Vivid Memory

This is one of those weird situations, and it is so because my tendency to forget events in my life should have been disastrous for my development, but somehow, I always was relieved from the consequences of my oblivion by foreign forces of unknown origin.

Even so, the most vivid memory I have, was preceded and followed by a total forgetfulness about how started and ended the events of that day.

I remember to have been on a long table full of very small babies, I was one of them. There was a lot of white clad persons milling around giving last touch to the preparation for... I do not know for what at the moment.

Nevertheless, in a given moment, the surface of the table where we were lying absolutely naked,  which added to my sense of prudishness,  prissiness, and as Mr. Carroll coined word "mimsy", in my adult years, started to move into a small cavern in a very complicated machine at the end of the conveyor belt.

I saw many of us disappear into the mouth of the machine, and my first thought was that we were being fed into the gadget to appease its hunger, or worse, to prepare some kind of food for other people. The idea came because there were many of us on the belt and it seemed the people working around us were helping to make our number a little less.

When I arrived at the mouth, I tried to avoid entering but my strength was so minimal that I only helped the mechanical arms inside the machine to turn me over and blow me from every angle with a warm blow that, besides of being enjoyable, dried all my body of the liquids that covered me. After that I was taken into a big bottle full of a very good smelling kind of talc, and closed at my neck to avoid making me sneeze, or so I thought, remember I come from a long scientific heritage so it is not strange I can have surprising ideas when circumstances trigger them.

Then I was left near a place full of arms that started to wrap a cotton sheet around my lower parts, put a kind of cotton camisole very comfortable, and delivered me into a new conveyor belt where a lot of white clad people checked each one of us for a correct clothing and supervised our falling from the belt into an open sheet of cloth, white as a saint's soul.

After being sure we were in the middle of the sheet, four mechanical arms took the four corner of the sheet and made an expert knot. After that we were separated into two ways, one of them was blue, and the other pink. We were divided with no reason, it seemed, and after that each one of us reached a basket and stay there for a few minutes.

Then coming from nowhere appeared a really big Stork, with a small card in its tam, yes my Stork used a very appropriate tam where there were some letters, of course I did not know what they mean, but I remember them, they were "ADELE", the Stork looked at me not without love, which put me at ease, and took the knot of my sheet in its beak and opening its wings went into the deep blue of dawn.

I was delighted, never have I seen a big city illuminated by myriad of lights, also there was a big river, and near it a triangular iron tower so magnificent, I keep looking at it until we were flying out of the lights and into the dark ground. After a while, my Stork was very strong because it took me to the ocean in almost no time.

The ocean was another place of wonder for me that was seeing it for the first time, after a while we approached a small place of ground surrounded by the water.

My Stork started the descend, and in a moment I was again in the hands of a white clad person, feeling cold and uncomfortable, I started to cry to show my discomfort, so this person and another white clad person, but using different clothes, wrapped me keeping me warm, and I heard the white clad person dressed in a different way, say to a big person near the bed: "It is a big male, Mr. Od Liam, Sr. everything went right and you will be back with your family to your house in Gozo in no time."

I didn't understand the noises made by the white cladded person dressed in a different manner, but Mr Od Liam, Sr. smiled and said, "Can we take Od Liam, Jr, with us?" the white cladded person dressed in a different manner said with another smile: "Of Course!", and it looked that all was all right.

After this events, I seemed to be asleep for several days since I cannot remember anything else.

Since then the slate in my mind was so much assaulted by knowledge that I cannot remember anything until I was seven or eight years old!

But the impression that those first moments of my life did in me will be always a vivid memory!

The music is "Everybody dance Now" by Baby Vu Vu.

© 2013 Od Liam.

Letting Go

This is a kind of undercover philosophy.

To reach the stage where we must decide to Letting Go, it is needed a serial of facts that interact directly with our feelings, our way of life, or in the worst scenario, with our desire to keep going fighting the hours that conform our life without changes.

It seems unnecessary to mention the different kinds of conditions that can end in the need to face a Letting Go situation.

If the reason is of the lowest degree, you just open the hands and truly let it go.

The big decision comes when you find you are looking at an impossibility to choose in an intelligent way what to do in the occasion.

Sometimes, we think that a failure in being successful with a partner in love, when the time the decision comes after a long relationship, the longer, and if we are the dumped part, the worst, it seems more difficult to think in a total severance. But if we can separate our sense of self-pity, and wounded feelings, it is almost an easy thing to do, since it is the only moral and real determination that makes sense.

In other times. even simple things can be difficult to let go, that little Teddy that was our companion in childhood, the scarf Granny knitted for us, I can go on naming things that had engraved so deep in our personality that we feel they are part of us. Even those things must be considered as separated from our self, if we want to be real free.

The real problem is when the "Letting Go" does not resolve the equation: a really beloved person lost in situations where there is no coming back: terminal illnesses, drug dependency where there is no way to help, unsolvable cases of enmity between loved and important persons for us, to name only a few. There are more difficult instances, I am sure, only they are not coming to my mind at this moment.

This kind of situation asks for an unusual way of thinking from us. Sometimes, even if this idea may revolt us, there is no other way than just keep the field clear in the sense of preserving our own sanity, and it is a necessity to open a space between our reason and the element that is provoking a disruption in our psique. This may seem cruel, but sometimes there are no other solution to make sure we are following our path in life, since the other option is to lose everything, the other and oneself.

With this simple way to put a complicated matter, I think that the expression "Letting Go" should be deprived of  its dark nuances and faced with a clear mind, looking what is the best answer to all parts involved.

This seems the best way to follow, unfortunately, each time we reach the stage of "Letting go", the emotional situation, and the surrounding factors are usually conspiring against an intelligent, clear, and unemotional thought.

Some quotes trying to make clear this subject:

“Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.”
- Ann Landers

“Sometimes the hardest part isn't letting go but rather learning to start over.”
- Nicole Sobon

“You must learn to let go. Release the stress. You were never in control anyway.”
- Steve Maraboli

"While you are considering several possibilities, they exist. The moment you choose one of them there is no others, nor is right to think "I may have chosen other thing". There is no 'other thing' but the one you chose."
- Od Liam

“There are times in life when people must know when not to let go. Balloons are designed to teach small children this.”
- Terry Pratchett

“I realise there's something incredibly honest about trees in winter, how they're experts at letting things go.”
- Jeffrey McDaniel

The music is a fragment of "Throw the Roses Away" by Hall & Oates. Besides the obvious reason to throw the roses away, the extreme ado of the music shows the emotional state of the poor being in the song.

© 2013 Od Liam.

Letter to Gentle Readers

Gentle Readers.

It is a long time now I am blogging, but it was needed a challenge from other blogger to bring my attention to the obvious point that I have never written a post with you as addressees, dear people that read this lines.

Alway worrying to find interesting points, difficult and captivating twists to my tales I let down the most important thing a writer or a writer-to-be must keep foremost in mind: those that reading his tales, give the perfect and necessary complement to a story.

This is the reason I am now trying to tidy up the score and repair this fault in my work.

I know that from the point of view of nowadays standards my achievements are not brilliant, and I have not reached those numbers thought to be right for a successful blogger-writer. I know there are not many of you following these adventures, and reading back my work, I can understand why, but the group I know that read me, is significant even if they are not making continuous comments or sharing ideas with the exception of a very few.

Counting on those few, is enough for me to keep trying to find the best way to widen our relationship, and maintain the blog I created working in acceptable terms. I truly think that even if there is just one reader, it is worth the effort.

I want to thank you all dear gentle readers for your presence, maybe you feel it is not necessary to reach out, and it is enough to share the tales. If so, I agree wholeheartedly, and feel I am in good company.

Remember this is the place where you will find, always will find, some entertainment to fill a few minutes of your life.


Thank you from the heart!

The music is "Silence Speaks" by the Norwegian-Irish duo "Secret Garden".

© 2013 Od Liam.

Intelligence?

With the intention of showing a kind of advancement, Science teaches us that before the Big Bang there exists only Chaos, this is not clear how was determined, but it is possible lazy scientific minds had copied the old Greek idea of one of the first entities supposedly alive in those moments when the "place" (not the right word, since there were no places) was just a vast chasm, or void, which incidentally is the meaning of the word 'chaos', we inherited from the antique Greek.

When this void decided it had reached its coming of age, or whatever other thing happened, for all we know. It took the form of (always following Science as our mentor) a Big Bang, that is, an explosion of immeasurable power that gave origin to everything.

Time not being an issue (the strange thing is that if we look closely to it, time does not exist, it is a kind of sense we perceive as the natural ageing of things and people) well, as time was not an issue, things developed at a slow pace until from the lowly critters in the primordial soup, our species appeared in all its splendour.

While everything aligned to the famous vector we call time, there was an incredible occurrence due to... we do not know due to what, only that the outcome of this happening affected us directly.

It seems (always following Ms. Science) a terrible debacle came to take place in our planet, something so devastating that took away all the "big" things on Earth, I am referring to the big meteorite that collided with our planet, leaving the path of mammalian genus open to gain the control of the place.

Since then Mammalian developed into our species, and we went to be the Master of the Planet due to our strong... intelligence?  No, no, due to our strong Stupidity. Of course, since Nature decided to start everything with a devastating explosion, which seems a stupid thing to do, what can we hope to get from its 'best creation':

Humankind!

There is a theory, not sustained by Science, that humankind started being extremely good and intelligent, but for reasons not too evident, it followed a path that give precedence to Stupidity.

So we reached the knot of my "dissertation", I am a convinced militant that Stupidity is the most developed trait of our species and in my mind the most hated, since it is so dangerous that scares me no end.

It was a long time I think so, but it was not too long I found two sites I recommend you to take the time to read. They may be taken seriously, which is really scary, or with a small grain of salt, which situated us in the most difficult question about our personality:

Are we Stupid?


Please if you still feel curious, do not delay your visit to these two pages:

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/serendipia/Stupidity.html
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/serendipia/Stupidity2.html



The music is "Beautiful Creatures" OST The Caster them.It seems to adapt very well to the subject under examination

© 2013 Od Liam.

I was told...

This is not a simply answerable questions, people keep telling me many deep things, when they are not calling me names of different ingeniosity depending on the capacity and the relative rage those people are immerse in, at the time.

In the need to find a way to make this post I moved around the memory folder to find an interesting advice received during my life and turned up with the following:


In my time of Corporation work, and due to one event in particular, my counsellor, trying to uplift my chances of success, attempted to teach me to bring into submission my sense of justice and told me that I was (sic):

"A complete mentally handicapped imbecile if I give any chance to win anything to a job associate in the name of justice"


Maybe his degree in Psychology had prepare him to shake pride in a guy threatening him with idiocy and insanity, but surely his books do not talk about the Celt Psychology. This redundant offense only brought pride in me in the sense that I was doing right.

Of course, he was right, the only fortunate catch was that we were not in the same boat, reason that let me NOT to follow his advice, and that is why I never forget his admonition.

As a corollary of this situation I assume the counsellor of my job associate gave him the same advice, if so:

Can you predict the outcome of this circumstance, in case we both had took seriously this way to act?

The music is "Sad Waltz" by Prince Kalender.

© 2013 Od Liam.

Top 3 worse traits

There is a 'Quoter who quoted the quote': Let them speak about YOU, well or badly, the important thing is they talk about YOU!

Following this lead, and in absolute belief I am telling the truth,
I quote my three worst traits that distinguish myself from the rest
of a world, where traits are the way to classify humankind.



My top three worst traits etched in fire:
I am incredibly conceited and my own admirer,
Unreliable person in all accounts,

Liar, liar, pants on fire

Who will cheat everybody on any amounts,
And a complete and experienced liar.








The music is a fragment of "Stupid Liar" by "BigBangBand"

© 2013 Od Liam.

Something life will whisper in your ear

School won't teach you that...

 1.- Pain is untransferable.

 2.- Love must be a personal experience.

 3.- Money uses the disguise of a friend.

 4.- The line where you are waiting is always the slower.

 5.- In deep water there are not boughs.

 6.- As true diamonds, true enemies are forever.

 7.- Lies have short legs.

 8.-There are not white lies, all of them go from red to black.

 9.- The first kiss is not the only one you always remember.

10.- Too much of everything is too less of anything.

11.- Blind eyes are easy to deceive.

12.- If you think this list is complete... you are wrong!


The music is "Memory Waltz" by Kalender Prince

© 2013 Od Liam.

Rantin' galore

(Ranting is one of the calisthenics I use to keep the creative muscle, flexible and in good tone. Here, an example of this useful "physical" work out.)

 Text found in an old compact disc kept in a bottle surfing the outer space near Alpha Centauri, in the year 347,568 of the Cosmic Era. 

It is considered mythical by some scientific groups since the area where was suspected a planet called Earth was located is now empty and had been so in the last four Eons after the collapse of the galaxies in that space due to a mysterious debacle thought to be the outcome of the creation of a black hole of cosmic proportion. This black hole was attributed to the doing of the inhabitants on the mythic Earth. Clearly this idea seems to be a fallacy, since a deed of those proportions would be more in line with magic than Science, and some people point out that the early date (2013) mentioned in the CD proves the impossibility of this event.

[Starts Quote]
Now, in the year 2013, is the time when humankind must look around and assess its best creation, namely:

Auto destruction.

Starting by (Oops the carton soapbox didn't support my weight and collapsed, wait, do not go away I will find a good crate to get up and leave British soil, just in case I break, inadvertently, any law and end in jail...  Are you sure you are recording this, Bud? Aha, here we are, then).

Starting by the overpopulation of Earth, I was saying, I have reliable sources information that the path of the orbit of our globe had been lowered some feet due to the weight of too many human beings born on it

Following the denaturalization of food, the lack of drinkable water sources, and the warming of the planet changing the usual behaviour of Nature.

The creation of massive destruction weapons, is somewhat a leveling element since with them, it is possible to decrease the extreme overpopulation we, in our selfishness, are deploying all over the ground of our poor homeplace in space. The negative side is that the decision about who and where would use these elements, is not always in the hands of our better representatives.

I cannot understand why, the most advanced places in the world still get houses made of wood, when mortar and bricks are far better, unless their real reason is humanitarian and, they are trying to keep alive the horde of termites that infest their homes, even if in this behaviour we destroy the lungs of the planet.

I am still wondering why we think that Democracy, Tyranny, Royalty, or whatever political organization we have invented since the first cave man hit with an ulna or a thigh bone in the middle of the head of his neighbour to show who was right and who wasn't, is the solution to our problems. We still keep hitting our neighbour's head and by the same reasons, even if we changed to more sophisticated weapons.

We think that family is the base cell of society, but we keep trying to destroy it in the sake of individual freedom, and rights. Does it make sense?

I am a witness that there is no parallel, in its core, to the idea of Human Rights, but what happens when society applies this idea to any person, a known felon or a criminal, because, even if it is absolutely known as guilty, that person is in use of his Rights, until convicted, and is left free to walk as a normal citizen? It is a common occurrence that this person commits new felonies before the trial is done.

We are festering in discrimination, envy, and hate, humankind is growing as a malign tumor over the whole place where it lets rest its tentacles.

Of course, there are good traits in us, only it is difficult to find them, and if you do, you finally realize they are a handicap when you must face trouble.

I do not mean... (hmm, I am hearing the crate creaking, I guess I must hurry, or I will end down again).

I do not mean to show how filthy our species is, but after reading these very lines, there is no other formal judgement or estimation to fit more closely as definition.

So, in a way, it is good news our tendency to auto destruction!

I have spoken!
[End of Quote]

The music is "Cries ans Whispers" from the OST of the Korean movie "Oldboy"

© 2013 Od Liam.

My preferred posts

Step by step, how to follow a list of links to my favorite posts in my archives.

1.- Go to

http://famelesswritings.blogspot.com/

2.- Look for the first post,

http://famelesswritings.blogspot.com/2008/12/welcome.html


3.- Come over the posts one by one up till this post for now, and to those that follow this one from now on!

4.- If you feel dizzy, you can interrupt the process and start again when feeling better from the place where you left the reading.

5.- If you feel bored, just shut down the notebook or whatever are you using, get a good book, and do not make any comment!

6.- If you feel you are losing your time, probably you are! Stop reading and do whatever you like, I will thank you not to make any comment!

7.- If you decide this is the most coherent, wonderful, and extraordinary blog ever seen before in your life, probably you mistyped the address and are reading some other person's blog!

8.- If you feel disoriented or lost go back to step 1.-

 The music is "Celtic Dream" by Zero Project.

© 2013 Od Liam.

Right now struggle

OK, you asked for it!

Just at this moment I am struggling to get into my jeans, it seems that with time, the hotel wardrobes tends to make my clothes smaller!


I am sure it fitted right when I bought it, I will ask the hotel manager a change of room, and will call an exorcist just to play in the safety field.

Be alert! there are evil forces fighting to reduce the size of your clothes. They abide in dark closets!

You're warned, when near a closet, be aware you can be lost in an incredible maze of legs, arms, shirts, blouses, coats, and some nameless things with no respect for your gender, inclination, or capacity.

The music is "Pan's Labyrinth Lullaby" by Javier Navarette.

© 2013 Od Liam.

The five et al...

To choose five of the zillions of blogs I like is a titanic work, I can select five blog with the proviso that it is not determinant, only the ones that are favourite because their ideal conditions, even the order they are mentioned do not classify them in any way.

1.- http://lilstarrz09.blogspot.com/ 
     My long-time bee friend, full of poetry, music and Literature.

2.- http://rumpunchdrunk.blogspot.com/  
     Our discussion stimulator, who always find a way to shake us.

3.- http://easyway1234.blogspot.com/
     My Auntie, who has a big heart where we, all the permanent children 
     of  the world, can sing, play and learn.

4.- http://www.vintagecobweb.com/
     My friend Michelle from Australia, we share love for books and dogs.

5.- http://iknowyouhere.blogspot.com/ 
     My other friend from Australia, Nina Grey, she is a awesome writer.

Bonus:

6.- http://freeheadsintheclouds.blogspot.com/ 
     My three friends from Austria, somehow wholly lost in the clouds lately.

7.- http://memoirsoffahimaayub.blogspot.com/  
     My friend from India, who, despite her few interventions in her blog, 
     can give us beautiful thoughts




The music is "Mambo No.5" by Lou Bega

© 2013 Od Liam.

Childhood story

It was Summer, I remember that because just like all Summers the Sun was running the azure sky in all its glory, I know I didn't think in these words, I was too young to find poetry in Nature.

Gozo Island

I do remember the heat and the heavy sting sunlight did on my skin. I cannot remember my age, but it was before I started school so I must have been pretty young.

When I asked what my parents did for a living, they always told me that they were archeologists and worked in an excavation at Gozo, as I didn't understand a word, I used to get down there looking for a way to see what my 'scientific' parents (as they call themselves) did in the field.

The place was not a safe area, so I was not welcome to the site, especially because I used to destroy the sectional divisions they use to classify whatever they find there. I did not do it as vandalism, it only was that I didn't understand or know why they did that, and it was interesting to remove the lines so I could access easily to the ground, besides, you know what happens when you tell a child not to do something.

In one of these visits, I could avoid the elder guard, and walking around I found a small opening on the foot on a low hill from where a soft cool breeze was blowing steadily. Since it was hot in the outside, I defied the cool draught into the cave.

I moved along the ground on all fours, following the tunnel into the hollow, there was an eerie light ahead, of course, I didn't know what eerie meant, but I do felt the feeling we have when we used that word.

After a short while, the tunnel opened into a small cavern with a kind of a narrow vertical hole, or chimney, that seemed to go out since it was the source of the light that lit the place.

Skull

I started to prowl around and my first discovery, on a small ledge against the wall, was a skull that smiled at me with half its teeth since it had not jaw. Then there were a lot of bones around it, and small clay medals with elaborated figures in many colours on it.

I was not scare of these things, I have seen them many times on Dad's desk. So I entertained myself for a while looking at the figures and trying to guess what they meant, with scarce or no results.

After that I decided to go back to the world, but when I faced the wall where was the hole I came in, I found that it was full of similar holes, and I had no idea from which one I had entered the cavern. I was a bit taken aback until I remember a game I used to  play with Grand.

He hid a postcard in a book, between the first page and the cover, or between the last page and the end cover. I took the book and recited a spell touching lightly each cover at a time following the syllables: "Where is it, newsman. I guess it is in this one", the cover where I finish the spell was the place where the postcard was, it never failed. This game was supposed to teach me to divide sentences in syllables. What I never realized was that Grand turned the book to make me always win since the number of syllables in the spell left you always in the opposite cover you started.

Now, I thought it would be useful, so I started with the first hole reciting the spell, and went trustingly into the one I finish... to end in another cavern with more bones. I thought I had made some mistake in the reciting of the words, so I did it again... more bones, and again... more bones...

I started to feel scared, maybe the place had some stronger spell that made fail mine, furthermore, the light from outside seemed to wan, as if the sun were coming down. This fact brought the idea of coming supper, but I had nothing to eat, and my tummy was making noises. Even now I do not know if those noises were because I was hungry or in panic!

Believing implicitly in my spell I kept reciting it and finding more bones for a while. When I was already all set to sat back and cry, I could hear some indistinct voice coming from somewhere. My first thought was that the bones were talking to me in a foreign language, so I went near the skull and listened carefully.

That's when I discover the voice coming from one of the holes in the wall, so I went into it and ran quickly on all four toward the source of the voice, while I was approaching the end of the tunnel there was more light, and the voice said clearly: "Put those spades in the shed, Anard".

I knew Anard was the aide of the foreman of the site, so I went faster yet, and finished falling from a hole two feet over the ground on a flat stone where I sat a bit groggy but happy to be outside.

I scared the shirt out of the shoulders of Anard, he almost went out running, thinking I was a ghost coming out of the cemetery, which all of you had already guessed it was the place.

When he recognized me, he called the foreman who called my Mom, who was more than stunned by my caper. But as soon as she recover from the surprise, and retrieved from me information of my adventure, I was grounded for a week, no bicycle, no books of pictures and no dessert, even if I explained her that I was not in danger because I had my spell that worked fine when it could overpower the internal hex in the tombs!

Then they surrounded the site with wire and hanged little bells from it, so it was impossible for me enter the camp without making enough noise as to make somebody to come and see what was going on.

I could not visit the place alone again, and soon it lost its brilliance and my interest because my parents were destined to Turkey to follow a new scientific trend.

Anyway, Gozo kept having lots of places to investigate, so I was not too disappointed.

The music is "Requiem for the Nameless Dead" by Adrian von Ziegler.

© 2013 Od Liam.

The best picture of mine...

I have never seen, read, or heard any story about the Manga-Anime or whatever is its name, I am sorry, but I do not know an iota about this subject, not because I am averse to it, but because I lack time to follow the intricate details of the subject. I know people who are fan of these type of stories. This said, in that field  I discovered the picture that is just like me with some minor changes, and best represents my person.

----------------------------------------------OooO----------------------------------------

A possible event to start life among many of them.

Some years ago, being a small child who was lost and alone, I was taken under custody by the Law, and "for my best interest", I was confined to an orphanage, they took a photo of myself that remains my favorite.

Even if time made some changes, in some cases unfavorable, I keep that first photo because it is full of the innocence and naivete that always defined my character. There are those who think that these two traits better designed me as an idiot, and a simpleton, which makes me doubly a fool. I was told that double is always better than simple.

Being as it may be, I still can find some point in common with me in that photo, and that is why I keep this picture as the depiction of my person in the world.

It is cuter than I am now, but remember I was a young lad in those years when the photo was taken.

The music is "Waltz" by G. Sviridov.

© 2013 Od Liam.

My "lot in life"!

A new opportunity to make an off topic comment before writing about the asked subject, that cannot be wasted.

This is one of those idioms which meaning is lost in the whole time lapsed since it was coined. Linguists fight bitterly over its source.

From the Biblical aspect of belonging to the wrong choices Lot, the nephew of Abraham, did when they parted ways, as is told in Genesis, which seems not too correct, due to the narrow path that it considers as the start of the expression not taking account of the whole world, going through the idea of medieval times when the "lots" of ground in a village were allotted by the Feudal Lord, and then you could get a "good" or "bad" lot, and the final meaning of the word "lot" as a hazard element, any element, used as a tool to predict the future.

Whatever the origin of the meaning may be, it is a matter of faith to all of us, human beings, that we receive a "lot in life" which could be good, or bad, depending the circumstances the actor is living and can be changed with effort and will.

This day it was chosen to speak about a difficult or "bad" lot in life we have received from the hand of Fate.

It is undoubted that all of us will have easy and difficult situations in life and that simple fact makes hard to select which is the one we want to talk about. Especially because as complement of the question is asked how are we "working" (quotation marks mine) to overcome it.

I have several candidates to the position, one better than the other, but I choose to talk about the difficult way I had to walk to reach the path I am walking in now.

I had to face a truth in life that not always is evident for most people on Earth, to wit, start working in a notable part of the society, known as Corporation. Due to having been reared in a naive way, I was a kind of mince meat for most of the other parties, who had the advantage of experience given to those that are raised in complex societies.

My naivety took me to believe everything I was presented to, even in cases when it was preposterous, and silly to think such a premise could be a truth.

I started "working" on this error, as soon as I discover, by the hard way, I was a gullible person, it took many years to learn to bend a tendency to credibility, into something that was not total disbelief.

I liked the "silly" way I was (am), and I did not want to lose all of it to cynicism, so I had to hone my perceptions to know when I should be a hard customer and when I could maintain my personal self.

It took many years, it is active today. The most important act resulting from this struggle was the leaving of the Corporation, not only as an entity but as a way of life, this took me to ponder where I could be the way I wanted, without being too simpleton.

Since then I am working as a freelance, in many ways and up to now I am fairly satisfied about the outcome of the exercise.

The moral of this story is: never try to con, a con-man! :)    

The music is Labyrinth Of Dreams by Nox Arcana.

© 2013 Od Liam.

Places I can spend the day in

Seems as if in a kind of an inexcusable confusion I believed that the question of day 9th was this one, so there is no other way to compose the mistake than changing the title of this post.

Here we go:

A moment of my day is not easy to describe, it could be anything, from nothing, peacefully reading sitting on a big wing armchair by the chimney, if Winter, or on the bench of the bay window, if Summer. This last is a bit difficult to pay attention to the book, since the cliffs are a wonderful sight, the fog horn, or the light of the lighthouse tends to distract the mind, and also the sea gulls add to the general cacophony, so I just leave the book open on my lap, and look out in ecstasy.

The other options can be shifting from moving around, to hectic actions. This post is not interesting, it all was said on the ninth day but it must be done anyway.

Some few pictures may say more that many words:

Cliffs and Lighthouse

Bay window

Wing armchair, of course

Breakfast on the deck of hotel before skiing

Del Carmen beach, Mexico

Las Leñas Complex, ski center, Argentina

The music is L'Hiver (Winter) from the Four Season by Vivaldi



© 2013 Od Liam.

"Ten things that make you really happy"

This beautiful opportunity to speak about happiness, cannot be wasted!

The main title of this post is "Ten things that make you really happy".

This may be taken at first value as if happiness is the result of the concretion of an external event to myself. If this is the intention, I have no the purpose to contend it. There are no reasons in the human mind that can argue against this easy way to contemplate life.

When persons stop to think a little bit on this way of living life, they feel compelled to accept it in an easy and sweet enticed way: to get a cozy den to keep, only all it is just short-lived.

Now, when you had walked a few roads around your own feelings you learn that happiness has nothing to do with the things we like, which incidentally is the real meaning of the question, just change it to: "Ten things that you like most", and then we are moving.

Why this disquisition:

Well, you see, happiness is a very mistreated word. It is not something you can lose or forget, no matter how bad life had behaved to you.

Happiness is a road you walk, and it gives a basement for everything that comes over, you can be excited, elated, sweet, sad, grieving, whatever, these things are just platforms where your road (happiness) stops to let you know there exist things you must learn, these platforms are generally sad and despondent, even if there are some that have more in common with the road you are walking on.

How long you remain in each platform is your business, but undeniably it will rule if you are a happy person or a sad one since one or another will influence in your character.

I know this notion is not an easy thought to digest since it is very difficult to accept that you can be happy even if you are sad, or depressed. This is the reason I never insist in these premises, even if I really know they are true, and they can change your life and the way you look at it.

But enough of cheap philosophy, let's go to the things I really like: 


The smile of a little girl
The singing of birds
The sunrise on the pampas
The moonrise on a serene sea
The rhythm of a poem
The starred sky seen on a night sitting on a dune in the Sahara
The vast expanse and solitude of the snowed steppe with temperature under 32°F
A flower, any flower, even the least graceful, or attractive.
A caress, any caress... well, you know what I mean!
A kiss, not any kiss, of course!

You see I am not an exception to the common mortal being!

The music is "Thank heaven for little girls" written by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, and performed by Perry Como.

© 2013 Od Liam.

Public Apology

Now, hereby I want to state... (does the mike work? Hello, hello, Ah yes) ...I want to state an affirmation of the facts that preceded the motivation which was the source of so many evil speaking regarding the reasons that give support to an unnumbered easy untruths, which in turn provided basement to a despicable attitude from person or persons unknown, who hiding shamefully under the cloak of anonymity, seed the kernel of the doubt to the unquestionable sincerity deployed for those interested parties in the places dedicated to receive the reality of the facts that converge into the most pristine verity, without the least possible amount of deceitfulness in any of its parts as much as in its whole.

In ultimate declaration I want you all to know, learn and keep as a clear act of faith that despite the lies poured about by those who work for dark and unutterable affairs, it is a fact that I was born but that I have had no intervention in the facts which preceded and provoked my birth in any way, not even in the intention.

In a clear state of mind and in complete control of my sanity I want to ask leniency to those persons I could have caused discomfort with my presence on this world, since as is clearly stated above I cannot be held responsible for an action, or actions committed in an area which was not under my control at the time of the mentioned events.

In the knowledge that you will be indulgent towards the simple and naive person that I am, I want to thank you all for this understanding of these sad happenings.

I want to accept and sign below with my name this statement to endorse this truth, in the City of Berabevu, on the thirteenth day of the month of May in the year of grace of two thousand and thirteen.

Nothing should be added or taken from this text since it contains the truth, all the truth, and nothing but the truth.


The music is Harlem Nocturne by Les and Harry Elgar.


© 2013 Od Liam.

Missing

Ain't we happy?

 There was a time of greatest joy,
It was when my Love dwelled on Earth,
A time fulfilled with intense worth,
Every minute made to enjoy,
When I was just a simple boy,
Since she was so sweet and alive.
Death closed her eyes and took her life,
It was a bitter, and honed dart
That made my life also depart
No hope to make that love revive

The music is a fragment of "Didn't we almost have it all" written by Will Jennings, and Michael Masser in the voice of  Whitney Houston


© 2013 Od Liam.

Best argument...

"You are half best; now you need me for fulfillment."

The music is "Vals intimo" by Principe Kalender


© 2013 Od Liam.

Embarrassing moment

It was a day as any other, I was an unsuspecting soul, enjoying the sweet of life, when the events come falling on me embarrassing and shaming my little being beyond words and facts.

I didn't realize what was going on until I breathed my first puff of air, just in that moment I saw I was held by one of my legs, head down by one of the neonatologist looking at me between a sense of surprise and withdrawal. I could see only his eyes, he was using a surgical mask, but I could spot the amazement in them.

As soon as I understood I was completely naked and surrounded by many dressed people who looked at me in disbelief, I was bewildered and a great sense of humiliation sunk in myself, making me feel so ashamed that I set free a mighty wail, to disclose my discomfort and embarrassment.

Nobody seemed surprised by my cry, one of the nurse said in awe:

"Are you sure this is it?"

"What else?" answered the neonatologist.

"Do you think we should throw it into the garbage bin?" asked the anesthesiologist.

"We better wait some days", answered a man who had a small plate on his chest with the inscription "Chief". I assumed he was the sheriff.

"Yes", agreed up a petite blond girl who seemed 12 years old but she had a plate stating Dr. Simmons, "if in a few days he gets better we can give him to his family".

The doctor who held me by the leg went near a big tank full of water and sunk me several times to clean me, and then passed my poor self to a reluctant nurse with the recommendation:

"Wrap him totally, try to let out only his nose when the family comes to see him"

I was hidden behind a lot of diapers and sheets and set into a crib far away from the window where relatives get together to watch the newborn.

Only in that moment I could recover from the shock, but I assure you it was the most embarrassing moment of my life.

And I am no telling you all the rites my druids make me undergo to be accepted as a member of the clan.

 The music is a fragment from Alfred Hitchcock Theme.

© 2013 Od Liam.

A day in a moment...

Let's say that the hand of the hours in the clock slide calmly but unbending towards the 7:00 in the morning.

My mind is not aware of the dangerous movement, it just float on an ocean of golden oblivion, while my brain roam oneiric valleys of alleged realities.

The future is coming into the present, and at the precise moment the hand of the second caresses the blank between the 1 and the 2 of number 12 in the dial, the radio starts to let out the cries of pain of Isolde because she just learned the poor Tristan has passed away, and Mr. Wagner has dedicated a Liebestod (Death of Love) song for her to express her grief.

At first, my mind, taken by the golden waves just makes the music follow the soft movement of the sea. But my brain is not that lucky, the meddlesome laments of this lady start to take their toll, and the valleys transform their green slopes into hollow throats and its trees into a gigantic uvulas vibrating with the morning breeze, making a disturbing sound that ended discharging the axons spasmodically, bringing reality to the real thing.

Enjoying the sudden silence that comes, or not comes from the radio I got up and walked unsteady to the bathroom, some paces before I reached the door, the soft, grave, enticing voice of the speaker start to remind us that we had the incredible luck of listening to Birgit Nilsson singing her last song, since as per Mr. Wagner decision, the death of Tristan, made her so sad that she decided to "unhung" her clothes hook from the closet of life and die, a romantic and alluring dead, over the body of the object of her love.

It didn't surprise me, this must be the umpteenth time I listen to this Opera, and in Operas, Composers and Lyric writers has the mania of killing everybody at the end (it is even whispered that sometimes some of the people sitting in the first row follow suit), I do not know the reason of this behavior, but I have a theory that they try to avoid paying some wages, knowing what these people ask for their performance. But I digress.

I reached the bathroom, lit the lamp over the mirror, and following the routine, I smiled friendly to the guy in the looking glass.

He answered not too friendly, and looked away, so I opened the shower and went into it. After the ablutions I went back to the mirror, the guy seemed a bit appeased and even smiled back.

Medialuna

I went down to the buffet, and picked two "medialunas" or croissants and a cup of fresh coffee. The guy in front of me, part of the group to go skiing today, grabbed 6 "medialunas" and 2 cups of coffee. He was young so maybe he needed all those calories.

The rest of the day, I just went up and down the slope, trying to rescue those in a critical situation, and teaching how to put a ski, or how to take it off. A regular boring task.

Later, after another shower and dressed for dinner I sat at the table of the tour and enjoyed a good dinner, then we went to the big salon with an immense mantle and chimney, those who wanted to smoke had to face seven degree below zero, Celsius, in the porch. The rest had coffee, and a drink.

Normally if I am lucky and there is nobody who had been asking what to do to the concierge, people entertain themselves chatting and commenting the day.

If not, the concierge had surely commented about Elf and my adventures, so I must invent or remember stories up to midnight.

That is my final line, or the next morning I would not awake even if Isolde cry "Fire" in my ear!

This is just a possibility, a moment in my days, since they may change in so many ways that I can be jumping in parachutes, diving into the caves of the Marianas Islands, or walking the Rome Catacombs! As you see, it is almost impossible to choose a moment without explaining the day as a whole.

Hope I didn't bored you to death with one of my routine days!

 The music is the aria "Liebestod" from "Tristan and Isolde". If you never listened this aria, lose 10 minutes of your life and will understand why Wagner is a great musician, even if his production was not so prolific as that of other Masters


© 2013 Od Liam.

   

Better unadvised

Three things can be your doom,
Lend money, not matter to whom,
Show intelligence, and wit,
And you'll be destroyed by it,
Just suggests a Shrink, and quits the room.

 The music is "Pas de Quatre" from the Swan Lake by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.


© 2013 Od Liam.

What scares me most...

This is a captious question, it may show hidden tendencies!

I am afraid of many things

I am very much afraid of "not a thing". It sounds so empty!

Also

Besides of acrophobic, I am belenophobic, cacophobic, gamophobic, and last but not least venustraphobic. The list pursue:

Every morning when I wake up, I check I am not in a coffin. I am not afraid of dead (if given 15 minutes to die, I will use only 5), I am afraid of being "undead".

Just awake an after looking myself on the mirror I smile, I want to be friendly with the first one I see.

I cannot stand the looks of spiders and snakes, my therapist sustain I am a repressed serial killer. But I suspect there are some other worse repression in my mind.

I am afraid of mothers-in-law, I have not one, but I have read they are, or can be, very bad.

I do not like 'varmints', whatever their origin. Even two legged 'varmints'

I am afraid of big feminine eyes, (and I mean eyes), that do not smile.

I am fearful of a slap in the cheek, it can mix my thoughts. Even if not always there are thoughts in my mind.

I abhor writers blocks, nothing could be more horrible than a blank screen and a blank mind!

I hate rain, snow, sleet, blizzards, mist, fog, and too much sun.

I detest to be alone in a desert island, unless I have a library at hand... or well, some other kind of entertainment.


As you see, this is an interminable list...    so we will terminate it here!


The music is a fragment of "Sonata Opus 57 Appassionata 3rd Mov." by Ludwig van Beethoven, piano by Valentina Lisitsa.

© 2013 Od Liam.

Unnameable job

There are situations when you cannot tell what you do for a living.

The reasons are multiples, you could be an undercover agent, a gigolo, a porn star, a weapon trader, or  the CEO of the most dangerous Yakuza, just to name a few cases. Or you may be the bashful husband of a liberal Corporate woman who sustains you and her family better than if you try to do so fixing shoes which, incidentally, was your trade.

Corporate Woman

In those cases it is imperative to have a credible excuse that can bring peace to the mind of the most inquisitive person.

After a long time of balancing different ways to define your work, I though in a sentence with the needed information but with nothing to reveal, here it is:


"I am working, in coordination with an International Corporation, in keeping the balance in the field of Human Rights and Accidental Tenures."

If this is not enough and the other part keeps pressing for more information, I can add:

Freelance cook

"I am a freelance cook for homeless people" and start to describe the way you must cut your veggies to cook a deep stew".

If this does not dissuade our interlocutor, I will find that I am short of time to lit the range and start working.

Enough?

 The music is "Kitchen Music", if you are curious enough jump to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GqEkxEcL6s, to see the wonders pottery, cutlery, et al can do

© 2013 Od Liam.

Offspring Speculations No.2

An Essay in Mini-Ways


Mom, where does the wind, go
When it does not blow?
I never saw its will rescind,
But in a moment there is no wind.

And the brilliant light, Mom,
When you turn its switch off,
Where does it go, so calm,
So soft, as hats are doff?

Also the rich smell of a stew,
Only the weak scent of a few
Herbs makes your tummy growls a lot
Even if the lid is on the pot.

Now, listen to silence, Mom, it's weird!
Where is all the noise in hide?
It cannot be heard even if you're geared
with open ears big and wide?

Fancy the taste of a kiss of love
Where does it go after the deed?
We remember the touch of the dove,
but never the hawking, indeed!




The music is a fragment of "La Campanella" by Arthur Rubinstein.


© 2013 Od Liam.

Love and devotion

Knowing the weakness of my feelings into the affectionate field, mostly I try to avoid the Emo display. After a little bit of thinking, I found this is one of those topic you cannot split into anything that was not the real thing that warm the inner part of the upper chest! Any other way to move in this area is to tempt idiocy and silliness to sit on the throne of King and Queen of the day. So...


My love and devotion are equally shared by all the people who take time to visit and read my fameless stories. They are the fuel that keep the engine of my mind working to find new ways to amuse and make them happy.

I am a kind of a lone wolf, so those beautiful human beings that stop just a second or more to share their thoughts and opinion are the greatest bunch on the Universe!

I will stop here because I will make a mess of myself if I keep this elegy of those persons that fill my life.

Thank you to all of you, my friends!

The music is "Sad Acoustic Guitar Instrumental #2" by Lost in Scores.



© 2013 Od Liam.

Favourite Quote

I am very sorry not to have had the opportunity to meet Dorothy Parker personally. The first thing I would have done, in that case, I'd have invited her to my house for some martinis.

That is because she was one of those persons who seemed to have the right set of words in her mouth each time she opened her lips.

She was a beautiful woman who always knew what to say and her quotes are immortal, to my mind the best she produced was:

Dorothy Parker

"I like to have a martini,
Two at the very most.
After three I'm under the table,
After four I'm under my host."

Isn't' she adorable?

Even in serious matters she could find the right way to say it, just as a bonus I mention one more:

"That would be a good thing for them to cut on my tombstone: Wherever she went, including here, it was against her better judgment."

A great poetess, a great writer, a great woman.

Do I need to explain why I like her words?

The music is a fragment of "Funny Concerto" Typewriter Symphony by Unknown Ensemble.


© 2013 Od Liam.

The King and the Sword

Silver is the sword,

Excalibur

Double-edged is its blade.
Damascene and jade,
Write the magic word,
That makes unique Lord,
He who can dissuade,
To part in own accord,
sword, and stone where laid.

Pure-hearted man must be,
Who dare this hilt grasp?
Death waits in its clasp,
Who claims and doesn't see?
Merlin left no key,
To open this hasp.
So strong sorcery,
That will make you gasp.

Lady of the Lake

Just a man will own
The sword and the crown
Will reign with a spur
King Arthur
And Excalibur






The music is a fragment of "Greensleeves" by Celtic Dreams. The sword was called Ex- (belonging to a Bandrui = female Druid) -Cailleach-Bheur (female creator) known as Winter Queen, or The Lady of the Lake, the only one who could win Merlin's heart



© 2013 Od Liam.

Thank you, BB.

Things that make me uncomfortable (incomplete list)

The first thing that makes me uncomfortable is finding I cannot enter the soul, heart, or mind of other people. It shows such loneliness that makes me quiver inside. Up to now, I could not decide if it is because the extreme isolation we live in, or if it is only curiosity about the way other people are.

Another uncomfortable thing is to cope with this body I received without asking for it! It is a nuisance, always wanting things to be done to it when I am ready to do something else, or responding with pain when contradicted.

Pain, I do not like pain, not even aches of any kind, that makes me extremely uncomfortable, I am a dignified coward, a craven coward, up to the last of my bones!

And the bogyman, I hate him. He made me suffer a lot when I was a kid. Even if I never could find him neither in the closet, nor under my bed. I am still searching when I am alone in a hotel room.

When a beautiful big eyed woman looks directly to my eyes...  and do not smile.

If somebody tells a funny tale, the group laughs, and I did not understand the joke.

In the moment a tot hugs my legs in the park and cries "Daddy"

Seeing deadlines loom over the horizon.

When I am asked what things make me uncomfortable

As you see, there are many things that make me uncomfortable, fortunately I am mostly unaware of them.

The music is "What a Wonderful World" written by Bob Thiele (as "George Douglas") and George David Weiss, sung by Satchmo (Louis Armstrong).
Just as the world is despite my uncomfortableness!


© 2013 Od Liam.

Being good at...

Human beings are a marvelous contraption.

We have a body that demands highly to be attended, and if we try not to yield to its demands it acts revengefully against us. Oh, well, it is possible to tame it a little, but it is not the usual thing.

We can dedicate our whole life to one of two behaviors: try to tame the body to silence, or let it take control and follow suit.

Both are doomed, but I will let this subject to better-informed people.

Human beings do not end just here, they have a brain, and a mind.

We have a small snag here. Are they two separate things, or are they just the same?

I know that the Scientific World is fighting on this field, but I won't be part of it, mainly because Science is a very difficult girl to woo.

I'll follow my own experience and the knowledge I got from the little imp that lives in my mind since ever, but this is another story.

My brain is the tool with which my mind interacts with the world, through the five little windows called senses.

My mind is, well, I am my mind, or so I think even if Elf, my little imp, have some other ideas, which place is not here.

At the beginning, and if you are lucky, your mind starts as a small room lit by a 40 watts bulb. You can see some walls, but nearly everything is under black shadows.

Again, if you are lucky, and have some help you can change this 40 watts bulb with a new 60 watts one, I cannot describe how amazed and surprised you become when the shadows recede and you find many wonderful things into your mind, you have no idea they were there.

From then on, if you are sensible enough, you will try to increase the wattage of your bulbs and will keep finding wonderful things.

Your mind is not only a room but several rooms of different size and containing different marvels, after a while you discover a staircase and to your new amazement, you find out there are many stories up the first landing.

Making this story short finally you reach the Attic,  when you are ready to enter it, you think, "Wow, what old and stagnant things will I find here" But as soon as you lit the wall bulb you see it is neatly arranged and clean. There are empty shelves, and empty chest of drawers, as if waiting to be filled. Something strange, isn't it?

While you walk about, something touches lightly your hair.

"Oh", you think a little disgusted, "a cobweb!"

It is not a cobweb, but two chains that come down from the shadows of the ceiling.

"What's this?" you think again, and against all good judgment you pull one of the chains. Nothing happens, it seems stuck. Then, of course, you pull the other chain...

A big skylight opens in the ceiling and lets  all the heaven light come down in a ray of knowledge and happiness. You are now and "open-minded" person.

You finally understand!

You reached the door to Eternity!




And if you also reached this line, now you know what I know a lot, and are good at, Playing the philosopher, and writing with conviction, an authority about things I know nothing and have not way to learn, unless I had found that skylight...  Humm, Maybe I did!

The music is a fragment of "The Dark Ride" by Prelude to a Nightmare (Dark Carnival Music)

© 2013 Od Liam.