If I could find my head, I’d at least have a clue as to why it’s not in its usual spot. Since I can’t, I’ll merely say, I am “under the weather’, & let it go at that. Fighting off a cold with massive doses of garlic, & weathering the pain caused by the weather, which is rainy & cold. Also fighting demons, but, that’s de rigeur around here. Here’s a decent Pearl from a while back… Since this one was posted, we’ve seen a lot of changes in format, & given up on ranting so much, so, please enjoy this one, which doesn’t hold back at all… I’ll try to get back tomorrow, but, only time will tell on that. I hope y’all feel better than I do just now, & stay that way…. I’ll be better; it’s only pain, and time…
Hello, ffolkes, I’m back…. It seems Ernie H-II, the writing ‘bot I found, filled in yesterday with distinction, if not perfection…. I appreciate his help in a tight spot; I didn’t feel well, and left myself short of time to get it figured out, so, his willingness to pitch in on short notice saved the day…. It isn’t often you get that kind of cooperation from a ‘bot, especially an AI ‘bot, but, he is a VERY well-programmed machine, and it shows in his demeanor….
I’m still not feeling like busting out in song, but, I think I can pull it together long enough to put out a Pearl… with a bit of help from whatever impulsive absurdity I can come up with on the spur of the moment to keep it moving, or to supply the proper stimulus at the proper moment to keep it from flagging…. That…
“If possible, try to find a way to come downstairs that doesn’t involve
going bump, bump, bump, on the back of your head.”
~~ Pooh in Winnie the Pooh, by A.A. Milne ~~
Outside Trinity College Gate, Dublin, Ireland
Hajime…. Abandoning all hope of dreaming, the old man arises, muttering, to stumble forth, falling into routine with a sigh of relief, which lasts until realizing ’tis, once more, shy of 3 AM. Accustomed to the darkness, he finds his way to the computer, where he sits, to begin another day, in search of the remaining tatters of sanity to be found in the darker corners of the mind.
Then, of course, he realized what a stupid idea that was, so, he started over. Good morrow, ffolkes. And how are y’all? Good. As you can tell by now, my mind is a pretty blank slate…. I’m pretty sure I’m also out of chalk with which to write on it. But, here I am anyway, typing away just as if I had some clue as to what to put here. I could go with some nonsense, or try to salvage the almost clever opening lines, but, it all seems a bit superfluous, when I realize I’m already done, & none of this will make any difference, other than how I feel about it… That, of course, isn’t relevant, either, but, we’ll pretend it is, just to finish off this paragraph with a touch of certainty, an article thus far absent.
How’s that? I think it’s going to have to do for today; keeping at this, when there’s nothing in there to pull out, would be even more useless a pastime than even we can pull off with any aplomb. (Another hard-to-find article around here…) Rather than continue to torment y’all, and myself, I think I’ll just get on with it, so we can get this posted by the time I’ve set for a deadline. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Now, if only I could lay claim to having a clue as to where to go, we’d be all set. Since I can’t in good conscience do so, I’ll do this instead, providing proof of the pudding, as so eloquently stated by Mssr. Heywood, just below….
Shall we Pearl?
“Better is halfe a lofe than no bread.”
~~ John Heywood (c. 1565) ~ Proverbes, Part i, Chap. xi ~~
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Ana Popovic
Image from myspace.com via Google Images
A friend sent me a video of this young artist yesterday, after listening to the Bonnie Raitt video I used. Needless to say, I’m impressed, and have a new crush… Enjoy, ffolkes, this woman can play….
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Ana Popovic Live
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Premises, premises….
Tricked, I stumble, and I fall
dreaming, through an abandoned palace.
Frightened and wary, unheard my call
fading into memory, no cup, no argent chalice.
The people, crushed, cry out to be freed
asking only to take part, or travel.
Nascent oaths spotlight such bursting need
fed by treachery, deep from our well.
Only the wicked shall find their way blocked
justice seeks them, snug in their hole.
Faint praises never touched, but naked, stalked
singing no gospel, no soul, no rock and roll.
Only the promised will remember the way
from unforgiven trails of sorrow.
To live life, and give death no sway,
saving grace for our only tomorrow.
~~ gigoid ~~
9/6/2012
********************************
Naked Pearls
Pungently obscure, but, tasty….
*******
“How many Zen masters does it take to change a light bulb?”
“A tree in a golden forest.”
~~ Sardonic Bee ~~
*******
“He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.”
~~ Rafael Sabatini ~~
*******
“A clown is a clown and will always be a clown.”
~~ Babbaluche the cobbler ~~
*******
“There are some things that are so serious that you have to laugh at them.”
~~ Niels Bohr ~~
*******
“If only we’d stop trying to be happy we’d have a pretty good time.”
~~ Edith Wharton ~~
*******
“Once you can accept the universe
as being something expanding into an infinite nothing which is something,
wearing stripes with plaid is easy.”
~~ Albert Einstein ~~
*******
“A truly wise man never plays leapfrog with a Unicorn.”
~~ Hacker proverb ~~
*******
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The only thing about which we may feel any sort of accomplishment today is to realize it’s done. Rather than beat this particular horse any more, now it’s dead, I’ll just take my leave, with all the dignity I can muster. I will, with some trepidation, but, much hope, try this again, maybe even tomorrow. Wish me luck, ffolkes; I’ve a feeling I’ll need it this time….
Y’all take care out there,
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.
“In answer to the question of why it happened,
I offer the modest proposal
that our Universe is simply one of those things
which happen from time to time.”
~~ Edward P. Tryon ~~
Midday light show, La Bufadora, Ensenada…
Hajime…. My purpose here today is single-fold; to get done with this, before I reach complete melt-down mode. I don’t know exactly why I’m in such a state, but, to deal with it most efficiently, it’s best to get this done, & move directly into hunker-down mode, my most powerful state of protective insulation from Reality. I don’t even care much today, so, I’m letting the process dictate the results. I’ve trusted it for this long, so, may as well keep on doing so….
I have nothing stirring in my conscious mind to put into this section; even my unconscious is in limbo. To avoid any accusations of either pandering, or, whining, I’ll just quit trying to be coherent, & get on with what we have for your perusal today. Nothing else to do, but, smile, & get on with it. Smiling may be pushing it, so, we’ll just move on to the latter…. It’s simple, really; this is all there is to it….
Shall we Pearl?
“Do not settle for less than the best your own excellence can command.”
~~ Anne McCaffrey ~~
Oops….
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I’ve had a mad crush on this woman for decades, & still regard her as one of humanity’s treasures, for any number of reasons, most of which she displays every time she performs…. Besides, the year is already 3 days old, & we haven’t used her yet…. Enjoy, ffolkes; I will, so, you may as well, too….
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Bonnie Raitt Live
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Semblance of Time
The dreams and visions of modern times are pallid and pale
filled with fear and loathing instead of joy and wonder.
Reality is aging poorly, submitting less data to loudly regale
Sad faded images lacking substance, or proof of thunder.
Sisters and brothers of nightly performance speak in spite
building up scars to protect, or keep a semblance of sanity.
Knowing illusion is near and dear, steeped in muscular delight
while compassion and intelligence get smothered by humanity.
Loneliness soon became the friend of many sizes of fools
stealing through mazes of social tests as if truly wise, or old
while companies of sterile opportunity are hiding their tools
from anyone who might be feeling even a little bit bold.
Painful momentary flashes seem to outline society’s fate
until soft, heavy monuments to elder gods fall from grace.
We’re all getting tired of being told we’re far too late
and never ever nearing tolerance, nor regaining any face.
A hard message awaits us all when we dare to even stay
of life’s uncaring disposition and curmudgeonly faux heart
Only with the strength of a hero may such tales make way
Only a poet may turn such pain into a valid work of art.
~~ gigoid ~~
10/5/2012
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Naked Pearls
Gentle reminders….
*******
“Is the glass half empty or half full?
To some the glass is irrelevant.”
~~ Subtle Bee ~~
*******
“Grub first, then ethics.”
~~ Bertolt Brecht ~~
*******
“The higher you climb, the more you show your ass.”
~~ Alexander Pope, “The Dunciad” ~~
*******
“If one studies too zealously, one easily loses his pants.”
~~ Albert Einstein ~~
*******
“‘But he hasn’t got any clothes on,’ a little boy said.”
~~ from The Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen ~~
*******
“The next best thing to doing something smart is not doing something stupid.”
~~ Flo Capp’s Observation ~~
*******
“If you can’t change your mind, do you still have one?”
~~ Caroline Malmgren-Davis ~~
*******
********************************
I did it; it’s done. That is, really, all there is to it today. In fact, it’s so done, I’m outta here, with no ups & no extras. Mark this date on your calendars, ffolkes; it’s likely you’ll never see it like this again…. See ya….
Y’all take care out there,
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.
” If you see a man approaching you with the obvious intention
of doing you good, you should run for your life.”
~~ Thoreau’s Law ~~
Sharing Tiki secrets….
Hajime…. Having spent more than five years using this blog process as a means of retaining what sanity I may claim, it seems Reality, in its most significant manifestations, is demanding I give it up, in favor of survival, in a very real sense. The condition in which current Reality has been configured by human culture is beginning to resemble our nature, which is somewhat unstable, a generous description, at best. The population has grown, and continues to grow, beyond the planet’s ability to sustain us in any degree of comfort, showing no signs of establishing any rational limits to its growth.
This, of course, is a self-regulating issue; the problem is, the regulatory process will, in its most basic permutation, kill most of us in its manifestation. We are rapidly approaching the possibility of more than one sort of catastrophic adjustment in Nature, and making no preparations to deal with whatever may occur to bring the population down to a manageable size, or, eliminate us altogether…. Hell, you couldn’t get more than a single percent of that population to admit there may be a problem; they’re too busy creating it to notice…. Homo suicidus, indeed….
Knowing this, I am finding the creation of these Pearls to be, not tiresome, or tedious, but, difficult to justify, in terms of how it may help me to survive. For the time I’ve been writing, it has served me well, as a balm to my injured soul, and, a means of striking back at the demons who live in my head, as a result of my experiences with the violent side of human nature for so long. Now, my sense of danger from the death throes of human culture has reached a critical point, where I must decide whether to continue this process, or, let it go, & do what can be done to prepare for the upcoming disturbances, so clearly imminent in my understanding. A hard rain’s a gonna fall, ffolkes, and I need to replace my umbrella with one a bit more sturdy….
This means, in the near future, I may decide to disappear, as far off-grid as I can safely get to; there are still assessments to be completed, and preparations to be planned & carried out. But, be sure, at some point, I will be ready, and will just go, probably without much of a ripple in the waters of reality. For now, I guess I’ll see if Smart Bee is in a mood to share. If so, we’ll finish up this mess, & post what I’ve got. If not, well, I guess I’ll see what happens then…. For now, let’s do this, & go see what there is to find….
Shall we Pearl?
“Only the half-mad are wholly alive.”
~~ Edward Abbey ~~
********************************
Naturally, since I’m cutting things short today, we’ll go with the first, best classical collection I can find… I hope you enjoy it; if not…. Oh, well. Can’t say I’m not trying….
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Classical Music
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Measures of Intent
Hell is never far away; it slips in, then out,
like a ninja, bent on stealth and death.
Living metamorphoses, in the space of a breath,
sordid entropy fills us, within, and without.
Tide turns again; back and forth it tumbles,
like those little wind up toys, yet never stays.
All our efforts, all our silly little ways,
disappear like seaweed, as sanity crumbles.
The duality of reality in which we are firmly caught,
seems to inhabit every part of our natural selves.
Nothing is ever still, nor can it be placed on shelves;
we are dark, and light; balance must be taught.
Life is lived only one moment at a time,
past and future have no power to alter this at all.
We can choose to fly, or choose to fall;
finding truth, and beauty, can never be a crime.
~~ gigoid ~~
12/14/2015
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Naked Pearls
Notes on Process and Program….
*******
“Civilization is fun! Anyway, it keeps me busy!!”
~~ Zippy the Pinhead ~~
*******
“Fate is a river; free will is a paddle.”
~~ Subtle Bee ~~
*******
“I don’t believe that life is supposed to make you feel good,
or make you feel miserable either.
Life is just supposed to make you feel.”
~~ Gloria Naylor ~~
*******
“Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself.”
~~ Cicero ~~
*******
“Joy is wealth and love is the legal tender of the soul.”
~~ Robert Green Ingersoll ~~
*******
“I believe that it is better to tell the truth than a lie.
I believe it is better to be free than to be a slave.
And I believe it is better to know than to be ignorant.”
~~ H. L. Mencken ~~
*******
“Death is not the greatest loss in life.
The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.”
~~ Norman Cousins~~
*******
********************************
Well, I pushed it, shoved it, patted it, and lied to it (no, just kidding…), and, well, it’s done. I won’t deny I did it, but, I’m pretty sure I won’t be sending it to the Pulitzer Committee, either. Since it IS done, I’m going to go find other stuff to do. I will also say, I’ll probably be back tomorrow; still too much to be done before I can get away as I wish, so, I may as well use the process to blow off any built up insanity that may accrue. Or, not; time will tell, won’t it? It usually does. Me, I’m outta here…. See ya, ffolkes, if I don’t explode first….
Y’all take care out there,
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.
Hajime…. As one whose life and experience has left him with a number of opinions and beliefs uncommon to the major portion of humanity, I tend to regard the current crop of holidays with a large dollop of skepticism, as being more accurately defined as distractions, designed to keep the ignorant mundanes busy chasing illusions & dreams, spending money they can ill afford to spend on frivolity, to join in what is purported to be a celebration of new possibilities, presented to them in shiny, colorful packages of short duration, which will keep them busy and happy doing exactly what they cannot afford to be doing….
But, that’s just me; everybody else takes it as a chance to drown the sorrows of the past year, in hopes the next will be different, though they will make no particular effort to make any changes in themselves, this being the only thing that might produce changes in the lives they lead… or, more accurately, are led through, by the nose… an organ which, if properly employed, COULD be a valuable tool for them, in sniffing out the lies and illusions they so readily adopt as their own… Then again, I don’t suppose it’s easy to alter a lifetime habit of NOT using their innate abilities in ways that might help them, having been trained since birth to deny they even have them….
Ah, well, so passes another year, in a fashion arbitrarily decided upon by the narcissistic sociopaths who manipulate our society on Earth for their own benefit, to their own purposes, at the expense of all those mundanes who refuse to consider their own ignorance a handicap, thus handing control of their minds to the unscrupulous scoundrels, who possess no humanity, and no concern over the consequences of their actions upon anyone, or anything other than themselves. But, it’s their lives, and, if they want to spend them as a mental slave to delusions fostered upon them by clever assholes, well, that’s their choice…. The problem is, they don’t realize it IS their choice, having been convinced at an early age to surrender their right to choose… In my mind, this is what makes a human being, and NOBODY is going to take my choices from me…
I really didn’t intend to rant first thing this year, but, what the hell? Why not, eh? And, now, I’m done, & we can move on to something less disturbing to anyone’s sense of guilt or regrets. Hopefully, anyway. Why don’t I use this old trick, so we can do that without further delay?…. Watch this….
Shall we Pearl?
“The greatest sin is to be unconscious.”
~~ Carl Jung ~~
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Since it’s a new year, why not start it out with some of the best music I know? In my experience, it doesn’t get much better than what came out of this event in 2002, when a great many of the world’s best musicians got together to pay tribute to another of their peers, one who left an indelible mark on the world, in more ways than merely artistically…. Enjoy, if you will, Ravi Shankar, his daughter, and a fine Indian orchestra, who join some of the biggest names in entertainment for a tribute to George Harrison…
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Concert for George 2002
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Seeing is Conducive to Belief
Folly sits so comfortably upon my fevered brow
one would easily believe that I would know how
to look at Life with a jaded, weary eye
seeing enough, and more, to know Why.
Such seems the case, as I will it to be,
an open book of a face, it looks so like me;
what’s known to be so, needs no close attention
familiar sights require no minding, nor mention.
The eye is drawn at once to the stark and new,
and sent back to sleep by successful review.
Once we find evidence we feel we understand,
curiosity languishes, dismissed at command.
Ancient sages knew the insidious value of illusion,
preachers and pundits know the power of confusion.
Each pair of eyes contains its own point of reference,
each mind sets its own standards of preference.
Seeing is believing, for those who live in thrall,
accepting what is perceived is all they ever recall.
Unknown to them, reality follows another set of rules,
Deeper, more dangerous, and no place for fools.
~~ gigoid ~~
10/11/2012
********************************
Naked Pearls
Basic lessons in living large….
*******
“The simple act of paying attention can take you a long way.”
~~ Keanu Reeves ~~
*******
“The important thing is this: To be able at any moment
to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.”
~~ Charles DuBois ~~
*******
“Is dishwater dull?
Naturalists with microscopes have told me
it teems with quiet fun.”
~~ “The Spice of Life” — The Listener (1936)
*******
“Entropy requires no maintenance.”
~~ Amanda Walker ~~
*******
“Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.”
~~ Jules de Gaultier ~~
*******
“Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.”
~~ Things We Can Learn From Dogs ~~
*******
“How can you be two places at once when you’re not anywhere at all?”
~~ Firesign Theater ~~
*******
“The world is full of cactus, but we don’t have to sit on it.”
~~ Will Foley ~~
*******
“Most of all, I’ve learned that
a good time to laugh is anytime you can.”
~~ Linda Ellerbee ~~
*******
********************************
I am suffused with a sense of accomplishment, not without a certain degree of pride; it’s done, and done pretty well, all things considered, (a list which includes some standard confusion, cat-hammock duties, and, a demon or two, as well as a number of picayune PITA’s of no particular value…), for which I can be grateful to my own stubborn nature. I believe I’ll start the year off right, & leave it at that, so as to make at least one effort to change something in the new year…. I doubt seriously my nose will grow less round, or less red, and, it certainly won’t quit honking, so, don’t worry. Normality, while not encouraged, always seems to find its way into our lives, like it, or not. Around here, it’s mostly not, but, we’ll see how it goes tomorrow, when I’ll try this again…. See ya, ffolkes; stay alert, it’s getting pretty strange out there….
Y’all take care out there,
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 