headache

I intended to do something tonight, but sat in front of the tube watching 'kids' and Bio-Scott Baio instead. Didn't even want ice cream.

I have been on edge all day. Managed to eat breakfast and go to Walgreen's for chocolate and hard candy (as the student supervisor, at least for now, I have taken it upon myself to provide chocolate and hard candy for the library...my students work hard and they deserve treats. Then I almost missed the bus, didn't have my ID, had two meetings (one in the morning and one in the afternoon), was bitchy enough to the AUL for services that I apologized. Cheron and I rode the bus home and went to Za's for dinner...we got home and TC and Marcey arrived at the same time. They had another huge fight and she ditched him before dinner, so I took him to Za's for dinner...it sucks.

Want to do something interesting or useful. Things to think about:

http://www.wildhunt.org/2008/05/rooted-in-experience.html

Let me make a pitch for one of my favorite Pagan causes: being rooted in experience.

We like to say that Paganism is not about following a creed or obedience to commandments written in an ancient book. It's about lived experiences: direct encounters with our gods and our communities, with nature and with spirit.

So why is nearly everything we write in the form of a recipe book? Why so little in the way of lived experience? For a religion of direct, personal gnosis, we have remarkably little writing about what happens when we set out to practice rather than preach.

I propose we change that. Here is my challenge to you:

Don't tell me how your tradition draws down the moon or performs a proper blot. Instead, tell me about the first time you led a public ritual: about how your knees were wobbly, and you began to sweat; about how you were afraid that nothing would happen. And then it did. And something in the sound of the drums took hold of you, and you felt different, and the world changed.

I don't know Cat Chapin-Bishop (although I do know Jason P-W) and I am not a Quaker (although I suppose I am a lapsed Pagan).

The guy who writes Slow Reads quoted T.S. Eliot's East Coker from Four Quartets. Why did I not study Eliot when I was young?

Now they are talking about the death of Jim Morrison on tv. I'm going to bed with a book.



http://www.tristan.icom43.net/quartets/

Mary in May-for Katharine

http://blog.womenandspirituality.net/?entry=entry080502-081804


http://blog.womenandspirituality.net/?entry=entry080509-081919


http://blog.womenandspirituality.net/?entry=entry080516-100735


http://blog.womenandspirituality.net/?entry=entry080523-071237

The above links are for a series of articles in Women and Spirituality about May and how May is Mary's month. I have captured them all here, because I think Katharine might find them interesting.

unread

Here is the list of books tagged "unread" in LibraryThing. I'm not going to tell anyone which ones I have and haven't read...my life is depressing enough in that department. I am going to Amazon and buy a copy of Ambient Findability so I can a) return the library copy I have been trying to read since December and b) possibly underline things. It's one of those books that, if I try hard enough, I might get it...I occasionally see glimmers of what it all means...but I'm just not quite smart enough.

the circle dance

from The Daily OM:

Coming Full Circle

Life is a circular journey through our issues and processes, and this is why things that are technically new often seem very familiar. It is also why, whenever we work to release a habit, change a pattern, or overcome a fear, we often encounter that issue one last time, even after we thought we had conquered it. Often, when this happens, we feel defeated or frustrated that after all our hard work we are still dealing with the same problem. However, the reappearance of a pattern, habit, or fear, is often a sign that we have come full circle, and that if we can maintain our resolve through one last test, we will achieve a new level of mastery in our lives.

This is too f*cking cool

http://spacecollective.org/

I want to be a part of it!

spacecollective.org

I found this in a post in if:future of the book and it totally blew the top of my head off. It is the brainchild of Rene Daalder who, among other things, was a protege of Russ Meyer.

SpaceCollective is described as a place
Where forward thinking terrestrials exchange ideas and information about the state of the species, their planet and the universe, living the lives of science fiction today.

via Unclutterer

Jamie Lee Curtis turns 50

The cover story in AARP for May/June 2008. Jamie Lee Curtis talks about stripping down her life and making things simpler. Reaching the age where you don't need things to make you happy. Decluttering.

I found this article totally inspiring.

this made me cry

What a wonderful world we live in. Thanks to Saoba for pointing out this story.

metaphor

Metaphors are Your Intellectual Weapons in Preventing Mistakes

It’s impossible to know exactly the movement of every atom and electron. Reality is too large and complex to fit inside our brains. As the saying goes, “the map is not the territory.”

New ideas and metaphors are the intellectual knives to cut up reality and fit it into your brain. Some of these simplifications are useful, and help you see answers that were previously invisible. Reading a large amount, and from a wide variety gives you the best chance of finding these ideas. Finding more ideas means fewer stupid mistakes.
Scott H Young

"to meme or not to meme" That iz teh kwestiun

Adam Lindsey, who created a computer language spinoff of LOLcats called LOLcode, said, "The idea is everything; you are nothing. If it is successful, all you are is sort of a midwife helping it into the world. If you try to control a meme, you just tend to squash it, so enjoy it without ego and let it take itself wherever it wants to go."

From a cnn.com article on ROTFcon

LOL

LOLbird

First of May

Okay, so I missed it. Yesterday was reading day, and the pizza for library student assistants and a morning meeting and...yada yada...

but here are the lyrics of Jonathan Coulton's "First of May." Here is a youtube video of Jonathan Coulton singing "First of May." Here is a youtube video of "Lusty Month of May" from the musical "Camelot." Here is Kenneth Branagh in "Much Ado About Nothing."

Here is an article on International Worker's Day (May 1 is not just about pleasure)

And finally:

Beauteous May by John Milton

Now the bright morning star, day's harbinger,
Comes dancing from the east, and leads with her
The flow'ry May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose.
Hail, beauteous May, that dost inspire
Mirth, and youth, and warm desire;
Woods and groves are of thy dressing,
Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing.
Thus we salute thee with our early song,
And welcome thee, and wish thee long.

Blessed Be!

Edit: I apparently missed one. According to the Women and Spirituality site, May is the month of the Virgin Mary, as well