Happy Birthday?

'Tis the witching hour of night,

Orbed is the moon and bright,

And the stars they glisten, glisten,

Seeming with bright eyes to listen --

For what listen they?

For a song and for a charm,

See they glisten in alarm,

And the moon is waxing warm

To hear what I shall say.

John Keats

There is more to that poem, but that is the part I was thinking of tonight... er... this morning. (I couldn't sleep, so it all blends together.) All I remembered was that it was perfect for Halloween, and that John Keats had written it to his brother who had sailed to America. I have a book of his collected works, but figured I should be able to find it online.  The funny thing is that for some reason I actually remembered that he was born in 1795. The interesting tidbit I found out tonight is that he was born on October 31, 1795. It is his birthday today.

The way my memory works, I may have bits and pieces of his poems floating around in my brain, somewhere. Oddly enough I remember reading two beautifully written  introductions to his work, both of which he wrote himself, and I specifically recall my impression of him being self-conscious and humble.  This brilliant young man only lived to be 26 years old, and although what he offered the world with his writing in his short life could be considered poetic perfection, he constantly questioned his ability as a poet.  I may not remember the words, but I remember the impact they had on me.

The perfect one...

Halloween and Christmas have always been my favourite times of year.  Christmas last year almost fell by the wayside, and it looked as though Halloween was going to be the victim this year. However, I did break down and buy some Halloween treats, just not as much as I always did in the past. I was thinking of not dressing up, not decorating, not even carving a pumpkin, for the first time in almost thirty years. I have two big trunks full of costume stuff and decorations, including at least a dozen bats, spiders of various sizes, cobwebs, skulls and other whatnot, which I hadn't had the slightest inclination to delve into. On my late afternoon Saturday walk, I decided to pop over to the grocery store just to see what kind of pumpkins they had, and there, sitting at the very top of the pile was perhaps the most perfect pumpkin I have seen. It was only $2.77, so I ended up getting it.

That is one damn fine pumpkin...

Pumpkin carving music:  Mozart's Requiem. Although I didn't finish it within the duration of that CD, the next one in the player was StaticX which seemed to be more motivational for some reason. 

That was five, six hours ago. It is now 4AM. I am not tired. I should be, but I'm not. I think that folding three loads of laundry right before bedtime was the wrong thing to do. Or it could be because I was folding laundry and the temperature in the house is pretty much close to 12 degrees Celsius (54F).  Or maybe it is because I'm hungry. Or all of the above.  Good night, good morning.

Alone.... I can relate....

Odd that in all these years I have only read bits and pieces of Poe, even though I have his works in one big volume sitting on the bookshelf. Funny that I somehow knew that I could relate, but not how closely until I read this, the first seven lines in particular. Other than that, I do  not believe myself to be quite... as... dark.

Alone

by Edgar Allan Poe (Jan 19, 1809 - Oct 7, 1849)

From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone.
Then- in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life- was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold,
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by,
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view.

I happened upon this video whilst searching for a song in a prior post.

YouTubeLink. (Views 66,944)

Castration, passion and jobs...

YouTubeLink.

From Noahware.

Alone (from the Big Hair 80s)

The other day I was in a store and there was a song playing on the radio that I thought I recognized, but it took me a moment to figure it out. Someone had added a dance beat and done a cover of "Alone" originally sung by Heart. How retarded is that? I went looking for a link and found the Big Hair 80s video that I remember, as well as a few live acoustic versions, including this slower tempo one of Ann and Nancy with her guitar.

One with more powerful vocals here.

Did you know...

... that if you cry in the shower, the tears will be washed away down the drain, making for no-fuss cleanup. The only problem is that where there be tears, there be snot. Then what do you do?

Warning: Something sappy this way comes...

Cracked open another one of those cookies:

Praetor Shinzon v Captain Kirk

No, not really, but sort of...

Tom Hardy v Chris Pine in  what looks to be a fun movie... action, romance, comedy...

This Means War

The Burning Bush?

Point and click...

Both this and the previous picture posted were taken with the cell phone camera through the car windshield whilst travelling down the highway at approximately 120 km/h. You never know what you're going to get.

To the Dentist...

Call me weird. I like going to the dentist. I think I always have. Sure... when we were kids we used to get a little toy or treat or something, and now we are lucky if we get a toothbrush or cute wee package of dental floss. That wasn't it. I find it relaxing. Reclining back in a chair, staring up at a bright light, with someone's fingers in your mouth, scraping your teeth with a sharp metal instrument, in turn spurting jets of water and suctioning the excess fluid out, the whir of a miniature floor polisher with gritty pink goop buffed onto your teeth. Then, the fluoride treatment, with more suction, but you get to control that part. I know it doesn't sound that great, but you come away with a mouth feeling fresh and shiny... new almost. One of only two places in the civilized western world where you can gargle and spit with impunity. Can't beat that.

Ah... the dentist. You didn't really go to see the dentist himself, although he does make a brief appearance to review your x-rays and do a cursory examination of the bone structures within your facial orifice. No... your experience at the dentist's office rests entirely in the hands of the dental hygienist. I guess I've just been lucky.

I wasn't planning on writing about going to the dentist, but thought that I might post a couple pictures I took on the way there. That then got me to thinking that perhaps... just perhaps...  the trip to the dentist's office was somethng more than that. Way back when, it meant that I would have a chance to get out of school... to be on the road with mom and the siblings, to get a treat... and to probably eat out somewhere before we came home.  Later on, as an adult, it meant getting time off from work... time to relax in the dentist's chair, to forget about paperwork and all that other crap. And now, like today, it is the highlight of my existence. Oh... well... that and I splurged on a Raspberry Custard Danish and a Ham and Cheese Croissant afterwards.

Gone but not forgotten...

To honour the fallen since last time:

U.S. (Tex (3), Cali (3), Ohio (3), Mich (2),

         Colo, Illi, D.C., Ariz, NJ, Fla, Ga, Wa,

         Tenn, NM, NY)

Estonia

Poland

U.K.

and those who had gone before and finally found their way home to the States after 67 years. 

"The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of 10 servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Robert R. Bishop of Joliet, Ill.; 2nd Lt. Thomas Digman, Jr. of Pittsburgh; 2nd Lt. Donald W. Hess of Sioux City, Iowa; 2nd Lt. Arthur W. Luce, of Fort Bragg, Calif.; Staff Sgt. Joseph J. Karaso, of Philadelphia; Staff Sgt. Ralph L. McDonald of East Point, Ga.; Sgt. John P. Bonnassiolle of Oakland, Calif.; Sgt. James T. Blong of Port Washington, Wis.; Sgt. Michael A. Chiodo of Cleveland; and Sgt. John J. Harringer, Jr. of South Bend, Ind., will be buried as a group, in a single casket representing the entire crew, on Oct. 26, in Arlington National Cemetery. Hess and Karaso will be interred individually in Arlington National Cemetery.

On April 29, 1944, the 10 airmen were ordered to carry out a bombing mission over Berlin, Germany, in their B-24J Liberator aircraft, piloted by Bishop and Luce. German documents captured after the war noted that the aircraft crashed near the town of East Meitze, Germany, and there were no survivors."

Read the rest here.

 

Where?

But then that little voice whispers... it is the journey that matters, not the destination. The thing is that this journey appears to have become far too abstract. There is no road, no path, no direction, no prevailing wind, no tide, no compass, no map.... nothing.

As I am still lacking for substance on the blog, I offer up that unfinished thought which was all I could muster in an email earlier tonight.

Hah!

I knew it! I had a funny feeling that I had posted that quote on the blog before. Normally I would double-check, but I think in my haste to follow up that earlier bit of sappy crap last night, I let it slide.

Unexpected...

"Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks." 

                                                             Samuel Johnson

What?

I wrote the following in a notebook on June 19, 2010. In the margin notes I jotted down when I re-read the journal, I had written in bold, capital letters "WHAT?????"

One breath, two Souls

Two minds, one thought

One love, two hearts

Yeah, I don't know where it came from.  It weren't me!!!  It must have been my cuddly and fluffy evil twin.

Egads...

Funny... I didn't realize until now, that I am... that cat.

Friday Night Frivolity...

You do not really want to know how many hours I just spent watching videos on Jokeroo. You also don't want to know that I just embedded eight videos into a blogpost and after I saved it and was ready to post it, the internet gods magically changed all eight embed codes to the same one. Twice. Why twice? Oh... because I thought it was something I did wrong the first time. 

So for now I am only posting this one.  Enjoy.

Training...

... discipline. I like it.

Parenting...

This method may not be effective in the long run, but it gets the point across.