A Very Long Time…

Fragments:  Growing
When we are children we dream
Of growing up,
Be an adult doing adult things.
We never understand
That it takes a very long time
To become young.
—    From a blog I follow:  “The Mirror Obscura” located at:  http://themirrorobscura.com/
The original post was:  http://themirrorobscura.com/2013/10/11/fragments-growing/
[You HAVE to click through to the original post to see the terrific picture which accompanies this poem.  Well, worth checking out!    —    kmab]
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2017	Shadows
2016	Still Blurry
2015	For Awhile Anyway
2014	By Contrast
2013	A Very Long Time…
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2011	Naturally
2010	A Quick Sunday Morning Read
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Decoration Time

Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid.
—    Frank Zappa
From his book:  “The Real Frank Zappa Book“
[And love has nothing to dance to…     —    kmab]
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2018	Dehydrated
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2017	And Some Of Us Have Books
2016	I See No Proof
2015	Whither Tea Party?
2014	Nothing Is Known Absolutely
2013	Decoration Time
2012	The Beatitudes
2011	Good Fences Make Good Neighbors
2010	Back On The Asphalt
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Hours, Days, And Years

He who has not spent hours, days, or years with someone he loves cannot know what happiness is, for he is unable to imagine a protracted miracle like this – one which makes out of ordinary sights and events the most enchanted existence.
—     André Maurois
Hil’s Birthday 1984 and our Pre-engagement Photo (Hil in her little black dress)
[I don’t believe the above quote is an absolute, but I do feel it would be fairly difficult to imagine such a miracle without having shared such a “protracted” period.  As of today, my wife Hilary will have spent over half of her life with me passionately in love with her.
On this date, in 1984, on bended knee, Hil sitting at a candle lit table, in a (not too) crowded restaurant, I proposed.  —  And she said, “Yes.”
Happy Birthday, Hil!!
All my love,
Always,
Your Kev
—    kmab]
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2018	Forever
2017	Too Good To Be True
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2016	She Is Still Singing
2015	Don’t Complain
2014	Nothing Is The Same
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2013	Hours, Days, And Years
2012	In Kev Are In Hil
2011	No Game, Didn’t Really Happen
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Irrational Complacency

Soldiers cannot afford moral complacency.
The problem of “American Exceptionalism.”
A prevalent form of this complacency involves rationalizing one’s own superiority above others.  The myth of American exceptionalism permeating the U.S. military’s ranks is an example.  It usually occurs when Americans apprehend the empirical fact that they enjoy remarkable freedoms and prosperity and transfer those accomplishments of their forebears into feelings of personal superiority.  Instead of perceiving their heritage as a lucky accident, they irrationally perceive it as a personal virtue and a sign of their own superiority.
—     Lt. Col. Peter Fromm, U.S. Army, Retired;  Lt. Col. Douglas Pryer, U.S. Army;  and Lt. Col. Kevin Cutright, U.S. Army
From their article:  “The Myths We Soldiers Tell Ourselves (and the Harm These Myths Do)“
Found at:  http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/MilitaryReview/ Archives/English/MilitaryReview_20131031_art010.pdf
[Originally found via one of the blogs I follow:  http://carryingthegun.wordpress.com/
The specific post is:  http://carryingthegun.wordpress.com/2013/10/05/ the-ethics-of-the-marine-corps-urination-case/     —    kmab]
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2018	And Flights Of Fancy
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2017	By Their Acts Thy Shall Know Them
2016	Remembering
2015	One
2014	Sure Experiments And Demonstrated Arguments
2013	Irrational Complacency
2012	Why Criticize?
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2011	Saying Just Enough
2010	Giants Win Game 2 Shutout of Rangers – 9 to 0!!!

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How’s Your View?

We have currently a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information.  Our mass media reflect this.  But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse, and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it, and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture too late.
—    Edward R. Murrow
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2019	Is That Why Love Hurts?
2018	And Honest Politicians
2017	Maya, Maya
2016	Give Value
2015	Believe In Substitution
2014	Pragmatic Religion
2013	How’s Your View?
2012	Giants Win Game 3 Of The 2012 World Series 2 To 0!!!
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2011	What Is Your Ratio?
2010	Giants Win Game 1 With 11 Runs Scored – Repeat 11 Runs!!

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Hard To Deserve

I’m selfish, impatient and a little insecure.  I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle.  But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.
—    Marilyn Monroe
[This quote was originally found on one of the blogs I follow, maintained by Deodatta Shenai-Khatkhate:  Deo Volente  at:  (http://dshenai.wordpress.com/)
The actual post is:  http://dshenai.wordpress.com/2013/03/24/interesting-quotes-by-marilyn-monroe/
Thanks, Deo!    —    kmab]
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2018	Forests, Shorelines And Mountain Paths
2017	Reach Down
2016	And Women When You Are 59
2015	Intersections, Explorations And Relationships
2014	[!(±*=)/≠], [!<]
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2013	Hard To Deserve
2012	Cloudy Between Games
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2011	One, Two, Three – Blink

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License Problem

A drug is not bad.  A drug is a chemical compound.  The problem comes in when people who take drugs treat them like a license to behave like an asshole.
—    Frank Zappa
From his book:  “The Real Frank Zappa Book“
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2019	Show Righteousness, Not Fear
2018	Sounds Like Politics, Too
2017	Resist More
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2016	Two Weeks To Go…
2015	Remembering
2014	The Creeping Death Of Civilization
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2013	License Problem
2012	Giants Win Game 2 Of The 2012 World Series 2 To 0!!!
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2011	What Are You Looking At?

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Disservice And Disingenuous

There was an assumption that I was personally attacking Sarah Palin by impersonating her on TV.  No one ever said it was ‘mean’ when Chevy Chase played Gerald Ford falling down all the time.  No one ever accused Dana Carvey or Darrell Hammond or Dan Aykroyd of ‘going too far’ in their political impressions.  You see what I’m getting at here.  I am not mean and Mrs. Palin is not fragile.  To imply otherwise is a disservice to us both.
—    Tina Fey
From her book:  “Bossypants“
[The REAL objection from the Republicans was not Ms. Fey was personally attacking Mrs. Palin because Mrs. Palin is “fragile”.  It was that Ms. Fey was pointing out IN PUBLIC Mrs. Palin’s utter and complete incompetence for the position she was campaigning for (Vice-President) due to her poor education, insufficient experience and lack of intellectual curiosity.  Not only was Mrs. Palin barely able to string words together into a rational sentence (a surprising poor impromptu speaker), she rarely knew what she was talking about (the issues), AND she didn’t care enough to find out what was correct before she spoke (lazy).
It is one thing to not know what you’re talking about; it is another thing to not know that you don’t know what you’re talking about;  but, it is all together beyond the pale to know you don’t know what you’re talking about and to not care you don’t know it.
Mrs. Palin was the least competent nominee since Dan Quayle (Bush I’s, VP).  In my opinion, she was FAR less competent than Quayle, and although it does not seem possible, she remains so five years later!
This is what the “right” felt was “personal”:  “Don’t point out to the voting public that the person we’re proposing be one-heartbeat from being President is ignorant (doesn’t know anything) AND illiterate (doesn’t read in an effort to learn anything), because she’s a female and we don’t expect much out of her anyway.”
With the number of truly intelligent and competent females in the Republican Party, it is a tragedy (and a continuing insult to the American People) that the GOP has had the hubris to put forward Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann for public office – let alone for the Vice Presidency and President.  (Fortunately, Bachmann was forced out of the 2012 race early.)
It was most certainly a personal attack to point out Governor Palin’s intellectual incompetence.  But, it was not mean;  it was patriotic!  And for Ms. Fey to imply the objection to her comedy was because Mrs. Palin was somehow “fragile” is equally disingenuous.  The best way to prevent / counter / defeat this type of personal attack is to put forward competent candidates.  Given the Romney / Ryan ticket in 2012, it doesn’t appear the Republicans have learned this lesson.    —    kmab]
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2018	Talking About Egypt, Not The White House
2017	Left Behind
2016	Self-Restraint
2015	In The Midst
2014	Match Book
2013	Disservice And Disingenuous
2012	Giants Win Game 1 Of The World Series 8 to 3!!!
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I’d Like To

The Only way to do all the things you’d like to do is to read.
—    Tom Clancy
[Found on a blog I follow:  http://dshenai.wordpress.com/
The specific post is:  http://dshenai.wordpress.com/2013/10/03/tribute-to-tom-clancy-with-his-insightful-quotes/
Thanks Deo!   —    kmab]
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2018	I’d Still Like To Try It Out
2017	In Every Thing
2016	Future Halo
2015	The Hard Way Every Time
2014	Indispensable Wits
2013	I’d Like To
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2011	Just Kickin It
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2010	Giants Advance To 2010 World Series!!!

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Complacent Reality

People honestly calculate and, with good intentions, recalculate what reality is until they find a place where they are comfortable with their moral myths, where they can sit complacent.
—    Lt. Col. Peter Fromm, U.S. Army, Retired;  Lt. Col. Douglas Pryer, U.S. Army;  and Lt. Col. Kevin Cutright, U.S. Army
From their article:  “The Myths We Soldiers Tell Ourselves (and the Harm These Myths Do)“
Found at: http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/MilitaryReview/ Archives/English/MilitaryReview_20131031_art010.pdf
[Originally found via one of the blogs I follow: http://carryingthegun.wordpress.com/
The specific post is: http://carryingthegun.wordpress.com/2013/10/05/ the-ethics-of-the-marine-corps-urination-case/
—    kmab]
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2017	My Sensei
2016	The Worst Sin
2015	Rules Of Thumb
2014	A Prayer
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2013	Complacent Reality
2012	Two-minute Sex
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2011	A World Of Difference

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Trying To Capture Serenity

Character is of the first importance, but intelligence is nevertheless essential.  It is desirable for a leader to have a broad education.  History and poetry increase his knowledge of human passions.  Culture offers the man of action opportunities now and then to capture his serenity;  it puts at his disposal models of order and clarity.  It is, in a sense, a work of art to reconstruct a country or to lead an army, and the man who has acquired a sense of beauty from his studies will be the more successful for it.
—    André Maurois
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2015	Now Where Did I Put That Thing?
2014	Reckoning
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2013	Trying To Capture Serenity
2012	Above The Vaulted Sky
2011	Active Learning

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Just Lucky

I believe that opportunity looks a lot like hard work.  …I’ve never had a job in my life that I was better than.  I was always just lucky to have a job.  And every job I had was a stepping-stone to my next job, and I never quit my job until I had my next job.  Opportunities look a lot like work.
—     Ashton Kutcher
From a speech at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards
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2017	Until He’s Elected President…
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2013	Just Lucky
2012	The Undeveloped Child
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2010	Giants Win Games 3 & 4 – One Away From World Series!!

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On A Rainy Sunday

Millions long for immortality who don’t know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
—    Susan Ertz
[I found this quote at a blog I follow:   http://interestingliterature.wordpress.com/
The specific posting was:  http://interestingliterature.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/20-quotations-about-life-love-and-death/   —    kmab]
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2016	Happy Is…
2015	Dare Yourself To
2014	Damned If You Do…
2013	On A Rainy Sunday
2012	Not Sure Anymore
2011	But What Does It Cost?
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Found In A Mine

Tis the good reader that makes the good book;  in every book he finds passages which seem to be confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakably meant for his ear;  the profit of books is according to the sensibility of the reader;  the profoundest thought or passion sleeps as in a mine, until it is discovered by an equal mind and heart.
—    Ralph Waldo Emerson
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2018	A Gift
2017	Unless You Genuinely Are Small
2016	B1
2015	Five Things
2014	Have Faith
2013	Found In A Mine
2012	Two-Sided Coin
2011	Passionately Scorned Rules

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Daring Ripples

Few will have the greatness to bend history, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation…
Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
—    Robert F. Kennedy
From his “Day of Affirmation” speech given to National Union of South African Students members at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, on June 6, 1966
[I love it when I find a quote which coincides with my over-arching theme of ripples, currents and vibrations!    —     kmab]
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2013	Daring Ripples
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2011	Unpredictable Opportunity
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