A Mixed Bag for Saturday 
Saturday, March 8, 2008, 07:01 PM - Random Thoughts
I have to say that my day was about as turbulant as the weather. First... the weather. It started out overcast and drizzly (but warm). Then it rained. Then it got really windy. Then it was sunny for a brief time. Then it got windy again (and much colder). Then it started raining again. Then, just as the sun was setting, the skies cleared again. Man!

Now for my day:

Doug and I did our usual Saturday ritual of eating breakfast at First Watch, and it wasn't too crowded for a change (so that was good). Then I did my usual Saturday ritual of going to the gym and doing the "super-workout" (good). Except the gym was closed for some kind of major repair (bad), so I had to drive to the other side of the city to use the other gym that is part of my membership and burn a bunch of gas at $3.19/gallon (bad). My workout went well (good) and I lost another pound this week (good). Then I got a message on my cell phone that I had been ejected from my Wiccan circle (bad) and I had no idea why.

I got home and contacted one of the other circle members and found out that the leader was having some kind of nervous breakdown and had dissolved the circle and was no longer going to mentor anyone (bad) and wasn't interested in being consoled by anyone, talking with anyone, or generally having any role in anyone else's spiritual development (realy bad). All I can do is say a prayer for him and hope he can recover from his illness. I hope that he can.

So, Doug and I tried a new vegetarian restaraunt that was pretty good AND cheap (good). I got a lime/ginger drink that was so acidic that it made my stomach sick (bad).

So... my day was like the weather: warm/cold, bright/dark, calm/chaotic. I guess some lessons have to be experienced to be learned. Part of life is having days like this. Still, I will think positive thoughts for my friend and mentor during his illness even though I doubt I will become his pupil again. My lessons will have to be learned elsewhere.

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Change of Seasons 
Wednesday, March 5, 2008, 05:16 PM - Random Thoughts
One of the great things about being a changeling is that I can really feel the change of seasons. There just seemed to be a sense of warm, diffuse, life-energy that permeated the air and the ground today. It was subtle, not overpowering, but just enough that I noticed. To make a visual metaphor, it's like walking into a room that's already lit and then turning on two or three more lights -- it makes everything more visible and warmer. It was a nice feeling and it carried me through a difficult day at work.

Sometimes I feel really connected to the earth in the same way that Thistle feels fulfilled when flying. I wonder if that makes us complementary entities? :)

The time change comes this Sunday to the Eastern Standard Time region of the United States (fyi for Pink, who lives in England). This always helps me a lot because it has the effect of suddenly making the sun set an hour later in the evening. We cherish the sunlight and look forward to having more of it.

I feel really fulfilled and whole being the kind of entity I am. I do believe we're all created for a purpose, and created with love. I am happy to be who I am. Blessed Be.

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I'm a sucker for surveys 
Sunday, March 2, 2008, 08:40 PM - Random Thoughts
I found a cool psych survey. I'm a sucker for things psychological and/or spiritual. I was happy to learn that my profile is "Benevolent Thinker" Yay!!!!

See the Survey Resut

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Presidents' Day 
Monday, February 18, 2008, 10:01 AM - Random Thoughts
Well, I'll probably think of something else to say later on, but the funny thought for Presidents' Day is that we could honor Abraham Lincoln by suspending the Writ of Habeous Corpus -- and thus make the defendants stay in JAIL!!!! Ha ha ha ha!!

::mischieveous grins::


--> Okay... I thought of what else I wanted to say: We could celebrate Presidents' Day by impeaching George W. Bush. Yay!!!

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Incandescent 
Friday, February 15, 2008, 12:17 PM - Random Thoughts
The past couple of days have been pretty good. I have recovered from the flu and I have made peace with the passing of Jewell into the Summerland. The inherited body is free of illness and functioning well. I've been able to excercise, attend choir, and perform my duties very well at work. Thistle has been able to fly a lot lately since it's been sunny three days this week.

Put it all together, and I'm experiencing a wonderful sense of incandescence. I know this body is merely human, but it feels like I have so much energy that perhaps something of my true self (my changeling-self) must shine through a little bit at least :)

I guess Halo must be sleeping again, since I'm no longer being tormented with images of wanton harm being inflicted on this body. I'm not being told that blood pays for sins. I guess Thistle's strength has improved enough that his brightness outshines Halo's darkness. For this I am glad.

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Limits 
Monday, February 11, 2008, 08:44 AM - Random Thoughts
Thistle can travel outside my body, but he cannot fly as far as the Summerland. I was hoping that he could, but he cannot. In the spirit world, he is tethered to me by a shining filament of some sort. He flew as far as he could, but he could not reach my friend who died.

Still, I wish her well. I pray that she at least knows that I tried. Perhaps, in the life-to-come, I will see her again.

It is sunny today and when Thistle flew, he shone bright silver. I have energy. I am glad that he is my allied spirit even though his powers are limited.

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Another Bush Year 
Sunday, December 30, 2007, 03:48 PM - Random Thoughts
Well, 2007 continued G. W. Bush's proud tradition of deficit spending and robbing the Middle Class. We're still at "war" in Iraq, although it seems that there aren't really any easily defined "good guys" and "bad guys" in this endless conflict. But it sure does waste money, cost lives, and line Halliburton's pockets!

2007 also saw the first year in which the Canadian dollar and the Euro were worth more than the U.S. Dollar. Why, you might ask? Because our currency is on the verge of uncontrolled hyperinflation thanks to Bush's 7-year-long unchecked spending spree. We had a balanced budget under Clinton. But Bush gave the surplus directly to the billionaires and kept on spending from there! Our currency is also in trouble because Bush let the mnegacorporations get away with outsourcing hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs to Third World hellholes. So, as a result, hardly anything is manufactured in the United States anymore, which makes for an ever-increasing trade deficit, which in turn devalues the U.S. Dollar.

So, if you're wondering by it costs $250 to go grocery shopping in 2007 when it cost $125 in 2000, that's the reason.

Bush did, however, veto every attempt by the House and Senate to curb spending.God forbid his Haliburton-enriching projects get trimmed.

Of course, he did grudgingly sign the 2007 CAFE reform bill. this requires that car makers have an average fleet fuel economy of 35 MPG. But there are enough loopholes in the bill to drive a Hummer through. He made sure that the oil companies kept getting billions of dollars in Federal subsidies (as if they need it!) He phased out the hybrid tax credit while at the same time renewing the Hummer/Escalade super-guzzler tax credit (worth $25,000 for those millionaires who buy them!) He also made sure that the price of food will continue to rise by requiring that corn-based ethanol by tripled in use. that's smart: turning FOOD into FUEL. Oh, and that's also one of the guzzler loopholes Bush demanded: the Cadalac Escalade is granted an artificial fuel economy of 57 MPG because it's capable of running on ethanol. YEah, some bonus. As if they will ever run on renewable fuels. There are exactly FOUR ethanol-dispensing gas stations in Maryland!

My favorite bill this year was when he bailed out all the rich aging Yuppies who bough more house than they can afford. That's great: my taxes now helop pay for some millionaire's McMansion. Fantastic. Thanks, Bush!!!

So, just to recap: food, fuel, health insurance, education, and energy have all increased by over 100% under Bush's term, while real income for the Middle Class has increased by less than 1% over that same period of time.

And you wonder why I changed party affiliations in 2002?

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Top 10 from Hanuman 
Tuesday, December 18, 2007, 05:33 PM - Random Thoughts
1. When you were born, how much did you weigh? 9 pounds.

2. What’s your sugar poison? Jebby Bellies, Sweedish Fish, Lemonheads, and Dots.


3. If you had to choose between meat and cheese for the rest of your life, which would you choose? Then be specific. I'd pick cheese. There are so many dishes that require cheese, but almost every meat dish can implement a soy-based subsitute.


4. What, in your opinion, is the worst song ever? One of the songs in the hymnal (I forget which number it is), but I always recognize it in the first few notes. It's boring, uninspired, lousy, and long.


5. Who was your favorite teacher growing up and why? Dr. Cathcart (at Salisbury State). He could ctually understand the spatial relationships between four-dimensional objects. Yeah, his was a rare mind. He was also philosophical and funny.


6. What personal activity, when performed in public, bothers you the most?
While the cell phone thing doesn't bother me, per se, there is a specific kind of cell phone that aggrivates me a great deal. These cutting-edge "two-way" phones from Boost and Nextel are a bane because rude people turn the chirp sound up to full volume and then scream into the speakerphone. It's just so rude!


7. Ok, there’s a $50 bill lying on the ground. You pick it up. Dumbfounded by your incredible luck, what do you selfishly purchase? A british mystery (like Morse, Frost, Wire in the Blood, etc.)

8. Do you have a recurring nightmare? My father (an abusive monster) often plays a pivitol role in my nightmares. He usually appears in my dreams to scream at me, or to tell me how I have disappointed him or or how I am utterly worthless.


9. Name one place on Earth you’ve never been, but vow to visit at least once. I'd love to see Ireland. It is there that I would hope to somehow find one of the Thin Places where the boundary between worlds is stretched thin and one might be able to cross over into some other realm.

10. You notice that question #9 wasn’t really a question. You feel smart for catching such a small detail. What else can you do really well that reminds you how smart you are? I can figure out how to use almost any electronic gadget without ever having seen an instruction manual.


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A really odd play 
Tuesday, December 18, 2007, 04:46 PM - Random Thoughts
So... Doug managed to get some really cheap tickets to a play called "The Homecoming". The play was just plain bizarre. It takes place in some run-down townhouse in London in which a father, two sons, and an uncle occupy the house.

Well, the father is a violent, foul-mouthed braggart on pension. Son #1 is a pimp and Son #2 is a boxer / factory worker. The uncle is a chauffer who I suspect might have been gay.

The "homecoming" part comes into play when the eldest son (a philosophy professor) shows up at midnight with his odd, distant wife.

The long and short of it is this: the wife meets the family and decides to move in and become a prostitute. The husband is, strangely, okay with this plan since he was going to get a 10% share of her illicit earnings. The pimp-son offered to get her set up in business since he said he only dealth with high-price call girls and not "aged trotters".

Yeah.

The pimp-son is also sort of a sociopath, since be bragged about how he thought about murdering his last girlfriend but was too lazy to finish the job (ie. "But then I thought about how I'd have to bury the body and all that rubbish. Too much damned work, so I just kicked her a bit with my boot"). Yeah.

It was a darkly humorous play that was, against all odds, fun to watch. The acting was really good. I just have no idea what the hell the play was trying to accomplish. It inspired lots of questions but darned few answers.

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Why are we still in Iraq?! 
Sunday, July 15, 2007, 09:28 AM - Random Thoughts
When I think of the useless was in Iraq -- the one that Bush started via lies and fake evidence -- I keep coming back to the question: Why are we still there? Bush is the only one who thinks we're making "progress", but the rest of the world thinks otherwise.

-- The overwhelming majority of Americans (something like 7 in 10) think we should have an orderly, phased withdrawel over a 6-12 month period.
-- A majority of House and Senate members think we need an orderly, phased withdrawel from Iraq.
-- Most soldiers who were polled reported a strong desire to come home.
-- Most Iraqi citizens want us to leave Iraq.
-- The Iraqi president wants us to leave Iraq.

The trouble is that Bush started this war because he really believes that God told him to start this war. Yeah. I remember seeing the press conference in which Bush said that he had been prayung and that God told him to invade Iraq.

Now, if the average citizen were to go around saying that God spoke to him and commanded him to try to take over the world, that person would probably be put on anti-psychotic medication. Unfortunately, since Bush is President, he actually gets to try to take over the world (Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, who knows what's next?!)

January 20, 2009 -- Bush's last day -- can't come too soon!

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