Category: 2022

Unalive – 14th April 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Gaming the alcohol rhythm
A war, of words, as a war of words
Bullies in a cyber shop
Recycling strategies and isolation
Right-click delete
Sick fight compete
New smiling gangs of rhyming slangs
Shouting at the four enclosed walls
Declaring victory and the final absurd

Every genuine educator is a prisoner of hope.The road to all liberation through self knowing is a path of despair but all roads have their empty horizons and infinite beyonds. We educators are travelers on that path, struggling to transform what lies beyond.

Seth Vannatta

A Time And Place – 13th April 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

The smell of photosynthesis
Around the privet bushes
The trail of LouLou in the night
Is a memory that crushes

A sneaky cigarette
Shared among us out of sight
The threat of being caught
Running amok in the night

Jumping over fences
Sending fireworks to the skies
Bored but never boring
Each moment the thrill of surprise

Shaking heads in wonder
At the stupid things we’d done
Living each moment in joys
Of lives that had just begun

You should, in science, believe logic and arguments, carefully drawn, and not authorities.

Richard Feynman

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to Amy’s dad who came to fix our gate yesterday morning.

Those Who Wait – 12th April 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

The seduction of the capitalist
To need, to want, to own
It’s easy to trick yourself
Into feeling you have grown

Now it seems so quaint
To buy at market stalls
Next shutting down the shops
To build great shopping malls

And now their lacquer fades
As everything can be found online
It’s only a few clicks
But who really has the time?

Don’t posture like a bohemian
Of course, these things are great
But the truly great things
Are those for which you wait

12th Apr 2023 – Sometimes I look back at things I’ve written and can be quite impressed with myself. At this time when the wonders of capitalism are starting to be questioned more and more it feels like we are in a downward spiral of forever chasing shiny things to the detriment of our sanity.
21st Apr 2024 – Submitted to The Ragtag Daily Prompt

You can swim all day in the sea of knowledge and not get wet.

Norton Juster

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful that my old computer has lasted for ten years but I think it may be about to die. It’s had a good run.

The Week That Was – 27th May 1979

Instant Nostalgia – 11th April 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Remember that great time we had yesterday?
I’ll never forget what it meant to me
I know things will never end up back that way
And it’s best to let these things be

Remember those times we had this morning?
After waking up and changing things around
We carried on without heed to warning
Forever to share those memories we found

Now as each minute passes us by
I’m wishing that this time could be turned
I want to revisit each murmur and sigh
And examine all the lessons I’ve learned

28th Aug 2024 – Submitted to Ragtag Daily Prompt – nostalgia

The promised land may never come. But you can be sure people will keep promising it.

Jules Evans

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful that the crazy storm that came last night didn’t get wet the lounge modules that I put out on the terrace yesterday.

Linda hosts One-Liner Wednesday.

Notorious – 10th April 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Are you shining brightly, attracting the moths?
Claim the credit when the winning goal scored
We are all cut from very different cloths
But it’s better to be attacked than ignored
Don’t settle for being a flash in the pan
Soon eclipsed by a new piece of gold
Make yourself as special as you can
And ensure it’s your name that’s being told

In trying to do nothing, or in trying not to force things, there’s still, somehow, always progression.

Cynthia Arrieu-King

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful that Amy could enjoy our anniversary where she was yesterday and to receive a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue from here. Have to get my head together to taste that!

Fair Trade – 9th April 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Would you really trade wisdom for youth?
Too smart to ever fall off your bike
Born old and closed to new truth
Already knowing everything you like
The knocks that you took to grow
Gave deeper meaning to everything new
There are always more things to know
And these are the things that make you

Some people conform to the tastes of others, and they end up wearing a mask that hides their true nature.

Robert Greene

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for my little hard-working motorbike that took me up and away into the mountains today.

Letter from the future to Amy (sent 7th Feb 2022)

Dear Future Little Amy,

Right now, you are in Chatswood, Australia and I am in Chiang Rai, Thailand. I’m in a cafe because the school doesn’t have anything for me to do today. Jobs where you get paid to do nothing! Crazy!

I just talked to you on the phone as you were eating spicy Som Tum in our old Chatswood kitchen. You sound happy to be back in Australia although maybe not quite sure what will happen next.

You’ll go to Albury and Adelaide and take a look around there, thinking about future possibilities. Who knows, by the time you get this letter you may be thinking of running your own little business in one of these places. Or you may be thinking to come back to Chiang Rai, relaxing and drinking red wine, playing with the cats and watching Netflix all day.

I’m happy with myself and my job. You know that I feel good to be working with the students and not necessarily the school. I’ll hang in for as long as I can and try not to cause any trouble! Haha. You know me.

Little Amy, you know I really miss your cooking. It’s the best and you’ve always taken care of me with that. Even though we are far apart, it still feels like you are here. It’s easy for us to talk anytime we want.

Happy Anniversary Amy Kee Mow.
Love you so mootch.

Bury Me High – 8th April 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Racing to the rooftops
Why is it colder closer to the sun?
All around there’s silence
As if this day had never begun
Shattered constructions bleached
Ghosts tread lightly long forgotten
Every wheel that’s turned
Cycles from beautiful to rotten
All the dragons sleeping
And here the lady forever lies
Buried high on the earth
Reaching toward the skies

That something is difficult must be a reason the more for us to do it.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for today’s hangover. Reminding me not to waste any more time with alcohol. I didn’t drink a lot and it just put me to sleep and not a good sleep either.

Be A Friend – 7th April 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Remember that rule, the golden rule
Taught by priests, parents, grandmothers
*Reverse it so that you don’t treat yourself
In ways that you wouldn’t treat others*
The people in charge, whoever they are
Are not making your faults into a big deal
It’s not indulgent to be a friend to yourself
Just an extension of how you make your friends feel

*Iddo Landau/inspired by Oliver Burkeman newsletter

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.

Oscar Wilde

One Day – 6th April 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 4 Comments

Always on the path of most resistance
Never giving up, refusing to play the game
No unexpected award during your existence
Perhaps in death, others will speak your name

28th Apr 2024 – Submitted to Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge – One Day

Few people sincerely want the truth about the world.

Caitlin Johnstone

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to Dutch Mill for making delicious yoghurt milk drinks.

Personal Hells – 5th April 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Eyes agog at AMOLED screens of trusting fakes
Ears alert to every chime, bell and whistle
*They spit weird dilatory rants and pithy takes
Or burp up half-digested chunks of newsfeed gristle*

*from That Guy From The Internet’s ‘This is a newsletter’ newsletter. Love these two phrases.

Reason must lead the way no matter what good fortune comes along.

Ryan Holiday, Daily Stoic

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful that I have managed to survive the last eight days on very little money and especially to Art for allowing me to have daily coffee on credit!