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THE FOURTH SIGN OF THE ZODIAC (PART 3) Mary Oliver

I know, you never intended to be in this world.
But you’re in it all the same.

So why not get started immediately.

I mean, belonging to it.
There is so much to admire, to weep over.

And to write music or poems about.

Bless the feet that take you to and fro.
Bless the eyes and the listening ears.
Bless the tongue, the marvel of taste.
Bless touching.

You could live a hundred years, it’s happened.
Or not.
I am speaking from the fortunate platform of many years,
none of which, I think, I ever wasted.
Do you need a prod?
Do you need a little darkness to get you going?
Let me be as urgent as a knife, then,and remind you of Keats,
so single of purpose and thinking, for a while, he had a lifetime.



(John Keats, one of the English Romantic poets, was 25 when he died. Mary Oliver is 81)

I know, there is a poetry section, and this isn't even my own. I like it. tongue


I liked a comment under the article and quote even more, even though it is practically the opposite message.

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Recognise anyone?

It’s just a bit of fun, not looking to offend anyone, but have you ever spotted one or more of these female single types? I think there are a couple missing confused The guys on the other hand seem to boil down to two types, flirts or not flirts . . .

• The Onlooker – intrigued by what everyone else is up to, quick to give her opinion, coy about her own agenda. Most Onlookers put their status as ‘in a relationship’ or ‘not available’. In their bio they say things like Not looking Not looking although some opt for putting their age as 99 and insist they are looking for older men only. Onlookers can be drawn into public flirtation. They give advice, and it is often worth reading. rollers

• The Spiritual Soul – searching for love, but not just on the coarse physical plane. She seeks a soulmate, and wanders along the beaches (they nearly all live on beaches) thinking beautiful thoughts which she turns into poetry. She has frequent affairs which end when the potential soulmate would rather turn on the telly or go out for a pint than read yet another poem, and she realizes sadly that he is too of the earth to be The One. He is hustled out the door, immortalized in a poignant and regretful poem, and then forgotten. daydream

• The Incorrigible Flirt – she’s naughty and fun, with a teasing word for everyone, scattering lavish compliments and flirting outrageously. She’s not going to settle down in a hurry – and she very rarely meets up, either, although there is always at least one meet-up imminent. batting

• The Hardboiled Egg – hardly counts as a single because she never, ever meets anyone. She complains there are no real men left, certainly none in her locality, and deletes private messages instantly because all messages are ipso facto from scammers. talk to hand She makes disparaging comments in the public forums but gives good advice

• The Upgrader describes herself as single, but coyly admits in her first or second private message that she is in fact in a relationship / marriage but it isn’t working out. flirty

• The Pragmatist is perhaps the most honest of all. She wants a better life for herself, preferably marriage, and is offering good company and that she will look after her man. Most of them are in poorer countries and with limited English but to judge by the blogs, the men who accept that offer and import a Pragmatist are pleased enough. However, many who look like Pragmatists are of course scammers. It is a very fine line to define. Be warned, too, gents, that genuine Pragmatists often turn fairly promptly into Upgraders.hmmm

• The Nut – phew, how to define a nut? She starts off seeming sensible but scratch the surface and the lunacy bubbles up. Nuts range from quirky to full-blown fruitcake. The Fruitcake is scary - some are sensible in the mornings, wildly erratic in the evenings. Some become demanding, attack other women on the forums, publicly insult men who have backed away, take the mildest remark as either a deadly insult or a heartfelt declaration, and appear in every shape and form. They get weirder and weirder until the website managers delete their profiles.shock

A little bit of nut in everyone is a Good Thing. You can have too much of a Good Thing, though.


popcorn This is for fun - be nice cheers
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Feeding guests

Back when you're a couple, the cook can excuse themselves to head off to the kitchen while their other half keeps drinks coming and chat going. Being chief cook, drinks dispenser, host, and bottle washer is different.

How do you do it? invite the guests into the kitchen to watch you? Give them tasks to do? Hope they'll take over?

popcorn
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Double standards with friends

No-one is perfect, we ALL have our flaws. I take a long time to reach the point where I consider someone a friend through thick and thin, whatever they do, there for them when they need a friend, defend them when they behave badly, but here’s the double standard – the day they bite ME on the bum, suddenly that’s unforgivable!

How do you react when a friend lets you down in a way, major or minor, you’ve always defended when they did it to others? They haven't changed, after all. Still the flawed but likeable person they always were. You're just suddenly seeing it differently ...

confused
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Wish we could ban banning.

(With apologies to Ian O’Doherty, on the Independent.ie, full link to his original article will be posted in the first comment. I took liberties)

I didn't sign up for an unwanted mammy to tell me where I was going wrong and what I needed to do to buck myself up. When was the last time you allowed yourself to be lectured by someone about your moral failings? But that's the world we now live in; one which has become increasingly censorious and priggish.

We now seem to live in a climate where simply disapproving of something is enough to want to ban it. Cigarettes, alcohol, the 'wrong' food. The proposed sugar tax.

Even rugby is under the microscope of the unbearably smug who simply will not rest until they have managed to insert their grubby, interfering tentacles into every aspect of both our public and private lives.

When it comes to issues such as drinking, eating, or even watching the wrong thing, the personality types are the same. The common thread running through all of them is this astonishing arrogance which leads them to believe that they know more about your life than you do and are more qualified to make your choices than you are.

The most recent statement by freshman TD Jack Chambers, who wants to ban McDonald's from sponsoring a movie slot on RTÉ, is a perfect example.

Whether he realises it or not, what Chambers is calling for is a reduction in the right of parents to raise and feed their kids as they see fit.

We are surrounded and assailed on all sides by people who think they know more than you do. Surrounded by busybodies who used to be known as cranks, but who are now called health experts.

You could call it the salami effect, where people gradually chip away at your rights until, without you even noticing, you have no rights left at all. However somebody, somewhere probably objects to the promotion of such a fatty sausage.

The next time you comment with smug disdain about someone doing something you don’t personally approve of, think. Next time it could be someone complaining about something you DO approve of. Like, perhaps, the right to live your life your way.
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Losing it

What order would you put the list in, from worst to what-the-hey, these things happen -


A Losing your car in the parking lot (doh!)
B Losing your passport on holiday (you NUMPTY)
C Losing your place in a long queue because you forgot something (blast it)
D Losing concentration during a boring repetitive job (senility alert?)
E Losing weight without trying (slightly worrying)
F Losing your temper without real cause (eg road rage)

I’ve done them all except option B (so far) but last night I was doing something boring, repetitive, but important to me (setting URLs into one of my ebooks) and suddenly option D has become the most terrifying thing in the world. Until then I’d have put B at the top.

I may be over-reacting, that's why I'm asking. Perhaps everything, at the time it happens, suddenly becomes the most terrifying ...
help
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I'm baaaaaaaaaack

and what a palaver. I zooted off to Germany to buy cigs, as one does. Very cheap flights, very cheap hotel which it turned out was mainly for people who spoke Arabic but friendly and cheerful and it was fine. Until I packed this morning and checked my travel folder and my passport was MISSING.

Minus 8 hours to flight time. No problem.

Went down to reception and as it happened a policeman was there and he said to go to the central police station in town. So I did. They said to go to the police station at the airport. So I did. They said to go to the airport police so I did. Airport police said go away.

So I went to airport information who said get Ryanair to accept emergency travel docs then go back to the police and report your passport stolen then go back to the airport police for the emergency travel docs.

Ryanair don't man their desk until, hmm, 2 pm?

Minus 4 hours to flight time. No problem

They said go for it. I went to the police who said fine here is the letter that your passport is stolen, now you need 2 photographs for the emergency one. They were, by the way, LOVELY. Even drove me in a police car to drop me off at the photographers! So I get my photos and beetle back to the airport.

It is now 4 pm. Minus 2 hours to flight time. Mmm, bit of a problem?

Airport police said go away.

I said no I won't.

They said if you are from the UK you can ONLY get travel docs from your consulate, as the UK doesn't accept our emergency documents. (British citizens, please take NOTE)

There isn't a British consulate in the town I was in. However they did find me the phone number and I phoned the nearest one who yawned and said lady, 4.30 pm on Friday afternoon? Tell someone who cares, or come see us on Monday.

Minus 1 hour to flight time. PROBLEM.

Long story short (yeah, as if) I got past boarding control at 6 pm, through Security at 6.10 pm, past Passport control at 6.15 pm, and we boarded at 6.20 pm.

It was - lively.

So that's why I wasn't back to chat on the blogs after saying I would be rolling on the floor laughing
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Is there a new way to market stuff?

Oh I know my timing sucks, the weekend and all, I should have asked when you all had your business brains on. Still, those who haven't disconnected them yet -

Can you think of a new and fresh way to market something in a flooded and saturated market? I'm interested for books, but marketing is marketing, other products could have a fresh new angle that could be twisted. Whether you're selling holidays, cars, double-glazing, yourself, clothes, or pebbles you picked up on the beach and lovingly hand-polished ...

There's nothing new under the sun but sometimes a fresh look from an outsider can spark a new idea. I'm not, I promise, going to market anything at you, I want YOUR ideas.

Summary so far, the freshest ideas -

From Ish #1 'message in a bottle' advertising (roping in the international CS community)

From Ish #2 lingerie and even doll lingerie to catch the eye

(and Non-smoker is up for a fish 'n chips date with any female who buys a promoted book handshake)
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Older, wiser, seasoned, mature, mellowed. No comme

I made this list for myself a couple of years ago, and most of it is a non-brainer.

DO NOT FEAR. Fear is so desperately crippling, and the media of the world seem determined to whip us into a permanent state of it. Much of what you fear will never happen, not to you personally. Most of the stuff that does happen is unexpected anyway. When and if it does, deal with it. Fear offers us nothing.

DO NOT REGRET. The past is unchanging. Nothing you can do can change what happened. Take the lesson from it, yes: those who ignore history are fated to repeat it. But do not regret. Nothing that happened to you, if you survived it, can break you, unless you let it.

VISIT PLACES YOU WANT TO VISIT. What’s holding you back? Time? Money? Fear? If you really, really want to visit a place, carpe diem, seize the day. Visit it.

EAT WHAT YOU WANT. You may need to eat it in smaller quantities, sure. But life is short. You don’t really want to cram your face with garbage, that’s not what this message is about. It is about treating yourself, every now and then, because you are experienced, knowledgeable, seasoned and you want to . . .

SEIZE EVERY CHANCE TO SEE YOUR FRIENDS. No-brainer. We seasoned mature mellow people can let life distract us, put things off to tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. If the chance comes up to see a favourite person, no, it is not too far. It is not too much trouble. The chance may not come up tomorrow. Do it.

SMILE AND LAUGH. Have you smiled today? Laughed? Or are you reading this and that’s all well and good but life isn’t always funny. No, it isn’t. But a genuine laugh is like a shot of vitamins, the effect is extraordinary. Smile, now, at the screen. Smile at people, it gets you back into the habit of smiling. The laughter will follow. It feels wonderful.

LIFE ENDS WHEN YOU STOP DREAMING

HOPE ENDS WHEN YOU STOP BELIEVING

LOVE ENDS WHEN YOU STOP CARING

FRIENDSHIP ENDS WHEN YOU STOP SHARING

It's been a long day

I need one of those hugs that turn into sex.

daydream
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Olympic wasteland

I've been wondering why it was so quiet on the blogs and forums and duh, Olympics! International event, every CS member has a team striving to do their best for them ...

Go teams!!

I wasn't here last time round, so I wasn't expecting it. In theory I have two teams to support, the UK and SA. To my shame, I didn't even watch the opening ceremony, was it good?
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Social behaviour - a wee rant

I know I’m going to offend some people with this but here are a few things that make me look as though I’m sucking a lemon, okay? The people doing them seem to feel it is their absolute right to do it in public and to hell with the lemon-suckers. It is happening more and more often and you know what? Not everyone loves watching. Rein it in a bit.

A couple noisily and lengthily kissing, especially if they are groping each other at the same time. The whole world doesn’t love lovers.

Especially if you’re slurping. scold

Eating noisily with your mouth open throughout. barf

Talking while you’re eating, especially if I get a fine spray of food and your gob in the process, gets a DOUBLE ew barf

Peeing against a tree with people around - at least go round the tree, okay?

Whipping out an engorged tit and openly feeding your kid. The older the kid, the more embarrassing it is for the rest of us. Kids that bang on mummy's shirt and demand 'titty, mummy, titty!' - oh, hang on, I think there's a youtube vid. I'll find it for the comments.

Picking your nose, especially if you then turn it into a meal. Bon appetite. roll eyes

Talking very loudly on your phone – particularly effective on a long train trip in the “quiet” carriage. Don't forget to be very boring and repeat yourself at least 4 times. very mad



Yes yes yes all absolutely natural and perfectly lovely and you can be as offended as you like. But now you know not everyone thinks it lovely behaviour. dunno

So there. tongue
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