Ffolkes,
Farnsworthy, my valet, my gentleman’s gentleman, has neglected to show up this morning, so I’m once again up late, and have no one to press my clothes, or fix breakfast, or tidy the room after me. Oh, right…. oops, sorry, this is Farnsworthy’s year off……I forgot I gave him this year off to go visit his guru in India. I was sure I could get along without him, but, now, I’m not so sure. My clothing is looking a bit tattered and worn, and my shoes could use a good polishing. And I keep running out of brandy…… Ah well, he’s expected back before the monsoon season, which corresponds to our winter time, so that’s not far off…..

It is always a good thing to start out the day with a pleasantly harmless delusion. Whether or not it is true is immaterial, though a good delusion could hardly consider itself properly composed if it could be held as true. The trick is to have it there just to make you feel good about yourself, which is a positive way to start the day, even if a bit damaging to certain parts of the psyche. Delusions are pretty harmless, for the most part; their danger lies in holding on to them too tightly, and not being able to let go of them when life makes it necessary to face reality. If you can’t let go then, you may have a problem….. but, if you can hold onto them for a time, then put them away neatly, they can be very helpful, just like those little umbrella thingies you get in those tropical drinks…..

As might be obvious by now, I’m again short of material for the intro, and have retreated into my fantasy world, where I keep all the stuff to build fables and/or stories of valor and glory. It’s always holiday time there, and everyone eats well; the girls are pretty, and friendly, and the guys are honest and brave. Nobody hates anybody else (excepting, of course, Barney, the creepy dinosaur…. everybody hates him… even his creator….) and injuries never need stitches or a doctor’s care; Nurse Lovely is capable of fixing anything we come up with in that area, and she is always happy to do so….. no cranky nurses here! Come to think of it, while I’m waiting for my SS to get approved, I should spend more time here; time passes quickly when you’re having a good time, and that’s the only kind of time there is in my fantasy world….

Ah well, such is life….. one can’t spend all one’s time in fantasy; people will talk, and nothing gets done. Of course, there is little to do, other than write, or read, or listen to music, or watch a vid, and boy, I’m sick of doing all of those, for sure…. but, life goes on, regardless of how we feel about it, so I may as well enjoy it….. in the meantime, shall we Pearl?…..

(1) Everything depends.
(2) Nothing is always.
(3) Everything is sometimes.

I find that 3 implies 2, therefore 2 is not necessary. Further, it is interesting to note that 2 does not imply 3 because: Always U Sometimes !=  Universe of all possibilities (e.g. Never) Therefore the choice between 2 and 3 is not arbitrary, you really must keep 3 and drop 2.  I find 1 is unrelated.  — John Colosi

I want it clearly understood that I’m totally confused. —  Smart Bee, reading my mind…..
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“Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.  Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise.” — Tom Paine

Here are two quotes from famous American patriots, of proven nature; one lived at the beginning of our nation’s creation, and the other more recently, right up to the latter half of the 20th century. Both seemed to have had a less than sterling opinion of government, no doubt from long experience of dealing with its denizens. I can’t add much to either one, except to say that both continue to be true, and both are good to remember as we go into this year’s election. It’s important this time to pay attention, and make sure that we vote the lesser of the two evils into the hot seat for the next four years….

“Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear — kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor — with the cry of grave national emergency… Always there has been some terrible evil to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it   by furnishing the exorbitant sums demanded.  Yet, in retrospect, these disasters seem never to have happened, seem never to have been quite real.” — General Douglas MacArthur, 1957

This policy is obviously still in place; witness the paroxysms of fear mongering that took place a couple days ago, on the anniversary of the attacks on 9/11/01. Eleven years now, and the government is still using those events as a reason for abridging the rights that Mr. Paine and his cohorts secured for us so many years ago….. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m not willing to give up my liberties for ANY reason, much less because some political pundit, who has never worked a damn day in his life, tells me I should be afraid of some group of insane fundamentalists from another country. As far as I’m concerned, OUR OWN GOVERNMENT is what we need to be afraid of now, for they are trying to turn us all into slaves to our own fears…..

“Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. In democracy, what you get generally is bad government by a bully, tempered by the pen of several newspaper editors.” — George Bernard Shaw — Man and Superman (1903) Maxims for Revolutionists: Democracy

I can rant on this subject for a very long time, without repeating myself much, as there are so many examples in daily life that point out how far the degradation of our liberties has progressed. For now, I need to go take care of some business, so I’ll leave this one right here. But, don’t let that keep you from staying alert, and guarding against any further take-aways of the Bill of Rights…. it’s been pirated enough…..

“Government, today, is growing too strong to be safe.  There are no longer any citizens in the world; there are only subjects.  They work day in and day out for their masters; they are bound to die for their masters at call.  Out of this working and dying they tend to get less and less.” — H.L. Mencken
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A Dialogue Of Self And Soul

i{My Soul} I summon to the winding ancient stair;
Set all your mind upon the steep ascent,
Upon the broken, crumbling battlement,
Upon the breathless starlit air,
‘Upon the star that marks the hidden pole;
Fix every wandering thought upon
That quarter where all thought is done:
Who can distinguish darkness from the soul
i{My Self}. The consecrated blade upon my knees
Is Sato’s ancient blade, still as it was,
Still razor-keen, still like a looking-glass
Unspotted by the centuries;
That flowering, silken, old embroidery, torn
From some court-lady’s dress and round
The wooden scabbard bound and wound
Can, tattered, still protect, faded adorn
i{My Soul.} Why should the imagination of a man
Long past his prime remember things that are
Emblematical of love and war?
Think of ancestral night that can,
If but imagination scorn the earth
And intellect is wandering
To this and that and t’other thing,
Deliver from the crime of death and birth.
i{My self.} Montashigi, third of his family, fashioned it
Five hundred years ago, about it lie
Flowers from I know not what embroidery —
Heart’s purple — and all these I set
For emblems of the day against the tower
Emblematical of the night,
And claim as by a soldier’s right
A charter to commit the crime once more.
i{My Soul.} Such fullness in that quarter overflows
And falls into the basin of the mind
That man is stricken deaf and dumb and blind,
For intellect no longer knows
i{Is} from the i{Ought,} or i{knower} from the i{Known — }
That is to say, ascends to Heaven;
Only the dead can be forgiven;
But when I think of that my tongue’s a stone.
i{My Self.} A living man is blind and drinks his drop.
What matter if the ditches are impure?
What matter if I live it all once more?
Endure that toil of growing up;
The ignominy of boyhood; the distress
Of boyhood changing into man;
The unfinished man and his pain
Brought face to face with his own clumsiness;
The finished man among his enemies? —
How in the name of Heaven can he escape
That defiling and disfigured shape
The mirror of malicious eyes
Casts upon his eyes until at last
He thinks that shape must be his shape?
And what’s the good of an escape
If honour find him in the wintry blast?
I am content to live it all again
And yet again, if it be life to pitch
Into the frog-spawn of a blind man’s ditch,
A blind man battering blind men;
Or into that most fecund ditch of all,
The folly that man does
Or must suffer, if he woos
A proud woman not kindred of his soul.
I am content to follow to its source
Every event in action or in thought;
Measure the lot; forgive myself the lot!
When such as I cast out remorse
So great a sweetness flows into the breast
We must laugh and we must sing,
We are blest by everything,
Everything we look upon is blest.

William Butler Yeats

It’s a bit long, but it fits right in with my mood, so….. enjoy!
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“The important thing is not to stop questioning.  Curiosity has its own reason for existing.  One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality.  It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day.  Never lose a holy curiosity.” — Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was a true genius, unique in many ways. One of those is how well he was able to share the wisdom he possessed with other people. He had a very simple style of speaking, and a very clear way of expressing what he thought in words that anyone could comprehend. I particularly like the above quote, as it is something I believe implicitly as well. One of the things I’ve noticed about people my age is a certain loss of curiosity, and a resultant loss of interest in living.

A time to mourn, and a time to dance. — Ecclesiastes 3:4

The physical challenges that come with the aging process seems to have a mental side effect of dulling that particular sense in many of us, and I believe that is why so many folks have a hard time as they get older. They make it harder on themselves by losing that interest in life, that enthusiasm to learn new things, to try new foods, to see new places, and meet new people. I think keeping that enthusiasm is what extends our lives beyond the normal; avoiding the mundane is stimulating, and that vitality spreads to the rest of our lives, making them fun, no matter how hard it is physically to get on.

Life goes on, whether we can run alongside, or trail behind, and we need to remember that there is still beauty and wonder out there to be had, if we only leave ourselves open to perceive it, and have the courage to grab hold, and make it our own…..

Non carborundum illegitimi.  (Don’t let the bastards wear you down.) —  Smart Bee
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Today’s effort seems a bit fragmented, which perhaps is to be expected, as my writing routine is severely disrupted…. and my email readers are probably in a panic, or semblance of such, since I can’t seem to even get logged into gmail.  Ah well, it will have to do for the nonce…. things will be better, some day…. which I hope comes sooner than later……  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!