“The highest reward for a man’s toil is not what he gets for it,
but what he becomes by it.”
~~ John Ruskin ~~
Foggy Golden Gate….
Hajime…. Well, here I am, as I promised yesterday, even though doing so has proved problematic. I spent the entire day off doing BBR stuff, & didn’t find or make the time to complete this completely. Awkward as my phraseology may or may not be (I kinda like it), getting this posted has proved to be rather an extended effort, made more complex by the apparently empty head with which I awoke. The poem which has been percolating has gone awry, & I had to abandon it altogether, to allow myself time to find the thread that broke, & try to mend it enough to allow the poem to blossom. I know, that’s probably as unclear to y’all as it often is for me, but, ultimately, it doesn’t matter, ’cause it ain’t done. SIGH….
Rather than complain further about my own failings at maintaining any consistency (not necessarily always a good thing, as you may know), I’ll just use some executive-style decision making expertise, otherwise known as ruthless trimming. Most of the trimming, as is proper, shall be right here in the intro section, where I’ll forgo the blather, nonsense, and/or idiocy which is the standard faire, in favor of merely saying, let’s get this done, shall we? I’m thinking that is probably the most efficient way to accomplish our primary purpose, which is to get a fresh Pearl up on line while I can. Since, if I spend any more time trying to explain, or excuse myself, it will not only fall apart, but, look terrible doing so. Rather than allow any of that, I choose to do this….
Shall we Pearl?….
“We have two ears and one mouth
so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”
~~ Epictetus ~~
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Grace Davies
Image fram Twitter.com via Google Images
This year, for the first, and, no doubt, last time ever, I watched the entire 2017 season of th X-factor talent competition (on You Tube uploads, not on TV itself), from auditions to the final show. The young woman you see pictured above, a 20 year-old singer/songwriter from northern England, became one of the two finalists, while performing primarily original songs. She blew the audience and judges away, time after time, with the material she wrote, a feat nearly matched by the other finalists, a group of young modern rapper/singers in a four-man group, who also used original songs to make their way into the final. Popular voting by the more populous southern England brought their band, Rak-Su, the victory, which I found to be a clear indication of the caliber of public taste, preferring show over substance.
Snarky opinions aside, Ms. Davies ended as the runner-up, but, by producing eight original hit songs, made a name for herself in the industry, where I am certain she’ll continue to shine for years to come, as she has been writing songs for about six years, and has many more to offer the world. I enjoy her writing skills, which she pairs with a unique singing style, and a crystal clear voice with excellent range. Below, I’ve included the compilation of all her X-Factor performances this year, giving a good look at one of the future stars of the musical world at large. I hope you enjoy it. As for me, I have, and will continue to do so, though, I can promise, I won’t be following a TV show again…. The saccharine & obvious manipulation got pretty tiresome, saved only by good original musical talent…. Abondanza!….
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Grace Davies X Factor UK 2017 Journey
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Dreaming of Calliope
La belle dame sans merci speaks aloud through endless night,
torturing dreams, with powerful words and stentorian phrases.
Manifest visions bathed in unbearable grace and light,
destroying all direction, standing lost, in unfathomable mazes.
Fate plays a part, one that will never face denial,
as fear and courage eternally vie for ascendancy.
Conflict becomes valid, gifting strength in open trial,
but honest emotion wears no costume so fancy.
Blood, sweat, and tears stroll on avenues of gold,
unlikely heroines heralding as in ancient lore;
Sharp, competent knives cut through tales untold,
eternally shifting reality past the naked shore.
Drifting toward origin, bereft of mandate or cause,
finished, nay, abandoned, tied with a figurative bow.
No simple gift from muses to give comfort or pause,
save that all we need to know, we already know…..
~~ gigoid ~~
12/13/2012
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Naked Pearls
Points to ponder: being human….
*******
“I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.”
~~ Theodore Roethke ~~
*******
It is not the one with many possessions who is rich,
but the one who has no needs.”
~~ Philoxenos ~~
*******
“The true worth of a man
is not to be found in man himself,
but in the colours and textures
that come alive in others.”
~~ Albert Schweitzer ~~
*******
“The bright senses, sight & hearing,
make a world patent and ordered,
a world of reason, fragile but lucid.
The dark senses, smell & taste & touch,
create a world of felt wisdom,
without a plot, unarticulated, but certain.”
~~ Crowley ~~
*******
“There are those among us
who live in rooms of experience
that you and I can never enter.”
~~ John Steinbeck ~~
*******
“A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds.
A good deed is never lost;
he who sows courtesy reaps friendship,
and he who plants kindness gathers love.”
~~ Saint Basil ~~
*******
“This is the true joy in life –
being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one;
being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap;
being a force of nature
instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances,
complaining that the world will not devote itself
to making you consistent.”
~~ George Bernard Shaw ~~
*******
***************************************
Well, finally, it’s done. I won’t promise to have another one soon, as the events currently on tap in the BBR portend the necessity to spend more time there than on my ass, typing. But, I can no more stop writing than I can stop breathing, so, I WILL return, not so very long from now. In the meantime, y’all continue practicing mindful weirdness and deliberate kindness. Do that, and, all will be well. See y’all soon enough, & thanks for stopping by….
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.
“Do you imagine that the universe is agitated?
Go out into the desert at night and look up at the sky.
This practice should answer the question.”
~~ Lao Tzu ~~
Yet another iconic view of SF from the Bay….
Hajime…. A few days ago, I posted a fresh Pearl, followed by a couple days of re-blogs, as I recovered from the physical exertion of babysitting my granddaughter for a full day. Lovely time, but, exhausting…. Now, I’m finding it difficult to explain why, for the past two days, and very nearly this morning, I have completely blown off writing, or posting, at all, in favor of seeking my bliss, so to speak.
My search brought me to the realization I am craving life. Not any life, but, the life that exists when one engages fully in the world outside one’s own sphere…. walking, interacting with people, singing, dancing, playing my guitar, cooking for someone…. all those human activities that reinforce our own humanity by being with other humans. I’m even making plans to attend a local Shakespeare festival, where I hope to reconnect with another part of me I’ve neglected over time…. There is something about live theater that speaks to some part of my soul, even when I don’t particularly care for the play (as I’ve noted, Will was overrated, as a writer, to some degree…brilliant, in spots, but, balanced by a LOT of just plain crap).
I’ve spent a lot of time immersing myself in music, particularly listening to new artists, which I have been exploring on You Tube… I would add, that is the ONLY computer time I’ve been pursuing, ignoring all inner prompts to write; what I found has astounded me, as well as providing some hope, ill-advised as such may be, for humanity’s future, should we be able to survive the consequences of attempting to assert our nature on the rest of reality. If only we could place the same energy and passion we put into music into being rational in our dealings with each other, our chances of surviving into the next century would be greatly enhanced.
The problem I now face is deciding whether I want to continue blogging, at all. For years now, I’ve depended on this process to furnish a large portion of rationality with which I try to face Life at Large; it’s kept me relatively sane now for over six years, and well over a thousand posts, & more than a million original words. (Killed at least one keyboard too; even the new one is now missing letters, as I continue to pound away at this poor old machine….). I’ve met a lot of great people, & made some friends I know I’ll have the rest of my life. But, the satisfaction I get from posting a good one seems less important now; making contact with reality, rather than cyber-reality, seems more attractive to my soul/spirit.
What this means for the future of Exploring Consensual Reality remains to be decided; I am unable to completely stop writing. I’d as soon stop breathing, for writing is now as necessary to my peace of mind as the drawing of a clear breath. But, I’m thinking I may post less often, for I intend to make some rather sweeping changes to my daily routine, as I become more physically able to meet the challenges of interacting fully with Life. Walking, playing music, interacting with people, all will assume a greater significance as part of each day, which will, naturally, reduce the number of hours spent hunched over my keyboard, releasing my angst.
So, for those who may wish to converse more often than I may be posting, I’ll point out my email address is in my profile, and I love to write letters; always have, & email makes it even easier than the USPS ever did to stay in touch with those we love…. I’ll be posting, but, perhaps, not so frequently as in the past… I’ll also be spending less time surfing the Net, & more time walking in the real world. As Edward Abbey, one of my favorite modern philosophers, has said, when you walk, the world gets bigger… I’ve still got a LOT of the world to see, so, I guess I’d better get to hoofin’ it, before I can’t walk at all.
For now, let’s go see what I managed to put together while in the midst of all the rest of this; if naught else, you might be happy to know the poem I’ve been slowly leaking is finally done, so, that’s something, eh?….
Shall we Pearl?….
“What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea.
It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience,
something that never has been
and never could have been experienced by anyone else.”
~~ Joseph Campbell ~~
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Louisa Johnson
~ Image from You Tube via Google Images ~
Below, you’ll find a compilation of the performances this young woman gave during her journey to winning the X-Factor talent competition in 2015. Her initial performance, at the televised audition for the show, will, I predict, completely blow you away, right from the very first note she sings. As the performances follow, you will witness the emergence of a star-to-be, as she blooms into herself. The last few numbers, as with all of them, show her growth as a vocal artist, as well as her growing self-confidence.
It is, to me, a delightful journey, with some of the most compelling, completely mesmerizing vocal performances I’ve EVER seen, from ANY artist. I hope you enjoy her music as much as I have; you’ll be hearing it for many years to come, I am sure….
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Louisa Johnson X-Factor Journey 2015
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Satisfaction guaranteed….
Dreaming, we awaken the dawn;
singing, dancing, composing a rhyme
to greet each new moment, to spawn,
negotiating unreality, seeking the sublime.
Down deep, deeper, daring to clamber
where unconscious dreams haunt relentlessly,
past reason, into the sleeper’s dark chamber
the siren calls, yearning endlessly….
Answers we seek so assiduously hover quietly
around the nearest relevant scenery,
alert to any pertinent intent, inherently
absorbed in metaphor, soberly sedentary.
Proportionate allegory, even the plainly mundane,
though among our most powerful tools,
must remember, the map is not the terrain;
first among Nature’s most basic Rules.
Awakened, craving Life in every fiber of being,
seeking to find the grace of the muses,
reaching back into primitive emotion, seeing
at last, Life never, ever refuses.
~~ gigoid ~~
8/3/2017
***************************************
Naked Pearls
The fruit of the vine….
*******
“Sometimes it takes great effort to discover
that life was meant to be effortless.”
~~ Anonymous ~~
*******
“The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.”
~~ Albert Schweitzer ~~
*******
“Failure is instructive.
The person who really thinks
learns quite as much from his failures
as from his successes.”
~~ John Dewey ~~
*******
“Be careless in your dress if you will, but keep a tidy soul.”
~~ Mark Twain ~~
*******
“It is by not always thinking of yourself,
if you can manage it,
that you might somehow be happy.
Until you make room in your life
for someone as important to you as yourself,
you will always be searching and lost …”
~~ Richard Bach, Spoken by Leslie Parrish, “The Bridge Across Forever” ~~
*******
“Warned you have been.”
~~ Yoda ~~
*******
“Therefore search and see if there is not some place
where you may invest your humanity.”
~~ Albert Schweitzer ~~
*******
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Part of this process has always been on a deadline, but, I find myself unwilling to acknowledge the angst that accrues when the deadline goes whooshing by, or, to allow it to influence the results. It’s done, and this moment in time, to wit: now, is sufficiently within parameters to fulfill my chosen duty. Even if all that is sheer bullshit, I find myself without remorse. So be it. It’s done, it’s got great music, a new poem, such as it may be, and a rather elegant old-school pearl…. & if it ain’t enough, well, so be it. For now, suffice to say, I’ll be back in a day or three, when I’ve filled up on life, & feel the need to get it out… Until then, be well, & be true to your own spirit….
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.
“Every man is a divinity in disguise, a god playing the fool.”
~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~
“Because it’s comfortable. Why?….”
Hajime…. In spite of how little incentive I find to finish and post today’s Pearl, I will do so; for those of us who write for the same reason we breathe, incentive is irrelevant, for it appeals only to self-interest, which has no bearing on duty, or survival, both of which are their own incentive. This, of course, means we will get posted, if only to demonstrate how critical it is to be true to oneself. I am beset by demons, some physical, some cerebral, either of which would be sufficient to keep me from completing today’s effort; duty, chosen or demanded, provides adequate reason to disregard any demands such distraction implies….
Having thus dismissed any attempts to sublimate, or to procrastinate, I shall proceed to do what is necessary to get posted. As is already clear, all the true issues involved have been placed into the vault, where they won’t distract me from doing what is required. Perhaps, in some future time, it will all come into some sort of balanced level of coherency; then, again, perhaps not. At this juncture, this too, is irrelevant, if not downright obscure. In fact, I may have achieved a new level of such obscurity, though such would be hard to determine. And, in the final analysis, who cares? Not me; I’m too crazy today.
I will take a moment, though, to express my regrets to those blogs where I make a habit of commenting. For some days now, sitting long enough to visit other blogs has been put on a back burner, as all the time available to me for such activity has been used up by the act of posting. I’m even having a hard time sitting enough to do any reading; to me, that is as close to hell as I ever get. I will offer my apologies to those blogging friends whose sites I’ve not gone to; my only excuse is self-preservation, which all of us, necessarily, place ahead of most everything else we may wish to do. All I can say is, I hope to do better, in the near future….
Having thus soothed my angst, as far as possible, I believe it would be best to just get on with this, before I become any MORE obscure, through trying to maintain some dignity. Dignity, for us Bozos, doesn’t come easily, patently. But, then, given the state of insanity currently extant in reality, I suppose that isn’t much of a surprise. In any case, it’s time to get this slow on the toad, so, hang on, while I make a quick, hard turn into efficiency, if not elegance…. Don’t worry, it will all be over soon….
Shall we Pearl?
33. “Be gentle with the earth.”
~~ Instructions for life ~~
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Ian Drury & The Blockheads
Image from werksman.blogspot.com via Google Images
A friend from England recommended this band to me yesterday, & I enjoyed it enough, it got picked for today’s musical selection. Gritty, real, and smart, this band has made some rather fine music for quite a number of years. I hope you enjoy it…..
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Ian Drury & The Blockheads
********************************
********************************
********************************
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 ~~
12/19/2014
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Naked Pearls
Thoroughly Walt….
*******
“I exist as I am, that is enough.”
~~ Walt Whitman ~~
*******
“At any price that I can pay, let me own myself.
And the price is worth paying if you keep what you have bought…
A man may apply his independence to what is called worldly advantage,
and discover too late that he laboriously has made himself
dependent on a mass of external conditions
for the maintenance of which he has sacrificed himself.
So he may be festooned with the whole haberdashery of success,
and go to his grave a castaway.
Some men hold that the risk is worth taking.
Others do not.
It is to those that I have spoken.”
~~ Rudyard Kipling, speech at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, 1923 ~~
~~ quoted in _Kipling’s Science Fiction_ edited by John Brunner ~~
*******
“Have you learn’d lessons only of those who admired you,
and were tender with you, and stood aside for you?
Have you not learn’d great lessons from those who reject you
and brace themselves against you?
or who treat you with contempt,
or dispute the passage with you?”
~~ Walt Whitman ~~
*******
“A man can only do what he can do.
But if he does that each day
he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.”
~~ Albert Schweitzer ~~
*******
“If a camel flies, no one laughs if it doesn’t get very far.”
~~ Paul White ~~
*******
“This is thy hour, O Soul;
Thy free flight into the wordless
Away from books, from art.
The day erased; the lesson done.
Thee fully forth emerging,
Silent, gazing…
Pondering the themes thou lovest best:
Night, sleep, death, and the stars.”
~~ Walt Whitman ~~
*******
********************************
Well, there you have it. I won’t call it good; I won’t even call it adequate. I’ll merely call it ‘done’, and be done with it. I suggest you do what I plan to do, which is to go try to salvage what is left of the day, while there is still hope of doing so. I’ll try to get back to this by tomorrow, but, what with my state of mind (such as it is), and the state of reality, that remains problematic, if not completely questionable. We’ll just have to wait, & see how it goes…. which is a pretty good metaphor for how most of us approach life, altogether. Stay strange, stay alert, and be well & happy as you may…. Me, I’m shooting for a touch of sanity….
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…. Wherever one may reside on the face of this planet, the hours between 3 and 6 AM are pretty quiet. Most ffolkes, as well as most folks, are either asleep, or would like to be. Leelu and I are, perhaps, the exception which proves the rule, in that case, for we arise each day, no matter what time I may fall to sleep, between 3 and 4 AM, with her preference to eat and play, and mine to write. This usually happens soon after feeding her, and throwing her paper to fetch for a short while, until she becomes bored with it, whereupon she has learned to take a nap until I am done posting the day’s mess. I have found the peaceful quiet to be my most productive period of the day, and have come to appreciate the space to think and compose.
That said, we will ignore the concomitant issues, such as a blank, or troubled mind, or a painful body, which may preclude any competent production beyond the most basic. Generally, if the latter instance is in play, I’ll end up re-blogging, which is relatively simple, as I have more than five years of almost daily posts from which to choose. Of late, both the process of re-blogging and/or posting a fresh Pearl have been complicated due to physical issues. Today, beset only by my own predilection to ‘get it done’, I found the means, within me, and in the tools I employ, to get it done fairly efficiently, if not exactly up to the standards I wish to meet. So be it, for, I find myself also unwilling to go the extra ten steps to make it all perfect (in my own mind, anyway). In short, y’all will just have to take it ‘as is’, & be content with that, as that’s just the way it is today.
That’s probably not the approach best guaranteed to produce a successful post, but, then, I’ve never really cared about success, as I measure that by how many mundanes I haven’t killed in a day; so far, so good, today. Let us hold out hope to reach the end of the day having maintained that status. Not that I’d mind acing a few of them, but, it’s hard to justify when I know they simply can’t help being stupid, or ignorant, whichever the case may be. (Ignorance is amenable to fixing; as we all know, stupid is forever….) But, producing these Pearls has been an invaluable tool in keeping the body count down, so, I suppose we can be content with that. Better than the alternatives, yes?
I think that’s probably quite enough meandering blather for one day, don’t you? Why don’t we just get on with this, since what is to be found below is probably more entertaining than wandering around in my early morning miasma? Moreover, let’s do so with some panache, or, at the very least, some efficiency. Such is relatively simple, you see, for all we have to do is this….
Shall we Pearl?
“A man can only do what he can do.
But if he does that each day he can sleep at night
and do it again the next day.”
~~ Albert Schweitzer ~~
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Cream, Reunited….
Cream was one of the most popular & successful rock bands of the 60’s, lasting until the creative tension amongst the three artists became too much to bear, whereupon they held a farewell concert, in 1968. Thirty-seven years later, they reunited to hold a series of concerts at Royal Albert Hall, a concert that is now legendary for the performances they gave. Here is a video of one of the shows, in its entirety. Enjoy, ffolkes; it doesn’t get any better than this….
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Cream Reunion Royal Albert Hall, 2005
*************************************
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Vague Glimpses of a Rainbow
All the sad notions of propriety had fled,
Screaming their anger for pausing in song,
Until late came the rabid fog, colored in red,
As serenity cried, unafraid to live so strong.
Fallow fields in faithful patience set free,
Dragged from birth, by their own nature cast
Saving each moment against fear yet to be,
Carved into silence, by ignorance held fast.
Historical forces plod slowly ’tis often said
Anxieties streaming stiffly, one epoch to the next.
Cultural mania stands nonchalant in its stead
No sadder epitaph has such bittersweet context.
Patterned bags of forgotten virtue lie in wait
Blessed by reminders whose souls value affinity
Frozen webs surround the fields in gravid state
Grasping passionately within obvious opportunity.
Passage to future realities isn’t guaranteed
Small favors for deities was left off the menu
No roses, nor manna, nor gallant aerial steed
Left traces of fatal, yet originally gracious venue.
~~ gigoid ~~
9/6/2012
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Naked Pearls
Basic Ingredients….
*******
“I’m a man of my word.
In the end, that’s all there is really….”
~~ Avon ~~
*******
“I used to sit on the banks with a raft and watch the water roll lazily by.
One day I pushed my raft into the shallows of the water
and found the water moved swifter than I thought,
but my raft was actually a little rowboat.
Then, after some time, I rowed my little boat into deeper water.
There were great storms, mighty winds, tremendous waves,
and sometimes I felt so alone.
But I have noticed my little rowboat is now
a mighty ship manned by my friends and loved ones,
and beautiful calm seas, warm sunny days,
and nights filled with comfortable dreams always double after a storm.
Now, I could never go back and sit on the bank,
in fact, I search for deeper water.
Such is life when lived.”
~~ B D Gulledge ~~
*******
“Be not afraid of going slowly; be only afraid of standing still.”
~~ Chinese Proverb ~~
*******
“Anybody remotely interesting is mad, in some way or another.”
~~ Dr. Who ~~
*******
“He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain the ashes.”
~~ Chinese Proverb ~~
*******
“Blessed is he who has learned to laugh at himself,
for he shall never cease to be entertained.”
~~ John Powell ~~
*******
“How could the drops of water know themselves to be a river?
Yet the river flows on.”
~~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery ~~
*******
********************************
Well, it’s done. Since the intro provided all the lack of coherence necessary, I think we’ll end this quickly, before it shakes itself apart, which, if I am not mistaken, will happen in the very near future, unless we can beat it to the end. Oh, good, I see the end, right there…. Let’s take this exit, then, rather than risk the alternative. See ya, ffolkes. I’ll be back relatively soon, as I can already feel the creative tension building toward another one…. Funny how that works, isn’t it?….
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.
“He who is bent on doing evil can never want occasion.”
~~ Publius Syrus — Maxim 459 ~~
The City ~ Ferry View…
Hajime…. Having learned some years ago how difficult it can be to be creative on a consistent basis, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to me when I find myself completely without any connection to the well from which it springs on any particular morning. But, it does, every time, generating the same feelings of panic and dismay, at the thought of having to, once again, cudgel my brain into producing something worth putting down on screen/paper, a process which is by no means consistent, or, comfortable. Apparently, though, the process IS one that works, if only in my dreams of adequacy.
With that being said, I will add, I’m not complaining. I am up early enough to have time to find the proper cudgeling tool, and, in retrospect, did so with some dispatch, if not elegance. You see, it’s done. Well, it’s as done as it’s going to get, anyway. I managed to persuade SB to cough up enough pearls to compose an old-school pearl, found an appropriate poem to accompany the fine poetry pearl I found, and picked out some rather good music, so, the elements are all in place. The only thing lacking is any sort of confidence in what I’ve done. But, confidence isn’t important; chutzpah is, and we’ve got plenty of that on hand.
Since my creative capabilities are somewhat limited today, obviously, I’ll forgo further blather, in favor of moving this along. Or, as we are fond of saying, let’s get this slow on the toad. No fooling around, either; we’re done, and, gone….
Shall we Pearl?….
“The most pathetic person in the world is a person who has sight but has no vision.”
~~ Helen Keller ~~
********************************
Today’s selection was chosen for the picture by which it was accompanied; the fact it turned out to be mostly classical guitar was a bonus. Enjoy!….
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Classical Music
********************************
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********************************
“Whatever we cannot easily understand we call God;
this saves much wear and tear on the brain tissues.”
~~ Edward Abbey ~~
Rejection
“Jesus loves me, this I know,
For the Bible tells me so…”
I’d be crying a river, I thought
if ever such crap I bought.
Sorry if it hurts your sense of style,
but, hypocrisy always gives me bile.
Being lied to accidentally is okay,
but, deliberate lies make me angry, and fey.
Oh, God, hear what I pray!
Keep me from your followers today.
Having to listen to so much that is wrong
makes me puke, before it makes me strong.
I don’t know why it isn’t clear to other folks,
which is alright, you know, different strokes.
But, why should that mean that they must
force me to believe, or fail in trust?
Spare me the lies, and the make-believe,
fairy tales are easier to hear, and to weave.
They give us a lesson which we can feel
but don’t pretend at all to be real.
Reality can scare us, that’s a given fact,
still, met with care it will leave us mostly intact.
Met without fear, standing tall and alone
Life will allow us to make it our own.
Folly beckons, and so many follow
mass delusions seem to me most hollow.
I’ll have to stick to my own chosen way
while so many go so sadly astray.
It’s lonely at times, it may seem sad,
but really isn’t, and I’m quite glad,
that knowledge is always stronger than fear,
year after year, tear after tear…..
~~ gigoid ~~
3/18/2013
********************************
Naked Pearls
Being human isn’t easy….
*******
“Humans hardly ever learn from the experience of others.
They learn – when they do, which isn’t often – on their own, the hard way.”
~~ Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love ~~
*******
“Once we truly know that life is difficult –
once we truly understand and accept it –
then life is no longer difficult.
Because once it is accepted, it no longer matters.”
~~ M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled ~~
*******
“A man can only do what he can do.
But if he does that each day he can sleep at night
and do it again the next day.”
~~ Albert Schweitzer ~~
*******
“In adversity remember to keep an even mind.”
~~ Horace ~~
*******
“When it’s dark enough you can see the stars.”
~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~~
*******
“Reality can be useful.”
~~ Solomon Short ~~
*******
“I make my own reality…..”
~~ gigoid, the dubious ~~
*******
********************************
Such as it is, there it is. Done. Not only done, but, I’d say, finished, as well. But, then, what do I know? All I know at this point is, the sun is rising, and today’s Pearl is complete. I’ll take it. Not only will I take it, I’ll take it, and run. See y’all tomorrow, ffolkes; I don’t seem to have any choice in the matter….
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.
“We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact
that each moment of life is a miracle and a mystery.”
~~ H.G. Wells ~~
Super Moon 9/8/2014
Hajime…. It is now a bit after 5 AM here in California, which means I’ve been up for at least two hours, trying to find the words to begin. As you see, the words found are, shall we say, less than compelling? Yes, we shall. Yet, even though there isn’t anything particularly elegant or inspiring laying about my mind, there is enough material already in place to make up a dandy little Pearl. Therefore, we went with the realistic confession of our inability to create, which, though less than riveting, gets us down the page….
How far it will get us remains to be seen, as I am unsure, given my current mental status, just how long I can keep up this inane patter. Why, just a moment ago, as I wrote the previous sentence, I had to stop, play with Leelu, and find my way back to this sentence, while keeping up the illusion we actually planned all this. Not bad, I’d say, for someone currently without a clue. Still, even if I’m lacking in clues, I do have my chutzpah, which generally serves me well to carry off any such maneuvers; needless to say, I keep it close at hand on such mornings.
I think it’s all used up now, though, so, perhaps this would be the right time to take this slow on the toad. Sure, that’s the ticket. In fact, I’m going to employ our long-neglected, formerly most-used technique for getting us out of the intro. We call it, simply, old #4, and it works quite quickly when we remember it. In fact, so quickly, I’d best stop here, before it cuts me off before…..
Shall we Pearl?….
Eternity has nothing to do with the hereafter… This is it… If you don’t get it here, you won’t get it anywhere. The experience of eternity right here and now is the function of life. Heaven is not the place to have the experience; here’s the place to have the experience.” — Joseph Campbell
********************************
That’s right; when you see this icon above this section, it means you’ll be hearing a collection of classical music. Go figure…. Oh, and, enjoy!….
Y’all may be wondering why, since I arose at 3 AM to begin this Pearl, I have no fresh rant. The simple answer is I’m fresh out of angst. Of course, that would be stretching the truth, but, it will work for today. Here’s one from 2013 to soothe my fevered brow…. and, get us down the page….
From 4/20/13:
Quis custodiet ipsos Custodes? [Who guards the Guardians?] — Juvenal
This is the perfect opening for a discussion of gun control, for me, as I believe strongly that this is the bottom line issue for that particular subject…… Sure, taking guns out of the hands of people who are insane is a good thing; nobody, I think, can argue that. The problem lies in figuring out WHO gets to decide what sanity is, the same issue that comes up in discussing getting rid of firearms altogether.
You see, I’m sorry, but, I just can’t bring myself to trust the Beloved Ruling Class to decide who is sane, and who isn’t. Part of this stems from the fact that I don’t consider anyone in public office to have a very tight grip on sanity to begin with…. How effective can it be to have insane people making the rules for deciding who is insane? Not very, I suspect….
Yet, I read many articles that profess the belief that the police, and the army, who naturally would have to have guns (Why? If nobody is supposed to have them, why would they need them?), are more trustworthy than the common citizen. I’m sorry, but, just what planet did you say you came from?
It certainly isn’t Earth, because, last time I looked, all the police, all the folks in the army, and all the folks who tell them what to do, are all PEOPLE, just like anyone else, suffering the same fears, the same delusions or preconceptions, and the same lack of morality, as does the average Joe on the streets. In fact, due to my experience at observing and identifying psychiatric symptoms common to the insane, I can honestly state that I see a higher percentage of police and military personnel who have a demonstrable lack of moral compass than I do in the general public.
Part of the problem is that the police and military end up as being attractive to the type of person who enjoys having power over others, whose self-image requires them to be in positions of authority, to be able to view themselves in a positive light, as successful. They equate money and power with success, and so gravitate to those sectors of society that deal in those commodities.
Normal, stable personality types seldom need to exercise power over others, and so avoid such pastimes, but to the selfish, and the sociopathic, the police and the army are seen as a path to what they term as success. If you see a flaw in this logic, please, enlighten me…. Until I see some evidence to the contrary, though, I find this to be a valuable, and accurate summation of the situation, thereby affording myself the opportunity to avoid the majority of their machinations, at least in a directly personal sense….
We all have to deal with them eventually though, so it’s good, I think, to be aware of the above arguments, as it will forewarn anyone who absorbs it, and takes it to heart, allowing them to defend themselves from the worst of the BRC’s attempts at repression, or oppression, if not all. Maintain a high level of doubt when considering announcements and decrees, stay alert to the news, and the meaning behind what you see there, and be ready to jump when the balloon goes up.
Things out in the Big Blue Room are getting a bit serious in spots, with potentially disastrous possibilities being threatened, so it would be a good thing to be ready for whatever may take place, no matter how insane…. And remember, guard yourself, against the Guardians themselves, if need be…..
“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift; the rational mind is faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” — Albert Einstein
********************************
Rejection
“Jesus loves me, this I know,
For the Bible tells me so…”
I’d be crying a river, I thought
if ever such crap I bought.
Sorry if it hurts your sense of style,
but, hypocrisy always gives me bile.
Being lied to accidentally is okay,
but, deliberate lies make me angry, and fey.
Oh, God, hear what I pray!
Keep me from your followers today.
Having to listen to so much that is wrong
makes me puke, before it makes me strong.
I don’t know why it isn’t clear to other folks,
which is alright, you know, different strokes.
But, why should that mean that they must
force me to believe, or fail in trust?
Spare me the lies, and the make-believe,
fairy tales are easier to hear, and to weave.
They give us a lesson which we can feel
but don’t pretend at all to be real.
Reality can scare us, that’s a given fact,
still, met with care it will leave us mostly intact.
Met without fear, standing tall and alone
Life will allow us to make it our own.
Folly beckons, and so many follow
mass delusions seem to me most hollow.
I’ll have to stick to my own chosen way
while so many go so sadly astray.
It’s lonely at times, it may seem sad,
but really isn’t, and I’m quite glad,
that knowledge is always stronger than fear,
year after year, tear after tear…..
~~ gigoid ~~
3/18/2013
********************************
Naked Pearls
Aristotle & friends…
*******
“… as sight is in the body, so is reason in the soul…”
I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know:
the only ones among you who will be really happy
are those who have sought and found how to serve.”
~~ Albert Schweitzer ~~
*******
“Always question Authority;
oft venal and wrong.”
~~ Wise Bee ~~
*******
“The chief good is the suspension of the judgment,
which tranquility of mind follows like its shadow.”
~~ Diogenes Laertius — Pyrrho, xi ~~
*******
If we are not stupid or insincere when we say
that the good or ill of man lies within his own will,
and that all beside is nothing to us,
why are we still troubled?”
~~ Epictetus — Discourses, Book i, Chap. xxv ~~
*******
“He knew that insofar as one denies what is,
one is possessed by what is not,
the compulsions, the fantasies,
the terrors that flock to fill the void.”
~~ Ursula K. LeGuin, _The Lathe of Heaven_ ~~
*******
Life is doing things, not making things.
~~ Aristotle ~~
*******
********************************
Well, it’s done. I had high hopes for this one, which, clearly, had to be adjusted to account for reality. Since those adjustments took extra time, and space, I’ll forgo the usual blather here, and merely say, see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes. Perhaps, if all goes well, it will even be something special; you never know. We’ll see what we can do to make it so…. For now, to echo a pig, that’s all, ffolkes! See ya on the flip side….
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.
“The shoe that fits one person pinches another;
there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.”
~~ Carl Jung ~~
221B Baker Street, London
Hajime…. I am not certain exactly when, but, I’m coming up on five years here at WordPress, sometime in July, or August, I think. I should check. At any rate, it’s been a while. I’ve attempted to post every day, at least once; though I haven’t quite made that goal, I’ve come pretty damn close, with well over 1500 posts to my credit. While I can regard that as a satisfying accomplishment, I must be honest enough to say, not all of it is what might be called fresh, as I’ve recycled a fair amount of what I’ve written for new posts. I call it cheating, though, with the caveat I’m only stealing from myself. So be it.
Today, I’m still busy, and without my usual sense of unease with not making the deadline I’ve set for myself each day. This has allowed me to fall completely into cheat mode. Below you’ll find a fresh pearl, composed of material previously posted, including my longest-ever rant. It’s all fairly standard stuff, for around here, so, no surprises there. I’ll even go so far as to let it speak for itself from this point on, as I intend to cut this short, Moreover, I’m doing that now, before I lose my nerve. I’ll just push this button, right here, and….
Shall we Pearl?….
“Education is about the only thing lying around loose the world, and it’s about the only thing a fellow can have as much of as he’s willing to haul away.” — George Lorimer
George needs no introduction; quite simply, he was the best. Ever. You can argue if you like, but, that would not be a stellar use of time…. Instead, just listen to the proof…..
One of my Gentle Readers complained of no rant yesterday, so, today, I’m making up for all the rants I’ve missed the past week or so. This may be the longest rant I’ve done, though that’s a guess. It is pretty long, and, though written early in 2014, it all remains perfectly valid, as far as I can see…. I hope you read it all, and pay attention, because it’s all about stuff that affects you directly…. Enjoy!….
From 10/18/2014:
“He must needes goe whom the devill doth drive.” ~~ John Heywood (c. 1565) — Proverbes, Part ii, Chap. vii ~~
“As you know, I planned a trip out there for some time, so it fits in very nicely.” ~~ president George Bush, on his trip to LA after the riots ~~
“Nobody goes to bed hungry in America” — R. Reagan
“Politicians aren’t born, they are excreted.” — Cicero
“That it should come to this!” ~~ William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet — Act i, Sc. 2 ~~
The above five-star pearl is a lead-in group, mostly aimed at those with whom the following discussion is concerned. Below you’ll find two links to articles discussing two separate, but related issues from the news yesterday, found in the UK Guardian’s US edition online. They are both in-depth pieces, with a bit of egregiously egotistic back patting in the first one, but, both are more involved, in-depth, and in tune with the truth than any news organization from the US I can find, with the most important issues made clear, the culpability of the responsible parties made obvious, and the downright evil prevarication by the FBI director laid out for all to see….
After those first two articles, I’ve also included an excellent column on the same subject by one of the Guardian’s staff opinion writers, named Trevor Timm. He gives a good summary of the exact points I wish to cover in his opening paragraph, which I’ve included as an excerpt, below the link. After that, I’ll have a few comments, and we’ll see how it goes from there…. Hitch up your belts, & make sure your backpacks are secured ffolkes, this could take a while…. but, as Lord Peter has been known to say, “This ain’t a joke, Charles! It’s important. Damn important!”…..
“Whisper acknowledged that it researches the location of specific users it believes are posting newsworthy information, but emphasised it typically uses GPS data.
Whisper stressed the IP location data it uses for people who have asked not to be followed is rough and unreliable.
“We occasionally look at user IP addresses internally to determine very approximate location,” the company said. “User IP addresses may allow very coarse location to be determined to the city, state or country level.”
It added: “Whisper does not request or store any personally identifiable information from users, therefore there is never a breach of anonymity. From time to time, when a user makes a claim of a newsworthy nature, we review the user’s past activity to help determine veracity.”
The company strongly rejected any assertion of wrongdoing. “The Guardian’s assumptions that Whisper is gathering information about users and violating user’s privacy are false,” it said. “The privacy of our users is not violated in any of the circumstances suggested in the Guardian story.”
Four days later, Whisper rewrote large sections of its terms of service and introduced an entirely new privacy policy.
Whereas the previous terms and conditions described all of Whisper’s tracking of user location as “voluntary”, the new terms now warn users to “bear in mind that, even if you have disabled location services, we may still determine your city, state, and country location”.
Since becoming aware that the Guardian planned to publish its story, the anonymous app has also inserted a new line into its privacy policy.
It now warns users that turning on the app’s geolocation feature may “allow others, over time, to make a determination as to your identity”.
“…he recognised their embrace of encryption responded to “perceive[d]” market pressures in the wake of Snowden’s disclosures. But Comey suggested that end-to-end mobile device encryption amounted to a safe haven for criminals.
“Are we no longer a country that is passionate both about the rule of law and about their being no zones in this country beyond the reach of that rule of law? Have we become so mistrustful of government and law enforcement in particular that we are willing to let bad guys walk away, willing to leave victims in search of justice?” he said.
Comey acknowledged that the Snowden disclosures caused “justifiable surprise” among the public about the breadth of government surveillance, but hoped to mitigate it through greater transparency and advocacy.
Yet the FBI keeps significant aspects of its surveillance reach hidden even from government oversight bodies. Intelligence officials said in a June letter to a US senator that the FBI does not tally how often it searches through NSA’s vast hoards of international communications, without warrants, for Americans’ identifying information.
Comey frequently described himself as being technologically unprepared to offer specific solutions, and said he meant to begin a conversation, even at the risk of putting American tech companies at a competitive disadvantage.
“Where we may get is to a place where the US, through its Congress, says, ‘You know what, we need to force this on American companies,’ and maybe they’ll take a hit. Someone in some other country will say, ‘Ah, we sell a phone that even with lawful authority people can’t get into.’ But that we as a society are willing to have American companies take that hit. That’s why we have to have this conversation,” Comey said
“FBI director James Comey wants a US government-mandated backdoor into your iPhone and your Google account. But Comey doesn’t want to call his proposed privacy invasion a backdoor. He doesn’t understand how it would work. And he expects everyone who has been horrified by the NSA’s mass surveillance to just sit back, weaken their personal security and trust that the government will never abuse it.
Comey also claimed on Thursday that the “Post-Snowden pendulum” needs to swing back in favor of the government, neglecting to mention Congress has passed literally zero laws reigning in government surveillance. In fact, the main reason the major tech companies are pushing forward with encryption is because the government refuses to follow the will of the people and curtail the NSA’s powers at all. If Comey wanted a careful debate about the right balance of privacy and security before decisions like Apple’s are made, like he also said on Thursday night, maybe he should’ve advocated for that when the NSA was massively expanding their powers for years in complete secrecy.
Twitter tweet October 16, 2014: “Comey’s right: Deployment of strong crypto should be preceded by thoughtful debate. Which we had & correctly resolved 15 years ago.— Julian Sanchez (@normative)
So while we break out the world’s smallest violin as Jim Comey complains about the “Post-Snowden pendulum”, remember: the US government, through its own secret actions, brought this on themselves.”
“Who’s the more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?” — Obi-Wan Kenobi, “Star Wars”
I can’t say, with any degree of accuracy, but, I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard such a load of pure bullshit, straight from the bull’s butt, in a very, very long time…. When Richard Nixon raised his peace sign fingers, and stated, “I am not a crook.”, was probably the last time…. I swear, this man, this Comey, who heads up the FBI, obviously has the lowest opinion of the American public’s intelligence of almost anyone I’ve ever seen…. The demon-spawn from hell, Newt Gargoyle, or Gribble, or Grinch, Grngich, or whatever his weird-ass name was, came close on a regular basis, as did that ghoul, Dick Cheney, but, this Über-cop, this gestapo at the head of our nation’s largest domestic police force has, I believe. taken the cake….
Moreover, he implies that anyone who doesn’t support his, and the government’s, grab for power over every aspect of our lives is unpatriotic, a cowardly enemy of American principles, which, according to HIM, start (and, by implication, end…) with submissive respect for the “rule of law”, suggesting that the American public should feel privileged to allow them to have access to ALL of their private information…. Of course, the implied insult here is that only criminals and other unsavory characters should have something to hide from them, and their oh-so-perfect moral position….
What a crock of shit! I can’t say it any plainer than that…. and, I’ve probably said enough by now, anyway…. I’ll leave you with one last wake-up pearl, to think about when you’re assigning blame for what is happening in today’s world….. The FBI director, in his remarks, asks what he considers a rhetorical question, to wit:
“Have we become so mistrustful of government and law enforcement in particular that we are willing to let bad guys walk away, willing to leave victims in search of justice?”
I can only answer with a resounding “Yes, we have! We have lost ALL trust in the police. and the government, with good reason. I wouldn’t trust you to tell me the correct time!”
Well, I might not say that last part to his face, maybe, but, I can assure you, I’d want to, very badly, and would have to exert significant effort of will to refrain from doing so…. though, why I would bother, I don’t know…..
“Who’s the more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?” — Obi-Wan Kenobi, “Star Wars”
I was going to leave it at that, but, as I finished, I received an email from EFF, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit activism organization made up of people, like me, and, hopefully, y’all, who are concerned with keeping the internet free of corporate influence and government oppression, to guarantee the open, free interchange of ideas and communication that characterizes how it is supposed to be, as intended by those who created it…. They are one of the entities who brought suit against the government about this issue, in a suit which is now about to be heard by the Supreme Court, along with several others they have supported, or helped to organize…
Below, I have included three links to articles on their home site, which speak to the information and issues of which we spoke above in this section. Each article clearly explains how the government and other entities are trying to subvert the internet, making it a tool for oppression, rather than a tool for expanding human knowledge and culture…. These explain how the government, and their myrmidons, the police, are working to take away the usefulness of having such a means to spread knowledge, wanting instead to keep it for their own use, which involves the control over our lives they so desperately desire….
Good info, ffolkes, well researched and written, very clearly presented…. I’ve donated to this one, which I don’t do, as a rule, but, they’re working hard to protect US, that is, YOU and ME, so, they deserve my support…. If nothing else, it will give you an idea of how the situation stands today….
“The best way to lose freedom is not to do anything.” — Smart Bee
********************************
A Dubiously Soft Morning
Idiosyncratic images, clamoring for regard,
fill up the white, white screen on which I view
my life, never seeing, nor invited to sup
ambrosial remnants of anything new.
Still, yet almost in motion, allegory sails away
bobbing gently, quick and easy to find,
signs of one happy child, seriously at play,
blissfully immersed, focused joy in mind.
Formidable cries of outraged simple justice
echo plaintive relevance, in half the time.
Maladaptive infants, destined for hospice
salvage an only child, daring to sing in rhyme.
Creativity equals unquestioning farce,
often reaching for absurdity, brazenly afire.
Instead, a blow is felt no joy will ever soften,
accepting the price, added to the cost of desire.
~~ gigoid ~~
7/26/2013
********************************
Since we’re cheating full out today, here is an old, old-school pearl, with a rather ironic beginning, just to keep things confusing, as if today’s effort here weren’t enough. It’s a good one, though, so, enjoy!….
From 9/18/2014:
In order to say there is at least one fresh section today, I offer for your consideration the following old-school pearl, a random, harlequin style, with no obvious parameters…. often, these turn out to be the very best kind, so, we can hope…..
“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I do not believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they cannot find them, make them.” — George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
“Forgive me my nonsense as I also forgive the nonsense of those who think they talk sense.” — Robert Frost
“You can’t make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you’re doing is recording it.” — Art Buchwald
“Certum est quia impossibile est.” [It is certain because it is impossible.] — Tertullian (160-240 AD) — De Carne Christi, c. 5
“One truth stands firm. All that happens in world history rests on something spiritual. If the spiritual is strong, it creates world history. If it is weak, it suffers world history.” — Albert Schweitzer
“Destiny is but a phrase of the weak human heart – the dark apology for every error. The strong and virtuous admit no destiny. On earth conscience guides; in heaven God watches. And destiny is but the phantom we invoke to silence the one and dethrone the other.” — Edward Bulwer-Lytton
“He declared that he knew nothing, except the fact of his ignorance.” — Diogenes Laertius (c. 200 AD) — Socrates, xvi
Works every time…..
********************************
‘T is done, and, done to death, I’d say. I’ll skip the usual witty repartee, if such as this can be so labeled, and leave you to the rest of your day. I hope you enjoyed this little journey through the past. I’ll be back tomorrow, most likely, but, hopefully, with some material a bit fresher than today. In any case, we’re outta here, and now…. See ya, ffolkes. Count on it…..
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.
Good morrow, he said, with some trepidation…. Then, with some relief, he turned it over to me, whereupon I told him to get some rest & try not to worry, as there’s no hope, anyway. Resigned, he went off to bed, weeping, the poor sod. Meanwhile, since he’s imaginary, I put it behind me, and tried to figure out some way to get back to Reality from the point we find ourselves, somewhat to the East of anything remotely real…. Oh, wait, look, there’s Leelu, so, we weren’t as far out as I’d thought….
Hmm. Even for me, that’s a bit off center, isn’t it? Oh, well, just a little experiment in connective tissue manipulation; the results should be tabulated by the end of the post today, if you’re at all interested. Of course, that assumes we will make it that far, an untenable prediction, to be sure. But, ya gotta do what ya gotta do, and, we gotta, so. what the heck? Luigi, regulation 27 has kicked in; we’d better fire it up & get on our way. Ffolkes, if y’all could buckle up, our insurance guys will let us be off…. Hang on….
Shall we Pearl?….
“He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.” — Lao Tzu
********************************
Paladin, the protagonist in this weekly TV show from my youth, was one of my role models as a boy; he provided weekly lessons in how to act with honor in all sorts of situations, which, for one who understands the power of metaphor, and, raised by an Army Master Sergeant, was an excellent classroom…. Enjoy!….
“Our affluent society contains those of talent and insight who are driven to prefer poverty, to choose it, rather than to submit to the desolation of an empty abundance. It is a strange part of the other America that one finds in the intellectual slums.” — Michael Harrington
I’d planned a rant based on the above quote, but, I just don’t have one in me today…. Instead, here is a rant that poured out of me during the intro section on the date listed below…. It’s not bad for an off-the-cuff diatribe…. Enjoy!…
From 4/6/2014:
Ffolkes,
Having long been cognizant of the risk involved in living a life of free will, I accept the inherent danger, without qualm or resentment, as the just cost it represents for the boon of living free. As our favorite Founding Father, Tommy J, was fond of saying, “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance; it’s cost is counted only in the blood of its defenders.” Well, I think he said it; it might have been one of the others…. but, it SOUNDS like mi amigo Tomas, so I’m going with that. The danger, as it turns out, is not from the world at large, so much as from the Australopithecean inhabitants of that world, specifically a certain small part of the impossibly fecund group of naked, hairless apes who infest the surface of the planet with me….
Now, this may sound as if I have a rather poor opinion of my fellow man…. In that, you would be right, insofar as it goes. Individually, I like some of them very much, and tend to try to spend what time I have to interact with those whom I can get along with, just like everyone else… The rest of them, as far as I am concerned, are pretty much superfluous, in most ways, and I figure the world would be a nicer place if they’d all just go away somewhere where they won’t bother those of us who only wish to get along, without trying to take advantage of anyone else….
The small group to whom I refer above, however, make the process of living with them a veritable pain the bloody ass, as they have no more desire in Life than to steal from everyone else….. These assholes will lie, cheat, & ultimately, will act, literally, in any way they feel will get them what they want, no matter how unethical, or immoral it may be. Their entire purpose in life is to see that THEY, and they alone, are in control of other people, and of the resources our society uses to maintain life and culture; in that purpose they are single-minded, quite ruthless, deliberately heedless, and completely uncaring, as to how much pain and misery they may cause to other people in the process of achieving their goals.
Now, the assholes who act like this are not a very large group of people…. but, for all of our history on this world, over 5,000 years, at least, this small group of snakeheads have conspired against the rest of humanity, diligently working to set themselves up as the oppressive, shadowy forces behind the Powers That Be in life, a task at which, for the most part, they have been quite successful. The number of people in the world who are in essential control is much smaller than the grand majority of people are aware…… These are NOT the people who get elected, or however they are chosen to lead a nation; the real power lies with those who control those leaders from behind the scenes, telling them what they can and cannot do…..
This number, of the true masters of our society, is, realistically, far less than a thousand men and/or women, world-wide…. Once the structure of control has been established, it doesn’t take a lot of manpower to maintain the status quo, since the vast majority of people in the world are not aware of the true picture of how society is arranged….. This cluelessness, I might add, is a sufficient degree of ignorance to enable those in power to remain there as long as they wish…. They have had a very long time to practice the skills they need to remain both in charge, and in the background, and they are VERY, VERY GOOD at them, believe me…..
I know these people are out there; I also know that they know they are not completely invisible, due in part to others such as myself, who refuse to leave in place any of the wool they keep trying to pull over our eyes. They know exactly what writers and/or ffolkes are out there in the world, who are watching them WITHOUT being fooled…. Hell, they probably have our addresses, and an idea of how many weapons we keep on hand….
They don’t care, as long as they are able to maintain their control, and their obscurity from the public eye…. If, by chance, the majority of the blind, ignorant public became aware of how much they are controlled, and for how long they have been the dupes of these human predatory vultures….. well, those shadowy snakeheads wouldn’t last very long…. A mob of humans is an ugly thing, with no conscience at all, once it has been set in action….. There is little chance of it ever happening, but, hey, there’s always hope, right?….
I note from the above that my rant for today can be considered as done…. Since, despite the evidence presented thus far, my brain is NOT in what I’d call “sharp” status, I think I’ll take this as it lies, & not worry too much about how it got there… That’s probably for the best, as I don’t have a bloody clue as to how it all came to be…. Hell, I’m not sure exactly what I’m doing right at this moment, much less have I kept track up to now…. it didn’t seem necessary, and, now, it would be more dangerous than what we’ve already done, so, we’ll stop here….
Whew! Thank goodness…. it almost got away from me there…. Now that we’re back in the saddle, so to speak, let’s ride, or, dive, whichever is more appropriate…. I think we’ll dive, as we have the scuba gear, and nothing to ride, anyway…..
Shall we Pearl?…..
“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” — Marcus Aurelius
********************************
Momentary Terror
Absently casual, memories pester endlessly
leaving only bleeding remnants, amiable and loving.
Coming awake, I cry to still the pain, shamelessly.
Elsewhen, time gives surcease, if only to live,
shoring broken pilings, worn and gray.
Passing on, I laugh at the pain, accept all it will give.
Time will build a shelter, warm and ever safe
save for Fate’s busy hands.
Enduring, I follow the pain, knowing it will chafe.
Fixed against a darkened sky of starry black
such beauty brings us to our knees.
Entranced, I welcome the pain, ’tis all I lack…..
~~ gigoid ~~
Written 2/24/2012.
********************************
Today’s final old-school pearl turned out a bit odd; it’s a classic seven-star, with a somewhat obscure endpoint. Such as it is, here ’tis….
“A word is dead
When it is said
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.”
~~ Emily Dickinson ~~
“Grain grows best in shit.” — Ursula K. LeGuin
“Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination.” — Edward Abbey
“If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.” — Maya Angelou
“The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.” — Albert Schweitzer
“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne
I feel like one
Who treads alone
Some banquet-hall deserted,
Whose lights are fled,
Whose garlands dead,
And all but he departed.
~~ Thomas Moore — Oft in the Stilly Night ~~
********************************
“And, another one bites the dust….” Far be it from me to deny reality its due; with that caveat in mind, I shall take my leave for another day (or, more, if Murphy gets his way…). So be it. See ya next time, ffolkes, with any luck at all….
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.
The picture placed the busts between
Adds to the thought much strength;
Wisdom and Wit are little seen,
But Folly ‘s at full length.
~~ Jane Brereton (1685-1740) ~~
~~ On Beau Nash’s Picture at full length between the Busts of Sir Isaac Newton and Mr. Pope ~~
The Last Manchu ~~ Last Emperor of China, Pu Yi Image from You Tube via Google Images
Good morning…. Head down, breathing. Enduring. Another hour until the next chance at peace; two, if you count in real time. Time goes twice as slowly, from a personal perspective, when in a trance, the only possible method to get through the minor taste of major hell in which I’m caught, like a fly in amber….. By the time any real sort of peace can possibly be achieved, it will be light, hopefully in my soul, as well as in the Big Blue Room…
Ah well, so much for the best laid plans, eh? Little did I think, during all those years I worked and struggled to make my way in life, I would, at this point, be alone, but for my familiar. I had hoped to have found a partner, a helpmeet, my own true love…. Alas, she is nowhere to be found, it seems, so, I carry on by myself, trying to find some purpose for this existence I find myself inhabiting…. As one of those men hardwired for family and home, it’s a bit of a disappointment, to say the least….
Oh, not that I have any regrets; that sort of mental aberration isn’t one to which I’ve ever been prey. To regret means one made the wrong choices, which is silly, as they are already made, and cannot be changed. Wrong and right are only human judgments; the universe doesn’t work that way, so it’s a waste of time and energy to fall into that trap. But, I can say it would be much more comfortable, and fulfilling, to be able to share what I am doing with a like-minded partner….
I suppose that’s the problem, right there…. “Like-minded” seems to be the issue, I’d guess. My own mind is a bit, shall we say, different? Finding someone who can both appreciate it, and tolerate it, seems to be more than any woman seems willing to undertake, or experience. Which is okay; everyone has their own standards and preferences…. But, I sure could wish there was ONE woman willing to take the risk; it would also be helpful if she were to be somewhere in my immediate vicinity, and be, at least, amenable to the idea….
It has been said, many times, all things come to he who knows how to wait; I can only hope it is true. Until my waiting is done, I’ll be here, maintaining, and hopefully, building what remains of my life into a structure worth living in…. Now, if I can only shake this bullshit physical weakness crap, all will be well, and all will be well, in the end…. For now, we’ll do this…..
Shall we Pearl?….
“Don’t try to be different. Just be good. To be good is different enough.” — Arthur Freed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Artist’s rendition of the New Horizons Spacecraft near Pluto
Image from Space.com
Today’s video is a compilation of the photos taken by the New Horizons spacecraft as it flew past Pluto in 2015, strung together to give a view of the entire trip’s purpose, to gather data on our Solar System’s most distant planetary body. It’s pretty cool, and the page where it resides will furnish a number of other interesting videos on the mission…. Enjoy!…..
How many times in your life have you heard this statement? Most of us have heard it repeated since we were children; I believe it is one of those statements that has been present in our language and culture since the beginning of recorded history, which, oddly enough, coincides with the invention of the concept of money…. Yes, invention, that’s what I said. Money, you see, doesn’t exist in the real world; there is no physical equivalent anywhere in the Universe one may point to which represents the idea; yet, this idea is the basis for almost every act of evil perpetrated by one person upon another….
This means, of course, we are all slaves to an idea, one which really has no actual meaning in Reality. How stupid is that? Well, I’ll tell ya, ffolkes…. that’s pretty fucking stupid, in my less than humble opinion…. In fact, it is awfully close to being DELIBERATELY FUCKING INSANE, rather than merely dumb. I can’t think of anything less intelligent than allowing a mere concept to control our existence, yet, this is what almost every member of this species falls for, right from the cradle….
It’s hard for me to believe we’ve been to the moon, when we can’t seem to find our way out of a simple illusion…. especially since it is all just a lie, told to us by manipulative predators, who have no interest in anything other than the fulfillment of their own desire, which generally involves the acquisition of power, and more resources than is their fair share, and has nothing to do at all with helping others. Insane, sociopathic, as well as psychopathic predators, with no more humanity than an amoeba….
What we see then, is this; money doesn’t exist. The only reason it has any meaning at all is because we give it such; no other reason is needed, and, for the purposes of those who wish to control, forms the essential first step to enslavement. Once a person believes money exists, and has importance, they become vulnerable to their own desire for it, which allows the predators to manipulate those desires for their own benefit, through the use of more lies, based upon the belief in the first, most basic lie…. Once enslaved, the slave has no idea they are even in chains, for they are only focused on the money, which doesn’t exist….
Also, even if they are made aware of the anomaly, the refuse to change, because of a lack of courage, to admit they have been wrong. As well, they would have to assume responsibility for their own beliefs, and the Universe can be a scary place. Most have never used their minds to look beyond their own needs and desires; it takes courage to face up to Reality. Only those with the courage to face it, and learn, are able to survive without the collar, for they meet the universe on even terms…..
There is a basic flaw in the plan of the predatory class of humans, though; since money doesn’t really exist, it cannot possibly be used to maintain the status quo forever. There will always come a time, when the very weight of the lies used to build the structure of society, will cause the entire house of cards to simply fall down, a victim of gravity, killed by the weight of the illusions it professed to believe. For, when the lies no longer serve as a means to describe what they see before their eyes, the illusions will always become obvious to those in thrall…. When they realize how they’ve been fooled, there will be nowhere on the planet the so-called masters will be able to hide, from the more than seven billion ANGRY people they tried to kill with their selfish desire to be ‘special’….
Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.
~~ Cree Indian Prophecy ~~
“Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.” — P.J. O’Rourke
So be it.
gigoid has spoken.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Given the mini-politireligirant in the above section, this poem of mine, written last summer, seems to be perfectly appropriate, to take up some of the time until the next one leaks out of the vein I’ll be opening soon… Enjoy!. Funky as it may be, it’s one of my faves…..
A Few Words of Note
In place of ranting and raving about assholes every day
maybe I’ll try something more fun.
Rather than throwing words at all the assholes on public pay
I’ll switch to shooting at them, with a gun….
Should I actually hit one, purely by mistake,
maybe it would wake them up.
Maybe, if they had to think, or actually cut us a break,
we’d see a chance to win at life, to take a step up.
Our nation, such as it is today, was founded by men who told the truth;
that morality disappeared long ago.
Simple ethical strength so bright, so prevalent in our country’s youth
was soon corrupted; corporate interests now run the show.
Nothing would please me more than to fire off some rounds,
if only to gain their attention.
But, I can no longer run, I’ve gained too many pounds;
so, my keyboard and intellect must serve to fulfill my intention.
I won’t stop, of that you may be sure
I love my freedoms, and the philosophy from which it springs.
Tom, and Ben, and John, and Pat, those patriots pure
gave me their example, and the inner peace it brings.
If bullets won’t persuade our elected liars to toe the ethical line,
I’ll throw my most powerful words…..
If nothing else, it will make them wriggle to escape, or voice their pitiful whine,
thus exposing themselves for what they are…. plain and simple turds.
~~ gigoid ~~
Written 7/19/2014.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today’s final pearl, as indicated by the icon, speaks to some of the lesser known facets of Life at Large, as related by quite a variety of contributing authors, some of note, some of antiquity, some modern and kinky, some staid…. All of them are spot on, when it comes to being good advice for living that Life with the greatest possible degree of virtue, and joy…. while still appreciating their opposites…. Well, sort of….. Ah, hell, you tell me what it says, then….
But we, who name ourselves its sovereigns, we,
Half dust, half deity, alike unfit
To sink or soar.
~~ Lord Byron — Manfred, Act i, Sc. 2 ~~
“Man is a clever animal who behaves like an imbecile.” — Albert Schweitzer
“Sanity is a cozy lie.” — Susan Sontag
“Do I look like someone who cares about what God thinks?” — Zippy the Pinhead
“There’s always a bigger fish.” — Qui-Gon Jinn, Star Wars Episode I
“When asked what learning was the most necessary, he said, “Not to unlearn what you have learned.” — Diogenes Laertius — Antisthenes, iv
“Is it pain that makes you real?” — The Goo Goo Dolls
“The mountain remains unmoved at seeming defeat by the mist.” — Rabindranath Tagore
“[T]he earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.” — Chief Seattle, 1854 (c.1786-1866)
It’s funny how, sometimes, the proper ending pearl makes the whole thing make sense, even though during its construction, I hadn’t a clue where it would end up…. Subconscious direction, I suppose; that, or incredibly lucky whimsy…. Who cares which? I don’t; it works for me…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don’t care what anybody says; it’s a Pearl. Also, it’s done. That makes it time to post, and get the hell out of Dodge. See y’all down the road, ffolkes. Can’t say when it will be fresh again; this one took four or five days. But, I’ll be back, trust me. I ain’t no Senator’s son….
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.
Be happy while y’er leevin,
For y’er a lang time deid.
~~ Scottish motto for a house ~~
Dark Side Transit from 1 Million Miles NASA Image from nasa.gov
Good morning…. Bolting up in bed, ripped from sleep by the collision alarm, Blake struggled to focus. As the alarm, certified to wake anyone dead less than 3 years, continued to blast away, he wished, again, he had taken his uncle’s advice, and gone into the family business. At that moment, making goat cheese looked VERY attractive…..
Okay, that’s enough…. Too much, too early…. Howdy, there, ffolkes. It’s me, gigoid, the dubious, awake once more, against all reason, at 2;17 AM, wondering what I did in my former life to have deserved such a karmic whipping. Then, of course, I have to stop, and regain some perspective, lest I fall into the trap of past regrets. I’m a lot better off than many people my age, who have far fewer resources upon which to survive…. Then, of course, the embarrassment and shame of feeling like a whiner sets in…. This naturally boots me out of the self-pity mode, and relative balance can be regained…. It’s ugly, it’s stupid, but, it gets me where I need to go in my head….
It’s also probably entirely TMI for so early in the day…. I suppose it’s too late for a [dignified silence] to be effective; it would just sound surly at this juncture. Silliness is probably not going to work, either, as I’m just not feeling silly (though I can’t say how I look; I haven’t been brave enough to look in a mirror yet….). I’d use my AI writing-bot, but, naturally, the batteries are down. Damn! It looks like we will have to…. Wait a minute! What’s this?
Look, ffolkes! It’s one of our old emergency escape packages. And, better yet, it’s our best design, a # 4. Tighten your belts, please, we’re going to use it. It works like this….
Shall we Pearl?….
“Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant.” — Socrates
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On mornings such as today, I suffer from indecision; my subconscious KNOWS nothing pisses me off more than dithering, in myself, anyway. After enough time to frustrate me thoroughly (as if I didn’t have enough handicaps already), I made the only logical decision, to go with what my spirit needs, and be done with it…. Enjoy, ffolkes…. hopefully, it will chill me out a bit; can’t seem to find my balance today…. I found a collection of classical tunes designed for cats, which sounds just right…..
As indicated by the picture, we’ve retreated in Time. I was going to produce a fresh rant, but, the aforementioned dithering is getting in the way. Hence, another trip to the archives. Today we’ll keep it relatively short and simple, with a bit of discussion of Albert Einstein’s wisdom, as seen through admiring eyes….
From 4/3/2012:
“A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.” — Matz’s Maxim
Upon reflection, although this is a fine pearl, I’m not going to discuss it now. I’m already tired, so here is my conclusion on this: he’s got a good point. Now, let’s start this section over…..
“A life directed chiefly toward the fulfillment of personal desires sooner or later always leads to bitter disappointment.” — Albert Einstein
Now, there’s a pearl! Albert Einstein is generally regarded as one of mankind’s most brilliant members, but most people do not have the capability to see how or why this is so, other than knowing that he was responsible for E = MC². If, however, one takes the time to look past this bit of common knowledge, to look at some of the statements of philosophy and life attributed to him, it becomes clearer, the key to his genius lay in the simplicity of his thought processes.
Albert looked at the world, and the universe at large, through eyes that refused to look away from the simple elegance of the underlying nature of reality. Instead, he focused on the small, basic thoughts, ideas, or physical properties that best described what is real and true. He also did not add superfluous judgments or unseen factors to what he perceived, focusing rather on the most relevant part of the concept, not those parts extraneous to the purpose. This quality enabled him to see further into the nature of reality than is common to the rest of us, who are prone to complicate our perceptions with our prejudices and or misconceptions.
His statement, above, is a perfect example of this quality; it looks directly at human nature, showing us how our own attitudes and desires can potentially be the cause of our own difficulties in life, thus giving us the opportunity to turn our efforts in a direction that will ultimately be more beneficial. The statement clearly lays the responsibility for the tenor of our lives right in our own laps, where it belongs, but, does so without condemnation or insult, merely dispassionate truth. Albert was truly one of humanities greatest treasures, in my mind; his words will, hopefully, continue to help guide people through life far into to the future…. provided there is one….. but that’s a different subject altogether…..
“I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” — Albert Schweitzer
(I know, I know….. not the right Albert. But, it was deliberate, and I’m just doing what Murphy wants….. as is sometimes common, as soon as I finished the above section, the absolute perfect ending pearl pops up. I think Herr Schweitzer was thinking of Herr Einstein when he related this thought….. Albert Einstein was a happy guy; I have pictorial proof, which I have shared below…..so there…..)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Is my forehead bleeding?…. No? Okay, good. I have no more excuses, or complaints, or suggestions. All I can do is all I have done. Here; try this one….
Gently Came a Wounded Child
But you shall not escape my iambics.
Soft, sinuous patterns of unearthly beauty
blithely commune with sinking stars,
as pale shadows of former virtue hover
near, ever clean, ever tolerant.
These unbidden habits are worn with age and care,
ready now for dissolution,
welcoming gladly the kiss of Death’s handmaiden.
Unknown to all, the child stands aside,
weeping for the lost days of youth,
days that now shall never be,
nor yearned for ever after.
Only darkness shall lay upon the landscape,
cold, hard, eternal.
Such then are the signs and portents
as we enter into the unknown future,
they are grave indeed.
Uncertainty will be our sole companion,
as the search for hope yields no result.
The lamentations of the gods
shall sound the elegy for Man,
who never learned to see the gift that was made,
so many echoes ago, in the hopeful past;
thus will we pass this plane of existence
as we came, baffled and afraid….
~~ gigoid ~~
Written 2/2/2012.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What we have here is a failure to communicate…. It’s that, or Smart Bee is in full revolt. Either way, the resulting pearl seems to be possessed of a somewhat tricky nature… I’m pretty sure it’s a good one; I am just not in a mental state to be able to judge adequately…. None of my alarms are going off, though, so I’m pretty sure it won’t injure anyone. If it doesn’t make any sense to you, don’t fret; I’m pretty sure that’s what SB intended….
“Truth exists. Only lies have to be invented.” — Georges Braque
“One of the greatest advantages in the world is enjoyed by the person who says and insists that they are telling the truth, when in fact, they are telling the truth.” — Smart Bee
“What you think of yourself is more important than what others think of you.” — Seneca
“An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight. . . The truly wise person is colorblind.” — Albert Schweitzer
“Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself (I am large, I contain multitudes).” — Walt Whitman, Song of Myself
“The next sentence is true. The last sentence was false.” –Smart Bee
“Well, it just seemed wrong to cheat on an ethics test.” — Calvin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well. I think it’s done. Perhaps I should check, to make sure…. Hmm. Okay, so, better than I’d thought it would be. I’ll take it. I have to; otherwise, I’ll end up feeling like a kitten in the litter box of life. Wouldn’t want that, would we? Nope. Any who, see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes. I’ve left myself little choice but to return to clean up the mess I made today…..
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 