StumbleUpon | advaita25's blog posts

http://advaita25.stumbleupon.com/review/35836459/

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 11:32:07 -0700

After months of 'written word' postings, at last some imagery. The lens on my Samsung compact seems to be particularly good at capturing...

rays of light

http://advaita25.stumbleupon.com/review/35406213/

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:09:42 -0700

Choice

I could choose
To follow your lead
Focus on flaws
Real or perceived
And find fault in
The slightest of things

I could choose
To retaliate in kind
When you nonchalantly
Shoot verbal arrows
Into my tender
Places

I could choose
To let the frequent rebuffs
Hold back
My spontaneous
Expressions
Of affection

I could even choose
To exile myself
Definitively
From the sometimes
Insalubrious environment
Of our discourse

But mostly I choose
To pause for breath
Take it on the chin
Recall the beauty of your spirit
And have compassion
For the inner struggle
Which is the root
Of this unsavoury
Comportment

Ben - August 2009

http://advaita25.stumbleupon.com/review/35297807/

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:03:29 -0700

Divergence

An awareness
Of potential
Diminishment
Silenced by faith
That original essence
Would hold firm
Even in the wake
Of repeated episodes
Of disharmony

But maybe divergence
Has come
For reciprocity
Has certainly waned
Leaving me grasping
At the dust
Of eroded esteem
Mistakenly believing it
To represent
Something
Solid

Ben - August 2009

http://advaita25.stumbleupon.com/review/8789557/

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:01:13 -0700

Encountered this delightful creature when out walking one Summer's afternoon. It didn't seem to want to settle, but I followed it and managed to get a couple of shots when it was having a (brief) respite from wing flapping.

imgfave we♥it facebook

http://advaita25.stumbleupon.com/review/34329823/

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 03:23:12 -0700

Bit of a diversion from my usual themes I know - but maybe that's a good thing! I found this exchange among the comments responding to an article about Google OS on a tech news website. It's probably of no interest whatsoever to 99% of people, but the naivet� of those poor souls who've been totally sucked into the Microsoft 'Matrix' always makes me chuckle. As The Housemartins once sang 'it's sheep we're up against'.

----------------------

Let's dissect your Microsoft fanboyism.

And the people who keep wheeling out the claim, "I'd suggest that Linux can do significantly more than what 80% of the population use their computers for though." I'm sorry, but that just plain ordinary BULLS**T.

I'm afraid the only bulls**t is flowing firmly from your own orifice. I've installed Ubuntu on many people's laptops now after they got fed up with the viruses on their Windows machine. Every single one of them without fail has been amazed at how much easier it is to do what they want.

The ordinary user wants to play games;

Yet again, you're pulling facts out of your arse. Games are a niche market compared to office productivity and web browsing.

they want to edit documents that they've brought home from work (and whilst OpenOffice is very similar to Office in a lot of basic features it isn't 100% compatible - and therefore useless for that really complex budget spreadsheet they've been working on night and day).

This is a quite staggering leap of logic. If something is not compatible with Office it's useless? My whole organisation uses Open Office. How about I turn your twisted logic around and complain that Office can't read open formats? (OOXML does not count)

They want to edit pictures, and cut the fluff from that video of the kids they've just made.

I'm sure the Mac users would be interested to hear that they can't do this without Windows.

They also want to connect over the VPN to work using the Windows software that work have authorised them to connect to work with.

This is perfectly possible without using the Windows software.

The vast majority of people don't want to just browse the internet and get their mail.

Hilarious! I think you'll find that they do.

That's why Netbooks only started working when they threw away the crap SSD drives and useless OS and started putting proper hard drives and Windows XP on them.

I think you'd better start researching thing before you post your rants again, you're making yourself look very ignorant and stupid.

http://advaita25.stumbleupon.com/review/32104725/

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 09:32:52 -0700

I seem to be going through a bit of a rough patch with a close friend at the moment. With some degree of regularity she now 'picks me up' on the slightest deviance - be it real, or (mostly - in my opinion) perceived - from what she deems verbally 'acceptable' in our online conversations. And if I protest she then goes on to imply that I'm being some kind of hyper-sensitive head in the sand overly defensive n'er do well (thus far I've resisted the temptation to riposte with that wise old saying 'people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones). My perception (N.B. by using that word I'm entertaining the possibility that I could be wrong about this all) of things is rather different however. Now I don't claim to be any kind of saint - hell I quite often annoy the heck out of myself, and I'll willingly own up to being over-sensitive at times. But to me it feels like if anyone's behaviour has veered into the negative of late it's hers. And now - after a succession of accusatory and denigrating little remarks over the past few months - I actually sometimes find myself feeling 'on edge' talking with her.

I barely slept at all last night - because just before going to bed she decided to make a meal out of what she falsely detected to be an 'attitude' coming off me. I'd actually had quite a good day, and was feeling pretty relaxed and centred at the time - so lord knows how she came to such an inverse conclusion. Now mental peace is something I struggle with at the best of times - but having someone I care deeply about seeming to invest energy in creating disharmony out of a foundation of love (which is how I like to view our friendship) really stirs my mind up into a confused maelstrom.

The lyrics of this Bob Dylan song (below) seemed pretty apt for the situation. Hopefully this sticky 'phase' between us will pass before too long. In the meantime (once I get past the insomnia induced mental fog) I'll try to focus on the many lovely aspects of her character. Just because she doesn't seem to want to shine her light my way at the moment doesn't mean I've forgotten about her beauty.

All I Really Want To Do

I ain't lookin' to compete with you,
Beat or cheat or mistreat you,
Simplify you, classify you,
Deny, defy or crucify you.
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

No, and I ain't lookin' to fight with you,
Frighten you or uptighten you,
Drag you down or drain you down,
Chain you down or bring you down.
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

I ain't lookin' to block you up
Shock or knock or lock you up,
Analyze you, categorize you,
Finalize you or advertise you.
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

I don't want to straight-face you,
Race or chase you, track or trace you,
Or disgrace you or displace you,
Or define you or confine you.
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

I don't want to meet your kin,
Make you spin or do you in,
Or select you or dissect you,
Or inspect you or reject you.
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

I don't want to fake you out,
Take or shake or forsake you out,
I ain't lookin' for you to feel like me,
See like me or be like me.
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

http://advaita25.stumbleupon.com/review/29735424/

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:43:13 -0800

Triumph

Be right if you must
Clasp on to that halo
You'll not get
Any argument
From me

Not that I
Necessarily
Concur
With the surety
Of your conclusion
I'm just weary
And have come
To see
The futility
Of investing
In either side
Of this polarity

~Ben

http://advaita25.stumbleupon.com/review/29722777/

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 07:54:36 -0800

Logging

My words
May at times
Inadvertently
Be sharp
Or clumsy
Or thoughtless
But please don't keep
A mental record
Of every
Ephemeral
Incidence
To use
As ammunition
Against me
When you're feeling
Down

~Ben

http://advaita25.stumbleupon.com/review/29722358/

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 07:35:59 -0800

Acknowledge

When I own up
To being full of flaws
It's not a request
For you to try and fix me
You don't even need
To agree
Or disagree
Just to listen

~Ben

http://advaita25.stumbleupon.com/review/29722137/

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 07:26:56 -0800

Question

How long shall we dance
Around this impasse
Indulging in reticence
As the paper tigers
Of one another's
Imagined
Respective
Annoyance
Make shadows
On the wall

~Ben