Well yesterday (or last night/this morning) was the Winter Solstice here in the northern hemisphere. For me, this particular holiday is one of stillness and transition process to the new year. Everyone's running around, preparing to be visited by or to visit relatives, most people are fussing over buying gifts and decorating and runrunrun...
What I prefer to do is wait for the full moon, and on a clear night I'll take a walk to where there isn't anyone around, by a body of water preferably. I'll listen then... sometimes I just hear myself breathing, and the snow underneath my feet. I may hear wild geese calling to each other, or the wind. I have a little moment of zen, and I admit I may talk to myself (or whatever may be listening). If you never go outside, especially at night, I highly suggest taking on a little adventure like this.
But then, maybe that's just how I roll.
So, I hope this holiday season, whatever you celebrate or if you choose not to do anything at all, is blessed and that you are with the ones you love. Here's 'Snow', by Loreena McKennitt
I feel like I haven't seen the sun in weeks. I'm just waiting for Solstice (Dec. 21) to be over and done with so when I get out of work the sun is actually above the horizon. I've been staying in, mostly to save money, but also to catch up on my reading. Currently I'm reading a book about alien animals, the authors clearly believe in their existence. I'm more curious about the folk lore aspects... I'd say to anyone who has seen or believes such creatures exist... well I believe that you believe that. :) But still, I find the whole idea of ghost animals, or undiscovered creatures very interesting, and how people react to, or validate, or write off the existence. It's more about the process than the proof for me.
Anyway, on to the fun links!
First off, self promotion! I've updated some stuff on my Etsy store, so if you like shirts and prints, go check that out. Also, if you're in Second Life, I've got a new little gallery thanks to Manx. If you're in world, say hello. My name is Emilie Cryotank.
I find this woman hilarious. I almost envy being able to get so emotional at movies. But no, I'm more likely to analyze the whole damn thing to death.
Check out this blog jwz it's a good source of consistent awesome.
Well, since I last posted Thanksgiving here in America has come and gone. I hope yours was festive (if that was a holiday you celebrated, if not happy 4th Thursday of November).
Well, we’ve reached that null time. Leaves are gone from the trees, light here in the northern hemisphere is thin and pale even in full daylight, & the moon rises high in the night sky plus the constellation Orion is out. As a kid I was very into astronomy, and identifying constellations, but for some reason the winter ones are what I know best, I have difficulty with the summer ones… and Orion is my favorite. If you want to look for him, in the Northern Hemisphere look to the south, identify the three stars in a row that make up his belt, find the ‘box’ of stars around them, and you’ll have the basics for Orion. Look for a bright star east of him, that’s Sirius, the dog star who follows him across the night sky. Look south of the middle star in his belt and you’ll find three fainter stars that make up his sword/dagger, the one in the middle is the Orion nebula, where baby stars are being formed. So yah, pretty groovy.
So yah, in some other bits of randomness that I find interesting... if you are interested in European acheology you might dig this article from the NY times about new finds from lesser known pre-Christian cultures dating way before 5000 B.C.E.; & here's another interesting bit making the blog rounds. John Michael Greer, the Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA) is getting attention from, severalplaces I read for one his recent post titled 'Lies and Statistics', regarding how we view energy/production in relation to the GDP, and how the current model we uses fails us. So yeah, if you're interested in this train of thought you may want to give his book a read. I'll be slapping that on my to-do list.
For myself, I've been reading quite a bit. I just got a hold of Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth on DVD and I'll start watching that tonight (it's been a while since I've really delved into his writing and I tend to be more of an audio learner, so this will be good times). I really need to remember to sit down and write down my thoughts... but I keep forgetting to because I put it off. New habits can be hard to start if you procrastinate eh?
Ah well, only way to go is forward!
Song today by Vitalic, Song: Still, from the album Flashmob
(we've reached one of those hours where my internal dialog is running rampant, and today I invite you to come along.)
Most people don't have much interesting to talk about. Most subjects are boring... most blogs seem to be about -feelings- and most people don't know how to really write about what inside them, or outside them... I generally don't read blogs with personal experiences or internal dialog. I tend to read stuff that passes on information, or stuff that makes me laugh or makes me think.
So, of course I'm going to write about me, experiences, feelings. Yes I am that narcissistic... or really it has (almost) nothing to do with that. If I don't write any of this down, nobody else will. A man I knew once comes to mind as I get into this blogging bit again. Easily one of the top ten most interesting people I have ever met, he kept an online diary he started back in the late ninety's, and continued to write about his life till his accidental death in July of 05. The public online diary is gone unfortunately (EDIT: Thank goodness for web archives), but I managed to dig up this quote:
"I look at this place as a scrapbook / journal. A digital version of the paper ones I've kept my entire life. Nothing more, nothing less. Don't read any more into it than necessary. And in a morbid way, a record of my predilections that will hopefully live on after I die, on some server, somewhere. Grandiose? Maybe. Maybe I just have the balls to admit it. Maybe one day, in the year 2201, a relation of mine will see these zeros and ones, and say, "Damn, he had fun." That is, if we don't annihilate one and other."
"Maybe I'll inspire you to be exactly who you want to be. Maybe you'll call me a fool."
I wouldn't call us close friends. We chatted online, I got to meet him in Denver, and we spoke on the phone a few. But interesting, interesting in a way few people are. Passionate, & himself always without apology, and for me an inspiration still. I still think about you Keith Alexander, and I wish you were here.
AH great now I'm all fucking emotional and I forgot what I was going to talk about.
-goes gets coffee- -comes back-
ok now I remember.
So I was thinking about what to include here. I love to document things, take pictures, make notes (often indecipherable if I hand write them), and draw. It's part of how I express, how I think. Everything I make is part of a history, mine, someone I know, or linked to some historical fact. The confusing part (or the part where it's about to get confusing) is much of what comes to me is internal, stuff that comes without words. I was thinking about fleshing out a bit of a biography, so much of who we become is made up of how we start out as kids, and the experiences we had. Much of my childhood was spent in a severe depression, and from what I remember I didn't talk much. I didn't know how to say or make people understand what was going on with me or how to control the anger I had (which is where I think it came from, unexpressed anger when not dealth with turns inward and can become depression). Because of that I became expressive in other ways... so much of how I think is... color, or sound, or feeling, or something that I lack a narrative language for. It may be linked to that thing people call a learning disability (which just means I process info differently than most other folks do). But life growing up wasn't all black clouds, there were other experiences with nature... well, mostly with nature, and having one or two teachers that didn't see me as lazy or weird (I know what they thought because my mom kept all the records that teachers noted about me from kindergarten through 6th grade. It's interesting to see what people assume about you without really knowing you based off of a diagnosis). I'm thinking if this art crap works out, this would be good stuff to know. So maybe later I'll stick that in here somewhere.
HAH this blog is left to the whim of my fancy! More about work and such in the future (because you can just scroll down if you want to see the past)
Music this time around is by E.S. Posthumus. Song- Arise
Well yesterday (or last night/this morning) was the Winter Solstice here in the northern hemisphere. For me, this particular holiday is one of stillness and transition process to the new year. Everyone's running around, preparing to be visited by or to visit relatives, most people are fussing over buying gifts and decorating and runrunrun...
