blog
it's a funny term, is it not?
i was having an instant messenger chat last night with dan, the 2nd person [apart from myself] to post a comment on this site.
in said 'chat' i suggested that blog sounds like a term that might well be used to describe the contents that typically spill forth from one's sigmoid colon at about 9:41am on the day after a night of consuming about 8-10 pints of stout and perhaps a doner kebab.
is that onomatoepia, perhaps?
if we imagine for now [at least] that the latter is in fact the true entity to which the term 'bog' refers, then it is with some element of regret that i hereby inform my readers that it has been some considerable time [as i recall] since my own sigmoid colon issued a blog.
until the latter does next occur - and i have substantial confidence that it will, sooner or later [i am patient] - i/we shall instead have to make do with this inane variant of the blog, i suppose.
alternatively or additionally, readers can of course take measures themselves to ensure that their own sigmoid colons issue thier own respective blogs ... it's up to you; who am i to discrouage such undertakings?
~

there really is no reason for this post except .......
well, hang on a minute there; is there really any genuine reason for any of these posts?
anyhow, i won't answer that question right now.
as i was saying - there really is no reason for this current post except to note that the 'comment virginity' of this highly questionable blog has been .... erm ... taken? [is that the right word?]
that's right - confabulous has now received it's first comment, and it was not myself who posted it. i must confess that the thought had crossed my mind more than once, of posting a comment myself; but each time i resisted the temptation. anyhow, thanx to the good gentleman at acidheadwar.blogspot.com.
my next goal is to receive at least 1 reply to my quiz of the week before last. maybe i need to drop a hint as to the answer? finally, i do of course realise that the probability of receiving at least 1 more comment would be increased if i were to explicitly notify more than 2 people about the existence of this online diatribe; i'll get around to that one of these days ...
~

i just returned
from a trip
to waiheke island, new zealand.
great place, perhaps a little like cape cod?
but i like waiheke more, for a number of reasons.
anyhow, i recommend that u go there sometime, at least before a bridge is built to there from auckland and the island is overrun with european vehicles rather than rusting tractors & 1970s ford escorts ...
lots of boats, some not seaworthy; plenty of coves & bays, hills & ferns
~

have u ever wondered, as i have,
about all those empty, plastic 2- & 3-litre milk & juice & soft drink bottles that get thrown into the rubbish every day; have u ever wondered about all that empty space in the middle of them, all that empty, lonely, stale, smelly space? ... which just takes up 'space', in landfill & the like.
think about the total combined volume of all those spaces added up - the equivalent of how many stadiums would be occupied by such space?
~

as the readership of this questionable blog soars ['with a bullet'] into double figures, i need to devise a strategy to attract & moreover retain the punters. hence the following readers' quiz, based on content related loosely to some of the content of the previous post.
the high-stakes question is:
from what source have i heard the following brief tale recounted (numerous times):
'the one, the almighty shivaji climbed to the top of mount gailash with his radiant wife parvathi; and there they spent ten thousand years in union ...'
?
no wonder i was curious to hear more of this & related tales, eh?!
the winning entrant will receive a photocopy of 3 chapters of 'the bhagavad gita' (winner's choice as to which chapters, although the quiz adminstrator may make recommendations).
until further notice, there will be no limit to the number of answers lodged by any one individual.
~

i finished reading 'the bhagavad gita' the night before last.
had been curious to read this for a while, then somebody bought it for me for xmas (i hadn't requested it but was happy to receive it; better than a set of golf tees or whatever, that's for sure). anyhow ... i have the version published by a company named after a flightless bird which often frequents snowy climates, and on the back it claims that it is 'an intensely spiritual work that forms the cornerstone of the hindu faith'.
well ... i guess i had some expectations - not based on anything in particular really - that it might talk about the pantheon of hindu gods/heroes such as ganesh, shiva, parvathi, etc., and thier various exploits..... not so. i was/am curious about those. in any case it's fair to say that for the most part it didn't blow me away (perhaps on some level i expected it would?) and quite a number of rather 'dogmatic' passages reminded me of passages from the bible (not sure if that's a good thing or not - and which came first? this hindu epic or the torah/old testament??); while other passages brought to mind concepts in some of the buddhist texts (e.g. reagrding contemplation, meditation, etc.). of course the latter is no great surprise because i was aware that the lotus flower of buddhism kind of sprouted out of the lake of hinduism (if u will excuse my rather facile & obvious attempt at some form of symbolism).
where am i going with this? how many stars? well ... 'i'll get back to u'! perhaps after i've read the introduction to this edition; the first sentence of the intro points out that 'the bhagavad gita' is in fact just a small excerpt from the 'mahabharata' so now i'd like to read the altter and indeed perhaps i should withold any comprehensive judgement until i have done so [?] in summary for now however i can say that in my opinion 'the bhagavad gita' is certainly worth reading.
and there ends this week's bookclub with fergal ....
~

ego
(ego says 'that should be EGO thank you!')
ego
(it's Greek for I/me)
how to erase it? transcend it? circumvent it?
consistently ... ?
~

just because you're not paranoid;
it doesn't mean
they're not out to get u!
;-D
~

it's been over 7 years
since i was last in laos
~~~
when will i get back there?
one day...
i'll catch a boat up the maekhong river
again
from luang phabaang, then turn into the ou river
about an hour or 2 upstream (depending on the current)
snaking thru mad limestone karsts
past small bamboo villages with pigs and children
mudslides on the steep slopes of the hills leading up from the river
high up on the slopes, a small filed cut out of the forest
a rough bamboo shack provides the only level place to sit up there
and count the poppies
~

13 red chillies
preferably fresh
are a good amount
for som-tam
aka
green papaya salad
tomatoes
fish sauce
peanuts
garlic
maybe a dash of soy sauce too
pound it all together
in one of those
stone
mortar & pestles...
AHAAN AROY JARN!
?
~

'delusions in patients with dementia are commonly persecutory involving beliefs of theft or property, burglary, and infedelity. ... grandiose delusions seen in patients with bipolar illness or bizarre and religious delusions observed in patients with schizophrenia or mood disorders are unusual in patients with dementia.'
...
something to look forward to, anyhow .... ;-D
~

one of these days
['i'm goin to sit down
& write a long letter
to all the old friends i've known ...']

one of these days
i'm going to watch over:
- a glutinous rice plantation is isaan
&/or
- a hemp plantation in the himalayan foothills (for the resulting rope, of course)
i'm going to watch it grow,
listen to it growww ....
~

[in the bhagavad gita]
krishna:
'know that with one single fraction of my Being I pervade and support the Universe, and know that I AM."

delusions of grandeur??

u b the judge
~

whatever might be a source of stress for u:
is it permanent?
~

better the cyborg u know
[in yourself]
than the cyborg u don't
~