I can't tell you how much crap I've endured in the month of January in my life. When I was a kid it was just the pain in the ass drag of going back to school after the Christmas/winter break. As I've gotten older it's gotten worse and the pain in the ass quotient has skyrocketed. Serious relationships grinding to painful halts, drug addictions taking over the lives of loved ones, ice storms that turn a region into a disaster area and every form of sickness popular with the cool kids.
I've really spent most of these past two months sick as hell with one damn thing or another. Strangely enough, my personal life has taken a decided upswing at the same time as my body has been producing all kinds of disgusting things. My motto seems to be: "it could be worse." And that has proven true around these hills lately. But me being sick all the time coupled with one of my furry children sustaining an injury (that he's recovering from) has really made me hate January and February.
So, here's saying goodbye to January and February, welcome to March and "Come on Spring!"
I have a confession to make: My name is Livia Indica and I don't like Thanksgiving. In fact, I hate it. I've felt this way for most of my life but only recognized the reasons behind these feelings in the last ten years or so. It's a big frikkin' mess and worry and bother and stress and money spent and family irritations all to celebrate the subjugation and eventual extermination of nearly 20 million American Indians by militant invasion and disease. I know I'm not the only person who feels this way but that doesn't change anything or make the holidays, and all its headaches, any easier to handle.
"But that's not what I came to talk about. I came to talk about the draft."
Uh, I mean, I came to talk about change and how it can be a good, if painful, thing.
You see, I still don't like Thanksgiving Day all that much. It is my very least favorite of all secular or American or religious holidays, be they Christian or pagan or Spaghetti Monster-related, etc. But this Thanksgiving is different. This entire holiday season will be, and already is, different. Why? Well, to be quite blunt about it: there aren't any junkies doing everything they can to ruin it. It's amazing how people who can't accomplish anything useful, or much of anything at all, for years on end can still manage to ruin holidays for everyone around them. All it takes is a few choice words, a few thousand dollars stolen, a lack of consideration or participation and a general discourteous attitude to make everyone involved in the holiday feel like total shit.
And my family doesn't have to face that this year! Yay!
Sure, we're broke as hell. The junkies left us with a ton of drug-induced debt. We're worried about our loved one and what he's done to himself. But we are determined to have a happier holiday season than we've had the last two or three years. And while everything isn't perfect the mere fact that we are junkie-free will guarantee a pretty nice time for us. And I'm honestly excited and looking forward to it. So, here, have some traditional Thanksgiving Day carols.
And to all my American friends out there: Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy your pumpkin pie and tryptophan-induced naps!
Can you identify this mystery shrubbery? This was already here when we moved in over five years ago and has nearly doubled in size since then. If you don't know it could you ask Roger the Shrubber? Ni!
Thanks to Nettle, Maebius, Marion and Riverwolf I have learned that this shrubbery is a spirea. It's spirea douglasii to be exact. My mom and I have been arguing back and forth about this and, after much research, we've discovered that the spirea she knew as a child is the old-fashioned, traditional white "bridal wreath" spirea introduced in 1845, which is very different from our current flashy, purply-pink variety. There is somewhere between forty and eighty varieties, from multi-sized shrubs to ground cover plants. They grow pretty much all over, according to most websites, but are evergreen in warmer places like California and the deep south.
Thanks to everyone for chiming in and helping me solve this mystery!
Several examples of words of wisdom have been running through my head lately. "Your thoughts make your reality" is the most prevalent. And what I've gotten to wondering about is how our thoughts and beliefs affect us after we die. For instance, if we firmly, truly, sincerely think and believe in every fiber of our beings that we will reincarnate as a human, does the strength of our thoughts make it happen? I can also turn it around and look at it from an Abrahamic perspective. If an individual truly thinks and believes they are going to hell does the power of their mind actually cause it to happen?
I've been wondering about this since I began taking a closer look at humorous bits about the afterlife. For instance, Bill Hicks, who was a consummate smoker, has a bit about arriving at heaven and being asked "Got a light"? He's later told by Saint Peter that "these aren't clouds, this is cigarette smoke" and that all the non-smokers are in hell. This is just one example that has got me thinking lately.
If our thoughts define the reality of our daily lives wouldn't it stand to reason that those thoughts would create the reality of our afterlives as well? Or is the power of our thoughts only tied to our physical bodies? And, if so, how does this relate to the mind/body connection? As you can see I've got more questions than answers so I'm eager to learn what my readers and fellow bloggers think.
I just saw this a couple hours ago and laughed until it hurt. There's no clip of it yet on YouTube (and I don't know how to do that). But it went like this.
In big letters on a holiday-ish screen text ran reading: "Happy Solstice".
And then there's a pause.
And then it reads: "There you go Pagans, happy now?"
I'm still laughing.
Another bit ran: "Nogarita: Egg nog and a margarita. You'll puke but it's totally worth it."
If you read your history you know that god is one of the leading causes of death and has been for thousands of years. Hindus, Moslems, Christians, Jews, all taking turns killing one another, because god told them it was a good idea. The sword of god, the blood of the lamb, vengeance is mine, onward Christian soldiers. Millions of dead motherfuckers! All because they gave the wrong answer to the god question. "Do you believe in God?" "No." "Boom, dead!" "Do you believe in God?" "Yes." "Do you believe in my god?" "No." "Boom, dead!" "My god has a bigger dick than your god." For thousands of years all the bloodiest and most brutal wars have been based on religious hatred. Which of course, is fine with me; anytime "holy" people are killing one another, I'm a happy guy......but please, don't kill each other and give me that shit about sanctity of life."
I know it's a cliche but the world has suffered a terrible loss. Many people say he was second only to Lenny Bruce but he was tops with me. I will miss him.
When discussing the possibility of an afterlife Carlin had this to say: "I do believe in the survivability of the human spirit. We were all part of a giant explosion once, and we've come a long way. The incredible distances of past and future internal time, the history of this whole fucking, vibrating, internal resonating mother mass - that's what I read and think about more than anything else."
