tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post6612020074205737815..comments2023-12-01T21:23:52.047-08:00Comments on easyidler: Hanging on in a strange landsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01229359526524987174noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-27930121548673749832009-04-02T13:56:00.000-07:002009-04-02T13:56:00.000-07:00"Love is a rose but you better not pick itOnly gro..."Love is a rose but you better not pick it<BR/>Only grows when it's on the vine<BR/>Handful of thorns and you'll know you missed it<BR/>Lose your love when you say the word mine"<BR/>Neil Young<BR/><BR/>A rose by any other name--<BR/>Saw your post over at nobodys and couldn't resist--<BR/><BR/>Jim (Jj)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-56835684840945840472009-04-01T04:41:00.000-07:002009-04-01T04:41:00.000-07:00Going to the Dr.'s I', ammazed that you have any D...Going to the Dr.'s I', ammazed that you have any Dr's left in South Africa as I thought that they had all moved to Canada.<BR/><BR/>Speaking of resterants some years ago I toyed with the idea of opening a Chinese/German resterant but then thought better of it as I felt that a half hour after leaving my customers would be hungry for power, sad I know But.the Silverfishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09019227476380575638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-3332036610111325482009-03-31T09:49:00.000-07:002009-03-31T09:49:00.000-07:00I'm pretty much with you on that. Seeing one's own...I'm pretty much with you on that. Seeing one's own blind spots is pretty well impossible; we all have an incredible capacity for wishful thinking, for seeing the world and ourselves as we wish them to be rather than as they are. And under those conditions growth is very difficult. Of course that's a painful process, so a certain degree of masochism is necessary in order to fight down the pain and deal with the honest criticism in a mature fashion. I'm only partway there myself, and if you're able to do that, well, you're standing quite a few steps higher on the spiral staircase than I. <BR/><BR/>The parent-child relationship is a particularly thorny one, though. It's one thing to accept criticism from friends or siblings, or from one's own parent for that matter, but parents never want to take advice from their children. Which makes my relationship with my father particularly difficult, because I can see very clearly all the things he has to work on in order to continue his own growth, and unfortunately I'm the only one he's going to hear it from, but.... Well, you know how that goes.psychegramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11914887999856166297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-52681917292477261292009-03-31T08:22:00.000-07:002009-03-31T08:22:00.000-07:00Psychegram,Oh yes of course Horatio's cousin.There...Psychegram,<BR/>Oh yes of course Horatio's cousin.<BR/>There must be masochistic tendencies here, I expect honesty. I want friends to show me my blind spots. Don't want to do another million blind rebirths at the ego's mercy.<BR/>And the strangest thing of all is I will take these truths from everyone in the most calm detached manner, but god forbid my mother..........ha ha ha.<BR/>Where exactly are you situated?<BR/><BR/>Jj, of course and no I did not know. We sound like we popped from the same pod. Can be the life and soul of the party but will move mountains to avoid going there. One woman once asked me why I did not embrace her efforts at friendship and I had to tell her that it was a bodily reaction. I saw her and my skin ran cold. And that it was probably nothing about her and everything about me but that I had no way of overriding this body's signals. Especially when they can be so strongly polaric.<BR/><BR/><BR/>When meeting people my sincerity barometer clicks into place straight away. I trust it implicitly. I guess not being a particularly 'nice' person leaves me unawed by the 'niceness or sweetness of their projections. I want to see realness in its totality no matter how it looks.<BR/><BR/>I guess I would have compassion if I saw them, but maybe not in the abstract.<BR/><BR/>Off to play volleyball.<BR/>Love to you.suhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01229359526524987174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-54844093769840530512009-03-30T21:38:00.000-07:002009-03-30T21:38:00.000-07:00"Most people simply bore me-I can be very sociable..."Most people simply bore me-I can be very sociable and am at times-I don't mean that from a superiority standpoint--there's just not much to them other than the pre-programmed nice-ities and mundane conversation(s)--then again, maybe they feel that way about me--"<BR/><BR/>Yeah, sometimes I wonder ... you meet people that you're just convinced are little better than chatbots, just a big collection of canned dialogue and received wisdom, nice enough maybe but not a lot to sink your teeth into ... but are they really like that? Is it all just an elaborate mask, meant to hide the Weird so as to maintain their cover as a Normal? And of course, when in the presence of such a person, one's own mask inevitably slips into place....<BR/><BR/>I figure it's about 50/50 ... and lately I've just been forgetting the words and looking for the light. It's there or it isn't, and if it is, well, the mask comes away right quick, because you both realize, instinctively, that it's pointless. <BR/><BR/>"Would we have had the same compassion if a person from the next town over opened a restaurant and it failed?<BR/>I used to ask the question in churches we used to go to about why they didn't send money, or feed the hungry kids in the trailer parks and ramshackle houses around here but they would send money off to HAITI or somewhere else "more romantic"---<BR/>It bids some reflection--"<BR/><BR/>That's a <I>really</I> good point. Gets into the whole personal responsibility (the gateway to freedom), 'think global but act local' way of being. If we could convince ourself of that, that alone would suffice to change the world....<BR/><BR/>"draze": the dazed look on the faces of the sleepwalking multitude as it razes the earth of the last vestiges of green wilderness.psychegramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11914887999856166297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-13347408201215569292009-03-30T07:37:00.000-07:002009-03-30T07:37:00.000-07:00Would we have had the same compassion if a person ...Would we have had the same compassion if a person from the next town over opened a restaurant and it failed?<BR/>I used to ask the question in churches we used to go to about why they didn't send money, or feed the hungry kids in the trailer parks and ramshackle houses around here but they would send money off to HAITI or somewhere else "more romantic"---<BR/>It bids some reflection--<BR/><BR/>JjAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-15759864193248918732009-03-30T07:26:00.000-07:002009-03-30T07:26:00.000-07:00"Spinatio"--a spinach flavored potato chipI though..."Spinatio"--a spinach flavored potato chip<BR/>I thought everyone knew that!!!!<BR/>I have no friends because I'm an evil bastard--tee hee. Most people simply bore me-I can be very sociable and am at times-I don't mean that from a superiority standpoint--there's just not much to them other than the pre-programmed nice-ities and mundane conversation(s)--then again, maybe they feel that way about me--<BR/>I have to say, it does seem quite natural for me to live the way I do, and think the way I think, etc.--no putting on airs (sp?), why bother--you get me, or you don't and vice-versa--It IS, all about relationships though--with each other, ourselves, and all that is--<BR/><BR/>JjAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-40501567067017445762009-03-30T06:55:00.000-07:002009-03-30T06:55:00.000-07:00The ratio of spin? That or Horatio's natural philo...The ratio of spin? That or Horatio's natural philosopher cousin....<BR/><BR/>It's a rare person indeed who can take honest insights into their own lives. Most people spend a great deal of time trying to avoid thinking about exactly that, and react ... <I>predictably</I> when others offer something uncomfortably close to a deeply known but unacknowledged truth. I'm not saying I'm better ... there are things I know about myself, at some level, that I would be (to put it mildly) uncomfortable with others looking at. Still, all that stuff will come out, for me and for everyone, because that's the age we live in ... and if it causes rifts within our relationships, well, that's unavoidable. The ones worth keeping will reknit along stronger lines, and the ones that don't, well ... they were based on lies anyways. <BR/><BR/>That's easy for me to say. I have so very few close and real friends left ... the inevitable hangover from a decade of drinking buddies, I suppose.psychegramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11914887999856166297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-26856662795345226752009-03-29T23:07:00.000-07:002009-03-29T23:07:00.000-07:00Matthew,Actually I am finding a lot of relationshi...Matthew,<BR/>Actually I am finding a lot of relationships difficult nowadays.<BR/>My bovinity has gone awol and chewing the same old cud is just not satisfying anymore.<BR/>Honesty is supposedly much desired, but actually it is the least favourite attribute in humans. We all want honest politicians and yet when friends happen to offer a valid insight, whow - don't go there, I thought you loved me, etc.<BR/><BR/>As far as realising something after the fact, that is life entirely. I guess when something is past, possibility dies - but when its present there is no shortage of choices, so why take any.<BR/>And I have decided today once and for all that astrology is a retrospective science. Futuristic -ally it can't predict at all but looking back in can place everything in line perfectly (of course with the help of the astrologer).<BR/>Word verfication - spinatio - how cool is tha word. Can you weave it into a theorem?suhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01229359526524987174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-56813124203321058872009-03-29T18:33:00.000-07:002009-03-29T18:33:00.000-07:00No Chinese food in my local towns, though the gas ...No Chinese food in my local towns, though the gas station's run by a Korean family ... who're widely hated by the local rednecks, though to be fair I think the disdain is based more on personality than race or culture, but still ... my heart goes out to the father. Living in a small town in the middle of nowhere, no one with whom he can speak plain besides his wife and kids ... that sort of loneliness must be crushing. Maybe that's the vibe you were picking up on? A cocktail of homesickness and culture shock, with business failure added for taste.<BR/><BR/>It's always after the opportunity has passed that one wonders, what more could I have done? <BR/><BR/>Well, maybe it all turned out for the best for them. Maybe they're back in China, now, back with whatever family and friends they left behind ... or maybe they've simply packed up and headed elsewhere....? At any rate, it's very difficult to transcend the customer-proprieter barrier, isn't it? Economically mediated relationships are a bitch that way. Especially through the language barrier.psychegramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11914887999856166297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-71028015811721340752009-03-29T10:26:00.000-07:002009-03-29T10:26:00.000-07:00I am feeling a very strong need to drop the mother...I am feeling a very strong need to drop the mother label for a few weeks.<BR/>9 years ago I headed off to India alone for a few weeks.<BR/>I have never been so totally alive.<BR/>Craving that space right now where there is the freedom to simply be with what arises.<BR/>Was playing with ideas where I would like to go, but it really doesn't matter.<BR/>Just some me time. Come back fresh with something new to give.<BR/>Lets hope it can manifest.<BR/>And of course I will drop down the ladder.suhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01229359526524987174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-89025644981080718962009-03-29T06:33:00.000-07:002009-03-29T06:33:00.000-07:00Interesting how 2 people, or a family so quickly b...Interesting how 2 people, or a family so quickly becomes "us"--nice to be able to be just "me" at times--together, yet with some breathing space--we lose our individuality until we take it back--we can still be spouse, partner, mom, dad, friend-but those are just labels-yet it is so important to be "I"--it's the foundation--the other "names" are just labels and if we take on those labels, we are living by someone else's definition of who we "are", or a self-imposed definition of same--<BR/>I am so much more than what I do, who's father I am, who's husband I am--<BR/>So many neat little labels to pigeon-hole us--<BR/>This is it--me, today--not sure about tom'w, but then again, I don't have to be "sure"--<BR/>I'll be scanning the skies for UFO's--I'll probably get trampled by the boys and Juli trying to get to them first--be sure to put the ladder down for us--<BR/><BR/>JjAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-74544722841505342002009-03-29T00:16:00.000-07:002009-03-29T00:16:00.000-07:00Jj,I recall some years ago, Pieter and I were livi...Jj,<BR/>I recall some years ago, Pieter and I were living on a farm with three boys under the age of 4. It was hectic and super demanding. One went from one need or emergency to the next. Feeling particularly frazzled one night as I was stepping outside for some Mary Jane I mentioned to Pieter that I was going out to be picked up by some beings from another sphere. He came running out after me and said he was coming with, he was staying there alone.<BR/>You had to have been there, it was very funny.suhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01229359526524987174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-57178832668883765132009-03-28T12:03:00.000-07:002009-03-28T12:03:00.000-07:00kids have a way of doing that--juli and I would bo...kids have a way of doing that--juli and I would bolt but that would mean leaving the kids with the spouse who stayed behind, and that would just be a nasty thing to do to another human being--lol<BR/><BR/>JjAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-22131220577438434462009-03-28T07:22:00.000-07:002009-03-28T07:22:00.000-07:00Now Jj, what I really want to know is what must yo...Now Jj, what I really want to know is what must you exude to get invited to an orgy or swingers thing. Not that I have a desire to go, but what is it about me, that has made me immune to any offers in the course of this life.<BR/>Is it perhaps because I am always at home with children swarming around me? Big fat grin.suhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01229359526524987174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-49870907443228800852009-03-27T05:00:00.000-07:002009-03-27T05:00:00.000-07:00Just re-read your post--funny about the swingers t...Just re-read your post--funny about the swingers thing--here we are in the Ohio bible belt and I guess, from what we have heard, that it's popular here too--or was--some people got divorced and married someone else's wife-no "key party" invites for us--I'm crushed--lol<BR/>Might go have some Chinese food over the weekend--<BR/>I remember when they first started and the one cook couldn't get his car started--through hand gestures and laughs, I went around back and helped him get it going--amazing people--<BR/><BR/>Jim (Jj)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-82546680605719820962009-03-25T05:20:00.000-07:002009-03-25T05:20:00.000-07:00We are under the illusion that there is separatene...We are under the illusion that there is separateness in individuality--<BR/>It's what gives life sparkle--<BR/><BR/>Jim (Jj)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-24684075267529407932009-03-25T01:24:00.000-07:002009-03-25T01:24:00.000-07:00Well I could have got more adept with chopsticks h...Well I could have got more adept with chopsticks had the couple remained.<BR/>If knives and forks are not an option I go for eating with the right hand each and every time.<BR/><BR/>Jj,<BR/>When I move beyond this belief in separation than my life will have been worthwhile.suhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01229359526524987174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-80673030748968109842009-03-24T19:17:00.000-07:002009-03-24T19:17:00.000-07:00It's not usIt's not themIt's youAnd meAnd each one...It's not us<BR/>It's not them<BR/><BR/>It's you<BR/>And me<BR/>And each one of them<BR/>And each one of us<BR/><BR/>Jim (Jj)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-66474661732840139192009-03-24T03:41:00.000-07:002009-03-24T03:41:00.000-07:00Hey Susana,Perhaps this is a variety of reverse pa...Hey Susana,<BR/><BR/>Perhaps this is a variety of reverse parochialism, but my idea of hell is a place where no one knows how to use chopsticks.<BR/><BR/>Which is to say, this story broke my heart.<BR/><BR/>Um... apologies to people who fit the above category. If it's any consolation people in China don't know how to use knives and forks.nobodyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13067422372087431256noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-23014984137161993432009-03-23T22:33:00.000-07:002009-03-23T22:33:00.000-07:00Hi Jim, Whew the economy does not look that rough ...Hi Jim,<BR/> <BR/>Whew the economy does not look that rough here. I guess we have been riding hard times for a while, but no one I know has yet lost a job. Thnakfully. But then coming to think of it, everyone I know is self employed anyway.<BR/>The other day when I purchased the kids some basic clothing I was blown away to see how it was cheaper than our weekly food bill. Everything is cheaper than food nowadays. Kind of scary.<BR/>And funny you should be talking about sustainability I was reading John Seymour last night in bed. I Too hoped that the bug would bite more deeply than the usual superficial whim and actually take hold this time.<BR/>He says he wishes his family had done it differently. That it was a full time slog the way they pioneered. He said family a produces the chickens, family b, the corn and the flour, family c, the vegetables and family d the milk and milk products. He says forget doing it all by yourself, you simply lose the life quality that makes it worthwhile.<BR/><BR/>Summer is still holding out, and today the early morning sky is the brightest blue imaginable.<BR/>On that note - have a good one.suhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01229359526524987174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2054926825120141854.post-40082471599756656442009-03-23T19:10:00.000-07:002009-03-23T19:10:00.000-07:00Hi Su,If it’s what we call the “pioneer spirit”, I...Hi Su,<BR/>If it’s what we call the “pioneer spirit”, I don’t have it. We have a Chinese place in our dinky little rural town too. It started out great, they were busy—then the economy started making that giant sucking sound and people stopped going I guess. They used to have an all you can eat buffet on Friday and Saturday nights but I guess it wasn’t a money maker, or people just stopped going—don’t know. Their business is way down and they work their butts off—most of the cooks don’t speak English but the women running the phones and running them do—We still get food from there at times, but not very often—<BR/><BR/>Like you said, how do you pull up and move to what is more alien to them than Mars?<BR/>I never see them around town, I think they just work and sleep—<BR/><BR/>Most places around here rely on the tourist traffic because the people want to come down here and stare at the cows and Amish—but that has really fallen off too. People still come, but they aren’t buying anything—or at least not much-- The “touristy” town about 5 miles down the road has a lot of for rent signs in the windows—one guy bought a restaurant, redid the outside and inside, and was closed in about 8 months—just the way it is—So much of the workers around here relied on the building trades too—plus sawmills, and no one is building anything—lot’s of farmland auctions and farming equipment for sale too.<BR/><BR/>I can see people moving in with family members and trying to pool resources but there will only be so many minimum wage jobs to go around—<BR/><BR/>Went over to the organic farm where we get our milk today, and they were talking about milk going from $22.00 per hundred weight down to $8.00—that’s what the buyers will pay the farmers—farmers are tough but a lot of them are just liquidating and getting what they can—no big time developers to buy up that land for high prices any more either—our friends are still doing OK because they get quite a higher price for their organic milk—and people laughed at them years ago when they turned organic—these folks know about 911, etc and will ALWAYS talk to you for as long as you want—wonderful people—<BR/><BR/>Started some seeds today—maybe take a chance on the weather and plant some of the cold weather stuff in the next few days—feeling energetic about getting more self-reliant—hope it lasts—Juli was just saying the other day as she was opening a jar of beets she canned a couple years ago that she intends on buying everything we can’t grow and just spending a week in the kitchen canning and jarring stuff up—also going to order in a bunch of canned veggies from an organic co-op we belong to along with rice, oats, etc. I like the feeling of having the storage rooms full—with a long winter here, we can’t rely on moderate weather to grow year round or even close—wow, this is a long one—better sign off—<BR/><BR/>Jim (Jj)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com