Some fava beans and a nice Chianti….

Ffolkes,

“Wisdom begins in wonder.”

~~ Socrates ~~

Galway Streets

Entrance to the Spanish Arch

Galway, Ireland


Hajime…. As y’all know from previous Pearls, the word, ‘hajime’ is Japanese, meaning, “begin” or, “beginning”. It is spoken to two judoka, or karateka, as the word to start a match between them. I use it here, simply because it brings me a small bit of focus, merely to speak it in my head. I need the focus, because this is a special Pearl, in some ways. Two events occurred today to break the monotony of my semi-reclusive existence, as I fight my way past the issues I’ve been facing all year. One I’ll relate just below, in this section; the other will serve as today’s rant replacement for that section. First, the SECOND event, in terms of when they happened; the first resulted in the second…. You’ll see..

Surviving a near-death experience somehow makes the day go by a little more quickly, it seems. Why, look! Here it is, a little past midnight on another sleepless night, and I’ve already been nearly dead, only talking myself out of allowing myself to die because it simply would have been too embarrassing to have been found in the position in which I was almost destined to succumb. Fortunately, my breath was so bad, and I was laughing so damn hard, Death’s Handmaiden wouldn’t kiss me, so I had to get up and carry on…

I know that isn’t the most detailed or illuminating passage; ‘s okay, it wasn’t intended to be. Here is where I tell you what happened, so we can get on with the rest of this mess. First, let me stamp your papers, then we won’t have to do it later. Good, just line up over there and let the scanner pass over the bar code attached to your forehead at the gate. Thank you for your cooperation and sheepleness….

Okay, obligatory insult’s done…. Here’s what happened: Leelu the Magicat performed an act of extraordinary skill, bravery, and nobility (I kid you not: I’ve got graphic proof…). It seems I’ve been adopted by a five-month old cat superhero/sorceress/warrior princess, all rolled into one. To reward her for her act of selflessness, I began to play with her, throwing her favorite old chewed up piece of crumpled paper for her to fetch.

Because my shoulder was stiff, I made a terrible throw, which disappeared near some furniture, hidden well enough she couldn’t puzzle out where it ended up, though she’s usually good at that. I went to see, and saw it had, ironically enough, found it’s way into the most inaccessible spot in the room, behind a chair, and a table, with a box in the way, right in the corner of the room. I had to laugh at my own bozoid throw, as I was in a LOT of pain, and retrieving it was bound to be difficult…. Sure enough, getting down to stretch out where I could reach it put me in a very odd position, and I began to laugh even harder, feeling the irony and ridiculousness of my position….

Then, I had another vision, of having a heart attack where I was, from laughing so hard, and being found there, in that absurd position, into which I’d gotten myself to play with a cat. I know autopsy techniques are sophisticated enough to show I had died from laughing, so, the whole world would probably hear about, and laugh themselves silly at the bozoid nature of my demise. That vision made me laugh so damn hard, I almost fulfilled it…. Only the sheer fear of that embarrassment kept me from choking right there, killed by my own stupidity.

There, that should get the day begun on the correct note. Always good to start with a keen appreciation of the depths of foolishness we can encounter in this reality, I find. Well, sometimes I find it; other times, not so well. Well enough today, though, we can skip all the normal foolishness, of which we have a nearly never-ending supply, to get on down the page to find out what Leelu did…. Guido’s still on duty; something’s up with Luigi…. Any who, he’ll get us to the beds on time, if we let him get going, so….. have a seat, & we’ll be on our way…..

Shall we Pearl?….

“It is one of the commonest of mistakes to consider that the limit of our power of perception is also the limit of all there is to perceive.” — C. W. Leadbeater

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Image from alamy.com via Google Images

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Woodstock

Image from michaelbaisdennow.com via Google Images


I believe the pictures say all that needs said regarding this performance. Enjoy!…..


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Dont keep calm

“In a war of ideas, it is people who get killed.”

~~ Stanislaus J. Lec ~~


Ha! You thought you’d see Leelu here, didn’t you? Don’t worry, you will. The above is just the quote I’d chosen to springboard for today’s rant (hate to verbify a noun, but, hey, it worked… expediency rules, right?); The Tale of Leelu begins now….

As I paced around yesterday, in the afternoon, I noticed Leelu staring oddly, with some focused fixation, at a spot near the wall on the kitchen floor. She watched it a while, when it struck me what I was seeing…. which you will see below, as corroboration of my tale…. You see, some of us cat people (Personally, I am both a cat AND dog person, but, I digress…. ) have known for a long time cats have unusual mental powers, which they use  to protect our plane of existence, from attacks by nightmare creatures from other dimensions. Many millennia ago, in Egypt, Bastet gave all cats these powers as a gift to the planet’s creatures.

Cats can open, or close wormholes between the universes; this is how they can appear and disappear at will, often seemingly while looking right at them. Remember the actual true solution to the puzzle of Schrödinger’s Box; when the box is opened, the cat is neither dead, nor alive; it is gone. When they sense a wormhole opening, they watch to make sure no demons/nightmares get through before they can close it….

If she’s doing something else, you tell me….

Magic 012

Three minutes without moving….


Magic 011

Still watching after six minutes….


Magic 010

Taking a closer look….


Magic 009

Finishing the edges of the closure….


Magic 001

Relaxing after her efforts….

Magic 003


A well-earned rest….


So…. that’s how Leelu saved the universe yesterday. You never have to worry with a Magicat in the house…. even if one has a near-death experience while trying to reward her after her nap…. SIGH…. Hopefully, cats will never realize what Bozos we humans are; they’d leave us in a heartbeat….

See? Now, wasn’t that better than a rant….. Definitely less stress on the keyboard…. and, I hope you enjoyed it…. Just wait until I figure out how to upload videos from my camera…. won’t that be fun?

Leelu thinks so…. but, then, there isn’t much she doesn’t think is fun…. See ya….

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Comedy_Tragedy

Sublimation

In the deepest, darkest hours of the night,
horror drapes the shadow of fear on a tortured mind.
Endless, hopeless, wave after wave of fright
weave a tapestry shroud, stifling, brutally unkind.

Fear, then pain, trade off in durance vile,
offering only blackness as a temporal guide.
No moments of clarity, no comfort, no guile
with no respite, nor any safe place to hide.

Hour after hour, time stops dead in its tracks,
the path back to sanity ends, no big surprise.
Every passing second becomes new hope, dashed,
while our remaining strength fades and dies.

God shall never be forgiven, nor ever praised.
No such pale, sad illusion can explain such reality.
Any reasonable chance for joy to be raised,
requires more than mere ghostly personality.

Hope isn’t needed if one finds the center of the soul;
all the answers we ever need are there.
Killing fear, creating joy in life, for these there’s no toll.
Love, friendship, & laughter, are ever the healthiest fare.

~~ gigoid ~~

12/1/2015


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ankh

More Naked Pearls

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“Speech is but broken light upon the depth
Of the unspoken.”

~~ George Eliot ~~

“Silence is evidence of a superb command of the language.” — Damn Smart Bee

“Courage atrophies from lack of use.” — Mindful Bee

“Friends should be preferred to kings.” — Voltaire

“Everyone thinks his own burden heavy.” — French Proverb

” Just as too much charity is the handiwork of a fool, so too much patience is the hallmark of a coward.” — Kabbalah

“Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.” — Margaret Lee Runbeck

“In’I no expect to be justified by the laws of men.” — Bob Marley


“How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one’s culture but within oneself?  If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox. One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.” — Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams

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Not too shabby for a long-term throw-together Pearl; I’ve certainly done worse. It gives me some hope for tomorrow, no matter how illogical that may be. Moreover, it allows me to once again say, see y’all tomorrow, ffolkes. I’ve already made the reservations….

Y’all take care out there,
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richy
and everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

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

gigoid, the dubious

The *only* duly authorized Computer Curmudgeon.

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

“SCRAM!!!!!!!!!!”- Oscar the Grouch

dozer3


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

We believe the correct term is “Zounds!”….

Ffolkes,
It’s bloody cold out here today! Out in the main room, not outside, though if inside is any indicator, it’s cold out there, too. And I didn’t mean to get into a whole weather report, so let’s just start over….

Buon giorno, ohayo gozaimas, buenos dias, and howdy….. I’m feeling somewhat international today. It’s probably a side effect of wanting to travel….. anywhere. I’ve been stuck too long in one place, and my itchy feet are dunning me to hit the road, to go somewhere on the planet where I’ve never been, to meet people I’ve never known, to see things I’ve never seen. Way too long, indeed…. the last real travel I undertook was over a year ago, and that was a nightmare; the last day and a half of it would make a pretty funny movie. Funny for others at least; it wasn’t funny at all from my perspective. Any who, I can definitely hear those wild geese calling me, urging me to pack my bag and be on my way…… soon enough, compadre, soon enough…..
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crust, sauce, toppings, cheese. — The Four Food Groups

I find it odd, to say the least, but this is true; crust is a carbohydrate, sauce is made of vegetables, toppings are generally protein and/or vegetable, cheese is a dairy product. So, if one really stops to thinks about it (such as at those times when I sits and thinks…) pizza, and pasta, too, for that matter, can be considered a balanced meal all by itself. This may be why it appeals to so many people in America; we, as a group, are all about one-stop-shopping. If we can tell ourselves that a pizza is healthy food (and it is!) then we can eat without guilt. Since guilt is one of our other preeminent characteristics, an unwelcome one, eating pizza, for us, is a win-win, and is useful at any time to maintain a happy, guilt-free lifestyle….. 🙂  Abondanza!….. I’m a chef, it’s all true, I swear! Trust me!…….

“There is a difference between eating a varied diet and chowing down on a cup of lard and sugar once a day. Programmers know this instinctively: they balance their daily menu among the four major food groups: caffeine, sugar, grease, and salt.” — From John Walker’s The Hacker’s Diet
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I’m sorry, but I’m giving up on this Pearl. I’ve spent the last hour and a quarter searching desperately for a quote, an idea, or even just a joke to place here for discussion. What I’ve found is nada. Nothing. Zip. Zero. Not even a hint, or a random finger pointing in a direction where the last idea was seen. It’s bloody frustrating, I’ll tell ya…. and I’ve got stuff to do today. So, I’m giving up. This will have to remain blank. Just think of it as a user documentation manual from the old days at IBM, where it was common practice to put “This page intentionally left blank” on a large number of pages. At least this is my first time….. even now, I’m breathlessly awaiting serendipity, hoping after hope that rescue is rushing down upon us, to leave us with something, anything at all, to put here….. well, I’m waiting…. and waiting…. and waiting….. ah, I knew Murphy wouldn’t let me down…. here is the perfect piece to drag this odd little paragraph right into the realm of respectability, because the message intended in this poetic classic is the perfect counterpoint…..

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe
All mimsy were the borogoves
And the mome raths outgrabe
— _Jabberwocky_, by Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson)

See?…. I rest my case….
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“Syzygy, inexorable, pancreatic, phantasmagoria–anyone who can use those four words in one sentence will never have to do manual labor.” — W. P. Kinsella

Easy money…..

“Even a terminal pancreatic cancer patient can observe the inexorable march of the planets culminating in syzygy, as in an eclipse, if no other way, as a phantasmagoria, a hallucination stemming from their radiation therapy.” — gigoid, 2/25/2012.

See, no problem. Anybody else have a challenge for me? Feel free to leave them in the comments, and I’ll give them a shot. As long as I can find out what each word means, I think I can string them together, and the ensuing results promise to be as strangely interesting as this one……does this mean, since I don’t have to do manual labor anymore, that I’m getting paid now?….
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“Do you believe in and afterlife?  I think this is it.” — Brown

This is an interesting notion… if true, it would explain a lot about this life that we have attributed heretofore to supernatural, or to as yet unknown, laws governing the universe. For example, it would explain why what we call our lives are incredibly brief, in comparison to almost any other part of the physical universe. Stars, matter, worlds, rocks, moons, all last for billions of years, unless acted upon by great forces, whereupon they merely change form, but do not vanish.

But our consciousness, no matter how deeply we think we understand reality, must bow to the simple fact that we only exist, consciously, for a mere few seconds of the eternal clock. When considered in this light, the above statement becomes absolute truth, and bears contemplation. The answers found may just reveal how immortal we actually may be, though the evidence may not indicate such……
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“We must learn not to disassociate the airy flower from the earthy root, for the flower that is cut off from its root fades, and its seeds are barren, whereas the root, secure in mother earth, can produce flower after flower and bring their fruit to maturity.” — Kabbalah (BC 1200?-700? AD)

Mind and body are one? Yes….. it fits. Over a thousand years ago, and folks were developing subtle, yet complex, answers to ages-old questions. This one indicates to me that the author, or the philosophy about which he discoursed, was aware of the duality present in the fabric of reality. It acknowledges the two separate qualities that coexist within each of us, that state of mind/body that both tests and verifies its own nature. We perceive two things, mind and body, whereas the universe only sees one thing, a human.

It is thus a mistake to act out of the belief that we are not connected to the rest of the universe, that our perceptions, based on the duality inherent in the nature of reality, reflect what actually is real. Reality does not acknowledge any such separation of spirit from matter; what happens to one affects the other just as strongly. It is much more prudent, or rather, more effective as a strategy, to include the knowledge of this duality in our contemplations, and base decisions on reality, rather than fantasy….. life is much more congenial…..
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Well, that was interesting…. I think. It will fly, though, I’m pretty sure. And if not, well, tomorrow is another day. Since I started of with weather-talk, I’ll finish the same way. Today promises to be pretty nice here is Northern California, though the forecast is calling for some drizzle later in the afternoon. A little bit of everything, eh what? Not much to do about it, whatever happens, so I just try to enjoy it….. y’all take care out there…..


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

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!