5-30-06 Something to think about...or not...

Suppose someone you care about tells you a secret. Suppose they say something like "You know, I was the one who wrecked your car back in 1998."
Now you have this information but what do you do with it? The car wasn't special. It was replaced by a newer model. Life has moved on.

You didn't know this 10 minutes ago and so you weren't affected by it. Now you know it and you have a choice: a) let it interfere with your life or b) toss it out.

Here's the rub: If you decide to hold on to that information...in fact to brood over it...the only person being hurt is you. The other person has, in fact, cleared their conscience. THEY feel better.
Why does a person hold on to information that only hurts them? Is it self-pity? A reason to let people feel sorry for them?

I do not understand.
Toss it out. Move on.

Does it depend on the secret told? If the secret may have impacted lives does that justify the brooding? Does that give reason to hold a grudge? Does the grudge hurt the person with the secret....or just the brooder?

I'm at a loss.

I'm learning a new lesson. It is that some people create their own problems by hanging on to useless negativity. Some people bang their heads because they like the suffering.


Have I lost compassion or just lost patience?

Have a happy Wednesday. It really is Wednesday...really.

“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Happy Monday.
(....oops...um, Happy Tuesday. Holidays. Sheesh - they throw me off.)

heh heh heh

Uh-oh! I've got a new toy!

Thanks Tree!!! And for FREEEEEE!!!
YOU ROCK!

5-26-06

Wild and colorful.
The two images are meant to be one. As soon as I find a cheap copy of Photoshop (I'm sure I have one around here somewhere) I'm going to figure out how to lay the colorful one over the fiery one. Woohoo. I have so much potential, don't you think. :D

Happy Friday all.

5-25-06 A bit surreal

"Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip."
-Will Rogers


I saw a couple of these yesterday. They were flying wild in the neighborhood. Someone's pets gone wild I guess.
I was happy for them....because they were together. Two against the world.

They seemed a colorful blessing against the dullness of the day.
I remember someone saying something about it being good luck if they nest in your yard. I don't recall why. Maybe just because their brilliant colors seem so hopeful.

Happy Thursday.

5-24-06 Dreamz?

Crystal Ball

I dream.
I dream vivid, colorful, emotional.
I rarely remember the dreams but I remember the emotions. My days can be determined at times by the mood I awake with.

Lately, they have the same mood - although the dream is not the same.
The mood is "lost", and it's a very odd mood for me.

I remember Sunday night's dream.
I was at work. It was very dark night. I was entirley alone. I wandered about the cubicles in confusion; searching for light where I thought it should be. There was no moonlight from the windows, no light from computer monitors. I continued to wander in the blackness. I knew my way around but still I felt lost.
I realized that my glasses sat on a desk. They seemed like some kind of salvation for my confusion. I reached for them..........and then awoke.
I wonder what they would have shown me.
I wonder why it didn't dawn on me to look for the light switch.
(I realize the interpretation is blatantly obvious. I realize it will pass.)

Do you dream?
Do you dream in color?
Have you any dreams to share?

Happy Humpday.

5-23-06

When a lute is played, there is no previous store of playing that it comes from. When the music stops, it does not go anywhere else. It came into existence by way of the structure of the lute and the playing of the performer. When the playing ceases, the music goes out of existence.

In the same way all the components of being, both material and nonmaterial, come into existence, play their part, and pass away.

That which we call a person is the bringing together of components and their actions with each other. It is impossible to find a permanent self there. And yet there is a paradox. For there is a path to follow and there is walking to be done, and yet there is no walker. There are actions but there is no actor. The air moves but there is no wind. The idea of a specific self is a mistake. Existence is clarity and emptiness.

-Visuddhi Magga

Calmness

Monday morning and time to go back to work. I need a little inspiration.
So, the word for today will be calm.

I did find it amusing that, when Googlig "Calm", one can apparently purchase (or at least bid on) calm on Ebay.

Calm
"Looking for Calm? Find exactly what you want today.
www.eBay.com"

And now: Calm Thoughts.

"Develop the mind of equilibrium. You will always be getting praise and blame, but do not let either affect the poise of the mind: follow the calmness, the absence of pride." -Sutta Nipata

Happy Monday.

5-19-06

Main Entry: 1lim·bo
Function: noun
Pronunciation: 'lim-(")bO
Inflected Form(s): plural limbos
Etymology: Middle English, from Medieval Latin, ablative of limbus limbo, from Latin, border
1 often capitalized : an abode of souls that are according to Roman Catholic theology barred from heaven because of not having received Christian baptism
2 a : a place or state of restraint or confinement b : a place or state of neglect or oblivion c : an intermediate or transitional place or state d : a state of uncertainty

Photo by Kevin McCaughey

My friend and I have a joke about Limbo. We're often in it.
Limbo is a place of waiting. It is a place of non-action. Limbo requires immense patience.
Limbo is where one is when the world has flipped on a dime, with no notice, and one is waiting for it to right itself.
Generally, it doesn't right itself.
Generally, we become accustomed to the Limbo or the world flips again.
Quite oddly, I am comfortable in Limbo. It gives me something to look forward to.

Happy Friday.

5-17-06 Stolen things...

When Squirrels Go Bad - John Ottovonchriek

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.
-Mark Twain

Worry is a misuse of the imagination.
-Dan Zadra

People who drink to drown their sorrow should be told that sorrow knows how to swim.
-Ann Landers

Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and repeat to yourself, the most comforting words of all; This, too, shall pass.
-Ann Landers

Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.
-Dalai Lama

Photo stolen from Photosig.com/Quotes stolen from ThinkExist.com.
We all have those yummy websites we snag a thought or inspiration from. Do you have a favorite? Care to share?

Happy Wednesday.

5-16-06 Just the facts ma'am

Now that's showing my age, huh?

Ok, a few notes about what's going on in the world. Well, my tiny little self-centered world anyway. (snicker)

First, I get to be the bear from my previous post on Thursday an Friday. I took myself a coupla vacation days. Woohoo. Downtime. Sleeping in. Yay!

Second, although I have a coupla days off, the reason I took them was a bit upsetting. My conscience is struggling with it still. It will pass, I'm sure.
May 19th is Mom's birthday. She ran across a cheap flight and was going to come up from Houston to visit.
I panicked because she's never flown before and subsequently treated her as if she were a child. I find airports to be an overwhelming hassle. I pushed to let me come down there and fly back with her so she wouldn't be alone. She got insulted and decided she woulnd't come after all.
Ugh, the guilt. Sorry Mom. I worry. I worry a lot about things that aren't even real I guess. Rats.
So, she's not coming up and I have two days off. :P

Third - and most absolutely joyous....my sister is pregnant AGAIN.
Yes, the mother of that adorable, beautiful boy is going to have another adorable, beautiful child for me to love. Woohoo!!!
Look at me, I'm all Aunt Bea here:
LOL

Ok, that's enough news. What? It wasn't really news?




Oh, that's different. Nevermind. :)



Happy Tuesday all.

5-15-06 Zzzzzzzz...

I hope you all had a quiet and peaceful weekend. Parts of mine were very peaceful. :P I'll just hang on to those parts and blow the rest to the wind.

Didn't get a lot of sleep last night.
This is pretty much what Monday looks like so far.

Sincerely wish I could remain in the reclined position.

Terry, the polar bears are for you. I know how you love 'em. :D
Everyone else, please take a look at the typed-in dates of this post and the last one. Purely for your amusement. Apparently I skip around weeks.
Tomorrow could be May 30th - or May 2nd...I guess it depends on the bleary-eyedness of my a.m. posts. LOL

Happy Monday all.

5-19-06

Flight of Angels



I didn't quite get the FNF I was looking for. Funny thing though. I had a dream of what I wanted to post today. I was all excited to post it. I woke up and completely forgot what it was.
The angels above will do just fine anyway.

Have a wonderful Friday.

5-11-06

"There must be a place that is quiet and safe from confusion and pain.
I think that place is inside myself."
~me~

"Heroism consists in hanging on one minute longer."
-Norwegian proverb

"Within your heart, keep one still, secret spot where dreams may grow."
-Louise Driscoll

5-10-06 Some are more profound than others....

First spot on the news this morning was about Steve Vaught. Steve is a man who came to a crossroads in his life and decided to take the path less traveled. He did it to lose weight. He did it to find himself. He did it for peace of mind.
He has been successful.
I'm quite impressed.

So...a shout-out to Steve Vaught. Way to go! Well done!
Here's a link to his site: FatManWalking.com

It's hard to find inspiring stories in the news these days. I think Steve does just fine there.
I sincerely hope that the end of his trip is just the beginning of his journey.

Have a happy and inspired Wednesday all.

5-9-06 We can't always be profound...

I so wish I had something profound to say. I just don't.
Can not think of a thing.

Here's my latest pretty fractal.


Of course, it is not so wonderful as Treé's who apparently IS having my fractal babies. They all resemble him though...which is really for the better. LOL

Ok, say something profound.
Happy Tuesday.

5-8-06 Waves

Today is brought to you by the word "wave". Not the friendly, neighborly kind. The great big, rushing sort.
Waves are for riding. It does help to see them coming when you're going to ride them though.

This is Garrett riding a wave. I don't know Garrett. I stole the pic from his blog. Way to go Garrett! I could learn a thing or two from Garrett. I suppose he could learn a thing or two from me. Could be my waves are bigger.


And now for the friendly, neighborly kind:

5-5-06 Huh?

When you live with someone for a very long time you tend to have less conversations and more communications. That is to say, you speak what you're thinking and sort of assume the other person is thinking the same thing. I call them "subjectless sentences". They happen a lot.
They sound like "Where's the thing?" and "It's over there by the thingy."
Amazingly, I know what the lost thing is and he knows what thingy I'm referring to.
Only - that isn't always true. In fact, more and more, I don't have any idea what thing he's looking for and I can't even remember what the thingy is called or where it was last.

Case in point: My husband said two things to me this morning before our daily "I love you"s and "be careful going to work"s.
He said, "It's time to get up." which I did. And he said, "I have a feeling if it rains they're not going to do it again today."

Now I'm pretty foggy brained at this point but I'll be damned if I know who they are or what they aren't going to do because of the rain.
Oh wait...yeah I do. Nevermind. He's right. They probably won't. But they ought to because I'm not going to let them do it on the weekend.

LOL - Sick little game, isn't it?

Happy Friday.

5-4-06

“Sometimes I lie awake at night, and ask, 'Where have I gone wrong?' Then a voice says to me, 'This is going to take more than one night.'”
Charles M. Schultz

"What's right is what's left if you do everything else wrong.”
Robin Williams

“There is hope for the future because God has a sense of humor and we are funny to God.”
Bill Cosby

“Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it.”
Bill Cosby

Happy Thursday

5-3-06 So far so...um....well

Today isn't really going well so far. Nothing major...just piddly things. PC took 20 minutes to boot up, I slept all of three hours last night, etc. Silly stuff.

I so wanted something wonderful and enlightening to post today. It seems today had other ideas.
No worries. Plenty of hours left to turn it around.

Today's pic - for the sake of logging the moments of my life - is a big ol' airplane.

To me this has always been a joyous, hopeful thing. Not so much today. It is, in fact, the cause of a great deal of silly drama. Bad plane! Bad!

Today's quote is one I really must learn to take to heart:
"Other people’s faults are like bees—if we don't see them, they don't harm us."
-Luis Vigil

Y'all have a good day and I'll put some effort into doing the same. :)
Happy Humpday.

5-2-06 Apophysis Redux

Apophysis forced me to upgrade. I haven't used it in months. I was fairly enthusiastic to upgrade. Woohoo, new fractalishiousness. The colors seem brighter.
I must know...who are Julia and Julian anyway? ;P

Ahhh, bright, pretty colors for your Tuesday. Enjoy.

I still think it's neat to start with this...


...and fiddle around until I get something like this.


Happy Tuesday. :)

05-01-06 Wasting Space

I have one of those alarm clocks that wakes me up to radio jabber. This is not necessarily a good thing. One never knows what the first coherent syllables of the day may turn out to be. (Visual of the movie "Groundhog Day" here.)
This morning, I'm certain I awoke to the bottom of the food chain as far as news is concerned. The first thought of my day was, "Tom Cruise has decided that Katie Holmes will be referred to as "KATE" Holmes from this day forward. Katie is a child's name, and since she is now a mother she can no longer be called by a child's name."

Now, I don't want to criticize another human being, so I'm going to attempt to be decent about this.
Could someone please whisper in ol' Tommy's ear that it is tacky to share your religious beliefs outside of your own family? I know squat about Scientology. I knock no one's faith ever Whatever gets you through the night is fine with me. However, if this particular faith had any hope of catching on, I'm pretty sure Tom has squished that like a freakish little bug. The longevity of this belief system drops every time he opens his mouth.

I am thrilled that the boy is in love. I am thrilled that he might actually decide to take part in the rearing of this particular offspring (doesn't he have others?). It is entirley possible that the media is just ripping the poor schmuck to peices with falshoods - BUT - if anyone should learn to lay low, it should be him and it should be now. Tom, hon, please - leave it at the door. Just a little advice from your caring fan, and your mom, and your wife and both of the people who ever thought you had a clue.

As for me, I'm going to put my radio on the classical station for a while.
If you're amused by tabloid-Tom's antics - here's a spiffy little blog.
ScienTOMology
And NO, I won't boycott the Mission Impossible movies. They're still fun and pretty well written.

Have a happy Monday. Try to keep it a little less happy than Tom's. People might think you're certifiable.