leonardcohenforum.com

Yes. I believe I should look for friends outside of the environment I live in but...I have acquaintances in the more affluent areas around me but I tend to always feel like an outsider because I think they can't possibly relate to my situation...as in being very low income. I mean these folks have money to spend on expensive lunch (they meet at an expensive restaurant) and they have big homes and nice cars, etc. I think I'm a sort of snob. Always felt like a misfit in "normal" society. But your post encourages me to keep looking for a way to fit in. Thanks G. You've always felt like a long distance friend to me. I'm not surprised you have so many!

dar wrote: ↑Mon Sep 11, 2023 10:16 pm Yes. I believe I should look for friends outside of the environment I live in but...I have acquaintances in the more affluent areas around me but I tend to always feel like an outsider because I think they can't possibly relate to my situation...as in being very low income. I mean these folks have money to spend on expensive lunch (they meet at an expensive restaurant) and they have big homes and nice cars, etc. I think I'm a sort of snob. Always felt like a misfit in "normal" society. But your post encourages me to keep looking for a way to fit in. Thanks G. You've always felt like a long distance friend to me. I'm not surprised you have so many!

hei dar. one way of making friends, affluent or otherwise, is usually by showing interest in them. avoid talking too much about yourself. pay them a compliment, find out what they are concerned with and ask more about it.

however, the best way to connect with people is probably to enrol on a course, whether it be language, cooking, art, psychology, whatever interests you - just as long as you spend as much time as possible with the same group of people over a relatively short period, a 'semester' maybe? you will need to pay an enrolment fee, but so will everyone, and that makes a good impetus for people to turn up at every meeting. by the time the course is over, perhaps three or four months, you should have connected with one or two of them, and can take it from there.

stay well, dar - and never give up. something that's hard to do is almost always worth doing

G, I just finished college three years ago. I got a BA in Religious Studies when I was 67 years old. I thought I would feel out of place but I fit right in with the kids! I couldn't afford to enroll in grad school so I never continued but I really enjoyed it and graduated with a 3.8 grade point average. School is very expensive here in California but I actually just found a poetry group on-line that meets on Zoom once a week. Of course, it's based in San Francisco but that's ok. Thanks for all your suggestions.

LisaLCFan wrote:
>Are you feeling neglected, Geoffrey? You do realise that you make a post along these lines on a regular basis.
>
>I wrote a very long post yesterday in another thread, in response to something that Bev wrote, which amused me! In case you missed it, I shall repost it here, since it does sort of fit in with the general theme of this place.

i don't feel neglected, just lonely sometimes, despite having people around me, or, paradoxically, maybe because there are people around me. some of us do not thrive with continual company, it creates panic frustration, like being locked in a diving bell with everyone using up the oxygen. i can't really explain it other than saying i am a person, not a buffet table for free-loading ticks. i love being with people, just as long as they don't start orbiting like the vultures they are. nick cave was right: people just ain't no good.

the piece you wrote in response to bev was read several times. so interesting, you go into every conceivable situation whereby one's access to music could be limited depending on the circumstances of alternative options. as i like most genres of music, choosing one favourite album would be impossible. it would be far easier to choose music that is pure torture to listen to: people like gilbert o'sullivan or roger whittaker. i don't have favourites, although bob dylan, schubert, patsy cline, hawkwind and almost any opera would be satisfactory - but in a week or two that list might look completely different.

now, a nice surprise for everyone. a new pic of your favourite poster. taken this evening at langevåg's devoldfabrikken after several days confined to bed with influenza. eyes still a little red, but that is partly due to depression. "you've thrown the worst fear that can ever be hurled, fear to bring children into the world!" -dylan ha ha ha !!! this is a worm not on a hook, unfortunately

"we are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle" -marilyn monroe serviette sketch lunch is served! today's speciality? home-made pizza: black olives, cherry tomatoes, minced beef, mushrooms, sweetcorn, green pepper, red onion, fresh garlic, yellow cheese and sprinkling of oregano with basil dressing and a glass of diluted pomegranate juice. let's see anyone top a work of art like that!

scribbling in an exercise book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDFBTdToRmw
simple sketches of local citizens few seconds from my bathroom
https://youtu.be/lV9fvAdcN_E

Geoffrey wrote: ↑Mon Sep 25, 2023 4:24 pm [G posted 2 video links and a photo of his pizza]

There is something very disturbing about both of the videos you posted.

As for your pizza -- looks a bit heavy for my taste: I would lighten up on the toppings, if it were my pizza, and add more veggies (I don't eat meat). And, salad dressing on a pizza, hmm. I first encountered adding things like salad dressing ("ranch" was the usual flavour) and liquid honey to a pizza, about 20 years ago while visiting the USA. I thought it was rather odd, but I did try both, and although neither were bad, I did not feel that either were really necessary for their flavour or for my enjoyment of a pizza, and thus I did not adopt the habit. Do you also put honey on pizza sometimes -- drizzle a bit on top?

LisaLCFan wrote:
>There is something very disturbing about both of the videos you posted.

oh? that was not intentional.

>As for your pizza . . . Do you also put honey on pizza sometimes -- drizzle a bit on top?

as yet i have not done so, but it sounds so eccentric that i might well give it a try. i have liquid honey in the cupboard. when using chicken i do add a few pineapple chunks, as they do in hawaii. this past week i have made four home-made pizzas, the first with tuna fish and the others with minced beef. unlike you, i am not vegan - although draw the line at pig meat. the key to making a nice crispy pizza, in my opinion, is to half bake the crust before adding the toppings - at least that works for me. have never heard of 'ranch' topping before.

cannot write very much at the moment because i am watching old columbo episodes on the 'internet archive' site. one can also write leonard cohen in the search bar if one is so inclined. (see below)

anyway great to hear from you, lisa - and to learn of your pizza experiences in the USA. i do tend to put too much on top of the pizzas i make, that is quite true. regardless, home-made pizza is always preferred to soggy shop or cafe pizzas that have a two-inch edge with nothing on.
https://archive.org/search?query=leonard+cohen

Geoffrey wrote: ↑Thu Sep 28, 2023 9:36 pm ...unlike you, i am not vegan... the key to making a nice crispy pizza, in my opinion, is to half bake the crust before adding the toppings - at least that works for me. have never heard of 'ranch' topping before...

I'm not "vegan" either, just vegetarian, for I do eat dairy products and eggs (and honey). I have, in the past, eaten a fully vegan diet for periods of time (absolutely no animal products whatsoever -- only plant-based foods), and I love the concept, but it makes for a very restrictive diet, and I do not have the strength of will to maintain it. However, I find it very easy to be vegetarian, and it makes me happy! (I used to be an omnivore.)

Of course, a person's diet is a matter of personal choice, and everyone has their reasons for what they choose to eat or not eat, and it does not matter to me that people make different choices than the ones I make.

Good tip about the pizza crust: I like it thin and really crispy. Pineapple on pizza is very common here, but almost always with ham, not chicken: "ham and pineapple" a.k.a. "Hawaiian" pizza has always been a popular pizza variety here, although I never cared for it -- I do love pineapple, but just not on pizza. I sometimes use pineapple in Chinese style stir-fries, with a hot and sweet and sour sauce, and that is very common over here, too, often with chicken ("pineapple chicken" is a menu item at almost every Chinese-style restaurant).

"Ranch" is probably the most, or one of the most, popular types of salad dressings and dips in North America -- it is pretty much ubiquitous in Canada and the USA. It is a savoury and creamy dressing/dip, flavoured with herbs and spices, onions and garlic -- it is quite tasty, and I like it as a dressing for salads, and as a dip for raw vegetables, chips/crisps, bread, whatever one dips (it is actually very popular here as a dip for spicy chicken wings).

I have always thought it odd that people refer to tuna as "tuna fish" -- in Canada, it is most commonly and simply referred to as "tuna", but our neighbours in the USA seem to need to add the "fish". For some reason, it always makes me smile when I hear "tuna-fish" -- for me, it would be like calling a dog a "dog-mammal" or a robin a "robin bird", etc... -- it seems unnecessary to add the "fish"!

your messages are often so full of interesting and informative details, lisa - and this is one of them. with you it seems to come so easily, while putting a few sentences together is a struggle for me. thank you for writing, and for, hopefully, tolerating this totally inadequate response. as an aside, regarding pizzas, not everyone realises that a pizza should properly be eaten with a knife and fork, not with ones' fingers. so, even though i pile far too much on top of the pizzas i make, it doesn't really matter a lot - it becomes more like a wholesome pie instead of a flat pancake-formed dish. if one is familiar with the old dean martin song one will recall the opening line 'when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore!'.

anyway, thanks for writing, and for always giving me something to think about

sketchbook page from yesterday.

Geoffrey wrote: ↑Fri Sep 29, 2023 11:59 pm if one is familiar with the old dean martin song one will recall the opening line 'when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore!'.

To which I reply:
When you're down by the sea
And an eel bites your knee
That's a Moray.

Sorry, Geoffrey, but I couldn't resist your "feed" line.

Alan

AlanM quipped:
>When you're down by the sea
>And an eel bites your knee
>That's a Moray.
>
>Sorry, Geoffrey, but I couldn't resist your "feed" line.

ha ha ha!!! people have had a lot of fun with that song, and humour helps neutralise everything that is bad. thank you, alan!
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wishing everyone a joyous and peaceful october every time i go to the shop there's a new dylan magazine on sale. costing me a fortune! serviette sketch of hiker taking a picture

plain sketch found amongst old parchments in a qumran cave in 1947 https://feversofthemind.com/2023/10/05/ ... kp8lp07Z48
addition to the local people series kiesza's original one-take video art that inspired countless imitations
https://youtu.be/ESXgJ9-H-2U?si=f5tABGriOxwEj-7d

"there were people in wheelchairs & crutches, & it was snowing - & i got this sense
that the whole world was saying 'please don't pass me by!' "

"the homicidal bitchin' that goes down in every kitchen" "there is a war between the ones who say there is a war and the ones who say there isn't" notebook. "i saw you this morning, you were moving so fast"