The Presidency is Hard

I think this sums up both the attitude of the current administration, and the absurdity of that attitude:


[The Boondocks 3/13/2006 http://www.ucomics.com/boondocks/]

Thursday Nights

I was born on a Thursday night. The paper says it was flurrying then, but I don't really recall, but it was January in Minnesota, so odds are it was.

Because I was born on a Thursday night, I chose Thursday nights as my "me" nights. For much of the past eight or so years, I've chanted on them.

Chanting came about from a smudging at IHOT, the vegetarian co-op where I lived from 1994 to 1999. My housemate, Farah, who was from India, met a Native American healer and brought him home. He liked the energy of the house, and so he came back to smudge us. I went first or second, and felt wonderfully light and happy afterwards. The feeling lasted days.

I studied with him for awhile after that, being very interested in the spirituality that had emerged in this landscape. And thus I began to chant.

I've never managed to experience the joy of the smudging, but it is a good feeling.

I've been "bad" about doing it lately. So I should go now. And chant.

True Zodiac Sign

I took a test recently, and here is what it said about me:

Your true zodiac sign is Scorpio!
Scorpions are known for their intense and powerful natures. They are willful, proud and calm with an electrifying undercurrent of seething intensity. Purposeful and animated with force, they project a magnetic personality.Scorpio does nothing in half measures. An all or nothing attitude permeates their entire life. When fixed on something or someone, the scorpion perseveres. Scorpio never settles. Life is meant to be lived to the fullest or not at all. Scorpio will rarely be found in the center of activity, but will always know just what is going on of concern to him. Their tenacity and willpower are enviable, their depth of character and passionate conviction admirable, but it is their deep sensitivity that makes them the best and most loyal friend. This same quality makes them the most treacherous of enemies. When they harness their abundant energy constructively, their self-confidence tempered with shrewdness, and their ambition coupled with generosity toward others, they excel at whatever they undertake. Scorpios are demanding of others, but never ask someone to do what they would not do themselves. They can be fanatically focused and work till they drop.

Reality Entertainment

For the 2004 Academy Awards, I was intrigued by the fact that four of the five Best Actor nominees had played real people: Johnny Deep for playing JM Barrie, Jamie Foxx for Ray Charles, Leonardo DiCaprio for Howard Hughes, and Don Cheadle for playing Paul Rusesabagina, the manager of the Hotel Rwanda. Only Clint Eastwood played a fictional character, and even his role seemed like the iconic “great teacher takes on promising but challenging student” role. Three of those four “based on reality” movies were also Best Picture nominees.

Then it happened again this year. Three of the five Best Actor nominees, two of the Five Best Actress nominees, and three of the four Best Picture nominees are about real people and real events in our recent history. A quick look over the nominations for the past 15 years shows that while historical settings are common, real people are fewer and far between, with 1995’s Braveheart and Apollo 13 being the last time two such films were nominated.

And now I’m starting to wonder if reality television isn’t changing the way we tell stories.

Some have argued that the reason for this surge in retelling past history has to do with our inability to yet focus on how the world has changed since September 11, 2001. Certainly the movies nominated this year echo this issues we face today—the erosion of our rights due to outside forces with ideological differences; the ugly reality of what people will do when they are outsiders; the desire to avenge wrongs and preserve one’s country in the face of terrorists.

I’ve watched 4 of the 5 Best Picture nominees (I’ve not seen Munich) and they were all thought-provoking, and sometimes uncomfortable films.

I’m not sure that there is a time when it is not true, but with the world the way it is today, it seems like thinking is particularly important. If the reality-wrapper makes that more palatable to today’s viewers, that’s okay; although I prefer to know how “inspired by” vs. real it really is.

Pigeon Love

It started about a month ago on Alki Beach, where I live. The pigeons decide that Spring and love are in the air, and thus I am awoken somewhere between 6:30 and 7:30 to the insistent cooing of the amorous pigeon. It is a sound that propels me into action.

Several years ago, I found a nest, complete with egg and pigeon, on my lanai. It is not an experience I want to have again. Thus, when the pigeon love started on my lanai in the following years, I was determined to make sure it didn't lead to eggs. Or even thinking my lanai was a good spot to hook up.

Thankfully, I seem to have trained even these most microscopic of bird brains that my lanai is a no mating zone for them. It was the Super Soaker that did it. I'm almost positive I've never even gotten a drop of water on the pigeons who tried to make my lanai their love shack, but the motion of the water coming towards them is more of a deterant than anything else. And, unlike the Tupperware 8-cup measuring bowl I'd tried prior to buying the water gun, it's more manageable on every level.

This year, I've not had any amorous pigeons on my lanai (at least, none that have attracted my attention), but they have been scoping out the area a floor down, outside my window. And thus, I leap out of bed, grab my Super Soaker, and make sure they don't get too cozy.

I've lived here on the beach for 7 years, and the pigeon population seems to have expanded tremendously. I blame the people who come to the beach, feed the pigeons, and then go home to a nice, quiet home where the pigeons aren't cooing them awake before their alarms go off. So please, don't feed the pigeons. Otherwise, eventually, you may find yourself in pajamas, Super Soaker in hand, disturbing some pigeon love.

Timing

I’ve no sense of time. When we are younger, time is governed by school years and whatever divisions they have. Some things are different on a regular basis. We have long summer breaks that allow us to see ourselves for who we are outside of our peer group.

Once you are out of school, have found a city you want to live in, found a place that is stable enough that you stay there for more than a couple of years, what is there to mark change?

Life events: friends marrying and having children. There’s been oddly little of that in my life. My friends and I often seem stuck in some sit-com reality where things change now and again, but are mostly the same. Mostly continuous. Even much of the change is continuous—Rhonda is still looking for a job, Howard is still dating wildly inappropriate people, Lester is still spending all his time at work.

This is how it is that big chunks of time seem to go by without things getting done. This is the reason behind the long, dry spell on my blog. Well, that and my March allergies.

There also are no immediate consequences to things not getting done. In school, there are deadlines. In work there are too. You miss getting something done in a timely manner, people confront you on it. But in one’s personal life, there are no real deadlines.

And not getting things done doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve not been trying. I think of that Lichtenstein where the woman’s thought bubble is ‘I forgot to have children!’ I’ve not forgotten, I’ve just not had a situation to do it.

People do, when they know or see that you are getting old, make certain judgments as to where you are in your life, as though there is a one-size-fits-all way to live life. I feel anywhere between 6 to 11 years behind, at least when I think about how old I am chronologically. Or the fact it is 2006. How can it already be 2006 when we still don’t know what to call this decade?

When the 70’s ended, it took me several years to get over it. From my point of view, it had ALWAYS been the 70’s and nothing else made any sense. It might be that time lost meaning to me then; certainly the 80’s were easy to say good-bye to.

I think September 11^th took the wind out of everyone’s sails for a bit, too.

Today, according to my Vedic astrological chart, is the last day of my Jupiter cycle, which began 16 years ago tomorrow, just days after my father’s death. Next is Saturn. Where Jupiter is expansive, Saturn is the opposite. Those in the astrological know wince at the mention of Saturn, but for me, being a Capricorn, it feels like coming home.

I’m in a very fish or cut bait mood, so hopefully I can get stuff done now that has gone undone too long.

Wish me luck!