There are many areas. First of all, relationship clutter needs to go. I find that it clouds my mind and I am caught up in a storm of my own making. All the ifs and buts tend to take over and more often than not I am not in a comfortable place. I’m working on that.
Clutter in the home is another thing I need to work on. Especially my closets. No matter how hard I try to clear up space, I don’t seem to be making headway in that direction. I used to be a clothes horse. However, these days I live in my sweats and dress up only when I need to so I don’t need much “stuff.” That’s another area I need to work on.
Lastly, I need to work on all the things living rent free in my head! It is the kind of clutter that takes up space and blurs the vision! Clarity is what I am seeking so those things need to go as well. Where to start? Hmm…..that is the problem. On my way but not quite there yet. It is a work in progress.
Being “single” is cringeworthy to some, unbelievable to others, unbearable to those who think “single” is a bad word and a “no go” in today’s society of settling for anything even if it means you are with the wrong person just so long as you have someone to boost your image.
Single is defined as “the state of being unmarried or not involved in a long-term relationship.”
I’m both right now but I have to say it’s working out for me. I love spending time by myself and I’m learning that I like who I am. All the clutter that clouds my mind in a relationship is gone and for a change there is peace and clarity within.
“You’re single not because you are not good enough for one, it’s that you’re too good for the wrong one.” Chris Burkmein
Sometimes we make the wrong choices and wind up in relationships that are not good for us. Taking the time as I am doing to find out why I keep falling for the wrong types is a necessary move on my part. Making a promise to do better the next time around is an integral part of the journey I’m on. It’s a journey of self-discovery and I’m not rushing things. I’m taking my time going within to weed out all the destructive bits that lead me on the self-same journey over and over again.
“It takes a strong person to remain single in a world that is accustomed to settling with anything just to say they have something.” Unknown
Settling is not my thing and never has been and I’m stubborn to a fault. Put the two together and you have someone who may never find the right one and “single” is in her cards forever! However, I’m not giving up hope. Working on myself is a priority this year and when and if the “new” someone shows up, I hope I’ll be ready to lower the banner I have around my heart which says, “Do Not Disturb, Work in Progress!“
It has been said:
“A season of loneliness and isolation is when the caterpillar gets its wings. Remember that next time you feel alone.” Parade
AND
“I’ve been single for a while and I have to say, it’s going very well.
Like…..It’s working out.
I think I’m the one.”
Unknown
All jokes aside, being “single” is nothing to be ashamed of. It just means you are taking time out for yourself, learning who you are, loving yourself, working on your self-worth and when the time is right, you’ll get your wings and you’ll learn to fly with the right person.
“Be strong enough to let go and wise enough to wait for what you deserve.” Unknown
I have a love affair with cats. Not all of them but the ones I have had and the one I have right one. I have learned and am learning that there is more to them than meets the eye. They are not dumb for one thing and their love is unconditional. Once you gain their trust, they are there for you fur coat and all!
Chachi, the cat, is an indoor cat and he is low-maintenance. Once he has his food and fresh water, he finds things to keep himself occupied. Keeping himself clean is of the highest priority and observing like a hawk is his other specialty. Hence his fascination with opening cupboards and doors! That aside, he is a confidante of sorts and just a hug and a kiss from my little buddy is enough to bring the sunshine back and for my heart to sing with joy.
The sun is shining as it has been for the last two or three days. Dreams of a snow-covered landscape is no longer a reality and if snow is making its way here, it sure is taking its time. I’ve all but given up on it.
The next best thing is sunshine on a clear morning even though the rooftops are frosted white and something tells me it is going to be very very cold out there. It is. No ifs or buts about it. Even though I am bundled up, the cold is finding places where it can creep in to show me just how “freeze your b*tt cold it is!” Heading up the hill and towards the open expanse I call the fields, it is quiet, very QUIET! The crows have gone into hiding although they are “die-hards” and are out in any kind of weather. Not today because they know what’s good for them unlike yours truly!
The ground is frozen with icy patches here and there. Keep your eyes focused I tell myself. One wrong move and it could send me tumbling! Looking around me, I notice that the field is wearing a somber look. Everything is brown and drab with no color to speak of. However, it still has a certain kind of beauty and charm as far as I’m concerned. A quietness that speaks to the soul and calms the mind.
Nothing much is at play today. The herons have taken leave and so have the ducks and the birds. The deer are huddled up in the woods somewhere and today the fields are mine alone except for the planes droning softly in the skies high above. It is a soothing sound and I welcome it as I trudge along, the sound of ice crunching under my feet.
“The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.” Rumi
Heading back, I realize that my mind, my overactive mind is sitting back and taking it all in as well. Nature has power and in my case, it has calmed the beast I call my mind and that is not an easy thing to do!
“When confronted with a challenge, the committed heart will search for a solution. The undecided heart searches for an escape.” Andy Andrews
Commitment is a must if you want to succeed in getting something done, accomplish goals or simply in moving forward. However, commitment is often met with excuses and the easy route is to make an excuse for why you are not capable of doing something and to leave whatever it is that needed done just dangling in mid-air, an unfinished task so to speak. It is often accompanied by “If only I had….” at a later point in time.
“Commitment is defined as the state of quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, etc.”
It takes work, a certain tunnel-vision to stay on the straight and narrow and to see it through. At times, it is boring and it takes tremendous effort. Excuses, on the other hand, are easy to come by.
Looking for a job is hard work because it will take effort, focus and an unwavering mentality. I really don’t want to leave my comfort zone and be out there looking is not going to cut it. I would rather be watching something on TV or playing computer games is not how you are going to be able to pay your bills. It may be fun but not in the long run. However, this excuse comes with a big price tag attached to it at a later point in time.
“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.” Unknown
How about making excuses in a relationship? Instead of building a relationship most excuse-mongers have one foot in a relationship and out chasing rainbows looking for that pot of gold with the other. Problem is they wind up losing what they had in the first place. Their excuse is, “I’m not sure.” That is one stupid excuse because keeping several fires burning is not the answer. Dedication is. Build instead of tearing it down.
“If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.” Unknown
There there are all kinds of other excuses. One for every topic it seems and those excuses are the ones which keep you from achieving the goals. The all important goal of moving on in life, of making something out of life, of being with that one special someone and so on and so forth. Excuses are a dime a dozen and the path to hell is lined with them! Commitment takes courage, fortitude, a certain mindset and it is success oriented.
“Commitment is an act, not a word.” Unknown
It is what transforms a dream into a reality and it takes more than just dreaming about it. Learn what it takes to make it a reality and go after it. Never giving up is a key element and showing “excuses” the door is another sure way of getting to where you want to be. You can stay awhile in “excuses-land” but only long enough to wet your feet and then move with dedication to the end goal. If you want success, dedication and commitment is the way to go.
“There’s always a way if you’re committed.” Unknown
These days I keep it to a bare minimum. Gone are the days of being on everything and keeping track of the traffic coming in, I don’t need to do it anymore. My online presence is next to nothing.
I have one or two things I go to regularly and this here is one of them. I check my messages and that’s about it. As I have said before, I am turning into a recluse in more ways than one. If I could stay in my PJs all day I would! Since that is not possible, sweats are the next best thing. I used to be a fashion magazine editor and the media presence was huge but these days I’ve stepped back and spend more time in nature than anywhere else.
I hate Sundays! Sure, it is a day for rest and restoration but it is also the last bit of hurdle after Saturday and the day before everything opens back up and life returns to normal again and the “fields” become mine alone sans the usual Sunday crowd. The way I love it.
Yesterday was no different. I had my intentions set for the day and I was going to take it easy, relax, meditate, watch “reality” on TV and play with Chachi, the cat. However, it didn’t turn out that way. I was bored stiff! It doesn’t happen often but somehow it was different yesterday. I couldn’t stand my own company anymore.
It was time to get out and about. The “Cheesecake Guy” came to the rescue. If you don’t know who he is, read my article the, “Cheesecake Dilemma.” Anyway, he invited me over to watch movies with him and it sounded like a perfect plan so I took him up on it.
We decided on a Charles Bronson movie, The Telefon. It was an old movie but since I had had my fill of horror movies, we settled on it. My said friend is a horror movie aficionado! Once the movie got going, I couldn’t get into it. It seemed to drag on but my friend was fixated on it so I bit my teeth and kept my patience in check. Halfway through, he suggested stopping for coffee. I agreed enthusiastically. He made the coffee and set the table and there right in the middle holding a place of honor was my nemesis staring back at me! Not one but two! A cherry cheesecake and a raisin cheesecake. He, the friend, had a twinkle in his eye but mine was filled with dread, fear and disbelief.
I’ve been trying to get off this addiction for cheesecake and it was working sporadically but here it was again and I just can’t seem to keep my distance away from it. He said, “Cut as big a slice as you want.” I swear the cheesecakes were nodding in agreeance! I let myself be led meekly to the table. You guessed it! I had two slices and my willpower was nowhere to be seen. It said, “It’s Sunday and I’m taking a day off! You’re on your own!”
Long story short, I had my fix and it felt good going down. Today is another day to get it in grip again. Did I tell you, “I hate Sundays!”
I wrote this article last year when Trump was running to be the 47th president and since then he has bagged the presidency. However, the man behind the scene, Elon Musk, is where we should be placing our attention. Can money buy an election? The man in question is now dabbling in politics and how. It seems he has a love affair with far-right organizations. Take it across the pond and that’s where he is zooming in with a hawk-like presence. His lovefest with Alice Weidel was evident as he backed her as the leading candidate to run Germany. She is currently the chancellor candidate for AfD. The multibillionaire is deadset on using his global platform as a megaphone to get his views heard and maybe more than that.
He once asked his 211 million followers if “America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government,” by voting. To which, Robert Ford, a professor of politics at the University of Manchester, had this to say. “Musk has a very distorted understanding of British politics, and yet he’s got a megaphone.” That megaphone and the money behind it could distort, derail and maybe even get the wrong person elected. Just saying.
This is the article I wrote last year:
Trump’s major interview with Elon Musk almost got derailed because of a huge technical problem but it got back on track after a 40 plus minute delay and when it did, the bromance flourished between the former president and the Space X Founder.
The former president felt so safe in Musk’s presence that he went off-script and unleashed at least 20 false claims. He ran the gamut and let loose his falsehoods with Elon Musk giving him his undivided attention. The former Commander in Chief and all around liar gripped about crime rates, inflation, Global warming (of which he knows nothing about) and anything else he saw fit to throw into the mix. It didn’t matter if they were lies or gross exaggerations. Things like that don’t matter to a seasoned pathological liar and a true narcissist.
According to NPR, he told 162 lies and distortions in his news presser at Mar-a-Lago within 1 hour. The NPR team found at least 162 misstatements, exaggerations and outright lies in 64 minutes and that’s more than two a minute. “It’s a stunning number for anyone – and even more problematic for a person running to lead the free world.” They further added that, “what former President Trump did this past Thursday went well beyond the bounds of what most politicians would do.” The Musk interview was no different.
EU’s commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, cautioned X founder and Tech mogul Musk asking him to censor the interview to avoid “the amplification of harmful content.” He went on to say that Musk “has a legal obligation to comply with the Digital Services Act to fight the spread of misinformation as the man in charge of the platform used by over 300 million people worldwide.”
Musk’s reply went like this. “Take a big step back and literally f**k your own face!” The man is not a novice when faced with censorship. In July, EU charged X for failing to respect its social media laws. He also faced recent criticism for fanning the flames as far-right riots broke out in the UK claiming the perpetrator of the Southport stabbings was Muslim which was an untruth.
How smart is Musk? According to Noam Mendelssohn, a Software Engineer, “Elon Musk is not very bright. He’s an economic and business bully in the same line as Trump, but nothing more. Any engineer worth his salt, any person with basic physics knowledge or computer knowledge can shred his ideas.” He went on to add, “His solar plans are flawed, his calculations on his TED interview are about 100x off, Tesla was not his idea, he strongarmed his way in and his hyperloop idea being even worse.” So how did he make his money? Mendelssohn had this answer. “He has a hype that is believed by simpletons and he is making his money by being a snake oil salesman.” Two peas in a pod? No wonder the bromance took off like a rocket and is till flying around in space somewhere!
Joseph Costello, Harris campaign spokesperson, had this to say about the interview.
“Trump’s entire campaign is in service of people like Elon Musk and himself – self-obsessed rich guys who will sell out the middle class and who cannot run a livestream in the year 2024.”
The interview was a flop in more ways than one. Nothing new, same old lies, exaggerated insults coming from an “old” man who is trying to give his sagging and deflated campaign a helping hand but unfortunately for him, it is going to take more than what he has in that thing he calls a brain to do that!
It was a long time ago. The family was in Asia visiting friends and as road trips go, this one was exciting. We were in Malaysia. I was six or seven at the time and we were packed in a car and heading somewhere not sure where now. It was late at night and it was raining and the road we were on was dark and winding with no lights to show the way. Some of us were sleeping at the time while dad kept his eyes on the road. The rule was, do not stop if you hit anything because it was a ploy used by bandits to rob or do something worse.
We were approaching a curve and suddenly dad swerved to avoid a log in the middle of the road. We screamed as he tried to gain control of the car and somehow managed to avoid hitting the tree stump and we made it out of there with nothing more than a scare and something to remember for all time. We could have lost our lives that night and even though that trip was memorable for other reasons, it is this one aspect that stands out in my mind.
Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has been designated as a right-wing extremist entity and Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla said the decision was “clearly politically motivated” and a “severe blow to German democracy.” The AfD attracted the support of two leading figures in the Trump administration. Elon Musk called on Germans to vote for the AfD and repeatedly posted his support for Weidel’s party and JD Vance said there was no place for “firewalls,” saying that free speech was in retreat in Europe. I guess there is a difference between free speech and hate speech. What’s in the future? It’s a wait and see approach.
The woman is openly gay, she lives in Switzerland, has two sons AND has a Sri Lankan partner. She is also now officially the AfD’s chancellor candidate as of this weekend.
Der Spiegel magazine had this to say: “If someone accuses the AfD of being misogynistic, homophobic or racist, they can say they have Weidel….”
According to Weidel, the first 100 days of an AfD government would see the total closing of Germany’s borders and turning back anyone with no documents as well as large scale repatriations. “I say to you quite honestly, if this must be called remigration, then let it be called remigration.” Those were her words but do you see some resemblance to you know who and his words? She also happened to describe Hitler as a “communist” and a “socialist” but conveniently left out “Nazi” in her chat with Musk.
Musk who? You know him. The Tesla guy with one foot in space and the other meddling in politics. You know what they say about Jack of all trades, master of none. Well, in his case, it’s working just fine for him. However, the billionaire is showing his true colors. He loves the AfD which stands for Alternative for Germany. It is a far-right and right wing populist political party in Germany. It opposes immigration especially that of Muslim immigration and it has been classified as a “suspected extremist” party. However, Musk in his wisdom claims that “only the AfD can save Germany.” He has become very vocal about his support of far-right, anti-establishment parties across Europe and more recently has been accused of meddling in Germany’s election process.
Have money, will meddle? Apparently so. The scary part is that Musk’s endorsement of AfD seems to have emboldened its presence and boosted its acceptance among the German electorate. He has gone on to say, “Chancellor Oaf Schitz or whatever his name is will lose.” Olaf Scholz responded with, “There are a lot of people on social media who want to attract attention with snappy slogans. The rule is: don’t feed the troll.” However, I like this one better. Elmar Brok, a former German MEP, called Musk’s comment, “the world domination fantasies of the American tech kings.”
Coming back to Weidel, AfD owes its prime-time position in German politics to her. It’s neo-Nazi image has been airbrushed and being promoted as a polite, and decorous populism thanks to the pearl necklace touting and pantsuit wearing Weidel. Under her guidance AfD’s vote share has risen to 22 percent, its highest ever at the national level.
However, it has been said that AfD has little chance of advancing or being part of Germany’s next government since working with the far-right is considered a major taboo because of its Nazi history. Needless to say the party is gaining momentum and it is making some people sit up and take notice.
Weidel once said, “As a woman, I also want to be able to take the last train home at night without fear,” referring to foreigners as her bone of contention. The well-traveled and educated Weidel’s entire career and lifestyle is in direct contradiction to her right-wing populist party’s doctrines which has led many to question her motives and what she is really about. Her former colleagues at Goldman Sachs have been posting videos and asking, “Here is Alice. What happened to her?” Is it the business woman or the right-wing populist?”
I’ll add, “Will the real Alice Weidel please stand up,” and “Mr. Musk, please sit down and be QUIET!”
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