leonardcohenforum.com

Dear Mistreusse aka Pete [duly noted in thine's last post] ~

Mistresses call Mistreusses "dear" only if Mistreusses care to retain their Mistress. Purely a matter of choice.....I'm sure you understand, dear. However, there appears to be a line forming to the right to take my place, if you care not to suffer such indignity. However, I feel obliged to warn you. The first one in line is known to be fickle. The pirate one day; Johnny Depp the next; this year's man suddenly last year's man; ex-Commander. It remains your choice, of course. However, here you have a loyal Mistress, who calls you dear. Jo has, once again, undeniably racked up a few points with her message to you. If it holds sway with you in terms of her wanting you to leave me, however, just let it be known and said that, I have never, nor will I ever, competed over a man. If he doesn't want to be with me, on my own merits, then I care not to be with him, either. My Mistreusse, I cannot break my code for you.

Oh yes, I did note the humour, dear, but at whose expense, shall we say? With no points to win, no points to lose, you and B.C. did enjoy Linmag's loss, thereof.

I'm pleased to see you did right by Margaret . And that Paula's points are forthcoming . Surely, the snowflake will fall. And, with Helven, I, as a former smoker, can certainly understand how you gave in to such temptation.....but fair we must remain. Good decision.

Oh dear, on Witty Owl.....I can certainly understand the importance ~ teacher to teacher ~ of promptness. However, is it fair to penalize one for their occupation outside of the game? Are we not all on even ground here? Well, those of us who play, at least. It seems too prejudicial, entirely, for some to be given a reprieve for late to class, whilst others will continue to be penalized. Have you and BC [amidst your laughter] thought to consult ViC on this one? If anything, I would've thought he'd have been awarded for having flown into the fray with such flourish and aplomb.

Are there any Commandress positions available? I could be tempted to apply vs. succumbing to "once a Mistress, always a Mistress" ~ we seem a bit on rocky ground, anyway, with your questioning my term of endearment. Perhaps it really is time to move on....however, if assigning points comes with that job, I'm really not much interested. I've never cared for those ultimate positions of responsibility. Exactly what are the duties? Do you have a job description?

~ La Mistress

Pete, 5 points for standing by the window? Are you sure you didn't mean 50? Especially as I had stood there long enough to get used to an empty room (Perhaps I forgot to mention that!)

Skedule/schedule...........hmmmmmm......a tricky one this. If it were an original thought/utterance, I would think/say schedule, but as I was thinking about Leonard's song, I was probably thinking skedule, though I'm much too well eddikated to write skedule . Do I get the points anyway, for ingenuity

Aha, I was “foremost” when the previous calculation was made but now I’m not. So what can I see now? – you win a while, and then it’s done – your little winning streak – probably, something like that !

Elizabeth and Pete, thanks for my 10 points for a cigarette . Though, I thought if it was possible to deprive me of 10 points for smoking maybe it’d possible to add something for the fact that I’m not getting fixed. And I thought also I deserved even more than 10 points since drugs were something much more serious than smoke and it was essential to encourage me in refraining from them . But if there’s no fine for smoking there’ll be no reward for non-getting-fixed …

Linmag ~

I wasn't there, of course, but after reading your empty-room comment, well golly-gee, if they [Pete and BC] decided to give you 75 for the lot ~ maybe even 100 ~ it would sure enough seem fair to me.

Skedule/eddikated [tee-hee ].

Good luck with those two in the back room, who seem to have taken to rolling about in laughter, amusing themselves with everyone's hard work here. It's not easy, this I Spying business.

~ Lizzy

Hi Helven ~

You make a good point. As you seem to have an 'in' with those guys, perhaps there's still room for negotiation on the cigarette/getting-fixed issue. A good barometer might be whether he gives you deserved points for your gracious response to dropping behind [and we all know how quickly that can change].

Just an observation ~ I'm noticing [or think I am] that participants do better with points if they suggest [as Pete suggested they could] their desired # of points, per offering. Perhaps evidence of some inherent appreciation for making his job easier. Left to his own devices, he seems to come in lower with the points-assignments than if people give him a starting point.

~ Elizabeth
[I hear your hooves close behind me .]

Lizzy, do those hooves belong to the absent mare ? And was she frollicking in the sweet green grass, having run away from her rider? We must spare a thought for him!

Pete,

the birds were singing here at the break of dawn, and not only then, some of them start between 1 and 2 am What with the sirens night and day racing to the nearby hospital ( and you know how close that is to our house, don't you Pete?) It's a wonder I manage to get any sleep at all. Many a night I have lain there crying "it's 4 in the morning..." now and I'm still awake! Sometimes I even hear the trains go by. So please, please don't ring any bells, that really would be the last straw!

Margaret

(still feeling sleepy)

Aha! Why didn't I think of that, Margaret? I was off in headless-horseman land, deleting my, "..., oh non-headless horseman " after I thought about it and realized she couldn't be a horse and a rider at the same time . The absent mare...of course! Perhaps, that's why she's been so unlucky in finding it absent, or otherwise.....tougher to do either, when you're it !

Please accept my yawn for you, oh sleepy-headed Margaret .

~ Lizzy

Pete, I have only just tumbled to the "Oi'll give it foive" connection It was much too subtle for me last night without the brummie accent. Even so, I think 'foive' should translate to more than five in I-Spy terms, don't you? After all, it did give you a good laugh, though we may have some explaining to do to those who were not subjected to UK TV in the 1960's

About this idea of asking for or suggesting points, I was brought up not to be greedy. It was not considered nice to "ask for so much" so I will defer (or grovel) to your esteemed better judgement Pete.

Just going out now for a little walk before the predicted snow arrives. Who knows what I might spy on my trip to buy a few groceries! Will report in later.

margaret

Greetings Pete and many thanks for the generosity extended by BC and yourself with the points bestowed. I graciously accept the penalty deduction as I agree that educators must set a good example to those that are leaning out for love. The majority of students are not concerned as to whether or not lessons are done. Rather they expend much energy and cunning to avoid lessons and inevitably become fully qualified procrastinators.
This old heart has been taught to rest. Whom do I address?
Yesterday during a beach walk I did spy a hero or two among the seaweed and multitudes of gems where the sun poured down like honey.
I have listened to the darkness sing, I know what that's about. And when the night is slow I join the wretched and lament the meek.
I looked through the paper and moved across the borders; I do what I have to do to get by in my secret, secret life.
I know that judges will have no corresspondence entered into but I restate my assertion that "the old banjo" is a poetic device. {the old guitar} does not rhyme with "time to go".

Cheers, Witty Owl.

Okay, Witty Owl ~

I'll let it go, in your case, but should anyone else be so penalized, I'll advocate on their behalf, as well. However, not everyone's occupation is known, so for those who reveal such, might they be opening themselves to penalty of unknown form? If someone joins in, with the misfortune of having only a 5-pointer I Spyer, are they going to find themselves at a -25 [after the late penalty] and need to come up with another 25 just to get to 0, just to be even with someone else who's just begun? Are we not encouraging lying? I feel it's dangerous to set such a precedent. However, we now have 3:1 in favour, so I'll assent. For now.

~ Lizzy

Just time for a quick comment.
The vacant post of Commander is open to all. Commander, in this instance, can mean commandress.
Notification of intention to apply by Friday please. Further guidance for how to apply will then be forthcoming so no need to write a long letter of application at this juncture.
Pete.

Job and duties description?

Now no need to call for me -even thou it's late - because I will not be listed for the job, it has not been written in the scriptures - so do not waste your ink. I do not want absolute control over every living soul - only over a few in my nearby - that would be nice for a change
Pete - there is nothing left you can measure anymore, in other words just to say it clear and to say it cold - it aint going any further.

Btw my olive tree just died today - it lost all it's green (s)leafs, but I guess that won't count for nothing anymore

Cia takes you down with hugs

Correction/Explanation [this posting is along the lines of an 'apology,' by way of explanation of what I really meant with something I said]:

I have learned, since my previous postings having to do with the mares [absent or otherwise], that in some cultures, such references to being a mare/horse can be considered very rude. It sounds, perhaps, akin to referring to someone here [in this culture] as a pig, a jackass, or something to that effect. So, I hasten to clarify that I would never refer to Helven in such derogatory terms. It's not even my style to 'name call' in the first place. I've probably pushed the envelope from time to time, but in the most extreme ~ or playful ~ of circumstances, where my meaning was well understood.

A little explanation/background may make it [hopefully] quite clear. I was playing off Helven's attempt for points with the absent mare. I got an 'existential'-type visual of a mare, forever searching for herself and forever, finding herself absent, as she had to look a direction other than 'outward' with her eyes. I envisioned her looking behind her, in front of her, into all the stables, around corners, out into fields, etc. ~ never realizing that the seeker was the sought.

The headless horseman is some kind of literary reference from [who knows where], which turned out to kinda dovetail with Margaret's comment, about the mare having run away from the rider. The headless horseman came to me, with regard to the absent mare. It just seemed to go together, i.e. 'absent a head' ~ but then, I couldn't have her be both mare and rider, and were she rider, she would most definitely not be headless! She has quite the head on her shoulders, in reality! So, I was going to put "non-headless horseman" and bypassed it when I realized she had to be one or the other ~ mare or horseman ~ anyway. I couldn't really do anything logical with it, so, I opted to stay with the mare, since that was the origin of the 'joke' and her extensive, early-on rationale about the mare being/not being absent.

When I put her in the role of mare here, I put myself in it, as well. I pictured us running a race [to win the game] ~ "the ponies run" ~ with her having been in the lead, and my having taken over [at least for the time being]. Yet, as we round the corner, I can hear her hooves ~ close behind my own hooves [my being a horse in that race, too] ~ closing in on me, and perhaps about to overtake me, and regain her lead position. I had a track pictured in my mind...."......a-a-a-a-n-d, on the outside, c-l-o-o-o-o-s-i-n-g in, is HELVEN!!!" ~ horses here are, overall, considered magnificent and beautiful creatures.

I don't know whether I've used this phrase with regard to Helven before, but it's one I heard in Key West, in approximately 1986, at a political event. The current state representative was retiring, and the one to take his place had been elected. The legislative aide [who a number of years later did become the state representative herself] was in attendance, and was in a small circle of people, standing and talking. When she walked away, an older, classy woman commented, "If she was a race horse, I'd bet on her!" It was a very high compliment, indeed. Horse racing here tends to be a sport of the higher, financial echelon; at least there's a lot of money for all concerned in horse racing.

So, referring to Helven as a mare, and placing her in a horse race, fell way into the complimentary range ~ and, most definitely, not an insult. In fact, I was right there with her, and would've made myself 'absent,' too, were it not that the song has nothing to do with "two absent mares." She also had already, clearly earned the reference with her complex posting.

While I'm at it, let me add something about the "gut" thing. Generally, here, that is a term used in regard to males. However, we do want to gain our points, as we're able, so I gave her the instructions for how to go about doing this. She, quite 'ladylike,' had already deemed that this would require her admitting to having one first. With my references to all of this, I did not mean to make inappropriate references to anyone's physicality, or to use un-genteel terms with regard to a woman. It's not a term I'd used in regard to myself, either, yet we were already into that scene of the song, so my efforts became directed toward points [perhaps at any cost ], on her behalf.

Now, for those of you who have read this, and wonder what I'm going on about, it's that words/meanings/connotations vary so much from one culture to another [with many embarrassing situations coming out of them quite innocently]. However, I have no idea who all of our guests are; who all of our members, who post or only read are; or from where anyone in the future may come. It's important to me, personally, that anyone reading my postings know ~ for absolute certain, as undeniable fact, that no offense was intended, in any sense whatsoever , toward Helven. I would not say anything derogatory to her like that. This is very important to me because I consider Helven a dear friend, and I have only the highest regard for her.....and if she were a race horse, I'd bet on her ~ this is my way of saying that she has so many fine qualities that I have complete and utter confidence that she would come out the winner in virtually any situation. The competitive horse race is simply the means for expressing such high regard.

Okay, for those of you bored to tears by now.....well, thanks for listening. Setting this straight was very important to me. At least any future readers of this thread will have only a minimal number of postings to read before they get any misinterpretations set straight.

My love to Helven ,
Elizabeth

Back to the game !!!