Munichmaedchen

Friday Food For Thought

Look to this day,
For it is life,
The very life of life.
In its brief course lie all
The realities and verities of existence,
The bliss of growth,
The splendor of action,
The glory of power -

For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is only a vision,
But today, well lived,
Makes every yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope,
Look well, therefore, to this day.

Sanskrit Proverb by Kalidasa.

Is It Worth?

Nothing left to say.

Mercedes Benz

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz. The question then would be, can I drive it? I am not into computer games and therefore not joystick proven. The 1996 introduced model did not get launched onto the market yet. I guess my joystick problem is the problem of my generation of drivers. Nevertheless, I think I would try it.

Cat Fight

We spent a beautiful Saturday afternoon at the Arboretum in Santa Cruz where we took the world tour. Check it out on my flickr. Just when I concentrated on not letting the baby take off on her own, two fully grown bobcats came out of the bushes and started growling at eachother, right in front of us. I was completely caught by surprise and not fast enough to get the camera out with my right hand while my left one prevented baby Adriana running over to pet the pussicats. At least I caught one of them while the other left as fast as it had appeared.

I Can't and I Won't

Obama has been in office for three whole days and hasn't changed the world yet. What's wrong with him?

Some friends asked me why I haven't blogged yet about the new president and the answer is that I want to give the commander in chief some time, want to listen what he has to say.

I did watch the inauguration live with a lot of people at my workplace. When I hear Dems raving about the fresh breeze of air, I wonder if they have also noticed the foul smell of 9 tons of trash left behind at the Mall after the inaugration.

A new President can't change the world if the people are not willing to change. Why is it so hard to take the trash home after we bring it with us to events like the inauguration?

How can we demand from government to preserve this planet if we ourselves think we have the exclusive right to destroy it?

How can I demand respect for a new president if I am not willing to give respect to the leaving one?

How can I demand from the "Yes on Prop 8" family living down the street to be open minded if I am too closed minded to accept my sister's traditional religious believes?

It makes me sad to see that there is indeed a new kid in town honestly trying, and I give him a lot of credit for that, to bring us together, young and old, Cons and Dems, religious and non believers, black and white, yellow and purple, to create something new and all we do is blaming others for what went wrong and not listening to our neighbor's different point of view, not listening to our own conscience but continuing wasting energy, hurting the environment, killing life - born and unborn, and protesting against everybody and anything except of ourselves. 

Do you really think that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or Mahatma Ghandi would have thrown a shoe at Bush or applauded to the offenders like you did?

Nothing will change until we change. I decided to work on my own habits and try to improve the tiny little square I live in and listen more to the people around me. Sometimes I forget that my higher power gave me by purpose only one mouth but two ears.

Giving Birth to a Building

It took almost two years but now it's done. The Euphrat Museum has moved in. The Art Historians have started teaching in their smart classroom and  the ballroom dance class has taken over the stage of the 400-seat-theatre. The official ribbon cutting ceremony will follow on March 6.

I am glad I was part of this project and that my buddy Greg documented the creation of our Visual and Performing Arts Center.

Spider Girl and Madame Butterfly at the SF Zoo

Spider Girl at the SF Zoo
Originally uploaded by Munichmaedchen.

We spent Saturday at the San Francisco Zoo. We rented a little green waggon for our picnic bag and Adriana, visited the petting farm and walked all the trails that could be walked before we were heading to our free parking space right at Ocean Beach to watch the sun going down into the Pacific Ocean.

White House Dream Report

Tonight I dreamt I was visiting the White House which was hustling and buzzling, now that the Big Kahouna from Hawaii has moved in. Actually his mama in law was the one I saw moving in arguing with the Philipine White House chef, a left-over employee of Laura Bush, whether or not Reverend Wright's chicken that came home to roost should be fried or not.

I asked Joe Biden who was dusting the hallway where the Democrats had found the billions of dollars, more money than ever spent on a new president, to finance the gigantic inauguration event while the rest of the world goes belly up - financially and otherwise. Biden proudly told me that Blago had got a good offer for Barack's senate seat and that they were able to cover half of the party expenses that way. They could even invite all the Acorn workers for free as a thank you for their continuous support throughout the election campaign.

Hillary heard us talking and stopped by to let me know that she made sure that there will be even enough money left to get Michelle a new dress so that she doesn't have to wear the ugly black widow outfit again.

I did not see Caroline Kennedy around but heard Rahm spreading the rumor that she was supposed to hold the introduction speech at the inauguration but after her latest interview, they decided to ask Sarah Palin instead - or Tina Fey depending on who would be available - nobody makes a difference between them anyway. Al Franken who just in time has finished counting the votes that magically appeared from nowhere volunteered to write the speech.

Hillary also told me that she was glad her husband was kept busy and not constantly getting on her nerves while she was preparing for office. Billy boy was  interviewing the new White House interns all day long in the Oval Office to make sure that only the most talented ones would get (give?) the (blow ?) job.

Suddenly, a pig with lipstick ran through the corridors and Barak's daughters tried to catch it. It was their new hypoallergenic pet, donated by Harry Reid as the last pork left to be paid from the bailout money.

When Ann Coulter rang the doorbell to sell some of her books, that squealing one of a piglet escaped outside and disappeared into O'Reilly's no spin zone. What a pinhead!

Suddenly, my alarm bell rang. I was back in California.

For a nightmare, I had too much fun watching the new and old cast of characters.

The End

Insalata Caprese

Above shows my yesterday's lunch. The first warm day of the year was perfect for this tomato, basil and mozarella creation.

Nice To Read You

Today I finally found time to read some of the poems in the book a coworker had given me as a Christmas present:

Poems of an Hourglass by Jonathan Schiefer.

This California native was able to suck me into his book with the first poem I read, and I finished not before I had read almost all of it. I was stunned when I found out Schiefer's age on his web site. I had expected an old wise man behind the poems and found a young guy not much older than my son.

It was an honor and my pleasure to read you Mr. Schiefer and have your signed book.

Of course I will share some verses with you from the very first poem I had read, the one that sucked me in:

At War
I find myself
fighting myself
running against the way
I really want to go

I am at war,
a war I can win
and loose
at the same time

I take a walk
and notice the sky
and the ground
and the clouds

Still I am here
and here is now
until the day comes
and I am changed

There was a yesterday
and a tomorrow
but those are remembered
as an abstraction of now
...
They say there is a separation
between what is known
and what is believed
or felt

The dichotomy of Plato
with his world of forms
saying there is a place we came
from where things are
and the rest are images of those

A duality of things real and felt
but that has let to the age of dark
and then the age of ration
and then the current age

And then past the current
where what I feel is what is
and what is
is what I feel

But we have lost feeling
because what we feel
we cannot judge
due to a lack of comparison

So we turn
to the place of feeling
forgetting the place of seeing
is believing
....

by Jonathan Schiefer