Youth.

All calculations set to one side;
The inevitable Descent from Heaven,
A visitation of memories and a seance of rhythms
Invades the house, my head,
And the world of the mind.

A horse leaps forward on suburban turf,
Past planted fields and stretches of woods
Misty with carbonic plague.
A wretched theatrical woman, somewhere in the world,
Sighs after an improbable indulgence.
Desperados lie dreaming of storm, and of wounds and debauch.
Along small streams the little children sit,
Stifling their curses.

Let us turn once more to our studies,
To the noise of insatiable movement
That forms and ferments in the masses.

photographs - denis darzacq
lyrics - brendan perry for dead can dance; adapted from arthur rimbaud

Severance.

Severance,
The birds of leaving call to us.
Yet here we stand
Endowed with the fear of flight.

Overland,
The winds of change consume the land.
While we remain
In the shadow of summers now past.

When all the leaves
Have fallen and turned to dust,
Will we remain
Entrenched within our ways?

Indifference,
The plague that moves throughout this land.
Omen signs
In the shapes of things to come.

(Brendan Perry)

The Carnival Is Over
(Brendan Perry)

Outside,
The storm clouds gathering
Move silently along the dusty boulevard
Where flowers, turning, crane
Their fragile necks
So they can in turn reach up
And kiss the sky
They're driven by a strange desire
Unseen by the human eye
Someone is calling
I remember when you held my hand
In the park we would play
When the circus came to town
"Over here...!"

Outside,
The circus gathering
Moves silently along the rainswept boulevard
The procession moves on, the shouting is over
The fabulous freaks are leaving town
They're driven by a strange desire
Unseen by the human eye
The carinval is over.

We sat and watched
As the moon rose again
For the very first time.

My results from tickle.com...

Visual Mathematician

You have a strong ability to process visual-spatial and mathematical information. These skills combined with your strengths in logic are what make you a Visual Mathematician.

You're able to understand patterns visually and in numbers. That means your mind can create a mental picture for any problem. In addition to that skill, you possess an intelligence that allows you to apply math to that picture, too. That helps you manipulate multiple parts of the picture (or problem) to come up with a solution. You have many skills that are critical to success and problem-solving. Your talents help you understand the "big picture," which is partly why people may turn to you for direction — especially in the workplace. You flourish in environments where tasks are clearly defined, and you are a whiz at improving processes and making things more efficient. Your ability to detect patterns and your skills in math and logic, make it natural for you to come up with ideas and theories that simplify processes for everyone.

Outside of work, Visual Mathematicians tend to do well at strategic activities like chess. It must be that ability to recognize patterns — both as they are and how they develop. Regardless of how you put your mind to use, you've got a great set of talents. You will be able to envision a clear path and calculate the risks, and more importantly, the rewards, of anything you take on.

---

Hmm, interesting. Seems true enough, as far as it goes. 

It also gave me an IQ score which is obviously unscientific and probably meaningless, which is why I omitted it from this post. There were 40 questions total and I got all 40 right. How can it possibly assign a specific score in that case? Where is my infinity sign?? Lol.

Anyways, that part doesn't interest me. But it got me thinking, if I got them all right, how can it pick just one of the personality types (out of the many I assume they have) to assign to me? Shouldn't I be equal in all of them?

I don't understand how their algorithms work, obviously. It's probably a load of BS anyway; it wasn't even timed like the old Stanford-Binet test. I did my best to answer quickly, mostly because the questions all seemed simple, but I could have taken all the time I wanted... unless it secretly keeps time and factors that into your score? It said nothing about that in the instructions, though. At best, that's deceptive and not good testing methodology.

Well, it all means nothing; as we know intuitively, each of us is unique and while you can loosely group people into types, the more detailed you try to categorize them, the more static there is - like trying to calculate the position of an electron in the cloud around the nucleus of an iron atom or something. At deeper levels, people show their truly unique features and distinguish themselves from all others, and it only increases in terms of diversity the 'deeper' you go.

It may be helpful to know one's general strengths and weaknesses on a very coarse scale; say, for those who want to get a job they'll be good at or choose an academic major they'll enjoy. But then if you're in one of those situations, you probably already know what your strengths are, because they will also be your interests! And you probably know what you suck at because you won't like it or have any interest in pursuing it.

And the more you try to refine it, the less accurate these sorts of tests become. I think of it as Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle applied to sociology and psychology (personality). One day the science will back me up, trust me!

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. I will try to do so more often starting... right... NOW.

Happy Halloween!

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
(john lennon)

Words are flowing out like
endless rain into a paper cup
they slither while they pass
they slip away across the universe

Pools of sorrow waves of joy
are drifting through my opened mind
possessing and caressing me

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Images of broken light which
dance before me like a million eyes
they call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a
restless wind inside a letter box
they tumble blindly as
they make their way across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world.
Nothing's gonna change my world.
Nothing's gonna change my world.
Nothing's gonna change my world.

Sounds of laughter shades of life
are ringing through my open ears
exciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which
shines around me like a million suns
it calls me on and on across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world.
Nothing's gonna change my world.
Nothing's gonna change my world.
Nothing's gonna change my world.
Jai guru deva
Jai guru deva

EYE TOBASCO SATURDAY!

(click pics for even more tobasco dumped into your eyes)

MANIA

inspiration near?
oh no...
deep in here,
burns something infernal
something eternal
lets me sleep mere hours
then whips me awake
at the height of my powers
while my thoughts churn

and CERN has nothing on me
when I'm in the throes of
my fantastic,
drastic reverie:
my haemoglobin races
like swarms of foul horses
around a track they attack
like rowdy, fell forces
seeming to lack

all that is fair in being human;
just drive me on, roaring!
ignoring all the facts
like the cracks that appear
and the fear
in my countenance
shaking and longing
for some true rest,
comfort in a warm nest.

but I am denied
until the storm passes
and the grapes decide to die
whither wasted upon their vine
and then it's that time
to sleep for days on end
and lose my mind
and this is no more kind
than that devil engine,

but it's my lot in life -
I drew the bad straw
well I must have...
though I don't remember it
every september and october
brings hell with it
like my world is nearly over
moreover,
it's a fuse to no good use

except to abhor.
filled with invective,
I lose my collective wits
and reel around infected
check all perspective
at the door
then scrabble for my pills;
I'm too young to be this way,
too old and unsure.

EYE CANDY FRIDAY!

Australian actor Radha Mitchell

The Future Is Unwritten.

Christian Dior