~~~cousin Earl at Christmas get-togethers ~~~the fact that Trump even ran for office (still a joke to me) ~~~Whose Line is it Anyway (the GOOD version) ~~~Mad Libs
A clear night sky in the desert, with the constellations slowly moving across the arc of the Milky Way -- the feeling of awe at infinity -- knowing how tiny I am, how all things human are nanobits in the magnitude of time and space.
A three-day old foal learning discovering how to gallop and pronk like an impala in circles and figures of eight around his mother -- the naturalness of celebrating being alive and breathing, the intrinsic joy in every cell and fibre of being -- the original face with which we were all born.
An infant sucking the oxytocin in milk, a mother feeling it flowing in her veins, lovers feeling it released in orgasm -- the feeling of bonding love, when the heart feels so full one could float away and fly, and love spills over towards all the world.
Altruistic love - when an elephant rescues a crow from drowning, when hippos save a zebra from the jaws of an alligator -- when Ghandhi went on hunger strike to end the fighting between Muslims and Hindus, when Mandela released South Africa from Aparthied -- when we show empathy for one another in the little and ordinary things everyday, when we connect and reveal ourselves with openness and honesty.
Delights of the senses: the fragrance of fresh air in a forest, the taste of fungi porcini in a freshly made tomato sauce, the feel of a cool breeze on a hot day, the song of a Pied Butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis,) the crispness and clarity in vision, and of the mind sense - a great poem. The small delicious daily things like a cup of tea or a kiss.
~ ~ ~
War - December 2016.
Syria, Afghanistan, and Boko Haram: over 10,000+ deaths this year, millions of refugees, many unable to find shelter, several hundreds drowning at sea.
But not just the deaths: the woundings, maimings, people left orphaned and traumatised, destruction of homes, hospitals, schools and means of livelihood. The hatreds sown for generations to come. None of this counting the minor conflicts and skirmishes happening almost all over the world.
The anger, greed, and ignorance that people choose to act upon and live with when other choices are possible.
MacDonalds and its ilk.
The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, April 20, 2010 -- and similar acts of environmental carelessness, vandalism, destruction and greed.
Global Warming and it's escalating effects happening now across the planet.
~ ~ ~ Funny is not my strong point. I did a lot of research about funny things around the world and there are heaps of all kinds. Humour is everywhere. It's the "Yes, Minister" that bureaucrats use to keep governments running while our elected representatives bungle their way through their time in office. It's the animal that successfully usurps a human's place. It's the upside-down and back-to-front that hits us when we least expect it.
That time as a teenager, pashing with my boyfriend, when his hand roved to my chest and found my breasts were made of cotton wool.
Being served a salad which had a delicious looking large lump of avacado mash. I took an enthusiastic spoonful and discovered my first taste of wasabi.
Once, as an honoured guest, I was served the head of the fish in a Chinese restaurant in Malaysia. Amid all the bone and cartilage, there were really only the cheeks and brain to eat, three small bites. I was hungry. I looked despairingly and reluctantly at the eyes. I had to be polite. So I ate them too. They popped and squished like jelly and then something hard on the inside crunched. I felt absolutely revolted, but I swallowed. Tentatively, I asked, "do you eat the eyes?" -- "Of course not! What idiot would eat the eyes?"
Middle age makes it impossible to see fine details up close, but getting used to glasses is a real nuisance. I was often reluctant to wear glasses and learned to be good at doing many things by feel. Until the day I loaded my tooth brush from a tube of soap.
At an emergency services bush fireman's fundraiser, I won a serendipity prize in a raffle. When I unwrapped it, it was a pink rubber cup with a long tube coming out of one side. When I I asked what it was I was told, "an artificial penis so when you are out on an endurance ride, you can pee from the saddle without having to stop or dismount."
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at December 27, 2016 8:46 PM MST
I tried to add pictures of the anteater and Le Mont St Michel - -screw it
Beautiful ~ - hearing Faure's last movement to his Requiem, "In Paradisum"
- overcast, cloudy days
- the Giant Anteater, THE coolest animal ever! My favorite animal my entire life
- Le Mont St. Michel in France
- Lars Von Trier's talent in creating the film "Dancer in the Dark"
Ugly ~
- terrorist acts
- war
- genocide
- the inside of an avocado (and it tastes ugly, too)
- the brilliant-yet-ugly imagination of someone who created the most ugly creatures I've seen in a movie -- "30 Days of Night." I could not even look at those creatures on the screen, let alone on the rest of the earth.
Hilarious ~
- being able to be on earth at the same time as comedian Kevin Meaney. He could make me laugh until I cried. R.I.P. Kevin.
- hearing people complain if there are three days in a row of cloudy weather. And the same people seem to have no problem with three weeks in a row of bright sunny weather. (I'm the complete opposite in my taste for weather but it all makes me laugh.)
- when I got flushed on when I worked for the city sewer department
- being able to laugh at myself
- I accidentally drove off a bridge (not so funny at the time but hilarious in retrospect)
This post was edited by WelbyQuentin at December 27, 2016 9:37 PM MST
Benedict Arnold 