Choosing companions: who and why?

As human beings, how do we choose who we want to spend our time with?

This thought occurred to me the other day when I was patting my favourite street cat.

Why is she my favourite street cat?

1. She is the most beautiful (visually)? Maybe.
2. She is the cutest? She was when she was younger, but not now.
3. She is the most playful? No.
4. She is the kindest? Maybe.
5. She has the best colours? No.
6. She has the best pattern on her coat? No.

And so the list goes on.

What's the answer?

She is the one who reacts the most when I give her attention i.e. she gives me the most love back.....

DC

I have a pal in the States, who shall remain nameless (J.G.), who would be the first person to remind me that I shouldn't believe everything I read.

Bear with me for a bit whilst I explain the background to this statement.

I've just come back from Aslı Börek (a favourite haunt that sells what can be best described as a seller of small lasagne like pasta with spinach fillings). I was glued to Fahrenheit 9/11 - the book. I borrowed it from my "sister-in-law".

If you aren't aware of the contents of the book or movie, my summation is that  the entire American population was fooled by the Bush Administration into believing a whole bunch of things that Mr Moore has proven to be untrue.

Having just finished Part I - the "screenplay" of the movie - the idea that we are completely duped into believing that the democratic system is a good one came to mind. Inherent in this is that it is also a system that works.

At this point I must stick my hand up and state that I have never voted. Actually I stayed off the electoral roll for a good proportion of my voting life in an attempt (that worked) to avoid jury service. I simply couldn't bring myself to come to terms with the idea that making a decision on the basis of circumstantial, or other, evidence was something that I could sleep with. So I merrily or embarrassingly left that sordid task to others.

One could argue that in the past printed matter stood for something. It was something you could trust - I mean, why bother spending money on printing something that was false?

When I was growing up printed texts weren't something that you questioned. 

Then along came the internet...

On the way home tonight it occurred to me (and this is no reflection on Mike Moore's work) that I still haven't got past the notion that everything printed is fact.

The funny thing is that I simply cannot accept "It can't be done" when it comes to verbal statements. It takes a lot of banging my head against a brick wall to finally say "OK. It can't be done. Well, not by me anyway." Yet, if I read it for myself I'll immediately come to terms with the negative.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents ....

Finally, why DC? Well it's where J.G. comes from and it's the centre of power in the US.

OMG It's Exactly the Same!

The world is full of coincidences

coincidence a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection

.. and when I say full I mean F-U-L-L.

Seriously. It scares me sometimes. 

Not only that but I'd like to know why there is a such a cosmic connectedness. 

I can deal with the notion that we are all connected as human beings. However, when events decide to slam you at the same time it raises goose-bumps on my neck. I'm not talking about your every-day coincidence, because there are plenty of those. I'm talking about the coincidence's coincidence. Like, "How the hell could that have happened?"

Take my latest one for example. About 3 days ago I decided to splash out and buy a computer game. After a long time searching and checking reviews etc I chose a game called "Deus Ex: Human Revolution".

Now about a month ago or more I borrowed a book to read from a friend. I started and made my way through 3 chapters before I put it down. I hadn't picked it up until last week. It had been such a long time in between that I had to start again as I'd forgotten the content.

And so today, not 3 days after I bought the game, I come across "deus ex machina" in the book! I mean I've never heard that phrase before in 45 years.

And yet in a 3 day time span I read it twice.

<Mark goes to search the meaning of "deus ex" which is "from God". He previously thought it was just mumbo-jumbo dreamt up by a game maker. But 2 instances means there's a definition out there>

Fascinating:

• deus ex machina 1
• deus ex machina 2
• deus ex machina 3

Other

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex
• http://us.deuscustoms.com/

How far I have travelled.

Earlier today:

1.   I was driving a friend to work.

2.   They said I was driving too fast and yelled at me to slow down.

3.   I yelled back (I am very sensitive to being told what to do because it reminds me of my parents. I feel wrong/inferior).

4.   Parked.

5.   Left them and headed home.

6.   Vented internally.

7.   Vented some more on the bus.

8.   Waited for them to message me and apologise (I was taking the moral high ground).

9.   Considered what kind of arsy response I would give in return. Should I accept the apology gracefully or not?

10.               Probed deeper to discover the reason stated in 3 above. No major revelation there.

11.               Closed my eyes. Took some deep breaths (thanks Susan!)

12.               Thought that having a bad start to their day was no excuse to yell at me.

13.               Breathed.

14.               Realised that, in turn, I yelled at them. Them yelling at me isn’t an excuse for me to yell at them! (shock and embarrassment).

15.               Realised that therefore in conclusion I should send an apology to them.

16.               Procrastinated over sending said message. Is this “giving in” and admitting I’m wrong?

17.               Overcame the silly notion in 16.

18.               Sent the message apologising for yelling and explained reason as per number 3.

19.               Breathed.

20.               Left the bus feeling better but still a little ruffled from the experience.

21.               Went to see the local nurse for my 2^nd to last injection in the posterior (ouch!).

22.               Observed patients waiting for the doctor complain to her and ask for her help – for the third day in a row.

23.               Observed her, for the third day in a row, explain that she’s a nurse. What do they expect her to do?!

24.               Follow her to the emergency room where she jabs me. She’s huffing and muttering to no-one in particular all the way there. Clearly frustrated.

25.               I try my general charming banter with “How are you?” blah blah to try to relax her.

26.               She automatically replies with the standard responses but is cooling a little as I asked her this yesterday too. I’m sure not too many people ask how her day is going.

27.               <The breakthrough> She asks what I’m doing in Turkey. This starts an entire conversation which completely relaxes her.

28.               We are laughing together at the end.

29.               I leave and walk home feeling like the king of the universe!

30.               Along the way I see a mother and daughter walking down the hill in the opposite direction.

31.               I smile at the daughter who positively glows back at me (usually children here seem scared of me).

32.               I giggle in joy at her marvellous smile.

33.               Mother looks at me with a strange expression on her face. What happened?

34.               I get home and consider how much my mood changed from the start of the day to now.

35.               I realise how scary it is that I actually -can- be in control of my life (just like the psychology books say).

36.               I appreciate how far I’ve come to be able to go through these steps and what’s more – write it down and share it.