As dragons go, Smaug is a wuss…

Posted on March 30, 2014 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

If it weren’t for the previous twenty-five years, I’d give up trying to sleep altogether…. Those years, spent living, for the most part, without the boon of sleeping more than six or seven hours a day, on average, (if I was lucky), gave me plenty of reasons to try to find ways to increase the amount of time I spent horizontal, unconscious, in imitation of Morpheus….

Dwelling, as it were, upon the fields of Endymion, became an important task, if only to arm myself with more than the minimum of energy to deal with the demands upon your average middle-aged husband and father of two….. Sleep is a weapon, as you may know…. It helps dealing with the energy levels of the kids, when one doesn’t have to, almost literally, drag one’s sorry ass to the bathroom each morning before work…. Too late now…. However, I managed to make it through all of that, reasonably successfully, (in my own mind….), without the sleep…. But, I missed it….

As a consequence of this search, this last few months, experimenting with cannabis products to find the best ones to replace or augment my other pain medications, has had sort of a vacation-like quality to it, as I’ve found a couple of products that have enabled me to sleep better than I have since my twenties. The last couple of days, I’ve actually gotten spoiled, getting upwards of eight to ten hours of relatively uninterrupted sleep, awakening stronger than I’ve felt in many years…. Amazing what a bit of unadulterated rest will do, isn’t it?….

Once again, I see I’ve allowed myself to ramble through my own backyard, unashamedly sharing my patently boring personal intimacies, but, in the process, filling in a lot of empty space on the screen, all with reasonably good English…. If nothing else, I punctuate splendidly, and my grammar is a thing of beauty to behold, don’t you think? I do…. Of course, none of what has gone by has any relation to what we are supposed to be doing, which is finding an interesting way to pass time while y’all wend your way to your seats, to get safely strapped in for the day’s dive….

Oh….. It seems that while I was rambling around like that, that is exactly what happened…. I’ll be damned…. I’m not sure it has EVER gone quite so smoothly…. I’m not sure if I should be happy, or nervous, waiting for the other shoe to drop…. Oh, hell, I’m going to assume the best, for once, and get on with the show, before anything has a chance to go wonky….

By the way…. I forgot to tell y’all…. I found an old report, from back in February of 2012, when the doctors were finally able to pinpoint what’s wrong with me. At that time, I was diagnosed with “witzelsucht” (vit’sel-zoocht) [Ger.] , which is defined as, “A mental condition characteristic of frontal lobe lesions, marked by the making of odd jokes and painful puns, and the telling of pointless stories, at which the patient himself is intensely amused.” …..

Oh….. Well….That would explain it….

Shall we Pearl?…..

“Let us suffer any person to tell us his story morning and evening, but for one twelve-month, and he will become our master.” — Edmund Burke

Hmph…. a lot HE knows! I’ve been at this now for going on THREE twelve-months…. I don’t see anybody calling ME master!!!! Okay, I’ll stop now….
_____________________________

Beset by personal demons on every side, I’m retreating, at top speed, to a more stable vantage point…. Once I’ve gained my footing in a more trustworthy setting, I’ll be back to rant, or pearl, or do whatever I need to do to keep this on track…. For the nonce, hold your breath….. If I’m not back by the time you can count to oh, say, seven hundred eighty-three, then, go ahead and take another breath…. I shouldn’t be too long after that….

Better…. I found a nice little hill, with a commanding view of the surrounding terrain, and a nice, tall cliff at my back; very defensible, with a pool of water in a cave in the cliff, in case we come under siege…. Now I can afford to take the time to decide on a rant, or go dive for some pearls…. In fact, I’m going to do that, without telling you first which one it will be…. You’ll just have to figure it out on your own, when you see what comes next…. Hell, you could get lucky, and I’ll find some ART….

My god, it’s something new and different! What WILL he think of next?….. Enjoy…..
Okay, ffolkes…. the decision as to a rant or an old-school pearl has been taken out of my hands…. The above photo, the first portrait of all three of them released by the royal family since George’s christening, last October, is one of two potential pieces of news that would serve for this section’s espoused purpose….

The other choice is a story about California State Senator Leland Yee, and his partner in crime, Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, a Chinese Triad Tong leader, both residents of SF’s Chinatown, who were recently arrested on charges of money-laundering, corruption, drug trafficking, and murder-for-hire…. As a long-time city and state politician, Lee makes an excellent target for a rant, as a very obvious member of the BRC caught with his hands in the till….

Political corruption for a rant, or some nice, bland little rant about the uselessness of royalty in the modern age?…. But, I don’t know….. with a Grand Doofus Face like Prince William’s, how can I pick on them, royal twits that they are?… It’s not honorable, nor is it cricket, to pick on the handicapped…. Besides, it’s a cute kid, and he’s got a tough life ahead…. Politician Lee and Tong Leader Chow are too obvious a target for my taste…. Such a rant would be like taking candy from a baby…. So, we’ll go with an old-school pearl, and keep the parameters loose, so there isn’t any real damage to anyone, other than, perhaps, to their sense of fair play…. Let’s dive!….

“In adversity remember to keep an even mind.” — Horace (8 BC)

“Keep the juices going by jangling around gently as you move.” — Satchel Paige

“One of the greatest victories you can gain over someone is to beat him at politeness.” — Josh Billings

“To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice.” — Confucius

“Fear is the lock, and laughter, the key to your heart.” — Steven Stills

“Drinking when we are not thirsty and making love all year round, madam; that is all there is to distinguish us from other animals.” — Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, The Marriage of Figaro

A monk asked Nansen, “Is there any great spiritual teaching that has not been preached to the people?”
Nansen said, “There is.”
“What is the truth that has not been taught?”
“Nothing,” Nansen replied.

— Smart Bee
_____________________________

It’s now just barely 4 ack emma, so decision making is probably not an advisable pastime for someone such as myself, who makes an unfortunate habit of being up at this hour…. It’s probably not advisable, even though I’m careful about making decisions more critical than which subject matter to choose, regardless of the potential for nonsense…. I’ve haven’t lived to this ripe age without a certain degree of intelligence making itself felt; I’m actually getting pretty good at thinking ahead. Sometimes, though, the process of making ANY decision becomes a chore, an ordeal of note, otherwise known as a pain in the proverbial ass….

Such is the decision as to the poem for today…. I can’t seem to pin down any particular mood, or feeling, which might give me a clue about which author to pick…. I just used Emily yesterday, twice, so, I don’t feel right about going to that well again…. Oh, hell, I’m not in the mood to waffle about it any more, so I’ll just pick one of mine, and be done with it…. I’ll look for one that isn’t TOO depressing, just as a minor parameter by which to choose…..

Relative Cynicism, with Caramel Sauce

Absolute stillness follows violent movement,
it can happen during a downhill race,
as an immovable piece of asphalt pavement
meets the once handsome racer’s face.

Yuk, yuk, yuk said that asshole Moe,
after poking both of Larry’s eyes,
bashing face, head, & crotch of Curly Joe
and only ever got hit with pies.

Lonely moments never really come along
when Murphy’s got us in his sights.
Not for money, love, or siren’s song
will he abrogate his natural rights.

All we can do is sigh, or laugh in pain,
as Life portions out our ration of shit.
Silver linings melt in the slightest rain,
so we may as well learn to live with it.

~~ gigoid ~~

_____________________________

“For several years more I maintained public relations with the Almighty. But privately, I ceased to associate with him.” — Jean-Paul Sartre

I can relate…. This sentiment seems to me to be one that might be common, to any of us who have refused to fall into the delusional system that is so prevalent in our society, the one they call religion…. or, in deference to accuracy, in my estimation, the cult of deliberate ignorance…. For well over 10,000 years, since before the advent of writing, people have been trying to foist the idea of supernatural origins for all we see in reality upon the rest of humanity, as a means of justifying their own particular penchant for manipulation of others, their avarice, and their gratuitous, insane notions of piety….

I suppose, if they didn’t work so hard to make other people go along with their insanity, it wouldn’t piss me off so much….. I understand they are just trying to figure out in their own minds how to deal with their own fears, and their unwillingness to use what brains they have to take care of themselves, to take responsibility for their life, and their actions…. These cowardly fools would rather place their ignorant faith in a supernatural entity, for which there is no convincing evidence in reality…. God has always made an excellent scapegoat, though, which is why He is so popular among the cowardly….

It has always been somewhat irksome to me, ever since I was a child, to have people expect me to fall right in with this nonsense…. Even at the tender age of four, I knew there were flaws in the story I was getting… There were too many internal inconsistencies in the logic, which caused my already logical mind to question what I was hearing, even then….

There were too many flags coming up from my internal crap detector, which tended to go off like crazy, every time I went to Sunday School…. and this was in the Presbyterian Church, which is about as bland and flexible a creed as exists among the myriad of Biblical interpretations that are floating around out there in the world at large…. Plus, I just KNEW it had to be a big joke, or lie, or something, when they tried to convince me of the “rightness” of “everything” I was reading in the Bible…. For example, that women were less important than men, especially in the church, as exemplified in the following short discussion….

“In the early twelfth century century the Virgin had been the supreme protectress of civilisation. She had taught a race of tough and ruthless barbarians the virtues of tenderness and compassion. The great cathedrals of the Middle Ages were her dwelling places upon earth. In the Renaissance, while remaining the Queen of Heaven, she became also the human mother in whom everyone could recognise qualities of warmth and love and approachability… The stabilising, comprehensive religions of the world, the religions which penetrate to every part of a man’s being– in Egypt, India or China– gave the female principle of creation at least as much importance as the male, and wouldn’t have taken seriously a philosophy that failed to include them both… It’s a curious fact that the all-male religions have produced no religious imagery– in most cases have positively forbidden it. The great religious art of the world is deeply involved with the female principle.” — Kenneth Clark, 1969

Let’s not even get into the other crap they were trying to get me to buy…. original sin, the holy ghost, blasphemy, worshiping graven images, etc.,…. it’s all even more outrageously manipulative, and unbelievable than believing women are inferior to men, by design (which is, obviously, not true….). Also annoying is the way this philosophy, Christianity, is touted as oh-so-wonderfully inclusive, oh-so-compassionate, and oh-so-generous in nature…. all the while they are trying to convince everyone of these qualities, they are displaying their bigotry, ignorance, aggressiveness, and fear of aliens of all kinds….

These people, the white Christians, have been shown to be ultimately responsible for most of the wars we’ve seen over the centuries, as well as having the responsibility for having kept the general populace under the control of the savage master ruling classes, those humans with no compassion at all, assisting them blatantly with their constant admonitions to obey worldly authority, on the promise of immortality…. AFTER THEY DIE….

Can you think of ANYTHING more stupid? To buy into the notion that our actions on this plane of existence have some kind of regulatory effect on where we might go when we die, is the most egregiously distorted view of reality I can imagine, one with absolutely NO proof, or even evidence that can be even pointed at, much less held in the hand….

Well, ffolkes, I just can’t bring myself to do it. I won’t refuse responsibility for my own actions, and adjust my behavior to fit some other asshole’s idea of what is right, just on the promise of a reward when I die…. It doesn’t make any sense, and I’m not going to do it, so there….

To finish out this indictment, of religion in general, and of Christianity in specific case, here are five pearls that show exactly what is important in modern society, all to maintain the status quo….

“Irresponsibility isn’t a sickness–it’s an art.” — Remington Steele

“If words were invented to conceal thought, I think that newspapers are a great improvement on a bad invention.” — Thoreau

“Prejudice is when you don’t hate an individual, but you hate what they stand for, when without knowing them personally, you decide they are worthy of your derision.” — Callan Williams

“Most people would like to be delivered from temptation but would like it to keep in touch.” — Robert Orben

“Ignorance is Strength.” — George Orwell’s 1984

These statements, then, become the rallying cries of modern society, pointing out to people how to be successful in life, by encouraging everyone to avoid all blame, and all virtue….. And we wonder why we’re going to hell in a handbasket….

A fig for those by law protected,
Liberty’s a glorious feast;
‘Courts for cowards were erected,
Churches built to please the priest.

— Robert Burns (1759-1796)
_____________________________

This will someday be noted as an example of a “typical” Pearl from this era…. I can’t say at all how good it is, or even whether it is readable; that would be too egotistical, even for me. I will say this…. It’s done, and I’m glad, because I managed to create this one in spite of all the handicaps I’ve been encountering of late, most of which I’ve been strong enough to keep from mentioning (that’s scary, eh?….)…. Any who, as I said, and will now reiterate, it’s done…. So….. see ya…..

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

Salvation lay in perfecting a peony in fuchsia….

Posted on September 25, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Of late, the ranting in which I’ve engaged has become somewhat strident, to my ears…. Some unkind persons might take it upon themselves to say I’ve gone all the way over, into shrill cacophony, but, as yet, I don’t think I’ve quite achieved that particularly annoying attribute, so painful to the inner ear, though not for lack of effort, I’m sure….. The reason for this is merely my own sense of diffuse anxiety and imminent disaster, probably due to my PTSD…. which tends to mark ALL crises as personal, y’know? It doesn’t matter whether the crisis is right here, in my house, or out there, in the Big Blue Room, in Washington D.C., or some other place where history is happening…. Any crisis situation, to which I become attuned, brings out the worst of my all-too-familiar left-over fears and anxieties, forcing me to experience the full onslaught of emotion that accompanies them, whenever they show up…

This is why I’ve fallen into ranting in the intro section; when the rants are fueled by the emotional morass inside me, they pop up in the most inconvenient places they can find, pushing their way into the conversation, no matter where it started….. Kind of like the people they are generally talking about, actually….. Convinced of their own correctness, the usual targets of my ire are those feel no compunction against letting out their innermost thoughts, regardless of what else may be called for by the conversation, by the demands of reality, or by intent of the author, to wit: me…. In other words, I’ve lost control of this blog, completely…. That, or I’ve slipped back into the pit of insanity, and it’s all gone to shit….

Nope, I can’t claim that one… I’m still here, and fairly lucid, most of the time….. Well, lucid by MY standards, which probably aren’t the same as those of normal reality…… Mine are most likely much more stringent, as I have very high standards when it comes to how my own brain works….. It may not appear that way, but, it is true, nonetheless….. Normal Reality is a much less logical, and less highly organized, place to be, compared to being in my head, most of the time…. I can probably never actually convince anyone of the truth of that assertion, but, it is the absolute truth, regardless of how things may appear from the other side….

In fact, a lot of what is visible is illusion, just like out there in the real world….. I don’t show ALL my cards at once, not until the last bet is called, as my daddy taught me so long ago….. Okay, now I’ve really done it….. Here I am, talking about my daddy, and what he taught me, before I even wake up enough to realize I’m even writing…. How did I get here? What in the hell am I talking about? Is there any hope for this Pearl? I’d better take a step back, and look at this from a new viewpoint… Be right back, ffolkes…

Ah, okay, found the primary contributing issue…. I forgot this….

“Avoid running at all times.” — Satchel Paige

Satchel gave what is no doubt the best advice for living that I’ve seen, especially given his lack of education….. But, sometimes, as is obvious here, too much education can be an issue, as well, causing as much trouble for its possessors as it does to solve those troubles…. In my case, it only leads to verbal indigestion, but, that can be uncomfortable enough, believe me…. I also found, during my inner troubleshooting episode, that I had been forgetting the following aphorism, to wit: Hanlon’s Razor…. It becomes clear that I’ve been a bit harsh to the BRC, as well as to the priestly hierarchies, and the fools who inhabit them….

“Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.” — Hanlon’s Razor

In other words, ffolkes, they can’t help being the way they are, so shouting at the top of my lungs to make them change their ways is NOT going to be an effective technique for instituting, or encouraging, any such changes…. But, then, I’ve always known, to some extent, that what I do here is shouting into the wind; I’m just one unknown, inconspicuous guy, with no societal props, or creds, as they say on the street, to make people pay attention to what I have to say….

As noted above, I seem to have lost all sense of direction, if not my sanity as well, so we may as well just get on with this, and try to put this one out of its misery…. Shall we Pearl?…..

“As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.” — Henry David Thoreau
_____________________________

It is now the middle of the week, a segment of time that has little meaning to those of us who no longer work…. One of the more interesting issues I’ve noticed since retiring is how flexible time becomes….. The various little segments of time we use to describe different periods, such as “week”, “day”, “month”, “hour”, etc. have meaning to me only for keeping track of specific events that will occur at specific times… Otherwise, there is no strong reason to pay any attention to those distinctions, as one day, or one hour, is much the same in importance as the next, with little to tell one from another, (especially for those of us to whom Reality is a slippery concept, hard to grasp and/or hold for long, before it morphs into something else entirely…..).

The best part about this new scenario is, one assumes a great deal of control over each of those categories of time, by possessing the right and power to decide whether or not to acknowledge them at all; when we do, what we do with that time, too, is ours to choose, rather than being manipulated and/or controlled by the want and needs of other people….. Our time, after so long, is our own, to do with as we please, and it is a heady experience….

What does this have to do with creating a Pearl, or searching for pearls?….. Well, obviously, nothing much, but, then, it also has EVERYTHING to do with that process…. as it is entirely MY choice as to where we go from here… and, I say, let’s go find some GOOD STUFF…. Of course, I’ll leave the definition of GOOD STUFF up to random chance, but, hey, it sounds good, right?… Well, I think so, and it’s my blog, so there…. Sorry, don’t mean to get silly, or huffy, just having too much fun here…. Let’s go see what SB has today for us to find…..

“Growing old is not for sissies or the faint of heart.” — Smart Bee

“Let us not say, every man is the architect of his own fortune; but let us say, every man is the architect of his own character.” — George Dana Boardman

“A closed mind is like a closed book; just a block of wood.” — Chinese Proverb

“I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

“For when I was a babe and wept and slept, Time crept. When I was a boy and laughed and talked, Time walked. Then when the years saw me a man, Time ran. But as I older grew, Time flew.” — Guy Pentreath

“A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” — Mark Twain

When speaking of aging, and time, who better to finish with?….. I like how this turned out, but, it needs two addenda, making this a nine-star pearl, in order to have the absolutely correct feel….

“Is not old wine wholesomest, old pippins toothsomest, old wood burns brightest, old linen wash whitest? Old soldiers, sweetheart, are surest, and old lovers are soundest.” — John Webster (c. 1580-1625) — Westward Ho, Act ii, Sc. 2

“We all have a face that we hide away forever,
And we take them out and show ourselves when everyone has gone.
Some are satin, some are steel, some are silk and some are leather.
They’re the faces of the stranger and we love to try them on.”

— Billy Joel, The Stranger
_____________________________

Some days, this process is rather a revelation, in terms of what the presence of entropy in the universe can do to how we view reality….. I went to find a poem for the rather odd mood I’m in today, and found a perfect candidate on the first try….. Here is a poem, which I find to be quite complex and intricate in its very simplicity… and quite powerful for all that…. It’s from a poet new to me, who sadly died recently, though not without recognition for his work… His name is Seamus Heaney, an Irish Poet Laureate….

Follower

My father worked with a horse-plough,
His shoulders globed like a full sail strung
Between the shafts and the furrow.
The horse strained at his clicking tongue.

An expert. He would set the wing
And fit the bright steel-pointed sock.
The sod rolled over without breaking.
At the headrig, with a single pluck

Of reins, the sweating team turned round
And back into the land. His eye
Narrowed and angled at the ground,
Mapping the furrow exactly.

I stumbled in his hob-nailed wake,
Fell sometimes on the polished sod;
Sometimes he rode me on his back
Dipping and rising to his plod.

I wanted to grow up and plough,
To close one eye, stiffen my arm.
All I ever did was follow
In his broad shadow round the farm.

I was a nuisance, tripping, falling,
Yapping always. But today
It is my father who keeps stumbling
Behind me, and will not go away.

~~ Seamus Heaney ~~

_____________________________

This is what I call a left-over pearl; these kept popping up for consideration while I was looking for the pearls in section one. Since they all were connected, obviously, by subject matter and/or intent, it seemed wasteful not to use them…. so, here is another randomly chosen pearl, but with more of a point to it, critically speaking…. Seven stars should be enough….. Works for me…

“In America, anyone can become president. That’s one of the risks you take.” — Adlai E. Stevenson

“The heresy of one age becomes the orthodoxy of the next.” — Helen Keller

“Reason transformed into prejudice is the worst form of prejudice, because reason is the only instrument for liberation from prejudice.” — Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind

“Patriotism is a pernicious, psychopathic form of idiocy.” — George Bernard Shaw

CABBAGE, n. “A familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as large and wise as a man’s head. The cabbage is so called from Cabagius, a prince who on ascending the throne issued a decree appointing a High Council of Empire consisting of the members of his predecessor’s Ministry and the cabbages in the royal garden. When any of his Majesty’s measures of state policy miscarried conspicuously it was gravely announced that several members of the High Council had been beheaded, and his murmuring subjects were appeased.” — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

“As you know, I planned a trip out there for some time, so it fits in very nicely.” — President George Bush, on his trip to LA after the riots

“Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.” — P.J. O’Rourke
_____________________________

“I don’t have a weird sense of humor. Your reality is just weird.” — Smart Bee, speaking for gigoid again…..

As I suspected after writing the intro section, this turned on me, into an epic effort; I haven’t taken this long to put out a Pearl for quite a while…. Let’s see if it was worth all the perseverance and dedication…..

As I noted above, today’s effort has been somewhat of a revelation…. With a few minor tweaks and/or edits, it turned out pretty well, all things considered, so I’ll once again consider myself fortunate, and will post and be done with it, until tomorrow….

Hmm…. maybe, someday, someone will see one of these Pearls, even a strange one like this, and think it worthwhile to bring to the attention of the world at large…. Nah, that’s too much like a fantasy, or a sitcom scenario…. which would, given the nature of this beast, probably result in lasting harm to the space-time continuum, and a huge alteration of history…. Never mind, probably not a good idea….. Until tomorrow, then….

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

Don’t fret, it’s only a faux-artichoke impression…..

Posted on September 11, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,

Today is, of course, a day of infamy in this country, and though I’ve never really explored the events of that day in depth, I have expressed my thoughts to a small degree in previous posts on this blog. I suppose one could say that my view of the events is rather different than the normal run of reactions, since I firmly believe that, though it may or may not have been ordered by one of the shrubs (probably the senior, in defense of the junior, who was in serious trouble at the time of the attack, belabored by accusations of election fixing and general political malfeasance), was certainly used by them and their cronies to not only cement junior’s position, but to fan the flames of paranoid fear among the populace, in order to continue the assault on the Bill or Rights that has been raging for years….

I realize the intro section is not the place to rant, on ANY subject, but, the day’s significance to the public cannot be denied, and who am I to refrain from using it just like any other journalist or writer, to fuel my own production with emotionally charged material, taking advantage of the hullabaloo to add my voice to the cacophony that will assail our ears today? No, indeed, I’m as unprincipled as the best of them when it comes to using whatever is at hand to write about; I’m not so sanguine as to think what I have to say will sway any opinions, or cause any new conniptions amongst the elite, but, it does keep me off the streets, for the most part….

However, I have to say this…. Most folks, and even ffolkes, in this country, see the attacks that took place on 9/11/11 as military, or at minimum, terrorist attacks on the US, aimed at the people who live here, and seen as a battle in a war that is going on between us and much of the Muslim world….. I, however, see it as merely another example of the extremity of the human spirit, wherein insane, religious fanatics were manipulated by members of the BRC, (specifically one who was formerly head of the world’s most infamous spy agency), into performing what was actually a brilliant tactical maneuver (when viewed dispassionately, the attacks MUST be considered brilliant strategy, as the military objectives were reached with minimal expenditure of effort on the part of the executing team, utilizing materials at hand to cause major property damage, and significant casualties, even if those casualties were civilian, and not military….), all of which was carried out on the world’s stage for maximum effect.

Most of the people who reacted so strongly in the wake of the events of 9/11 did so without ever considering the larger picture. They only looked at what happened from the standpoint of being victimized, and, in the final analysis, are even more ignorant, and more easily manipulated now, than they were on that day. I am speaking of the public’s reaction; I don’t think that much of what we heard from the BRC has any real meaning, as any surprise they showed was pure method acting, and all of their rote responses were straight from the script they were provided when they became working members of the cultural elite.

Yes, ffolkes, I believe the whole thing was a conspiracy, and though I cannot point any fingers at specific culprits, I can certainly identify the main group of them…. Since everything I write here is being scrutinized by the myrmidons employed by the NSA to protect the BRC’s investment in political and societal manipulation, I hesitate to actually name names; once I do that, they have ample reason to come and take me away, to see whether I am holding any real, solid, on-paper evidence, or if I am only relating the ideas my intelligence and reasoning have deduced from the visible evidence. If the latter, I’m no real danger to them; they pretty much have complete control of the routes of perception for most of society, and can shut me down anytime, should they wish to do so.

If, however, I have real evidence, such as that made public by Eric Snowden, the first patriotic martyr of the twenty-first century, who has essentially given up on ever having a life, for telling the truth about the NSA, and providing solid, provable evidence for the public to see, then I am, as he is, a real danger to them, and they WILL do all they can to shut me down, as they have attempted to do to him…. He MAY still be alive (I have no evidence of that one way or another, and don’t exactly trust the news to tell the whole tale….), but, his life is all-but-over, for the political beast never forgets, and never forgives, especially when guilty of what they are accused of doing.

So, if the Pearls of Daily Wisdom ever fail to get posted, and there is no word from me as to why not, y’all will know they’ve come to “discuss” my theories with me, with the full intent of convincing me to shut the hell up…. If they continue to ignore me, you will continue to hear my ideas about the Beloved Ruling Class, and their campaign to take away all the liberties, to which we are presumably entitled, by the sacrifices made by the founders of this country.

Now that I’ve completely screwed up the order of events here, we’ll go on to the rest of today’s effort, little as it may turn out to be…. Shall we Pearl?….

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

“We would like to apologize for the way in which politicians are represented in this programme. It was never our intention to imply that politicians are weak-kneed, political time-servers who are more concerned with their personal vendettas and private power struggles than the problems of government, nor to suggest at any point that they sacrifice their credibility by denying free debate on vital matters in the mistaken impression that party unity comes before the well-being of the people they supposedly represent, nor to imply at any stage that they are squabbling little toadies without an ounce of concern for the vital social problems of today. Nor indeed do we intend that viewers should consider them as crabby ulcerous little self-seeking vermin with furry legs and an excessive addiction to a alcohol and certain explicit sexual practices which some people might find offensive. We are sorry if this impression has come across.” — Monty Python
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When I began to gather the pearls for this old-school version, I intended for it to point out more about the subjects discussed in the introductory rant…. During that process, it turned on me, into the shape and style you see below…. Though it doesn’t exactly match what I’ve said above, it does have a lot to say about the society in which we live, and some of the ideas that can help us to better understand it, and our own position within that structure….. I think….

No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see.” — Taoist Proverb

“He who has a WHY to live for can bear with almost any HOW.” — F. Nietzsche

“You were born into a society which spelled out with brutal clarity, and in as many ways as possible, that you were a worthless human being. You were not expected to aspire to excellence;you were expected to make peace with mediocrity. Wherever you have turned, you have been told where you could go and what you could do ( and _how_ you could do it) and where you could live and whom you could marry. I know your countrymen do not agree with me about this, and I hear them saying, “You exaggerate.” — James Baldwin,_The Fire Next Time_, 1964

“For himself doth a man work evil in working evils for another.” — Hesiod (c. 700 BC) — Works and Days, Line 265

“All history shows that every man who has authority is led to abuse it; he does not stop until he comes up against limitations…Things must be so arranged that one authority checks another.” — Montesquieu

“Authority has always attracted the lowest elements in the human race. All through history, mankind has been bullied by scum. Those who lord it over their fellows and toss commands in every direction and would boss the grass in the meadow about which way to bend in the wind are the most depraved kind of prostitutes. They will submit to any indignity, perform any vile act, do anything to achieve power. The worst off-sloughings of the planet are the ingredients of sovereignty. Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy the whores are us.” — P.J. O’Rourke, _Parliament of Whores_

“Muddy water let stand becomes clear.” — Lao Tzu
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For most of us, this poem needs no introduction…. It also fits in very nicely with today’s apparent theme….

The Hollow Men

Mistah Kurtz-he dead
A penny for the Old Guy

We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom
Remember us-if at all-not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.

Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death’s dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind’s singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.

Let me be no nearer
In death’s dream kingdom
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat’s coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer-

Not that final meeting
In the twilight kingdom

III

This is the dead land
This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man’s hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.

Is it like this
In death’s other kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are
Trembling with tenderness
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone.

The eyes are not here
There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms

In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river

Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose
Of death’s twilight kingdom
The hope only
Of empty men.

Here we go round the prickly pear
Prickly pear prickly pear
Here we go round the prickly pear
At five o’clock in the morning.

Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom

Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow
Life is very long

Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom

For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

~~ T.S. Eliot ~~
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“If you can see a thing whole… it seems that it’s always beautiful. Planets, lives…But close up, a world’s all dirt and rocks. And day to day, life’s a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern. You need distance, interval. The way to see how beautiful the earth is, is to see it as the moon. The way to see how beautiful a life is, is to see it from the vantage point of death.” — Ursula K. Le Guin, Dispossessed

Ursula LeGuin is indubitably one of the world’s greatest living writers, of ANY kind of literature…. That may be my opinion, but, it is shared by many in the Science Fiction genre, and anyone else who has read her work. This is such a beautiful sentiment that I’m not going to degrade it with any of my own thoughts on the same subject…. There is nothing I could possibly write to make this better, or to enhance it in any way…. it stands alone….
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Well, it’s certainly a Pearl, so let’s see if it holds up to initial scrutiny….. Wow…. It’s nothing, if not epic, to be sure…. Hopefully, it isn’t so much it will drive ffolkes away when they see what they’re getting into….. Hope springs eternal, does it not? In any case, it’s done, and it ain’t bad, so, it will now suffer the fate of each of the last 810+ Pearls, and get posted forthwith…. See ya tomorrow….. Well, if I’m still free and able to type, anyway…. Ta then…..

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

Mostly, it’s just safer not to tango….

Posted on June 7, 2013 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
And then, I woke up….. The birds were not chirping, the sun wasn’t awake yet, and I am, thanks to the tender ministrations of that asshole deluxe, Murphy, shall we say, less than the happiest camper in the park….. But, then, what else is new? I can’t complain about the hour I was awakened; at 0538, I can’t call it anything but relatively normal. Nor can I, or will I, complain about the uncomfortable, yet also fairly normal, paroxysms of coughing that greeted me upon awakening; that’s my own damn fault for smoking…..

But, when the process of bullying me into arising for the day includes polka music at top volume, I draw a thick, indelible line, and it’s best not to cross it….. Who in the world listens to loud polkas before 6 AM? I mean, it’s effective, for sure; I’m as awake as I’ve ever been. But, the price for that isn’t acceptable to me, and that is for certain…. I don’t care who it is, next time I hear that before daylight, I’m buying a gun, a big one….. Of course, it COULD have been a hallucination, but, I have to ask myself, would my own mind do that to me?…. Polkas?…. I don’t think so….

Due to the mere fact that you are not in the room with me, none of y’all were able to observe the past 35 minutes of my morning, which did NOT include any writing, once the forgoing was on screen… It did, however, include much thinking about what to write, at least during those moments when I wasn’t being seduced into reading more pages of “Gaudy Night”, the Dorothy L. Sayers novel I’m currently devouring. A bit of Dorothy’s most excellent English prose, an extended period of successful worship at the throne, and the day takes on a whole new aspect, one with much more positive features than the one that first greeted me…. Best thing? The polka music went away…. either the radio’s owner got a clue, or my medication kicked in, whichever…. it’s all good, now…

Good enough that I can consider just getting on with the day’s portion of insanity, which, I’ve always said, is better out than in…. Keeping stuff like this inside my head leads to what we call “bad stuff” happening, and, my lawyers tell me I can’t afford for any more “bad stuff” to happen, at least until I’m off probation for the last time…. You do know that’s a joke, right?….

I’m not a known name and face to the local constabulary, (that I know of….), nor am I of particular interest to anyone outside the NSA, who are currently busy watching ALL OF US, at the behest of the government, under the authority of Article 215 of the Patriot Act, signed first by Bush in 2001, and re-signed, twice, by President Obama (didn’t know that, did ya?….)…. Yep, the White House, and all the paranoids in the clandestine (sub)intelligence agencies, are accessing your email, right off your internet mail server; your phone records, direct from the phone company; plus, they’re mining and harvesting just about any other data you leave out there for consumption, and they’re not even trying to hide it…. They don’t have to, it’s legal, we let them do it…..

Okay, I know, this is the intro section, and it’s too early to rant, so I’ll let all that go (although there isn’t a single untrue word in any of the previous paragraph… every word is corroborated by other evidence, available to anyone….)…. for the moment. I’m starting to get a bit pissed off about it, but, right now, I’m still engaged in my own battles with my HMO, which seems to have a problem with communication… and which, I found out, is also accessing my emails….. Yep, the “secure” email system they have, I discovered, isn’t secure at all, as almost anyone can look at the emails in the inbox they provide for me, on their site, as long as they’re part of the HMO…. Needless to say, I’m just a little angry about that, and intend to deal with it later today, when the rest of the world arises….

With that in mind, I suppose I’d best quit blathering, and get on with today’s effort…. If I don’t get to it soon, I’m going to end up hitting the archives again…. which, all things considered, isn’t a bad thing… It just doesn’t get all that much out of my head, unless I get lucky, and find an old rant that makes it all worthwhile…. For now, we’ll see what Smart Bee has to say this morning, and go from there….

Shall we Pearl?…..
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The intro section went so long on me, I am going old-school, right out of the gate, to give a little balance to this…. The pearls all picked themselves, so I have no clue as to what they mean, taken together…. But, upon looking them over, I can see that, once again, Smart Bee’s sense of whimsy, and irony, are both in full play….. Enjoy!…..

Pressed for rules and verities,
All I recollect are these:
Feed a cold and starve a fever.
Argue with no true believer.
Think too-long is never-act.
Scratch a myth and find a fact.

— Phyllis McGinley

“On an occasion of this kind it becomes more than a moral duty to speak one’s mind. It becomes a pleasure.” — Oscar Wilde (1856-1900), from The Importance of Being Earnest

“Throw strikes. Home plate don’t move.” — Satchel Paige

“All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.” — Leonardo da Vinci

“Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. . . . the human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who do survive.” — Frank Herbert, Dune

“A man who can fool chiefs, and even gods, must still face the monsters he himself created.” — Old Maori saying

For a true master,
Sitting on a throne
Is no different than
Sitting on dirt.

— Deng Ming-Dao

There you go…. and, I’m sorry, but, if you can’t bring meaning out of THIS group of pearls, there is little hope of it ever happening, not without some serious practice, and learning to use one’s mind for something other than figuring out how to open potato chip packages…. 🙂
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Some poetry can stand alone, sans embellishment by comment, and should be left to do so…..

The Bait

Come live with me, and be my love,
And we will some new pleasures prove
Of golden sands, and crystal brooks,
With silken lines, and silver hooks.

There will the river whispering run
Warm’d by thy eyes, more than the sun;
And there the ‘enamour’d fish will stay,
Begging themselves they may betray.

When thou wilt swim in that live bath,
Each fish, which every channel hath,
Will amorously to thee swim,
Gladder to catch thee, than thou him.

If thou, to be so seen, be’st loth,
By sun or moon, thou dark’nest both,
And if myself have leave to see,
I need not their light having thee.

Let others freeze with angling reeds,
And cut their legs with shells and weeds,
Or treacherously poor fish beset,
With strangling snare, or windowy net.

Let coarse bold hands from slimy nest
The bedded fish in banks out-wrest;
Or curious traitors, sleeve-silk flies,
Bewitch poor fishes’ wand’ring eyes.

For thee, thou need’st no such deceit,
For thou thyself art thine own bait:
That fish, that is not catch’d thereby,
Alas, is wiser far than I.

~~ John Donne ~~

__________________________________

“All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.” — Leonardo da Vinci

I knew when I included this above that I would be using it another time in the future. It is such a succinct observation, and one that parallels my own thoughts about what happens in our minds, and in truth, about what our minds are…. “What is the mind?” Where is the proof, the hard evidence that our minds, our conscious self-awareness, actually exist in a real sense? We know, because we are inside it, that it exists; but is that existence really a part of the real world? If so, how do we know it, if not only by our own perception? I’m not entirely sure, myself, that this can be answered in any way other than by acknowledging those perceptions as having validity because we perceive them, which is, seemingly, a tautological impossibility….

Of course, we can use the definition of Reality as proposed by Philip K. Dick, which says that reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away. This accounts for the inconsistency, but does so by transferring the validity from the perception, to the absence of the perception. I know, that’s a bit of a tenuous connection, but, it points out the difficulty of trying to validate reality with perception; first one must validate the perceptions, and to do that, we must assume the mind to be part of reality, and consciousness to be the connecting tissue.

“A reverence for life does not require one to respect nature’s obvious mistakes.” — Robert A. Heinlein

I realize this subject is not one common to most folks, especially early in the morning. I also will admit to knowing that much of what I’m saying is not particularly of interest to many people, but, I don’t write for many people. I write for me, to get out of my head all the stuff that otherwise would sit in there and cause havoc to my own equilibrium… It’s sort of an aftereffect of the course of my earlier life, admittedly a bit cumbersome, but, with the help of my trusty laptop, and a willingness to use time, given by my situation, to keep from building up so much angst and/or mental frustration that it starts to affect me adversely…. which is a polite, discrete way to say, it keeps me sane….

I think about stuff like this because, to me, it is important to know our own place in the scheme of things, and we can’t do that without a clear understanding of both ourselves, and the way we perceive, and react to, the universe at large; in other words, our response to our perceptions, and, ultimately, our response to Life. We determine our own happiness according to what we do with what we perceive, and I believe it is critical to stay aware of that process, and how we are utilizing what we perceive. It’s good to take out our attitudes now and again, to examine them for necessary updating, dusting off any acquired prejudices, and giving them a good shake to let them fall into the proper shape to pick up the clearest perceptions, in order to use them efficiently, and compassionately…..

“‘T is strange, but true; for truth is always strange,– Stranger than fiction.” — Lord Byron (1788-1824) — Don Juan, Canto xiv, Stanza 101

And so am I, for I live for the truth. I accept that as the proper price for the understanding I have of reality, and for my own always increasing ability to deal with it on my own terms. It does make me a bit conspicuous at times; probably why I don’t go out in public all that often. It gets chancy sometimes, trying to maintain a cloak of normalcy when I’m out in the Big Blue Room, so I tend to avoid most public venues, just to avoid controversy…. I’m social, but not sociable, if you catch my drift…..

Well, I see I’ve blathered on about this until it petered out…. Not much left to say, really, about Reality, and our perceptions, that I haven’t said before…. In life, “true power is control of the routes of perception.” — gigoid This is a universal truth, my own deduction, based on observation and historical fact. The BRC and the churches know this, and do everything they can to control what people perceive, and what they are allowed to believe. I have no illusions about the degree of their control over society… This knowledge gives me a certain degree of defense against such control, as knowing it is there is the first step to resisting its influence, or to making it appear as if I am allowing it to control me, while maintaining my own reality….

And THAT is quite enough of that…. I don’t wish to pull ALL my covers, not at once anyway, and it makes little sense to give away my best defense… I don’t think I’ve gone too far today; after all, it’s just a little bit of truth…. What harm can that cause?….

“I don’t think they could put him in a mental hospital. On the other hand, if he were already in, I don’t think they’d let him out.” — Smart Bee
__________________________________

The last line above might just be the most coherent of the lot….. Let’s see if the rest of it lives up to the advance reviews…. Well, it isn’t the worst to ever come down the pike… whatever that’s supposed to mean. It will do. Rather than saddling y’all with more of my lack of wit, I’ll call it a day, and hope for the best….. 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

Will cut hair for food…..

Posted on April 27, 2013 by gigoid

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

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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
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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

From chaos, order grows….

Posted on December 7, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Sometimes, we are compelled to celebrate days that pass that have some kind of significance, even if we have no real reason for celebrating…. Take today, for example. Seventy-one years ago on this date, this country was attacked at Pearl Harbor, and our involvement in WWII began. Also of note today, if I pull it together enough to get this done, I will post my 550th Pearl of Virtual Wisdom here on WordPress…. Two events on opposite ends of the scale of importance to the world, yet both of equal weight in my mind, due to their relationship to me, i.e., they’re in MY head today…. Self-interest is powerful, neh? It gives a small clue as to how that little quirk of humanity’s can cause so much trouble in the world…..

Don’t worry, I’m not going to start ranting so soon…. This isn’t a lead-in to a rant, it’s an intro, and I couldn’t, for the life of me, find anything else in my early morning brain that would suit. This really doesn’t do it, either, but, it is at least flowing out, rather than sitting there like a lump, saying, “Gee, boss, I thought this would work…”

I’m telling you, the crap one has to put up with from one’s own brain can be really frustrating at times…. I mean, here I am, awake, and ready to write, and all it can come up with is Pearl Harbor Day, and 550 posts. Whoopee…. Besides, given the state of things around here just now, I wouldn’t trust myself to rant…. it might turn on me, and I’d start confessing to all sorts of weird stuff….. Such as admitting to preferring the music of Abba to most anything written by Wagner…..

No, I’m not going there…. Abba is scary enough to keep me out of that. I’m hoping that Smart Bee will have a lot of good material for me, which means, given the ubiquitous attentions of Murphy on which we may count, that there won’t be much of anything to use. Bah! Now I’m getting grumpy, flinching from the blows before they’re even thrown…. I haven’t even seen Murphy yet, but my shoulders are already hunched in preparation…. Oh, wait, there he is…. I just discovered that the heating unit in my room has stopped giving out heat, and is cheerfully blowing out cool air for my comfort, even though it’s cold in here…. SIGH…..

Now I have to call the landlord, and allow someone in my room to fix it…. what a pain. I’ll have to make the bed, and cover up all the burn holes in the carpet (just kidding….no holes, just normal bachelor dirt….)…. It is simply more proof that Murphy hates me, for whatever reason he may have decided on years ago, and will continue to make my life miserable as long as he is around. Since he is an immortal, existing merely as a Natural Law, or Principle of Existence, that promises to be a long time…. Ah well, at least he is something to write about that is always present, and always providing me with new examples of his imaginative creativity in causing chaos for people….

Well, this intro has gotten completely out of hand. It started off weakly, got worse, and proceeded to wander all over the landscape. I’d best start today’s dive soon, as this is looking as if it could spend the whole day just spewing out irrelevant nonsense, about nothing much at all. Of course, that phrase might conceivably apply to all that I write, but I won’t tell anybody if you won’t. Six paragraphs, I think, is quite enough torture for one day, so I’ll now attempt to get on with the rest of this post…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.” — Mark Twain

As is his stock in trade, Mr. Twain once again gives humanity a solid poke in the ribs, in a humorous, even comfortable way that makes us want to laugh about our all-too-human foibles, instead of crying, which would really be more appropriate. In his assessment of both the character of most men, and most dogs, he is absolutely correct, and shows in one simple, sardonic phrase, just how ugly people can be. In fact, I can honestly say that, in my life, I have met many more dogs who deserve to go to Heaven, than I have men or women. Of course, I wouldn’t wish that on any dog, but, you know what I mean. Dogs are better ffolkes than most folks, in the world I see around me….

And this leads me into a perfect ranting jump-off point…. “Heaven goes by favor” This is all too accurate; in order to get into the club, one has to meet a certain standard, that of faith. Of course that standard is pretty easy to meet, as all it requires is a verbal commitment ( accompanied, I suppose by a heart-felt commitment….) that one believes in JC, or Mohammed, or Buddha, or whomever, and will try to follow their teachings. No pressure to actually do so, just commit to it, and you’re in. Or, go ahead and live your life walking the path of evil, then convert on the deathbed, and you’re in…. according to their rules…. Or, in other words, it’s all who you know…..

“An ancient buddha said, Mountains are mountains; waters are waters. These words do not mean mountains are mountains; they mean mountains are mountains.” — Dogen

I’ve recently been reading an author whose work I had read in my youth, when I was devouring science fiction on a daily basis. Samuel R. Delany has written some powerful novels, as well as shorter works. The most recent I read, Babel-17, uses the structure and meaning of words in language as the basis for the plot. In the book, he relates how important perception is to meaning, and how the way we use language can actually work to program the brain, just like the organic computer it is. What struck me is how the process he describes, which is what can be observed in people, if you look closely, shows just how powerful a tool language can be, when used in full consciousness of what it means, and what it CAN do…..

People base their entire existence on a few words, and what those words mean to them. If someone else (say, a preacher?) is able to influence the person’s choice of the words that have that power, then that person becomes the willing slave of whomever supplies him with the words. This is a subtle process, that operates below the level of consciousness that most folks are aware of; they don’t realize how they are being manipulated by the very words they use, into thinking along certain lines, and in certain ways, all of which benefit the manipulator in some way, much more than they do the one whose thoughts are being channeled.

“This is Daddy’s bedtime secret for today: Man is born broken. He lives by mending. The grace of God is glue.” — Eugene O’Neill

Mr. O’Neill was a decent playwright, but as a philosopher, he sucked, plain and simple. This is merely the parroting of basic Christian dogma, and as such stands as a perfect example of how religious institutions tend to lie to their constituents….. I can say this because I have my own secret for today: Man is NOT born broken; he is born as a blank slate, and what is written upon it is only what they are taught to write. Since the first premise is false, the rest of the train of thought becomes irrelevant, and you can easily see where it is just an attempt to get people to accept the untruths, and keep their patterns of thought within the boundaries drawn by dogma….

Sorry if such an idea is offensive, but, I don’t need to be “born again”, I did just fine the first time. I’m not broken. I’m not guilty of original sin, any more than is anyone else. That single concept, original sin, has been the most destructive idea that Man has come up with in all of our long history, and is responsible for much of the torture, warfare, and egregiously evil events of the last 3000 years. I kid you not…. That simple lie, that we are all somehow born inherently sinful, and guilty of something, is pure hogwash; it is the most blatant falsehood to have been thought up, and perpetrated upon the rest of mankind, EVER!

What a ridiculous idea! To think that a newborn, of any species, should bear the guilt for an action performed before their birth, is just plain stupid, and self-serving. Not to mention that the act we are supposedly guilty of is the acquisition of knowledge, which is, to me, NOT something for which we should be punished, but rather deserve to be rewarded. Of course, knowledge is its own reward, so that really doesn’t matter, or shouldn’t.

But, in order to gain control over others, preachers have, since the beginning of history, tried to convince the rest of us that they are the only ones who have the right answer, all based on a bald-faced lie, and a false assumption….. And, since a large percentage of mankind is too lazy to think for themselves, or to risk thinking independently of others, THEY FALL FOR IT! It almost makes me ashamed to be human, to be truthful….

But, we have dogs as our companions, and they love us, so we must not be ALL bad…. right? Right…. so, just follow your dog’s example, and just BE moral, don’t try to follow what others may tell you is moral. You’ll do a lot better, in life, and when it counts, after life…..

“#8 Go back. Everything you need to know is in the first seven axioms.” ~~ Peruaosophy, Axiom #8, by gigoid
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Of late, say, in the last two months, my pain level has gone up near the top of the scale more than once. I try not to complain too much about it, as I’m not the only one in the world who lives with pain, and I know it could be worse than it is (because it often is worse than it is…. Also, I see others with worse conditions to deal with, and it brings mine into perspective….).

Earlier, I was perusing the book of poems I took from the library with Emily D’s collected works, and found one of hers that I have loved for a long time, since way before I really understood pain. She certainly had some deep insight into its nature, which leads me to surmise she had some experience with it in some way…. Hard to achieve this kind of insight without some direct exposure. Whether that is true or not, this poem is a very accurate take on pain, and tends to soothe my soul, whenever I come across it again…..

Pain has an element of blank;
It cannot recollect
When it began, or if there were
A day when it was not.

It has no future but itself,
Its infinite realms contain
Its past, enlightened to perceive
New periods of pain

One of the reasons I love Emily’s work is its breadth of expression, of all the human emotions on which it touches. After seeing the above poem, on the very next page I found the following, and knew again the sheer genius of her spirit…..

I had no time to hate, because
The grave would hinder me,
And life was not so ample I
Could finish enmity.

Nor had I time to love; but since
Some industry must be,
The little toil of love, I thought
Was large enough for me.

~~ Emily Dickinson
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It is now two plus hours since starting this morning’s effort, and I’m beat. I’m afraid I’ll have to go to my default position when feeling thus; old school pearls are that default. Here are a series of pearls, pointing in an obvious direction today. It’s all about how to live life in such a way that you can get up in the morning, and be able to look yourself in the eye in the mirror…..

“What is left when honour is lost?” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 265

“Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in their readiness to doubt.” — H. L. Mencken

“Avoid fried foods which angry up the blood.” — Satchel Paige

“If you have a particular faith or religion, that is good. But you can survive without it if you have love, compassion, and tolerance. The clear truth of a person’s love of God is if that person genuinely shows love to fellow human beings.” — Dalai Lama

“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” — Albert Einstein

“When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.” — Old Indian saying

“Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving in words evidence of the fact.” — George Eliot (1819-1880) — Impressions on Theophrastus Such (1879)

On that note, I’m outta here…. to refrain from giving any further evidence….
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SIGH…. One of these days, I’ll find out where the rest of my mind went…. Hope springs eternal, eh what? I’m again uncertain of how to look at today’s effort, but, since that is not anything unusual, we’ll just go with the flow, and let it fly. I’ve seen, and done, worse…… Pontius rhea, as they say in Piraeus, meaning, “it all flows”, sort of….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Mired in the prime of strife…..

Posted on October 20, 2012 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Ah yes, the delights of awakening to the tender mercies of emotional distress…. Within 10 minutes of getting up today (Thursday, the 19th), at the reasonable hour of 0755, I received a call from Social Security, to ask me, in essence, whether I would like to extend the time it takes to secure my disability benefits, another six months, by adding on a visit to a psychiatrist to determine the status of my PTSD….. As you might expect, this caused my emotions to boil over instantly, whereupon I treated the case analyst who had called to a graphic example of just what state I’m in, PTSD-wise, blubbering in incoherent anger, bemoaning in no uncertain terms the federal government’s apparent desire to put me in a grave before letting go of my money….. It was NOT the way I would have chosen to start my morning, to say the least….

Now I have no idea how much longer this will take; I’ll need to talk with my lawyer now, and that can be stressful as well, so I may as well prepare myself for a period of insensibility, as my mind tends to want to shut down when stuff like this threatens my equilibrium. But, sadly, it looks as if I may as well resign myself to another long period of waiting in the dark, and can pretty much kiss the idea of Christmas goodbye for another year….. Too bad, really…. I had hoped to be able to actually go to a store and buy something for my kids for the occasion, but, I guess I’ll once again be trying to ignore the whole scene, and making do with giving them one of my own pieces of family history as a gift, or perhaps writing a poem for them…. not exactly the most thrilling of gifts, but, it’s the thought that counts, right?

Yesterday, the 18th, I didn’t post again, for the second time since starting this blog. It felt weird to not post, just like it did last month when it happened for the first time. As the poor federal case worker found out this morning, there is a lot of pressurized material stuffed into my head, and it needs to come out on a regular basis…. I did complete a Pearl yesterday, but couldn’t get to the library in time to post it, due to waiting for other folks to get stuff done…. SIGH….. Add a few more hit points to that stress level, ffolkes, and start counting!…..

Being a day behind, even though ahead, this will get posted on the 20th of October, 2012…. which, had he lived, would be my father’s 100th birthday…. and is now my youngest brother’s 57th, 58th, or 59th, I can never keep him and my younger sister’s ages straight…. Any who, happy happy to Kevin, and to my Dad’s memory….

As a result of this morning’s folderol, I am retreating, and will start looking for pearls as a substitute for going out to look for a victim; I always find beating up on somebody to be liberating, but inconvenient, what with all the criminal charges and all…. Instead, I’ll just pour all that angst into a rant, or a poem, or something…. maybe even a piece on Zippy, or Pooh, to bring out a few smiles. They (smiles) are buried pretty deep right now, but, a bit of Zippy can do wonders…. Let’s get to it….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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Raquel Welch: 36-24-36
Bo Derek: 35-24-36
Ann-Margaret: 37-25-36
Bette Middler: 37-25-36
Marilyn Monroe: 37-24-37
Jane Russell: 39-27-38
Jayne Mansfield: 40-23-37
Sophia Loren: 37-25-36

— Smart Bee (?)

So, sue me. It isn’t what you think, unless you are thinking what I’m thinking. I’m not going to say that isn’t possible, or even unlikely…. unless you are thinking it is about some sexist premise that identifies women as objects. Being male, I’m not an expert on spotting or exposing that, but I’ve been around a long time, and have never held with most of what society holds as true about women, unless spoken by a woman who hasn’t proved to be one of the brainwashed….

No, this list is only here to note that what society seems to project, in magazines and advertising, through fashions and trends sponsored by those who determine such matters (i.e., the moneymen…) as the image of beauty, is not the same as what public opinion obviously feels about what makes a woman beautiful, in terms of weight and shape. All of the women in the above list were, and/or are, considered to be the visual pinnacle of what the public believes is beautiful, as evidenced by the popularity of their work, in film or on stage…. but none of them are at all similar to what the manipulators of fashion would have us believe is the ideal shape…. Whereas models can only be described as slender or willowy, all these women are what we might call zaftig, or rubenesque, in their visual proportions….. Personally, I agree with the public…. I find Ann Margaret to be much more pleasant to look at than any model in a magazine that I have EVER seen….. And, the fact that I feel entitled to make a judgment makes me as guilty of objectifying women as a man who utilizes brothels for sex…

Thus, if we grant the truth of that revelation, the mere existence of the list becomes the most objectionable piece of it….. It illustrates that the process of objectification is subtle; just applying such standards to women at all tends to cause people to think of them as objects, rather than as people. Society has been male-oriented for a very long time, a state of affairs justified as “might makes right.” Sadly; a lot of what is wrong in the world can be traced to that unfortunate fact. Men have, out of their own insecurities and fears, set things up so that women have very little say about what happens to them in life; those decisions are made for them by fathers, brothers, or husbands in most of the world. In order to do this, and not suffer pangs of guilt at every turn, men, and women, are taught that it is okay to objectify women, and to treat them as if they are property…. and property needs to be labeled, hence lists such as the one above….

Yesterday, rmott62 posted a blog, (http://rmott62.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/your-lies-are-part-of-our-genocide/), which I re-blogged on my site, speaking about this very subject, to wit: how the language we choose can objectify those of whom it speaks. You can probably get a better idea of how insidiously the issue of victimizing women permeates society by visiting her blog; she speaks powerfully, with no punches pulled, from experience, and with great insight, much more forcefully than I ever can, so I recommend to you very strongly that you go to her site, and read what she has to say…. It will change the way you look at much of what passes in our society for normal, and make you ashamed for not noticing…. if not, it should, for we are all guilty of perpetrating the evil, if only by not acting or speaking up, for as long as the victimization of women, and the entire prostitution industry, continues to objectify, demean, and drag women of all ages into perpetual slavery…..

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I keep hoping, but the poem I feel in my head isn’t ready to come out yet, and time is passing (at the leisurely pace so beloved of the federal bureaucracies…..)….. so, if I want to get this Pearl posted today, I’d best be coming up with another poem for this space. I’ve become somewhat addicted to this morning dose of verse; it seems to make the prose taste better somehow….. Whatever the reason, I like it…. Here, then, is another fine piece from the annals of history, with some whimsy applied as the primary search criterion…. hell, whimsy could easily be construed as an algorithm, almost, in this sense…. Besides, the poem I’ve found is the perfect choice to follow the first pearl’s message. Any who, sensible nonsense aside, enjoy!…..

Men

When I was young, I used to
Watch behind the curtains
As men walked up and down the street. Wino men, old men.
Young men sharp as mustard.
See them. Men are always
Going somewhere.
They knew I was there. Fifteen
Years old and starving for them.
Under my window, they would pauses,
Their shoulders high like the
Breasts of a young girl,
Jacket tails slapping over
Those behinds,
Men.

One day they hold you in the
Palms of their hands, gentle, as if you
Were the last raw egg in the world. Then
They tighten up. Just a little. The
First squeeze is nice. A quick hug.
Soft into your defenselessness. A little
More. The hurt begins. Wrench out a
Smile that slides around the fear. When the
Air disappears,
Your mind pops, exploding fiercely, briefly,
Like the head of a kitchen match. Shattered.
It is your juice
That runs down their legs. Staining their shoes.
When the earth rights itself again,
And taste tries to return to the tongue,
Your body has slammed shut. Forever.
No keys exist.

Then the window draws full upon
Your mind. There, just beyond
The sway of curtains, men walk.
Knowing something.
Going someplace.
But this time, I will simply
Stand and watch.

Maybe.

Maya Angelou

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As always, when lacking the wherewithal to rant, or to discourse intelligently (if that can be said to ever happen….) I retreat into the wisdom of the ages, developing an idea with pearls that says, well, whatever it says…. I do try to make it enlightening in some fashion, even if only by providing some comic relief to the sober nature of much of the other material here. Here, then, are some pearls that spoke to me about enlightenment, each in its own little whisper….

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” — Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), “Lady Windermere’s Fan”, 1892

With virtue you cannot be entirely poor… Without it you cannot be really rich. — Chinese Proverb

A master programmer passed a novice programmer one day. The master noted the novice’s preoccupation with a hand-held computer game. “Excuse me”, he said, “may I examine it?” The novice bolted to attention and handed the device to the master. “I see that the device claims to have three levels of play: Easy, Medium, and Hard”, said the master. “Yet every such device has another level of play, where the device seeks not to conquer the human, nor to be conquered by the human.” “Pray, great master,” implored the novice, “how does one find this mysterious setting?” The master dropped the device to the ground and crushed it under foot. And suddenly the novice was enlightened. — Geoffrey James, “The Tao of Programming”

“God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent- it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks, please. Cash, and in small bills.” — Lazarus Long

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” — Alvin Toffler

“Avoid fried foods which angry up the blood.” — Satchel Paige, early to mid-20th century sage

“The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the top of a mountain or in the petals of a flower. To think otherwise is to demean the Buddha — which is to demean oneself.” — Robert Pirsig, “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”

“Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst.” — Thomas Paine

The Journey is the Reward, Not the Destination. — Zen Koan

A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: “Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time.” When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, “The one I feed the most.” — George Bernard Shaw

Well, there you go…. If you’re not enlightened by now, well, you’re on your own, because that’s the best I’ve got in stock. Hmm…. gee, you don’t get the impression this is a metaphoric manipulation, do you? ……. Nah! Trust me! No hidden agendas here, or metaphoric stimuli intended to create moments of zazen illumination….It’s all the real deal, and used properly, has been known to produce wonderful results…. and, well, the price is right, yes? Free advice is always worth what you pay for it….. Ta for now, luvs…..
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Well, the gods of literature can relax now…. I didn’t need to resort to either Zippy, or Pooh to get the Pearl done. I even managed to avoid using Will Shakespeare again…. though I do have a LOT of material of his that is appropriate for target shooting, it wasn’t needed today. Some might be thankful for that, but, they’re just jealous, for not thinking of it first….. Today we are back in waiting mode, with the added hope that the federal game of slow-them-down-as-much-as-possible won’t be able to find the dice, and won’t hold things up any more than they already have been….. Fat chance, I know, but, hey, gotta have our groundless hope, eh?….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

Merciless penguins patrol the perimeter…

Posted on November 26, 2011 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Reluctantly, I am awake. That may be the extent of my involvement with the day….only time will tell…..

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

Get it? Got it? Good….one learns to pay attention when some people speak. Satchel Paige pitched in the major leagues well into what was believed to be his fifties, and was still getting folks out more often than not. I say what was believed to be his fifties because nobody, including Satchel, had any real idea of when he was born. But his hair was grey and sparse, so it was estimated then to give a ballpark figure (sorry, couldn’t resist). I say anybody who can still be active and competent at that age has stuff worth paying attention to, and this one certainly fits that description….
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“A mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone.” — William Wordsworth

That’s me, to a T. Ever wandering, without a map, or even a nap, but never lost. Searching for lights in the darkness, content to be alone, but never lonely. Feeding the elephant’s child an all-you-can-eat buffet, and loving every minute. Of course, those minutes alternate with my bouts of severe depression, but hey, who wants to be a bummer on such a nice morning? Not me….
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“I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it.” — Garrison Keillor

So THAT’S what happened! Mr. Keillor’s popularity has apparently put us all in very delicate position. I had not realized that what was wrong in the world could be so simply explained, but this is the only one I’ve come across that makes any sense. This attitude of denial has become entrenched in every level of human interaction in this country, and the world, for that matter, and the effects are obvious. Economy out of control; overpopulation, war on two or more fronts; societal breakdown, global warming, rampant greed, all are present and accounted for in today’s culture, and are rapidly growing to a size that will push us the rest of the way to extinction. Which, given our stupidity, arrogance, and undeserved sense of entitlement, is right where we belong. It’s getting pretty scary out there in the Big Blue Room, ffolkes……
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“The truth is what is; what should be is a dirty lie.” — Lenny Bruce

Trust Lenny to give the straight line; he suffered no fools, gladly or otherwise. His clarity of vision and deeply sardonic wit were, naturally, somewhat unpopular with the straight and narrow among us, and to the beloved ruling class, he was anathema. But the truth will out in the end, and we were lucky enough to have him around as one of society’s most vocal critics for quite some time (though, like all the best, he died young…). This could be described as a paraphrase of a notion like overpopulation, which happened yesterday, though everyone thinks it won’t happen until tomorrow. That notion can be most simply stated as, “the American Dream has officially become a nightmare”.

It isn’t possible anymore for just anyone to become President; you have to start with access to well over a million dollars, or you won’t even be considered. Consider my position as an example; all my life I’ve worked hard to get ahead, so I could enjoy my declining years without stress, something with which I am far too familiar. I’m intelligent, work hard, and keep my nose clean for the most part. And I’m struggling, just like probably more than half of this country, just to get by; forget travel, or hobbies, or even just eating out, because they’re not in the budget. Ah, shit! I’m getting more worked up the more I think about this subject, so I’m going to make one more statement, then move on. The American Dream is a lie, perpetrated by the 1% upon the rest of us to distract us and keep us busy trying to emulate their success, never realizing that it just ain’t gonna happen……there’s no profit in it…..

“If voting could change the system it would be illegal. If not voting could change the system it would be illegal.” — Schroedinger’s Cat
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Stars shining bright above you
Night breezes seem to whisper, I love you
Birds singing in the sycamore tree
Dream a little dream of me
— Gus Kahn, Dream A Little Dream of Me

Poetry and music are to life as is chocolate to peanut butter, and the world would be a sadder place than it is if we didn’t have it. But, we do, so all will be well. No profound thoughts or meaningful truism’s here, just wanted to include something a bit on the lighter side. It tends to wear on the soul trying to make sense out of all the nonsense we experience, and I just needed a bit of fresh air, so to speak…..
______________________________________

Well, the weather outside looks fine; we’ll see if that is so after putting away my rose-colored glasses….y’all take care out there….

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

Truffles bordered in mink….

Posted on September 1, 2011 by gigoid

Ffolkes,
Racing through the forest in the pelting rain, he paused a moment to try to catch up to the frantic pounding of his heart. His breath heaved, in and out, in and out, in a staccato rhythm that only served to increase his terror. Behind him, on the path he had forged through the undergrowth, he could hear savage growls and crashing trees as the creature which followed him barreled forward. It sounded as if he had gained a small distance, so he put aside his fear long enough to gaze around him, seeking a more passable route. Off to the north he saw through the trees a faint regularity, possible sign of a trail. He began to run toward it, hoping the relative ease of the path would allow him to completely outdistance the horror that followed. It was a path! He redoubled his efforts, pounding full speed on the packed earth, heading east, toward the river he knew was there. The river marked the edge of the forest, and effectively kept the wild creatures in the forest from exploring its far side, for there was no place to ford, and no bridges conveniently placed. The river also held his canoe, and he knew if he could reach it in time, he had a good chance of surviving. Spurred on now by hope, he fought to push his aching legs to further speed.
That’s far enough today; we will leave our hero just there, nearly out of the fire, and carry on into the new day. Another fine group this morning, with one of my all-time favorites by Mark Twain, and a very strong supporting cast. Today, being the first day of the new month, promises to be pretty busy, so I will leave you now to enjoy these delectable bites of truth, and virtual wisdom….

“A man who carries a cat by the tail is getting experience that will always be helpful. He isn’t likely to grow dim or doubtful. Chances are, he isn’t likely to carry the cat that way again, either. But if he wants to, I say let him!” — Mark Twain

“Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio…. Subsistence only increases in an arithmetical ratio.” — Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834)
(In case you didn’t recognize it, this little phrase, backed up as it is by pure, unassailable mathematics, was the first warning received by Mankind in respect to overpopulation. It was published in the 1850’s, so it’s not like we haven’t had the time to absorb it; nonetheless, most folks not only never heard this statement, but still have no idea that much of the trouble in today’s world is due to the effects of having simply too many folks on the planet….)

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

1. Avoid fried foods, which angry up the blood.
2. If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts.
3. Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move.
4. Go very light on the vices, such as carrying on in society. The social ramble ain’t restful.
5. Avoid running at all times.
6. Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.
— Satchel Paige

I give thee all,–I can no more,
Though poor the off’ring be;
My heart and lute are all the store
That I can bring to thee.
— Thomas Moore (1779-1852)
— My Heart and Lute

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

And on that note, I will bid thee adieu, and fare thee well…. y’all take care out there…..

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

gigoid

Kowabunga!

gigoid

Ned Moore, aka gigoid, is a 70 year-old, (!!!… When did that happen?….), retired dilettante, who would rather read than eat, most days. His first blog, "gigoid’s folly", has been emailed out to folks he knows for about 18 years now. He still considers it his best defense against angst, and the ever-present specter of sheer insanity..... Due to rigorous curmudgeon training requirements, he has discontinued his Facebook presence, but still indulges in the occasional Twitter session... In essence, he's socialized, but, not overly sociable; all labels and stereotypes are forbidden in his presence... and he doesn't care what anyone thinks about that..... In fact, he doesn't want to talk anymore.... If you feel you MUST contact gigoid, his email address is: alphagigoid@gmail.com You can go read now.... Go on, beat it.... gigoid, the dubious

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gigoid

Exploring Consensual Reality

Tag Archives: Satchel Paige

As dragons go, Smaug is a wuss…

Salvation lay in perfecting a peony in fuchsia….

Don’t fret, it’s only a faux-artichoke impression…..

Mostly, it’s just safer not to tango….

Will cut hair for food…..

From chaos, order grows….

Merciless penguins patrol the perimeter…

Truffles bordered in mink….

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