I Blog Poetry and Prose

Over the past several decades, I have had numerous strange encounters, encounters with strangers, and strange encounters with strangers. I remember once, several years ago, around Halloween. I was going home, and since I didn't have a car, I was riding the city bus. The bus, going east on Charleston Avenue, made a stop and picked up several passengers. One of them appeared to be a bit inebriated, but not belligerent, so the bus driver let him board the bus. He took the empty seat beside me, and, after the bus begin moving, he started to sing Christmas songs. He was obviously a happy drunk, which isn't a reason to get kicked off the bus. The rest of the passengers, along with me, just smile at man's choice of songs given the time of years.

On the first Saturday in October 2018 I contemplate my autumn goals, review my "My Goals for October" , and check my calendar for upcoming Holy Days and appointments. There is one Nineteen-Day Feast in October. In November there are four Holy Days and two Nineteen-day Feast. I don't have any doctors' appointments yet, because I'm waiting for my kidney doctor to call for that appointment. I also need to call my regular doctor to make an appointment with her sometime around October 25. It's usually easy to get an appointment with my GP, I can make the appointment three days from the date I called. I have to have at least a three day after I call because I have to arrange for transportation.

Who has made the biggest impact on my life? At 71 years young, there are a lot of people who made a impact on my life. Some for the better and some for the worst; however, I'm not going to discuss those who have made a negative impact on my life. The reason for this is that, in a few weeks (December 24) there will be 72 candles on my birthday cake. I'm attempting to let go of the residual negative emotions that have built up from encounters with people.

I speak American English, as fluently as anyone born in the United Sates of America can speak it. I have picked up a smidgen of other languages through listening to popular music and watching movie. I learned the only two words of German I know, "danke schön" and "nein", from a Wayne Newton song and watching World War II movies. I know a little Spanish, as spoken by Hispanic immigrant from Mexico, because I have lived in Las Vegas--where Spanish is often spoken--since sometime in the last century.

I remember an October day in Oklahoma. Grandpa had racked the leaves into piles, ready to put in the steel drum he used to burn them, he watched us jump in the leaf piles. We scattered them, making more work for him, but he didn't care. He laughed and smiled as we jumped in the leaves, scattering them across the front yard. The best thing about October are the memories of Oklahoma it brings back, as a watch the clouds gather in the Nevada sky.

What are my pet-peeves? Most of my pet-peeves are personal, because they are caused my my own actions rather than the actions of others. One that I deal with on a daily basis is procrastination. Another is filing or placing important items where I think I can find them later, when I know I'll need them. The problem here is that I can never find them when I go back to get them. I go to the place, I thought I put them, and they aren't there. This causes me to have to look through numerous other stuff in order to find the one important items that I need.

What are my goals for October? Since I'm not participating in the October NaNoWriMo Prep Challenger, I need to focus on writing and accomplishing some items I've put off. I need to transcribe some older poems to "Poem Experiments"  and "Devotional Poetry" , which will allow me to clean out my desk drawers and some boxes in the second bedroom. I also want to write and submit stories and poems to several of the contests on writing.com.

I meditate upon this question, read the sacred writings of The Bab, Baha'u'llah, and 'Abdu'l-Baha, and attempt--as best I can--to follow 'Abdu'l-Baha's example. This is an unending spiritual journey of prayer, meditations, reading the sacred scriptures, and taking action to follow Baha'u'llah's prescription for living and 'Abdu'l-Baha's advice on living "As A Baha'i". Sometimes I succeed, and sometimes I fail. The idea is to never give up, and to bring myself to account each day.

Pantheism is the belief that the Universe is God, which is an intriguing and thought provoking concept. However, this is not a theory I am prepared to accept, because it neither satisfies my soul nor answers all the questions about God, creation, and religion that I have. In order to find answers to my questions I go to the Baha'i scriptures. I read and meditate on the writings of The Bab, Baha'u'llah, and 'Abdu'l-Baha.