Sunday, September 15, 2013

Wandering, winding words while wild

The ship coming from nowhere going to nowhere. Destination unknown. The mysterious voyage. I am not at all certain how to label this photograph. Of course, I really do know the port of origin and the next landfall because I was a passenger on it, but I prefer to keep those things a mystery. Life is a mystery -- except to those with a deep religious faith. All right, I will stop with that thought .... now, for the music. Eddie Money is not among my favorites .... not even close .... but anyone who can make the adjustment from being a New York City cop to a rock singer has to have a few good points .... and, anyone who was not and still is not absolutely crazy about "Ronnie" has no conception of what the word "hot" really means. Ice, baby, ice, and I am not talking about Mustangs. The second piece is, of course, Ronnie Spector herself (once married to "Gunslinger Phil") performing "her favorite song" in 1987 with a pair of spectacular backup singers. If you do not recognize these three women, you have missed some of the best years in the existence of the rock and roll universe. Finally, I do not feel there is a more perfect song to win a man's heart than, "Be My Baby," nor a more perfect voice than Ronnie's to sing it.

A history of something; of what, I am uncertain

I am feeling a bit wild tonight. Do not ask me to define that, but the long and the short of it is that I am beginning to roll into high gear about the repairs/renovations to the house. It is time to "kick butt" in regard to contractors, in a manner of speaking; time to pick and to choose. Some of these guys are just ridiculous. They have the Barack Obama complex, and think they "deserve" to have you hire them rather than they having to "earn" your confidence before you hire them. Whose money is it? What a mess this country is becoming.

Moving right along, I am not sure there are more than four or five people who have been here, with me, since near the beginning when I began this blog in January 2009. Only two from that time frame still leave comments regularly. There are a few others who I know visit me here on occasion and, sometimes, leave their written words. Very few. Time has swallowed up most of them.

There are some bloggers who, if you fail to leave a comment at their blog once, will not leave another for you. Never mind if you are ill or on vacation or simply busy -- a comment is a comment is a comment. They are a commodity to be traded. There are some bloggers who, if you say something which upsets them, immediately drop you as a "friend" forever and ever. Some like that do come back after they have cooled down -- just like in "real life."

People are so different here. I always have wanted people to tell me if they do not like the illustration or the music or the words I have written in a post -- and, most importantly, to tell me why. I look for honesty and opinions and advice. Too many who post, I think, simply are looking for compliments and/or believe it is their role to make others "feel good" about their posts.

This is fine, I suppose, in the sense of making the one leaving an illegitimate compliment feel good personally -- sort of an ill-conceived concept of a good deed -- but it also is political correctness, and political correctness is one of the three or four things that is absolutely destroying America. Political correctness often also is lying.

It reminds me of the crazy concept occurring in schools and the workplace these days: Everyone gets a ribbon for participating, but there are no first or second or third place winners; no one fails a class; the person making fast food hamburgers should get the same salary as the person being shot at in an Afghanistan combat zone; the socialistic notion that if you cannot afford a cell phone, those who can should also provide one for the have-nots free of charge.

Anyone who does not think there is an upheaval, a revolt on the horizon, had best have their eyes and ears and minds checked.

Hmmmm .... I really went off on a tangent this time, did I not? Well, it is just that the blogs and the people here are a picture of society in general -- no more, no less -- and that bothers me at times.

I think I will close this post with words I left on another blog regarding the question of what makes us human; what distinguishes us from animals? Here are those words, slightly modified:

Just to throw a "monkey wrench" into the mix, I do not believe all Homo sapiens are human or possess humanity. While the ability to make fire or to act creatively or to save Planet Earth is within most of us, it is not within all of us. Genuine evil exists, I believe, both in the form of the devil possessing some and from circumstances such as genetic defect, brain injury or substance abuse.

I also believe our present species will eventually destroy itself and, probably, take the Earth with it. Neither religion nor philosophy will prevent this but, possibly, science can. However, in doing so, science would have to remove from us some of what makes us human (by contemporary concepts), creating a substantially altered species. In which case, in the distant future we would be relegated in the text books as the group which followed Cro-Magnon in the "evolutionary chain."

You do not like being demoted? Well, anyone who thinks we are at the pinnacle of the evolutionary ladder needs to think again. We really still are babes in the wood. The questions really are whether or not we will survive long enough to advance and if we are willing to give up some of the definitions of humanity as they exist today and accept changes science is capable of creating.




14 comments:

Anita said...

Hello Baby!!

Her you see ,I am not writing this to become flattered by you!!hihih but today you got an most interesting post!

About comments and so on..sometimes one is not on the blogs and one do not see whats happening!One dont have to comment all the time either..Its up to oneself if you choose to do or not.
i think people take their blogs very seriously-And that is not strange cause we are only concerned about our own things agree?We quickly shift from a blog to our home blog were its safe!Mostly many dont read a word what i am saying they just say.."BEAUTIFUL#just to leave a comment!But who cares anyway...
I have done all those things you say--blocked people..got angry with people..deleted blogs--yes you name it!

However i am countlessly learning as a human, how to behave.Not all things are good but so are we.Filled with both joy and evil!

About politics.You know i am very concerned about that cause its something we all should be.I think America is good!they got alot of people down there so its difficult to satisfy all-

Concerning our political status in Norway.I am soooo fucking a shamed of the new party!Have you seen them?They belong to the killer Brevik.And worst of all its the peoples decision.One thing is what the poeople say.An other thing is what they actually do and think!The majority do not want money seekers here(all those foreigners)They agree to the worlds (FN or whatever)decision about having poor people here or political refugges but you know what they now will do?They buy quotes in other countries so they can leave them there.Pay for them yes.But not entering the country-The same they do with the envirment.They buy quotes from other lands and can do as much pollution as they want.We do have much money, ohhhh yes we do.We have NEVER been so rich as we are.(With 8 years of social democratism )And there is much more oil coming up from the deep!millios of tons of oil!Good for our future))

Well.i have said enough now.Sorry telling so much political things from here-But it irritates me and worries me.

Thanx for nice real post Fram.This things you write about I like.

The last music piece, Be My baby I LOVE:)))Have a good sunday Mr,FRAM:)))))

A Cuban In London said...

I find that photo enigmatic but isn't that part of the beauty of like? Enigma? Great post as usual. I shall take my ship back to my port now! :-)

Greetings from London.

Daliana Pacuraru said...

Well, well, well....
Yes, you are right.
People has on blogs the same behavior like in real life.
I am not interested in internet very much lately.My real life here in Eastern Europe, particularly in Romania is very difficult and it takes all my energy and enthusiasm.
To be an artist in a poor, chaotic, oppressive country it is an adventure ... it is like practicing an extreme sport in a middle of a tsunami . You know that the big wave will destroy you but you go ahead to a certain death of your mind hoping that a miracle will happens. But there are no miracles.
Eh, anyway....
You are a good writer.....a good thinker and your blog reveal these. Maybe we will make a book.... Never know....

My best from Romania

Fram Actual said...

There are different elements at play in the sense that people produce blogs for different reasons, Anita. A great many of the blogs I visit are the work of people who are interested in photography, for instance. I am interested in photography, and have been since I was five years old and robbed my piggy bank to buy my first camera. As a newspaper reporter, I took a great many photographs which were published and even judged photography contests, but at this point in my life, I prefer to express my thoughts in written words and to have people react to those words. So, when I have no reactions, I am disappointed.

I think most people are too lazy or too disinterested to read much of anything, and some are too wrapped up in political correctness to actually say what they think. Anyway, as I frequently point out in my posts, I write for myself; if someone else reads what I write, so much the better; if someone else leaves a comment, better yet.

I think it is fascinating that thousands of Norwegians came to America, mostly in the Nineteenth Century, seeking economic prosperity and now, today, Norway itself is prosperous and many consider it among the best nations in the world to live. Life is ironic; life is circular; life is a mystery.

Rock and roll is not a mystery; it is the elixir of maintaining youth for as long as you are alive. To paraphrase the words of Keith Richards to Ronnie Spector when she and the Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007: "No one thought we'd live long enough to make it here."

So, Anita, rock on!

Fram Actual said...

I will clear up part of the enigma -- a portion of the mystery -- just for you, CiL. As a point of probability, you might well have been a passenger on that same craft yourself a time or two. The photograph was taken aboard one of the channel ships which ferry people, automobiles and whatever between England and France.

Hmmm .... perhaps, I ruined things by providing the answer to the riddle. Sorry, if I did, but my imagination is running wild, as usual. I keep thinking how ironic it would be had you been aboard the very same vessel and taking a photograph on its opposite side at the very same moment I was taking mine.

Stranger things have happened.

Thank you, for the compliment, CiL.

Kaya said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fram Actual said...

I am not so sure my behavior is the same on the blogs as it is in real life, Daliana, but behavior certainly is the same in both locations for most people. I am teasing you now, but I think I might be even more serious in real life than I usually am when I sail upon the sea of blogs.

So much of life centers around being at the right place at the right time or at the wrong place at the wrong time, I think. And, if it happens to be the wrong place at the wrong time, the question becomes one of remaining and fighting or turning mobile and moving on with the anticipation -- if not the actual expectation -- of finding a better life in another place.

Nostalgia affects me as much as anyone, perhaps, even more, but I always have practiced chasing dreams wherever they might lead rather than putting down roots and trying to build on them. In my case, there probably has been more dumb luck than talent involved with my mere survival, much less with any successes I have encountered.

My heroes often are unlikely ones. Historians Will and Ariel Durant are two of them. Among their words are these: "Nations die. Old regions grow arid, or suffer other change. Resilient man picks up his tools and his arts, and moves on, taking his memories with him .... and builds somewhere another home."

If you choose to stay and to fight for your dream right where you are, Daliana, I admire your courage and tenacity. If you choose to search the world for a new beginning, I think that is no less a battle and, possibly, a more daring challenge. In either case, I think you, yourself, are a winner.

I guess I have written quite a lot here, and I will write more another time. As for now, yes, we never know where fate or destiny or luck will take us -- or what books we will write.

And, I am glad to see you out and about again, even if only for a moment -- but, I hope it is for much longer.

Fram Actual said...

An addendum to my post:

My mood still is wandering.

I like guns, so if you like roses, here is a song we can share .... well, sort of ....

http://youtu.be/tMmX9G8JP38

Dzjiedzjee said...

Hi!

I think that you have a good point here. I also wrote a blog post once about how people comment on other blogs in order to gain more followers on their own blog. The same thing is going on on Twitter and FB.
I follow a lot of blogs and I try to react and interact as much as possible. Somehow your blog has become at the background of my attention. I don't know why, it's not for a particular reason. It has to do with the amount of blogs I follow I guess...
I just added you to my new list of bookmarks, so that I wil not forget you ;-)

And of course it is true, that when you visit someone elses blogs, you will improve interaction. One can not only sit and wait for visitors without being active yourself.
Anyhow, I'll be following ;-)


Greetings from the Netherlands,
dzjiedzjee.blogspot.com

Kaya said...

Yesterday I wrote a very forceful comment. Fram, you touched a very interesting and sensitive topic. I think we all from time to time are thinking about what you wrote, we even might want to talk about it but most of time we are silent. You are the only one who talked yesterday about what is going on in the virtual world.

I wrote yesterday that I am in two virtual worlds. One is my international world and another my Russian world.

In both worlds I have friends. There are not many of them but they are good friends and supportive. Other people come and go. Sometimes to let you know what they are doing and sometimes just promote themselves. I accept it as I accept what is happening at my work place. People are people, are people....

You can't change this world ( virtual or real) but you can try to make it a better place to be. Some people can do it and I respect them.

I wrote that I am a fan of Barack Obama but I wish that he would be a stronger president. It's another long comment and I don't want to go into it.

Kaya.

Fram Actual said...

I write, so when I first set sail on the sea of blogs, I was looking for people who were writing. It did not matter if they were writing about themselves, their families, travel, politics, films, books, art .... whatever. I wanted to read what they had to say. Somewhere along the way, I encountered a photographer or two, and the next thing I knew, I was in the midst of photographers. This was fine, since many photographers lean toward artistic work, which I truly appreciate.

I still write and, out of the journalistic habit of trying to include an illustration with a story, I often incorporate a photo or a painting with a post. While I have taken many photos, I do not have the talent or the skill to be a good photographer, and I lack the patience to work hard at becoming one.

In a sense, I have become one of the people I complain about. It is rare that I leave a comment for anyone who does not comment regularly at my posts. Usually, I have to see something which really impresses me or interests me before I leave a comment for someone who does not routinely comment at my blog. This is because my enthusiasm for the blogs has been at an ebb for several months. Perhaps it will renew, perhaps not.

Anyway Gert Jan, thank you, for travelling to my page and for your remarks there. Since I began following your blog, I do not think you have published a post that I have not visited, but, as you can tell, this week might have been only my first or second time to leave a comment for you. You are a first class photographer, and I very much enjoy my trips to your page.

Fram Actual said...

My last conventional job was in journalism, Kaya, and that ended in May 2009 when I was making plans to go to Europe and possibly live there. A person has a few people he might consider friends where he works, but I would call most of them, if not all of them, acquaintences. I try to be very precise in my use of some words, and the word "friend" is among those words.

By my definition, no one on the blogs is a friend. They all are acquaintances. Some have the potential to become a friend, but that cannot occur without a deeper relationship than one gained by exchanging pleasantries over the internet. I think the concept of so many words -- love and hero are two other examples -- has been so corrupted by government bureaucracy and the media that they have lost their true meaning among the general public.

I guess I have said these things in posts a time or two before, and probably will again.

It is interesting that you have two virtual worlds. In real life, I have considered myself a chameleon, and written posts about this concept. Most people have a life and lifestyle in which they are comfortable. As a reporter, I enjoyed being able to move between and to feel comfortable in many different roles. One day I could interview a bank president, the next day a drug dealer, the next day a police officer, the next day a carpenter, and make each of them feel like I was "one of them." There are many people like that -- chameleon-like, I mean -- and it is fascinating when another chameleon enters your own life. It becomes a question of who is the better mirror.

Back on point, no matter if you use the label friend or acquaintance, as long as there are some around you who you feel comfortable with and trust in, and have the ability to "live and let live" among the others, you are where you belong, it would seem.

I am not so fortunate.

A couple of other things.

I visit your blog regularly, too, and I believe I see nearly all of your posts.

As for Barack Obama, let us discover if I am able to "convert" you. I can understand why someone would vote for him the first time. I cannot understand why anyone would vote for him the second time. He cannot be strong because he has no moral foundation, only political ambitions and the philosophical beliefs of a college sophomore -- which is to say the time when most idealists discover that socialism is not workable. His presidency is doing damage -- long term and, perhaps, irreparable, to the U.S. Think about it.

By the way, I do appreciate your thoughts and opinions.

A Cuban In London said...

I still haven't found myself on that side of the channel but I trust I will be at some point in the near future. Summer 2015 could be see my grand arrival in French shores. :-)

Greetings from London.

Fram Actual said...

Everyone should "invade" France at least once, CiL. I have done so twice, both times coming from the sea: Once from England and the north, once from Africa and the south. If there is to be a third time, I am thinking it will be overland, perhaps coming from Germany or Switzerland and the east.

I am glad to see you here again, and hope, indeed, that 2015 will be your year to breathe the air of Rodin, Monet and Sarte.

Something special ....