Bob Ross on Google

Bob Ross is the new Google doodle.  I had no idea the man had died.  I love his show "The Joy of Painting".  He makes painting look so easy and it is not easy at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Traveler's_Wife

I saw the movie "The Time Traveler's Wife" a few months and liked it so much I decided to read the book.  The movie was very much like the book, although a much abbreviated version.

The book had several quotes from the book "Possession" by A.S. Byatt, which I read years ago and now want to reread.  Perhaps I will like "Possession" more the second time around, since I wasn't hat impressed by it when I first read it.

I'm not sure I liked "The Time Traveler's Wife" novel, which is strange because the book itself was quite riveting.  How shall I say it, the novel did not touch me as much as I thought it would. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but whatever it was I didn't get it from the novel.

The novel had no big revelations about love or free will, even though the theme of love and free will is rampant throughout the book. Maybe the science fiction part sort of confused things for me, I don't know.

Okay, this is bad but I was more moved by "The Mummy" by Anne Rice than by this novel.  I don't think anyone would call "The Mummy" a classic, I mean I even know that this book is nothing more than decent trash.  But Anne Rice's trash novel moved me more than this new novel.  Too bad because I felt so sure "The Time Traveler's Wife" novel would be so much better than the movie, but it wasn't. The movie was very moving and novel, not so much.  Usually the book is better than the movie, but not this time.

http://www.france24.com/en/20121020-tens-thousands-rally-london-against-austerity

Another story that is not making the local news here in San Francisco.  I guess the mainstream media news doesn't want us to know that people in the UK are protesting by the thousands on the planning cuts to Britian's generous welfare system. It makes me wondering what important news stories are not being reported.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/holiday-shopping-women-want-men-153800266.html

This story is so true at least for me. My favorite gift is a gift card so I can pick out what I want and need. I hate when people buy me actual presents because honestly, mostly of it has been pretty awful.  It's not that my gift givers have bad taste, okay some of them do have horrid taste but not all.  It's just that most people buy presents that they would want and never what I want or would like.  I am very hard to shop for and most people who really get me, of which there are few few, figure this out early on.  I was a picky eater as a child, and that pickinesss applies to almost every aspect of my life.

Almost every aspect because my friends tells me I'm not picky about who I date and shack up with, but that's dating.  I am very picky about the person I want to be in a long term relationship with, but for the short-term, honestly, who the hell cares.  It's short and sweet and almost everyone works for the short-term. It's the long-term that guys fail at, and miserably I might add.

But like my dating life, I hardly ever get gift cards so I'm always getting stuff and guys I don't want.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/09/danny-devito-rhea-perlman-split-his-womanizing-ways_n_1950832.html

When I read about this event happening, I felt sadness.  Not that I really follow celebrity gossip, but it was distressing to hear that a 30-year marriage was ending.  I was bummed when Al Gore split up with his wife Tipper as well, only because they had been together since high school.  Is there no future for a long term marriage in today's society?

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Calif-expected-to-lose-100-dairy-farms-3946897.php

I believe remote viewed Ed Dames predicted a long time ago that something would happen with the milk supply and that mothers would be crying because they couldn't find milk for their children.  I am wondering if this event is part of this prediction.

http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2012_10_11_sfnmlb_cinmlb_1&mode=recap&c_id=sf

Congratulation to the San Francisco Giants!  We are off again to another series!

http://blog.sfgate.com/chronstyle/2012/10/10/shocking-plus-size-model-wears-bikini/

When I read this article at SFGate.com and saw how beautiful this woman was, it was so shocking to find out that some people are commenting that she is a size 12.  The average American woman is a size 12 and for once the public is seeing an average woman in an ad, which should be applauded and not be freaked out about.

Don't take the media brainwashing that only women who are size 6 and under should be in print advertising, and kudos to Ralph Lauren for putting this model in an ad.  Makes me want to go out and buy Ralph Lauren clothes so I can support him and his ads.

From my daily Dharma quote - Kongtrul Rinpoche suggested we pray to the guru, buddhas, and bodhisattvas and ask them to grant their blessings, “So I may give birth to the heart of sadness.” But what is a “heart of sadness”? Imagine one night you have a dream. Although it is a good dream, deep down you know that eventually you will have to wake up and it will be over. In life, too, sooner or later, whatever the state of our relationships, or our health, our jobs and every aspect of our lives, everything, absolutely everything, will change. And the little bell ringing in the back of your head to remind you of this inevitability is what is called the “heart of sadness.” Life, you realise, is a race against time, and you should never put off dharma practice until next year, next month, or tomorrow, because the future may never happen - Heart of Sadness

This quote made me so sad because it made me realize again that nothing is permanent and in the true Buddhist way, it teaches that one shouldn't be attached to anything because desire leads to attachment. I have given birth so many times to the Heart of Sadness, I'm not sure I want to pray for it.

If you haven't seen the movie 2003 South Korean movie called Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring, you need to watch it.  It illustrates so beautifully the Buddhist philosophy.  I attended a screenwriting conference in Los Angeles and screenwriting guru Robert McKee recommended this movie.  The movie may break your heart but you will begin to understand the "Heart of Sadness" if you don't understand it now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wsfwmzAZgOw#!

What is happening in Spain with the rioting crowds is amazing.  This youtube video was posted on of my favorite websites.  The crowds are pushing the police back.  None of this is being covered by the San Francisco Mainstream Media (MSM), but it should be because it is so powerful.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/nyregion/for-poor-schoolchildren-a-poverty-of-words.html?src=recg&pagewanted=print

When I read this NY Times article, I saw myself in it.  I was raised by immigrants who barely spoke english but spoke english to their children so they could do well in school and hopefully get better jobs and a more affluent life.  I spoke english but my vocabulary was sadly lacking.  How do you describe things to your child in a language that is not your own?

But in 4th grade, I was tested as having the vocabulary of high school senior.  And what is the secret of my 4th grade success?  My parents and I watched lots of TV.  The television was my babysitter and by the age of 7,  I had my own room with a small TV and probably never turned the thing off until I went to bed.  I graduated third in my class in high school, did really well on my SATs, and attended and graduated from a top 10 private liberal arts college.

I will admit that my speaking vocabulary is not great.  I don't use what a friend of mine calls $5 words.  My parents never used them and so I don't normally.  And the few times I've injected $5 words by mistake into conversation with my family, they ask me to explain what I just said and look hurt that I've talked down to them.

I work in corporate America where people admire and at the same time resent their coworkers who use words that they cannot understand.  In my current job, I write website copy sometimes and I've been told that you have to write like a person has a junior high education.  So all those $5 words I learnt in school have no place in my job.  And I can't imagine texting $5 words or using them in an email.

So do words matter?  Yes.  They matter for tests and schools, and if you are planning a career in academia.  I think they also matter a great deal for books and reading because it's a pain to read something and to find a word that you don't understand and have to stop and look up.  And yes, I do stop and look words up.

But do words matter in real life?  Not exactly.  You don't need a large vocabulary for work, for emailing and texting and for general conversation.

What really matters is getting your point read and heard clearly, and you don't need a large vocabulary to do that although words are tools to help you get the nuances right and be more precise.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/49320705

Gas prices are high in California and on Sunday they went up even more.  I picked up gas on Friday night at $4.549 at Costco for premium because I knew the prices would climb higher, and sure enough they did.  How crazy is that?  If gas goes to $6 a gallon, things in the Cali republic will break down. We're not used the high gas prices that is charged in other countries.

http://blog.sfgate.com/mlasalle/2012/10/05/must-see-movies-since-1960-2/#7588-1

From SFGate.com - the must-see movies post 1960.  I was amazed at the number of movies on this list that I've seen.  Of course now I have to see the movies on this list that I've never seen.

Since I am blogging again I thought I would post one of my favorite pics - turtle face taken at the aquarium on the island of Maui during my April 2012 trip.

The Trishas are playing on my Hardly Strictly Bluegrass livestream and they aren't that bad for an all girl band.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is livestreaming music from the Arrow Stage.  I hate all the crowds so I will be checking the livestream out.- http://www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com/

Do you really trust anything Mainstream Media (MSM) tells you anymore.  They tell me that unemployment has gone down since 2008.  I'm like hello, is that progress?  And what about all those Americans on food stamps?  I went to Stonestown mall last night, and one of the restaurants there is closed.  Restaurants close because people are not spending money on dining out.  If the economy is doing so well, why isn't there a new restaurant being built in that space?

Does it feel like you are a child again and your parents are telling you everything is all right when you know that it's not?  The MSM are telling us everything is okay and you know deep down they are so not.  But the MSM are not my parents; they are supposed to be reporting on the news and they are not.

Completely forgot about my blog for ever so long.  It was my online diary for so many years when blogging was new.  So many things have changed since that time. We live in such a different world. I'm on my third job since my first blog post and we are finally in the year that the ancients spoke about that will signal the end of the world.

I am saving all my blog posts so I can have a record of my life.  When I read my blog posts, it's like I'm reading the diary of someone else which is a strange feeling.  That person who wrote those posts does not seem like m and yet I have memories of that person.

I used to be so political back in the day.  Now I don't see any differences between the parties.  You need so much money to get elected and corporations give money to both parties so their agenda gets in no matter who is in office.  Does it really matter who we vote for since the Supreme Court decided who should run the country.  The people that think they see the future expect that will happen again next month, so does my vote really matter when a court can decide who wins any election?

And honestly, has anything changed really for working people since we put the other party in office.  The US still has too many troops deployed abroad.  I just paid $4.50 for gas which the news reminded me this morning is the same price I paid in 2008.  Food prices have not come down and for whatever reason, I cannot find Sumatran coffee at Costco anymore.

As you can tell, I am in a very melancholy mood this morning.  Have been for the last two weeks, and I'm not sure why.  Maybe blogging will help me tease out my indian summer of discontent.  But it's not like I am unhappy because I'm not, but I do feel like we are all on the edge of something and that something is not very good.