Kind regards and prayers for safety for Florida folk facing the hurricane. Category 4 is too big a storm.

the problem with being very good at grief counselling and with meeting the needs of people in 3 defined 50 minute sessions over a month is that they do end up feeling a lot better on the provision that they never ever see you again...and that's okay because if you do it well, they won't ever need to see you or anyone else again. Not a way to guarantee return business, for sure...nor spread the good word of holistic therapies etc...just simple human truths and simple good human care. Simple truths of life aren't very marketable at all, but they are the most important, the most honest, and the most positively revolutionary. Good grief counselling is much like being a sherpa and finding someone lost and half frozen in the Himalayas. You don't ask them how cold they feel, nor how they feel about being cold. You warm them up and show them how to get to where they need to be...1,2,3...and you walk a little while with them. I charge US$200 a 50 minute session, and in advance, because I know, after 3 sessions, they will be okay, they won't be back, and in future they will walk on the other side of the road to avoid me, and they won't pay their bill...but they will be just fine. That is very good grief counselling.

Remarkable Interconnections: Both KFC and McDonalds are selling off their thousands of stores in China at a great loss because the Chinese aren't buying the food anymore as a protest against the US Military provocations in the South China Sea. We are connected. Power to the People. Power is the People in the Peoples Republic of...People. Australia, you want us to buy your coal and your beef? I see you have a US Military Base in Darwin aimed at destroying China's sea trade routes to and from...Australia????...hmmm...Australian beef? Not so special-tasty anymore.

People Power:We see this kind of people movement in England with Brexit, and in the USA with even the half chance of Trump running for President...and in Colombia where the Government has worked out a peace with FARC revolutionaries after 50 years of horrible war...and sought a referendum to confirm peace. The people threw out the idea of peace altogether. These are remarkable days for people.

Dealing with Existentialist Philosopher Children: So, you didn't go to school today? No. Are you sick? No. Did you want to do something else? No. I just woke up happy enough.

John Lennon-Power To The People-Offical Video-HQ

I bought the desk from a second hand shop, CCA, in Cairns in 2007. It cost about $150. I think it was made in India maybe 40 years ago, or 50. It is a big and heavy thing, but I was very charmed by its simple wood beauty and the fact that it was scratched, gouged and worn by many years of use...and nothing is pre-fabricated at all. The only thing I ever did to improve it was to wipe it down with some oil and water. Each of its 9 drawers only fits into each drawer's individually hand hacked slot. It has 9 wooden drawers. It separates into 3 big pieces...the two pedestals and the big top... and so is manageable to move around, although it does take up a lot of room space in a modern living house life. It had a big crack on the top which made me like it enough to buy it. I moved to live in Asia the next year and so sold it to the neighbours at Trinity Beach for about $150. 6 years later I returned to Cairns and bought it back from exactly the same second hand shop, CCA, I had originally bought it from...for about $150. This is MY desk. It still has the same big crack in the top. I must admit I have added to its overall damage in my time but it still remains a very good desk. Over the years it has been crowded with devices and books and paperwork and attempts at thinking, just now it is quite empty as if just resting quietly in the lounge room...like me. The lamp on the right is from a department store in Thailand, the lamp on the left is from a shop on Mulgrave Road, Cairns, and the picture on the wall is of King Rama IX, of Thailand, when he was a monk and 20 years old. He still rules there. Amazing.