Status Update

With this type of pursuit and dedication, I assume the bookshelves will magically appear. Storage will now officially be a Bit&h. Should it happen again, I’ll try not to be a sell out this time, hunger or no hunger.

W.H.T. ERT

Status Update

I’ve been stuck in the hat for about a year. I’ve decided to pull myself out before someone else lays claim with a bright and cheerful “TaDa” without any meat to gnaw on. So, I just finished the goods and set the remainders in the refrigerator. The journey did not leave many marks on my memory but the voices of prostitutes buried amongst trees and adjacent neighborhoods started to resound in the relatively quiet drive. One said she was trying to get someone to talk to her. On a regular basis perhaps? What John’s say never stimulates the brain and what a pimp intimates leaves marks on every orfice. Then, I remembered almost the same words from my neighborhood years before. What I remember from her was that she needed a simple conversation just to escape reality for a moment I surmise. Then the requests begin: Can you wash my clothes? Can you clean my room? Can you run a few errands for me? She’ll pay a pittance of her income on a regular basis. You can even quit your job; I’ll support you. Sooner or later you meet the pimp and, well, the rest is history doused in lies and expensive clothing. After hearing that woman today all I could flash back is to the lies and seeming friendship. I fear for the unfamiliar and the mark not knowing what is happening behind the scene. Repaying kindness with vipers even I can not stand. Save the emotions for the emotive and empathetic alike. Save yourself the trouble by being wary.

I was quiet in the church. Even creeping over to the statue of St. Jude. I mused for hope in what I was told was the champion of hopeless causes, which made me think St. Jude plugged away for Christ in the darkest ebbs of the night. I was afraid he never say a star in his lifetime. As long as there are stars and planets around, even when the sun dies unto itself there will light abound. Forgive the sun for leaving behind a blue horizon and know there is more above to guide and widen the breech. Seeing light brings eternal hope that retiring deeper than the corona of the sun is an everyday possibility.

I made mental notes of little things, but I’ve since forgot. They will return to present mind, I hope.

Other than that, the first bit of a pot hole was a must.

Status Update

Today has been full of impromptu lessons on getting the news out and how circuits work. Maybe it’s my language, but I’m driven to learn the details, strategies and implications of underground newspapers. Found out something I heard last night is news worthy for public digestion. Here goes, paraphrased but posted. Here it goes, gossip and truth:

1) The messenger said that the homeless situation in Dallas is not as bad as it is in other cities in the United States. More people have moved out of Dallas and left the residential areas wide open for alternative uses. Where some are moving to is North Dallas. I’m assuming the corridor along 121 North is the Shangra La some are seeking in terms of jobs and housing. Where I am at there seem to be a housing and apartment building frenzy. It must be a blueprint for other locations in this area. Coming to this area may not solely be a matter of jobs but also a consideration of security issues.

2) I remember years ago the Fort Worth Star Telegram had a front page article about Tarrant County having over 80% foreclosures come the end of 2008. It left me dumbfounded. I also remember that the County Tax Assessor got voted in as Mayor of Fort Worth. Go figure. She had to know where all the money was in the county. From my eyes, it was a smart vote to put her in office. Flash forward… I heard last night that Tarrant County is being bought up by several investors whose social and political interest lie in the way of homosexual agendas. Several decided to make the county into a haven and resource for homosexuals. Trying to put it into context from other comments in the past three years or so, there is a bit of a street war as well for control.

3) Information and conversation with friends as well as foes moved the local transportation issue to the forefront of my mind. Getting around the city, its sprawl, and tangential bodies is a bitch even with current systems in place. Considering more buses and train routes is a approach to incorporate into current planning. Someone told me eventually we’ll look like San Fransisco in term of Transit. For now the highways are extending and traffic is horrible. Keeping up with the influx is like sending a search party for fox tail. You’ve got to corner the issue and surround it before it escapes in front of your eyes.

Meanwhile I am slow and sit on ideas that evaporate quickly. I’ve got to write my notes down on grant strategies and flesh out this structure in my head about how things work and what is infrastructure. It may do me some good and cushion my fall should the day the right question come.

Downed with a grain of sea salt,

Fluted Frog, Esq.

Status Update

I had a conversation while I was out that a friend requested I post. I’m not quite in shock. It may be a delayed reaction. Either way I’m glad to know I’m not the only one with these symptoms. A couple of weeks ago I was told there was mold in our heating/cooling system. The tech, well customer service and assessment lead, asked us questions like are you haven’t trouble breathing? I took a moment to think and could recall nothing. So I replied “No”. He asked if I was sure and I told him yes. So neither of us had been having trouble. So, the furnace get repaired and suped up with bells and whistles. No sooner than a week had past and I can’t breathe very well at night. This has gone on for about two week or more. Come to find out today that others are having the same symptoms. Everyone is guessing but no answers. Me, as ever guessed it had something to do with the water or air outside. Storms had just past through the town and who knew what the wind brought with it. Every guess I had including aliens landing, taking over and sucking up all the oxygen into a big tube did not seem to get near the issue. Though it did seem to lighten a few depressed people’s mood.

So, the host for today told me I was close with another guess. I took a shot at poisoning by allergies in the water. What he said was someone is dumping bodies in the water. I offered prostitutes as a solution as were I lived before on the edge of a city park, someone was making a dumping ground, IMHO. The evidence was in this: There was a team checking the water system. Weather it was the water department for the city, a federal official or third party I do not know. What I remember though is that when they checked the water by pour in certain chemicals, it turned green. He said if it turned black the town would have a major problem. Green meant there are dead bodies decaying somewhere in the system network poisoning the water. I’m having word associations go off in my ahead about a reference to a FBI case called the “Green River Murders”. I think that is the name of the case. I did not buy the book. Browsing that section of 1/2 Price Books was enough to keep my mind busy for a few weeks trying to forget.

In hindsight I seem to be doing a bit of recanting. Though I can’t help but wonder sometimes is this how Sherlock Holmes felt. I know. I know. That is fiction and a different era of thought. Still, truth is stranger than fiction. Still, fiction character can be inspired by clever witticisms wrapped around barbells clothed in flesh. For now I’m mired in guesswork and slowly sticking to reporting wisps of news as I run into them. Meanwhile I’m running threads in my mind picking through old news around a few counties I lived in.

As I remember, I report more.

W.H. Tespid, ERT

Status Update: Odds and Ends

1) On the way to the car I picked up three newspapers that have been languishing on the front lawn. I do not always see them as the delivery person manages to toss them in a way that makes the package land behind a tree, bush or flower planter. I’m used to picking the up and tossing them next to the front door to remember to bring them in when I return home. On the contrary, today I took them with me to the doctor’s office. Finding something to do in the waiting room is always a game. I bring a survival kit each time; drink, food, reading and games fit the bill and help pass the time with ease. This time I started browsing the news and actually got enthralled with a side story on Myron May and the library. I’m hooked on the story and will be following through on Ferguson this week as well. The occasion has me inspired to cut article dealing with ‘brary incidents to look for trends. An article perhaps in the future for a newspaper or magazine? Perhaps.

I used to think the days of librarians clipping newspaper articles was over. Maybe not. With a little diligence and a patient eye, I might find something worth archiving again. The web can hold its own, but this takes a different tack if I zone in security issues and said individuals psychology attached to a library. It may seem irrelevant and insignificant to what is buzzing on the airwaves and television. I’ll follow my gut for now and hopefully approach the work with diligence.

2) Another year almost went by forgetting that I promised myself and others a tangible effort towards production. My last attempt went in the garbage a week or two ago. I still have resolved my understanding of copyright when reproducing article off the internet. I am staid in the fact that I need no fine or jail time. Educational qualifications may have relevance, but as of now I am not an institution with that type of order and establishment. So I thought my work was gone. From what I hear someone raided the garbage can that night and well, the little tomes I had printed and put together has feet as of now. I’m a little chagrined, but secretly happy. Meanwhile I’m trying to grapple with timeliness. Meaning, if I am working developing research into something pertinent to current social consciousness, I’ve got to either wait for a shoe to drop or point the hard copy to the website for resolution. Honestly? Everything I do is out-of-pocket on a shoe string budget and hammered out in personal hours. So please bear with me when time lapses and the undercurrent changes.

3) Lastly, I’ve been brainstorming the calendar idea. My goal is to match dates of importance and significance in communities other than those that bind us all under one flag. So far I’m convinced to create a format other than devotional or heed a drive to run the writing concurrent with a daily calendar. Little bits at a time. I’m not looking to construct a calendar of domestic or international terrorism, but you might have to call it what it is. Besides that, it may exist all ready. I’ll still look for the sake of curiousity and catching an undercurrent. Today the senses of a cat, tomorrow the wide wings of a heron.

Off the path and scouting the New Year,

~Fluted Frog, Esq.

Status Update

Spent three hours on my feet tweaking a soup recipe… Corn Tomato Soup… Do not be fooled, it is hardly vegetarian. I added in Poblano peppers in a puree this time and went for making fresh tomato puree/sauce instead on using anything canned. I used hardly any salt and the vegetables just popped on my palette. I’m happy. The kitchen is happy and the neighborhood had a appealing aroma you could taste down the block. People tend to call my cooking ethnic. I’m not sure why, but I take it as a compliment ne’er the less. The more I learn about herbs and practice preparations, the more fragrant and aromatic my cooking gets. I do not have to empty the spice and herb cabinet into the mix. It seems salt is the only friend I need and a good sense of timing when the ingredients are cooked to a prime.

I posted the recipe I used the last two years, which is a bit of a quickie version. This version takes more time and patience. Today’s feat is soft peanut butter cookie with a Lindt milk chocolate truffle sandwiched between. I’ve already started eating the ingredients, so I’ll be making half a recipe. 🙂 >giggle<

Last to report is I’ve been asked to downsize. The request was not from a bank, not from a landlord, not the fire department and not from anybody I knew. I think. Several kind individuals told me point blank to downsize. This was yesterday. I dug into the mud and haven’t gotten out. After two trips to the Christian owned resale shop, I have a “bit” more to go. You know how I know they were talking to me? They mentioned art supplies. I cringed in the car driving down main street. I figured last night I’m getting out of the oil painting business. ACK! I remember completing the research for what paints to buy. I remember saving the money to purchase every last thing even down to the components for the glazing mixtures. I am a bit sad, but honestly? I am tired of breathing fumes. I do not need cancer. So off to water base I go and a life in paper for now.

I don’t even want to think about the canvases I build and prepared wrong. I did not know. I did not know. I did not know. A waste of funds and time. Still you’ve got to learn somewhere.

I’m back on the job downsizing by tomorrow. More planning after that. I wonder. Is? Hmm. I think some kind soul is preparing me for something. I hope I’m ready in time.

Status Update

Forgive my confidences and patience, I was asked to write and I’m leary. Yet, the good of it all may come to pass ever too soon. A kindness was asked of me to plan my survival. This was just in case something speechless happens and I succomb to homelessness for roughly a third time. I seem to graze the surface and never get pulled directly in. It seems a matter of grace, skill and relying on family. I remember a friend who had no option and wandered between opposite sides of the state line for five hours. Then came the race before sundown to find a place to sleep. Calling the county and assistance being what it was, a recommendation and directions came quickly. The interview, food, mat and a pillow before Friday five in the morning. She slept about an hour and the nervousness did not leave till a schedule doctor’s appointment and a recommendation. Court and a date with the hospital for a few weeks. She made it home in a matter of a month, but all had changed there as well. Patience and back up plans that get repeated when it is a matter of getting to and staying safe.

She has her and now I must have mine. Just in case. Just in case. Just in case I become inflexible and neither her or my deeds help alleviate anyone else’s confusion. So was the kindness a warning, encouragement, or teaching me to regain ground in independence. Or was it a act of selflessness and concern? Either way, I’ve got work to do and money to save. Starting point is tomorrow looking up local organizations, county resources and government assistance. Checking my Ps and Qs for a little while. The timing feels good.

For flips and kicks

I was debating heavily on competing in the Chiquita Banana Cooking Lab Contest:

Cooking Lab Recipe Contest – Chiquita® Bananas

www.chiquitabananas.com/cookinglab/

Get creative in the kitchen with Chiquita Bananas and you could WIN $4000 in our Cooking Lab recipe contest!

It may be a sad day, but right now its about making it through the rest of the month. Still, there is a new contest every week through Christmas or there after. For lack of a better phrase… “My kitchen will rise again!”. Ok, that was tasteless and crude. I apologize. Still, you are smiling and that is all that counts. Since I haven’t the time or funds yet to enter, why don’t you give it a whirl. With the ingredients this week it’ll no doubt place high on the taste bud register for Thanksgiving.

Well, gotta go. I’ve got a stack of writing to type and a recipe or two to construct.

Enjoy the weekend and cook something that challenges your taste buds!

~Pastied Pastry Cook with a clean kitchen. (Yes, I will rub that in.)

Status Update

Forgive my late hour on this. I just dug in yesterday and worked my way out with a few phone calls.

So candidly I tell you I do some banking with a debit card. Though the card has been set with deposits, I’ve been getting the declined look from at least two retail establishments. I’ve been pissed off because at other places I go to within minutes of the initial purchase, the charges will go through and be paid. I did not know whether to be embarrassed or angry hoping into my vehicle and running off to the closest ATM. I calmed down and figured I’ll have to use cash only for a while. Whatever was hampering my bank, I was hoping would not cause too many or any problems at all. Money orders at the Post Office, here I come.

So, out of desperation and confusion I call the card issuing company and ask what happened, what do I need to do and how much will it cost. The CSR told me there was a 3rd party that received my information and my account may have been compromised. Meanwhile, my right ear is in the receiver and my hand were rummaging through receipts. I was praying I did not have more phone calls to make and more time verifying payments the old fashioned way. So she continues and asked me if the charge was being run and a credit or debit. I make a difference she said. There is a block on transactions filed as credit. They’re is not verification that way. I earnestly asked the drive thru attendant at the Chinese restaurant the same question a week before. He said there was no difference. Talk about the pain in my head trying to get it through to him. And now the CSR verifies my take. So here’s the jib, the transactions I make all have to involve using my pin, or they will be automatically rejected. That way nobody will be successful in trying to pass themselves off as me.

I’ve lost documents before, years ago. I used to check my identity theft plan religiously. Nothing has happen thus far, or I am sure that the government and I would have had a conversation.

So, bottom line is a third party has compromised a banking industry that is working with the federal government. If there is more to this I do not know. The CSR told me that I may have missed the mailing that came out months ago. Truly, I never saw it. For now I know what to do. I can not remember what she said about online purchases. Some use a pin and others do not.

Gotta get back to other writing.

Have an easy weekend!

Trip wire

Just woke up a bit ago. Barely awake but writing.

A town a bit larger than mine is out doing arrests.

The bulk, or rather what caught my attention was after prostitutes were mentioned in the arrest warrant toll,

so were social activists. I do not know what else is going on other than those kibbles and bits.

Be safe.

~W.H. Tespid ERT

Around the Fire

I don’t consider this post a secrets of the ages revealed. Nor is it the secrets of the sages simplified for we lesser beings. Consider it conversation in passing and everybody chipping in a bit or slice to color and flavor the stew pot.

Back in college there were minor rumblings about “Holy Blood, Holy Grail”. The hype did not seem to fit the media till Dan Brown came on the scene and his writing seemed to rock every conversation for month if not years. All this an observation from outside the Catholic Church. Masonry buzzed in my ears and the research began on and off over a period of years. I put things aside and well, never told a tale. So the pageantry, respect and hullah balooh all came grinding to a halt as I listened to a friend talk. I have never been apt to walk away from opposing thoughts and teachings. Vetting out ideologies and mission sometimes never ends. Purification by fire, have you, seems to be daily with many a purple cow.

Friend told me that those in Masonry, specifically the Worshipful Masters of the group, are led on by promises of knowledge through their little book they read on a daily basis. I equate that with the daily prayer of a priest and persons religious. Eventually it little book leads the person in exercises to annihilate the ego in search of puriifying the mind for more teachings to take on wholeheartedly with genuine abandon. As my friend described this, to me it was a slow churn to brainwashing and killing self decided will. Sooner or later the exercises and reading lead into the trappings of homosexuality. Next they move another lodge and more in that vein is worked in what is left of the human mind. The little defenses are practiced out and by the time they reach the next pinnacle, they practice and act like homosexuals. What is left but to divorce and move in to the “neighborhood”.

On the contrary, they remain married and have children. The wife takes here counterpart in the transformation and the children are brought up to be homosexuals as well, but publicly. The parents keep there lives separate and a secret from public view. The friend went on to tell me that the husband also finds his way into Satanism through the ledge he attends. Piece mealing and gateways are methods to indoctrinate that I have not looked at from such a direct example. It is the slow catch and a sticky web for sure.

I did not know how to respond to this example of life in a lodge. I can say that in the previous century their were/are groups that seek out masons and masonry for knowledge and assistance. Nothing has changed. Though for all I remember from reading and research, only a little bit remains. Here’s the rub: There are both dark and light lodges. Dark and light meaning in a metaphorical concept. So, for all this duping and convoluted renderings, there are other groups in Masonry that may not fall on the dark time and shadowy side of leadership. I may be interpreting things wrong, but for the sake that symbolism and existentialism can be easy and straight forward, I understand that the relationship may be defined as Afro-American and Caucasian. I also learned from an early 20th century source that there are other lodge then that may or may not investigate other lodges for topics such as leadership going astray.  These blue lodges act to answer questions, give references, cite sources and provide accountability for many a lodge.

Long ago I gave up on seeking the hidden knowledge of the universe. What I did know was that it may not be time for me to learn significance and signifiers. Age has a perspective that helps you see out in crowd and heed what is there. Funny, dad told me not to be out to late one year. It is not the people I’m warning you about it is the other things. If you only knew what was there, it would scare the shit out of you. And it is not what you can see. Whatever it is has an intelligence too and will take action whether you can see it or not. I never had a clue about casting light into darkness. And that is not it either. I learned a little more and it changed as I got older. I’ll remember one way or another.

~NCC

Status Update: The Baked Goods Table

So, this one crept up on me in the retelling that I need to report. After that realization someone told me to get my ass out of bed and write. Thus and so here I am and it dawns on me, I may be a little happier that I am alive. 20/20 hindsight, always.

I was walking to my vehicle with a few purchases in hand. My mind was completely vacuous of anything but sunshine and the heat at the end of summer. The dollar store never seems to have that much, but when it comes down to it, you see just about everybody there picking up this or that for the week. To my left I saw a man talking to a couple in their truck. As usual I just noted it and kept walking. By the time I had gotten inside my vehicle he had begun to walk in my direction.  I though I could get out of the parking lot quickly, but my reflexes seemed to bend in his direction. I said hello and asked how I could help him. He went into his prepared speech while grappling with a platter piled high with baked goods. Turned out he represented a church that I assumed was local. One of the main ministries of this church or  “house” was to pick up the homeless, drug addicts and other street dwellers to give them a home while they rehabilitate. Deeper conversation started to echo of a low to no cost drug rehabilitation program. He seemed to have his litany perfected about how coming into Christ will heal anybody.  For his ministry he was asking for a $5.00 donation in return for a freshly baked loaf of banana nut bread. I refused, apologized, told him I had to leave and wished him luck in his ministry. He became indignant as I pulled backwards asking “don’t you like banana nut bread?” I gave a firm “no” and reiterated my earlier exiting comments. He seemed to linger around the vehicle even as I pulled out of the space, changed gears, pulled forward and left.

Ok…. Call me a bitch if you want to, but here’s my underground eye on this; what if this ministry is a front for something else? I wondered to ask for papers on his ministries non-profit status and where was his ID and permit from the city to solicit in city boundaries? I wondered as well about anything from the Health Department that needed to be done. What doctors I wondered work with his church? Also are any hospitals involved? That is the light side of my argument. It hit me talking to a friend that what if this place has no guidelines for running itself. What if I’m side street Mary who needs more psychological help than drug rehabilitation? If I don’t act right or keep pace with the other residents will I end up locked in my room with no food or way out?

So let us take another jump… is it to far-fetched to think these people would be trained for work in the underground economy under the auspices of the ministry. Could it be worse thinking about an American Madrassah? Last clue in my hat that I listened to was that the situation seems like a reference to human trafficking. The town I live in got hit with that in the past few months. Arrests and relocations highlighted part of the article. So I’m a little tender on the issue and my imagination does run wild some days. In the least I feel for the homeless who, at the end of their ropes, seek help from anybody and may be taken advantage of at no notice.

Red Flag noted,

W.H.Tespid ERT

September: Status Update

I am hanging by a thread. Dangling maybe, but I sit across from Arachne on this by holding fast to Athena’s armor. I don’t want to see multiple perspectives in all this. I just want to know what is right and complete the job. I find myself wandering away from this venture at the Underground Librarian. It is not that I want to be done. It seems I’ve lost my way and time has past. Will anyone recognize the character and style that is my work, writing and otherwise. I learned more people are beginning to move in to the area, time passes. I learned elections are here, where is it do I live, time passes. I post to infrequent to follow a trail of popcorn through the woods – birds follow and time passes. I swell on other projects. I get involved. I find fascination again and time passes. I stood back, as the introvert in me would have, and let them talk. The town is changing – hopefully for the better and now the future has gotten away from me as well. I wondered what 5-10-15 and 20 years would bring. Would this blog still be relevant. Would I still make my tack on its name? Would I still stand back from the center of the tornado and watch the damage fly across the room? Would a take a turn on silence and fall deeper within just to see what is behind the green curtain? I’m playing games with my own mind to evade collapse. I’m playing games with others shyly hoping to see it is not business as usual and dignity still has sway in the workplace.

For another round and I think I am tired and I feel I have gone behind the scenes on what I thought was my world. There is a second curtain on stage by the way. Farther back and hiding a light. Still it is a little darker back here than I thought.

I can not promise regular posts right now. Time is dedicated and regimented far to much for me. For now, I’m cutting loose a bit and fraying at the ends. Speaking of cutting hair, I took a pledge not to for five years, Well, I said I’d follow into an even year, so now it is six. I am taking another tack at the Nazarene Creed with patience and observation. I fall into meditation a bit as well. Years ago, I asked for my religious education from the Lord. This yielded into personal journeys with Christ and the Great Spirit. My friend says my study is and has been done for a while. Now I’m on to practical applications. I tell you, so you know where my head is at. Not to mention where it has been. For now I’m a proverbial Samaritan prone to observe and understand more than most in a lifetime. I wish you well this Fall. Whether adobe or cardboard, may blessings grace your house,

~NCC

Status Update

I took on a new assignment and have started in as you can tell.

I’ll be making it back to other requests as I can focusing on this and next month.

Till I recoop completely posts may vary. The problem is that I damaged my right arm and

the pain is intermittent, but significantly there. Meanwhile I’ll be relaxing, which has yet to happen,

and trying more reading.

 

Stay well and look forward into Spring.

First rains tend to wash away winter’s death and feed every type of roots’ growth.

~W.H. Tespid, ERT

 

In brief

Dear friend on the fly:

I focused on D&D today in searching, but the output was more geared to state and national issues no matter how many times Dallas was mentioned. I’ll be going in for a cold search on Denton in a week or so to ameliorate issues of needing local info for the work you do. If in deed you do need that. For that work please understand, sometimes searches are hit or miss depending on what service I use. Lastly, I’ve got a good source for DFW gone cold. I mourn that on a regular basis. No one is dead. The situation is that a normally excellent news service is not being tended to at all. The page is live, but information years old. Either way I’m looking for electronic loopholes and dive bombing journals for anything you can use. That’ll have to come later. Just know I’m still on board, no matter how many times I go dormant or for any length of time.

Sincerely,

Fluted Frog, Esq.