Open Thread - Friday, February 22, 2019
The future ain’t what it used to be.
- Yogi Berra -
A few weeks ago, I ruminated about the anniversary of Sue's passing. The comment discussion had a thread about the pain of other people's passing, along with acceptance of our own mortality. I was intending to revisit the topic, when I learned about Devine Order's passing.
DO was one to the old EBer's from TOP. One of the subset of DFHs. I always felt a virtual connection with DO. He a retired school teacher, and me the son of a school teacher. I marveled at his sense of adventure and gusto for living. In many ways, he inspired me to stay retired and venture onward.
The passing of a friend is sad. I have mixed feelings. Being tired and disillusioned, there is a sense that death is liberating.
I know my days are numbered, and use DO's inspiration to challenge myself to seek awe and inspiration.
I miss the people who are gone, and I am willing to fight for the people I will be leaving behind. All of them.
In the mean time, I think we all need to live life to the fullest. Seek awe, love, lust, practice hedonism and most of all do what makes you happy.
Have a great weekend! Toast lost friends! The thread is OPEN.
Comments
Good morning, Tim ~~~
I've experienced death since I was eight years young and my uncle died at 39. I'll never forget it. After him, I lost a grandfather, another uncle, a cousin, etc. I was closest to my grandpa, so when he passed, I was 12, and looking at him in the coffin I remember wanting more than anything to just know where he was. I wanted to go there, see him, and come back to earth. This is still a vivid memory that a 12 yo conjured up. At some point on this journey I decided that death is truly for the living.
Death causes reflection.
When I lost my husband, at 34, it was difficult, but I had young kids, so I knew I had to suck it up and move on. After about a month or six weeks had passed, a woman at work observed, "you don't look sad at all, anymore," to which I replied, "well, I've decided that if I live 50 more years, I can live happy or miserably and I'm choosing happy." I've tried to make the most of my life, since.
Death can bring out the best and worst in people (we've all seen, heard, or experienced this at some level), which is why I feel it is for the living. It will befall all of us - we all have an expiration date.
So, make the most of the life you have. Live fully. Live kindly.
Have a beautiful day and weekend, folks!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Wet
Raining for several days and DSL is flakey. I think the cosmos are telling me to get out of the house.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Good Day, NCTim, what about your plans
to do a motorcycle tour through the Alps?
Death and expiration dates. Darn that there is not such a date being imprinted in our brain. What would happen if we all knew when we would go?
I am glad I still have a living child. Most people in my family are gone or are missing in action or are 'besides themselves'. Actually there ain't people left, who would even know if I were alive or not. They have no interest in knowing. Tempis. But I am THAT important, you see?
.
Awe
The Alps trip owes DO at least some inspiration. I am going to try to fit in as much adventure and awe seeking as physically possible. On to Stelvio!
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
awe ...
Alps Tours By Moto-Charlie
Just for inspiration. I wouldn't pay for such tour, but you can have a look at where they go and go on your own to those places.
Riding through the Alps.
Hubby and I did that run 20 years ago. It was a 2-week trip to England, Germany, and Austria. We lucked out on the weather. He set up the whole deal (he's a brilliant travel planner). We rode a mountain BMW cruiser. The trip was simply an awesome adventure. We started the actual bike ride in Munich and ended it in Salzberg, Austria. From there, we rode the Autobahn in the pouring rain back to Munich to return the bike and start the flights home. Every American needs to experience life outside the States. It's a big world and the US is simply a part. Put it on your bucket list, Tim. Believe me, you won't regret it.
Death and Life are the first Natural Law in our existence. When we feel the pain of heartbreak, it means we can and do love. Thought this tune was appropriate today.
Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
Hey, NCTim,
Conception is a terminal condition. All our days our numbered. Some of us have bigger numbers than others--and it's not necessarily the youngest of us who have the largest number of days left to live. One of life's many mysteries.
I miss all those who have gone as well, even the ones I never met, like your Sue. You made her that real to me, even though she could no longer say anything when I finally found your fabulously clever Funkin' Friday Open Threads.
As to the deaths of those already gone--and even as to the troubles of others during their lives--nothing of which I am aware has said it for me better than this poem, especially the last five lines:
For Whom the Bell Tolls
John Donne (1572-1631 C.E.)
No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
I guess Hemingway liked it too?
Do I wish that Donne used "person" instead of man, and didn't confine himself to Europe? Yes, but women could not even run a tab at the grocery store when Donne wrote, so I have to live with it as is.
I agree with you that life, no matter how short or long it is, it is always too short not to be lived to the fullest extent that we can live it and wring from it every joy we possibly can.
And, now, unfortunately, I have a totally different kind of time crunch and must run. So, have a great Friday, a great weekend and a great life, NCTim, buddy, and the same to anyone else who glances at this post. Love on all of you (or, as my favorite Aunt was wont to put it, "all yiz").
Oh, heck. I'm not that provincial: I wish the same to everyone, everywhere.
Good Day
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Morning Tim
Found this little ditty in a Caitlin piece...
It was basically about unlearning trauma. Like your idea of listening to the cosmos.
Thanks for the tunes.
Agreed
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Yea! that's what Im'a tawkin 'bout
Hold on!
Never heard this version. Tanks. Hang-in there bud.
Hey brother Tim
We've had 8" of rain here since we last communicated. Water, water everywhere....and it is still raining, and is supposed to for a couple more days.
Quite a heady topic in your OT this AM. Life and death. Love and loss. The duality of life. Like this yin yang tree of life, the two are the same flowing from one to the other like day into night into day....
When I woke this morning this popped into my mind -
Seek Peace, Walk Lightly, and Practice Kindness.
That is the path I try to follow. Like DO we need a child like sense of wonder as we wander. I also like Joni's line in Woodstock - "I don't know who I am, but you know life is for learning".
Happy wandering to you and all c99ers.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Same here
Three straight days of rain. DSL is taking forever to load pages.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
... peel the face off your head
rolling on down the tracks
sometimes, ya just gotta go
no intention of coming back
nerve pain
Been up since 11:30pm last night with a toothache, it is the first toothache I ever had. I'm glad I never felt this before, lucky me. Right now the air is making something in my lower jaw tooth area stab something all the way up behind my left eyeball. sharply
I am imagining a string with one end attached to the doorknob, the other end on my face. slam it
Be the water, not the rock. om
The Russian River continues to eat away a river bank near River Road
Too bad I'm not a private vineyard corporation, waiting for the public money to come save my unmaintained jawbone. Too bad I never vacationed on a yacht while vine managers did the least work possible maintaining the property. good insurance
~shrug~
It could be worse, I could be the next Jane Doh floater clogging up fish gills after the Resort developers get finished. Because Sonoma County is so lacking in fancy resorts. yep
Water board halts construction at Healdsburg development
They really did call it "water board" on the front page, but now it is "water regulators". lol
"check back soon for updates..." NOPE hamster wheel
thoughts and prayers
appreciate bigly
thanks
That sort of tooth pain
is considered an emergency. If you have any sort of health insurance, please call or go in. I hate to think of you continuing to suffer.
I'm not a Dr. or dentist.
it just sounds very much like the sort of thing myself and family members have experienced over the years.
This to shall pass
thanks, I went on a walk and tried to think about other things. For a long time now I can't really chew hard on the left side it's too sensitive. It's my own fault for having zero dental dollars in the budget my entire life. After my first trip to the dentist when I was a kid, their house collapsed in a mudslide and they went out of business. Then my parents went out of business too I guess, 'cause I never saw another dentist until my aunt died and left me enough to get three fillings. Thirty years ago. lol
Don't worry, that's my motto. Even though I got depressed by the empty web search for a dental plan, I still saw and heard a meadowlark on the abandoned tracks when I was outside. That felt good. I am blessed with "good enamel" they say, and I picked up some over the counter pain thingy at the grocery for when sleep is supposed to come again. It looks nasty but it will do fine for now.
Thanks for the good thoughts, they help. Don't worry. right on
Red Cross Toothache medicine
Hey Eyo, I think it is called Red Cross Toothache medicine, only a few bucks at the grocery store, is a little bottle of clove oil, some tweezers and cotton dabs. Near the aspirin and such. I use a q-tip to apply but don't get too much on it, squeeze the q-tip against bottle mouth before using to drain most out of it. Numbs it very quickly. That and aspirin. In an emergency it helps a lot!
Sounds like our parents were kindred spirits in dental care...
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
@eyo eyo,
eyo,
If you have any Hydrogen Peroxide in your casa, pour a little into a cup and then dilute it with water. Use it as a rinse so nothing gets infected. That's the worse nightmare you can face. Hope you see this comment if you check back. Take good care.
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
Four times
… to the dentist, since New Years. If you start swelling/puffing, there is probably an infection. I ended up on an anti-biotic, for a week, before extraction. Digestion is still not right.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Good morning, Tim. Awe and inspiration are good, and they
are everywhere. We simply need to stop and let them happen. I bet that if you think back, there was at least one time that some equation, or solution, or proof managed to trigger that sensation. We just need to slow down enough to catch it instead of rushing on by to wherever we think it is that we are going at the moment. The eyes merely sense, but the mind sees. What it sees depends upon its receptivity at the moment.
Ok, enough of that, I got stuff to do today. Heh.
Thanks for the OT and have a great one.
Oh, and happy sierpinski
![[Fractal-World] Fractal Worlds Video - Pt 3 of 4~~Sierpinski V30708](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5665/22260231413_ca5794f76a.jpg)
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I have been on the lookout
… for awe. Utah 12 from Bryce Canyon to Capital Reef, Colorado 92 over Black Mesa, and Colorado 82 over Independence Pass are all awesome. Along with dozens of other awe inspiring moments along the way.
Stelvio this year!
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
What would divineorder do
Imagining he would shoot me a link or a tweet to some healthcare plan that includes everything, like teeth and eyes. Most people have 'em, I will check Bernie and the big nurses M4A plan, I think it does include dental and vision care. Anyone know?
I just whipped out a calculator and added up the monthly Medicare deductions since I quit using it, about $9,500 give or take a few bucks. I really hope that $$ helped someone else. cheers
peace
Edit: omg I love Bernie's 404 page, which I got when I went to here:
https://berniesanders.com/medicareforall/
LOVE
LOL! that animation is funkin' funny. thank you very much
on with the search (jeopardy music)
So, the good news.
I'm allowed to type again! Whoot! As long as I don't raise my arm above 90 degrees, I'm at the keyboard for the next six weeks.
The bad news is the doctor wants me to wait an extra two weeks on the heal time because there's a few more fragments than she would like to see. No worries, and I can still do basic calisthenics, just no use of the upper body.
Which means I still really need to eat with my left hand, but I am learning rapidly. And they put me on calcium and Vitamin D supplements to aid the healing. Overall though, Happy. Looking forward to getting back to writing tomorrow.
Thanks for being awesome, folks. Stay frosty, and remember, if you dismiss somebody because of their label, You just give the label makers business.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5_vifEPaAE]
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.