Duncan's Blog

• Poverty and Resource Scarcity: Heating water for tea is depicted as an activity that consumes resources, and characters like Wang Lung's father are at times portrayed as reluctant to use tea leaves or excessive amounts of water due to their poverty. This underscores the scarcity of resources and the importance of frugality in their lives.

I had a housemate in the 80s who lived a very frugal life. He carried his own tea bags. When at dinner in a restaurant, he would ask for a pot of boiled water. He would always check to verify whether the establishment had charged him for the boiled water. After all, if they can serve iced water for free, shouldn't boiled water be the same price?
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This brings up a flood of memories. It was a simple scene from a book we had read in 7th grade. In case the names of the characters are unfamiliar, they are two of the main ones in The Good Earth written by Pearl S. Buck. Wang Lung was a poor farmer, and O-lan was a wife provided him during an arranged marriage. The wife was dutiful, but at the onset of the marriage, he did wonder if his new wife loved him.

Love is often measured with different metrics. Food and money are two popular ones we are oh so familiar with. But what happens if food is meagre because money is scarce? My grandmother re-used tea leaves. Back in the day her tea of choice orange pekoe black from the Consolidated Tea Company. Connoisseurs of tea often described the leaves used by this brand as the swept-up by-product of leaves that fell on the during the thrashing process.

Tea back then was served in PYREX glasses, and it would be brewed for short periods of time. The readiness was based on the color produced in the glass. Sometimes the steeping wouldn't even be a minute long. The leaves were often reused.

I had only met one person in my life who drank unsweetened, boiled water. It was unimaginable. Yes, that does sound strange considering how Americans can gulp down iced water at restaurant tables with no end in sight. <SHRUG>

In the story line I mention, Wang Lung tells his new wife that she must prepare breakfast. For his father, she is only to give the old man hot water for his chronic cough. When she prepares breakfast, she gives her father-in-law hot water, but when she serves her husband, he sees tea leaves floating in the cup. He is about to strike, her but asks why she had done this. She said that she did as she was told. Her old father-in-law received the hot water. But for the man she loved, she gave tea leaves.

On the morning after their wedding night, Wang Lung feels a sense of newfound luxury. He knows his days of preparing the fire and hot water are over because his wife is now there to do the work.

• A sign of kindness: Wang Lung is delighted when O-lan adds precious tea leaves to the hot water she brings him. This was a rare and expensive treat for them. He perceives it as a clear sign of her kindness and good nature, and a sign that she likes him.
• A special luxury: This simple breakfast becomes a special moment for Wang Lung. It represents his transition from a single, struggling man to a married man with a partner to help him run his household.

My grandmother shared fruit; a macintosh apple or a juice-producing orange. She would cut it into portions and remove the skin. She generally would tell stories during the process.

I actually recall acts of kindness with food more vividly than I do those that involved money.

I speak EFL (English as a First Language), but every now and again I return to my roots and crack open the dictionary to make sure I'm using the word correctly.
sandstorm [sand-stawrm]
Meteorology.

an occurrence of strong winds, especially in a desert, that pick up and carry sand, as from dunes, and typically move along in a series of leaps, effecting the process of saltation.

This weekend had been planned for quite some time. It was an extended weekend (I added Friday to the time off) and I headed for the Palm Springs area. There was no special event in mind. It was just a good old fashioned me-time experience; no friends, no lover, no search for mystery or intrigue. I booked my stay at a Motel 6 off the freeway and contacted a big-a** spa for two treatments. I got a deep tissue massage that was followed by a gentleman's facial. And let me tell you... "MONEY WELL-SPENT !"

It seems at times like a luxurious frivolity. Spending money to have someone rub your back? Spending money to have someone apply cream, oil, and a cold spritz of something to your face? And all the while you are listening to soft sounds that evoke images of gentle wind chimes or chirping birds of the Andes!

It's more than that. It involves trust. That's something I don't have a lot of and it's not something that I generally relinquish to a stranger. I'm pretty much blindfolded while another person bends my limbs or forces his body weight to my sternocleidomastoid region.




It sort of puts me in the mind of what it must feel like when Mr Spock approaches you from behind as he touches your neck anteriorly with his four fingers and posteriorly with his thumb. Oh, what the heck, let's call it his pollex since we're throwing around words from the old anatomy textbook!

I moved to the Golden State in 1985 just three months short of my 26th birthday. I've never left. This year marks my 40th anniversary here. At times I feel as if I am almost native, but I never actually ever claim the title. I've seen things come and go and I have certainly seen more of this state than I have of any other. I've driven up and down the coast as well as up and down the center of the state. I've crossed state lines into Baja California, into Arizona, into Nevada, and into Oregon.

I have visited tropical places as well as arid ones. Each has its pluses and minuses. The tropics usually come with feral chickens and lizards that grow to large sizes. Some spots have reptiles that grow mighty big as well. The desert has snakes, trees that seem to survive with minimal water, and lots of 'soil' that I wouldn't pack up to bring back home with me. In fact, the only time I ever knew of anyone who grabbed dirt from the desert to bring it home was someone who had gone to Israel.

On my way back to the Motel 6 from dinner at a downtown deli, I came in contact with a sandstorm. I hadn't been in one since my first cross country trip that included a drive through Arizona. I don't much mind wind storms because they almost look pretty when trees sway with the forces of the air. But sand in the air is quite another matter. Imagine having to throw rice at newlyweds as they go from the house of worship to their car. And then imagine you are angry at one or both of them, but you can't express yourself. So instead, you toss the rice with the force of Aroldis Chapman's (the Cuban Missile) pitched fastball against the San Diego Padres in September, 2010.

So what's up with all of this? I'm at a time in my life when I'm thinking of places to spend the golden years. Many folks rave about Palm Springs. To me it is a hot and dry place (the temperatures reached 122ºF this weekend). While a person could certainly do some level of gardening, I imagine that the water bill would probably go through the roof. I'm sure airfares in and out are also probably astronomical (no pun intended). Truth be told... I love my urban lifestyle. I look at other places, but when I see something that just doesn't seem to fit my paradigm of normalcy, I generally shut down. I think Palm Springs is one such place.

Back in therapy after decades of living without guidance or the objective distance of an outside practitioner. We started with the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique.

At a Glance
Feeling anxious or overwhelmed? This technique can help. All you have to do is identify:

• 5 things you can see
• 4 things you can feel
• 3 things you can hear
• 2 things you can smell
• 1 thing you can taste

This simple yet powerful exercise uses your senses to anchor you in the present moment, helping you find some calm amidst the chaos.

During this past session he shared the G-L-A-D technique for finding joy and balance.

• Gratitude: Reflect on something you are thankful for today, such as basic needs or meaningful relationships.

• Learning: Note one thing you learned today whether about yourself or others.

• Accomplishment: Acknowledge one small accomplishment that positively impacted your day.

• Delight: Recognize one element of delight that brought you joy, like a beautiful sight or a kind gesture.
  This technique encourages individuals to focus on positive aspects of their lives, helping to shift their mindset and reduce negative thoughts.

I'm not sure exactly how I am to use this technique in my writing. Should all of these feelings/actions be focused on a single subject or should I look at four different things that occurred that evoked each one independently of the others?

I'm thinking of something that happened to me just this past week. I work as a union steward at a very large federal agency. I protect labor from the bad behavior of managers and supervisors and service chiefs. This past week, the Cheeto enforced Executive Order (EO) 14055 that pretty much kills our contract of rules that protect labor.

VA Terminates Federal Union Contracts: What To Know - Newsweek

Is there anything for which I should be grateful during this sh*t show? Actually, there are a few points. I am reminded of the original job in healthcare for which I went to school. While I was defending the rights of workers against the bullies in management, I had lost sight of what works I had done before. I am grateful that I was never removed from the ranks of the service (I am a nurse), that I have opportunities to keep my skills current and up-to-date, and to have a job that I can go back to with minimal remediation.

The aspect of 'learning' during this transformation is something that I am reluctant to admit. I have been told that 'these people' (employees who are not labor, but rather management) are not your friends. This also includes human resources. They call you their 'union partners', but they would be happy to throw you under the bus. I prefer to think that their hands are tied, and they have to follow orders, but I have learned there are some who are too eager to just have us trampled upon and gone from the building.

These thoughts and accusations against management are the strong sentiments of union leaders. I think what they want to instill is a sense that we are in the midst of a struggle and in this struggle, one should not try to rely perceived bridges that were built in the past. "These are not your friends."

There must be a more exacting term for this. In part I have learned it, but in another part, I don't care to believe it. Maybe I will follow it, but I will not encourage others to carry this ill-will with them.

The biggest accomplishment was cleaning up the office. The job included packing boxes of files or taking files to the shredder. Shredding documents is not a fun activity. Each file is a work of action that that describes the beginning to end activity of supporting a worker against a cruelty forced upon him/her by someone in power.

Delight? The room will be left empty. I will have to return the key. Our union's name was physically removed from the doors. Where is there any delight in any of this? I am struggling with this and think that maybe this exercise is not being done the way it is meant to be done. I will be facing my peers, and they will be asking me why they should continue to pay for a union that is ousted. Does that sound like delight? There is something that is positive about this new role I will have to undertake. I must be an advocate for union support. And even though things seem grim, there are training skills within me that allow me to be(come) persuasive in the battle against perceived evil. Of course, most of this cannot be said during working hours because we are Cheeto's enemy.

I will probably try this technique at a later time to see if there are ways to make it work effectively.

How often are you face (plagued) with making decisions regarding your pocketbook. In today's world, keeping on budget is referred to as 'wealth management.' My! What a fancy-shmancy term for safeguarding the nickels and dimes when you're deciding between the 8 oz vs 16 oz cans of creamed corn or when you look at the wall and you see a landline that only rings for spam callers. The corn differential might be a differential of a penny or two.

And as for the landline? That phone costs me $238.44 per year. It doesn't make calls outside my area code (my choice) and it pretty much only receives calls from two friends who still have the number or computerized, robotic, auto dialers. It's a relic. I don't give the number out because it's attached to where I live... and that's nobody's business. Oh, and when I opened it up, I was able to give the Bell Company a different name under which I asked them to list it. For those who are unfamiliar with telephone books, numbers can be either listed or unlisted. Listing your number is the standard practice. Having an unlisted number costs more.

Then there are things that might make you scratch your head in wonder as to, "Why on G*d's green earth is that man just pissing his money down the toilet?" "Like what," you ask? Well, let's see. I have a car that's nine years old. I change the car oil every three months or 3,000 miles (whichever comes first). It's usually the three months that comes first. So, pretty much, each time the season changes, I take my little FIAT in for a new reservoir of fresh, synthetic oil. Even the manufacturer doesn't recommend such high frequency. But I have done it since I bought the car. While doing it, however, I also get the opportunity to have the car inspected. They look at the brakes, the tires, the other fluids. They check the wipers, the lights, and anything else that strikes their fancy.

Why the obsession? What problems did the Chevy Vega have? | AHG Auto Service

My first car was lemon. It required an oil change with every fill up. In fact, sometimes it needed oil before it ran out of gas. I still have a small car and don't really give it much thought. I generally drive alone or with one other person. I like the fuel economy. And I'm not ready to give up my stick shift so a hybrid just wouldn't work.

I've learned over the years that any purchase should be considered based on quality and price. A higher price doesn't necessarily guarantee that a product is superior to another. And while considering whether something is the superior choice, what factors are you looking at to make the determination?

My money comparisons are usually based on restaurants or supermarkets. Sometimes also gas stations, but that's less frequent.

What kind of oil to buy? What brand?

Choosing pasta can be a consideration. I generally just go to Trader Joe's because it's always $0.99 for a pound box. (I suspect the cheap pasta is kept at that price to keep people coming through the door).

Produce?

And then there are skin products such as soaps, toothpaste, body lotion, facial applications...

These days I have been looking at mini-vacations. How about a long weekend get-away? I'm going to Palm Springs for a long weekend. It's cheaper there in August. What about the hotel? I usually stay at an economy facility; clean bed and air conditioning in a room that has WiFi. I'm not spending the bulk of my time in the room.

I'm sure I could write more on the subject. Maybe I will revisit this again in later postings.

Mine is parallel and it exists simultaneously with the one that's going on. Mine is also historic rather than current.
I think of my tribe being hidden in plain sight from the evil Axis power.
I'm not quite sure how science fiction would write such a thing. Imagine two distinct worlds inhabiting the same plot of dirt at the same time. Neither of them is ethereal. They would have some of the same buildings in both worlds and the old trees and plants would also co-exist in both. How is it then, that they would/could be separated from one another?
There would need to be some measurable anomaly that causes the distortion. Maybe it's the amount of light that is allowed into one of the planes. Maybe the tribal DNA resonates with the Source and creates a shield in which they can see, interact, and recognize one another, but do not have the same with the others.
It sounds like a wonderful way to preserve a culture during hardship, famine, war.
So, what's to f**k it up? There will always be one member of the tribe who craves the others' world. He or she wants to invite the others in. My beloved other will stand with us and by us. Wither he goest, I shall go. Wither he lodgest, I shall lodge. My people shall be his people, and his people shall be my people.
And then... POOF! The universe is massacred.
That's what I sometimes think when I see old pictures of family that never made it to America.

Or... maybe I go into my time travel mode where I come to Eastern Europe with a b*tt-load of cash and tickets to get out of Dodge...