Walking alone, whistling something indistinct seeking a shape as yet unrealized from somewhere most likely in the recent past. Reflected now in the front window of that little Turkish establishment only now beginning to draw a large student clientele after several years of uncertain success. Stepping then past the neighborhood grocery, ambling towards its Bombay variant recently opened and attempting to coexist financially therewith. And on, uphill now in his tread, with hints of a more forceful winter around the corner.
Hands pushed into pockets, forgot those gloves again because they did not seem necessary at first. At least there was success in getting out the door on the first attempt, not needing to reenter for something else forgotten and then remembered.
Up ahead could be seen a figure approaching downhill towards Leo: a scruffy individual in woolen cap and pea coat, both in Navy blue, and snorting steam from his red nostrils, a cigarette clutched by a tattered glove: “Hey, pal, you got some spare change for a decent guy who needs a small drink to warm him up?” growled he to Leo.
Though Leo sensed foul breath seeking to engulf him into the orbit of this scrofulous rogue entering into his small space on an over-crowded Earth, Leo just managed to check his impulse to look the other way, pretend not to hear, and protectively to quicken his step past this growing threat in his path. Instead, Leo reached into his right pants pocket and withdrew his overstuffed change purse, emptying its contents into the outstretched hands of the other fellow, whose breathing increased in intensity as a sign of appreciation. Full face that unearthly breath now was, and Leo almost fainted in its miasma.
Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light and the unmistakable sound of approaching hoofbeats and friction of wooden wheels turning against the pavement. The other fellow, clad now in a golden robe and haloed, stepped up into the winged chariot before them, which proceeded to fly skywards and out of sight.
Leo began to feel glad, after all, that he had decided to take this evening stroll. But why hadn’t the other fellow simply asked for the carfare that he obviously needed? People can be so strange.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Mistaken identity? One wonders...
Why do some people think I am really Harry Kirschner in disguise? To look into this odd mystery, please consult this link for enlightenment.
Saturday, December 9, 2006
Friday, December 8, 2006
Kashaknishra Speaketh #1
Verily, Kashaknishra saith on p. 66 of The Aforementioned Book:
"1. Order sprang forth from chaos, and we can return to the beginning if we try hard enough."
[Rather prophetic, I daresay. This cat may be onto something. Better go out and buy this book.]
"1. Order sprang forth from chaos, and we can return to the beginning if we try hard enough."
[Rather prophetic, I daresay. This cat may be onto something. Better go out and buy this book.]
Thursday, December 7, 2006
Figaro's Revenge, or The Figgage of Mario, Aria, ed. Rayro
Terrible tuna fish
Uneaten chicken soup
Unwieldy kitchenware
Ill fated underpants
Goyishe matzoballs
Spoiled-rotten cabbages
This is my opera’s revenge!
Dastardly president
Perfectly unaware
Frostbitten crocodiles
Insanely mischievous
Mildewy veg’tables
Tuberous mistletoe
This is my opera’s revenge!
Two-legged popsicle
The scarlet pimpernel
Flea-bitten overalls
Half eaten fiddlesticks
Perfectly obvious
Ill-gotten moneybags
This is my opera’s revenge!
Little-known walruses
Cascading cannonballs
Lecherous teenager
Mummified pot-smoker
Pernicious pineapple
Liquefied meat grinder
This is my opera’s revenge!
Ill conceived bar mitzvah
Petrified carbuncle
Misogynous pedophile
Perfidy horrible
Putrefied liverwurst
Kiss of death finally
This is my opera’s revenge!
Uneaten chicken soup
Unwieldy kitchenware
Ill fated underpants
Goyishe matzoballs
Spoiled-rotten cabbages
This is my opera’s revenge!
Dastardly president
Perfectly unaware
Frostbitten crocodiles
Insanely mischievous
Mildewy veg’tables
Tuberous mistletoe
This is my opera’s revenge!
Two-legged popsicle
The scarlet pimpernel
Flea-bitten overalls
Half eaten fiddlesticks
Perfectly obvious
Ill-gotten moneybags
This is my opera’s revenge!
Little-known walruses
Cascading cannonballs
Lecherous teenager
Mummified pot-smoker
Pernicious pineapple
Liquefied meat grinder
This is my opera’s revenge!
Ill conceived bar mitzvah
Petrified carbuncle
Misogynous pedophile
Perfidy horrible
Putrefied liverwurst
Kiss of death finally
This is my opera’s revenge!
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Authorial Risks (Rayro, 12/5/06)
It really was a tragic thing, Jake. This was an author of great promise who had written a handful of novels that, it is true, had not quite made the big time yet. The reviews so far went from lukewarm to openly hostile, and sales were terrible, but I felt there was hope for this guy if he really kept at it and dropped his lightweight hobbies.
I took him in hand and tried to advise him as an interested reader. I hope I was not the only interested reader out there, if you know what I mean. Okay, how to make the plot go better. Maybe leave out the parts that used foreign languages and alphabets that nobody really understands, even if they hate to admit it. And are photographs really needed? Shouldn’t his words be memorable enough and accurate enough to say what needs to be said, and really stay on target with that?
Sad case. As I think back about it, he really listened politely to my advice, given, I mean, as it was from just a reader, and not really from an expert about this creative process that grew on him, day by day, as his writing was taking more and more of his time and he was trashing less and less of it, as he told me himself. Gosh, once or twice I thought I saw a teardrop, even though I thought I was being a gentle human being and a true friend to him. Maybe his only friend.
I thought that the most important advice to an author I could give him as a reader was to avoid injecting himself into his stories, that they really had to live their own lives apart from his, and not be pushed and pulled and distracted by his own life and personality. Okay, maybe in a movie, once in awhile the director can appear momentarily like Alfred Hitchcock, and even get away with making it a personal signature. Whimsical. But a serious author is a different thing altogether. His signature is on the outer cover for sure, and maybe in occasional quirks of style and subject matter that, however, cannot become too predictable if the author wants to hold an audience. True, a really good author takes risks, but this one is especially dangerous, I would say. But I am getting ahead of myself, as I tend to do. Are you still with me?
Jake, have another one on me so I can catch my breath. Make that two, please, sir. So where was I?
Okay, so here he was in the closing pages of what I think was by far the best novel he ever wrote. Suddenly and without warning he lapses into first person and starts talking about his own feelings about all these fascinating characters he has created and about the situation unfolding around them. The next thing you know, he is in there, tapping one of them on the shoulder and trying to tell him what he should have done, instead of what he is doing now in the story. Jake, do you get my drift? And here he is, stuck in the damn story he should have kept out of.
The following chapter, which was also the last one, was written by his loving wife of thirty five years, who he had left behind. Along with his twelve kids, of all ages and sexes. A real tragedy.
**************************************************************************
I took him in hand and tried to advise him as an interested reader. I hope I was not the only interested reader out there, if you know what I mean. Okay, how to make the plot go better. Maybe leave out the parts that used foreign languages and alphabets that nobody really understands, even if they hate to admit it. And are photographs really needed? Shouldn’t his words be memorable enough and accurate enough to say what needs to be said, and really stay on target with that?
Sad case. As I think back about it, he really listened politely to my advice, given, I mean, as it was from just a reader, and not really from an expert about this creative process that grew on him, day by day, as his writing was taking more and more of his time and he was trashing less and less of it, as he told me himself. Gosh, once or twice I thought I saw a teardrop, even though I thought I was being a gentle human being and a true friend to him. Maybe his only friend.
I thought that the most important advice to an author I could give him as a reader was to avoid injecting himself into his stories, that they really had to live their own lives apart from his, and not be pushed and pulled and distracted by his own life and personality. Okay, maybe in a movie, once in awhile the director can appear momentarily like Alfred Hitchcock, and even get away with making it a personal signature. Whimsical. But a serious author is a different thing altogether. His signature is on the outer cover for sure, and maybe in occasional quirks of style and subject matter that, however, cannot become too predictable if the author wants to hold an audience. True, a really good author takes risks, but this one is especially dangerous, I would say. But I am getting ahead of myself, as I tend to do. Are you still with me?
Jake, have another one on me so I can catch my breath. Make that two, please, sir. So where was I?
Okay, so here he was in the closing pages of what I think was by far the best novel he ever wrote. Suddenly and without warning he lapses into first person and starts talking about his own feelings about all these fascinating characters he has created and about the situation unfolding around them. The next thing you know, he is in there, tapping one of them on the shoulder and trying to tell him what he should have done, instead of what he is doing now in the story. Jake, do you get my drift? And here he is, stuck in the damn story he should have kept out of.
The following chapter, which was also the last one, was written by his loving wife of thirty five years, who he had left behind. Along with his twelve kids, of all ages and sexes. A real tragedy.
**************************************************************************
Kashaknishra's Two Precepts for Today, Dec. 6, 2006
1. Your best defense against too many noodles is to share them with other people.
2. The oddest-shaped pieces are most necessary to complete the puzzle.
3. A corollary: Be not afraid.
More shall follow in due course, my children...
2. The oddest-shaped pieces are most necessary to complete the puzzle.
3. A corollary: Be not afraid.
More shall follow in due course, my children...
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Rayro's Health & Fitness Advice: Serious Stuff!
Since I am going to be 69 years old on Feb. 4, 2007 and appear to be in splendid shape, and I have earned all those advanced degrees too, I feel fully qualified to tell everyone else what they might do to stay in good health and shape:
I. Fitness
Everyone should exercise to the fullest extent of ability and available time in order to maintain flexibility, strength, cardiovascular health, and sanity.
Let’s start with the 10-15 minute quickies that are possible in a pinch, such as a) Royal Canadian Air Force Exercises, or some equivalent, for cardiovascular health, strength, etc.; and b) Pete Egoscue’s basic stretches on pp. 277-282 of his really fascinating book, “Pain Free,” which also addresses very clever ways to tackle musculoskeletal aches and pains through movement.
But whenever possible, more time should go into fitness for life. I also use Egoscue for warm-ups and after-stretches on days when I make it to my local YMCA to work out on those elliptical machines and/or the Nautilus weight machines for at least half an hour.
To maintain balance, flexibility, and good coordination, nothing in the world that I know of comes even close to learning to do Feldenkrais routines; take a class in Awareness Through Movement®, and you will soon see what I mean. (Yoga and T’ai-chi are fine too, but I think they are not as complete & savvy as Feldenkrais.) Don't forget to dance whenever possible.
II. Health & Medical
Supplement your excellent doctor with the best website doctor I know of: Dr. Andrew Weil, MD, http://www.drweil.com -- and I fully recommend his books and newsletter too. You are neither too young nor too old to check out his advice, which is based on a fabulous grasp of both Western and non-Western approaches, as well as on quite a knowledge of alternative medicine. His own brand of vitamins that he pushes should be taken only as a suggestion, since you can usually find far less expensive substitutes out there, especially at Vitacost.com. His FOOD advice is very valuable too, and I do follow it closely — but not his recipes!!
If you are over 50 years of age, you may also profit from Dr. Weil’s discussion of a new product called Juvenon, an equivalent of which can be found at a much lower price at Vitacost.com with the name Alpha Lipoic Acid & Acetyl L-Carnitine HCL (manufactured by NSI).
For muscle aches and pains, explore the use of herbal creams like a) Arnica; b) Ruta graveolens (Rue); and c) Rhus tox, if the first two did not work. A good acupuncturist can do wonders too.
I. Fitness
Everyone should exercise to the fullest extent of ability and available time in order to maintain flexibility, strength, cardiovascular health, and sanity.
Let’s start with the 10-15 minute quickies that are possible in a pinch, such as a) Royal Canadian Air Force Exercises, or some equivalent, for cardiovascular health, strength, etc.; and b) Pete Egoscue’s basic stretches on pp. 277-282 of his really fascinating book, “Pain Free,” which also addresses very clever ways to tackle musculoskeletal aches and pains through movement.
But whenever possible, more time should go into fitness for life. I also use Egoscue for warm-ups and after-stretches on days when I make it to my local YMCA to work out on those elliptical machines and/or the Nautilus weight machines for at least half an hour.
To maintain balance, flexibility, and good coordination, nothing in the world that I know of comes even close to learning to do Feldenkrais routines; take a class in Awareness Through Movement®, and you will soon see what I mean. (Yoga and T’ai-chi are fine too, but I think they are not as complete & savvy as Feldenkrais.) Don't forget to dance whenever possible.
II. Health & Medical
Supplement your excellent doctor with the best website doctor I know of: Dr. Andrew Weil, MD, http://www.drweil.com -- and I fully recommend his books and newsletter too. You are neither too young nor too old to check out his advice, which is based on a fabulous grasp of both Western and non-Western approaches, as well as on quite a knowledge of alternative medicine. His own brand of vitamins that he pushes should be taken only as a suggestion, since you can usually find far less expensive substitutes out there, especially at Vitacost.com. His FOOD advice is very valuable too, and I do follow it closely — but not his recipes!!
If you are over 50 years of age, you may also profit from Dr. Weil’s discussion of a new product called Juvenon, an equivalent of which can be found at a much lower price at Vitacost.com with the name Alpha Lipoic Acid & Acetyl L-Carnitine HCL (manufactured by NSI).
For muscle aches and pains, explore the use of herbal creams like a) Arnica; b) Ruta graveolens (Rue); and c) Rhus tox, if the first two did not work. A good acupuncturist can do wonders too.
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