I prefer doing pot luck with friends and acquaintances rather than family. With family I prefer going to a restaurant so that we're free to chat.
If you have a constant group of pot-luckers, you get things down to a quick routine in terms of planning and execution. You develop shortcuts over time, and if everyone participates in the cleaning up (a rule in my house), everyone gets to know where things get put back, which speeds things up tremendously.
Picture yourself on a lazy day, with nothing much to do besides window-shop and kill time. You do something you don't normally do- you meander from shop to shop, taking your time, stopping to look at flowers, even though you don't plan to buy any. But it's the kind of day when it's nice to wander through a flower shop, admiring the hanging baskets and wind-chimes and kitchy lawn-ornaments, when suddenly you become aware of a presence! Someone nearby with their back to you, unaware that you're even there. And then that person turns around, and your eyes lock, and it's as if you've known them all your life, even though you've never seen them before. In the same instant you feel a visceral attraction, as though this is the person you belong with!
Everything about that person seems comfortable and familiar- the way they stand, the way they're dressed, the way they act and move. The person strangely fits no preconception you've ever had about someone you'd wanted to meet. Despite the feeling of familiarity, you're in entirely unfamiliar waters.
And then you notice the wedding-ring, and the small child, unnoticed before, clutching their skirt or pant-leg, and you realise that it can never be, yet you wonder if that person felt the way you did, if only for an instant.
Yes, PB and preserves works great! Tried PB and wine jelly once. That wasn't too bad.
How about REAL PB, made in a food processor, with no added crap, like sugar! Or nut-butter made from cashews, almonds, hazel nuts, or a mixture of the aforementioned?
1) avocado, Swiss cheese, mayo, alfalfa sprouts, on light rye with real butter
2) crumbled blue cheese, Lite mayonnaise, breaded egg-plant fried in herbs, served on brown
3) shrimp with seafood sauce with shredded lettuce, served on toasted white
4) grilled carrots, melted white cheese (your choice), fresh bean sprouts, topped with grated Parmesan, fresh ground pepper and oregano, served on toasted white
The purpose of this thread is to clear up a common misconception regarding the evolution of ourselves- homo sapiens.
The misconception is that "man descended from apes". You often hear this phrase in connexion with the term "missing link".
"Missing link" is an obsolete term that dates from a time when the fossil record of Man was just emerging, and was very much incomplete. Many specimens of early hominids had been found, but archaeologists at the time knew very little about them. At the time, there seemed to be a gap between Modern Man and the few primate fossil ancestors which had been found. The fossils seemed to indicate that Modern Man had somehow evolved from from gorilla-like primates. All of this early theorising has long-ago been swept away. What we know today is that Man, rather than being descended from apes, is in fact a member of the Great Apes. So- there is no "missing link", and Man is not descended from apes, but rather is a type of ape.
Apes are primates, and are divided into two categories- Great Apes and Lesser Apes. Both categories have a common ancestor- the tarsier. The tarsier we evolved from is long extinct, but the tarsier line kept right on going, and a few species of tarsier are still with us today.
So here is a video of our true ancestor- not another type of ape or some so-called "missing link", but the earliest form of primate:
WARNING! THE FOLLOWING VIDEO CONTAINS SCENES OF UNBELIEVABLE CUTENESS! VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!
I've heard a number of women say this over the years. As a comment it stands out in my mind because men say the opposite, that they like to be the one doing the holding.
I mention this because most comments are the same, regardless of gender. This is one of the few that are opposites.
I handle insects, particularly bees and wasps, which for some reason evokes a strong negative reaction from some people. Insects are agenda-driven creatures, so if you help fulfill the agenda, they'll accept you without reservation.
I have a kitty entourage. They go "walkies" with me! My neighbours have nicknamed me the "Pied Piper" because of it, and also because they come running when called, by name (the cats, not my neighbours).
I felt it was a topic that should be on everyone's mind, at least to some degree. I mean, here we are on an on-line dating site. If we do what we say we're here to do, we'll meet someone and we'll have to decide what's next.
At my age I just like meeting people, making new friends and acquaintances. For me it would be a matter of meeting up with a group of people somewhere, planning a big multi-day picnic, where people break off and go sight-seeing.
I bought a nearby acreage for similar reasons. The place is like a private park, lots of grass and trees, a good well, an outhouse and a fire pit. There's a horseshoe toss on the property that just needs a little TLC to bring it back. Add tents and picnic tables and people and you have all you need.
The "meds" I take aren't what you can call "meds" in the traditional sense, mariespoodles. Mine kick-start the production of something (same idea as taking water pills), whereas most medications mask symptoms or else attack an underlying problem (think pain-relief and/or viruses). So bi-polar, for me, is like having diabetes, not a mood-disorder.
EQ? I have several types of electronic EQ in my studio, but I take it you're referring to something else? I'm not familiar with the term.
A seeker? Yes, that does seem to be the difference. It's more complex than merely making choices. It's a question of recognising processes and learning to work with them. Yes, Nature is a path to a certain type of knowledge, if you're willing and have the patience to watch it unfold at its own pace. It's a living music, full of wonder and delight, timelessness and nameless yearning.
I rarely mention that I have it because I've had it perfectly under control for several years.
The thing about bi-polar disorder (and schizophrenia for that matter) is that there is the disorder, and then there is the person. What the person is made of is about a third of the equation, how the disorder impairs the person is another third, and the final third is the disorder itself.
Before the onset of the disorder in my early teens, I was a naturally tough-minded individual who both resisted and didn't buy into the disorder as it took hold and progressed. This allowed me to hold out for many years, until something close to a cure was found- serotonin reuptake inhibitors in my case. I could say that I'm cured, except that that would change the moment I stopped taking my pills. However, if a procedure was ever developed that caused my body to properly produce serotonin again, I would actually be cured.
Speaking as a person who has bi-polar disorder, there are a number of things I can tell you about the disorder that you will not find in any textbook. The first thing you have to understand is that the talk of "highs" and "lows" is utter nonsense. This is how the disorder appears to an observer. What is actually taking place, where the "highs" are concerned, is a process in the brain called "feedback". Think of the squealing sound of a microphone when you place it too close to a speaker. This is what the brain is experiencing during a "high". It's not actually a "high"- it's a feedback loop. The so-called "low" is the crash that follows. If your brain were an amplifier, it would be fried after experiencing feedback. The low is the brain being "crapped out", a process where it needs quiet and to be left alone, in order to allow it time to recover. What the layman "sees" is a person who "doesn't want to get out of bed and do something".
When a "low" is prolonged, it's because the brain is experiencing a different type of feedback loop. It's literally stuck in "crapout mode", and for a time has lost the ability to spontaneously recover.
Take a different person and you end up with a different situation. If you're dealing with a person who is easily overwhelmed, emotionally and mentally, that person ends up having psychotic breaks. In those cases the disorder is a hundred times worse, because not only is the feedback process compounded many times, but the person's wherewithall, their ability to withstand the effects of the disorder, gets eroded over time until the person has few or no resources left with which to withstand or fight back. This is the peril especially of paranoid schizophrenics. Not only is the disorder devastating in and of itself, but the effect of the disorder on the sufferer is an horrific trial, not only every waking moment of each and every day, but during sleep as well. Even the subconscious mind is invaded, so that there is no escape, no relief, ever.
Any- sorry to run on like this; I just felt it was important for people reading this thread to know a bit of what bi-polar disorder is about.
Now that I've outed myself as a crazy person, you'll all no doubt be watching my posts for signs of my coming unhinged . . .
. . . copper walks by and says, "Here . . . do these nails belong to any of you girls? Anyone? We just pulled 'em out of this poor lad's bum, and he's claiming that at least one of you is responsible. Is one of your names 'Nirvana?' Nirvana! We're looking for a woman named 'Nirvana!'"
gsmonks Forum Posts (386)
Do you do pot luck for get- togethers?
I prefer doing pot luck with friends and acquaintances rather than family. With family I prefer going to a restaurant so that we're free to chat.If you have a constant group of pot-luckers, you get things down to a quick routine in terms of planning and execution. You develop shortcuts over time, and if everyone participates in the cleaning up (a rule in my house), everyone gets to know where things get put back, which speeds things up tremendously.