I'm back in Boston. I had a great deal of fun with My sister, niece, brother-in-law, and mom. Maddie is a little ball of energy. Well, not little, she's quite big for a 7 year old. Smart and creative, but I just can't keep up with her.

The day I arrived, Thursday, we pretty much stayed around the house and relaxed. My mom had already been there for several days and was already settled in.

Friday, Christian stayed home while Maddie, Bridgette, my mom, and I went down to Georgetown. We hit Lush and Godiva and went to Dean & Deluca for lunch. While I've seen central meter machines in parking lots, I'd never seen a central machine for street parking before. I guess it is more efficient than having a separate parking meter for each spot, I'm just not used to it. The biggest disadvantage I see with the central machine system is that if it breaks down it disrupts the use of a number of parking spots at once.

Saturday we drove into Virginia through wine country and went to Linden Vineyards (nothing to do with Second Live). That was my favorite part of the trip down. Relaxing doesn't even begin to describe the place. Surrounded by rows of grapes and vine watching the clouds shadow-dance on the Blue Ridge Mountains. The cigar Christian gave me to smoke at the vineyard not only went perfectly with the cheese and wine, but also with the surrounding tranquility.

Sunday, I got up later than I had planned, but not so late that it caused any hassle in catching my flight. Upon leaving, Christian gave me some cigars, along with a 15-pack of Rocky Patel vintage 1992s, one of my favorites. My mom gave me a wonderful dragon cane when I arrived at the house and I was a bit worried about getting on the flight with 2 canes, but I didn't have any hassle and the return trip from Reagan National to Logan went smoothly.

I had hoped to get some good bird pictures, but unfortunately my birding camera is not working. I noticed it my first day there. It seems to be a connection problem with the battery prongs, which should be repairable. But, I was glad to see that Maddie loved birds and birdwatching despite her father's hatred of them.

Sol, lifebringer and lightgiver, our star, the one which holds us tight and keeps at bay the outer darkness. Sol, thank you. Your winds dance in our sky and your breath allows our existence. There is nothing more powerful, nothing greater, nothing more brilliant or amazing in this system than Sol. While there may be bigger things out there, that effect our existence here and now than does Sol. While today we may look to Sol, truly everyday is Sol's day, for without Sol there are no days.

Poll #828329
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

What change should I make to Project Schedule next week?

Poll #822528
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

What change should I make to Project Schedule next week?

purpleglitter asked me to make some icons for her new David Hasselhoff shrine. I decided I'd share them here as well.

        

        

        

I hate the fucking club "promoters" that seem to take over almost every local online forum. Sure, clubs can a lot of fun. But, come on! It's not all about the club nights and the live shows. There is a lot more to do and see than that. However, they plaster humongous ad after ad in every forum that may or may not have anything remotely to do with what they are selling. The only difference between them and the spammers that are routinely ferreted off of LiveJournal and other at least simi-moderated sites is that the "promoters" seem to be tolerated because they are "local" and "cool". Bullshit. Their constantly annoying crapmounds are the reason I don't read most local LiveJournal communities. davis_square and menotomy are the only exceptions. davis_square because I delete the promoter spam if it the entire post is not strictly <lj-cut>, and can ban repeat offenders from the community. menotomy because it doesn't seem to be infested.

These promoter-fucks need to get the message: most people don't give a shit about your club nights and live shows. Your gigantic, largely unwanted advertisements are spam. S-P-A-M. You are a spammers and spammers are scum. Go away.

i left my cds at the bottom of my steps
i was going to take them with me to lady_babalon's apartment Sunday night, but changed my mind
i lose too many things to randomly take my cds places
i'd hate to lose all my cds
i did have a good time Sunday

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last night i went to see finding neverland with zarthon and purpleglitter
it was a very good movie
definitely worth seeing
very well done

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i'm still not as social as i'd like to be
i'm feeling more up to going out, but i simply don't have the funding too
poverty keeps me at home
i'd love to go do things
try my hand at clubbing again
that would be good
clubbing would allow me to be social and get exercise by dancing at the same time
but, alas clubbing also costs money
i'm about as broke as broke can be
until i find a new source of income, i'm stuck at home unless someone takes me out
i need to get moving on mass rehab
then i can get a job
then i can be a social butterfly again
soon

I started reading The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra today. As per not_you's advise, I'm taking it slow, only reading a little each day so I can fully digest it. I read through the first law today, the "Law of Pure Potentiality" a passage from the introduction has really peeked my interest in the book, as it expresses one of my core beliefs about the nature of the universe.

"The physical universe is nothing other than the Self curving back within Itself to experience Itself as spirit mind and physical matter. In other words, all process of creation are processes through which the Self or divinity expresses Itself. Consciousness in motion expresses itself as the objects of the universe in the eternal dance of life"

The chapter on the first spiritual law stresses the need to become in tune with the universe, the spirit of creation. Finding one's true Self, and learning balance between Self and the Universe (which is actually the same thing) is the key to unleashing pure potentiality and creativity, where anything is possible. I want to try the various methods suggested by this book to achieve balance and pure potentiality: meditation, communication with nature, silence, and non-judgment. In fact, I'm going to start meditating twice a day ("taking time each day to be silent, to just be" as Deepak Chapra puts it), in addition to working out once a day (not suggested in the book). I'm also going to get out to Spy Pond more and start making regular trips to the Great Meadow come Spring. I really have no excuse not to do these things. I have no job, I'm not in school. I could be doing so much with my day to better myself, it's time I started to.

I find that my thunderstorm CD is very good to meditate with, as it drowns out the traffic of Mass Ave. But I'm also considering just being with the sounds of Mass Ave. The comes in gentle waves, it might not be a bad idea. I also want to check out the used CD shops when I get money again for ambient CDs, like brooks, surf, and rain. As odd as it may seem. Silence is ideal to meditate with, but I can only really have that around 3:00am, which I will take advantage of. But as I want to meditate at least twice a day, and cannot always do so in science, I want to pick the least distracting sounds I can for my meditations.

I have a feeling my life is about to take a new, better, calmer direction. I'm looking forward to it. The last few years have been a typhoon that has left me tired and battered. I want to find some peace, and I think I'm finally starting to realize I need to make that journey.

Poll #201859
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Is the Hokey Pokey really what it's all about?

so here i am.
strobe in the back
sitting at the keyboard
i am supposed to be typing something
something hopefully interesting
when read later by me or others

the music mixes with the light
touches the light
i see the music
i see the interference patterns it makes with the strobe light
i am still sitting here
that's the sitting here update
that's to remind myself what i'm doing
i'm sitting here typing
if i didn't occasionally remind myself of that
i would forget
and i don't know exactly where that would leave us
if i forgot that i was here typing. sitting
no corrections
keep the stream
bubbles of reference
the music and strobe are beautiful
everything moves with me
edit thought
there are places i don't want to go
i know they are there
i don't know where they are
i don't want to know where they are
i don't want to there
in my mind are these places
it hurts when i get to close
it hurts now.
i don't like thinking about those places
i'll stop doing that
flashing light
purple
colours
rainbows
pre-paid phone card
look
touch
dance
refreshing energy
echoing slightly
i don't want to go into echoing
but i'm echoing on purpose right now
so i might as well go into echoing
echoing is very complicated
i don't want to make this post about it
anyway. i will end with and explanation
echoing is thinking about how you would describe an event instead of more purely experiencing it.
that's the end of this post.
or rather this is.