July 21, 2008
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Win a BMW 7-Series sedan or $85,000
This day has been a frustrating one so far. I have been using my ISP’s webmail service until I can install a new email utility on my denuded hard drive. Today, I composed a lengthy reply to a newly discovered distant cousin who asked for some genealogical info, and lost the whole thing when I tried to send it, because my login had timed out. I am not highly motivated to get out the charts and reconstruct the message right now, and Doug is going to be wanting the computer soon.
I could snivel about the gray, wet weather, but the truth is that if it
were otherwise I’d probably be sniveling about smoke from wildfires. I
have already sniveled enough about my physical debility and discomfort,
and it is far outweighed by the emotional and material support from my
guys, the pleasures of unending new intellectual discoveries, and
higher spiritual stuff about which it would be infra dig to brag, so
what’s left to say right now?Clicking HERE will enter you in a sweepstakes for a new BMW sedan or an alternate cash prize of US$85,000, or lesser prizes of $5,000 and $10,000 gift certificates to Best Buy (if you are a resident of the U.S.A.), and your entry will also add an extra entry for me. If I win, I’ll pay off my doctor and the ambulance and EMT bills from last December, get a window replaced that got broken while Doug was shoveling ice and snow from the roof last winter, buy a new wood stove to replace the one that sorta fell apart last winter, and have some rewiring done in here to make the place safer and get rid of this mess of extension cords.
Seeya later.
Comments (8)
With all the California fires, I be glad for the dreary fog and overcast. We need the moisture for sure and whining just looks so pitiful on me. Think we’ll go back to the beach and dance in the waves among the tourists. Local bus doesn’t go to my usual beaches at least not without having to walk way to far for my body to take. Have a good wet one!
It’s hot as Hades here… no rain in sight.
done! And yeah, what Warweasel said. Oppressive as hell.
You should tell us about the spiritual stuff; who knows, it might help your readers on their own metaphorical paths. But if you’ve already decided that it wouldn’t… well, yeah, then it’d be pure bragging
It could just be the fact that I live in Australia [cue driest-state-in-the-driest-continent spiel] and the land is always looking a bit parched, but wet weather – and storms, especially – always bring about a sense of euphoria. Rain and storms, to me, are some of the greatest things in life.
When I’m older and if circumstances allow [note: they probably won't but my life often goes in unexpected directions], I’ll get a paypal account and donate to you. Think distant future, though. Not anytime soon.
@Apocatastasis - I usually do my best to stay in the present — and that is a reply to both your suggestion that I share some of that “spiritual stuff” and the “think distant future,” bit. I will promise not to think of you as one of those who have tantalized me with pictures of pie in the sky by and by. Will that do?
I might not have adequately expressed my appreciation for the rain. Several times since I have lived here, nearby wildfires have made our air smoky and hard to breathe. One of my friends lost everything she had in a particularly big one, but my family has never had to evacuate. I’m grateful for that, and for this year’s rain and the absence of wildfire.
I do enjoy sunshine, especially since I have been living in Alaska where sunburn isn’t much of a danger. Blue sky is prettier than gray. If I had to choose rain or no rain, however, I’ll take the rain. Green trees and grass are prettier than brown.
I love the desert, too. The American Southwest: Arizona and New Mexico, are beautiful, especially right after one of the rare rainfalls. It all comes back to water. Nothing lives without it on this planet. Being in places where it is scarce makes one appreciate it more, just as being in a cold place makes one appreciate warmth.
“I will promise not to think of you as one of those who have tantalized me with pictures of pie in the sky by and by. Will that do?” - From my perspective, what you think of me is largely irrelevent, but that’s good… I guess.
“Blue sky is prettier than gray.”
*vehemently disagrees*. Grey skies make me feel good; it’s as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I feel much more energized. I do, however, agree with you about green trees and grass, but there’s still a lot of room for subjectivity. We have artists over here who find the more arid regions of Australia to be their preferred landscape. The beauty of the flora and fauna there is much more subtle, and most of the early European migrants couldn’t see it at all.
“Being in places where it is scarce makes one appreciate it more, just as being in a cold place makes one appreciate warmth” – Yeah, and I think that may be part of the reason why I appreciate both the cold and rain so much. But I have a feeling that I’d still absolutely love wet weather even if I were to move to… say, England, and I would still get the same sense of euphoria from rain.
So… howcome you prefer to stay in the present? Reminds me of Buddhism, and those relatively new theories about the nature of time. Maybe you’re onto something. I think concentrating on the future can be a good thing so long as it’s done in moderation; it’s a good way to help people focused on and working toward their long-term goals. To an extent, I avoid it because it creates an unnecessary sense of yearning and pretty soon I’d be living my whole life in a state of ‘want’.
@Apocatastasis - Now is when I’m happening. If I am going to make my future, I have to do it now. Part of me feels like it is all now, but part of me is still programmed with the old arrow of time, one way, sequential stuff. Spacetime stuff fascinates me, and I slip around some but feel happiest when in the moment.
“How simple it is to see that all the worry in the world cannot control the future.
How simple it is to see that we can only be happy now.
And that there will never be a time when it is not now.”
~Gerald Jampolsky
@SuSu - Wow, my thoughts EXACTLY (aside from the spacetime stuff; I know nothing about physics at this point).