a slight hitch in blogging / theft of my computer \ tool for arts and communication loss

Wednesday evening i was lured into a bar as i was on my way home by live music wafting from the second story window at kottbossur tur. i parked my bicycle and went inside, listening intently till the set ended of the 3 piece band. Then was invited to sit at a bar stool. i left my bulky coat and bag 3 feet from me, laying there on the bench behind me. about the time that i was standing up to sit at the bar stool, my eyes met for several seconds with an Arab man. He was strikingly handsome, a chiseled featured archtypically Arab looking man with a closely shaved head. He and his friend sat at the bar. I avoided his gaze for no reason other than i sat down to converse with a German guy who invited me to sit with him. Within the next 20 minutes, the two Arab men, one paler skinned accompanied by his darker skinned friend, managed to sit by my bag, mill around a bit, then again sit next to my bag and walk out of the bar with my laptop lifted out of my pack from an interior pocket and held under a black fabrick. it happened right in front of my eyes. i believe that i felt that it was insulting to go and grab my bag from behind him, yet kept a diligent eye on them, to the point of seeing him holding an object under a black cloth as he was about to leave. within seconds of them walking away, i went to check my ‘courier bag’, reaching into the interior pocket to feel that the laptop was gone. i was in high heels and could not run after them. I yelled out what happened but no one responded. I changed my shoes, raced out and grabbed my bike, circled the neighborhood, went to the u-bahn platform. They were far gone. Unmarked MacBook Pro 15, black keyboard, up for sale, probably all the programs and my data wiped clean.

from this instant my life will change radically, as the music i was just starting to compose again, all of the freelance job profiles i have made towards doing work using my writing, editing, language skills, blogging and intent to start my own virtual assistant independent biz, have all come to a screeching halt. i must now adapt to living an analogue existence, as i have no recourse to replace this any time soon. i guess he assumed i was well compensated financially. i am naturally still processing this loss as i have not finished the book i have been writing either.

I suppose an arts residence program somewhere which offers computers or a grant for the arts, would be nice ! donation buttons still lie on some of the blogs further below.

I felt that I had no other recourse but to return to the States, where at least, I can access a computer and pick up the pieces and continue to move forward>absorbing information, learning, making the best of all moments, appreciating good health and having all else intact and moving forward.

Although most of my posts are prompted by abhorrence of materialism and greed, I nevertheless personally need money. In the process of researching and writing my blogs, to complete my first book, to continue to compose music (that will incorporate various animal sounds) to give these creatures a voice, I need to pay my rent, to have shelter, electricity, a desk and food. I make no money doing this and have a very small ecological ‘footprint’. I mostly ride bicycle. Because I’m currently not under ANY umbrella, corporate or otherwise, nor have funding or grants, I’m asking that if you read this far, either to make a donation yourself, or ask a friend with more capital (more disposable income) to make one on your behalf! I’ll take .001% of any billionaires that might happen to be reading this. ha ha! So I’m campaigning for myself and asking you to contribute, if you can !-)) This button leads will feed my PayPal. Any credit card or direct deposit transaction will be secure! thanks. Any feedback is always welcome as well. With love!

Donate Button

mind closed eyes wide open

mind closed
eyes wide open

mind open  eyes wide shut

mind open
eyes wide shut

2013 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 5,300 times in 2013. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Rearrangement of my blogs | Alan Lightman’s “Change Is the Only Constant” |

I have maintained two blogs since 2006, uh hum, for which I gain no income. Despite objections and conciliatory accusations that ‘you can’t make money on a blog’, in the shared consensus that one’s worth and place in society is based on ‘the capacity to earn money’ and ‘monetize’, I continue, to write my blogs.

Not to rebel, but merely in Joseph Campbell‘s words, to ‘follow your bliss’. In my case that involves feeding my curiosity.

Follow Your Bliss and the universe will open doors for you, where there were only walls.

Follow Your Bliss and doors will open for you, which were formerly walls.

To bring a little more clarity to readers, I’m rearranging a few things, in attempts to define each blog more clearly. Simply plucking a few topics, to place in their forthcoming homes. Yes, I’m somewhat ‘writing out loud’. Ultimately, at times the edges blur as topics from one bleed over into the other. However, I’ll start with this.

The carolkeiter blog will post along with hitchabouts, human interest stories, arts and entertainment, that have a more emotional appeal…Interestingly, clicks googling i guess, ‘naked men’, have brought many to my san francisco hitchabout blog, in which one photograph is listed as just that. hmmm, yes, sex sells. Perhaps I’ll have to monetize that theme!

The digesthis blog will maintain the themes of consciousness, environmental and animal rights information and science, with a leaning towards theoretical physics. Not because I’m a scientist or mathematician, but because my fascination lies there – and ironically it comes back full circle to consciousness. luminous_ braided_spiraling_mythic

So I’ll be reposting as I make this shift.

B e r l i n s t r e e t s e r i e s | m u s i c | R o t a t i o n S t r a s s e n M u s i k 2013


desmond_gargica_red_umbrellas

Berlin Art Week | ABC Art Berlin Contemporary party | 19th September


ABC_art_berlin_contemporary_thru_glass

Berlin Art Week | Grand Opening 9/17/13 on August Straße | 6 days, 21 venues


Berlin_Art_Week_August_strasse_glow

B e r l i n s t r e e t s e r i e s / s a t i r i c a l s t e n c i l g r a f f i t i > f e a t A l i a s


Alias

B e r l i n s t r e e t s e r i e s / s a t i r i c a l s t e n c i l d a p p e r d e s i g n

pavement_stencil-me_neither

UTNE Reader‘s reprint of Alan Lightman’s article in the Tin House
September/October 2012 Change Is the Only Constant

Alan Lightman is a novelist, essayist, and physicist, with a PhD in theoretical physics from Harvard University.

Excerpted from his article:

We search for human immortality and eternal youth, and pray to everlasting gods, but in the universe as in life, change is the only constant.

Change Is the Only Constant

Change Is the Only Constant


“Oblivious to our human yearnings for permanence, the universe is relentlessly wearing down, falling apart, driving itself toward a condition of maximum disorder.” Sandra Dieckmann

I don’t know why we long so for permanence, why the fleeting nature of things so disturbs. With futility, we cling to the old wallet long after it has fallen apart. We visit and revisit the old neighborhood where we grew up, searching for the remembered grove of trees and the little fence. We clutch our old photographs. In our churches and synagogues and mosques, we pray to the everlasting and eternal. Yet, in every nook and cranny, nature screams at the top of her lungs that nothing lasts, that it is all passing away.

Consider the world of living things. Why can’t we live forever? The life cycles of amoebas and humans are, as everyone knows, controlled by the genes in each cell. While the raison d’être of the majority of genes is to pass on the instructions for how to build a new amoeba or human being, an important fraction of genes concerns itself with supervising cellular operations and replacing worn-out parts.

In fact, most of our body cells are constantly being sloughed off, rebuilt, and replaced to postpone the inevitable.

Over its 4.5-billion-year history, our own planet has gone through continuous upheavals and change. The primitive earth had no oxygen in its atmosphere. Huge landmasses splintered and glided about on deep tectonic plates. Then plants and photosynthesis leaked oxygen into the atmosphere.

Buddhists have long been aware of the evanescent nature of the world. Annica, or impermanence, they call it. But even Buddhists believe in something akin to immortality. It is called Nirvana. A person reaches Nirvana after he or she has managed to leave behind all attachments and cravings, endured countless trials and reincarnations, and finally achieved total enlightenment.

Although there is much that we do not understand about nature, the possibility that it is hiding a condition or substance so magnificent and utterly unlike everything else seems too preposterous for me to believe.

Perhaps with the proper training of my unruly mind and emotions, I could refrain from wanting things that cannot be.

Perhaps I could accept the fact that in a few short years, my atoms will be scattered in wind and soil, my mind and thoughts gone, my pleasures and joys vanished, I-ness dissolved in an infinite cavern of nothingness. But I cannot accept that fate, even though I believe it to be true. I cannot force my mind to go to that dark place.

Suppose I ask a different kind of question: if against our wishes and hopes, we are stuck with mortality, does mortality grant a beauty and grandeur all its own? Even though we struggle and howl against the brief flash of our lives, might we find something majestic in that brevity? Could there be a preciousness and value to existence stemming from the very fact of its temporary duration?

-..-.-.-.-.-.-.
carol_front_shot_2

Keep your thoughts positive, because they become your words.
Keep your words positive, because they become your behavior.
Keep your behavior positive, because it becomes your habits.
Keep your habits positive, because they become your values.
Keep your values positive, because they become your destiny.
Mahatma Ghandi

j u s t c a u g h t m y e y e

here are a few more random shots, as this direction takes hold!

A Turkish kid on the train.
A Turkish kid on the train

A woman in full burka at the Apple Store on Kurfurstendamm.
full_burka_apple_store_kurfurstendamm_berlin

A preppy summer look.
summer_prep

The somber stylin’ punk.
punk_black_spike

A beard like no other.
caught_my_eye_barber_champ

Facial coiffeur remarkable.
caught_my_eye_barber_champ_2

Award winning beard-facial coiffeur.
caught_my_eye_barber_champ_1

The ear lobe stretch casual.

ear lobe stretch

ear lobe stretch


ear lobe stretch native style

ear lobe stretch native style

Stylin’ boyz at Sankt Oberholz on Rosenthaler Platz.
stylin' boyz at Sankt Oberholz

j u s t
c a u g h t
m y
e y e

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 7,400 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 12 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Make your 12/12/12 wish and check out the meteor shower 12/13/2012

That’s all folks!

Synchronicity experiences within ‘delight’ of | Deepak Chopra’s Seven Principles of SynchroDestiny |

I dedicate this blog to Jason Sneed, a self-declared chameleon. Jason SneedA California Bay Area native whom I met when I lived in San Francisco.  I met him at a cafe one afternoon in North Beach, the Italian neighborhood. He was handsome and sophisticated, chiseled features and a broad smile framed by a wide-brimmed hat. His eyes had a perpetual gleam of amusement. We talked for hours. He was carrying a laptop in his backpack, which I would later discover, he did relentlessly. His fluid creativity lapped waves of insight onto me.

I believe that one reason that I haven’t ‘finished’ and uploaded this blog, for months, is that the synchronistic events keep happening, and affecting the outcome, with their new twists in the evolution of the subject of this article.

When I’d started, prior to my earlier laptop computer ‘blacking out and ceasing’ on the morning of the SOPA/PIPA internet blackout, when I’d been furiously blogging about it and sending out alerts, I was still hung up, so to speak, on the reasons why I’d fled from Berlin in the first place.  Now, as new synchronicities literally have been tumbling into my life to introduce my consciousness to ever new fresh perspectives, the content of the blog have correspondingly evolved.  Just as spring has displayed new life peeping out from beneath old leaves and sticks brushed away from the winter debris, so have new clarities pierced my view, and displayed fresh insights.

In fact, these synchronicities have been occurring at ever increasing rates.  This tells me that I’m on the right track.  In the last 24 hours, I read an article in “The Economist” describing the laborious, dense clutter of too much legislation in the American political system “Over-regulated America”, which causes the new regulations, to be buried under too much debris.   “When regulators try to write an all-purpose instruction manual, the truly important dos and don’t are lost in an ocean of verbiage.”  I realized that often my own style of writing is similar; the delicate points are cumbersomely buried pages into the essay, where many people won’t find them because they don’t have the time or patience to read that far.

Ah, so living and learning and accepting criticism, I’ll spill the fruits into the beginning ’-))
I no longer have to dig up the unpleasantries of a relationship that wreaked of the dance of the codependent-narcissist.  I am finally cutting the chords, and no longer need to bother to look for a response from someone not capable of delivering it.  http://www.narcissismdailymirror.com/2011/01/narcissism-and-perfect-affair.html  Whew!  and I will only gently remind you of my posts on happiness and oxytocin, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxytocin of which I’m sure I’ll be writing more about, since a new local colloquium will be on the subject at a nearby college. This was the post in which I talked a bit about this topic. http://digesthis.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/happyness-making-the-best-of-what-you-have/ Those with the inability to secrete oxytocin, have the inability to feel empathy; therefore, it is linked to sociopathy, psychopathy, narcissism and general manipulativeness.  Another hint sprung up to illustrate perhaps why this narcissistic ex-partner sedated and distracted himself perpetually; with alcohol, weed, television, computer gaming … and why he rarely was able to give much more than grief. I tiptoed in his world, and he became more disengaged with me, as his annoyance level rose.  It was finally through the suggestion of a British acquaintance of mine in Berlin whose opinion I respect, who told me (as many people had) to extract this person completely from my consciousness.  He warned that if I didn’t do this, I will never truly be able to focus all of my creative projects or focus on my self, to blossom.  He also re minded me, that if I don’t follow my intuition and return to spend quality time with my parents, I will regret it forever.   His words resonated so perceptively, that I knew that I must do as he suggested, to leave the latitude and longitude where I hovered, waiting in vain. By moving away from the place (physically but mostly emotionally I was clinging to) I extracted myself from all my distractions, endlessly going out in a city that doesn’t sleep, and have returned to this place of deep nurturing and coming to the inside – full stop.  The rest is history.

I’ve always been interested in consciousness, and was drawn to Carl Jung‘s concept of synchronicity, after having a number of experiences which played into my real life.  I had introduced the concept several years ago in one of my first accounts of a hitchabout – a hitchhiking adventure – in Europe.

https://carolkeiter.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/the-missing-link-quantum-consciousness/

And wrote about the concept again, in which I elaborated on earlier synchronicity experiences which took place while living in Washington D.C. in the United States.

https://carolkeiter.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/holograms-of-meaning-consciousness-frequency-shift/  Ironically, that’s where I went to visit just weeks ago, where new tintillating synchronistic experiences ushered new realizations my way, in a way introducing to me on another level, the healing that was part of my current trek, inwards.  My friend who is a certified kundalini yoga instructor, re-introduced to me what I needed, to step away from being dominated by too much thinking, and stretching and expanding my body and consciousness to a level beyond thought.

Ironically, I recently came upon this again, now borrowed and re-defined by Deepak Chopra, in his term “synchrodestiny”.  Chopra describes his seven principles of synchrodestiny, and writes that we really underestimate the extent to which we literally create the world around us.

I mention more synchronistic experiences in this blog as well.   https://carolkeiter.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/spring-soltice-11-hitchabout-there-are-no-accidents/ And after having skimmed through this, I realized that I mentioned someone in the text whom I just read something about days earlier, seemingly randomly, Wayne Dyer, not talking this time about ‘intention’, but about ‘manifesting’.

http://www.beliefnet.com/Wellness/2003/10/Coincidences-Clues-From-The-Universe-By-Deepak-Chopra.aspx

http://www.crystallotus.com/Synchronicity/01.htm

Deepak Chopra elucidates that “There are messages everywhere around you to guide you, if you’re open and willing to move in the direction of understanding and growth, and listen to them. Some things in my life, are completely conscious and planned out, whereas others are intuitive, coming from an awareness that isn’t exactly stamped out and demarcated.”

Chopra says, “When a coincidence arises, don’t ignore it.  Ask yourself, What is the message here? What is the significance of this?  He says that you don’t need to go digging for the answers, because simply by asking the question, the answers will emerge. They may arrive as a sudden insight, or something very different. Perhaps you will meet a person who is somehow related to the coincidence that occurred.  It may be an encounter, a relationship, a chance meeting, a situation, a circumstance – that will immediately give you a clue to its meaning. …  The key is to pay attention and inquire.”

http://www.allaboutprosperity.com/articles/dchopra-synchrodestiny.htm

He describes in this preceding link seven principles of SynchroDestiny.

1)  The existence of a Conscious Energy Field; the underlying intelligence that gives rise to my body and yours and the universe as a whole.
2)  Understanding how human relationships operate in terms of Creating Cosmic Connections; in that the ability to create positive human relationships is fundamental.
3)  Mastering your Inner Dialogue, and recognizing the fact that it is the heart and mind that control external reality; if there is something that you can not find/achieve, it is because there is something within you that is preventing you from finding what you want or need.
4)  Penetrating the Conspiracy of Improbabilities means learning to recognize meaningful coincidences and seeing them as opportunities.
5)  Once we understand that external reality can’t be separated from internal reality, and that the universe is our extended body, it is clear that it’s necessary for each of us to Harness Emotional Turbulence, in order to transform negative energy into a higher level of awareness.
6)  Learning to Use the Infinite Organizing Power of Intention, which requires letting go of the idea that the universe is an inert machine, and realizing that the force within ourselves such as intention, is just as real as that of gravity or electromagnetism.
7)  Celebrating the Cosmic Dance is about synchronizing the series of experiences that emerge from your Conscious Energy Field with the universe.  Finding the connection between how we live our lives and the way that the universe works, so that we’re living in harmony with that connection.

I personally have been having a flood of experiences and connections with new insights that continue to guide me and perk up my attention to new ways of seeing, and am confident that all of this will unfold and reveal to me my path.  I simply need to listen to what surfaces – these details will make sense and enlighten me personally, as those which come into your life will reveal insights to you.

The French say, bon courage, which translates as ‘good luck’.  Yet, it is not merely stating this. Literally, it is saying have courage, have faith, as this trusting-the-voice-within, is infinitely more powerful than luck!  As many of my friends say, “There are no accidents!”

 

Dictates of What is Considered Newsworthy | Continued Earthquakes Christchurch, New Zealand |

Several days ago I learned of the ongoing earthquakes that have been crippling New Zealand.  I wasn’t informed by the major news networks, but through a phone conversation with a family member.  To further inform myself, I did a google search,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Christchurch_earthquake and wikipedia corroborated that the 7.1 magnitude Canterbury quake of September, 4th 2010, was followed by a series of earthquakes and aftershocks in the region throughout that year, leading to a deadly quake on February 22nd, 2011 in Christchurch, followed by a multitude of aftershocks and swarm of earthquakes since.  These have continued in 2012.

Having recently returned to the United States from Berlin, Germany to visit my parents, I join them in their evening ritual of watching the NBC nightly news TV broadcast with Brian Williams.  With respect to the fact that the devastation has been so great and the horror perpetuates, my question is, why has this not been considered newsworthy?  Classified as strong, to destructive and violent – often measuring above 5.0 on the Richter scale – these quakes occurring within a 20 mile radius of Christchurch, the second largest city in New Zealand, have caused destruction so great, that the communities have not been able to rebuild.

Regardless of the fact that this is located on the other side of the world (from the USA), I would think that it is of more import than the Republican circus.  If dozens of recurring earth quakes of this magnitude were happening consistently in Los Angeles or San Francisco, coverage of this would inundate our television news broadcasts.

It took my sister, residing in England, who conversed with a woman from New Zealand while each waited in line for the new iPad to be released, for this information to circulate.  Geological fault-lines running within the area, similar to that of the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East Africa rift, is the source of the activity.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/11/albertine-rift/draper-text  This National Geographic article describes not only the geological characteristics of the Albertine rift, but also the paramount social unrest in this fertile area, rich in natural resources and territorial competition; man against man, man against animals, man against nature.

Surely, the media conglomerates and U.S. government had been aware of the genocide in Ruanda when it was at its height, and the atrocities occurring in Uganda and the Congo (countries adjacent to the Albertine rift).  Is the assessment of the gravity of what is considered noteworthy or newsworthy; decided as to whether we are trading partners, what resources there are to tap into, the GDP of the country or how the economic entities within the involved region list on the stock exchange?

It is comical how politicized and economically driven what is considered ‘news’, according to the major U.S. networks.  It appears that it takes private individuals with video cameras, such as the ‘Kony’ epidemic, http://www.kony2012.com/ or feature films, to alert and inform the American public; individual’s rallying to bring events involving humanitarian and natural disasters to the public’s attention.  This same sister who had worked in the CBS New York news department for years, alluded to this fact.  What was designated, and often decided within the last minutes before air time, as newsworthy, often dangles on someone’s agenda.

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Happy Leap Day! February 29th, 2012 | 0.0 Hunab Ku | Galactic Alignment !

According to several other calendars in addition to the Gregorian one with which we are familiar, this day is 0.0

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamspell

sopablackout don’t let the internet be blocked!!

http://sopablackout.org/learnmore/