Tag Archives: Romeo and Juliet

Soft reasons for hard times…

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Ffolkes,

“As empty vessels make the loudest sound,

so they that have the least wit are the greatest blabbers.”

~~ Plato (428-348? B.C.) ~~

scorpion


I am indeed a sucker for beauty, especially dangerous beauty, as this little piece of photographic art shows quite well…. Part of the London Daily Telegraph photo section feature, the Animal Pictures of the Week, from a few weeks ago, I couldn’t help saving it for my own files, so I could see it flash by now and again on my background, or screen saver, both of which use my photos as a slide show…. Such a tiny bundle of powerful destiny will always make a compelling subject for such a study, and serves to remind me of how dangerous life can be, both for those who seek out such beauty, and for the object of such beauty itself….

Since it is a bit early for such a deep subject, we’ll refrain from going any further in our exploration; damn good thing too, as I felt a huge rant there under the surface of those statements, just dying to come out to play…. Oops, time anomaly…. Duck!

Well, that was fun…. NOT! During a wrinkle in time that just happened here, I left the house to go attempt to persuade the Kaiser 24 hour pharmacy to give me my ordered medication and some diabetic test supplies. I spent over $20 and an hour and a half of my most productive time of day, for nothing but aggravation…. They refused to acknowledge any responsibility for their policies, and would NOT take the time to help me, though the evidence of their responsibility in the matter lay in the computer…

I am so angry, and frustrated, I can no longer contemplate writing today’s Pearl, beyond what is already done…. I’ve been working ahead a bit of late, so, most of it is done, but, it will just have to do as is, because I don’t have it in me to push past his anger right now…. So, if the rest of this mess looks a bit incomplete, or somewhat light relative to our usual product, well, sorry ’bout that, but, oh, well….

In fact, since there is an opening right there in front of us, we’re taking it…. I’ll try to at least proof what I’ve done so far, but, no promises…. Hold on a moment, ffolkes, we’re going in, so we can get done….

Shall we Pearl?

“According to my calculations, the problem doesn’t exist.” — Bumper Sticker

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Today’s video choice will have to take the place of both section one’s usual video offering, and section two’s usual rant…. I’d write more on this subject, and will do so eventually, but, right now, this is what you get…. It’s actually good news, and actually gives me hope for a reasonable outcome from the FCC…. They’re under a lot of public pressure to get it right, and not cave in to big business…. Having the White House come out so strongly behind the people’s case will add a powerful voice to the cacophony…. I’ve included an article from the UK Guardian, which gives a decent rundown of the pertinent issues….


After receiving more than 4m comments from the general public, the FCC had reportedly been discussing a “hybrid” solution that would have allowed tiered services but imposed stricter rules to protect customers. The proposal met with stiff opposition from net neutrality supporters, who now have the backing of Obama.

President Obama’s Statement on Keeping the Internet Open and Free

 

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You got it…. since I don’t want to take any time to search, it’s one of mine again…. deal with it….

Future Shocked:

Weeping, I wake;
waking, I weep, I weep.
I weep for the ages to be lost,
for the children never to be born.

Time comes calling, strident and spare,
nudging us toward the future with bony hands.
No pausing, no waiting, always away,
Frantic hearts unseen, unheard.

Spirits are dark, afraid.
And the Beast hunts, hungry and cruel,
seeking out the weak, and the foolish.

We all weep now…..

~~ gigoid ~~


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THIS is a very odd pearl, with parameters unknown to me…. Smart Bee picked these out all by itself, and I haven’t a clue as to what it means….

“Philosophy, means, first, doubt; and afterwards the consciousness of what knowledge means, the consciousness of uncertainty and of ignorance, the consciousness of limit, shade, degree, possibility. The ordinary man doubts nothing and suspects nothing.” — Henri Frederick Amiel

“Juliet’s so happy and in love, but at the same time so sad and lonely. She’s totally neurotic. I could really relate.” — Alicia Silverstone, Actress, on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, 1995

“Perfection is a minor virtue.” — Edward Abbey

“A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind…” — Gibran

“If there is happiness on earth, it must be sought in the abode where we live.” — Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) French Philosopher

“True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read; and in so living as to make the world happier and better for our living in it.” — Pliny the Elder

“And so the little freighter sat upon the sea, and, though Africa came closer day by day, the freighter never moved. She was old and weather-weary, and she had learned to let the world come round to her.” — Beryl Markham, West With the Night

Hmm… Well. There you go…..

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That’s all ffolkes… That’s all I’ve got in me, other than a shitload of anger, which y’all don’t need, don’t want, and won’t be burdened with, beyond this slight bit of whine here at the end…. I’m sure tomorrow will be, if naught else, different…. See ya…. I’m gonna do this before I lose my nerve….

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

PLEASE STOP READING THIS MESSAGE NOW.

Kowabunga!


À bientôt, mon cherí….


					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Platitudes, coated in platinum…..

			
						

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Ffolkes,

Dark, worrisome thoughts chase each other around my brain. My heart trips and stutters, echoing the panic felt in every piece of bone and gristle. Shadowy forms fill the edges of perception, fleeing when I whip my head to see them. My tears flow, unrelieved, filling my head with fluids, and my soul with pain….


Yes, it’s yet another visit from my PTSD, in all its glory. It is now 0150, and I’ve been up, sobbing, for an hour now…. there are times when I come very close to regret, something I swore to never feel, for all my past activities that contributed to how I feel now. Like Albert Einstein said once, “if I had known, I would have become a watchmaker.” Anything would be better than this….


Ah well, since I’m up, and sleep looks like a distant memory for tonight, I may as well go diving for pearls…. When I’m under water, the tears don’t seem like such a big deal…. and who knows? I might find something to help myself feel better…. it wouldn’t take much, believe me, as I feel just about as bad as I can….. Shall we Pearl?….. I think we’d better….

___________________________________


True is suffering; this is true cause;

this is true cessation; this is the true path.


Know the sufferings; give up they causes;

attain the cessation of the suffering; follow the true paths.


Know the sufferings although there is nothing to know;

relinquish the causes of misery although there is nothing to relinquish;

be earnest in cessation although there is nothing to cease;

practice the means of cessation although there is nothing to practice.

— Buddha, The Four Noble Truths


To look at this, one would think that it would be helpful in my current state…. but, y’know what? I could give a shit…. the way my mind is working just now, I look at this, and all I can say is… “BULLSHIT!”  




None of this sits lightly on my mind, and would normally sink deep for contemplation. In my current state of mind, though, all I can see is the BS factor; it’s just way too convoluted, and makes the assumption that one is capable of making these types of adjustments to thought patterns. 




Well, guess what? I ain’t capable of anything remotely emotionless when I’m in this state… I defy the most advanced yogini or Buddhist to maintain equilibrium under these conditions. Let them face a few days of unrelenting pain, and the mean streets of life when one is poor in money, and see how they do at being serene under those conditions….


I can see now that today’s Pearl is going to end up a bit dark…. I think it’s time for a little poetry…..

___________________________________


A door just opened on a street–

I, lost, was passing by–

An instant’s width of warmth disclosed

And wealth, and company.


The door as sudden shut, and I,

I, lost, was passing by,–

Lost doubly, but by contrast most,

Enlightening misery.


~~ Emily Dickinson


Hmm…. I like it, but it doesn’t do much to relieve the darkness, does it? Ah well, c’est la vie…. we’ll just go on, and do the best we can….


Time passes…..


And our best was just good enough to crawl back into bed at 0345. The PTSD attack seems to be done, but now I am awake again, there is some lingering depression; I can feel it, hanging in the background, just waiting to pounce at the first sign of weakness… In this state,  it is much like a predator, hiding in the tall grass, just waiting for me to walk in the wrong direction, and into its waiting jaws. This calls for drastic measures….. Hmm, which shall I use? Bourbon for breakfast? Or a massive injection of humor? Let’s leave it up to Smart Bee, and the first relevant quote I can find will tell me which will work better….

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O father, what a hell of witchcraft lies

In the small orb of one particular tear.

— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Sonnets & other Poetry — A Lover’s Complaint, Line 288


I knew it! I knew if I kept at it long enough, I would find something written by Will Shakespeare that actually makes some sense. And I was right! The above couplet actually does make sense…. not only some sense, but written in an attractive, cohesive manner, in words that all fit together, and point in the same direction. For Will, that is indeed a rare occurrence. 




This even has layers of meaning in it, which I’m sure Will didn’t plan; it just came out that way. It does cheer me up a smidgen, though, so it also has that in its favor…. enjoy this little bit of actual writing from mein herr Shakespeare, you won’t see too many like it, no matter how long you search….. I guarantee! (To enjoy the full effect, that last word should be said very loudly, in an Acadian (Cajun) accent…..)


An hour before the worshipp’d sun

Peered forth the golden window of the east.

— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Romeo and Juliet — Act i, Sc. 1


Look! Look! It’s another one! And just when I thought I was done, this pops up….. I am impressed. Two in one day…. but, then, Romeo and Juliet IS the best work he ever did, so it makes sense that a couplet from its interior would fare better than one from, say, Troilus and Cressida, one of the most impenetrable pieces I ever saw…. Any who, enjoy these while you can, because I already have almost another dozen examples of his normal, terrible stuff saved up for use in the future, when I’m feeling cranky….


“Action is eloquence.” — William Shakespeare


Damn if Smart Bee wasn’t hiding another one…. this one actually could be described as “good”, as well as “deep”….. I’m impressed. But, I must remind you, this is merely three examples of good stuff from Will. I’ve already given at least 10 times as many examples of his normal, terrible stuff, and, at this very moment, have nine examples ready for publication…. the odds aren’t improving much, if these three are the best I can find….

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“Here I am in the POSTERIOR OLFACTORY LOBULE but I don’t see CARL SAGAN anywhere!!” — Zippy the Pinhead


Ah, Zippy! The true master of language! I genuflect in awe at his many proclamations of intense feeling, and insane, yet haunting, exclamations of joy, nonsensical as they may be. The fact that none of those feelings have anything to do with reality just makes them more charming, to my eye. No matter what he says, it is the kind of statement that makes one think, “Wow. I’ll bet there is a good back story on that!”  Well, either that, or, “You lost me again, Zip…..”  But, no matter what he says, one must admire him, and his creator, Bill Griffiths, for the unrelenting dedication to absolute chaos and the power of entropy in reality…. Zippy’s adventures are ALWAYS obtuse, and filled with lack of meaning, a real treat to us who are stuck in the real thing….




    For those of you out there who would like to enjoy Zippy and his adventures in reality, you might find the following web site to be helpful… it tells how to understand Zippy in Six Easy Lessons….  http://www.zippythepinhead.com/pages/aaaunderstanding.html


I had intended this to be a bonus pearl, having somewhat chopped up the first part due to incipient semi-psychotic behavior, and from a certain viewpoint, it is a bonus. (Remember in Star Wars, when Ben Kenobi tells Luke about his father, he says, “from a certain viewpoint”, to justify his lies to Luke….) Whether the bonus is appreciated, or merely tolerated, is entirely up to you, as always… But, I must ask, before you make your decision, consider the difficulty factor of today’s dive for pearls, hindered and manipulated as it was by my somewhat bedraggled, middle of the night panic attack. Hopefully, that will add a charitable factor to the judging process, and keep the score respectable.


If not, well, then, piss on it…. I’m done here, anyway….

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For a treatise that took about seven or eight hours to complete, this has a somewhat unkempt feeling to it, like I didn’t brush my hair, or my teeth, or something. But, it does not matter a whit, as I am NOT going back and starting over. I’ve lost enough sleep today already, and editing would most likely put me right over the edge…. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..




—

Sometimes I sits and thinks,

and sometimes

I just sits.


gigoid


Dozer
Kowabunga!