Tag Archives: curmudgeon

Curmudgeons are people, too….

Posted on by
1

Ffolkes,
In a break from routine, today’s title actually fits in with today’s material. Or with the author’s mood, if nothing else…. I awoke, again very late, for me, and my first thought was stimulated by the dream that had just finished. It was, “Well, shit, here we go again….” Perfect….

The dream was some nonsensical series of unlikely events that I won’t try to explain, as my dreaming mind is MUCH weirder than anything I’ve written here. One of the dream’s other participants in these events was my older brother, Tim…. for a long time, I held a lot of anger inside me re: my brother. In my humble opinion, for most of the 17 years I spent with him in the house, he was one of the world’s biggest assholes…. he was totally self-centered, and seemed to have never gotten over being 14, the most obnoxious age for males.

I was still pissed at him when I was 40, and he was 43, as I discovered one day, when he tripped the switch on the anger I had been holding in for all those years. He did something very selfish, which was his habit, left over from his teen years, and caused my little boy a good dose of disappointment, for no reason other than his own sheer narcissism. So I took the lid off, and blew him away with about 40 years of built up anger at his antics. He was totally flabbergasted, and has since made some effort to change that part of him, with some moderate success…. he’s still an asshole, but he is nicer than he used to be…. that’s just not saying much….

Any who, I woke up this morning having just dealt with those feelings again, and it made my first view of the day somewhat cranky… and it still is…. only now I’m cranky about real stuff that is picking at me today in reality….. My only hope, I think, for a day that doesn’t end up with me alienating someone or other, is to put this crank into some pearls…. There are certainly enough targets out there in reality, giving me a veritable buffet of choices to target with my vitriol….. That part will be fun, and will hopefully get it all out, for once again, the situation calls for using the adage, “better out than in”….. or it will eat me up from the inside out…. Shall we Pearl?…..
___________________________________

Yesterday, while searching for pearls, more of Will Shakespeare’s crap kept popping up, getting in the way & wasting my time with BS couplets that have no meaning in modern times, and thus are truly inscrutable, even more so than in his own time….. Now, this morning, when I am NOT in the mood for him or his nonsense, this was the third pearl to surface, so I figured, “Hey, there is a suitable, and convenient, target for all this angst I’ve built up….” So, here are the quotes from Will that got in the way today, as further proof of how much he deserves all the crankiness I can dump on him….

“How still the evening is as hush’d on purpose to grace harmony!” — William Shakespeare

(Huh? Mama nature is throwing up in the bushes over this one…..)

“Palsied eld.”  — William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Measure for Measure — Act iii, Sc. 1

(I reiterate, huh?…..)

“I will kill thee a hundred and fifty ways.” — William Shakespeare (1564-1616), As You Like It — Act v, Sc. 1

(For him, this is so good, I think he must have plagiarized it from somewhere…..)

“You two are book-men.” — William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Love’s Labour ‘s Lost — Act iv, Sc. 2

(This is just about the weakest insult I think I’ve ever seen…..whomever he said it to must be either quaking in their boots, mockingly, or choking because they’re laughing so hard….)

“Damnable, both sides rogue.” — William Shakespeare

(Once more, with feeling…. Huh?….)

“And let me wring your heart; for so I shall, if it be made of penetrable stuff.” — William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet — Act iii, Sc. 4

Okay, I’ll show some mercy, and make this the last for today…. I hadn’t really intended to take shots at Will today, but his crap kept getting all over my boots…. so…. To comment on the last one, from Hamlet…. I wonder how long it took him to come up with the word “stuff” to use in that particular place…. I hope not a long time, because it stinks, quite simply. A heart made of “penetrable stuff”?  Pathetic, pitiful, and any other demeaning word of your choice…. there are so many that would be appropriate, I can’t decide which to use…..
___________________________________

All Is Vanity, Saieth the Preacher

I.
Fame, wisdom, love, and power were mine,
And health and youth possess’d me;
My goblets blush’d from every vine,
And lovely forms caress’d me;
I sunn’d my heart in beauty’s eyes,
And felt my soul grow tender:
All earth can give, or mortal prize,
Was mine of regal splendour.

II.
I strive to number o’er what days
Remembrance can discover,
Which all that life or earth displays
Would lure me to live over.
There rose no day, there roll’d no hour
Of pleasure unembitter’d;
And not a trapping deck’d my power
That gall’d not while it glitter’d.

III.
The serpent of the field, by art
And spells, is won from harming;
But that which coils around the heart,
Oh! who hath power of charming?
It will not list to wisdom’s lore,
Nor music’s voice can lure it;
But there it stings for evermore
The soul that must endure it.

George Gordon Lord Byron

In keeping with today’s theme of political and literary relevance and chicanery (you may combine the two nouns with the two descriptive adjectives as you choose…), I offer this from Lord Byron…. it seems to fit rather well with the rant below…. Enjoy!
___________________________________

TUESDAY’S WEATHER – FOR HELL:  Hell will be hot during tonight, boiling over to boiling early Tuesday morning. Towards the middle of the day it will be sweltering, with a heat-wave later in the day.  Wednesday: Hot  Thursday: Hot   Friday: Hot  Saturday (the day that peace is predicted to be declared in the Middle East, the national economy will recover, pigs will fly, and a brain scan on Dan Quayle Mitt the Twitt will be positive): Cold, with snow and ice, possible blizzards. — Daniel Bowen’s TOXIC CUSTARPEDIA.

You could add to the list of impossible things to happen on Saturday “Mitt the Twitt will quote something that is absolutely true…” I have been reading about his latest gaffes over the last few days, since he has been back from his disastrous trip to Europe. He has managed, on two consecutive days, to pull one lie after another out of his commodious hat regarding his opponent, inadvertently strengthening the President’s position and weakening his own even more, if that is possible. The man is his own worst enemy.

He continues to refuse to show his tax returns, even though he is now aware that each time he refuses, he loses more and more support. Eventually, unless he shows them, he will have no remaining supporters, and the Republicans will have to concede the election before it even gets to the polls…. I read an interesting take yesterday on why he won’t release them…. the author of this particular piece made the observation that Mitt has calculated just how much his refusal is costing him in support, and weighed that cost against what is in the returns. He obviously feels that whatever is in there will be worse than not releasing them, no matter how bad it gets. That implies that there are some pretty damning facts in there, that he cannot afford to release into the public eye, knowing that it would ring the death knell for his campaign….

“I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleges, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives. ” — Tolstoy

Actually, I think that if he were forced to drop out of the race, it would produce a situation that is very reflective of current American society. We would have a sitting President who is liberal, with a liberal Senate, and a conservative House of Representatives, just like now. But, we would also have a Republican party in complete chaos, having to come to terms with the fact that they are so out of touch with the MAJORITY of Americans that there is no one at all they can put in the field who would serve as competition for the President.

No one. None. All the other would-be candidates have already proven they cannot engender the needed public support to successfully challenge the incumbent, so it seems to me that they will either have to pick someone they don’t like themselves, but who is liberal enough to pose a threat to the other side, or they will have to admit that they no longer represent a significant portion of the public, and split into about five pieces, ranging from moderate, middle-of-the-road to the skinheads on the far right. All of those splinter parties would be pretty much guaranteed to fail, as their support bases will be in the minority….

I have yet to check out the news from yesterday, but I know for certain there will be more instances of Mitt’s puerile inability to tell the truth…. he can’t help himself; it is congenital, a maladaptive behavior that has been reinforced throughout much of his adult life. He simply can’t seem to open his mouth without saying something that isn’t true; this is so obvious, I can’t understand how seemingly bright, intelligent people continue to support these lies, and the liar who tells them. It seems to me that a lot of his supporters are losing some of the strength of their commitment to him…. they still speak up in his defense, but fall silent quickly when the proof of his untruths are made clear (The man has no sense at all! He lies about stuff that is documented, or on video, like he forgot he said it, or something….. it’s pathetic!).

I guess that will be enough of picking on the Twitt for one day. I’m still a bit cranky, but this certainly helped. It’s always good when I can rip someone like him to shreds by using his own words against him; less guilt involved that way, since he proves with every other breath just how much he deserves the jabs and pokes the media gives him. I’m just one of the crowd when it comes to cataloging his lies….. May he continue down the path to self-destruction upon which he now treads, and may he reach the end quickly…… 🙂
___________________________________

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself….. I’m going to take my chances, and let it go as is; I kinna do no more! Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

Sagacity or primitive speculation, unveiled….

Posted on by
1

Ffolkes,
For a bit over a year now, I’ve been writing about fifteen hundred words a day, spread among different Pearls, articles, and blog posts for different sites. Over the last few weeks, I’ve noted a bit more of a struggle to get it done than previously; fresh ideas are getting harder to dredge up from the confines of my mind, and I suspect that the well is getting a bit dry, as I’ve been drawing on it heavily for some time now. I’m not sure what to do about it; I can’t stop writing, or I’ll become even more of a curmudgeon than is already the case. I guess I’ll just keep on plugging away, and see what develops……
___________________________________

“In ecology, as in economics, TANSTAAFL (There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free  Lunch) is intended to warn that every gain is won at some cost. Failure to recognize the no free lunch law causes the buffalo-hunter mentality syndrome — the unthinking assumption that there will always be plenty because there always has been plenty.” — Dr. Robert W. Prehoda

Today’s society still suffers from Codyism (buffalo hunter’s syndrome); as a matter of fact, Codyism is one of the primary pillars upon which capitalism exists. For capitalism to function correctly, it must have a constant source of new markets into which it can expand. Without constant growth, the system begins to feed upon itself, and falls into chaos quickly. But none of the folks who are invested in propping it up want to believe that the resources of the planet are limited. As far as they’re concerned, there is no end to what can be created from the resources at hand; what they refuse to understand is that in the very near future, those resources will no longer be at hand. And since we have yet to learn how to create more resources from nothing, they won’t be coming back. When the finite limits of the planet have been reached, it’s going to be a big shock to to all the Bill Codys out there, counting on the buffalo to return. But, y’know what? That’s never going to happen, and wishing won’t make it so…..
___________________________________

The only problem
with Haiku is that you just
get started and then
___________________________________

Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering. — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

Most of us probably lost the ability to do this around the age of 11 or 12; after that we’ were all too busy dealing with hormonal storms to spend a lot of time soothing our souls. And it’s unfortunate that so many never again learn to find this particular spot in their psyche, a loss they feel without understanding why. Only the wisest know that finding our way back to this childish peace of mind is one of the most important tasks we can perform as an adult.

Being able to tap into the serenity and joy that naturally accompanies any trip down this path is a valuable skill, one that everyone needs to cultivate as a method for relieving the stress and anxiety that everyday life creates within all of us. Albert Einstein found a marvelous way to walk this path when he said, “I stopped opening my mail a couple of months ago, and I’ve never felt better in my life!” (Or something like that….it’s close…) We can all take this as good advice (except perhaps, for those who send mail; they might find this somewhat stressful)…..doing nothing can be good medicine for the modern spirit, despite what you may have heard about idle hands…….
___________________________________

Christian, n.:  One who believes that the New Testament is a divinely inspired book admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbor. One who follows the teachings of Christ in so far as they are not inconsistent with a life of sin. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

This will possibly offend the Christians out there. For that I have no apology, for I don’t believe either of these definitions is very far from truth; I’m just not convinced that faith has shown itself to be a motivation for integrity. More often it is used as motivation for proselytizing.  As a matter of fact, I’d say that about 98% of the Christians I know would fall into one of these two categories. And I would also challenge any of those Christians to mitigate their anger until they have made a complete self-analysis, and found whether or not it applies to them.  After doing so, I would welcome any evidence they might have to present that would disprove these assertions. I don’t think I’ll be hearing from very many of them…..or, if I do, their arguments won’t have any relation to these statements, or resemble ‘evidence’ any way but superficially, but will instead make a personal attack on the author. Any bets?…..
___________________________________

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. — The Constitution of the United States of America Amendment 5, 1791

It galls me to have to say it, but……another one bites the dust……I’ve been writing about this all week, and will continue to do so until the NDAA is repealed. I want my Bill of Rights back!……
___________________________________

I see something at the end of the tunnel. I’m not sure it’s a light, though. Might just be a fig newton of my imagination……at any rate, another day is dawning, and is demanding my attention. Since I’ve been cranking on this since about 4:15 AM, I suppose I can finish up and get on with it. Two hours isn’t bad, compared to some mornings of late. I hope your day goes well…..try to have some fun. Y’all take care out there…..

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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!