Melancholy moment

[Bill Glasheen]

One of the many themes of mathematical chaos has to do with events happening in clusters. For instance... Listen to an AM radio station on an unsettled summer night. If you are in Virginia, find a Cleveland station. Turn the volume up, and listen to the static that is layered over the talking or music. It isn't white noise - sort of what you get when you turn your old TV set on and nobody's broadcasting to it any more. Nope... The static comes in bursts. And when you study one of those bursts, you discover that it is made up of a seemingly random set of mini-bursts. Look at a mini-burst, and the phenomenon repeats itself at yet another level.

Life is like that.

At no time in my life have I experienced "life" than I have recently. It seems the more you progress in life and the more things are created by you, the broader the reach of your emotional senses. And when schit happens...

I do not kid myself. I have lived a blessed live. I came from good people and I spent many of the formative years of my life preparing for what is now on my plate. Meanwhile we have people in this country who are losing their homes, cannot afford to go to the doctor, are being rendered irrelevant by a rapidly-changing economy, and are faced with a future that is nothing like what they planned.

And let's not forget a whole other level of catastrophe in Haiti and Chile.

So life is happening to me - at breakneck speed. And just when I think I've whacked all those moles popping out of the ground, two more pop up. It is now official, folks. This is gonna be a bumpy fuking ride. Fasten your seatbelts.

I've chosen to stop feeling sorry for myself. When I open my eyes, there's much more suffering going on right in front of me. And all around me. And so I thank those who stood by me this past year, and move on. There is work to do.

I have discovered much strength in what has brought me this far in life. My personal method of coping became more clear when I recently saw a piece about an Eastern martial arts school where they give students pointless tasks to perform. When you learn to give of yourself with absolutely no expectation of return, you've reached another level.

It is a level I've unceremoniously been thrust into. I promise you that it wasn't pretty. But here I am being the person that I hope my own boys will be - sooner than later. Somebody has to do it. The path suddenly became very obvious.

Come out to a special place with me tonight. Join my friend Clarkson (from the past) who lived at the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains in White Hall. We'd go out to the middle of a field beside her place, and look up at the stars.

This is a song I used to sing. The guitar is officially out of retirement. The lungs need a workout.

Turn up the volume, make the video full screen, and enjoy.

Peaceful Easy Feeling - The Eagles

- Bill

[Valkenar]

Sorry to hear that your life has been rocky lately, Bill. Hope that things improve for you.

[maxwell ainley]

Bill ,
We have very similar situations ,I found the nineties tough ,but had to adapt ,things now are more disturbing

[Glenn]

I've chosen to stop feeling sorry for myself. When I open my eyes, there's much more suffering going on right in front of me. And all around me. And so I thank those who stood by me this past year, and move on. There is work to do.

This is the important thing. I do not know what you've been dealing with this past year, other than that something significant has been occuring based on your occassional comments about being stressed, but in general being able to put a personal crisis into perspective and finding closure that transitions it to being a past event, rather than keeping it a current event, will allow you to move forward and ultimately open more doors than have been closed. Some people are never able to accomplish this, and are held in the past as a result. You've never struck me as the latter type, and probably have reached the point of being ready to move on sooner than most people would. Whatever you are dealing with Bill, I have no doubt you will end up in a better position from it than most of us would.

In my opinion it is the intensely personal, long-term trials and tribulations that reap the best results from a lifetime of martial arts training, moreso then even the brief self-defense situation that may or may not someday occur. And it is the former that separate the true karateka from the fad warriors.

Learn from the past, live in the present, and plan for possible futures. Easier said than done, but a worthwhile goal nonetheless.

[Chris McKaskell]

Hi Bill, I don't know what's up, but I'm sure you'll make it through.

I knew a woman who was very old during the few years I spent time with her. She's passed on now -- happily and with the knowledge she had lived a full and fullfilling life. She'd seen and lived through pretty much everything and had a way of calmly accepting all new adversity with the deep, internal knowledge of a truly wise elder.

Whenever I had world altering worries she'd remind me: "This too shall pass", and I knew it to be true because her perspective was vast.

Hang in there!

[Van Canna]

I can just imagine what you are going through, Bill.

And it is the seemingly sudden 'ambushing' of it all that can break your heart.

But then life must go on.

All the best...

[Bill Glasheen]

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.


....................Here comes the sun

Here comes the sun
Here comes the son
It's alright

- Bill

[Bill Glasheen]

Questions asked again and again and again...

This video of one of my favorites is anachronistic and sort of funny. But then through the style, it strikes me as conveying a sense of timelessness.

Need more bass in the soundtrack, but otherwise nicely done.

Moody Blues - Question

Here's a more medieval, roundtable approach set to a Lord of the Rings movie plot. It doesn't do as much for me, but still conveys a theme.

Question- The Moody Blues

- Bill

[Topos]

Bill, your avatar of the twisting San Chin thrust points the way. Heraclitus the Ancient Greek philosopher said (Wiki.) ""the path up and down is one and the same."

His Panta Rei, everything flows, is mirrored in the Bible's "And this too shall pass".

Know that there is a well spring of admiration, affection, and spiritual support in the Uechi Community that you have garnered.

Looking forward to the day you write of your emerging even stronger and happier.

Best.

[Bill Glasheen]

I have a little bit of "time off" with both boys home for spring break. It's 7:00 AM Monday morning, and I'm thinking I'll catch a few extra Z's this morning.

But no... Then again, I asked for it. Dad is in the hospital (again) and he doesn't play nice with doctors. And I told dad he could call me ANY time of the day or night.

Doctors on rounds love to wake you up and poke you at o-dark thirty. Even at 88, dad's like a teenager in the morning. Wake him up early? There'd better be a damned good reason why. My dad is a night owl who is Fred Astaire on Wall Street but Attila the Hun with his doctor.

Furthermore... It's written up there on the white board in my dad's room for all to see. "CALL SON WHEN DISCUSSING MEDICAL CARE!!!!" This particular young resident who saw my dad this morning didn't pay attention. And he got an earful. And then my dad called me. And so I called the doc, and we all got on the same page. I thanked the MD for his indulgence, and told him it was probably a good idea to call me next time.

The doctor told me that my dad was threatening to turn his name over to his lawyer. My response? "Well... you got about a third of his vitriol."

The following song comes to mind. And FWIW, no hyperbole involved here. You just have to know my dad and doctors.

Warren Zevon

Happy Monday morning!

- Bill

[chef]

Hope all will be well.

Hugs to your dad, Bill.

Regards,
Vicki

[Bill Glasheen]

Hope all will be well.

Surgery tomorrow AM. I'll give you a call.

Bill