Life On A B-I7

Day #363

Cribbage

I spent a good bit of time playing cribbage with my dad when he was in assisted-living. He taught me the game and he was patient with me. I’ve never been a good card player. I appreciated the fact that he enjoyed playing with me and I enjoyed playing with him. He beat me regularly. I was fine with that. I wasn’t really there to play cards, I was there to be with him. I think he knew that was what was going on and I think he appreciated that.

I remember as a kid, I would ask him to play catch with me. I would do my best to throw the ball perfectly but if I didn’t hit him right in the chest, after the third or fourth miss he would say “we’re done”. That was earlier in life. By the time we were playing cribbage, I think he realized that patience is a virtue. At least I assume he did because I actually won from time-to-time.

I’m teaching my partner to play Cribbage and I haven’t won a game yet. I must suck pretty bad at it…

Opportunities

The time of life is short!
To spend that shortness basely were too long
If life did not ride upon a dial’s point
Still ending at the arrival of an hour.

—Shakespeare

Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg’s favorite quote.

We’re not here for a long time, so kick ass and take names. I suppose that’s not the best way to look at it, but it gets the message across. Take advantage of the opportunities you receive. If not a lot of opportunities come your way, that’s okay because you should also be making yourself the best person you can while taking advantage of the opportunities you do receive.

The Law

Let me lay this out very simply.

Textualist interpretation of the law is nothing more than an excuse to dictate whatever purpose you see fit in the moment.

That is not a responsible way to interpret the law. That interpretation ignores evolution (cats included). It is an excuse to mask your personal bias (owned or sold). That sort of thinking leads to dire consequences for society.

Sit Down

I told the cat to sit down then I sat down myself…

“Do not explain your philosophy. Embody it.”

—Epictetus

Cats

Cats are probably smarter than we are.

They were left on earth by Aliens milennia ago. Sadly, the Aliens forgot to give them the proper skills needed to communicate with us. That tiny oversight has, sadly enough, prevented the highest evolution of human intelligence from being obtained…

Guitar

If you could do one thing before you die, what would that be? For me most likely… at this point in time… it would be to learn to play the guitar. Why? That is a very good question. I think it is because music is the one thing that can move me to cry. Cry with joy, cry with love for someone, cry just to fucking cry.

Why not learn other things? You should! Never stop learning! It’s a damn shame this life ends. Imagine how smart you might become if you could live for say 500 or 1,000 years? However, that’s not how it works. I sometimes wonder if thinking people (sometimes referred to as intellectuals) didn’t create the concept of god simply to give someone (if not themselves) the opportunity to learn more?

Thank God no one reads this blog…

How to Break a Political Party

How do you get someone to bend to your will?

Feed them what they want to hear, especially things that they already have a desire to listen to. If you can master that technique, you can rule the world.

How do you do the right thing when it comes to life?

Always work to educate yourself as well as others. Don’t insist that people believe what you do, convince them with facts and examples of what the potential consequences might be.

As an aside, my cat takes no convincing, he hangs on my every word. The number of people that take no convincing are few and far between…

Day #362

A new science has recently been born, comparative thanatology. How animals react to individuals that are dying or are close to dying, and what that behavior says about how animals relate to death.

I find this interesting in light of that fact that I now am living with a pet that is, or soon will be, facing his own end of life. Hopefully of course, I will not precede him, that said, I agree with the song by Curtis Salgado and Alan Hager, “I Want My Dog To Live Longer,” only in my case it is my cat.

Day #361

I’d like to be a bit more like Mr. Nakata…

Mr. Nakata is a good looking man in his 60’s. He is an excellent cook. He’s a bit on the dumb side, but it serves him well because he doesn’t ask a lot of questions of the people he meets. He can also talk to cats and rocks. Two skills that I think would be marvelous to have. I suspect there would be a lot to learn by having a personal relationship with both. I do have a cat and I think we have a special bond, but it would be even better if we could converse with one another. My interest in history would make the ability to talk to rocks all the more fascinating. The most admirable trait that Mr. Nakata possesses is his acceptance of other people. He never criticizes others and seems to get along with everyone. The trait I envy the most is his ability to keep things simple. There are a lot of reasons to adopt that view of life.

Mr. Nakata can find in Haruki Murakami’s “Kafka On The Shore.”

Day #360

Now, on to a somewhat touchy subject…

The highest level of wealth, and the way it is amassed, not through labor, but via money making money, is structurally deforming. It makes it harder for those of us who are primarily paid through our labor to be properly compensated. The minimum wage is a perfect example. The highest levels of wealth, by and large, are responsible for the breakdown of society as they pursue their agenda both personal and social that benefit only themselves and others of their class.

Day #359

Metaphor

_ A word or phrase for one thing that is used to refer to another thing in order to show or suggest that they are similar._

I’m not sure that definition nails it. I think it can be much deeper than that. I think a metaphor is a way to explain some aspect of reality that can’t be explained any other way. If you have ever been confused and can’t resolve what it is that is actually happening to you, a metaphor is probably the only explanation that you can reach for to explain what it is you are experiencing.

It may be that we can’t fully understand life unless we look at it through a metaphorical lens. What do our daily actions mean. What do they lead us to. There may be no way of knowing without viewing them as symbolic of something greater than the events themselves. In other words, viewing them as a metaphor.

Day #358

Donald Trump will have to answer to your God for all his depravity and destruction. If his punishment in the next life is commensurate with his acts, it will be severe. Let’s hope that you won’t have to answer to your God for the act of having voted for him, or if you do, the punishment you receive for that won’t be as severe as what he is going to receive…

Day #357

Songs that move me

Don’t worry about the neighbors, turn the fu#%ing volume up to 10 and get into it.

“Honeycomb” Luke-Winslow King
“Waiting On The World To Change” Keb’ Mo’ and Taj Mahal
“Scratch My Back” The Fabulous Thunderbirds
“Sweet Inspiration” The Derek Trucks Band
“Been Around A Long Time” Delbert McClinton & Glen Clark
“Simple Man” Robert Randolph and The Family Band
“Watch Me Go” Luke-Winslow King
“Give Me One Reason” Big Daddy Wilson
“Life Is Beautiful” Keb’ Mo’
“Revolution” Eric Lindell
“Call Me The Breeze” John Mayer

You get the idea…

Day #356

I got to thinking the other day (yes, I can hear you congratulating me) if I could express in three words what it means to live fully and freely, I think those three words would be “It’s not cake.”

What does that mean? Simple really. It means there are no limits. The more we give the more we receive in return. There is not a fixed quantity of life, or for that matter, there is not a fixed quantity of anything of value. we can participate in life as fully as we are able or not, it’s up to us. Unlike cake, which disappears once all the pieces have been handed out and everyone has set down their fork, the best things in life can be experienced over and over again. The only requirement is that we recognize those things.

Day #355

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”

— Haruki Murakami

Day #354

You never make the same mistake twice. The second time it’s called a choice…

Coming up to the kitchen line after serving is never a choice… Serve and Stay…

Day #353

When I have nothing else to write about, I write about my cat. Today he was sitting with me on the patio. He sat down on the chair next to me. There was a book resting on the chair when he jumped up. That didn’t seem to bother him, he laid down on top of the book looking quite comfortable. He was the perfect picture of contentment (if you can read such a thing on a cat’s face). The spine of the book was sticking out from under his chest. I had to admire his choice in “resting literature”. The title of the book was “The Buddhist Boot Camp.”

Day #352

Less is More

I seem to have spent my lifetime trying to absorb this maxim. All-in-all, I have not had a great deal of success. That does not mean I’m not trying, I am. Tomorrow might be the day I start taking steps to realize that goal. If not tomorrow, then definitely the next day for sure.

Day #351

Day #350

I can’t think of many things more rewarding than being a writer, unless it is creating beautiful woodwork. I chose to spend my life as a computer programmer. Nothing wrong with that. We choose what our life will look like. I suppose the best we can say is, once we’ve chosen our path, how did we do in fulfilling that destiny. We should never regret our choices. It’s all about how we fulfill those choices.

Day #349

Was Diogenes of Sinope (400-325 B.C.) happy?

Diogenes was a Cynic. Cynics in that day were people that lived without the trappings of ordinary life. (Different than today’s cynics.) Diogenes and his followers believed that it did not take a lot of earthly possessions to live well. It is possible Diogenes may have taken his philosophy to the extreme. He admired dogs. He preached that dogs are unashamed of bodily functions, were not picky about what they ate, and cared little for where they slept, all admirable traits in his mind. This led him to choose a wine barrel as his home. It’s possible my cat eats better than Diogenes did. Diogenes even gestured with his middle finger to those who would presume to insult him over his lifestyle. (Apparently the middle finger has a long history.) Once Alexander the Great paid a visit to Diogenes (Diogenes was a famous philosopher after all). Alexander found Diogenes bathing in his wine barrel. Alexander offered to give him anything he wanted, Diogenes was reported to have said “Please get out of my sunlight.” It is not know if he showed Alexander the middle finger, I suspect if he had, this story might have ended differently.

Day #348

Give compliments.

If you want to live on the plus side of the social register, always give more compliments than you give complaints. I was walking down the sidewalk today, as I passed two people I heard one complaining about how unfair his boss was. I could not help noticing, and feeling a bit sorry for the person listening. If you want to help people flourish, give them positive feedback. If they don’t deserve it, give them at least more positive than negative… Everyone deserves a chicken dinner once in awhile

This raises the obvious question, what is a good compliment. It is not use of the words “nice,” “good,” “beautiful,” “pretty,” or “great.” You have to be creative for your compliment to have a positive effect.

The bottom line is, give compliments, be sincere, and make your compliment genuine.

Day #347

I went into my favorite Taproom while I was waiting for my truck at Les Schwab. They have a brew called “Mystic Daze.” I told the barkeep I knew the perfect song to go with that beer, Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic.” I asked her if she would mind playing it. She was cool with that. Once the song came on I asked her if she had heard it before. “No,” was the answer. I guess that’s the definition of old.

Day #346

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

What a cool title. It’s not mine. It’s the title of a Haruki Murakami novel. Reading this novel makes me want to read all of Murakami’s work. I think I will. The novel is 400 pages of split brained dialogue between the protagonist and himself. I have to admit I had no real idea how the story would end until I got to page 399. There were plenty of hints along the way, but Murakami has a special skill when it comes to unfolding a story. Even after I closed the book at the end of page 400, there was still room to take the story further. I’m sure that was intentional. It makes you want to carry the story with you and think about it from time to time, not to mention read more of his work.

Day #345

When you pass a church and the reader board says “We grow in Christ and love for one another,” What does the word “We” mean? Are they talking about just the members of their congregation or are they talking about everyone in the world? I hope it’s latter, but there are plenty of reasons to think that “religion” is not the answer to why there is a lack of love in the world.

My job is to remember what the world needs, even though I’m not a member of any particular “We.”