Month: May 2022

Getting There – 31st May 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

I don’t want you to get left behind
I know you feel you’re standing still
The world is running too fast to find
The chances to improve your skill
So I’ll give you all the time I can
Although my time is hard to spare
Let’s walk together to make a plan
That will see you getting there

Failures really gave me confidence. They led to great things and opportunities. I was terrified of those very things happening until they happened.

Cindy Spiegel

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to have a visiting bird at eye level, and out of the way of our cats. I hope I can see the chicks hatch and they don’t fall out of the nests into our cat’s mouths.

Old Geezer – 30th May 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

We didn’t know it before
Why the dark clouds came
You just had to get on with it
With only yourself to blame

Then someone turns on the light
And it all starts to make sense
So begins the slow process
To down the shields of defence

Inspired by reading Mick Wall’s Black Sabbath biography and Geezer Butler growing up with undiagnosed depression, much like myself.
9th Nov 2024 – Shared with Word of the Day Challenge – sabbath

The feeling of having no power over people and events is generally unbearable to us.

Robert Greene

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful that Kim was waiting in the bookshelf this morning as I couldn’t find her last night to put her in her room.

Smoke – 29th May 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

He’s the number one, top dog
Always best in class
Sits quietly satisfied
As smoke is blown up his ass

Everyone else plays in the mud
Whilst he lounges on the grass
In between sips of champagne
Smoke is blown up his ass

Whilst everyone struggles to get in
He always gets a pass
Head held high at the gate
As smoke gets blown up his ass

A nose, again, turned brown
From impressing all the brass
It’s difficult to focus
With all the smoke blown up his ass

Smiling teeth a-gleaming
A halo as clear as glass
Powered by all the steam
Of the smoke blown up his ass

For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were reality.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful that I am me. Why would I want to be someone else? Why would I be anyone else? Good or bad – I am me.

Get The Winch – 28th May 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

You used to be an armchair warrior
But now you got so fucking fat
You’ve become a sofa warrior
Unable to wriggle from where you’re sat

14th May 2024 – Submitted to Ragtag Daily Prompt

Sometimes I like to read a book that has nothing to do with my life, which often has the effect of making me wish for a different life.

Elisa Gabbert

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for all the technology we use so that Amy can order and pay for food for our cats to be delivered to me and can see her face on video calls for her mum’s birthday today, even though we are in different hemispheres.

Slave Driven – 26th May 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 2 Comments

Having walked through shadow and light
Seeing the slaves in misery and distress
Even those with strength and faith
Struggle to make sense of this mess

The apprentice, artisan and employer
The soldier, governor and king
All enslaved with submission
Of another’s tune to sing

Chained to the parent’s past
Urged to yield oneself to tradition
Words create empty echoes
When failed to express contrition

29th Oct 2024 – Shared with Word of the Day Challenge – faith

Certain types of persons are terrified even to poke a big toe into genuinely felt regret or sadness, or to get angry. This means they are afraid to live.

from The Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful I’ve managed to keep most of Amy’s indoor plants alive so far.

Preach – 25th May 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

There’s a gospel of prosperity
With riches as reward
Fall into the algorithm
Or risk to be ignored
Click, like and share
This message was meant for you
Fall into the matrix
Now dawns a new age anew

25th Nov 2024 – Shared with Word of the Day Challenge – preach

When you’re at the beginning, don’t onsess about the middle, beacuse the middle is going to look different once you get there…just get moving.

Chip Heath

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for ant spray. Those bastards get in everything. Now I’m eating them with my breakfast.

The Week That Was – 12th August 1979

Me Vs You – 24th May 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Is a choice between two evils
Even a choice at all?
And the middle is mediocre
If that’s where the chips fall
The balance of all power
Remains in the hands of a few
So the systems maintain
If the parties are one or two
Where corruption can be stamped out
And happiness prevails
Any system promoting self-interest
Will be the one that fails

The real object of pity is the person who has never been through adversity.

Seneca

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to meet all my new students yesterday. They all look cute, happy and expectant.

No Luck – 23rd May 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

It’s not luck that gained success
Things didn’t just fall into place
Good preparation, good decisions
Kept everything within its grace
Hard work and perseverance
Never giving up on the goal
Fall down and get up again
Choosing things within control

The difference between good and great results is often found in consistently doing the boring things you know you should do when you feel like doing them the least.

Farnam Street

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for my big selection of shirts to wear. This one is too small so I will swap.

Empire Fanfic For Slow Kids – 22nd May 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Words are written to fan the flames
Generate outrage with magic games
Knowing nothing except the names
Of all those whom the writer blames
Propaganda pushed to every screen
Harmony must remain a dream
The devil, front and centre, seen
More dangerous than it’s ever been
Heroes forever dashing hopes
Innocents on hanging ropes
Testing how its society copes
Forever sliding down slippery slopes

*Inspired by and title appropriated from Caitlin Johnstone

What are you going to believe, the facts or your eyes?

Ronald Reagan official

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for this mango jam that Amy’s mum made and the bagel that Nong Nut made.