The Broken Robot's Last Days

The bottom line -
The bottom line -
The reality is,
The reality is,
What the reality is is
What the reality is is
Well, yes but really
Well yes but really
We’ll have to talk about this
Well it is what it is
Well it is but it isn’t
Alright, take care… so um…
Did you think about?
Did you talk about?
Have you talked to?
I think the general
I think
I think
Basically
In other words,
What I think is
Well that’s what they say but
Actually
Actually:
[there is no bottom line].

This week's quote:

"Well, I mean, uh, don't, don't confuse self-doubt with humility."

- Selma Ray Sunshine

Some Perspectives

"Gain control over elevator before entering pit."
-Sign I saw on the Elevator at the Ralph's Grocery Store

"Keep a positive attitude. We live in an arbitrary universe."
-Me. I said that, and this:

small things
like mysteries wrapped in enigmas
like a starburst of flowers waiting within a tiny seed
like a galaxy in a universe
or a cell within a body
or a dozen angels dancing on the head of a pin

big things
like mysteries unfolding, enigmas falling like curly ribbons to the floor
like a hillside awash in poppies and purple sage
beside the great blue sea
like the feeling of home within my heart
and trust
and friendship
endurance
and love.

Nothing Can't Change!

Some things change. Some things don't change. Some things don't seem to change but actually change. Some things seem to change but stay the same. Some things change a little bit, but seem to have changed a lot. A lot can change in a little bit of time. I have change in a ceramic pot on top of my refrigerator because the kitchen is in the feng shui "wealth and prosperity" area; one thing we can count on is there always being quarters for laundry in it if we put them there. If we don't, we'll have to put a dollar in the machine and get change. Change your tune, change your posture, change your mind, change your heart, change your clothes, change your attitude young lady! Change is constant, the more things change; the more things stay the same. The word change sounds funny now, doesn't it? Some things never ---- .

Monday's a Big Old Chair

(Thank you www.jgordonanderson.com for pic.)

Like stubbing a toe on the leg of the big old chair
every time you get up in a hurry to answer the phone,
Monday morning comes.

Maturity reminds you
it will feel better by lunchtime.
Common sense tells you
to wear shoes in the house.
Self-possession advises
you move the big chair out of the path that leads to the phone.
Inspiration suggests
you move the phone so you don’t have to pass by the big chair.
Idealism says, get a chair that’s worth stopping to sit in
and put the phone
beside it.

Apartment Living: the Neighbor Gets Sober

A New Day Dawns Daily, Frequently in Color
Dear Neighbor,

Thank you for quitting drinking. A new level of peace has come to my home now that you and your girlfriend don't have shouting matches as you come and go from your car parked in the carport under my window.

I can sleep with my bedroom window open now because you don't get in your car at 1:50 every morning, slamming the car door and starting the engine. Now, I could drift back to sleep easily enough after that one; it was the door slamming bottle clanking return five minutes later that agitated me to wakefulness. Finally, I closed the window for the summer. But recently I forgot to close it - and I didn't wake up til morning!

I've been able to sleep with that window open every night for about a month! Thirty days, Neighbor guy, GOOD GOING!

I thank you, your liver thanks you, your blood vessels thank you, the other drivers on the road thank you, your girlfriend seems to thank you (at least I don't hear her clattering out the door in her high heels cackling after you these days) . The 7/11 corporation may not be so happy, but I bet the employee feels some relief, being spared from the little struggle triggered in his soul when he put the fifth in the bag and said "have a nice night."

Keep up the good work, and be aware that your decision to treat yourself better has repercussions that are good, one night at a time.

Sincerely,
Your Neighbor

The Nature of Worry

Be assured the past can rush ahead and haunt you anytime

and invite you to stew as if future days would be just like this one.

You have the opportunity to become

ensnared by the distractions detractors throw at you,

as a matter of course; it's your life.

It's your life: you also have the right

to keep focused on creating good

and keep walking,

one foot in front of the other

just like the man said,

"one day at a time."

Just don't forget

to also make

some plans.

A good plan can be quite motivating.

Confessions of an Angelino

#44: Little Bo Talks "Peep!"

About Using Botox: Paralyzing the facial muscles so they can’t reveal one’s creases, wrinkles and subtle curves creates a distorted read. The alleged enhancement upstages the persona! It’s distracting to talk to a dead face that, however expressionlessly, talks back.

It’s counterintuitive in such a circumstance; we’re supposed to be paying our respects and moving on. And yet, injected and paid for, the face continues to attempt to emote, a turtle shell with a mouth and eyes, I strain to listen, but cannot remember what she said.

Pluto Loses Planet Status: August 24, 2006

Pluto and Chiron

Pluto! Pluto! I will miss you so!
Gone from the textbooks and the acronymic memorization sentences
that will now trail off without, "Period."
After Neptune, hanging in space, a semicolon;

Kicked out of the solar system!
Reclassified to “dwarf planet”!
(Why add a jab
to your galactic demotion?)

In quiet diligence in your oblique orbit
same as before you were ever seen
and recognized,
now shunned,
Oh Pluto!

Worse all over,
I suppose things could be,
if this had happened
to Uranus.

Correcting our Blunders

As the anniversary of 9/11 gets closer, and following the catastrophe averted in London in August, let's take a look back over the past half decade. Are we safer? No. Is hatred cracked open and flooding the middle east? Yes. Did the US with its pre-emptive attack on Iraq set off the powderkeg? You bet!

The problem is war solves nothing and resolves to hate. US manipulations of middle east governments in the 20th Century have turned out to be dreadful mistakes. We need to do the right thing now, and begin to correct our blunders, starting with immediate withdrawal from Iraq.

Here's an idea, let's bring in the Peace Corps. Maybe if the children of all nations grow up to love us, because we have taught them what we know about making life comfortable and pleasant, nobody will think of blowing anybody up anymore. And we have the perfect training ground for building a beautiful city, teaching about water purification, re-establishing educational institutions, organizing chaotic living situations, and bringing new life to the bereft - it was called New Orleans last time I checked.

Creatures of Instinct, Lucky for Us

As I drove home from work today, I saw a licence plate frame on the car ahead of me that said, "What would you do if you were not afraid?"

If I were not afraid I would:

• jump off a cliff
• charge up my credit card to the max and throw away the bills
• stick my hand in fire to see if it is as soft as it looks
• climb over the fence at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and run screaming toward the lions while wearing a suit made of bacon.

Visceral Understanding

Sometimes science just doesn't have the answer yet. The best scientific mind knows to lead with imagination and follow up with method, standards, formulas. It has a healthy skepticism, and an honest humility. The "C" students in science who grew up to fear risk for the threat of loss of status, shut down options. They point to the past and discover nothing new - citing lack of precedent as proof.

Well not everything in this world has had scientific scrutiny. And not everything that has been examined has been seen from every angle or with the wisdom that comes with time. (We are, after all, but primates figuring out our universe as we go).

Shining pristine at the forefront of discovery is imagination, every time. The world is flat; no it's not. Lobotomies are the only cure for depression; far from it. AIDS is a gay disease; turns out it's everybody's problem. Autism is caused by bad mothering - NOT! Can't get to the moon! Can't even fly! Nothin's faster than the Pony Express!

Albert Einstein was the one who said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." Perhaps before he ever said it outright, he knew it, which was what allowed him - that day when he lay daydreaming under a tree - to follow his imagination as it ran to the end of the universe. Yet, no matter how far his thoughts went, there he would be, back under the tree. This led him to envision curved space, and, being a mathematical sort, to create the special theory of relativity.

Observe Your World

What if all the liars stopped lying? It would be great - wouldn't it - to trust implicitly all day long? Wouldn't it be dreamy to never have to put up your guard, never wonder whether what you saw was what you were getting? You could be sure of what people were doing because they'd do what they said they were doing and say what they meant. Now they might not always do what you wished they'd do, but at least they wouldn't lie about it.

But if all the liars stopped lying, it would be bad for the economy! The courts would be empty! All the lawyers and judges and social workers and psychologists would have to go play cards at the park. It would be even more devastating than if we were to stop using fossil fuels. See, at least if we stay dishonest and greedy and destructive, when we bring the world to an end, it won't hurt so much - cause we'll be glad to go!