This is a question that should be asked daily. Once you are focused on the rungs, it can be hard to remember what is at the top.
I remember two somewhat related stories from a strange series (strange mostly because they had been inadequately translated from an Oriental language) that our Sensei’s produced for all too brief a time about trying to achieve difficult goals. The first involved a pilot who files a flight plan before take off, and though he arrives at his destination, is never actually on that flight path but is always correcting towards it and is therefore successful. And the other was about a person trying to cross a field full of pitfalls, and because he only watched his feet to avoid falling, never makes it to the other side.
Now there is nothing I can do if your goals are bad and you are happy with them. If the pursuit of wealth or popularity is what floats your boat, and you are not particular about where that wealth comes from or with whom you are popular, then we will never see eye to eye. But I remember an erstwhile friend once mentioning feeling like he had suddenly opened his eyes and found himself at a party with people he didn’t like and it was two in the morning and he couldn’t remember how he got there.
It is never too late to leave the party …
And while I am remembering good advice, I also remember a dearly departed friend trying to make me understand that the price of a stock or commodity, or really anything, contained all the information available, and that everyday one should reevaluate what one held. Not following that advice cost me a lot.
My rambling point? Everyday you need to check where your ladder is leaning and decide if that is somewhere you can and should go. What is past is past, but as it is for Scrooge on Christmas Eve, the future is not yet written, and you are not wedded to past behaviour. Who else has ladders leaning on your same wall? Do you admire those people? Are they bringing happiness to the people in their lives? Are they forces of positive change or constant negativity? Have you benefited from sharing in their goals? Is there a better wall on which you could lean your ladder?
Have a thoughtful Thursday and try to do no harm.
some philosophical rambling then of my own… you cannot fight anger with anger, hate with hate. so best to leave these dark sages alone if you can’t love them to death. i guess what i am saying is that i was a dumbass for “poking the bear”. 🙂
my wife just now helped me to realize that but she doesn’t know i am taking credit for those wise words here.
where’s Pete? find me a song please.
some philosophical rambling then of my own… you cannot fight anger with anger, hate with hate. so best to leave these dark sages alone if you can’t love them to death. i guess what i am saying is that i was a dumbass for “poking the bear”. 🙂
my wife just now helped me to realize that but she doesn’t know i am taking credit for her wisdom here.
where’s Pete? find me a song please.
something weird happened. you may delete the one you don’t like and this too Xty, or not.
Wow you broke the duplicate comment genie! Maybe it had to be said twice, but your wife is wise between her ears, as we like to say around here. My mum would heartily agree. You just end up playing on their playing field with their rules. It is a bit like the way people will commandeer language and then when you argue you have to use their terms. Pro-choice and pro-life both do this: who wants to be anti-choice or anti-life? And the abuse of the word community sure comes to mind.
And good morning.
And I will have to do as a Pete substitute:
I know it is long, but what a beautiful song. Everything is green and submarine … and no one knows the wheres and whys but something stirs and something cries … [edit: I put up the wrong version, here is the song in its original context as part of the surf movie Crystal Voyager]
And through the window in the wall come streaming in a million bright ambassadors of morning …
In case you like surfing movies, here it is in its entirety:
yes, there is still a bug. the edit feature is goofy. but i screwed up too. hard to explain.
relief is here. air conditioning is off. another dramatic flip in the weather. so far i am liking it. i hope i can go a at least a month though with out needing heat.
does “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” count?
i still would prefer to delegate DJ duties. thank you.
i haven’t posted an article in a while.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/donald-trump-and-other-super-rich-define-us-presidential-race-a-1052151.html#ref=nl-international
it blows my mind that anyone could disagree with this article. then i wonder if i have become 100% unbrainwashed because i do not watch traditional TV anymore – only Netflix and a few other commercial free channels. going further, i hardly watch anything other than documentaries. but finally, and then again, i also have been told repeatedly that i’m a communist. 🙂
And you have to reload after commenting if you want the emoticons back. I think one plugin that helps with the comment field provides an edit feature and wordpress also has one but if I get rid of either option they both seem to vanish … so better to have two that vaguely conflict than none. Every now and then I explore the plugin field because people keep writing new ones and I would like to improve the commenting experience but so far this will have to do. And I really wish it were easier to post pictures.
Hard to disagree indeed. I would only possibly quibble when he throws in an obligatory shot at the “free market” which really doesn’t exist, especially in the context of writing about the favours that are bestowed on rich donors. But the cast of characters that money has brought to the American political bench is alarming to say the least. Trump or Clinton? Help-la …
voting in the USA has become almost as morbid as “Sophie’s Choice”. probably a terrible analogy. but i keep saying this time i won’t vote, but i always do. and the guy i have voted for in 6 of 8 presidential elections has lost, but not unexpectedly, because he has had a snowball’s chance in hell of winning. as far as the US House, i think it is time to go to a parliamentary system in the USA so that the jackasses from either major party would never get a coalition. another benefit might be even less would get accomplished in congress.
edit: and i do believe in limited government. if they were any good, you wouldn’t need so many of them.
The two party system stinks it seems to me. You don’t want to turn into Italy, but more parties leads to more choice and coalitions which tend to put the brakes on government, as we can have minority governments for years, and it is harder for the rich to know who to back. And up and coming parties don’t sway the outcome much, so you don’t get the Perot effect.
But you are a commie pinko, so what’s this about limited government? We are very over governed in Canada and they often threaten to add more MP’s (Members of Parliament). I have often tried to vote for any party that seemed to offer less Federal government, but my success record is like yours, and the two times I think someone I voted for won they turned out to be complete flip-flops. But I will vote in our upcoming election, and probably for the NDP for the first time, but the guy in our neighbourhood is good and I won’t vote for Trudeau or the Conservative … they have been in power too long and march to a different drum than when first elected with a law and order kind of behaviour that seems tied to the US war on drugs … the Prime Minister has become invisible … but you would hardly know we are having an election.
But like you I don’t watch television news … but I do watch cable and see ads … one attack ad by the Conservatives and a defensive ad by the Liberals, and an almost policy ad by the NDP so far. But attack in Canada means they suggested that the Liberal leader isn’t ready to run the country … hardly a devastating gotcha moment.
Stepping out my backdoor … hubby off for the weekend
since you asked Xty, yes… the desire for limited government does make one a commie pinko. you have been schooled in this matter your self, and by a self appointed authority. (no contradiction here) only if you covet pure anarchy can you be ideologically pure. to the left of that position lies a tiny sliver of RINO (republican in name only) . any political views past that point are considered liberal, progressive, communist, or socialist, but in no particular order as all these words actually mean exactly the same thing.
Oh I by even having the audacity to be Canadian am quite clearly a socialist, and you as an American not wrapped in a flag and toting a firearm are undoubtedly actually a paid Soviet agent. But indeed, trying to defend rules at all made me a persona non grata, not to mention being colour blind skin wise and doubting the divinity of Jesus. Oh, and tolerating diversity even in sexual orientation. Even Obama had to pretend to be a homophobic Christian to get elected.
Remember the Gulch? Anarchy, but everyone had to be Christian … it is one of my complaints about the current breed of Americans who want “freedom” and are willing to impose it: it is a freedom to be identical to them.
And good morning. Having returned from the backyard I think I should ask you to
I had forgotten how lovely Mozart can be on a rainy morning.
And in case you are missing obscure British musical humour from my childhood, here are Flanders and Swann with their version of the third allegro from that concerto:
I used a little too much cheese, and maybe didn’t cook it quite long enough, but may I heartily recommend leek and portobello mushroom cheese souffle. Two kinds of old cheddar, one white and one orange, and some parmesan. I finally got a souffle dish (from St. Vincent’s surprisingly) a little while ago and it turns out they just aren’t that tricky to make really. Just have to have the courage to fold egg whites. But yum!
If you butter the dish and then manage to get a thin layer of grated cheese to stick to the butter (sort of like dusting a cake pan) you get a cheesy outside crust and the egg doesn’t stick or get that burnt edge or bottom that can be unpleasant both texturally and taste-wise.
After all, I did say you ought to come into my kitchen because it was going to be raining outside, which it still is doing here.
I made chocolate mousse for middle offspring’s birthday just passed, and it is actually very similar but you don’t cook it at the end, and just hope not to die of salmonella poisoning. But egg yolks gently stirred into hot liquid, egg whites then folded in … next I shall make a chocolate souffle.
i have to believe as you say that you have been stuck inside because of rain. you have been a prolific content provider today. not me, i have been outside. i have a good problem with a poor solution. i have too many tomatillos. if i can any more i will just give it all away, never get my jars back, but will be asked for even more next year. home canned salsa verde is pretty amazing.
one never knows from one year to the next which garden plants will be the over achievers. i had a relatively poor yield of tomatoes and peppers. the tomatillos made up for that. part of the problem is that you need at least two tomatillos to cross pollinate. i can never be sure if i can find the seedlings around here in the spring, so i start my own from seed early and inside. of course one can expect to have fewer sprouts than seeds planted, fewer that survive to planting, and then to lose a few once in the ground. i ended up with 5 healthy plants to season end after sprouting only six seeds. and then it appears to also have been a banner year. like i said, i have a good problem, and green thumbs too. seriously, right now my thumbs are quite literally green.
and i can tell from those last two songs that you are looking for Pete.
good news. do you remember that last year around Xtymas we helped a lady make tamales to give to causes? she will take all my extra tomatillos. i don’t have to can tomorrow!
i am looking for a hot tamale song. be back.
“And when finally the bottom fell out. I became withdrawn. The only thing i knew how to do was to keep on keeping on like a bird that flew”
i don’t really remember the Gulch, but i suspect it was a forum… plus i remember the Atlas Shrugged connection. maybe that was before i showed up over there.
yes, the contradictions abound. cognitive dissonance, but only if you have the cognitive part. fortunately those wing-nuts have the dissonance in spades.
i guess one of the guys i voted for who lost got right back on his feet Pete! he’s the CEO of a dope company. keep on keeping on is right.
I’m gonna squeeze at least 2 months on the no heat/no ac situation. September is one of my favorite months. Already cooling some and October is generally fairly gentle.
Odd and fascinating dreams lately.
we are supposed to get down to 44 ( 7 C ) tonight. and what was that about too much cheese Xty?
Barry brings some super sized xtra cheese.
Anyway. Was gonna play this earlier. Spectacular scenes.