Everything Else

It's good to know that this story doesn't change every time you tell it. I'm starting to believe...


For now I already am The people here are Infinitesimally more friendly then they are in my hometown of Ottawa CA (where everybody is rude and in a hurry with their over-inflated sense of self-worth etc. Can't get a bag of milk from the shops without being run over by some yuppie and her shopping cart. Toronto is just as bad if not worse. The real canucks say life is better out west, but I'm not much of a farmhand or oil tycoon so there wouldn't be much for me to do) Living in Baarn was nice (Netherlands) and I have most family still in those parts mainly Amsterdam. But I'm here now, and not there, so unless I can arrange for employment before moving to the old world I'm staying put


If I was smart I would have just looked in the parent directory

Sorry about that .... it was burned indelibly into me brain. I lived across the hall from a GTO for a few years. She was really sort of a half-GTO since she couldn't sing very well but she made all their clothes ... If you come up from the garage where you've been working on the bike to find half the Cockettes in the living room doing their version of Later that night , it's the kind of thing that sticks in your mind. I'll try to repress it in the future


Since you're going to settle down and have a family, find a way to get out of the US. There's no future there. Do you want to raise children in a country that thinks evolution is a theory ? And climate change is an Algore hoax ? I could go on for hours but the US is a shithole. Get out while you can. It's not going to get better.

If your children grow up in the United States, they will be morons. Guaranteed.

The only real complaint I have with the USA is the food. Ugh. Half of it is processed crap and the "fresh produce" is so genetically-modified, chemically-laden, and whatever else, that it doesn't really taste like anything at all. For $30 a plate you can get something from GFS microwaved by somebody else with a funny hat and smothered with sauces and served in a noisy restaurant..

Definitely crap, but indicative of the entire culture. Post-modern society, a poorly-done reproduction of a copy ... the US is worthless now, people copying their behavior from third-rate teevee shows and calling it life.


My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards, false gods ;
I scoff at pettiness which plays so rough,
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs,
Kick my legs to crash it off ;
Say okay, I've had enough, what else can you show me ?

Seriously though, if you will have a family, get out of the United States. It is an evil and stupid country, not somewhere you want to raise children.

Not to sidetrack Oskar's thread, when was this piece of music top o' the charts in the United States ?

Actually - what would you consider the most beautiful music there is? For me it's lying on my lady's bosom and listing to her heart beats...

That's like asking "What's the very best animal ?" There is no answer.

uhmmm early 60s, 62-63...

and he was a sakamoto right? i always thought that ryuichi sakamoto is related to him but he keeps reminding me otherwise

Sakamoto numbah nine, numbah nine, numbah nine ... He wasn't really a Sakamoto, was born something else during WW II and went through several family changes. Then he was on that plane that had the ass end blow out and took 40 minutes to crash. Everyone had time to write their good-byes ... Interesting life.

Have you ever looked up the words to that song ? It's worth a few minutes ...

Nevertheless, a bit OT- when and where did you last watch cheetahs in natura hunting?

A couple years ago at a big KTV place in Dongguan ... accidentally walked through their gathering place on the way to the bathroom.

I didn't make any sudden moves.

Had no idea that there are still cheetahs living in the wild in China While I enjoy them on a regular basis in the Mara, maybe I should one of these days visit mysterious China

Back to topic.

Anyone enjoys Steve Reich or Philip Glass [his latest opera, about Walt Disney, just had its world premiere in Madrid]?

No Cheetahs, but I was once stalked by a pair of Cougars while at a watering hole near Ft. Bragg. I got eaten alive.

Twice.

Put him in a box right next to a roll ...
someone took him home,
ate him for lunch and he tasted real fine !
but the cougar who ate him, she just lost her mind !

PS: Ah, so you could have been there instead of the tommy, with opened stomach - but since you were at a ktv camp, your encounters were probably only miaowing along merrily anyway. Seems I wasn't too much OT after all Besides, cheetahs [in contrast to lions] are usually solitary - especially females, unless they have cubs -, and it is rather rare to find more than three males - normally brothers - gathering together anyway. As a matter of fact, in my last 10 years in the Mara, I'd seen only twice three cheetahs hunting together - and, in both cases, they were the same brothers [affectionally nicknamed "fugglies" locally]. Next time you meet a group of cheetahs again - don't look into their eyes, don't turn your back to them and don't run...just tell them to shut off their purr-boxes, sing with them and you will be - just like Barfuss - adopted into their clan [although you might not be fast enough]

Anyhow, cheetahs are my favourite cats and not only because in one particular respect they are unique [no, I don't mean their speed]...

Wooow that is an amazing shot, I would love to go on a trip like that some day. The closest I've been is either the zoo, where they race them right in front of you, or watching Duma .

The cheetah is my favourite... cat... animal... everything I have already set this as my wallpaper; have you considered selling prints ?

Thanks. Well, as I'd pointed out in other threads before [e.g., "Mother and Son dancing"] the secret to get such shots is - be patient and be lucky, as they are impossible to plan for and no photographic equipment would help you any [actually, before the above shot I was fortunate enough to watch the whole hunt - from stalking to kill -, and it was breath-taking, believe me!] Should you ever have the opportunity, by all means make it the Mara - it's paradise [but don't be disappointed if you don't see anything spectacular in just one or two weeks - nature does tick differently. I myself had to wait quite a few years before I got an acceptable photograph of a serval cat].

Have no idea about the US - but if you over there ever have the chance to watch the BBC Big Cat Diary series by no means miss it - awesome [a few years ago I'd the fortune to meet Jonathan & Angela Scott when they were filming in the Mara].

Since no-one ever asked me for prints, I'm not in a position to sell [although I'd love to do so]. But for 2010 I'd made a calendar in which the above shot was July...

PS: what makes cheetahs unique - they are the only cats without re-tractable claws...

"Dead can dance" - on their re-union world tour, they'll be giving a concert in June over here. While I've a couple of their CDs from the '80s/90s, I just lost sight of them in the meantime. Do you think they're still worthwhile nowadays?

Speaking of Ryuichi Sakamoto, I've been listening to Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor recently. RYDEEN is one of my favorites.

ah! those early synth sounds, do you remember when kids would pop, lock and break-dance to ymo's tunes?

if you want an acoustic soirée tropicale, check out his collaboration with the morelenbaums neko. bossa-nuova gone spooky :)

Work in progress...
http://ftp.do.id.uw.edu.pl/pub/music/Un ... %20Who.mp3