When is literary criticism a personal attack?
Nobody is perfect, even Shakespeare got his share of criticism.
A very close friend has just told me that I shouldn’t share my negative thoughts and feelings in this blog. She told me that I should always be positive in the things I write. She told me that I shouldn’t share so much of what’s really going on with me. She told me that even when I feel like shit, I shouldn’t write about that.
The things she said didn’t feel like legitimate and constructive criticism. To me, at the time, (a few short minutes ago), it felt like a personal attack. It seemed as though my friend had a hidden agenda, and was ‘getting at me’ about the things I wrote on July 26th, 27th, and 28th when what she really wanted to say was something else all together.
She is entitled to her opinion. And I could be wrong about everything.
But this is my blog, and I was writing about what’s been going on with me. As far as I am concerned I can write whatever I want, as long as it isn’t a personal attack on someone else, it isn’t obscene, and it isn’t unethical.
I think it’s perfectly acceptable for me to say that I hadn’t really been operating at the very top of my game.
You know what? I had been feeling pretty good today, but that conversation with my friend, about me writing posts entitled; Worrying About Life, Feeling very ill, and I have my problems, has put me right back to square one.
So, now I feel like shit again, with a big dollop of annoyance and hurt thrown in.
I guess that I’m now supposed to turn this whole tirade of hurt into something positive. So, I will leave you with this;
Why hoard your troubles? They have no market value, so just throw them away. ~ Ann Schade
That’s pretty positive. And, this is a nice picture.
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jack collier jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Travel is Good for My Health
Do not tell me how educated you are, just tell me how much you have travelled. ~ Mohamed
The apartment I live in is called ‘The Garret’ and I feel very much at home here. However, some recent thoughts, emotions, and events have convinced me that I’ve been spending far too much time in the garret. Ergo, I’ve decided to get out of the garret more, travel more, take more vacations, and relax in the sunshine a lot more.
Travel and change of pace impart new vigour to the mind. ~ Seneca
I have very few responsibilities, a hell of a lot of time on my hands, and more than a little money in the bank ~ so there is no earthly reason why I shouldn’t be taking 4 or 5 vacations a year, or even a round half-dozen should the mood strike me.
And, it’s not as though I want to travel to far-away and strange-sounding places. The camel route to Iraq holds no attraction for me. Neither do the madchen and the gay muchachas. And as for Paris, London, and Rome, I’ve spent so long in those cities that they’re like a second home.
There’s a hell of a lot of the world I just do not want to go to, not ever again. And you can include in that list all of Africa, the Middle East, the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. As for the America’s, I’d never cross the US border going South again. I caught malaria in Mexico.
The places I really like are the nicer parts of the USA, some of the Caribbean, and most of the Mediterranean. I also really like Tuscany and the South of France. Scandinavia isn’t bad either, (at the right time of year). None of which destinations are so very exotic, or so very dangerous. If I’m honest I like going to places where most of the locals can speak some English, and they serve really good food.
In a couple of weeks’ time I’m going to Crete, and after that probably back to California. Next year Malta, Cyprus, and Turkey are on my list. Who knows after that? But a Caribbean Cruise is looking attractive.
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all. ~ Helen Keller
The one downside for me is that I will mostly be a solitary traveller. But, who knows who I may meet along the way. And, one never knows, I may even find an attractive travelling companion to take along with me. On road trips, in a Mustang convertible, a guy needs an attractive and intelligent Girl Riding Shotgun anyway. A road trip without The Girl Riding Shotgun just isn’t a proper road trip.
Some say that travel is good for the soul. And, that a good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving. All I know is that I hate dull routine disrupting my life.
So, from now on, if you can’t find me, it’s because I’m on vacation.
Jack Collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Santa Monica is pretty cool.
Scenes on Sunday ~ Piers
So, just how big is a pier? Well, mostly it sticks out half-a-mile.
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Jack Collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Trust me, the various types of pier are interesting and fun.
Places to Go
Imagination and travel to places far away are my mistresses.
There are some place in this world that I would like to take a girlfriend. And most women would like the places I would take them.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
I love sexually confident women.
Not always so far away from my place,
I like women who smoke
You’d think a man would know…
’tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all ~ Alfred Lord Tennyson
There seems to be a problem with a relationship I’m having with a woman who is very important to me.
In the end it has come down to those two perennial issues; money and sex.
But, this relationship was always about just how much money I was prepared to spend ~ and just how little I was prepared to accept in return. Now it’s about a $25,000 car…..
You’d think a mature man such as I would have seen this from the start ~ truth be told I did, but perhaps I just wasn’t prepared to accept the painful reality it.
You Think A Man Would Know
Perhaps things will turn out well after all.
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jack collier
jackcollier@talktalk.net
or maybe Marmaduke and I will hit the road again
Encinitas Pebble Garden
Some things are just such novel and cool ideas.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Marmaduke was so disappointed not to see this magical little garden ~ so perfect for a teddy bear
Scenes on Sunday ~ Utah Skies
cloudy skies bring hope for some, of cleansing rain to come
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
all these great shots
were taken by
the cool girl riding shotgun
Scenes on Sunday ~ Nevada
Nevada, famous for Vegas, Area 51 ~ and a lot of desert.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
after all, Absinthe is a potent female aphrodisiac
My Soul’s Resentments
To be wronged is nothing unless you remember it.
in the darkness of the soul’s resentments
the healing light of dawn still shines
as a thousand spiritual friendships
allow harmony’s true happiness
to heal all our inner distress
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
pictures by
the girl riding shotgun
Vacation Time
It’s very nice to be able to afford to go travelling.
I’m just about ready and prepared for my next long vacation, which starts on this coming Thursday.
Today I booked a car to collect me at the garret, for 06:00 on Thursday March 15th, as my flight leaves from Newcastle upon Tyne airport at 09:30. I then have layovers in London Heathrow, and San Jose International in Santa Clara County, before I eventually arrive at John Wayne airport in Orange County California at 20.32.
I’m renting a Toyota Rav4 at John Wayne, and then I have a shortish drive, so I expect to get to get to my accommodation sometime around 22:00.
If you add in the 8 hour time difference between England and California, that makes the journey exactly 24 hours. Why does air travel always take so long? Even if everything goes to plan?
Poor Marmaduke isn’t coming along on this trip ~ because when I looked at the layovers I decided I’d just take one carry-on bag.
Poor Marmaduke has been in tears since he found out.
I expect to be back in the garret on Wednesday April 18th ~ after another 24 hours of travelling.
I will be in touch while I’m away.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
