Tag: nirvana

Same Old Song – 12th July 2021

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 8 Comments

You were a Frankenstein
When I saw you on the screen
I was scared and curious
At the weirdness I had seen

What drew me to it
I don’t really understand
But the thing I knew is
That I wanted to start a band

Your face inspired my generation
Though now you’ll never know
You burned and crashed out
While others took the chance to grow

Ten years or so, later
And others inspired the same
They too destroyed themselves
Cos they couldn’t handle the fame

Exploited to make a buck
It happened again and again
Working hard to get where you were
But it will never be the same

Now little girls chase this dream
To get famous for a minute
As if life was a competition
And everyone has to win it

20th Sep 2024 – Submitted to Reena’s Xploration Challenge #348

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for the chicken that laid the egg that Amy is about to cook in the kitchen. I hope the chicken is having a good life and not stuck in a factory farm somewhere.

They will crawl up in your skin and they will come out from the walls, if you let them – 13th February 2020

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

What do you believe that others do not?

– A daily writing prompt from stoameditation.com

I believe in fairness, justice, learning, compassion etc…  but so do many other people….

Perhaps there are things that other people believe that I do not, such as gods, more money will make you more happy etc…  Many people believe those things too though.

I feel like this is a trick question and should force you to contemplate all the things you do believe.  When you examine them all maybe there will be something there that no one else believes?

Is there anything that one person might believe that no one else believes though?  Even something obscure is likely to be believed by another person somewhere in the world. As you voice it for the very first time, someone else might agree!

What about this? Is there something you used to believe that you no longer do? When you stop believing something you sometimes block it out and disown it as if you never really believed it. Did I used to believe in ghosts? Some strange things happened that I couldn’t explain then but can explain now. Is that just learning and growing away from ignorance? Is it possible to grow so far away from ignorance, to be able to explain everything, to no longer have any beliefs? Is that some sort of nirvana the Buddhists idealise?

If you believe we live in a simulation then do you really know that one foot goes in front of another when you are walking or do you just believe it is so?

This stupid question has raised more than I’ve been able to answer. Ok, good. Keep the old brain ticking.

I’m off to start on my list of things I believe.

Who called?
What the hell did they say?
Get off the telephone right now
Don’t throw another minute away

Karate – There Are Ghosts

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful that I don’t have to teach at school for the next two days. Even though it was a late notification and bad planning it’s good for me anyways.

To-do list

  • Finish Kieran’s letter today! ✅
  • Study TOEFL templates ½
  • Connect with someone ✅
  • Random act of kindness ✅
  • Clear videos and emails ✅

I really enjoyed being able to sit in the quiet classroom and finish off Kieran’s letter as well as read a few other things and make some random notes. I skipped out in the afternoon so we could do some much-needed shopping. I don’t know if anyone will say anything tomorrow about not being there the whole day but it does feel a bit unreasonable to expect us to stay the whole day when there is nothing much to do.

It’s the constant annoying frustration of disorganisation and I am learning more to go with the flow.

Spent another enjoyable hour talking with Bruce and thinking of strategies to help him improve. I’m afraid it may be a long journey for him and I don’t want him to think that I’m just milking him for money so I will do my best to facilitate with what he needs to pass his exam.

I was calm and collected for the whole day and employed some of the techniques from the Smiling Mind meditations – becoming conscious of breathing and practising focus on people communicating – not just words but facial and body language, interactions within groups etc. When in those group communications I could have paused longer and forfeited my stories to enjoy theirs more. If I have that opportunity again tomorrow I will practice this.

Tomorrow I will spend all day reading, writing, learning and thinking.

Surf’s Up With Shaun – 1st February 1995

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

What is punk rock? Is it a way of acting or behaving? Is it about music? Or politics? Is it anything to do with THE SEX PISTOLS? Ог CRASS? Is it nihilistic or cynical? Optimistic, introverted or extroverted? Is it far-reaching + powerful? Small + exclusive? What do you think?

Well, when you live in the middle of a rainforest + the only rock around is sticking out of the earth, you start to think about these things. The answer is – it’s all punk rock, innit!

Cos I was sat on the beach trying to get my skin as bronzed as the surfies in the noonday sun (of course this isn’t true because if you have got any brains, you’ve got to cover up from the sun, or stick on your sun factor 15 but a lot of people don’t bother with this until a limb or two has to get cut off, so tell your kids OK!).

Well, I was on the beach checking out the surf (you see in Australia, the water is actually warm enough to go + swim in but you do have to watch out for sharks!) + watching the pelicans flying overhead + I was thinking “Man, this isn’t very punk rock is it?” and then I got to thinking “what is punk rock?” then pretty soon, I thought “Fuck it, let’s go for a swim”.

After that I went to the cafe + contemplated a bit more + I thought all the scantily dressed girls on the beach must be frustrated, cos all the surfies are interested in catching is waves. I checked out the surfies and hell, I saw me a couple of PANTERA t-shirts, a NIRVANA t-shirt and an OFFSPRING one too, so punk rock does exist here at the beach! I talked to one dude but gave up pretty soon, cos he’d never heard of MINOR THREAT, even though he skates!

Of course, this got me back to thinking about what punk rock is + I began to realise that, hey, it’s OK if that dude doesn’t know who Minor Threat is – he’s OK. I later found out he was well into conservation and abhorred racism, which is pretty punk rock for a sixteen-year-old surfie.

Sometimes, it takes me an age to realise the obvious and that I should have listened a bit harder when my best friend said “It’s all punk rock innit!?” So all you folks back in England can be satisfied that rock is alive + well on the other side of the globe + hey, they’ve even got bands here too + some are pretty good but man, it’s difficult to get away from the beach to get to see them sometimes!

We could plant a house, we could build a tree – 15th April 1994

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 3 Comments

Next morning when finally awake we dithered and cleaned and a letter came through the door from Australia House with more forms for us to fill. And we duly got stressed out a bit on Sunday when it came to filling them in.

News today was that Kurt Cobain shot himself dead and that’s been on my mind through the week. Shocking news and, strangely, having a personal effect on me. The first rocker of my generation to suicide out of life!

My new forms required a medical examination which I went for on Tuesday at some posh hospital, X-ray and all! £130 for half an hours work! It seems I’m closer to getting to Oz now though.

Wednesday saw us with Rob, trek golden highway to Wales to see our gods Sebadoh and Lou Barlow. A night spoiled by some dicks dancing uncontrollably but Sebadoh’s majesty shone through in the end. The late drive home saw me with only 3 1/2 hours sleep but worth it to see Broni’s face light up after talking briefly to Lou.

We’re both stressed this week with this new lot of forms and all the questions they bring up, like about our wedding plans etc. So much going on at the moment so little time to relax. Broni thinks I’ll never relax but I intend to take it easy for awhile in Oz. Want to get there soon now and bring her the promise of babies!!