"There are times in one's life, when you feel like you've got nobody. Those aren't pretty times, and you seem to want to do anything for a sense of support.

Maybe, just maybe, those times are chances for you...

Chances to spend time with yourself  (not wondering why you're not with someone else),

And chances for you to realize that the biggest support you'll ever have... is yourself."

"Trying to force yourself to be perfect for some one,
Is like cheating on the person you were built to be perfect for....
Yourself."

Captivating Cliffs

This is based on a captivating photograph of cliffs, the state of  Colorado of the USA; but it's not very like the original, but more like what I saw in that picture...

Unexplored and alluring. Like many things in life.

(Medium: Oil pastel on Paper. Slightly smaller than A4.)

cras amet qui nunquam amavit; 
quique amavit, cras amet 

"May he love tomorrow who has never loved before;

And may he who has loved, love tomorrow as well"

A Latin proverb that I thought ideally, should have been published on the 13th of February, but dates don't really matter that much, now, do they?

If you're feeling like you're being taken for granted by someone you love,
Don't get angry.
Look at it this way...
Deep down, they don't think you'll ever leave.

Inspiration: Family dramas on TV.

Lucky Buddy

It is believed that Crickets bring luck. Especially if found within anyone's dwellings.

My new little buddy isn't a Cricket, but it stayed around vertically clinging to a step in our staircase, and was a wonderful model, no fusses at all!
It curiously looked around, and struck some pretty neat poses for the camera (I took a lot more than just two photos, but didn't want to scare it away by getting too close). It stayed for a long while even after I left it alone, which was not before I stared at it for a long time, and made some loud exclamations of fascination and joy every now and then. I think it quite liked the attention, to be honest!

Although I've got to admit, at first from a distance I did think it could be my 'Lucky Cricket', I figured out it wasn't even from the same family of insects. But then I'm never going to say it isn't lucky.
Because:
Who wouldn't want to be showered with affection as someone's lucky charm?
(especially when you're such a charming guest, friendly and fascinating)

'Destroying Angel'

This is my take on the "destroying Angel" mushroom, identified as Amanita virosa by the scientific community.
Although it is essential entirely white, I added a little colour for fun!
=)

Inspiration: Curiosity about it's 'common name'. A small bite is 'quite' deadly, if not 'very'.

Medium: Oil Pastel and pencil on paper.

Beauty Is You

Beauty isn't what they say it is.

It isn't in how people look like what others expect.

Nor in how people let others 

Mess with their face, body and head.

Beauty is how you move your fingers over 

Something you love truly.

Beauty is in the way you walk,

When you know you're heading there.

Beauty is your feet that are darker and dirtier

Than the rest because you walked barefoot

But you don't really mind, because it tells you

That your feet are a part of you.

Beauty is your hair on a breezy morning, 

Loose, free, without a worry in the world.

Beauty is how your face shines when 

You're saying a nice thing to another,

To cheer them up, from your heart.

Beauty is everywhere in your body, your originality.

Beauty is in everything that is unique,

Beauty is you.

Because there's no one else like you.

And there never will be.

Cheat Secure

I wonder if in the school for con-men and sales-persons (yes, I'm pretty sure they go to the same place), they have a lesson, hailed as the most important, on "Playing your victim's conscience/heart".

It sure must be worth all the money (which they probably tried to steal back, but you can't teach a teacher, can you?), because once that lesson's learned, you're a step closer to earning yourself a place in the boulevard of the treacherous.

For example: One merry old trick in the book, that never actually gets old, is to pretend to be struck by some great (emotional) calamity, if not a health-related-one, and grab sympathy, and all you can while you're at it. And mind you, most of the time, in this actually-not-so-bad world, there are millions of kind hearted souls who get swindled off not only money or equivalents, but any future motive to be nice to any one ever again.

And the creme-de-la-creme, who are the toppers in this dingy-but-large classroom of the deceitful know exactly what strings to pull. These people are oh-so-gifted, that they can grab from the fellow heartless, in their own game.

And let's not forget, the true-royalty in this scene, now these guys ought to be given an award, because they learn their tricks from movies (the one's that make us go "Dang! From right under his nose!"), that they stole from the guy who sells pirated CD's, and watched it in someone else's player!

So, now, the great question (Drum roll, please!), what can we do? Is there any way to save ourselves from being disheartened and losing all respect for this world, people and kindness? To ever be 'Cheat Secure'?

Nope.

Not unless we all refuse to interact, listen, or shower an act of kindness on anyone who walks on this green earth.
But maybe, just maybe, that's a little too drastic.

The other way to be... unaffected personally, according to the wisdom of those of eons before, is to forgive, and understand that someone might have had a need, and we were merely suppling the needful... (well, hopefully, put to good use! Cross your fingers!)

Forgive, because the world is a wonderful place, and although some or most things don't appear fair, in the grand scheme of life, all is fair.

So...I guess it's time I stopped cribbing about my own... should I say "Lost, and hopefully useful to someone else?" articles, which trust me, it's a long list that made me very unhappy at various points, but what better time to forgive than now?

*****

(Note #1: If you've found your criminal, and you do have enough evidence, I'd suggest getting a lawyer.)
;)

(Note # 2: The rest of us can feel like trees! Who returns anything to trees? They don't even need us humans to supply the carbon dioxide! We're lying to ourselves and them when we say we "supply" something they produce on their own, or other animals can do as well. Let's feel for them while we're at it!)

Conscious change is a prerogative of the living.

The best kind of phone conversations are the ones in which neither says a word, but you're content because you know the other's there for you.

A friend asked me "Why should anyone be patriotic?",

 and I said "It's because it tells you that you belong...".

"!" is "i" inverted.



So throw the ego upside down, and watch the fun!