Saturday, September 27, 2008, 03:37 PM
Indigo Incarnates
September and October are always fun months because it's "haunted house season". Doug and I visit various Halloween attractions located in south-central Pennsylvania. Last night we went to one that had a possessed elevator, a pitch-black maze, a house with lots of 3D murals, and a haunted house that required us to solve puzzles in order to get from room to room. It was a lot of fun! We got home pretty late, so I'm glad that Jeff didn't mind driving. Doug had a lot of fun too.
This morning Doug and I did our usual weekend breakfast at First Watch. They have awesome pancakes and the prices are pretty good.
I've been on beta-blocker meds for about ten days or so. So I was feeling reasonably good today and I went to the gym for the first time in two weeks (yeah, I hadn't been feeling all that well thanks to what was happening with my heart problem). But the medicine is apparently working! I was able to do a 7.8 mile / 1300 calorie workout *without* my heart rate spiking to 190+ and without me getting dizzy or getting fiery vision. No, instead, my heart rate stayed in the 170-175 range for the whole 90 minutes and I didn't feel weak, sick, or dizzy. Huzzah!
It's been overcast for three days and has rained all day today -- a lot. I would like to be able to get some sun energy but that's not going to happen today. Egads!
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( 3 / 1510 )Wednesday, September 24, 2008, 08:00 PM
Indigo Incarnates
Y'know... sometimes I just feel like a real idiot. I have a small townhouse with a fixed-interest, long-term mortgage that I can actually afford. I have a small, fuel-efficient compact car with a modest car payment that fits into our household budget. I put $75 out of every paycheck into a retirement plan. I have only ONE credit card. I have $2000 in immediate liquidity in case of some financial disaster.
Apparently, I'm stupid.
See, if I happened to be a stock speculator or a CEO, I'd be getting some pretty hefty multi-billion-dollar handouts from George W Bush right now. The investor/CEO class gets some huge checks soon so they their stock portfolios will stay in the black. Personally, I don't care if a guy with a $100 million dollar portfolio loses out in speculation and now only has a $40 million-dollar portfolio.That's still more money than most people could spend in a dozen lifetimes.
Gotta love "compassionate conservative fascism".
By the way, Our debt is already 9.2 trillion dollars. so why not make it an even ten trillion? It's only taxpayer money after all? Oh, it's also your great-great-great grandchildren's money. Remember this $700 billion dollar bailout the next time some Republican politician says that the government can't afford to keep paying Social Security checks to the aged and disabled. They can afford bailouts for hedge fund speculators and people who buy mansions with adjustible rate mortgages, but they can't fix Social Security. They can afford $10 billion per month for the Iraq war, but they can't afford to develop alternative energy. they can afford a $50 billion dollar bailout for Ford/GM, but they can't afford to build high-speed mass transit to connect the cities.
The Bush administration is always looking for it's "legacy". Here it is: "Bailouts for Billionaires".
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( 2.9 / 1428 )Monday, September 22, 2008, 09:12 AM
halo incarnates
am trying to not be seen. trainer is in bad mood. hostile today. am trying to be unseen. don't like being here today. trainer keeps being impatient. trying to job right. trying hard. person keeps hovering. makes us nervous. makes mistakes when nervous. then trainer gets hostile. don't know why. am trying so hard. am trying really hard. am trying really hard. trying to be unseen. trying to not move much. trying to not speak much. trying to have minimal presence. don't like being trained by hostile person. am trying hard. trying really hard. not talking much. am trying to do job well. really trying.
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( 3.1 / 1315 )Sunday, September 21, 2008, 10:20 PM
Indigo Incarnates
As far as weekends go, this one was pretty darned good. :)
On Friday, I got to torment my friends with my World of Gaianar RPG. The brave adventurers were given the task of hunting down and destroying a franchise unit of Murder Incorporated (the local assassins' guild). Of course, the guild was located in the heart of the dreaded Spider Woods which, od course, happened to be infested with giant spiders (the townsfolk are so creative!) So after mashing a bunch spiders the size of Volkswagons, the heroes found the enterence to the Murder Inc headquarters. Of course, the dungeon was a nearly inpenetrable labirynth, heh heh. Mixing mazes with random teleporters is always a blast!
On Saturday, Doug and I did our usual breakfast at First Watch. Yum! I also got to attend a Mabon service at Cedar Light Grove. I also finished writing the draft version of the ritual I'm leading in November. It will be my first ritual as a celebrant.
Lemme tell ya: The Mabon service was great and Pagans are very fun to hang out with. Pagan worship services are not the guilt-ridden, self-flaggelating events that Christian services can *sometimes* be. Then there is the awesome phenomenon of creating sacred space. When the celebrant creates thw sacred space he is esswntially creating an area of overlap between the spirit world and the material world. One of the neat effects is that it can cause heightened senses. When I was looking into the big bonfire, I could see so much detail about the flames, logs, embers, and smoke. I could see all the subtle variations of color and scent that I would ordinarily miss. And I could hear every pop, crackle, and hiss. It was quite amazing!
Of course, it's always nice having munchies and finger food after the service too. :)
Sunday I did a long walk outside since the weather was nice. I could really feel the change between the light and dark parts of the year. It was cool, sunny, and bright. Thistle got to fly. It's good for us to have energy. It'll be harder soon when the sunlight weakens with the coming of winter. So it was good for Thistle to fly while the sun is still bright.
Then Doug, Jeff, and I went to Field of Screams near Lancaster. That one has the haunted hay ride (featuring undead pigs, cars on fire, redneck zombies, and killer clowns), a doomed asylum (I guess it's a HMO hospital? heh heh), and a crumbling haunted mansion. It was pretty cool.
So, all in all, I had a pretty nice time this wekend!
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( 3 / 1229 )Thursday, September 18, 2008, 06:32 PM
Indigo Incarnates
I'm not a big sports fan by any stretch of the imagination, but the Baltimore Orioles have always been the subject of morbid curiosity. This is a team that manages to finish in last place more often than they win the World series. They also hold the record of longest losing streak (0:22) and most stunning single-game defeat (33-3). Well, last night they plunged into last place by snatching defeat from the jaws of victory (they ended 7-6 after holding a 0-6 lead for several innings).
So I came up with a concept for a sporting event that even the O's can!t screw up.: the World series of Losing. Basically, you take the two worst teams each year and have them play seven games each other. Whoever *loses* 4 out of 7 games wins the World Series of Losing.
What do ya think?
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( 3 / 1241 )Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 07:59 AM
Indigo Incarnates
As much as I like warm weather and sunny days, I am glad that Autumn is upon us at last. It's nice walking out the front door in the morning to be greeted with cool, crisp air. There is a cycle to things, and it's time for the weather to change.
The trees haven't changed color yet, but I think that will happen soon. I'm glad that the little tree in our tiny front yard has prospered. When we got the house seven years ago it was almost dead. Then five years ago it grew all of its leaves back. The year after, it grew a few purple blossoms. Well... now the tree is about four times bigger than it once was, it takes up the whole front yard, and has flowers blooming out of every possible twig. Willow's pretty happy about this development.
Mabon Sabbat is next Saturday. It's the celebration of the second harvest (fruit and vegetables). I am going to be brave and actually try to bake a fruit pie of some kind, since we're supposed to bake something nice in honor of the Harvest Lord (the Wiccan God). Pagans are fun people and our services are joyful. I'm looking forward to this weekend :)
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( 3 / 1227 )Monday, September 15, 2008, 09:10 PM
am willow
can feel the season change
trees are getting ready to sleep
trees are getting sleepy
sunlight was nice
pretty clouds
walked past a stream
lots of rocks and the water passed over
glad trees are not in a hurry
like trees
nice trees
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( 3.1 / 1250 )Sunday, September 14, 2008, 03:10 PM
indigo incarnates
I didn't feel too well today. Sometimes everything just feels too heavy and I feel dizzy. I just have so little energy today. I hate feeling like this. I want to write a better post but I can't. I'm just so tired.
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( 3 / 1037 )Thursday, September 11, 2008, 09:57 PM
Indigo Incarnates
So, I finally got nagged into seeing a doctor because of some ongoing physical problems. My friend Doris is a really caring friend and convinced me to get a stress test done ya cardiac test) because I've been having problems with dizziness, discomfort, and a sort of fiery vision disturbance when I exercise. I had been putting up with it for a while, but Doris convinced me to get it checked out.
I did a run on a treadmill while wearing an EKG harnass. It was very gadgety and high-tech, heh heh. My resting heart rate is 67 and I have a BP of 100/70. Kewl. That was the good news.
The bad news is that my heart apparently beats in an abnormal rhythm. It's not a big deal. It's not particularly dangerous and is apparently easily treatable through either meds or a fairly low-risk surgery. If I do nothing about it, there *probably* won't be any lasting effects other than what I'm experiencing.
There was a bunch of medical jargon, but I forgot what the condition was called. Essentially, my heart sort of has a "wiring fault" since under certain conditions it will beat incorrectly because the electrical impulses travel along an incorect path.
Well, it was good to get the test done. At least I know why I've been having these symptoms and that it's not a really big deal.
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( 3 / 1052 )Wednesday, September 10, 2008, 08:38 AM
Indigo Incarnates
Ya know, I really bothers me how every four years the Presidential candidates have to bow and scrape in order to appease the "Religious Right". All of the sudden you have presidential candidates who had once been reasonable, thinking human beings all of the sudden spouting off how much they love God, guns, war, and "traditional family values". And somehow, the middle-of-the-road voters get drawn into the hysteria of how the mere presence of gays in THEIR neighborhood presents a "clear and present danger" to the community.
So, it seems to me that the Neo-Conservative Republican American Values seem to be:
War without end is good for America. American troops don't mind being the defenders of unstable, Third World countries that even now plot our destruction.
It's good for CEOs of major corporations to outsource American jobs to China and India so that the employees on the Executive level can get multi-million dollar bonuses.
It's good for America for old ladies to have their Social Security checks discontinued
Women who are raped should be forced to bear the offspring of rapists (and even give visitation rights to the rapist)
It's better for America that the pharmaceutical industry be freed from the constraints of the FDA. American's need untested, unsafe medicines NOW!
There's just too much free speech in America. People who criticize the government are disloyal and should be investigated and/or imprisoned.
It's ok for our government to torture defendants, but it's an act of war when other countries do that to Americans.
Jesus was a rich, white CEO.
God occasionally sends terrorists and hurricanes in order to punish America for not killing gays.
It's good to let Big Business denude our National Parks (oil drilling, logging, strip mining, etc.)
Conservation is evil. Jesus is coming back soon, so anyone who cares about the environment is anti-Christian.
Divine Right states that Americans should all own big, gas-guzzling SUVs.
Cheap products imported from China is good for America -- especially since it gives 5-year-olds in China gainful 70-hour-per-week employment at pennies per hour.
Why develop solar and wind power when the Coal lobby gives the politicians so much money?
It's bad for individuals to be able to declare bankruptcy -- even if the indebtedness is the result of medical expenses or the death of a spouse. But it's good policy to hand billions of dollars to bail out failing corporations in which the CEOs have squandered the company's finances.
It's good for national security to expel gay soldiers and gay Arabic translators.
It's okay for a president to not show up for work for weeks or months at a time.
It's okay for the Vice President to have significant influence over major corporations that benefit from bloated, no-bid Federal contracts.
God forgives murderers but not gays
Anyone who is not a Fundamentalist Christian is a "threat" to traditional family values.
Policies that help the poor constitute a "nanny state" while policies that hand money to the rich constitute "economic stimulus".
When it comes to tax cuts: it's perfectly fair to give the middle class $300 each and give the rich $250,000 each.
Voting for a Democrat invites a repeat of 911 (despite the fact that the event in question occurred under Bush's watch!)
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