The Muse of Sloth

Caution: Writer at Work

I have a muse- rather I had a muse who used to inspire me. She would lull me to sleep with visions of what if, strange lands and fascinating characters. I might be in the middle of some mundane task and she would interrupt me to record a sudden inspiration.

“I’m kind of busy right no-.” I protested. I had been putting off this chore too long.

“Oh no, put that dish sponge down this is way more important.” she insisted. Despite my occasional complaints I always obeyed her and never regretted it. Part of the joy of insight was not knowing when it would strike. My muse and I got along great. And the characters she introduced were far more interesting than any real people I knew.

In the morning when I woke she insisted I stay in bed a few more minutes to finish a tale from my last dream. Not anymore. Something happened to my muse. She got lazy or perhaps she found my real life got in the way too much. Whatever. I would lie in the darkness waiting to be whisked off to adventure but remained in a cold slightly stale bedroom. In the morning I couldn’t flee fast enough from the latest boring dream.

Where is my muse, I thought sourly as I wandered through the house one cold morning. She was on the couch sleeping off a bender. I kicked the furniture.

“Wake up bitch and get to work.” but she just snorted something rude and rolled over. That’s it I decided, I had enough of this sloth.

“Alright get up, you’re fired.” I announced with hands on hips in full affront.

“Wha-what?” she finally realized I was speaking to her. I threw her coat and a pair of barely worn shoes at her. Her services were no longer needed, I informed her.

“But we have a history. I have taken you to so many places babe. I introduced you to major players you were too shy to meet. I helped you to spin great plots. I taught you how to dialogue. Remember that cool white dragon in your novel I introduced to you?” she bragged but I wasn’t buying.

“Yeah I remember. I was scared shitless at his entrance and thanks for the warning.” at least my sarcasm still worked. Out the door she went.

Now I got to find me a new partner in writing; so I put an ad out to the cosmos: Wanted, a muse who will inspire me to finish what I start. Who can keep me on task even when I don’t feel like it. Who will take me out of my dull life and show me how to soar through my imagination. Must have prior experience.

What are You Afraid of?

The Chinese have a curse, “may you live in interesting times.” and these are interesting-meaning changing- times indeed. There is no doubt the world climate is changing along with the geopolitical landscape, the economy and rapidly shifting social morals but pinpointing the cause is harder. In order to regain a sense of control, our habit is to look at anything nearby as the cause of problems and put the blame on it.

Obama wasn’t born in America, the homosexuals are out to destroy marriage, Muslims are breeding home grown terrorist babies. Such fantasies are presented as substitutes for fact when finding a convenient scapegoat is easier than looking deeper for a cause. The media feeds this nebulas fear with predictions of the apocalypse- thanks to the Mayans- arriving on December 21 2012. Which is not going to happen. According to the Mayan calendar it is the end of a “long count” i.e. the end of one cycle and the start of another. More ignorance is heaped like dry tinder on a bonfire.

Adapt or die Darwin pointed out and we are at a critical point of choosing to adapt to the changes happening in the world or succumbing to fear and self destruction. The hysterical flailing by religions and politics don’t encourage the meditative state of mind required to bring about healthy soul searching. The next time your blood pressure begins to rise in response to a news story ask yourself is this a real problem or is it designed to generate a reaction? Getting riled up only hinders your ability to think clearly.

We need to re learn how to look inward and unplug from all the noise to understand what’s going on and what to do about it. Only then can we overcome the fear that paralyses the world.

True mind control is here.

At last there is a drug that can rob you of free will. I first spotted this on The Dish and my first reaction was alarm. It's not the criminals I'm worried about getting hold of this drug it the government- secret police all over the world will get a hard on when they hear about the effectiveness of this drug.

This remark is especially frightening in it's naviete: "we can only speculate that the criminal underworld has unwittingly stumbled upon one of the greatest discoveries of 21st-century neuroscience." I will bet it's creation was no accident.

I told you so. . .

I once stated that Russia is becoming like the young America and America is becoming like the old Russia. Some people thought I was exaggerating our backward slide in politics, economy and national security
( like spying on our own citizens). It appears I was right and a really big, know it all guy says the same thing.

So there, phhht.

Where the Aristocrats Gather to Smirk at Us

Every year Washington has a Correspondent's dinner where all the politician's try to be celebrities and all the celebrities act like they have power. It's a cross between the Oscars party, a celebrity roast and a lobbyist wet dream. It spotlights the sheer audacity of the power elite.

There's Arianna Huffington, Michael Bloomberg and Rupert Murdoch, three titans of media who supposedly despise each other, chatting out on the patio. Over there is Newt Ginrich who spends his time spewing vile about the democrats but has no trouble shmoozing with the liberal glitterati. Even Andrew Sullivan, who has expressed grave doubts about Journalists chumming up to the people they are supposed to be reporting on- why there he is with his husband. No conservative Republican is kicking this gay couple out, no siree.

So all the hateful partianship bickering is just a game of one upsmanship and name calling like players on the basketball court trash talking each other but afterwards go out for a beer at the nearby bar.

Fucking hypocrites.