Boy howdy, ffolkes…. Life, in all its glory, can be a bumpy ride at times; I guess that’s what drugs are all about. Of course, such a smarmy, sardonic statement so early in the day indicates a somewhat less than perfect status of the mind to take as a good sign, but, I think we can overcome any objections anyone might have, by merely saying, if you ain’t tried it, you don’t have nothing to say. Or, as Lily Tomlin, I believe, once put it, “Reality is for those people who can’t handle drugs.”….

All controversy aside, it’s a decent morning, thanks in part to the magic of cannabis, along with a bit of marginally risky application of a thaumaturge disguised as a cabbie, I’m alive, awake, and typing. Who knew? But, again, I digress, out of sheer relief and gratitude for a job well done, if not fully completed, or documented. This completes your morning dose of prevarication tempered with real-time compassionate intent, all for the amazingly low price of (FREE)!. What a deal!

And, hell, I’ll throw in the nonsense for nothing, too. We’ve got plenty in stock, believe me. By the way, the Pearl you will find below is not merely an odd one, it was unique, in that none of it was particularly vituperative, or even very snarky. It is, however, complete as I can make it, and that will have to do, as always. We don’t have any contracts right now, anyway, so it’s all part of the service we provide in these slack times for everyone. Besides, that way, we can keep up your dependence without having to spend anything extra…. bonus!

I can’t think of anything more for this section; I’ve emptied out my bag of BS already. I guess we’ll just give Luigi his head again, and get on over to the oyster beds, before we get into any deeper water. Hang on, ffolkes, he’s getting a little rambunctious these days…..

Shall we Pearl?….

It is better to deserve honours and not have them than to have them and not to deserve them.” — Mark Twain

Last posted on 7/21/2014:

From 11/30/2013:

A man who can fool chiefs, and even gods, must still face the monsters he himself created.” — Old Maori saying

Introspection has always been a hobby of mine, but, since turning the ripe old age of 63, (note from the future; made it to 65…) it seems to have become even more of a time-consuming process for me than has been true for most of my life….

I can remember laying on my bed in the state of Washington, when my father was stationed there at Fort Lewis…. I would stare at the bottom of my brother’s upper bunk, and imagine all manner of things, including about myself, and my place in the universe…. Even at the tender age of 8 or 9, as the son of an Army sergeant, I had been many places, and seen more of the world than is usual for anyone other than Army brats…. our proud designation for ourselves…. The quest to maintain one’s personality in the face of all the changes going on around us gave me the impetus to perpetually be aware of more than is the norm for kids of that age; at least, it always seemed so, from what I can tell from my knowledge of others of that age….

Now that I’ve reached an age that completely got skipped in my earlier musings of what life would be like, I seem to be thinking back and forth more often, making connections with the past that explain certain elements of my own persona as they manifest today…. My hair, for example…. (I know, I know, my hair isn’t generally the subject of a rant, but, that’s not really what this is…. this is more of a…. a retrospective, yeah, that’s it…. a retrospective…. so, calm down, I’m not going to get all graphic, or gloomy, or pick at anyone in particular, other than myself…. ‘kay?…. ‘Kay!….)

So, I was looking at my picture on my About page, and can only say that, well, there I am…. My hair is even longer now, (a bit grayer, too….). as I see no particular reason to cut it…. which is the root thought that stimulated this entire subject today…. A little while ago, I was standing outside a moment, with my hair not yet tied back into the usual ponytail, and the wind was blowing it around a bit…. I started to get annoyed, then realized I could only blame myself for it getting in my face, because the solution to that problem is right over there in the drawer, where the scissors live…. I thought to myself, how many times has someone asked me, “why don’t you cut your hair?”, and realized I couldn’t count that high….

My own reaction to that particular query is to think, (again…), to myself, “Well, actually, the question that occurs to me to ask is, why don’t I NOT  cut my hair?”…. It seems to me, when I stop to consider the matter logically, and reasonably, that if the hair grows, as it has always done, it must have some sort of evolutionary purpose for doing so, right? It seems logical to me…. Therefore, it seems logical to ask, as well, “who am I to fuss with evolution?” This line of reasoning, naturally, tends to piss of most of the folks who make the original statement to me…. but, I figure that sort of anger is a personal problem, don’t you? I can’t go around taking the heat for what other people don’t like about me, when their anger is based on THEIR beliefs, not mine….

In a way, I suppose it’s the old hippie in me…. Aha, you say, now we’re getting to the meat of the matter! And, typically, I am supposed to say, at this point, “Just what do you mean by that? I don’t know what you’re talking about….”   Then, I smile, and get on with what I was doing, which is explaining why being a hippie is not what most people would think…. I mean, there were a lot of popular misconceptions floating around all during the 60’s (Believe me, it was a very confusing time…. I know, I was there….), when there were a lot of people who thought that there was something wrong, or even evil, about being described as one of those misunderstood knights of the sub-culture….

Yes, I said knights…. Jedi knights, before they were the iconic, eternal, peaceful warrior as made popular in later years…. Hippies were the knights of the 60’s and 70’s, diligently tilting at all the windmills we could find, poking our noses into the business of the military-industrial complex, which I now refer to as the BRC, until they were sick of the sight of anyone with long hair…. Back in the day, even the most rigid of conservative hawks understood that they were witnessing a change of culture, and there was nothing they could do to alter the course that history was taking…. The power of love, and compassion, and freedom swept through the entire world, as well as refreshing American society, with repercussions still being felt today….

One of the most important characteristics of hippies that I don’t think most people understood is that we were only interested in revolution in the sense that revolution means change; no hippie worth the name ever wished to violently overthrow anything that didn’t threaten violence first…. But, it is also true that real hippies have no objection to using violence to defend themselves, a fact which always comes as a big surprise to those who would try to oppress them. As with any tool, honor has to be the regulatory agency for determining which tool should be used, and how…. This, sadly, is a concept that those who prey on other people, who seek power over them, can never truly understand, as it is not a part of their perception of reality….

I see that I’ve reached a point where this must either get very pointed, or fade into the background for the time being…. I’m feeling mellow, due to re-connecting with the halcyon days of my youth, so I’ll show mercy here, and opt for the latter…. Besides, I’m all out of introspection for the nonce, and there’s no telling when it might drop back by…. I’ll leave y’all with one final pearl, to seal the deal….

“Oh, how we fear the metamorphoses through which we truly become fledged humans, real mensches of the species homo sapiens. Yet even if we do not willingly undergo them, changes pursue us just the same. The woman who never bears a child metamorphoses in different ways. We may dig in our heels and dare life never to change, but, all the same, it changes under our feet like sand under the feet of a sea gazer as the tide runs out. Life is forever undermining us. Life is forever washing away our castles, reminding us that they were, after all, only sand and sea water.” — Erica Jong: Parachutes and Kisses

“Sleep is the best meditation.” — Tenzin Gyatso, XIV Dalai Lama

“Do not speak harshly to any one; those who are spoken to will answer thee in the same way.  Angry speech is painful:  blows for blows will touch thee.” — The Dhammapada (c. BC 300)

“Do not handicap your children by making their lives easy.” — Lazarus Long

“Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt.” — Clarence Darrow

“You cannot run away from a weakness; you must some time fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand.” — Robert Louis Stevenson,  _The Amateur Emigrant_

“A moment’s insight is sometimes worth a life’s experience.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

“Only that in you which is me can hear what I’m saying.” — Baba Ram Dass

“Why should we take advice on sex from the Pope? If he knows anything, he shouldn’t.” — George Bernard Shaw

(Oops! Sorry, that one slipped by me…. but, it’s funny as hell, isn’t it? I guess, it fits, if one looks at it with the right eyes…. Okay, one last good one, to make up the difference….)

Leelu is lobbying HEAVILY for the application of her morning cuddle & scritch, so, we’re done, as she INSISTS it happen NOW! See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes, as long as the sun comes up. Odds are good on that.