I have always known that one day I would take this path, though yesterday I did not know it would be today

(Ariwara no Narihari - Japan 11th century)

The fun with BCUK is that when it's fast, Ican nearly use it like a chat line. I have an idea, I write it down, answer questions. All while doing my normal dayjob undisturbed. Yesterday and today it has been so slow that it started interfering with what I need to do.

So for the first time in a while, I am going logging off for the day, and will try it again tomorrow.

Have fun

Have there been any problem with the servers here? I have experienced heaps of problems in the last 24 hours?

Would you consider having your entire memory wiped out, death?

Why when my wife doesn’t want to make dinner, she calls me, telling me she couldn’t make it, and asking me to eat on my way back home.

So why when she doesn’t feel like having sex, she does not call me to tell me to have some before I come home?

If size matters then nothing else does

And who is better to express it than Monty python

If we are already talking about the Church... inspired by workandbooks

I have just started a new blog, which I hope will be my place to introduce my serious side. If you are interested, and patient enough for more heavy reading, it is called The Question Of Reality

Can anyone resolve this question once and for all?

Can anyone resolve this question once and for all?

Warning: some of the images in this blog are not for the faint hearted. I will not be responsible for any damage caused by watching these images.

In a professional environment, as well as in the classroom, the appearance of a mouse is one of the only moments where one is given a permission to get hysterical. “A mouse, a mouse! Get it out of here quickly!” screamed by an otherwise properly behaved rational person standing on her or his desk, is the call for the brave cavaliers to pick up whatever they can lay their hands on: books, brooms and rubbish bins, to fight away the horrendous monster. The monster, in turn, is trying to find a point from which it can launches its deadly attacks on unsuspecting innocent humans who just happen to be around.

No wonder even the mighty elephant is horrified when such a beast approaches.

So, as part of the tough military regime I subject my son to, I decided to expose him to the horrors of the beast, and took him to its den in the forest. It was a grey and cold day when we arrived. At first we found no tracks. But just when we thought of giving up our quest and return empty handed, but alive, we were attacked. The images below are the only ones you’ll ever see of a person who survived such an attack.

I have always wondered what featured blogs were, and how they were chosen.

It's obvious that quality is not criteria, nor necessarily popularity. So for a while I thought it must be some mystical formula that combines the two. However, today when Chris_Brown's, with 5 entries altogether and last activity 564 days ago, was featured I realised that this must be another one of these mystical phenomena beyond anyone’s control.

Does anyone know how it's done?

As a beginner poet, I took the opportunity to enter my first ever poetry competition at poetry.com. So just try to imagine how delightful I was when a months later I got this email:

The votes are in, and we are proud to congratulate you for your outstanding literary achievement. The editors of The International Library of Poetry were thrilled to inform you that your poem was honored with the prestigious Editor’s Choice Award because of your artistic accomplishments and unique perspective--characteristics found in the most noteworthy poetic works. To further commemorate this prestigious achievement, we have elected you to receive the 2007 Editor’s Published Poet Ribbon Award Pin.

This stunning pin proudly displays your elevated status in our poetic community. Since only an elite group of published poets were selected to receive this special honor, imagine the sense of pride you will feel when others see you wearing the 2007 Editor’s Choice Published Poet Award Pin. What an impressive way to show off your status as an honored poet for the year 2007!

I went back to the competition site but found no mentioning of my name or my poem. On the other hand, what I did find was

To take advantage of this special offer to commemorate your exceptional poetic talents, simply go here. This exclusive pin is only $19.95, plus shipping & handling. If you wish to send us your order by mail, please include a copy of this email and your completed order form to receive this special offer.

So let me get it straight. Is it because I try to write poetry you feel that I have no common sense, or that I am a complete idiot?

Is the competition is just away to collect email addresses of would be poets who are willing to pay to support their poetry ego?

If I was interested in paying for fake awards, I would not have wasted my time trying to write poetry. I may be a crap poet, but still not a complete idiot. Count me out!

The way authorities view political prisoners

I posted it here before, but as I do feel very strongly about human rights in China, I am trying to make a statement. As small as it might be.

What I see as the major human right issues are:

the persecution of Falun Gong (Falun Dafa) for their religious belief
the deliberate destruction of the Tibetan culture
and mainly, the involuntary extraction of organs from political prisoners.

China is becoming a super-power, so our politicians prefer to focus on smaller, less risky targets. Yet, China cares about its international image: their space program and their effort to create the perfect Olympics are the proof.

However,

The Olympics will not be successful without successful media coverage, and
Media coverage will not be successful if we will not watch, so
would you agree not to watch?
would you agree to shun companies that use the Olympics for advertising and marketing?

If you do, I set a page outside this blog, at authspot.com ( I think it is a more suitable place for poetry) and put there my very first political poem.

If you do care, could you just add in the comments anything to indicate that you will not watch the coming Olympics. Or maybe forward it to someone, or add a link?

This is something I really care about, so thank you if you do

I think that in my previous post I was taken too literally : )

All I really wanted (and probably miserably failed) was to bring a couple of examples of minor, insignificant, issues that can become source of tension, sometimes to the extent of destroying relationships.

Change the toilet by toothpaste, the horrible taste in clothes your partner has, or anything else and you can find dozens of examples how such small things has the potential to create so much tension in relationships, that otherwise could have been successful.

If we are already talking about toilets (Loo with a View ), can anyone explain why women living on their own, when starting new relationships often complain about how inconsiderate men are, that they never remember to put the toilet seat back?

Out of curiosity, does anyone know of any man who ever fell into the toilet because the toilet seat was up? So why can’t women just put it down themselves? Is it something in the living-alone woman psyche that prevents her from looking where the toilet seat is before sitting?

... and then they complain how difficult it is to find a serious man to have a long term relationship.

By the way, the way you put in the toilet paper roll (paper from the top or paper from the bottom) is another one of these things that is not really worth not having relationship for.

Just in case ...

Blogging is a new pastime for me. It’s not so much about writing, but mostly about reading what others think and feel. Never in my life did I read so much about subjects I knew nothing about. Never before was I aware of what made people happy or sad. This is entirely new revelation for me. It’s fascinating.

A common theme, mainly amongst the younger bloggers is what others (in real life not blogland) think about them, and how your own actions effect what others think and feel about you.

So if you are worried, it means that you have not come to term with the fact that most people don’t spend their time thinking about you. Instead, most of their time, quite rudely they think only about themselves – just like you. So now for the two cents advice: if you’re worried about what other are thinking about you – they don’t, so don’t worry.

And for the three cents advice: thinking about yourself will rarely make you happy. So don’t, and find something more important to think about.

You are hot, sweaty and heavy and you feel awkward. You are being supported lest you should fall in the swinging, rocking boat, and you are wondering what the hack you are doing there. You are jumping, hitting the water and within a fraction of a second you are cold and wet, your breath stops until your body adjusts. You are floating weightlessly. The water is clear, blue and deep and everything around you is colourful and dynamic. You are swimming with the fish and for a short while you are one of them.

You are heavy and tired, your muscles ache, and you are reaching for the next hold. You feel hot as the sun is burning on your back. You are trying to regulate your breath, to relax, to calm your fear. You are taking a deep breath and looking for the next hold. You want to wipe the sweat off your forehead, but cannot. You only have two hands and wish you were a spider.

Diving and rock-climbing; weightlessness against fighting gravity, facing a grey rock versus facing the deep blue water, climbing up or diving down. What can be more contradictory than these two activities?

And yet, for me they are so much alike. Nature and myself in coexistence of struggle and harmony. Being in solitude in an environment that wasn’t meant for me, and I wasn’t meant for it. Both required skills had to be learnt and practised until they became an unnatural second nature. The senses must be sharp and the mind is not allowed to wander off as any mistake can be my last. Primeval fears and barriers need to be overcome and the mind shifts to a unique acute mode. Everyday life disappears and mundane problems are left behind. The body knows its role and the mind, which controls it, disconnects. It’s me and my doing. It’s purity of existence. It’s life itself. It's happiness.

As most of you seem to like your jobs, and yet have little respect for management decisions, here is something to cheer you up. Your management cannot be that bad after all.

As most of us seem to be moaning and groaning about going to work today after the holidays, I was wondering how many of us hate our job. So lets have another get to know each other for the new year. And tell us,

Do you love or hate your job ?

Just a question came about in one of the last blog discussions.
Have you ever made or seen a snow woman?
If not, why not?