There is Magic…..
I believe in magic. Strange thing to say coming from a Ph.D. I guess. The thing is that these days I think many people do not believe in magic at all and it’s a shame. For me, magic is what happens when you just let it. It is that thing you feel when you observe things in a certain way – that moment when you catch a glimpse of eternity in the Universe in seeing the sky, that moment when you feel the oneness of the All, that moment when you are filled with a certain feeling of happiness and contentment despite everything (and everyone!). You know magic is alive in your life when things just happen. Coincidences and unexpected events that take you in an often unexpected direction. To
Read More »My Way
These days people are either one thing or another. Polar opposites. I find this peculiar and yet intriguing. I read somewhere that all people who are warming skeptics are Trump supporters. It was a good example of how polarized things have become and I do believe that people sometimes lose their ability to think. Rather they parrot what they have read in their little enclave of social media friends who all think as they do. Or maybe they would rather not think for themselves so as not to face the wrath of the political police? It’s everywhere. If you are not with us, you must be against us. Well, sorry but I do think. I don’t subscribe to any prevailing set of politically correct parrot thoughts. And I never will. It
Read More »Art for Art’s Sake?
For a while, I have been thinking that the walls of my rented place look a bit bare. I had a poke around IKEA and places like that but I’m not going to pay $50 for mass produced ‘art’. Then, my friend Walter Novak gave me a couple of his photographs – a beautiful shot of David Bowie, a ‘fan’ photo or two and a picture of my daughter he shot one evening recently. I framed them and hung them. But still – lot’s of white space. What to do? Over the Xmas holidays, my girlfriend and I were visiting Telc – a beautiful town here in the Czech Republic and we visited an art store. Suddenly, I realized you can actually buy real art for less than that mass-produced stuff
Read More »Happy New Year
It is a funny thing, but I hate New Year’s Eve. Always have done. I could never quite understand the need to celebrate what is essentially just another day by getting drunk and letting off fireworks? Now, starting a New Year hung over. However, Happy New Year to you all! I spent New Year’s Eve at home watching Netflix – it was perfect. At midnight, we stood on my back balcony and watched and listened to what seemed to be the break out of a war that went on pretty much all night. It reminded me of visiting the main square in Prague several years back on New Year’s Eve. Hundreds of people – many drunk – letting off rockets and bangers everywhere. Through the clouds of acrid smoke, it
Read More »Other Eyes
Sometimes I see things. Its been that way all of my life. Now, when I say ‘see’, I’m not sure this is an accurate description yet it is the only word I can use. I see and feel all at the same time and the two ‘senses’ are somehow merged as if one. As an example, a few months ago, as two friends and I stood within a stone circle close by the Scottish border, I ‘saw’ a lady step out from behind one of the stones and smile. Her hair was loose and flowing in the wind and she wore a flowing gown of sheer simplicity. As I mentioned to my friends “Oh, we have a visitor!” They both looked down the approach path expecting someone, well, physical. Then,
Read More »An Immigrant and His Life – Walter Novak
Last week, I met my friend Walter Novak for a beer and a chat. Walter is a Czech-American that found fame in the US as a photographer and rightly so – he has a unique ability to find the photo. The topic of the conversation drifted to his life story and what he told me I think is very apt given the times that we live in. He left the former Czechoslovakia two-years after the velvet revolution. When he arrived in the USA, he could barely speak a word of English and he had to gain a green card of course. For a couple of years, he had two jobs mopping floors and he got up and demonstrated the movement that he perfected so well as he mopped for maximum efficiency.
Read More »The Modern Mysteries ~ Steve Tanham
The ‘mysteries’ have been with mankind as long as we have existed. They are a collection of paths that take us inwards; restoring a sense of self deeper than that which reacts, and showing us that mankind is much more than a biological animal – though animals, and their focus on the ‘now’ have much to teach us, too. The reason these paths work is that we are more than we appear to be. The reactive nature of the self-in-the-world, the personality, fixes it into a certain relationship with its world. This is vital for survival but not so for our potential evolution. Mankind is not a finished project. Nature can only take us so far, beyond that point we have take responsibility for our own self-development, and the power
Read More »Someone is Listening
I got a report from Spotify this week. Apparently, my songs were listened to for a total of 14,000 minutes in 2018. OK – it’s only 9.72 days but, for an unknown guy in his late 50’s, I’m quite pleased. Spotify is only one place to hear my music – it’s available to and hopefully listened to on many other platforms like Deezer, iTunes, Amazon, Soundcloud, and Reverbnation to name a few. Someone is listening. In the run-up to Christmas, I treated myself to a couple of things to try to get my sound quality even better in 2019. I bought a pre-amp for the microphone to try to beef up vocal quality and a synth keyboard for better keyboard dexterity – I was using the QWERTY keyboard! Some of the
Read More »My Personal Ecdysis
So strange That moment When you realize You never lived at all It was a life for sure But what was it all about? Strutting on life’s stage All sound and fury Yet signifying ‘not nothing’ Rather lived as expectation Being what you thought You should be But what do I want to be? Who am I really? I’ve masks upon masks So deep, I forget Which might be the real me I begin to peel Layer after sticky layer I peel so deep It really hurts And even now I’m unsure If I’ve reached the core Or, am confused myself As to where my skin Ends and really begins Have I reached my true insides? Is that why I’m feeling sore? I shed each skin And then begin To
Read More »Motel Hell
Motel Hell is my new book. Here is the beginning of it just to whet your appetite….. I haven’t written much in recent months as I was lacking the motivation. After writing about the black-eyed kids, nothing much scared me enough to get me interested to write. I began a book early last year on haunted hotels but found the topic was already well-covered and the same old places discussed over and over. Then, I remembered Trip Advisor! I had come across a few reviews by people who spent a terrifying night or two in a hotel that was occupied by something sinister. As I went back over my notes, I began to feel a growing sense of excitement as many of these reviews are both chilling and yet, quite
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