Desiderata

I have always loved this piece; I remember my mom having a large black-framed copy hanging in the living room when I was a kid. I've learned since then that it's much more recent than tradition holds, but, meh! That doesn't alter it's simple wisdom. Thanks for reminding me of it DaveyWavey!

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

I LOVE POI!!!

If the title wasn't enough to make the point, then perhaps these videos  will! I got into poi partially due to an occasional fascination with it in general, and partly due to a few friends from work who practice it (Thanks Justin and Molly!). Later, after I had been a practicing beginner for about 6 months I found a whole online community of spinners...people like Nick Woolsey from NS, (www.playpoi.com), Thomas Johansson from Nevisoul (www.nevisoul.com), Yuta,, from Japan and many, many others.


The videos below are only a small part of what continues to inspire me to practice, to get better, and also  to get into better shape (as I will have to in order to keep up with these guys, lol).


Enjoy:

More for the last

Hi world.


I realized after I had posted the "Open letter to Phenix Saint"  that I had forgotten some key points. I am currently working on articulating said points and will post them soon.


Stay tuned...

An Open Letter to Phenix Saint

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Egypt

This whole thing in Egypt right now has me a little overwhelmed! I still remember the October War in 1973, when I was six and just starting 1st grade. Frankly I'm still processing what's happened in the last week, 'cause it seems to have gone by so fast!

I'll let you know when I catch up!

Peace

Good bye Christina

R.I.P.
Christina Taylor Green
September 11, 2001 :: January 8, 2011
9 years old

Eternal rest grant unto her -
and may Perpetual Light shine upon her

Fan(atics)

Fanaticism

from Wikipedia.org:

Fanaticism is an emotion of being filled with excessive, uncritical zeal, particularly for an extreme religious or political cause or in some cases sports, or with an obsessive enthusiasm for a pastime or hobby. Philosopher George Santayana defines fanaticism as "redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim"[1]; according to Winston Churchill, "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject". By either description the fanatic displays very strict standards and little tolerance for contrary ideas or opinions.

****************************************************

The other day at work one of my supervisors at work passed on to me a little URL for the now "as seen on TV during the Superbowl" preview of "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra"! I watched it tonight. Then I got more interested in the movie and did a little online searching for more on this, sure to be a blockbuster whether it ultimately deserves to or not I make no judgements, movie by Michael Bay, of "Transformers" fame. I found one site that purported to be leaking pictures of the cast in costume, (test shots I think), and after checking out the pictures, I scrolled a little further down, and began to read the comments left by visitors to the site.

I couldn't help but both laugh and be, perhaps, just a little scared. These people were brutal in their dislike for the costumes, and in their hatred of the film, even though they hadn't seen it yet, and many were even talking about organizing boycotts of the film because of it. Every now and then there was a cooler head prevailing but even they were quickly shot down, metaphorically speaking, of course. But I have no doubt in my mind that for some of these fellow "Citizens of Planet Earth", a more literal interpretation would suit just as well. I thought about this for a minute and it occured to me what these people actually needed, as compared to wanted, was to GET A LIFE!

I mean come on! It's a frelling Hollywood comic remake, for frack's sake. And I heard people going on about how the movie was destroying treasured images from their childhood. It's a fracking comic book, people. And let's not forget there was also an "action figure". These were so named because the manufacturer could never have gotten away with saying it was a doll. They would never have been able to sell it if parents thought about it as buying a doll for their sons. Thus today we have the tradition of buying action figures for our sons at birthdays and at Christmas.

But. . .

. . . in my world GI Joe and Barbie, were the best of friends. The original BFF's you might say. Of course, what Barbie never realized was that Joe was only hanging out with her so he could get closer to Ken, who secretly swung both ways. Oh yeah, in my world, GI Joe was a fag! Yes children, Joe was as queer as a footbal bat.


. . .


So it seems that what I'm really trying to say here is that there's nothing wrong with being a fan of something. I happen to think fandom is terrific. I am a huge fan of the "Underworld" series of movies. Len Wiseman, Danny McBride, and Kevin Grevioux made a terrific writing team, Len is a phenomenal director with a palpable vision, Danny and Kevin were both in the movie, Danny as Mason, a Death Dealer working in Khan's group, and Kevin as Raze, a lieutenant of Lucien, the leader of the Lycans. As you can see I could go on at length, and may very well do so someday soon, if I can ever get my hands on a good copy (I mean, Offsite Archival Copy) of Dragon Naturally Speaking, and a couple more gigs of RAM. The point here is that fandom is all very well, but getting so worked up about the way a movie treats a comic character, or characters, that you would try to organize a boycott of the movie? That's just dumb, and wreaks of good, old-fashioned, 'waaaay too much time on my hands!' syndrome to me.



But I could be wrong.

November 2, 2008

-From Wikipedia
(October 28, 2008)-

** "All Soul's Day
-- November 2, 2008 -

The custom of setting apart a special day for intercession for certain of the faithful departed is very old. But the celebration of general intercession on 2 November* was first established by St. Odilo of Cluny (d. 1048) at his monastery of Cluny in 998. The decree ordaining the celebration is printed in the Bollandist Acta Sanctorum (Saec. VI, pt. i. p. 585). From Cluny the custom spread to the other houses of the Cluniac order, which became the largest and most extensive network of monasteries in Europe. The celebration was soon adopted in several dioceses in France, and spread throughout the Western Church. It was accepted in Rome only in the fourteenth century. While 2 November remained the liturgical celebration, in time the entire month of November became associated in the Western Catholic tradition with prayer for the departed; lists of names of those to be remembered being placed in the proximity of the altar on which the sacrifice of the mass is offered. " **

The fact that this could be interpreted as a form of mediumship in the classic Pagan and Wiccan tradition seems to have to slipped peoples minds entirely, no thanks in large part to the ongoing, through-out history, efforts of the Roman Catholic church. (Don't even get me started! lol)

Anyway this is really just my way of recognizing the deep, dare I say it, almost filial affection for a woman who has inspired me for many years, ever since she went back to university at the age of thirty-seven, because she wanted so badly to become a nurse, finally graduating in the top 3% of her class, and within a few months, receiving a mark in the 98th percentile range on her RN exams! She has always been there for me when I really needed her and I will never have the words to be able to thank her properly.

I love you, Mom!

Jamie
Pagan Forge

*technically when the 2nd of Nov falls on a Sunday, the Celebration gets moved to the Monday following, but it's generally celebrated on the 2nd.

Lady Liberty's Lost Her Head!

So, I'm watching this show on History Television tonight called "Aftermath:The World After Humans", and there is a scene that struck me as a particularly biting bit of political wit in this day and age.

Over 150 years after the sudden, (and unexplained, but since the why is not relevant to the premise of the show, it doesn't really matter anyway), the Elements are beginning to take their toll on the structures of our lives. We have already seen the consequences of 150 plus years of neglect on the Eiffel Tower as it toppled from the middle as a result of rust. Now we are in New York. The Statue of Liberty has already lost her Torch arm as rain has penetrated her copper cladding. That combined with the natural humidity of the Harbor, has caused the statue's iron skeleton to collapse. We are then witness to the sight of the statue's head falling forward to land in the forest at her feet.

Thus, "Lady Liberty has Lost Her Head!" Please tell me I don't have to explain the significance of this in light of the current political climate, both here and in the U.S.

I'm working on a post about my recent trip to Halifax Thanksgiving weekend, to be a part of "MAC Leather X: A Celebration of Leather" I got to visit with friends I haven't seen in a long time. I got a chance, (well several really, but who's counting! ;p ), to visit a terrific new bar in Hali, the new "Menz Bar" on Gottingen street, did a little shopping - bought a new memory card for my camera- Sony Store in MicMac Mall, great price - took lots of pics, too. I am currently cropping and clearing up pictures from the Sunday night Celebration proper. Took over 80 pics that night and it'll take time to get the done. Then I'll be posting them along with whatever info I have, or can remember.

Until then, this will have to do.

With Light,

Pagan

Fun Times

It's funny sometimes the shit you discover when you get home late at night after work. . .
I worked a 5pm to 2am shift tonight and when I finally walked in the door at around 2:45 am, I found a group of people in my living room. Now you have to understand that these were all ( with 1 exception, and him I wouldn't mind getting to know a little more. . .shall we say. . .intimately) people I knew, since my room mate brought them home after the latest homo hop at Mavor's. But all the same it was a bit of a shock. Not an unpleasant shock mind you. Just a shock. I probably should have expected this after all, since I was on of the few people who wasn't going to the event. And since it was already known that I didn't have to get up early the next morning, well. . .

So as you might expect it didn't take all that long for things do develop to the point where some one was asking about the rumours they had heard about something called "Strip Twister". Well one thing led to another (they always do), and before you could say "Fuck me in the ass", there were 4 four people trying to figure out how to get themselves into the most interesting positions imaginable. And there are pictures. Trust me when I finally get them, I will see about posting the ones that are SFW. In fact even as I wriy=te this the positions are getting more interesting and the amount of visible flesh in increasing exponentially.

More later. When I know what the end game will be.