Tell Yourself – 22nd February 2025

Your mind believes what you tell it
So let’s fill it full of golden voices
til overcome and overrun – rejoices

Any trouble becomes easy to dispel it
Once you’ve given yourself the choices
Your mind believes what you tell it
So let’s fill it full of golden voices

Good or bad – now you can smell it
Understanding what the right choice is
Filter out unnecessary noises
Your mind believes what you tell it
So let’s fill it full of golden voices
til overcome and overrun – rejoices

An English Madrigal shared with dVerse and initiated by the attached picture from the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation as the form is often connected with themes of love.


Charlie Zero The Poet Music picks & Reviews #12 and my quick thoughts:

The Teskey Brothers – sounds like it is last century. Makes me think of Django Reinhardt a little. Also reminds me of a straight Fred Lane. Fred Lane fucks with this genre somewhat.

Steve Lacy – nothing against but who listens to this and when? What mood would you be in to listen to this? Kinda elevator/background music to me. It’s music that you don’t listen to.

Dabeull – No surprise that I’m not into this but the album covers are amazing and remind me of Toecutter and his take on Captain Ahab – this is fairly obscure reference to a memory of a Toecutter show in Sydney around 2006! I’d never heard Captain Ahab until just now trying to jog my memory. Their music is not similar at all to Dabuell!

Witch Egg – This is interesting. Has some Sunday morning vibes along with tripping out Friday 4am madness. A new one for me to check out more.

Lustmord – A familiar name but never heard before. This one doesn’t win me over.

World Expanding – 17th June 2023

Stealing away at sunset
To the corner of the block
Distant twinkling on the horizon
There lies a future to unlock

Reaching out to infinity
If only with open eyes
Beyond the grip of safety
A world full of surprise

Removing the lines drawn
To travel the streets alone
Comfortable in the welcome
Arms returning home

And slowly, steps are growing
The night reveals the joy
For the wanderer, the movie
Of boy meets girl meets boy

Next the flight over oceans
To a scary place indeed
Where next to expand the mind?
Wherever it is, Godspeed

Inspired by this post by Makenna Karas

5th Jun 2024 – Submitted to Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge


Today I’m feeling:

I’d set my alarm later than usual for 8 am but that still wasn’t enough sleep and when I finally got up an hour later I was still groggy. I did 60 jumping jacks and had a cold shower to wake up and my body feels good though my brain hasn’t quite kicked in yet. A job for coffee.

Today I’m grateful for:

The ten baht soft noodles, the twenty baht watermelon and 75 baht drinks I bought to go with dinner, a super spicy fish soup that sure woke up my face. And despite the morning coffees I never really got going today.

The best thing about today was:

That nothing really mattered too much. I got things done, chatted and prompted some students with their catch-up work etc and also this whilst feeling exhausted and lethargic. Pick it up and start again tomorrow.

What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?

Whilst I was sipping my coffee at Utopia I saw the lady from the phone store next door outside and remembered that I should get my phone screen replaced there, to give them my business. I went out and she said she could do it for me. My memory of having the protective screen replaced was that it cost about 100 baht. I was a little surprised when she said it was 250 baht. Has the price gone up that much? Did I remember wrong? Was she taking advantage? I don’t know so I thought of it as a random act of kindness that makes her happy and keeps me happy too.

Something I learned today?

I saw a BBC story about terrible things happening in North Korea. I didn’t watch the content but I’m now wondering if this is further preparation for war with China? The timing seems convenient.

What are some personality traits that I admire in others?

I was thinking that the personality traits I admire in others are not always something I feel comfortable to try and replicate. They are not always suitable for my personality today. If they are admirable then perhaps I can learn to slowly integrate them in my own way. It’s unreasonable to expect to immediately become the kind of person that another is. Also, some traits that I admire may be in people that I dislike for other traits that jar against mine. Separate the trait from the person.

Where did I embody courage?

I’ve been trying to answer this for a couple of days already but don’t feel like I’ve had to embody courage at all recently. Life has been pretty much within my stride for the last couple of years. I’ve embodied courage in my past, for example, when moving countries or going to visit new countries with little information, starting new careers and so on. I’m happy to keep exploring new possibilities but things that might require good chunks of courage are not really on my radar either because my level of fear has been defused or things are beyond my thoughts to attempt these days.

I took this picture because this nice piece of art was in Utopia. I like it.

Standing In Line With The Dead – 28th March 2022

Hangry moon rising, tummy rumble thunder
Blood sugar doldrums, the thought of going under
A credit card expired, what’s there to do?
An angel walks forward coming to the rescue
Crisis averted, silent applause fills mad hearts
Order is restored and the queue soon restarts
Grateful is the world for random kindly acts
When queueing with the dead
– and them’s the facts!


Being a contrarian in the face of bat shit insanity is a good thing.

Caitlin Johnstone

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to see the baby cow dancing and playing in the field opposite.

We got that attitude! – 7th February 2020

I am so happy and grateful to have a car. I like to drive and the drive to Chiang Mai is quite pleasant.

An emotion can be generated by the thought of something good or bad happening either now or in the future.

Massimo Pigliucci

To-do list

  • Enjoy the drive, take your time ✅
  • Stimulate the conversation with Tik and Oh
  • What acts of kindness can you do? ✅
  • Think more about drawing something for the kids

A long lazy drive, very much enjoyable, talking with Amy, listening to music and viewing the scenery.

When we met Tik and Oh it was quite noisy, in a very busy outdoor restaurant so I didn’t spend much time trying to get into conversation but it was a happy and fun evening.

I did, or tried to do, a random act of kindness today when I saw an older lady struggling with some bags. I helped her and she thanked me but soon after reversed the help I’d given her. I still felt OK and I still think she appreciated someone trying to help even if she didn’t actually want it.

I’ve added random acts of kindness to my coach.me habits app in an effort to keep it more in my mind.