practice of always trying to maintain one’s standards is worth the pain it may cause, both to myself, and to others…. because, in the final analysis, I refuse to give up my self-respect for the sake of expediency, that modern society forces us to confront every day….. Patting myself on the back for NOT doing bad isn’t the same as doing good, no matter how logical it may seem….

In my head, all these arguments and discussions eventually get to a point where the easiest way to express my own thoughts on the matter is to bring in one of my oldest pearls, one I’ve used often, one that fully explains, and fully expresses my feelings on morality and ethics…. I will use it now to finish off this pearl, before it gets any more cumbersome…. just pay attention to this one, as it forms a large part of my own personal view of life, and how it should be lived…..

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants “just a few minutes of your time, please — this won’t take long.” Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!

So learn to say No – and to be rude about it when necessary. Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you. (This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don’t do it because it is “expected” of you.) “

– Lazarus Long, in Time Enough For Love, by Robert Heinlein.
__________________________________

Well, I knew there was a poem floating around in there somewhere…. and, gosh, here it is! I can’t say I’m completely happy with it…. I think in the future, it may grow some more verses…. but, for now, it’s done, so…. what do you think?….

Waiting to Find

Feeling and looking routinely fabulous,
seldom seems as hauntingly ridiculous,
scintillation is hardly more perilous,
or quite as fascinatingly anomalous.

Gaia pales in the face of redundancy,
yet welcomes elemental shades of necromancy,
never failing, episodic bouts of philanthropy,
can often be misconstrued as misanthropy.

It’s all much too fancy,
yet not sufficiently chancy,
to fulfill the promise made for pants.
It can’t be the thyme,
so it must be the rhyme.

~~ gigoid
__________________________________

“In the midst of the word he was trying to say,
In the midst of his laughter and glee,
He had softly and suddenly vanished away
– for the Snark *was* a Boojum, you see.”

– Lewis Carroll, The Hunting of the Snark

I came across this little gem as I cruised Smart Bee this morning, immediately copying and pasting it over here…. but, without any clear idea as to why I did so, beyond its obvious appeal as nonsensical metaphor. So, I’m now sitting here, staring at it, wondering how the hell to turn it into a pearl worth publishing with my name attached to it….. In most cases, it wouldn’t be an issue at all, as I can generally turn nonsense into further nonsense without conscious effort, but, something about this today is tickling my unconscious, and I won’t be able to do anything else until I figure out what that may be….

In one way, what I said about it being a nonsensical metaphor is absolutely correct…. one not even particularly obscure, that could easily be applied to describe the first section of today’s Pearl, at least up until the point of the final pearl’s inclusion. But, as I ponder its deeper significance, I see that it could also be a metaphor for the last three years of my life, if not all of it…. which surprised me to some extent, until I realized that this will help me to endure the waiting I have yet to experience in my quest for disability benefits, at least to the extent of allowing me to see the humor, and irony, that life always includes as part of our package of experiences on this planet.

“.. are the STEWED PRUNES still in the HAIR DRYER?” — Zippy the Pinhead

See, that’s the Snark….. which, given my history with prunes, is more apropos than you can imagine…. but, then, when you consider this….

“I just forgot my whole philosophy of life!!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

…. you will realize, as did I, that this, this is the Boojum, you see….

Now, I realize, at this point, you are having some questions as to my sanity, and may be wondering about when my next dose of medication is due….. but, allow me to assure you, I am quite lucid, and just playing with your head, and mine….

What I’m trying to say here, is that nonsense, and metaphor, have been instrumental in the maintenance of my sanity over the last three years, as I have been compelled by circumstance to watch the state and federal government bureaucracies grind their way to a decision on my disability application.

If it weren’t for Zippy’s wild, yet stabilizing influence on my moods, I’d say it was a distinct possibility that someone would be dead, and I’d be in jail…. or more likely, a mental institution, but this time without the advantage of carrying a key to the outside doors….

However, Zippy does exist, as does Pooh’s evil twin, and any number of other characters who can get me, and keep me, in touch with my bozoid side, where the world is always happy, or at least blissfully ignorant…. Making puns and bad jokes is, I would guess, more socially acceptable than leaving dead bodies strewn over the landscape, so it is a good thing, all in all, that I am in tune with that side of reality, and can use it to protect myself, to a degree, from the depredations of the rest of reality, with its massive indifference to human suffering….

I guess you could say that nonsense and whimsy provide me with the rose colored lenses my glasses need for me to be able to see the world in a form with which I can cope….. long enough for reality to catch up with my plans, and dreams…..

– Bother! said Pooh, as he hacked up a hairball.

__________________________________

Well…. I’m speechless. All I can say is, it’s done, and I don’t know for sure how I feel about that….. I’ve gone back over it once, and still don’t get it… It all sort of hangs together okay…. I don’t know….. Oh, well, it will have to do, as it’s too late now to start over…. besides, no matter what else someone else might say or think, I like the poem, so…. you’ll just have to deal with the rest of it…. I did…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

–
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Oatmeal seems a bit punitive, don’t you think?

Posted on February 9, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
I’d like to take a moment here at the beginning today, to give thanks, for coffee, and so should you…. If it weren’t for the blessed black gold, this would be an entirely different blog, I’m sure, since it is the only thing makes life worth living prior to 7 AM in the morning. Without the blessing of its goodness, I firmly believe the world would be in a state of constant warfare…. seriously.

I know that, for me, having to do without it in the morning is not merely unacceptable, but criminal, and if I didn’t have it within moments of getting out of bed, well, let’s just say the world would regret it…. So, thanks, coffee, for being the world’s peacemaker, and my personal salvation….

Now that we have the daily dose of humility and sardonicism out of the way, we can get on with the regular program, which, sadly, hasn’t been put together yet…. That isn’t unusual around here, as I don’t decide where to go with this until I start writing, and often, even then, haven’t a clue as to what I will come up with. In fact, at this point, I’m writing this about three words ahead, so it is just about as fresh as literature can be…. Of course, there is no way to tell what is going to happen next when I’m in this James Joyce-like frame of mind (you know, stream-of-consciousness writing….), which, given the proclivities of this blog, can lead to some rather surprising places. But, you’re all adults, right?…. If not, well, sorry, you’re on your own….

No, you’re not, I’m not allowed to abandon readers in mid-blog; there are rules. Or, at least, so I’m told…. If there ARE rules to this blogging stuff, I would like to know about them, or how can I effectively break them?…. Hah!… Gotcha! You thought I was going all mundane on you, didn’t you? Well, forget, it, we don’t play that tune here at ECR, so just put it out of your minds, such as they are, and buckle up, because we hate having to scrape passengers off the windshield….

Hmm…. This is getting further and further from any connection to reality, I see…. It’s hard to know just how far I can go when there is no grid for reference. Speaking of references, did you see the news yesterday? Oh, neither did I…. Well, how ’bout that Super Bowl, eh? Lights out!….. No? Hmm…. Okay, I guess I’ll have to break down and admit it…. I’m lost again. I

‘ve written myself right into a corner, with no windows or doors nearby, and can’t find any way to get back on track, without resorting to something silly, like deus ex machina, or some other literary device to bring it back into line with the real world. I don’t want to go there; I promised my Mom I wouldn’t do that sort of thing….

Alright, I give up…. I can’t find the path, so I’m just going to sit down right here, and wait for the rest of the group to catch up. That’s what the Scouts recommend if one is lost in the wilderness, so that you don’t tire out, and preserve energy, as well as make yourself easier to find.

Since I didn’t bring a book, I’ll just sit here and hum, while in my mind, I am searching diligently through Smart Bee, looking for some shiny pearls for discussion…. or maybe it’s the reverse, and I’m actually searching Smart Bee, while I’m sitting quietly in my mind, humming to myself. Either way, this intro section is done, or as done as it is going to get….. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

Been there. Done that. Reincarnated. — Smart Bee

Reincarnation is a fascinating concept, especially given its controversial nature as being in opposition to what is believed by many of the world’s most influential religious systems. Some do, and some don’t believe in it, and I have yet to determine, through either research or luck, just why some do an some don’t…. I mean, I know why, in the sense that it doesn’t fit in with the dogma of those religions that subscribe to an afterlife consisting of harps and clouds, while it does match those that have a clearly different view of what happens after death. No, I mean I don’t understand why….. oh. Wait….

You know, I just realized, as I wrote that last line there, that this is a complete waste of energy and time, and further, is in direct violation of one of my own personal rules of life, for avoiding hassles in same…. That rule says, “Asking why is a waste of time, especially as regards human behavior…. so don’t bother.” It’s an old lesson, and one that I should have realized I was close to breaking before I did, as I’ve had a lot of experience with it in my time. Hell, I’ve had enough time that almost everything is something I’ve had experience with; maybe I can use that as an excuse for missing this time, yes? Well, okay, maybe not…. Still, I can claim a lot on my mind, and nobody can tell me different, so there….

Any who, getting into the “why” of how folks choose their beliefs about a subject as speculative and controversial as reincarnation is bound to be a subject that would entail a great deal of delving into human behaviors that would only serve to frustrate me no end. If there is any area of existence that people are more foolish, or deliberately ignorant about, than such a subject as the afterlife, well, I don’t know what it is. Add to that the very dominant tendency on the part of most people to choose one religious dogma over another, based solely on how much it makes them think (seeking the lesser of two evils, in their minds….), and you get subject matter that can only lead one to drink, to try to get the bitterness and shame out of one’s head….

Me? Hell, I have no idea what will happen when this life ends, not in any specific sense…. I believe that my consciousness, as a form of energy, will not be destroyed, and that part of the universe that manifests as the essence of Ned will merely change form…. to what form I couldn’t say. I can say, though I am in no particular hurry to find out, it sounds like a great adventure, and I’m looking forward to knowing the answers to all the great questions that we humans ask ourselves during our stint on Earth, in the form we currently inhabit, even if those answers aren’t anything like any of the speculative concepts I’ve heard of or seen, or thought of myself…. As Bob Heinlein said, “…. Soon enough, you will know, so why fret about it?”

“He who awaits much can expect little.” — Gabriel Garcia Marquez
__________________________________

My Nose Is Growing Old

Yup.
A long lazy September look
in the mirror
say it’s true.

I’m 31
and my nose is growing
old.

It starts about 1/2
an inch
below the bridge
and strolls geriatrically
down
for another inch or so:
stopping.

Fortunately, the rest
of the nose is comparatively
young.

I wonder if girls
will want me with an
old nose.

I can hear them now
the heartless bitches!

“He’s cute
but his nose
is old.”

~~ Richard Brautigan
__________________________________

Well, ffolkes, I’ve gone and done it now….. or, I’ve tried, anyway. Below you will find an odd number of pearls (odd only in number, not necessarily in content, though that is a value judgment you will have to make….), all of which I chose while riding on the very edge of the conscious/unconscious mind…. That is to say, I let my subconscious pick the pearls while consciously holding a certain thought, or actually a feeling, or maybe it was a vision…. anyway, I held that in the forefront while the sub went diving….

These are the result, and I’m quite pleased with them… The thought/vision/emotion that prompted the outcome is, of course, left as an optional exercise for the Gentle Reader…. though you might be wise, today, to decline. I can’t speak for the potential toxicity of any of this…. Enjoy!

“At the back of our brains, so to speak, there was a forgotten blaze or burst of astonishment at our own existence. The object of the artistic and spiritual life was to dig for this submerged sunrise or wonder; so that a man sitting in a chair might suddenly understand that he was actually alive, and be happy.” — G.K. Chesterton

“Actually, there IS a banana in my pocket…” — Smart Bee

“The more people I meet, the more I like my dog.” — David Paranka

“Maintain thy airspeed, lest the ground rise up and smite thee.” — Smart Bee

And finds, with keen, discriminating sight,
Black ‘s not so black,–nor white so very white.

– George Canning (1770-1827) — New Morality

“What interests me is whether God had a choice when he created the world.” — Albert Einstein

“Curiouser and curiouser!” — Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”

Well, there you have it…. Once again, a fine testament to the power of nonsense, and just plain doubt, in the real world…. Think about it…. or not….
__________________________________

Considering this only took about two hours to produce, I feel fortunate, as I was a bit worried it would take longer, and I’d be rushed to get done before having to go out to deal with my appointment at 10…. an appointment I cannot afford to miss, as it is the LAST doctor I should be required to see for now, with a decision from SS presumably forthcoming, once it is received and integrated.

I am assuming, of course, (dangerous, I know, to assume anything, but justified with federal agencies, as they have many, many priors….) they will do that in their usual snail-like pace; if so, I can hope for a decision of some kind in about six weeks, or maybe eight…. I’m not even going to think about how many desks it has to pass over before that time, as it would only make me more insane…. Since I’m already insane enough, thank you, I’ll just go to the appointment, and then hunker down and try to forget it all…. like that is going to work….

Ah well, don’t want to turn this into a pity party, so, since the rest of it seems to be done, I’ll let this fly, and hope for the best…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

–
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Gigoid, aka Ned Moore, is a 62 year old retired dilettante, who would rather read than eat most days. His first blog, Gigoid's Folly, has been emailed daily, to folks he knows, for about 11 years now. He considers it his best defense against angst. Due to curmudgeon training requirements, he is a reluctant Facebook and Twitter newbie. Other sites where he has published include: http://writinghood.com/writing/who-knew/. http://ned-moore.quazen.com/recreation/food/the-perfect-restaurant/, http://therealowner.com/dogs/an-ode-to-noah/, http://socyberty.com/issues/choosing-ignorance/, http://socyberty.com/issues/the-road-to-extincton/, http://scienceray.com/physics/alberts-persistent-illusion/, Y'all take care out there.....

gigoid

Exploring Consensual Reality

Tag Archives: Lewis Carroll

Twice around the neck should do nicely….

We’ll obfuscate the prepositions after lunch….

Standing by with unqualified operators….

Negative! Do NOT scotch that beezul…..

Plainly, it isn’t wise to bump OR grind….

Dragons seldom require advice…..

Scintillating displays of lug nut fasteners….

Bubba won’t know, he’s a Rotary….

Subtle signs of imminent success….

Oatmeal seems a bit punitive, don’t you think?

Follow “gigoid”

May 2013
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Apr
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31