Fortisan haec olim meminisse iuvabit

Five years ago today...

2009-11-12T06:46:04Z

Its been five interesting years since I took my first leap into Initiation.

www.hermetic.com/crowley/libers/lib10.html

who's comin' with me? ; P

2007-11-25T13:30:11Z

I think I'm hallucinating...

My Bloody Valentine to play first shows in 16 years

Indie legends My Bloody Valentine have announced details of their first live dates since 1992.

The band, who have not released an album since 1991's Loveless, will play three U.K. shows in summer 2008.

They will play:

London - Roundhouse (June 20)
Manchester - Apollo (28)
Glasgow - Barrowland (July 2)

Tickets go on sale this Friday (November 16).

Just like honey...

2007-11-25T13:16:37Z

What are the odds? Seriously...

It's the first time I've ever read the music news on Yahoo and there were articles about my two favorite bands!
The debates on Intelligent Design would be far more interesting if mysticical concepts such as the Oath of the Abyss were part of the equation.

Type your cut contents here. NEW YORK (Billboard) - Forget mediation, forget rehab. Apparently, bands whose members haven't spoken to each other in years just need to play at the annual Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., to get their careers back on track. That's pretty much what happened for the Jesus and Mary Chain. The influential Scottish rock combo rose to fame in the mid-1980s on the strength of such albums as "Psychocandy" but splintered in 1999 with its sibling members, Jim and William Reid, barely able to be in the same room together."I originally started working on both Jim's and William's solo albums, and when I approached (promoter) Goldenvoice about getting Jim a solo gig at Coachella, they came back with an offer for the Jesus and Mary Chain," manager Kevin Oberlin said. "We thought having the band reunite for Coachella would help set up both of their solo albums, but the very next day after the show, Jim and William did an interview and said that they were going to do a new Mary Chain album."When we ended in '98, we hated each other," William Reid said. "A lot of that was down to drink and drugs. Jim's completely sober now, and I don't drink during the shows. But there is a kind of wariness. We're both aware that we could snap at each other," he said with a laugh, "but we're trying to hold it together. We love this band, and we love each other."

ROCKY START

At first, nobody was quite sure reuniting was the right decision. The band's pre-Coachella warm-up show "went disastrous," according to Reid. "My guitar pedals kept f---ing up. I thought we were going to do the same thing in front of 50,000 people." But onstage in the desert, with actress Scarlett Johansson guesting on "Just Like Honey," the ship was righted. "Once the first couple of songs were under our belt, we knew where we were going," Reid said.

The siblings are now whittling down dozens of new songs to 12 or so for the new album. They performed one track, "All Things Must Pass," this summer on "Late Show With David Letterman," and will appear early next year on the soundtrack to the hit NBC drama "Heroes." Another, "Dead End Kids," has been a fixture in the band's recent live sets.

"I would say it's an evolution," Reid said of the new material, which he and his brother wrote separately. "It definitely sounds like the Mary Chain, but I guess you evolve as a person and a writer. You can't really stand still. If you do that, you're lost."

JAMC was last signed to Sub Pop for 1998's "Munki" but is in no hurry to align with a traditional label.

"I'm getting calls from labels of every stripe and size -- from majors to indies," Oberlin said. "The band has been making decisions on their own terms without a lot of outside pressures and taking things slowly, so the process of deciding on a label is likely going to follow the same pattern."

EMPTYING THE VAULTS

With a tentative late spring/early summer release date for the Jesus and Mary Chain album, Oberlin is working with Rhino Records to bring new product to the marketplace beforehand. The label, which reissued five vintage JAMC albums in 2006, is eyeing a March release for a four-disc boxed set. "They really cleaned the vaults for this," Oberlin said. "There are some great finds -- demos of a couple songs, alternate takes and rare acoustic versions."

For Reid, reconnecting with the back catalog has been "a kick," but he's more excited to return to the road armed with new material.

"Playing these shows has been really good fun because it's been a long time since we've played those songs," he said. "It's a greatest-hits package we're playing right now, to be honest. That's fine for me at the moment. But it's not what I want to be doing next year. I want to be playing a lot of new songs."

Even better, Reid isn't alone in wanting to push forward the Jesus and Mary Chain.

"When we started doing this in January, we didn't know we were going to make a record," he said. "I was hoping Jim would agree, but he didn't agree right away. He said, 'Let's see what happens.' He's up for doing it, which really, really thrills me. I'd be so disappointed if we just did a few shows and went back to life without making a record."

Reuters/Billboard

fairly lame synchronicity

2007-06-05T08:34:06Z

This is a true story; no names have been changed to protect people who aren't innocent anyway.
So, there I am, laying in bed watching "Heavy: The History of Metal" on VH1.
They're going into Jimmy Page's affinity for Crowley and showing some rather nice pictures of the Prophet and the obligatory shot of Boleskine House. Robert Trujillo is reminiscing about how he and his friends used to play Zep records backwards and his friend's mother would rush into the room with a crucifix screaming "Dios mio! Esta musica del Diablo!"
Just then, my cell phone does it's "You've got mail" routine. I get up, look at it and chuckle.
"Who is it?" my wife asks.
"Just Satan wanting to be added to my MySpace friends list." I reply.
"Who's that?" she says.
"Prince of Darkness, I presume."
Talk about timing.

frustration

2007-05-19T21:31:20Z

After two days of trying to get some help with my cell phone and the only result being that things were made worse, I have to wonder: Am I speaking a different language?
The universe is sorely tempting me to go live in the Smashan and become the first Illinoisan Aghori.

walking amongst the somnambulists

2007-05-07T10:58:43Z

So, another peculiar weekend.
I've been meditating a bit on how people you barely know get pulled into your orbit by the process of knowing other people.

Case in point: Our friend Chris somehow managed to get us to accompany him to a send-off party for our mutual acquantance M who is in the Army Reserves and leaves for Iraq later this month. Chris was chatting everybody up like he was at a scrapbooking party or something, and it pained me very greatly to the bottom of my empathic soul to see M looking like an extremely drunk person who had seen a ghost (presumably his own.)

I think M will be alright; he's not going to be on the frontlines by any means, but it was still a lesson in sharp contrasts.

Anyhow, I will try to post more frequently; no sense in hiding your light under a barrel (or is it bushel? I can't recall and it's too early for such things.)

the way it should be

2006-09-29T23:44:59Z

A Brother and I were discussing the matter of his rather sceptical ex-girlfriend fairly recently. He brought out the point that "She would never accept that Thelema is the way things should be..."
I thought it was interesting that he framed it in such a way; I tend to think that most people, without having any idea that either we or Thelema even exist, do spend a considerable portion of their time trying to work their Will (or what they may erringly perceive to be their Will).
It's the main drive as we walk out of our parent's door and head to the dorm... Only, there are quite a few differences between general society's idea of what goes into the process and ours. The HGA experience leads one to to their Will through a carefully considered period of quiet focus, rather than going through a myriad of classes and simply choosing what seems most interesting or perhaps latching onto something due to a well-liked professor.
The point I'm trying to make being that, without a doubt, we're going to have to do something.

so...

2006-08-07T07:18:44Z

I'm looking forward to this week being better than the last one...

For one, LJ is usually a pretty wild and wooly place (kind of like a Star Wars bar) but like "Zebulon Wilcox" supposedly said about Podcast 28: "That takes the cake!". I'm used to the flamers flaming and the newbies stumbling into proverbial walls when it comes to what one can and cannot get away with on here but... I can't say that I've ever seen things get as bad as they were.
So here's to hoping we see some sort of sanity return (I have to admit that the weekend seems to have helped a lot).
Yesterday, we attended the wedding of an old friend... It was a good time until we hit the buffet and they were out of meat!! Oh, the horror. But they did have an open bar, so I suppose it was a trade-off. It did make us wish there was a liquer made out of ham or something, though...   I blame the portly 20somethings playing Magic: The Gathering in the back... They stuffed their pouches, I just know it.
Anyway, I was extremely amused by my friend Chris (who is in the middle of moving up to Chicago right now).  He'd hopped on a train to come to the wedding after discovering his new apartment hasn't got an air conditioner... So he brought an air conditioner to the wedding, introduced himself to the Groom's parents and then right after that asked them if they'd put his air conditioner in their trunk and haul it to Chicago for him.
It was really the funniest to watch him carry it across the street at a run so they wouldn't leave without his precious cargo in the back of their car...  I don't even know what to say about that.

today's lovely events

2006-07-31T09:02:25Z

So today I had the pleasure of going to Liturgy 93 in honor of PB Randolph performed primarily by paradoxosalpha and the spicy goodness of eating Thai food with starphoenix93 and thelemalove93 in celebration of the former's birthday.
Good times, all around.
I'd never been able to catch Dionysus doing ritual before, and that was really something! I'm still somewhat at a loss for words, actually.
During the ritual itself we sang a song and about the third time through the chorus I nearly broke out in the giggles 'cause I was thinking "Man... This is so... right on!!" And, ah, how that doesn't even convey the moment...
So, anyway...
Did I mention that I'm glad to be home? I was in the Lake of the Ozarks area last week (It's not like I post that often, so it's no surprise if it seemed like I was still here to some.) I very much like to stay in motion, so taking it easy was almost a strain on my system.
On the other hand, Lon's visit to St Louis last week seems to have caused a little boom in the scene here in the area so now I'll be busier than ever!! Awesome.
I owe abudoub and fratersapientia and a third (but sadly LiveJournal-less) Brother a huge debt for that. But it's a debt that I'll be paying off with a smile (and with many follow-up emails and phone calls to the interested parties).

darn

2006-07-15T00:51:30Z

So, today I found out that my ex got to hang out with Al Jourgensen last week!!
Gah! I only live an hour away, I could've made it down for that!!
Oh well, there's always time left in your life to hang out with The Dude from Ministry, I guess. Speaking of that, I always kind of wonder why he doesn't just randomly show up at a Gnostic Mass sometime at Aum Ha.
Anyway, enough about Al.

a copy of a copy of a copy of a...

2006-06-29T13:03:00Z

For some reason ever since I've had the internet's all seeing eye winking at me in my living room I haven't been able to sleep much. I mean, seriously, it's almost 8am.
For those of you wondering why any sane person would be trying to go to sleep at 8am, I should point out that I work evenings.
But so anyway, I guess I'm just trying to adjust to things.
Aside from cyberinsomnia, things are pretty good. fratersapientia has brought forth yet another very likely candidate from seemingly out of nowhere, and I keep thinking "Wow! Things sure are growing fast around here."
Fortunately, this one is a girl. I like that a lot 'cause thus far the only people who have been Initiated have been fellas. Now, I have no beef with that... But in the wild & wooly world of the OTO the testosterone can get pretty thick... So I'll be more than happy to have some a Sister to balance things out.
Although, now that I think about it a little bit more... I hope that any new Initiates can blend into what's become a pretty harmonious mixture of personalities. It blows me away how tight a unit our little group has become since the Three Days!
And my, how my Minervals have grown!
Living about 3 1/2 hours away from my Local Body, I'd never previously had the honor to closely observe anyone besides myself grow in that OTO sort of way...
It's cool.

O glorious day

2006-06-25T04:49:45Z

Internet? At my house?? Nice.
And on top of all of that, it's apparently about twenty times faster than it ever was when I was posting from work. More excellent things to come...

blah blah short Order politics yadda yadda

2006-04-19T08:15:30Z

Ah. I should really write something more substantial sometime in the near future; but here are my thoughts for the moment...
Whats with all the hubbub, bub? I come back from the Three Days and Livejoural has about 4x the amount of debating and gear-grinding against the OTO that I usually see. Perhaps I'm very occluded. I know that my FL certainly isn't all that big... But...
I personally am delightfully somewhere in the middle on this whole thing. I think people expect far too much from organizations. It's also important to realize that when one is bashing away... that the Heads of our Order are only a miniscule fraction of it. We're the Order, in a very real way.

lu_ia_he tumbles down the rabbit hole...

2006-01-27T13:03:19Z

It's been a few busy weeks for me...

As unexpected as an elephant falling from the sky, I was asked to perform a duty full of prestige and honor: Man the fog machines as Zodiac Mindwarp slowly but effectively tours the lower forty eight States.

Naturally, I accepted without asking my wife, either of my cats, or my boss. In a smoke shrouded world of fantasy and piercing metal vocals, I would be there! Consequences be damned!!!

It all started out innocently enough; I didn't let the cackles and howls of laughter of the groupies assail me during our stint in Columbia, Missouri. One would think that perhaps I might hear "Fogman?? Are you serious?" echo through my brain as I drift off to sleep at night like some sort of terrible Bob Seger nightmare, but not once did I let them deter me from my one purpose.

By the time we reached Denver, I was really starting to pick up speed. I could fill the machines full of fog juice before the other guys were off of the bus. I remember that night, I was running through my usual testing sequence of trying to fill the entire venue from floor to ceiling with a thick blanket of smoke (ostensibly to see how much fog juice our closing number "Elven Boogie Meltdown" would require). So devoted, so dedicated, so preoccupied was I with my appointed task; I failed to realize that the rest of the band were unable to assemble their precious drum sets and amplifiers. After trying unsuccessfully to attach a Zildjian cymbal onto a microphone stand for the third time, I was tackled and restrained for quite some time by Trevor the drummer.

It was the beginning of the end.

I remember being in the midst of the mountains when I discovered my greatest weakness. The rest of the band was in a wood-panelled Burger King sharing a croissanwich but I stole away into the mid-morning mountain air with a handful of money that my better half had managed to send me from back home. There it was that I discovered them: Deep fried zucchini. I made sure to clean every last crumb of breading off of my handlebar mustache, lest the boys in the band should discover the hidden payload of golden brown goodness I had carefully packed in my denim jacket's side pocket.

That night's show started off great. I had heard that codpieces play well to a crowd that is mostly Mormon, but I had to witness it to believe it! Park City, Utah was the place to be.

The band was revved up, and I had been kind enough not to interrupt their sound check this time. The fact of the matter was that I was growing more and more fond of my secretive stash of zucchini. I can only imagine the look of a man as he slowly loses his mind to the twisted taste of those delightful morsels, but having been on the inside of said man at the time... I can only guess. I was completely preoccupied with them when I suddenly noticed Zodiac himself glaring at me, intently, from behind the mic stand.

The band was halfway through "Tremelo Love" and I was a split-second away from missing my cue!! With the trained brilliance that only a well-trained master of fog machinery can muster, I launched myself towards my equipment... But alas, one fatal piece of the equation was new to this experienced distiller of swirly smoke experience. Zucchini.

In my haste, the greater part of an entire bag tumbled to the stage floor; making what was once a move so natural to me a virtual suicide mission. Too late, I realized my mistake. It only took one of the golden brown devils to take me down. My left boot caught it and I slid right into the lighting rig and took it down with me. Sparks shot everywhere, and the frame of the lighting rig knocked Trevor out cold. Tangled in cords and fairly frightened, I managed to bring the whole fixture around for another pass... This time I knocked over the entire nine piece Tama drum kit and managed to embed the tip of the lighting rig into a Mesa-Boogie amplifier.

Things were tense. Zodiac wouldn't talk to me after the gig, and when the police and paramedics finally got done taking care of audience members they came to check on me. It seems that I sustained serious injuries, but at the moment of writing I have the use of at least three of the fingers on my left hand. Really it would be better if I could use the right hand, but oh well.

It has been quite a long, hard journey just recounting this daunting tale for your entertainment. So, hopefully this does someone some good out there. I tried to follow my dreams, but I let my addiction to crispy fried vegetables cloud my judgement. The band is thinking of replacing me with a giant skull that says the alphabet from A to Z and has a pre-programmed fog control. They said they might not use the alphabet thing, but at least if it fell and crushed everyone, they would be in less danger than if I was still around.

Well, who can blame them. Now. I've got to get back thorough this mirror, here...

"I love it when a plan comes together..."

2006-01-14T12:26:59Z

Yes, that is the last time that I will quote Hannibal from the A-Team in my subject line.

So things have been a bit more interesting than usual. Wednesday night I had a little get together in my house, kind of a home-brewed Javacrucians. Now I know how buzzroyal used to feel way back when I first got involved with the OTO and he used to host these sorts of things... I was mixing frothy coffee drinks and sprinkling cinnamon on top of whipped cream whilst my brain and mouth were preoccupied with explaining how a Gnostic Mass temple correlates to the Tree of Life.

Very enjoyable... But I'll look forward to meshing my little crew with the Encampment one of these days. Mingling shall commence.

Picked up the "Parabola" DVD by Tool this evening while grocery shopping. Very nice. I'd heard before that I'd find Enochian Aethyr symbolism therein, but that's one of those things that you've just got to see to believe. And right they were, whoever said so. The very beginning of it was pretty dead-on. It had a lot in common with both my vision and Crowley's; there were four men in business suits slicing fruit and then vomiting black sand in a circle on the table...

Some of the things were hit-and-miss, of course. Enochian is like that. For example, I've never been chased by the guy dressed like a bunch of grapes from those Fruit of the Loom commercials. Not yet, anyway! Tool, however, may have had that very terrifying experience.

moonchild

2005-09-18T21:48:45Z

So, I've been (quite fittingly) reading Moonchild for the very first time.
At first, I wasn't sure what I thought. And then I slammed head-first into Aleister making fun of, well... Just about everything one can dismiss as giving us occultists a bad name. In particular, I enjoyed some of the zany antics of the Black Lodge during Cyril and Iliel's Honeymoon.
I'm not done with it yet, though. I'm sure that it's only going to get better.
Other than that, I had a pretty good weekend. We took out a co-worker (who shall henceforth be referred to as S.) for her 21st birthday. I think I had a better time than she did, but that's entirely her own fault. It was one of the finest inaugurations into the bar scene that I've ever seen. Perhaps it was due to the fact that Frater Wimatonye and I beat her at pool...
Oh well. One can only do what one can. I'm not going to hold a pistol to someone's temple and say "Alright, be happy now!" They usually just get a little shaky and nervous when you do that...
My discovery of the weekend is that there's a small OTO Proto-camp in Kentucky. Yup, I didn't know either. It's kinda cool, though, to see the huge gap between Indiana and Alabama slowly start to shrink. I'll have to go visit sometime. My mom's house is only a hop, skip and a jump from Paducah.
It's also nice to know that I'm not the only who is so psyched about Thelema that they'll travel the better chunk of a State just to catch a glimmer of that LVX.

various

2005-08-22T04:01:36Z

In the midst of a massive 'net binge, I've leapt into the 20th Century by getting myself an Ebay account.

I suppose I didn't have one before now simply because one of my best (and yet, non-Thelemic) friends works for Ebay. Oh well, I'll be amused if I get an email tomorrow where he asks me "What's 'looieyahey' mean?" Doubt it, but it would still be amusing. I've had to field that question before; once when someone from work was looking at my phone. Then the answer was simple: "It means log out of my AIM account and give me back my phone..."

As most of my Aum. Ha. associates know (and also yalith) I'm getting married on the 24th. That's fortunately mostly paid for (or at least already charged!), with just a few minor details to take care of. We get to leave the State after that; westward to Vegas and maybe SLC. In lieu of NOTOCON, maybe I can catch a Gnostic Mass or two in the hazy honeymoon travels...</p>

I've never seen one outside of the Encampment, so that'll be an experience of surpassing excellence. Just watching someone new perform a particular role is pretty rewarding, so it'll be cool to see what it's like elsewhere.

back for good from the locked meditation chambers; candlelit otherwise filled with darkness

2005-08-14T02:40:38Z

Well, seems most everybody's at NOTOCON... I might as well post something.: D
The last three months (since I've become a First Degree) have easily been the most contemplative of my entire life: filled with meditations, realizations, strange dreams and a general restructuring of the way I do (and approach) ritual.
This last involved completely different priorities, new ways of looking at the same old rituals and a sincere thirst to perform new ones... It was all worth it. No trip to the underworld is without it's treasures. V.I.T.R.I.O.L.
Anyway, It's nice to be back... Out in the sunshine where I can get some e-Fellowship.

interesting

2005-06-03T12:46:34Z

At about 1am this morning I was sitting on my couch, fairly bored, when I thought "I'll have a look at those pages I printed off of the Invisible Basilica!"
I've been meaning to consecrate some of my recently aquired Abramelin oil but I've been so busy I haven't gotten around to it yet. I ran through the ritual in my mind and looked with pleasure at the bottom of the page. There's a grid with three different formulas with which you can then use your newly consecrated Abramelin oil to consecrate the altar, etc. Everything in the temple is supposed to be dedicated to the Work.
Essentially, one carefully makes an equal armed cross while saying "Ho Pater Estin Ho Huios Dia to Pneuma Hagion" or one of the other two optional formulas. I distinctly remember thinking, at the time, "En ingles, por favor!" and jumping straight to the third formula: "In the name of Nuit and of Hadit and of Ra Hoor Khuit."
Feeling pretty confident in my abilities to pull off the consecration of the oil, I flipped through to see what else I'd printed off and found an Exorcism Rite. That captured my interest for a while. Pretty interesting to read, actually. I've worked with the angelic hierarchies enough to notice that whereas when I'm doing that I start with, say, EL or YHVH ELOHIM and work down to the archangel and from there the angelic choir subservient to that particular angel and then eventually the spirit subservient to them... The Exorcism worked in the opposite manner. One banishes. If that doesn't work then further measures are used until eventually one invokes and becomes Ra Hoor Khuit (and at which point the spirit in question is really in trouble!).
Very suddenly I noticed that I was tired. Very tired! I put my papers aside and propped myself up on a pillow. I was asleep in seconds.
Whoever said that it takes a long time to go into R.E.M. was trying to make themselves sound smarter than they ever will be. The dreams were vivid. I was inside a house, and there were many people there, but I was alone inside and they were all outside. One could see them through the windows and the doors. Nothing really all that odd about that, but I noticed I wasn't alone in the room. I tried to communicate with the other guy but everything either he or I said was a muddle. All action and even thought was a mish-mash. It was useless to try to reason. That wouldn't work here, evidently.
What I did next surprised me! "Apo Pantos Kakodaimonos!!" I banished and things took on a completely different tint. I was even more astounded when I had my finger on his forehead and drawing the cross saying "Ho Pater..." then, in my dream, I started over again "In the name of Nuit and of Hadit and of Ra Hoor Khuit!" I'd realized that I didn't know all the words to the first one!
Things got far stranger afterwards. Instead of a dark room with life passing by at the speed of light and meaning little to nothing, I found myself in a serene place. Someone was putting a bicycle wheel on, the sun was shining brightly...
I woke up suddenly and looked at my watch. 2:30! I thought I'd slept all night on the couch and it was the middle of the afternoon but, naturally, it was only an hour and a half after I'd fallen asleep.
It was something to ponder. So far, that was the most lucid dream I've had. I knew what I was doing and I remembered things that normally I would only use while I was awake. Mostly, I used that useful tidbit of astral wisdom: whatever the situation may be that you find yourself in, make sure you're the master of it.

rin

2005-05-01T22:16:33Z

Well rustle my tail-feathers: Dead Can Dance are back together and going on tour! Actually, I guess they just drummed and chanted through most of Europe without my knowledge...
It's been a rough weekend; a lot different from most. Last night one of Mel's friends from waaaaay back came over. She drifts around our circle in peripheral vision most of the time, rustling the trees. I'm pretty sure I wrote a post about her a long time ago which involved listening to Ozzy Osborne. We had almost that much fun last night...
Feeling directionless (and miserably drunk) this friend and her boy both wanted Tarot readings. So, I got out the cards and hoped for the best.
The first reading went not at all well. Mel would later accidentally elucidate the meanings of a few of the cards, just by explaining where her friend was coming from. Curiously, in her conscious thoughts was the Ace of Disks... I would later learn that she'd had a very unstable childhood: both parents decided to turn into teenagers after the divorce, when their child needed them most.
A score of Earth sign Court Cards popped up... And the final outcome: Debauchery. That's enough to make you shake your head in sadness... No progress, just wallowing away.
Her boyfriend's cards were in a far more sensitive position.
Lots of Major Arcana. To start, Adjustment crossed by the Universe. This couple had just reconciled and in his environment was the Three of Swords. Further on that note: in the Feelings, Attitudes and Emotions department we had the Tower. Hello!
For the final outcome we had the Empress.

...sometimes you should just go to gnostic mass...

2005-04-24T21:11:54Z

Today seems to be going fine now... But... Wimatonye knocked on our door right as I was about to leave to take Mel to work. "Do you think you guys could give us a jump??" He said, pointing to the street where his maroon car was sitting. A steady stream of Boy Scouts were slowly walking past it.

Before you think I was having some really bizarre nightmares I should clarify that this is actual and factual: An unannounced Boy Scout parade happened on my street today.

So, I backed out slowly and got into a position where I could start to pull into the yard. Some Boy Scout grown-up took issue with my actions... "It's going to be a while! Can't you see there are Boy Scouts walking down the street!!"

"I'm trying to pull into my yard, thank you very much!". I should've told him I was in dire need of a campfire or a double-reverse-hitchknot or something, but I merely pulled up onto the sidewalk and helped my friend out.

Aside from some interesting moments driving through my back yard so I could get to a street that was unpopulated by tiny little guys wearing ascots; the rest of my day has been pretty uneventful.

and recently...

2005-04-21T10:48:27Z

On Tuesday the President came to town, which was an odd occurence for a teeny tiny city like mine. I work nights (so I was in bed at the time) but the aftermath was pretty hilarious. I drove to the Post Office in the midst of a convoy of green Army trucks...

Yesterday was full of ups and downs. Usually I'm easily able to hammer whatever problems I'm faced with into some sort of workable form; but for some reason I found myself feeling a little Buddhist. I was exceptionally lucky to have one of my coworkers around. We call him Wimatonye (pronounced weem-uh-ton-yay, after a King of the Hill episode where Bobby accidentally kills a whooping crane during a Snipe hunt.)

Anyway, he refocused me rather admirably as we passed by the desk of a young lady whom I could mostly nicely describe as vampiric. Both of us being Piscean, we really try to stay away from her as much as we can but unfortunately she sits directly across from the refrigerator, so she can't always be avoided. I, at least, have years of banishing on my side...

In a feat of massive irony, she held up a sign she'd made and said: "Look!" The sign said: "Yes. I am an enigma. Now leave me alone."

Wimatonye, lightning fast, replied "Oh. I didn't see the 'G'." as we flew past, and about ten steps later (when I finally got his joke) we erupted with laughter.

ah how the mighty have fallen

2005-04-17T02:40:40Z

Wow. So it doesn't seem like it's only been a week since I was partying down with my Brothers and Sisters. Good times!
I had so much fun that I think I forgot to get drunk. Crazy, eh?
It's a stark contrast, actually. Now I'm working (essentially by myself) and trying to figure out what I did to my ear. It's really itchy and feels somewhat like I've got a swimming pool in it.
I feel like one of those things carpenters use to make sure something's level.
Typing is helping out a bit: it's hard to focus on that when you're trying to think of something to say (and keep it intelligible!).
Oh well. If I'm still feeling strange like this on Monday, I'll have Mel's cousin look at it. He's actually a doctor; don't worry... I'm not taking it to a mechanic or anything.

Happy Three Days of the Writing of the Book of the Law!

2005-04-07T21:21:00Z

Off I go to the Encampment. :D
Cheers!

what?

2005-04-02T23:54:00Z

"My prophet is a fool with his one, one, one; are not they the Ox, and none by the Book?"
I thought things were odd when I picked up a pack of smokes and received (fittingly) $1.11 in change, but nothing would've prepared me for the USGL website. 93! Onward!