Age is a question of mind over matter; if you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
Leroy Paige
Monday, April 30, 2007
Mellowed By Massage
My good (what an understatement) lady wife and I have a little Monday afternoon tryst that we have, until now, kept a secret. We go to the Adult Education Centre and get a full body massage from someone coming to the end of their holistic massage course.
One full hour, sweet almond oil, muscles being manipulated, tweaked, stretched, rubbed and indulged. Joy, bliss, happiness. All for £5.00 because they are still students. Double joy, bliss, happiness.
We have come to really enjoy our Monday afternoon; hardly surprising. We meet beforehand, not for coffee or anything; we don't want a fresh dose of toxins in our body just when we are about to have existing ones squeezed out. No, we just meet early and walk up the road hand in hand. That in itself is a bit of a wee treat, as since becoming parents just over three years ago we haven't had much 'our' time together.
After the massage we walk slowly, floatily, down the road and discuss how relaxed, tension free and sleepy we feel. The massage sessions coincide time wise very nicely with collection time for our wee shining star; so we head for nursery, look at all the lovely things she has made, painted, drawn that day, and then trot off down the road having fun and being a happy family.
To all those people out there who careers mean something to, who feel they need a job as it gives them identity and purpose - good on you, go for it and all the best to you. I hope you make it to the top of whatever profession it is you want to make it to the top to.
Me: I just want to be with my wife and daughter; no career aspirations, no need to be up at six and in the office for seven, a ten hour day in front of me. I want to be there as my daughter grows up; minute by minute, hour by hour. And I want to share the experience with my wife.
Reality swoops from a far and smacks my head as it passes. What about money? It shouts as it heads up, ready to turn and swoop again. But I'm waiting for it. Yeah, I haven't worked out how to live without cash. I'm aware it takes more than hanging with your wife and daughter to make a life.
But they are my life; they bring me so much happiness, contentment and fulfillment. I'm not looking for anything more. Where there is a will, there is a way. Need to find a way to earn money and spend lots of time with my wife and daughter ... and get a massage once a week too!
One full hour, sweet almond oil, muscles being manipulated, tweaked, stretched, rubbed and indulged. Joy, bliss, happiness. All for £5.00 because they are still students. Double joy, bliss, happiness.
We have come to really enjoy our Monday afternoon; hardly surprising. We meet beforehand, not for coffee or anything; we don't want a fresh dose of toxins in our body just when we are about to have existing ones squeezed out. No, we just meet early and walk up the road hand in hand. That in itself is a bit of a wee treat, as since becoming parents just over three years ago we haven't had much 'our' time together.
After the massage we walk slowly, floatily, down the road and discuss how relaxed, tension free and sleepy we feel. The massage sessions coincide time wise very nicely with collection time for our wee shining star; so we head for nursery, look at all the lovely things she has made, painted, drawn that day, and then trot off down the road having fun and being a happy family.
To all those people out there who careers mean something to, who feel they need a job as it gives them identity and purpose - good on you, go for it and all the best to you. I hope you make it to the top of whatever profession it is you want to make it to the top to.
Me: I just want to be with my wife and daughter; no career aspirations, no need to be up at six and in the office for seven, a ten hour day in front of me. I want to be there as my daughter grows up; minute by minute, hour by hour. And I want to share the experience with my wife.
Reality swoops from a far and smacks my head as it passes. What about money? It shouts as it heads up, ready to turn and swoop again. But I'm waiting for it. Yeah, I haven't worked out how to live without cash. I'm aware it takes more than hanging with your wife and daughter to make a life.
But they are my life; they bring me so much happiness, contentment and fulfillment. I'm not looking for anything more. Where there is a will, there is a way. Need to find a way to earn money and spend lots of time with my wife and daughter ... and get a massage once a week too!
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Quote of the Week # 26
Go bang your drum, real or imagined, and wake yourself and the world up to the fact that you are alive and real.
David M N Bate
David M N Bate
Bangers & Mash
Week Twenty-nine: Sunday 15 – Saturday 21 April
"Oh, and if anyone asks, we’re called ‘Mangers & Mash."
That was the last words from our 'leader' before we stepped out of our rehearsal room in a nearby shop, crossed the concourse, climbed the steps and entered the ‘Double Trouble – Dub Ska & Reggae’ gig.
The room was full and our arrival was being anticipated. We took our places in front of the dj box, then, poised and primed, we waited for the signal from said leader – then we were off. Fifteen people banging various drums, bells and tambour-drums, as well as shaking some serious shakers, to some sort of samba reggae rhythm.
Most of us only starting playing a drum a couple of months ago, when we first joined the newly started practice sessions. We’d had a mini-gig: walking along Falmouth High Street, in the pouring rain; the support act for Falmouth women’s acknowledgement of International Woman’s Day. This was a real gig: part of a bona-fide dj night; place packed with young people, mainly under 25. Safe to say there was a few nerves on the night.
The venue was excellent. Jubilee Wharf in Penryn; fifteen minutes walk from our house. Based near the harbour, a still busy and working harbour, Jubilee Wharf is an eco centre, with shops, flats a café and a functions room. The whole place is a tasteful intrusion on the landscape, and includes four small wind turbines to generate energy to power the whole place. They don’t look any more obtrusive than the multitude of various sized masts that jut out from the boats.
So the place has a good vibe; sustainable, environmental, earthy, natural. The audience were a bit like that too. And they loved us. We bashed out our two numbers, for about ten minutes each, as the crowd danced round about us; finishing with a massive crescendo - and loads of cheering and clapping.
As we wandered back out to let the djs carry on the night, strangers came up to us to shake our hands, pat our backs, ask when we our next gig is, and one person even asked if we had a cd!
Who wouldn't be a rock star?
"Oh, and if anyone asks, we’re called ‘Mangers & Mash."
That was the last words from our 'leader' before we stepped out of our rehearsal room in a nearby shop, crossed the concourse, climbed the steps and entered the ‘Double Trouble – Dub Ska & Reggae’ gig.
The room was full and our arrival was being anticipated. We took our places in front of the dj box, then, poised and primed, we waited for the signal from said leader – then we were off. Fifteen people banging various drums, bells and tambour-drums, as well as shaking some serious shakers, to some sort of samba reggae rhythm.
Most of us only starting playing a drum a couple of months ago, when we first joined the newly started practice sessions. We’d had a mini-gig: walking along Falmouth High Street, in the pouring rain; the support act for Falmouth women’s acknowledgement of International Woman’s Day. This was a real gig: part of a bona-fide dj night; place packed with young people, mainly under 25. Safe to say there was a few nerves on the night.
The venue was excellent. Jubilee Wharf in Penryn; fifteen minutes walk from our house. Based near the harbour, a still busy and working harbour, Jubilee Wharf is an eco centre, with shops, flats a café and a functions room. The whole place is a tasteful intrusion on the landscape, and includes four small wind turbines to generate energy to power the whole place. They don’t look any more obtrusive than the multitude of various sized masts that jut out from the boats.
So the place has a good vibe; sustainable, environmental, earthy, natural. The audience were a bit like that too. And they loved us. We bashed out our two numbers, for about ten minutes each, as the crowd danced round about us; finishing with a massive crescendo - and loads of cheering and clapping.
As we wandered back out to let the djs carry on the night, strangers came up to us to shake our hands, pat our backs, ask when we our next gig is, and one person even asked if we had a cd!
Who wouldn't be a rock star?
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
If You Do Nothing Else # 1
Watch this –
The Corporation (2004).
Winner of 24 International Awards and 10 Audience Awards, including the Sundance Film Festival. Contributions from Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Michael Moore, et al.
It’s a bit chewy, and you need to pay attention, but well worth watching. Afterwards ask yourself two questions: how does that make me feel, and what am I going to do about it?
The Corporation (2004).
Winner of 24 International Awards and 10 Audience Awards, including the Sundance Film Festival. Contributions from Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Michael Moore, et al.
It’s a bit chewy, and you need to pay attention, but well worth watching. Afterwards ask yourself two questions: how does that make me feel, and what am I going to do about it?
Quote of the Week # 25
If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.
Mahatma Gandh
Mahatma Gandh
Bedtime Delights
Week Twenty-eight: Sunday 8 – Saturday 14 April
“I love you,” she whispered.
“Thank you. I love you, too,” I whispered back.
With that, she stretched out her arm, wrapped her hand round my neck and gently pulled my head towards hers, puckering her lips for a gentle kiss as she guided me.
She then nuzzled my head into her neck and shoulder. “You lie there and I’ll stroke your hair,” she added, patting my back reassuringly a couple of times.
And therein lies the latest delightful ritual that has unfolded in the never- ending discovery of joy and wonder that is the relationship I have with my three year-old daughter.
This wonderful display of my daughter’s caring and nurturing side came after she had already read me a story; well told me a story, as she doesn’t actually read. She does though, like so many children, have her favourite books and she has had them read to her while she follows the pictures countless times.
Equipped with enough awareness of her familiarity of one of her books, ‘Gotcha’, she boldly offered to read it to me when I came to lie down beside her and read to her before she went to sleep.
With a combination of rote, the occasional personal embellishment and mumbo-jumbo made up words to fill in the blanks, she did a fine job of taking me through the story of the little girl who was starting at a new school and struggling to make new friends.
Page by page, her narrative flowed beautifully; she even, occasionally, aping the staff from nursery, I think, propped the book up and widened the viewing angle, asking as she did, “Can you see alright from there?”
How precious children are; from conception to the first crucial five years of their - life and beyond. How magical. What a gift. What gems. And so do we not have an obligation to polish them and make them shine, always?
Nature v nurture? A healthy mix of both, I’m sure. But, while we can’t do much to determine the nature that a newborn child brings into the world with them, we can do everything in our power to determine the nature of the nurturing they receive.
A product of our environment? I think so, more so than anything else. I’m advocating a nurturing, caring, loving, patient, creative, positive environment for all children, all the time.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“Thank you. I love you, too,” I whispered back.
With that, she stretched out her arm, wrapped her hand round my neck and gently pulled my head towards hers, puckering her lips for a gentle kiss as she guided me.
She then nuzzled my head into her neck and shoulder. “You lie there and I’ll stroke your hair,” she added, patting my back reassuringly a couple of times.
And therein lies the latest delightful ritual that has unfolded in the never- ending discovery of joy and wonder that is the relationship I have with my three year-old daughter.
This wonderful display of my daughter’s caring and nurturing side came after she had already read me a story; well told me a story, as she doesn’t actually read. She does though, like so many children, have her favourite books and she has had them read to her while she follows the pictures countless times.
Equipped with enough awareness of her familiarity of one of her books, ‘Gotcha’, she boldly offered to read it to me when I came to lie down beside her and read to her before she went to sleep.
With a combination of rote, the occasional personal embellishment and mumbo-jumbo made up words to fill in the blanks, she did a fine job of taking me through the story of the little girl who was starting at a new school and struggling to make new friends.
Page by page, her narrative flowed beautifully; she even, occasionally, aping the staff from nursery, I think, propped the book up and widened the viewing angle, asking as she did, “Can you see alright from there?”
How precious children are; from conception to the first crucial five years of their - life and beyond. How magical. What a gift. What gems. And so do we not have an obligation to polish them and make them shine, always?
Nature v nurture? A healthy mix of both, I’m sure. But, while we can’t do much to determine the nature that a newborn child brings into the world with them, we can do everything in our power to determine the nature of the nurturing they receive.
A product of our environment? I think so, more so than anything else. I’m advocating a nurturing, caring, loving, patient, creative, positive environment for all children, all the time.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Quote of the Week # 24
There is no nourishment like happiness - it's an elixir. There is no sickness like sorrow - it's a poison. The experience of true happiness cures the sickness of sorrow. A cheerful face goes a long way towards making everything better!
www.thoughtfortoday.org.uk
www.thoughtfortoday.org.uk
What Did I Want To Say Again?
Week Twenty-seven: Sunday 1 – Saturday 7 April
What a week. Radio workshop Monday - Wednesday; editing and production for the course's online writers website on Thursday. Lack of sleep due to a restless night-time daughter. It's all functional, and functioning, with a tired mind and trapped flow.
I find myself losing sight of what it is I wanted to write in the first place. No, not a 'script' or a 'novel' or a 'feature'; more what it is that I want to say. What's my message? Every writer writes because they have something they want to say. That can be morose, vacuous, manipulative, misleading, meaningless or any other negative connotation: but they all have something to say.
It helps, in my humble opinion, if what you want to say has the potential to contribute positively to the greater good by making people think, feel, engage, laugh, learn, change, improve, et cetera. But whatever it is you want to say as a writer, and for whatever reason, you need to know what it is.
At times you get so bunged up with commercialism, professionalism, competitivism; with angles, opportunities, trends, and with careers and money. You get so bunged up with all that that you forget what it is you want to say. You forget about the messages you want to impart, the lessons you've learned, the experiences you've had: the story you want to tell.
It doesn't take much to lose sight, to stop being focused, to be out of your zone; lack of sleep and a full-on week where you don't get any work you need to get done done, does it for me!
Easter weekend was a chance to reconnect. Lovely sunny weather, a trip to the beach with my wife and daughter to play and relax. A roast beef and potatoes dinner. Easter eggs and new story books for my daughter. It doesn't take much to remind me that, yeah we all need to make a living, yeah I have aspirations as a writer based on a strong desire to say something meaningful, my greatest achievement in life is the life I share with my wife and daughter.
What a week. Radio workshop Monday - Wednesday; editing and production for the course's online writers website on Thursday. Lack of sleep due to a restless night-time daughter. It's all functional, and functioning, with a tired mind and trapped flow.
I find myself losing sight of what it is I wanted to write in the first place. No, not a 'script' or a 'novel' or a 'feature'; more what it is that I want to say. What's my message? Every writer writes because they have something they want to say. That can be morose, vacuous, manipulative, misleading, meaningless or any other negative connotation: but they all have something to say.
It helps, in my humble opinion, if what you want to say has the potential to contribute positively to the greater good by making people think, feel, engage, laugh, learn, change, improve, et cetera. But whatever it is you want to say as a writer, and for whatever reason, you need to know what it is.
At times you get so bunged up with commercialism, professionalism, competitivism; with angles, opportunities, trends, and with careers and money. You get so bunged up with all that that you forget what it is you want to say. You forget about the messages you want to impart, the lessons you've learned, the experiences you've had: the story you want to tell.
It doesn't take much to lose sight, to stop being focused, to be out of your zone; lack of sleep and a full-on week where you don't get any work you need to get done done, does it for me!
Easter weekend was a chance to reconnect. Lovely sunny weather, a trip to the beach with my wife and daughter to play and relax. A roast beef and potatoes dinner. Easter eggs and new story books for my daughter. It doesn't take much to remind me that, yeah we all need to make a living, yeah I have aspirations as a writer based on a strong desire to say something meaningful, my greatest achievement in life is the life I share with my wife and daughter.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Quote of the Week # 23
Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
Kahlil Gibran
Kahlil Gibran
Soggy Six-month Sojourn
Week Twenty-six: Sunday 25 – Saturday 31 March
Six months. Just like that. Cliche, cliche, cliche; but it does, doesn't it? Time flies, whizzes by, disappears before your eyes. Ah, but time is also a relative thing. An hour spent with a cold bore could easily feel like a day; a day spent with a warm interesting person could seem like an hour.
Not that I ever feel time dragging these days. There never seems to be enough of it in any one day, and I don't get much chance to fritter it away either. Oh, for the life of the idle rich.
So six months have flashed by and I am half-way through my MA at University College Falmouth. The sun is beginning to shine and Cornwall is feeling like a wise choice for a British location. It will fill up with tourists in the summer, but at least it doesn't feel congested the rest of the year - like the rest of the British Isles!
To stay beyond the course would be nice; can't think where else on this sceptred isle I want to stay. But house prices are beyond a joke, rent is high and council accommodation non-existent. Council tax and other utilities are reputed to be the highest in the British Isles, salaries the lowest. Go figure!
Cornwall is a little serfdom; a place where the idle rich, mainly from London, come to relax in their second homes for a few days a few times a year. Then there are the wealthy retirees, who move down here for the slower pace of life and better weather. Then you have the Cornish who cash in on the tourist season as much as possible and make a few quid; enough to see them through the year, if they are lucky. Beyond them you have a mass of poorly paid, poorly housed, poorly educated, culturally deprived: the underclass.
The dream stands: go and live somewhere warm, away from the masses; commune with nature and fill your days gardening and undertaking creative endeavour. The British Isles, cities, the modern world, people - you can keep them, I don't want them.
Six months. Just like that. Cliche, cliche, cliche; but it does, doesn't it? Time flies, whizzes by, disappears before your eyes. Ah, but time is also a relative thing. An hour spent with a cold bore could easily feel like a day; a day spent with a warm interesting person could seem like an hour.
Not that I ever feel time dragging these days. There never seems to be enough of it in any one day, and I don't get much chance to fritter it away either. Oh, for the life of the idle rich.
So six months have flashed by and I am half-way through my MA at University College Falmouth. The sun is beginning to shine and Cornwall is feeling like a wise choice for a British location. It will fill up with tourists in the summer, but at least it doesn't feel congested the rest of the year - like the rest of the British Isles!
To stay beyond the course would be nice; can't think where else on this sceptred isle I want to stay. But house prices are beyond a joke, rent is high and council accommodation non-existent. Council tax and other utilities are reputed to be the highest in the British Isles, salaries the lowest. Go figure!
Cornwall is a little serfdom; a place where the idle rich, mainly from London, come to relax in their second homes for a few days a few times a year. Then there are the wealthy retirees, who move down here for the slower pace of life and better weather. Then you have the Cornish who cash in on the tourist season as much as possible and make a few quid; enough to see them through the year, if they are lucky. Beyond them you have a mass of poorly paid, poorly housed, poorly educated, culturally deprived: the underclass.
The dream stands: go and live somewhere warm, away from the masses; commune with nature and fill your days gardening and undertaking creative endeavour. The British Isles, cities, the modern world, people - you can keep them, I don't want them.
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