Tag Archives: Winnie the Pooh

Afterward, we’ll dance a merry jig….

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Ffolkes,
Once more, I find myself caught between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, in more than a merely metaphorical sense. In this particular case, as it presents itself each morning, the Devil is represented by the blank page staring me in the face, and the Deep Blue Sea is a metaphor for well… something.

I guess the metaphor breaks down there a bit, thanks to the rather pathetic lack of any rational thought going through my head at this hour. I really don’t see how one can be expected to shine so early in the day, but, then, I’m the one who set the original paradigm, of posting a fresh Pearl every day, so I have no one else available to blame….

Naturally, I COULD blame Murphy; he certainly puts in his bid for attention and acknowledgment on a daily basis. I am, however, honest enough, and resigned enough, to realize I’m not his only target, and cannot lay ALL of the fault at his feet, no matter how tempting it may seem. I could blame it on the hour, but, I’ve been getting up this early for years, so I should be accustomed to the process. I might even be able to persuade at least a few of y’all to believe it has to do with how hard it is to stay fresh when posting each day, but, once again, that isn’t something that is unique to me, so it won’t wash either….

No, my claim to a metaphorical dilemma is more, or less, accurate than I’d hoped, or counted on, leaving the blame for this mess squarely planted in my own lap, with the responsibility for cleaning it up attached…. SIGH…. It might be time to reexamine this determination of mine to maintain a daily presence on the ‘net, in light of the increasing time I’m spending in the BBR, and in light of the increased time happily spent with milady Patricia. Though it seems not to keep me from producing this blog each day, I’m not certain at this point just how much continuing to do so may, or may not, be contributing to my overall level of satisfaction….

For almost two full years now, I’ve managed to post virtually every day; in that time, I believe I’ve only missed a total of five or six days, mostly due to travel and/or internet connection issues. This has been done for the simple purpose of saving my sanity, or what there is of it. I’ve never cared how many people read it, or “Like” it, as the whole point of the exercise has been to get out of my head all the stuff that otherwise would sit in there and cause trouble for me. In that respect, it has been entirely successful; I am as sane as I’ve ever been (though that may not be saying much….). Now, however, things have changed, mostly for the better, and the necessity to protect my sanity is not as critical as it has been for a while….. Happy days, eh?….

I suppose it really doesn’t matter at all, to any of y’all, anyway, just why, or even how, I do this every day…. It only matters to me, and only as much as I care to think about it. Mostly, I just tell myself to forget about all that crap, and get on with it, and, since this little meandering blurb has reached the legal limit for an intro, I believe I’ll do just that…. It isn’t often I get such a smooth segue into the next section, so I’m going to take the money and run….. Shall we Pearl?…..

“I can do a score of things that can’t be done.  I can find a thing I cannot see, and see a thing I cannot find.  The first is time, and the second is spots before my eyes.  I can touch a thing I cannot feel, and feel a thing I cannot touch. The first is your heart, and the second is sad and sorry.”” — James Thurber (1894-1961), “The Thirteen Clocks”
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Sometimes, the process of collecting pearls, and grouping them according to concepts, becomes a rather mystical event, or, at worst, metaphysical, as the pearls will almost throw themselves at me, clamoring for inclusion, with no obvious connection to any that have gone before…. Then, when I reach one of the key numbers, such as five, or seven, it all becomes clear why they have been vying for attention, and the reason for the group becomes clear…. Or, more accurately, becomes perceivable, if not exactly clear…. In fact, clarity has little to do with it; if it did, I’d never get a group together. This one, for some strange reason, picked itself out in about five minutes; even more strangely, it works….

“Blot out vain pomp; check impulse; quench appetite; keep reason under its own control.” — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD) — Meditations, ix, 7

“It gets you nowhere if the other person’s tail is only just in sight for the second half of the conversation.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

“A duty dodged is like a debt unpaid; it is only deferred, and we must come back and settle the account at last.” — Joseph F. Newton

“I’m going to happydance among the stars and wear my stripes anyway I want to.” — Stripes the Tiger

“And die with decency.” — Thomas Otway (1651-1685) — Venice Preserved, Act v, Sc. 3

See what I meant? No? Oh….. Hmm. Well, think about it, I guess….. It will come to you…. If not, you can find aspirin in the first-aid kit under your seat….. We’ll go on now….
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Two months ago, almost to the day, I apparently wrote a poem, of sorts, during, and for, the National Poetry Month Writing Challenge. I had forgotten about it, dismissing it, I think, because it doesn’t rhyme throughout most of it…. However, I read it again today, and it isn’t bad, for a free verse attempt…. It is actually quite a good statement of my personal religious evolution, so, in lieu of a religirant today, I humbly, if egotistically, offer this instead….

Early Observations

Until I knew there was more,
I wanted to know God.
They said he was a nice guy,
and would let me live forever.

All I had to do, they said,
was live my life for Him,
always living by scripture
cleaving only to his Way.

But, everyone I saw in church,
acted different at home.
Living wild, cussin’ and fussin’,
nobody lived like they said.

Still, I tried to be like Jesus,
he was sort of cool.
He never hurt nobody
and walked on the right path.

‘Course they killed him for that,
they couldn’t stand his example.
Turned him into a martyr,
 hid his real words among their own.

Then I found the Buddha,
and met Lao Tzu at the gate.
They saw things real different,
showed me how to see straight.

Right thought, and right action
replace blind obedience and faith.
Reality becomes manageable,
fear retreats, the universe expands.

Brother John said it pretty well,
“Imagine there’s no heaven,
it’s easy if you try.”
Sounds like he knew why.

Day to day, life is grand,
we walk in eternal beauty.
Open your eyes and hearts,
find yourself already immortal.

~~ gigoid ~~

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“Discourse on virtue and they pass by in droves. Whistle and dance the shimmy, and you’ve got an audience.” — Diogenes

Once again, as I have found innumerable times in the past, one of the ancient scholars has given voice to an observation about human nature that convinces me that, not only did they know, even more so than we do now, just how humanity is flawed, but were aware, as well, of how people are wired for failure by their own lack of courage, and/or integrity. To make such a statement as this, Diogenes seems to have tapped into the modern human mind, and recognized it, as it sits around, watching the pretty lights on the idiot box, where the news anchors, pundits, and talking heads all whistle and dance the shimmy….

“On Monday mornings I am dedicated to the proposition that all men are created jerks.” — H. Allen Smith, “Let the Crabgrass Grow”

Sadly, I think we can expand this to include the rest of the days of the week, because, as far as I can tell, TV is available 24/7, and, having sampled something from each time period throughout the day and night, at one point or another in my life, I can assure you, the assault on your sensibilities, and the “dumbing down” process that is entailed by watching it, continues through every one of those hours…. Even the shows that are purported to enter the realm of intellectual endeavor are written for people who have a sixth-grade vocabulary, with charts, graphs, and lots of pretty pictures to help in the understanding of simple ideas

There is NO LIMIT to the amount, or the degree, of stupidity that is displayed every minute of every one of those hours….. Hell, one of mankind’s favorite kind of TV shows to watch are “sitcoms”, which, typically, are half-hour plays with plots designed to make fun of the human condition, making it all okay to be stupid, because, hey, that’s what they do on TV, right?…. According to TV, all married women are smarter than their husbands, children are smarter than parents, and government officials all tell the truth…. on alternate leap years…..

The most valued shows are the ones that display the most stupidity; hence the popularity of The Simpsons, Beavis and Butthea, and previously, shows such as All in the Family, Father Knows Best, Happy Days, or Petticoat Junction, for shit’s sake!

Of course, there was also The Munsters, and The Addams Family, too, so there is some balance, but, mostly, American sitcoms show Americans at their worst, and make them ridiculous, not to mention cheap, grasping, greedy, and, often, obese…. all of which, unfortunately, paints an accurate picture of American culture

“I just heard the SEVENTIES were over!!  And I was just getting in touch with my LEISURE SUIT!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

I pat myself on the back often these days, for not having watched any TV at all for over three years now, aside from the random baseball game during the playoff season, and the World Series (some traditions MUST remain, even for us curmudgeons….), so, I’m unaware to any great degree, exactly what current shows are like…. But, from what I read on the ‘net, and what I hear from people, TV hasn’t undergone any philosophical evolution in the meantime, and, in fact, continues to do just about as badly as ever, in terms of living up to its potential as a medium of communication and/or education….

This is a policy, not a mistake, or an evolution, but a deliberate policy, which the BRC (who are the ones who control that particular medium…. who else?…) will continue to employ as long as selfish, unprincipled people own the rights to it, and continue to use it as a means of controlling the information available to the general public, to suit their own ends, just as it has always been utilized…..

I wouldn’t count on TV shows getting any better until it is no longer under ANY sort of regulation; the only regulation really necessary to control TV’s effect on the user is to realize the fact that people always have the ultimate power over a TV set, due to the simple little switch on the side, which turns it on, and off, at the will of that user….. Now all we have to do is teach people to use it to turn it OFF, instead of ON…..

“He who searches for truth must not appease his urge by giving himself up to the narcotic of belief.” — Hans Reichenbach, quoted in _ The Philosophy of Matter in the Atomic Age

TV? TV? Oh, yeah, I remember TV….. This is a phrase I would love to hear more often…..
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“Metaphysics is a dark ocean without shores or lighthouse, strewn with many a philosophic wreck.” — Immanuel Kant

Without even looking, I know that today’s is a special Pearl…. But, I’m going to look, anyway… besides, gotta proof it, y’know?…. Well, it IS special, but, no doubt, this too will pass relatively unnoticed, given the flood of data that streams across the world’s notice every day…. Ah well, at least I know, and that, ultimately, is all that really matters…. We may not be an island in the currents of Time, but we must all face it alone in the final analysis, to sink or swim as our nature dictates…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Parking parallel is de rigeur on Mondays….

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Ffolkes,
Fiddle di dee, fiddle di die, the cow jumped not over, but, onto the moon, bending and breaking it beyond all recognition. The cat wasn’t playing a fiddle, but did have a boom box blasting…. according to the latest reports. Little dogs do more than just laugh at such sport, they usually pee on it. And dishes, well, they’re well known to prefer dark, sharp knives over spoons anyway….

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

Especially when it attacks first thing, before coffee, before reason…. It is smart, therefore, to just go with the flow, and let it out as needed, knowing full well the consequences of such actions. One must, however, consider the overall effect, and keeping it inside can cause much more damage than letting it out. As I am fully aware of all this, when it strikes me, I just let it right out, and use the time I didn’t spend agonizing over it to clean up whatever spillage there might be…. saves me time and energy this way, y’know?….

It also allows me to find a way back to reality from the fringes inhabited by all such nonsense; such foolishness cannot spend too much time close to the normal side of reality, lest it turn mundane, so one must go where it resides in order to pluck it up for use. I find it to be a quite relaxing time, those hours spent in pastimes reminiscent of circuses and carnivals, soaking in the happy laughter of fools, and the merry giggles of the clowns. Even the “nyuck, nyuck, nyuck” sounds coming from the Stooges corner bring no annoyance, as they blend right in with the blaring of the bicycle horns and big, red noses worn by so many in that neighborhood…..

Hmm… looks like I wandered a little further away from the mundane than I had realized; that last paragraph slipped over into nonsense again, instead of heading back toward sober reason. I do enjoy my time there, but, I tend to have trouble letting go of it; for a while upon returning, it is difficult to even consider religion or politics, without applying some Carlinesque twists, to soften its gravity.

Needless to say, it also makes it hard to rant about much of anything else, as everything is viewed through a prism of humor and silliness, and doesn’t appear half as bad as it actually is in real time. All in all, this is probably a good thing, as it keeps reality from hurting too much on a daily basis; it merely makes it hard on the political/religious reformer in me, to NOT be able to rant sufficiently….

I suppose that idea makes y’all burgeon with hope for this Pearl, but, that, too, is a foolish thing to do… As yet, this Pearl has no obvious shape or intent, so it’s next to impossible to say what will happen… The first pearl Smart Bee shows me will often set the tone for the whole day, so we’ll see how that goes… I do know that starting with nonsense always makes me happier… I may be a reformer, and a curmudgeon, but I really do enjoy life more when my bozoid side comes out early in the day…. Who knows? We might even end up with something amusing, or elevating, rather than something depressive and dark…. I suppose, though, we’ll never know if we don’t get on with it, so….. Shall we Pearl?…..

“I only wish I may see your head stroked down with a slipper.” — Terence (185-159 BC) — Act v, Sc. 7, 4, (1028.)

Now, see what you’ve done!…..
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Okay, so I get it now…. The universe sometimes gives us directions we may not clue into fully…. I see, now, why reality chose to push me toward silliness and bozosity today (Bozosity is the state of being a bozo….). What we have, following this introductory blurb, is a group of aphorisms about religion…. I guess it made more sense to put it like this today, than it did to rant about it, as I normally do… Or, maybe reality is tired of my rants… either way, y’all win today, because this is just as pointed, just as accusatory, and, in its own quiet little way, as much of an indictment as are my most telling, and compelling rants on the subject…. Enjoy!  And be careful, the point it makes is quite sharp, and WILL cut you if you are negligent of care…..

Who sees with equal eye, as God of all,
A hero perish or a sparrow fall,
Atoms or systems into ruin hurl’d,
And now a bubble burst, and now a world.

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — Essay on Man, Epistle i, Line 87

“Religion is the opiate of the masses.” — Karl Marx

“You can’t depend on the man who made the mess to clean it up.” — Richard Milhouse Nixon (1952)

SCRIPTURES, n.  The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based. — Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary”

— Bother! said Pooh, after he spoke the Lord’s name backward.

“If God is dead, who will save the Queen?” — Smart Bee

“True myth may serve for thousands of years as an inexhaustible source of intellectual speculation, religious joy, ethical inquiry, and artistic renewal.  The real mystery is not destroyed by reason.  The fake one is.  You look at it and it vanishes.  You look at the Blonde Hero–really look–and he turns into a gerbil.  But you look at Apollo, and he looks back at you.  The poet Rilke looked at a statue of Apollo about fifty years ago, and Apollo spoke to him.  ‘You must change your life,’ he said.  When the true myth rises into consciousness, that is always its message.  You must change your life.” — Ursula K. LeGuin

Whoa! Sorry, that last one slipped in there without telling me… but, it kind of fits, if you look at it with just the right squint to the eye…. I mean, if the first six quotes didn’t give you a clue about how religions are bad for you, the last one drives the point home, with the very last line….. I don’t know about y’all, but I LOVE THIS STUFF….. Oh, and just in case it wasn’t clear already….

“A mind not to be changed by place or time, the mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.” — John Milton
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It’s probably a literary law of some kind, but, when one is given a hint like the one above, one MUST take that hint…. Far be it from me to ignore a slap to the side of the head like this one…. Here, then, is the poem to which Ms. Le Guin refers, above…

Archaic Torso of Apollo

We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,

gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.

Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast’s fur:

would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.

~~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~~

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“I don’t want to panic, but my alphabet soup says, “Forget about me … just try to save yourself.” — Tom Wilson (“Ziggy”)

Now you know just how I feel every morning! This is the real reason I gave up on Alpha-Bits cereal, in spite of what was published, and in spite of whatever you may have heard. I got tired of being warned every morning re: approaching Armageddon, and started eating more oatmeal, just so I didn’t have to face that every day. It’s disheartening to be reminded on a daily basis that your breakfast is significantly smarter than the majority of US citizens, at least when it comes to their government, which is completely controlled by corporate interests, as well as when it comes to society at large, about which one may confidently say the same.

We won’t even bother to mention the religious hierarchies’ connections to temporal authority, or to the shadow masters; we took our shots at them above, and wish to be fair, if not merciful. We’ll just say this on that: if you think the churches and preachers are NOT in the pockets of the corporations, well, I suggest you try to obtain for yourself a new mind, because the one you have isn’t working very well….

I mean, think about it… Who are the favorite members of any congregation, no matter what the denomination (clue: it has to do with the word “denomination”….)? Why, the men, and a few women, who contribute the most to the church roof fund, right? The ones who put the most gelt in the collection plate are the ones the church leaders pander, er, cater to, not the ones who reach out with empty hands….

“If this isn’t war, why is CNN massing on the border?” — Smart Bee

Let us also NOT get into the culpability the media holds for its part in the farce that comprises the play put on the world’s stage by society. We could point out the numerous, obvious perpetrations of cluelessness, or lament the lack of courage in modern journalists, either of which is common in the media.

How else can one explain how sheer lies are repeated endlessly, without challenge? How can one explain why certain questions aren’t asked, or certain articles suppressed, at the request, or the legal insistence of governmental authority? It isn’t explainable, unless one remembers that the media relies on government to supply the reason for its existence, and one is reluctant to bite the hand that feeds, eh what?….. Sycophancy is not limited to dweebs, and/or acolytes…

Instead, let us indict the true culprits for today’s worldly mess…. ourselves.  Pogo, by Walt Kelly, said it long ago…. “We have met the enemy, and he is us…..”  We are responsible for all that is wrong with the world, because we, the great unwashed masses, allow the governments and churches, and their puppet masters, the corporations, to determine how the world will be run…. We accept all their lies, and go on with living our lives as slaves, subject to the whims and twists of fate, because we refuse to take the reins of our own lives into our hands, and assume control….

The shadowy rich assholes who are the real power behind all the governments of the world are not going to stop their self-centered, selfish hoarding of the world’s resources, nor will they ever make a decision based on the welfare of society as a whole. They will always make their decisions in relation to what is most beneficial for themselves, and what will allow them to maintain their stranglehold on the rest of the world….

That is their primary concern, and they have guarded that concern for well over three thousand years, without ever letting the rest of humanity realize to any great degree just how much they control…. No other theory holds any water, nor fits the given facts of history, as well as this, and I regard it as gospel truth…. According to the available evidence, this is not a theory, so much as it is a fait accompli….

“In the game of life you get to choose where you keep your brain – heads you win, tails you lose.” — Smart Bee

I guess I had a rant in there after all…. We are all screwed, ffolkes, just as often and as hard as THEY want; moreover, unless we decide, as a group, to do something about it, it isn’t going to change until we are all dead and gone, leaving this planet, and the universe, to go on without our promise, or our participation…. I hate to be a downer, but, I don’t see how we can fix it, without some serious upheaval, for which I am not particularly hopeful, given the general level of “stupid” in much of humanity…. Oh well, as Epictetus said, “Happiness and freedom depend on the realization of one principle. Some things are within your control. And, some things are not.”  So be it….

“UH-OH!!  I think KEN is OVER-DUE on his R.V. PAYMENTS and HE’S having a NERVOUS BREAKDOWN too!!  Ha ha.” — Zippy the Pinhead
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I am afraid I have to report that most, if not all, of the above was written while in an altered state of consciousness…. which should make for some interesting reading, you betcha…. Let’s just see….. Well, since it would be overly egotistical to call it brilliant, I’ll merely say, well done, and let it go at that…. For a morning so devoid of original direction, it seems to have found its way into the light fairy well, which bodes well for the rest of the day…. That is, if I were the type to be susceptible to precognitive signs….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Priceless moments of shared arrogance…..

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Ffolkes,
That was close…. I almost began today’s missive with a song…. Not just any song, mind you, but a particularly bright, bouncy, tuneful one from a particularly perky musical that shall remain nameless, lest I get sued for intellectual theft, or chastised by my readers for excessive tackiness, either of which is unacceptable to me, especially before I’ve finished my first cuppa….. It also saves you from having to go wash out your ears so early in the day…..

Since my morning routine has returned to some semblance of its former normalcy, or mendacity, depending on your relative point of observation, it seems my initial comments are turning on me as well. Not sure what to think about that, or what I should do, if anything….. It’s not as if what I do here in the intro section is written in stone; in fact, nothing like consistency has ever come into the equation at all. It has been both a stimulant, to be more creative, and a hassle, because I’m not always in a creative frame of mind first thing in the morning. I do prefer to write then, as I seem to have more energy than later in the day, but that preference isn’t based on how creative I can be, just how awake I am, and how long I can sit.

None of this is getting me any closer to an introductory section that will do what I wish it to do, which is pull the reader into what is written, like the siren call of the muses…. Oh, well, it’s probably a good thing I can’t seem to find a template for this; if I did the same thing every day, I’d go stark, raving sane, and lose all my sense of humor, most likely, turning this into merely another mass of poorly written garbage, in spite of how pompous and extensive my vocabulary gets, or how accurate my observations…. A conundrum is what it is, and I don’t like it….

Sadly, or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint, my likes and dislikes have absolutely no effect whatsoever on reality, so I’m going to have to just suck it up, and get on with the business of the day, just as if I knew what I was doing, or where I was going. I suppose that could be seen as another metaphor for life in general, but, I’m not in the mood right now for logical, or practical, metaphors, no matter how close to the truth they may be. I’m currently busy feeling curmudgeonly, grumpy because I can’t have my own way, and things aren’t being amenable to my manipulation today, especially my own attitude…. I can see I need to adjust it, so, pardon me if I spilled any of it on you….

I’m going to bring this section to a rapid close now, before I get into anything that could be construed as illegal, or even immoral, which is more of how I judge things in my life…. Not that I’m such that I could be held up as an example of anything other than how to grow old gracelessly, but, I do try to make my decisions based on morals, and/or ethics, rather than laws…. Always have, always will…. Regardless, I have to go now, or “bad things” could happen….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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Oooh! Did you see that? Oh, no, I guess not, since you’re not here in the room with me…. I just created a new pearl format, completely by accident, courtesy of Smart Bee, and the principle of serendipity….. The following pearl, composed of four parts poetry and three parts prose, is just about as perfect as it can be, in terms of being a clever and useful concept, artfully brought to light by the way the given quotes direct the mind’s eye, to the correct vision implied by the tenor of the presented metaphorical signs…. All a short, confusing way to say, look, look, it’s a plane, it’s a bird, it’s not any of that! It’s virtual wisdom at its best…..

Curse away!
And let me tell thee, Beausant, a wise proverb
The Arabs have,–“Curses are like young chickens,
And still come home to roost.”

— Edward Bulwer Lytton (1805-1873) — The Lady of Lyons, Act v, Sc. 2

“By the streets of “by and by”, one arrives at the house of “never”.” — Cervantes

The charge is prepar’d, the lawyers are met,
The judges all ranged,–a terrible show!

— John Gay (1688-1732) — The Beggar’s Opera, Act iii, Sc. 2

“The most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then stop.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910)

And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray ‘s
In deepest consequence.

— William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Macbeth — Act i, Sc. 3

“Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.” — Bertrand Russell, “An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish”

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so.

— John Donne (1572-1631), “Death, be not proud”

Sniff…. I couldn’t be prouder, and I’d like to thank the Academy, and my director, and my mum and dad, and…..
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I’m in the mood for obscure genius, so…..

Two Lovers And A Beachcomber By The Real Sea

Cold and final, the imagination
Shuts down its fabled summer house;
Blue views are boarded up; our sweet vacation
Dwindles in the hour-glass.

Thoughts that found a maze of mermaid hair
Tangling in the tide’s green fall
Now fold their wings like bats and disappear
Into the attic of the skull.

We are not what we might be; what we are
Outlaws all extrapolation
Beyond the interval of now and here:
White whales are gone with the white ocean.

A lone beachcomber squats among the wrack
Of kaleidoscope shells
Probing fractured Venus with a stick
Under a tent of taunting gulls.

No sea-change decks the sunken shank of bone
That chucks in backtrack of the wave;
Though the mind like an oyster labors on and on,
A grain of sand is all we have.

Water will run by; the actual sun
Will scrupulously rise and set;
No little man lives in the exacting moon
And that is that, is that, is that.

~~ Sylvia Plath ~~

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I am running late, a bit, since I got up at a completely reasonable hour, and have been dawdling over getting this done, letting my mind wake up at its own pace…. and now, I don’t have the time, or the energy, to rant, not effectively…. Once again, though, the archives will come to the rescue…. Here is a politirant I wrote on 7/14/2012, a little less than a year ago, during the run-up to the Presidential election in November of that year….

I remember the piece quite well, and consider it one of my better rants, especially as it continued through two sections, of what, then, were the longer, five section pearls of the old format…. At that length, it’s a bit long, but it’s all quite accurate, and still pretty relevant, given that the political scenery hasn’t altered significantly since it was written… But, then, political scenery never does really change anything but the faces of the people at the top, does it?….. Enjoy, ffolkes, this one is pretty good, and on the mark…. “And that is that, is that, is that.”……
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“Ignore the man behind the screen.” — The All Seeing, All Powerful, Wonderful Wizard of Oz

As the time passes and we draw ever nearer to the election this year, this becomes increasingly relevant. It is important to remember that ALL the political candidates are guilty of using the art of prestidigitation in their communications with the public. Of course, Mitt the Twitt and the GOP are showing particularly egregious new heights to which they are willing to take the art; they have paraded a series of lies before the public that are not even hidden, or palmed like cards; they’re just out there, proven as lies, but ignored. They don’t seem to care; they just deny, ignore, and issue their next false accusation or made up statistics….

‘Shit Happens’ according to… Denialism:      What shit? — Smart Bee

The Democrats aren’t completely free of this syndrome, either; if you believe they are, then you have entered the Twilight Zone, and may have trouble finding your way back to the real world. I admire Obama, much the same way I did Carter; they are both basically decent men trying to do an impossible job, while constantly having to contend with an entire segment of those who are supposed to support him who, instead, are attempting to thwart his every reform, simply for the sake of divisiveness. In their fight to get ANYTHING done, they have had to resort to chicanery of their own. I figure they, at least, feel a bit of guilt about it, whereas I can see no such reaction from Mitt or any of the GOP spokesbozos…. They just deny and ignore any such suggestions of wrong-doing….

Let’s consider Mitt the Twitt for a moment. Here is a man who admits to being rich as Croesus, yet finds it necessary to hide at least half of his real worth, as if it would tarnish his image of someone who can relate to the common man. I think the common man, to Mitt, is someone who only has $50,000 worth of investments, to go along with the house they own, their three cars, and the vacation home in Maine. In contrast to EVERY OTHER candidates policy of publishing their taxes, he continues to refuse to release any returns beyond the last one; there are inconsistencies and red flag items of interest to the public in that one, too, but he refuses to discuss any of it…

This is the same man who tied his dog to a kennel on the roof of a car, and went off on vacation, without ever thinking of how terrified the dog might be, barreling along at 80 mph, with the wind blowing straight through the kennel. He laughs about it, and turns questions about it to other subjects, refusing to even comment on it. This is the same man who, when asked about a serious incident of bullying and gay bashing during his last year in high school, shrugged it off as “youthful pranks and high spirits”…..

This is the same man who…. well, never mind. I could go on most of the day, and not get to all the little incidents from just the last few months that indicate the Twitt’s complete disregard for the majority of Americans, and show clearly how entrenched he is in the 1%, and how committed he is to solidifying the stranglehold that the banks and corporations have on the rest of American society. His total focus is on the agenda of the rich, to the detriment of the poor, and I am totally astounded at just how many IDIOTS are our there in this country supporting him, in the mistaken belief that he gives a shit about them….

No politician is acting in the best interests of the people they govern. None of them. But people continue to act as if they do, and it is driving me crazy! Normal, intelligent people are backing this asshole, thinking that he isn’t going to screw them over. It is incomprehensible to me how people can blind themselves to the obvious so completely that they would fall for this shit….  I will say it one more time, and I hope they can understand it….

And then shall many be offended,… — Matthew 24:10

You are being lied to, by every politician who is currently seeking office, and by every one currently in office. If you don’t see that, if you don’t believe that, then you are deliberately fucking yourself in the place it will most hurt, and apparently, enjoying it…. The man, the party, and 99% of everyone you see on TV is LYING TO YOU!!!!! They are doing so every day, every hour, every minute, and you are accepting it like you are a starving sheep and what they are saying is manna from heaven.

WAKE UP!…..  I’m stopping here, my blood pressure is spiking. That’s how worked up I get when I think of how deliberately stupid people can be…. I don’t so much mind the stupid part, but the fact that they have to CHOOSE to not see what is right in front of their face just sets me off…. and so much indignation, righteous or not, is giving me indigestion….. stay alert, ffolkes, the politicians are coming, and they’re dangerous when unregulated….
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Certain passages in several laws have always defied interpretation, and the most inexplicable must be a matter of opinion. A judge of the Court of Session of Scotland has sent the editors of this book his candidate which reads, “In the Nuts (unground), (other than ground nuts) Order, the expression nuts shall have reference to such nuts, other than ground nuts, as would but for this amending Order not qualify as nuts (unground)(other than ground nuts) by reason of their being nuts (unground).” — from the Guinness Book of World Records, 1973

I’m almost speechless. (I know, you’ll believe it when you see it…. I did say ‘almost’…. that’s something…) It’s absolutely beautiful! Perfectly priceless absolute nonsense, dressed only in legal briefs…. It is so impenetrable, I can’t tell if it is the law itself, or the judges written opinion on the law, or a passage from Nightmare on Elm Street! Which I’ve never seen, by the way….

How’s that for tangential? Any who, this was included today as a finishing touch to my Twitt-rant above. This goes to show just how the political hacks we are burdened with today work their verbal magic, to distract us from looking at things they don’t want us to see. Bureaucratese is what I’ve heard it called, a language and skill set that society has had practiced on them since the days of ancient Greece. When a document such as the one above reaches a certain level of impenetrability, the majority of people alive will either fall asleep halfway through reading it, or totally ignore it after reading the first 11 words or so. It’s a classic piece of distraction, and is probably used in courses for political science majors in college, and in law schools, as an example of how to carry off the trick.

To me, what this law indicates is that one, or more, of the people involved in writing the law have a monetary interest in being able to obfuscate the definition of “Nuts”, in order for them to achieve some financial reward owing to the indicated distinctions in that definition. In other words, a loophole or three is created, so the “Nut” vendors can make more money, charging more for each kind of Nut than could be accomplished without the legislation. It’s similar to the law in this country that was pushed through the Federal Courts back in the mid-1800’s, when a corrupt Federal judge awarded “personhood” to corporations, after being paid handsomely by those corporations for his verdict…. Same, same, alla same…. Evil is loose in the world….

— Bother! said Pooh, as he had another plate of Piglet sausage. — Smart Bee (Remember Mitt the Twitt at the NAACP?…..)

I suppose all I’m trying to say here is, once again….. Wake up ffolkes…. the beloved ruling class, the priestly hierarchies, and the corporate “persons” in the shape of banks and multi-national corporations, are continuing their campaign to hide from all of us the actual business they are pursuing, which has everything to do with benefiting them, and everything to do with screwing everyone else as much as they will allow…. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m about done with allowing ANY of it….

“I’m not tense, just terribly alert.” — Smart Bee

So, please…. DON’T ignore the man behind the screen…. he’s the one who is killing us all….
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Ollie would be proud, I think… and just in time, too. The store is now open, and I’m done with this, so, all is right with the world, such as it is today. I’m not any more certain than you are what that may mean, or even whether it SHOULD mean anything, but, obscurity is what we’re always shooting for around here, and sometimes, it’s just easier than other times….. Especially when my fingers take over the keyboard like this, and just type away as fast as they can, without any idea of what will come out….. I’d better put a stop to it, before I hurt myself, or y’all….   Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Those corpses died in the wool…..

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Ffolkes,
And then, I woke up….. which may or may not have been a blessing; we have yet to reach a decision on so important a matter. Until we do, I suggest we all just settle down, and let the police do their work. Not that I’d ever get in their way, but, they do tend to get intense when they’ve been without a doughnut for over two hours, don’t they? And since yesterday, when one of the doughnuts bit back at an officer, well, they’re understandably a bit sensitive on the matter…. Silly officers….

Ah, that’s better…. This should improve matters by quite a measure in the next couple minutes; the above was written pre-coffee, so I can’t really claim responsibility for it, as we all know what going without coffee does to me. Now that I’ve had a sip or three (the first ones go down fast….), I may even be able to reach a degree of coherence heretofore unseen in these parts. It’s worth a shot, don’t you agree?

It’s much better than relying on my brain to be intelligible under duress, which is the listed definition of not having coffee, in the dictionary I use…. Murphy or no Murphy, without coffee, the world ceases to make any sense to me, and it is a good thing, for me, and for society at large, that I have arranged to have it within seconds of being awake and up. If not, I don’t know for certain if the space-time continuum would be safe, so it’s a good thing….

Perhaps, if I were less of a compassionate man, I wouldn’t be concerned about the state of the space-time continuum, but, I am, I can’t help it;  if it goes, we all go, so, I’m just doing it for all of you, you see…. Really, I am. Of course, by doing so, I save my own sorry ass, so let’s not forget that little grain of salt, either.

With all that said, you may have guessed that I got too much sleep, and you’d be nearly right, as I got way more than the usual amount, arising at an almost reasonable hour, at 0437, after falling asleep at about quarter past eight. I forced myself to listen to the ball game, which started at 7:15, and it worked to keep me awake for a while longer…. It’s actually quite odd to feel almost normal, but, not surprising, I suppose….. feeling odd, that is, not being normal…. Ah shit, there I go again…. The hell with it….

Shall we Pearl?…..
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“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” — Aristotle

For much of my life, since reaching what I like to call the age of reason, at about 10 or 11 years of age, I have been aware of this aphorism from Aristotle. If not the aphorism itself, the principle was clear to me from a young age, and I chose then to always strive to be excellent, in whatever I chose to do. You see, I also found out, it requires a deliberate choice to pursue excellence, because it a) doesn’t just happen by itself, and b) it annoys other people. It is the second factor that dictates the need to make a deliberate choice; most people make the opposite choice, to be average, to not stand out too much, unless it is to their advantage to do so, to control or impress others, not for the state of being excellent.

More explicitly, most people try to excel at tasks, or games, or whatever, in order to promote their own agenda, not for the sake of just wanting to do things right, or to scratch the itch of curiosity, or to be the best person one can be. And society at large is quick to show their disapproval if someone is too different in this respect; the normals are afraid of both of the other ends of the human spectrum, the incurably unintelligent AND those who perceive more, and when most people are afraid of something, they make life hard for it, if not downright unbearable, and/or dangerous. Pink monkeys don’t go over well in a brown monkey tree….. They tend to either leave the forest, live in misery, or dye their fur brown, in short order….

This is why the choice must be made, to pursue excellence; it’s not an easy decision, but critically important. It is also a decision that can’t be made half-way; once committed, it extends to EVERY area of one’s existence, requiring effort and dedication to achieve to any significant degree. I can only speak for myself, but it was the best decision of my early years, and I have never regretted making it, because the rewards are much greater than mere comfort, or any other I can think of that comes with giving in to peer pressure; to live with not seeking all there is to see, hear, and do in life, and do it with style, intelligence, and honor.

“By steadily disciplining the animal nature, until it becomes one pointed, it is possible to establish conscious awareness of The Eternal.” — Lao-Tzu

This is a bit metaphorical, but describes well the intensity and consistency of effort that is required to maintain an excellent attitude about life. It’s hard to keep it up all the time, and I have to admit I’m as human as anyone else, and get tired, not to say just plain frustrated, when I cannot easily, or even eventually, reach the goals I’ve set for myself. Fortunately, I also know that being human is okay, and just because I am not always at my best, does not mean it is not still within me, ever within my reach, whenever my perceptions are clear enough to show me the way. The path to Truth, fortunately, is always well lighted, though it may get confusing, and sometimes seem dark through the power of illusion; it never stops being the Truth, though, and that makes it always attainable….

Perhaps there will be some who will read this treatise, and think it arrogant, or condescending; I hope not, because it isn’t intended to be so. It is intended to be a sharing, of the understanding I have that can be of help to anyone in their life. This understanding is based on what I know to be true, and not on fear, or lack of understanding of what is real, in both Nature, and in people. There is great potential in people, much more than we, as a species, or as individuals, ever achieve…. partly because much of humanity is content to be normal, to sit back and let other people decide how the world should go, because it’s too much work to try to control their own world.

We can be so much more than a society of couch potatoes, sagely listening and nodding our heads in agreement with the talking heads we see on the Tube, or laughing ourselves mindless over the insane, or downright stupid acts of imaginary people meant to be metaphorical, but only seen as role models for a reality that doesn’t exist.

Even the advent of computer technology, with all its nearly unlimited potential for what only twenty years ago would have been called “magic”, has not inspired people to strive to be excellent, in work, in play, or in ethics; certainly not in government. Instead, we are drowning ourselves in fashion apps, or photo apps, or social media apps, and losing even more connection with the real world in the process….

Ah well, I suppose all will turn out how it will, in spite of my objections, or anyone else’s indifference. C’est la vie, as the French would say…. such is life; I think it appropriate that we hear from the ancient sages about that, as we started, to close this series of thoughts and rambles perfectly… well, maybe only one ancient sage…..

“Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle. Some things are within your control. And some things are not.” — Epictetus
Epictetus sez    So be it…. gigoid has spoken.
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After writing the above, I believe I have already written a poem that will fit right in with that theme, at least metaphorically, which is our primary defining characteristic around here… Ah yes, here it is…..

A Failure to Germinate

Marking the days in elements of sad disarray
only holds me thrall, as I laugh while I may.
With cold, hard hands so impatient and cruel
pulling me to this vale of tears, a pathetic old fool.

Feelings sit silent, cast in shadows and light
breaking forth to implicate such vengeful might.
Just below the surface they patiently hide
to sally forth bravely, colors bright as they ride.

Tears and pain transform valued assets in hand
while comfort and serenity retreat to a far land.
Bold, bright patterns of hope garnish my ruinous state
until reality enters, full of disdainful portions of hate.

I sort out the illustrious measures of vision gone mild
only to find them transformed, now vicious and wild.
In my deepest desires I find myself calloused and cold
with faithless advocates whose souls have been sold.

My search finds little to support any hope of relief
far too much time has passed to bolster such belief.
The sad becomes real, and real becomes unfounded
until flights of such fancy are all dead, and grounded.

Nature has informed me of the newly hatched crime
that reality has boasted of proudly, time after time.
The last answer we think of is always the best
as we come to terms with fate, our hope at rest.

~~ gigoid ~~

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So, here’s the deal…. I cruised SB, looking for quotes that would fit in with today’s apparent theme(s), whatever they are. This group is what my unconscious mind picked out; I didn’t pay much attention, other than as a peripheral check to determine whether it was publishable according to legal standards. Legal or no, here they are, and I’m seeing the whole group for the first time, just like y’all… this could be fun…. or not…. let’s see….

“Every guilty person is his own hangman.” — Seneca

“For the wise men of old, the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality. And the solution has been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. But for the contemporary mindset the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of man.” — C.S. Lewis  “The Abolition of Man”

“The mirror sees the man as beautiful, the mirror loves the man; another mirror sees the man as frightful and hates him; and it is always the same being who produces the impressions.” — Marquis D. A. F. de Sade

“When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.” — A.A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner

“A thing is not proved because no one has ever questioned it…Skepticism is the first step towards truth.” — Smart Bee

“It is easier to fight for principles than to live up to them.” — Alfred Adler  “Problem of Neurosis” [1929]

“A possum must be himself, and being himself he is honest.” — Walt Kelly

Not bad, not bad at all…. I’ve seen worse, and not too many better, so, pay heed, because it really does give some good advice…. And, it WAS fun….
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Well, let’s see how well I approached normality….. Oh, good, not close at all. Whew! I was worried about that a bit; I haven’t had this much sleep in weeks, and I wasn’t sure how it would affect matters…. Doesn’t seem to have caused too much havoc. It’s good enough to float, I think, so we’ll kick it out there and see….. I don’t know about y’all, but I had fun, so, not to be threatening, or anything like that, but, I’ll be back tomorrow, if the creek don’t rise any further….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

….even with his own hands!…

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Ffolkes,
And then I woke up….. which, considering the fact that I actually slept, is a good thing, even if it happened at 0300 again. I fell out last night when, all of a sudden, at 7 PM or so, heavy fatigue came crashing down on me, and I couldn’t keep my eyes open. It was all I could do to clean up dinner and get coffee made, before I literally fell into bed, and to sleep in no time.

What a great feeling! Even though I’m up again so early, I feel good, and almost back on the Time Zone schedule I should be on. I’m alert, my pain level is reasonable, and all is right in my world…. Well, I wish Patricia felt better, but I think her cold is finally on the downhill side, and I’m thinking, and hoping, she’ll feel better today….

Without going in to detail, Murphy has presented me with my conundrum for the day, and it’s a doozy. One I’ll have to deal with without delay, and which will probably slow down all I want to do today. So much for not being broken….. At least, for y’all, it’s a bonus, because it means I won’t be rambling on forever with this intro, as I need to go do other stuff, and want to get this Pearl mostly done before the world and it’s demands intrude. In short…. Shall we Pearl?….

“In the midst of this chopping sea of civilized life, such are the clouds and storms and quicksands and thousand-and-one items to be allowed for, that a man has to live, if he would not founder and go to the bottom and not make his port at all, by dead reckoning, and he must be a great calculator indeed who succeeds. Simplify, simplify.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden
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What do you think? Is it time for a rant, perhaps, a religirant? I think so…. They haven’t done anything particularly stupid in public of late; some of the fundamentalists must have broken down and started listening to their lawyers. They’ve been careful lately about saying stuff that not only infuriates the rest of the country, but are probably legally actionable as slander. But, they’ll still ask you to send money, so they can afford to carry on God’s work…..

“They say give your money to God, but they give you THEIR address.” — Smart Bee

On my recent trip to Texas, I went by a church by the highway, and did a complete and classic double-take when the name on the sign registered. I don’t know if it is the one that keeps getting itself in the news, but it said it was the Westboro Baptist Church, home of the world’s most clueless, hateful, and ignorant preacher. Well, the sign didn’t say the last part, that was mine, but it’s still true, if it is the church that has, for the last three or four years, made itself famous, and the target of every other Christian in the US, for dragging the good name of Christians in general through some pretty dark mud, and flinging the rest of the mud on everyone it can see…..

These folks, and the idiot who leads them into their idiocy, are perhaps the stupidest people on the planet, if a willingness to display that stupidity, time after time, on national TV, is any indication, all in spite of the constant and strident statements from the entire rest of the world that they are not just wrong, but stupidly wrong, in each and every one of their stated objectives. Wrong, that is, according to every other interpretation of the Bible’s words by every Christian scholar in the world, except themselves.

They just refuse to even look at what they are doing, and have no clue of how ridiculous they appear to everyone else in the world. In a way, it is really sad, except for their vicious vindictiveness, and the vulnerability of their victims, the people they label as blasphemers and devils, just for being different in some way. In their ignorant blundering around like bulls in a china shop, they hurt the feelings of people who are already suffering, and do so deliberately…. Not just stupid, the assholes, but cruelly so….

“Some men become proud and insolent because they ride a fine horse, wear a feather in their hat or are dressed in a fine suit of clothes. Who does not see the folly of this? If there be any glory in such things, the glory belongs to the horse, the bird and the tailor.” — St. Frances de Sales

This is their justification, their rationalization for their actions, which they KNOW to be wrong; no one breathing could possibly be THAT stupid as to not know their own cruelty. But, like all Christians do, to at least some degree, in order to maintain faith, they can rationalize anything, as long as it supports their belief in their own rightness…. This is a necessary attribute for anyone attempting to live in reality according to the rules dictated by a delusion, and, in fact, is most likely a purely human characteristic, common to the believers of ANY religion.

“Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.” — Martin Fraquhar Tupper

At this point in this discussion, I think this final quote can point the way out of such a distasteful subject. My hands already will need to be washed thoroughly after this stuff, so I may as well close it by saying this…. The people in the world who have decided to allow fear to dictate their entire approach to Life, have submerged their intelligence in the pursuit of an idea that has no real connection to the real world, in order to spare themselves the effort of dealing with life directly, using their own minds.

That being said, I can finally give them their precise due, and no longer consider them, at all…. which means I don’t have to waste my time talking about them either….. Bully good news for y’all, don’t you think?…. I’m going now, see, I’m already gone…..

“To perceive is to suffer.” — Aristotle, De Anima
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THE HIPPOPOTAMUS
 
The broad-backed hippopotamus
Rests on his belly in the mud;
Although he seems so firm to us
He is merely flesh and blood.  

Flesh-and-blood is weak and frail,
Susceptible to nervous shock;
While the True Church can never fail
For it is based upon a rock.  

The hippo’s feeble steps may err
In compassing material ends,
While the True Church need never stir
To gather in its dividends.  

The ‘potamus can never reach
The mango on the mango-tree;
But fruits of pomegranate and peach
Refresh the Church from over sea.  

At mating time the hippo’s voice
Betrays inflexions hoarse and odd,
But every week we hear rejoice
The Church, at being one with God.  

The hippopotamus’s day
Is passed in sleep; at night he hunts;
God works in a mysterious way–
The Church can sleep and feed at once.  

I saw the ‘potamus take wing
Ascending from the damp savannas,
And quiring angels round him sing
The praise of God, in loud hosannas.  

Blood of the Lamb shall wash him clean
And him shall heavenly arms enfold,
Among the saints he shall be seen
Performing on a harp of gold.  

He shall be washed as white as snow,
By all the martyr’d virgins kist,
While the True Church remains below
Wrapt in the old miasmal mist.

~~ T. S. Eliot ~~

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No ups, no extras, just the fax, ma’am…. Here is a pearl of the old school, ripped screaming from the archives, from somewhere; early twenty-first century, I think…. Yes, I’m lazy, but there are compelling reasons for it this morning, so, please, allow me my little diversions… I’m in a hurry…. thanks, and Enjoy!….

Hmm… I guess not so much of a hurry as I thought…. but, I think it will work for me, in a strange way, and that is normal, so…. Here is what I found at Pearl Central…. These short, early form Pearls were written at work, sent via email to about 350 people at Napa State Hospital, Monday through Friday, sometime in about 2007 or 08, I can’t be sure…. but, they’re pretty good, in my estimation, and if nothing else, fun for the entire family….

Just plain brutal….

Ffolkes,
Monday’s can be that way, even the best of them. I’m not certain, at least in my own case, just where the motivation to get up & get moving is coming from. Routine is powerful enough to take us in to work, but what then? Coffee only goes so far, then something stronger must come into play, or the week just goes all to  >@#%! (Supply your own curses)  It can be difficult to find a substitute; drugs are illegal, and so is theft. So what do we do? We rely on luck!…..

“Indifference is the strongest force in the universe. It makes everything it touches meaningless. Love and hate don’t stand a chance against it.” — Joan Vinge

Life is short. Get it right.

Those who can, do. Those who can’t, write.
Those who can’t write go to the State Department (of Mental Health).

That’s the ticket….motivation means caring…..Recently on the radio, Hoyt touted a book, and challenged us to send in our own version of what it was about, to wit: describe your life in six words. I liked mine…

“Looked for love, found it everywhere”……six on the button, neh?

Y’all take care out there…..

No, really….

Ffolkes,
….the computer ate my pearl. This is already the third time I’ve rebooted this morning, and the last one ate my quotes; they were all picked out & on the clipboard, when the durn machine went wonky & wouldn’t see the network. Now I have to be creative….so, we will delve once more into the old bag of Trix….

Do not underestimate the power of the Force.

Duct Tape is like the Force. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together. The only difference is that “May The Force be with you” sounds a lot nicer than “May you be covered in duct tape.”
— Carl Swanzig

— Bother! said Pooh,
and discorporated.

Believe it or not, there is a lesson here….left, of course, as an exercise for the Gentle Reader…. Y’all take care out there……

Grace notwithstanding…

Ffolkes,
You may or may not have perceived by now that I am, shall we say, not unfamiliar with strange. Whimsy can strike at any time, and though the resulting consequences are survivable, it often requires extra scrubbing to get clean. Today is Wednesday, but it feels like a Tuesday. Hence the following….

“I’m afraid I’m not personally qualified to confuse cats.” — Monty Python

How do I set my Laser Printer to “Stun”?

“The case has, in some respects, been not entirely devoid of interest.” — Sherlock Holmes

The strangest part is, all of these make perfect sense to me, both individually and together. It’s all in the wrist….. y’all take care out there….

Floppy risks….

Ffolkes,
…don’t fret, it’s just a typo. Amazing what one letter can change, eh? I kinda like the image this stimulates….floppy risks. Hmmm….well, where were we? Oh, here we are…..it’s Thursday but it feels just like a Thursday to me. As further proof of my familiarity with things strange, allow me to present more images to round out your mental image of Pooh The Bear (excerpted from “Pooh, the years before Christopher Robin” by Itolda
Lai)  Enjoy!….

Always speak the truth quietly, listen with an open mind when others speak, and remember the peace that may be found in silence.– unknown

— Bother! said Pooh,
as the French Nuclear Testing blew his head off.

— Bother! said Pooh,
as he was reborn as an amoeba.

— Bother! said Pooh,
as Piglet acquired all four Railway stations.

— Bother! said Pooh,
and proceeded to install OS/2 Warp.

— Bother! said Pooh,
Beavis and Butthead are barbecuing Barney!

— Bother! said Pooh,
as he gave Ted Kennedy another driving lesson.

— Bother! said Pooh,
as he switched between Animaniacs and Star Trek.

I always think it’s good to know things about iconic figures, don’t you?  Y’all take care out there…..

never say your true name….

Ffolkes,
It’s an odd morning, and coming from me, that’s saying something! Been following routine, but it feels not quite right somehow. Hmmm…..must be the shoes. They’re probably too tight  and are cutting off the blood flow to my head. Ah well, no big loss, some would say….. here are some humorous observations I found. Not the most inspiring humor, but funny nonetheless…..see ya Monday…..

Baby on board. Just means five more points.

The other planets are laughing at us.

I am serious.  And don’t call me Shirley.

They just pretend to pay us, so we just pretend to work.

You know you’re getting old when it takes too much effort to procrastinate.

Y’all take care out there……(like it or not, you must, because you can’t care for others if you don’t take care of yourself…basic logic, y’know.)

__________________________________

Well, Stan and Ollie would be proud of me. It’s another fine mess I’ve created, and just think, only three days home, and I’m already in full psychotic mode! What fun the next few days will be! Be sure to tune in for the latest news from insanity’s fringes, ffolkes. I can feel a big one coming, and I hope y’all, and the rest of the world, is ready…. I’m not sure I am, but having no choice in the matter, I will be…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Assign three spinsters to snipe patrol….

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Ffolkes,
And then I woke up…..  What do you think? Will it work as a template? I think it works well, so let’s use it as intended, okay? Okay…..

And then I woke up…. I didn’t want to, but, I did, anyway. The clock was apparently stuck on “too early”, plus my lady wishes to go somewhere today, before the heat gets too bad. We’ve been having a preview of mid-summer the last few days, with temps in the 80’s and low 90’s…. thank goodness for air conditioning. I used to love the heat, but, over time, I’ve grown less tolerant of how it makes me sweat so badly…. plus, I no longer have the physical outlets, like swimming or playing ball, that can take one’s mind off the heat, or get the body working so it doesn’t mind it so much…. We humans are easily distracted, for sure….

Since I have so much to accomplish today, this Pearl will be what I call a hit or miss type, where each section is done between trips to get stuff done. It will, no doubt, end up being posted rather late in the day, compared to most of the Pearls I create, and will thus be a good preview of how to get this done while on the road. Who knows, it may just work out better than it does now, as it will give me a fresh look each time I complete a section. Wow, I just realized it may also make it impossible to get done, but, hey, that’s the risk I take when changing formats…. Being a stubborn sort, that won’t stop me….

In keeping with the new format, we will now take the first break, bringing this intro to a close, before it gets away from me again, and I start blathering more BS, until both of us are sick of it….. Rather than have that happen, we will now go grab equipment, and dive right in…. Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

Ranting may or may not be on the agenda today; hard to tell what will happen out in the BBR to stimulate outrage, but, it’s a good bet I’ll see something to jerk me around…. In the meantime, I’ve got a bit of time, so we’ll go see what kind of trouble Smart Bee has up its sleeve today…..

— Bother! said Pooh, as he fell into the toilet.

“I take a simple view of life: keep your eyes open and get on with it.” — Laurence Olivier

“Always forgive your enemies– nothing annoys them so much.” — Oscar Wilde

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” — John Kenneth Galbraith

“If you don’t like yourself, you can’t like other people.” — Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

“If you are patient in a moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.” — Chinese Proverb

“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it–even if I have said it–unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” — The Buddha

Not too shabby, I’d say…. all good words on how to live; taken together, you have a recipe for peace on Earth…..
__________________________________

I’m off to the store with my lady, and will decide what kind of poetry to pursue while I’m out…. Be right back….. Ah, perfect; we’ll go with an old favorite of mine…..

A bird came down the walk…

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

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

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

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

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

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~

__________________________________

The trip to the store turned into an ordeal, again, thanks to the miserable bus system here in Vallejo… What should have taken 1 hour took 3 hours, and exhausted both me and my lady; I have yet to see a single bus get to the stop on time, in two years…. amazing. Any who, it got me the outrage I needed to ran, but, I’m too tired to write more than this paragraph, to introduce a pearl from March of 2012, a good one, about modern life, and how to live in a world gone mad…. It also takes the pearl in Section One to a different level, as the Buddha’s words on the subject indicate…..

“Believe nothing merely because you have been told it… Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But, whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings — that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide.” — Buddha

This idea is almost unknown in Western society, and if you require evidence, just look at the TV Guide for this week. Every minute of every day the airwaves are filled with blatant attempts to influence what people think about, what they buy, or should want to buy, how to relate to other people, or who they should vote for in the next election. I don’t think there are more than one person out of a thousand who has an original thought in their head, one not generated by some excited announcer giving them the latest way to waste their time and money.

In addition to the wasteland that is TV, we have religion, always prepared to jump into people’s lives and tell them how they are doing it wrong, and how the only way to get to heaven is to buy into the product they are selling, thereby handing over the keys to their own minds, and checkbooks. If one looks at it objectively, it’s a pretty good gig, this preacher business. All you have to do is be able to tell people what you think is true with a straight face, and stand back and watch the money pour in. Hell, anybody with the chutzpah can become a preacher; it doesn’t even require a license, though it does help to file the certificates and forms that make it so your church doesn’t have to pay taxes; that’s always a bonus item in favor among the truly religious.

“Writing science fiction for about a penny a word is no way to make a living, If you really want to make a million, the quickest way is to start your own religion.” — L. Ron Hubbard

L. Ron was as good as his word…. He was talking to Robert Heinlein one day (they were old friends, having attended Annapolis together in their youth….), and complaining about how his science fiction wasn’t selling as well as Bob’s. He made Bob a bet, that he could start a religion, one that had no basis in reality outside his head, and could become richer than Croesus without having to lift a finger…. Bob took the bet, and L. Ron wrote “Dianetics”, the book that is now the basis for the Church of Scientology.

This “religion” has become a reality, with millions of members worldwide, all of whom are firmly convinced of the truth of what is in their bible; in reality, their bible was a load of crap nonsense that came straight out of L. Ron’s head, and has no actual relation to anything in the real world….. I find it to be one of history’s finest jokes, and the shenanigans of the constituents of the “church” provide me with endless entertainment…. Brilliant!…. And, of course, just desserts for those who have adopted such an asinine philosophy, all based on a joke bet….

“It’s hard to decide if T.V. makes morons out of everyone or if it mirrors Americans who really are morons to begin with.” — Martin Mull
__________________________________

All in all, it came out well, I think, even though I had to dip into the archives again….. C’est la vie!  I’m beat, and I can hear my pillow calling me…. Tt,th, th, that’s all ffolkes!….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Will cut hair for food…..

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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)
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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

dozer3

Tattered remnants of a once proud machine….

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Ffolkes,
Mmmmm…. coffee, good….mmph, grglk, blast, hmph, okay…. Sorry, took a moment for the coffee to kick in…. Let me just say this, and we’re good to go…. Draco! Braz! Mento!  Ah, yes, all fine now…. Having uttered the proper incantation, to prepare the air for such brilliance, and to put up the wards against theft and interruption, we may now proceed to Pearl, if we are able…. We are always willing, but, often, the flesh is weak, so it’s best to “prepare the palette”, as a painter would say…. Not that I paint, no, far from it…. My drawing of a crowd looks like a convention of stick figures, kind of like watching someone count on an abacus; if you look at it for long, it will make you dizzy….

Drawing is one of those skills lacking from my toolbox; for some reason, probably having to do with spatial visualization, I can’t seem to get the hang of putting on paper what I see with my eyes. Most of my drawings resemble something by Dali during his melting clock phase, without the clarity of figures he painted so well…. An artist must know how to draw properly before turning to drawing in the abstract; since my work doesn’t come close to reality, my abstractions are just weird….. It’s okay, though, one cannot expect to be able to do EVERYTHING one wants to do, unless you are Leonardo da Vinci, or someone of his level of genius….

I can paint a picture with words, though, and pretty well, once I turn my mind to it. In fact, these introductory sections have turned out to be one of my favorite places to practice that skill, as I try one style or format after another, in my constant search for an acceptable template for this somewhat unorganized section. Those days when I write the first paragraph or two as a fictional story beginning are my practice sessions, and some of them aren’t half-bad, if I do say so myself…. Now, as I have been chastised to believe by a number of my readers, all I need to do is to continue one of those beginnings to the logical ending of the story, and I could probably get published for real…..

Alas for the world, I don’t wish to do that just now…. I’ve just begun to receive my SS disability benefits, and if I publish a book, whatever I make off its sale would be taken out of those benefits, in the form of a reduction in the money I receive each month. Since I’ve been waiting for this to happen for over two years, I don’t want to fuss with the system, yet…. If and when I can sell a book for a hefty price, of at least a half-million, I will consider publishing; any less of an initial amount wouldn’t cover what I would lose from SS over time, and would be a chancy risk to take at this point in my life…. If I can broker a deal for more than that amount, I’d consider it, as I would then have enough to cover my retirement, and all I wish to do in this period of my life….

So, y’all will have to wait a year or two…. If I can work on putting together more than one book, then publish them one after another, or a multi-book deal, I might be able to get by on what I’d make from it…. But, until I can get at least a half-assed guarantee of making enough to get by, I’ll continue to publish here on WP, for the same reason I’ve been doing it for the last two years, to wit: to maintain my sanity….. Such as it is….. Why, look! We’ve got ourselves five paragraphs here, which is plenty to qualify as an intro, cheating or not…..   On that note, Shall we Pearl?…..
__________________________________

“Somewhere in suburban Honolulu, an unemployed bellhop is whipping up a batch of illegal psilocybin chop suey!!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Fucking brilliant! Bill Griffith, the cartoonist who created Zippy, is an absolutely awesome social critic, and the perpetrator of some of the most obscure nonsense, (that makes perfect sense), that has ever been written, or published….. As is apparent from the frequent appearance of his quotes in this blog, I find him to be incredibly insightful about human nature, a naturally poetic prose writer, weird as hell, and an excellent graphic artist. Zippy’s comments on life and everything he sees in the strange world he inhabits are priceless, for their acute insight, for their gut-busting humor, and are strangely real, despite the unreality of almost everything in the strip…. It’s eerie sometimes, how life will imitate art; I’ll find myself having a deja vu memory of one of Zippy’s lines when I am out in the Big Blue Room, dealing with some business or another, because it matches the unreality of what was in the strip….

At first, I didn’t understand how including this line was to fit into the Pearl, or even into the pearl, but, then I realized…. I am the unemployed bellhop today, and I’m whipping up the distilled mushroom juice, right here on my computer! Look! It’s a whole new type of oyster! (Further research reveals this statement to be false, partly…. I found a couple of old Pearls that experimented with this format, slightly differently, though… so, this is still fairly unique….. end of interrupt….) 

I’ve just had a brainstorm of major proportions; since I had no warning of its advent, I went down on the first big wave, and died a figurative death…. I was hanging in limbo, sort of floating there, while the gods decided just how badly they wanted my ass in a sling, when it came to me…. This is a sign from the gods of blogging, to show me a new species of pearl…. which, having been dumped in my head, I must use, before it rots there, or the gods zap me… So, here is a pearl, in this case, the first of its kind, with five pointed quotes, and a number of comments from yours truly, standing in as Zippy, in disguise, sort of…..

I see the lights of the village
gleam through the rain and the mist.
And a feeling of sadness comes o’er me,
that my soul cannot resist.
A feeling of sadness and longing
that is not akin to pain,
And resembles sorrow only
as the mist resembles rain.

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), The Day is done

(I often forget about Longfellow’s poetry, and it is what he is famous for, at least during his own time…. Now, of course he is known as one of the Trinameral Poets, that category which includes himself, Ralph Waldo Emerson, George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats, John Cougar Mellencamp, James Earl Jones, and so forth…. all good poets for sure, so he is in good company…. but, what is with those names, eh? Bit egotistical, don’t you think?…..)

“Those who hope for no other life are dead even for this.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

(Goethe had a knack for this kind of deep, many leveled insights, pointing out with just a few well chosen words a very complex principle of human nature, or interaction… This one, no matter how one interprets it, is true as the day, and gives an appropriate feeling of emotional content, namely sadness, both for the one lacking in vision, and for the person observing them…..)

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man except one thing: the last of the human freedoms— to choose one`s own attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” — Victor Frankl

(Not much to add here; this is pretty clear, and also quite true…. It has been said that true freedom, is the release from pain, which is absolutely congruent with this idea. When one chooses one’s reaction, and makes their own choice of how to feel, they are choosing to let go of their pain, and gaining their freedom, if only in their own mind…. Another way of saying you can’t make a truly free man do anything he refuses to do…. You can kill him, but you can’t make him change his mind, or take away his freedom in that respect…..)

Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time. — John Keats (1795-1821) — Ode on a Grecian Urn

(Just too beautiful a line to leave out…..)

Behold on wrong
Swift vengeance waits; and art subdues the strong!

— Alexander Pope (1688-1744) — The Odyssey of Homer, Book viii, Line 367

(Hmm…. this is a bit depressing, if it means what I think…. Nah, I must be wrong, so, never mind…. Oh, I see now…. Okay, well, I guess so, but, I think I’ll use my stick for that….. Ya think?….)

Well, there you go…. you will probably see this format again, though with different quotes, of course…. And, I think I can even do it this way with a normal pearl, maybe even a Seven Star…..  Wait! I didn’t mean it as a threat! Come back!….. Oh, hell….. Ah well, c’est la vie…. hopefully, they’ll find their way to the exit, or on to section two…. If not, I’ll send out a search party after I’m done here…..

“I always have fun because I’m out of my mind!!!” — Zippy the Pinhead
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I’m working on a poem, but it’s only half completed, so this morning will see another haiku, served up freshly composed, and a poem I wrote last October, about Love, sort of…. Hope you like 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/

Haiku V

I can write haiku
quick, at the drop of a pun.
Such wonderful fun.

~~ gigoid ~~

Beyond Agapé

Passion burns, shining 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, without cease.

~~ gigoid ~~

__________________________________

Go boldly forth, my simple lay,
Whose accents flow with artless ease,
Like orient pearls at random strung.

— Sir William Jones (1746-1794) — A Persian Song of Hafiz

I had intended to rant in this section today…. Unfortunately for me, (I won’t presume to say the same for y’all….), my back is killing me today, and I’ve a number of things to accomplish, in preparation for my upcoming trip(s) to Tejas, and to Europa…. which is a roundabout way of saying I’m about to cheat again…. Here is a pearl from 2011…. bonus points if you can figure out the month it was written, from whatever context you may find…. Enjoy! And, good luck, or as we say downtown, buena suerte!….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ffolkes,
As I’m sure you’re aware of by now, it takes a really, really weird guy to do this every day, rain or shine, clothed or not, and that the process of putting these ideas down and sharing them is one that brings me not just pleasure, but pain as well. (Like anything worthwhile in Life, I suppose). I’m writing for a blog site, and wrote a piece yesterday that took me back, in first person with full audio memory, to a time of my life I’d just as soon forget most days. But it helped ease the pain somewhat, and reminded me that I don’t write for recognition, or praise, I write because I must! Not writing is……unthinkable. I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t write; I think it would act much like my bowel disease, causing alternate bouts of mental diarrhea and constipation, with the accompanying pain and discomfort. Since I don’t enjoy that, particularly, I choose to write….. lucky you……

“A man begins cutting his wisdom teeth the first time he bites off more than he can chew.” — Herb Caen

A good pun is its own reword.

“Cato requested old men not to add the disgrace of wickedness to old age, which was accompanied with many other evils.” — Plutarch (46-120 AD) — Roman Apophthegms, Cato the Elder

“Religious liberty might be supposed to mean that everybody is free to discuss religion. In practice it means that hardly anybody is allowed to mention it.” — G. K. Chesterton, Autobiography, 1937

“It’s said that ‘power corrupts’, but actually it’s  more true  that power attracts the corruptible.  The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.  When  they do  act,  they  think of it as service, which has limits. The tyrant, though, seeks mastery, for which he is  insatiable, implacable.”  — David Brin, The Postman

“People who don’t Think probably don’t have Brains; rather, they have grey fluff that’s blown into their heads by mistake.” — Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne
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“Well, Stanley, this is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into…. What do you have to say for yourself?”  More bonus points are available to anyone who can give me the first name of the person who said those lines, frequently….

Okay, so, I’ve read back over what we have here, and I think….. Well, quite frankly, I don’t know what to think…. I’m going to leave it alone, and let it fly, as is, trusting to luck and my lawyers to keep it from becoming legally actionable…. In the meantime….  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3

Trite figurines in professional pants…..

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Ffolkes,
Oddly enough, I still don’t have any idea as to how I should go about starting these Pearls. After more than 12 years, one would think I’d have a clue about that, but, nope, I’m still fussing around with different approaches and styles, all of which work, at various times, and none of which work, some of the time….. It’s enough to drive a sane man to drink, or a sober man to go crazy, so it should certainly be enough to turn me into a blubbering idiot…. Of course, there are those who would say, (unkindly, I might add…) that I am both insane, and often drunk…. They’re just jealous, though….

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…..)

Haiku III

Inspiration comes
only when it feels it should.
Serendipity.

~~gigoid~~

Accentuated Lessons

Bold statements of calculated intent
Become common rule of the malcontent.
Avarice assumes such attractive wear
Beguiling deception, illusory and fair.

Grasping and pulling with ghostly hands
Legally proper in all the signatory lands.
Seeking and finding each vulnerable soul
Anguish as payment for exacting the toll.

Wraiths of commerce’s invisible dead guards
Still haunt the dreams left in sad empty yards.
While absentee nobles sit in stiffly elegant splendor
Served by sad-faced detainees in abject surrender.

Escape from reality is illusory at best
Often we falter and fail its daily test.
Only when focused on inner strength
Does peace stay with us for any length.

Peace lies within, always…..

~~ gigoid

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“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!…..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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…..

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

gigoid

dozer3

Boring barefoot babies banging bongos….

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Ffolkes,
Soft sounds of night whispered of fevered dreams and fear. Nothing stirred over the pale, moonlit landscape, save the lone figure of a man, walking purposefully across the sand, by the silent, dark water of the lake. Bearing down upon the building on the corner, he paused at the curb, to look up the facade, seeking one particular window.

High up, near the top, a single square was awash with light; upon spying the lit window, the man smiled, a small, satisfied, evil smile…. Without a word, he passed through the revolving door, into the building, now moving rapidly toward the bank of elevators along the back wall. He punched for the floor he wanted, then, as the doors slid closed, pulled a long, vicious looking knife from inside his coat…..

Okay, then, we’ll just leave that would-be assassin there in the elevator, and assume he either got the job done, or the woman he was sent to kill overcame his training, and turned him to her own side…. or, perhaps, blew him away with her .357 as he entered the room. Either way, you can write the rest of it yourself, so there’s no point in my doing it, is there? Nope….. Of course, that leaves me stranded again, barely into the third paragraph of the intro, with nothing more to say in my head. This is getting to be not only inconvenient, but frustrating for me….. I’m almost tempted to break out a Poohism, just to go with the flow…. in fact, I will…. Here…..

— Bother! said Pooh, nailing Eeyore’s tail onto Owl’s feathered fanny.

Well, that’s an interesting little aphorism, isn’t it? Kind of shows Pooh’s true colors, though, which may disappoint some of you…. You may as well get over it though, because we do a lot of that sort of balloon puncturing around here, whenever we can, especially regarding the Bear of No Brain, who has a very dark side, and occasionally needs to have people reminded of that side of him. Otherwise, people tend to start looking at Pooh as a harmless child’s toy, rather than the slick, sometimes evil, street smart, little bear that he is…. Here’s another example of just how bad he can be….

— Bother! said Pooh, as he sold crack in the school yard.

See? Now, is that the kind of bear you want your kids playing with? I didn’t think so…. His companions from the Hundred Acre Wood aren’t all that innocent, either…. for example:

— Bother! said Pooh, as Piglet covered his naked body in whipped cream.

I guess the two of them must have had fun with all that cream, because this one was next in line…..

— Bother! said Pooh, as he lay back and lit Piglet’s cigarette.

As you can see, the Little Bear isn’t such an Uncarved Block, is he?  Ah well, now that we’ve ruined a reputation or two, I think I can call time on this intro, and get on with today’s dive…. It is most likely a good idea, as I’ve already lost control of this somehow; heading off to dive can only save what’s left of our dignity…. Shall we Pearl?…..
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“Custom does often reason overrule and only serves for reason to the fool.” — John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester

This aphorism is one that I think most people would accept as true, at least part of the time. It also points up what I see as a basic flaw in human nature, a characteristic that everyone possesses, and few overmaster. It has to do with our core beliefs, and the attitude we assume as our method of perception, the orientation of our world-view, as it were. We all perceive what is out there in the universe, but we are not capable, at this time, of understanding, or even noting, all that is there to be perceived, as we are limited to what we can see, hear, feel, touch, taste, or deduce, in our immediate vicinity…. We don’t yet know how to include the input of anything not in our physical presence, other than vicariously (via TV, radio, books, etc…..).

We do, however perceive what we are near, and what we do with those perceptions is what determines how the events of our lives will proceed. What is more, each one of us perceives all of this IN A DIFFERENT WAY…..  Two people can look at the same article, or event, and see two entirely different things; just ask them….. We use the same senses, the same KIND of brains to process the data, at the same time to observe the same event, yet the interpretation of those events will vary, by as many degrees as there are people perceiving them. This unique ability, to process data in a completely new and different way from anyone else’s method, is, as might be guessed, both a blessing, and a curse….. It is the latter that concerns me today…..

In order to coexist in the same place and time, people have learned to accept certain perceptions as being identical, for the purposes of communication, e.g., everyone knows what “fire” is, and knows not to touch it barehanded…. (Note: in a way, this blog is all about the process of such communications…. we explore the reality that is consensual, that we all agree to deal with as being the same for all of us…..) This is the blessing it gives, the opportunity to increase understanding, to allow people to work in tandem, making both much more capable, making two more than just one plus one….. This is a very useful tool in the real world, and has helped our species achieve the degree of civilization we now enjoy….

But, the other side of this characteristic has an equal part in our destiny, and may in fact be the more important of the two, in the ultimate sense….. You see, we are all herd animals, and desire the approval and company of our peers; without it, we suffer, much more than we even know. It is not “human” to remain alone too long…. Oh, there is nothing wrong with solitude, and much great thought is achieved when one is not distracted by others…..

On the other hand, a human who is alone for too long becomes a pale imitation of his/her true self, without the presence of other minds to test his/her theories, to discuss and share their feelings and accomplishments, to vent their frustrations, to experience love….. Without these things, our spirits become small, and lose their moral compass, leaving us adrift in a reality that seems dark, and dangerous….

This dependence on custom (which I define as the total construct of human society, the set of rules and regulations, all unwritten, by which all of us shape our behavior in respect to each other…..) is so strong that, as the aphorism states, one becomes willing to set reason aside, in order to keep and maintain our feeling of having a place in society. We will assume whatever mask that society demands, at times, in order to not have to wear a mask of our own devising, one that we do not find comfortable…. This is the curse of which I spoke….

You see, there are a number of people who have no compunctions whatsoever in using this human characteristic to their own ends….. They don’t believe in any of the crap they spew, but will say or do anything to make sure that others do, because this is how they control the general populace… They spread their lies, fast and often, until they are believed….

These lies promulgate fear amongst the uneducated and timid, who then demand that “something be done!” by those in charge…. which is exactly what those people wanted, for they can now proceed to further fan the flames of fear, while surreptitiously looting the public treasury to make it seem as if they are doing something constructive…. “Hey, they’re stealing our oil! Let’s spend a few billion to bomb the crap out of them so we can keep driving SUV’s!, with great cup holders!”

Oh well, I guess that’s all the rant I’ve got in me today…. It’s kind of mild I know, but I was trying to be scholarly, rather than controversial and accusatory…. I think I’ve succeeded in that, but, it doesn’t quite give the same thrill and/or release as a good, nasty rant, with some great name-calling… Well, I can always call them assholes, because, hey, it fits, and it’s easy to type…. Any who, I’ll stop now, right on the edge of illumination, and allow the Gentle Reader to follow the train of my thought to its obvious conclusion…. For those too busy, or too lazy to do so, I’ll summarize….

Don’t listen to what anyone else says, not about YOUR perceptions. And, for sure, kick the asses of anyone who tries to convince you of their integrity in an elected capacity, or any position of authority…. A lot of people, on every level of society, are just trying to control you for their own purposes, and deserve any ass-kicking that comes their way….

Be like a cat…. cats don’t give a SHIT what anybody thinks, they just are….. No apologies, no fuss, just leave me alone, because I’m busy being a cat….. This is good advice, so, listen up, I’m trying to do you a favor…..   😆

“We need very strong ears to hear ourselves judged frankly, and because there are few who can endure frank criticism without being stung by it, those who venture to criticize us perform a remarkable act of friendship, for to undertake to wound or offend a man for his own good is to have a healthy love for him.” — Michel Eyquem de Montaigne _Essays_, bk. III, ch. 11 [1595]
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This poem has an odd provenance…. I first wrote it, in the form of a prose paragraph, as the opening of a Pearl from sometime late in 2011, apparently…. I was looking for an old pearl to use, when I noticed that a paragraph I was reading was actually a poem, with no changes in words, or punctuation, necessary; all it needed was to place each verse in its proper position in each stanza…. It’s actually one of my favorite pieces, now that I see what it really is… I didn’t realize it when I wrote it, only when I re-read it last night…. Serendipity strikes again!….  As on 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….)

Stray Cats

The veils that billow and fold
between dreams and reality
 may sometimes part,
showing the visions of one to the other,
blending, bleeding as one,
only to bring us up short,
closely jammed against immovable fate.

Still, we keep our watch,
seeking to find the vision
 that brings with it the mark of reality’s regard,
a humble mind, and a compassionate heart.

Events of broad impact draw us away again,
distracting with shiny glitter and tinny music,
leaving our feelings raw and bruised,
the victim of universal disregard.

Now, in the twilight of years, the music is fading,
and the glitter has all gone….
yet the memory of visions remains sharp and clear,
melancholy reminders of reality’s promises,
unkept…..

~~gigoid~~

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“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.” — C. G. Jung

Sadie, the cat, will be going to my daughter’s house to live today, and I wanted to spend some extra time with her, so it’s a good thing I’m making good time with this Pearl…. with her help…. Just in case the sound of the coffee brewing doesn’t wake me up, on each of the past five mornings, Sadie has decided to help get me up….

First, when the machine starts to make noises indicating it is turning on, she begins clawing at the underside of the bed, then, when I say her name to get her to stop, she jumps up on the bed, right by my face, and meows loudly in my ear…. She then jumps away as if I had yelled at her, (I didn’t…)  but immediately stops and looks back to make sure I’m looking at her….

If I’m not yet focused enough to do that, she jumps down to the floor, then back up by my face to repeat her complaint…. If I am looking at her, she meows again, and comes back to get petted…. A very persistent alarm clock, she is…. She may not have provided my existence with meaning, but she has certainly added a great deal of charm and love…. I’ll miss her, but, fortunately, can visit her any time….

Any who, since I ranted to long and obscure purpose above, I’ll go with an old-school pearl for the closing section today….. I really do like the quote above from Carl, so, be assured, the pearls I pick today will have some sort of connection to this idea, tenuous though it may be…. Enjoy!…..

He spoke in both simile and metaphor…
the words a bubbling champagne
tinged with the colors of the sunset.

“‘T is the sunset of life gives me mystical lore,
and coming events cast their shadows before.”

— Thomas Campbell (1777-1844) — Lochiel’s Warning

“It’s a poor workman who blames his tools.” — Smart Bee (so old a piece of wisdom, nobody knows who said it first…..)
(This is especially true of philosophers….  🙄   )

“Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” — Abraham Lincoln

“A fair exterior is a silent recommendation.” — Publius Syrus (42 BC) — Maxim 267

“I have not loved the world, nor the world me.” — Lord Byron (1788-1824) — Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto iii, Stanza 113

“Happiness begins with a clear understanding of one principle. Some things are within your control. And some things are not.” — Epictetus

“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” — Albert Einstein
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All things considered, it went well; now, let’s see how it reads….. Actually, I think I’m okay with this…. It flowed fairly well, and I don’t think I said anything to overly offend anyone, unless they are inclined to take things personally, which MY readers would never do…. With that said, it’s Saturday, and I’m off into the BBR to play…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

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

Which is Why….

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

gigoid

dozer3