Fa – the Green Dragon

A Place for the Odd Musings of an Expat Bristolian

Category Archives: Thoughts of Interest


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Staying in the present … Continued.

In 1985 -86, technology had developed to the point where we could program our wrist watches to emit a beeping sound, on the hour every hour. This turned out to be one of Mr. gibbons’ pet peeves. During his lecture one day, he questioned the necessity for this audible interruption.

From that time forward, we never heard this  sound again.

As I wrote earlier, removing distractions allowed for awareness. Mr. Gibbons explained at about this time that one of his mantras for living in the present was to consider the next two minutes as the most important moments of your life.

Staying in the present, being aware increases one’s ability to anticipate. Anticipation is simply a matter of being prepared. This can be most important when executing daily tasks. Driving your car for example is one of the most important places to be focused, aware and in an anticipatory mode. Paying bills on time is another which can save you money by avoiding late fees. And what about places of potential danger.

Taking notice of your surroundings when you enter a business or your bank can help  to keep you safe. Noting fire exits is something very few people do. Complacency rears it’s head with the thinking that it won’t happen to me.

I’ll leave you with these thoughts for the time being. I will write more in due course.


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When damage is already done

There’s many a slip

‘Twixt a cup and your two lips

No tears for spilled milk


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In recovery from PTSD

In Recovery from PTSD
You may have noticed; I have not posted anything for quite some time. This has been due to dealing with an ongoing incidence of PTSD. And, for clarification, PTSD stands for Post Trump distress Disorder.
Even before the 2016 election which brought Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States, I had a feeling that the way he ran his campaign was indicative of the way in which he would preside as president. I did not vote for him. However, many of my friends did ( I will return to this point later).
Before Donald Trump we had George W. Bush as president. I considered George Bush to be the worst president in recent times. I have since changed my mind and now consider Donald trump to have been the worst.
There is a special committee whose mission is to investigate the riot which happened on January 6th, 2022, at the nation’s capital. This riot it seems was part of Donald Trump’s attempt to stage a coup d’état and remain as president of the united states of America.
Looking back, one must ask oneself, where did Trump get his idea? Was it during his closed-door meetings with Vladmir Putin? Was it during his visit with Kim Jong Un of north Korea? As an aside, do you recall the admiration he had for the way people of north Korea obeyed Kim’s every whim (that it was out of fear was never mentioned by Trump). Somewhere along the way, Trump became indoctrinated with totalitarian ideas.
Had Trump’s attempted coup been successful, we can only imagine that our democracy would be gone and given time, Trump would create a family dynasty supported by loyal oligarchs. Then of course, declare himself president for life. In the meantime, he would discontinue support for NATO, terminate many of the social services we have established and begin a true plunder of the nation’s wealth and resources.
According to the January 6th committee, Trump together with some of his advisors, supported by several GOP members of congress planned and put into action a plot to hold onto the presidency by preventing the Vice president from certifying the election. Part of this plan involved an ongoing propagandist barrage of lies and other false information.
Groups of Trump’s supporters believed this untrue and misleading information and gathered in Washington DC prepared to support Trump’s claims of a stolen and fraudulent election.
Most upsetting about this event is that Trump knew otherwise and yet he did nothing to terminate it once it became apparent that the situation had gotten out-of-hand and people were getting injured.
More than a year ago I started writing a post about Trump and what I thought was going on. I Saved it as a draft and for whatever reason did not find the appropriate opportunity to publish it. I will insert it here as I believe it contains pertinent information. (Part 2. To follow)