Jealous of what, I don’t know, but, that’s the way it seems….. Maybe it’s because, in spite of how it may seem, I’m always doing exactly what I want to do…. That’s something not everyone can say, isn’t it, now? I mean, most people wander through life, going to work, living their lives, but on somebody else’s schedule, not one they would choose for themselves, if they knew they could. This makes them feel a general sense of dissatisfaction with their lives, without knowing exactly why…. and they notice that I do not ever suffer that particular form of angst. It happens subconsciously, I think, kind of like how dogs know if you’re afraid…. these folks know when someone is free of influence…. We probably send out some sort of pheromone or something, that alerts them they are in the presence of someone who is different somehow…..

I’ve always been sort of a pink monkey in a room full of brown apes; it’s hard not to stand out in a crowd, when almost everything you say, or do, is markedly different than what everyone else is saying and doing…. Often, it’s an uncomfortable feeling, as the brown apes can get excitable when confronted with anomalous events, with a tendency to strike out at what, or who, they do not understand. Fortunately, they are also often rather stupid, and easily distracted from their anger by humor, or by superior reasoning, which is generally invisible to them…. It’s too bad there are so damn many of them, as they tend to clutter up the landscape, and get into everything, usually to ill effect……

Ah well, I can’t complain too much, I suppose…. Somebody has to be around to run the fast food joints, and I certainly don’t want to do it, so, I try to stay aware of the old saw that all creatures have their purpose, even if that purpose isn’t always clear to me….. Hell, as long as they don’t get any of their slime on me, I’m okay with them…. Just don’t ask me to hold a conversation with one of them; it’s too much work…..

There, I’ve been snide, and pissy, and prejudiced enough for three people, all in one intro section, such as it is…. I’d apologize in advance, but, it’s too late for that, so, I’ll just say, sorry ’bout that, and get on with the day….. I currently haven’t a clue as to what I’m going to write about, so it could prove to be a somewhat odd post, even for me…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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I’ve been ranting in the first section a lot, of late, so today we’ll switch things around, and go with an old-school pearl, leaving any potential ranting for later…. I think I’ll make this one a pointed pearl, which is to say, I’ll have one idea in my head when I search the dB for appropriate aphorisms to include…. You get extra points for figuring out the original idea that was used, and double bonus points to keep it to yourself…..

“The lessons of life amount not to wisdom but to scar tissue and callus.” — Wallace Stegner

“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and bend over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you suddenly know everything there is to be known.” — Winnie the Pooh
(Pooh DOES have his good side….. in which he IS an Uncarved Block….)

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.” — Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915)

“What is becoming is honest, and whatever is honest must always be becoming.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.)

“Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.” — Bumper Sticker

“Although a cloth be washed a hundred times, how can it be rendered clean and pure, if it be washed in water which is dirty? — Nagarjuna (c. 100-200 A.D.)

“Hold every moment sacred.” — Thomas Mann
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I have vowed to myself that today will be the end of my almost three year hiatus from being able to print…. That’s how long ago my printer ran out of ink, and I have since been unable to afford to buy any…. I can scan, save, and fax or email documents, but I can’t print anything. Truly a pain…. So, today, I’m going to buy a new printer, as I’m done fussing around with the issue…. This means shortcuts in today’s Pearl, one of which is this poem, which is again drawn from my archives…. Too bad, so sad, I like it anyway…. so there…..   😉   I did write a fresh haiku, so that’s something, isn’t it?  As every day this month, this is for the April National Poetry Writing Month Challenge, with the updates to be found here:  http://www.napowrimo.net/ (I still don’t know if I’m doing this right, but, oh well….) (I gave up on making the logo appear on the web page; it works fine in the email version of the Pearl…. WordPress just won’t let me display it, no matter how I try….) (SIGH…..)

“Belief is not the beginning but the end of all knowledge.” — Goethe

This is something I believe strongly; it’s one part of why my full, correct user name on the Internet, which I chose in 1996, is gigoid, the dubious….. the latter part being my professional title, as it were…. Dubious is what I do, and the reason why I read so much, and find so much of the universe to be so fascinating….. and, at times, so damned frustrating…. Of course, that is when I’ve been running up against other people too much, which tests my resolve to remain sane in the face of so much that isn’t conducive to that state….. Any who, all rationalization aside, I’m stuck…. No rant seems to be in there, and nothing coming up in SB to stimulate enough angst to fire off a few paragraphs…. So, I’ll cheat, again….

Here is a pearl, written on the last day of 2011, about a year and a half ago (almost…. 1.33333333 years, to be exact….), that speaks to the subject I was just discussing (imagine that!…. how convenient!….) Well, ALMOST the same subject…..  Any who, it’s pretty good, given its age and provenance…. Enjoy!…..
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A few random thoughts on the meaning of insanity, and by implication, sanity…….all came from one dive. Pearl after pearl on the same subject kept presenting itself for my perusal, so after a few, I just gave up & collected them. So here they are, all with a bit to say about those among us who perceive reality from a whole different place than you or me…..

“What garlic is to salad, insanity is to art.” — Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907), Reminiscences

If sanity were dollars I’d be bankrupt.” — Smart Bee

“I come from a long line of Southern psychotics and an environment where madness is currency and conversation is blood sport.” — Elizabeth Ashley

According to figures from the Justice Department, the average rapist serves only 5.2 years on jail, and the average murderer serves only 8.6 years. By contrast, the average time served for possession of LSD is 10.1 years, and many Americans are serving mandatory minimum sentences of 20 to 25 years for possession or sale of marijuana. — Smart Bee
(Insanity comes in many guises…… your choice as to which is real, and which is delusion….)

Avoid reality at all costs!

And who (in time) knows whither we may vent
The treasure of our tongue? To what strange shores
This gain of our best glory shall be sent
T’ enrich unknowing nations with our stores?
What worlds in the yet unformed Occident
May come refin’d with th’ accents that are ours?
— Samuel Daniel (1562-1619) — Musophilus, Stanza 163
(Psychosis is rooted in fear, and fear also assumes many masks…..)

I feel like one
Who treads alone
Some banquet-hall deserted,
Whose lights are fled,
Whose garlands dead,
And all but he departed.
— Thomas Moore (1779-1852)
— Oft in the Stilly Night
(An accurate description of the onset of depression…..)

Why ask me? I’m just visiting reality.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled program…..
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OMG, I’m done, and I wasn’t ready to be done…. Oh, well, so be it…. Let’s see how it proofs out….. Once more, I am surprised to find that it worked out just fine…. at least, for my rather loose standards…. Again, I don’t think we need to call the Pulitzer committee, but, it ain’t bad, so I’m going with it, as is…. Just in time, too, to go catch my bus to the printer store…. Yay….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..