Monday, March 01, 2021

INSANITY OF VANITY! TRY SANITY FOR THE SAKE OF HUMANITY!

 



 


 

First and foremost...I’m glad I grew up, became a teenager and a young adult in the era I did...not at least for the music!  The music was the best...still is...and I believe the status quo will remain long after I’ve been kicked off this mortal coil!

Okay!  Calm down!    I know “grew up” might be stretching the limits of believability a stretch too far. I’ve not yet managed to achieve the once sought-after goal. I am trying, allow me that much!

However, it's time I faced the facts.  I’ve reached the stage in my life it’s too late for me to grow up, so I’ll give up trying. Further evidence isn’t required. I’m an old you-know-what who will never grow up.  You can spread the word, if you like, but I believe the word is already out.  Unashamedly, very often, to save others the trouble, I display proof. 

I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t overly fond of getting my photograph taken when I was a kid.  In those days, of course, the little Box Brownie held pride of place in most households. Having to gather together with classmates for our school photos was a drag, too.  The evidence is clear in every school photo in my possession.  By the forced smiles on the faces of my fellow school-goers, their feelings were similar to mine. Even as a teenager (and beyond) posing for photos wasn’t high on my list.  Saying “Cheese” was cheesy. 

In the early 60s, Gympie’s roving photographer was a senior law clerk at the same legal firm I attended five days a week. Because I was his stenographer, at his beck and call, handling his dictation etc., I became an easy target. He was always taking my photo for publication in the local daily newspaper.  Luckily for the readers, I wasn’t as scary looking back then as I am now.

So infatuated by their own self images, many these days, it seems, are taking selfies. There are some who put their lives at risk while doing so.  If that’s not a self-centred, insane, careless pastime, I don’t know what is.  The insanity of vanity recognises no limits. 

Looking into a mirror is enough to freak me out. The fright I get each time puts my life at risk..and, probably, the life of the mirror, too!

Nowadays many obsessed young women plaintively cry, “I’m not pretty enough!” And then, they go ahead and make themselves ugly. 

With lips larger than a groper’s lips they venture out into the world.  Is scaring others with puffed-up lips, immovable, plumped-up facial cheeks that resemble cricket balls, frozen foreheads, and boobs as large and as hard as watermelons necessary to be part of the “In Crowd”?  Most of the so-called reality TV “celebrities/stars” look like the celluloid dolls I had when I was a kid. Calling those synthetic persons “celebrities/stars” beats me.  

The desire to have lips similar in appearance to a groper, and a face as hard as marble...to go head to head with the Easter Island statues...is perplexing.  What do they see when they look in a mirror? To laugh must be problematic.

Artificial flowers are okay...but artificial, characterless faces?  If they have kids their kids will wonder why they don’t resemble their mother...or, in some instances, father...or both.

Vanity seems to be running rife.  In my opinion, there’s a difference between taking pride in one’s appearance, and being inordinately vain. Stretching reality, some over-step the limits of vanity to the point of insanity.  

With their rock-hard, pumped-up faces, larger than soccer ball butts and boobs, they’d be more suitable for sideshow alley horror freak shows, instead of roaming freely in the public arena.

Narcissus wouldn’t get a look in! 

Of course, I’m from a different era, one of long ago, which maybe explains my thoughts on the matter. Oft times I wish I was back there, angling for cod in the waters around Tin Can Bay, or the Noosa River, or feeding the food scraps to “Sly” the large groper.   Each morning, “Sly” hung around the jetty on Hinchinbrook Island.  One morning, in one large gulp, he swallowed the intact carcass of a suckling pig we’d cooked on the barbecue spit the previous evening for the resort guests.  Gulp!

 

Baked Parmesan Cod: Spray baking sheet. Place 3/4c grated Parmesan on plate; add 1/2tsp garlic powder and 1-1/4tsp paprika. Cut 1 lemon in half; make zest from one half; add to cheese mix. Add 2tbs chopped fresh parsley to mixture. Pat 700-750 cod fillets dry. Melt 3 to 5tbs butter in small pan. Set up an assembly line from left to right with the fish, butter, cheese mixture, and baking sheet. Dip fish in butter; then in cheese mix, coating both sides and patting topping onto cod with fork. Place fish onto sheet pan, top with any excess melted butter; bake in preheated 200c oven, 15mins. Squeeze lemon juice over fish; serve with butter spooned over rice, mashed potatoes or polenta.

Cod with White Wine Tomato Sauce: Heat 2tbs olive oil in large sauté pan over med-heat. Add 1/4tsp crushed red pepper flakes and 3 large, finely-minced garlic cloves; sauté 1min, or until garlic is fragrant. Add 2-1/2c cherry tomatoes; cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and blistering, but still holding their shape, 9-12mins. Add in 1/4c dry white wine; stir; allow mixture to come to a gentle simmer. Stir in ½ finely-chopped basil, 2tbs lemon juice, 1/2tsp lemon zest, 1/2tsp salt, 1tsp sugar, and 1/4tsp freshly ground black pepper. Cook 2mins. Transfer sauce to a bowl; set aside. Heat 2tbs olive oil in pan over med-heat. Pat 800g of 4 cod fillets dry (about 200g each). Season both sides of cod with salt and pepper. Place fillets in the oil; cook until golden brown, about 3mins.  Flip fillets over; cook another 3-4mins. Pour sauce over fillets; let sauce warm up a minute.

 

20 comments:

  1. Sad, very sad. There's much exaggeration in what women are doing to their faces. I personally know some who have ruined their face, and I'm afraid they're not even aware of it.
    Someone must stop this insanity, the sooner the better.

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    1. I agree, DUTA. I do not understand why some disfigure themselves so...it's strange...very strange to my way of thinking. Can't they see what they are doing, have done to themselves? Weird!

      Thanks for coming by...take good care. :)

      Delete
  2. Beats me why they do it. And I find it's usually the girls who are good looking to start with. How much happier the world would be if we could just love ourselves as we are.

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    1. Hey, Pauline. And here we are thinking we're supposed to be eradicating plastic products...and yet....

      I don't know how they can love looking the way they look, those with the pumped up faces etc. Scary!

      Take good care...thanks for coming by. :)

      Delete
  3. What they call beauty simply isn't, at least to me.

    And by the way, don't say "cheese" when having a photo taken, say "chicken lips." It actually makes people laugh.

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    1. It sure ain't beauty to me, either, messymimi. How they believe it to be beauty sure has me confused!

      Thanks for coming by...take care. "_

      Delete
  4. Groper lips, soccer ball boobs and hot air balloon sized bums, yikes! Perhaps their aim is to be a celebrity blow-up doll? It must make clothes buying a nightmare: Attendant; what size are you Madam? Shopper; Well my waist is a size six, by chest is a size XXL and my hips (butt) is a XXXL, but I'm only five feet four, what have you got for me? Attendant; faints away.

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    1. Hahahahaha! I love it, River!

      Take care...thanks for coming by. :)

      Delete
  5. Not beautiful to me either.
    And I like to see a face where laughter creases are evident. Plastic faces (and other bits) have less than no appeal.

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    1. Yes...I just don't understand this latest "craze", EC. It's beyond my comprehension. I can find nothing beautiful about it...so weird!

      Thanks for coming by...take care. :)

      Delete
  6. I received some money for Christmas and wanted to buy a brownie box camera. My parents insisted they give permission for my expenditures. I asked my mama and she said "no". I went to my father and ask him and he said "what did your mother say?" I responded to him in a sing-song voice, "ask you mama, ask your mama, can't you make any decisions on your own?" Wow, was I in trouble. No, I did not get the camera.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Hahahahaha! Oh! I love your story, Annie...what a wonderful, wonderful memory! I hope that somewhere down the line you got your Brownie camera! :)

      Thanks for brightening up the start of my day...thanks for coming by...take good care. :)

      Delete
  7. I love your description of lips larger than a groper’s lips! It is true, I call them "butt lips" and they are all over TV and movies now. I'd much rather see real, natural people.

    I hope you are doing well Lee!

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    1. Hi Bonnie. I hope the current inflated fad soon explodes and goes out of fashion. I really don't understand the mindset.

      All is well with me, thanks...I hope the same is with you. Take good care...and thanks for coming by. :)

      Delete
  8. I don't know if it was the same in Aussie land, but back in the dark ages when I was a teen, everyone wanted a nose job.

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    1. I don't think the desire was a popular here, Sandra. Back in the early 80s when I had my little fruit, vegetable and healthfood shop I had a lovely lass who was a regular customer. She was a tall, good-looking young woman. One day she came in proudly showing off her new nose job! I had to bite my tongue as it did her no favours.

      She didn't look anywhere near as attractive or striking, standing out from others, after her nose job than she did before it. What a shame she did it, were my thoughts. Now she just looked "run of the mill".

      Take good care...thanks for coming by. :)

      Delete
  9. I believe there was a comment along the lines of “vanity thy name is woman” or something along that line and it seems that there are some, not all, who are in constant pursuit of that goal. Personally speaking, cosmetic companies would go broke if they had to rely on any of my business. The self absorption to post selfies on social media does get overwhelming.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Hi Beatrice. The saying is very often misconstrue, misquoted by many...the original saying is from Shakespeare's "Hamlet"...for example... “Frailty, thy name is woman”. But the incorrect version could easily apply in many instances...towards men, too...not only women. :)

      Cosmetic companies would go broke if they depended on my business, too, Beatrice! lol

      Take good care...thanks for coming by. :)

      Delete
    2. "misconstrued"....typo alert...and correction! :)

      Delete
  10. I'm just going straight to your wonderful recipes!
    We love fish and both of these sound delicious :)

    All the best Jan

    PS Happy March Wishes

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