Saturday, October 14, 2006
This Oughta Be Good... Lay The Blame With The Wine I Took!
...
Hmm... Why do I keep having this impression that I just ducked a series of ill-thought of situations? Why do I keep thinking, somewhere deep down, that I am "lucky" somehow (without being "Lucky Luciano" per say) - that I am fortunate in my misfortunes?
(Feel free to click on the Amelia Island tour after reading me, by the way... The pic at your left is also a hyperlink to the tour! Enjoy! :)
Has it got anything to do with the fact that I dodged the draft? (Oh yeah - there was no draft to dodge! Wow - see the extent of my luck?!?)
Has it got anything to do with the fact that Jason didn't show up this Friday the 13th, as feared? (That is, Jason the renovator! He is still not done refurbishing my bathroom - and he was supposed to finish the job this Friday! Couldn't make it... HA! Proof enough that if someone wants the job well done and done ON TIME - one should do it oneself! What will be his excuse, I wonder... He was out playing hockey with his buddies? Tis the season to be slashy, yeah... I hope he got a game misconduct for that... But I digress...)
Back to the topic at hand then...
So, has my feeling of being blessed -while being cursed- got anything to do with the fact that Mike Myers himself called me - THIS MONTH too, of all months - and I managed to stave off, ah, pain and discomfort shall we say?!? Hope he won't show up on my doorstep, with that hokey white mask of his and a hatchet, by the end of the month now... (Of course, the Mike Myers who called me is not the silly Austin Powers so-called actor, nor is he the Michael Myers of Halloween films - I'd rather be visited by his frequent co-star, Jamie Lee! No - this Mike Myers who did call me was yet a third guy, calling about a certain novel idea of mine... Anyway, I hope it is a novel idea! ;)
Anyways... Am I really so lucky?!?
The mere fact that I have reached adulthood while somehow escaping the clutches of the Godfather, the Fairy Godmother, Santa, Aliens, Dracula, the Headless Horseman, the Wolfman, the Howling werewolves, the Mummy, her Daddy, her In-Laws, the Broom Riders, the Wind Takers, the Sea Farers, Frankenstein, Christine and other Cars (and most fearsome of all - their drivers!!!), Cujo, Jaws, Gojira, Mighty Joe and the like... Must mean that I have SOME degree of luck on my side - huh?!?
Am I truly what some would call "a lucky guy" though?
This has been, verily, a life-long question - at least since the day when a huge stone just missed squashing me dead when I was but a wee lad, a little cutesy boy (the cutest little boy in the world, verily; but my title was never officially recognized by the board of governors of cuteness, somehow... *sigh*)
Most amazing of all, I have a prodigious memory but I don't recall the event at all - an event that could have ended my life prematurely and deprived you all of little luminous me here! Imagine the loss...!!! ;)
That huge stone was a chunk of an old wall I stood next to, on a sunny day in old Europe - whatever I was doing there, I was so captivated by it, that I never noticed the stone had even fallen down next to me!!!
I really must be an absent-minded nutty professor type...?!? :(
Since waaaaaay back too...?!?
But I digress again...
You know what IT REALLY IS...?
Ever since I lost my "bestest friend" - I have gained a guardian angel!
I have gained extra guidance - which comes to me via some subconscious channel, evidently... But comes to me it sure does!
And I am 1000% better off for it!
Thanks Dad :)
I will visit you often - until the day I too tread where you tread now...! :)
Oh - and I took no wine at all on this night! No beer either! ;)
Link
Hmm... Why do I keep having this impression that I just ducked a series of ill-thought of situations? Why do I keep thinking, somewhere deep down, that I am "lucky" somehow (without being "Lucky Luciano" per say) - that I am fortunate in my misfortunes? (Feel free to click on the Amelia Island tour after reading me, by the way... The pic at your left is also a hyperlink to the tour! Enjoy! :)
Has it got anything to do with the fact that I dodged the draft? (Oh yeah - there was no draft to dodge! Wow - see the extent of my luck?!?)
Has it got anything to do with the fact that Jason didn't show up this Friday the 13th, as feared? (That is, Jason the renovator! He is still not done refurbishing my bathroom - and he was supposed to finish the job this Friday! Couldn't make it... HA! Proof enough that if someone wants the job well done and done ON TIME - one should do it oneself! What will be his excuse, I wonder... He was out playing hockey with his buddies? Tis the season to be slashy, yeah... I hope he got a game misconduct for that... But I digress...)
Back to the topic at hand then...
So, has my feeling of being blessed -while being cursed- got anything to do with the fact that Mike Myers himself called me - THIS MONTH too, of all months - and I managed to stave off, ah, pain and discomfort shall we say?!? Hope he won't show up on my doorstep, with that hokey white mask of his and a hatchet, by the end of the month now... (Of course, the Mike Myers who called me is not the silly Austin Powers so-called actor, nor is he the Michael Myers of Halloween films - I'd rather be visited by his frequent co-star, Jamie Lee! No - this Mike Myers who did call me was yet a third guy, calling about a certain novel idea of mine... Anyway, I hope it is a novel idea! ;)
Anyways... Am I really so lucky?!?
The mere fact that I have reached adulthood while somehow escaping the clutches of the Godfather, the Fairy Godmother, Santa, Aliens, Dracula, the Headless Horseman, the Wolfman, the Howling werewolves, the Mummy, her Daddy, her In-Laws, the Broom Riders, the Wind Takers, the Sea Farers, Frankenstein, Christine and other Cars (and most fearsome of all - their drivers!!!), Cujo, Jaws, Gojira, Mighty Joe and the like... Must mean that I have SOME degree of luck on my side - huh?!?
Am I truly what some would call "a lucky guy" though?
This has been, verily, a life-long question - at least since the day when a huge stone just missed squashing me dead when I was but a wee lad, a little cutesy boy (the cutest little boy in the world, verily; but my title was never officially recognized by the board of governors of cuteness, somehow... *sigh*)
Most amazing of all, I have a prodigious memory but I don't recall the event at all - an event that could have ended my life prematurely and deprived you all of little luminous me here! Imagine the loss...!!! ;)
That huge stone was a chunk of an old wall I stood next to, on a sunny day in old Europe - whatever I was doing there, I was so captivated by it, that I never noticed the stone had even fallen down next to me!!!
I really must be an absent-minded nutty professor type...?!? :(
Since waaaaaay back too...?!?
But I digress again...
You know what IT REALLY IS...?
Ever since I lost my "bestest friend" - I have gained a guardian angel!
I have gained extra guidance - which comes to me via some subconscious channel, evidently... But comes to me it sure does!
And I am 1000% better off for it!
Thanks Dad :)
I will visit you often - until the day I too tread where you tread now...! :)
Link
Friday, October 13, 2006
Friday The 13th again... *Woooooooo*...
Okay now - forget the wolfies and things that go bump in the night...
Forget trying to picture all the Jasons you know sporting hockey masks and wielding butcher knives...
Dismiss any ridiculous superstition surrounding black cats and broken glass - and dare to be stupid all the while daring to tread underneath a ladder on this ominous day...!
All this to get to what I'm really driving at here...
And it is this: stop by this site.
I would have posted on here art clips from that site instead of "werewolfie" up there - but I am prevented from doing so, not by a Higher Power but simply because of... the insidious law of copyright! ;)
A hint is always allowed though - and so, here it is...
On that site, you will find art that is much more pleasant to the eye - not "eye candy" crappy stuff either! This quote, which is to be found on the aforementioned site, is most telling...
"The true work of art is but a shadow of the Divine Perfection" - Michelangelo
So do not be afraid, on this Friday the 13th, to click on that link! ;)
You'll be glad you did! :)
Link
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Cannot smile today? This might be the remedy - heck, the forevermore panacea!
...
Enlightenment to me is to finally access peace, bliss, serenity... TRUE serenity!
It is knowing better - seeing beyond mere materialistic appearances and attaining thus a greater level of perception - which, in turn, can lead to the Light indeed!
It is being well surrounded too... Knowing how to steer clear of the sources of "disturbance", whatever nature said disturbance might have at its core...
It is assessing that we do not need the whole world, just that little chunk of it where we can be happy - as a great friend of mine once told me - and make sure that the whole blamed world knows that from us! ;)
I could go on - but this sums it all up pretty succinctly in my estimation!
Just make sure to click on the link du jour too now...!
Link
Enlightenment to me is to finally access peace, bliss, serenity... TRUE serenity!
It is knowing better - seeing beyond mere materialistic appearances and attaining thus a greater level of perception - which, in turn, can lead to the Light indeed!
It is being well surrounded too... Knowing how to steer clear of the sources of "disturbance", whatever nature said disturbance might have at its core...
It is assessing that we do not need the whole world, just that little chunk of it where we can be happy - as a great friend of mine once told me - and make sure that the whole blamed world knows that from us! ;)
I could go on - but this sums it all up pretty succinctly in my estimation!
Just make sure to click on the link du jour too now...!
Labels: Hard Road, Sam Roberts
Link
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
After such a bad day, overall, all I can say is... Wish I was there!
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Vexed? It is a good thing...
...
There is a monument in the shape of a cross that stands a mere few feet away from the church where I was baptized, lo, not all that long ago... The cross stands very tall - about 12 feet tall - on the grass that belongs to a school actually - a school I never attended, somehow - l'École Leblanc. I remember my father showing me this monument, in the 70s... The monument has been there since 1941 - the year a dear relative of mine was born... They commemorated with this monument the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Jacques Cartier in the area, in 1541 - the plaque that states all that took another 50 years to find its way there though, having been installed only in 1991.
Jacques Cartier's third voyage of 1541 has been summed up with three words: Failure, Retirement & Suspension.
Aside from Cartier, the monument has much greater significance for me personally...
I remember 1991 very well - two out of those three words that qualified Cartier's final voyage apply for that year as well, as far as a certain other person of my entourage was concerned back then...
Well, at some point anyway, it seemed to be that way... However, appearances are always so deceiving - and so it was there too...
But I digress - and verse nostalgic by the same token there.
Back to the monument now - it is a huge white, immaculate cross, with a crest embedded in its center and the years 1541 and 1941 across said crest...
It looks very stylish, very elegant and has not changed one iota in all these years...
On the plaque, there is an enchanting hymn that always captivated my imagination...
Interesting that a web search unearthed many different lyrics and versions of the hymn - titled Vexilla Regis...
Artiste: Noctes
Chanson: Vexilla Regis Prodeunt Inferni
Beware-with the dark I ride as one. When my legacy I reclaim.
As a fallen god, with the lunar legions by my side
On dragon wings I fly. Behold-the etheral shades of night
Pletoric formations of dark dancing past the aeons of the eleusinian vast
Within a dream, my honour to last, to sprout throughout my blood
to strengthen my heart.
The heaven torns apart as twillight shreds and thunder.
With a vampire breath I whirl the frost, to storm within my kingdom to come
Dead winter enthrones.
Vexilla regis produent inferni
As a phantom of night I ride, by thy side
The Archangels revocation of the dead
The apocalyptic revelation
The arrival of plague and death.
The Armageddon revolution-to come
Astral sparks of fire, descending to ablaze
The landscapes drained by sulphur rain
from the canopy licked by flames
Shadows walks the earth, to ravish life and glee
To walk the fields of reverie, sowing dark in dreams to be
Beware-with the dark I ride as one. When my legacy I reclaim.
As a fallen god, with the lunar legions by my side
On dragon wings I fly. Behold-the etheral shades of night
Clamant-the silence-as blood to my ears
The battlescreams echoes has vanished, faded into the past
The black sun is falling into the abyss
with the lakes of dark blood to merge
The sky is aflame, when I ride through the night
as a phantom through fire I fly
Armageddon...The final redemption of wrath
Dies Irae...
The latin and French version that is quoted on the plaque is much more one of DEVOTION than one so... Apocalyptic! Although I like apocalyptic - aye, I do! Almost as much as I like nostalgic, romantic, antique and antics...
But I've just digressed once again right there...
The following is the Latin & French *classic* version:
(Not all the latin is translated though - if anyone can help with that, feel free to do so!)
VEXILLA Regis prodeunt ; - Les étendards du Roi s’avancent
fulget Crucis mysterium, - La Croix rayonne en son mystère.
quo carne carnis conditor - En croix, la Vie subit la mort,
suspensus est patibulo.1 - Et par sa mort eut fruit de vie.
Confixa clavis viscera
tendens manus, vestigia,
redemptionis gratia
hic immolata est hostia.
Quo vulneratus insuper - Toi qui reçus le coup de lance
mucrone diro lanceae, - Au fer brutal, pour nous laver
ut nos lavaret crimine,2 - De la souillure du péché,
manavit unda et sanguine. - Tu ruisselas d’eau et de sang.
Impleta sunt quae concinit - C’est accompli ce qu’a chanté
David fideli carmine, - David en des vers prophétiques.
dicendo nationibus : - Il proclamait : « Sur les nations,
regnavit a ligno Deus. - C’est par le bois que règne Dieu. »
Arbor decora et fulgida, - Arbre splendide, éblouissant,
ornata Regis purpura, - Orné de la pourpre royale,
electa digno stipite - Tronc choisi qui fus jugé digne
tam sancta membra tangere. - De toucher des membres si saints.
Beata, cuius brachiis - Bienheureux Arbre dont les bras
pretium pependit saeculi : - Ont porté la rançon du monde !
statera facta corporis, - Tu pesas le poids de ce corps,
praedam tulitque tartari. 3 - Et l’Enfer dut lâcher sa proie.
Fundis aroma cortice, -
vincis sapore nectare,
iucunda fructu fertili
plaudis triumpho nobili.
Salve, ara, salve, victima,
de passionis gloria,
qua vita mortem pertulit
et morte vitam reddidit.
O Crux ave, spes unica, - Salut, ô Croix, seule espérance !
hoc Passionis tempore ! * - Procure, au temps de la Passion,
piis adauge gratiam, - Grâce abondante aux cœurs fidèles,
reisque dele crimina. - Et rémission aux cœurs coupables.
Te, fons salutis Trinitas, - Trinité, source de salut,
collaudet omnis spiritus : - Les vivants chantent Vos louanges,
quos per Crucis mysterium - Victorieux par Votre Croix,
salvas, fove per saecula. - Ils recevront la récompense. Amen !
On this link, you can listen to the hymn (or cantique) too...!
Oh, and as for Cartier and his failed voyage...
The historian in me would be remiss if he did not add the following...
In Spring of 1542, Cartier abandoned Charlesbourg-Royal and set out for France with a supply of what he believed was gold and diamonds gathered from the shores of the St. Lawrence River.
Back in France, the King was ecstatic over the cache of 'gold and diamonds' Cartier had brought with him from the New World. However, the gold turned out to be worthless iron pyrite - fool's gold. The diamonds were nothing but quartz. Canada, apparently, offered nothing which would compensate for the money spent to finance the voyages.
French exploration in the New World would subsequently be suspended.
No more commissions were ever granted to Jacques Cartier. He retired to his birthplace, St. Malo, where he died in 1557.
My father's health really started deteriorating in 1992.
By September of 1993, he was forced into early retirement because of his failing health.
His plans to retire to his birthplace were ruined by all this.
He would live about the same amount of time afterwards, only not in his birthplace and in relative good health, like Cartier, the bringer of fool's gold, would enjoy...
Link
There is a monument in the shape of a cross that stands a mere few feet away from the church where I was baptized, lo, not all that long ago... The cross stands very tall - about 12 feet tall - on the grass that belongs to a school actually - a school I never attended, somehow - l'École Leblanc. I remember my father showing me this monument, in the 70s... The monument has been there since 1941 - the year a dear relative of mine was born... They commemorated with this monument the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Jacques Cartier in the area, in 1541 - the plaque that states all that took another 50 years to find its way there though, having been installed only in 1991.
Jacques Cartier's third voyage of 1541 has been summed up with three words: Failure, Retirement & Suspension.
Aside from Cartier, the monument has much greater significance for me personally...
I remember 1991 very well - two out of those three words that qualified Cartier's final voyage apply for that year as well, as far as a certain other person of my entourage was concerned back then...
Well, at some point anyway, it seemed to be that way... However, appearances are always so deceiving - and so it was there too...
But I digress - and verse nostalgic by the same token there.
Back to the monument now - it is a huge white, immaculate cross, with a crest embedded in its center and the years 1541 and 1941 across said crest...
It looks very stylish, very elegant and has not changed one iota in all these years...
On the plaque, there is an enchanting hymn that always captivated my imagination...
Interesting that a web search unearthed many different lyrics and versions of the hymn - titled Vexilla Regis...
Artiste: Noctes
Chanson: Vexilla Regis Prodeunt Inferni
Beware-with the dark I ride as one. When my legacy I reclaim.
As a fallen god, with the lunar legions by my side
On dragon wings I fly. Behold-the etheral shades of night
Pletoric formations of dark dancing past the aeons of the eleusinian vast
Within a dream, my honour to last, to sprout throughout my blood
to strengthen my heart.
The heaven torns apart as twillight shreds and thunder.
With a vampire breath I whirl the frost, to storm within my kingdom to come
Dead winter enthrones.
Vexilla regis produent inferni
As a phantom of night I ride, by thy side
The Archangels revocation of the dead
The apocalyptic revelation
The arrival of plague and death.
The Armageddon revolution-to come
Astral sparks of fire, descending to ablaze
The landscapes drained by sulphur rain
from the canopy licked by flames
Shadows walks the earth, to ravish life and glee
To walk the fields of reverie, sowing dark in dreams to be
Beware-with the dark I ride as one. When my legacy I reclaim.
As a fallen god, with the lunar legions by my side
On dragon wings I fly. Behold-the etheral shades of night
Clamant-the silence-as blood to my ears
The battlescreams echoes has vanished, faded into the past
The black sun is falling into the abyss
with the lakes of dark blood to merge
The sky is aflame, when I ride through the night
as a phantom through fire I fly
Armageddon...The final redemption of wrath
Dies Irae...
The latin and French version that is quoted on the plaque is much more one of DEVOTION than one so... Apocalyptic! Although I like apocalyptic - aye, I do! Almost as much as I like nostalgic, romantic, antique and antics...
But I've just digressed once again right there...
The following is the Latin & French *classic* version:
(Not all the latin is translated though - if anyone can help with that, feel free to do so!)
VEXILLA Regis prodeunt ; - Les étendards du Roi s’avancent
fulget Crucis mysterium, - La Croix rayonne en son mystère.
quo carne carnis conditor - En croix, la Vie subit la mort,
suspensus est patibulo.1 - Et par sa mort eut fruit de vie.
Confixa clavis viscera
tendens manus, vestigia,
redemptionis gratia
hic immolata est hostia.
Quo vulneratus insuper - Toi qui reçus le coup de lance
mucrone diro lanceae, - Au fer brutal, pour nous laver
ut nos lavaret crimine,2 - De la souillure du péché,
manavit unda et sanguine. - Tu ruisselas d’eau et de sang.
Impleta sunt quae concinit - C’est accompli ce qu’a chanté
David fideli carmine, - David en des vers prophétiques.
dicendo nationibus : - Il proclamait : « Sur les nations,
regnavit a ligno Deus. - C’est par le bois que règne Dieu. »
Arbor decora et fulgida, - Arbre splendide, éblouissant,
ornata Regis purpura, - Orné de la pourpre royale,
electa digno stipite - Tronc choisi qui fus jugé digne
tam sancta membra tangere. - De toucher des membres si saints.
Beata, cuius brachiis - Bienheureux Arbre dont les bras
pretium pependit saeculi : - Ont porté la rançon du monde !
statera facta corporis, - Tu pesas le poids de ce corps,
praedam tulitque tartari. 3 - Et l’Enfer dut lâcher sa proie.
Fundis aroma cortice, -
vincis sapore nectare,
iucunda fructu fertili
plaudis triumpho nobili.
Salve, ara, salve, victima,
de passionis gloria,
qua vita mortem pertulit
et morte vitam reddidit.
O Crux ave, spes unica, - Salut, ô Croix, seule espérance !
hoc Passionis tempore ! * - Procure, au temps de la Passion,
piis adauge gratiam, - Grâce abondante aux cœurs fidèles,
reisque dele crimina. - Et rémission aux cœurs coupables.
Te, fons salutis Trinitas, - Trinité, source de salut,
collaudet omnis spiritus : - Les vivants chantent Vos louanges,
quos per Crucis mysterium - Victorieux par Votre Croix,
salvas, fove per saecula. - Ils recevront la récompense. Amen !
On this link, you can listen to the hymn (or cantique) too...!
Oh, and as for Cartier and his failed voyage...
The historian in me would be remiss if he did not add the following...
In Spring of 1542, Cartier abandoned Charlesbourg-Royal and set out for France with a supply of what he believed was gold and diamonds gathered from the shores of the St. Lawrence River.
Back in France, the King was ecstatic over the cache of 'gold and diamonds' Cartier had brought with him from the New World. However, the gold turned out to be worthless iron pyrite - fool's gold. The diamonds were nothing but quartz. Canada, apparently, offered nothing which would compensate for the money spent to finance the voyages.
French exploration in the New World would subsequently be suspended.
No more commissions were ever granted to Jacques Cartier. He retired to his birthplace, St. Malo, where he died in 1557.
My father's health really started deteriorating in 1992.
By September of 1993, he was forced into early retirement because of his failing health.
His plans to retire to his birthplace were ruined by all this.
He would live about the same amount of time afterwards, only not in his birthplace and in relative good health, like Cartier, the bringer of fool's gold, would enjoy...
Link
Monday, October 09, 2006
Thanksgiving, eh?
...
Columbus Day for you, Americans, is the Canadian Thanksgiving here - I hate Chris Columbus, of course! He learned all that he knew from the Portuguese then was the turncoat - selling out to the rival Spaniards! His services were less than desirable though - he set out to discover the road to the Indies - GOT LOST and wound up... here! At least, the Portuguese (led by Vasco Da Gama) truly found what they were looking for! Colombus is, thus, nothing but a hack! It is telling that Americans honor him so much and all - along with all the other doubtful stuff that America is "built upon" (Freemasonry... Illuminati... Slavery... Skull & Bones... Bilderberg!!! Yeah - I love to say the name "Bilderberg" - it rolls off the tongue in a very amusing way, don't you agree? But I digress...)
No wonder Dubya got elected not once but twice, all things considered!
The USofA deserved no better than that...!
Canada sucks mightily big time too, mind you - the country's very existence is another, even more complicated historical mistake! France should have never come here - they only did so to compete with England! The end result of the presence of the two here created only an incongrous alleged "country" that is always threatening to unravel at the seams - being nothing more than a very fragile and tentative patchwork job! But I digress again...
And so, if we make total and complete abstraction of Columbus (Colombus?) - as well we should - today's marquee holiday is the Canadian version of Thanksgiving...
I will not hold for later what I have to say on the subject - or for the occasion rather - to the profit of American Thanksgiving... Ohhhh, no I won't! Why should I? I have no indication that Americans -in general- are greater supporters of the TLB Prime Network than any other nation "affected" by it (see the red dot constellation on my Clustermap here, which pinpoints the location of aaaaaaaall the L.O.V.s here - the Luminous Online Visitors of this blog!)
What I have to say, of course, is not particularly "nicey-nicey"... No!
But it is the truth - as this blog always focuses on - and I would go ahead with it no matter what...!
I have had a very lousy 2006 and see very few positives - but they are there, those positives, and it is up to us to extirpate something positive from any negative experience that we go through in our lives too...
That is what I always try to do and what I will always strive for - as long as I live!
This Thanksgiving will be imbued with the spirit and philosophy behind this luminous quote: "I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers." - Kahlil Gibran.
With emphasis on changing that ungrateful state, of course... Even if towards these "teachers", aye - I shall not be an ingrate! I am most thankful and grateful to GOD though - it goes without saying but it needs stating, loud and clear, often and especially today - GOD above all, yes, for having placed these so-called "teachers" on my path in the first place...
Hence, without further ado, here is my list of things that I am indeed thankful for - against all odds, rhyme or reason!
I am thankful this year for my enemies - for without them, I would not be half as "good" (if only by sharp contrast...)
I am thankful this year for DEATH - for, without it, LIFE would not be so appreciated while we can enjoy it - and enjoy it we should, for it is so very short and we never know when our time is up (here today, gone tomorrow - right?)
I am thankful this year for LOUSY FAMILY - because, with their presence, one can readily assess how invaluable TRUE FAMILY REALLY IS... (This one goes out to some Ontario residents... Some "locals" too...)
I am thankful this year for UNKINDNESS - for it makes me want to be the opposite all the more - lest I start indulging in self-hatred as much as hatred of these other types...!
I am thankful this year for the ENVY that I am still the object of - it is gratifying, all things considered, and elevating for one's self-esteem! ;)
I am thankful this year for DISEASE and ILLNESS - it makes me strive and pray to remain healthy all the more - stay healthy for the longest time possible in this journey called life...
I am thankful this year for INTOLERANCE - somehow, it triggers PATIENCE in my luminous metabolism (I cannot guarantee that effect 100% of the time though!)
I am thankful this year for NOISE POLLUTION, LIGHT POLLUTION AND OTHER POLLUTIONS - for it makes me that much more appreciative of silence, night lights, cleanliness and tidyness - indeed!
I am thankful this year for ANNOYANCE and MISUNDERSTANDING - for it teaches me to decrease the frequency of my contacts with those that suffer the most from those (probable) genetic defects...
I am thankful this year for TACITURN, QUIET and even MUTE people - they are like unto angels among us! Unlike some blabber-mouths I know...
I am thankful this year for the DEAF and the BLIND too - for, without them, I would probably trivialize and take for granted these two TREASURES I have; my ability to be a good listener and my talent to see the truth.
I am thankful this year for LADY LUCK BEING SO DARN DIFFICULT - if she were to truly advantage me more often than she actually does, I would not appreciate it so much when it FINALLY does happen...!
I am thankful this year for THE DEVIL! I could not ask for a better scapegoat than IT is! Here is the ONLY HUMANOID CREATURE that you can bash in the head with a baseball bat -assuming you're lucky enough to get a chance to do so- WITHOUT ANY REMORSE, ANY LEGAL HASSLES AFTERWARDS - ANY CRIME BEING COMMITTED THERE AT ALL!
What's not to be thankful for there, eh?
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Columbus Day for you, Americans, is the Canadian Thanksgiving here - I hate Chris Columbus, of course! He learned all that he knew from the Portuguese then was the turncoat - selling out to the rival Spaniards! His services were less than desirable though - he set out to discover the road to the Indies - GOT LOST and wound up... here! At least, the Portuguese (led by Vasco Da Gama) truly found what they were looking for! Colombus is, thus, nothing but a hack! It is telling that Americans honor him so much and all - along with all the other doubtful stuff that America is "built upon" (Freemasonry... Illuminati... Slavery... Skull & Bones... Bilderberg!!! Yeah - I love to say the name "Bilderberg" - it rolls off the tongue in a very amusing way, don't you agree? But I digress...)
No wonder Dubya got elected not once but twice, all things considered!
The USofA deserved no better than that...!
Canada sucks mightily big time too, mind you - the country's very existence is another, even more complicated historical mistake! France should have never come here - they only did so to compete with England! The end result of the presence of the two here created only an incongrous alleged "country" that is always threatening to unravel at the seams - being nothing more than a very fragile and tentative patchwork job! But I digress again...
And so, if we make total and complete abstraction of Columbus (Colombus?) - as well we should - today's marquee holiday is the Canadian version of Thanksgiving...
I will not hold for later what I have to say on the subject - or for the occasion rather - to the profit of American Thanksgiving... Ohhhh, no I won't! Why should I? I have no indication that Americans -in general- are greater supporters of the TLB Prime Network than any other nation "affected" by it (see the red dot constellation on my Clustermap here, which pinpoints the location of aaaaaaaall the L.O.V.s here - the Luminous Online Visitors of this blog!)
What I have to say, of course, is not particularly "nicey-nicey"... No!
But it is the truth - as this blog always focuses on - and I would go ahead with it no matter what...!
I have had a very lousy 2006 and see very few positives - but they are there, those positives, and it is up to us to extirpate something positive from any negative experience that we go through in our lives too...
That is what I always try to do and what I will always strive for - as long as I live!
This Thanksgiving will be imbued with the spirit and philosophy behind this luminous quote: "I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers." - Kahlil Gibran.
With emphasis on changing that ungrateful state, of course... Even if towards these "teachers", aye - I shall not be an ingrate! I am most thankful and grateful to GOD though - it goes without saying but it needs stating, loud and clear, often and especially today - GOD above all, yes, for having placed these so-called "teachers" on my path in the first place...
Hence, without further ado, here is my list of things that I am indeed thankful for - against all odds, rhyme or reason!
I am thankful this year for my enemies - for without them, I would not be half as "good" (if only by sharp contrast...)
I am thankful this year for DEATH - for, without it, LIFE would not be so appreciated while we can enjoy it - and enjoy it we should, for it is so very short and we never know when our time is up (here today, gone tomorrow - right?)
I am thankful this year for LOUSY FAMILY - because, with their presence, one can readily assess how invaluable TRUE FAMILY REALLY IS... (This one goes out to some Ontario residents... Some "locals" too...)
I am thankful this year for UNKINDNESS - for it makes me want to be the opposite all the more - lest I start indulging in self-hatred as much as hatred of these other types...!
I am thankful this year for the ENVY that I am still the object of - it is gratifying, all things considered, and elevating for one's self-esteem! ;)
I am thankful this year for DISEASE and ILLNESS - it makes me strive and pray to remain healthy all the more - stay healthy for the longest time possible in this journey called life...
I am thankful this year for INTOLERANCE - somehow, it triggers PATIENCE in my luminous metabolism (I cannot guarantee that effect 100% of the time though!)
I am thankful this year for NOISE POLLUTION, LIGHT POLLUTION AND OTHER POLLUTIONS - for it makes me that much more appreciative of silence, night lights, cleanliness and tidyness - indeed!
I am thankful this year for ANNOYANCE and MISUNDERSTANDING - for it teaches me to decrease the frequency of my contacts with those that suffer the most from those (probable) genetic defects...
I am thankful this year for TACITURN, QUIET and even MUTE people - they are like unto angels among us! Unlike some blabber-mouths I know...
I am thankful this year for the DEAF and the BLIND too - for, without them, I would probably trivialize and take for granted these two TREASURES I have; my ability to be a good listener and my talent to see the truth.
I am thankful this year for LADY LUCK BEING SO DARN DIFFICULT - if she were to truly advantage me more often than she actually does, I would not appreciate it so much when it FINALLY does happen...!
I am thankful this year for THE DEVIL! I could not ask for a better scapegoat than IT is! Here is the ONLY HUMANOID CREATURE that you can bash in the head with a baseball bat -assuming you're lucky enough to get a chance to do so- WITHOUT ANY REMORSE, ANY LEGAL HASSLES AFTERWARDS - ANY CRIME BEING COMMITTED THERE AT ALL!
What's not to be thankful for there, eh?
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Sunday, October 08, 2006
Existential angst or Ethics - either one can seal one's fate. Case in point...
Carry on as usual, I guess...
This great journalist sure did - until the very end
Some truths are better not dispensed, they say...
("They" being usually those who have things to hide...
Of course...)
The Epitome of Honest Journalism has been silenced once and for all - authorities will breathe easier for a while, until the next Anna gets on their case that is...
(One thing's for sure, judging by their actions, they don't mind the bad reputation they might have all over the globe - AT ALL...)
What pushed Anna Politkovskaya to be the way she was - almost to the point of recklessness on her part? Was it the ethical code of her profession? Was it the drive to be the best? Was it existential angst, the despair of seeing no true reason to be there -in a corrupt system especially- countered with the need to serve a true purpose, even though in striving to do so, each new day might be the last...?
Only Anna herself could answer that - and she will never do so now...
More than any other Russian reporter, Anna Politkovskaya had chronicled killings, tortures and beatings of civilians by Russian servicemen -- reports that put her on a collision course with the authorities.
The first attempt on her life was more subtle - poisoning.
Politkovskaya fell seriously ill with symptoms of food poisoning after drinking tea on a flight from Moscow to southern Russia during the school hostage crisis in Beslan in 2004, where many thought she was heading to mediated the crisis. Her colleagues had suggested the incident was an attempt on her life.
She was one of the few people to have entered the Moscow theater where Chechen militants took hundreds of hostages in October 2002 and try to negotiate with the rebels.
Her body was found in an elevator in her Moscow apartment building, a duty officer at a police station in central Moscow told The Associated Press. Dmitry Muratov, editor of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, where Politkovskaya worked, told Ekho Moskvy radio that she was killed in the late afternoon.
The Interfax news agency, citing police officials, reported that Politkovskaya had been shot and that a pistol and four bullets were found in the elevator.
Politkovskaya's death was the highest profile killing of a journalist in Russia since the July 2004 slaying of Paul Klebnikov, editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine.
© 2006 VNU eMedia Inc
Her untimely and violent demise has been reported all over the news worldwide - Russia's rep is right back at what it used to be, I'd say - back in the U.S.S.R (days). Billy Joel must be the only one happy about this - his song is no longer invalidated by the years, socio-political context and "times achangin"...
Nothing ever really changes...
Even if they silence all the Anna Politkovskayas of the world, the truth will always rise to the surface - sooner or later, it will.
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