One of those days...

Hey Mutants and normals, Well, today as we all know is New Years Eve, or as the yanks call it for simple effect NYE! No not New York Eve either.. let's nick that one in the bud right now lol.

Anyways, today I had a great day, it was going pretty well to be honest. Had a huge lunch decked out for work, left over pasta and vegan sauce, two little pieces of brownie, a banana, soy yoghurt and a clementine, with a container of empty coco pops for second breakfast.

One of the guys came in with broken ribs after a drinking incident a few nights back. And well he was pretty stoned out of his tree. It was entertaining to be honest, and thankfully the boy has a good head on his shoulders and took all the ribbing we gave him in stride.

The downside to this, was I was getting that craving for something strong, that little lovely natural thing called morphine. I hate those days you know. I haven't had any morphine since my hip replacement, and with the amount of opiates I have had in my life, most people are surprised I am not in an alleyway shooting up on M or dead. To be honest, so am I. The days where I just sit there pondering the "I am in a tonne of pain, I need some morphine", which is generally not far at all from the truth. But because I manage it, and am able to block it out through other methods, I don't. But just that beautiful haze around the edge of my vision, that mind harbouring and loving lack of pain would be nice. Just to wake up a few hours later, and not have to assess my body for any major pain spots. That would be nice.

Morphine, I do miss you at times. We had some fun and fucked up times together, and unlike everyone on earth, you have given me the one thing I have only ever wanted, a good day without pain. I love you.

Here is something I was thinking when I heard the song Desert Rose by Sting. I have been a long time fan of Frank Herbert's Dune series. I have been re-reading Dune Messiah and well the song started playing on my phone, and then these thoughts came out to the lyrics. So here is the lyrics, and them my thoughts on it.
"Desert Rose"
[Cheb Mami Introduction (Algerian Arabic):]
Hadaee mada tawila
Wa ana nahos ana wahala ghzalti
Wa ana nahos ana wahala ghzalti
Wa ana nahos ana wahala ghzalti
[English:]
Oh night oh night
It has been a long time
And I am looking for myself and my loved one
And I am looking for myself and my loved one
And I am looking for myself and my loved one
This section of the song can be thought of as the Fremen singing about their love of the night time as it makes the air cooler, and brings with it the dewpoint that they collect in their water farms. Also looking at Fremen quotes and stuff throughout the books, the Fremen do have a romantic side very akin to a lot of the nomadic desert tribesman in our universe.

I dream of rain
I dream of gardens in the desert sand
I wake in vain
I dream of love as time runs through my hand
This part is pretty obvious, dreaming about the ancestral memories or stories about when Arrakis used to be a wet planet. It could also be Muad'Dib aka Paul Atreides using prescience to bring about change to the climate

I dream of fire
Those dreams are tied to a horse that will never tire
And in the flames
Her shadows play in the shape of a man's desire
This part is pretty self explanatory. The fire could also be interpreted as the Fire of Jihad that the Fremen are using to bring the galaxy under the control of Muad'Dib. Instead of horse, use Shai Hulud or sand worm

This desert rose
Each of her veils, a secret promise
This desert flower
No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this
This is the bit where I was starting to think, get da fuk oudda here! The Desert Rose can be seen as both Muad'Dib's wife Chiani, or also of the spice blooms which dot the surface of Arrakis and bring the spice melange.

And as she turns
This way she moves in the logic of all my dreams
This fire burns
I realize that nothing's as it seems
Here, again it could be about the Muad'Dib thinking of Chianni, but to me, it is more about the spice melange. The spice is like being in a continuous clairsentient/drug induced state where all the lines that flow through the universe and time are easily visible. The moving within the logic shows an underpinning of the spice and the Bene-Gesserit training that Muad'Dib went through.

I dream of rain
I dream of gardens in the desert sand
I wake in vain
I dream of love as time runs through my hand
Again Muad'Dib dreaming of the fruition of climate change on Arrakis

I dream of rain
I lift my gaze to empty skies above
I close my eyes
This rare perfume is the sweet intoxication of her love
This bit reminds me of how the smell of eucalyptus can be transported on the rain drops. That is how I think Muad'Dib is thinking when of the smell of spice being carried on the real wind of Arrakis, or the rain in his dreams

[Cheb Mami (Algerian Arabic):]
Aman aman aman
Omry feek antia
Ma ghair antia
Ma ghair antia
[English:]

Aman aman aman
My life is for you
And no one other than you
And no one other than you


I dream of rain
I dream of gardens in the desert sand
I wake in vain
I dream of love as time runs through my hand
As before

Sweet desert rose
Each of her veils, a secret promise
This desert flower
No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this
Again, another blatant reference to the spice blooms, and the melange. Apparently in the books the smell of melange spice could lead to an addictive state.

Sweet desert rose
This memory of Eden haunts us all
This desert flower
This rare perfume, is the sweet intoxication of the fall
This part is rather interesting. In Dune, it is painfully obvious that Arrakis is Earth, many hundreds of thousands of years after our own time. Eden being the earth when its climate was still temperate. But he goes on to lament again the intoxication of the spice melange.

[Cheb Mami (Algerian Arabic):]
Ya lili ah ya leel
[English:]
Oh night oh night


I know, rather nerdy right? But, I think there is something here that if I could ask Sting, I would ask him if this song was in relation to Dune as well as a beautiful song in general.

Zen for Mutants!

As many of us mutants can attest to, we all have one thing in common, and that is pain. A lot of our pain is physical in nature, mainly due to our mutated or missing bits and pieces.
What I am thinking of doing, is writing a few short Zen bits for this blog, and would like to get your opinion on them. I was told I should be writing short zen methods for different things, and thought I would give it a go.
Now I am no Dalai Lama, nor am I a Confucius, but I think with all that I have been through, and have learned, and shared with others, I should probably write some of these down.
Well, I will give it a few days, and then see what I come up with.
Mutate away madly my beloveds..