Ffolkes,
~~ Socrates ~~
Entrance to the Spanish Arch
Galway, Ireland
Hajime…. As y’all know from previous Pearls, the word, ‘hajime’ is Japanese, meaning, “begin” or, “beginning”. It is spoken to two judoka, or karateka, as the word to start a match between them. I use it here, simply because it brings me a small bit of focus, merely to speak it in my head. I need the focus, because this is a special Pearl, in some ways. Two events occurred today to break the monotony of my semi-reclusive existence, as I fight my way past the issues I’ve been facing all year. One I’ll relate just below, in this section; the other will serve as today’s rant replacement for that section. First, the SECOND event, in terms of when they happened; the first resulted in the second…. You’ll see..
Surviving a near-death experience somehow makes the day go by a little more quickly, it seems. Why, look! Here it is, a little past midnight on another sleepless night, and I’ve already been nearly dead, only talking myself out of allowing myself to die because it simply would have been too embarrassing to have been found in the position in which I was almost destined to succumb. Fortunately, my breath was so bad, and I was laughing so damn hard, Death’s Handmaiden wouldn’t kiss me, so I had to get up and carry on…
I know that isn’t the most detailed or illuminating passage; ‘s okay, it wasn’t intended to be. Here is where I tell you what happened, so we can get on with the rest of this mess. First, let me stamp your papers, then we won’t have to do it later. Good, just line up over there and let the scanner pass over the bar code attached to your forehead at the gate. Thank you for your cooperation and sheepleness….
Okay, obligatory insult’s done…. Here’s what happened: Leelu the Magicat performed an act of extraordinary skill, bravery, and nobility (I kid you not: I’ve got graphic proof…). It seems I’ve been adopted by a five-month old cat superhero/sorceress/warrior princess, all rolled into one. To reward her for her act of selflessness, I began to play with her, throwing her favorite old chewed up piece of crumpled paper for her to fetch.
Because my shoulder was stiff, I made a terrible throw, which disappeared near some furniture, hidden well enough she couldn’t puzzle out where it ended up, though she’s usually good at that. I went to see, and saw it had, ironically enough, found it’s way into the most inaccessible spot in the room, behind a chair, and a table, with a box in the way, right in the corner of the room. I had to laugh at my own bozoid throw, as I was in a LOT of pain, and retrieving it was bound to be difficult…. Sure enough, getting down to stretch out where I could reach it put me in a very odd position, and I began to laugh even harder, feeling the irony and ridiculousness of my position….
Then, I had another vision, of having a heart attack where I was, from laughing so hard, and being found there, in that absurd position, into which I’d gotten myself to play with a cat. I know autopsy techniques are sophisticated enough to show I had died from laughing, so, the whole world would probably hear about, and laugh themselves silly at the bozoid nature of my demise. That vision made me laugh so damn hard, I almost fulfilled it…. Only the sheer fear of that embarrassment kept me from choking right there, killed by my own stupidity.
There, that should get the day begun on the correct note. Always good to start with a keen appreciation of the depths of foolishness we can encounter in this reality, I find. Well, sometimes I find it; other times, not so well. Well enough today, though, we can skip all the normal foolishness, of which we have a nearly never-ending supply, to get on down the page to find out what Leelu did…. Guido’s still on duty; something’s up with Luigi…. Any who, he’ll get us to the beds on time, if we let him get going, so….. have a seat, & we’ll be on our way…..
Shall we Pearl?….
“It is one of the commonest of mistakes to consider that the limit of our power of perception is also the limit of all there is to perceive.” — C. W. Leadbeater
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Image from alamy.com via Google Images
Woodstock
Image from michaelbaisdennow.com via Google Images
I believe the pictures say all that needs said regarding this performance. Enjoy!…..
Traffic @ Woodstock
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~~ Stanislaus J. Lec ~~
Ha! You thought you’d see Leelu here, didn’t you? Don’t worry, you will. The above is just the quote I’d chosen to springboard for today’s rant (hate to verbify a noun, but, hey, it worked… expediency rules, right?); The Tale of Leelu begins now….
As I paced around yesterday, in the afternoon, I noticed Leelu staring oddly, with some focused fixation, at a spot near the wall on the kitchen floor. She watched it a while, when it struck me what I was seeing…. which you will see below, as corroboration of my tale…. You see, some of us cat people (Personally, I am both a cat AND dog person, but, I digress…. ) have known for a long time cats have unusual mental powers, which they use to protect our plane of existence, from attacks by nightmare creatures from other dimensions. Many millennia ago, in Egypt, Bastet gave all cats these powers as a gift to the planet’s creatures.
Cats can open, or close wormholes between the universes; this is how they can appear and disappear at will, often seemingly while looking right at them. Remember the actual true solution to the puzzle of Schrödinger’s Box; when the box is opened, the cat is neither dead, nor alive; it is gone. When they sense a wormhole opening, they watch to make sure no demons/nightmares get through before they can close it….
If she’s doing something else, you tell me….

Still watching after six minutes….
Taking a closer look….
Finishing the edges of the closure….
Relaxing after her efforts….
A well-earned rest….
So…. that’s how Leelu saved the universe yesterday. You never have to worry with a Magicat in the house…. even if one has a near-death experience while trying to reward her after her nap…. SIGH…. Hopefully, cats will never realize what Bozos we humans are; they’d leave us in a heartbeat….
See? Now, wasn’t that better than a rant….. Definitely less stress on the keyboard…. and, I hope you enjoyed it…. Just wait until I figure out how to upload videos from my camera…. won’t that be fun?
Leelu thinks so…. but, then, there isn’t much she doesn’t think is fun…. See ya….
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In the deepest, darkest hours of the night,
horror drapes the shadow of fear on a tortured mind.
Endless, hopeless, wave after wave of fright
weave a tapestry shroud, stifling, brutally unkind.
Fear, then pain, trade off in durance vile,
offering only blackness as a temporal guide.
No moments of clarity, no comfort, no guile
with no respite, nor any safe place to hide.
Hour after hour, time stops dead in its tracks,
the path back to sanity ends, no big surprise.
Every passing second becomes new hope, dashed,
while our remaining strength fades and dies.
God shall never be forgiven, nor ever praised.
No such pale, sad illusion can explain such reality.
Any reasonable chance for joy to be raised,
requires more than mere ghostly personality.
Hope isn’t needed if one finds the center of the soul;
all the answers we ever need are there.
Killing fear, creating joy in life, for these there’s no toll.
Love, friendship, & laughter, are ever the healthiest fare.
~~ gigoid ~~
12/1/2015
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********
“Speech is but broken light upon the depth
Of the unspoken.”
~~ George Eliot ~~
“Silence is evidence of a superb command of the language.” — Damn Smart Bee
“Courage atrophies from lack of use.” — Mindful Bee
“Friends should be preferred to kings.” — Voltaire
“Everyone thinks his own burden heavy.” — French Proverb
” Just as too much charity is the handiwork of a fool, so too much patience is the hallmark of a coward.” — Kabbalah
“Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.” — Margaret Lee Runbeck
“In’I no expect to be justified by the laws of men.” — Bob Marley
“How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one’s culture but within oneself? If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox. One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.” — Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams
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Not too shabby for a long-term throw-together Pearl; I’ve certainly done worse. It gives me some hope for tomorrow, no matter how illogical that may be. Moreover, it allows me to once again say, see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes. I’ve already made the reservations….
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…
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, the dubious
The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.
PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.
“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

À bientôt, mon cherí….
Pets bring such joy…..mine keep me from taking myself way too serious….they know when I need a hug and when I need to have some coffee…..they bring lots of joy to an old man…..chuq
Yep; Leelu and I are bonding fast… She’s also going to be a good source for blog material, as I find myself cracking up on a regular basis, as she goes through her self-training…. Cats are natural comedians, even if you can never get them to admit it….
😆
True….and are the best meds around…..chuq
Leelu is a hero!
Good is a primitive concept; I prefer to think of it as a “morning”, until I get some sort of indicator as to quality terminology that may or may not be appropriate….
😉
But, thank you, and the same to you….
Leelu will be famous someday, I have little doubt….
OH! My bad! Morning, then! LOL!

Yeah, well, bad two months, actually. Been up & pacing 24/7 for 45 out of 60 days, with only about 4 hours sleep on the other days…. Hasn’t been much fun…
Oh, well, life goes on….
I see. I’ll be back. Going to go see if I can find the link that says something about 4 hours of sleep.
Sorry it took me so long. Got side tracked!
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_drift/2015/11/12/you_don_t_need_eight_straight_hours_of_sleep_you_need_three_extra_hours.html?google_editors_picks=true
Reblogged this on gigoid and commented:
Ffolkes,
As expected, BBR events and prior commitments have precluded working on a fresh Pearl, so, i’m posting from the archives to signify my absence, and my steadfastness; one out of two ain’t bad…. In any rate, I should be done with my other stuff soon, and will celebrate with a completely fresh pile of nonsense & blather. As long as I only say that, with just that degree of ambiguity, the odds are good for fulfilling such a prediction. That’s my story, & I’m sticking to it. Y’all take care, & be strange, which is better than any alternative….
Love
gigoid, the dubious
😎
“Wisdom begins in wonder.”
~~ Socrates ~~
Right Brain Endeavor
Left
Hand
Adventure..:)
“It is one of the commonest of mistakes to consider
that the limit of our power of perception is also the
limit of all there is to perceive.”
— C. W. Leadbeater
Every Human sKeYe
Expanding Shrinking
Differently
More or Less to See
“Speech is but broken light upon the depth
Of the unspoken.”
~~ George Eliot ~~
Unspoken Always Sees More..:)
“Silence is evidence of a superb command of the language.”
— Damn Smart Bee
True Language Symbols Are Silent Dancers Singers..:)
“Courage atrophies from lack of use.”
— Mindful Bee
Use it or Lose it Applies to All Attributes
And Detriments of Life And Love As Whole..:)
“Friends should be preferred to kings.”
— Voltaire
Real Kings Are Friend to All..:)
“Everyone thinks his own burden heavy.”
— French Proverb
‘You’ ‘Lied’ French Proverb.. i Admit Mine Is Without Gravity As Far As i Feel Weight For Now..;)
” Just as too much charity is the handiwork of a fool, so too much patience is the hallmark of a coward.”
— Kabbalah
No Use Waiting to Be Free Fool or Not..:)
“Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.”
— Margaret Lee Runbeck
Happy Souls WithiN HomE TowN Rules..;)
“In’I no expect to be justified by the laws of men.” — Bob Marley
Sort of Like i JusT Said With Home Town Rules..:)
“How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one’s culture but within oneself? If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox. One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.”
— Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams
Meet YouR Shadow With It
Wrestle ‘Till Light And Dark Are Equivalent Fun..:)
“Wisdom begins in wonder.”
~~ Socrates ~~
SMiLes Perhaps
A Second Round
Now or Moving Back
Before 2015 gigoid.. But
For NoW i’ll JusT Go NoW
WitH ‘Wisdom Begins in Wonder’
STaRTinG An Ending Always Beginning Never Finishing NoW…
i don’t Know What i am Doing i KNoW NoThing All iS NeW iN WoNDeR NoW
“CHaSinG DReAMS DaNCinG WinGS”
Finishing Just Another
Start of Another
Beginning
Never
Ending…