Category: Life

S*** happens

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14 Years Today, But Who Is Counting

One of my siblings passed around the following cartoon this morning:

I am moody, grumpy, opinionated, prone to depression, and occasionally let my anger get the best of me. All of that while being more than a little misanthropic and, more often than not, frugal to a fault… cheap sounds so vulgar.

Good bless Señora for putting up with me.  I remarked one time that her ability to do so was due to all those years she spent as s special education teacher.  She told me after I had repeated that comment a few times that I could say it five more times then I needed to stop.  Not exactly sure how many more times I have intermittently resurrected that remark, but I have ran out of fingers and toes to count it on.

Glad I found someone who is not like me!

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Sometimes it is Binary

I do not see many things in life as being either black or white, but mostly I see them as gray. This is especially true when we are speaking of ethics, psychology, religion, etc. This is actually a bit of a curse, but that is a topic for another night of rambling thoughts.

Even in physics – or maybe especially so – things are not either/or, that is the point of quantum mechanics.  I have a vague understanding of this field, but the key word is vague (very vague).  The state of any particular particle is a matter of probabilities rather than certainties. The first time I read that light was both a particle and wave, I scratched my head until it bled.

However, in life, we are sometimes given a binary option.  We can hang on to a wrong, a slight, an injustice – perceived or real, stewing in it to the point of becoming bitter, or we can let it go. This is especially true as there is no way to go back and change the past. Life moves on whether we do or not.

Just saying.

*******

What started this particular piece of rambling was a group text chat that I was a part of.  It started as a rant against that horrible waste of protoplasm known as tRump.  I chimed in with a comment. What I got back was a bitter statement about a situation in this person’s life that only had a vague connection to the subject of the group chat.

And yes, I am self-aware enough to know that I am not nearly as self-aware as I give myself credit for being self-aware.  All by way of saying that the above applies to me as well.

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Reading While Blind

There is an anecdote told about Abraham Lincoln rejecting a man suggested for a Cabinet position as Lincoln did not like his face. His advisor remarked that a man is not responsible for his face. To which Lincoln purportedly replied that anyone over 40 is responsible for his own face.

I did a cursory search on the Internet to verify the veracity of this statement.  It may or may not have been said by him.  Similar comments have been attributed to several folks over the years.  It seems to have been a meme current at that time, but I am going with Lincoln.

I have riffed on this anecdote and said something somewhat similar — anyone over the age of 40 is Continue reading “Reading While Blind”

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The EASIEST countries to move to as an American.

I will never pry Señora out of St. Louis, and I am very fond of her…  If not for that, I would definitely see this as a possibility.   I thought Costa Rica was a wonderful country with very friendly people.  Panama I would have to visit to get a better feel for.  The thought of living in Spain has always intrigued me.  I hear wonderful things about Portugal.  While Italy is not on this list, it has a warm spot in my heart.  My Spanish is passable enough that it would not be an issue in 3 of the countries, although English is widely spoken in those three too. My main issue with Central America is that golf courses are few and far between, and not particularly cheap.  Of course if my back continues its downward journey, that will cease to be so important. I know that four of the six countries on the list have large ex-pat communities.  The other two might, but it would need some research.  I am sure he does not really mean it, but I have a long standing offer of housing in Honduras.

I just cannot get over the fact that 71 million of my fellow citizens voted for the monster that is tRump, especially with every sane, main stream Republican screaming at the top of their voice that the Emperor is wearing no clothes, please vote for for the Democrat.  There is something fundamentally wrong with the soul of this country. I won’t bore you with a rant about what I think that is.

I may be an American, but I am not a proud American, in fact I am the complete opposite after this election.

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Chopping wood, folding t-shirts…

Recently I experienced my 26,298 rotation of this planet we call home.  This triggered the lever that counts the number of orbits around the star we refer to as The Sun, setting it at 48 (in hexadecimal) total revolutions, beginning the 49th.

All these largish numbers put me in a reflective mood, a pensive frame of mind, going over what has transpired in all those rotations and orbits.  All I could come up with is that it all has been rather pointless.

I then remembered a well known Zen koan:

“The novice says to the master, ‘What does one do before enlightenment?’
‘Chop wood. Carry water,’ replies the master.
The novice asks, ‘What, then, does one do after enlightenment?’
‘Chop wood. Carry water.”

Except in my case, having never chopped wood or carried water in the pioneer sense of the word, or even in the woodchuck sense…if a woodchuck could chuck wood, I say fold t-shirts, wash the dishes.

Enlightenment will, in all likelihood, have to wait until all the counters have been reset to zero, and I might get another shot at it… or not.

In the meantime, I am folding t-shirts and washing dishes.

Om mani padme hum

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I Am So Proud To Live In Missouri – Not

The following article from the alternative newspaper, Riverfront Times, popped up in my Google news feed: Missouri Ranks Dead Last in National Survey of LGBTQ+ Equality

I Misunderstood Missouri

I moved to St. Louis after living and working in Mississippi for over three years. While I left some good friends behind I was more than glad to get away from the religious conservatism that dominates politics down there.  My first impression of Missouri was of St. Louis which left me with a hopeful feeling. Then I discovered the rest of Missouri.   While St. Louis is more of a purple with bluish hues, the politics of the rest of the state is a Trumpian dystopia concerned with protecting so called guns rights and waging cultural battles against basic individual rights and freedoms, especially against women and folks with alternate lifestyles. It is deeply red, and, for me, very discouraging to the point of being depressing. Of course, I am an Okie by birth and with Oklahoma’s super hard turn to the far right, I find my native state even more depressing.

Why Would You Care

I really do not care what consenting Continue reading “I Am So Proud To Live In Missouri – Not”

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I Love You – Part 2…

A while ago I posted an article: I Love You – Part 1…Maybe. What prompted the article was my wife’s use of the three word phrase, I love you.  She says it frequently and to many folks.  For me, it is not something I say so much. In the first article I explored some the reasons why I do not. I also gave my flimsy definition of love:

… to love someone is have a responsibility towards that person. I have a need to live up to my responsibilities, and there is only so much I can take on. 

When I say I love you I can mean many things.  It means I care for you.  It may mean I will take care of you.  It means I will be there for you. It means I will accept your eccentricities. And this is before we get to romantic love.

By the above definition I love The Wee Dog, for what that is worth. One of my readers commented that Continue reading “I Love You – Part 2…”

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Michelangelo’s David – Redux

Unless you have been doing the wise thing, and totally avoiding the news, you have seen or heard this news story: Principal resigns after Florida students shown Michelangelo statue

Apparently in one of the classes at this Christian school, students were shown a picture of the statue of David by Michelangelo. The lesson on Renaissance art, given to 11 and 12-year-olds, also included references to Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” painting and Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus“.  Of course, all three pieces of art display the unclothed or partially unclothed human body. They are also some of the most renowned pieces of art of Western civilization.

The article states that the principal was given the option of resigning in place of being fired.  The reason given was that she had not Continue reading “Michelangelo’s David – Redux”

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My new nickname?

I don’t remember exactly when my mother went into the nursing home, but it is pushing ten years that she has been in one or the other.  Her health is reasonable, but she suffers from dementia, Alzheimer’s to be specific.  This September she will be ninety.  The first half of her time in nursing homes she knew I was someone, but for the last several years she has had no clue who I am.

I do not visit her near as often as I should or would like to.  I live in a suburb of St. Louis, and she is in Continue reading “My new nickname?”

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Obituary – Neosho Weiss

Neosho Weiss, more intimately known as Osho, passed away in his sleep on the 4th of January, 2023.  For quite some time he had been in congestive heart failure, but with much love he had maintained a quality of life during this period.

He was the bosom buddy and constant companion of Adam Weiss.  When I say constant companion that is literally true.  Until the recent new business start up, with the way Adam worked , Osho and Adam were always together – 24/7. The exceptions being Continue reading “Obituary – Neosho Weiss”