Wheels of Darkness

No time for a post, just a quote, indicating my state of mind, from As You Like It, by William Shakespeare:

Act II: Scene vii

JAQUES: All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts bring seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms;
When the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly and good capon lin'd,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well sav'd, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

To Be Continued. . .

I have an amazing story, to be posted here, when time allows (i.e. sometime this week). The story of the Sketch Artist formerly known as The Skrambled One, involving a car stuck in a ditch in the middle of Nowhereville, VT, and being trapped in the lodge of the Weird Sisters of New Hampshire. Soon to come. . .

PS--No sexual pun intended on that last phrase, but feel free to go there if you wish.
;-)

Boondocks

Red Crag

Desire

Just some recommended reading from the Wheel:


Buddhism and Desire
He who Binds Himself to a Joy_Does the winged life destroy_He who kisses the joy as it flies_Lives in Eternity's sunrise

from another:

"By desire, Buddhists refer to craving pleasure, material goods, and immortality, all of which are wants that can never be satisfied. As a result, desiring them can only bring suffering. Ignorance, in comparison, relates to not seeing the world as it actually is. Without the capacity for mental concentration and insight, Buddhism explains, one's mind is left undeveloped, unable to grasp the true nature of things. Vices, such as greed, envy, hatred and anger, derive from this ignorance."

Disclaimer: The Wheel is by no means a Buddhist, but thought of these ideas during current crises.

F#ck Dating

Oh man, wtf?!? Can't a man just be alone for a little while? Everyone's bugging me about trying to get out there, and meet someone, and blah blah blah. Makes me want to scream, "SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!", but I don't, of course.

Ugh. It's me too, I guess. I've been fixated on finding a woman, or rather, on tempting Fate to allow something--anything--to happen, and I've been vocal about it with my female friends. The time has come (well, it came a long time ago. . .), but I don't need mothafuggas telling me constantly that I should be out at bars every night trying to find someone.

The Annual Culling of the Single (also known as Valentine's Day) must have brought this angst about. It's the most depressing "holiday" of the year for those of us who are single. A couple of years ago I actually had a girlfriend on Valentine's Day, for once. She wore a red g-string with my first name emblazoned in rhinestones right where it belonged.
( >:-) ) She was quite amazing, and luckily we had some fun before the night was ruined. :-P

The night ended up a colossal failure--not the best night ever. We went out to eat, the food was horrible, and she got sick--and then cranky and bitchy as hell. Oh well, at least we got the good hotel sex in early (there is nothing quite like Hotel Sex--loud and crazy *drool*).

Fact Stranger than Fiction, Yet Again

This is amazing. While the GOP continues to fall flat on it's face, on every front of their extremist, ideological campaign against the World, they also continue to astound in amazing acts of WTF?!?

In case anyone's missed this story, the Vice President of the United States shot a 78-year-old man in the face with bird shot, and the media is finally in an uproar over something. God damn, I'd rather be hit with a single slug than 40-some-odd pellets. No comment, the story stands well enough on its own legs.

Okay, so I do have a comment. . .All I'm saying is that I have more faith in the type of man who'd settle for a decent BJ in the Lincoln Bedroom than a man who gets off on blasting old men's faces off. That's just me, though.

Salted Salt Marsh

Threefold

Birches for Blizzards

Flash in the Rusty Pan in the Pantry

The Ghosts that Haunt my Home

I found the above picture in the closet of my condo. The picture looks really old (perhaps from the late 1950s to early '60s). I've come up with quite a few ideas as to what happened to this man and his kid. It's quite interesting to think about, considering the lack of racial diversity here, and the secret story of slavery in New England. The Wheel must gather further info before commenting further. At any rate, there's a story in every good picture. . .

Secondary Thought

The Tarot Implication of My Name Came Just Now. . .

Red Rocks Illusion--Captured on Fim, thus Dis-illusioned

Current Playlist

1.) Walking After You (acoustic), by Foo Fighters (currently my favorite song of all time--simply fucking amazing)
2.) Fun for Me, by Portishead & Moloko
3.) Ghetto Life, by Rick James.
4.) Mary Jane, also by Rick James (c'mon now, how could I not? that or Super Freak.)
5.) Ask Me How I Am, by Snow Patrol
6.) New Hampshire, by Sonic Youth
7.) Life During Wartime, by Talking Heads
8.) Radiohead, by Talking Heads
9.) Karma Police, by Radio Head (appropriate, dontcha' think?)

The View at Copper

--at Copper Mountain Resort, Colorado.

Credit

Photos published below taken from "The Sandman, Volume 1: Preludes and Nocturnes", by Neil Gaiman, et al.

The Night before the Hearing (minor traffic violation, story to come)

Dream, Facing Down the Demons

"There. Now, Dream King. . .Tell us. . .Which Demon Has Your Helmut?"(?!?)

The Cycle Continues

Okay, let's be realistic about this story. Muslims across the world are upset over the opinion of one man, published in cartoon form, in a Danish newspaper called Jyllans-Posten, and are blaming all Danes and Europeans in general for the desecration of the image of Mohammed. In certain places, such as Lebanon and in the Palestinian territories, there are riots in the streets, and consulate buildings being burned, and all Danes and Norweigans are being urged to the leave whatever Muslim nation they happen to be visiting, living in, passing through, etc.

In the interests of public debate (because most commercial news sources are afraid to show the pictures, or can't, because they profit from the use and thus cannot claim FAIR USE as a justification for using the work of another, and because of a million other ancient, pre-internet copyright laws) I shall post an image of the offending pictures below. I found the image on a third party site (or fourth, or fifth, or sixth), which probably copied the image from elsewhere, but all credit goes to the Jyllans-Posten, whom I've linked to above.

And before I have a million angry people at the gates demanding that The Wheel be thrown up on the Great Tire Fire, allow me to say that I while I think it would be stupid to riot over a mere cartoon, my point is that this is about far more than just one stupid cartoon (and, well, about how it felt for me personally to see the Islamic world angry at someone other than Americans for once). They are angry about far more than this cartoon, though the media would have you believe otherwise.

The cartoon explanation is a simple way to trivialize what these people stand for (which, in my opinion, is the protection of their Culture, through any means necessary, as tyrants and rebels have always done, throughout history). The result is always Death and Misery for all. War is a disease of the human condition, but I have to believe it can be cured.

Peaceful-minded Muslims across the world (wherever they are) need to speak LOUDLY for once. I know Islam is a religion of peace, so I have to believe that most would admit that suicide bombings among crowds of innocents are something Allah would abhor. Even they have to admit this, or they are hypocrites, and furthermore, there does seem to be a disproportionate number of groups in the world that are committed to blowing themselves up----along with dozens of innocents----in astounding acts of horror----that happen to be Islamic militants. If anyone has heard of any non-Islamic suicide bombers recently, please let me know. I'll be glad to take back what I just wrote.

So, if these Muslims want to be mad at anyone, why aren't they mad at the terrorists----whom they refer to as martyrs, or freedom fighters----who misrepresent everything Islam stands for? Or, if they are angered, why aren't they speaking out? Is it because of Fear? (Paranoia: Is it a Global Media Conspiracy, silencing those voices??) The terrorists are the ones who are giving this horrible image to Islam, an image that is contrary to what the religion is supposed to stand for. Where are the vocal advocates of peace in the Islamic world? Their voices need to be heard. I have to believe that they're out there. Only they can bring peace, because fanatics cannot be reasoned with (and that includes Bush fanatics as well----an entire subject altogether).

At any rate, I hope this doesn't spark a controversy, but I shall post the image, as promised. My use of it is for the benefit of intellectual debate, and this page is completely non-profit, so this use falls under Fair Use. Here 'tis:

Oh, and meanwhile, as this story is going on, there is breaking news regarding the escape of the al-Qaida motherfucker who bombed the USS Cole on October 12, 2000. Nice fucking job guys. How's that War on Terror going? It ain't looking so good right now.

My friends and I who followed the news all knew back then--and even before the Cole bombing--that bin Laden and his group had some serious fucking intentions, and that the Taliban was doing horrible things in Afghanistan. I have a feeling that 9/11 was the first time GW Bush ever even heard of bin Laden, other than perhaps as a rebellious child in a family tied to the Bush family through Oil, and other holdings. Now Bush just uses him as an excuse to create a police state, and to do whatever he wants in the name of national security. Ugh, it's all very disheartening to think about.

Okay, no more politics for a while (maybe I'll just make it a Sunday thing. . .). I had to get that off my chest.

Currently Listening to:

"Life During Wartime", Remain in Light, by Talking Heads.

I remember when Phish performed this entire album at their annual Halloween show (no, I didn't attend this one) and all the fans said WTF?!? But I remember seeing a quote from Trey Anastasio saying that he practically taught himself to play guitar by listening to this album. So, being a fan (in that I occasionally listened to their music, and was often surrounded by like-minded "fans" during my high school and college years), I had to check this album out. And Trey was right. It's fucking incredible, but moreover, the track mentioned above hints at possible reasons that this music has even more relevance today. The album is transcendentally prophetic, in many ways.

"And that's about all I have to say about that. . ."~F. Gump

--from Resistance’s Greatest Hits

"The following is a list, in no particular order, of those activities that most commonly elicit Resistance:

1) The pursuit of any calling in writing, painting, music, film, dance, or any creative art, however marginal or unconventional.

2) The launching of any entrepreneurial venture or enterprise, for profit or otherwise.

3) Any diet or health regimen.

4) Any program of spiritual advancement.
…
7) Education of every kind.

8) Any act of political, moral, or ethical courage, including the decision to change for the better some unworthy pattern of thought or conduct in ourselves.

9) The undertaking of any enterprise or endeavor whose aim is to help others.
…
11) The taking of any principled stand in the face of adversity.”

-->by Steven Pressfield

--Discovered through the lovely Greygirl, whom I hadn’t visited in a while. She’s been absent for a long time too, but her link led me to this quote, which I just had to transcribe and share (fair use, mfs). I edited out the parts that I didn't need to use, but they're available in the Amazon preview if you wish to read it all. My question to you is, "Can you dig it?"

Back Home, Where the Storms Rage

The drama around here has become almost too intense. . .I prefer simplicity. Things are good, for the most part, and I am happier than I was just a short time ago, in a blogland not far away. Returning from vacation (or holiday, as some would say) is hard as hell. I'm finally starting to feel caught up, though the stacks of stickie notes pile ever higher--things to do, things to do, things to do. . .

I'll be playing around with the format of this blog (including and not limited to such things as my display name or avatar ( insert bullshit legal disclaimer-->all rights reserves, ipso facto, etcetera, etcetera). I have no idea where I'm headed with this blog, so expect nothing but Change--and Plentiful Weirdness.