As an unrepentant obsessive personality, I don’t hesitate to proclaim the attainment of perfection.  Though I am quick to add that perfection is a sphere peculiar to each individual. This seeming universality and commensurate ambiguity does not however diminish for an instant the scope or achievement of whatever we chose to identify as perfection. It isn’t only flawlessness and sublimity or the best. Perfection is also refinement and improvement or polishing. As an adjective,  “perfect” apparently also denotes “a way of binding books in which pages are glued to the spine rather than sewn together”. What however is common to the attribute of perfection in my experience is being faultless as possible; and, more significantly, the sensation that one has achieved that height of refinement.

Continue reading →

One cannot imagine what he must have thought as he pushed off from shore in 1492 and headed out to sea.  Christopher Columbus was going in a new direction.

Columbus, Christopher (1451–1506), Italian-born Spanish explorer, credited as being the first European to reach the Americas; Columbus persuaded the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, to sponsor an expedition to sail across the Atlantic in search of Asia. In 1492 he set sail with three small ships (the Niña, the Pinta, the Santa Maria) and discovered the New World (in fact, various Caribbean islands). He made three further voyages between 1493 and 1504, landing on the South American mainland in 1498 but never making contact with North America.

Continue reading →

Yesterday, after having mulled over the moderately disconcerting matter for several days prior, I resolved to get my hair cut. I would go to Sports Clips, Stittsville as soon as they opened at 9:00 am this morning, the start of the long weekend. I had become fed up with myself and decided I needed enhancement before our breakfast reunion with Alana and Jay tomorrow morning at the golf club.  I landed in Stittsville in the parking lot outside the hair salon at 8:56 am this morning.  The door was locked. I sat on the stone wall awaiting the opening. Then a number of parents materialized with their young sons (apparently there is a gymnasium or something like it nearby). The families went in ahead of me but Destiny (my coiffeuse) must have seen me outside with my stick hobbling about so she engineered her immediate attention to me accordingly (they don’t take appointments, just first-come, first-served). Though I wasn’t in any particular hurry, I had however got it into my head to do something constructive about the current mane peril so I was pleased to pounce upon the enterprise with vengeful gusto.

Continue reading →

When it comes to making a summary assessment of life there are unquestionably more enthralling polar alternatives than birth and death (though honestly after 75 years of age the topic becomes tinged, rather like standing by the curb waiting for a cab). Inevitability is not guaranteed inspiring. For the moment – during this blissful start to the Victoria Day Weekend – I have formulated the summary of the beginning and the end as “blossom to seed” which, although not as abruptly capturing the unanticipated wonder of birth and the precipitous dread of death, does afford a more poetic and less dissipative rendering of life.  No doubt it speaks to the universality of the subject that I was moved to reflect upon this awesome subject when noticing from my lofty perch overlooking the fields that the glorious yellow dandelions have overnight transitioned to balls of white fluff (which in turn I expect to discover tomorrow have been completely blown away). Nonetheless the compelling feature of seed is its inherent prospect of growth. Or should I say something more elevated such as transcendental? Maybe the no less magical answer is grandchildren.

Continue reading →

Earlier today while casually flipping through various articles on the internet, I chanced upon an adage to the effect, “You don’t have to go afar to be exhilarated; it’s right before your eyes.”  My account is an injustice but I believe it captures the motivation to widen one’s perspective concerning what is round about; and, it strengthens the posture that a good deal of what we imagine to see is in our head only. I don’t reckon the adage is a condemnation of world travel; just surrogate encouragement for those who don’t.

Continue reading →

“The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz” is a 1974 Canadian film adapted from Mordecai Richler’s novel of the same name. It stars Richard Dreyfuss as the title character, his first lead role.

Winner of the Golden Bear at the 24th Berlin International Film Festival, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz has been described as a ‘coming of age’ for Canadian cinema, as both a widespread critical and commercial success internationally. It won the Canadian Film Award for Best Motion Picture, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film. The film has been designated as a “masterwork” by the Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada.

Continue reading →

Since the beginning of the barter system (that is, from the time people learned to share reliance on others to fulfill their wants), the expenditure of money has acquired multiple and various characteristics. For those of us not on the leading edge of anything, buying stuff boils down to housing, groceries, clothing, gasoline and then what I would generally label as personal retail expenditure (furnishings, artwork, automobiles, jewellery and accessories).

Continue reading →

The question, “What have you done?” is not uncommonly posed in a variety of situations which strangely have nothing to do with one another.  It is a question of wide usage with unrelated purpose. For example in its simplest format it may be an untainted question of fact. Or, what is more frequent, it may be a pernicious suggestion that what you have accomplished is not without a degree of ambivalence surrounding the tale of adventure. Or, it may not be a question at all, rather a bland signal that what you have done is preposterous (more an exclamation than an interrogation). Or – and this is where I have an especial interest – it is an enquiry into how (if at all) you have succeeded to unwind your life. It’s a general look at what, in my case, I’ve spent the past 75 years doing amidst the pitfalls and highlights.

Continue reading →

Despite the large number of philosophical schools and their nuances, all philosophies are said to fall into one of two primary categories, defined in contrast to each other: idealism and materialism. The basic proposition of these two categories pertains to the nature of reality: the primary difference between them is how they answer two fundamental questions—what reality consists of, and how it originated. To idealists, spirit or mind or the objects of mind (ideas) are primary, and matter secondary. To materialists, matter is primary, and mind or spirit or ideas are secondary—the product of matter acting upon matter.

Continue reading →

Usage of the term indulgence in my experience most often accompanies a calculated self-satisfaction. Such as indulging oneself in butter tarts. It is however also indicative of the extension of time for performance of an obligation; for example, indulgence for payment of a debt. Both indulgences share a degree of satisfaction (though the character switches from transparency to ambiguity). The more discernible difference perhaps is that in the first instance one indulges oneself; whereas in the second instance the indulgence is vicarious. Today I enacted the delivery of first-hand indulgence.

Continue reading →