Blog @ Work

I’ve only been to a few pop concerts in my life. I've seen mostly jazz and classical concerts.

I’ve seen Genesis and Fleetwood Mac in the eighties. And I’ve been to a concert of The Dubliners and Joe Jackson in the nineties, I think. It was great, but too long ago to remember anything apart from them being great concerts and me very much enjoying them.

To answer these questions I think I will use something I wrote last month. "Learning curve of a basket case"  [E]. I took a giant leap years ago, and was very much on my own without a crossing guard. The journey changed my life. Fortunately, I am in a very good place now!

Write your entry for today about a place that you have spent a considerable amount of time in--perhaps somewhere you lived or worked before--and whose smells are curiously linked with your recollection. Describe the emotions and events from that period that those smells conjure up, and the ways in which your memories may have been colored by your preference or distaste of those smells.(BC)

I love everything about spring. It is my favorite time of the year. The weather is better and will be sunnier and brighter than during the past few months. The light and the warmth of the sun invigorate me and make me want to jump up and down with excitement. Yay, spring is here!

The cows will be released into the meadows again. It is such a nice view to see them jumping up and down after staying indoors for such a long time. I really feel their joy.
I think spring is about joy. It’s about the start of new beginnings, the start of new life, of new possibilities. It’s all about hope.

The celebration of Easter is religious, I come from a catholic background, and only important if you have kids. It’s about bunnies and eggs. Since I am neither religious nor a mother I don’t celebrate. Sorry. Perhaps I will eat an egg at Easter morning, but that’s about it.

No, I am busy at my computer screen till the moment I go to bed. I know I should not do that because my brain will be too active when I fall asleep. I never have problems sleeping in, though; it’s only that I wake up at least two times during the night. I check WdC and the newsfeed and go to bed again. I always fall asleep immediately after that. Quality sleep for me is when I dream and wake up rested in the morning. That’s almost every morning.

There is an American/English writer’s group active in our American Bookshop here in The Hague. They came together once a month. I think nowadays it is closed. I thought of joining. In April a writer’s festival is planned on the subject of ‘writing your memoir’. Since writing a blog or columns (as I recently started, see "Invalid Item"  has similarities with writing a memoir, I am going.

I would print some examples and take them with me. Perhaps, if I join a group like that, the best thing to do is to buy a tablet, so I could read aloud my entries or I could provide them with the link of my portfolio if they own a tablet or smartphone themselves.

I agree with this quote. Arranging flowers is a great way to perform while doing Zazen. Zazen means sitting in Zen. Trying to be completely one with your task, while breathing in and out and letting go of all thoughts. Arranging flowers has this calming effect on me. But, of course, you can do anything in Zen. You can do the dishes in Zen; you can wash your car in Zen. It is all about complete focus and concentration on the task at hand and counting your breathing in and out.

It’s been a while since I arranged flowers. It’s been awhile since I did the dishes. My kitchen is a mess again. Today I have to take care of the dishes! And perhaps buy some new flowers.

The best thing about spring is the weather and its effect on Nature and me. I love those early mornings in spring with the chirps of birds, the special light, and the warmth of the sun. Daffodils and all sorts of spring flowers outside, the new leaves in the trees, the birth of new life. There are hope and anticipation in the air. The start of yet another year in the cycle of life. My favorite season.

Banana, melon, pear, mandarin, pineapple. Those are the fruits I buy occasionally and those are fruit flavors I like. But perhaps this prompt is about drinks? Then I like Cherry, Cranberry, Mango, Kiwi Strawberry and Lime.

Real life shared experiences like for example losing a child can be either devastated for a couple or bring them closer together. It all depends on their relationship. I’ve known a young couple that had this horrible event with their first born. It was a good relationship to begin with and it brought them even closer. They could share their grief. I think being able to share is crucial. They will never forget!

Okay, I will write ten minutes nonstop, without editing during those ten minutes. I just keep my head at the keyboard and type away with one finger, like I always do. Am I going that slowly? Yes, I suppose so, but it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It gives me some time to think things over although that’s not what is going on now. This is just a stream of thought in the early morning of Tuesday, the second day of spring. The sun is shining, fortunately, since it was a gloomy day yesterday. But maybe the weather will improve this week. That would make me very happy. I am in desperate need of the sun.

It is World Poetry day today. Perhaps I will have a shot at creating a prose poem. I am not sure since it’s been awhile! But I will have a try, I think. If and when my Muse is ready for it. Without her, it will not happen anyway. I solely depend on her vision and strength.

Still a few minutes to go.

I must fight the urge to read back and edit. It’s harder than I thought. And, in the background the sound of an ambulance is distracting me tremendously. My head is now filled with the ia-ia from the siren. I wonder if it is indeed an ambulance. It could be the police; I never seem to know which one is which. They do sound alike.

People can be better than me at writing, for example. I think you can never show people enough respect. That doesn’t mean, though, you think of yourself as less. This quote suggests that you somehow crawl at their feet and be dismissive. I think that is nonsense. You pay respect because they are better at what they do, knowing you are strong and worthy yourself. So, I don’t agree with the quote.

The second part of the prompt is easy. I find myself daily in this position. Most writers I learned to admire at this site are better writers than I am, in a way I look up to them all. And some of them have expressed their admiration of my work in reviews or adwardicons and merit badges. When that happens I am over the moon. Furthermore, the fact that I have been chosen to join The Rising Stars Program 2016-2017 has filled me with joy. And now I am a Quill nominee in three categories. I think that is awesome as well, and a boost!

A black hole of my own would be a place where my Muse would be paralyzed and not in good shape so she didn’t function properly. I would have another writer’s block. It would be a very dark and gloomy place where all energy is sucked in. I imagine sort of a cave in the middle of nowhere and me on my own sitting in the dark, desperate, depressed and cold. It would be hell. I would not be able to write, to express myself or to be part of this community. I would be cut off from life as I know it. Sometimes, I dread this black hole. It is definitely a place I don’t want to be in.

This reminds me of an entry I wrote a few days back. I was struck very much by this ad for Save the Children where an African child was looking into the camera with beautiful but sorrowful eyes. Again this was about famine and the need to care and do something about it. And unless I care and a whole lot of others care and do something, nothing is going to change. Therefore I will show you again this ad. Because it breaks my heart.

We had elections the other day and I definitely voted for a party that felt its responsibility in caring a great deal more about developmental aid. I think it is time we in the West took more responsibility and worked more towards distributing food and knowledge to help and aid those countries in need. If those children were part of our society, we would be outraged. Now, they are far away in Africa.



Save the Children.org  

The writer and essayist Umberto Eco (1932-2016) died February last year. He was an Italian novelist, literary critic, philosopher, semiotician (study of meaning-making) and university professor. His most famous works are probably In the Name of the Rose (1980) and Foucault's Pendulum (1988).

In the Name of the Rose (translated into English in 1983) is a historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery, in the year 1327, an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory. If you have not read it, please do. It is a masterpiece. I can recall the first time I read it and it blew me away. Perhaps you watched the movie with Sean Connery? The book is even better.

Foucault's Pendulum (translated into English in 1989) is a great philosophical work. Again it blew me out of my socks. The satirical novel is full of esoteric references to Kabbalah, alchemy and conspiracy theory. Also a thriller.

I did some "Venting"  in my blog last night before falling asleep. On readers and writers. Today, I am going to read back and see if it made any sense.

My interpretation as a Theoretical Psychologist would be that the Truth as followed for years in the great stories of the world is losing its significance. It’s replaced by interpretation and consent among people. That’s a post-modernistic view.

Postmodernism is the philosophical proposal that reality is ultimately inaccessible by human investigation, that knowledge is a social construction, that truth-claims are political power plays, and that the meaning of words is to be determined by readers not authors. In brief, Postmodern theory sees reality as what individuals or social groups make it to be.

According to Postmodern psychologists, there is no single, separate, unified self. Rather, we are made up of many selves. The way that we come to this multiplicity is through the collective influences of various social factors, including language, geography, family, education, government, etc. Therefore, rather than having a static nature, we are a social construction.

The setting is "Invalid Item"  . I am fighting against some Turkish hooligans who take advantage of the explosive situation outside the Turkish Embassy. The situation is very tense and about to blow up. They are molesting policemen, throw in shop windows and generally make a real mess of things. We have to take action against them. We corner them and try to outnumber them. Later the police can do their duty. They arrested the lot. But the havoc is enormous.

I will execute my task this morning in a small way by writing this blog. I don’t think it’s a rotten idea to use all those difficult words, and I sure as hell don’t condemn it but it startled me and I find it difficult! The truth is I woke up in the middle of the night and watched the moonlight ooze through my chamber. Because I couldn’t sleep afterward I made myself a strawberry pancake and decided to write. So I didn’t sleep much.

We don’t celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day and in fact I hardly heard of it before WdC. My shame! . I was very surprised to find that so many countries celebrated this day. But recalling from faint memory I remember associating this Irish holiday with the Troubles in Northern Ireland, back in the 60s till the 90s of the last century.

“During the conflict public St Patrick's Day celebrations were rare and tended to be associated with the Catholic community. In 1976, loyalists detonated a car bomb outside a pub crowded with Catholics celebrating St Patrick's Day in Dungannon; four civilians were killed and many injured.”

Although The Netherlands and Ireland are part of the same European community we are distant neighbors, although I love Ireland. I have been twice to the country and enjoyed its beautiful nature and it’s footpaths for walking holidays. I even saw the statue of James Joyce in Dublin.

I stopped being psychologist years ago. I was not in a good place when I did. If I had found the energy then to take up my writing endeavors right then and there and was involved those fifteen years ago with Writing.com I probably would have published my first English novel by now.

Fortunately, I found WdC in 2016. You cannot turn the clock. Better late than never. I think things happen for a reason, I am not sure yet what the reason is in this particular case.

Ode To The West Wind - Poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley (August 4, 1792 - July 8, 1822)

I
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed

The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow

Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odors plain and hill:

Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;
Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh, hear!

II

Thou on whose stream, 'mid the steep sky's commotion,
Loose clouds like earth's decaying leaves are shed,
Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean,

Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread
On the blue surface of thine aery surge,
Like the bright hair uplifted from the head

Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge
Of the horizon to the zenith's height,
The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge

Of the dying year, to which this closing night
Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre,
Vaulted with all thy congregated might

Of vapors, from whose solid atmosphere
Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: oh, hear!

III

Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,
Lulled by the coil of his crystalline streams,

Beside a pumice isle in Baiae's bay,
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers
Quivering within the wave's intenser day,

All overgrown with azure moss and flowers
So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou
For whose path the Atlantic's level powers

Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below
The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear
The sapless foliage of the ocean, know

Thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear,
And tremble and despoil themselves: oh, hear!

IV

If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;
If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;
A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share

The impulse of thy strength, only less free
Than thou, O uncontrollable! If even
I were as in my boyhood, and could be

The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven,
As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed
Scarce seemed a vision; I would ne'er have striven

As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.
Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!

A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed
One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.

V

Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:
What if my leaves are falling like its own!
The tumult of thy mighty harmonies

Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,
Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,
My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!
And, by the incantation of this verse,

Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawakened earth

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

This poem on wind says it all. With different emotions!

A few months back last year I had to get my breast cancer exam. I was very scared to go. In fact, I postponed the dates several times. During that time I was able to write about it. See: "Letter to Cancer " . It helped me quite a lot. In the end, I went, of course, and got negative results back. I was so relieved! But I had to overcome my fear in order to get peace of mind. A lot of writers helped me with information about breast cancer, good vibes, and well-wishes. In the end, I was a somewhat stronger person. This year I have to do my cervix cancer exam somewhere at the end of the year. It will be again a big challenge not to let fear get the best of me. In my country, it’s great they have those exams for everyone of a certain age. It’s better to be ahead of problems than to be too late for a terrible illness.

Art means a great deal to me. It lifts me up and embraces me. Whether it is writing, painting, sculpting, music, or poetry: art deals with expressing my innermost thoughts and feelings. I think art is important in society. I hate it that in my country (as everywhere else in the world) economic thinking is taking over and art is always one of the last things to consider in society. I think that is wrong. Art defines a society, it is one of the cornerstones and therefore it has to be protected and stimulated.

I am solely busy with the art of writing. Poetry and writing are my main concerns right now. It gives me an identity, gives room for breathing and makes me part of a group of people I like to be around with and associated with. Art in all its forms is uplifting, very important and worth preserving. Creativity is the backbone of society.

I had that once a few years back. Out of the blue, this man called me thinking and acting like I was somebody he knew. I politely informed him that he got the wrong number, but he wouldn’t believe me. So I hang up the phone. He called back twice after that. The third time I blocked his number. It is as simple as that nowadays. If it was an unlisted number and the harassment continued I would seriously consider a new cell number. But that would be only in very extreme cases.

Moyers and Company, a weekly newsletter with blogs on different subjects, but especially featuring America and Donald Trump.

I found on Moyers: Journalist Bill Moyers returns to PBS with "Moyers & Company," a weekly hour featuring conversations and debates with scholars, artists, activists, scientists, philosophers and newsmakers about issues that matter to Americans. Each episode features an essay by Moyers and regular political analyses by people Moyers has called on over the years to interpret life in America. In addition, BillMoyers.com will offer full streaming video, blogs and interactive features about topics discussed in the series.

I was searching for a blog on Trump after he got elected, to find out more and get information so I could form my own opinion. So I subscribed to the newsletter. It is a great source of information I like a lot.

Read for example: Blog   and Blog  

Prompt: Portmanteau or portmanteau word is a " linguistic blend of words" see Portmanteau   for more information including examples and the plurals of the word. Create one or more portmanteau or portmanteaux, write a definition of the new word and use it in a sentence, story, or poem.(BcoFs)

Flabbelicious. Flabbergasted and delicious. (informal). Delightful and astonishing tasteful.

When interacting with the new word I felt awake and invigorated. It was as if I had found a new friend and I sure was stupefied as to how I could have held on for so long without. I spoke it out loud, felt it on my tongue and tasted it and was experiencing the whole package. Flabbelicious. Flabbelicious. Yes! Yes!

Prompt: "I love spring anywhere but if I could choose, I would always greet it in a garden." How do you feel about this? (BC)

I am very much in love with Nature during spring. The greeting of snowdrop and daffodils! But I love them primarily outside where they have been planted in the public space since I don’t have a garden. Whenever I walk outside I enjoy the flowers.

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noun: permission for something to happen or agreement to do something. Verb: give permission for something to happen.

This week it’s all about the Quill awards and voting! I rely on the expertise and know-how and the unbiased voting for all those categories of all the WdC members. I think it’s great we have the Oscars for writing at WdC once a year. It gives us all the opportunity to read and review other people’s work and qualify it as the best writing in 2016. We are a writer’s community and I rely heavily on its consent in these matters. But first I have to vote myself. I have till the end of this week to go through all that excellent work. A lot of work, but I love doing it. Looking forward to the big event!While voting I discovered I was nominated THREE times (instead of TWO).

Loving something has everything to do with wanting to spend as much time with it as possible. I love Writing.com and I love my dog. Both are subjects I love being around, being involved with. With love, you feel alive, and there is a part that deals with you not being the most important thing in the equation, but the other party is.

Loving people is more difficult for me. I am not in love at the moment and have not been for quite a while. In fact I would not know how that felt right now, it’s been that long since. It’s an absorbing state of mind; it’s troublesome for me because I tend to lose myself in those strong feelings. They take over and my mind explodes. At the same time, it is very vivid and powerful and awesome. You feel alive and happy. So it’s dual. I love it and sometimes I hate it because it distracts me from functioning as I would like to. But at the same time, it’s the best feeling ever.

Really loving somebody is not something I experience right now, sadly to say. I didn’t find my true love as of yet and I am not sure I ever will. Finding your very soulmate in this life is doable but not for everybody.

What evil lurks in your heart? Describe it us as if you were mixing an alcoholic drink for someone to imbibe. Tell us not just how to mix it but how to drink, savor it and what the side effects are. Have fun.(BCoFs)

My initial thought was: I don’t have many powers, lately. But of course, that’s not true. I am a citizen of the Western World and as such, I have more powers than many disadvantaged people.

The last few weeks there are several television commercials here in my country from Save the children and others warning of the great famine that is now occurring in some parts of Africa for twenty million people. It is mind boggling that there is still not enough food for them there. They are starving. They are dying by the numbers. This is not new of course but again there is a real crisis going on.

In former years I was politically active and could do something significant for those in need in developmental countries, nowadays I only can give money. So, I immediately transferred some.

This commercial is breaking my heart. It’s from the UK but they are similar in my country. It’s sickening that we still have such inequality in the world. There is enough knowledge and know-how to provide everybody with food. It’s still a matter of choice. We still don’t care enough for the wellbeing of others on this planet.



Save the Children.org  

My first reaction was: what the hell is GIF, but I looked it up of course!

To answer the question: I probably would end up doing (or trying to do) the same as this man, depending on the nanny or wife: try to ignore the interruption. I have a dog in the house, it would be probable that he interrupted the interview and in that case, I think I just would let it be and make him part of the interview.

I bought an image a few months back here on WdC. It was an animated image. I didn’t know I could not display it because that’s the advantage of Premium membership, not for Upgraded as I am. So it’s sitting in my computer file waiting for me to go Premium someday.

On this Saturday morning in early spring in a land far away the battle between Good and Evil began, ferociously. It was the beginning of Time.

Where those creatures came from nobody knew. Some say they were the pets of Halacorn, the God of the Earth, others are sure they came with the stardust from the big yonder and stayed hiding in the forests until they would show themselves.

The parricorn was a gentle creature, half parrot, half unicorn, a beautiful upright white animal with intelligent eyes. Highborn and noble. The sharkhorse was a callous and cruel creature, gray of hue and low to the ground. Half shark, half horse. His sharp teeth glistened in the sun.

They met in an open field, surrounded by stones and rocks.

For one hour they stood there, opposite of each other, casing out the opportunities, like boxers in a ring. The sharkhorse made the first move towards the parricorn, who backed off a little.

They were shadowing each other for a long time, making moves like a dance, approaching, distancing, on and on. Beaks open, nostrils wide, and sweaty skin.

Legend has it that at that point the sky suddenly opened and the two animals were up in the clouds fighting each other, bleeding like rain, losing skin like snow.

The outcome of the fight became the secret of the world: and till this day the parricorn and the sharkhorse are fighting their battle for us. Good versus Evil. It’s still a tie.

On Earth, somedays Good wins, some days Evil takes over. And when it does, people look at the sky and say a prayer to the parricorn and the sharkhorse, still fighting.

I am of a generation (forty-five plus ) in which the telephone is not that important. Of corse, I can’t do without to stay in touch with family and friends, but I am not as hooked as the younger generation is on their smartphone. I don’t have one for starters! I still possess a fairly old model Nokia to text and call only. I am not on the internet with my phone. I know I should switch to an I-phone in the near future but for now, the old cell is still working so why bother?

If people want to contact me they can, but the thought of being on that phone 24/7 is just an appalling thought. I like my alone time and wouldn’t want to be bothered with a connection day and night. Although I am at my desktop computer a lot of hours per day. But to me that’s different.

I sometimes even let the phone ring if I am busy. The dictatorship of the phone is somewhat wasted on me.

But I love the fact that an internet connection is possible on smart phones. It’s been a long journey from the pigeon through to postal mail through to the telephone through to the smart phone to stay in touch with people and the world.

This prompt turned out to be quite a challenge. Nothing springs to mind immediately. I will have to sit on this for the rest of the day, hoping the answer will unfold itself eventually.

But I stumbled upon this quote:

“Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days.” ― Flannery O'Connor, Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose.

If this is true then my childhood, which was not the happiest of times, has turned out quite instrumental for the rest of my life i.e. my writing. It made me who I am today, it stood at the roots of some life changing decisions like for instance me not wanting to have kids of my own, and it was the reason I left home at a really early stage.

But it also turned out to be the cause of problems later in life when I found out I missed certain skills I should have learned in childhood but didn’t. I had to teach them myself or grow into them while at Life’s university. Life itself taught me what my parents lacked. But it’s fair to say I struggled. Then again who doesn’t? Life is never about fairness I think, it’s about dealing with what you’ve got, accept certain aspects of it, learn from it and move on the best way you know how.

I suppose everyone gets what he can take on in life.

These weeks I am learning things on two fronts. I just am finishing the last week of an eight-week winter course The Grammar Garden by New Horizons Academy. And I am participating in Pursue the Horizon, a monthly blogging challenge on poems we love to read.

The grammar course was awesome. I learned a lot of basic grammar on nouns, pronouns, verbs, prepositions, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, and interjections. Since I last took English grammar in high school decades ago it was a challenge but I loved the assignments and did very well so far.

In the poetry blogging challenge I am discovering old and new poems by poets I learn to admire and to love. It is awesome to start the day by browsing through poetry in books and online and find such treasures at my disposal. Reading other writers' choices for the day is a totally overwhelming experience as well since my knowledge of American and English poetry is somewhat limited. But I am learning every day and utterly enjoy the experience.

Today’s choice is Gertrude Stein. She is reciting herself. Picasso’s art is about her and Picasso. Total genius!

https://theculturetrip.com/europe/france/paris/articles/gertrude-stein-pablo-pic...

I would have loved to see Shirley Bassey in her prime. She was such a wonderful singer with a great extraordinary voice. I remember buying one of her albums many years ago. I haven’t listened to her in a while but this blog entry made me conscious of her music again.

Apparently, Dame Shirley Bassey, 80 years old now, lives a solitary, almost mysterious life of luxurious semi-exile, earned over six decades of stardom, and sweetened by a rare ability to speak out when it matters.

To be honest: I thought she was deceased, but she is still alive.

I have no children so when I published three booklets of Dutch poetry years ago I was ecstatic. It felt as if I had given birth three times. Those three small volumes are my legacy to the world. They were in print (1000 per volume) and are out of print as far as I know, except for some last ones at some obscure websites. In fact, they are “currently unavailable” at Amazon.com. But they were there and a bunch of people has them somewhere on their bookshelf. Heck, they may even have read them!

I also published a few short stories and some small writes on Theoretical Psychology. Furthermore, some of my translated poems are on the website PoemHunter.com and some other sites.

When I die I hope that my family will contact this website so WdC will know that I have passed on and will add me to their white cases. That way some of my work will outlive me. I would like that!