The mind is in a state of preparation
and anticipation of several things, events, and expectations, that you begin to
set your sights upon aims, goals, and milestones as the passage of time brings
things closer to the activity and the fulfilment.
On the professional front, there is
something scheduled and the other undefined that might determine the action to
take which has been in consideration for a while. For the scheduled, study and
exercise are required that one has not been able to focus on until now, whilst
the other needs to run the gauntlet of extensive bureaucracies before a
decision is made.
Scripting life
Personally, the things of the heart
are ringing in a countdown that brings a smile, warmth, and that sense of
companionship that is limited by circumstances we hope to assail in due course.
Then broadly, we are involved in the preparations that others have for their
futures as we hope to secure and assure the fortunes of others.
I guess this is what the story of life
is all about, the situation, the preparation, the execution or participation,
the fulfilment that opens the vista to the new, the possible, the achievable
and the attainable. It is a blessing and a thing of gratitude that one can plan
without being caught up in the immediacy of the present as both a distraction
and impediment. We are as it happens; a story being written.
Over the last few weeks, I have written a few blogs on parent-child relationships because I have had to run the gauntlet of issues that are probably not unique to just myself.
It was only eleven days ago that I blocked my father on both Facebook and Instagram because I think he crossed the line from participating in my social environment into interfering with it. Some might think that was a drastic step to take, but I did not second-guess that matter, I was incensed and riled up about it, I had no other alternative than to take that action.
Then in conversation with one of my best friends, we discussed how I should have cut him a bit of slack, it is probably excusable that he confused my life with his views of a lifestyle, conflating them in misunderstanding the differences and by that overstepped the bounds of matters that are particularly mine alone and no one else’s.
Between life and lifestyle
Life is an encompassing issue that engenders the participation of every aspect of a person, in living, in livelihood, in relationships, in the community, in society and whatever area of endeavour. In life, you live, you love, you face options, you make choices, decisions can be life-changing and it could be quite different from the norm. But one person's norm might well be the abnormal of another, which is why we find accommodations and the openmindedness to live and let live.
When a person finds love and a relationship with another regardless of gender pairing; whilst it might court controversy, that is life in action, not the passing fad of a lifestyle. There are hearts, minds, bodies, and souls engrossed in this unique journey of soulmates. You cannot for the want of conformity complicate or upend the life of another to satisfy the wishes of some construct or societal mores.
Too many people have been hurt by unsavoury, imposed, or unwelcome matchmaking in the hope that something might blossom out it. Just that you think someone is good from your perspective does not mean, that is the best match for the person you think you're helping get hitched. It works for some, it is not the solution for many, we have just one life to live than to grin and bear it with misery, trying to adjust to the requirements of others when your persuasion and inclination is completely different from what they hope for or expect.
That’s my prerogative
I would spare people the agony of living through the experience of seeing the alien expressed on my living and online persona, why bring them so much grief? The liberal use of the block with that in mind does not seem that cruel or drastic anymore.
I hope to afford my parents, my relations, my friends, my acquaintances and interested persons along with complete strangers the opportunity to participate in my social media world, however, if the said participation slips inadvertently into policing my activities; I would without hesitation put a stop to that participating without recourse for appeal or redress.
My social media space is my fiefdom, if you violate the unwritten rules of respect and circumspection, you will be excluded, no matter how close you are to me. That is completely my prerogative and it would not be yielded to another for review. Just let me live.
There are so many reality shows that on television nowadays, the genre has been flogged into every kind of performance short of a full-blooded pornographic performance of who has the best sex.
Sometimes, programmes like the Apprentice, a US creation - have a bit of civility to it, though it is really a dog-eat-dog situation, it takes a special kind of mind-set to attend a job interview like that.
The Dragon’s Den, a Japanese creation - is another which consists of a few self-made self-conceited money-bags posing as venture-capitalists to people who present all sorts of ideas needing capital investment – you can learn about what to do and what not to do when seeking capital for an entrepreneurship.
These are usually adjudicated by a panel of judges only.
Watch me and rile me
At the common end, where no value accrues but the feeding of base instincts of voyeurism you have Big Brother, a Dutch creation which probably stems from the fact that ground-floor apartments usually do not have curtains drawn, on the premise that only people who have things to hide draw their curtains. The less said about this, the better – however, it draws the largest audiences all around the world.
On the entertainment side we have had every kind of musical variation of talent search with Pop Idol, a UK creation - being the most prominent global franchise.
That’s entertainment
However, Strictly Come Dancing, another UK creation, takes my accolades for the best reality show entertainment. Here, a professional ballroom dancer is paired with a flat-footed celebrity of the opposite sex and we through the weeks see that team develop into magnificent dancers.
In all these, audience participation matters, this is combined with points awarded by a panel of judges. Since the audience needs to phone in to keep their favourite team in the contest, no one talks of the wads of money made for each premium phone call made.
What is your poison?
As the Queen’s birthday approached, a number of celebrity television chefs from the inebriated to the utterly intemperate had a number of contests to determine who would cook for the Queen using ingredients from their native regions.
We then had to contend to food snobs whose delusions of grandeur was to give the impression they had palates that could determine what as good enough for the Queen. Insufferable, they were, however, as long as one concentrated on the cooking experience, that part could be ignored.
Do re mi - So pray she
The new reality show about to land on our screens would make you squirm, a leading lady is required for a London West End musical revival produced by the impresario Lord Andrew Lloyd Weber.
