Post Room 101

So I have reached my 101st post and what more fitting way could I think to use it, maybe more to abuse it, this extroverted number 101, assigned forever to George Orwell's Book, 1984. Where the Room 101 holds everybody's worst nightmare however big or small. The room obsessed by so many in comedy circles for TV and radio programs, people's conspiracies, and all because of one number. Nothing to do with Revelations, which holds another number inscribed on to people's minds -666.

Without a worry about what Room 101 holds for me, because "we all know what we are going to find there" if there was such a place, some form of purgatory for me no less and that half way line to being at one with what comes next in the after life. Purgatory where after dispatch we have to answer to all our days, St. Peter residing over the front door asking if we have been good or bad, forgiven others and done as said according to Scripture.

* ** *** *** *** ** *

Here, I have you now, for I welcome you to Post Room 101. The place where you have to wait upon death to arrive and walk you between our Earthly world and the next land. "Your Vehicle awaits us" Death says, as he leans in over your bed, from where you lay, you stand as a shimmering entity of soul life next to 'Your Body'.
"Your Soul Cake," he quibs, for you're not the first or the last of his job, removing the life from the world, you note your family and friends look on at you in peace. "Follow me I'm taking you for dispatch, Post Room 101 for you." You look on, morbid, for life's ended, happy that it hasn't 'ended' in the sense of nothing. "Don't worry, dispatch is what everybody has to do, there are so many people that an organised system is needed to place your correct location on route. Yes, I know what you're thinking, even in death there are queues!"

You arrive in the click of a finger, where not so much as your local post office for you to queue at for your turn, but a whole sorting office sits. The local worker behind the desk murmurs "You will be filed soon enough". Your illusion is as good as mine, our perception of reality is not quite as it may seem. The worker looks straight in to your eye and says, "Go to Zone Six." Death kindly walks you along the back of the queue and down into the Zone. "Zone 6?" you ask. Death points out that it's just an area, everybody has be placed in reference to the Global Holdings of people, for everybody knows everybody somehow.

Gradually you make it to the front. You are asked, "What's your Belief...Faith my friend", you answer C of E. "Ah, Coffee people", he marks his paperwork then points at a distant area, "Come this way round and join that Corner". As you get closer the temperature rises, you've been happily warm for a little while, now it's positively hot, something from a holiday you once had in the Caribbean where it was 40 degrees C +. You look at Death and ask "What's the plan, how does it work?" Death looks on, towering down at seven foot, "It won't be long now, your destination awaits you through that door, I won't be coming any further, I'm just the Keeper between reality." You ask if he knows where you are going, he looks around and says, "Ever been to see your worst nightmare, through this door your credentials will be checked, whilst you're only a youngen compared to others, everybody has a duty of repentance. You are no different, but here in Post Room 101 your have been assigned, oh yes I see it coming, your host is He Himself, Number 666. You see, well I suppose you don't, everything from the Soul Cake to the Faithful questions has been a test of judgement for us to help with your credentials, you will be sentenced. 666 will thoroughly check your History of Life, your Perception of life is just a Dream compared to others."

You begin to worry, you don't understand, your scared of what may lie ahead, you might be a peace but you are most certainly alive and in fear of what may be waiting ahead. As you approach the door for your turn you can't turn the handle. You say "I can't turn the handle it's stuck", Death checks all the paperwork, notes in order, murmurs something about it being the first of October, looks up at you... "Sorry, got the wrong day, your not due until when your 66."

At which point he clicks his fingers everything turns foggy and you wake up in a cold sweat back in bed recovering from your bout of flu. Shocked and scared stiff you look around, alive again, the last thing you remember hearing is, Death yelling in the distance, "Just another 101 days to correct all the misgivings, you got a second chance." Your grand-daughter is reading your favourite poem by Edgar Allan Poe, "All that we see or seem, is but a Dream Within a Dream."

Sweating like a mad man, you wonder was it a dream, was it an illusion or are you destined for dispatch to the after life, are the wheels in motion for a more timely death, your perception of reality deceiving you. Your grand daughter looks up at you, " Granddad a really tall gentleman came in and left you a cake, look." You do, on the side the very same one as you thought you ate sits wrapped and freshly baked.

* ** *** *** *** ** *

Optical Dice Illusion
Which way round are these Di stacked?
Count the numbers on the Di.
Try adding them up too.
Answer: 666 does exist.

I wasn't expecting that number at all myself either -freaky!
I just wanted an illusional image.

Illusion: A: The Perception of Reality
B: An erroneous Concept or belief
C: The condition of being deceived by a false perception or belief.
D: A fine transparent cloth, used for dresses or trimmings.

With the aid of Writer's Island Prompts 2011#5: Illusion.

Choices

Sometimes it is hard to choose which is the best of photos from a collection, here within the space of a minute due to the camera angle and the sunset pace the hue's have changed and changed the topic of the photo.

So I bring both, because each tells a story, a story of a cold winters night, where the due forms in the rolling hill side, producing mists, fogs and brief cloud layers along the ground, where the "red sky at night brings the shepherds delight".

This also marks my 100th post. Keep in touch.

P.s. Apologies, it seems uploading destroys the pixel quality. The expanding option is pretty rough on them and the entry originals are much darker, having uploaded them.

Ah! ... Los!

... What are we doing? Abandonment


Into my eyes I see not, will not.
Tell me if you are out there.
Running in the fields, up the paths...across the lines?
Fallen back through time to when sand was red and rotten,
playing in the park and running over puddles of water...and into streams.

Down the tracks and into the misty past,
goalless, sourceless, timeless.

Destiny (for Writers Island)

Bill Frymire

Well it's been a little while since I said to myself I'll write a Happy New Year entry, to myself. In the end I find we are now half way into the month already. Just 50 more weeks until 2012 - boo, wow. Oh dear.

Having spotted Destiny on Writer's Island, I thought, what is my destiny? The reason being it was my birthday this week, and so what does life entail for me. Am I grabbing it by the wings hard enough, probably not. Am I doing what I can in order to grab it by the wings, beginning too.

Whatever my destiny is, some higher power seems to have decided what I'm here for, but I have no clue what triumph I am expected to find in the future, so I have looked back on my successes of the last 10 years. In that time so much has happened, and yet in many ways so little.

From learning to play a musical instrument, knowing enough to pick it up again and not feel the pains as was back some eight years ago when I stopped. I've completed stacks of academic learning, school, undergraduate and postgraduate education. Whilst lacking, the spirit lives on to cycle, and I've ridden for two BHF cycle rides, travelled parts of Europe for music bands and done fieldwork across the UK, France and Malta. I've found so many friends and families, I've met lots of people. And because I'm good with faces (not so much names, sorry) I can place people. (However big the world can feel at times). I am grateful for some of mum's traits too, the ability to talk to anyone on nearly any subject, - much tougher these days for one reason or another- still shy occasionally or feeling too ill or too much on my mind, and abilities to pick up completely random topics, to help a wide range of people. But destiny see, had it's say, and Mum didn't get to see the last nine years of these accomplishments. Well, you never know, the powers that be maybe around, looking down from the sky and watching us.

So many events, and so many memories, from one decade to the next, what will it bring? Having completed a 1/4 to 2/5 of my life, on the national average scale. I better get a grip and start making this decade count just as much as the last one did. Even with the ups and downs, it's already been a journey. The first two and a bit decades are chapters closed although post scripts come along every so often, so let's start living and making the next bit worthwhile.

Tell me, Destiny, where are we going to go today?

Winification Surreal Days

And Then There Was...

Through the shadows I wander,
wander, wonder and divide.
Through the mist, down the track,
for greater needs, or much less,
divide me here and tell me where.
Where must I go to find a place,
a place without the mist.
I wander wondering, divided by self,
shadows to the right and too the left,
shadows of too much light
seated in the mist tonight.




Down it comes, without a doubt,
the lit sky has no right,
no moon but all bright from the fright,
the fright that is not a light nor a sight,
but tight,
tight, yes tight,
the mist holds tight and laps up to me,
rain drops from leaves, and a cold wet mist,
a mist with no sight, just a 'light',
where it has no right- the mist licks,
smells and hides.
No place to hide but in the mist,
a mist that cannot hide but divide.

Loyalty: The Price We Pray For

Following on from a comment I made on Facebook, the question of what loyalty is and where it lies has come in to mind. No one has questioned my loyalty thankfully, but in the process of replying I found many a problem to identify with, thus I felt the urge to write them all down here.

Prologue:

I was having a problem with uploading photos, and was using the Hotmail SkyDrive- otherwise I would have had to send lots of emails- but finding it all too awkward to give the receiver access for they don't have Hotmail. So I got grumpy and said we should have a universal device or web-based system for all these social websites we use so that whatever network we are on they can all work together: Facebook, Tumblr, Blogger, Wordpress, Bebo, and Myspace to name just a few of the social websites out there. The problem is it would make a monopoly or destroy competition completely. However, life would be more simple if there were universal items and standards. What's wrong with increasing the ISO regulations to include web sites.

The question then was what can I do if I am loyal to the most true one (having written on Facebook my problem) I don't like Facebook or much of the social network system, I enjoy Blogger for it's simplicity and unique discussion focus that my readers I know and don't know, get to enjoy (at their peril!) my 'unharnessed' complicated mind and thoughts, whilst also being able to soak in their own voices.

And so in replying with the item below, I had my dilemma about Loyalty, where do we stand with each other:

Quoting Shakespeare on Loyalty: Cassius: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings". Why should we be held ransom to a monopoly in one hand and non-universal options in the other. I don't use Fb as much as Blogger. What justifies loyalty? My loyalty lies with everyone. The truth will set you free, or a universal option will. After all is Fb true & truly loyal?

Main:

BBC Pictures March 2010

Man's best friend. Loyalty comes at a Price.

What I'm trying to get at is you can either have a monopoly or competition, it's almost like Capitalism versus Communism in the most stretched of thoughts, with potential for George Orwells 1984 to play a part too. But also, you don't need truth for loyalty you just need belief, and that carries you.

Friends, family, work colleagues. Money, love, relationships, our own personal gains and wants, the want to help others, help yourself. What does Loyalty really mean to people? Where does loyalty stop? Is it contractual, is it a bond made before you become friends, is it how friendly you are, you're expression in different groups.

And in the quote I shoot myself in the foot, if my loyalty lies with everyone, have I just said I'm loyal to no one at the same time? What does this say about me, when in all fairness I work as hard as possible to please everyone. For I can't be loyal to everyone as I know the difference between right and wrong. Loyalty therefore if caught on the negative side of life, the criminal side, may make you loyal, but it's a bad thing, a bad judgement. Loyalty therefore can be a bad thing.

Or is it? Loyalty can be good, if you are loyal to you're volunteering sessions, charity groups you support, and you are contractually bound to be loyal in the best possible way to the people you work for. Loyalty is a form of power held over us whilst we think we are of equal measure.

By definition Loyalty is

• The State or Quality of being Loyal
• A feeling or attitude of devoted attachment and affection
• A feeling of Allegiance

Is this the very reason why society does not work properly? No one cares and looks to better there own groups and leaves the ones at the bottom of the chain to rot? We are always looking to develop and expand- the whole issue is because we want to grow we don't want to sustain what we have. After a while, what we have is not good enough and a new thing catches our eye. Or am I over simplyfying our wanton urges of materials and money?

Loyalty and Trust works together? Right or Wrong?
An apt way of looking at it
In the words of M: He'd be a pretty cold bastard if he didn't want revenge for the death of someone he loved. If you were James Bond, where would you're loyalties lie then, King and Country and forget everyone else?

Taken slightly out of context but the point is we all have feelings and motivation for something however small it is. If someone is not loyal to you, you're likely to be upset. Marriage is about Trust and life long "contractual" loyalty to them, because "you love them and you only have eyes for them" etc, for my few years of undertsanding of what love is all about.

If we lived in a world where we only wanted to sustain what we have, had a harmonious equality of life from economic to social well being, what would it be like and how loyal would we all be?

Epilogue:
Wouldn't it just be better to remove social networking and instead rely on our fundamental knowledge of telephones, email, post and face to face contact. Social networking is slowly corrupting us whilst changing the way we operate in society. Everyone is wary of there public voice on a personal page. We no longer can be relaxed, it is a form of National ID for anyone to see, and once again, its another surveilance technique used to watch our everymove. So much for personal time and freedom. "Welcome to the Machine", a living status quo of George Orwells prediction. Democracy? No, Controlled Freedom. Loyalty to none and only one.

Cassius: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings".
Loyalty to the higher powers, trust and loyalty, control and freedom, monopoly and competition, easy access and hardship all working together.

Trusted Loyalty, Controlled Freedom, Manipulated and monopolised competition, easy access for complicated and harder problems to work round. Loyalty: The Price we Pay for not fixing the obvious problems and profiteering on the weak.

Homing Beacon / Ancestrial Journeys

If I could find the full clip on YouTube I would show it to you because it means so much more with the pictures and gaelic music, but the words say enough in their own right. With the continuing theme I have shown in pictures and writing from October onwards, Sting has summed up a glowing of many attributes in his recent DVD: Sting A Winters Night, Live at Durham Cathedral (2009).

Talking on long winters, fire places and stories, of belief and taking us back to our origins in living in older times, centuries gone. Sting has provided a good conclusion as we angle closer to the longest night and the beginning of Winter. So, transcribing, quoting directly from his DVD (I wish the clip was out their) see what you can make of this:

I'm delighted to be here in Durham Cathedral...and I'm equally delighted to be back here in my home land, back to the north, I come here far too seldom, this is very much a home coming for me. And it's fitting that I would come home in the season of the winter, because winter seems to have this almost gravitational pull back towards one's roots, like a homing instinct where if we can, we tend to gravitate towards somewhere warm, cosy, somewhere safe: the fire side, the hearth, a candle, a family home and a church.
And were here in this most beautiful of English Cathedrals to Celebrate the Season of Winter, the season of cold frosts, long dark nights, but also of stories and spirits and ghosts in the chimney.
All the songs you'll here tonight are concerned with the theme of winter. Their from a variety of sources and historical periods, some as old as the Cathedral itself. Their are folk songs, sacred songs, secular songs, classical songs and a few of my own.
Winter for me, is the season of imagination, is the season of reflection where you're asked to face the ghosts of the past, and in facing them, you must treat them calmly and civilly...before the snows melt...and the cycles of the seasons...can begin once more.