Quitting — At Least For Now

After recently taking a break because of tax season, I have decided that my life is better without the ugly intrusions that active blogging demands. 

Besides, I'm sick of the doom-scrolling and the doom-saying that honest political-blogging requires. 

It's time to enjoy life rather than having a blight upon life!

I'm done — at least for now.

Comments are closed.

On Hiatus

COMMENTS ARE CLOSED.

Quote Of The Day

Recently, here at Always On Watch, in frustration with the manifestations of the political and sociological polarization of the 21st Century, team member Silverfiddle commented as follows (lightly edited):

.....I really do wish you would treat each of us here as individuals, not a cartoon cut out.

Anyway continue on with your low IQ red-team, blue-team sports.

Red Baaaaaaaaaasaaaaad!

Such is the state of our nation.  

We scream at — and past — each other when we subscribe to opposing ideologies. 

The discussion goes this way....

"I'm right!" screams one commenter.

"No!  I'm right!" screams the other commenter.

Sheesh.

What grade level are these exchanges?  There are multiple such exchanges to almost every blog post.

Are we Americans losing the ability to think and to engage in reasoned debate?

Musical Interlude: Blogoversary!

Note: I also team blog at DEPLORABLE Bloggers Alliance (previously called Infidel Bloggers Alliance), founded by Pastorius, and used to post at NorthernVirginiastan.

So, here's the story of Always On Watch....

Seventeen years as of April 28!  I came to the blogosphere in frustration because of the whitewash of Islam — despite the Islamic terror attacks of 9/11.  To this day, if I have to recommend one book to read on the topic of Islam, I still recommend Serge Trifkovic's The Sword of Islam (2002), a book written from the historical perspective.  It is the book that awakened me in December 2002.

Now, of course, I have often moved on to topics besides that of Islam.  Why?  Because of something Friedrich Nietzsche wrote and because I really didn't have more to say on the topic of the threat of Islam to Western Civilization.  Look at the evidence and come to your own conclusion.  But don't look too long into the abyss.

HERE is my first post (April 28, 2005) at my first Always On Watch blog, using a Blogger template before Warren customized a template for me.  

After my first Always On Watch blog, because of troll wars I next moved to Always On Watch 2 (July 24, 2006-November 29, 2010); Always On Watch 2 uses Warren's customized template as does Always On Watch: Semper Vigilans, the blog you are reading right now.  Team member Silverfiddle often posts here, too, and keeps this blog running when Warren and I are too busy to do so.  Grateful for you, Silverfiddle!

It is through the blogosphere that I met and made the closest friends I now have, too many to name. I must, however, now mention Mustang, my first cyberfriend.  At the time of our  meeting here on the web, we were both new to the blogosphere and had to stumble our way through HTML, Java Script, and the like.  

Many of my cyberfriends became "real life" friends and helped me in different ways during the horrible 11.5 years after Mr. AOW's stroke in 2009 — especially Patricia, former blogger The Merry Widow, who came from Florida to Northern Virginia to stay with us several times to lend a hand.  At one point, she stayed with us for eleven months.  Eleven months!  I needed her help through kidney surgeries and complications thereafter.  She literally saved my life and saved Mr. AOW from confinement in a nursing home.  TMW passed away suddenly on March 29, 2020.  I miss her every day.

And, of course, it is through the blogosphere that I met my beloved Warren — and even the best man at our wedding The Beak!  And The Beak is the one who introduced Warren and me at The Electronic Bar.

Because of my original intent with my blogging, the following has been suggested as my theme song:

Maybe the song below should have been my theme song, although it keeps disappearing from YouTube:

About Islam...Ayaan Hirsi Ali on the critically-important topic, even to this day: Is Islam a Religion of Peace? Worth your time.

Protecting Myself

A pictorial depiction of my soul as I read and watch the daily news.  A 21st Century variation on Oscar Wilde's Gothic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray: 

In my view, our republic has reached critical mass on so many fronts! One such front is that of higher education.  But one example of our higher education system having gone off the rails: University assignment has students record themselves accusing someone of racism or homophobia.  How bizarre is that?

Do not continue reading this blog post until you have thoroughly read the above link from Campus Reform! 

So how am I protecting myself — both my mental and physical health? See my recent comment at Politics Rewritten.  The complete content of my comment is below the fold.

Elizabeth Gonzalez Is Back!

Some of you may remember blogger Elizabeth Gonzalez (also AKA Layla), who used to have the site called The Hill Chronicles.

After an extended absence from the blogosphere, her "mojo back" (her words to me in a text), Elizabeth has returned to the blogosphere! You will find her at Politics Rewritten.

Taking A Break From The Web

Time for me to take a break from blogging, from Twitter, and from Facebook — and from watching and reading the news, too.  

We are helplessly watching the systematic dismantling of our republic.  As far as I'm concerned, every person who voted for Joe Biden is the enemy of our republic — and my enemy.  Really.

I can't keep watching and cataloguing the decline of our beloved republic:  

The watching and cataloguing of the above are literally making me sick.

Moreover, Mr. AOW's condition has declined, and he needs more caregiving now. 

It's all I can do to teach a few hours a week and keep up with the home front. 

The last thing that my mother said to me before she died in 1987: "Don't hurt your health."

I'm going to take Mom's advice.  For the sake of my health, after over fifteen years of intense blogging, I'm not going to spend much time on the web for the foreseeable future.

Take care.

Comments are closed.  If you wish to reach me, please do so via email, the address of which is in the sidebar.

Breaking Speculation!

Delivered with dramatic lead-in music and breathless voices — as if those touches will change or predict a single thing. My email inboxes reaches overflow within a few hours every single day the past few weeks. 

 I wonder how many hours I have spent deleting emails? Those hours must have added up to at least several weeks. I kid you not! Hours upon hours deleted from my remaining finite hours.

I'm so sick of all this breaking speculation with regard to the 2020 National Election. We will find out the election results when we find out. 

Days? 

Weeks? 

Months?

Meanwhile, "THE COVID" is doing what viruses do: spreading.  Hysteria does nothing to prevent the spread.

Blog Break

I need to de-stress my life, and backing off from blogging, for an indeterminate time, is one way to do so. Comment moderation enabled.

In my absence, please enjoy this masterpiece of classical music:

Blog Break (Updated)

Comment moderation intermittently enabled.

Real life, this time, pleasurable real life, supersedes virtual life!

Warren is coming for a visit — his third visit to Washington, D.C.!

There's too much going on here to work on publishing blog posts.

Then, once Warren arrives, we'll be busy doing some sightseeing. First up: Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.  After that, sightseeing plans have not yet been definitively made.

During this blog's hiatus, enjoy Classical Music for Reading - Mozart, Chopin, Debussy, Tchaikovsky...:


Index to the music on the above audio can be found by clicking "show more" HERE.

UPDATE

We have now toured both Thomas Jefferson's Monticello (on a brutally hot day) and James Madison's Montpelier (in cool weather).

Next up: National Museum of Health and Medicine.

Personal Update (Updated)

(Sticky post.  Please scroll down for new material)

This blog will be on pause for an undetermined amount of time.

Mr. AOW was hospitalized on Wednesday, September 19, because of intense belly pain.

Tentative diagnosis: pancreatitis, cause unknown at this point. More scans are scheduled for today.

This blog post will be updated as the situation warrants.

UPDATE(S) below the fold....

FYI...

About the lack of frequency of blog posts...

We're in the lazy, hazy days of summer. And it's pool season, with much poolside reading to do.  Not to mention the summer's plethora of doctors' appointments for both Mr. AOW and me.

Unless team members decide otherwise, you should expect no more than two posts per week here at Always On Watch.

Please scroll down for the most recent blog post.

Blog Break

Comment moderation intermittently enabled.

Real life, this time, pleasurable real life, supersedes virtual life!

Warren is coming for a visit — his second visit to Washington, D.C.!

There's too much going on here to work on publishing blog posts.

Then, once Warren arrives, he and Mr. AOW and I are off to the National Museum of American History, the National Gallery of Art, the Holocaust Museum, Mount Vernon, the National Museum of Health and Medicine, and whatever other attractions we can manage to squeeze into our schedule.  We're also having a shed sale here.  Tools, tools, tools!  A real Toolapalooza!

During this blog's hiatus, enjoy Impressionism: Ravel & Debussy...


About Impressionism in music:

Impressionism in music was a movement among various composers in Western classical music (mainly during the late 19th and early 20th centuries) whose music focuses on suggestion and atmosphere, "conveying the moods and emotions aroused by the subject rather than a detailed tone‐picture". "Impressionism" is a philosophical and aesthetic term borrowed from late 19th century French painting after Monet's Impression, Sunrise. Composers were labeled impressionists by analogy to the impressionist painters who use starkly contrasting colors, effect of light on an object, blurry foreground and background, flattening perspective, etc. to make the observer focus his attention on the overall impression.

The most prominent in musical impressionism is the use of "color", or in musical term, timbre, which can be achieved through orchestration, harmonic usage, texture, etc. Other elements of music impressionism also involve new chord combinations, ambiguous tonality, extended harmonies, use of modes and exotic scales, parallel motions, extra-musicality, and evocative titles.

Index to selections on the video:

Blog Break

Overwhelmed with all the incoming matters with which to deal: end-of-the-school-term matters, yet another sacroiliac joint injection, various doctors' appointments for both Mr. AOW and myself — and on and on.

I'll return when things calm down here.

Comment Moderation Off

Finally back to sitting up without nodding off!  Please scroll down for active threads.

More Photos Of Minxy

(For politics, please scroll down)

Blogging is taking a back seat at the moment.  We have a kitten in the household!

Minxy is about two months old in the photos below:

Just like Cameo, Minxy owns the recliner!

After playing, Minxy falls asleep in my arms.

"Look at me!  I'm gorgeous!"

Minxy is so happy here that she's laughing (yawning)!  Photo taken at Mr. AOW's side as he's napping.

What of Amber? She's already accepted Minxy as a member of the family. Maybe because we lost Cameo and Mysti within the last seven months.  The obvious fact that Amber has accepted Minxy: last night Amber deliberately left two pieces of kibble for Minxy. Cameo used to do the same for Amber.

When Minxy sleeps with me, like Mysti she grooms my hair.

More photos to come as Mr. AOW and I enjoy Minxy's kittenhood. I'm taking photos like a madwoman, and last night, I upgraded my iCloud storage for my iPhone!

Note: all links in this blog post go to posts at AOWS Photos and feature the kitty whose name is hyperlinked in this blog post.

Back To The Classroom

(Please scroll down for politics: a discussion of DACA)

The homeschool classes that I teach resume today. This 2017-2018 school term may well be my last year to offer courses to groups of homeschoolers. We shall see.

Blog Break

Comment moderation intermittently enabled.

Real life, this time, pleasurable real life, supersedes virtual life!

Warren is coming for a visit — his first visit to Washington, D.C.!

There's too much going on here to work on publishing blog posts. Former blogger TMW and I are readying the house, and Mr. AOW is tidying up his man cave.

Then, once Warren arrives, we're off to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of Natural History, and whatever other attractions we can manage to squeeze into our schedule.

During this blog's hiatus, enjoy Preludes For Piano Book One by Claude Debussy (1862-1918):


List of preludes:

1) Danseuses de Delphes (Dancers of Delphi)
2) Voiles (Veils or Sails) 3:46
3) Le vent dans la plaine (The wind in the plain) 7:47
4) Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir (The sounds and fragrances swirl through the evening air) 9:48
5) Les collines d'Anacapri (The hills of Anacapri) 14:26
6) Des pas sur la neige (Footsteps in the snow) 17:44
7) Ce qu'a vu le vent d'Ouest (What the west wind has seen) 23:10
8) La fille aux cheveux de lin (The girl with the flaxen hair) 26:17
9) La sérénade interrompue (The interrupted serenade) 28:57
10) La Cathédrale engloutie (The engulfed cathedral) 31:23
11) La danse de Puck (Puck's dance) 37:39
12) Minstrels 40:36

For detailed information about Debussy and these preludes, go to Musical Musings.

Conundrum

If the above is true, why do we try so hard to persuade or dissuade others for whom we have no respect in the first place?

Perhaps because...

Note: explanation for my recent absence from the blogosphere is below the fold.

I've Handed Over The Keys

Updated 11/21

Until further notice, my dear friend Warren will be taking over posting here at Always On Watch.

Warning!  Warren does not suffer fools gladly!

Explanation of my absence below the fold.