GENIUS FORUMS

Tomas,

Your last post was completely wayward due to false assumptions. I worked too hard for money for 10 years, paying tax, in some years getting plenty of blisters, and damaging my back with no payout. I have done more than a lifetimes worth of various forms of volunteer work. I am currently a landlord which normally earns money, and have recently done and am still doing extensive renovations which also provide gain. There is heaps more to say, like, due to inferiority complexes i can't work in the paid workforce even if i wanted to.

The overall picture is that i am a workaholic, and seek the hardest work there is, which is philosophy, which is a whole of life thing, 24/7, minus sleep of course. I'm even working on philosophy when i'm doing renovations. When i look at others, the way they degrade society by willfully remaining ignorant and destructive, and have so little intellect and problem solving ability, it's clear they are offering so much less. I don't turn my mind off in the way others do, it's always turning, no couch potato tv or the like. No sex or coddling even. How much time out do you have? And when you're turned on, how much are you really turned on?

Leyla Shen wrote:

Rhett wrote:Politics might seem unrelated to enlightenment, but things are not so simple. Politics has a lot to do with the trade of suffering.

I agree. Though, too often, I get too much of a rush from the game*. :)

Initially, I had thought you were dealing more with tribal politics (more common in rural areas) than the politics concomitant with industrialisation and capitalism. It is, of course, possible for essentially tribal politics to manifest within pockets of industrialised society (anywhere from single neighbourhoods to whole towns), however. I think making such a distinction is important, since dealing effectively with the situation involves accurate profiling of all the players, and a subsequent plan on that basis. You know you are dealing with tribal politics when the power actually resides in individual personalities with labels, rather than an abstracted administrative structure (in the labels themselves). Tribal politics is most easily likened to family politics, really.

*PS: I'm almost tempted to come up there myself just for the hell of it.

You can come and be a secret investigator, or lobbyist, or spin the mix so they have to rejig their assessment. I know you've been posting here for some time but i admit to not knowing much about you, though maybe you live in melbourne?

I have been told very little about the local politics, everyone here has established relationships and their alliances of course are with others, not me. But i know that the haters or at least the prime haters of me are some farmers, most of whom are uneducated and run by their wives and work in physical labour till they break themselves, then start taking pain killers to keep going. The 'upper class' farmers send their children to private boarding schools, but in my limited experience so far the upper class are still undeveloped in many ways.

The people here are small, very small, and it's all networks, there is no head honcho. I am a head honcho (leader) type so the women find that both threatening of their power and sexy. I've already expressed ideas and had various impacts on the community without particularly having paid attention to doing so. Ideas are so powerful, i should possibly have watched that more closely, but geez there's only so much you can do.

I gave some limited profiling earlier in this thread of a woman that has a major role in the community's 'development' via a volunteer association. An essentially retired farmers wife. I realise now that i previously said to someone that the historical focus in the town wasn't very important, focus needs to be on the future, and that might have got to her and put her nose out of joint. She is backwards looking, i am forwards. Other ideas i've expressed probably also got her nose out of joint. Being so powerful it's easy for me to forget about what seem like little issues to me, but in fact i might have affected a significant chunk of what she has been wanting to achieve, and people may not be paying her as much attention.

The world always seems to heat up around me.

Rhett wrote:The reason i think about their politics is because it can easily wipe me out, and things are already looking marginal.

Is it true that the reason they can wipe you out is because you think about and involve yourself in their politics? If so...

One of the golden rules of politics is to have a stance, so you can amass supporters.

Amassing supporters also amasses enemies. Your whole situation is like a metaphor for the ego. You start playing a game and do everything you can to win, but everytime you try to win the enemy manipulator are there waiting to sink their teeth in. Why play that game?

Of course, we do live in a world with some silly people in it. Try having fun with those situations with a light sense of humor and perhaps they won't be enemy manipulators, but just the silly people they are.

S: My interest in socializing is how it reveals my weaknesses. I would certainly like it to help others too, but I believe the best way to do that is help myself first.

R: Yes, one's own development is the first step.

In the strict sense, I also see it as the only step, until it is complete. What else should come before it, other's politics?

Rhett, I reckon you've taken on a losing battle by trying to educate people in a conventional farming community. They are traditionalists by nature, and are very wary of abstract thinking. Not only that, but farming is very demanding. They just don't have room for philosophising to any serious level. Not only that, but small rural communities are very cliquey; no one ever stands out, because the whole community in its low-consciousness state has to be a homogeneous culture in order for it to survive. The whole 'birds of a feather' and 'blood runs thicker than water' thing.

It is no surprise that you get hassled: they are very unlikely to change, though there might be one young teenage boy still in high school who would be interested in thinking about life. I wouldn't waste my time in that situation. It is not a failure to give up trying to teach a retard to be an Olympian.

Yes, city folk are given to trading on their sex appeal. They're so dazzled by appearances to be just as small-minded in some respects. But those who migrated from the rural communities left because they stood out. So those in the cities are more likely to be capable of understanding difference and to be less narrow-minded. They have room for ideas. In their young lives they left the small towns for a good reason. Small towns, small minds.

Rhett wrote:You can come and be a secret investigator, or lobbyist, or spin the mix so they have to rejig their assessment.

Heh. Sounds right up my alley.

I know you've been posting here for some time but i admit to not knowing much about you, though maybe you live in melbourne?

Yes, I’m in Melbourne. Where exactly are you? (PM the reply if you prefer.)

I don’t agree with Kelly in that you have taken on a losing battle and I feel this is something you are quite capable of judging for yourself as time progresses. Believe me, I have a whole share of small-minded traditionalists in one neighbourhood in thick suburbia that’d put any country town to shame.

The battle is what you make of it. I do, however, think that its extremely important to understand the pragmatic consequences of this community being, essentially, a farming community, given the drought, and all--but, I’m guessing that’s where some of your forward thinking has already started its work?

.




Tomas,

Your last post was completely wayward due to false assumptions.

-tomas-
I'm in North Dakota, on a 1st-cousin's (Paul's) small grain farm, and we are (quite literally!) harvesting Hard Red Spring Wheat. I'm running the combine today. We are presently about-ready to sit down for lunch. Grain prices are high - but the hail first, then the heavy rains from 10-14 days ago put a damper on the wheat yields.

After Friday evening, I and a couple of my adult sons from California go to a 2nd-cousin's (Kermit's) farm and harvest there. They farm more in the lower areas where the combines couldn't go for much longer period of time due to the heavy rain, and the machinery would've just gotten stuck-deep in the soil.

Then, a little mixing of people to help out another 2nd-cousin (Richie) with their wheat harvest. At the same time there is a conglomerate of inter-state farmers (Willie Nelson's Farm-Aid) that help out farmers/families not having the necessary capital to bring in their harvest, illness whatever so we do more volunteerism to bring in their crops.


-Rhett-
I worked too hard for money for 10 years, paying tax, in some years getting plenty of blisters, and damaging my back with no payout.

-tomas-
Oh, you poor baby!


-Rhett-
I have done more than a lifetimes worth of various forms of volunteer work.

-tomas-
Ten years of work ain't much.
Paying tax - yawn, everybody does.
Blisters, backaches, yawn.
Volunteer more than anyone else, sure you jest.

You need a pat on the back for past glory days?


Rhett-
I am currently a landlord which normally earns money, and have recently done and am still doing extensive renovations which also provide gain. There is heaps more to say, like, due to inferiority complexes i can't work in the paid workforce even if i wanted to.

-tomas-
As I took the liberty of reading your future posts (after this one) I see that you decided to set up camp in a farming community/setting. Welcome home!

Plus, you (we) have a few naive posters here who've not even placed a seed in the ground and wouldn't know what time of day to water the future life-plant.

Drought or no drought, these poor slobs-of-farmers have nowhere to go, and yes, they have plenty of time to philosophize, it's you, Rhett, horning in on their turf. You make yourself 'stand out', by refusing to lend a helping hand to make it work, for the benefit of all the community. You take, but no longer volunteer.

-Rhett-
The overall picture is that i am a workaholic, and seek the hardest work there is, which is philosophy, which is a whole of life thing, 24/7, minus sleep of course.

-tomas-
And how many times have you gotten out to a farm for a cup of coffee with the farmer (and his family). Sat around the kitchen table and swapped theory.

Farmers understand philosophy because they are caught in the midst (jugular) of international grain brokers, bank loans, price supports, wheat prices are high - but with drought all bets are off due to quality control, protein yields, bushels to the acre etc.


-Rhett-
I'm even working on philosophy when i'm doing renovations.

-tomas-
And who doesn't that reads at Genius Forums?


-Rhett-
When i look at others, the way they degrade society by willfully remaining ignorant and destructive,

-tomas-
That's what you are doing, you move from Big-City Life, to some hardscrabble area, where there is some serious hurting (a drought) going on. You stand out as the non-conformist, messiah-complex and all, and you remain ignorant by-of not becoming a local/cultural "hero" to the small town you have taken up residence in.


-Rhett-
and have so little intellect and problem solving ability, it's clear they are offering so much less.

-tomas-
If you are referring to the cackling hens (women) in your town, well remain in your self-induced myopic vision.

If you are sobbing to (cackling hens) the spayed/neutered women (and girly-men) on Genius Forums, you are even more deluded.


-Rhett-
I don't turn my mind off in the way others do, it's always turning, no couch potato tv or the like.

-tomas-
Sure, I figgered it out when I was a kid, (high school/college sucked), and the Army was a real-life bender, but the internet came along and all has changed. I would've dropped out in the 1st grade had the Net been around. My dad's sister (a spinster) and her mom, Berthea, taught me to read/write when I was three/four so school was old hat.

I had a wise Sammi grandmother, Berthea, who expanded the mind in way that I cannot describe via the written word.

Living next to an Indian reservation, we've Indian graves, old Powwow sites, Sacred sites on our old farmstead. The energy I cannot describe.


-Rhett-
No sex or coddling even.

-tomas-
The girlfriend and I don't do it when we are back in North Dakota, there's plenty of other 'philosophical disciplines' to partake in. We don't even sleep together as we are busy with our own life-fulfilling dreams. Our roots are North Dakota (which translates as "Friend" - "Allied").


-Rhett-
How much time out do you have?

-tomas-
Don't have time for time outs.


-Rhett-
And when you're turned on, how much are you really turned on?

-tomas-
Each and every waking moment.



PS - You really need to find the proper draw-bridge and let a couple people-there, see how you see, think, react, etc (philosophize) in your farming-type community. Small town folk stick together, cuz when there is no farmwork to do, a lot take parttime jobs in the Big City Life .. to make ends meet.

My hunch is you are walking around with one eye, ear slightly ajar. (a chip on your shoulder)


If you have time to post here at Genius Forums - and relate all to the mostly - cackling girly-men and women .. certainly you have time to approach one of the alpha males/females there and find a common meeting ground. You are the Goliath who will win in the end - stop playing the Outsider (David).

Small-townfolk know and understand the Big City Life better than you do. That's why they (and now you) find yourself in Farm Country.

It's never too late to start all over again..


Pardon the grammar etc. mistakes.


Lunch over, back to the wheat harvest.



Edited for misspellings :-(

.

...

Tomas wrote:.
-Rhett-
I worked too hard for money for 10 years, paying tax, in some years getting plenty of blisters, and damaging my back with no payout.

-tomas-
Oh, you poor baby!

LOL. To be fair to Rhett that sounds like more labour than holy trinity has done put together.

It came as bit of shock initially to learn I've been supporting a small gaggle of philosophers for the last 20 years.I mean to get my moneys worth, now I know.

:-D

It came as bit of shock initially to learn I've been supporting a small gaggle of philosophers for the last 20 years.

How did you do that?

-

xerox wrote:If you play with animal motivations, then it gets dirty. Very exciting too no doubt, all those bodily rushes that go with the hunt.

Absolutely! But, sometimes, it is necessary to do so (and, until one does, one cannot know just how necessary)---then the hunted becomes instead a sublimated hunter. Tests one’s mettle and quiets an already frenzied pack. And there’s nothing in this world like bleeding that kind of a kill. Makes me pu-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r, deeply…

skipair wrote:R: The reason i think about their politics is because it can easily wipe me out, and things are already looking marginal.

S: Is it true that the reason they can wipe you out is because you think about and involve yourself in their politics? If so...

They are indeed wiping me out because they are preventing me in numerous ways from getting a tenant, which may leave me with too little cash to be bothered staying. Other than that i am being snubbed, i've had property damage which in itself was nothing but could be a wedge to more, a politically distorted development is happenning next door which may affect my land value, etc.

R: One of the golden rules of politics is to have a stance, so you can amass supporters.

S: Amassing supporters also amasses enemies. Your whole situation is like a metaphor for the ego. You start playing a game and do everything you can to win, but everytime you try to win the enemy manipulator are there waiting to sink their teeth in. Why play that game?

Having a set position, a stance, referring here to a clear storyline about my personal situation, can amass supporters for me without me doing anything, and yes, it will also amass opposition. I'm certainly not out there lobbying.

If i didn't ask council questions about the development i might now have a tenant, but would still have all the other problems and who knows what else. Many are essentially trying to break me, to stamp their power over me, because they are feeling inferior, and this is their town, their territory. With me being an extreme minority there is a balance to be struck between sticking up for myself and accepting losses.

Of course, we do live in a world with some silly people in it. Try having fun with those situations with a light sense of humor and perhaps they won't be enemy manipulators, but just the silly people they are.

I don't see humour as particularly affecting the behind the scenes value decisions they are making, but who knows for sure. It is well known that certain people give newcomers a hard time and interrogate their lives. My discretion and recent spin is pissing them off.

Kelly Jones wrote:Rhett, I reckon you've taken on a losing battle by trying to educate people in a conventional farming community. They are traditionalists by nature, and are very wary of abstract thinking. Not only that, but farming is very demanding. They just don't have room for philosophising to any serious level. Not only that, but small rural communities are very cliquey; no one ever stands out, because the whole community in its low-consciousness state has to be a homogeneous culture in order for it to survive. The whole 'birds of a feather' and 'blood runs thicker than water' thing.

It is no surprise that you get hassled: they are very unlikely to change, though there might be one young teenage boy still in high school who would be interested in thinking about life. I wouldn't waste my time in that situation. It is not a failure to give up trying to teach a retard to be an Olympian.

Yes, city folk are given to trading on their sex appeal. They're so dazzled by appearances to be just as small-minded in some respects. But those who migrated from the rural communities left because they stood out. So those in the cities are more likely to be capable of understanding difference and to be less narrow-minded. They have room for ideas. In their young lives they left the small towns for a good reason. Small towns, small minds.

I agree with everything you've said kelly, except i'm not trying to educate them, i'm just trying to survive and live a worthwhile life.

The current arrangement is actually quite good, i have a large house with high ceilings and double brick walls, nice views, a large yard with good soil, unmetered water supply, only one neighbour, and the adjoining two bedroom residence with it's extra income, attracting no tax. I have 100% retreated from the town at present, drive-in drive-out, and it's very peaceful, if i just got a tenant things would be sweet.

Moving to a city will involve a lot of hassles again. I've done a lot of thinking and note taking over the last few years but no website or book development. The lack of progress on the latter is unfortunate.

I like having a car and that makes affording to live in a city much harder. I also like living in my own place as well. Rent is dead money and i want to be able to look after my health properly in future.

One option would be to work as a truck driver, working my way up the heavy vehicle licenses. I like driving and can think at the same time. There is minimal contact with people and a changing environment, and i could listen to radio national or abc classic. Just a thought. Pathetic to even think about it considering what else i could be doing with my time.

Tomas wrote:.
Drought or no drought, these poor slobs-of-farmers have nowhere to go, and yes, they have plenty of time to philosophize, it's you, Rhett, horning in on their turf. You make yourself 'stand out', by refusing to lend a helping hand to make it work, for the benefit of all the community. You take, but no longer volunteer.

Well, i've turned a run down untenanted property into something decent. I've helped an old lady live in there, including supplying her cheap wood even though i was doing the hard yards to set myself up, but she waged wars on me and her daughter could see that and . . . sold her property, she then had a excuse to take her mother with her who needed an increasing amount of care. She saved my face, thankfully. I've offered my thoughts on a few things to the community as well, and heaps more i'm sure.

In return i've had a succession of people trying to stand over me for self-centred reasons or to try and manipulate me towards their values. I've been probed, lied to, property damage, malicious rumours, snubbed. They want to run my life but i'll do everything i can to stay in control.

-Rhett-
The overall picture is that i am a workaholic, and seek the hardest work there is, which is philosophy, which is a whole of life thing, 24/7, minus sleep of course.

-tomas-
And how many times have you gotten out to a farm for a cup of coffee with the farmer (and his family). Sat around the kitchen table and swapped theory.

Shit man, if i started to engage in anything philosophically serious that would've seem me thrown out much earlier or in a much more serious deadlock. People here don't like it if you say more than half a sentence at a time. Grunts are seen as satisfactory and efficient.

Farmers understand philosophy because they are caught in the midst (jugular) of international grain brokers, bank loans, price supports, wheat prices are high - but with drought all bets are off due to quality control, protein yields, bushels to the acre etc.

Sheep mainly but cattle as well.

-Rhett-
When i look at others, the way they degrade society by willfully remaining ignorant and destructive,

-tomas-
That's what you are doing, you move from Big-City Life, to some hardscrabble area, where there is some serious hurting (a drought) going on. You stand out as the non-conformist, messiah-complex and all, and you remain ignorant by-of not becoming a local/cultural "hero" to the small town you have taken up residence in.

The drought has recently lifted in this region, regular good rains at present. I offered my machine operating services to one chap but he didn't seem keen. I think they want me off the government, my back isn't literally broken so i should flog it till it is.

-Rhett-
and have so little intellect and problem solving ability, it's clear they are offering so much less.

-tomas-
If you are referring to the cackling hens (women) in your town, well remain in your self-induced myopic vision.

If you are sobbing to (cackling hens) the spayed/neutered women (and girly-men) on Genius Forums, you are even more deluded.

I'll give one example of how one of the women used her intellect. I was delivering her wood and it was going well, the cash was handy for me and she knew that. I said i wouldn't mind delivering to some more people. So she had a chat to one of her friends, and she wanted me to supply, so i dropped some off. Some other man was there as well and he paid, she wasn't happy for that moment, but he insisted. I noted that but couldn't particularly make anything of it. Then i dropped some more off some time later. No pay. The first lady i was supplying was saying "you like delivering wood don't you?" Then i dropped some more off to number two some time later. We had some casual chats. No pay. I knew she liked me but she was early fifties, overweight, uneducated, unattractive, so i didn't even consider it. I was asked again, "you like delivering wood don't you?", my answer was no, not while i'm not getting paid. The daughter looked in thought, and later the money arrived. Talk about head fuck. She'd have to pay me $20,000 to $50,000 for me to have sex with her, the indignity. There's plenty of messages in that situation they presented to me.

PS - You really need to find the proper draw-bridge and let a couple people-there, see how you see, think, react, etc (philosophize) in your farming-type community. Small town folk stick together, cuz when there is no farmwork to do, a lot take parttime jobs in the Big City Life .. to make ends meet.

My hunch is you are walking around with one eye, ear slightly ajar. (a chip on your shoulder)

If you have time to post here at Genius Forums - and relate all to the mostly - cackling girly-men and women .. certainly you have time to approach one of the alpha males/females there and find a common meeting ground. You are the Goliath who will win in the end - stop playing the Outsider (David).

Small-townfolk know and understand the Big City Life better than you do. That's why they (and now you) find yourself in Farm Country.

It's never too late to start all over again...

I did engage, thinking about options like buying a shop, but it would only have worked if i didn't have to spend heaps of my time in there. Numerous options were explored but each time people tried to push me around i retreated. I don't like dog-eat-dog culture, it's such a waste of time and efficiency and creativity. I'm a self-motivated, self-directed kind of person. At the end of the day i need more time for writing not less. The town is rejecting aspects of modern culture and i see that as a form of suicide, i don't want any more anchors than the property i have. I told them we need to take things slowly and i've learnt about the culture and i don't like it. I've done everything i can not to let the rejection show but my withdrawal says it all and they are feeling it.

Leyla Shen wrote:

xerox wrote:If you play with animal motivations, then it gets dirty. Very exciting too no doubt, all those bodily rushes that go with the hunt.

Absolutely! But, sometimes, it is necessary to do so (and, until one does, one cannot know just how necessary)---then the hunted becomes instead a sublimated hunter. Tests one’s mettle and quiets an already frenzied pack. And there’s nothing in this world like bleeding that kind of a kill. Makes me pu-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r, deeply…

Oooh. I don't like politics, i just like it to go away, or to simmer it down till it goes cold. There's no drama up here at the moment.

xerox wrote:rhett,

you might like to read The Crowd. A Study of the Popular Mind. by GUSTAVE LE BON {b. May 7, 1841--d. Dec 13, 1931}. Talks about psychology of organised groups and posits the idea that unique psychology arises in a group situation that is seperate from that of its individuals. Well, seperate to the extent that the group provides a mechanism enabling the idividual to express unconscious motivations. Often base or animal in origin. Trying to discern motivations of an organised group by analysising individual psychology may be very limited in determining the group psychology that motivates these people.

Okay, thanks, i don't know if i have the time and money and headspace to aquire and read that but i'll see. Maybe another example is that story where the kids end up on an island and get real nasty?

If you play with animal motivations, then it gets dirty. Very exciting too no doubt, all those bodily rushes that go with the hunt.

I find no pleasure in politics. I just want to insulate myself against it.

Have you considered that your propensity to observe inferiority complexes may be projection of your self? There are some indications from your posting that you may be a bit narcisstic (trouble always finds you). You appear to place a very high value on your intellect, which might be compensation for inferiority complex. Folks dont seem to validate (no payoff from an audience), which leads back to inferiority, making you spin harder. Hard stuff to let go of.

The feedback comes to me either explicitly or implicity. On the one hand i like people to be switched on and challenge me if they think they have something to offer, so i don't want them to see me as too big and as unchallengeable. But i don't want people to regularly override me with crap either.

I have had times where pressures put on me by others causes me some stress, and that can cause a heightened intellect that stresses others out, and increases the chance of them feeling pissed off and inferior. But that doesn't tell the overall story.

I've only engaged in spin to throw off perceptions of me being very spiritual. The implications of that spin are complex because some will see it as spin and understand, others will use it against me in ways, etc. It doesn't make you seem a trustworthy chap, which in my case is unfortunate, because that's a virtue i very much prefer.

Leyla Shen wrote:I don’t agree with Kelly in that you have taken on a losing battle and I feel this is something you are quite capable of judging for yourself as time progresses. Believe me, I have a whole share of small-minded traditionalists in one neighbourhood in thick suburbia that’d put any country town to shame.

The battle is what you make of it. I do, however, think that its extremely important to understand the pragmatic consequences of this community being, essentially, a farming community, given the drought, and all--but, I’m guessing that’s where some of your forward thinking has already started its work?

A crux issue of course is whether i am going to contribute anything to the community or just withdraw. It's looking like a withdrawal, so whether they will allow that or not, time will tell. I am aware of a retired couple that moved here and i think they don't mix much either, so they are kind of used to that. They identified immediately that i moved here more for financial than choice reasons. They are aware of cultural cringe.

.

-Rhett sez aways down-
Sheep mainly but cattle as well.

-tomas-
Okay, never cared for sheep.
But a T-bone, steak, eggs, baked potato w sour cream.




-Rhett-
Well, i've turned a run down untenanted property into something decent. I've helped an old lady live in there, including supplying her cheap wood even though i was doing the hard yards to set myself up, but she waged wars on me and her daughter could see that and . . . sold her property, she then had a excuse to take her mother with her who needed an increasing amount of care. She saved my face, thankfully.

-tomas-
Yup, when the old folk's mind goes, watch out. Daughter knows what's in store for her own senses (geriatrically speaking) when she is old and grey.

-Rhett-
I've offered my thoughts on a few things to the community as well, and heaps more i'm sure.

-tomas-
Guess you mean town councils and the like?




-Rhett-
In return i've had a succession of people trying to stand over me for self-centred reasons or to try and manipulate me towards their values. I've been probed, lied to, property damage, malicious rumours, snubbed. They want to run my life but i'll do everything i can to stay in control.

-tomas-
Society demands a bended knee, but at times tis better to "curtsey" (in a manly way) keep the wolves at bay .. cuz it'll really throw them off kilter. Toss a little crazy in there now and then.




-Rhett-
Shit man, if i started to engage in anything philosophically serious that would've seen me thrown out much earlier or in a much more serious deadlock. People here don't like it if you say more than half a sentence at a time. Grunts are seen as satisfactory and efficient.

-tomas-
Get your drift, after all sheep say nothing more than, "Baaaa..aaaa".




-Rhett-
Sheep mainly but cattle as well.

-tomas
Along with the baked potato is melted butter, thanks cow.




-Rhett-
The drought has recently lifted in this region, regular good rains at present. I offered my machine operating services to one chap but he didn't seem keen.

-tomas-
I must admit to not hanging around sheep farmers when we've traveled in Oz, but what is 'machine operating services' essentially mean?

-Rhett-
I think they want me off the government, my back isn't literally broken so i should flog it till it is.

-tomas-
That's the way agricultural people think. They hate government edicts ('cept when subsidies/price supports are handed their way) but worship at the trough of federal government. A strange twist, but seems universal where I've traveled, at least.




-Rhett-
I'll give one example of how one of the women used her intellect. I was delivering her wood and it was going well, the cash was handy for me and she knew that. I said i wouldn't mind delivering to some more people. So she had a chat to one of her friends, and she wanted me to supply, so i dropped some off. Some other man was there as well and he paid, she wasn't happy for that moment, but he insisted. I noted that but couldn't particularly make anything of it. Then i dropped some more off some time later. No pay. The first lady i was supplying was saying "you like delivering wood don't you?" Then i dropped some more off to number two some time later. We had some casual chats. No pay. I knew she liked me but she was early fifties, overweight, uneducated, unattractive, so i didn't even consider it. I was asked again, "you like delivering wood don't you?", my answer was no, not while i'm not getting paid. The daughter looked in thought, and later the money arrived.

-tomas-
Mom was checking out the wood between your legs :-/
The daughter saw you for who you really were :-|

-Rhett-
Talk about head fuck. She'd have to pay me $20,000 to $50,000 for me to have sex with her, the indignity.

-tomas-
Oh, so you do stand-at-attention should the situation present itself (in the proper light, of course) you sly capitali$t dog, you.

-Rhett-
There's plenty of messages in that situation they presented to me.

-tomas-
The Lord works in mysterious way
'Tis better to live alone in an attic than with a cranky, old woman'.




-Rhett-
I did engage, thinking about options like buying a shop, but it would only have worked if i didn't have to spend heaps of my time in there. Numerous options were explored but each time people tried to push me around i retreated.

-tomas-
Sure, you remind me of the Clint Eastwood type-guy - the movies, that is - not his real life schmoozing with the ladies (7 kids with 5 different women)




-Rhett-
I don't like dog-eat-dog culture, it's such a waste of time and efficiency and creativity.

-tomas-
Yeah Rhett, but every now and then (if you like food on the table) you gotta go along to get along, just every once in a while though.




-Rhett-
I'm a self-motivated, self-directed kind of person. At the end of the day i need more time for writing not less.

-tomas-
As long as you have a financial cushion of 3-years savings, whereas you can retreat from it all and do a hermit-type existence..

-Rhett-
The town is rejecting aspects of modern culture and i see that as a form of suicide, i don't want any more anchors than the property i have.

-tomas-
With the "understanding" that their (your) ancestors were discarded there (Australia) by ships hundreds of years ago, just what tribe (nationality) are they mainly comprised of? Scot, Welsh, Irish, English etc.

-Rhett-
I told them we need to take things slowly and i've learnt about the culture and i don't like it.

-tomas-
Perhaps then, scout around and find another place to set up. Once the collective heels are set in, on both side, one or the other hasta go..

-Rhett-
I've done everything i can not to let the rejection show but my withdrawal says it all and they are feeling it.

-tomas-
All kidding aside .. You best have Leyla Shen, visit for a while (lifetime) and get her take on the situation. Perhaps she has a wad of cash (and the looks to boot) to shake things up :-)

The way you write sounds to me like you'd make an ideal son-in-law.


Bill Gates, about his marriage:
"I have a much more balanced life. I think I'm wiser about a lot of things."



.

Tomas wrote: -Rhett-
The drought has recently lifted in this region, regular good rains at present. I offered my machine operating services to one chap but he didn't seem keen.

-tomas-
I must admit to not hanging around sheep farmers when we've traveled in Oz, but what is 'machine operating services' essentially mean?

I have a backhoe license and 200 hours experience, and he recently bought a skid steer (bobcat).

-Rhett-
I think they want me off the government, my back isn't literally broken so i should flog it till it is.

-tomas-
That's the way agricultural people think. They hate government edicts ('cept when subsidies/price supports are handed their way) but worship at the trough of federal government. A strange twist, but seems universal where I've traveled, at least.

Good point, the bloke mentioned above got a heap of fencing for free through government subsidy. But then they would say it's income producing, and i'm not.

-Rhett-
I'll give one example of how one of the women used her intellect. I was delivering her wood and it was going well, the cash was handy for me and she knew that. I said i wouldn't mind delivering to some more people. So she had a chat to one of her friends, and she wanted me to supply, so i dropped some off. Some other man was there as well and he paid, she wasn't happy for that moment, but he insisted. I noted that but couldn't particularly make anything of it. Then i dropped some more off some time later. No pay. The first lady i was supplying was saying "you like delivering wood don't you?" Then i dropped some more off to number two some time later. We had some casual chats. No pay. I knew she liked me but she was early fifties, overweight, uneducated, unattractive, so i didn't even consider it. I was asked again, "you like delivering wood don't you?", my answer was no, not while i'm not getting paid. The daughter looked in thought, and later the money arrived.

-tomas-
Mom was checking out the wood between your legs :-/
The daughter saw you for who you really were :-|

-Rhett-
Talk about head fuck. She'd have to pay me $20,000 to $50,000 for me to have sex with her, the indignity.

-tomas-
Oh, so you do stand-at-attention should the situation present itself (in the proper light, of course) you sly capitali$t dog, you.

-Rhett-
There's plenty of messages in that situation they presented to me.

-tomas-
The Lord works in mysterious way
'Tis better to live alone in an attic than with a cranky, old woman'.

There was also a message that i was seen as being worth a woman like that. She would have seen me as damaged-back, low-income, therefore worth . . . sweet stuff all. You should have seen her eyes pop when i decided to return a flirt with a not too bad looking girl about age 19. And even then, that girl was of a low standard.

-Rhett-
I don't like dog-eat-dog culture, it's such a waste of time and efficiency and creativity.

-tomas-
Yeah Rhett, but every now and then (if you like food on the table) you gotta go along to get along, just every once in a while though.

Bugger to them!

-Rhett-
The town is rejecting aspects of modern culture and i see that as a form of suicide, i don't want any more anchors than the property i have.

-tomas-
With the "understanding" that their (your) ancestors were discarded there (Australia) by ships hundreds of years ago, just what tribe (nationality) are they mainly comprised of? Scot, Welsh, Irish, English etc.

Yes.

...

xerox wrote:rhett,

the reading suggestion is available on the net for free. The book is a study rather than a story. It quite interesting. Throws a lot of light on group-think.

Okay, thanks, i'll have a look.

It seems the group may not be large, or may not be too vicious, as i recently had three enquiries within 24hrs, and one of them, a couple, are going to become tenants.

Rhett wrote:I don't see humour as particularly affecting the behind the scenes value decisions they are making, but who knows for sure.

In my experience humor majorly affects the "value decisions". Most people's value decisions of others comes down to, "Did I have fun talking to them?", and the best way to have fun is to laugh. You can get away with saying almost anything, to almost anybody, if you do it in a funny way.

My guess is that the people in your town think you're an asshole for being so serious. But that's just a guess, and I could be way off the mark. Something to consider. :)

skipair wrote:

Rhett wrote:I don't see humour as particularly affecting the behind the scenes value decisions they are making, but who knows for sure.

In my experience humor majorly affects the "value decisions". Most people's value decisions of others comes down to, "Did I have fun talking to them?", and the best way to have fun is to laugh. You can get away with saying almost anything, to almost anybody, if you do it in a funny way.

My guess is that the people in your town think you're an asshole for being so serious. But that's just a guess, and I could be way off the mark. Something to consider. :)

I reflect on pretty much everything, and maybe i'm strange, but i like to critique myself a lot, which helps me grow.

Interestingly, at the same time i moved in so did another ex-city bloke, who used humour often and as you suggest, and freely laughed at himself at times as well. But he didn't fit in. For that and other reasons he left!

Overall, there's not much humour here, at least, people aren't much fun with me. I don't tend to guffaw, but a wry smile and some ironic remarks can go a long way. I think actually in ways i have tried to generate humour, sometimes it doesn't get much response though. Either it's not their type, or they really aren't much into it. Possibly both depending on the situation. If i do it to a woman she will think i'm trying to seduce her, and if she's not available she'll at least try to suppress laughter.

Probably in many cases where they see me as unfinished business, an underperformer that needs to be knocked into shape, they aren't disposed towards humour with me. They want me to get serious, get a job, a woman, and make babies. There has been a war going on, and they don't want to be disarmed. I think this has been a major effect, and also one of the main causes why i have tried to generate humour.