Diving in the Far Islands

A day's diving off the Far Islands in Thailand. Actually, the video is fairly naff, but I did get one or two good stills...

The last one is unexploded ordinance from Navy Exercises - gives one pause for thought at 15 metres...

I progresseth not...

Nothing to note. I'm writing this, and it's the first thing I've written for weeks. Work, ill kids, house moves... all occupying stuff but basically excuses, albeit reasonable ones. I feel it coming though. I'm almost ready...

Publicity

One of my books, 'Is', has received some internet publicity. Follow the links for a look...

Is - in detail, an author interview

Is - opening chapter

I'm not sure what kind of readership these blogs have, but almost certainly more than my own would be a good guess!

'the alpha to omega' should be available through Amazon and B&N very soon; watch this space...

Fifteen minutes?

Do you have fifteen minutes to respond to these questions in a comment below?

1. How does an ice-cube feel as it melts?

2. If you were a day of the week, which day would you be and why?

3. Whom do you most admire in the public sphere?

4. What was the last book you read? Would you recommend it to others? Why?

5. The Muslim poet and mystic Rumi once wrote, ‘No sound of clapping comes from one hand without the other.’ Can you relate this to a personal experience?

Monday

Monday morning apparently has more than it’s fair share of cardiac arrests. Studies have shown that more people die at 9.00am on a Monday morning than at any other time. Shocking, isn’t it?

Surprised? We really shouldn’t be. We spend most of our waking adult hours at work. Doing something in exchange for bits of paper which we can then use to exchange for ‘stuff’ that we want or need. Or stuff that we think we want or need. Not the same at all.

Why do we accept this? Most people, for a fact, choose to spend this significant portion of their lives doing something which they invest no thrill in, or that brings them no fulfilment, or that bores them, or, plainly, that they hate.

From within the rat-race, within the ‘job’, the things we worry about on a day-to-day basis seem important. Vital even. The 9-5 seeps into our real lives, into our sleep, robs us of vitality and hope. Take a couple of days off, however, and that emergency meeting and that urgent report take on a lesser significance. Step away further and they become funny, meaningless concerns.

Finally, step away for good, and one can find oneself feeling compassion for those who still attach importance to these things. Days take on new shapes. Important becomes a whole new concept. Urgent fades away. Obligation is only unto yourself. And life seems incalculably richer. Because it is.

And Monday mornings are just another opportunity to ask, ‘What shall I be today?’

I will never again accept the sick-in-the-stomach feeling of a Monday morning, obliged by someone else to do something I have no desire to be doing in order to have bartering power in a market place that disgusts me.

One, two, three!

All three now available online.

I am now free of the 'burden' of revising and updating and formatting earlier works. I technically have no adequate reason for avoiding 'The Year of the Monkey'. We shall see what 2008 brings...

Convention of those wounded in love

General provisions: A – Whereas the saying “all is fair in love and war” is absolutely correct; B – Whereas for war we have the Geneva Convention, approved on 22 August 1864, which provides for those wounded in the battle field, but until now no convention has been signed concerning those wounded in love, who are far greater in number; It is hereby decreed that: Article 1 – All lovers, of any sex, are alerted that love, besides being a blessing, is also something extremely dangerous, unpredictable and capable of causing serious damage. Consequently, anyone planning to love should be aware that they are exposing their body and soul to various types of wounds, and that they shall not be able to blame their partner at any moment, since the risk is the same for both. Article 2 – Once struck by a stray arrow fired from Cupid’s bow, they should immediately ask the archer to shoot the same arrow in the opposite direction, so as not to be afflicted by the wound known as “unrequited love”. Should Cupid refuse to perform such a gesture, the Convention now being promulgated demands that the wounded partner remove the arrow from his/her heart and throw it in the garbage. In order to guarantee this, those concerned should avoid telephone calls, messages over the Internet, sending flowers that are always returned, or each and every means of seduction, since these may yield results in the short run but always end up wrong after a while. The Convention decrees that the wounded person should immediately seek the company of other people and try to control the obsessive thought: “this person is worth fighting for”. Article 3 – If the wound is caused by third parties, in other words if the loved one has become interested in someone not in the script previously drafted, vengeance is expressly forbidden. In this case, it is allowed to use tears until the eyes dry up, to punch walls or pillows, to insult the ex-partner in conversations with friends, to allege his/her complete lack of taste, but without offending their honor. The Convention determines that the rule contained in Article 2 be applied: seek the company of other persons, preferably in places different from those frequented by the other party. Article 4 – In the case of light wounds, herein classified as small treacheries, fulminating passions that are short-lived, passing sexual disinterest, the medicine called Pardon should be applied generously and quickly. Once this medicine has been applied, one should never reconsider one's decision, not even once, and the theme must be completely forgotten and never used as an argument in a fight or in a moment of hatred. Article 5 – In all definitive wounds, also known as “breaking up”, the only medicine capable of having an effect is called Time. It is no use seeking consolation from fortune-tellers (who always say that the lost lover will return), romantic books (which always have a happy ending), soap-operas on the television or other such things. One should suffer intensely, completely avoiding drugs, tranquilizers and praying to saints. Alcohol is only tolerated if kept to a maximum of two glasses of wine a day. Final determination: Those wounded in love, unlike those wounded in armed conflict, are neither victims nor torturers. They chose something that is part of life, and so they have to accept both the agony and the ecstasy of their choice. And those who have never been wounded in love will never be able to say: “I have lived”. Because they haven’t.

Reproduced without pemission from Paulo Coelho's 'Warrior of the Light' newsletter. Visit his site at www.warriorofthelight.com