Swing

Here
                               There
Here
                                            There
Love                           Lust                                         Denial
               Tender                           Love                                     Affection

Peace
Denial                                 Truth                                  Love

This
That
Maybe
No No No
                                   High
                                   High                         Low

Happy Happy
Happy
Sad
Aggressive
Want Need you
                                        Love you

Sobs

ME

Laced with degrees of comparison

Ever wondered how most of our conversation  has the mode of comparison laced at the subconscious level. Every time I remark: I like coffee, I am subconsciously saying that I like coffee better than tea or colas or better still vodka! The same applies for clothes, people and situations.

Now I start meandering into thought whether this is a social and cultural conditioning. Do we always look at people, objects and emotions in the comparison mode? When does an individual learn this: as a child or as an early adolescent who has some experience in life?

When babies cry while being fed with milk instead of orange juice, do they react to the taste because they don't find it as appealing or simply because it does not taste good. It's a wonder to observe all these nitty-gritties of life.

Just pause through your thoughts in a given time and observe yourself and think how many times your thoughts are based on comparison. When you decide to read instead of watching television, you compare; when you exclaim, "I love kissing!" you are comparing it with something else, say caressing; when you remark "I love this place," you are doing a fast mental comparison of different places and arriving at a conclusion.

Of course, along with all this, memory plays a pivotal role which aids in comparison and decisions.

And so what are the tales of comparison in your experiences . . .

An aside called 'Octopus Paul'

After yesterday's comment blooper in Blogger, the next best thing is Octopus Paul, the psychic predicting the winner of the different matches. Well, the sports page cannot get more interesting as different papers devote a section to a news article with the picture of Paul. World Cup 2010 has all the right ingredients to cater to different mediums!!! Literally.

Telegraph just reported: "Psychic octopus Paul unfazed by death threats." I am enjoying this side-kick. After the prediction that Spain will win against Germany, people have started taking Paul more seriously.

I wonder at the state of mind of the players tonight. Will Spain be encouraged because Paul predicted their win or will Germany try to be more strategic and alert after the prediction. Along with many others, I am also interested and anxious to herald the verdict delivered by Paul.

But this kind of psychic predictions have existed for many hundreds of years now. Kings and generals have always consulted mediums and psychics for advice and wisdom. The World Cup is also not short of being a battle field with equally strong emotions and passion.

Octopus Paul is certainly a star in its own way with celebrity status and extensive press coverage. It is time the world gave importance to mollusks of the sea like octopuses along with marine mammals like whales, dolphins and the like.

Finally I choose to end with few lines posted by a friend on Facebook:

XX is going Dutch for the remainder of the World Cup - Kom op Oranje!

Non-Dutch readers will note that the language looks quite familiar. This is because English is a debased form of Dutch (Low German). And since the Dutch takeover of England in 1688 we are really a province of the Netherlands. Ergo when 'they' win we can share the glory-esp when they beat ancestral enemies Germany OR Spain!

Paul, we shall wait.

Image courtesy: I saw it all over the net but I chose this anyway

Facts of life

Step 1: DENIAL (Who me? No No. I could not do that)

Step 2: PRETENSION OF CURIOSITY (Do you think it was really me? Maybe it was x who was also there)

Step 3: SHEEPISH ACCEPTANCE (You know, it's been there for quite some time now)

Now for a few seconds, I would have held your undivided attention at the same time made you think of a thousand different situations which could have initiated the same three steps.

Well, these three steps comes from a person who SNORES and avoids confrontation. Almost everyone snores and most often not many accept that they do so. A simple act of making bizarre sounds while sleeping does not appeal to anyone (even if it is in an unconscious state of sleep). Recently I found out that even small children make sounds similar to snoring. All of us love being prim and proper even whilst sleeping but of course, we cannot be on the vigil.

To add to this three steps, it would also be interesting to analyse the different stages of this friendly act  through the years of my existence. In the eighties, while I was growing up, my grandmother would remark at a person who was snoring: "Looks like he had a very tiring day. See! how he is snoring. Don't wake him up."

After a decade, doctors researched this topic and came out with the results that if the wind pipe had some congestion, then it affected breathing and caused snoring. There was nothing to worry about that. Great news.

Bang, came the new millennium with it's sophisticated equipment and high-end researches. 'Sleep-apnea' is what it is referred to in medical terms with corrective surgery, if it gets too loud or hard to cope with. Our community web page, Wikipedia even offers tips to partners with spouses who snore -- Earmuffs with extra padding (!!!!!)

But after all this, I wonder why it is hard for a person to accept that they snore. Most of my family members whom I accost with snoring, follow the three steps mentioned above religiously. As I type this, I think aloud for myself as well. Why do I refuse to accept that I sometimes do snore. Is it a pathological desire to give a picture of the eternal 'sleeping-beauty' who looked lovely even as she slept or is it a picture of ourselves that does not make any unpleasant noises while sleeping, an unconscious state where one is laid bare of all the pretensions and staying-on-guard. It can be anything. How easy it is to lie and utter a 'NO' instead of calmly saying: "Yes I do snore." After all it's free will. Why make an issue of snoring and it's denials.On second thoughts, one does not know what happens while sleeping, maybe the other person is lying to pull our legs. Sounds convincing. Hmmm.

Image courtesy: Internet

Injecting interjections. Wow!!!

Language is wonderful and I can never cease to be amazed by it's different forms. I've been thinking of the different words I frequently use and interjections seem to be a feature that constantly appears. And in case, you did not know what interjections were: They are words used to describe emotions. But that definition does not explain it all.

Words like 'Well!' 'Geez!' 'Voila!' and others are examples of interjections. Now, well, this is not a post on grammar. I just meant to say how by injecting interjections, we save uttering a number of words. Words like 'cool' and sexy' also can be called interjections.

Just a look at the many comments I write stand example to my heavy leaning on interjections. They all have 'well,' 'aww,' 'oh,' 'hmmm' and certain other words that express how I feel.

The words above can also be called my pet interjections. How incomplete our vocabulary will be without these lovely interjections. They of course don't receive as much importance like certain other words but how can we survive without them. I tried doing a simple exercise: Writing and speaking for two days without interjections and boy! it was not easy. Well, injecting interjections have become the norm for me. Oh! so wonderful.

Well, what are your pet interjections. Err . . .

Image courtesy: Internet

Dream-stealer

"I am a dream-stealer," she exclaimed emphatically to her amused companion.

"Can we have a strawberry tea and an ice-cold lemon tea, please?"

The companion nodded and slowly replied: "I think you are mad, unethical and stupid."

"Why do you think so?" she asked warming to the strawberry tea. "When people can steal ideas, cars and children, why not dreams?"

"Well, stealing ideas, cars and children are accepted as it is the norm but dreams?"

The sun chose her to shine upon thus causing her small diamond stud to sparkle. She took another sip of her strawberry tea relishing it as if it was the most wonderful concoction in the face of the earth.

"You don't know me at all," she argued with her companion who was looking at the baby in the next table.

"Let me tell you, this will never get you far. You will have to face hellfire for stealing people's dreams and you can never be forgiven."

"Why do you use such complex words when you can dismiss this as something silly and simple."

"It is NOT silly and it is NOT simple."

She slowly asked her companion: "What do you understand when I say "dream-stealer?""

"Well, you try to destroy people's dreams by stealing it. Though they don't know it is you who are doing it, nevertheless . . ."

Sipping her tea, she started, "You know whenever people tell me their dreams and I find it so wonderful, I repeat that dream to someone else pretending it was mine. When people are engrossed in my narration, it feels good and the conversation flows endlessly." She stops for a few seconds and continues, "You know this phrase 'dream-stealer' is also not my own."

Sipping the last of the cold lemon-tea, the companion nods muttering "Dream-stealer."

P. S: My first attempt at writing fiction.