Let it snow,let it snow,let it snow

[westgrandboulevard]

That's exactly how I am. I can't afford to let the blues get to me, as I could well be deep down there long after the others have recovered!

Looking for someone with just the same problems is, to me, like saying you want to share your woes, but don't want to actually do anything about it. So no point in me being distracted enough to give too much time with my best, sincere opinion, if it's going to be time and words wasted.

I do think that does sound harsh but, deep down, it's honest. Best thing is to disguise it with some pleasantries, but still firmly not let the other person lead the way on their own negative terms. It just goes downhill.

[Jerry Oz]

'Deed it do. Some recognized what I was trying to do. A few actually managed to steer out of the pit and redirect themselves. I just think that if you're going to move on, best to move on sooner than later. Honestly, in a year, you won't remember why you were having a five-hour fit, so what's the value of having it?

[westgrandboulevard]

I agree with your rationale...but that's perhaps not quite how it works in reality, because the emotion of the five-hour fit was indeed valid at the time. At least, to someone who has them. I suppress mine, so that's why I can easily understand and agree with your rationale.

You would still have to experience the five-hour fit, and get through it, in order to live the additional year - even if, by then, you didn't remember that five-hour fit.

[Jerry Oz]

Life is too short. Curiously, we don't remember the 99.995% of the experience that is positive or generally not negative. We grab onto that 0.005% and never want to let it go, though. One of my cousins died late last year and was found by his brother and best friend. His brother expressed to me that he couldn't wash the memory of his death out of his mind's eye. I advised him that he had 50 years of loving memories of his brother and that he'd be cheating both of them if the only thing he carried beyond today is the most painful experience. I honestly believe that, but a grieving heart has a hard time wanting to believe that it shouldn't hurt forever.

[westgrandboulevard]

You almost start to wonder, when confronted with all that degree of angst, if it disguises something significant that the other person is concealing deep in their heart, but just isn't saying.....

[Jerry Oz]

I think it's simply that if we knew it was the last time we'd see a loved one, we'd take at least a moment to say or show how much we love them. Failing to do that is an opportunity forever lost. And yet, we don't learn from that mistake.

[westgrandboulevard]

In my own experience, it's just as well that, almost always, we don't know the final moment. It could hurt too much...and because we know we have to let go, it's often easier if we just do what we must.

I'd always wish for someone to slip gently away as life goes on as usual [[as it must), without them being aware of me falling apart. It wouldn't be good to be left with the feeling of that being their final memory of me. The good memories are all that are worth keeping.

[Jerry Oz]

The tears shed at funerals are for the living, not for the dead. We often fail to grasp that. I don't want to know how or when my time is coming. If all works well, I'll be 120 years old when a meteor falls from space and smashes me in my sleep the day after all of my favorite sports teams win championships and all of my books have been read to conclusion.

I often wonder if I'll freak out at not being able to see how a story arc on television will wrap up next week once the doctor tells me that my time is near. It's one of the reasons that I refuse to circle calendar dates or look past today for almost any reason. I don't care if it's snowing as long as I'm blessed with another day.

See how I neatly circled back to the original thread post?

[arr&bee]

I'm never in the dumps...[i've been in the dumpster afew times]but what the hay,live is short so i just listen to good music and sip on this wonderful elixur.

[westgrandboulevard]

Yes, it was a neat move...but also, I must say that I open the threads in which you have a permanent residency without studying the title.

The thread title registers momentarily on the new posts list, but I just look to answer it straight in, like working at a call centre. If I have to think about a response for more than,say, a minute, I don't tackle it. I only ever have a certain amount of time available, so have to be very focused [[which is good for me, as I'm inclined towards thoughtfulness and introspection) - especially on Word Association thread, which is my default priority for response. Up to and over Christmas, there wasn't time to answer some of the regular threads, but I do read them all.

Some one made a comment a while back saying they just didn't get it - that the threads went in circles and don't go anywhere - but they were overlooking the spontaneity of the responses, which takes them to their own level and destinations.

And back to topic : do you really not circle calendar dates, or look ahead past today - ?

[arr&bee]

West what you smokin brother???these threads aern't supposed to go anywhere,you tryin to get us kicked off the air?

[westgrandboulevard]

Ahem. Excuse me, mystical Arr&bee, but I'm doing my best to keep them on the air [[I've answered so many posts today, I'm beginning to know how King Kong felt, up on top of the Empire State, fighting the airplanes. Any more, and I'll need secretaries!)

So, of course I know some of these threads are unregulated in direction.

No, it was A.N.Other member who made the comment. Wasn't it Smark21 - who was then banned shortly afterwards, and became one of ' the dear deleted' - ?

I rest my case.

[arr&bee]

Ok i'm cool.

[westgrandboulevard]

I remember you called us something like 'good, decent people', which was nice of you.

Deluded...but nice.....

[Jerry Oz]

And back to topic : do you really not circle calendar dates, or look ahead past today - ?

I do not. When I plan a vacation getaway [[holiday) I'm as excited as anyone else. But in my experience, looking too far ahead made me miss a lot of what was going on in the present and the anticipation of the week away was never met with satisfaction once it arrived. It always seemed like I was back at home, wondering where the time went as soon as I got there.

Besides that [[and in a somewhat darker mindset), I don't know if I'll be around in six months to celebrate an event, so it's difficult to be excited for something that I don't already have. There's a Bible parable that tells of a man who put great effort into working and saving for his future. Once he finally met his goals, death arrived and said the following: 'Thou fool. Tonight thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be that thou hast provided?'

It's kind of hard to explain to others, I guess. But I'm less concerned about tomorrow than today.

[arr&bee]

Hey jerry,yesterday already forgotten,today is too,is tomorrow here yet i never know,i think i'm still here but i ain't signing nothing to prove it.

[Jerry Oz]

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today? Today is a gift, that's why we call it the present.

[arr&bee]

Very neatly wrapped too.

[westgrandboulevard]

I don't blame you at all for wanting to live in the moment.

Mind you, if you don't know if you'll be around in six months, you might as well assume you will be, rather than not. It won't make any difference to you, if you're not...

[Jerry Oz]

Yah. Besides, looking too far ahead is silly and looking too far behind will make you want to cry. Best to look around and enjoy yourself.

[arr&bee]

Of course you know that all this is someone's idea of a joke...no not me someone we can't see.

[westgrandboulevard]

Ah! You mean Ralph....

[arr&bee]

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa,there you go again,no someone bigger than ralph...i know it doesn't seem possible but i think we're being watched.

[Jerry Oz]

We should give him the designation of 'My Guy'. References should be in the manner of 'Ah! You mean my guy Ralph...' Thank God he had all of that hair to begin with, or he'd certainly be bald for having to police this playpen for a long as he has.

[Jerry Oz]

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa,there you go again,no someone bigger than ralph...i know it doesn't seem possible but i think we're being watched.

We're all just numbers and calculations on a cosmic chalkboard somewhere. Just be glad if it doesn't get erased before it's all solved.

[westgrandboulevard]

Ralph trawls the internet, signing up new members with strange names, just so they can provoke us seniors. Keeps us on our fingertips......

[arr&bee]

Oiy vey,listen guys i'm talkin about the cosmos,upthere above the clouds have you ever noticed how some of those clouds seem to be looking down on us.

[westgrandboulevard]

They're taking aim, Arr&bee....

[arr&bee]

Well i ain't down without a hangover....drinks anyone??

[westgrandboulevard]

Well, thank you. I'll have a snowball, if you please....

[Jerry Oz]

I'll have water, thanks.

[westgrandboulevard]

On the rocks....

[Jerry Oz]

I went to a two drink minimum club and was kicked out for drinking water. How fair is that?

[144man]

They always throw you out for drinking water unless you dilute it.

[arr&bee]

Water is made for swimming not drinking,i wouldn't even use water to chase water.

[westgrandboulevard]

Waterfalls would have to disagree with you. Niagara might make a lot of noise about it.

[arr&bee]

Niagara needs to be turned off,hehehehehe.

[westgrandboulevard]

When the next Ice Age hits.....

[arr&bee]

Which may be any day now,considering the icy stares i've been getting.

[westgrandboulevard]

I see stairs, but I can't always get up them.....

[arr&bee]

I fell up the stairs once,and couldn't remember how to get back down.

[westgrandboulevard]

I fell down stairs once. I didn't miss a step. I hit every single one.

[arr&bee]

That's the spirit west by jove you'll learn to fall up those stairs yet.

[westgrandboulevard]

I've been trying all my life, but still haven't got the hang of sliding the tea tray up them just yet.

[144man]

I fell down an escalator once and it moved me to tears.

[westgrandboulevard]

I can't get on a travelator/moving walkway without walking along it even faster than its speed....and then generally forget to adjust my speed when I reach the other end...

[Jerry Oz]

Wow. I step out for a minute and you guys are going places without me.

[westgrandboulevard]

Take a seat, Jerry. Stay right where you are. You surely know we simply go round in circles here....

[Jerry Oz]

If we're going 'round in circles, will we fly high like a bird up in the sky? Hmmm... I might have to put that into a lyric some day.

[westgrandboulevard]

You should. If it becomes famous enough, we could all find it Preston our minds.