The Bar is now Sky High

I've allowed myself to be algorithmically persuaded. How can one not find Mary Bennet and Tom Hayward charming (from the series entitled The Other Bennet Sister)? The fourth episode is probably my favourite, with a particular scene involving Wordsworth's Composed Upon Westminster Bridge. A version of this poem was recited by Jonathan Pryce below.

A good reference article to read that nicely explains the relevance of the scene in the series can be found here https://theconversation.com/the-other-bennet-sister-this-fresh-take-on-pride-and-prejudice-transforms-the-overlooked-mary-278555

brace yourselves

Snow is nigh according to latest weather forecasts. This clip above of Robert Frost reciting his poem is an invaluable treasure--an auditory and cognitive balm that is bittersweet. As the younger millenials would say, it gives me the feels.

On the topic of snow and this season of premature sunsets (sadness inducing), I had to take deep breaths during these past few days due to being overcome by unexpected yet unavoidable events. Like an Energizer Bunny fueled by its compulsion to check off lists and do stuff but caged within a physical space. As I write this as a form of mental release and to obliterate the limits of the physical, I am hopeful that the next part of this tiny experience is The Average. I like the average, and I've alluded to this in the past. Like I'm going through life as if hiking on my designated path (I chose 'designated' because it's convenient, and I know I will sound like I embrace determinism, but I will stay in my zone of dumbness where I state 'I do not know'), and majority of the path involves a relatively flat paved road where treading is not difficult (The Average). Then there are those parts of the path with walkalators, where everything is just super fine and dandy (Better than The Average). There are also those parts with treadmills in varying degrees of speed and incline (Below Average) and the band OK Go appears out of nowhere singing their song 'Here it goes again' and doing treadmill choreography to accompany your struggle.
Then there are those parts of the path that are obstacle courses a la American Ninja Warrior (Worse than The Average)--where I am an out of shape librarian type woman and I fall down some pit so frequently yet still carry on, because there is no time limit and I can only go forward because of rules in the universe. Where am I right now? Maybe in the average-leaning section of the Below Average spectrum. Like this section:



In other news, here's an AI-generated image of a smoothie. It's grayish because that's how I like it. I'm kidding. It's how the color ends up when you mix a banana, a scoop of chocolate protein powder, flaxseed meal, powdered peanut butter, frozen kale, frozen blueberries, and unsweetened almond milk. There you go, a smoothie recipe for your consideration. Adjust to taste.

techie neo-luddite

I write code as part of my occupation. It is now a mix of a few programming languages necessary for my field of practice. It continues to evolve due to developments in computational efficiency—which is why my peers and I have to regularly update our knowledge. Things become outdated so quickly these days. Even the language that we speak, whether our native tongue (Tagalog for me) or Modern English, is quickly being updated. Modern English continues to evolve as a hodgepodge of new generation social media colloqualisms and I cannot keep up. I’ve decided not to keep up…rather, I’ve decided to selectively keep up. 

On the topic of not keeping up with the Joneses, I have not signed up for ChatGPT. My gut and brain are telling me, not yet. A recent discussion at work mentioned something about malicious code that may or may not be included in AI-generated solutions. I don’t know anything about that and am honest about not knowing how to use ChatGPT. Attribute it to aversion or maybe fear. I’ve entertained the possibility that my profession may or may not exist in the future. Scary, isn’t it? I just need to be prepared to be adaptable. Or retire early? LOL. I was told that we won’t get replaced by AI anytime soon and should probably learn to embrace it. I suppose I don’t fully trust it. I’m still Team Homo sapiens. After all, the human brain that created and continues to create all these technological advancements is still many steps ahead of its artificial counterpart. It’s still incomparable in complexity. An incredible organic machine. 

In terms of new networking platforms…I’ve resisted TikTok, Threads, etc…I left Facebook a couple of years ago. I have Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn and log-out of those networking apps when not in use. I understand that many folks make a living out of those applications and that’s amazing. For me, I know that I’ve wasted many hours of leisure time by randomly and aimlessly scrolling the interwebs instead of moving my body, sleeping at the proper time, or resting my eyes from digital exposure. When I stated “wasted” I didn’t mean that social media engagement is bad. It’s just that I am not as disciplined in terms of the amount of time I invest in it when I’m immersed. I’m sure I’m not the only one. I certainly find enjoyment and inspiration in it. I just need to make sure that I don’t let it occupy most of my free time. The easiest thing for me to do is to log-out, which has provided me additional time for real-life endeavours. Simply due to the absence of notifications. I’m attempting to retrain my fingers and muscle memory to avoid clicking on particular apps. Works for me.

What I frequently use are my audio apps. Spotify has that new Smart Shuffle feature for personal playlists so that I can discover new music similar to the playlist I created…I have the option to skip that recommended song or add it to my playlist. I still have my Apple Music, because I used to have a tiny iShuffle and have purchased music and albums in the past. Amazon Music comes with Prime so that’s also a nice app for interesting playlists. Soundcloud is still great…I don’t use it as frequently because I only have the free version, but keep it because a lot of independent artists are there. It’s nice to discover gems.

I’d like to think that it’s possible to be a techie neo-luddite. Appropriately connected to the digital world. Such that the kinds of digital connectivity varies from person-to-person. Connected to apps that are essential and/or beneficial but completely unplugged from apps that are not useful to one’s activities of daily living. Not the complete luddites who have absolutely no connectivity nor the super social media savvy generation alpha.

The year’s end is nigh

from pexels.com

The abundant snow makes the neighbourhood look like a scene in grayscale monochrome until you see a pedestrian with either an orange, navy, or red beanie walking along the sidewalk. To quote the last four lines of Robert Frost’s ‘Good Hours’:

Over the snow my creaking feet

Disturbed the slumbering village street

Like profanation, by your leave,

At ten o’clock of a winter eve.

I recently borrowed a copy of the Penguin Classics 2015 publication of ‘The Road Not Taken and Other Poems: Robert Frost 100th Anniversary Edition’ from the public library. Lucky find. Mindful of the time, it’s 10:20pm…Christmas time…New Year’s eve…To all, a good night. 

maybe not grayscale after all

bifurcations

 

Photo by James Wheeler from Pexels

Click to Play: The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (via Poetry Foundation)

Read Along Here

Telegram from the omniscient

Well, aren't we on a blogger roll today cyberpseudofriends?...

Another nugget of wisdom from today's reflection featuring a poem by St. Teresa of Calcutta:

Desperate times and the self-representing spin doctor

 

                                                              Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels

 Beware the spin doctor. Too much twisted thread. The twists and turns are targeted towards the enduring quad--bonded more strongly despite these hard times...and these days are much harder than other hard times. The spinner's threads and knots have become uncontrollable and flammable. Why so much hate? Always, the parsimonious path is the Truth. It is simple. It is consistent. As Maya Angelou remarked, you may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise.  Kaawaan ka ng Diyos. 

in whole or in part

Happenstance has led to the discovery of the American poet Mark Strand's "Keeping things whole" where I read

This is
always the case.
Wherever I am
I am what is missing.

Whether this poem is about being the cause of disconnectedness, being part of a whole, or always being the outsider requires further reading. Short piece, such profundity.

Colombian dance queen (a limerick)

There was a young girl called Alana
Who dreamt being in a cabana
This ain't Manilow
In a Las Vegas show
I just wanted to use the word 'Zumba'

------- I signed up for a Zumba class to fulfill my newly realized dream of being Shakira. Joke. About the dream. The class is real. *cue Shakira's Waka Waka*

Treading

Today’s random musing is brought to us by Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken’:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I---
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Unleash all the sighs. *cue Oasis:...someday you will find me caught beneath the landslide of the champagne supernova in the sky...*

like a sitting duck

Source

There is a need to admit to oneself that sadness is swirling within.  It is a kind of sadness brought about by circumstances beyond one's control. A defenselessness-induced kind of sadness. There is no issue about other faculties--one is still able to function efficiently. It is those brief quiet moments in between accomplished tasks when unfortunate realities pour down like a sudden thunderstorm of moroseness. The kind that you do not want to spread around like a self-righteous pharisee parading one's fast by deliberately looking haggard so as to obtain the pitiful approval of people. But a comforting clutch from a loved one truly helps. Kind words from more empathetic persons too. Once again, the important point is to allow oneself to immerse in the emotion like a warm bath that later becomes lukewarm and eventually dissipates---evaporates. As opposed to forcibly removing a drain plug in an attempt to be immediately rid of the emotion. 

As a conclusion, here is Pablo Neruda's "Ode to Sadness" as an example of the irrationality of a typical woeful state: 

Sadness, scarab

with seven crippled feet,

spiderweb egg,

scramble-brained rat,

bitch's skeleton:

No entry here.

Don't come in.

Go away.

Go back

south with your umbrella,

go back

north with your serpent's teeth.

A poet lives here.

No sadness may

cross this threshold.

Through these windows

comes the breath of the world,

fresh red roses,

flags embroidered with

the victories of the people.

No.

No entry.

Flap

your bat's wings,

I will trample the feathers

that fall from your mantle,

I will sweep the bits and pieces

of your carcass to

the four corners of the wind,

I will wring your neck,

I will stitch your eyelids shut,

I will sew your shroud,

sadness, and bury your rodent bones

beneath the springtime of an apple tree.

pahinga

Source

Minsan sa ating walang tigil na paglalakbay, 

Kailangan gunitain ang saysay ng buhay.

Sa kabila ng hirap dala ng kalupitan ng pagod at pag-aalinlangan,

Ang siyang pagkakataon na maibalik ang sariling sigla ay pahinga.

Tanging pahinga.

There are times along our journey,

When we need to reflect on the sense of life.

Despite the challenges brought about by the cruelty of exhaustion and uncertainty,

The opportunity to recharge one's vitality is rest.

Only rest.

Rise

Source

Today's sermon advised that in order to be co-heirs of God's kingdom, we should daily "descend" into the world and be sources of spiritual illumination amidst tribulations, sabotage, subterfuge, or loneliness and also "ascend" and recognize our divine support through prayer and acts of piety.  I would like to quote Sir Thomas Wyatt's "I am as I am" to rise above adversity:

I am as I am and so will I be 

But how that I am none knoweth truly, 

Be it evil be it well, be I bond be I free 

I am as I am and so will I be. 

I lead my life indifferently, 

I mean nothing but honestly, 

And though folks judge diversely, 

I am as I am and so will I die. 

I do not rejoice nor yet complain, 

Both mirth and sadness I do refrain, 

And use the mean since folks will fain 

Yet I am as I am be it pleasure or pain. 

Divers do judge as they do true, 

Some of pleasure and some of woe, 

Yet for all that no thing they know, 

But I am as I am wheresoever I go. 

But since judgers do thus decay, 

Let every man his judgement say: 

I will it take in sport and play, 

For I am as I am who so ever say nay. 

Who judgeth well, well God him send; 

Who judgeth evil, God them amend; 

To judge the best therefore intend, 

For I am as I am and so will I end. 

Yet some that be that take delight 

To judge folks thought for envy and spite, 

But whether they judge me wrong or right, 

I am as I am and so do I write. 

Praying you all that this do read, 

To trust it as you do your creed, 

And not to think I change my weed, 

For I am as I am however I speed. 

But how that is I leave to you; 

Judge as ye list, false or true; 

Ye know no more than afore ye knew; 

Yet I am as I am whatever ensue. 

And from this mind I will not flee, 

But to you all that misjudge me, 

I do protest as ye may see, 

That I am as I am and so will I be.

Within

 

Georgia O'Keeffe's Bear Lake

Today is William Shakespeare's birthday and so I would like to quote Sonnet 29:

"When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featur'd like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings."

Placid

Image Source

Among my favorite pieces of poetry, Desiderata by Max Ehrmann, is the most meaningful for me. I consider it a sort of concise instructional manual on how to live.  Interestingly, I first began to fully appreciate it when I spent a summer at my Aunt's house in L.A. before I began high school because it was posted in her bathroom. Yes, bathroom...so that when you sit on the toilet, it's right in front of you. I kid you not. While I have linked Desiderata above, I would like to share my favorite sections:

"Go placidly amid the noise and haste,

and remember what peace there may be in silence...

Speak your truth quietly and clearly;

and listen to others,

even the dull and the ignorant;

they too have their story...

If you compare yourself with others,

you may become vain and bitter;

for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans...

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;

it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time...

...everywhere life is full of heroism...

Be yourself.

Especially, do not feign affection.

Neither be cynical about love;

for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment

it is as perennial as the grass...

Take kindly the counsel of the years...

...do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness...

You are a child of the universe,

no less than the trees and the stars;

you have a right to be here...

Therefore be at peace with God,

whatever you conceive Him to be...

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,

it is still a beautiful world..."

I am grateful to be here.

happy to entertain (haiku)

Source

External jubilation

Caused by one's demise

Schadenfreude, oh schadenfreude