people have choices
and vote with their feet
and we can't even tell you
cos we already schlepped off
before the feedback QR code appeared
but
please
have mercy
choose good speakers
who are focused and clear and
do not keep saying long story short
because their short comes from speaking veryveryfast
today i skip church to attend a course. the premise is great: each speaker gets twenty minutes to update us about the latest exciting developments in his field and then we switch to the next fellow. quickly building up a strand of lustrous pearls, as it were.
unfortunately the whole thing pivots on choosing excellent speakers. which. some. people. so. are. NOT. hence we are subjected to a couple of well-articulated verbal train wrecks during which the audience quietly scrolls social media.
at the end of the morning session i decide to schlepp off. if i have to listen to waves of words playing at double speed that make no sense whatsoever i might as well just read up the stuff at home.
if you think i feel crabby you are right.
in other news, his mercies continue to be new every morning as well, breakneck speed notwithstanding.
there is a fine mistiness to everything that looks almost wintry except for the temperature the green leaves AND THE SMELL.
yesterday's downpour was much welcomed is late lamented and barely budged the smog.
we say goodbye to J1 and Yi. as we said goodbye to J2 Ji A and E.
HOM's cystoscopy comes up next.
life marches.
amid the blessings, the weight.
amid the joys, the shadow.
God keeps.
to attend to needs. to anticipate the needs.
to attend to the predicted. to attend to the unexpected.
early this morning we meet a man lying at the shop front.
hello! are you ok?
he doesn't respond. start CPR? call 995?
fortunately there is a nice pulse going and he is breathing peacefully so we leave him to sleep off his booze. HOM asks if we should call the ambulance nevertheless but i think the resource will be better spent on someone else.
they need to update the training algorithms. right now every simulation starts with hello! hello! are you ok? and proceeds immutably to call ambulance! get AED! start CPR! and doesn't leave space for the poor bro who just needs to lay down his poor head.
the geriatric volvo, i mean. from the gearbox overhaul.
HOM and i survive a sweltering week on public transport by limiting our excursions. we welcome back our independence with much heartfelt relief and many overdue errands.
time was when we zipped around town on buses without missing a beat.
... the car mechanic's!
as of last count we must qualify for preferred customer status of the revolving door variety. the old volvo has a new engine mount new radiator belt new fan yada yada and will soon have an overhauled gear box.
we've come a long way, this car and us. and it is practically a new car again too.
today HOM and i are haunted by an old chinese melody that we both recognize and that we both cannot identify and that shazam gives up at as well. but the google app allows me to hum the melody and ta-dah! the song is 母亲你在何方. how we ever did things before the modern age i do not know.
red sky at night, shepherd's delight
looks like the portents are for another hottt day tomorrow.
at least it's pretty.
starting my most ambitious project yet and breaking new ground with silk thread on a ginormous piece of aida. for which pre-printed and pre-gridded are pretty much non-negotiables these days.
my aunt died peacefully. thank you for looking after her.
more than many others N saved me from chop chop self-righteous institutionalized efficiency. her trust was full her faith grounded and her acceptance complete. she expected my time and i learnt to give her my presence. she expected my prayers and i learnt to plead for her. thank you for telling me, i say. it was my privilege to know her.
slowly crawling out into the sunshine of life
after a long week of work
after vacation
that's payback for you
you'll know a woman is spoken for by the jade bangle she wears on her left wrist, the guide says. she will only take it off after in separation. i look at mine and smile at HOM. some of us will not take it off because the hand has grown coarser than the bangle!
