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July 9th, 2008
11:32 am - Jimmy's around more than usual, it seems
*snickers* Good interview with Jimmy, which has a wonderful quote:
Buffett, describing himself as "an old hippie" and "Southern radical," says now, "I'm an Obama person."
"Everybody knows my politics [he campaigned for Jimmy Carter and Al Gore and has played twice at Bill Clinton birthday parties]. But half my audience is Republicans — and that's OK. People should be communicating, which is the biggest factor to me."
He has been opposed to the war in Iraq since the beginning. "Anybody who makes policy in this country oughta have to walk by the Vietnam memorial on the way to work," Buffett says.
So why not vote for Vietnam vet John McCain? "I respect John McCain, but it's old stuff. John McCain is older than I am!"
"People should be communicating." Yep, that says it all, right there.
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/smile.gif) amused
Current Music: "A Pirate Looks at Forty", -JB
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July 7th, 2008
03:44 pm - Jimmy Buffett, on World Peace
A lot of people like to post lyrics to songs. I can't read them very well (long story, having to do with blunt-force trauma to the head), so I generally skip them.
As I was listening to the music today, though, an old Buffett piece came up. It's called "Today's Message," and you can find it on Feeding Frenzy. It's done, of course, in a sermon-style (with backups and the audience singing "hallelujah's" and "amen's" in the background). For reference, this album was released in 1990, so that gives some historical perspective. Here's my favourite section:
"And world peace? I've got an answer for world peace. We take the money that it'd cost us to build just one B-1 bomber, you know that one that doesn't work? We change it into five dollar bills. We put all of this money into bags and we fly over the Atlantic Ocean, past Europe (because they're getting their shit together anyway). We drop this money on the Russian people. All those little tiny pictures of Abraham Lincoln come tumblin' down out of the sky.
I want them to feel those sawbucks in their hands. You know how your money feels when you accidentally leave it in your blue jeans and you take it out and it's all warm and soft, oooh!
Well we let those Russian people hang on to that money for about a week and then we fly back over there. We fill our airplanes full of mail order catalogs from L.L. Bean. From up in Columbus, Sporty's Pilot Shop. And Victoria's Secret!
The Russian people have this money in their hand, the catalogs come down. They look at those pictures on the opening pages of the Victoria's Secret catalog. (Not back in the outdoor section: you know what I'm talking about, right?)
They got the money, they got the catalogs: they're going to get the idea. They send all the money back to us to buy the stuff. We have full employment. There's world peace, and the Russians have crotch-less underwear through the twenty-first century!"
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Music: "Coconut Telegraph", -JB
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April 30th, 2008
10:16 am - Ghosti and comics
I often refer to the concept of *ghosti as being something like a close friendship where you and your friend go out to dinner, alternating who pays. Eventually, you both forget who bought the last meal, and one of you just sort of offers to pick up the check on the very basic understanding that it will really all even out in the end.
The relationship then sort of dissolves into a series of, "Whose turn is it?" questions followed by, "I don't care; I'll get it this time," answers; or else the meal becomes a pretext for inviting the other person out, saying, "Let's go out to eat, since it's my turn anyway," when both parties know that it's not actually that person's turn.
Recognition of relationship, followed by understanding that the relationship is deep enough that it was already even before the other person asked the question. That's really what ghosti is to me.
Well, for future reference, it may work like the above, but ghosti doesn't work like this.
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "One Particular Harbor", -JB
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April 22nd, 2008
04:05 pm - Trillium 08 in pictures
Some pictures from Trillium:
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Help for Mormons | Trillium's Fire | A cool road sign
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![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) sleepingwolf stirring the shit | juxtaposem stirring the shit
(much shit was stirred at Trillium this year!)
juxtaposem and me at Fish Hatchery Road
Check out my hair!
(picture taken primarily because of the name
of the road, and singingwren's fondness for it)
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "On a Slow Boat to China", -JB
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April 16th, 2008
02:36 pm - Journeying through Religious Supplies
Journeys into the local religious supply store are ever an adventure. With the need for a way to transport my vestments across the country without stuffing them into a sack, I ventured into one today at lunch.
Looking as I do right now, with my long-hippie-style hair and my black faux-military jacket with skulls on it, an old gas mask bag slung over my shoulder, I was not surprised to be greeted with a general distrust. The look I was given as the words, "How can I help you?" came out of the saleslady's mouth was really enough to inform me that she didn't truly want to help me.
Indeed, she suspected unsavory motives in my visit.
It's an odd feeling: stepping into a place that supplies religious items, and feeling religiously out of place. Not so much because you feel like you don't belong, but rather because you feel like someone else thinks you shouldn't belong.
I told her I was fine, and knew what I was looking for. I spent five minutes rummaging through vestments, checking robe length against garment bag length, looking for a way to carry my white robe across the country without getting it wrinkly, dingy or dirty. I wanted something that would be easy to carry onto a plane (so no bags that just had hangers for handles) and that would be durable enough to handle being thrown into the bowels of a cargo compartment if needed.
I was slowly becoming frustrated: the concept isn't hard, is it? I'm positive that the clergy of other religions take their vestments with them across the country, and they're probably far more worried about wrinkles than I am. There had to be a solution there.
Well, the saleslady came back out and asked me what I was looking for. At the time, I was browsing through a catalogue of vestments, trying to find what length I needed. I could tell she still had reservations, and I saw her sweep her eyes across the expensive items in the case in front of me, but she was less willing to judge my motives and more willing to sell me something. I have a feeling that her boss had gotten involved.
I informed her of what I was looking for, and pointed out the vestments I already had. I expressed some dissatisfaction with the length of the garment bags on hand, and she suggested a garment portfolio instead, pointing me to a bag I had not seen yet.
I looked this over. Slightly dirty, somewhat worn, and not particularly impressive looking, but sturdily constructed and wide enough to fit my robe: it passed the real tests. I thanked her and said I'd take this under consideration, too (noting to myself that it was twice as expensive as the most expensive garment bag there). I began to wander around the rest of the store, bag in hand, and she watched me as I wandered through candles and a variety of other religious artificats (such as a statue of Christ being tackled by a child during a football game).
In the end, I settled in my mind on this bag, and took it to the counter. I went to pay with my card, and showed her my ID. She eyed it somewhat suspiciously, and another cashier looked at it and said, "Hey, the guy on the ID doesn't have long hair!"
"Well, it's been over a year since I cut it," I said.
The second cashier added, "Oh, I know how that can go. Sometimes, you're just too busy. But, it makes you look more like Jesus."
I ignored the last comment. Not to be rude, but because it really didn't sink in until I had already started speaking, still on my last thought. "I figure I can grow it out long enough to donate it, perhaps."
Now the saleslady who had eyed me so darkly and suspiciously for the past twenty minutes was very friendly: her face brightened and a smile sprang to her lips. "Oh, well that's a wonderful thing!" She took another look at the bag. "You know," she said, "the bag is a bit dingy and it doesn't look very new. Let's take 20% off."
Looks create interesting perceptions among people. I've been learning a lot about what clothes can do for you, and how people perceive someone with long hair. It is interesting to me how age makes a difference, as do place in life and occupation, in how others perceive your choices of style and personal expression.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go teach a child how to hold a golf club.
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Margaritaville", -JB
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April 7th, 2008
02:31 pm - No one at the TSA likes the priest of a fire-cult
It is an interesting experience, seeking to travel across the country by plane. With the security standards in place, you have to check and see if everything you wish to take is, indeed, still allowed since the last time you flew, or if the things you wanted to take last time but could not are now allowed.
I pack very light when I travel. I no longer check bags, and I have never had to do without. I do, however, travel with a lot of ritual gear. When I saw that there are no shopping areas near the Desert Magic Festival this year and the point after that is "bring offerings!" I started to think about this again.
You can bring one book of "safety" matches on a plane. I didn't find anything (outside the general restrictions on liquids) on the TSA pages about highly flammable liquids (whisky and everclear, anyone?), candles, or other things of that nature. In general, I presume that makes it "okay."
Then again, I have found a new tin for my portable altars, which might just wow the TSA into submission, if they're of the correct generation.
It becomes more complicated, too. While I will (thankfully) be on the ground at sunset on May 8 (that was planned, right druidkirk?), I won't have any way to light a fire, which just makes things ever more inconvenient. Add to this that I will be in the air at sunset on May 12, and I just sort of look at it and sigh. They really frown on open flames on planes.
Stay tuned to your local news about the freak accident involving a strip-search of a fire priest by the TSA and strike-anywhere matches.
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "False Echoes [Havana 1921]", -JB
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April 4th, 2008
08:57 am - I thought for years that Socrates had a guy named "Playdough" on the payroll
I have been reading an interesting argument that Plato's work doesn't fit with Indo-European religious worldviews (or, using a term I prefer, "cosmovision"), and that they are a complete 180° turn from the basis of IE religions.
I find this freakin' hilarious, for a variety of reasons. Later work based off Plato doesn't really fit with IE religious norms, anyway: theurgy, for instance, leaves behind many IE norms and stops making sense pretty quickly in IE religious contexts, and his cosmological understandings affect add to the speed at which later theories take off (anyone who has suffered through the cave metaphor in his Republic will know what I mean).
I think I like this most because getting out from under the burden of Greek philosophers is pretty darn tough, and it really does help make sense of why we do ritual when we sort of step away from them and reconsider things more objectively.
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: "Beyond the End", -JB
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March 24th, 2008
10:55 am - The Grove is in the Paper
For those who don't read the Grove Blog, "Leaves of the Willow" or subscribe to the LJ feed (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) 3cg_blog), the Grove was in the Columbus Dispatch today, and you can read the article online.
The article is pretty good, though their list of virtues is. . . interesting.
And there's a great picture of seamus_mcnasty in the print version, too. The article is on page B3, with the picture on page B1.
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Lucky Stars", -JB
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March 21st, 2008
12:06 am - What do we want?
Posting during an LJ strike is like making ripples in a calm sea.
I love LJ downtime, LJ strikes, and really busy ADF festival weekends.
I'm so far behind on my Friends' List it isn't even funny. . . Stuff like this just helps me actually keep up with ya'll.
Catch ya tomorrow when you get back around to posting.
Or earlier, if you forget you're on strike. :)
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: awake
Current Music: "Volcano", -JB
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March 12th, 2008
02:57 pm - Cufflinks!
I promised pictures of my awesome cufflinks. Here they are:
They say "Waikiki" along the top, and are far
more vibrant than the flash lets them be in this picture.
I must find an occasion to wear them now. I must, I must! I mean, when else might one get the chance to wear a pretty girl on each arm? And have them not get jealous?
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Desperation Samba (Halloween in Tijuana)", -JB
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March 11th, 2008
12:47 pm - Shoes, bags, and shopping for accessories
It has been a full couple of days. Yesterday was full of win, for instance. Today is looking up, but I'm still riding high from yesterday.
I went shopping last night, looking for a good brown belt. A man should have a good brown belt, I have always thought, and yet I have not owned one since high school. What I would really like is one with an old D-style buckle, but those appear to be out of fashion. It's like trying to find a good double-breasted suit: you cannot find one anywhere.
The worst thing, though, is that nearly all belts, particularly dress belts, are reversible. There is something inherently wrong with a reversible belt: a sort of crisis of identity and painful realization that the belt will never fully understand what it is or what it was designed to be a part of.
I also found myself looking at a variety of dress shoes. While what I would really like are a pair of brown dress boots, I found myself looking at a number of pairs of brown oxfords. This brought to mind a certain story I have not read yet, but that I love the title of: "The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford" by Philip K. Dick. I didn't buy any, but I have an idea of what I'm looking for, and that's what's really important. I suspect I will read the story before I purchase the shoes, because participation in mythic drama makes our lives meaningful.
Anyone who has shopped for dress shoes recently will know that men's dress shoes are now more like jester's shoes: long, pointed toes; or long, blocked toes. All they're missing are the damn bells. There is, perhaps, a reason that I am still relying on suits, shoes and accessories purchased in the late '90's. I have simply been unable to find clothes that I really like.
Not long ago, I replaced my messenger bag with an old World War II gas mask bag. It's a Mark VII, which some of you may recognize. I am pleased with this transition, as the bag is actually pretty good at carrying everything I need, is lighter than the messenger bag, and is very strongly constructed (designed, as it was, to withstand the Blitz). I very much like it. I bought it primarily because I've been working so damn hard, I really needed some sort of reward.
What's all this about? Well, my wardrobe has had to change with new responsibilities: jeans are entirely out, and I keep a suit jacket in my office "just in case." New shirts and pants and ties have all been purchased, as I'm building a wardrobe for an interview I hope to occur sometime in June or July. I even own a new pair of cuff links (the words "men's jewelry" had never appeared on a receipt for anything I had purchased before that: pictures of these most awesome cuff links are forthcoming).
It's amazing how the old adage "you have to spend money to make money" can apply so specifically to what you have to buy to fit in at your job. . .
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Defying Gravity", -JB
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January 24th, 2008
09:42 am - Thoughts on music (and much more), late at night
 Yes, I am fishing for musical suggestions!
Please pontificate!
Late last year, I started seriously getting back into punk. I have particularly enjoyed Social Distortion for a variety of reasons, and I'm looking for more suggestions. Really, though, I'm looking for any sort of favourite music you may have, in any genre.
Anyone who knows me knows that I really, really like music. I particularly like two kinds of music: music that is well put together, and music that tells a story. When these two things come together, I can listen quite repetitively (some say obsessively) to the same music many times over and never tire of it.
Also, on a related (but not quite obviously so) tack, there is nothing sexier than a woman playing a cello. Not because she is beautiful, and not because she's playing the cello, but because, when I watch a woman lost in the music, the melody flowing through her instrument and her soul, it is something I could watch forever and never tire of. This may date back to the first redhead I was ever interested in, but I don't think that's the case. I have a feeling that it has more to do with the warmth and beauty of stringed instruments, the vibrance of the women I have known who have drawn their fingers lovingly and longingly across the strings, and the beauty of their passion for their instruments. It really doesn't matter what the instrument is, really: cello or bass, violin or harpsichord. And, as Jimmy once sang, "There's somethin' so feminine about a mandolin."
( More about women, music, bubblegum country, and Hank Williams spinning in his grave )
Anyway, the point of this long ramble has been thus: If you have any suggestions about music, be it one song or a certain band's entire discography, please let me know. I'm in the mood to broaden my musical horizons yet again. Be forewarned: I have no access to iTunes, so it's gotta be out in hard copy somewhere, or on a free internet radio site, or available on YouTube in some form.
My suggestions to you are these:
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: busy
Current Music: "Simply Complicated", -JB
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January 18th, 2008
05:05 pm - Sin City Is Where the Holy Make Money!
I received my W2 today from Ohio State, which happens every year. This year, though, I made more than last year (always a positive thing), and broke a number in my pay that I've been shooting at for years. As a result, I have revised my internal sense of worth and my goals about what I would like to earn in my current job, with an eye to future employment as well.
Just as a matter of curiosity, I decided to see how I compare with others in my field. To do this, I landed at the Bureau of Laber Statistics.
I learned some things about my current occupation (mostly that I get paid pretty much normally, which is disappointing because I can't complain as much as I'd hoped), but stumbled onto something far more interesting: the statistics for what clergy earn, nationally speaking:
BoLS Stats on Clergy
It looks like Nevada, where the mean pay for a clergyperson is $55,700, is the place to go if you want to marry and bury people for a living. Here in Ohio, the mean pay for clergy is $37,290 per year (in Columbus proper, the mean pay for clergypersons is $43,110 per year).
Of course, I'm not paid to be clergy. It's odd, though, to see that people *do* get paid to be clergy, and they get paid a damn sight better than I do at my "real" job.
I've recently been thinking about my clergy-ing, and my actual job (which, I should mention, is on the up-and-up recently), and I thought about it like this:
I have two jobs. One that doesn't pay enough cash, and one that doesn't pay any cash at all. One I don't like, and one I love. One I spend 40 hours per week doing, and one I spend 50-60 hours doing, without overlap. One that is a paycheck, and one that pays in amazing and unexpected dividends I can't cash anywhere. I don't think that most people realize how much time I put into both these jobs. I'm not sure I realize how much time I put into both (or I didn't, until I started thinking about it three weeks ago).
I wish I could just do the clergy thing. I drive past churches at night and see the priest planning out his blocking for that Sunday's service through the window. I see another priest changing the sign in front of his church, adding a stupid slogan like, "Fight truth decay: brush up on your Bible daily!" I go to an interfaith service and I'm underprepared, a bit lost, and too short on time to actually help beyond the actual meeting (i.e. you can't count on me to do any sort of homework or volunteer for additional meetings). I often find myself a bit jealous of other clergypersons: I want to do those things!
I've made time for a lot of the really important things that I feel I need to do as Clergy, and it's the sort of stuff I really love. Despite that, it's taken a bit of a toll on some of my personal relationships over the years, and I almost never manage to complete a conversation over email anymore.
The odd thing is, though: I'm not tired, nor lacking energy. I'm not feeling the "burn" that so many people get. I understand my limits and what I'm doing in the scheme of things. In fact, I'm actually busier now than I have been in my life, and yet I'm also more productive and putting out a higher quality of work.
In all, life is pretty good.
Let's see where it takes me, shall we?
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Landfall", -JB
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January 6th, 2008
11:20 pm - I look pretty good in ink. . .
Today, while giving a talk on Druidry at a Unitarian Universalist church in Reynoldsburg, I got quite the surprise:
( Clicky! )
I've never been line-arted before (is "line-arted" a word? Hell, it is now), and certainly never in under 30 minutes!
Damn good job, too, I have to say. I don't look that good in real life!
(for those wondering, yeah, my hair just started brushing the tops of my shoulders in the shower this morning. . .)
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: "Nautical Wheelers", -JB
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January 4th, 2008
09:34 pm - And all that's left is the grin. . .
I was accused today of having a "Cheshire grin."
I don't believe I've felt so complicated in years. . .
*grins*
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Frank and Lola", -JB
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January 2nd, 2008
04:17 pm - A random entry of joy, football, and mice
I ended 2007 being remarkably happy, in all honesty. For the past three months, I have been driving home from work with a satisfied smile on my face, and can occasionally be seen grinning from ear-to-ear and pleasantly surprised with how good my life is.
I look forward to a 2008 that is just as lovely and wonderful.
I could go on about the new year, but honestly, my new year happened sometime last November, and the secular one doesn't do much for me (I ended up sleeping through this one, as I have the previous 28 I've been around for).
I spent last night with the Georgia-Hawaii game on mute (the Sugar Bowl wasn't what the Hawaiians expected, and poor Georgia had to make lemonade out of them), writing up one of my Divination 2 requirements (the last one left).
Also, the Chocolate Mouse is caught (actually, she was caught before Christmas). Indeed, double chocolate praline is actually useful for something after all. Who would have thought? She goes out on her ear at the first sign of a warm snap (after a little over a week of keeping her in the warm house, I can tell she's simply not going to be happy as a pet mouse. . . She's damn cute, though).
But really, I cannot begin to describe how happy I am and have been, even if it may not come though my writing recently. . . I've been too busy to do a lot of writing, and I only post about serious¹ stuff when I get busy.
--
¹ - If by "serious" we mean "ACLU-destroying amulets for Christians." And of course we do. . .
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Off to See the Lizard", -JB
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December 12th, 2007
10:01 am - Mice that don't eat peanut butter, and the best Yule gift ever. . .
This entry will contain what some of you consider to be sacrilege. And some of you will think it hilarious.
Let me begin at the beginning with a quick recap of how we got to the past two weeks:
- There is a hole in my house
- Mice had been entering through said hole
- We have caught most of the mice
- There is one mouse left
Yesterday, I spent my lunch hour beneath my deck doing the final sealing the window as best I could in the rain and mud. I will need to do more work to fully seal the hole, but I believe that the mice, at least for now, no longer have access to the innards of the house.
It is this one mouse, then, that is left. We were catching mice at a rate of 1.2 each day in late October, and until today, we could not determine *why* we could not catch this last mouse.
We know this mouse is a female, because she's nesting. We can hear her. In the walls. Nesting.
Boy mice are lazy-ass sons-of-bitches. They don't nest. And girl mice tend to nest when they get pregnant, which leads us to many deeper issues that I'm sure you can all guess.
We cannot poison the mouse: we have cats, and a rat-poisoned mouse, if found by the cats, will poison the cats. The mouse has not been caught by the cats, because I can't let the cats roam free in the house throughout the day due to Tina's plants and the presence of Tina's birds. Thus, our strongest weapon in the game of cat-and-mouse (i.e. the freakin' cats) is unavailable during most of our turns.
Tina won't let me use an inhumane trap, which is fine by me: the PETA traps Tina purchased are actually *amazingly* effective when it comes to most mice. (I do own a couple of "Lucifer" mousetraps, though, thanks to viedansante's sense of humour).
This morning, Tina discovered exactly why our traps, baited with peanut butter and a dog biscut, had been ineffective on this particular mouse up to this point: this mouse eats only fine, dark chocolate.
I should have known when I found her doing the backstroke in Tina's Mexican hot chocolate mix, now that I look back on it. I also should have caught her then, when she was frozen and staring at me through the plastic baggie the chocolate was in. I thought, wrongly, that I couldn't catch her at that point, that a simple grab wouldn't do it. Instead, I watched to see how she'd gotten to where she was. I haven't had a chance to get her since.
This morning, though, I was informed that somehow, she had gotten up three shelves in the pantry and gotten into Tina's dark chocolate bars from Trader Joe's, possibly by climbing, but more likely by either an acrobatic jump of approximately two feet, or by gnawing patiently through a wall and then through the back of the cabinet. Apparently, the girl has some fine, fine taste. And she'll go to many insane lengths to satisfy that craving.
I now have a plan. A dastardly, evil plan, if I do say so myself.
On Dec. 1, I received a box of fancy chocolates from druidkirk for Yule. I've eaten a couple, but the plan was to bring the majority of them in to work and let others have whatever Maggie didn't want.
Now, though, the plan has changed. If no mouse has been caught this evening, the bait in the trap is getting a serious upgrade. I know what the mouse likes: dark chocolate. I know where the mouse is nesting: next to the heating ducts. I know where the mouse can and will get: all over the basement and in the cupboards.
Really, it all combines into the chocolate being the perfect Yule gift, in my little twisted mind, should this work. There's nothing I'd like more than to be rid of this mouse with a taste for expensive chocolate.
(My thank-you note to druidkirk for the chocolate, which was going to go in today's mail, has had to be altered a tad as a result of this new, exciting development.)
I know this is a mouse after some of your own hearts. When I catch her (and I will catch her, trust me), is there anyone who would like to keep her? If not, well, at least she'll have a very fulfilling last indoor meal of very fine chocolate.
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "On a Slow Boat to China", -JB
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October 31st, 2007
09:48 am - I'm Part of a Paisley Mythic Drama
As an FYI, this post is about a country music song. But even if you dislike country music, you might find this amusing.
There's a song out by a guy named Brad Paisley. It's about a pizza delivery guy who is balding and fat, yet has an online presence that is simply amazing.
When I first heard the song, I immediately shouted (to no one in particular, as I was in my car at the time), "Hey! That's me!" (For those just joining us, it's been established in previous entries that I am, indeed, fat, and we all know that my job is the source of all unhappiness in my life.)
The song really spoke to me on a lot of levels, not the least of which is that I have an interesting set of online perceptions that are often very different than "real life" is. I may not pretend to be who I am in profiles (e.g. those pictures are actually me; I can claim some modeling experience, but it's obvious that it's me in the photos; and I even live where I say I live), but there is a definite perception of me in online communities that I'm "so much cooler" than I really am that is simply not borne out in reality.
Really, I'm mostly a socially awkward flake. Of course, I'll admit that. :)
Anyway, I love the song, and it could very well be about me, if a few key details were changed. And I spent a few more hours each day online.
And the video has William Shatner in it, so you can't go wrong with it!
Brad Paisley - "Online" video
Trust me, it's worth a watch.
(Thanks to starrchilde for posting a link to the vid.)
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Spending Money", -JB
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October 18th, 2007
09:07 am - Ritual Stress, and Unstressing
Yesterday, well: it was rough. Mostly, I had a rite that I really wanted to go well last night, but which I was really, really worried about. I'd spent a lot of time working through songs and trying to get them ready to go, and to learn them, only to end up forgetting melodies and underestimating the time needed to learn them.
Work has put me under more stress than usual, as well: I've been working my ass off for five solid weeks with no end in sight. Combine that with my usual pre-ritual anxiety and you have one basket-case of a priest.
It wasn't until I began to ritually pack the altar items we'd need that I finally started to calm down. There's something about going through the rite and all the stuff that's remarkably calming on me.
In the end, it turned out not to be the quality of our singing that was vitally important to Cantlos, our "ritual of songs" for this Druid Moon; it was the amusement and joy I saw on people's faces around the fire. Between forgotten words, failed reading of the lyrics, and our Grove's general "I-don't-sing" sentiment, the rite was full of songs and laughter and new jokes. Honestly, it was rather fun.
Props to the Grove for that processional, btw. Definite props.
I wouldn't have ever dared to do a ritual with that many songs and that little rehearsal as a public rite, but as a Grove rite, it was a lot more relaxed and fun. It may not have been as excellent as we could have made it, but we certainly learned a lot from it (like next Sept., we're going to need a meeting where all we do is rehearse songs for this ritual, and write new ones).
And boy, my Trance Journal got a hell of an entry on last night. I'm still not sure what to think of all that, but I see a lot of room for improvement on induction and focus.
We've a long way to go toward excellence with this particular rite, but I think we can manage it well. We have a year to look at it again, and the omens were not at all bad, though I think that the Powers were perhaps a bit confused by the shear number of songs we used, and possibly by the number of people making up songs on the fly, a la druidkirk. The omens are speaking to me more strongly this morning.
A favourite part of the rite last night, though, was after the rite: sitting and singing/listening to karaoke with the Grove. I was there until 11:30 (when I figured our hosts might like to get some sleep. . .)
The next Druid Moon Rite, Samonios, is already in the formal planning stages now; I'll be chatting with the Grove tonight about what they'd like to do at the next Druid Moon. I suspect that removing the variable of *that many* songs will help a lot in the planning (and my subsequent stress). But I'm particularly looking forward to December's Druid Moon Rite, where we get to go back to doing initiations for a night.
That's something I really look forward to doing again.
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "What if the Hokey-Pokey is All It Really Is About?", -JB
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October 4th, 2007
10:55 am - Fat and happy, baby!
According to my University-provided health assessment, I am overweight and I need more exercise.
No wonder kids have image problems, if I am overweight.
Anyway, guess what this means?
I have a prescription to go hiking!
Current Location: Southeast of Disorder
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "We Are The People Our Parents Warned Us About", -JB
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