Shows
Sklugoo SpeaksS04 E14 - How to Queue WellThe further I get into this season, the more I come to appreciate the depth of humour and brilliance I have. This, the 4th season of Sklugoo Speaks, is completely scripted, which means that instead of making stuff up as I go along, I'm reading something that I wrote days, if not weeks ago. And the scripts are astoundingly good! They cover a whole range of interesting and topical subjects including this one, which is about how to do a good job of queueing. If you want to read the scripts as you listen then you can find them at...2021-09-0106 minSklugoo SpeaksS04 E12 - How to Open WellThis is an example of how not to open well (because it starts by highlighting problems): Sorry to have left a whole 18 days between my last episode and this one. My mouthpiece (Robert C Day) has been busy blogging over at www.robertcday.wordpress.com and hasn't been able to spare this humble, meditating frog a thought (the sock cooker). Still, he's here now and so is this episode. Bear with it because it starts off weird and awkward but builds to a massive crescendo of sense and superbness. Have fun listening.2021-08-2304 minSklugoo SpeaksNo, Goodbye. Really.This is a story I wrote last night. It's complete fiction but it still resonates with me somewhere deep inside and has me all emotional when unread it. You can find the transcript at No, Goodbye. Really. | Robert C Day (wordpress.com) (https://robertcday.wordpress.com/2021/07/05/no-goodbye-really/)2021-07-0605 minSklugoo SpeaksGood MorningEven trivial things that, on a scale of one to ten in terms of importance are a solid one; things that you will have forgotten six months down the line are opportunities to change the way we interact with people and the world. They can enable to to learn about the ways in which we can influence others for the better and turn trivialities into positivities. An appropriate and effective response to a minor challenge can teach us to choose better responses in the future. So, yeah - Good Morning.2021-05-1902 minSklugoo SpeaksWonderful PersonThere's this part of your brain (I'll tell you what it's called in a bit) that actively finds evidence for anything that's on your mind and tells you all about it. So if, for example, you were to think 'I am a wonderful person' then it would straight away tell you all the things that make that true. Great, huh! So, here's the science: it's called the Reticular Activating System, or RAS for short. Tell all your friends.2021-05-1802 minSklugoo SpeaksGrumpy PeopleI contest that people (and frogs) that seem like grumpy people (or frogs) on the outside actually have a rich and fruitful inner life that we should try to draw out of them by giving them space (and time) to express themselves. A Man Called Ove certainly falls into this category of people (or frogs).2021-05-1702 minSklugoo SpeaksOur NatureWe have many parts to our natures. Saving lives and saying 'good morning' is one part but there are others. Like, if you gave over a whole continent to dogs then they'd be free to follow their own natures, but I'm not sure the rabbits would be very appreciative. So, yeah - follow your best nature. Good morning.2021-05-1602 minSklugoo SpeaksPersonal ChoicePeople are sane enough, except when they're not and if they're not sane then maybe it's okay to help them, even if they don't want to be helped, but what if it's a whole country that's insane; what do you do then? Ove would probably say to leave them alone. Particularly if they don't consider themselves to be insane. What do you think?2021-05-1502 minSklugoo SpeaksOpposites AttractA Man Called Ove gets on really well with his wife who has a really different nature to him. He's a lot like her dad, who's passed away and so maybe Ove's a replacement dad. Ove's wife colours in a lot of the blank spaces in Ove's life so maybe that's why he's attracted to her. Interesting.2021-05-1402 minSklugoo SpeaksLoving NeighboursA Man called Ove has neighbours and they have him and, although it can be challenging, there's a lot of benefit that can be had from getting on with your neighbours.2021-05-1302 minSklugoo SpeaksDeeper UnderstandingWouldn't it be cool if people had instruction books so that others could get to know them better? Maybe we should each write our own. Or, at the very least, have a podcast.2021-05-1202 minSklugoo SpeaksThe InterviewSklugoo is interviewed and brings up many important things like the fact that he is alive and that meditation can bring about an inner calm that can stop you from getting upset.2021-05-1102 minSklugoo SpeaksTry TalkingThoughts are like birds: sometimes they fly by and sometimes they flock around your head cawing. If you want to be rid of a thought it's beat to acknowledge it somehow. You can either write a list of them or you can talk about them. Either way, this 'naming' of things somehow gives you power over them. Just try it.2021-05-1002 minSklugoo SpeaksPlacebo EffectThere are, so they say, five stages to grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance) and it seems to me that people think that these are, like, bad things. I reckon that denial is actually good because it acts like the placebo effect and cures stuff. Never underestimate the power of the mind. But that's just me. Don't buy it if you've prodded it and found it isn't ripe.2021-05-0902 minSklugoo SpeaksMrs ThatcherPolitics polarises people but frogs tend to be immune to that because not many of them hold positions of absolute power in political parties and so, yeah - I figure it's okay for me to talk briefly on the subject. Here's a place for you to reply if you want to: https://sklugoospeaks.wordpress.com/2021-05-0802 minSklugoo SpeaksThis FeelingYou can't beat the feeling of being... being what? Alone with nature? At one with nature? Surrounded by life? In the midst of life? Away from it all? Together with everything? Anyways, it's a good feeling to be here. Hope you're having a great day wherever you are. And that you're feeling good.2021-05-0702 minSklugoo SpeaksMe TimeIt's not that easy to find a little 'me time' when you need it and if you're an introvert like me then you do need it. But if you look hard enough then you'll find your sweet spot in the middle of a field leaning against a goalpost (yeah, I know - it's not technically a 'field' if there are goalposts in it) and you'll be good for a while. But if you need more space than that then watch out because it's sometimes not so hot to get what you wish for, right?2021-05-0602 minSklugoo SpeaksCircling AroundThe circle of life is not something Disney invented for the Lion King. Nope, it's some bonkers thing that some people are driven to travel around day after day after day. Some things need to be broken, right?2021-05-0502 minSklugoo SpeaksBetter LegsIf we had a variety of ways that we walked then we'd stretch different muscles each time we went out and would end up with better legs. Here are a few examples for your delectation ...2021-05-0402 minSklugoo SpeaksGetting WetDon't worry about getting wet. I mean, look at me - I don't bother about that at all. Possibly this is something to do with me being a small, green, naked, meditating frog, possibly not - who knows.2021-05-0402 minSklugoo SpeaksMultigenerational ConnectivityOld people have experience of stuff that kids don't know about and kids know stuff that old people can never have dreamt of so wouldn't it be great if it had be some kind of scheme where they meet up and share their strength with each other? I think so.2021-05-0202 minSklugoo SpeaksSquare MetreYou ever sat down and looked at a random square metre of outsideness? There's probably loads of stuff there that I can't see but here's the stuff I can...2021-05-0102 minSklugoo SpeaksTime SpentSeven ways you possibly live your life according to which room in the house you spend the most time in. Totally made up and not based on science so don't sue me if'n you're nothing like this. Be fun, have fun.2021-04-3002 minSklugoo SpeaksChicken CalypsoI wrote a whole Calypso from scratch and sang it, despite not being a Trini. Listen and weep (oh but you will weep).2021-04-2902 minSklugoo SpeaksSeries TwoWelcome to Series Two of Sklugoo Speaks - a podcast by me, a small, green, meditating frog sat on a kitchen windowledge. There are changes afoot and... okay, stop reading now and take a listen. I'll explain.2021-04-2902 minSklugoo SpeaksTreeUpside-down grows the tree, with branch-tips and buds going further from the sun than ever I was from love. What's the import of a small, red car to a small, green frog?2021-04-2901 minSklugoo SpeaksGratefulThe world is, like, so big and rich and there are depths of wonderment wherever we look, whenever it's inside the mind of a stranger or the grass at our feet or even in our own experience. Dude - be grateful!2021-04-2801 minSklugoo SpeaksVegetarianAnyone know any good vegetarian jokes? No, me neither. But I tried my best.2021-04-2701 minSklugoo SpeaksConnectionsI have this theory that there are hidden passages between things that connect them in unusual and unexpected ways. So that means that if you have a problem with one aspect of your life, it can be fixed by making adjustments to a totally different part of your life. I dunno - maybe I'm wrong, so perhaps just give it a go.2021-04-2701 minSklugoo SpeaksSignSpring has sprung and the flowers are smattering the grass with little splashes of colour and signs are appearing on the grass with messages like "bag it and take it away" and the doga are, like - what?!2021-04-2601 minSklugoo SpeaksImpersonatorDid you hear the one about the frog-impersonator ...2021-04-2601 minSklugoo SpeaksLoopEven if you're workng from home you can still walk to work. And I don't mean go up and down the stairs a few times and circle the spare bedroom, I mean that you can go outside and loop your way into some green spot and hug a tree or two on the way. Just enjoy yourself for a few minutes before you get down to the daily grind.2021-04-2601 minSklugoo SpeaksAntsSeen from above, people are a little like two-legged ants. Seen from below ... erm - forget that; it's too dark down there to see anything.2021-04-2601 minSklugoo SpeaksTickertapeAs a small, green, meditating frog I've learned many things about the mind and one of the must useful is about the nature of thoughts and how to stop them causing problems for us.2021-04-2501 minSklugoo SpeaksComedyDespite probably not having a promising future in stand-up comedy I did think up a joke today. It's about lettuce.2021-04-2501 minSklugoo SpeaksImportanceSome things come and go very quickly, but there a lot of them. Other things come and go more slowly and there are few of them. Which are the most important?2021-04-2401 minSklugoo SpeaksAllergiesThis morning's burning question: what do you do when you have allergies and so you want to send your fingernails to be tested to find out what they are but you can't cut your nails yet (in case they die (or something)) because the instructions for the testing kit haven't arrived yet but at the same time you want to dry your ears (from the shower) with a little piece of tissue-paper at the end of your little finger but you can't do that because your fingernail is too long!!2021-04-2401 minSklugoo SpeaksObesityI wasn't thinking about fat people or even thin people but I was thinking about how to change from one to the othe andI think I have the bare bones of the latest diet. Have a listen and see what you think.2021-04-2301 minSklugoo SpeaksOpinionsI mean, like, opinions are okay, so long as we don't try to make others eat them without a garnish or a side-salad or at least a dash of salt and pepper.2021-04-2201 minSklugoo SpeaksSupradimensionaryA confession for you - I'm not a small, green, meditating frog sat on a kitchen window-ledge.2021-04-2201 minSklugoo SpeaksOffYou know what would be a really great meditation: like, if all your senses were turned off and you were just there in a formless void. That'd be cool, right?2021-04-2101 minSklugoo SpeaksAimlessWhy have a destination when a journey can be just as enjoyable. Here's to aimlessness.2021-04-2101 minSklugoo SpeaksMathematicallyLots of things are mathematically possible. Here are a few of them for your entertainment ...2021-04-2001 minSklugoo SpeaksEcoSeven ways to be more green that you'll not find if you search the internet (unless you happen across this podcast).2021-04-2001 minSklugoo SpeaksSheepSheep, I got your picture on the wall, sheep, I love you most of all.2021-04-1901 minSklugoo SpeaksGoodbyeGoodbye doesn't mean loss when you make something or someone a part of yourself. Goodbye doesn't exist when you are one.2021-04-1901 minSklugoo SpeaksTrafficTraffic is not just about cars and trains and the rush of bodies from home to work or school and back again. Traffic is about life. Listen.2021-04-1901 minSklugoo SpeaksTolerateHaha, I just did this and turned my allergies down from a nine to a two. I told my body it could deal with the pollen and I just opened my eyes, nose and mouth to let it all in ... and out. My nose has stopped running and my eyes arent itching and my throat is still a little tight, but that'll pass. Not bad for a small, green, meditating frog, right?2021-04-1801 minSklugoo SpeaksAppreciatePause, once in a while, to listen to the flowers, smell the bees and taste the birdsong in your hair. Appreciate the journey as well as the destination.2021-04-1801 minSklugoo SpeaksPlayPlay your part and play it well and when the time comes to leave the stage then take a bow and just move on.2021-04-1801 minSklugoo SpeaksListenI don't want your love or your houses or your tolerance or your money or your chocolate (okay, maybe just a little piece of chocolate). No, none of those things. I just want you to lend me your ears for a few seconds. Okay?2021-04-1701 minSklugoo SpeaksAloneThey call us lonely when we're really just alone.2021-04-1601 minSklugoo SpeaksTranscendenceIf I can move so far, in my mind, beyond this small, green, froggy body then just think how far I can go when I slip beyond this costume completely. What an adventure that'll be!2021-04-1601 minSklugoo SpeaksSongLife is a song. Everything's a song. Listen up and I'll prove it.2021-04-1501 minSklugoo SpeaksSpidersPeople are like spiders - they're all over the place. A whole planet full of people. And spiders. And it's a close call as to which are more creepy.2021-04-1501 minSklugoo SpeaksHumbleYou might be right, but then again - you might not be, and it's really difficult to figure out which it is. Next time you're at loggerheads with someone - remember this and, hopefully, humility'll wash over you and make everything alright. Then you can both calm down and have a lovely day.2021-04-1401 minSklugoo SpeaksDeathThey (in books) say that there are four things that you need to sort out or acknowledge before you die: the good things you did for others (that's love), the bad things you did to others (conciliate (look it up)), the good things others did for you (thank them) and the bad things others did to you (forgive them). And if you don't? Well, that's where reincarnation (or haunting) comes in, I guess. Hmm.2021-04-1401 minSklugoo SpeaksFootballChicken Radio tells me that his team are losing and I get that it's about this thing called football and, for me, I'm not going to have anything to do with that because it makes people sad. I don't like to be sad.2021-04-1301 minSklugoo SpeaksRadioThere are serial killers in our neighborhood. I tuned into Chicken Radio to find out about them. Listen up and I'll tell you more!2021-04-1301 minSklugoo SpeaksWordsWith there being so many easy words in all the many languages of the world you'd think that people wouldn't have to use long, complicated ones. Hmm; think again.2021-04-1201 minSklugoo SpeaksCreamsWhat would you do if you found that all the creams for moisturising and protecting your skin from the sun were tightening your throat? You'd find out about it, right? You'd, like, get yourself tested for allergens and sh..tuff, yes? Hmm.2021-04-1201 minSklugoo SpeaksBeautifulHow did I get by the river to see this beautiful morning? Am I an astral-travelling frog after all? Surely not. There must be a better explanation, right?2021-04-1101 minSklugoo SpeaksFlippersFrogs and guitars don't always mix but that just life, right? You got to take the ringing strings with the flubs but overall - just try to hit the right notes as often as you can.2021-04-1001 minSklugoo SpeaksAnxietyOvercoming anxiety is difficult for me because I never feel anxious. I mean, hey, what's a small, green, meditating frog to to be anxious about! Yep, that's right - nuffink.2021-04-1001 minSklugoo SpeaksYorkshireThere's more to Yorkshire than a broad accent. Struggling to think of what that might be right now. But there definitely is.2021-04-0901 minSklugoo SpeaksTreesIn these times of blah, blah, blah get yourself out there into nature and high-five the trees. Trees are cool and will make you feel better even if you don't feel it straight away. And listen to the birds too. They're nice.2021-04-0901 minSklugoo SpeaksNothingLots of little things don't make for anything much more interesting than nothing, which is precisely what I have to say today. Looking on the bright side though, I do say it with flowers.2021-04-0801 minSklugoo SpeaksMouthI know a great joke about a widemouth frog but this ain't that. This is about opening my mouth and moving my lips when I speak so that I can be more easily understood.2021-04-0701 minSklugoo SpeaksBlindBeing blind is probably more interesting than you think, and probably way more difficult too. Try walking with your eyes closed to get a taste. But do stay safe.2021-04-0701 minSklugoo SpeaksOptionsBecause there's such a huge variety of people in the world I've started to give them options as to what they can get from me. Listen up for my three responses to "how are you?" I guarantee you'll be enthralled.2021-04-0701 minSklugoo SpeaksResponsibilityBlame me for everything, it's fine. All that means is that I get all the power. With great power comes great responsibility, which I guess is exactly what I'm saying, right? Don't answer that - I already know.2021-04-0601 minSklugoo SpeaksWaterGetting soaked is great. It's the getting dry again that's the problem. Unless, that is, you're a small, green frog, like what I am.2021-04-0601 minSklugoo SpeaksWatchingThere are others in this place apart from my Chicken Disciples and Snarf. Sometimes these 'others' watch me and sometimes, that can be creepy, but mostly it's okay (but I have to meditate a lot for it to be so).2021-04-0501 minSklugoo SpeaksMoodsCan a small, green, meditating frog sat on a kitchen window ledge in York, UK really detect your mood from your tone of voice? Give me a listen and you'll find out.2021-04-0501 minSklugoo SpeaksSpecificsGetting from A to B needs specific directions. You can't navigate to a particular eating emporium by looking for directions to South Yorkshire (or whatever). In the same way, if you want to change then be specific about what it is you want to change.2021-04-0401 minSklugoo SpeaksNostrilsSklugoo doesn't have nostril hairs buy he still knows a thing or two about how ticklish they can be. Listen up for a great way to stop hayfever from bothering you so much.2021-04-0401 minSklugoo SpeaksChocolateYour chocolates are mine. You shall have none. Chocolate's not for sharing - not never ever. Me likea lotta choccy all at once. Give me chocolate until forever. Here's why ...2021-04-0401 minSklugoo SpeaksPotatoPotato. Potato. Potato. Potato. Potato. Potato. Potato. Potato. Potato. Potato. Potato. Potato. Potato. Potato. Potato. Potato. Potato. Potato. Potato. Potato.2021-04-0401 minSklugoo SpeaksRulesThere are good rules and there are bad rules but, being the rebel that I am, I can't think of any good ones right now - but I can think of a bad one. Listen in to find out what it is.2021-04-0301 minSklugoo SpeaksRatBugs and slugs and all manner of beasts including a rat that shall not pass into the garage because there's a plaster cast hedgehog guarding the door. And you'd have thought a rat wouldn't have taken much notice - but it did!2021-04-0301 minSklugoo SpeaksNothingAfter years and years of trying to think about nothing I've finally realised ...2021-04-0301 minSklugoo SpeaksUniverseI am the frog at the end of the universe - what more can there possibly be to say after a revelation like that? Listen to find out.2021-04-0301 minSklugoo SpeaksPersistenceThe Persistence of Memory is a 1931 painting by artist Salvador Dalí. The persistence we have to go on speaking, even when we think we've said it all, is a wonderful feature we share. Never give up; not never ever.2021-04-0201 minSklugoo SpeaksSnarfSnarf is a dragon on the far reaches of this windowledge. Mostly he just sits there but I can sense a dangerous fire burning deep within his primal mind. He can fly and sometimes he screeches in an eerie kind of a dragony way. Eek!2021-04-0201 minSklugoo SpeaksDarkHave you ever stared into the darkness to see what there is to see when there's no light on your open eyes? Well, I have. I'm a small, green, meditating frog, so what do you expect?2021-04-0101 minSklugoo SpeaksHomebodyMy heart is on this windowledge along with the rest of me and I hope they'll stay together for a long time, maybe even as long as those two two-hundred year old frogs in the pond have been around. Here's hoping.2021-04-0101 minSklugoo SpeaksResurrectionLife and death in the raw! Well, in the back garden that is. Well, not so much death as a kind of a resurrection. No pigeons were harmed in the making of this podcast.2021-03-3101 minSklugoo SpeaksBrothersThe discovery of the ruins of an ancient civilisation in the back garden has led to me, a small, green frog, being united with my brothers - freshly returned from back in the midst of time!2021-03-3101 minSklugoo SpeaksGardeningIn which Sklugoo says how lawnmowers, grass and small, green frogs are never a good combination and that gardening is better as a spectator sport.2021-03-3001 minSklugoo SpeaksReadingNo, not the town in England and no, nothing to do with books, this is about me reading your mind. Have a listen and see (hear) how I got on.2021-03-3001 minSklugoo SpeaksAudienceHow do you get an audience? How do you get people to listen to you? How can a small, green, meditating frog gather disciples? Heck if'n I know!2021-03-2901 minSklugoo SpeaksSunshineWant to know what a small, green frog on a kitchen window ledge thinks about sunshine? Then press the play button and prepare yourself for a treat!2021-03-2901 minSklugoo SpeaksFairAll of us are nature's favourites - every single one of us without exception. We don't get picked on or pulled down by nature. We're all equal and lovely.2021-03-2801 minSklugoo SpeaksPeopleSome say that people are strange and yeah, they might be right, but I'm people too and I'm not really that strange. Well, not as far as small, green frogs living on kitchen windowledges go.2021-03-2801 minSklugoo SpeaksHairWhen you're in lock down - cut your own hair. Or let it grow long - I really don't care. At the end of the day - a frog ain't a bear. I'm wonderfully slippy - but no need to stare.2021-03-2801 minSklugoo SpeaksMicronapsThe clocks went back I got less sleep last night. Guess what happens when I sit still when I haven't had enough sleep! No, not quite narcolepsy, but close enough.2021-03-2801 minSklugoo SpeaksMeCharlene, by 1977, had been to Georgia and California (and anywhere she could run) but I've been somewhere she never could manage to reach. Can you guess where?2021-03-2701 minSklugoo SpeaksCurvatureEinstein had some thought about space-time curvature that I won't go into now because what I'm interested in is walls that blend into ceilings. Bubble life, anyone?2021-03-2701 minSklugoo SpeaksTomorrowIf'n you have to let go of the past, or something in the past, or someone who's gone then don't worry so much. You don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring.2021-03-2601 minSklugoo SpeaksSpacesuitNo, I'm not getting out of this cute, little frog spacesuit - no way, José! Listen up and I'll tell you why ...2021-03-2601 min