I got turned on to this vlog by a guy over at Plentyoffish. Man, I love satire. Jackie and Dunlap should be on Comedy Central.

Still sick. It still sucks.
I don't feel as bad as I did yesterday & the night before (during which I was mostly incoherent, freezing, and unable to get out of bed without assistance) but I'm still tired/sore/stuffy/scratchy/generally out of it.

On the plus side - - I've lost 10 pounds since the beginning of August! 10.5, actually. Fuck yes. (Only, y'know, 60+ more to go...)

One of the lenses for my new pair of glasses was scratched whilst the opticians were making them, so they're going to put the damaged pair in the frame and have me use them until the new ones arrive, on September 12th.

Unfortunately, I will be in Christchurch until September 14th, so I won't be able to pick them up until the 15th.

I was told that they would arrive within 5-10 working days on August 25th, then that they would not be arriving until September 3rd because one of the lenses needs to be specially made, then that they would arrive tomorrow.

I appreciate the effort the shop is making to compensate for the delays, but I'm still not happy about waiting for almost extra two weeks!

I can't see things as well, especially at a distance and it's putting a strain on my eyes, making me squint and giving me headaches! Apparently my prescription hasn't changed that much since my teens, but it's still noticeable - not too mention quite inconvenient at times!

Yesterday's photo was of the glasses before I took them into the shop. You can see the Madison label sticker on one of the lenses if you look closely ...

Being sick sucks.

Maggie gave me some Swan Plant seeds, which is really cool, because they attract Monarch Butterflies.

I just hope they grow well in my garden. Websites say they need full sun and non-soggy soil, which doesn't fit my little garden's description. Guess I'll just have to try it and find out!

Might grow a few in pots as well, to see if that makes a difference ...

I've read 75 books this year:

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Security isn't found in a house, only shelter from the elements.

Survival Count: A Personal Journey Towards Conservation, by Gwen Moffat.

How long does it take to instil a sense of beauty? Does everyone carry a latent ability which starts with ethics and ends with appreciation of an elemental world where there can be no evil: no blame and only consequences?

Survival Count: A Personal Journey Towards Conservation, by Gwen Moffat.

It Can't Rain All the Time, by Jane Siberry

Follow Me, by Uncle Kracker

Last night we were supposed to do the Dark Moon right. But as usual, nobody was up to it. What is it about Shadow work that scares even the Initiates way??Anyhoo. The net result of this is that I have had Hecate and the Horned Hunter running around in my head for days because I'd been rehearsing the charge of the Dark God, as well as the invocations for both Hecate and the Horned God. No I will not post that ritual here as it is oathbound.

I went down into the Temple this morning to meditate and 'Just Be' as I like to call it. I had the dogs fed, the incense ready to go, I even had my iPod with Dr Jeffery Thompson's Theta Meditation tracks on it queued up and ready to go. I started to try and blank my mind. All I had was the charge of the Dark God running around in there. It started to alter though, things like I am the Sun God, shining with brilliant radiance. Or my personal favourite I am the Sea God promulagating life with my foam. I thought it was quite explicit until I just looked up the word promulgate on dictionary.com. It means to issue, put forth, or declare. That's more profound than my first inclinations towards a dirty meaning hehe. The Sea being the source of all life. Suddenly my magical name taken for my 3rd* last fortnight - Myrddyn MacLlyr - has more meaning. MacLlyr means 'Son of the Sea'. But it kept going until I just got to 'I Am.' repeating over and over again.

At this point and image started to form. A pencil sketch mysteriously drawn by a visible but unknown hand. It was a woman, curvacious but slim, silver haired by young, fickle but loving. She eventually came out of the page and invited me to chase her. She was sort a blend of aspects of my fiancee, with another woman which I can only guess I've seen once before, because I recognise the body but not the face (it was in a meditation and her face was never fully visible). I gave her case, and we made love in the woods we had ended up in. My physical body began to have predictable reactions to all of this. But because I lapsed in allowing the images to form and focussed on the physical sensations I was experiencing, the image collapsed.

I than heard the familiar cadence of the Dark God's Charge in my head, and the Unseen Hand drew another sketch. It was me as the Horned God. I had antlers and rams horns. I felt alive. I have been complaining lately that I haven't been able to be me. The true me. I'm locked by societis strictures of what a Man is supposed to be. At my core essence I am a wild thing. I desire to hunt. I desire to play, to fight, to fuck, and eat. However I digress. I saw the woman again (I can assume she was the Goddess) and took off after her. It then became a cycle of losing her, finding her, chasing her, joining with her and losing her again.

Out of it I had this one phrase float up.

Sex is the Dance done to the Rhythm of Life.

I think this relates to my need for physical contact and connection with my partners. I think it all relates to the fact I feel I have to hide this whole other side of me. That the working, loyal, civilised, respectable me, has an undercurrent of the wild animal. When I'm expressing that, whether it be through feasting, through dancing, through running through the woods out the back of my house, that's when I'm happiest. When I am physically moving.

Something to work on methinks.

Found in leiriope's LJ.

I am the blossom pressed in a book,
found again after two hundred years. . . .

I am the maker, the lover, and the keeper. . . .

When the young girl who starves
sits down to a table

she will sit beside me. . . .

I am food on the prisoner's plate. . . .

I am water rushing to the wellhead,
filling the pitcher until it spills. . . .

I am the patient gardener
of the dry and weedy garden. . . .

I am the stone step,
the latch, and the working hinge. . . .

I am the heart contracted by joy. . .
the longest hair, white
before the rest. . . .

I am there in the basket of fruit
presented to the widow. . . .

I am the musk rose opening
unattended, the fern on the boggy summit. . . .

I am the one whose love
overcomes you, already with you
when you think to call my name. . . .

From The Boat of Quiet Hours by Jane Kenyon

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

Sky's boyfriend has made himself very much at home here;



Hulk & Sky, 7/8/08

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( Everybody please just relax until I've finished panicking )

I don't watch much TV... and this ad is (again) Argentinian (it has the cachet of being banned by India). Has it played in US?

Personally, I love chocolate, but this is way past bizarre. Sort of, er... masochistic?

Should I be excited or dismayed by these Doc Martens? I question my own taste, here.

http://www.shoebuy.com/dr-martens-1460/214050/488577

okies

Well I start my new job on monday. This should be fun. Hopefully I will get to deal with stuff that goes BOOM! Am feeling a mix of excitement and anxiety. Today is my last mid week day off. From monday onwards it will be only weekends. Yay???? But what can you do hey? Gotta eat and gotta get paid to do that.

Anyways, I guess I better get out of bed now and go have some lunch.

Love yas all.

McGuigan Private Bin Merlot 2005 (South Eastern Australia) - Nice, fruity little number with just a hint of dry tannin and plenty of buttery undercurrents. Pleasant aroma. No aftertaste. A bargain at $7.99 from the Gardens New World Supermarket.