Good books reco'd by good friends. Today I took a long hot bubbly bath and finished Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart. Thx for the turn-on and loan, siouxiequeue. I shall bring it up to return to you soon.

It's time once again for this.

Wow... there is sooooo much to say, and yet... what of it is really important? What is useful to blog about? What parts of the festival do I wanna comment publicly on, and what am I working through too, more deeply...

( On the surface: )

It's Monday night now... and I STILL feel tired and hungover in a good way. Ah, Hekate's Sickle Festival... how we LOVE you.

:)

21 weeks till SMF.

(GRIN)

Don't Panic!  Don't Panic!  Where's my button?????  My teacher posted the end of quarter schedule today and I had somehow failed to calculate in that the studio will be closed the entire week of Thanksgiving.  So I essentially have 9 WORKING DAYS LEFT... O.M.G.  I will now proceed to hyperventilate.  Okay.  I can do this.  I will make a plan tonight and it will all work out.  Oh, and here's an in-process picture of the sculpture I'm currently working on.

In process picture of 2nd sculpture.. this is done with a stoneware clay.. it's a bit over life-size

In Times of Crisis: Act!

Monday, 9 November, 2009

It has been 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. We are ‘celebrating’ this anniversary at a time when global capitalism and liberal democracy, the so-called winners of the Cold War struggle between East and West, find themselves in one of the deepest economic and political crises since the Wall Street crash in 1929 and the global turmoil that followed. Perhaps more significantly, however, this is the first crisis that Eastern Europeans are experiencing since their so-called ‘transition’ from a state socialist to a capitalist ideology. What should we make of this transition since 1989? Rather than engaging in a traditional analysis of the winners and losers of this transition, I am interested in what today’s capitalist crisis has perhaps in common with the crisis of state socialism in 1989. I will explore this question by engaging with the German film Good Bye Lenin!.

Crisis, What Crisis?

The press is currently reporting – on an almost daily basis – that we are in the midst of one of the deepest and most serious economic crises since the 1929 Wall Street crash. While it is clear that most of the media has not quite given up on capitalism – for example, the Financial Times’ motto seems to be ‘Capitalism is dead; long live capitalism’ (Wolf, 2009) – it is nevertheless significant that even the most outspoken apologists for capitalist free markets see a real danger in the capitalist system itself being under threat.

As someone who grew up in East Germany and went through a life-defining crisis in 1989 – the fall of the Berlin Wall – I find the current capitalist crisis strangely satisfying. Not that I do not have a heart for all those who are currently suffering because of this crisis. There are those millions who have lost their jobs, those who live in constant fear of job insecurity, and the millions who are affected by the massive cut-backs in social spending. The current crisis has unprecedented implications throughout the world. Latvia, for example – one of the ‘Baltic Tigers’ that until recently were celebrated for their ‘transition’ successes – has had to be bailed out by the IMF. This forced the government to cut the wages of public service workers, such as teachers, by up to a half(!), reduce state pensions by 10 per cent and the unemployment rate has risen from around 5 to over 14-15 per cent within two years (for more details, see Kuper, 2009). This is thus clearly a crisis that is affecting millions of people around the world in very real terms. What I find somewhat satisfying is not at all that people are suffering but that a system that just a few months ago nobody thought could ever come to an end is now in a deep economic, political and legitimation crisis. That is, what is good to see is that the over-confidence of capitalism – symbolized by astronomical increases in executive salaries, stock market booms and the construction of ever higher skyscrapers – has now experienced a real crack. For me, there are real parallels between today’s crisis and that of 1989. Back then, too, nobody – even those strategists of the West whose full time job it was to destroy the East – expected the state socialist system to crack and eventually fall in the spectacular fashion it did. Perhaps, then, we have not seen the end of today’s crisis!

I find myself in possession of katrina_lynne's lovely purple dotted & black haired scarf. Much as I'd like to abscond w/it, honesty and kindness compel me to return it to its rightful owner - and creator. Perhaps delerium3 will be kind enough to transport it back home after her math tutorial at the Hive this Friday afternoon. :-)

Really fun getting to hang out w/ya'll this past week. Looking forward to more such opportunities in the upcoming chunks o' time.

Do I have your attention? *rubs hands together* Good. ( Read more... )

Greetings, all! Quick list of where to find Vixy & Tony this fall and winter. (Copied from my mailing list post without much editing because I'm at work and ought to be, y'know, working.)

( Vixy & Tony & fall & winter )

Do you want to quit? Do you want to be part of a clinical trial of a new smoking cessation product? Here is your chance.

There is a new nicotine vaccine that is in clinical trials now that appears to be effective from earlier trials. The company needs volunteers to test that meet the following criteria:

Eligibility



Please feel free to cross post this elsewhere. Thanks.

Today, we go up to Bellingham so I can have angioplasty done on the upper and lower veins around my heart, that have been plugged up for about the last two years. I check in at St. Joes Hospital at 1:00 pm on Tuesday, the surgery starts at 3:00 pm, and it shouldn't take more than a couple of hours. I should actually be back in my room no later than 7:00 pm. Becki is keeping everyone posted either via text, email, or by phone call. My phone number is 360-440-0454, and hers is 360-440-2890. She can be reached via email at stardragan@comcast.com, mine is LunarHawke@comcast.com, and during the next few days, both of us will be on facebook, so we will be providing updates there and on live journal. I would appreciate it if you would keep in touch with her stardragan, she is going to need your love, hugs, and assurances much more than I will. This is going to be posted on both facebook and on live journal. See you all in a few days!

Ted lunarhawke

We made it back safe and sound last night and got some pretty decent sleep (yaay for the sleep!)

The weekend went very well.  Arrived early Friday for Brenda to set up registration- which by all accounts went smoothly.  The first of the offerings to the Fey and the beginning of what I will simply refer to as the Festival of the Walking Wounded.  More than a couple of people (myself included) slipped and twisted some part of their body.

Saturday- Despite offerings to the Fey asking for nice weather we became a bit concerned at one point when not only did it start raining, but there was the attendant thunder and lightning followed by hail and (according to at least one person) snow(!).  I threatened (as I am certain many others did as well) to withhold the rest of my offering should this crap continue.  Needless to say, by the time we were ready to kick off the ritual things had cleared up quite nicely and the evening was incredibly beautiful.

Main Event!  By the time we were actually invoked I was still having pre-performance jitters up to and including the fear of dropping a line or forgetting some other equally important bit.  I stood by the fire and waited for the masses to come from the dining hall so I could  delivered my purification speech at the fire.  (As close to a shrine scene as I have ever gotten and I am very pleased that it went well.)  The call to Hecate was beautifully performed by the attendees (although I admit to shuddering at one point as someone said, in a voice that sounded just a bit angry, "Hecate, we call you out!"  This immediately brought forth images of Hecate coming out ready to fight and since 1_wolfsong was Hecate I could actually see her coming out ready to fight!) The veil was parted and the clans went to their paths. 

There was some idle time at the fire- though not mis-spent as the prison ministry had offerings to the dead from those who are unable to attend because of where they reside. 

The clans started to return and one of the moments that I was dreading arrived- keep the people entertained whilst waiting for all to return from the other side of the veil. So I started with a story (and if you heard the story, it was a true story- the sailor was me!) and asked if anyone else had something to share.  Crom Dubh (one of our godforms) stepped forward and told a lovely creation myth, libraryraven and others shared songs from the venerable SJ Tucker,and photopagan told a tale of getting arrested by Canadian border guards (ask him, not me!).

We honored and released the dead.  And was it just me, but did it seem as though practically everyone in attendance had someone to release this year? Or was it because I had a different perspective of things this year?

The godforms departed and, we the Druids, closed the veil. Big sigh of relief- let's go devoke. This is the first time I have ever had problems coming back into my appropriate state of mind- I think primarily because I had to keep "one foot in this realm and one foot in the other" while the ritual was being performed and the sheer number of people remembering their beloved dead built a lot of energy that I was unaware of as being there.  I found myself crying as I devoked and this huge lump of unresolved something in my chest.  After an assist from leeotch13 and being ordered by TJ to get some food- which helped immensely- I was feeling much better.

Beads and cords proceeded after dinner and I got my five year bead.  Wow!  I have been with the ATC this long?!?  Sigh.... How quickly time passes.

Sunday- Packed our shit, offered the last of my gift to the Fey for the lovely ritual weather, closing circle and GTFO right after Brenda handed back the work duty deposits.  Ok, so not quite..... There was one young lady still standing around after everyone else had left.  Her husband was supposed to be coming to pick her up, but he was nowhere to be seen.  So Brenda and I got her over to the Ranger's house and she called hubby and arranged to meet him in Anacortes.  We got her to the ferry safe and sound and made sure that she was picked up before we headed home ourselves.


Thank you one all with whom I worked this weekend- cast or attendee.  You guys all make this so worth the time and effort.

And now to find my monologue for SMF auditions.  (Already?  eep!)

Sometimes things in the brain get a little too deeply embedded.

So one of our software packages at work uses a piece of a product from a company called Cicero. Often this process for some reason hangs, it's one of the last things to shut down when rebooting a computer, and it will often error out on the way down.

So inevitably, when I'm watching a machine reboot, I see Cicero... which of course leads to Lipschitz.

And the really sad part is that it takes me all the way back to a certain infamous New Year's Eve party. And I hear it in elocinnuala's voice. :-)

It's a sad day when you find a new bundle of emergency preparedness documents online only to determine that its information you've already read. GOOD information, don't get me wrong. But not new information.

One of the tips when storing grain products, assuming you have the space to do so, is to freeze it for 4 days prior to long term storage.

Someone might wonder why you would do that for a dry grain product, but what most people don't realize is that almost every grain product out there has insect larvae in it. We don't notice it because we go through the product faster than the larva has a chance to mature. We digest them and they offer nothing more than perhaps a small protein boost to our diet.

But in terms of long-term storage, if the larvae aren't killed, they will definitely mature and spoil your storage when they hatch. Further, one bad batch can lead to many bad batches as the insects start taking over your food stores unchecked.

So a little freezing goes a long way.

I have experienced this a bit first hand.

When I owned pet rats, we used to buy our feed from a particular vendor at a grocery store, and as with most feed of that nature, we tried not to keep too much on hand that just sat around for months.

The store, on the other hand, kept stock that was months old, and it was not uncommon for us to walk up to the stacks in the pet food aisle, and find bags of rodent feed with little moths darting about in the air spaces of the bag.

The store management seemed unconcerned and we ended up talking to the district manager to no avail. The actual food vendor itself however was less than impressed, and compensated us generously for the problem, and ended up talking to their regional distribution managers. The store ended up pulling all stock and changing vendors. They knew they kept their stock too long, and they didn't care to fix it. They just wanted a vendor who didn't care either.

This is when I found the benefits of building my own mix, which can make for a very happy ratty tummy. :-)

So yeah. If you plan to keep any grain or flour product for any length of time, toss it in the freezer for half a week, and chances are good when you do finally get around to using it, you won't find any little fluttering surprises in it. Yum!

If anyone in the NJ area wants to come, there will be a graveside service for my father at 1pm on Tuesday at King Solomon Memorial Park, Clifton, NJ.

Directions: GS Pkwy N to Exit 153A-Route 3 East. Route 3 east for approx. 1 mile to Passaic Ave/Passaic/Nutley exit. Bear right at the end of the ramp. At first light, left onto Allwood Rd. Right onto Dwas Line Road. Cemetery on left. Meet at the office.

I was not planning to sit shiva but I've changed my mind. I will be at 220 Wycoff Way West, East Brunswick (in the Club condominium community at Evergreen Blvd. and Cranberry Road) Tuesday afternoon after 4pm and Wednesday and Thursday. As IHG pointed out, shiva is to give the family some rest as much as anything else.

I call this picture "All Your Base are Belong to Us"!!

Andrei's daily twitter log is brought to you via LoudTwitter

• 16:21 I am now the only conscious person in the house. Well, if you don't count the furry little priestess of bast sitting in the puzzle box. #
• 21:29 Whee, low energy, dizzy, temperature sensors completely wonked, queasy... And really can't afford to take time off. #donttalktomeaboutlife #
• 22:29 Babies cry in their "Mother" tongue... Who knew? tr.im/EzQn #

P.S. Anyone notice the posting time? It's relevant.

Had a really nice day w/AJ & the Petting Zoo Critters (delerium3, edwardmartiniii, and katrina_lynne). We headed Westward to Newport, OR through lovely countryside, stopping along the way to watch big smashing waves sending spray far above the road. 'Twas my first visit to the Oregon Coast Aquarium and its jellies, sharks, kelp beds, sea otters, and more. Worth a return trip! Hmm, perhaps in the Springtime, when the Tufted Puffins' tufts will be brightly colored for mating.

Afterwords, we had dinner (and drinks) pretty much next door at the Rogue Brewery Ale Pub. Mmmmmmm.

O'morrow I shuttle AJ to PDX for her return to SoCal. It's been a really good visit - her first in over 2.5 years. Back then, she drove up from SoCal w/me and the kittenheads and the last carload of my stuff when I first moved to Portland/the Hive. The next interval 'tween visits will be shorter.

Loads o' things on my ToDo list o'morrow. At the end of the week, the Amazing lightfoote (ALF) comes down for a Date (and DD!)(Th - Sun). Life is sweet and good and joyful.