Senses working overtime #261

1 Al Ain daze

Came across these shots this week from when we were in Al Ain. Some spectacular sunsets in that part of the world. They really impress themselves on the senses.

2 Poetry Corner

Thanks Listen with the night falling we are saying thank you we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings we are running out of the glass rooms with our mouths full of food to look at the sky and say thank you we are standing by the water thanking it standing by the windows looking out in our directions back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging after funerals we are saying thank you after the news of the dead whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you over telephones we are saying thank you in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators remembering wars and the police at the door and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you in the banks we are saying thank you in the faces of the officials and the rich and of all who will never change we go on saying thank you thank you with the animals dying around us our lost feelings we are saying thank you with the forests falling faster than the minutes of our lives we are saying thank you with the words going out like cells of a brain with the cities growing over us we are saying thank you faster and faster with nobody listening we are saying thank you we are saying thank you and waving dark though it is W.S. Merwin (1988)

3 Driving down the autobarn in perpetuity

RIP Kraftwerker Florian Schneider

4 On predicting our future - Seth Godin  

Two things:

We do it all the time. Constantly.

We’re terrible at it.

We spend our days guessing how an action will impact the future, and we’re often wrong.

And we spend the rest of our days hoping we were right or worried that we weren’t. We try to control the future by telekinesis and anxiety in equal measure.

When the future doesn’t cooperate, we spend even more time trying to change the next bit of future so that it ends up more closely matching the future we were hoping for.

What if, instead, just for a little while, we simply did our best?

And let the future take care of itself.

Because even if we don’t fret, the future is still going to take care of itself.

All that’s on us is to do our best work. Paying attention to models and the community and the people we serve. 

5 Lene Marlin

I love Lene Marlin's stuff - been listening to Twist The Truth a lot this week.

Overtime: The return of Zuni 



Her version is brilliant - makes me feel great when things aren't going so great. God bless you, Zuni.

Senses working overtime #203

1 Nu Zild

This week we returned to live in New Zealand (above picture is pretty much the first thing you see as you arrive at Auckland Airport) so my senses have been filled with familiar sights and smells and sounds. New Zealand life is a lot more relaxed than the UK. A lot more!

2 North Hollywood
On the way home we stopped off in North Hollywood to visit with our eldest daughter. Noho has its own feel. Which we really liked btw. The smells are interesting for a start, with cannabis being legal.

While there I visited downtown and Amoeba Music. Right by the CNN building and Sunset Blvd. The biggest independent music store apparently. Luvverly!

3 John and Yoko's room

Baby, you're a rich man: exploiting a moment part 9 - Joko's honeymoon suite at the Amsterdam Hilton has been turned into a weird kind of corporate shrine. Go look.

4 Jacinda-mania part two

I loved this article about our PM which appeared in The Guardian before we left the UK. I read it out to my wife and got quite emotional.

5 Great advice
I've been chain reading books of late. This is great advice from Austin:

My last book was The Beatles On The Roof - excellent on the lead up to the roof session in January 1969 with great attention to detail. 

I've stood on the footpath below and gazed up and wondered and this book fills in the gaps.

Overtime: In praise of WS Merwin (may he rest in peace)

Senses working overtime #153

1 This week's 'I Love This Photo' section

Continuing the over-the-shoulder shot theme from the last JFTT: I love this shot, taken by my wife this time, of me and our daughter at Universal Studios - our destination after riding the 101 from SF to LA. This time I'm riding the escalator!

2 Poetry corner...

For years I dug in the earth trying to discover the blue sky deeper and deeper I tunneled until one night I made stones and tiles fly into the air with no effort I broke the bone of the void Musō Soseki trans. W.S. Merwin 3 Liverpool museum exhibition I'm hoping to visit this Lennon/Ono exhibition - hopefully  during the Christmas holidays. It's free! 4 Bikes for Afri...erm, make that China Confiscated shared bicycles in Shanghai This is amazing. When we lived in China, my wife and I were  often the only people on bikes, everyone else had electric  scooters. The place, China, is vast and so is the waste!  In this case - bikes! 5 Change I love this quote: Overtime Time waits for no one. Don't people have great ideas!  Love this real time clock!