I just got back from an awesome surf session with my yogi/surf buddy Andrea. We met on the coast in Moss beach 7 years ago, and she's been a fast soul friend ever since. How often do you get to surf in the natural beauty of Bolinas and talk the finer points of yoga philosophy while waiting for the next wave??? I truly live a blessed life and I'm thankful for every breathing moment!!!

I am now a working musician. I have to have a harpsichord, as I do not have a choice anymore. Unfortunately I cannot afford one. So I asked for help in the harpsichord mailing list. A Tampa maker replied to me and willing to accommodate me. It will be a leasing program with monthly fix payment, with no interest. It is my responsibility to pay for the shipping of course.



This will be the harpsichord that he would use to base on: an Onofrio Guarracino instrument in the Royal College of Music in London, commonly known as RCM175. To make it as portable and as utilitarian as possible, the resulting instrument will be less than twenty pounds, no lid, no rack, probably no legs, and can be hung on the wall when not being used, just like a violin. It should be ready by October.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Sometimes, ya just gotta watch Idiocracy and have a drink with the husband whilst scratching thee butt.

And the Jebusites, indeed.

It was luminous. There were fireworks at the field and big, full roses and the air was sprinkled with fireflies.

Sometimes, I find it hard to believe such beauty exists, that if I say it, it will flee. However, I'm saying it now anyway.
The air smelled like smoke and flowers and green grass. May we all have such beauty.

If there's something you'd like to tell me, now's a good time. Comments are screened.

Artist: Shearwater
Song: The Snow Leopard

"the way is to climb
the way is to lie still
and let the moon do its work on your body

and then to rise
through forests and oceans of lives
and through the way of the black rocks, splitting, wide,
and flow
ten thousand miles."

well, i've had enough,
wasting my body, my life
i'll come away, come away from the shallows

but can this sullen child,
as bound as the ox that i ride,
climb to the heart of the white wind, singing, high,
and blow
through my frozen eyes?

http://view.break.com/530967 - Watch more free videos

thanks to tk0667

I am Lobster Girl. See me radiate with a fuchsia, unearthly, nuclear glow!

Many of us listen to the music we do because it is evocative of the music we grew up with--and often times that was driven either by our parents or by our friends or environment. For me that music was The Eagles and Gordon Lightfoot (from my parents), and Journey (from high school friends) and Rush (from college friends).

Now that I'm much older, of course, I tend to go back to the music I grew up with.

Sometimes, however, we find a new musical style that doesn't come from our childhood or our friends that we start listening to because we like it. For me, that's what one critic comically decried as "angry lesbian screeching": I find that I like Alanis Morissette and Natalie Merchant and Sara Bareilles and Vanessa Carlton. And the second genre I've started listening to that is unconnected to my childhood is the gaelic new age music of bands like Enya and Clannad: though for me, those are best played in the background on a cold winter day, especially when it is foggy or hazy outside.

So what genres of music do you listen to that you found as an adult, completely unconnected from your childhood or college days?

There cometh a rich man from the West who shall pour his gold upon thee.

Hi All,

There has been some concern among the members of the cast and crew about the imdb listings for The Rite of Luna and The Rite of Venus.

I understand everyone deserves credit for their hard work, and I have no interest in denying that credit to anyone. In all fact I remain deeply grateful for every hour of volunteer involvement we have been given and recognize that without the involvement of our friends and communities, we would still be dreaming of what we wanted to do as opposed to celebrating our accomplishments.

imdb is a very cool tool, and it is used by a very tightly regulated industry, which makes it difficult to deal with. It has taken 3 years to get The Rite of Luna on imdb, and six months for The Rite of Venus. I have been trying to get our titles on Amazon for over a year, as reading my past journal entries will attest. Until we were being carried by a mainstream distributor (like Amazon) we were completely ineligible to be listed on imdb. We were considered a vanity publication.

Once I got us on Amazon, each imdb listing represented another 3 to five hours of my time invested in adding, correcting and updating information, and then going back and correcting it again when it reverted to the incorrect information for some unknown reason. But the listings are up now, and I am very pleased.

Seeing as I do not have a personal secretary and I lack the bandwidth to spend many hours updating and managing these listings, I would like to invite every member of the cast to submit corrections as they will. Creating an imdb account is free. Then you can submit changes using the button at the bottom of the listing. imdb will even link you to their very involved and precise criteria, so you can understand the format required for your suggested edits, including how to get yourself listed in the credits.

Once you get your name attached to a project on imdb you will get your own page as an actor or crew member that you can link to future project, and you can create your own personal online film resume. Of course MySpace is cheaper (imdb charges you to post a headshot) and easier to use, but the restrictive nature of imdb is part of what makes our inclusion there such a feather in our collective cap. If you already have an imdb listing, it is even easier to include yourself in the credits as you should be able to link strait back to our listing.

It will still take 2 weeks to update, and you will need to go back and check to make certain the information is correct, and then make the corrections needed, and wait a few more weeks. Then there is the matter of what they choose to include. imdb limits what it will include based on it's own guidelines. Supporting cast references may be limited or edited by imdb and our control over that is limited. On the other hand, the more something is requested, the more likely it is to happen.

I would be happy to have all of this material updated extensively, and I encourage involvement. I just lack the time or volition to do it all myself. Please feel free to roll up your sleeves and lend a hand. Now that the listings are up, most of the really challenging work is done.

Incidentally, while you are updating your information, please leave a favorable review of the DVD's. It makes us all look good.

At any rate, I do hope that no one has been personally offended by the way the listings read. I have tried to include all I can, and have very little control. I invite everyone with the desire to join in the effort. We could have a HUGE listing, if they will let us.

okiluvubyebye, Jon

We just snuck out to see Wanted. Happygeek has really wanted to watch it. He enjoyed it, which makes one of us... I guess the thing is for me, is that it is being compared to the Matrix, plus I have a very good understanding of mythology and the quest for self. Wanted is a movie about the finding oneself through extreme violence. The main character consistently reacts and does what he is told to do, right up until the very end of the movie. Only Angelina Jolie's character actually has an independent though, and that is at the end and whether it is an independent though or just unwavering adherence to what she has believed all along, is questionable. All of instances that appear to demonstrate independent thinking, really don't if you look at the context. The violence is gratuitous and unnecessary. I don't mind violence, even graphic violence, if it is part of the storyline. But here the storyline is weak and relies on violence in order to make a good story. It is a decent action movie, but not much more than that. It tries to be, and fails miserably, to be on the same scale as the first Matrix movie. It is a terrible rendition of the Hero's Journey.

I wish we had gone to see Hancock. Oh well.

“I cried all night. I'm going to be crying for the next four years,”[You ain't gonna be the only one, Jesse...] he said. “What Barack Obama has accomplished is the single most extraordinary event that has occurred in the 232 years of the nation's political history. ... The event itself is so extraordinary that another chapter could be added to the Bible to chronicle its significance.”
--Jesse Jackson, June 5, 2008

'His charms seem tough to resist, even for some of Hollywood's biggest names.

"He walks into a room and you want to follow him somewhere, anywhere," George Clooney told talk show host Charlie Rose.

"I'll do whatever he says to do," actress Halle Berry said to the Philadelphia Daily News. "I'll collect paper cups off the ground to make his pathway clear."'

Are they talking about a presidential candidate or the Messiah?
Now Obama will accept his nomination at a stadium that seats more than 75,000 people.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/07/obama-consideri.html






Good fucking God. Remind you of anything?

The Top 10 Foods Only America Could Have Invented

What do each of these foods have in common? Yep, you guessed it: deep frying...

a jar of bits of candle wax (I'd intended to melt it and make another candle)

"tea for one" mini teapot and matching cup (teapot sits on cup)
-autumn themed
-winter themed

empty Scotch bottles and packages (decorate your bar?)



Take My Stuff, Round I: Thursday night @ 8:00 p.m.: come over and take assorted clothes, costume pieces, purses, makeup bags, shoes, and other accessories. Oh, and possibly eat cookies and drink mead. Apartment will be a mess, of course. Bring a bag for carrying home goodies. (Contact me via email if you need directions.)

This morning, I woke up at 6:30, so I could get my chicken chores done and then head out to Boggy Creek for the smoke dried tomatoes and visiting with the chickens. They had these fantastic Dusty Rose cherry tomatoes and zebra tomatoes that were soooo fantastic. I saw Aunt Penny (the first picture) and the rest of the flock, and a lovely lady with the most gorgeous feathers (anyone have any idea what breed she is?)



After Boggy Creek, I stopped by the 4th and Guadalupe Farmer's Market, as I knew Johnson's Backyard Garden would be there. Funny enough, I recognized the roma tomatoes walking up. I got some wonderful looking okra, the most amazing spinach pies ever and walked around a bit.



Then I finally made it to Sunset Valley Farmer's Market to meet with lovemonster and scored some figs, green beans, raw milk yogurt and peppers and ran into kaffee_spinne (and also again later at Central Market!).

You know that wax statue of Hitler that is at Madame Tussaud's in Berlin? Well, some brave fellow ripped its head off, and punched somebody who tried to stop him. Way to go! That'll show him! (rolls eyes, makes jerking-off motion)
http://www.thelocal.de/12899/20080705/
Not directly related, but funny, is this:
http://www.abyssandapex.com/200710-wikihistory.html
"At 02:29:17, SilverFox316 wrote:
All right; that's it. Having just returned from 1907 Vienna where I secured the expulsion of Hitler from the Academy by means of an elaborate prank involving the Prefect, a goat, and a substantial quantity of olive oil, I now turn my attention to our newer brethren, who, despite rules to the contrary, seem to have no intention of reading Bulletin 1147 (nor its Addendum, Alternate Means of Subverting the Hitlerian Destiny, and here I'm looking at you, SneakyPete). Permit me to sum it up and save you the trouble: no Hitler means no Third Reich, no World War II, no rocketry programs, no electronics, no computers, no time travel. Get the picture?"


But they saved...oh, never mind...

Addendum: Watch this.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=feLqz1udhtY

I just want my life back. Can I have my life back, please?

Operation Baby Bird is a success so far. I came home, put straw in the nesting boxes, put straw in the rear of the coop under the nesting boxes and went to grab the birds. First three, I grabbed from the bin, went in fine. Breakfast decided that she wanted to fly there but missed by a few feet. She went toddling around to the backside of the coop where the live trap was and wandered inside, eluding me beautifully. I finally managed to grab hold of her by tipping it up on its side and she crawled up and I nabbed her there. Whew! But then, as I walk to the other side of the coop, on of the yellows decided she didn't like being separated from the others and hopped out of the box. Luckily, she's not that smart and hadn't yet realized what was going on or that she should run away so I nabbed her, flapping furiously for such a little bird and quickly deposited her and Breakfast in the coop and shut the door.

The flew around, stretching their wings, pecking at everything they could reach, and fought over little bits and pieces of hay. They cheeped away quite excitedly, sticking close together in a pack in their new home.

I'm glad their in the coop, perhaps it will be easier to clean now and they can have a bit more room to move around. They still look really tiny, especially in comparison to the big beautiful ladies that I saw at Boggy Creek this morning, however, they still seem to not be too small to get around in it. They are 24 days old today.

me (sitting around corner): Is that sex I hear?
she (watching mushy DVD): yup
me: yup. I know fake sex when I hear it
she: yup....wait, what?

Working on a design project with clearly delineated values while contemplating my disgust for certain kinds of individuals and their medieval values got me to thinking:  Spending years traversing places I do not belong has been necessary to clearly delineate places I do belong - or at least places I can venture into without being treated as a potential lay devoid of any interior landscape of my own.  Trying not to feed my hate too much while painting;  lovely line work is more important than the inane gibberings of men who think the world is their cunt for fucking at their whim.

The following titles have come across my desk recently, and I thought they might be of interest:

The Veritable Key of Solomon by Stephen Skinner and David Rankine. Coming soon from Llewellyn Publications. "Completely new and richly detailed, this is perhaps the most comprehensive version of The Key of Solomon ever published. Based on one of the best-known grimoires of the Western world, The Veritable Key of Solomon presents all aspects of this revered magical system in one impressive source. Based on the original Key of Solomon manuscript, this brand new text features never-before-published material and added detail. Over 160 illustrations beautifully complement the elements of this complete and workable system of high magic, from a broad range of talismans and techniques to magical implements and procedures." Sounds great! But $65 for a paperback??? At that price, I think I'll wait for Golden Hoard's higher-end deluxe leather-bound edition, due at the end of the year.

Ancestral Voices Prophesying War, by Paul Newman (author of The Trethergen Horror). In May 1910 the celebrated magician, Aleister Crowley, is invited to Rempstone, the Dorset manor of Commander Guy Marston. In a room set aside for the purpose, he conjures Bartzabel, the spirit of Mars, who predicts future conflicts in Turkey and Germany. After joining Crowley’s magical order, Marston appears willing to entertain and promote the magician’s cause, but secretly he is frightened and nervous of exposure, embarking on a fierce libel case against the authoress, Jane Panton, who gossiped about his family in a volume of Dorset memoirs. Yet another scandal lurks in the background of this conjuration, for Jane’s son, Douglas Panton, was washed up in Mount's Bay, Penzance, dressed in woman’s clothing and manacled. This gives rise to rumours of blackmail and black magic conspiracy. Other guest at Rempstone include Guy’s beautiful cousin, Daisy Bevan, with whom he has been having a long-standing affair, and the ghost-writer, Algernon Blackwood, whose horror story 'Nemesis of Fire' is set there.

[No picture available.] From LAShTAL.com: The August, 2008, issue of the UK's Book and Magazine Collector contains an article on Aleister Crowley.

The Politics of Sociability: Freemasonry and German Civil Society, 1840-1918. By Stefan-Ludwig Hoffmann, translated by Tom Lampert. Winner of the 2002 Hedwig Hintze Prize for Best First Book from the Association of German Historians, just released in translation in 2007. The first cultural and political history of German Freemasonry in the 19th and early 20th centuries. [There's nothing on O.T.O., and Reuss is mentioned briefly on only one page. Still, it's great for historical context.]

Anthroposophie in Deutschland: Theosophische Weltanschauung und gesellschaftliche Praxis 1884–1945. Some great stuff on Reuss, Yarker, Crowley, Memphis-Misraim, and O.T.O. in this two-volume set, but it's 246,00 € (eek!).

By now, I expect everyone knows about the two new titles from Teitan Press, Three Essays on Freedom by John Whiteside Parsons, and A Complete Book of Magic Science Containing the method of constraining and exorcising spirits to appearance, the consecration of Magic Circles, and The Form of a Bond of Spirits Transcribed From An Ancient Manuscript Grimoire by Frederick Hockley. If not, these are limited-run titles, so get 'em while you can!

I've been doing genealogy lately, as I mentioned recently, and it's a strange exercise. I'm doing it on myheritage.com (which is a terrible name for a site), which automatically cross-references and compares family trees. I've gotten pretty far that way. I never thought I'd get eight generations back, but I guess I did. (Proving it's tougher.)

I'm at CF's place this weekend. Somehow I forgot it's Saturday, too.

It's the instrumental break at the end. Thanks for listening me hum on the phone.