It's only possible to pay attention to one thing at a time

I've been spending more time on mnemonics than I have with Harvey (Ukulele) recently, although he did get a strum earlier. When I talk to Sparkling about how I'm trying to remember things she then reminds me I've forgotten what shift she is working, or of some other matter.  The first rule though of remembering anything is attention. By focusing on something it is easier to understand and to retain it. It must be because I need to get my own story out when I'm chatting to Sparkling and in turn it just slips my mind I should equally pay attention to everything she says. But I don't think this is entirely my own doing, in general we are all guilty of this and I know at the same time I've spoken to Sparkling about subjects and she's just not paid any attention to me either. It could be because I can be boring, or it could be because she has other things on her mind at the time.  It is only possible to really focus on one thing at a time regardless of gender.

So tomorrow is a day off and I'll spend time possibly getting some exercise and also a little time with Harvey. In between these activities the mnemonic exercises will come out again. Maybe I should combine the two a little bit of rhythm and a little bit of good old country, I mean brain athleticism in training. Which is not physically tiring but sure is mentally.

Cynical and jaded, the differences and preferences

Is it better to be jaded or cynical, or is there no difference between the two.  The definition of "jaded" is more or less being bored of something you've experienced many times before. Which means it doesn't apply to a new experience. For example I'd of thought all American's would be tired of frys from a certain fast food chain, yet the same fast food chain continuously does good business.  So repeating the same experience when it comes to food doesn't mean something will be jaded. Not for American's unless they have a problem with short term memory but not a problem to obesity.  Whereas "cynical" means thinking people are only interested in themselves.  It was good searching for the two definitions for they are different things altogether, I thought they were the same but not. So eating frys is not a cynical thing, for the individual who eats the frys it is a self centred action which results in satisfaction. Unlike Mick Jagger who can't get no satisfaction, when he tries, which would make him jaded and not cynical.

There are people around me who make me cynical, their actions so obvious, they have patterns of behaviour which repeat and repeat therefore are jaded behaviours.  The results of the repetitions is cynicism.  Certainly on me it is.  I then find it difficult to endure their presence.  I should really just get over it.  Knowing how someone behaves is an advantage, for you always know what someone is going to do next, if they are so ingrained in their behaviour.  I expect there are those who know me and think the same.  I try to be calm as best I can, but I don't always get away with it. It depends on my mood, being cynical and jaded to behaviours helps me to keep calm. Yet there is always another reason as well and it is knowing some people like to see a reaction so I do my best not to react. Playing the cool poker player act.  Inside though I want to yell, shout and get into a fight. I don't. Sparkling has said she'd pay to see me get into a fight, because she thinks I'm a fud. In psychology what she terms as fud like behaviour is actually called the fundamental attribution error.  However, saying such a thing would make me seem even more fud like and possibly even nerdy.  Which is not cynical or jaded, yet it doesn't stop my own jaded and cynical views of the world creaping in continuously.  Doing the same things over and over again is making me jaded, witnessing them in others makes me cynical. Perhaps we are all both jaded in cynical in varying degrees, and there is a scale of measurement.

I don't often eat at fast food cafes, the term restaurant to these places is a misnomer, they are very much cafes and the word restaurant begins to lose it's authenticity and become jaded.  The customers who go to these places in turn will become cynical, their understanding of the word "restaurant" is false, they have been misled by the very establishments they visit and take it for granted. A restaurant does not have cooks, it has chefs, this is a little clue. Chefs usually take many years to hone their skills, they work hard to deliver a product which is the same every time. They are able to adapt to different products quickly and create master pieces from raw materials. Their limitations are the limits of their imagination. A cook in a fast food restaurant would not know what to do with raw materials, if they were not already pre frozen.  Their task is a matter of ensure food safety and hygiene, they are there to act like a production line, with speed and mass being all important. There's good reason to be jaded at fast food restaurants, and there's better reason not to visit them.

I am both cynical of the world and jaded by it but now I know these are two different terms.

Banksy is at it again

For some reason Banksy art pieces popping up all over London. Hidden in unremarkable doorways, standing there and waiting for a passerby to turn their head and then glance at something which raises a wyre smile. They have been put there as if just for the purpose of an unsupposing, non artist, they

are art for the common people.  In the same sense they have been hijacked by the art elite, walls ripped down and then sold at autions. They are appropriated by the owners of these buildings, but the images were put on without permission and one view is they could just as well be pieces of vandalism.  Except they are not, they are in the style and therefore most likely of a single person known as Banksy.  They're public viewing and obvious accessiblility suggests no piece belongs to a person, organization or establishment.  They are just there to be admired for the temporary basis, exposed to the elements and to decay.  This must be the artists intention. Yet in an act of counter vandalism they are whisked away and then no longer accessible, unless you happen to have an extortionate amount of money in your back pocket.

Mind, the thing is I often wonder how many of these Banksy pieces are really by Banksy, because there must be a lot of copy cats out there. The style of art isn't so difficult as to be uncopyable by any means. A little bit of practice and I think I could have a pretty good go at doing one. Pherhaps one of the stencil like pictures. Where it's just a matter of getting a few bits of cardboard and cutting them into the right shapes, painting it on a wall and then adjusting for highlights. In fact I have seen Banksy like art works which I knew were not Banksy pieces not far from where I live. They are still good pieces of art but as they are not bona fide Banksy the authorities usually paint over them some time afterwards.  But it is noticeable there's a theme in the subject matter, usually somethng ironic or humourous, such as the boy and girl here on the left. The boy gives flowers the girl has a club, when stereotypically it would be the other way round. It's a great idea.  You can't help but fall in love with images like these. Yet why is there such a value on Banksy works? He is a prolific artist. It's not like there are only a few of his pictures, they are all over the place. Even on the wall dividing Palestine and Israel. Of course here the message is political.

 Personally I like Banksy because he is British and in typical anti establishment. This is a bit like the Scots, who don't like the English but are also very anti establishment. They just don't like to conform to rules.  Most of all they don't hold any values for the royal family or royalty, the English royal family have no sway over the Scots. Lets also face it, no decent normal human being would also allow themselves to be subjugated to royalty and those who do are probably pretty misguided. They'd best go and work in Tea shops
serving cakes, but I'm sure they would be very nice cakes. And if I had a choice to do a copy cat style Banksy picture it would be something like the queen eating beans on toast while a corgi cocks it's leg up the sofa. It's the other side of royalty we don't get to see.  I do hear queeny was in the news for counting the sweets scattered around the palace and was upset when staff were helping themselves. Well, what does she expect, she's know as a notoriously cheap individual who pays her staff poorly. This whiffs very much of someone who is happy with their self importance. Like working for her was reward enough.  I wouldn't mind betting she does eat beans on toast, for real. Don't be fooled I say, I'm also quite sure I seen her in a que at the Post Office popping in to pick up her pension. The corgi's were tied to a railing outside.  Poor things.

The New Ugly is Skinny

There is a popularist view of beauty in the West, it's simply put, and simply in this context is a pun (i.e. also refering to borderline subnormal intelligence).  As beauty is youthful and is skinny. Being young and beautiful are two items which inherently go together and who is to deny youth it's own stupidity gene anyway. Yet not all youngsters fall into this category, just the ones who spend too much time in front of a mirror or following the latest fashion.  The Western generalization of skinny and beauty though is probably something held by people who are skinny, or who aspire to being skinny, have low self worth and really do not understand the truth of human nature.  Skinny does not mean beautiful and anyone believing this has lost the plot.  To exagerate in a big way: they've lost the plot in the biggest allotment the world has ever seen, they swim in the sea and ask where is the sea, they breath in fresh air and wonder what the pong is. The poor lost things. The frightening aspect of this body type or view of the rest of the world makes me think it is a stereotype close to racism, sexism and extremism.

A particular culprit of the skinny and beautiful is the fashion industry.  There's a dislike of the so skinny models which adorn pages of magazines, newspapers and websites, well for normal bodied people there is. They quite often look what they are, anorexic and a reminder of second world war concentration camps.  They must be verging on the malnourished.  The clothes they have on are always brand new and pressed, they do look nice but then most people if put into beautiful new clothes can look pretty good.  Depending on the on the fit, but it doesn't mean only skinny people should wear beautiful clothes.  I am lead to believe clothes designers do not like the curvy body type, it is the way cloth hangs on the human body. Yet, everyone has curves, except the skinny drab lookers. Curves are beautiful, the human body is beautiful.  Alternatively there is also the extreme of curvy which is obesity and it is quite understandable clothes on obese people will not look their best.  In many respects botht he obese and the skinny fall within the same category. Extreme skinny is anorexia and can result in death.  Obesity similarily leads to death.  Fortunately in the West most people fall somewhere betweeen, except this may not be entirely true as now I hear obesity is becoming an epidemic particularly in the USA. Gluttony is bad, think twice I say to myself as I devour a second Danish Pastry. Usually the second thought is after it's already eaten and then the guilt kicks in. If only guilt burnt off calories, but it fecking doesn't.

Whether skinny or obese, what is beautiful is in a smile, self belief, personal warmth, an internal calmness with the world, spontaniety and bringing joy to others.  In relation to body type, posture is probably more important for it shows self confidence and beauty.  Yet not in a stuck up posh way which again is something the modelling fraternity have highjacked.  Appearing beautiful in posture and aloof yet again falls into the stupid category.  Beautify can be so ethereal no words will describe it.   It can even be in the picture of a person who has a story to tell.  For example Adam Pearson a
man suffering from a condition disfiguring his body with tumours, fortunately non malignant (neurofibromatosis). Here is a picture of the man, and if I were to say who is the more beautiful of these two photos I'd have to vote Adam.  Doesn't he looks cheeky as well? Something I'm sure Scarlett Johansson would be able to talk about, seeing as they have both been doing a little acting together. In this I see beauty, I see someone who is an individual with character. Whereas the skinny beans above have a surface beauty, I'd be lying if I said otherwise, they look unhappy in a moody.  They need a good bowl of stew and a happiness injection and probably a few years of happiness psychotherapy.

Get over it skinny people, the new ugly is beautiful and I've got a hairy arse look at it and cry.

Farrell Williams - Happy Videos go viral

The last couple of weeks I have been completely hooked a new song by Farrell Williams called "Happy," it's not just a matter of the lyrics and the music it is also the videos. There must be thousands of them, and Williams must of done quite a few himself to the song.  I just love the song, love the music and love videos. On Youtube you can see different videos all of which go through an hour cycle of the track with different people dancing and walking along the same journey, as the song finishes with one person, the video pans to the ground and then pans back again to a new person and the song turns over again. I think there may be as many as 24 different one hour videos, called 24hoursofhappines.com, or something of the ilk.

In a world full of disasters and bad news this single song has shone out to be a contrary ism to the world of bad news. It cheers me up, it makes me want to learn the song and then learn to play it on the ukulele. I recommend it to anyone and after watching the song and a different character dance away to the same music you can't but cheer up and smile. Damn I love it.  I love the fact the people included in the video are so different, they are not all beautiful great dancers although mostly young they are just ordinary in many senses. There is also a complete fan based following where copycats are doing their own version of the song and dancing in all kinds of places. From airport waiting lounges to weddings, the world is being taken over by this one song. Before long everyone will be clapping along, singing along "It might seem crazy what I'm about to say..."

Yes it's crazy, it's fun, it's probably one of the greatest aspects of humanity, it is just being happy and loving it and showing it for a few minutes in a song for all to see.

What is it about leopard print

I don't know what it is but for some reason women like leopard print. Myself I don't, it reminds me of a TV soap where one of the actors used to wear it all the time. Unfortunately Sparkling eyes has got a fixation for leopard print and today she has shown me how far this fixation has gone. The cat's food tray got the treatment, it's now a leopard print food tray, the front door has had some of the print stuck to it, a TV stand was attacked and in the kitchen above the washing up bowl stands a plant pot, it to has been smothered in leopard print. Sparkling sent me the pictures from her phone. There was also a picture of the hoover sitting somewhere between the front room and the kitchen, on the floor waiting to be switched on and used. If it sits still long enough and doesn't defend it's self then it will get the leopard print treatment. I don't know if this is a hormone thing or maybe there is a genetic predisposition towards it.  Sparkling got leopard print boots for baby Princess J, who likes to take them and put them in her mouth. On account of teething. So now a 10 month old baby has been indoctrinated into the leopard print club. When she grows up it will be her preferred pattern of choice.

Personally I can't say there is a colour pattern I prefer. Although as I've hit my fifties I do notice I visualise colours more and wonder what tie best suits my shirt. I see them in my mind's eye as fingers hover over ties. Thinking which is the best match.  I do have some lilac ties, and I don't know why I bought them, three in all, but they don't seem to match any shirt at all. I got them because I like them and yet haven't chanced to wear them.  I certainly do not have a leopard print tie, it would not make me happy to say the least. Yet it would be interesting to Sparkling. I don't think I have shirt which would match leopard skin. It just is  not my colour.

I notice even in the fish factory there are certain females who have a thing about wearing leopard print. It has this attraction to them. Why I don't know, I just don't get it. What is it about leopard print? It makes my eyes go funny. I'm sure it is not a camouflage thing. Otherwise the British army would be wearing it. Heaven's help us if they were in theatre with leopard printed helmets and fatigues. But if they did, I know one thing for sure, there would be a lot of women watching war films and thinking they must get a pair of leopard print boots, flack jacket and helmet as well.  The thought of this is all becoming too much, I can feel a brain freeze coming on, it's like the image of leopard print before me is making me freeze. Help, where's the lilac tie?

Switchboards, repeated melodies and wasting life on the end of the phone

I believe the phenomenon of switchboards and answering machines which then direct you through automated services could be the bane of modern day living.  I have nearly got to the point of full understanding, when I have to phone up an organization to discuss a topic, I should record every bit of information on the phone call. Date, time, person spoken to, what was said, any references and then wait to see what the result is. If there is going to be another phone call because the first did not settle the matter then this has also to be recorded.  Notes and details should be made of the organization I am about to speak to, who runs it, who are the directors, what is their complaints policy and to what independent body are they accountable. It is sad but switchboards, listening to repeated melodies and time wasted speaking to individuals who know English as a second language and have never been to the UK is soul sapping to say the least.  There is no doubt a great comedy sketch waiting to be written if it has not already been.

I'd write it, except for being completely exhausted. These switchboard services are Kafka like conspiracies cobbled together by large organizations whose purpose is to make as much money as possible out of their customers. It helps when they have something approaching a monopoly.  One such company which has been in the news lately is B.T. which stands for Bloody Terrible. Not for the telecoms service it is suppose to represent. Some years ago I even applied for a job with this company and was verbally offered a position, however they never got back to me and verified the start date. I should of realised at this point something was up. They had my cards marked and were going to sap my life away somehow. Maybe I should of been tenacious enough to have followed it up and pestered them for the job they'd offered. Unfortunately with verbal contracts it becomes a case of one person's word against another.  Fortunately there was an alternate job on the table to pick up and it didn't involve waiting on the end of a telephone line for an answer.

Admittedly though there is something to be gained from understanding the failure of not getting to talk to someone to get a solution to your problem.  It is an appreciation of the efforts people have to go through. Anyone who makes a phone all to a faceless bureaucratic organization should be given a medal.  The longer they wait the more colourful the medal should be. A bit like the pot at the end of a rainbow.  Unfortunately when it comes to the Bloody Terrible company you'll find the pot has been emptied out by the time you get to it.