Dreaming as an Art

 Sleeping is an important part of keeping the physical body happy and healthy.  Without sleep the art of Dreaming becomes tenuous.  If your body doesn't achieve the amount of rest that it needs,  it won't actuate our daily experiences.  We won't go through the memory dump and much needed personal programing to keeping the thinking machine healthy.  If prolonged sleeplessness isn't corrected the mind may implode upon itself and the end results may turn into psychosis.  There have been documented cases where patients who suffer from lack of sleep lose their attachment to what is considered standard reality.   They may suffer from hallucinations, both audio and visual, and could mistake thinking for outside stimulus.  This ailment is considered a form of psychosis and may lead to full blown schizophrenia if left untreated.  

Sleepers go through several levels as we drop deeper into unconsciousness.  REM sleep, (Rapid eye movement) is usually the time when our minds are active in sleep and we dream.  During this dreaming time our daily experiences are played out and our memories are solidified.  Traumatic experiences get worked through and the physical body heals.  Our imaginations are active during dream time.  We take everyday happenings and transform them into the plays and stories we experience in our dreams.  This is how we fit them into our paradigm, our personal realities.

There are cultures that practice Dreaming as an Art.  A Shaman may initiate a student into the Art of Dreaming through meditative practices and series of waking and sleeping in several intervals to facilitate a certain amount of control over the dream.  There are many books and periodicals written about dreaming, explore the one that works best for you.  However, and easy technique to control your dreams is to set an alarm for periods of time during your sleep to wake you.  When you wake you ponder the dream and go back to sleep trying to achieve the same dream.  When and if you get there, when in the dream the first thing is to remember to look at your own hands and recognize them.  You keep this up for a period of time, then consciously start moving around in your dream pulling back to your hands to stay in control.  This technique takes time and should be practice sparingly, that is not every night not to steal away from your restful sleep time.  You will know when you have control of your dreams when you can walk into a dream and be aware and in control from the beginning.  It is important to remember that most of the time a Dream is just a Dream.  There are those very few that aren't.  What you call these experiences is up to you.  I leave that to your own research. 

Sleeping and The Art of Dreaming can be a rewarding way to recharge, destress, and relax while learning something new about your own journey.  Remember as with any esoteric practice, go slow, take your time and make sure what you're experiencing is real and not a fabrication of your imagination.  When you know for sure and re-emerge from the experience healthy, then you've learned a new thing.  Dreaming is a way to learn new things about yourself.

Peace and Balance,

John

THE GAEL from The Last of the Mohicans - Breizh Pan Celtic (Happy St. Patty's Day) Ik Das Tir Nan Og

WAR - Low Rider (Official Video) [Remastered in 4K]

Spending A Sick Day.

 

When you're out the world does not stand still.  Your reality in the world compresses and changes to fit the perimeters presented at that moment.  Your reality closes in and becomes directly related to your personal space.  But, the world keeps moving on.

Yesterday I was out. Not out in the classical sense, rather secluded into myself projecting only that part that my mind and body would relate to at that moment.  My universe for 24 hours became an existence in 2 rooms and a bathroom.  I would shuffle from one room to another, to the bathroom, and back again.  

Partial movie watching became the activity of the day.  That and shuffling back and forth through the universal conduit of 2 rooms and a bathroom.  I say partial movie watching because I would start a movie, last about 10 or 15 minutes, and fall asleep dreaming I was watching a movie.  The dreams tend to change the plots and outcomes, therefore I am not real sure how each of the films I observed actually turned out.  I would start with one thing and wake just long enough to end with another.  So the action packed, Sci-Fi movie I started with would end with the sappy Christmas type movie my wife had switched to during my unconscious state.  This can lead to some pretty darn funny plot twists.

I began watching, "Spawn" with Michael Jai White, and ended with a movie that had Santa saving the day.  So in my mind, Spawn was doing battle some demonic bad guy or other and Santa suddenly shows up and spirits the antagonist away saving Christmas.  From, "Spawn" to "Santa", Trippy.  Krampus is playing pranks on me.  

A compressed universe can be filled easily with audio visual entertainment.  When planting yourself in front of a 75 inch television your compressed world extends into the imaginary world of the movie.  So your universe resembles the shape of an hour glass.  Begins at one end, funnels to the center, the screen, and flares out into the imaginary.  Oh no...!

From our little compressed universe of the moment to a large and almost mythological universe flared out in front of you, depending upon the state of mind and fever present, can take on a reality of it's very own.  And, depending upon your state of mind, can become your reality.  Until the fever brakes of course, or the proper medications are given.  

After you re-emerge into the world at large, sorting out what has transpired while under the influences of possibly more than one reality changing stimulus may turn into an adventure in dualism.  While in the compressed universe the things you experience are just as real as your experiences in the outer universe.  The challenge comes in the separating, accepting, and understanding the things that have transpired and how your puzzle pieces fit together.  Are you a person who knows how to fit a square peg in a round hole, or are you the type that when in doubt runs around and screams and shouts?

The world does not stand still waiting for you to re-emerge from your self imposed isolation.  It goes on without you, because the sad reality is, Mother Nature does not care if you reside in this reality or that reality.  Nor does she care about the state of physical or mental existence you're experiencing at any given moment.  Your Great Mother Nature has much more pressing things to worry about and engage with than your minor existence in the cosmos.  Truth of the matter, we aren't generally that interesting.  

When you're out of normal reality, the world does not stand still.  You may choose to experience an alternate reality of your own creating, or randomly stirred into existence for you by the multiverse.  An altered state of mind may or may not be employed to experience this transition.  That is a choice that is completely up to you.  Mother Nature, doesn't care.  Deal with it and move on.  When you move on, expect a new starting point.  This is the stuff of life, enjoy...

Peace and Balance,

John

Oscar Who?

 

Who is this Oscar fellow anyways?  Once every year a large academy of high ranking Thespians get together, drink a prescribed amount of adult frosty beverage, eat chips and popcorn, and watch a ton load of movies.  Presumably all the films being scrutinized are from the current year, however there have been historical accounts where circumstances have precluded prompt viewing and the Awards where pushed forward.  One of these was during WWII. 

Any how, who is Oscar?  Was there an actual person that the award is named after?  Betty Davis claimed that the Oscar's likeness to her husband, Harmon Oscar Nelson, was to coincidental.  Due to the claims by Miss Davis that the Oscar was indeed the likeness of her husband columnist, Sidney Skolsky, nick named the statue as Oscar and it seems the moniker has stuck ever since.  

In hind sight I wouldn't have stayed up and watched the Academy Awards on Television last night.   Today I am dragging butt.  My tired's got the tireds.  However there where some interesting winners.  Jamie Lee Curtis, daughter of Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, both nominated Oscar winners, finely won an Oscar for her supporting role in the Movie, "Everything Everywhere All At Once."  

I saw that film on HBO/MAX.  It was fantastic.  It called out to my teenage self and my love of the superhero.  That and the fact I am a huge Michelle Yeoh fan.  "Everything Everywhere All At Once" swept the Oscars winning 7 out of the 11 nominations that it got.  I was pleased.

What I wasn't so pleased about was that Angela Bassett did not get her Oscar for her supporting role as Queen Ramonda.  She lost to Jamie Lee Curtis.  So many really good movies with really good actors this year must have been a nightmare of choosing for the Academy.  

I must keep in mind we are talking about Hollywood.  Historically Hollywood has been one of the most political and possibly corrupt, "Governments" on the face of the planet, and we really don't know what goes into choosing a winner.  

So, who is this fellow anyways.  The individual that society has diafied and personified into the golden image of the modern god of entertainment.  It could be Harmon Oscar Nelson, we may never know.  Betty Davis could be chuckling from the beyond.  There is also the possibility that Oscar is just another alien in disguise.  Faceless and stoic.  

Peace and Balance,

John

Quotes From The Blind Man

 “- The Blind Man: You can't do it!

- Cord: Can't do what?

- The Blind Man: You can't step on the same piece of water twice.”

“- Cord: How long have you been blind?

- The Blind Man: How long have you been blind?

- Cord: I'm not blind.

- The Blind Man: Am I?

- Cord: Do you answer every question with a question?

- The Blind Man: Do you question every answer?

- Cord: Talking to you is like talking to a wall.”

“Tie two birds together, and even though they have four wings, they cannot fly.”

Peace and Balance,

John

Kwai Chang Caine more than holds his own in a bar room showdown

Because It's There.

 The reason given to the world by the initiated to climb mountains is, "Because it's there."  

There have been whole movements devoted to this phrase.  Whole cultures have grown from the loins of the initiate and the mountain.  As this experience can come as close to a pure sexual experience without actually colimiting the act, religions have grown from, "Because it's there."

The, "Because it's there" uniform is dependent upon the weather and circumstances of the initiate.  The farther north one travels the heavier the jacket, the farther south the more likely the trek might not involve any clothing at all.  "Because it's there."

Occasionally the world will call the Buddha, Shakyamuni.  Shakyamuni is the name of the goddess at the top of the Great Mountain in Nepal.  The top of the Himalaya.  So why do  we call him by the term of her? "Because it's there."

On the Great Plains of The United States, there is a mountain called Bald.  It is actually a butte, but the top exceeds the height of any eastern mountain. At the top of the Bald is a holy place to the Assiniboine, a place of contemplation and ritual lamentation.  When asked why he climbed to the top of such a place the Old Man just said, "Because it's there."

Agiachook means a place for the Old Man to sit.  Which he does, and he does it well.  The place he has been sitting for generations is a flat stone that has the impression of his seat forever etched into it.  "Because it's there."

At the top of these places the wind often blows.  The initiate will listen to the wind and exact answers to the mystical questions asked to no one, and all. "Because it's there."

Old men from many cultures will stand upon these rocks atop mountains each.  Some will face the wind and get great answers, some will turn and face away from the wind asking questions.  But, all of these initiated men, these wise Sayers of truth will all give the younger men the same sage advise. "When atop the Holy Mountains, when on high above all else, if you have to urinate, do not Face the Wind."  

"Because it's there."

Peace and Balance,

John 

  

Procrastination

 Sometimes I put things off.  I'll ignore stuff that needs to be done, but can wait.  So, I wait.  That little man in the back of my brain pokes at me with a sharp stick and says to me, "You've waited enough John, it's time to do what you put off."

Usually the things being put off have to do with a monetary nature.  I'll ignore them until the very last minute.  Then the funds leave the bank account reluctantly to appease that little man in the back of the brain.  He's a real pain in the ass. 

Because of that little man my credit rating is actually considered good.  Not perfect, but good enough to be inundated with credit card offers.  I will never have one of those evil plastic life suckers again.  My debit card is enough to fulfill that need for plastic.  My credit rating continues to rise.  

So, I put things off.  Some of the stuff I put off I can't do anyways.  These things fit into the realm off needing money to do, so I don't.  No money no do.  So, I put things off.  

There is an art to putting things off.  Let's just leave the finger paints home. I still put things off.

Peace and Balance,

John

Nothing Unreal Exists and Time Travel

 

Words have power speak wisely.  A thing that must be said should be thought through clearly and concisely.  Speak it directly, do not falter.

Thoughts are things.  Do not dwell on unreal subjects lest it becomes your dreams.  Your dreams should be clear and under your control.

Focus.  Look clearly and directly at the subject.  It could disappear.  

Nothing Unreal Exists.  If it doesn't exist it's not real.

Everything that occupies space has mass.  All mass is matter and all matter occupies space. The relationship with this space and mass we call gravity.  Another name for this relationship in space is Time.

The mass of a heavenly body creates a well.  This well is bent around the matter in that space.  At its center and the edge are different distances called time, the distance from one point to another in this well. 

Mind is the constant that binds all things together. Thoughts are things.

Focus clearly on a subject and it is real.

Words have power.  The vibrations harmonize the well and Travel Time.

Nothing Unreal Exists.  

Peace and Balance,

John

Harry Nilsson's THE POINT (1971) - Alan Thicke Narration - Third Telecas...

Shoveling Snow

 Some shovel, other's blow, occasional plows are driven across it, I push.  I am a pusher of snow.  I have a driveway long enough to afford a small football championship.  When I was a younger version of myself I would shovel the snow.  I had a curved handled shovel that was considered ergonomic, a fancy word for save the back.  But as I grew older the whole picking wet snow up and tossing it over my shoulder didn't quite hold the allure that it once did.  So, I push.

A couple winters ago our young son presented to me the gift of a large bladed snow sleigh shovel.  It is designed to push large amounts of snow to a place to be deposited, and actually fun to use.  It has given me the ability to complete the snow removal from my lengthy drive way in a wee bit of a whistle. " How long is that?" you ask, "ee Laddy if ye only knew."

I once described the cleaning of my drive as a mystical experience.  It has become a perpetual project in artistic creation.  The area transforms into different shapes and depths at each snow fall.  It becomes cavernous at times.  A valley that traps or repels sound.  My small piece of snow creation.  Till time wears on the the warm weather destroys all once created.  Like Shiva walking the poppied field, destroying and recreating as he walks, the onset of spring lays waste my snow valley.  Till next season.    

Some shovel, I push.  I push and I created mythological lands of snow castles and battles with ice dragons.  For a short while.  Then the Sun lets in.

Peace and Balance,

John 

COVID

 

It is a sneaky thing.  This thing that we all call Chinese.  It lays in wait and as you pass by, pounces sinking in its venomous claws.  You have just been attacked by the Sars Corona Virus 19, aka: Covid.  

I joke, I jest, I make fun of things that sometimes are best left alone.  Covid is a serious event.  It has painted the globe in it's vile hues of red and mauve.  I, in my infinite wisdom, figured I was going to get through this pandemic without having acquired an introduction to Covid.  My wisdom, of course, falters and I find myself in the throws of battle with an invisible Dragon.  And how do you kill a dragon? You wrestle the creature to the ground and choke it tightly until all life has slid from within it's core.  When the dragon is dead do not let go until it's mythical body disintegrates and it no longer has a trace of existence in your reality.   

Fortunately old wrestlers like I have the help of modern medical technology.  I was given the magical anti-viral that will help me dispel this beast forever.   Our medical community has become the new Titan, the new champion to protect humanity from our own folly.  Sars Corona Virus 19 is an example of this folly.  It doesn't matter who created it, or where, or why, what matters is that it was done.  After it was spoiled into existence either by greed or sabotage it was released and the dragon found it as a vessel to spread evil across creation. 

My eyes gaze then to the North, to the Mountain called Karuna, to the home of Hunan, the monks of Shaolin.  I look North to the mystical WuDang the home of wizards, and I look North to the center of the sky around which all other stars travel.  I listen carefully, I close my eyes and hear ominously the vibrations that I can feel in my heart.  I hear the Roar so loud that all, and none, are willing to perceive.  The Roar, is the death of Covid 19.  AUM

Peace and Balance,

John

It's Only A Cold.

 It starts as a low rattle.  The rattle becomes a hoarse cough.  Then you stand up and the sneezes sneak up on you.  Now the sneezes never attack one at a time, but rather they come as a pack of wolves and wait till you're not expecting the onslaught.  Let loose the dogs of war, then the nose dribbles.  

Breathing becomes optional and the color blue a normal hue.  Shiva reborn, the destroyer walks and the body raises it's temperature to 104 Fahrenheit.  You turn around to see who's behind you, and the body begins to ache.  Not a real hurt pain, not the kind of pain that is easily ignored deadened with an Aspirin, the kind of pain that brings an almost tear to the eye and that knot in the jaw bubbles.  

A Native Grandma puts a poltus on your chest, an Irish Grand-mom gives you a two fingered shot of Whiskey.  That one endowed with multiple wisdoms uses both, and why not?  

There might be a moment when standing up becomes somewhat of a challenge.  The room spins, the ears ring and the floor may or may not come up to meet you at an accelerated rate.  If the circumstances are in your favor at those moments you are close enough to the porcelain throne to let the vomitus jet expel safely from the body.   If not, there will be a mess to deal with.  Eventually the sleeping allows you to catch it.  

The rising sun brings a promise of a new beginning.  Tea, honey, and lemon speak to you.  An aspirin fights the lingering aches and pains.  The body slowly wakes, coffee is in the cup and the morning routine awaits.  It is a new day.

Peace and Balance,

John 

I'll Fly Away - Cotton Pickin Kids

From Out Of The Mouths Of Babes.

 Wisdom was once the product of age and experience.  People worked to gain experience and grew older telling each other stories of that work.  These stories get changed to fit the circumstances, and we call this wisdom.  

As we get a little older than just old, we might have a grandchild with us doing some task or job, that needs to be tended to.  During the progress of this experience you might make up a life story built around a work ethic and tell it to your grandchild.  This to is called wisdom.  Some of us get really good at the making up of stories thing and our stories get retold from generation to generation.  These generational stories eventually become the fables that are passed from one time to the next.   These fables become the foundations of our societies, these are our cultural heritage. 

Today wisdom pops up in the most unusual places.  A child might look into the eyes of a parent and say something randomly that sounds very much like the voice of a grandparent a generation before the birth of that child.  This type of wisdom after the amazement wears off, is titled as genetic wisdom.  We look at the child and call it genetic wisdom because we are having a hard time understanding the origin of the message.  Our children are being born with the stories of our grandparents preprogramed into their DNA. 

I read in a large important cultural book something that looked like this a long time ago, "From out of the mouths of babes shall come the wisdom of the ages."  Of course I am paraphrasing, but William Shakespeare may approve?  

When I speak to my own grandchildren I look them right in the eye, I smile at every word they speak, and I make sure that I am listening, really listening.  Because that big book, the one that guides cultures, gives it's own ageless wisdom.  "From out of the mouths of Babes."  Are we going to learn something, or are we going to ignore what should have been learned?

Peace and Balance,

John

A Life's Direction

 

When we are young the world is wonderous, a magical place where all possibilities play out through our imagination and play.  All things are real to a child.  Then we crawl into that time when we say to ourselves, loud enough for other's to hear, "It's not cool to play, it's not cool to believe." then secretly we still play.  Often we have a friend to share this time with. This friend is either real or imaginary, all's good. 

Then comes a morning when we wake.  Our imaginary friends are gone and our non-imaginary friends are standing beside us.  We are no longer waging war with mom and dad, we are engaging with mom and dad sometimes following, sometimes leading in a shared direction to a shared dream.   Possibly somewhere along this path, you and your friend will present to Mom and Dad two copies of yourselves, and they become Grand-mom, and Grand-dad.  And your copies start their own journey's.

There comes a time when you are holding the hand of Grand-mom and Grand-dad walking in the original direction.  It's your turn to lead.  The Moms and Dads are following our wonder and awe. Then you wake holding the hand of your child who is leading you, there is music.

Next stop, who has your hand?

Peace and Balance,

John 

What I Met On The Crossroads!

 I wake in the morning and look into the mirror.  What do I see?  I see me, but is it the me that I saw the night before in the same mirror?  NO, it is the new me that woke to look again.  In any given moment we are not the same, we have changed ever so perceptually from one moment to the next.  I have become more now than I was yesterday, and tomorrow I will be more than I am today.  That is the nature of our ever continued existence. 

Almost 25 years ago I had a physical and spiritual crisis.  I was broken and moving became difficult.  When you do the type of work that I did and your life depends on your ability to physically move, and suddenly your ability to do that movement stops you go into crisis.  This crisis leads to a spiritual conflict.  You blame other forces for your short comings.  Those forces are responsible for your not being able to complete the things that you need to complete.  Therefore you go to war with unseen and unknown forces of nature.  You are at war with yourself.  This is not a war you can win, and this conflict causes an extreme spiritual conflict.  I meditated upon it.

I fought this battle, physically and spiritually for almost three years, and it nearly destroyed me.  I was presented with a cross roads.  Just like Ralph Macchio  I stood in the center of that cross roads and waited for the Devil to make his presence known to me.  Unlike the movie, "Crossroads" however, the devil I was faced with looked just like me.  His eyes were penetrating and he tempted me with all sorts of wonderous things.  He said to me, "I can give you everything you want in life, I can give you your life desires, I can give you the world."  Sounded tempting.

I realized I was not fighting with an outside source, the devil I was intellectually battling was indeed myself.  This battle was not painless, it was not unemotional, it DID effect everything about me.  I became a New Me.  I was, and am forever different from who I was just prior to the turn of this century.  This is when I began to let go.

I let go of everything I was.  I let go of the stuff that I thought I was teaching, I let go of the  things I thought were important.  I began purging my soul.  Just before the year 2000 I met her.  She came into my life, my new life and I was gone.  She and I have been constant companions for 23 years as of the time I'm writing this.  She has filled my heart, and I began to create.

I created, worked and reworked, and created again things that I thought were lost to me.  What I was teaching, and thought was a good way, was not.  It was a bastardized form of that devil that I met on those crossroads.  I had to let it go or I would have died and taken a toll on my students.  I walked away.

20 years passed and I was approached by by my past.  2 individuals came back into my life and asked for instruction, "I have not what I used to have." I said.

"What do you have?", they asked.

"I have what I was in the beginning, and what I will have in the end. I will teach you to be you." is what I said.

From the Crossroads I grabbed the Devil by the hoof and pulled him off of his feet, and hit him on the head soundly with the Rock of Ages sending him back to Hell from whence he came.  

So she and I now share all, and I teach what I am pronounced to teach.  They Learn to Be Themselves.

Peace and Balance,

John

Who Was The Pink Panther?

 The year, 1963. The Subject, The Pink Panther Diamond, the largest diamond in the world, was supposed to go on public exhibition in Paris, but disappeared just before the showing.  And who do we have to investigate the theft, non other than that world re-nouned detective Inspector Jacques Clouseau. 

 Princes Dala's gift from her father the Maharaja is loosely based on the Nur-Ul-Ain, the 60 carat centerpiece of the tiara worn by Empress Farah, after she wed the last Shaw of Iran in 1958. The Shaw and his wife were know world wide for their flamboyant extravagances, one of the main reasons he was exiled from the throne and his eventual death from cancer.  

Also in 1963 The Pink Panther, and animated series about a pink panther, was introduced to the little screen.  The panther replaced the diamond from the movie comedy, and the Pink Panther himself was a little bit of a Cat Burglar.  The animated Inspector Clouseau was foiled at every turn in his attempted to thwart and capture the Pink Panther.  

Mr. Panther only spoke one line through out his career, that was in the 140th episode of The Pink Panther when he climbs into bed and in David Niven's best high classed voice says, "Good night, Goldie..."??? No one knew who the hell Goldie was.  Is it possible Blake Edwards was making a reference to Golda Meir, the Israeli Prime Minister?  One may never know. 

Peter Sellers was a fantastic choice for Detective Inspector Jacques Clouseau in the Blake Edwards movie, "The Pink Panther."  With his iconic very thick phony French accent, "That's whet I said, Yew Fooool!" In his trench coat and hat, fighting his man servant Kato off at any given moment during the film, Detective Inspector Clouseau exudes Sellers style of humor capturing the audience in laughter and chortles in any given phrase.  Sellers was the master of making stupid funny. 

Peter Sellers had a career that spanned some 60 films, appearances on BBC, and other radio forums, as well as public television,  most of which where comedies.  He was Oscar nominated three times starting in 1959 with his short film, "The Running And Jumping And Standing Still Film".  The name itself should receive some sort of award, and was awarded an Academy Award posthumously for "Dr. Strangelove", and "Being There" both released after his death in 1980.  

Peter Sellers died of a Heart Attack in 1980, and as a last joke had Glenn Miller's "In The Mood" played at his funeral.  I googled his death and this is what is listed, in this order, not an exaggeration. Peter Sellers' cause of death, "Mr. Sellers was Married 4 times and had 3 children from the first two marriages, he died of a heart attack."  A joke from the beyond.

You're wondering why I'm re-visiting the, "Pink Panther"?  Because at heart we all have a little Cat Burglar in us just waiting to get out.  

Peace and Balance,

John

Declassifying The TR3B

Steven Spielberg made a movie that opened in 1982 called, ET, about a lovable little lost alien child that made friends with some children in a Southern California town waiting for his parents to come and take him home, "ET phone home."

Regardless of what you call them, UFO, UAP, flying saucer, other worldly space ship, whatever, the fact is that we see things flying above our heads that we can not explain or identify is not mistakable.  It is happening.  How we identify these things is what's changing.  

The closer we get to admitting fully that there are beings visiting our planet from some other place, betters our understanding of what we are seeing flying in the skies, under the waters, hidden in remote caves, and traveling from north to south faster than the blink of an eye.  The closer we are to the Alien Presence here on the Earth. 

At this time our government is slowly, painstakingly going through the process of declassifying the TR3B, (Tactical Recognizance Triangle shaped, what the B stands for I don't know...) Space Ship that the United States and it's alias have had in it's arsenal for generations.   The ramifications are unknown, serve it to say we are about to reach the levels of Buck Rogers and the Star Command.  

On June 24th 1947 amateur aviator  Kenneth Arnold spotted 9 unusually shaped objects flying near Mt. Rainer in Washington state.  He claimed the objects flited from side to side and flipped in unison like the tail of a Chinese Kite.  He estimated they were traveling at about 1700 MPH, faster than any known aircraft at that time.  Then almost an exact month after there was the crash of 3 separate craft in fields outside of Roswell New Mexico.  These incidents have since been boiled down into one incident and one craft that has made it into popular UFO culture.  

Shortly after a government funded project looking into the existence of UFO's was opened called, "Project Sign" looking for signs of extraterrestrial existence. This was the first of three project the US. government funded, followed by Blue Book, and finally, The Condon Report.  Then, supposedly, the search for ET went cold.  

Then at the turn of our current century a resurgence in public interest in the UFO phenomena was reignited with the disclosure that US military pilots have been having encounters with unidentified flying things while flying sorties.   With our current ability to record and photograph objects undefinably clear, it is hard to cover up the existence of objects that we have no idea of where they came from.    We are now faced with the questions, "If they aren't ours, who's are they?"  or, "They are ours, why are our governments keeping the truth from us?"  Both questions are ominous. 

As Bob Rich of the National Astronomical and Space Administration, (NASA) recently told a congressional committee overseeing our space interests, "We Now Have the Ability to take ET Home."  

Peace and Balance,

John

Pumpkin Pie

 

Is a pumpkin a fruit or a squash?  According to Dr. Joe Masabni of Texas A&M Agri, a pumpkin is neither a squash, nor a vegetable.  A pumpkin is an old fashioned fruit because anything that starts as a flower is botanically a fruit.  Giving us some insight on a pumpkin's potential pie filling properties.

Pumpkins are a good source of Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Vit. D, B6, and Magnesium.  A good source of dietary fiber and about 95 calories for a small pumpkin makes it an excellent food source.  The pumpkin could even be verging on the primoradial edges of being a super food.  Just think pumpkins and bananas standing hand in hand on the precipice of food immortality.  

Generally beginning with the Holiday season, Thanksgiving thru Christmas and New Years, one of the staple experiences is Grandma's Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie.  The pumpkin pie takes all the good things about a pumpkin, the healthy stuff, and blends it with the stuff of the holidays that are only good for you during this time of year.  Things like: Sugar and Brown Sugar, Molasses, Allspice, Cinnamon, Butter, Evaporated milk, and of course cooked and smashed pumpkin all mixed together and baked in a real nice pie crust at 375 degrees for about an hour until the center of the custard is wiggly, yet firm and a toothpick emerges un-sticky.  Pumpkin Pie, yum.

In order to serve a good pumpkin pie properly the chef needs a large quantity of home made whipped cream.  This is fairly simple to create.  Some Heavy whipping cream, sugar, and a touch of vanilla is all it takes.  Mix it all together in a large bowl, stick a blender in the bowl and turn it on high until the ingredients are magically transformed into that frothy sweet stuff we know as whipped cream.  Oh boy...

Now the proper deployment of the whipped cream.  A method of distribution is to find the largest spoon, ladle you have in your spoon drawer and dip it into a cooled bowl of your homemade, thickened, whip cream and plop a healthy quantity on a goodly slice of pie.  The word dollop does not apply as it is not an adequate description for the proper amount of sweet whipped goodness on top of your pumpkin pie.   Grab a fork and dive in.  If need be a spring board can be made available. 

For me a good pumpkin pie does not usually survive a sitting.  You may have surmised by now that pumpkin pie is like mother's milk to me.  Pumpkin pie in my world is a year long experience, as it should be.  Pumpkins are indeed a Super Food.  Immortality is right around the corner, now to add some banana.

Peace and Balance,

John   

Aurum Plain and True

From the top of the mountain

Over the horizon

 Aurum plain and true

Shining beyond the blue

Above the below

Crisp and cool

Tis on the wind

Ventus unseen

A forever light

Always Heaven

Sight

Aurum plain and true

The Dream Of Life - Alan Watts

Global Warming?

 

This morning while at school, in the middle of February of all things, there was a tremendous couple of lightening strikes followed by a couple spectacular thunder claps.  The whole building shook.  At first we all speculated that the heating system in the building had just went Boom.  That wasn't it.  We felt the first boom, and I saw the second lightening strike out the window followed by a bigger Boom.  That sort of thing intrigues me.  The science guy in me wakes up and starts thinking.  You can tell because of the smoke that shortly billows out of my ears. 

The loudness of the thunder prompted me to call home and check on my Mona.  She isn't thrilled about flashing lightening strikes and huge rocking noise from the sky in mid February.  Usually when there are booms of that size I beginning thinking of large ooops' and explosions occurring in the upper atmosphere.  Ya know that occasional ariel accident.  That was not the case, just thunder.  

Thunder and lightening in the middle of February is extremely rare.  Usually the atmospheric conditions don't contribute to weather anomalies that should and do appear during the summer.  This winter however things have been abnormally warm and the conditions are changing.  We had close to 60 degrees in the North Country a day ago and it was 48 degrees when I crawled out of bed at 3:30 this morning.  And they say that global warming isn't really happening.  I would love to see the looks on the faces on a couple of the Powers that Be trying to explain the weather.  

There is scientific evidence that supports both theories, that global warming is a natural cycle of the planet, and that global warming is the product of man's negative impact on his environment.  Regardless if it's natural or a mistake or not, global warming is a thing that should be contended with, not ignored.  If we continue to ignore the ramifications of global warming some pretty darn bad things may happen.  Rising of the oceans drowning the coastal cities, the point at which a temperature inversion so catastrophic occurs that life won't be able to maintain a natural body temp. and die, and of course the far out possibility that the atmosphere of the planet becomes toxic to all life.  All possible extremely negative outcomes of the long term effects of global warming.  Isn't that wonderful?

So, this morning while enjoying a moment at school of nothingness, a couple of large boomy noises woke the students from their glum slumbers into an almost alert status.  A very bright white flash followed by another Boom rattled their teeth.  February has been disturbed by the happenings of July or August.  I'm telling you, Global Warming is a Thing man!

Peace and Balance,

John

The Problem With Plastic.

 Our modern world spends allot of time speculating what would happen when the garbage on our planet gets to the point where we no longer have any space to place it.  Just how high would the piles go?  Would there be enough time for the natural processes of nature to reclaim the organic matter, and if so what happens to all that plastic? 

Today if you google plastic islands, you're going to find a bunch of information about huge islands of floating plastic in our oceans.  It seems that in the very center vortex of each of the Earth's oceans is a gigantic plastic island made up of bottles, syringes, plates, basket balls, and yes Nike sneakers.  It seems we as a species aren't very appt at collecting and reclaiming our plastic materials.  We make so much of this stuff that we can't possibly recycle it all so it ends up eventually floating out at sea. 

What's going to happen in the future, are we going to have entire continents made up of collective plastics?  Is there going to be a race of super intelligent cockroaches occupying these continents that will form raiding parties on the organic world seeking out organic garbage for their sustenance?   Is it possible? One may never know.  

In the future are the governments of the world going to be forced to negotiate with these intelligent bugs in order to keep feeding them our refuse with the possible threat that they may become hunters of living things?  Terrifying thought.  However, that might be a solution to our garbage problem.  If we had a race of super intelligent cockroaches to rely on for the disposal of our garbage we wouldn't have such a problem, only the collection and distribution of all that plastic. 

Here's a scenario for you.  We have a period of tangible contact with these critters and come up with the solution on how to deal with and dispose of all that plastic.  Then what happens, are the super intelligent cockroaches going to feel threatened and wage war on us because we are removing their plastic homelands?  There is no winning scenario for this problem.  We are screwed.  

As far as I can tell the only tangible solution is to deal with the plastic problem right now before all this business with the bugs gets us into trouble.  If we can get our collective heads out of or orifices long enough to create a solution to the plastic problem maybe we can sway any negative contact with any race of super intelligent cockroaches.  After all, we only really need a real big shoe, right?

Peace and Balance,

John

Red Shadow Singers - Eagle Song

An Old Tibetan Parable, "Good Luck Or Bad Luck, Who's to Say?"

 A long time ago there was an old peasant that lived high on the mountain with his favorite Yak.  Then one day the Yak ran away into the mountains and the Villagers all cried, "Such Bad Luck, such bad luck."

The old man smiled and said, "Good luck or bad luck, who's to say?"

After two days the Yak returned with two other wild Yak, and the Villagers cried out, "Hurray, such good luck!"  

The old man just simply smiled and again said, "Good luck or bad luck, who's to say?"

After a period of time the old man hired one of the village boys to work with his Yak. Then one day while working with the Yak the boy fell and broke his leg.  The Villagers all cried out, "Such bad luck!" 

Again the old man just smiled and said, "Good luck or bad luck, who's to say?"

That day a Warlord came to the village and took all the boys to fight in his army and upon seeing the boy with his broken leg left him free, and all cried out, "Such Good Luck!"

The old man just smiled and said, "Good luck or bad luck, who's to say?"

So if good things happen, or bad things happen, "Good luck or bad luck, who can say?"

Peace and Balance,

John

Axis Mundi and the Omphalos

 In Ancient astronomical systems the universe rotates on a great axis called the Axis Mundi which houses at its center the omphalos, the navel of the universe.  Several locations throughout history have been considered the Axis Mundi or it's center the Omphalos.  These locations are the many holy mountains in the multitude of theologies growing upon our planet. 

Mount Herman was considered the Axis Mundi in Canaanite tradition, where the Sons of God descended in 1 Enoch (1En6:6).  The ancient Greeks considered the Omphalos' location, the Oracle at Delphi, the roots to the Cosmic tree, and at Mount Olympus, the Home of the Gods.  Judaism has the Temple Mount, and Mount Sinai, Christianity has the Mount of Olives, and Cavalry, Islam has Mecca, and the Temple Mount, (Dome of the Rock).  Shinto has the Ise Shrine, in addition the Kun Lun Mountains are supposed to house the Peach Tree of Immortality, and Chinese mythology locates 4 pillars that hold the world.  Southeast Asia considers the Four Pillars as the Great White Elephants that hold up the heavens.  These are all accepted examples of the Axis Mundi, and it's center the Omphalos.  That was quite a list I know, However non of these cultures, at the time of their collective discoveries had any contact with each other, yet they all hold a common belief in the Center of the Universe, the House of Heaven. 

My Native American Ancestors, and the other side of my family, the Celts, had similar beliefs in the center axis that connects all things. The Plains Indians collectively has a belief that connects them culturally together regardless of the tribal affiliations or languages.  This is the Sacred Circle, or Sacred Wheel.  It is a common thread from the tip Argentina in the South to the Innu of the Great North, and across the Big Pond to the Misty Isle.  The Sacred Wheel represents the universe from the center, the Omphalos through the Four Spokes, the directions or Four Winds, with the Great outer Wheel connecting all things.  Each Cardinal direction in the Wheel is represented by the colors of the races of men.  Yellow in the East, Red in the South, Black in the West, and White in the Far North.  Each direction binds all people together in our Universe as we reside on the Back of our Mother the Earth, Ina Mahka.  The four spokes, the Four Directions, also called the Four Winds are the Axis Mundi spoken about by the other cultures of the Earth, and it's center is the Omphalos, the Navel of the Universe, Heaven.

The Zen parable that says, "To see the universe is to look inwardly."   is a simple instruction on getting to the Center of All Things, the Emerald Palace, the House of the Buddha from which we all reside.

Heaven anyone?

Peace and Balance,

John

Laundry

 

There is another ritual that we all practice either by choice or necessity, laundry.  Laundry is an act of contrition paid by you in homage of your clothes.  Every few days, or weeks, depending on the magnitude of the pile, we take our laundry to our personal clothes washing devises, or go in search of such machines as to feed them with quarters to sit and read a book, and or watch the spinning round and round of the clothes in a hypnotic rhythm of the drying process.  I'm convinced that the music often accompanying the spinning process is an attempt by the moral majority to wash our brains interjecting it's own code upon our beings.  

I have a special area that I let my dirty clothes collect.  This place has a wicker basket that gives me special signals as it closes time to wash the items.  If I ignore these subtle signals walking past the items to go up a certain stair case becomes impossible thus making doing the laundry a necessity.  Ignoring the signals is how I learned an important lesson about falling upstairs.  This lesson in itself can verge upon the supernatural as it defies gravity and should be addressed in a separate article.  

Laundry doesn't actually become laundry until a certain volume of clothes has been attained.  When reaching this level, usually between 2 and 4 feet in depth, then it has attained the cosmic title of Laundry.  

There is a choice presented to every practice of this ritual, "Which detergent to use?" This is an important decision and is very personal for every doer of the deed. Every house hold has it's own favorite soap. As long as the clothes come away from the process clean and smelling better than they went in, the correct choice has been made.  Fabric softener is optional. 

So, for you the practicer of the ritual of Laundry, take my advice, don't let it pile to high, and make sure you always have detergent on hand.  

Peace and Balance,

John

 

Walk This Way | Aerosmith | funk cover ft. Judith Hill

Who are the Aliens?

 

 A couple thousand years ago human beings thought intelligence's from other places, our first impressions, where either considered gods, or angels.  For millennia we worshiped these beings as our creators and the teachers that were supposed to be leading us to a better place, Heaven or Hell. 

As our understandings of these intelligences grow so do our thoughts and pictures about the nature of these beings.  Our Angels and gods became visitors from other worldly places, and the craft they travel in changed from the Chariots of the Gods, to the space craft that Aliens use to travel from one place to another.   Our Angels have become our Aliens.  

For those of us who have not let go of old ideas about the nature of other worldly beings, Religions have been developed based on old ideas of gods and angels.  Human beings have created ideas of all seeing benevolent overlords with our best interest at heart.  It is our job to worship these beings blindly and follow all instructions given to us on our paths to Heaven.  Now, there are old stories of a war in heaven.  The Winners, the kind and benevolent ones, have given us a directive, "Do what we say."  So, we do, should we?

It is said that the spoils go to the victors.  How do we know that the victors in this war were actually the good guys?  Because we are told to believe, have faith, worship?  A couple hundred years ago, even up to today, I would be and am considered a Heretic.   Then I would have been hanged, burned, drowned, and possibly quartered.  Today I am condemned to a fiery Hell by those who, "Know" the Lord.  I have my doubts that these Godly people really know what it is they speak.  I guess ignorance is bliss. 

Today we are in the throws of yet another change in understanding.  Our Aliens are reverting back into us by way of time.  Human understanding of unknown creatures visiting us are either, Us traveling back in time, or what have been called, "The Visitors" traveling through time and space to meet us.  We then are possibly the Creator in the first place.  We created Ourselves.  Convoluted...

The smarter we get, the more confused we are about the nature of, "Heaven and Hell."  Through this all, we still hold on to God.  However, the Guru in us would say, "If you want to talk with God, look into a mirror and start speaking."  So, they tell me I'm going to Hell. These Godly people. 

For me, I just speak, or think, or talk to my friends.  God is everywhere is it not?

A long time ago we had our gods and angels.  There was a war.  Someone won that war.  What was the war over?  Possibly We are the prize, and the war is a huge identity crisis.  

Who were the winners, and who were the losers?  An answer to both questions, Us.  As our understandings grow, I am not afraid to look into the reflection of a pond and declare, "I AM God." 

Who are You?

Peace and Balance,

John

Mahavatar Babaji & Bodiless Yogis | Sadhguru

What is Feng Shui?

 

The basic principles of Feng Shui, "Wind, and Water" another way of saying, "Yin Yang", start within the formulating foundation of the human body.  Feng Shui is the method in which the individual learns to balance the ebbs and flows within the energies of their physical being.  The tidal forces of nature, the Tao or the way, are balanced in the center of the individual and slowly expand from the center to the outward environment.  

What Feng Shui is, is how your relationship with the self evolves and balances.  We start within, and work to the expanded.  When we harmonize the self we become more aware of the environment outside.  As each phase of this awareness grows the personal environment also expands and the tendrils of awareness reach further and further outward to the unseen expanding environment over the horizon.   

This awareness has the latent after effect of you the observer and facilitator naturally changing your personal environment to match your internal environment.  If done correctly this is a natural shift, not one that that has to be a focus of the practice.  You start to arrange your space naturally, it becomes a part of you.  You are then beginning to flow with the Tao. 

Feng Shui is based from the center of the Bagua, or 8 directions.  You have the first 4 cardinal directions, and the secondary directions that your awareness flows into though the practices of movement, breathing, and meditation.  After the 8 directions are located, the 5 elements grow from within the practitioner.  The natural elements of Wood, Fire, Water, Air, and Metal, not in that specific order, is related to each of the others in a specific recipe commanded by the laws of nature.  

From the center of Bagua the 5 elements grow and bind realities and space together into a whole or Holistic being that is part of itself and everything else in one moment.  Everything is Now. 

Feng Shui is Not a psychotic need to be a clean freak.  It IS, you connected with your true nature, the everything, and the self.  

Peace and Balance,

John 

The Expense of Winter Wind.

 

Sometimes there is a little expense involved with surviving a good ole fashioned "Cold Snap".  This has been an expensive winter.  In order to save on oil as the price per gallon sent me into a tizzy, I started using some space heaters to take up the slack.  Thing about space heaters is apparently they use one hell of allot of juice.  I received my last power bill and had a minor spasm.  Now, I really can't put the blame on the power company so much as myself for consciously making the decision to use them in the first place.  

This past weekend Northern New England experienced a frigged air blast from the Great Northern Hell.  Temps dropped below -30 Saturday night without the wind giving it's 2 cents.  It was cold.  Again, I've made the decision to use space heaters.  One in the basement, one in the kitchen, one in our bedroom, and one in a back hall that has an open wall to direct wind.  They were all running, but I am pleased that I've skirted the possibility of frozen pipes.  Extra blankets and sweaters helped support the thin blood of age. 

What I did do, that I suppose in retrospect I shouldn't have, was ignore my vehicle.  The battery died.  I attached it to a trickle charge on my battery charger and crossed my fingers.  What I found out was that it is possible for the temperature to dip down cold enough that charging the battery is just a practice of folly.  It took all afternoon long, and into the evening before I could start my CRV.  After it started I let it run for a good hour to charge, warm and insure that it would start in the morning.  During that process our youngish son came home for a short visit and pointed out the apparent flat tire situation caused by the coldness.  I waited till morning to deal with that.  

In the morning I started up my pony and proceeded to fill tires with air using my Slime Green air pump plugged into the power plug of the car.  It works well, but takes a goodly amount of time.  

As Cold Snaps go, this was a good one, and prompted me to purchase a starter pack, more power than one person should use in a lifetime, and a possible new battery.  Dang Cold Snap got expensive.

Peace and Balance,

John

The Folly of the Automotive Battery.

 

Let's talk about car batteries.  Yesterday when the evil blusteriness decided to attack the North Country I decided to go out to my CRV pony at lunch time to start it up and warm the beastie as to not have a worry at the end of the day.  Thing is the wind had been blowing pretty darn good and the temp traveled from cold, to extremely cold as the day progressed.  By the time I had decided to start her up, I got a complaint, the dash began that ticking death throw thing, and I swear the battery kicked up it's little legs and died.  

I tracked down the Automotive Guru from school in the CTE office talking with his boss and begged for a jump.  After a short quip we jaunted down to the garage and investigated his ample supply of starter boxes.  After attaching the cables to the correct poles, and my breaking off one of the post covers, the rig fired right up.  I let it run for a goodly amount of time to warm the inerts of the buggy enough to insure that it would continue to start when the day was over.  By the time we left school for the day it was well below the zero thing, but it started OK, and off we went, Home.  

I parked it last night and haven't looked twice.  The air temp. was 20 below dead last night and so far today, as of 2:41 the temp. as gone up all the way to minus 2 degrees.  A veritable heat wave.  The little voice in the back of my head it telling me that it might be a good idea to attach a battery charger and let it sit for a bit.  That little voice is the sound of experience, this has happened before.  Maybe not quite as chilly, but hey what can I say.   I shall follow the advise, later.  

Tomorrow the temperature is supposed to crawl all the way up to the mid 30's, possibly even 40 degrees and soon enough we shall forget the failures of the cold.  I will be purchasing my very own battery start it up pack at Wal Mart when I attend work.  After all this chilly spell has made a good excuse to stay in bed today.  

Peace and Balance,

John 

Mamma Nature's Sick Joke

 

Mother Nature has a sense of humor.  We've spent most of our winter so far warmish and not having to spend to awful amounts of dollars on heating fuel.  We got all comfortable with the idea that this winter is going to be mild and things would be temped. 

That is, just before She in Her infiniteness decided to throw at us a big ass ball of real F*ing cold air.  I can hear the mystic laughter as I write this.  It's all a big joke and we are the butts of it.  I wonder if there's a big office somewhere we can arrive at to file a formal complaint with the administration?  Somehow I get the suspicion that we should have explored the rest room walls in the basement of the old city hall or something.  Is Arthur Dent out there observing?  Douglas Adams might have seen this coming from a long way off.

I started my vehicle at about 5AM to let it run for a few minutes and warm up before I shut her down to restart again about 10 minutes before I came to work.  At that time it wasn't to awful out at almost 20 degrees.  As I'm writing this it's 11:45 AM and -7 degrees on my weather app.  It's supposed to be about -20 degrees when I leave work at 2:15PM.  Fortunately tomorrow is Saturday and I have a day off because Mother Nature has decided to bring the temp up to about 32 degrees Sunday.   That will feel like a virtual sauna compared to what we have in store for this evening.  Northern New Hampster is looking at a possible -50 degrees.  This is real, real danger weather.  This is when the saying, "Don't Piss Into The Wind." takes on a whole new meaning.  

So, if you live in my neck of the woods, sit and wait, look over your pipes, eat a hearty meal, and binge Netflix.  There isn't much else to do unless you're into freezing parts of yourself that shouldn't get cold.

Peace and Balance,

John

Groundhog Day 2023, 6 More Weeks.

 Today we celebrate the psychic impressions of a chubby, large, mid-western rodent, Punxsutawny Phil. As things happen when Phil sees his shadow we are supposed to, "Enjoy" 6 more weeks of winter.  I'm not really thrilled about the prospect of being thrust into more winter than is normally scheduled during a season.  However, this has been a fairly good year and we have only suffered minorly the doom and gloom of snow, and as of yet haven't been tortured with the extreme cold that Northern New England is often known for.  That is until this weekend, but we shall cross that bridge when we get there.

Punxsutawny Phil has wiggled himself into the mythological mind of the American public.  Since the tradition of having a Ground hog predict the length of winter is 137 years old today, Phil must be an immortal rodent.  He has had his cult of top hat clad gentlemen around him all that time.  This must be a secret school, a forbidden subject, or just asylum laden lunacism that captures the imaginations of those in power, and the un-initiated masses.   Phil has become a demigod.

In 1993, Bill Murray stared in a movie titled, "Groundhog day," where the protagonist is caught in a time loop until he learns a serious life lesson about the proper ways of treating and respecting people.  Of course Murray's character, "Phil" Connors is chasing the girl, Andie MacDowell, trying to re-kindle a past relationship.  However the power of the other, "Phil" traps him in the loop and Phil gets to relive Groundhog day over, and over until he learns some serious stuff.  It lasts long enough for him to learn a whole spectrum of skill sets that help him capture the girl.  Years of skills are programed into Phil over the course of this Groundhog day.  He is cursed. Phil the Groundhog is no force to mess with.

Finely there comes the point in the movie where, Phil Connors can no longer take the stress and tries to commit a grizzly suicide by driving himself and the Groundhog off a cliff in an old red truck.  Of course it doesn't work and he has to keep pushing on with his task.  The parody of 6 more weeks of winter, maybe?

Groundhog day is celebrated about half way through the season when our collective minds have slipped just enough for the masses to accept the possibility that a Groundhog can actually predict the course of the rest of winter.  Hey, why the heck not?  After all we tend to give credit to several news casters who have made careers out of lying to the public, the Weather Men.  

So if your like me and only subtly believe in the Cosmic Rodent, hold on tight, up here in the North Country it's winter right up until the Fat Lady Sings.  

Peace and Balance,

John  

 

  

Walk On The Wild Side, NO...

 I'm of the age that can tell who is a girl and who is a boy.  When I was a kid if you liked a girl you had a conversation with her and asked her to a movie, or whatever.  There was a definite distinction between the genders regardless of any specific orientation.  

Today I work at a public High School and, especially this year, have walked away from certain conversation either because I don't understand what I'm hearing or seeing, or I don't want to engage in a conversation that might put me in a position where I would have to defend what I'm saying vs. what I'm hearing.  Kids these days seem to be very comfortable with their fluid ideas of gender and sexual orientation.  

I just don't understand.  Some of these kids are definitely boys or girls, but switch and decide or choose  to portray the opposite sex.  Just like the Lou Reed song says, "Boys will be Girls, and Girls will be Boys."  I remain confused.

We have a couple female students that are actually very attractive young ladies, and dress all girly, girly, but who call themselves boys, and expect to be approached in same manner.  It's hard to have a conversation with a student who is definitely one gender as the opposite gender.  Especially when that student dresses obviously on purpose the opposite gender that they want to be addressed as.  

I understand that there are certain psychological disorders that make it impossible for the patient to accept or confirm genders that they were born with, however I don't believe that the majority of students are afflicted with this disorder, nor do I believe that the number of students that are, "Flipping" genders are going to remain in the one being, "Acted" out.    I just find this all very odd.  

An observation that I have been pondering is that most of these non-gender conformist students were born female verses male.  I wonder if that is a reflection of the stress levels, and or stressors that society is imposing upon our women.  There must be a study out there somewhere.  

So, this old man is going to have to learn new ways, However I refuse to, "Take A Walk On The Wild Side."

Peace and Balance,

John

Eversource: WTF

 Let's talk about Eversource.  Last month my power bill was what I would consider way out there at over 500.00 dollars.  I thought that was astronomical a month ago, until I received this months power bill.  The words, Oh My God!, and other non-speakable lingo.  My present Bill is 663 dollars and some change.  Holy shnikies.  How can a utility charge such prices to the average customer.  If you Google the rate for Eversource NH. you will find that starting in February they will be charging about 20 cents per kilowatt hour.  I looked at my bill, I am presently being charged 23 cents, give or take, per kilowatt hour.  So why 663 dollars?

They claim I've used over 2000 kilowatt hours of juice.  There are only 2 people living in my house.  Granted I like my electronic gadgets, and I use space heaters in places to keep down the oil usage, but **it.  How can they justify what's happening?  Are we to blame Covid for this as well?  Hell No, I say!

The last reasonable power bill I had was about 125 dollars just before the holidays.  Then the hammer dropped.  So, what I'll do in the near future is pay my bill and search out a more reasonable company to do business with.  Somewhere deep in the recesses of my befuddled mind there is the sensation that someone, somewhere is profiting from, mine and other's like me lack of political clout, and that just pisses me off.

Peace and Balance,

John

Purple Rain | Prince | funk cover ft. Mario Jose

All Funk'd Up.

 

I'm a bass player.  I've been beatin on the strings since I was a kid.  I like all sorts of music.  I've played everything from Classical to modern Fusion forms of Rock and Jazz.  I like music in general.  A couple of my favorite forms of music are Blues and Funk.  They both build off the standard 12 bars and go from there.  Blues is obviously, bluesy, and Funk is Funky.  Sometime they mix and you have some pretty cool sounding stuff.

There is a big movement where bands will take a standard Rock, Classical, or even a Country Western song and Funk it up.  They'll take the song and re-write the melodies with some new rhythm and Funky Bass lines recreating a whole new genre of Funk Rock, Jazz, and Country.  I like the stuff.  It makes you want to get up and move.  The heart palpitates just a bit and the feet start moving.  Funk music has the after effect of making the listener suddenly forget any pains and ails he/she may be suffering and the Happy takes over.  Good work ladies and gentlemen, your work is not going un-noticed or un-appreciated.  

I may even take up my Bass and start Funkin up some stuff my own self and create some new from the old.  I might even take some of the old Blues I used to play and sing and turn it into a perpetual Funkalishous movement of vibratory giggles the whole body will enjoy.  

Go to Youtube  and type in "Funk it up" and see what happens.  If you enjoy what your listening to leave a message let me know, if not, well...  

Peace and Balance,

John

Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band FUNKy cover

The Final Exam

 Today I gave my science class it's Final Exam.  We don't call tests, "Tests" anymore because it creates anxiety and morose in students with an over abundance of sensibilities.  These may include anxiety disorders, emotional difficulties, behavior problems, and the occasional mental illness.  This list includes the teachers and staff of today's modern educational experience.  I speak from somewhat of an authoritarian point of view since I myself am part of this experience.   I am a full time Special Education Professional and a Part Time Science Teacher.  

We instead call tests by their new label, Assessments.  So, what we have accomplished by changing the moniker  of the test to assessment is creating a new form of angst in the teacher.  Now, we have to retrain ourselves to use a whole different verbiage to describe something that should be called what it is, a test.  Some of my students, not the brighter ones mind you, but just some of them give me that sideways glance and ask, "Huh, what's that?"

As you can imagine that can lead to a whole different set of explanations.   A Test is: a procedure intended to establish the quality, performance, or reliability of something, especially before it is taken into widespread use. So, we can see that using the word Test would make everything easy.  It's the thing that tells you how a student is doing academically.

Well an Assessment on the other hand is: the evaluation or estimation of the nature, quality, or ability of someone or something.  Ok, that one is a little more "New Agey".  Now we're evaluating the "Nature" of something.  Let's get down to the metaphysics of the process.  Let's test the True Nature of our student's. How are they handling the information presented.  Are they absorbing it, or faking it?  The Hippy's are taking over and taking a test is becoming a love fest.  What's next gauging the, "Want to do something"?  I want  a million bucks, does that make it happen?

So, I gave my students their Final Exam.  The operative adjective is, "Final".  Meaning, done, no more, no mas, and that's all folks.  Final, geez.  That one makes it sound so, "Final"  What's at the end of this exam, a tall boney fellow wearing a long black hooded cloak?  

Fortunately all of my students passes the exam, another word for test, the lowest grade was an 80%, so I guess all's good.  Next time I'll use the word Assessment, smile more, and think about giving everyone a big hug.  Not gonna do it, just think about it.  After all I have that stoic persona to keep up.

Peace and Balance,

John