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This is not a good year.
Apr. 16th, 2021 07:39 amIt comes in waves that just rip everything apart and there's no feeling left.
I could watch life burn and not care.
Maybe it's the most dangerous emotion, because you can think and see, but you feel nothing.
February 16, 1820
Dear Lady Georgiana,
Nobody has suffered more from low spirits than I have done- so I feel for you.
1st. Live as well as you dare.
2nd. Go into the shower-bath with a small quantity of water at a temperature low enough to give you a slight sensation of cold, 75° or 80°.
3rd. Amusing books.
4th. Take short views of human life - not further than dinner or tea.
5th. Be as busy as you can.
6th. See as much as you can of those friends who respect and like you.
7th. And of those acquaintances who amuse you.
8th. Make no secret of low spirits to your friends, but talk of them freely- they are always worse for dignified concealment.
9th. Attend to the effects tea and coffee produce upon you.
10th. Compare your lot with that of other people.
11th. Don’t expect too much from human life- a sorry business at the best.
12th. Avoid poetry, dramatic representations (except comedy), music, serious novels, melancholy sentimental people, and every thing likely to excite feeling or emotion not ending in active benevolence.
13th. Do good, and endeavour to please everybody of every degree.
14th. Be as much as you can in the open air without fatigue.
15th. Make the room where you commonly sit, gay and pleasant.
16th. Struggle by little and little against idleness.
17th. Don’t be too severe upon yourself, or underrate yourself, but do yourself justice.
18th. Keep good blazing fires.
19th. Be firm and constant in the exercise of rational religion.
20th. Believe me, dear Georgiana, your devoted servant, Sydney Smith
The Friday Five
Oct. 11th, 2019 06:56 pm1. Do you think you are treated differently because you are a man or woman?
Yes, I'm patronised, ignored, and called a stupid bitch or hysterical when I disagree with a man or I prove him wrong, especially at work.
2. Do men or women have it easier in our culture? Why do you think so?
I think men have it easier because there are less restrictions on them. They're also less raped, murdered, abused by a spouse. They get better pay, less work hours.
3. Do you think girls are raised differently from boys? If so, in what ways?
Yes, women are still raised to not go into sciences, not have great careers, to think of keeping a home, getting married, having children, to be less than a man, to be catty with other women instead of supporting each other. All the things that keep them in a certain position in society and make room for men to have all the main roles, even if they don't deserve them.
4. Do you think women should take men's last names when they marry? Why or why not? No. I think if you don't have children there is no point and if you do have children creating a new last name or hyphening is best to show that parents believe in equality.
( Read more... )
Armistice Day Remembrance
Nov. 17th, 2016 12:22 pmWhat passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of silent minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
He was 25 when he died, just one week before November 11. His mother received the telegram telling her of his death on Armistice day.
Vale Goblin
Aug. 24th, 2016 03:47 pmI miss her so badly. Goblin was the sunshine in our lives. We're half-dead without her. The house is so quiet. All the songs we sang revolved around her. Getting up in the morning was to go for a walk with her. Coming home was to be with her. The comfort at night were the little sounds of contentment she made while sleeping. Goblin was our happiness and hope. Every morning she'd come & wake me. Her last evening we danced to Kami's favourite goth songs. Life with Goblin was so fun & happy. Goblin was our world. Our heart.
It's all gone. This year. So many bad things have happened. It's just wrong.
Goblin on her bed in my study.
( More Goblin )
Vale Kami-Bear-Cheese
Jun. 20th, 2016 11:36 amIt's been an awful month without her. I miss her terribly. I've cried every day.
Kami was an extraordinary cat. She had long conversations with me, sent me to bed when I was tired and told me to fuck off when I was annoying. Kami-Bear knew just who she was and what she wanted. Higly intelligent and highly vengeful. She reminded me of Elizabeth I. Such a grumpy willful personality, but she always was there to take care of me when I was sick. She never left my side whenever I was stuck in bed.
Kami is my bestest and oldest friend.
My precious girl. I'll love her forever. <3 <3 <3
( more pictures of my baby girl )
The signing of the armistice.
I go to the service for all the lost horses and dogs that died in WW1. There were hundreds of thousands. 80,000 horses went over from Australia alone, none returned.
I don't go for the soldiers.
The cult of soldiers-are-heroes that has infected society these days revolts me. You're not a hero until you have done something heroic. Going to war because it is a career or a lark or you were offered that or prison doesn't make you a hero. Particularly when it's on the whim of a government that should know better. Every month there's a new rape or violence case at our defence academies. These are the people we're sending out to warzones to protect women and children at risk, the ones no-one is watching out for. How do humans behave when they think they can get away with something, anything, everything? Ignore the propaganda and give kudos where it's due. No-one is automatically a hero. Being a hero is special - these people are the better part of humanity and what we should all be aiming for. That achievement should never be dimished by any propaganda.
Oh the lies & hypocrisy
Oct. 8th, 2014 11:14 amAny time they're waving their arms in the air shouting "Look what great thing we have done for you!" it's because they don't want you to see what they're really doing. Hiding the bad from your sight. Misdirection.
and the world whimpers...
Oct. 5th, 2014 03:57 pmSo, as our country slides into fascism, I feel weary. Our government, under the lie that they're protecting us from terrorism, has implemented new laws that give them more control & us less freedom. Particularly journalists. You know things are going to get bad when the government takes away the 'freedom of the press'.
National IQ tests 5 years ago showed that the average IQ (using Mensa tests) has dropped from 110 to 90 since 1955. People have to stay in school longer, but their capacity for learning is less? How did this happen?
Has technology outstripped humanity's mental ability to evolve? Maybe we should go back to the caves. If we're all so busy fighting to survive we won't have time to play cruel reindeer games.
Bring on ebola.
