Songs on Saturday ~ Lighthouse Family
no matter how badly your heart is broken,
the world doesn’t stop for your grief
Unlucky are they who have never suffered a broken heart, for only those who have had their life torn asunder by faithless love can know what true love really means.
I guess every one reading this has known a broken heart. I guess everyone reading this knows that it will get better, in time, eventually…… But a broken heart can never really be put back together again, not completely…..
I hope we have all found that very special person who can help us to mend our broken heart.
Please listen reflectively.
~
Storm wave
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
hope for a guiding light, a safe harbour, and a solid foundation for the love you feel
Shopping Carts
destructive nihilism is common among mindless youth
Why would anyone go to all the trouble of stealing a shopping cart, wheeling the damn thing a mile or so, and then heaving it into the dock, where it will be forever a menace at low tide? Some young men aren’t worth the air they breathe.
Just a sample of the idiocy I saw out on my walk today.
~
~
~
~
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
you really have to be as thick as two short planks to do this kind of thing
I am not a number…..
I am a free man
Yesterday I tried to come up with a bucket and to-do list that had 7 important things on it, and I got stuck after 6, which you will see if you look back at that post. I shouldn’t have been surprised, the number six is in my destiny right now.
~
Kipling thought that six was important too;
I keep six honest serving men, (They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why, and When
And How and Where and Who
If you can remember those, then you will never go far wrong when it comes to making any decision, writing anything, or making a success of anything you wish to do.
~
There are also 6 healing powers. The six best doctors are;
Sun, Rest, Exercise, Good Food, Self-Respect, and Friends
But, when it comes to good food, don’t eat too much of it. Keep well hydrated, and stay away from the booze.
~
In fact there are 6 things one should really stay away from;
Alcohol, Casual Sex, Drugs, Over-Eating, Smoking, and Refined Sugar
All of those will kill you eventually, some will just kill you faster than others.
~
The number 6 is also a perfect number, a congruent number, harmonic divisor number, and has lots to do with weird stuff like Zsigmondy’s Theorem, sphere packing, the kissing number problem, and Graeco-Latin squares.
~
Some say we should not worry about material items, including money. And that worry lowers the effectiveness of your thoughts, dreams, wishes, and prayers. All I know is that the Angel Number 6 means that our prayers will be answered, although the answer might be ‘no’.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
we each have our own Angel and Goddess
The Art of Attracting Women
Faint Heart could never win Fair Lady
This is all an artificial construct, because a very sensual, intelligent, emotionally mature, and very grounded woman can never be attracted by techniques, or schemes, or cunning artifice. The only person who could ever deceive that woman, or make her date an unsuitable man, or get into a less than ideal relationship is herself. And, women can be very good at fooling themselves, not that they would ever admit that, (hardly ever anyway).
There are innumerable works out there which will purport to tell a guy how to pick up a woman, how to regularly get casual sex, how to manipulate women, how to fuck them and leave them, and how to use them. Perhaps the deepest and most thorough treatise on the art of using women is The Way Of The Superior Man by David Deida. I can only stomach this book for a couple of pages at a time.
So, to the truth, and assuming you are not James Bond. To attract a sensual, intelligent, emotionally mature, and very grounded woman;
Be the very best version of yourself you can possibly be.
- Get healthier and fitter. Exercise, eat right, get some sun.
- Look as good as you can. Haircut, manicure, teeth, and manage any facial or other extraneous hair.
- Dress as well as you can ~ appropriately for the place and occasion, but find your own style. Always dress up, rather than dress down. Pay attention to your shoes and tie.
- Control your addictions. Stop smoking, don’t drink much at all, don’t gamble, don’t overeat or eat junk food, and FFS do not use drugs.
- Learn some English good manners. Almost all American men have appalling manners, but not as bad as Germans, Japanese, and most other Asians or Hispanics.
- Learn how to hold a conversation, and for most men that means learning how to listen to her.
- Read some interesting books, learn some interesting things to talk about ~ most women are very uninterested in sports. Find out what she is interested in and learn about that. Have a wide and deep knowledge base, but never ever bore her with what you know.
- Accessorise well. Apartment, car, watch, pen…..
- Learn about money, manage your money well so you can always pick up the tab if you need to, but never ever flash your cash around.
But, most of all, care about her. If you do not genuinely like her and care about her then you are wasting both of your time. I’m not talking about love, that should usually only come deep into a relationship. Caring about someone is different. She is a person, not a sex object. If you want a sex object find a hooker or a slut.
Some say there is no such thing as ‘the art of attracting woman’. And that any woman you can get that’s willing and breathing is the one you want. All I know is that there is nothing so precious to a man as real and honest friendship with a woman.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Bond makes up his own rules
Health, Safety, and Security
we live in strange and disturbing times
These days, crime is endemic, and getting worse every damn day. Sadly we are not allowed to shoot people here,
Years and years ago, when I was a boy, Health and Safety was never on anyone’s mind. But then, in the recent living memory of most English people were the horrors of WWII, and we had the ongoing privations of post-war austerity. So, things like the paleo diet, or obesity, or walking 10,000 steps a day would have seemed like something from a weird Druidic cult. As a growing boy my main concern was getting enough to eat.
As for security; doors were only locked at night, we didn’t chain up our bicycles, and banks were for rich people. The thought that someone would install a CCTV camera would seem like something from George Orwell’s 1984, (which I was reading at grammar school).
And yet, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Today I will buy a CCTV system to monitor my apartment, especially my front door. I have a good reason or three.
Yesterday I had a rather unfortunate incident involving a drugged-up piece of shit banging on my door. Of course I was stupid enough to open the damn door. From there things went downhill, up to the point of my calling the police. It seems that the young male concerned is well known to the local police, although he is not a convicted criminal. The senior police officer made it clear that it was better that I hadn’t hit the disgusting drugged-up piece of shit.
I have to concur. This isn’t Texas, or Arizona, or New Mexico where blasting holes in the guy would have been the thing to do. Here in England we have very few rights when it comes to defending ourselves and our homes.
Hence the new CCTV cameras, which will be installed as soon as I can get them delivered.
We live in strange and disturbing times.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
this is not the world I expected to live in
ruined world
now is the long dark midnight of your soul’s despair
~
and after lockdown
~
it was so quiet in the ruins
~
walking through this old town
~
the dogs bark but no children play
~
every child is kept safely locked away
~
no bright shining voices to be heard today
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
and the freedom to walk
has been taken away
Relationships, Friendships, and Love
I can’t stop loving you, no matter how hard I try
A couple of times in my life I’ve met someone I’ve really liked, and through spending time with her, becoming friends, having a relationship, I’ve found myself being in love. Not on purpose, not because that was what I wanted, not because it was easy, not because she was perfect, and not because she was the girl next door. Perhaps it was just meant to be.
Not all love lasts, but if you have ever truly been in love then you know that you first and most of all you are friends. True friendship lasts forever.
And so, these are the thoughts I have about being in love.
- Some say that you are lucky to find love even once in your life, so always hold her close, don’t ever let her go.
- Let your the light of your love shine, even in the worst of times.
- Even on the darkest of days her love makes every cloud carry a sliver lining.
- You both enjoy the warm sunshine and the cold rain, just so long as you are together.
- Whatever she says, whatever she does, she makes you happy.
- You always tell her the truth, the whole truth, spoken and written from your heart and soul.
- When she needs you, you are there for her, steadfast and true. And she is always there for you.
- If the road gets tougher, if times get hard, if life is difficult, then you love each other more.
- When you are going somewhere together, no matter how late she is, you are happy to wait for her.
- When she’s not there you miss her desperately, and you think about her always. You dream of her.
- You are happy to hold hands in public.
- You listen when she speaks, and never talk over her.
- You will be her steadfast friend, always, no matter what.
- Even if she is a siren on the road to Hell, you desire her anyway.
Not all of the above is always true, not all of the time.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
when you are in love
she is your sunrise
Things To Do During Lockdown
the devil finds work for idle hands
If you are unlucky enough to find yourself in lockdown / quarantine / self-isolation, then you will know just how boring, enervating, and soul-destroying the long, long days can be. Unless you are so ill that all you want to do is sleep, you will probably be tempted to do three things; drink too much, eat too much junk food, watch too much mindless TV. If you are so inclined you may also be tempted to smoke too many cigarettes, and over-indulge in your other drugs of choice.
None of the above activities are such a good idea. May I make some alternative suggestions;
- Make a plan. With your partner, friend, long-distance friend(s) make a plan for how you are going to survive and thrive during this present coronavirus crisis. Make a plan for what you are going to do after lockdown is over. Make a plan for what you are going to do with the rest of this year / next year / next 3 years. Me, as soon as air travel is allowed I’m flying to the USA to visit a friend, and we are going to take a long road trip.
- If you are well enough take yourself for a walk in the fresh air and sunshine. Just stay at least 6 feet away from any other people you may meet. Take your dog if you have one.
- Exercise at home. There are hundreds of exercise sites on the internet. If you’re not feeling so good then try learning yoga, which is an excellent form of exercise. If you’re not well enough for that then look for exercises you can do sitting down.
- If you are lucky enough to have a garden, get out there and get your hands dirty.
- If you aren’t well enough for that, then sit on your balcony, in your garden, outside your apartment. Take no notice of any officious neighbours, and assume that the police are too busy to be jerks on your behalf.
- If your mind is working well enough, then read something challenging, preferably while you are sitting out of doors.
- Even if you don’t feel much like eating, then just make yourself cook something you will eat. Use whatever ingredients you have in the larder, refrigerator, freezer. Or find a recipe and go to the store, and that will also get you out of your place. (or order on-line, or get a friend to go to the store for you)
- If you’ve been very unwell then you probably look like hell. Get yourself clean and tidy, put on some cool clothes, and launder all the dirty stuff. Change your bedding and launder that too.
- If you’re anything like me, not doing anything much for 10 days or so, then your place is most likely a hell of a mess. Clean it all, including your kitchen and bathroom ~ and I mean really clean it. Me, I did the garret in half-hour stints, because after a half hour I had to sit down and rest a while.
- Work on your relationships. If you live with a partner, then give them some TLC. If you live with your kids then find some fun things for them to do with you. Repair any damage you may have done when you were depressed, angry, and insane.
- If, like me, you have long-distance relationships, then use the internet and telephone. Or even write your to your friend(s) in an old-fashioned pen and ink letter or card.
- Learn something new. There are innumerable on-line courses. A friend of mine is studying Late Medieval Devotional Art through a free Harvard course. Me? I’ve reading all about how to survive the end of the world….
The thing is you can be utterly depressed and miserable during this period of enforced self-isolation. Or, you can make the most of this time so that you emerge from lockdown a better, fitter, healthier, more grounded person than you were in March this year. I know which one I’ve chosen. I’ve tried the insane misery route, trust me, it doesn’t work.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
all of the above applies if you’re working from home
Random Jottings #11
the truth is rarely pure, and never simple, unless you’re a cat
~
nobody can be wrong all the time
unless they are very, very good at it
~
‘you’re right, but I don’t agree…..’ he said
she hit him with a piano
~
the wrong love is hard work
on a bad day it’s bloody hard work
~
‘what’s the worst that can happen to me…..?’ he asked
‘the truth…..’ she answered
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
a real hero comes in the strangest disguises
Evolution in Action
it is not the strongest that survive, but the one most responsive to change
Evolution takes thousands of years, and in the last few days our thinking about every situation seems to have changed. fundamentally. Perhaps our beliefs, attitudes, and actions are trying to play catch-up with us here. None of us is used to a daily diet of bad news that rivals that which was fed to us English in the early months of the last war. Catastrophic thinking is what we have here, the idea that the human brain is predisposed to jumping to worse-case scenarios, and it’s fucking dangerous.
In the not so distant past I was thinking about my next overseas vacation, perhaps a visit to California, or a trip to Crete, Nowadays, I can’t go anywhere at all. I turn on my TV and the news is just a long series of nightmares with the death toll being right at the top and tail of everything.
It’s a relief when a piece of news, or a telephone conversation with a friend, isn’t full of doom and gloom, a call that doesn’t have the fear of death looming over it. Almost everyone is scared almost all the time, and there is a feeling of helpless resignation.
Well, I for one am going no further down that depressive, defeatist road. This morning I did my usual laundry, took my usual walk for an hour or so, called at the store as usual, (although I did have to stand in line just to get in there), bought the kind of stuff I would usually buy…. Sadly when I got back to the garret I was too knackered to do my usual yoga and other exercises. But thus far I’ve managed a fairly normal day, (for me), and I can live like this indefinitely.
But it’s not a great life if I can’t journey to the sun, see friends, travel all around England, walk towards the far horizons…. And sex is out of the question. As far as I am concerned the sooner the world safely gets back to what we are predisposed to call normal, the better.
One big upside, I haven’t been brainwashed into believing all that catastrophic anthropogenic climate change crap for a little while. Global warming looks pretty unimportant right now ~ call it evolution in action.
Stay safe and be well. And may the Deities of your choice go with you.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
even a bed of roses is full of thorns
