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 |  Impromptu writing, whatever comes...on writing or whatever the question of the day is. |
    I've been blogging all through my days without knowing that it was blogging; although, this isn't necessarily the only thing I do without knowing what I'm doing. Since I write on anything that's available around me, my life has been full of pieces of scribbled paper flying about like confetti. I'm so happy to finally have a permanent place to chew the fat.  So far my chewing the fat is on and off.  Maybe, I lack teeth. Feel free to comment, if you wish.  Thank you very much, Cindy, for this honor and the beautiful graphic.  This Blog Continues in "Everyday Canvas "    |
| As the latest trend, the runaway bride, Michael Jackson in court, Jay Leno on the stand have taken the front row seats with the media against our more important national and regional health and safety issues, our country at war, world hunger, nuclear problem, etc., etc. News media IS our brain power whether it lives up to this assignment or not. Then, why do we concentrate our brain power on news that involves only one or a few individuals and has nothing to do with our lives, our neighborhoods, our towns, our states, our country, or mankind in general? I wonder who is to blame, the media itself (especially the TV), or those of us who encourage the media to broadcast titillating trivia? One thing I have been doing nowadays is to turn off the TV news and scan and skim the news on the internet, hoping it is less corrupted. I may be wrong, but at least I feel I have disabled one arm of the fire spitting dragon from reaching me. |
| Blog links on the side of the page with "My blog's archive, Other member blogs, Manage Blog Links." Cool! Thanks SM. Maybe it was there before but I just saw them. I just saw them because I have my own computer back. Now maybe I can catch up on my reading and writing. Yay, yippee, whatever! |
| Today we had one heck of a thunderstorm. At midday, I received an emergency e-mail that said: "The national weather svc in Melbourne has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for St. Lucie county in East Central FL. This includes the cities of White City, Walton, Saint Lucie nuclear plant, Port Saint Lucie, Indrio, Fort Pierce inlet,Fort Pierce. Severe thunderstorms produce damaging winds in excess of 58 miles an hour & or large destructive hail. Frequent to excessive lightning and very heavy rain will also be possible. If the storm approaches you, seek shelter in an enclosed building on the lowest floor. Keep away from windows. Tornado warning for East Central St. Lucie County in East Central FL: this includes the cities of White city, Walton, Saint Lucie nuclear plant, Port Saint Lucie." At first, I didn't believe it would be that severe, because we usually get warnings with nothing following. Still, I shut down the computers and anything electronic. I am not taking any chances since my computer came back from the factory with replaced memory and other faulty hardware and it's only a two-month old computer. What can you do! Some babies are defective at birth. Despite my disbelief, TV stations also began giving emergency broadcasts. A few minutes later, when the rain, lightning, and high winds started, I instantly became a true believer. Since we had close to category one hurricane force winds, some flower pots, empty garbage cans, and other indistinct material tossed about on the lawns; our street, front and back yard, and our porch turned into a deep lake; our new outdoor rug on the porch floor sank like the Titanic; and the electricity went off for a few hours. Yet, since this is Florida, nature's wild whims are delightful to watch and even the storms are handsome in a frightful sort of way, like the beast in "The Beauty and the Beast," which--I guess--makes me the Beauty. One thing is for sure. Our storms give people a few things to do, and most of these things are very productive, or should I say, "reproductive," since it has been nine months after the 2004 Florida hurricanes and the local TV stations are reporting a major baby boom. |
| “There is always a better way than the worst way.” I know this sounds like a Yogi Berra truism, but I’ve always thought that these words made sense especially because they used to spill out of my grandmother’s lips. In the least, they urged me to search for gentler ways of handling unpleasant stuff. There is no need to apply dangerous and sometimes fatal instances of unnecessary harshness and aggression when confronted with a violent act, for the simple reason that violence begets more violence. No matter where it happens--in schools, homes, on the roads, in between gangs, groups, or countries—violence invites more trouble, even when it is meant to have calmed a bad situation momentarily. The idea of reacting with violence as a surgical means is becoming to only way to change the affairs of people, the society, and the world. It is hard for me to figure out where and when this notion started to invade the minds of the world. Maybe it was there all along throughout history; maybe it came into fruition with the idea of the existence of evil; maybe it came with the cold war. Who knows! I understand that we can’t dismiss unpleasant behavior or the guiltiest, but we sure can respond in a civilized manner that won’t leave more victims in its wake. Any violence–-even the kind that means to keep law and order--creates victims. Victims may not have been the target, but they are victims nonetheless. I think we are fighting our wars—personal or on a larger scale—the wrong way, because we are creating a lot of spillage that is going to be very hard to clean afterwards. There is another point: those that react with unnecessary violence to any wrongdoing are those who are in the position of having power and are not hesitant to use it. Yet, all power has to be held accountable; otherwise, it creates havoc. And the oddest thing is, some truisms make you think.  |
| Some of the news items I read are the kind I can’t believe I’m reading, yet the weird news is there everyday. Today’s beauty is from Reuters, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Someone who was importing merchandise from Europe didn’t want to pay the high custom fees, so he stated that the crate carrying his goods contained scrap metal. When the crate was opened, the customs officials found large screen TV sets, refrigerators, cars, etc. Reason tells me that the punishment for this should be very high fines and even jail time. Yet, what did the officials do? They brought in bulldozers and turned the cargo that included a Mercedes Benz and a Toyota to scrap metal. The officials’ words were: “"They wanted to befool us by saying they brought in scrapped metals...so we are giving them the same. They, or anyone like them, will not forget this." I’ve heard of one good turn deserving another, but who’d think that a false declaration would be punished with destruction. Making an example of someone might work, but at what cost? Something is wrong here somewhere on both sides. Unlike the people who claim nothing surprises them anymore, somedays, everything surprises me. |
| I found so many blog entry reminders that my face is red. I should have turned that off, but when I go away, I always leave a few things undone. Maybe subliminally I forgot to do that in order to make sure I return, as some ghosts do. It isn't that I haven't been blogging, for I have, except in a note-book, since I couldn't sit in front of a computer for long even if I had found one. Anyhow, I am going to copy an entry or two in here. "Tonight as we walk to the hotel, somewhere on Fifth Avenue and 42nd street, a group of Chinese people give us leaflets or rather a newspaper of sorts about how the Red Chinese suppress people. That the Red Chinese are anti-religion is a fact, as all rigid suppressive administrations are either anti or inflexibly pro religion. A girl in a red coat hands me the paper. On top of the paper it says "Falun Gong Today," which makes me assume that Falun Gong is a sect or religion. They practice "Qi Gong" -something like Tai Chi. Falun Dafa is the practice of it. The girl explains this to me. She has a very pretty face and she's so young. Her youth makes me question -inside myself- how she came to her conclusions about what she believes in, with such little experience and time in her life; but then, all sects, religions, and dogmas catch people young and early. To brainwash youth is easier; plus, it has side benefits. Youth is passionate, intense, and the elements do not have such negative effects on their bodies as the older people. Youth defends harder what they believe in. Probably, that's why some governments send the young minors to their armies. I thank the girl and assure her that I'll visit their website. She has been a good soldier." |
| There was once a time when gridlocks were outlawed in New York City. Law or no law,I see that they have crept in again. Even when the traffic lights favor us, as pedestrians, we have to slip and slide among vehicles, but I don't mind that, for there is so much in New York. To me, New York is life. Everywhere I look, I see a story, a human face, a half-formed epic, and most New Yorkers -true New Yorkers- walk fast as if trying to catch something or as if something is chasing them. People-watchers and dreamers like me are exceptions, and since New York has everything, it also has its exceptions. I try not to stare at people, or at least I try not to make my staring too obvious, but my curiosity compels me. Little details of the ways, looks, and everyday lives of people on the street who I don't know interest me greatly, because what I don't know about, I make up inside my mind. By the way, a few times tonight as we walked around, we saw a few men checking the insides of the thrash cans. They weren't so badly dressed either. Maybe nowadays NYC churches do better with clothing donations than other cities I've been to. Still, homelessness is a heartache for us all, especially in this cold. It makes me feel ashamed of my coat and anything warm I have access to. |
| You can tell, I've been to the library again this weekend, since I have a book in my hands right now, by Jan Karon, called " A Continual Feast: Words of Comfort and Celebration, collected by Father Tim." Father Tim is a character, an Episcopal Priest, from the writer's novels. This is the quotes journal he's kept, most of it in handwriting and others as facsimiles, which is a brilliant attention-getting ploy by the author. Looking through it, I thought of my saved quotes and laughed. I guess real writers keep their quotes together to publish them in a book. In my case, my quotes are all over the place: in small pieces of paper stucked in pockets or books; here and there, inside half-finished note-books; inside the writing pad in my purse; in scratch-pad computer files I use to write drafts of whatever I write; on the corners of cocktail napkins (I don't drink, I just save the napkins ); and other places I can't think of at the moment. I used to have a quotes file on my desktop but it went to heaven with my old deceased computer and I'll be darned if I make another file for quotes again. I guess I'll be darned sooner or later because the temptation is greater than my resistance.There are quotes sites on the web, but they don't have the flavor and joy of the quotes of my own keeping, be it haphazardly. I guess, Jan Karon feels the same way, since these quotes are in her handwriting -I surmise. Here's a quote, which is in one of my notebooks with yellowed pages, that is also in her book. "You can observe a lot, just by watching" by Yogi Berra. |
| I got scared after the Terri Schindler-Schiavo spectacle in the media where right to die and right to murder united in the twilight zone of public opinion; so I made extra several copies of my living will to be placed in several locations. I am not going to pass judgment on anybody, take sides, preach, orate or anything like that on the subject, because I believe both sides of the argument may have a point or two, and there may be a few murky pieces of truth hidden here and there; therefore, I feel for the judge and anyone who is involved in such a difficult case. Speaking of my own wishes, I would never want to exist in a vegetative state; yet, I could understand the emotional needs of my next of kin. I also believe if the Creator would want to keep me alive, he wouldn't need a plastic tube for it. I have a living will since 1994, but in the shadow of the Terri Schiavo case, maybe even I was late in making one. Thinking about it, why not have everyone who turns twenty-one sign a living will, since that would make things much easier on the doctors, families, and judges, and also prevent extra expense and heartache for all. |
| I am reading Tagore's letters, "Glimpses of Bengal -1885 to 1895." They are not really letters but more like diary entries. I suspect this is because in those days letters meant writings, as in Arts and Letters. Since Tagore's work has hopped over the copyright hindrances, I can quote him in large chunks without looking over my shoulder. There is an entry that applies to our present day dilemma of building flimsy seaside towns and high-rises. This piece is so poetically written and is so true of where I live in Florida. "Bandora by the Sea, October 1885 The unsheltered sea heaves and heaves and blanches into foam. It sets me thinking of some tied-up monster straining at its bonds, in front of whose gaping jaws we build our homes on the shore and watch it lashing its tail. What immense strength, with waves swelling like the muscles of a giant! From the beginning of creation there has been this feud between land and water: the dry earth slowly and silently adding to its domain and spreading a broader and broader lap for its children; the ocean receding step by step, heaving and sobbing and beating its breast in despair. Remember the sea was once sole monarch, utterly free. Land rose from its womb, usurped its throne, and ever since the maddened old creature, with hoary crest of foam, wails and laments continually, like King Lear exposed to the fury of the elements." The above description proves that Tagore is not only the giant in poetry and spirituality, but he is also a giant with the written word. |
| This had to be the year of things breaking around my house. I can’t exactly put a beginning date on the breakage trend, but I am guessing it had to have commenced around the time of the hurricanes, September that is, when most anything in our town and some structures around our house first broke apart. Although that fracturing was caused by the winds, the pattern has been continuing ever since. After the two hurricanes’ damage to the house, next thing to go was my laptop, leaving me to bicker with a totally useless computer support service, making me to give up and share my husband’s computer for a while until I got a new computer a couple of weeks ago. I have to say this one hurt the most, because I couldn’t frolic around writing.com as I used to do. Also, sometime around November, other things started falling apart: the photocopy machine, the printer, a vacuum cleaner, a car, a radio, message machine, a telephone, vcr, two cameras, cups, plates, dishwasher, etc. This writing is taking place, because I thought about these things a few minutes ago while washing the dishes by hand and rather enjoying myself, believe it or not. I thought that if it weren’t for my machine-dependence, I would have had a calmer life. There is some delight in watching the dishwashing detergent’s bubbles wash off the whites of the plates and leave the glasses crystal clear. The sparkling yellow dishwashing detergent is in a plastic bottle with the label “Joy,” which makes it more mine than anything else in the kitchen. Then, of course, washing the dishes by hand is an immediate job, which eliminates emptying the dishwasher. For two days now, I’m home waiting for the new dishwasher’s delivery, which was promised for yesterday, but one should never trust any words at the time of the sale of anything. On average, my husband and I are not breakers; usually, we don’t break or drop things but these last few months have been something else. Maybe we are still living under the shadow of the September winds’ curse. Maybe those winds are still trying to tell me something. Something like “Watch out for your dryer. Hear its awful noise. Did you notice you have to put the wash in for double cycle to get it only partially dry?” Oh well, this too shall pass! |
| According to Reuters, now, McDonald's Corp. is into outsourcing. The managers of the company are thinking of using remote call centers to take customer orders in an effort to improve service at their drive-through windows. People concerned about the health of the nation need not worry. I bet this will be the end of McDonald's. As a customer (not McDonald's but I use the term in general here), I try not to buy the products or at least the service contracts of companies that use outsourcing notoriously. This, after I had a major problem with a prominent computer company during the last half year or so, which made me swear off their products. My new computer has only the factory warranties on it and if something goes wrong, I am not going to spend several days on the phone with anybody's support service again. I'll pay a little more and call my friendly local computer expert who has a shop within a mile or two from my home. After all, my mental health is worth the money and I can't risk my blood pressure rushing up again. Back to Mcdonald's, I can just see this scenario. Someone from the other end of the world gets his store windows mixed and everybody who orders chicken McNuggets gets Big Macs, I bet, with curry on them. Come to think of it,  maybe I too can use oursourcing in some way. I may outsource cooking dinner and my family can eat two days later, since they'd have to spend time on the phone getting instructions on how to boil their own water for soup and make Chana Masala or Dal Curry. If everyone who cooks dinner for her/his family would follow my lead, we might become McDonald's biggest competitor and the fat problem of the nation could be solved since people would have to eat every two days instead of three times a day. Finally, I see the silver lining. |
| All through this morning, the TV titillation-news-channels had a ball with the capture of the guy named Brian Nichols from Atlanta, Georgia, who, when he was about to get convicted for rape charges, overpowered a deputy, took her gun, and killed her, the judge and another court worker. The same man, the next day, allegedly took another customs agent’s truck and killed him also. They caught him this morning when he took another woman hostage inside a condo complex to the north of Atlanta. Some say this man is violent and crazy, or from a twisted or deprived background, or he’s just plain evil. The first two opinions could be, but the last one I can not agree with. I do not see how anybody can be extremely good, or extremely bad. I can’t ever buy into the argument of most religions on “evil.” Incidentally, that is why I don’t follow any one organized religion. What I think is this: we are far behind in our civilization in understanding what makes people act the way they do. Some people may even have an unknown gene for it. It is already established that the xyy chromosome is responsible for the behavior of most sociopaths. Instead of labeling people as “evil,” we could try harder to find why they act so horribly and find a way to correct the underlying causes that foster their outrageous crimes. It is such a pity that this man, who is only thirty-three years old, has wasted his entire life. Whatever his punishment will be, he has no place in society, probably not even in a jail cell. Could we have prevented this from happening? Can we prevent the next Nichols? Probably not, but we could surely spend more time, effort, and money on the causes, so there won’t be more victims in the future. |
| I couldn't believe my eyes when I read SMS's item on this subject. "Invalid Item" Wisconsin Natural Resources Department has a proposition on the table to hunt down all domestic cats, if they are roaming without collars. Any cat owner knows you can't easily make a cat wear a collar, even one against fleas. I have experienced this because I had cats and dogs before we started traveling so often and before allergies hit me. They are actually thinking of including the cats under unprotected species so area hunters can hunt them as if game. Unbelievable! How can anyone in his right mind can think of such a thing? Isn't this against nature itself? How can any Department of Natural Resources consider an idea like this? Worse yet, what kind of people are we turning into if we let this happen? |
| I may have some drain spillage on me, but today, I feel like a superwoman, and I keep repeating my thanks to vinegar and baking soda. A sink in one of the bathrooms was clogged badly. So much so that we had a standing pool in the sink for a week. Our efforts to get a plummer didn't pan out. Since the hurricanes, getting any kind of repair person in our town can only be left to the Almighty. Because I am home today, I told my husband I'd tackle it. He said we needed a plummer to get the U-pipe out and clean it. I told him I was going to take out no pipes whatsoever; I'd do it my way. He knows to not-argue. After pouring several kettlefuls of boiling water and using the plunger very gently, some of the goo came up. I must be good with icky stuff because I removed it without even a frown; although, for a split second, I thought of calling the fire-department. Then, I poured two cups of vinegar and two tablespoonful of baking powder down the drain and let it sit for half an hour. After a tiny push from the plunger, there was a big clunking noise as if the pipe gulped, and the sink started draining beautifully. I checked underneath; there was no leak from the pipes. The drain now works perfectly and I didn't break any pipes. Nirvana! Some days I get lucky. Other days, don't even ask. It is good to feel like a plummer though. Maybe I'll wear overalls on the job, or better yet, I'll wear loose jeans without a belt and when I bend down to undo pipes I'll show my sights. Here I go again. This is the weird thing about me; I can't ever do anything without a flight into fantasy. |
| According to a today's news update, two women bared their breasts while Britain's Prince Charles arrived for a visit at New Zealand. As Charles walked through the city's Civic Square, the demonstrators yelled, "parasites, parasites". Some also chanted: "Shame on the British monarchy, shame for years of colonialism, shame for years of genocide." I understand the problem and empathize with the people protesting, but I don't understand why they went to ridiculous extremes to make a point. Doesn't this kind of behavior make one seem silly, unreasonable, and even insane, and doesn't it diminish the importance of the issue at hand? I agree that, in this day and age, a monarchy making an island on the other side of the world its colony is preposterous, but isn't there a more civilized method of making your voice heard? Yet, there is more to this story. The police also carried away a woman breastfeeding her child. After this action of the police, surely the breast-barers appear less silly. |
| Paraffin and titanium oxide touched their magic wand, and voila, we got paper that we can write on under pouring rain. Who'd have thought that one day I'd be able to write under our tropical showers without getting the words blurred? Surely, the words can get blurred due to blurred thinking, but aside from that, now I'll be able to put my ramblings down without having to find an excuse for not writing because of the weather. Of course, this has to be on days when I am crazy enough to let myself get soaking wet. Don't laugh; it has happened many times over. I always tell myself, "“If you don’t write it down, you won’t remember it.” Then, I always find an excuse for not writing it down. Well, now I have no excuse. Now that we have the paper, I can't tell myself that it is raining and that's why I can't write. Not anymore! |
| The morning news can be so entertaining. Today, they showed a demonstration for improving fathers’ rights. Dressed as Batman, Robin and Captain America, three men were on a ledge on a stone building in London. Since this is the USA and not UK, the news was only that much, but it was enough to make me grin. I am all for equal rights for responsible parents, men or women alike in any part of the world; however, if this demonstration is a male manifesto of some kind, it might give the opposite idea than the one intended. How can one take a father who dresses in a cartoon figure outfit and stands on a ledge seriously? I certainly wouldn’t want my children to be around such men. This, by the way, makes me feel even more thankful for the serious man who is my children’s father. The only time I remember him coming close to that was inside our house at our younger son’s birthday party. I should watch the morning news more often. |
| Since yesterday, it has been, "Rain, rain, go away!" I shouldn't complain though. It stopped long enough to let me run to Staples to get a thing or two. When I was young and romantic, I used to love "walking in the rain," as a singer of those old days crooned. Age, however, doesn't like discomfort; neither does it like gloomy skies, especially after getting used to the Florida sun. Still, this rain is very welcome, because if we don't get enough rain, the conditions become favorable for brush fires here. Especially after the hurricanes, wooded sections are subject to fires since nobody has cleaned out the fallen, dried trees. And this brings to mind another oldie, "I've seen fire, I've seen rain." Another quirky side mine, grey skies are reminding me of old songs. Probably I'm melting, without even stepping in a puddle. This rain is not quite like the Florida rains we're so accustomed to. Florida rains come suddenly in bucketfuls and then disappear in a few minutes. This is more like the rains of the northeast, continuing, drizzling and coming down faster at intervals. I think somebody switched the skies to run away with my weather. |
| Yesterday and today, we did our tax by filing the form DR-601I. This tax bothers me greatly because of the work involved, but not because the money to be paid to the state government. God knows this state deserves a lot more funds coming to it. Contrary to most everybody's belief, I like the way the state of Florida is run. True, I have little comparison to form a strong opinion on the subject, since the only other state I was a resident of was New York. With what little comparison I have though, I think Florida takes care of its residents and infrastructure better than most. In return, Florida residents pay no personal income tax to the state. Instead, Florida has an insubstantial intangibles tax to be paid after 250,000 of intangible assets per person. If a couple has more than 500,000 in assets, they have to pay some minimal tax on that. The law says: “Intangible Personal Property Tax in Florida is a current year tax, which means payable in the same year. If you are a legal resident living in Florida on Jan. 1 of the tax year, you must file an intangibles tax return if your tax obligation is $60 (U.S. funds) or more.” These intangibles are: stocks, bonds, certain money market funds, mutual funds, loans, notes, a portion of accounts receivable and limited partnership interests. Like I said it isn’t the money. It is the unnecessary work, because one has to list every item, multiply, add, subtract and file his findings that come dizzily out of a mathematical maze. Also, if a person keeps the same stocks, he pays tax on them year after year, which makes it illegal, because over the years this becomes multiple taxing. We have to list the stocks, bonds, mutuals etc. at the price they were on January 1 of the tax year, and pay tax on not just the gains within the last year but the entire holdings. The amount of tax, at the end, seems minimal; however, the time spent on this work is tremendous. For example, if a couple has about 750,000 in stocks, minus the 500,000 exemption, the tax comes about to less than 200 dollars a year. I know I am not going to be very popular for saying this, but why doesn’t the state of Florida put a personal income tax that is lawful and easy to prepare? Not only this would bring more funds to the state, but also it would be easier on the people writing down every single asset they have year after year. |
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