Early this morning I awakened and heard the sound of rain drilling off my metal roof and falling to the deck. I reawakened some six hours later and was met with complete silence. At my house, high in the Sierra Nevada mountains, silence in winter means one of two things: the total cessation of rain or . . .
Snow. My first snowfall of the season.
I looked outside to witness the largest snowflakes I’d seen in 14 years. These were not your average flakes; oh no. These were Hollywood Flakes of the first magnitude. The kind of flakes you’d envision if you were to write a book about Christmas. They were light, fluffy, Genetic Mutant kinds of flakes, ranging from an inch to almost three inches in size and girth. They were not Danny Devito flakes, they were Yao Ming flakes.
It looked to me as though people were having a massive pillow fight many hundreds of feet above my house with the resulting stuffing wafting slowly, so slowly down.
It was absolutely gorgeous.
Sometimes I feel so isolated up here and that is precisely my goal at times. I can do what I choose when I choose. I can ignore the trappings of modern society because the house is surrounded by pines and a few scattered houses. At the top of my street, for example, the owners there have two horses in a corral. In the summer, with windows open, I could hear them give the occasional distant whinny — mixed with the occasional nighttime horns from passing high elevation trains.
No intrusive, orbiting police helicopters with NightSun lights, no sirens, no thump trucks or thump cars from First, Second and Third World hiphop dipshits. No police pursuits; no fire trucks responding. No burnouts from various Rice Rockets of the two and four-wheeled variety. No public transit buses passing. No public transit whatsoever. No passing traffic. No arguments and fights from the apartment complex next door. No apartment complex within 30 miles of me. No series of continuously-barking dogs from all my next door neighbors. Only one dog nearby, and I know him. He and my local feral cat friends, of whom I am slowly winning over — along with my own “inside” cat named Mose. Not to mention my irascible raccoonie buddies.
Just total and complete silence.
Silence.
What a new and unique concept.
So I can either tune into The World via the standard http://www quotient or radio waves or, when I choose, I can simply ignore whatever I wish. Sometimes I get no choice; my DirecTV “tunes out” when the rain or the snow becomes too thick. Hence my large library of DVDs.
Today, I chose to ignore The World.
Because, for me, the falling snowflakes were miracle enough.
I guess you could call this an Escape.
Do you have an “escape?”
BZ
Do I get an escape? Ummmm, only when I choose to. We don’t get snow here, or at least we don’t get snow often enough to mention. I’ve seen it snow once in the last 12 years and it only dusted the ground so I am extremely jealous of you!
I usually make my escapes on Sunday. I put up a post, but not political. Sundays I go to church and enjoy being with good friends, then come home and usually visit other bloggers, or sometimes just get away from the pc altogether, it depends on my mood.
I hope today you had a very blessed Sunday and it sounds like you did.
Merry Christmas, BZ!
12 10 06
Well BZ:
I am sure the snow is beautiful. It has been raining on and off in Modesto, but it almost NEVER snows. We only get frost on the grass. Believe it or not, I still have two tomato plants outside (they will soon come up, but tomatoes in December is crazy:)
I guess for an escape, I usually would go to the mountains around Sonora Pass. But since the pass is usually closed around this time, we stay closer to home or go down south more often. I think that I get my escape every night between midnight and three. No one is awake and I am with my thoughts. I can research and work on equations, or I can think or watch TV at my leisure. But the best way to clear my head without going to the mountains is to listen to Robert Rich or some classical music, sometimes jazz (Dinah Washington and Samba style jazz) and turn off the TV and computer and simply clear my head.
It is much harder to clear my head than anything else, but I relish my escapes to do so.
My husband has his quiet time and escape every morning when I am asleep:)
As a couple, we escape by going on adventures or just spending time with one another snuggling, talking, or not doing anything in particular.
I guess an escape is when you can push out feelings of obligation or at least NOT focus on obligations for a bit of time;)
BTW snowflakes are always interesting because they form cool mathematical patterns too:)
Aldous Huxley said: An intellectual is a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex.
ABOUT YOUR READER SHIP
Your readership has declined you say, you B Zep I guest post at a certain blog sometimes, and I often pull over 100 comments, 200 comments, another post that had 360 something comments on it. But if you go to my website you won’t see a lot of commenters but my readership has increased dramatically. And, there was a time I received no commenters but now I have some. But most of my commenters are located at other blogs that I go to. The reason my website is becoming popular is because I got to other peoples blogs and build up their commenting sections with a lot of comments. The Karmic result is my readership increases and I get some commenters now. And, I am well known by many people in the blogosphere.
What you need the most that is what you give. You want you reader ship to increases and want more commenters then go to other blog more frequently. Go and find new blogs to comment on and help build them up by commenting, this will cause a blessing to come to you and your blog. I speak form experience, for a long time no one read my website or commented on it. Now my website is a source of reference many black people, whites, etc come to my website and read essays. I have noticed also that they find my site via google or yahoo.
I also, write about a variety of topics, I have noticed that many universities come by my website and read essays, this makes me feel good. The reason I am growing is, because I continue to help other blogs grow by commenting on them. Other blogs loose readers because they have become boring. My star is rising because I continue to comment on other blogs and help them grow; you get what you give out.
12 12 06
Chance, here is an article that I think applies to you:
“Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments”, by Justin Kruger and David Dunning
Cornell University.”
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
1999, Vol. 77, No. 6. ] 121-1134
Copyright 1999 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.
0022-3514/99/S3.00
Check it out, as I think it applies directly to you. You write these hellaciously incoherent paragraphs and actually think that people will read them. Geesh you should grow up already!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Mahndisa,
You are the one who started callin me unique and special remember and you linked me too your blog roll and said Chance is unique. You were telling the truth. But you forgot abouty that didn’t you. If I was so worthless then why did you link me.
Mahndisa,
WHY?
Mahndisa, Madame why are you attacking me again? You attack me at all the black and white blogs that I attend. You try to turn the owners of those blogs whom you buddy with (being friendly) against me. I have done nothing too you, remember the email you were rude to me. Something about me liking white people too much and favoring whites over blacks. If you have nothing good to say leave me alone please Madame. I have ignored you and are you trying to turn the Bloviating Zeppelin against because he favors you? I don’t want you bothering me, you are too negative so, leave me alone.
My writing skills of punctuation and grammar are inferior, I admit that. But it is not always about grammar, it is about what I say. My website has many universities and college students and professors coming by, and reading my essays on genetics’, blacks, whites, light skin dark skin, Larry elder, Lashwan barber, sexual misconduct and children, Hip hop, gangs, slavery, politics, and many other subjects. I just had a website owned by this white gentleman, link my essay titled Penis size and racial groups (A Study in Genetics) he did this yesterday. Black website link my essays too, I have essays that I wrote at Dell’s blog get linked. I wrote an essay titled segregation and racial groups (segregation and society) and this white Blogger over at free republic dot com linked it. He told of his all posters this is not a racist post (essay), so read it before you go around calling the author a racist.
Many of my essays are viewed by intellectuals and university college students and faculties; I had a black university female writers group like one of my essays.
I just had a fashion magazine, link my essay titled the origins of baggy clothes in hip hop and gang culture. The magazine was talking about how Jay-Z (hip hop rapper) now wares business suit when he goes out, and do interviews. Jay-Z’s picture was at the top and below it said read this —> if you want to learn more about the origins of hip hop fashion read this article the origins of baggy clothes in hip hop and gang culture. It was just my essay and the article on Jay-z.
I could go on and on telling you about the websites, and blogs that link my essays and view my blog as a source of reference. I get emails from people I don’t know who let me know that they enjoy my blog. GOD has blessed me, for a variety of reasons. I help and support other blogs by coming by offering an alternative opinion.
Different opinions create debate, and this debate cause lurkers to start commenting. If people agree on a blog some commenters will stop coming by to comment, because they know that other commenters are going to agree with the owner of the blog. This can kill a blog; you need people who don’t always agree with you, this creates debate. Where there is debate you will find an increase in commenters.
It’s not about grammar and punctuation only; it is more about the content of the essay. My grammar is inferior, but many readers enjoy my essays so much, that they over look it. Many websites and blogs have good grammar, but many great people do not waste time linking to those blogs essays. It is not about your grammar Mahndisa, which attracts people; it’s about what you said in the essay.
Remember that essay I wrote that you loved so much. The essay was is titled LIGHT SKIN, DARKSKIN BLACKS, AND MORAL TREACHERY. You loved that essay so much. Guess what that same essay blacks, whites, non-whites, professors, etc at college universities come by and read that essay too. They use my writings as sources of reference. It is not about grammar, you can always get some body to edit if that’s what you want. It’s about what you that touches the soul of a person. And, I have been doing a lot of touching lately and I owe it to GOD.
If I am mentally crazy, then I am in the same line of personality types like Einstein, Aldous Huxley, Goethe, Nietzsche, and many others. What did all of these men have in common beside there genius? They were labeled eccentric and psychologically imbalanced (crazy). The same craziness and mental illnesses you have labeled me, so I take it as a complement.
Why would you just come over here to BZ blog and assault my character unprovoked. That was not nice, I did nothing to you nor said anything negative too you.
You keep harassing me because there something you want to say — but you are hiding behind anger. So what is the real motive, you can speak with me about this.
Thanks to all of you people out there on blogs and college universities for supporting me, and viewing and linking my website essays.
Blo,
Great flakes!! Love it!
My getaway is my time on the computer every day.
OH yes, I have an idea to increase flow to your blog, which I feel is worthy.. Go to “Little Green Footballs” on the weekend and just kind of go on it throughout the day and evening.. Just visit it for a few seconds to see if the register is open. It opens on the weekends for a specific amount of time. I happened to check it one weekend day and registered, so I comment on it now..
You will have thousands of people reading your comments. You can always go on there and offer your link as the post subject allows. I think there are several well-known ‘lizards’ on there whose blogs’ readership has skyrocketed because of exposure on there.
ANyway, just a suggestion.
Mahndisa,
HI!! You go!! Great quote!!
“Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments”, by Justin Kruger and David Dunning
Cornell University.”
SO TRUE!
12 13 06
Hey Revka:
Glad to see you around:) And yes, I am trying to get the word out so whenever you run across a self inflated incompetent person, flash that in their face and see if they are competent enough to recognize;) hehehehehehe Have a Merrrry Christmas:)
Stay warm Cowboy.
My, this has been VERY exciting to say the least.
I’ll try the comments and visitation thing — also to LGF. My problem, like most everyone I know, is trying to find the time, particularly during the day, and during this busy season, to wrench enough time from the day to do precisely this. I find myself time challenged now more than the past few months — hence my sporadic posting. But thanks to all for the exquisite suggestions.
No PC for me:
MERRY CHRISTMAS to ALL — this “Happy Holiday” crap can circle the drain, far as I’m concerned. And hey, this from a — well, you know my position here anyway.
BZ!!
To you,
If anyone has a problem with me feel free to email me, I will try to talk out instead of this negativity. Mahndisa, there is something on your heart about me, that you want to say, I am all ears. I will not make fun of you. You keep attacking me at other blogs, if it is something that you want to say but not allow others to know then email me. I will not be negative, mean spirited, and aggressive in words. Even if your email is, there is something you want to say, but you don’t want to say it in public then do it in private. Forget your pride the hell with us humans and our so called pride. I am opening up a door way for potential dialogue, alright and I want it to be civil.
Many professors, students of colleges, and educated people in other countries don’t think I am stupid. They admire my writing and use them as a source of reference.