Stories you never hear about...

Came across a link to this on Facebook, so I went looking a little further and found this. Yes, it is a must read... Very cool.  

Be you...

From Facebook

So how exciting was it?

Okay... so... since I had taken photos and sort of forgot about them, and further to posing this question, after the walk home, I thought I was going to have this for dinner
 

 

but I ended up splurging on this (with enough for leftovers the next day)

 

.... then enjoying a cup of this 

 

 

... and nearing midnight poured this into a flute

 

 

A cheap German "champagne" that I've had for a few years along with a few others (various countries of origin) that I had bought for the turn of the century (the big 1999 millenial) that I never did open. I should have had something sweeter. This probably would have been better with the Chinese food at dinner. Anyways... the bottle is still sitting in the fridge... three weeks later.

 

I usually spend my New Year's Eve with Vin Diesel, but was thinking of going with Hellboy instead. Go figure... the DVD wouldn't play.

Distant yet mindful...

I have been feeling rather distant... leaning away from here and there. The thing is, when one already feels "disconnected", what happens when one then begins to feel distant?

 

A little old lady who walked with a walker, and with whom I would exchange a smile and hello on passing in the street, was hit by a vehicle the other day. She died. I was walking past her house the night after and it was strange seeing the light on in her living room and knowing she wasn't there.

 

An old high school friend of my brother's died last year of a heart attack, I think he was 47. His mom just passed away.

 

I am mindful.


***

To remember and honour the fallen since last time...

UK (6) (4 of these were from Sep, Oct and Nov)

US (Virginia (2), Florida, Texas (2),

       Pennsylvania, New York (2),

       Louisiana, Ohio

 

Another insider attack (ANA) ... he looked so young. Speaking of young. Oh, and yet another insider attack on... of all days... Remembrance Day... doing of all things... playing soccer.

Look to the West...

at sundown...

 

 

 

Walking home New Year's Eve day, heading west near sunset, I looked up and saw this. Again, with the cellphone camera, couldn't quite capture with clarity...

 

 

(Milestone: Post number 1500!!! in less than 3 years of blogging.)

Continuing on the journey...

 

 

(Unless there's a dryer sheet out to get you.)

 

 

Images via Facebook

Not incomplete...

I've been thinking... trying to remember back to when I was younger. When I felt as though I didn't quite fit in with everyone else. When I'd be with a group of friends doing whatever and not feel that I was completely there. Then it dawned on me just now... It is very much so like when I was skating... I put the skates on, I could glide... I could stop... I could do shoot the ducks, but it never felt... right... It just didn't fit. It never felt as though I was missing something, or that I wasn't complete... I just didn't "fit". Of course there are moments in life when things feel fine, when they feel right and when they feel "zen". In examining those zen moments, they occurred at different times in my life (and not just three times as previously recollected), doing vastly different things... reading, drawing, writing, math, listening to music, accounting, bookkeeping, playing the piano, hitting backhands in tennis, badminton, biking, swimming laps at the pool, sitting on a rock by the river, walking in the evening during a snowfall... When I say "zen" moments doing these things, I don't just mean enjoyment of them, I mean becoming one with them. Feeling completely and totally part of the action itself, or the element. In looking at that list, all of these "actions" were those drawn from myself, done in solitude. (With the exception of badminton which had someone on the other side of the net...) Hmm...

 

So... this then got me to thinking... when was it that I first felt as though I was "missing" something in my life? Not until I lost my job and livelihood, after forty years on this planet. It was my sole reason for being. It was my sole purpose in life. By my own hand... my own action and inaction... it came to be my sole creation, but one for which there is nothing to show for it. And now, it no longer exists as a complete entity beside me. This life is empty. This life is beautiful. And there is no future in it.  

Pretty much...

Image via Facebook

It's been a while...

... since I've watched a movie that I hadn't seen before. It has also been a while, if ever, since I've watched a movie that made  me jerk back and say "gah" out loud. The thing is... when you see the body go down and laying there and when the main character turns back and the body is no longer there... you KNOW that that the body has reanimated and will jump out at you. I knew that... I was expecting it, but it still startled me enough to jump and vocalize my surprise. I never do that. Never.

 

I had read the book... I enjoyed the book immensely. I suppose because of this, I wasn't expecting much from the movie. The aspects of the book that I found interesting weren't the parts that were at the forefront in the movie, so perhaps that is why I found the movie so entertaining.

***

I had written that and saved it, planning on writing my usual type of non-review review, but... upon reading it over, I think I'll just leave it as is.

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter... you'll either hate it or love it.

Oh Reuben...

I was so close...

I hadn't bought groceries for over a month, so back in December, just before Christmas, I splurged on things like bacon (for the first time I think since I've been in this place), Damn Hot Pepperoni sticks and sandwich meat. I have always had this thing for Buddig Corned Beef... ever since I was a kid... Not sure why. But the different meats were on sale, so I decided to pick up Corned Beef, Ham and Turkey. Needless to say, the ham and turkey were sub-par to say the least. They were on sale so it wasn't a huge deal. But still, trying "new" things, still not quite working out very well. Well... I had also picked up a jar of Sweet Pickled Onions on sale... There I was standing at the end of the aisle... thinking to myself "ooh... Sweet Pickled Onions or Gherkins!!!" Glad I went with the onions... because...
 

I had a brilliant idea... toast the white bread, slather it with Dijon Mustard and Miracle Whip, slice the tiny pickled onions, and slap on the Corned Beef... I didn't have sauerkraut, so I gave the pickled onions a shot... They did not disappoint. As a replacement for a Reuben sandwich, it might have actually been better.

I also had enough Corned Beef in that one little package to have with marble cheese on white bread slathered with Miracle Whip and Dijon, tomato slices and thinly sliced raw white onions, Damn... that was fine too...

***

Oh... and I finally finished the package of bacon. It lasted for two weeks. I had Bacon solo, Bacon crumbled on homemade milk of potato and carrot soup, Bacon with Eggo Waffles, BLT (twice!!! and on white bread!!!) but without the L ... And, to top it all off, I had Bacon accompanied by ... Orange Juice! The litre of OJ lasted about the same amount of time. I drank it rather sparingly so as to savour its citrusy goodness. The perfect foil for the crispy-chewy, fatty awesomeness that is Bacon.

Random things

... just for fun...

YouTubeLink (Views 305)

Pretty pretty lady...

YouTubeLink

Via a friend of a friend on FB. Cracked me up.

Great line...

“You are seriously the most depressing girl I’ve ever met.”

No, it wasn't said to me...(although yes, I suppose it could fit...) It's from a romantic comedy-chick flick with great set design.

The year of living dangerously?

 

New Year's Day:
 

I had just finished a load of dark coloured laundry and was putting another load in the washer, but of lighter colours. I didn't have anywhere close to a full load, so I added a couple of white shirts that didn't require bleach... There still wasn't a full load, so I went looking for something else to add and all I could find was a black fleece robe and a fleece-lined shirt, both of which should have been washed in the "gentle" cycle separately with dark colours.

I did it all together anyways... on "normal" cycle... with "regular" laundry detergent.