To thine own self be true

(The classic that took a major hit after a major infrastructure failure: the recent cathedral fire in Paris.)

Personally: one’s own body throughout life. Getting teeth, eyes, knees, hearts repaired to keep things running

Externally: (as revealed by a walk through the neighborhood): the cracked sidewalks, driveways waiting for mudjacking, the damaged highways and towns because of flooding, fires, etc. The moon flight cancelled because of an engine failure.

People constantly repairing, fixing one or other. Matters of choice and matters of complete necessity for continuance.

But look around you at the urban blight of Edmonton, for instance. Wasteland areas awaiting trains that never come because of cracked bridge supports.

Infrastructure. Everywhere, everything.

Even in relationships, societies, and civilizations. 

Thinks about it. How far this metaphor goes and applies.

1. No one is, of course, perfect and we are all liable to make mistakes.

2. No matter how right and honest you are in something said or done, myriad trolls will come out of the woodwork to criticize you without any appreciation of choices and context. You will never be able to please or satisfy everyone else.

3. You can generally ignore the criticisms of others unless the majority of them are right and there is room for improvement or correction on your part.

4. Otherwise, stick to your course, values, beliefs, and thought-out choices. Remember there are a lot of mean folks out there who derive sick pleasure and purpose from overextending their egos to bring others down.

Have the confidence to be your own person: be true to yourself, first and foremost.

is about as close to heaven on Earth as some folks get.

Sun Dog: Peanut basking on the patio during her 3-week-stay here in July before her haircut.

Tothineownselfbetrue.ca has been a handy, convenient platform for recording ideas, opinions, memories, and creative writing. It has been a deep delve into consciousness over time and has included many ‘essais’ in the spirit of Montaigne’s essays.

I have written about politics more than I wanted to, but there are so many twisters and evil ones running amok in governments the past decade everywhere it seems. Now, at a time when the world seems to be in the wrong hands, more than ever, it is important and necessary to know oneself, one’s values, choices, and preferences while continuing to follow one’s bliss and being true to oneself.

As always, I gladly continue to travel Frost’s “road less travelled by” and it certainly has made “all the difference” in my life, too, and those whom I’ve known, taught, appreciated, loved, and befriended.

Frankie Valli of Four Seasons fame, now 88! He can still do all the difficult high parts in all 15 of the main hits for a recent PBS special recorded earlier this year before he set out on a long tour. Well-worth recording. But be prepared for earworms of snatches of the hits for weeks to follow!

I first heard “Sherry” in grade 8 (there was a girl named Sherry in my class) and followed their career through to “Grease”. Lots of favorites including “Dawn”, “Let’s Hang on to What We’ve Got” and “Grease”, the latter written by Robin Gibb of The Bee Gees.

via evening classes: the basic steps of Sun Style Thai Chi by the master Paul Lam.

(My old VHS which is better than the DVD version and illustrates the basic steps I learned and still use.)

by Edmonton City Council, voting down 12-1 the valley gondola folly which would have cost taxpayers millions+ over time.