I am only 'vaguely amusing'

I knew Ron Paul would jinx this blog.

I have been put in my place.

However, I cannot take it lying down in this damn bed.
I am going to have to sit up. Dammit.

I am going to fluff up my Turkish pillow and explain why I am 'intolerant', defend the accusation that I am 'not a loving person', and make it clear, once and for all, that this blog is not meant to be a new Ten Commandments on How To Live Your Life.

But first, handy hint Number One:
 If you are going to stuff your Turkish pillow with clothes and so on, make a note of what you stuff it with, otherwise you will find yourself never finding things you seek.
I have never blogged about this before, but 17 times now I have torn either this flat upside down, inside out, or the house, whilst hunting for an item that was actually in the red Turkish pillow.

The Turkish pillow is behind the 25 cents giant Japanese 'zabuton'

Now you know.
Anyway, this post was meant to be a comment -fck, I wrote a really long comment under the Ron Paul post below - but it disappeared.
 Like wtf!
Then I thought that given the accusations - of my 'intolerance', my lack of a 'loving' nature, that I am 'dismissive' and 'defensive' if people hold an alternative opinion to what I do - well, I thought such accusations deserved to be expanded upon. Also, I have no other muse for this morning's rant.

God, it's too early here. 4:20. But I'm awake now and I had a full 8 hours and slept deeply.
Where was I?

YES, I am intolerant, but my intolerance is of important things - like ignorance and bad table manners.

If we were still living in 1999,  if 9/11 hadn't happened, if countries like Iraq and Afghanistan were still in one piece, with the only sound of falling being that of dominoes falling onto the tabletops of  the little coffee shops that so characterise such countries in the Middle East, if Libya was still in the black, and not falling quickly into the red, and with it its people, sinking into the toxic sludge that NATO brought with it, well, if this was 1999, and none of this had happened, then you would find me to be exceedingly tolerant of people, exceedingly.
Just like I was tolerant of Mr Kipling's pretty average cakes. Always a disappointment. Always.

But this is not 1999. This is 2011. And the world is in a mess. And 90% of my American friends believe that Obama still has the hope.
And most people 'out there', whose opinions I gauge via reading their opinions under d'is news story and d'at news story, gobble up Tinned Terrorism, and yet still they have babies, despite Freedom of Right after Freedom of Right after Freedom of Right being erased from the book of our rights as free citizens, and so, given what I have just written, you are correct, my tolerance for continued ignorance ran out a long, long time ago.
A long time ago.
Sadly.

Which brings me to the next accusation - that I am not a 'loving' person.

It is the fact that this blog isn't one long 'today I bought coffee, do you like coffee, I hate my job, I like my job, I went out, I came back, I like Idol, I don't like Idol, I can't believe that Eastenders is so crap these days, I really love chocolate, here's a pic of my kid, did I tell you about my opinion on the new 'Twilight', omg RPatz is so hot, I'm so excited that Christmas is just around the corner, this is how I am saving money, I don't buy everything I want these days ha ha ha ha ha, and so on'


It is precisely the fact that I write about Ron Paul being America's only hope, that the BBC can go get fucked in its modern form, that my heart continues to bleed for Libya, that just yesterday I was sharing with the kids the fun I had in Nepal, giving clothes I had collected from former graduates of the school,  to the poor kids over there  - it is precisely because my blog isn't just about 'Me In Japan' and rah rah rah, that illustrates, with bells on, that I am a loving person.

Because I love this world like there is no tomorrow, and the way we are going, with this inbred ignorance, allowing our governments to walk all over us because it is easier than actually talking about it, thinking about it, doing something about it, even if that 'doing' is merely writing about it, or being open enough to discuss such things, well, this is love, it may not be the love for a being that I created in my image, or the love of you, the reader, but it is a love for our home, this planet, and I hate that it is being destroyed.


I don't just go to a market to buy a papaya and keep my heart closed to everything but the fact that it is a market and I want to buy something for me me me.
I fall in love with the market, with the market sellers; my compassion and respect for even the most mundane acts and interactions each day, have love for others at my core, unless, that is, they tell me I can't take a photo of their persimmons, and then I fkcing hate them.

Which is why I am so intolerant of ignorance.
Because it is your ignorance, which manifests itself as silence, instead of speaking out on things, which winds up killing those people you pretend to 'love', because you are such a nice 'loving' person, and I am not.

Yes, I will dismiss, certain opinions in a nano-second,  that I have other views upon, opinions made after years of thought, years of reading on such issues, yes, I will dismiss those who still buy Tinned Terrorism from their local supermarket shelf, I will dismiss those people who think that NATO had the Libyan people in mind when then went in to 'liberate', I will dismiss because I feel sick inside, daily, knowing that I am spitting into the wind, that I might as well just give up having an opinion, because the comments I read under stories about Libya and so on, are steeped in store bought ignorance and they are the norm. Spitting into the wind. I really should give up. But I don't. As long as I feel the way I do, there is still hope.

I no longer tolerate ignorance on certain important world issues. End of.

Defensive? Yes, why not. This reply to your accusations that I am unloving, dismissive, defensive, intolerant, of course it is defensive. I am defending my character. Unfortunately, you are having to 'read' my defense, instead of hearing it. If you could hear it, I am sure you would find that I express myself without raising my voice or falling over my words in disgust that somebody disagrees with me.

Which brings me to the fact that you think that I think that people who don't want what I am trying to achieve, are all stupid tossers.
I have never said, 'You're a fcking idiot for working till 66'.
Never.
I have merely wondered why people are okay with doing this.
And I have wondered this for years and years.
I remember the day my grandfather retired. I remember thinking, 'This is so amazing. He doesn't have to work anymore. He is free.'
I was about 8 at the time.

Okay, so where I got myself in life so far took some guts, it did, very few people would believe they could buy a flat after 5 days in a country they had never visited before, by putting a $1400 deposit down and then going off for a 3 week overlanding trip, without worrying the fck about having been ripped off, and therefore probably never getting to the stage where they'd sign a contract, like what I did, to begin with.

Plus lots of other decisions I have made along the way - even the decision not to buy a watermelon out of season counts, just like the decision not to buy into the default daily coffee buying culture counts - lots of decisions have brought me to this point in my life - where, if I want, I can quit working forever, albeit I will forever have to be careful with how I spend my money, but hey, the reason I am where I am right now, in this position to quit, is because I know how to be careful with my money. I wrote the book on it.

And just because this is what I want to do, doesn't mean that I think you're a tosser because you don't want to do this. Far from it.

I will, however, write about my life, beyond the 'today I bought coffee, do you like coffee, I hate my job, I like my job, I went out, I came back, I like Idol, I don't like Idol, I can't believe that Eastenders is so crap these days, I really love chocolate, here's a pic of my kid, did I tell you about my opinion on the new 'Twilight', omg RPatz is so hot, I'm so excited that Christmas is just around the corner, this is how I am saving money, I don't buy everything I want these days ha ha ha ha ha, and so on'


Because this is an adventure for me, this life, and I was reminded of my love of seeing life as an adventure, when ROICS brought up Jasper Carrot the other day, and I recalled Kevin Keegan signing my 'Adventure Book For Girls', soon after he got on the plane at Hamburg, and then I remembered the time I was in Warwick Hospital, having a consultation with a surgeon, and she asked me,
 ' Do you want children?' and I replied, with a big smile and a friendly laugh, 'No, I want to be an adventurer'.
She gave me a funny look and said, 'Well, in that case we will give you a full hysterectomy.'
And I was like, 'WTF. Like hell you will.' and much much more, but I won't bore you with such details.

Adventure. Life is a story for me. Life is a story I write about every day, if I get the chance, and one where I quite often choose to write something that isn't mainstream, but that doesn't mean that I dismiss the mainstream, it merely means that I prefer reading from other shelves.

I know this comment was long, and that it shows that I am indeed defensive, but I am defensive only about things that I care greatly about - like how ignorance is an invisible murder weapon.

Yes, I care very much about certain things, and this is why I am intolerant on certain important issues, and help me God if I ever don't feel like reacting when faced with the reality of the world around us in 2011.

To end this 'comment', I really don't care if you find me only 'vaguely amusing'.
This is my diary. Not a resume to become a stand-up comedian.

p.s I would like to take this opportunity to ask my American friends to Vote Ron Paul if he makes it to the Republican ticket.

Thank you and Good Morning.