Tag Archives: George Santayana

Another in a long line of wretched laundry confessions….

Posted on by
2

Ffolkes,

Since it’s already six of one, I’m going to assume that it’s also half dozen of another, and, in spite of how it may seem, or whether or not it is ethical, or moral, or not, that’s the way it will stay. There isn’t a damn thing a single one of us can do about it, so any reluctance to acknowledge this state of affairs can only lead to difficulties for you, and, more critically, for your immediate family…. Sorry, but, natural law is natural law, and there is nothing any of us can do about it, is there? Try to capitulate with some grace, and be a credit to your family, eh?

Nonsense and snide innuendo aside, how y’all doin’? It’s been an interesting two or three days, what with moving, landlord bullying, and internet epiphanies, so I’ll try to correlate some of the more outré information into a palatable format, thus turning shit into jewelry (crap –> pearls). Or not, I’m not sure, and I definitely don’t care HOW it happens, as long as it happens, and does so without bloodshed. I’m running out of bandaging material, or I wouldn’t even care about the blood, so, since I’m strewing BS all over the place at an alarming rate already, we’ll go on, to save resources…

Where, you may ask? Where, indeed…. we are off into the wilds of gigoid’s brain, where there is no telling just what we may find in the nature of biting criticism of humanity’s most dishonorable, shady behaviors (especially as perpetrated by those who would be seen as our leaders…), elegant verse (well, I DO post other poets!….), gut-busting humor, and crunchy, healthful, and flavorful snacks….

Okay, so I’m a bit delusional this morning; it’s a natural defense against getting up so early, which, having failed to keep me asleep, inevitably turns to the bag of tricks furnished by a long history of insane thought patterns, along with years and years of exposure to the most virulently insane folks on the planet, when I worked as a psychotherapist…..

But, I digress…. I think…. Is it possible to digress, when one is already lost in space, and time? Hmm, I’ll have to think about that one, one of these days…. In the meantime, I should probably think about getting started with today’s Pearl…. We are fairly well settled in to the new place, and the cat is now a happy camper, with three more rooms in which to practice her psycho-kitty skills, and an extra person to bedevil…. There are only four more boxes of stuff to put away, and a bed to buy….. otherwise, we are good to go, and much more content to be in a building with only one quiet neighbor, instead of 16, comprised of people displaying diverse levels of ignorance, as well as a significant number with unfortunate taste in music . It’s a good thing, yes, it is….

It is now 0540, and I have the entire day ahead of me…. which, I just realized, is one of my favorite things, because these moments are filled with potential…. nothing is yet determined, and the day is mine to do with as I please…. It’s nice to start it with a kiss from a beautiful blonde, too… Since the day is starting so well, and I have wandered sufficiently around my head for the intro section to reach the legal limit, I’m going to make like a tree, and leave…. Ouch, sorry, didn’t mean to get so old and corny…. it just sort of sounded right, but, next time, I’ll go more modern, and save the corn to cook with…. (Sorry again…. couldn’t help it…)

Shall we Pearl?

“A string of excited, fugitive, miscellaneous pleasures is not happiness; happiness resides in imaginative reflection and judgment, when the picture of one’s life, or of human life, as it truly has been or is, satisfies the will, and is gladly accepted.” — George Santayana
_____________________________

“The great French Marshall Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow growing and would not reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshall replied, In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this very afternoon.” — John F. Kennedy

What a great little anecdote! I love to see a great life lesson told in a few short words…. Here is a perfect description of the attitude one requires to achieve happiness…. Yes, happiness, an old word, one bandied about much by the uninformed, and the unhappy…. Happy people never need to use the word itself, as they are just…. there. There is little need to think about being happy, when you are, and in fact, not thinking about it is one of the keys to holding it, once found…. Sadly, it is a rare person in today’s world who can sustain long periods where they feel happy the entire time; the world intrudes too much into our lives to give us leave to be happy, unless we know the secret…..

Yes, there’s a secret….. Of course, it’s the kind of secret that is hidden right in plain sight, like Poe’s Purloined Letter. It only requires that one be willing to accept it, and to allow it to enter into one’s spirit, suffusing the world in the less harsh light of contentment, rather than the cold, hard light of resentment. People tend to be like the gardener, blocking their own happiness by finding all kinds of reasons to NOT allow it entry into their world. As humans, we are taught at young age to view reality with stoicism, and mute, unquestioning acceptance of our lot; we are shown all the ways to look ahead, to see the worst of what can happen, in order to be prepared….

But, there is another way to approach the matter, one little known, and therefore little taught…Reality is a tough go, for sure, but, with a little bit of mental effort, much easier than the alternative, one can be in control of how it (Reality) affects one’s life. In short, Life treats us all like shit; what determines how much of it gets in our sandwich depends solely on us, and how we react to that shit…. We can slap the shit between two slices of bread, and choke it down…. or, we can use it as fertilizer, to grow some rather nice weed…. potent, and good for you….

Whatever one decides, the choice remains, as long as one is aware of the options. The problem with most folks is, they don’t see the options, or they don’t believe they will work, as their attitudes keep them from even trying a lot of new ways to do things. I won’t say it is this way for all people, but the greatest majority of people I see in the world are unhappy, without ever realizing that a) they don’t have to be unhappy, and b) being happy is within their power to choose…. It’s too bad, really, because that unhappiness is part of what makes people go wonky, losing integrity, honor, and any sense of morality, in order to reach for an illusion, an illusion of happiness that, even if grasped, will drift away and vanish, like smoke in a breeze….

This little mini-diatribe was intended to be more…. more clear, more inspiring, more helpful in getting people to think in different ways…. However, I seem to have lost that thread, and it’s getting a bit obscure, and thick…. So, I’m going to switch to old-school, and politely ask Smart Bee to give me the right words to accomplish that intent, without having to subject y’all to another thousand words of pedantic persuasion…. Well, that’s how it’s supposed  to work, anyway…. If not, at least it will have been more palatable, with more chocolate chips….

“Going to bed with a woman never hurt a ballplayer. It’s staying up all night looking for them that does you in.” — Casey Stengel

“Pizza is a lot like sex.  When it’s good, it’s really good.  When it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.” — Smart Bee

“Beware of the “Black Swan” fallacy.  Deductive logic is tautological; there is no way to get a new truth out of it, and it manipulates false statements as readily as true ones.  If you fail to remember this, it can trip you – with perfect logic.  The designers of the earliest computers called this the “Gigo Law”, i.e. “garbage in, garbage out”.  Inductive logic is MUCH more difficult – but can produce new truths.” — Lazarus Long

“Man errs as long as he strives.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust

“‘T is but a part we see, and not a whole.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle i, Line 60

“If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.” — Mark Twain

“Eternity is a mere moment, just long enough for a joke.” — Hermann Hesse

Okay, so, that works, sort of….. My apologies…. It’s not as clear as I’d hoped, though it’s quite good, in its own small way…. Not bad directions, if one is accustomed to pearls…. I’ve got it! Here is an example of how happiness works, and is available for use by anyone who wishes to use it….

I’m happy now…. I’m done….

(That’s it…. that’s the secret….. No? Not clear yet? Ah, well…. Well, we’ll try again later, ffolkes…. just remember, you CAN be happy, any time you wish…. It’s all a matter of choice….  Bonus? Nobody can take the choice away from you….)
_____________________________

While searching for today’s pearls, I saw one by Pablo Neruda, so I thought I’d find, and use, one of his poems for this section; that decision is always a good one, as there are an awful lot of good poems in his work from which to choose…. Abondanza!….

Lost in the forest…

Lost in the forest, I broke off a dark twig
and lifted its whisper to my thirsty lips:
maybe it was the voice of the rain crying,
a cracked bell, or a torn heart.

Something from far off it seemed
deep and secret to me, hidden by the earth,
a shout muffled by huge autumns,
by the moist half-open darkness of the leaves.

Wakening from the dreaming forest there, the hazel-sprig
sang under my tongue, its drifting fragrance
climbed up through my conscious mind

as if suddenly the roots I had left behind
cried out to me, the land I had lost with my childhood—
and I stopped, wounded by the wandering scent.

~~ Pablo Neruda ~~

_____________________________

In section 1 today, I spoke about happiness, and how to find it (i.e., stop looking, it’s right there inside you….)…. While I was searching for the proper pearls to use in the old-school portion, the following group of pearls kept popping up…. Together, they all form another fine pearl, pointing in a general way to a picture of just exactly what a person who is happy and whole looks like, or, at least, the kinds of things they do, or say, or just think they say….

“I am free, no matter what rules surround me.   If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them.  I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.” — Professor Bernardo de la Paz

“When the need arises — and it does — you must be able to shoot your own dog. Don’t farm it out — that doesn’t make it nicer, it makes it worse.” — Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein’s   “Time Enough For Love”

“It is the ability to choose which makes us human.” — Madeleine L’Engle (Walking on Water)

“How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, iv, 18

“I think a man ought to get drunk at least twice a year just on principle, so he won’t let himself get snotty about it.” — Raymond Chandler

“A person will be just about as happy as they make up their mind to be.” — Abraham Lincoln

“Sometimes, you just gotta say “What the fuck.”” — Risky Business

Wow…. perfect…. If y’all don’t like that one, well, there’s just no more hope….
_____________________________

“All’s well that ends well.”….. There are days, such as today, when this is appropriate, with a slight change in punctuation… Let us say this…. “All’s well that ends, well….”, and leave it at that, shall we? Some days this process goes better than others; given the handicaps, this is better…. Now, let’s see what it looks like from the outside, shall we?….

Hmm…. That took a while…. but, I think it’s all going to be okay. Considering the content of today’s effort, I can only say that I’m good with all of it, as it not only gives me something I can be happy about, it gives me both the means to keep being happy, and a reason to do so… What more can a man ask for from life, eh? Well, winning the lottery wouldn’t hurt, and, I like to follow the example of all cats, who feel that it is always alright to ask for what you want; you won’t get it at all if you never ask…

What this means in the long view isn’t exactly clear to me right now, but, it seemed to fit, so, we’ll just show another cat-like quality, and ignore it…. I’m done, stick a fork in me…. Wait, try again, bozo…. Stick a fork in me, I’m done….. See ya, ffolkes….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest  Carole…
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

dozer3

Soused on pilfered gin, all in a good cause…..

Posted on by
Reply

Ffolkes,

As much as I love it when a plan comes together, I hate even more when it doesn’t….. such as this morning. I can tolerate Murphy’s usual screwing around with those parts of life that will fuck me over the most; I even tolerate it when the asshole just won’t let up, and hits me over and over throughout the day…. But, this I won’t tolerate…. He’s trying to fuck with my computer, and that is unacceptable…. I don’t need that kind of aggravation, not any more, and I won’t put up with it for long at all….. If he continues in this vein, there WILL BE A RECKONING!!!

Sorry for the outburst, but, computer issues due to just plain orneriness is something I just won’t allow. If this were an old machine, or had a history, or was getting overloaded with too much crap software, or something explainable, I could accept a bit of mucking about on boot up….. But, the kind of stuff Murphy had it doing today just won’t cut it, not when I know there is no reason beyond Murphy’s own assholiness to hold as responsible….. Sorry, but, I’ll not have it, and if he doesn’t like it, well, he can come talk to me, and I’ll explain it, in words of no more than one syllable…. or, if that isn’t working, I can just show him with my hands….. he’ll get the picture quite quickly, in that case….

I know, I talk a big game, but, how am I going to get him to hold still? Those iconic forces of nature can be tricky to pin down, possessing those supernatural powers over the rules of space and time as they do….. But, I don’t care how big and bad he is, he fucks with my comp again, and he’s dead meat…..

There, I feel better, if only for venting. I suppose that’s why I rant…. to get all that powerful negativity out of my head, and out into the real world, where it can be better dealt with in a way that won’t harm me, or anyone else. It’s a harmless enough pastime, especially when one considers how few people actually see it in one day; nobody is going to get hurt if they don’t read it, and hopefully, even if they do read it, it won’t cause any bleeding…. I know that I hate to bleed anywhere near the computer, so I’m sure other ffolkes don’t much like it, either…. Not bleeding is a good thing, in most everyone’s world, so we’ll try to keep things such that it can be avoided….

I can’t say that I am terribly proud of this particular opening section; so far it’s even more lame than usual, even for this blog. But, we’ve already reached the point where we are over the limit for allowable deletion, so I’ll have to let it go out the way it is, sans any elegance or witty repartee. Rats! I did so hope to include some witty repartee today…. it’s been so long since I tried my hand at it….. Ah, well, I’ll just have to settle for whatever SB comes up with as pearls today, because, I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date….. not really, but, it’s time to go dive in….

Shall we Pearl?…..
_____________________________

I’m in a curious mood, one that feels as if I should not trifle with it, lest it become something more suitable for a horror movie, with great gobs of blood, gore, and destruction….. None of us wants that on a Friday; it could affect the entire weekend. So, I’m giving Smart Bee its head, to see what it can come up with that will possibly turn this in a new direction, before it gets dangerous to navigate…. let’s see what it can do….

“Knowledge is a polite word for dead but unburied imagination….think twice before thinking.” — e.e. cummings

In the days when Sussman was a novice Minsky once came to him as he sat hacking at the PDP-6.  “What are you doing?”, asked Minsky. “I am training a randomly wired neural net to play Tic-Tac-Toe.” “Why is the net wired randomly?”, asked Minsky. “I do not want it to have any preconceptions of how to play” Minsky shut his eyes. “Why do you close your eyes?”, Sussman asked his teacher. “So that the room will be empty.” At that moment, Sussman was enlightened.” — AI koan

“Enter freely and leave some of the happiness you bring behind.” — The Insidious Wu Han

“It is a great advantage for a system of philosophy to be substantially true.” — George Santayana

“People who wear mirrored sun glasses should seek professional help.” — Smart Bee

“Oh Lord, grant that we may not despise our rulers; and grant, oh Lord, that they may not act so we can’t help it.” — Lyman Beecher

“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” — G. K. Chesterton, ILN, 4/19/30

Ooh, ooh, that’s a good one…. I can’t say for certain what direction it brought us to, but, it will, I have no doubt, be better than where we were headed…. Well, one always hopes…..
_____________________________

On days such as this, where I’m living under a set of rules that may or may not be clear, I tend to look for the same kind of obscurity, or at least, semi-transparency, in the poetry that will fit in with the mood of the day. Most often, in such cases, Emily is perfect, and today is such a case…. Don’t ask me to explain this one, because I won’t…. because I can’t…. I like it anyway…..

A bird came down the walk:
He did not know I saw;
He bit an angle-worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.

And then he drank a dew
From a convenient grass,
And then hopped sidewise to the wall
To let a beetle pass.

He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all abroad,–
They looked like frightened beads, I thought;
He stirred his velvet head

Like one in danger; cautious,
I offered him a crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home

Than oars divide the ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or butterflies, off banks of noon,
Leap, splashless, as they swim.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

_____________________________

It isn’t your fault, but, I was up quite late this morning; turning over to try to go back to sleep actually kept working each time I did it, starting at 0400, all the way up to 0705, when I finally arose…. I reiterate, it isn’t your fault, but you’re going to get the perk that goes along with that, which is the simple fact that I don’t have the time to put together a rant…. This means, of course, that we’ll be going old-school for this section again today, and you will just have to learn to appreciate it…. Just think about the rant you’re NOT having to read….

Now that we have successfully promulgated, and denied, the normal course of events in such cases, I am free to go on to the gathering of the pearls, always the most fun part of this process….. Well, it’s fun, as long as Smart Bee is cooperating, and it has been doing well today so far…. let’s hope it continues…. Before I bore y’all completely senseless, which would mean calling the crew in to perform the sleeping body disposals, I’m going to go diving….. see ya on the flip side, as they say….. Well, I guess they don’t say that any more, so…. hell with it, I’ll be back….

“Most of us lead lives of chaotic improvisation from day to day, bawling for peace while plunging grimly into fresh disorders.” — Edward Abbey

“Integrity has no need for rules.” — Albert Camus

“The whole principle is wrong; it’s like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can’t eat steak.” — author Robert A. Heinlein on censorship

“If you wants to get elected president, you’ve got to think up some memorable homily so’s school kids can be pestered into memorizin’ it, even if they don’t know what it means.” — Walt Kelly, The Pogo Party

“Chi Wen Tzu always thought three times before taking action. Twice would have been quite enough.” — Confucius, 5th century BC

“The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder.” — G. K. Chesterton, TREMENDOUS TRIFLES

“Hello.  Just walk along and try NOT to think about your INTESTINES being almost FORTY YARDS LONG!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

What a perfectly random group! The point it takes us to is the absolute perfect representation of whatever it was we did here today, don’t you think? Of course, whatever that may be is beyond the capability of the English language to accurately describe, but, there is nothing new in that, either, not for this blog…. I like to think we push the boundaries back a little bit every day…. Oh, look, it’s quitting time!….  See ya….
_____________________________

As noted above, I got a late start today, but, managed to rush it all through without any bloodshed…. Let’s see if it’s at all palatable…. Well, it’s savory enough, even if potentially unpalatable for those who can’t, or won’t, use more than three neurons at once; that’s okay, it’s not designed for their consumption, anyway. Regardless of any of that, it will do, and, hallelujah, it’s done…. On time, too…. I’m going to count my blessings, and be on my way…. TTFN, amigos….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

dozer3

Some folks never do understand fractions….

Posted on by
Reply

Ffolkes,

Destroy his fib or sophistry–in vain!
The creature ‘s at his dirty work again.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, Prologue to the Satires, Line 91

Aye, he is, indeed. Up, that is, and at his dirty work, again…. Well, I am, anyway, even if the creature isn’t quite awake yet…. Actually, it’s a good sign, being up early, considering how early I fell asleep. I felt like a little kid, falling asleep before dark, afraid I was going to miss something. I didn’t, though, so it was okay to fall out that early, as I had already done everything there was to do, up to, and including, dinner with my lady. Eating well, good company, and a double shot of Jack will put me under every time, especially now that I’m old and frail….

Hah! Caught ya! Old and frail, indeed…. While I must admit that I am old, and I do get tired pretty fast these days, I don’t think I’m quite ready to join the Geezer Society, or to become a member of the “let’s go sit down for that” group of senior citizens, who never get out to do anything, spending their time rocking on the porch, watching the world go by…. Thanks, but I’d rather be part of the parade marching past, even if I must limp, and, even if it means getting tired all the time, eh? Fatigue is  a small price to pay, for not turning into a slug…. Besides, as a slug, you’ve got to always be on the lookout for salt….

I should know better than to start writing before I drink some of my coffee…. I AM up early again, at 0500, but, since I fell out at 8:30 last night, that is quite enough sleep, and I’ve got no worries there…. But, the content of anything that streams out of my pre-caffeinated brain is suspect, at the very least, and, potentially, toxic, at the worst. This, I think, falls in between, and isn’t dangerous, by any means….. But, then, neither is it particularly interesting, or gut-bustingly funny, and it certainly isn’t going to make anyone run out and wake up the Pulitzer Committee members…. Hell, it may not even hold anyone’s interest as far as this paragraph, and that is sad, indeed….

I must try to overcome my sadness, though, and go on…. nothing else would be honorable. Okay, well, you’re right, it doesn’t have anything to do with honor, but, I’m human, and I, too, occasionally fall prey to those human foibles, of making things up, or more plainly, lying to suit my own purposes, in this case, just getting on with it…. This lie, intended to speed things along, like the lies our beloved leaders tell us, aren’t BAD lies, they’re little white lies, and won’t hurt anyone…. right? Right? Lying CAN be a good thing, yes?….

Well, no, it can’t…. It isn’t really a good idea, even to spare someone’s feelings…. The truth, painful as it can sometimes be, is always best. We tend to forget that, because we sometimes wish we hadn’t known the truth…. But, knowing the truth, unpalatable as it may be, will never poison us, whereas lies will cause us toxic pain, one way or another, every time they are used, either as a passive recipient, or as a guilty perpetrator….. We all hate the fact that pain is our best teacher, but, we all know it is true, which is the source of the old adage about “sometimes, you have to be cruel to be kind”, one we all acknowledge as truth, though we don’t always like it….

There I go again, ranting in the intro section…. SIGH…. I wish I could get a solid handle on this stuff; it’s getting a bit frustrating….. Though, that, of course, totally ignores the fact that I do it to myself…. Ah well, I guess we’re all Bozos on this bus, so, I may as well let my humongous proboscis do its thing, and honk away…. meanwhile….

Shall we Pearl?…..
_____________________________

“King Arthur and his armored goons of the Round Table functioned as the Politburo of a slave state: Camelot. Of all who have written on the Matter of Arthur, from Malory to White, only Mark Twain understood this. But Mark Twain was a great writer.” — Edward Abbey

Which means, by implication, all the others were not good writers….. I happen to agree with this assessment, but, then, I’m  curmudgeon by nature, and by training, so accepting an unpopular truth comes easy to me. It’s unpopular because all those other authors have agents, too, and hate to see their charges maligned, even posthumously.

Then, there is also the fact that the lies, of which the history of any historical period are comprised, are considered to be the truth of the matter, as decided by the ruling faction at the time, and with the approval of the priestly hierarchies…. Historical writings are notorious for being colored by the wishes and desires of the church leaders and kings of the periods in question; an adage commonly held by all ages is, “history is written by the winners….”

This is not supposition, by the way…. This is a proven historical fact, and one that, though everyone seems to know it, and accept it, nobody seems to want to do anything about it. Not only that, but, our modern leaders, in both the governments, and, the churches, lie to us on a daily basis, and nobody seems to care about that, either….

It’s as if over half the human race just gives up all hope of understanding the universe, or having any overt personal control over their own lives, and gives up their right to make up their own minds to those in authority, allowing them to do all their thinking for them, and accepting whatever lies they choose to tell, implicitly….. It quite simply makes me crazy….

Those in power KNOW this, of course, and encourage it shamelessly…. The church leaders all preach tolerance, and submission to temporal authority, while at the same time accepting the kickbacks and privileges afforded them by their sanctified status, with no taxes, and all the other perks that go along with being a church.

The government leaders are more obvious in their machinations, but still are allowed to lie, and cheat, and steal, right out in the open, with the full approval of those who elect them…. Until, of course, someone points out the immorality or unethical nature of something, then there is a huge outcry, and some other idiot with a glib tongue is shoved into the limelight, in favor of the liar who got caught… which, in our culture, is the ultimate crime…

Yep…. killing, stealing, violence, lying, all are socially acceptable activities, provided one does not commit the ultimate crime of getting caught doing any of it…. Our culture REWARDS this kind of behavior, with laws that protect anyone who lives within its parameters.

We have, on the books, laws that allow for discrimination, cheating others, and/or outright violence, provided one a) has a legally approved reason (i.e., government or societal sanction, such as for the police entitlements, or, such as “stand your ground” laws, or, most egregiously, laws stating that corporations are “persons”….), or b) doesn’t get caught doing it…. According to the law, if no one saw you do it, it didn’t get done…. I guess that makes sense, in an unreal sort of way…. It sure doesn’t account for reality very well, though….

Okay, I’m done ranting for now…. I rant and rave about this stuff regularly, but, very seldom does it have any real effect out in the real world, which sort of puts it in the “useless wind” category of literature. Maybe someday, someone will listen, or read it, and get a clue, and spread it around a little wider….

It would be, in my estimation, a very good thing for a lot of people to know this stuff, because, believe me, none of your teachers, or preachers, or politicians, or policemen, are ever going to tell you any of this stuff, for the simple reason that they would rather you didn’t know, and would prefer that you didn’t even think about this kind of thing…. They’re better off when you don’t….

Me, I say, fuck ’em….  I prefer to live in Reality, as it exists, to “tell the truth, and shame the Devil,” as much as I possibly can…. the Devil being defined as that part of humanity that lies to the rest of us…. Maybe I’ll just call it The Asshole Syndrome, and let it go at that…. In conclusion, I have only these comments….

“Beware of the half truth.  You may have gotten hold of the wrong half.” — Smart Bee

“Who cannot give good counsel? ‘T is cheap, it costs them nothing.” — Robert Burton (1577-1640) — The Anatomy of Melancholy, Part ii, Sect. 2, Memb. 3

“If voting could change the system it would be illegal.  If not voting could change the system it would be illegal.” — Schroedinger’s Cat

“Forbid a man to think for himself or to act for himself and you may add the joy of piracy and the zest of smuggling to his life.” — Elbert Hubbard

“A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar.” — Mark Twain

“Consequences, Schmonsequences, as long as I’m rich.” — Daffy Duck, from Looney Tunes Ali Baba Bunny (1957, Chuck Jones)

And, of course, the kicker….

“History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren’t there.” — George Santayana
_____________________________

What better way to show how the subject of the above rant has affected society, than to exhibit a poet who rejected the lies he heard, and insisted on describing reality the way he saw it, much to the chagrin of the powers that be…..

Cultural Exchange

In the Quarter of the Negroes
Where the doors are doors of paper
Dust of dingy atoms
Blows a scratchy sound.
Amorphous jack-o’-Lanterns caper
And the wind won’t wait for midnight
For fun to blow doors down.
By the river and the railroad
With fluid far-off going
Boundaries bind unbinding
A whirl of whistles blowing.
No trains or steamboats going–
Yet Leontyne’s unpacking.

In the Quarter of the Negroes
Where the doorknob lets in Lieder
More than German ever bore,
Her yesterday past grandpa–
Not of her own doing–
In a pot of collard greens
Is gently stewing.

Pushcarts fold and unfold
In a supermarket sea.
And we better find out, mama,
Where is the colored laundromat
Since we move dup to Mount Vernon.

In the pot behind the paper doors
on the old iron stove what’s cooking?
What’s smelling, Leontyne?
Lieder, lovely Lieder
And a leaf of collard green.
Lovely Lieder, Leontyne.

You know, right at Christmas
They asked me if my blackness,
Would it rub off?
I said, Ask your mama.

Dreams and nightmares!
Nightmares, dreams, oh!
Dreaming that the Negroes
Of the South have taken over–
Voted all the Dixiecrats
Right out of power–

Comes the COLORED HOUR:
Martin Luther King is Governor of Georgia,
Dr. Rufus Clement his Chief Adviser,
A. Philip Randolph the High Grand Worthy.
In white pillared mansions
Sitting on their wide verandas,
Wealthy Negroes have white servants,
White sharecroppers work the black plantations,
And colored children have white mammies:
Mammy Faubus
Mammy Eastland
Mammy Wallace
Dear, dear darling old white mammies–
Sometimes even buried with our family.
Dear old
Mammy Faubus!

Culture, they say, is a two-way street:
Hand me my mint julep, mammny.
Hurry up!
Make haste!

~~ Langston Hughes ~~

_____________________________

“That’s the difference between me and the rest of the world! Happiness isn’t good enough for me! I demand euphoria!” — Calvin & Hobbes (Bill Watterson)

Now, THAT’S what I’m talking about! This is an excellent approach to living life, as it deserves to be lived (whew, almost said “should”….see yesterday’s Pearl….), one that provides a lot of good insulation against the lies and general run of bad stuff life can bring…. Well, maybe not QUITE that excellent, but, it does show a good, strong, positive ego, with all the chutzpah Calvin will ever need to get by…

Actually, I just like it, because it’s typical Calvin, and, as such, is a contains many sharp metaphors for society at large… I know, sometimes my imagination takes me right up to the edge of sanity, and peers over to view the long fall, fearlessly…. It’s the only way I can do that without suffering vertigo….

Any who, I’m feeling a bit silly, and since my own writing currently seems unequal to the task of being achingly funny, I’ll leave it to Smart Bee to find some mild hilarity for me…. I depend heavily on SB these days, and, so what? What’s it to ya? You don’t like that? Are you talkin’ to ME?….. Pardon me, while I do a Bob Hoskins in Good Fellows on you……

No, so, anyway, the following will be a randomly chosen pearl, with only a vague concept in mind, a vision of a big, goofy-looking face bearing a huge smile, and a mirthful, yet vacuous expression…. Strait, sparse little spikes of red hair on his cone-shaped head, sky-blue eyes, and a scruffy, unshaven, sparse beard…. big, ruffly clown collar…. you got the picture? Okay, let’s pearl….

“When I met th’POPE back in ’58, I scrubbed him with a MILD SOAP or DETERGENT for 15 minutes.  He seemed to enjoy it..” — Zippy the Pinhead

“We ain’t got hold of culture yet, but when we do get hold of her, we will adjust her and settler her down and make her hum and run like crazy.” — Smart Bee

“If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him.” — Voltaire (1694-1778) — Epitre a l’Auteur du Livre des Trois Imposteurs, cxi

“Remember what the dormouse said…  FEED YOUR HEAD…” — Grace Slick

“You boys lookin’ for trouble?” “Sure. Whaddya got?” — Marlon Brando, “The Wild Ones”

“You can’t fall off the floor.” — Paul’s Law  “It takes children three years to learn Paul’s Law.” — Chapman’s Commentary on Paul’s Law

“It don’t mean a THING if you ain’t got that SWING!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
_____________________________

If you believe that I have crossed any lines, or used an excessive number of Zippy quotes (Thanks, Bill….), you are free to file a complaint with the Board of Outraged Citizens; I think you can get the form online now…. Let’s see how it came out, in toto….

Well, it’s certainly long enough, and has its moments, so, we’ll let it fly…. I suppose they can’t all be masterpieces, but, though this makes it partway there, (it DOES have rants, and pearls, and good poetry….), it’s just not worthy of that sobriquet, and, I have to admit it would be nice to see ONE of them achieve that exalted status…. SIGH…. Frustrated ambition is the pits…. I guess I’ll give it up, and save myself the angst for something more accessible… 

  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

dozer3

Filled with fanatical fervor for fennel cakes….

Posted on by
6

Ffolkes,

“The attacker must vanquish; the defender need only survive.”  I had forgotten this lesson, until today, when Smart Bee remembered it for me. It’s one I learned a long time ago, first learning to use it in a physical sense, then later hearing it spoken aloud, and explored as a concept one may use to form strategy and/or tactics, and ultimately, use to deal with real issues in life.  I’m not sure, but it probably originated in The Art of War, the classic tome by Sun Tzu, that is still used today in military colleges all over the world, as the primer in that subject, the basic knowledge that all warriors need to understand. It is also an idea that many writers could use to make life easier, should they choose to observe it in their work….

I’ve been approaching this whole writing thing with a bass-ackwards POV, assuming that certain standards needed to be met, in order to consider myself successful. In point of fact, nothing of the sort is true, and following that path only leads to ultimate frustration, as one’s needs and desires bump up against Reality, always a sure-fire clusterfuck.

In Reality, standards only exist for the convenience of the natives; they don’t really apply to the real world at all, as the parameters for that are completely flexible, and change all the damn time. Reality doesn’t CARE, you see, only we do, so we try to place our own hang-ups, our neurotic need for some kind of understandable order, onto Reality’s shoulders, whereupon it just shrugs it off, every time….

The truth of the matter is that all I need to do is please myself, and not worry about the rest of it….. The purpose behind my performing this exercise is to maintain some semblance of sanity…. I’ve found that if I DON’T get this stuff out of my head, it tends to cause problems for me, and ultimately, for everyone else with whom I come into contact.

I am afraid that if I didn’t get it out of there, it could eventually creep out into the real world, and start affecting the parameters of the space-time continuum, with unpredictable, but most likely bad, results for everyone. Sudden shifts in how space and time operate are not particularly welcomed with glee by most of this universe’s inhabitants; they tend to get annoyed, once they’ve stopped screaming in abject terror….

As you might guess, I don’t want that to happen, so, I try to get all this out of my brain every day, lest bad stuff occur… it’s just better for everyone if I do…. Yep, that’s me all over…. altruistic and generously compassionate. See, it says so, right here on the label….. If you can buy into that, I’d like to speak to you later about an investment opportunity, just for you, with no risk attached…. Bring cash, okay?….

Since I’ve made this decision, which, essentially says that I can do whatever I damn well please, I feel a lot better, understandably. It takes a lot of pressure off to know that one needn’t give a shit about anything anyone thinks, or anything anyone can do; quite liberating, you know? I’m not sure as to how that will translate into the pearls, but, hey, any changes are good, as we say around here…. Besides, how could it get worse? Here now, stop that snickering, and be nice….

Shall we Pearl?….
_____________________________

These days, the urge to rant is almost constant…. the primary stimulant is always a news headline, and is always  out there somewhere, on the net, the radio, the TV, or in a newspaper, for me to find. I seldom need to even read the articles behind the headlines, as the irony comes clear quite well without doing so, and reading the entire set of lies that the pundits are trying to sell us just makes me more angry, which can make the rant more vicious.

No, there isn’t any difficulty in finding rantable material, the issue I’m having is in the motivation to do so, which seems to be waning a bit, leaving me feeling lazy…. It’s waning, I know, because my overall life is making me happier than it has in a long time, so it’s not as if I want that to change; that would be downright stupid.

It does make for less compelling Pearls, though, even though I think they are best when they’re a bit obscure. I was always taught that obscurity, used in this fashion, makes people work their minds harder, and that’s always a good thing, so that’s what I do…. Ranting is for ME, to get that angst out of my head….. creating old-school pearls is done with the reader in mind, to entertain and challenge, hopefully mixing in a bit of humorous irony, just for flavor (it’s the chef in me…. gotta feed people, even if only their heads….).

What I’m winding up to say here is that once again, we’ll go with an old-school pearl in this section today, because I’m not going to rant, having decided to leave that off today’s menu, as explained, in no doubt excessive length, above…. So, sit on back, relax, and limber up the old gray cells, ’cause this pearl’s for you!….

“Your knowledge would be useless without my ignorance!” — gigoid (Just kidding, found it in Smart Bee…. but, I could  have said it!….)

“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.” — Maya Angelou

“Aristotle was famous for knowing everything.  He taught that the brain  exists merely to cool the blood and is not involved in the process of thinking. This is true only of certain persons.” — Will Cuppy

“The Golden Rule is of no use to you whatever unless you realize it is your move.”  — Frank Crane

“He thought he saw a Buffalo
Upon the chimney-piece:
He looked again, and found it was
His sister’s husband’s niece.
‘Unless you leave this house,’ he said,
‘I’ll send for the Police!'”

— Lewis Carroll, “Sylvie and Bruno”

There! If that isn’t inscrutable enough for you, you’ll have to look elsewhere for your curly fries…. Oh, hell, okay…. Here’s a couple more, just so nobody can complain about not getting enough information to work with….

“We are born for a higher destiny than that of earth.- There is a realm where the rainbow never fades, where the stars will spread out before us like islands that slumber on the ocean, and where the beings that pass before us like shadows, will stay in our presence forever.” — Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873)

“A string of excited, fugitive, miscellaneous pleasures is not happiness; happiness resides in imaginative reflection and judgment, when the picture of one’s life, or of human life, as it truly has been or is, satisfies the will, and is gladly accepted.” — George Santayana

Okay, if THAT isn’t enough, it’s simply too bad, because these two, in conjunction with the other five, make up a damn good set of directions for enlightenment, for those who care to follow it to its logical end…. Never tell me I never give anything away for free….
_____________________________

In keeping with today’s theme of altered parameters and distorted paradigm, I give you a poem of mine, one that I’m quite proud of, all in all, and seemed to fit in to today’s theme… or not, but, hey, it’s at least got a good message of its own….

Off the proverbial cuff….

I never meant to kill that period of time,
it didn’t give me any choice.
It tried to hem me in without reason, or rhyme,
refused me any vote, or any voice.

You have to admit, I buried it deep and fast,
just as if I cared.
I knew, though, it would never last,
or ever be fully repaired.

No news, no pictures can bring it back,
once is all we get.
No pleas of public good, or even public lack;
in stone the past is set.

Futuristic visions now occupy my dreams,
I’m ready to go on.
Look! It fills up the screen, and it gleams!
Where’s the moment I’m sitting on?

Now, I remembered, at long, long last,
is all we really can hold.
Every moment goes by so bloody fast,
we’d best fill them all with beauty, warm and bold.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

“..  I see TOILET SEATS…” — Zippy the Pinhead

More often than not, Zippy seems to show up either as the opening pearl for a group, or as the concluding pearl. He often ends up in the middle of a group, too, probably more often than anybody but Smart Bee, whose only limiting factor is whether or not Google can find out who originated an unattributed quote….

The above, for some unknown reason, (and, no, I don’t want to know….), just reached out and grabbed me, saying, “Use ME!”, and I thought to myself, “Why not?”…… I’m pretty easy about that sort of thing, as you’ve seen….. Any who, what this means is another old-school pearl, as this is just too broad a statement to use for a rant….

I suppose it could conceivably be translated into an unusual sort of metaphor for society, or the mountains of knowledge (I can see them now, forests of toilet seats, reaching off into the distance as far as the eye can see from the top of the mountain….), but, even I have my limits, thankfully. NO, instead we’ll just let SB, and Zippy, figure out what they want said, and pick out the quotes that will shine the light on that path…. I hope….

“A hard beginning maketh a good ending.” — John Heywood (c. 1565) — Proverbes, Part i, Chap. iv

“A human being is a part of the whole, called by us Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest–a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty.” — Albert Einstein

“To set the mind above the appetites is the end of abstinence, which one of the Fathers observes to be, not a virtue, but the groundwork of a virtue.” — Johnson

“Freedom is meaningless unless you can give to those with whom you disagree.” — Thomas Jefferson

“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.” — Albert Einstein

“Muddy water let stand becomes clear.” — Lao Tse

“I’m mentally OVERDRAWN!  What’s that SIGNPOST up ahead? Where’s ROD STERLING when you really need him?” — Zippy the Pinhead

Okay, pay attention, please…. Back away from the screen, and carefully put down the mouse… We ended up in a place where the slightest wrong movement could produce a head-bomb of such destructive power, it could wipe out years of preconceived notions, a circumstance for which my insurance is not nearly extensive enough, neither to cover any damages that would ensue, nor provide any needed therapy in the coming years, should someone make a mistake….

There, all safe now… Sorry, didn’t expect that, but, that’s what happens sometimes when I let Zippy have his way. I think that’s probably enough fun for one day….
_____________________________

I happen to agree…. that’s probably enough for one day, fun or not….. Let’s check it out for typos and inconsistencies…. well, typos, anyway….

I’m forced to admit, some days it just comes out better than others…. Some day, I’ll figure out how to make that true for every day. For now, though, this will do quite nicely, and right on time, too! Sans further folderol…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….

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

dozer3

Have the mango smoothies been certified yet?….

Posted on by
7

Ffolkes,
Dark, out-of-focus images of lava filled volcanoes, steaming rivers flowing down their sides, against a backdrop of a smoky sunset of unimaginable color and beauty, float around in my mind’s eye, with no concomitant tales of interest attached, making me wonder yet again just what it is that makes me want to do this again. Each morning, I stare at the blank page before me, and let my mind assume a trance-like state, while it searches through the inner realm for yet another fresh way to begin, only to find mere remnants of ideas once fully formed, or abandoned phrases that have no connection to anything real.

Somewhere inside me is a lake of material, waiting to be written; I can feel it, and often catch glimpses out of the corner of my eye, before it flashes off into the vast, unknown reaches of my mind, where I never willingly go, knowing it will be safe there until ready to flow out onto a page…. A lot of what I write is spontaneous, at least in the sense that I don’t decide beforehand what subject is to be explored. Instead, I let Smart Bee, or some random thought, dictate the choice of material, having found long ago that I am more likely to come up with something interesting that way. When I decide beforehand, I feel like I’m back in school, writing a paper on a given subject, with the length and style pretty well fixed, and not amenable to alteration. It’s probably not a particularly efficient method, but it works for me, most of the time….

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.” — The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, 1951

But, it does make it hard each day to come up with an intro, (especially when J.D. has already written the ultimate version of this kind of opening, one that denies normalcy)…. and it just occurred to me that y’all are probably getting tired of hearing that. I wish I didn’t whine about it so often…. a statement that occurs to me to be just about as dumb as anything I’ve ever come up with…. If I didn’t do it, I wouldn’t have to whine about it… If I didn’t whine about it, I probably wouldn’t do it as often… Any way one looks at it, whining about it just exacerbates the issue, and makes it into something significant, instead of the minor issue it ought to be…..

Hmm…. it also occurs to me that I am approaching this in a manner that guarantees the issue won’t die, an event which is anathema to me…. Why am I doing this to myself? I am forced to admit, I believe my sub-, or un-, conscious mind seems to have set up a situation here where I am continually set up to fail, at least in my own eyes, and THAT is unacceptable! The world, and the assholes who have set themselves up as the BRC, fuck me in the ass on a daily basis, just like they do everyone, and doing it to myself is NOT what I’d call intelligent…. So, it stops here….

No more whining about intros… no more angst about blank pages…. no more bullshit cop-outs relating how hard it is to come up with ideas on a daily basis, and make them interesting, to boot. It’s the same issue every day, and all this repetitive fooferaw is getting on my nerves, so, I’m done with it…. I know it doesn’t help this particular Pearl, but, in the future, you can look forward to an intro section that doesn’t complain, that doesn’t serve cheese, with or without whine, one that doesn’t drag on forever before getting on with the show…. In deference to that glorious future…. Shall we Pearl?…..

“The character of human life, like the character of the human condition, like the character of all life, is “ambiguity”: the inseparable mixture of good and evil, the true and false, the creative and destructive forces — both individual and social.” — Paul Tillich

Having discovered within myself exactly how much such ambiguity can affect our lives, I feel compelled to add that one must learn to use that ambiguity, to balance its overall effect on us, with competence, confidence, and steadfast aplomb, else it will use us, instead….
__________________________________

“Truth needs no flowers of speech.” — Alexander Pope

What immediately comes to mind when I look at this, is an image of a politician, mouth open, spewing out lie after lie, couched in flowery terms designed to draw in the listener with sweet, colorful little statements of intent, that have no relation at all to what is real, or what they will actually do. The more flowery a speech one hears from one of these pundits, the more you can be assured that all of it is lies. It is a time tested method of fooling the public…. tell them what they WANT to hear, and they will fall right into line…. Tell them what they don’t wish to hear, and they will mill around in confusion, and go through immense contortions to keep from using their minds, or making their own decisions, and, most importantly to them, it will make them uncomfortable, and fractious…..

My mind is almost automatically inclined to rant when I see a line such as this, and I’m always willing to take a few shots at the BRC, politicians, AND/OR any of their myrmidons and/or supporters, comprised of the mass of humanity that prefers to NOT use their brains for anything other than figuring out how to use the remote control, or sitting on. But, I slept a bit late today, and I’m feeling a bit lazy, at the moment, anyway, so I’m going to depend on SB to come up with an old-school pearl that will poke a stick or two into the eyes of the assholes who most deserve it….. SB is usually pretty good at that, so, let’s see what’s what….

“Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism — how passionately I hate them!” — Albert Einstein

“History is always written wrong, and so always needs to be rewritten. …What is interesting is brought forward as if it had been central and efficacious in the march of events, and harmonies are turned into causes. Kings and generals are endowed with motives appropriate to what the historian values in their actions; plans are imputed to them prophetic of their actual achievements, while the thoughts that really preoccupied them remain buried in absolute oblivion.” — George Santayana, The Life of Reason:  Reason in Science, 1918

BIBLE  A bible is a book which one or more religions consider to be holy, and to be something that they should follow. It is of course generally rather impractical to follow books, not just because they don’t often go anywhere, but also because they are not very good at public speaking, decision making, problem solving, or any of the other qualities recognized as being an advantage for leadership. A religion based around the teachings of any compilation of Toxic Custard would be very strange indeed. To subscribe to this new cult following, send $15 now. — Daniel Bowen’s TOXIC CUSTARPEDIA

“A tough lesson in life that one has to learn is that not everybody wishes you well.” — Dan Rather

“Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other sects?” — James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance

“And unextinguish’d laughter shakes the skies.” — Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Iliad of Homer, Book i, Line 771

Ffolkes, I just can’t make it any plainer than that…..
__________________________________

This is a reprint of a poem I used some time ago…. It’s being reused because, a) it’s bloody brilliant, and b) it kind of fits in with the mood for today…. and those are all I need to justify it to myself, as I know the poetry buffs out there will enjoy it, for the genius it is….

Witch Burning

In the marketplace they are piling the dry sticks.
A thicket of shadows is a poor coat. I inhabit
The wax image of myself, a doll’s body.
Sickness begins here: I am the dartboard for witches.
Only the devil can eat the devil out.
In the month of red leaves I climb to a bed of fire.

It is easy to blame the dark: the mouth of a door,
The cellar’s belly. They’ve blown my sparkler out.
A black-sharded lady keeps me in parrot cage.
What large eyes the dead have!
I am intimate with a hairy spirit.
Smoke wheels from the beak of this empty jar.

If I am a little one, I can do no harm.
If I don’t move about, I’ll knock nothing over. So I said,
Sitting under a potlid, tiny and inert as a rice grain.
They are turning the burners up, ring after ring.
We are full of starch, my small white fellows. We grow.
It hurts at first. The red tongues will teach the truth.

Mother of beetles, only unclench your hand:
I’ll fly through the candle’s mouth like a singeless moth.
Give me back my shape. I am ready to construe the days
I coupled with dust in the shadow of a stone.
My ankles brighten. Brightness ascends my thighs.
I am lost, I am lost, in the robes of all this light.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

__________________________________

In keeping with today’s themes, which are, respectively, Truth, and Madness…. (what else?), I submit the following, an excerpt from the archives, from early 2012, comprised of two short pearls, one a short indictment re: the spread of religious dogma, and one short but telling list of woes currently present in Reality…. If nothing else, they’re in color…. Oh, right, that’s only if you have the correct software… never mind, just read on, you’ll understand….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“God is more interested in your future and your relationships than you are.” — Billy Graham

Now, if that isn’t a scary thought, I know nothing of fear; I assure you, however, fear is an old friend, with whom I am quite familiar, in all its guises. Now, to give credit where it is due, I suppose it must be noted that, from the standpoint of someone of Mr. Graham’s ilk, this is a very powerful statement of belief; it has all the proper elements for that particular delusional thought process (if one may stretch the definition of ‘thought process’ just a bit).

It is based purely on assumption, with no hint of anything resembling direct evidence. It implies omnipotence, displays deified arrogance, identifies a source for guilt, and encourages a fear of death. It vagueness allows the moral ambiguity necessary for the complete abrogation of personal responsibility for one’s actions. And, like all such proclamations of this nature, its very words indicate a complete and utter dislike for humans, both individually, and as a species.

My immediate and forceful response to this was “Then you, and God, need to get a Life! If y’all have nothing better to do in your copious free time than to try to shove this kind of crap into people’s minds, then you need to find a new activities director for the imaginary cruise you are on…. or find some better drugs.”  But, that’s just me…..

(Oops…. I think I just heresied on several important religions…..)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Conscious is when you are aware of something and conscience is when you wish you weren’t. — Smart Bee (Anonymous, by any other name, smells as sweet…)

Insane politicians (is there another kind?). Human trafficking. Racism. Bigotry. Child abuse. Spousal abuse. Slavery. Crack cocaine, heroin, morphine, or other drug abuse. War on crime. War on women. Televangelists. Fundamentalist zealots. National Security Agency. FBI. CIA. Untold trillions of dollars of national debt.  Genetically modified food. Military Industrial Complex. The 1%/99% Society. Taxes. Global warming. Air pollution. The oceans are dying. Terrorism. Nuclear accidents. Massive global weather changes. Ozone depletion. Overpopulation. AIDS. Mutating viruses. The Bohemian Club. Reaganomics. Nationalism. Elitism. Illuminati Conspiracy. Women’s reproductive rights. Bill of Rights (or rather, loss of same). War on the US Constitution.  Rampant ignorance. Lawyers. Priests. Rabbis. Imams.  Puppy mills. Wall Street. Corporate personhood. The IRS. Insane politicians. (Did I say that already? Well, it deserves mentioning twice….)  Rising incidence of halitosis.

Except for the last, which is more of a personal foible, I’d say that’s a fairly extensive, and mostly complete, list of stuff I am aware of that I wish I weren’t; and it all came right off the top of my head, no research.  It certainly keeps my sense of outrage in good shape….. which is why we all need to practice the following sentiment at every opportunity…. otherwise, we are all going to be up Shit Creek without a paddle, proverbial or otherwise…..

“Speak out. You’ve got to speak out against the madness.” — Steven Stills
__________________________________

Well there you go…. This is what happens when I’m allowed to dress myself, I guess…. Let’s see how it looks in the mirror….  Wow… it’s like a vampire, nothing shows at all…. I suppose that’s my usual morning alteration of consciousness kicking in, but, just in case it isn’t, try to ignore any parts that are showing signs of infection, okay…. And that’s all I’m required to say, according to public health regulations, so I’d best draw this to a rapid close, and catch that last train out of town, before the authorities show up for a late breakfast interrogation….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

dozer3

Will cut hair for food…..

Posted on by
3

Ffolkes,
Oh. My. Gosh……  Hmm…. somehow, that fails to quite reach the degree of passionate expression for which I was hoping. I guess it really isn’t a curse unless one uses blasphemy; using a replacement word for God just doesn’t carry the same power, or panache, as OMG does when God is used…. I guess that is why ‘God damn it’ is so much more of a release than just ‘Damn it’…. either of which is bound to come out, given the correct stimulus, such as a rapidly moving hammer to the thumbnail. Any old way you look at it, I needed to curse, as the sight of an entirely blank screen scared the crap out of me….. again.

Oh, I’ve got plenty in my head to write about; the issue is still the intro section, where I continually struggle with a good way to start these missives. I need something to pull ffolkes in to read, something to grab the attention, and leave the reader wanting to read more….. I almost started into one of the fictional beginnings I like to use, but, the one that came to the forefront was too graphic for the early morning…. I didn’t want to put anyone off their breakfast, or cause them to lose it….. So far, I’ve been unable to come up with what I need, and as a result, y’all are subjected to these idiotic ramblings every day, as I wend my way toward the pearls….. SIGH….

Oh well, such is life, and we can’t have everything…. though SOMETHING would be nice….. Maybe I could…… no, that wouldn’t work; it’s illegal, as well as immoral. Hmm, how about…. Nah, too simple, too easy….. well, what about…. stop already, we’ve discussed  all this before, and none of that crap will do….. Sorry about the internal dialogue there, but, you can see what I’m up against, as I fight with my own head over different styles of openings. I don’t know exactly how it comes up with some of these ideas, but, none of them are practical, from a realistic point of view. Radical, yes, practical, no….. Sometimes I’m not sure it’s MY head at all, what with all the strange stuff it comes up with….

If it wasn’t my head, maybe it would be a bit easier to come up with stuff…. Of course, if it wasn’t my head, then I’d be in a world of hurt, metaphysically speaking, as I would have to ask myself, “Well, whose head is it?”   Not that the answer would make a lot of difference in how I deal with it….. I’d still abuse it horribly, just as I do my own…. It deserves it, believe me…. If it weren’t my own head, I’d have traded it in long ago for a new model, one without all of the extras, but loaded with better software…..  Maybe we could find a real intro template then….

Oh well, I may as well just go with what I’ve got…. I always end up there anyway. And, look! We’ve done it again….. Four plus paragraphs, full of practically nothing but fluff, but, in place, and ready to rumble. Once again, I’m giving in to the temptation, and going with it the way it is, as I’m too lazy to go back and do it over. I guess I’ll try again tomorrow to come up with something new. In the meantime, I suppose I’d best get on with the dive for today…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.” — Plato

Uh oh….. I suppose, because this is Plato, one must accept the veracity of the concept; besides, it’s just plain true, and obviously so. It does, however, bring up a point that may not be the most comfortable for me, or for any blogger, to wit: Am I writing because I have something to say, or am I one of Plato’s fools? It’s a question that I think we, or more specifically, I, need to consider every day, when I go about putting these Pearls together….. It is very easy to fall into the latter category, and I think all of us can truthfully say that there are times when we all are fools, at least for a short time…

I write because, if I didn’t, all of the stuff that goes on inside my head has nowhere to go, to release all of the power behind it, which, given the degree of my emotional instability, can be considerable, not to mention nasty smelling. In short, I write because I must, to maintain my own sanity. Does that mean that I am a fool, because I HAVE to say something? Or, does the fact that what I end up saying is, fairly often. something worth hearing, save me from becoming just another bozo on the bus? I suppose that I must make those judgments myself, though I’d prefer to have someone else do it. But, I suppose, only the one who is writing can decide which side of the coin they fall on, as they are the only ones who know the motivation for what is written, no matter what the subject matter includes.

“I was once walking through the forest alone. A tree fell right in front of me – and I didn’t hear it.” — Smart Bee

Also, I know the answer to another old philosophical inquiry, i.e., “If a man speaks, and there is no woman nearby to hear, is he still wrong?” The answer, of course, is “yes”; just ask any woman….  🙂   Okay, sorry, didn’t mean to get silly on you…. here, let me wipe that off before it causes a stain….
There, that’s better…. Okay, where was I? Oh, yeah, fools vs. wise men…. So, what I’m getting at here is this….. only the author may judge whether or not something is necessary, as whatever it is originates in their mind. Others may also judge, but their judgment is lacking in personal knowledge of the thought, or feeling, behind the statement, and thus, is invalid for the purpose of deciding its relevance. We have to be our own Pilate in this business; otherwise we’ll get crucified on the cross of public sentiment (or lack thereof….).

“Be what you is,’cause if you is what you ain’t, then you ain’t what you is.” — Satchel Paige

Wise words, indeed, from a great modern social philosopher…. I love Satchel’s take on life, and not just because it is funky and cool; it is also quite insightful, and correct, which is a distinct advantage for a philosophy. (Thanks to G. Santayana….) In this case, the words he says are exactly what are needed to become an authentic writer, to wit: a personal style…. If you try to write as good as Hemingway, or anyone else, then you are destined to fail. You must only write to become yourself, or you will never succeed at either writing, or life, for that matter,  as the two tend to overlap in this particular instance. Only by finding and using our own voice will we be able to say what we wish to say, and not just say anything, because we feel we have to…. Believe me, the reading public will thank you for knowing the difference, and faithfully observing it as a standard…..

“The art of being yourself at your best is the art of unfolding your personality into the person you want to be… . Be gentle with yourself, learn to love yourself, to forgive yourself, for only as we have the right attitude toward ourselves can we have the right attitude toward others.” — Wilfred Peterson, This Week (Oct. 1, 1961)

“And that’s the truth…. thppppt!” — Ruth Anne (Lily Tomlin)
__________________________________

I’ve written a haiku for today, but, once more, no fresh poem is ready to leak out, so I have to pull again from the archives…. I’m sure glad I had that period of creativity last year, and wrote enough poems to get through this month…. Any who, I think it’s a decent poem, and I hope you do, too….. As every day in April, these are being included as part of the April National Poetry Writing Month Challenge, with the updates to be found here:  http://www.napowrimo.net/    I hope you enjoy them…..

Haiku XV

Eleven days here,
and off to Europe I go.
I can barely wait.

~~ gigoid ~~

Beyond Agapé

Passion burns and shines like iridescent paint
yet solitude stands mocking such mundane complaint.
Schemes and dreams promise to tempt attraction
never ending effort spends wit in perverse reaction.

Hale and hearty reports of honor and love
draft recruits to collect manna from above,
while searching each soul for that which will serve
to bring pure sensation to each expectant nerve.

How simple to fall into complete helpless hope
of two hearts bound in tradition, with cultural rope,
living a simple life, shared, in joy and in grief
promises consummated, in consensual belief.

Reality dictates our degree of control over its state
insisting on changing whether or not we can wait.
Love will be present when we are completely at peace,
 allowing ourselves, to give of ourselves, effortless surcease.

~~ gigoid

__________________________________

The first section is as close to a rant as I’ll get today,  I think, so we’ll go old-school for this last section. Here is a random harlequin pearl, either five-, or seven-star variety, for your delectation….. Abondanza!….

“What do you despise? By this are you truly known.” — Frank Herbert, Dune, Manual of MuadDib by Princess Irulan

“It’s not what I think or you think about me that counts, it’s what I think you think about me.” — Smart Bee

“When people tell you who they are, believe them the first time.” — Maya Angelou

“The broad mass of a nation… will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one.” — Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), “Mein Kampf”

“If change is — inevitable — predictable — beneficial — doesn’t logic demand that you be a part of it?” “One man cannot summon the future.” “But one man can change the present!” — Kirk and the Alternate Spock, “Mirror, Mirror,” stardate unknown

“I seem to be having tremendous difficulty with my lifestyle.” — Arthur, in Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

I had not realized, on beginning this pearl, just how odd it could end up, given it’s randomness, and that obviously was a mistake, but, in a good way…. The point to the above six quotes may not be immediately apparent, but, it’s there, believe me. And, if that isn’t enough, here is the final pearl for this section, which should give some idea of where the exit door sits….

“This writing business. Pencils and whatnot. Overrated, if you ask me.” — Winnie the Pooh
__________________________________

Well, this has been….. interesting. I’m not sure just what to think about it, so let’s see how it holds up as a whole pie….  Okay, well, that works for me…. You will have to judge whether or not it works for you…. of course. I had fun today, and so did you…. I hope.    😀    Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

dozer3

I detect subtle hints of Crisco…..

Posted on by
1

Ffolkes,
Amazing….. I’ve never seen anything like it….. Yesterday’s Pearl garnered one ‘Like’ in 24 hours. One…. Oh well, all I can figure is everybody took Sunday off, as I did, not reading any other blogs after posting…. I had the excuse of having to go do stuff to help out a friend, and didn’t get done until late in the afternoon, so I imagine everyone else had the same kind of day….. and I know my blogs are rather on the long side, so it can be time-consuming to read it…. It just amazed me to watch it NOT grow over time….. but, then, I’m easily entertained….

I’m hoping it isn’t the intro that is losing me readers…. I’ve been struggling a lot of late with that section, trying to find something, anything, I can use every day to draw ffolkes into reading further, but, all I’ve been able to come up with are these rambling, verbose monologues, that never really SAY much of anything at all. Even my fictional outbursts have been less compelling than usual, as well, and it’s getting to be a bit of a pain in the ass…. Of course, it has always been the most difficult part of the Pearls, as it is the part where I have to be the most creative, and that process, in me, is always a bloody battle, me against my brain….

Fortunately, my metabolism works fast at replacing lost blood, so I always have more to lose in these morning fights. The bleeding is especially fierce when I write a poem, and this month has seen me write several new ones, and a bunch of new haiku, so my bone marrow has been working overtime to keep up with the demand for new blood, a demand that, seemingly, comes every day now. It’s a good thing my financial picture has improved, as I now have enough to eat, so there is fresh material to make the blood out of when needed……

Oh, piffle! Splert! And other replacement words for damn, shit, and all the other curse words I’m trying not to use…. It doesn’t seem to work very well, though…. There is just something soothing about giving out a loud “Damn!” or a “shit, that hurts!” when pounding a thumb with a hammer, or otherwise experiencing a sudden shock. “Heck”, or “blast” somehow don’t quite make the grade; they just don’t FEEL as good to yell when hurt or angry, and angry is what I am, from the sheer, constant frustration of not being able to figure this out…..

Well, look! It happened again! I start complaining about having to write the intro, and all of a sudden, after a moderate amount of whining, here are four complete paragraphs, sufficiently wordy to count as actual material, all ready to get on with the rest of the day…. All I have to do is finish it off with an appropriate final word, and we’re good to go for another day…. I’ve gotta get a grip on this….. this technique isn’t going to work much longer, as I don’t think I can keep this up…. Hell, I don’t even know what it is I’m doing, which makes it hard to know what to do next, for sure…. Oh well, the hell with it….

Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

So, there I was, cruising around Smart Bee, looking for pearls, when it occurred to me that I was engaged in a futile pastime, from the standpoint of the Universe…. I mean, what do I hope to accomplish with this stuff I write?…. Nobody’s mind will be changed, nobody will stop the carbon monoxide from getting pumped into the air, nobody is going to get mad enough to throw out all the assholes who are screwing us all…. This makes what I’m doing an exercise in mental masturbation, essentially, with as much hope of changing society as….. well, there is no hope for society, so I can’t think of a metaphor for it…. Nor is there any hope of anybody taking any of this seriously, even if read…

Having thus determined the absolute uselessness of our pastime, I will continue, fully cognizant of how lame it is…. I’m calling this a Pearl of Forlorn Lost Hope…. sort of…. Actually, it’s a subliminal pearl, and will worm its way into your head, where it will work on your attitudes, polishing and brightening them without you ever noticing…. By late this afternoon, you will have done a complete 180 from wherever you were, and will enjoy the rest of the day (that’s a subliminal post-hypnotic suggestion….)  Enjoy…..

“Does history repeat itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce?   No, that’s too grand, too considered a process.  History just burps, and we taste again that raw-onion sandwich it swallowed centuries ago.” — Julian Barnes

“Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.” — Marcus Aurelius

“But whether there’s some grand design really matters little to me. My only hope was this: to see what might be, to believe that it should be, and then to do all I could to bring it to pass, whatever the cost. When a life spins out as joyfully as mine has done, then the price, once paid so painfully, is now recalled in gladness. I have received full value. Here among the shepherds, my cup is filled with the water of life; it overflows.” — Orson Scott Card, “Treason”

But sure the eye of time beholds no name
So blest as thine in all the rolls of fame.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book xi, Line 591

” It is now some years since I detected how many were the false beliefs that I had believed to be true since my earliest youth.  And since that time, I have been convinced that I must once and for all seriously try to rid myself of all the opinions which I had formerly accepted, and begin to build anew, if I wanted to establish any firm and permanent structure for my beliefs.” — Rene Descartes, Meditations

The human heart has hidden treasures,
In secret kept, in silence sealed.

— Charlotte Bronte

“There is no cure for birth and death other than to enjoy the interval.” — George Santayana (1863-1952)
__________________________________

Hmm…. In looking at what I’ve written so far, it seems my sub-conscious mind has once again inserted its own thoughts into the process, in its inimitable, insidious manner….. There seems to be a theme to the old-school pearl above, the Eastern philosophy of the the section to follow this one, and here, in the poetry section as well…. Both the haiku and the poem are fresh this morning, and don’t ask me how I did that, because I still don’t know. Maybe I should let my sub-conscious out to play more often…. If I did that, though, I wouldn’t have very much time left in the day to be consciously mindful…. Again, maybe that’s not a bad thing, all in all…. I guess we’ll see…..  As every day this month, these are being included as part of the April National Poetry Writing Month Challenge, with the updates to be found here:  http://www.napowrimo.net/    I hope you enjoy them…..

Haiku XI

Mindfulness is hard
in the early morning light.
Fuzzy eyes and ears.

~~ gigoid ~~

Random Exposure

If I only knew what I was doing here,
I could give others a clue.
Reality gets stranger every year,
and I’m not sure what I should do.

Singing happy old tunes, in an old, gravely voice,
gives me a lot of pleasure.
I’m only glad I can still make a choice,
to look at life, to take its measure.

Memorable moments keep passing by
gilded, framed in precious emotion.
I never have to ask anyone why,
no need for a stronger potion.

Everything in life is clear, to me
there is no doubt, no misunderstanding.
We’re all good, as you can see,
members of Life, in good standing.

Life can be hard, or it can be great fun;
the right path is there for each of us to take.
That choice is often a difficult one;
pay close attention to the choice you make.

~~ gigoid ~~

“How a person masters his fate is more important than what his fate is.” — Wilhelm von Humboldt
__________________________________

The Magician of the Ivory Tower brought his latest invention for the master programmer to examine. The magician wheeled a large black box into the master’s office while the master waited in silence. “This is an integrated, distributed, general-purpose workstation,” began the magician, “ergonomically designed with a proprietary operating system, sixth generation languages, and multiple state of the art user interfaces.  It took my assistants several hundred man years to construct. Is it not amazing?”

The master raised his eyebrows slightly. “It is indeed amazing,” he said.

“Corporate Headquarters has commanded,” continued the magician, “that everyone use this workstation as a platform for new programs.  Do you agree
to this?”

“Certainly,” replied the master, “I will have it transported to the data center immediately!”  And the magician returned to his tower, well pleased.

Several days later, a novice wandered into the office of the master programmer and said, “I cannot find the listing for my new program.  Do you know where it might be?”

“Yes,” replied the master, “the listings are stacked on the platform in the data center.”

— Geoffrey James, “The Tao of Programming”

Hacker culture, from what I’ve observed, and read, is rife with Zen Buddhist, and Taoist, ideas, concepts, and philosophies, including the use of “koans”, short anecdotes or stories that, when contemplated in a mindful way, teach a lesson that helps the student find the path to enlightenment, to a deeper understanding of Reality. The above is a perfect example of such a koan, as it demonstrates a deep understanding of many levels of reality, including programming, sales, and the administrative aspects of business, as well as a keen knowledge of human nature. Since anything I could say wouldn’t add to the lesson, I’ll leave this to stand alone, and hope that it helps someone to find a part in themselves that resonates with these ideas…..

Hey, I know….. To anyone who can name four facets of human society and culture addressed by this koan, it will be worth 20 extra points, redeemable in your next incarnation….    🙂
__________________________________

Well, once more I come to a screeching halt, caught unawares by the last section’s premature ending (hmm, haven’t had that problem in many a year…. yuk, yuk….). Let’s see what the proofing shows…..  Not bad at all, considering…. Certainly good enough for the loose standards we have around here…..  I’m off to the BBR again, busy, busy next four days…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

dozer3

We’ll have to spit-ball the hinges…..

Posted on by
Reply

Ffolkes,
We’ve got Trouble, right here in River City, ffolkes….. Don’t worry, I won’t go all Robert Preston on you, and burst into song, or anything like that. I’m merely referring to the empty space here on the page, which, sadly, matches the empty space in my head, the space that SHOULD be composing an intro for today’s Pearl…. Extremely empty space, too…. So empty, I’m sitting here, writing about how empty it is, instead of looking around in the odd corners and niches in there, to find SOMETHING that would work to draw y’all in for the ride today…. but, I’m screwed, and the pooch knows it…. whatever that means….

Forgotten, old and grey, the ancient dogs march along the dusty street, searching for the possibility of food…. Scraggly weeds filled the cracks in the street; abandoned, stripped vehicles litter the sidewalks and alleys, many of them burned out, blackened and stark against the pale concrete of the buildings. Nothing moved, save the slowly searching pack of canines, not even rats, or any of the vermin usually seen in cities. No people walked the empty streets, and the silence bore down on everything in sight, oppressive, adding the weight of time to the heaviness of the air…..

No, I have no idea where that came from…. but it took up the space of a whole paragraph, so it stays…. I suppose apocalyptic scenes such as this one will become common in the future, if what I fear comes to pass….. When the Earth decides it has had enough of the depredations that mankind has perpetrated on this planet, our species will disappear, the same as the T-Rex, the dodo, and the auk, and Mother Nature will spend a few thousand years cleaning off the surface, which we scratched, dented, and broke apart so callously in our paroxysms of destruction, as we looked for sources of fuel for our machines…. and we won’t be missed at all…. Well, the dogs might miss us at first, but, they’ll get over it….

Okay, so now I have to balance the negativism with something lighter, so we don’t fall down into a pit of depression….. Hmm, I know….

“PUNK ROCK!!  DISCO DUCK!!  BIRTH CONTROL!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

There, that should balance things out…. Of course, Zippy has just mentioned three of the reasons that we will no longer be around…. Any species that comes up with Disco, AND Punk Rock, in the same century, deserves to become extinct, in my humble opinion…. But, then, I really, really HATE Disco…. and punks aren’t far behind in my estimation…. But, it did change the direction most satisfactorily, so, we’ll just sort of ignore the passions that may be present, and get on with the rest of today’s Pearl…. Which, I see, is coming right along, as we now have a sufficient number of paragraphs, and certainly a large enough quantity of BS, to qualify as an intro…. I’d better dive right away, before Murphy notices…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“Nasrudin returned to his village from the imperial capital, and the villagers gathered around to hear what had passed.  At this time, said Nasrudin, I only want to say that the King spoke to me. All the villagers but the stupidest ran off to spread the wonderful news. The remaining villager asked, What did the King say to you? What he said — and quite distinctly, for everyone to hear — was ‘Get out of my way!’ The simpleton was overjoyed; he had heard words actually spoken by the King, and seen the very man they were spoken to.” — Smart Bee

When I first read this, a long, complex, and wonderful rant took form in my mind, on the subject of the gullibility of the public…. Unfortunately, somewhere in the process of getting this moved over and formatted, the rant broke apart, like smoke from a fire, dissipating into the ether without a sound, and leaving me sitting here, with a wonderful pearl, and nothing in my head to write about it…. “Well, shit,” he said, with feeling…..

Smart Bee, or Murphy, or Nasrudin, whichever is responsible for this, thinks they have me trapped, and are probably sitting there, maybe even together, laughing, and waiting for me to explode…. Hah! They’re destined to be disappointment, I’m afraid, because I’ll just switch gears, and make this an old-school pearl, using the anecdote on Nasrudin to point the way for the rest of the group…. So, here you go, a five-star pearl, the point of which is now moot….

“It is important to do what you don’t know how to do. It is important to see your skills as keeping you from learning what is deepest and most mysterious. If you know how to focus, unfocus. If your tendency is to make sense out of chaos, start chaos.” — Carlos Casteneda

“Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.” — Oscar Wilde

“A fool always finds a greater fool to admire him.” — Nicolas Bolleau-Despreaux

“He who knows best knows how little he knows.” — Thomas Jefferson

“Is it not a noble farce, wherein kings, republics, and emperors have for so many ages played their parts, and to which the whole vast universe serves for a theatre?” — Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592) — Essays, Book ii, Chap. xxxvi, Of the most Excellent Men
__________________________________

Wishes aren’t horses, and neither do I….. which, decoded, simply means I don’t have a new, fresh poem today. I did create a Haiku, which is below…. But, for today’s poem, another treat from the archives is called for, as I just can’t create a poem whenever I wish, much as I’d like to be able to do so…. Nevertheless, I AM making a new haiku each day, so that has to count for something, right?…. Any who….. As every day this month, these are being included as part of the April National Poetry Writing Month Challenge, with the updates to be found here:  http://www.napowrimo.net/    I hope you enjoy them…..

 

Haiku XExplore reality,
my mama said with a smile;
it will teach you truth.

~~ gigoid ~~

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 ~~

__________________________________

“A good indignation brings out all one’s powers.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ah, yes, it does indeed….. This is the principle of human nature I exploit when I rant…. Well, I try, anyway…. It seems as if Ralph Waldo had the inclination to rant strike him on occasion, and, competent observer that he was, he examined how it made him feel, and act when he was in ranting mode. When in full flight, ranting makes one feel ten feet tall, able to leap arguments with a single quote, impervious to sarcasm or belittling remarks, and capable of chewing up the toughest pundit and spitting him out, before breakfast….. Whether or not one could actually do so doesn’t matter in the slightest, for it is what we THINK we can do that determines what we CAN do…. Like the dragons of Pern, who could lift any weight when flying, as long as they thought they could….

“Whenever you eliminate the inedible, whatever remains, however unpalatable, must be food.” — Smart Bee

Now, this is a truism; much as it seems like levity, it is quite serious, being a disguised version of a truth uttered by Sherlock Holmes, about Truth, to wit: “As I have previously stated, Watson, when one has eliminated the impossible, what remains, however unlikely, must be the truth.” (God, I hope I quoted it right… I’m lazy, and used the version in my head, rather than googling it to make sure…. but, I’m 100% positive that my paraphrase, if it be such, is completely accurate, in terms of meaning…..) Ranting is an area where this principle is key; it really doesn’t make sense to rant about something that isn’t true, unless the falsity is the actual subject of the rant…. as the following aphorism implies….

“It is a substantial advantage for any philosophy to be based on the truth.” — George Santayana

Of course, this doesn’t mean that being right will make reality conform to how we wish it to be. Much of the world, if not all, is controlled by a group of people who lie, constantly, without shame, completely indifferent to how it affects others, as long as their own needs are met first. But, they only do so because most of the public believes their lies, for the simple reason that it is too hard to believe otherwise. If they begin to see the truth of how they are controlled, they become frightened, often to the point of violence, because they don’t want to know the truth…. unless it comes from a suit on TV…..

“Given a sufficient number of people and an adequate amount of time, you can create insurmountable opposition to the most inconsequential idea.” — Devyver’s law

This is truth, too, sad as it may seem…. The general public will believe just about anything they are told, usually without any sort of critical thought applied to testing its veracity, if it is presented in a manner to which they are accustomed to being told what to do…. If the guy on the six o’clock news says it will rain money, most folks in this country would start looking for a barrel to catch it in, and wonder if it would rain in bills, or in coins… I kid you not…..

This may seem as if I have a poor opinion of the average intelligence of the average American, and in that estimation you would be absolutely correct…. I can say this with complete confidence, as it is a proven fact that the average American’s IQ is below the average for the human race at large….. fact, ffolkes, not supposition…. Of course, I could be lying, but, if so, you can just chalk it up to their bad influence…. If they can use untrue ‘facts’ to prove their assertions, I can, too….

Besides, I can show you almost 50 MILLION pieces of proof of my assertion, without having to look further than the Presidential election last year…. In that election, almost fifty million people voted for Mitt Romney, proof positive that they would believe ANYTHING…. How else could they decide to vote for a man who was PROVEN to have lied during the campaign (independent fact checking organizations showed that he lied just about 50% of the time, or, put more simply, every other time he spoke, he lied...), and indicated, on tape, his complete disdain for over half the people in the country?

It is such an incredibly huge number, it just isn’t possible to understand how gullible people can be, when one sees this statistic, (50 million votes for an asshole….). It is equally hard to believe that so many of our peers are this incredibly dumb, but, truth will out, as it always does….. It also speaks to the number of truly bigoted, racist people that are still in this country, hiding behind their cowardice, and their misguided, ignorant patriotism…. but, that’s a subject for another rant….. (All stupid people aren’t bigots and racists, but ALL bigots and racists are stupid people…..)

“Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.” — Lazarus Long

You won’t get a better, more clear warning than that; on that note, I proclaim this rant, such as it was, to be complete…..
__________________________________

All in all, not too bad…. No fresh poem yet, but a decent rant, and all the rest if fresh…. Now, let’s see if it hangs together well enough to publish…. Well, we have another vote for ‘all in all, not too bad’….. So, it’s good to go, and we’re gone….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

dozer3

A large herd of nincompoops passed by here…..

Posted on by
5

Ffolkes,
Weird…. the thoughts going through my head are quite simply, weird. Of course, this is not new, nor is it surprising; I’ll bet even you didn’t react much when I said it…. because, I’m sure, it has been previously established that weirdness, and this blog, are one and the same thing….. What this means, in terms of today’s intro, is that I’m once more stuck in my head, and can’t come up with anything to write about, other than the trouble I’m having thinking of something to write about…. It’s almost an endless loop, which, if I fall into it, will keep me stranded in literary limbo forevermore….. The question I have to ask myself at this point is, do I want to allow myself to fall into that loop, or keep on writing…. it’s a tough decision these days…..

I am convinced that if I don’t write, my head becomes all clogged up and I get grumpy and even more curmudgeonly than usual. The process of putting down all this stuff on paper, or at least, on screen to save, is what has kept me sane these last two years…. If I hadn’t had this, I would either have killed someone, or ended up in a psyche ward, drooling and talking to myself (not so different than some mornings around here, but, not a place I want to spend a lot of time….). Now that the most basic stress factor in my life  has been mitigated, I find that I still need to do this, to keep my brain clear of any buildup of angst.  So, I guess I’m stuck with it….

All of which means little to y’all, but, it did get me two paragraphs in, so, not a complete loss….. Now what? Damn me, if I know…. I’m having trouble deciding on the color of socks to wear, and there are only two colors to choose from….. I wouldn’t count on me to come up with anything at this point. Maybe I should go find a pearl, to see if it will give me a direction to take….. hold on, be right back….

“The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.” — Henry Kissinger

Obviously, Henry has been in this kind of situation before…. but, he’s right, and since we have no alternative to this, I can allow that to clear my mind of all indecision, and just go with whatever flows out of my head…. Since it is the ONLY alternative available, we have no choice to make, which means the choice is made…. That’s logic, right? Right…. So, onward, troops, into the day, fearlessly, and with hope held tightly to our bosom…. (Do authors have bosoms? Hmm….)  Logic has pointed us in the correct direction, or, if not, we are at least moving in ‘A’ direction, and that is better than sitting around on our collective asses….

I’ve blathered now through four or more paragraphs, and nobody should have to put up with more than that, so, we can end this now, and get on with the rest of today’s effort, such as those may be….. Just to make sure you understand the rules, I leave you with this reminder….. Remember it well…..

“You offend Shai-Hulud by sheathing your crysknife without having  drawn blood.” — Fremen proverb (from Dune, by Frank Herbert)
__________________________________

As you may have noted, my brain is broken…. and I am not sure which tool is going to work to fix it…. What this means in terms of today’s Pearl is that you will have to put up with more than the usual degree of smarminess, and the occasional random insult, as I try to cope with creating a Pearl out of what is laying around in my brain, rather than a true creative episode, building and sharing images of grand eloquence, made up of just the right words….. Today, though, those words are hiding from me, so I have to allow Smart Bee to have its head, so to speak, because anything in mine has to be viewed with suspicion, and handled with care, lest it explode, whereupon, we get blamed for an act of terrorism…. Of course, that last word is probably what comes to mind when y’all think of this blog anyway…..

Nevertheless, I’m going old school, and you can’t stop me…. (Believe me, you don’t WANT to stop me today….. just let me have my way, and everything will work out fine….)…. Here is a group of pearls, all of which are pointed in a certain direction, which SHOULD be obvious…. If it is not, well, I guess you’re S.O.O.L., as they say downtown…. well, they said that when I hung out there…. any who, here….

“Critics quarrel with other critics. With an artist, no sane man quarrels.” — George Santayana

“Our discontent begins by finding false villains whom we can accuse of deceiving us. Next we find false heroes whom we expect to liberate us. The hardest, most discomfiting discovery is that each of us must emancipate himself.”– Daniel J. Boorstin

“Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.”– Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Rape of the Lock, Canto v, Line 34

“There’s a lot of stupid people out there. Just to prove it, think of how dumb the average person is, and then realize that half of the people out there are stupider than that.” — George Carlin

“A man that expects to train lobsters to fly in a year is called a lunatic and is locked up. But a man that thinks people can be turned into angels by legislation is called a reformer and allowed to walk free.” — Mr. Dooly

“All things that are born must die. Work hard for your own freedom from sorrow.” — Buddha

“Do not speak of what men deserve.   For we each of us deserve everything, every luxury that was ever piled in the tombs of the dead Kings, and we each  of us deserve nothing, not a mouthful of bread in hunger.   Have we not eaten while another starved?  Will you punish us for that?  Will you reward us for the virtue of starving while others ate?  No man earns punishment, no man earns reward.  Free your mind of the idea of *deserving*, of *earning*, and you will begin to be able to think.” — Odo, The Prison Letters (Ursula LeGuin, _The Dispossessed_)

Oooh…. now, THAT’S a pearl of virtual wisdom, if I ever saw one…..  Print it!…..
__________________________________

SIGH….. I know I’m probably not doing this Poetry challenge the way it’s supposed to be done, but, I can’t find it in myself to care much, as I’m not trying to win, or anything like that…. I’m only participating because someone thought I would enjoy it, which I have…. but, I can’t make poems come on demand; it doesn’t work like that for me. They happen when they happen, and if I try to force it, they just put on Harry’s Invisibility Cloak, and disappear…. So, I don’t force them, deadlines or no…..

Fortunately, I’ve got a backlog of poems that HAVE leaked out over the last eight months or so, which is what you will see again today…. This one is kind of wordy, and a bit clumsy-seeming, but I like it, for its unabashed pride in its own inherent meaning…. which sounds really obscure, but feels right…. The haiku is, once again, fresh as the day, composed just a few moments ago….. As every day this month, these are being included as part of the April National Poetry Writing Month Challenge, with the updates to be found here:  http://www.napowrimo.net/    I hope you enjoy them…..

Haiku VII

The sun has come up,
once more we rise, and then shine.
Standard issue day.

~~ gigoid ~~

Fatal Supplication

But what becomes of our deepest dangerous dreams?
Does fantasy rescue any part of life’s imperiled favor?
Reality becomes but silvery pairs of mismatched teams,
Dining with affable elegance, such diffident waste to savor.

Who decides what sorrows to carry bravely to term?
Will fragrant moments of sanity make hasty manifestation?
Only Time’s patient mutability sends messages so firm,
Yet salient impersonal vexation lends credence to ripe imagination.

Can folly bring out sadness and rampant visions of beauty?
What kindness can be found in distant open relations?
With countless faces the dead disturb with dire impunity,
From separate caches of wisdom come simple stylish privations.

Shall shallow emotion serve to provide such explanations?
When does avaricious intensity assume primary focus?
Plain answers slide softly through with multiple mitigations,
While conceptually indignant concepts engage a fatally personal locus.

~~ gigoid

__________________________________

“I am ignorant of absolute truth. But I am humble before my ignorance, and therein lies my honour and my reward.” — Kahlil Gibran

This is a valuable piece of thinking, a very powerful attitude to have, and a beautiful expression of an ancient truth; Kahlil Gibran had a knack for all three attributes in his writing, and is deservedly regarded as one of history’s finest poets, as well as a respected philosopher. He was able to insert deep, insightful messages into the public’s consciousness, through his amazingly eloquent poetry, and exceedingly logical treatises and stories. This concept, that the search for truth is as important to us as the truth itself, and is worthy of our mindfulness. One cannot learn, until they will admit they do not know…..

“Real life isn’t like this.” — Smart Bee

Well, yes, it actually is, SB…. I’ll give the benefit of the doubt, and assume SB meant this facetiously….  We aren’t born knowing what is true and what is false, not in any absolute sense…. But, we are born with what I like to call a “crap detector”, a part of us that whispers in our ears, “they’re lying about this”, anytime someone tries to feed us  bullshit, i.e., something that isn’t true…. Some folks are pretty good at lying, and make it hard to tell; others aren’t…. but, all of us have a pretty good idea, and if we listen to that little voice, we learn quickly just what we can trust and what we cannot….

“I’m growing older, but not up.” — Jimmy Buffett

One of the secrets to a successful life is this attitude, in conjunction with the above mentioned characteristic…. When we are small, our minds have not yet learned to fear, or to hate, or to make any assumption other than “What does that mean”, or “Is this crap, or food?”….. which makes the decision making process quite simple, reducing each event to its most basic components of meaning.

This simplicity of mind can be cultivated in later years, and is valuable in giving us the ability to detect crap quickly, and make our decisions accordingly. If one merely tries to rely on what they know, and what they’ve learned, they’ll soon be buried in their own ignorance…. The oldest ffolkes around all know that one has to keep a child alive inside us, if we are to be able to enjoy life…. it’s all just too damn serious if you don’t….

“A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men.” — Willie Wonka

This is why we, as humans, are subject to both Murphy’s Laws, and to the Principle of Bozoid Tendencies….  Both are of great importance in maintaining a healthy outlook on life, to keep us alert, and to give us that child-like ability to laugh at ourselves, and at the messes we can get ourselves into…. I ask you, what would Life be, without being able to laugh at ourselves? Pretty damn boring, I’d say…. That’s why I always let the nose grow, whenever it shows, and encourage others to do the same… Firesign Theater was righter than they knew when they said, “I think we’re all Bozos on this bus!”…. We all are in the same vehicle, headed goodness knows where, and the driver got left behind at the last restroom stop….

“HOORAY, Ronald!!  Now YOU can marry LINDA RONSTADT too!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

This pearl has been brought to you by the letter “C”, and the number 7…. All statements made herein are the author’s creation, for which he takes the credit, but, not the blame…. The Devil made me do it!   Sure, he did…. Anyway, I’m done now. I’m not at all certain that this isn’t the strangest Pearl I have done in quite a while; I have a strong feeling it is…. Strange, that is…. I’m going to cut my losses here, and be done with it…. Ta ta for now….
__________________________________

Strange indeed…. amazing what the mind can accomplish when the body is in excruciating pain…. Today’s version of hell is being brought to me by an impacted, infected tooth, that is telling me, very emphatically, that I need to call the dentist…. It doesn’t care that the dentist won’t be in the office until 9:00, it just wants attention, NOW….. So, if I miss a punctuation mark or two, or any other typos, you’ll understand why…. Be right back….. Okay, I’m back, and I’m outta here… this will do fine, since there’s no way in hell I’m doing it over….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

dozer3

Hollandaise is a sauce, not a country….

Posted on by
Reply

Ffolkes,
Today’s watchword will be ‘sanity’, a word whose meaning is somewhat flexible around these parts…… It HAS to be, because my own level of that particular quality of mind is extremely variable, and depends on a number of factors, none of which are completely under my control. In fact, I long ago gave up hope of maintaining any real control over it, as my efforts, though competent enough, were not enough, by a long shot, to stem the tide of my insanity, which is incredibly powerful, if I do say so myself….

I picked this word, with such deep connection to my life, because I’m starting into a period of life when maintaining my hold on reality needs to remain strong. A lot of stuff is finally beginning to happen for  me in the Big Blue Room, from which I’ve been hiding, so to speak, while waiting for these events to arrive,transpire, and become part of current reality. All that long-winded rationalization is here to say, I won’t have as much time to write in the coming days, and the structure and content of these Pearls is liable to change once again….

I began this blog in August of 2010, or thereabouts, on another site, SFGATE, the SF Chronicle website. In 2011, I signed up on WordPress; subsequently, for a while, the amount of content grew dramatically, as I had a lot of time to fill up in the early days of my retirement (poverty didn’t catch up to me until 1/1/11, when my retirement came into effect, and my full pay income went down to the near starvation level at which it has hovered for the past two plus years…). I filled that time, after my mom left from visiting in early 2011, by writing, and the Pearls grew to comprise five sections, two or three of which were early rant-like diatribes…. It was a lot of stuff pouring out of my head….

In early 2012, the stuff leaking out trickled down to a lesser amount, though still pretty prolific…. At that time, I cut the number of sections in each Pearl down, from five to three, with at least one always dedicated to poetry, mine or someone else’s. That format has worked out very well; it has plenty of opportunity, and room, for ranting, and the poetry always manages to soothe my mind in between rants, or old-school pearls, which I use when my creative side is less active than my habitual, constant inner dialogue, which I express in the old-school format.

That brings us to today, and today’s intro section…. As you can see, I’ve once again fulfilled the intro requirements, by composing and executing (interesting choice of words to describe how I write….) a number of rather useless paragraphs. Today’s examples have something more than the usual amount of relevance, and real information, than is the case in the recent past, but, I can truthfully say that is both providential, and intentional.

Out in the Big Blue Room, I have to start coordinating my SS and State retirement benefits, so that I can maximize both for my future use and convenience of operation. I am pursuing a relationship with a wonderful woman I’ve met, and wish to spend more time on that particular phase; she’s a sweet lady, and we enjoy being together, so I want to do more of that, for certain….

Probably most significantly, I will soon have the resources to travel as I wish…. I’m going to need to sit down and do some serious planning, to, again, maximize the resources I’ll have to have them get me to all the places I want to see, and support the activities I’ll need to pursue during this latter part of my life…..

One of the most satisfying parts of finally getting some of the resources is the sweet feeling I know I’ll get when I walk into a certain store to complete the very first item on all my lists….. I’m going, first thing, into the hock shop and getting my guitar out of pawn, paying the entire loan amount off, knowing that I will never again have to put it in gaol to be able to afford to eat….

All of this will be good for my ‘sanity’, so, I’m rather looking forward to the coming months…. Today, being the 22nd, is the second day of Spring, 2013, and I’m ready to rock the house…..

Well…. that was interesting…. almost like a complete little essay, right here at the beginning, where it will probably bore everyone to death…. That seems to have happened yesterday, as my stats show only four Likes all day, from some regular visitors…. oh well, I’ve never worried about stats, and I’m not going to start now…. What I will do, in the interests of my ‘sanity, is try to keep the creative process under control, at least to the extent of not trying to compose anything particularly scholarly or precise, as I don’t think I’m quite up to either of those today…. I’m feeling pretty lazy, in fact, and want to go do other stuff, so I’ll probably end up cheating, and use a bunch of old stuff, from my archives of ALMOST FIFTEEN BLOODY YEARS of writing these Pearls…..

Sorry, didn’t mean to shout…. that has apparently been sitting in there for a while, waiting for a chance to come out….. My unconscious MAY be a little more in turmoil than I thought…. I’ll have to think about that…. Meanwhile, back here at ECR…..  Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

I’ve probably given ample demonstration in the past of my innate laziness; I always thought of it as being smart, figuring out the easy way to do things….. but, I also call a spade a spade, and it is a fact….. I’m lazy sometimes…… This, then, is one of those times…..

This is an old, old-school Pearl, written sometime in 2008, or so…. I never did date them, other than the date on the email that contained them, so it’s hard to figure out sometimes, just when they were first seen….. and I’m not so vain as to have kept all those emails…. Five years is old enough for our purposes; that’s our story, so, we’re going to stick with that for now…… As you can see, the process of creating pearls remains much as it was, a random, chaotic process full of fun, laughter, and despair for the author’s obvious lack of ‘sanity’…..

Another attempt at so-called levity…

Ffolkes,
Today’s offerings are more of our usual,  a subliminal array of choices; no conscious thought went into the selection process. But there does seem to be some sort of coherency, if only in attitude. (Hmph!)  So, without further ado, enjoy……

“In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point.” — Friedrich Nietzsche (Unfortunately, this applies to most religions, not just Christianity…..nrm)

“Dear Lord, I’ve been asked, nay commanded, to thank Thee for the Christmas turkey before us… a turkey which was no doubt a lively, intelligent bird… a social being… capable of actual affection… nuzzling its young with almost human- like compassion.  Anyway, it’s dead and we’re gonna eat it. Please give our respects to its family…” — Berke Breathed, Bloom Country Babylon

Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence. — Smart Bee

Beauty is skin deep. But how rich you are can last a long time. — On the role of beauty and handsomeness in love — Christine, age 9

“The young man who has not wept is a savage, and the old man who will not laugh is a fool.” — George Santayana (1863-1952)

Actually, my goal is to have a sandwich named after me. Or at least an ice cream sundae…. — Smart Bee

Y’all take care out there….

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

~~gigoid
__________________________________

I’m still lazy, so, deal…. but, I’m going to at least be honest, and use my own work to be lazy with…. Here is a poem I wrote last October, prompted by, and a response to, the quote that is given just before it…. I hope you enjoy it, it’s one I’m happy with, and it’s positive enough for today’s mood….

“But groundless hope, like unconditional love, is the only kind worth having.” — EFF co-founder John Perry Barlow, “Cynthia Horner’s Eulogy”, Apr. 1994

Unsolicited Gratitude

Fear becomes familiar when reality bodes us ill
pain assumes first position, no matter our will.
Powerless, we founder, no strength to prevail
anguished and afraid, against unwanted Fate we rail.

Still, a grain of hope deep inside, hidden well against need
gives us reason to survive, our starving souls to feed.
Failure of courage burdens time, of being bested,
until our souls, in submission, become foully infested.

Bitter tears wash through us each day, with little care,
no thought, no feeling, no wish, or need to be fair.
Rendered clueless, confusion falls upon us, as prey,
we surrender a piece of our soul, little as we may.

Yet, always, a bright beam of hope is seen from afar,
no matter how dreary, or dark, it may seem where we are.
None knows, nor would consent to tell, it seems
from whence it hails, or why it so brightly gleams.

Saving our sanity, absolving our unwanted fears,
dispelling the myths and lies that come with the years.
Each man has known the precious gift that hope may give
And gives glad thanks, as long as he may live.

~~ gigoid

__________________________________

“Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” — Henry David Thoreau, “Walden”

I’ve always felt that a return to older ideas is not necessarily a counter-productive activity to pursue in seeking change in one’s own situation. Though there are hazards to adopting some ideas that are old, those can be mitigated to a degree with some care in choosing which ideas are considered for use. (Duh….) In other words, if we use ideas such as the one above, first heard about a century and a half ago, we have to take care to ascertain whether those ideas are effective or not when used…. This statement from Henry David can, I think, because of its very celebrity, and long-time inclusion in mankind’s treasury of wisdom, be considered one idea that is always true, no matter how much time has passed since it was spoken….

Choosing which ideas from the past that will be most helpful can be a daunting task, simply because when one is speaking of historical wisdom, there is a LOT of material from which to choose, much of which is considered to be very wise, while some others of which may not be such good advice…. One cannot always know with certainty what an idea will do, once adopted in a real sense, and used in a real-life situation…. Sometimes we win, and sometimes we lose, badly….. Of course, the latter events generally are very instructive, in the sense that they teach us what NOT to do in the future….

I suppose we could say that failing at experimenting with reality is most likely humanity’s preferred form of learning, to wit: sticking our finger in the fire to learn that it hurts to burn flesh…. Not terribly smart, but effective; most folks only need one lesson…. We dignify the process we go through in learning, by calling what we get from it ‘experience’, but, it remains a rather bozoid method of learning, depending as it does on our ability to survive the answers that Reality provides to some of our more volatile questions…. like finding out we can’t just do what we want to the planet, without suffering consequences that are incompatible with human survival.

This is approaching rant-like proportions, but, I think I can fix that…. What we’ll do at this point it to admit the truth of how we learn, and just realize we can improve our chances if we learn a bit faster, and more from using our imagination, than we do from subjecting ourselves to the lashes and bumps that experimentation can entail…. In light of that, I will now provide several pearls, all of which are good advice on how to learn, and how to live, and hopefully, do so with some dignity, some laughter, and a lot of joy…..

“If you want to go far in a decade you have to go far each year. If you want to go far each year, you have to make sure that you do something significant each day.” — Deng Ming-Dao

“We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. All art is quite useless.” — Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door.” — Emily Dickinson

“Be patriotic – question authority.” — Bumper Sticker

“The strong live off the weak, and the smart live off the strong.” — Smart Bee
(Well, not ALL of us….. but, most….)

“I’m sitting on my SPEED QUEEN..  To me, it’s ENJOYABLE..  I’m WARM..  I’m VIBRATORY..” — Zippy the Pinhead

I suppose one can never accuse me of failing to be eclectic, nor of taking Life too seriously…. It got away from me for a moment, but Zippy, as always, managed to put things into their proper perspective….. Sometimes, all it takes is a bit of warm vibration to make life alright….
__________________________________

I’m a little afraid today…. yesterday’s Pearl seems to have fallen off the scales, stat-wise, but today’s effort may just drive everyone away for good…. Or not, and, I don’t really care one way or another, as this is still all about getting this crap, er, stuff, out of my head…. I’ll go look it over, and see how it came out….. Be right back….

See? That never takes long….  Okay, well, it isn’t quite as bad as I’d feared, so I’ll go with it…. I know, I’m easy…. But, I do get posted every day, so, that’s something, I guess….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

dozer3