Tag: gratitude

Thankstaking – 19th August 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Dump all your bananas on the bull
The real world still exists and it is full
Close your eyes and a utopia appears
Build a new life away from all your fears
Blue lives matter on the merry bus
Turn in, tune out, drop off and join us
Presented to you, a technicolour better way
We’ll get it right this time is what they say
If we can get it right in a world that don’t exist
We can do it in this one if we still persist
A diversion, a revision, a life full of pranks
Let us play together and praise ourselves with thanks

The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gather wisdom.

Isaac Asimov

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful that I can get the same toothpaste here in Thailand as Australia as it helps my sensitive teeth.

Think Tank Babies – 18th August 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

A motion tabled, around it went
Carried advice for the government
A cache of dollars were duly spent
In pursuit of a father’s dreams
A place in first must be maintained
The remainder must remain remained
And tough decisions are never explained
All must be not what it seems

The crowd is the gathering place of the weakest; true creation is a solitary act.

Charles Bukowski

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for the folks around me who provide me with food. I have many options available.

Baby Doll – 17th August 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

Made of plastic with a million others
Boxed and sold to potential mothers
Wrapped in cloth, put in a manger
Idolised when stolen by a stranger
Faith questioned by this random act
The perpetrator is family in fact
Purposes are being slowly revealed
With metaphors that were concealed

Inspired by the first season of TV show The Leftovers

I don’t like work – no man does – but I like what is in the work – the chance to find yourself. Your own reality – for yourself, not for others – what no other man can know. They can only see the mere show and never can tell what it really means.

Joseph Conrad

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for all the things I learn about myself every day with the challenges I face.

The Week That Was – 28th October 1979

Words Of No Inspiration – 16th August 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Not very inspired today
Not sure what to say
And I’ve got no choice
I have to do it anyway

Waiting to rejoin the flow
Got to get up and go
I have to get it done
It’s the truth, I know

Go for broke. Always try and do too much. Dispense with safety nets…Aim for the starrs. Keep grinning…Argue with the world.

Salman Rushdie

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to Nut and Bruno for dropping my cake, bread and breadsticks to me yesterday. I have more food than I can eat at home now!

Fatman report

Explode – 15th August 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Losing control again, temper rising
So close to the edge, not surprising
A burst of anger blew across the room
And settled into despondent gloom

In the long run, a hierarchical society was only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance.

George Orwell

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to get another long weekend. This semester has gone quickly because of all the holidays.

Paint It White – 11th August 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Blocked out, little emotion left inside
No meaning carries a meaning that’s implied
Words left unsaid, let actions speak louder
Paint it all white and sprinkle it with powder
Every town’s memory, slowly being removed
Every complex conspiracy, slowly being disproved
We’re gonna make it right through to the end
Paint it all white to signal the angel to descend

We all believe we are masters in the realms of opinion and reasoning.

Robert Greene

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for all the food Amy and her parents made that is in my freezer. I can eat cheaply for many days.

Endgame – 10th August 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 4 Comments

Do we become the madness we see around us?
Are we merely acting as we saw the actors perform?
Does Beckett’s England make England Becketts?
The whole world’s a stage of paths trodden worn

We wore our striped pyjamas
As we limped around with a ladder
I can no longer tell if I am he
Or he is me, making me feel sadder

Have you seen my eyes, I’ve never shown
It seems true that you don’t complain
Never wondered to take off the goggles
Slept in and never thought to explain

A blown whistle brings forth a biscuit
And the lid’s stuck back on the bins
No more nature now we’re losing our bloom
Stuck here with each other, forever
– and for all our sins

21st Oct 2024 – Shared with Ragtag Daily Prompt – stripe

Most men are so thoroughly subjective that nothing really interests them but themselves.

Arthur Schopenhauer

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for the market seller and the tasty tangy mango I got from him. He knows me now.

The Week That Was – 21st October 1979

Wren’s Columns – 9th August 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Even though it’s only pretend
You will feel my support
Though unrequired in the end
You did it all by yourself
But needed comfort to begin
You learned to trust yourself
And you can do anything

Inspired by the story of Christopher Wren adding two unnecessary columns to a building to satisfy the owner’s desire. Everyone was happy. Also along with the work I’ve been teaching my students that they can improve themselves little by little.

You aren’t a machine with broken parts. You are an animal whose needs are not being met.

Johann Hari

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful that I can catch up on some video watching whilst doing the ironing. Too many shirts today.

Coconuts On The Corner – 8th August 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Blue clad and behatted
Tending to the rice
Determined yet superstitious
Calves sold half price
Gnarled hands tie knots
Stakes hammered into earth
Mothers, nose-ringed, stuck
Appraised of the markets worth
A slower circle of life
The farmer or the cow
Waiting for the rain to stop
Yet enjoying it right now
The cultivated garden grows
On any patch of dirt
Tuppence for every pumpkin
Surely doesn’t hurt
Buffalo poop now sundried
On the corner, sold in bags
Every family in the valley
Desires to shed their rags
The lady with her eggs
The boys grilling fish
Coconut smoothies, ice cold
Or any other drink you wish
The dust blurring teary eyes
As the sun pounds down again
Hang that old washing out
Before the returning rain

8th August 2023 – The coconut stall has gone now and the area cleaned up with some sheds knocked down and the remaining building converted into a small eating space which has also closed down already!

There is no sin in being wrong. The sin is in our unwillingness to examine our own beliefs, and in believing that our authorities cannot be wrong.

Neil Postman

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to get another holiday for two days. I can watch the football at my leisure today.

No Body Required – 3rd August 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

An entertainment to end all others
Viewers left zombied gibbering wrecks
Weaponised for controlling populations
Shoulders hunched until snapping necks
Bodies broken boxed in the matrix
Life supported until accounts drained
A no one dies a nobody death
Disposed and destroyed, existence unexplained

Human life is not sacred until all life is sacred to humans.

Doc Dart

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to be able to handle changing situations quickly and be able to manage my expectations.

The Week That Was – 14th October 1979