Monthly Archives: August 2011

Water from a shallow well….

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Ffolkes,
As has been said before, all will be well, and all will be well. Serendipity is alive and well in the world! I’ve just reestablished contact with a young man from Beijing, whom I met when I was there in 2004. He was student working part time for the company that helped me to get there and apply for teaching jobs in the Chinese schools, and he assumed the position as my personal translator and guide. Our meeting was one of those fortuitous moments in life when two people meet, two whose souls were already joined, possibly from another life. I was in the apartment where he stayed with the director of the company, working on the computer they let us use. He was on the couch, asleep, but woke up, turned to look at me, and said without thinking, “Good morning, godfather.” I grinned at him, he grinned at me, and a fast friendship was begun. He took it upon himself to act as would a ‘godson’, walking around with me to help me communicate with the people we met, showing me how to get around in Beijing, and generally looking out for my welfare as a stranger in a strange land. He was, and is, an open, caring, intelligent young man, and for a time we continued to converse via email, after I had returned to the USA. We lost contact after about a year, and I misplaced his email address, so I had to forgo further communication with him…..until today. Last night I received a friend request on Facebook, and it turned out to be him, so this morning I will have the very great pleasure of resuming our talks via email. As the Colonel said every week, “I love it when a plan comes together!”……it’s amazing what a little good news and a full night’s sleep will do for the attitude one brings to the day.
Today’s Pearls  are another eclectic group, gathered in a series of dives over the last couple of days. They each would stand alone, and still be strong; together they make a nice little bit of food for thought to go along with whatever comestibles pass for breakfast at your house. Enjoy them as you would a good cup of coffee with your bagel…..

Hear twice before you speak once.

“Belief is the death of intelligence.” — Robert Anton Wilson

‘It is not a fish until it is on the bank.” — Irish Proverb

The keenest pangs the wretched find
Are rapture to the dreary void,
The leafless desert of the mind,
The waste of feelings unemployed.
— Lord Byron (1788-1824) — The Giaour, Line 957

“…I am opposed to all attempts to license or restrict the arming of individuals…I consider such laws a violation of civil liberty, subversive of democratic political institutions, and self-defeating in their purpose.” — Robert A. Heinlein, in a 1949 letter concerning “Red Planet”

“It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.” — Ursula K. LeGuin

One can always depend on Ursula LeGuin to cut to the heart of a concept….. go then, and pun no more….. y’all take care out there….

Dozer

Kowabunga!

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

gigoid

Ben Franklin was a Sanctimonious Ass….

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Ffolkes,
It may be harsh, but it has to be said….Ben Franklin was a sanctimonious ass, and I mean that in its’ basest, most derogatory sense. Who else but an ass would say things like “Early to bed and early to rise,  make a man, etc….” or “The early bird gets the worm”?  As one of my favorite sci-fi authors said, approximately, “all the aphorism about the worm proves is that the worm should have stayed in bed.” And early to bed, etc., is fine for those who fall asleep instantly, having the benefit of no worldly problems, and remain asleep through the night due to having no imagination. I’m 60 years old, and I can’t remember the last time I could count on falling asleep easily without first consuming a significant amount of adult beverage, or staying asleep for more than a couple of hours before some physical prompt has me up and going to the bathroom, or just laying in bed wondering how long it would be until morning. As far as I’m concerned, Poor Richard can take his little Almanac, and his advice, and place them forcibly in one of his orifices where the sun don’t shine…..just as it isn’t here at 0530 as I sit to compose this, having once more awakened at 0515 for no apparent reason. Wise man, my dying ass…..
I dove for these Pearls yesterday as I was in the throes of extra-pyramidal side effects, due entirely to the asinine ordering requirements dictated by Kaiser Permanente for dealing with a controlled drug. Thanks to those obscene regulations, I have spent much of the last three days with dyskinesia, malaise,  and an intermittent splitting headache just for good measure. In case you are not a former PT, dyskinesia is that condition of muscular and nervous agitation that makes one’s muscles twitch and dance, combined with a feeling of restless dread and diffuse anxiety that makes the nerves hum like a redneck with a kazoo. Add in the headache, (of the ilk that blurs the vision and causes whimpering in strong men), and you can imagine how difficult it is not only refrain from biting my self, but to refrain from biting anyone who crosses my path. All this, of course, is then complicated by trying to deal with people who have become bureaucrats, who have no conception of anything outside their own little sphere of inattention, and whose sole purpose is to keep anything from getting done. It’s enough to give one visions of mayhem and violent death for all bureaucrats, preferably by my own hand.
Sorry about the above rant……well, actually, I’m not. I could actually care less right now what anyone thinks, about anything. Nonetheless, I do think that the following Pearls will strike some good chords in many folks, and even more in those ffolkes who are familiar with this process, and how it provides some fine rules for life, or at least for looking at life in a different way. Regardless, they are what they are, and I hope you enjoy them…..much as I can hope anything at all……

“I sometimes think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability.” — Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a, star to steer her by,
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a gray mist on the sea’s face and a gray dawn breaking.
— John Masefield, Sea Fever, first stanza.

Yesterday is but a dream, tomorrow but a vision.  But Today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore to this Day. — Sanskrit proverb (I like this one a lot; it covers a lot of bases….)

“It’s not denial. I’m just very selective about what I accept as reality.” — Calvin (“Calvin and Hobbes”) (Calvin is actually a sociopathic idiot, but Hobbes, I firmly believe, will someday be considered one of the 20th and 21st centuries’ most cogent philosophers….)

“Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth, more than ruin, more even than death….Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.” — Bertrand Russell (1872-1967), “Selected Papers”

So live that you can look any man in the eye and tell him to go to hell.

Well, there you have it. That’s the best I can do, under the circumstances that currently prevail. My greatest desire just now is that tomorrow will be different, if only I can survive until then without committing any acts that would land me in jail. Wish me luck…..and, y’all take care out there……

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Dashes, dots, and the spaces between….

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Ffolkes,
Once more I sit, keyboard at hand, preparing to wage war against the demons of day with words of power. When the magic won’t flow, and creativity is hiding somewhere in the kitchen, I commonly turn to nonsense. But even that, though a powerful ally, is absent, leaving nothing but the 1000 monkey technique to carry the field. I wouldn’t mind so much, if they made less noise about it, and if they would occasionally come up with something other than Shakespeare. That’s the problem with last-minute solutions; they’re typically messy, and tend to provide one with solutions that fall apart under the merest scrutiny. Plus, you wouldn’t believe the absolutely appalling condition of the typewriters when they’re done; most are only good for the scrap pile. And that banana smell! Gag me with a spoon…..have no fear, Gentle Readers, I have not slipped past the boundaries of sanity. I’m cruising near the edge, but remain in full control of my faculties, such as they are. My primary concern at this point is how to bring this to a close; it seems to just keep growing and growing. Funny how things can get away from you when least expected; I suppose that’s why they call it a surprise…..today’s Pearls are an eclectic group, bound to give the impression that they were gathered during the dark of the moon, rather than in the full light of day. And you would be right in that……

What happens to the wide-eyed observer when the window between reality and unreality breaks and the glass begins to fly?

There came to the beach a poor exile of Erin,
The dew on his thin robe was heavy and chill;
For his country he sigh’d, when at twilight repairing
To wander alone by the wind-beaten hill.
— Thomas Campbell (1777-1844) — The Exile of Erin

“Since everything in life is but an experience perfect in being what it is, having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection, one may well burst out in laughter.” — Long Chen Pa

“I don’t like to commit myself about heaven and hell – you see, I have friends in both places.” — Mark Twain

“A great many people mistake opinions for thoughts.”- Herbert Prochnow

“Are you sure it isn’t time for another colorful metaphor?” — Spock, “The Voyage Home,”  stardate 8390.

Personally, I believe it IS time for another colorful metaphor. Unfortunately, none come to mind that can be printed for this audience, not if I want to keep my PG rating……. Y’all take care out there….

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Reaping the Whirlwind….

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Ffolkes,
So many things going around and around in my mind, nothing wants to settle…..it occurred to me this morning that today will be the first day in over 33 years that I have lived alone. For 23 years, up until 2002, I was married and raising our kids; we spent a few days here and there not in each other’s company, but for the most part, we were together. After my wife and I parted ways, Noah stayed with me, and until yesterday, was my constant and faithful companion and friend; dogs never change their minds when they have chosen their object of affection. So this will be a relatively new situation, one that will, I think, require some rather sweeping adjustments on my part. I have no regrets in my life, other than those natural when love chooses not to stay, yet I cannot help but wonder how different life would be had things gone otherwise than they have done. Well, such is life; we have no choice but to take it as it comes, and do our best to live with dignity and honor. So far, I have managed to live with honor; dignity has been harder to maintain at times, in the face of the harsh light of reality. All I can really say for sure at this point is, I still live. And as long as there is life, there is hope……(thank you Edgar Rice Burroughs)……this morning’s selections were chosen with mind on hold, but in retrospect, that was probably for the best…….

“I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth – and truth rewarded me.” — Simone de Beauvoir

We are not victims of the world we see, but of the way we see the world.

“Blessed is he who has learned to laugh at himself, for he shall never cease to be entertained.” — John Powell

“Official truths are often powerful illusions.” — John Pilger, _Distant_Voices_, 1992 (In today’s world, “often” can be changed to “virtually always”….)

“These PRESERVES should be FORCE-FED to PENTAGON OFFICIALS!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

I stood
Among them, but not of them; in a shroud
Of thoughts which were not their thoughts.
— Lord Byron (1788-1824) — Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto iii, Stanza 113

Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom.

I guess all I can say at this point is, it’s all a wash. Not a do-over, but at least a start-over. Step by step, walking the path toward the future, eyes ahead and eager for new sights, new sounds. If I wasn’t so bummed, I’d be excited; I suppose that in itself could be considered a small life lesson. Sweet and bitter are two sides of the same bagel, and we all would do well to keep that firmly in mind as we find our way down that long road upon which we have set our feet……y’all take care out there…..

Dozer

Kowabunga!


—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.gigoid

If wishes were BMW’s….

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Ffolkes,
Today’s Pearls will be foreshortened, for the simple reason that I am in mourning, and don’t much feel like being clever. This morning I will be taking Noah to the vet to have him put to rest. I can no longer take care of him in his weakened, frail condition; it’s become clear that he is no longer comfortable, and I don’t want him to suffer any further. So this is all there will be for today; just a short comment on life, and a good tongue-in-cheek take on our REAL “better half”………

“Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.” — Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980)

DOG, n.  A kind of additional or subsidiary Deity designed to catch the overflow and surplus of the world’s worship.  This Divine Being in
some of his smaller and silkier incarnations takes, in the affection of Woman, the place to which there is no human male aspirant.  The Dog
is a survival — an anachronism.  He toils not, neither does he spin, yet Solomon in all his glory never lay upon a door-mat all day long, sun-soaked and fly-fed and fat, while his master worked for the means wherewith to purchase the idle wag of the Solomonic tail, seasoned with a look of tolerant recognition. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

Life is actually pretty simple when one’s entire focus is on getting past the pain……y’all keep a good thought for Noah, and take care out there…..

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

gigoid

Noah

R.I.P. Old Friend

All at the very same time….

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Ffolkes,
As I approached the open doors of the inner house, joyful music poured out, filling my ears with gleeful abandon. The noise of many people talking joined with the music to draw me inside, where brilliant lights illuminated a grand ballroom, filled with swirling dancers, dressed in sumptuous gowns and dignified suits. On each face was an expression that strangely held no sign of happiness, in odd counterpoint to the music and motion, creating a sense of tension that permeated the atmosphere, struggling with dark discord to breach the walls of happy noise. As the music grew louder, the tension grew apace, and now the entire mass of moving bodies seemed to be whirling out of control, as if they could no longer knew, or cared, how fast they spun around the floor. Growing cries of distress began to join the strains of music, a chorus out of harmony; some of the stronger couples broke free, rushing out the doors into the night. The music rose into a resounding crescendo, then fell, all at once, into a silence so deep I could hear the beat of my own heart, pounding in my chest as if trying to free itself. Darkness crept into the ballroom, spreading from the corners until all was invisible. I gathered the remnants of my scattered emotions, and walked through the doors, and back into the welcoming night…..
Okay, your guess is as good as mine…..I have no idea where that came from, and upon re-reading it, I can honestly say I’m glad it’s no longer inside my head. It could have caused some damage in there if left much longer……I suppose it would be best to get on with the rest of the day; such an opening salvo could indicate the advent of a troublesome day…..let’s hope for the best. Meantime, here are some Pearls, for you to use as you will…..enjoy!…

A wise man once said …”I don’t know.”

There is no water in the lake:
The image of Exhaustion.
Thus the superior man stakes his life
On following his will.

“Perilous to all of us are the devices of an art deeper than we ourselves possess.” — Gandalf the Grey

“It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country and
mankind its citizens.” — Baha’u’llah

“Curiosity may have killed the cat, but where human beings are concerned, the only thing a healthy curiosity can kill is ignorance.”– Unknown word wizard

If you can’t laugh at yourself, you’re missing the joke.

I not only get the joke, I wrote the punchline!……or, at least wished I did…… Y’all take care out there……

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

gigoid

Just Dozer

Kowabunga!

Tipperary isn’t so far…..

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Ffolkes,
I don’t usually do this type of thing, but sometimes respect is important. In your travels today, please remember to hold a good thought for my high school classmate, Theresa Ballesteros Fisher, who passed away from the ravages of cancer.  She fought a good fight, and left the world a better place for having been in it. Peace be with her and her loved ones forever……..
T’would be a bit overdoing it to try to be clever after that, so today’s Pearls will have to stand on their own. Shouldn’t be a problem, it’s a really strong group, with a lot of good advice on living life with dignity and verve……enjoy the day…

“In this world, you have to be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. I spent years being smart. I recommend pleasant.” Jimmy Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd in “Harvey”

“No man steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river, and he’s not the same man.” — Heraclitus (540?-480? B.C.)

And God said: “Let there be cats!” and He was promptly ignored.

“Either you think — or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you.”  — F. Scott Fitzgerald

“How did the great rivers and seas gain dominion over the hundred lesser streams?  By being lower than they.” — Lao Tzu

“Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and it is shameful to surrender it too soon or to the first comer: there is nobility in preserving it coolly and proudly through long youth, until at last, in the ripeness of instinct and discretion, it can be safely exchanged for fidelity and happiness.” — George Santayana

See, I told you they’d stand up…..you’ll just have to start trusting me more often….. y’all take care out there…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Vicious Huns in the parlor….

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Ffolkes,
I can tell already that today is going to be one of those days. Nothing creative is stirring anywhere in my mind, and I’ve been up long enough that I’ve searched in every nook and cranny. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Bupkus extreme……I guess it’s just gonna have to be a quick punt. Okay…..Pungent flowery scents assault the senses while vines of sickly green drip viscous poisons to catch the unwary. Dark shadows play in the far corners, and an eerie sound of clashing, discordant music insinuates its’ way into your consciousness, bringing powerful memories of battles lost. From further on down the path comes a large, black dog, holding a live snake in his jaws; he stops, dips once in a bow, and drops the snake at your feet. The dog sits, and says, “So, you wanted to see where dreams go when you wake up, eh? Well, you will learn now…..follow me.” At your feet the snake has coiled into a striking position, and hisses angrily. No longer certain even of who you are, much less where, you carefully step around the snake, and set out after the dog, who has headed further into the darkness ahead. Suddenly a curtain of glass beads is in front of you, and following the dog, you step through into a small room, occupied only by an old woman, who laughs uproariously until tears  stream down her face. Composing herself with difficulty, she looks at you and says, “You want fries with that?”……
Saved once again by nonsense. We can now proceed onward to the regularly scheduled program…..

“The next best thing to doing something smart is not doing something stupid.” — Flo Capp’s Observation

“Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake.'”– W. C. Fields

“Morality is truth in full bloom.” — Victor Hugo

“It was a dark and stormy night.” — A wrinkle in time, by Madeline L’Engle, 1962 — you were thinking Snoopy, perhaps?

“You can stand me up at the gates of Hell, but I won’t back down.”–T.Petty (This is a good attitude to hold on to……)

“Authority has always attracted the lowest elements in the human race. All through history, mankind has been bullied by scum. Those who lord it over their fellows and toss commands in every direction and would boss the grass in the meadow about which way to bend in the wind are the most depraved kind of prostitutes. They will submit to any indignity, perform any vile act, do anything to achieve power. The worst off-sloughings of the planet are the ingredients of sovereignty. Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy the whores are us.” — P.J. O’Rourke, _Parliament of Whores_

Amen to that……it’s going to be a long day, with beautiful weather and uncertain possibilities…..I suppose I’d best be at it. Y’all take care out there……

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!