"There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life,” Jesse Jackson once told an audience, “than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery—then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.”
In Scientific American article "bigot on the brain".

No More Mrs Smelly

Go Home Mr Murphy!

Of course we knew it had to happen. A dead-give away were the rusty sides and the funny grinding noises. But being the Queen of De Nile, one hopes, right?

So two weeks it died, in a sudden and dramatic moment of metal-on-metal crescendo.

And if one goes, might as well get the other replaced. Ka-ching!

Two weeks, and living on what we have. Crisis this morning. "I can't wear that today, mum! Everybody KNOWS that I wore that YESTERDAY!!!!". Followed by the call from Sears that the goods are in Calgary. Calgary is separated from Vancouver by beautiful mountain highways. Which are currently closed, due to avalanche and mudslide risk. "I'm sorry, we don't know at this time when we will be able to get it to you. If it makes you feel better, you are not the only one we had to call". Didn't really make me feel better.

I'm saving my quarters and loonies again. Local Laundromat, here we come ....

Ah, but don't they say that local laundrymats are the centre of the community, the source of chance encounters with interesting people, not to mention the chance of a ride in the dryer?
Who needs Disneyland, anyway.

Change

You must be the change you want to see in the world.
-- Mahatma Gandhi, Indian political and spiritual leader (1869 - 1948)

Unconditional change. Not, I'll change when you do. Not, I'll open up when you do. Not, I'll trust when you've proven yourself. Not, I'll be nice to you when you deserve it.

Old patterns die very hard. And it is hard not to become that what we've feared, once the tables are turned. Having been powerless, how easy it is to fall for the lure of power. Having been helpless, how easy it is to never accept help. Having been cut off, how easy to think you don't need anyone. Having been so scared, how easy to never risk again.

It sometimes becomes clear that our plans have irremediable failed. The game is over and we've lost. The consequences of failure may be dreadful. Nevertheless, there's nothing more to be done. Our moves are exhausted; the deadline is past. If we continue to occupy ourselves with the thing at this point, we fall into the trap of reversion. Reversion is the temporal opposite of fixation. In fixation, we work furiously to hasten an immovable future. In reversion, we labor to change the immutable past.
-- "Mental Traps, the over-thinker's guide to a happier life", Andre Kukla

This is a year of new beginnings. Happy 2009!

And yes. I remember I said the same thing last year. So? :-) This year will be different!

For one thing, I'll REALLY remember to bring the cloth bags into the store. And that's only the beginning :-)

I love this song, from "Deeper" (Andy Caldwell)

Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars (Corcovado)

Quiet nights of quiet stars quiet chords from my guitar
floating on the silence that surrounds us.

Quiet thoughts and quiet dreams quiet walks by quiet streams
and a window that looks out on the mountains and the sea, oh how lovely

This is where I want to be here with you so close to me
until the final flicker of life’s ember.

I who was lost and lonely believing life was only
a bitter tragic joke, have found with you,
the meaning of existence, oh my love