Shiva's and Metta's Mother's Sutra

Oh man, it is SUMMER!!!! Yesterday I woke at 2.30 am, as usual. I usually wake up to write - i have no banned myself from FB at this hour - or indeed anything electronic. I have several books beside me which i can read. All very interesting. Anyway, i was lying in bed and a thought occurred to me: no one has the power to make me feel miserable - no one. I am completely in charge and responsible for my own happiness. It sort of struck me with a clarity which it had never struck me with before. My life is not dependent on anyone person making me happy or sad. It was a very wonderful feeling. It was a feeling of "I don't care", but in a really great way. Not a callous sort of way. a liberating and happy way... I got up at 7 and went running. For the rest of my life this will be me. Wherever i am and whatever i do i will be up at 6 am and running for about half and hour. If i never run further than this everyday, it will not matter. What counts is that i am runnin...

My no hair dye experiment I have come to the conclusion as long as you have great skin and a well toned and fit body - and you have a positive, but realistic attitude, nothing else really matters. you are going to feel GREAT and it will show! Over the last two days I have begun to incorporate cleaning into my daily routine. I have now decided that I will also mop and wipe down the kitchen everyday, after dinner. This is because I am so delighted about the bathroom. Having a clean bathroom is now a priority to me. I suppose it has finally dawned upon me that living with a dirty place does not mean the dirty place will go away. It means it will just get dirtier and dirtier until you - or someone, usually me - will have to clean that now very extremely dirty place. It will take me about three hours of swearing under my breath with silent resentment, and then i might as well not have cleaned it, as I have now peppered it with angry thoughts. In this way I can keep the kitchen and ba...

One of my favourite flowers in the whole world - wisteria When i was lying in bed last night, a thought occurred to me. All i have to do is spend 20 minutes wiping down the bathroom everyday to keep it looking great. What brought this on? Yesterday, we cleaned the toilet. The first time in months, as usual. It is disgusting. crud and hair and dust all over. Mildew. I managed to rescue the shower curtains using some bleach and i also cleaned the shower head using baking soda and vinegar. The toilet looked spotless. Oisin had bleached all the walls and bathtub, i did the sink, Ghin hoovered. It was so lovely. The smell of bleach is one of the nicest smells in the world. OK, i know i am odd. Bleach is bad, but it smells GOOD. Then last night, just before i got up to go running i thought, how long would it take to wipe down the entire bathroom? I mean, seriously? How long? 15 minutes? 20 minutes. Sure i spend more time than that watching shite on BBC or reading FB. I can do that....

It is not possible to eat badly in Rome, you'd really have to try I think that most of life can be characterised by the phrase 'getting on with it'. After Rome, it was very nice to be getting on with it, especially since this meant cutting out caffeine, sugar and dairy. I have also stopped eating too much meat and running everyday. Admittedly it is only day 4, but hey, i am DETERMINED this time. Something happened to me, being in Rome, a city i adore utterly. I feel so at home there, i cannot explain it. It is like i have walked those streets and lived there. It is also like that with Ireland - especially Donegal. And i never have felt happy in Singapore, but very happy in Indonesia. Not so much Malaysia. Go figure. Anyway, being in Rome was sort of like returning to myself, but a better version of myself. The food was so wonderful and i felt so happy in the company of friends, that i thought, i really deserve better than this - as in my body deserves better than this...

To me nationalism is a pointless activity - allegiance to a flag is a ridiculous notion  However universal suffrage is real and that is what i am able to identify with in the Irish struggle for self determination and independence I do think that much rings hollow today though, simply because the Celtic Tiger demonstrated that the Irish are as suggestible to consumerism and materialism as anyone else My half Oirish boyos We were watching the Wind That Shakes The Barley the other night and it was amazing that they were all playing hurling in vests and flat caps Such a great look, especially on Cillian Murphy My fat face The cutest rebel Irish events often have large swathes of standing around Things do not start on time - they begin when they are ready So we spent about an hour doing this Well actually I was in the car The first time i ever saw this sort of banner was during the Miners' Strike demos I did thin...

I had no Goethe was a civil servant It gives me hope This statue was in the Villa Borghese. Faust and Mephistopheles Together we head for the Piazza del Popolo The obelisk in the middle of the piazza The veranda on the way to the gardens of the V Borgehese Spot the Francoise The Pantheon So beautiful in the sunlinght The Fountain of the Four Rivers in the Piazza Navona The Danube and the Ganges I love Roman corridors Oh Easter Eggs!!! Market Ridiculously gorgeous Everything in Rome is ridiculously gorgeous The French Embassy I'd give anything to see its gardens The view of Rome from the Botanic Gardens... it was SO WARM!!!! We visited a church... not sure which one... but it had statues by Bernini who turns out to be a bit of an asshole... I loved the gravestones which had lots of birds on them Birds being a symbol for the soul And the crosses are done in the style of the Tre...