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And again, thanks to all who offered me birthday wishes or otherwise feted me on the occasion. And the tulips are STILL alive (corrupted Tori Amos lyric "...but she couldn't keep tulips alive...") Lizzie keeps overestimating me and giving me living things to care for in spite of the fact that I only seem to be good at growing humans :) If you haven't heard the story of the two platties and the neon tetra, well you probably don't want to. It's most gruesome and reflects me in a rather poor light. But I'm determined to try and keep these tulips alive for a decent interval. We shall just have to wait and see...

Hitting the links once more...

For your most profound amusement...


The Worst Romance Novel Covers of the Year...



"Adult Chritianity: the antidote to the Christian Right"

And as always...McSweeney's

Rider Waite Cards of the day

Knight of Pentacles: The essence of earth behaving as fire, such as molten magma: One slow to action, but decisive and unrelenting once set in motion.



The Star: New hopes and splendid revelations of the future. Insight, inspiration, courage and enlightenment of the spiritual self. Body and mind and converging towards the light at the end of a dark time.



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Review of having been thirty...

...um, it was rather interesting. (detritus)(dream)(poetica)(myth)(opinion)(divination)

William Blake Tarot Celtic Cross Spread: birthday edition

The Celtic Cross spread is one of the most popular Tarot spreads, providing varied insight into many aspects of a complex situation and your role in it. The William Blake Tarot explores the mystical vision and artistry of the renowned English painter and poet. Through rich interpretations focused on creative undertakings, it has long been the deck of choice for artists, writers, musicians, and thinkers.



The card not shown but at the center of the cross, represents the atmosphere surrounding the central issue. Man of Painting: Getting on top of practical aspects of the situation. Taking a pragmatic outlook at what needs to be done. Using calm and caution in a highly charged situation. Taking a conservative yet colorful and personal approach. Total concentration on the task at hand. Bathing in the light of life. Not holding back from direct experience. In the creative process: Test and refine your ideas or product to see if it works as planned; be practical yet innovative.



The card visible at the center of the cross represents the obstacle that stands in your way - it may even be something that sounds good but is not actually to your benefit. Woman of Science: Seeking out pertinent data. Methodical approach to a problem. Looking within yourself for answers. Upholding truth. Counseling others. Forming opinions based on observation and deduction. Weighing abstract ideas. Avoiding personal involvement. Demonstrating principles. Self-discipline. Be cautious of becoming opinionated or over-professional. In the creative process: Now is the time to research and gather information, get an overview, and make long-range plans and strategies.



The card at the top of the cross represents your goal, or the best you can achieve without a dramatic change of priorities. Whirlwind, when reversed: Winds of change make old visions obsolete. An act of god or stroke of bad luck. Inner turmoil cleverly disguised but unrestrained. Getting the run-around. Reaching a turning point. A good time to honor your gods.

The card at the bottom of the cross represents the foundation on which the situation is based. Stars, when reversed: Loss of hope. Feeling disconnected from cosmic or universal energies. Failure to realize the highest potential of your situation. Being out of touch with your own creative powers. Lack of self-esteem. Your abilities going unrecognized. Being restrained from doing your own thing.



The card at the left of the cross represents a passing influence or something to be released. Angel of Painting, when reversed: Visionary reverie. Plans and agendas lost in wild flights of imagination. Action taken without contemplation. Making use of inappropriate tools. Diving into the situation without vision or foresight, particularly its physical or material aspects. In the creative process: Look for or contemplate a solid idea, a practical point of view that can instigate a whole new direction in your work or project.

The card at the right of the cross represents an approaching influence or something to be embraced. Mystery, when reversed: An enigma that resists inner wisdom. Unexplained or mysterious energies at work. Issues of sexuality. Feeling yourself at the mercy of the divine trickster. Dark omens and portents. Attraction to or advice from a wise man.

The card at the base of the staff represents your role or attitude. Forgiveness, when reversed: Unwillingness to learn from mistakes. Magnifying errors out of proportion. Refusal to hear the inner voice. Lack of forgiveness and compassion.

The card second from the bottom of the staff represents your environment and the people you are interacting with. Lightning: An unexpected shock, upheaval, or stunning event. A burst of insight, or spiritual breakthrough. A close call. Release or liberation of energy.



The card second from the top of the staff represents your hopes, fears, or an unexpected element that will come into play. Experience: Wanting to be in control of your instincts, emotions, or elemental forces. Taking the reins in the situation. Goal-oriented drive to succeed. Journeys or involvement with motion and mobility. Meeting challenges head on.

The card at the top of the staff represents the ultimate outcome should you continue on this course. Six of Music (Pleasure): "...we cannot experience pleasure but by means of others...". Being the center of attention. Receiving support from teamwork or group action. Satisfaction deriving from family, friends, colleagues. Participation in a social or community endeavor. Reunion. Keen awareness of the dance of life. Forging links and bonds with others. Experiencing a sense of belonging. Nostalgia and happy memories. In the creative process: Make use of collective or group energies, bringing them together for maximum benefit and mutual enjoyment





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It's my birthday and I'll quote Bowie if I want to...

"Time is waiting in the wings, it speaks of senseless things ...we should be old by now..."


Lalala, I don't feel any older than I did yesterday. Give it time. My darling eldest girl toasted me with a desktop background of "birthday bear" and a gif of a chocolate cake with one candle. Cause that's how she says "I love you." My sister got me a gift certificate for a "chocolate manicure." Where they give you chocolates and all the treatments are chocolate scented. Thus combining my love of candy with a fix for my tragic lack of fingernail grooming. I'm getting a "surprise" present shortly. So far, no Thackery Lambshead, though.

Can't have everything, right? And now I've lived past thirty, so I can't be a tragic poet/novelist ala Sylvia Plath or Virginia Wolf. Sigh. Alas, one by one, all our teenage dreams go unrealized...


Corbid the Elder

Rambling and begging for birthday wishes...

Tommorrow's my birthday. And I'm turning 31. And I don't care about age where it relates to anyone else, but still I feel old. Then again, when I turned twenty I cried, because I'd missed my chance to be a child prodigy. I'm just an odd bird, I guess. Anyway, cheer me up and send me some damned birthday wishes if you're up to it. I know it's shameless, but I'll take what I can get right now. In exchange for which I shall treat you all to a deluxed sized post. And if you're feeling generous, you could always get me this...


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This is me grating on your conscience...


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Kurt Vonnegut is alive and well and wanting to comment on the criminality of the war in Iraq.


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Quote of the Week:


Bookslut columnist Adrienne Martini describing the increasing commonality of works of "speculative fiction" ie. works that fail to fit neatly into one genre or the other, but rather to ethe line between "literature" and the realms of horror,fantasy, science fiction,etc.


Says Ms Martini: "The books are remarkable, much in the same way Todd Haynes’s Velvet Goldmine is, but without the glam rock and Ewan McGregor’s penis."


"Velvet Goldmine" also being the film that finally prompted my husband to beg me not to "bring home any more gay heroin movies, please."


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Apparently, Friday Five has bitten the dust once and for all. Archives and all.

Damn.


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My baby was born to dance:


She has does the twist and tosses her head like a little punkette and has disco moves, etc,etc.

It all depends on the music. Also, she loves seventies folk rock for some reason: Don Maclean, The Eagles, even the friggn Ozark Mountain Daredevils as well as female vocalists of the Tori and Thea Gilmore variety, and Celtic Music in general (The Pogueier the better). Right now, though, we're listening to Modern Rock Classics on AccuRadio.com and she's kind of swaying and peacedancing down the hallway to the Soup Dragons. That's my girl. Now the song has changed and it's (gasp) Echo and The Bunnymen's "The Killing Moon." If there were a baby equivalent of a lighter held aloft at a rock concert, she would be waving one right now. This one may well be getting guitar lessons someday (when sh'es a rock star someday, her tech savant big sister can design her website.) My girls rock, it is an unmitigated fact.


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Took the baby to breakfast today and engaged in a bit of people watching (translation:benevolent eavesdropping.)

Amongs me was a table of long out of touch relatives regathering after a funeral, relating how the event had brought a long lost sibling back into the fold and celebrating the pragmatism of the departed family matriarch as well as anecdotes about her attorney husband's penchant for long, drawn out, heated debates about politics and religion, as well as the splendor of their old, big house, full of passageways where grandchildren could hide indefinitely. Then the conversation abruptly changed to how Dick Clark seemed rather rude when a friend met him in person. At which point I sequed to the conversation at the next table, a mother and her three daughters and baby grandchild gathered to greet one of the sisters who was visiting from out of down. The out of town daughter was complaining about how her mother in law had micromanaged her visit within an inch of its life, and apologizing that she wouldn't see more of her sisters while here. Then my attention was drawn to a hostess whispering to a waiter "I can't wait on that table, I know that girl from high school..."


Much more entertaining than morning television, and in the meantime, my little girl devoured a blueberry muffin,colored a wee masterpiece on her children's menu, and flirted with a nearby toddler of indeterminate gender who had a striped shirt and a miniature afro and one of the ten most gorgeous smiles I've ever seen on an infant.


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I'm a geek beyond reckoning:

I still love the song "Pretty In Pink" by the Psychedelic Furs.


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Went to Cost Plus today and was shocked at the prices, but then realized my mental price list for the place was set in stone somewhere circa 1996, and I am shocked whenver I come in. Relatively speaking, most of their stuff is still an amazingly good deal. Bought instant espresso and sandalwood soap, and some weird little Hello Kitty biscuit sticks that you dip in strawberry frosting for the girls. They taste like sweet pretzels. Restrained myself from the beer aisle and the candy aisle and the spices aisle. I should get an award or something.


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Time to actually play with my wee girl before I have to pick up her sister from school and now that the Wiggles are over. Likely this post will grow longer as the day progresses...


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Peace,

Corbid the no longer Precocious


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And now, without further ado...

It's ...

The Literary Simpsons.

Also, the fabulous Ms. Lizzie Stardust has returned to the blogging community...

Donald in the tiger's den...

So the girls and I are at the zoo. And we're standing in front of an exhibit. Behind the glass are two large, beautiful asian tigers lounging on the grass in front of a spectacular simulated waterfall.The baby gets very excited and starts pointing animatedly.

"Look,look!" she shouts.

"Yes, that's a tiger, sweetie. Can you say tiger?"

"Look, a duck!"

And there was indeed a bird by the pond. Not an actual duck, more ravenish than duckish, but close enough for her.

This continued throughout our visit. Any birdlike creature anywhere near a pond was a "duck" and the exotic animals to whom the ponds belonged were considered mere windowdressing in an ongoing parade of ducklike creatures. When we finally got to the actual duck area, it was rather anticlimactic for her, to tell the truth.

And the prize of the week for most appropriate use of the word "phantasmagorical"in an online news article goes to...

...this Guardian story aboutThe Ghost Train.

Help, I'm dyeing...

It's been a rit dye and henna kind of day. I cheaped out and tried to put too many clothes in at once, so they were just grey. So then I had to sacrifice my brown dye in an attempt to rectify the problem. Which resulted in a very cool shade of purple with grey undertones. SO I'm keeping about half the clothes that turned out that way, then going back for more black dye for the rest. Once my hair's finished marinating, that is. That, thank goddess, I finally have down to somewhat of a science. Decided to spend my birthday money rejuvenating things I have instead of buying new shite. I may be getting older, but my stuff will have a new lease on life, at least.


Yes, it's going to be my birthday. Saturday. The 8th. The 9th being Mother's Day (that way this becomes a public service announcement instead of a shameless plea to be wished "Happy Birthday."

Tongue Twister

Wiley Wiggins has a Website. And so does

Will Wheaton...

More mything links

Pagan and geek humour at last combined: the anti-spam Wiccan ritual page.

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Runes of the Day: "maintaining the status quo"

Thurisaz (reversed)

(Also called Thorn; Letter: TH; Old Norse name: Thurs)



Thurisaz is a very ancient name for Thor, so it's not surprising that it is a most powerful rune. Thurisaz can be used and interpreted as a protection rune. Plants grow thorns to protect themselves, so the logic is clear. Drawing a ring of Thurisaz runes around something is an excellent protection spell. However, Thurisaz has a dark side. After all, thorns protect by pricking and drawing blood. One should step carefully with this rune and treat it respectfully. It can backfire just as easily as it can work for you. In a reading, Thurisaz upright stands as a warning to the querent, especially if the querent is acting as though his run of good luck is neverending. Thurisaz often suggests that the querent is being wrongheaded about the issue at hand, and advises the querent to maintain status quo until the period indicated by the runecast is over. Thurisaz reversed means much the same thing as it does upright, except that the querent may be much more difficult to counsel, much more stubborn and unwilling to heed Thurisaz's warning.



(Nauthiz)

(Also called Nied; Letter: N; Old Norse name: Naudr)



Another somewhat negative rune, the meaning of Nauthiz is apparent in its other spelling, Nied-pronounced "need." When Nauthiz appears in a reading, it almost always indicates something that the querent needs. What that something is will often be spelled out in the surrounding runes. Most important, though, is that until the querent does something about this need, she will be restricted or constrained from moving forward. Sometimes Nauthiz will appear as a warning of upcoming trouble, delay, ill health, or shortage of some kind, and because of this, Nauthiz can be interpreted to mean "maintain the status quo." As a result rune, Nauthiz indicates that the querent will get what she wanted, but what she wanted may not have been what she needed, and the situation may continue. Nauthiz is associated with Skuld, the Norn of the future.



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This is too cool!

A flash animation based site devoted to world Creation Myths.



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An actual review of an actual book.

Just stumbled across a website for The Alphabet vs The Goddess, which is a book that I read recently on the topic of Matriarchy vs. Patriarchy, and whether the shift from Goddess centered fertility cults to male Warrior God based religions had to do with the shift from pictorial and iconic forms of "writing" and expression to the use of a phonetic alphabet. Which is kind of an odd possibility, considering women tend to be more verbal and are generally found to be more capable of mastering the subtleites of literacy, whereas men respond more easily to visual stimuli and videographic type images. But what do I know, I'm no brain surgeon. And the author of this book is. Literally. A brain surgeon. Dr. Leonard Shlain. He in fact developed his theory partly based on his knowledge of the differences in function between the two hemispheres of the brain.

In any case, this is a very interesting book, rife with interesting minutiae in the realms of cultural history and sociology, et al. One learns such things as that while our nearest primate cousins are still somewhat polygamous, human societies became prone to pair off as a sort of "sex for meat" exchange. The point is made that the current trend toward greater status and independence for women has coincided with the refinement of the photographic image. This is a varied and interesting little tour through several centuries of progress in the arts and humanities. But ultimately I feel he fails to adequately prove his point. I failed to encounter any evidence that was non anecdotal in format. I realize this was hardly an academic treatise or anything, but still, aren't doctors supposed to be scientists? I expect scientists to support their proposals with factual evidence and not interesting coincidences. But it was an entertaining read nonetheless.

For something in a similar vein, but better researched, I'd suggest Mother Nature : A History of Mothers, Infants, and Natural Selection, by anthropologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, which explores the biological motivations of human parenting and sexual behaviors in the contexts of both history and evolution. Hrdy being one of those rare individuals who has mastered their field of expertise (in this case anthropology) and is able to write about it as if she were a writer first and foremost. Much in the tradition of Carl Sagan.

Another little gem, not so meticulously researched, and with a a bit of an unapologetic femisit bias, but well argued and most enlightening is The Myths Of Motherhood by Shari L. Thurer. It examines attitudes throughout the centuries in regards to what makes "a good mother." I read it while pregnant, as a counterpoint to the guilt inducing condescension of many of my pregnancy manuals, many of which instantly doomed your offspring if you failed do such things as eat only whole wheat baked goods and read to your unborn fetus.

So, what we've established here so far is that:

a) I'm a bit of a feminist (shocking!)
and
b) I like books that use the excuse of a "serious premise" to explore interesting historical trivia.

Still, I'm sort of proud of myself just for publishing an actual critique on my opinion site, which is supposedly what it's here for.
This was beginning to turn into the "what I had for breakfast blog," which is just sort of a sad commentary on the state of my life as a whole.



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School Dreams

Had one of those dreams where I'm in school again, but a couple of weeks into the semester and there are classes I've forgotten to take,etc.

Only add to this a temporary amnesia factor, as if someone else has taken over my life and when I get back to it, I don't the way it's been handled, but am forced to deal with cleaning up the mess they've left for me.



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Observation

Depressed people tend to gravitate to other depressed people, and somehow they expect the other depressed people to make them feel better. The sick thing is that about half the time it actually seems to work. Which makes it all the more depressing the fifty percent of the time that it doesn't work.


Why does it work at all? My theory is twofold: a) for some reason depressives are more responsive to and aware of humour, particularly the sarcastic kind, and b) intelligent people are more likely to be depressed and being intelligent, they are also easily distracted by intellectual matters.


Or whatever. Antidepressants work better, but they never introduce you to new bands or authors or anything...

Tarot Cards of the Day

From the Haindl deck:



Nine of Stones (Material Gain): Fortune. Money, security, health, comfort. Avoid complacency, greed, or conceit.



Seven of Wands (Courage): Courage and daring - possibly, the courage to retreat. Using one's power for transformation.



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Breakfast of champions

Made grilled cheese sandwiches for breakfast. Semolina sourdough bread with cheddar cheese and real butter. Then grated a baked potato into the still-hot frying pan and made hash browns, salted and heavily peppered. Sprinkled the potatos with a bit of hot sauce and ate it with a coke and a dill pickle.

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