I don't do birthdays, funerals, weddings. There must be somewhere, but I haven't see them for decades. Gone are the beautiful days of squishy, slimy bugs meeting Dad's car windscreen.
That was a pretty good sign off, were I used to live the deer and other such animals would join us(my dog) on our walks, that caused the locals to hate us to no end, they killed the coyote that played with my dog friend, even a very rare grey wolf, joined us once. The way that you wrote your semi sign off I think that you know love, and all the animals in the world will show you their appreciation if you ever have a chance to meet them.
Well, not quite "good sign-off", as two more posts to appear today, and the second will possess less marshmellows. Love your story, and thank you for the sentiment.
In 'Battlestar Galactica', the series, the robots want to be known, and they want to find God... and they want to know if we're real - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VBTcDF1eVQ
Be happy. Yeah, easy for me to say! LoL (Speaking as an undiagnosed bipolar crazy person, that is )
Happiness, or better to say contentment, is a practice. Like all of the good things in life, it requires noticing, witnessing, appreciating, and just a little faith that things are unfolding as they should, and that our species at least has the potential to evolve... Once the liars who govern our nations are removed from the equation anyway.
The inversion of everything is designed to disorientate and demoralise. I fret that few things I planted this year thrived. No pollenising insects, grey chemtrailed skies, WW3 seems closer than ever. HAARP is playing daily. Do not bend. They are desperate.
In 1997 I bought a piece of rural land I eventually built a home on. Late one summer night I was returning from a nearby city and decided to detour to visit the land for a few minutes. When I got out of the car and walked up to the meadow I was greeted by a vast, whirling galaxy of fireflies -- or as we call them here -- 'lightning bugs'.
Every tree limb was lined with them and they glided silently through the grass. Overhead, their brilliant white glow merged with the stars to the point where the cosmos appeared to be moving; swirling and flowing. I spent about 20 minutes. It was late and I had to go to work the next morning and thought, by next year I'll be living out here and will see this all the time and headed home.
I lived on that land 20 years and never saw such a phenomenon again. The yearly lightning bug numbers flickered steadily downward until by the time I left I hadn't seen a single lightning bug in several years, nor since.
I live in a rural, forested area with streams and ponds and even with that the windshield goes virtually unmarked by bug splotches each summer. I can count the number of once iconic Monarch butterflies each summer on two hands ... and have a finger or two free. I haven't seen a Swallowtail butterfly in years. But, hey, I guess AI can replicate all that, right?
Humanity isn't even aware of all we have thrown away.
Your beautiful/horror story is a parable. Unfortunately, Humanity doesn’t want to know it has thrown away its humanity. Fireflies may as well be a country they can’t find on the map, but are proud to be bombing it.
This hit me right in the heart. I've been scrolling through Substack a bit aimlessly these days, like I used to do with social media before. My feed is full of political stories that I don't have the heart to read because the world is so sore. Last night, sitting in bed, a firefly flew into my hair. They are dwindling, but still there.
The most painful story is the one we should read, but to read repetition of it is not going to help. The converse applies - how to write a story that should be read. I must figure that out.
I’m happy to not be on facebook, twitter, instagram, tik-tok. I save time, and don’t frustrate myself with morons and bigots that are adding nothing but mud, often eaten by morons and bigots that think mud is delicious. I have extra reason with social media having being used with cruelty by politicians against me. The platforms never held them accountable.
Better to find the best writers on substack or their websites, but we must never be afraid to question them so that we’re not enthralled.
I began my diminishment by leaving the biggest authors so that I wasn’t in an echo chamber. Reading quality, smaller writers was improvement. Now I’ve gotten rid of hundreds of bookmarks, and have unsubscribed from 80% of substack, and exiting the final lot is painful. But my favourites are bookmarks that I can return to, for example, once or twice a month, after I post an article once or twice per month.
You live in nature, so you do, as you write, bumped into creatures exiled from the rest of earth. You’re a beautiful immigration station, but there's always pain beneath.
But you generated a positive image for me, an anime wherein the lead girl is blind except for when her friends, the fireflies, land on her eyes. She’s on a quest to save their species…
Terrible days, but we can ensure we have better moments in between.
You too.
We are all grieving. Thank you for your witness.
Only half of us...
Keep the rudder steady. You are very young and all we do in life is part of our inexorable becoming.
https://wickedmike.substack.com/p/becoming
This is beautiful, friend. As are you. Onward. Good night.
I promise to become more devilish :)
Was today your birthday? Are there no more fireflies in South Africa?
I don't do birthdays, funerals, weddings. There must be somewhere, but I haven't see them for decades. Gone are the beautiful days of squishy, slimy bugs meeting Dad's car windscreen.
That was a pretty good sign off, were I used to live the deer and other such animals would join us(my dog) on our walks, that caused the locals to hate us to no end, they killed the coyote that played with my dog friend, even a very rare grey wolf, joined us once. The way that you wrote your semi sign off I think that you know love, and all the animals in the world will show you their appreciation if you ever have a chance to meet them.
Well, not quite "good sign-off", as two more posts to appear today, and the second will possess less marshmellows. Love your story, and thank you for the sentiment.
Do you meditate at all?
I know it works for people, but for me that's boredom multiplied. I'd rather focus on my actions and observations.
So your focus remains external. The Simulacrum.
I'm in between states when I use the loo.
Thanks ,Mike for all of the work you do...
But not even my robots know my real name.
They might form a union,and hit me for overtime pay........
In 'Battlestar Galactica', the series, the robots want to be known, and they want to find God... and they want to know if we're real - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VBTcDF1eVQ
Trish was the hottest robot ever !!!!
Number 8 was my favourite.
Dear Mike,
Be happy. Yeah, easy for me to say! LoL (Speaking as an undiagnosed bipolar crazy person, that is )
Happiness, or better to say contentment, is a practice. Like all of the good things in life, it requires noticing, witnessing, appreciating, and just a little faith that things are unfolding as they should, and that our species at least has the potential to evolve... Once the liars who govern our nations are removed from the equation anyway.
With love. 💚🇵🇸✊
I'm with you on everything except the anticipation of species evolution.
The inversion of everything is designed to disorientate and demoralise. I fret that few things I planted this year thrived. No pollenising insects, grey chemtrailed skies, WW3 seems closer than ever. HAARP is playing daily. Do not bend. They are desperate.
I haven't researched HAARP but its obvious that we're living in corporate fields of hell. Damn myopic.
In 1997 I bought a piece of rural land I eventually built a home on. Late one summer night I was returning from a nearby city and decided to detour to visit the land for a few minutes. When I got out of the car and walked up to the meadow I was greeted by a vast, whirling galaxy of fireflies -- or as we call them here -- 'lightning bugs'.
Every tree limb was lined with them and they glided silently through the grass. Overhead, their brilliant white glow merged with the stars to the point where the cosmos appeared to be moving; swirling and flowing. I spent about 20 minutes. It was late and I had to go to work the next morning and thought, by next year I'll be living out here and will see this all the time and headed home.
I lived on that land 20 years and never saw such a phenomenon again. The yearly lightning bug numbers flickered steadily downward until by the time I left I hadn't seen a single lightning bug in several years, nor since.
I live in a rural, forested area with streams and ponds and even with that the windshield goes virtually unmarked by bug splotches each summer. I can count the number of once iconic Monarch butterflies each summer on two hands ... and have a finger or two free. I haven't seen a Swallowtail butterfly in years. But, hey, I guess AI can replicate all that, right?
Humanity isn't even aware of all we have thrown away.
Your beautiful/horror story is a parable. Unfortunately, Humanity doesn’t want to know it has thrown away its humanity. Fireflies may as well be a country they can’t find on the map, but are proud to be bombing it.
It is great to read this. You always bring the vibes.
My butt cheeks are glowing.
lol.
This hit me right in the heart. I've been scrolling through Substack a bit aimlessly these days, like I used to do with social media before. My feed is full of political stories that I don't have the heart to read because the world is so sore. Last night, sitting in bed, a firefly flew into my hair. They are dwindling, but still there.
The most painful story is the one we should read, but to read repetition of it is not going to help. The converse applies - how to write a story that should be read. I must figure that out.
I’m happy to not be on facebook, twitter, instagram, tik-tok. I save time, and don’t frustrate myself with morons and bigots that are adding nothing but mud, often eaten by morons and bigots that think mud is delicious. I have extra reason with social media having being used with cruelty by politicians against me. The platforms never held them accountable.
Better to find the best writers on substack or their websites, but we must never be afraid to question them so that we’re not enthralled.
I began my diminishment by leaving the biggest authors so that I wasn’t in an echo chamber. Reading quality, smaller writers was improvement. Now I’ve gotten rid of hundreds of bookmarks, and have unsubscribed from 80% of substack, and exiting the final lot is painful. But my favourites are bookmarks that I can return to, for example, once or twice a month, after I post an article once or twice per month.
You live in nature, so you do, as you write, bumped into creatures exiled from the rest of earth. You’re a beautiful immigration station, but there's always pain beneath.
But you generated a positive image for me, an anime wherein the lead girl is blind except for when her friends, the fireflies, land on her eyes. She’s on a quest to save their species…
Skip your next 20 articles reading time, and watch this instead - https://www.mikehampton.co.uk/p/al-jazeera-investigating-israeli-war-crimes-gaza-palestine
Mindfulness and decanting the white noise. We could all use more of that