About
All posts found on this blog: © Tom Meninga.
Note: 1. This is an everything blog. Besides writing about a LOT of different topics, I share photographs, youtube videos, etc. Sometimes I keep the posts light. Sometimes I get deep.
2. If you want to read about a particular topic, look at the tag cloud on the right (if you are viewing this blog on a computer screen.. the words in red.. and if viewing on a phone, scroll down a little to see the tag cloud) and click on the topic you want to read about. A listing of posts about, or at least partially about that topic will appear. The larger the topic appears in the tag cloud, the more I have written about it.
3. I almost always prefer to avoid writing about politics and current events.
4. I don’t select the Top Posts. Those are the ones that have been read the most during the past week.
5. I make no money by endorsing any band, movie, product, place, or anything else I mention. I pay $30 a year to keep this blog free of ads. If you see any ads, please let me know. I’ll contact WordPress. Thanks.
Before I go any further, I’d like to mention that I have a youtube channel. It is an everything channel, where you can find videos of birds, other wildlife, nature, various independent bands, Irish dancing, and more. It is called Kerkuil’s Channel. My username for this channel is “heartywhistler.” Wish I’d chosen another name, but I can’t change it.. oh well. https://www.youtube.com/user/heartywhistler
Right then..
Who am I? Creative, somewhat introverted, somewhat social, middle-aged, politically moderate. I am a writer, photographer, videographer, and artist who lives in Boise, Idaho.
I started this blog in August of 2009. One reason I called the blog “Wandering Spirit” was that I had been wandering spiritually for many years. I’m a former Christian who stopped practicing Christianity, for a variety of reasons, back in the ’90’s. I eventually became a spiritual seeker. Although I learned about several faiths, and am still curious about spirituality, I never converted to any faith.
The other reason I chose this title is that my mind wanders around a LOT. I am curious about many things.
I write about books, movies, music, musical instruments, wildlife care, and other topics.
I’ve been including photographs and art in some of my posts. Many of these entries are mostly, if not entirely, pictures. The photos were all taken by me, and I’ve drawn or painted all the artwork, unless I’ve stated otherwise in a post. If you want to see the entries that include photography, just click “photography,” “photos,” or “pictures” in the tag cloud to the right.
In all my entries, I strive to be honest. I speak my truth.
Comments are welcome, and, as long as I do not find them to be spam (I have an aggressive spam filter), offensive, or very poorly written, I will post them.
Thank you very much for dropping by and taking the time to read this blog. I greatly appreciate your interest!
Wandering Spirit 
Lost In Translation is my favorite film also. Saw it for the first time a couple of years ago. Before this, Deliverance was my favorite.
Glad you love “Lost in Translation!” “Deliverance” is awesome as well. Truly an excellent film. Not exactly soothing or good for watching if a person wants to de-stress, but a really great movie.
https://wandering-spirit.com/2016/10/15/ba-ba-ba-ba-a-quest-for-a-song/ – Did you ever find out what this song was??? I have the a ba pa ba pa my head now and saw all the same songs you posted and IT IS NOT IT!! Help.. driving me crazy?
Oh, I wish I had figured it out, but no. If I do, I will update the post. I think it might have been a few seconds of music I heard on a random commercial years ago, or a tiny bit at the end of a film. But nope. I don’t know. Sorry.
Hey
A response to Tom’s quora answer
I googled:
Is being religious a sign of lack of critical thinking?
Because I struggle to understand how intelligent people still believe in god. I feel believing in god is like an extension of Believing in Santa Claus. I am ashamed to have spent the good part of a decade believing, I I am quite sure I will never believe in God again, unless there’s a way to trick yourself, as it can be comforting to think you will go to Heaven.
I came across an answer to the question by Tom, which really helps understand all of this. The biggest explanation is, quoting tom, “…they [religious people] compartmentalize. They apply these skills to such disciplines as business or science, and leave religion alone.”.
This is so true, I think religious authorities teach subjects not to question their faith, they basically tell them it is a sin to use critical thinking on religion, if they want to get to heaven they must not do this. Regardless how smart and successful they are, they wouldn’t think critically about religion because they don’t want to risk infinite happiness, and only after critically thinking about religion do you see how foolish it is, and so they have been pre-conditioned to never get there.
I try not to challenge the peoples religion around myself because I think religious people can live happier lives believing in fairy tales because they are so comforting, so I rarely get in good discussions about this with religious people because I am not going to be swayed towards religion so why would I risk taking it away from them.