Euphrosene Labon

…of shared tech issues. Once again BT broadband disconnecting whenever it feels like though only for up to 15 minutes and not hours as before. The Twitter whale kept me company for over two hours and is still being a bit bloated. And the day started with a red warning for me personally from Google that my gmail account had been accessed.

Password changed before breakfast and it has been more or less technically downhill ever since.

The conspiracy theorist cell in me fires up at times like this, wondering if other forces are testing their strength and control over the mob.
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I did do some painting - and am still trying to work out whether anything Kandinsky wrote in Concerning the Spiritual in Art has any real relevance to my mystical views. And where I should pitch the planned articles.

On which…(the mystical views) …I mentioned that knowledge takes us down different paths. Some get stuck in the band of materialism, churning out title after title, more or less repeating the same themes as the first bestseller. Others, and I deludedly include me in this category, are meant to question, seek knowledge, and then inform others (hence Wise El´s Big Thoughts).

But.. and this is a big `but´…this is dangerous territory. Cellular makeup could just as easily wipe out the original `programme´ not helped by the intermittency of divine communion. I know I don´t tune in that often but gurus like Yogananda did, mystics like Julian of Norwich and more - and they all complained how God kept silent.

Back to pondering the cyclic nature in hearing the divine.
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Took photos of bathroom now emptied of stuff. Actually, although I have excellent reflexes, and can make spontaneous decisions, I also have a strange habit of preparing weeks in advance for all sorts of events.

Dinner parties or social gatherings can have me hanging out clothes and accessories days and even weeks in advance. Well the bathroom was emptied ages ago and I have been using a plastic basket for necessaries.

It´s had that saddening effect that comes from packing possessions, ready to move house. I feel like something is ending. Odd. It´s only the chaos behind the pleasure of a new bathroom.
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Art is informed by the life we lead, by our thoughts, experiences and desires. My blog posts are either streams of consciousness, wrestling with spiritual concepts or other experiences on this particular spiritual journey. For examples of how this translates into my art, please visit my gallery. Euphrosene Labon Mind Body Spirit Artist Author Writer

tech issues, BT broadband, Twitter, Google, Wise El´s Big Thoughts, bathroom

…I genuinely felt comfortable booking in and staying at hotels all over the country. And I certainly did enough of it during my IT sales career. Now, in all honesty, over the last few years, I have felt a growing wariness at speaking with an RP accent to book a room, and then turning up with my brown, Asian, body.

As it happens, I have not had any untoward incidents, but it is telling that I am now concerned. It is one of a few reasons why I feel this whole approach to immigration is entirely wrong.

We dark-skins get noticed before any Eastern Europeans, although the way I walk (and talk) does work in my favour. By that, I mean I can see the appraisals, swiftly dismissed once I am seen as a `proper Brit´. But why should I have to endure that just because of New Labour´s open door policy?

Cause and effect, but wrong effect.
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Why do people go on about public spending cuts? Britain is humongously in debt. We need to cut that debt otherwise we will become like Greece.

There is so much waste, so many unnecessary quangos, too many useless over-paid managers … not forgetting excess benefits paid to people with no intention of ever working, bringing up the next generation or three with this same appalling attitude to public funds. No more gastric bands on the NHS or IVF treatment or counselling or alternative treatments.

Actually, re counselling, I think there should be a separate NHS pot for mental health issues as there are levels of mental distress which could be addressed in more cost effective ways. It makes no sense to see doctors who normally treat physical ailments then refer people on. Lengthy, tedious - and soul-destroying if you need urgent help. Given the increase in mental health issues, separate channels could well cut long term costs.
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Yesterday started with an incredible silence, an almost doomy silence - not even a solitary bird´s warble. It was a full hour after switching on the laptop before I got uninterrupted service. And Sunday´s bad back continued to ache.

Today, was more of the same for the morning, with other technology downturns to add to the disconnects: trying to work out page numbering and sorting non-tabled lists in Word 2007, which involved renaming Building Blocks.dotx and repairing the Office suite; Notes on Facebook still not importing my blog feed since the 21st April - and so on.

At least birds were singing again.

And BT did pull out the stops to help me and, again, by the afternoon, access was steady. Let´s hope it remains so.

While it was still playing up, I walked to the chemist to get something for my back, and also to keep the muscles moving, but at 6pm I am still in a great deal of discomfort. Thank God I am very flexible otherwise I´d be walking like the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
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Art is informed by the life we lead, by our thoughts, experiences and desires. My blog posts are either streams of consciousness, wrestling with spiritual concepts or other experiences on this particular spiritual journey. For examples of how this translates into my art, please visit my gallery. Euphrosene Labon Mind Body Spirit Artist Author Writer

IT sales, immigration, New Labour´s open door policy, public spending cuts, mental health, BT

Turned in around 3am, and was up again before 8am. More technical issues: the radio signal on the Lenovo decided to turn itself off - and has remained off ever since. The dock application on the Dell just disappeared too - although that, it seems, is a known issue. And I returned to Firefox even though Xmarks popped up a message saying there was (also) a known problem with synchronising bookmarks.

Thank God for all that massive backing up the other day as I restored everything that needed to be restored, and didn´t bother re-installing some products.

Others, like the Mustek - an ancient A3 scanner - refused to install. Possibly no driver for Windows 7? I gave up after three attempts, but it´s another reason I don´t want to have the disk wiped clean.

Am now waiting for feedback from the Lenovo community about turning the blasted signal back on. Don´t fancy poncing around with the BIOS setup.
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I´m surprised I had the drive and energy for reinstalling software as, most of Sunday, I was rather unwell. Snoozed during Murder She Wrote - and then found myself up and raring to go. Didn´t plan on it being till nearly 3am though!
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Meanwhile, in the wider world, the election campaign is under way, with predictable infantilism from all parties. And is it worth mentioning that, yet again, the more we pay to public servants, the less we seem to get (example NHS managers on their mega salaries).

Least said about the shameless MPs who not only troughed selfishly from the public pot, but now expect us to pay for their legal costs as they seek to defend their indefensible actions. Appalled.

Hitchens has written about the Chinese and their past(?) policy of killing baby girls, adding that they obviously had not forseen the consquences of having a surfeit of men. Are they really lacking in vision? Surely common sense should identify the imbalance and attendant issues?

But we are as bad here - or rather the governments that have allowed uncontrolled immigration and uncontrolled benefits´ largesse, and uncontrolled liberalism. The latter has created a society where entitlement rules, and personal desires come first - and sod the rest.

The future they are creating is not one I want to be around in.

At least the technical issues meant these things did not weigh heavily on my mind pre-bed.
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Art is informed by the life we lead, by our thoughts, experiences and desires. My blog posts are either streams of consciousness, wrestling with spiritual concepts or other experiences on this particular spiritual journey. For examples of how this translates into my art, please visit my gallery. Euphrosene Labon Mind Body Spirit Artist Author Writer

Lenovo, Firefox, Mustek, A3 scanner, NHS managers, shameless MPs