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Monday 30 August 2010
Personal Notes
I was born in Sydney. I had 3 brothers, Jim and Bob and Laurie. Now I have two. They have children and a plethora of grandchildren. I have a sister, Penny. I have another brother, Justin, who has a son in some very high Himalayan place, and I have another very old brother, Michel. I have children, one who has 6 children, and I had the fortune of parents. This remarkable family of powerful minds and rich emotions stretches from Northern China to Sydney to London, and places inbetween exactly as it should.
Van Morrison "Astral Weeks"
One of my favourite music albums is Van Morrison's Astral Weeks. He was asked in an interview how he felt about the fact that many of his fans found this album to be a channelling, transcendent epic that changed their lives. His answer: "Well, it didn't change mine."
I particularly like...well, I like it all, every sound and word, but a favourite few lines are from the song Sweet Thing:
"& we shall walk and talk in gardens all wet with rain
and I will never ever ever grow so old again."
Both the original album and the live one performed 40 years later are equally remarkable bites of genius. He gets a real 'sway' going in the live version that's really more like scat singing than scat singing. It's intoxicating.
I particularly like...well, I like it all, every sound and word, but a favourite few lines are from the song Sweet Thing:
"& we shall walk and talk in gardens all wet with rain
and I will never ever ever grow so old again."
Both the original album and the live one performed 40 years later are equally remarkable bites of genius. He gets a real 'sway' going in the live version that's really more like scat singing than scat singing. It's intoxicating.
International Students
Teacher at international school asked the students in class: "Share your individual opinions regarding other countries' lack of food.".
Student from Africa replied: "What is food?".
Student from Europe said: "What is 'lack of'?".
Student from America asked " What is 'other countries'?"
Student from China "what do you mean by 'individual opinion'?"
Student from Singapore: "Will the question be in the examination?"
Student from Africa replied: "What is food?".
Student from Europe said: "What is 'lack of'?".
Student from America asked " What is 'other countries'?"
Student from China "what do you mean by 'individual opinion'?"
Student from Singapore: "Will the question be in the examination?"
China and North Asia
I am very interested in China and North Asia. This is a very important part of the world and most of our futures are directly connected to what happens there.
my favourite authors
My 6 favourite authors of pure fiction, and my favourite books of theirs are:.
1: Yasunari Kawabata: Snow Country.
2: Yukio Mishima: Tetralogy: The Sea of Fertility.
3: Kazuo Ishiguro: Artist of the Floating World.
4: Lawrence Durrell: The Alexandria Quartet.
5: Ernest Hemingway: The Old Man & the Sea.
6: Kurt Vonnegut: Sirens of Titan.
I would be content to simply keep reading and re-reading these books for years (apart from Mishima's giant Tetralogy because its just too dark to read often) They are just such sparkling works.
They are all 20th century guys and there's interesting connections between the Japanese writers (even though Ishiguro is always very clear to point out that he is a British writer ... and he actually is the living author on earth with the best knowledge and use of. English vocabulary).
1: Yasunari Kawabata: Snow Country.
2: Yukio Mishima: Tetralogy: The Sea of Fertility.
3: Kazuo Ishiguro: Artist of the Floating World.
4: Lawrence Durrell: The Alexandria Quartet.
5: Ernest Hemingway: The Old Man & the Sea.
6: Kurt Vonnegut: Sirens of Titan.
I would be content to simply keep reading and re-reading these books for years (apart from Mishima's giant Tetralogy because its just too dark to read often) They are just such sparkling works.
They are all 20th century guys and there's interesting connections between the Japanese writers (even though Ishiguro is always very clear to point out that he is a British writer ... and he actually is the living author on earth with the best knowledge and use of. English vocabulary).
My 2 favourite quotes
"The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them.Whether you find satisfaction in life depends not on your story of years, but on your will". M. de Montaigne 1580
"Uncertainty is when fortune fully emerges" Me, 2010
"Uncertainty is when fortune fully emerges" Me, 2010
Islamabad?
The US/UK ending combat roles in Iraq after only killing one million boys & girls for running around with scissors.I'm sure they,assisted by oz soldiers, will be more successful in Afghanistan. The kids there are much younger & much poorer. If enough are killed, they cant get into boats & come here. Afghanistan population median age:17.6 years old. Kids being killed by 'professionals'...'hey, don't try this at home.' We are a disgusting culture, another Hitler cult.
Some Michel de Montaigne Quotes from 1580ad
Ambition is not a vice of little people.
Michel de Montaigne
An untempted woman cannot boast of her chastity.
Michel de Montaigne
Any person of honor chooses rather to lose his honor than to lose his conscience.
Michel de Montaigne
Confidence in others' honesty is no light testimony of one's own integrity.
Michel de Montaigne
Confidence in the goodness of another is good proof of one's own goodness.
Michel de Montaigne
Covetousness is both the beginning and the end of the devil's alphabet - the first vice in corrupt nature that moves, and the last which dies.
Michel de Montaigne
Death, they say, acquits us of all obligations.
Michel de Montaigne
Even from their infancy we frame them to the sports of love: their instruction, behavior, attire, grace, learning and all their words azimuth only at love, respects only affection. Their nurses and their keepers imprint no other thing in them.
Michel de Montaigne
Every man bears the whole stamp of the human condition.
Michel de Montaigne
Every one rushes elsewhere and into the future, because no one wants to face one's own inner self.
Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne
An untempted woman cannot boast of her chastity.
Michel de Montaigne
Any person of honor chooses rather to lose his honor than to lose his conscience.
Michel de Montaigne
Confidence in others' honesty is no light testimony of one's own integrity.
Michel de Montaigne
Confidence in the goodness of another is good proof of one's own goodness.
Michel de Montaigne
Covetousness is both the beginning and the end of the devil's alphabet - the first vice in corrupt nature that moves, and the last which dies.
Michel de Montaigne
Death, they say, acquits us of all obligations.
Michel de Montaigne
Even from their infancy we frame them to the sports of love: their instruction, behavior, attire, grace, learning and all their words azimuth only at love, respects only affection. Their nurses and their keepers imprint no other thing in them.
Michel de Montaigne
Every man bears the whole stamp of the human condition.
Michel de Montaigne
Every one rushes elsewhere and into the future, because no one wants to face one's own inner self.
Michel de Montaigne
blog thing
It's the end of August and I'm still tooling round working out how to use this blog thing.
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