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Farewell to AC
Posted 12 years agoI don't always to a post-con journal, but when I do, it's because it was friggin' awesome. I'm not gonna do a blow-by-blow, but want to highlight the main points of awesomeness for the weekend.
So, I decided while day drinking on the 4th of July that instead of waiting until Friday to pick up my work check before leaving, I'd drive to AC a night early. As the decision was made several Angry Orchard elderflower ciders into the night (which, incidentally, I highly, highly recommend for anybody who enjoys an apple cider that goes down reaaaaaaaal smooth), I ended up not leaving town until 10:00, getting to the hotel around 3:00AM on what was technically Friday. As it turned out, the checks weren't in until nearly 5:00 Friday, so this was definitely without question the right decision on my end. Though perhaps not as convenient for
whose room I crashed all weekend.
The con was a little bit terrifying at first, just because there were so many people and I didn't seem to know very many of them. But, with the help of the OhioFurs meet, the Hoofers meet and some room parties, I was never at a loss for folks to hang out with for the duration of the con, many of whom I had never met before. I definitely did more of the femboi outfits at this con than any previously, which was both incredibly fun and a little eye-opening. I've known for a while that I'm not fantastic at first impressions, mostly just because I'm fairly uncertain when meeting new people and am not the most visually arresting human being most of the time. Cross-dressing definitely helps the visual arresting aspect, but I guess I come across as being frosty, shallow, or otherwise difficult to approach when doing so. This impression usually disappears if I get even 10 minutes to chat with people, but it's a bit troubling nonetheless. I can't always rely on having that time to make an impression.
I swear I'm a friendly human being! And relatively intelligent, too!
Now back to your regularly scheduled highlights! I want to thank a few folks individually for really making my con experience fantastic. First of all the folks I knew going in
dizzyfoxx for letting me stay in his room and having a remarkable knack for introducing me to amazing people every time I hang out with him.
arashiin for finding me in the Reg area and helping me acclimate to the large convention scene for much of Friday afternoon
soron1991 for inviting me along on several occasions and being an excellent, understanding friend
imeow for being an excellent fursuit handler while suiting himself and strolling around with me quite a lot in suit
langston who is an incredible businessman and a charm and a delight always.
As for the amazing new people I met! Among the many, many of you I talked to and mosied around with for a while, I particularly want to thank
combatraccoon and 
wafflah (and friends) for letting me tag along with them for a while and being incredibly kind, bubbly people
azurtrix for being bold enough to say hello and open up the opportunity to get to know one another
trufahlan for safely escorting my skirt-clad butt back to my hotel safely and hours of the most pleasant conversation I've had in ages
And last but certainly not least
e-kismet for being one of the most generous, considerate human beings I have ever met.
I don't yet know if I'll be back to AC next year, but I'm incredibly glad I was able to go this year. That is all from me for now! Back to yarn work.
So, I decided while day drinking on the 4th of July that instead of waiting until Friday to pick up my work check before leaving, I'd drive to AC a night early. As the decision was made several Angry Orchard elderflower ciders into the night (which, incidentally, I highly, highly recommend for anybody who enjoys an apple cider that goes down reaaaaaaaal smooth), I ended up not leaving town until 10:00, getting to the hotel around 3:00AM on what was technically Friday. As it turned out, the checks weren't in until nearly 5:00 Friday, so this was definitely without question the right decision on my end. Though perhaps not as convenient for
whose room I crashed all weekend.The con was a little bit terrifying at first, just because there were so many people and I didn't seem to know very many of them. But, with the help of the OhioFurs meet, the Hoofers meet and some room parties, I was never at a loss for folks to hang out with for the duration of the con, many of whom I had never met before. I definitely did more of the femboi outfits at this con than any previously, which was both incredibly fun and a little eye-opening. I've known for a while that I'm not fantastic at first impressions, mostly just because I'm fairly uncertain when meeting new people and am not the most visually arresting human being most of the time. Cross-dressing definitely helps the visual arresting aspect, but I guess I come across as being frosty, shallow, or otherwise difficult to approach when doing so. This impression usually disappears if I get even 10 minutes to chat with people, but it's a bit troubling nonetheless. I can't always rely on having that time to make an impression.
I swear I'm a friendly human being! And relatively intelligent, too!
Now back to your regularly scheduled highlights! I want to thank a few folks individually for really making my con experience fantastic. First of all the folks I knew going in
dizzyfoxx for letting me stay in his room and having a remarkable knack for introducing me to amazing people every time I hang out with him.
arashiin for finding me in the Reg area and helping me acclimate to the large convention scene for much of Friday afternoon
soron1991 for inviting me along on several occasions and being an excellent, understanding friend
imeow for being an excellent fursuit handler while suiting himself and strolling around with me quite a lot in suit
langston who is an incredible businessman and a charm and a delight always.As for the amazing new people I met! Among the many, many of you I talked to and mosied around with for a while, I particularly want to thank
combatraccoon and 
wafflah (and friends) for letting me tag along with them for a while and being incredibly kind, bubbly people
azurtrix for being bold enough to say hello and open up the opportunity to get to know one another
trufahlan for safely escorting my skirt-clad butt back to my hotel safely and hours of the most pleasant conversation I've had in agesAnd last but certainly not least
e-kismet for being one of the most generous, considerate human beings I have ever met.I don't yet know if I'll be back to AC next year, but I'm incredibly glad I was able to go this year. That is all from me for now! Back to yarn work.
Quick trip through Indiana
Posted 12 years agoI've touched down in Bloomington for about three days amidst this very strange summer of impossible-to-plan-for twists. I was planning to do a lot of packing while here, which may still happen, but have spent more time dealing with apartment issues than anticipated. Evidently, you don't need a basement for an apartment to flood.
In any case! I'll be taking a trip to Hobby Lobby tomorrow to pick up some stencils in the hopes that they will help clean up my lettering on my rug punches. I'm also going to be doing a small experiment with them that I'll keep the details of quiet for now, just 'cause. It may result in a new type of commission being offered.
Speaking of! I am still open for commissioned works, for those interested, and probably won't officially close any time soon. There's not too much demand for the work at this point, so there's that. I will, however, start putting out non-commissioned pieces soon, so keep an eye out in case you see one you want to snag!
In any case! I'll be taking a trip to Hobby Lobby tomorrow to pick up some stencils in the hopes that they will help clean up my lettering on my rug punches. I'm also going to be doing a small experiment with them that I'll keep the details of quiet for now, just 'cause. It may result in a new type of commission being offered.
Speaking of! I am still open for commissioned works, for those interested, and probably won't officially close any time soon. There's not too much demand for the work at this point, so there's that. I will, however, start putting out non-commissioned pieces soon, so keep an eye out in case you see one you want to snag!
A curious state of unemployment
Posted 12 years agoFor those of you who haven't heard, I'm no longer employed in Ann Arbor for the summer, due to a rather frustrating circumstances. Basically, at the fundraising job, if you don't raise enough money three days in a row, you're fired no matter what. So, despite the fact that I was one of the major volunteers for extra projects and all the directors agreed that I was beneficial for office morale, I got three-day standarded out of the job. The most frustrating part of it is that it was the main director who was micro-managing what neighborhoods I was going to each day for the last week and consistently put me in financially depressed neighborhoods and places that had already been canvassed recently. You know...exactly what the Field Manager is never supposed to do. General consensus is that she was gunning for me to get fired for inscrutable reasons.
So here's the plan! I'm going to take the rest of the summer to focus on my grad school reading and enjoy myself. I already had enough money set aside for the full summer's worth of rent in both apartments (Bloomington and Ann Arbor), still have a paycheck to pick up later from the job, and have a decent amount saved up to get me through. Plans to go to AC are still on. Travels planned now include:
June 27-30/July 1: Bloomington, IN
July 4 or 5-July 7: AnthroCon
Late July: home to Massachusetts
Plus there's one other bonus! Much as I have enough money to get me through, I figure now is as good a time as any to work more on my rug punching skills and make a little money on the side! Consequently, I'm opening up for rug commissions as detailed in this journal: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4773712/
I also plan to do some pre-made stuff with the supplies I have strewn about, so watch for those to start appearing here and on one of the auction sites.
So job lost, but I'm not concerned. I still have three more years of funding and teaching guaranteed in Bloomington, so I'm in no danger in the long-term.
So here's the plan! I'm going to take the rest of the summer to focus on my grad school reading and enjoy myself. I already had enough money set aside for the full summer's worth of rent in both apartments (Bloomington and Ann Arbor), still have a paycheck to pick up later from the job, and have a decent amount saved up to get me through. Plans to go to AC are still on. Travels planned now include:
June 27-30/July 1: Bloomington, IN
July 4 or 5-July 7: AnthroCon
Late July: home to Massachusetts
Plus there's one other bonus! Much as I have enough money to get me through, I figure now is as good a time as any to work more on my rug punching skills and make a little money on the side! Consequently, I'm opening up for rug commissions as detailed in this journal: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4773712/
I also plan to do some pre-made stuff with the supplies I have strewn about, so watch for those to start appearing here and on one of the auction sites.
So job lost, but I'm not concerned. I still have three more years of funding and teaching guaranteed in Bloomington, so I'm in no danger in the long-term.
OPENING FOR COMMISSIONS!
Posted 12 years agoThe fateful, promised day on which Janu opens for rug-punch commissions has finally arrived!
What's rug punch, you may ask? It's a combination of needlework and rug hooking that uses yarn for its primary material. The pieces can be used as wall-hangings, hot mats, exceptionally nice coasters, and even actual rugs (fancy that)!
For example, a welcome sign: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10922386/
Currently, I'm offering two types of commission, with room for expansion as materials stockpile and I get better at doing what I do.
Option one is a transformation of digital or otherwise imaged media into a rug punch. For example, the following fox first appeared as a sketch in a children's book from the 70's: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10482749/
Option two is a customizable template option for which I'm definitely open to more suggestions! Currently available is a "Back In My Den" hanging with a print that can be altered based on personal request/preference. The one currently displayed uses the print and coloration of the raffle winner's fursona: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10919878/
For more information on commissions/pricing/etc... check out my new Commission Info page! http://www.furaffinity.net/commissions/janu/
If you really, really have another idea you want to toss my way, please feel free! I'm open to all sorts of suggestions while I start this endeavor up!
To secure a commission slot, you can note me or just comment on this journal itself. Either works and I'll stay open indefinitely until I have a few things lined up. I can't imagine this will be a fast-filling slot game.
What's rug punch, you may ask? It's a combination of needlework and rug hooking that uses yarn for its primary material. The pieces can be used as wall-hangings, hot mats, exceptionally nice coasters, and even actual rugs (fancy that)!
For example, a welcome sign: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10922386/
Currently, I'm offering two types of commission, with room for expansion as materials stockpile and I get better at doing what I do.
Option one is a transformation of digital or otherwise imaged media into a rug punch. For example, the following fox first appeared as a sketch in a children's book from the 70's: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10482749/
Option two is a customizable template option for which I'm definitely open to more suggestions! Currently available is a "Back In My Den" hanging with a print that can be altered based on personal request/preference. The one currently displayed uses the print and coloration of the raffle winner's fursona: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10919878/
For more information on commissions/pricing/etc... check out my new Commission Info page! http://www.furaffinity.net/commissions/janu/
If you really, really have another idea you want to toss my way, please feel free! I'm open to all sorts of suggestions while I start this endeavor up!
To secure a commission slot, you can note me or just comment on this journal itself. Either works and I'll stay open indefinitely until I have a few things lined up. I can't imagine this will be a fast-filling slot game.
AC Meme
Posted 12 years agoHow do you want to be addressed?
Janu, Janushka (pronunciation guide: Yah-noo; yah-noosh-kah
Where are you staying?
Umm...good question. I know with whom, but not where exactly. Huh. Should check that out.
What day are you getting there?
Suuuuuuuper late Friday night/Saturday morning.
Who will you be rooming with?
It's a secret!
Who will you hang out with during the convention?
Whomever I can find!
Are there any panels you might be attending?
Probably not; my time will be short and I want to maximize hang-out time with people I otherwise won't get to see.
Will you be suiting?
Hell yes.
Do you do free art?
It's the only art I've done so far! (Probably not for this con, though)
Do you do trades?
Potentially
Do you do badges?
Badges would be...interesting in my art style. I shall consider.
Do you do commissions?
i'm considering it!
What is your gender?
Male
How old are you?
23
How tall are you?
5'11
Are you taken? Are you looking for a 'mate'?
This deer is single and, like any good deer, just kinda staring at things that go by.
Can I talk to you?
Please!
Can I touch you?
Have you showered in the past 24 hours? Would it be permitted in a PG movie? Then yes.
Can I dance with you?'
See above. Though the rating may jump to PG-13
How can I find you?
Luck, bravery, and persistence.
Can I visit your room?
Depends on the time
Can I buy you drinks?
Are you prepared for tipsy durr?
Can I give you stuff?
Define "stuff" first...
Are you nice?
I try to be!
How long are you going?
Friday night/Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon.
Do you have an artist table?
No sirree
If I see you, how should I get your attention?
Flag me down with flailing and sing the lumberjack song.
Where will you be most of the time during the day/s?
I'll gravitate toward Artist's Alley/Dealer's Den when not hanging with people.
Can I come with you for food/fun/etc?
If you're prepared for the danger involved with the second one listed!
What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
Meet online friends and not get lost.
Janu, Janushka (pronunciation guide: Yah-noo; yah-noosh-kah
Where are you staying?
Umm...good question. I know with whom, but not where exactly. Huh. Should check that out.
What day are you getting there?
Suuuuuuuper late Friday night/Saturday morning.
Who will you be rooming with?
It's a secret!
Who will you hang out with during the convention?
Whomever I can find!
Are there any panels you might be attending?
Probably not; my time will be short and I want to maximize hang-out time with people I otherwise won't get to see.
Will you be suiting?
Hell yes.
Do you do free art?
It's the only art I've done so far! (Probably not for this con, though)
Do you do trades?
Potentially
Do you do badges?
Badges would be...interesting in my art style. I shall consider.
Do you do commissions?
i'm considering it!
What is your gender?
Male
How old are you?
23
How tall are you?
5'11
Are you taken? Are you looking for a 'mate'?
This deer is single and, like any good deer, just kinda staring at things that go by.
Can I talk to you?
Please!
Can I touch you?
Have you showered in the past 24 hours? Would it be permitted in a PG movie? Then yes.
Can I dance with you?'
See above. Though the rating may jump to PG-13
How can I find you?
Luck, bravery, and persistence.
Can I visit your room?
Depends on the time
Can I buy you drinks?
Are you prepared for tipsy durr?
Can I give you stuff?
Define "stuff" first...
Are you nice?
I try to be!
How long are you going?
Friday night/Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon.
Do you have an artist table?
No sirree
If I see you, how should I get your attention?
Flag me down with flailing and sing the lumberjack song.
Where will you be most of the time during the day/s?
I'll gravitate toward Artist's Alley/Dealer's Den when not hanging with people.
Can I come with you for food/fun/etc?
If you're prepared for the danger involved with the second one listed!
What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
Meet online friends and not get lost.
I'm alive, don't worry!
Posted 12 years agoAlive, working, walking, knocking on doors, and all that jazz! Ann Arbor is quite a lovely town from what I've seen of it and not at all a bad place to be spending the summer, especially for doing the door to door political canvassing work I'm doing right now. Field manager training continues tomorrow and so hopefully I'll be getting the commensurate pay increase for that. Basically just being the point person for a team of canvassers.
I'll give a more full update soon (which I keep promising and not delivering on...), but for the two of you who are awaiting art from me, fear not! Work will be possible on it now that I'm more settled into the apartment and won't be going in early to work for daily training. I got about half an hour in today to transfer the pattern for one of yours onto the mesh that will let me center it correctly on the material itself, so hopefully work on that will start in earnest tomorrow. I'm going to try to push myself to complete the entire basic pattern this weekend, so I only have touch-up work to do during the week!
That's all from me now!
I'll give a more full update soon (which I keep promising and not delivering on...), but for the two of you who are awaiting art from me, fear not! Work will be possible on it now that I'm more settled into the apartment and won't be going in early to work for daily training. I got about half an hour in today to transfer the pattern for one of yours onto the mesh that will let me center it correctly on the material itself, so hopefully work on that will start in earnest tomorrow. I'm going to try to push myself to complete the entire basic pattern this weekend, so I only have touch-up work to do during the week!
That's all from me now!
Upcoming Bloomingfurs Meet (Open to all!)
Posted 12 years agoPeople should check out the Bloomingfurs journal if they're free this weekend and can travel! http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4612047/
I may be able to provide some crash space for out-of-towners again, but I will be mid-moving process, so no absolute promises! Give me heads up if you may need it.
I may be able to provide some crash space for out-of-towners again, but I will be mid-moving process, so no absolute promises! Give me heads up if you may need it.
Female/Femboy/Herm Raffle (Closing Soon!)
Posted 12 years ago
seeminglysleepy is doing a raffle that started female and grew to include femboys and herms among its allowed participants. Anybody with a character that fits those should go check it out!http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4605317/
I CAN EAT THE BIG BOY FOOODS!
Posted 12 years agoMy skirt is so short!Free Unique Art Raffle!
Posted 12 years agoDone by me! Some time this summer!
Go here and see more about it: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4582765/
It's a rather uncommon traditional art style. Useful for wall hangings, pot holders, hot mats, and more.
(Off to Morphicon! Closing the raffle on Monday.)
Go here and see more about it: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4582765/
It's a rather uncommon traditional art style. Useful for wall hangings, pot holders, hot mats, and more.
(Off to Morphicon! Closing the raffle on Monday.)
Current Watchers Rewards Raffle!
Posted 12 years agopassing 200 watchers and 2000 pageviews...I hereby open up a raffle for any current watchers who would like to participate as thanks for enjoying my stuff here enough that I keep doing it! I will be making and sending out 2 or 3 (depending on interest levels and projected free time) homemade, rug-punched wall hangings for the winners. The winners will be chosen via random number generator. Note that only the 201 watchers currently on my list will be eligible for this raffle, so there's no need to spread word about this journal. Not that I don't want new watchers, but this is a thank you to those already here. There will be more in the future!
The hangings themselves can be 6-20 inches in diameter, will be circular, and we can figure out what will go on them exactly as we go along. Pitching ideas in the comments on this would be helpful, but isn't necessary right away! Due to the nature of the medium, keep in mind that subtle gradations of color and fine detail will not translate well into yarn art on a small scale.
For an example of what on earth I'm talking about: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10482749/
That particular piece is one of the more intricate I've done, but even between that piece and now I've acquired a different punch needle capable of slightly finer detail! It'll be an experiment all around.
The pieces can be used as wall-hangings, as mentioned, but also hot-mats, coasters, seat cushions, or anywhere else you might want a small, artistic blend between picture and doily.
So if you're you're interested, leave a comment to get into the random number draw and we'll chat about what exactly I can make for you!
(Note: I will add more references as I can collect images of previous done pieces. I forget to document these things before giving them to their intended recipients. >.>)
Winners have been noted! Thanks to all 10 for entering and I look forward to working with the winners on this project!
~Janu
Upcoming Rewards from Yours Truly!
Posted 12 years agoI seem to suddenly be approaching 200 watchers! Which is at once amazing and terrifying because I don't feel like I put nearly as much into this community as I have been getting out of it. Y'all are wonderful people and joining the community has been one of the best things to happen to me for my social life. I've met some incredible folks who have pushed me to do a lot more with my time than I had been before.
As gratitude for this and upon reaching the mark of 200 watchers (potentially some time in the next week or so) I plan to open up a raffle to my then-present watchers. I'll be posting a journal for it; whoever comments will get a shot for one of the three gifts to be given out, which will be made over the summer. Plan is for me to make three 12-14" wall hanging rugs customized to the people whose names get drawn's requests.
So this is a heads-up for that! Think about a small image you might like on a wall-hanging. I'll post some reference images to examples of my work soon.
Hope to see some of you all at Morphicon in two weeks!
~Janu
As gratitude for this and upon reaching the mark of 200 watchers (potentially some time in the next week or so) I plan to open up a raffle to my then-present watchers. I'll be posting a journal for it; whoever comments will get a shot for one of the three gifts to be given out, which will be made over the summer. Plan is for me to make three 12-14" wall hanging rugs customized to the people whose names get drawn's requests.
So this is a heads-up for that! Think about a small image you might like on a wall-hanging. I'll post some reference images to examples of my work soon.
Hope to see some of you all at Morphicon in two weeks!
~Janu
Sexxi taking a free art request
Posted 12 years ago
sexxi is doing some free request art and has a really adorable style. y'all should check it out and take a shot!Journal for it is here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4551956/
I'll update of my own right soon. :3
ABC meme with embedded info
Posted 12 years agoA - Age: 22 (23 this coming Saturday and anybody close by who wants to come to the party should let me know so I can get you invitation information!!)
B - Bed size: Full (friggin' finally)
C - Chore you hate: Cleaning toilets
D - Dog's name: N/A Ergo changing to Dad's name to match below: Robert a.k.a. Dan
E - Essential start your day item: Backpack
F - Favorite color: Green
G - Gold or Silver: Silver
H - Height: 5'11"
I - Ireland or Italy: One great-grandparent off the boat from each
J - Job title: Associate Instructor, Barista
K - Kid: Nope, no goats anywhere
L - Living arrangements: sharing apartment with a law student
M - Mom's name: Susan
N - Nicknames: Janu, Chew Toy, McFly, McLovin
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: None
P - Pet Peeve(s): Being deliberately misinterpreted
Q - Quote from a movie: I'm mad; you're mad; we're all mad! ~Alice in Wonderland
R - Righty or Lefty: Righty
S - Siblings: 2 older sisters, 2 older brothers
T - Time you wake up: pretty random
U - Underwear: briefs
V - Vegetables you dislike: Lima beans, if you'll count legumes
W - Water or land: Water.
X - X-rated or PG: PG unless it's done really well. X-rated tends to be shallow
Y - Yesterday's best moment: Being able to pass most of my students on a quiz
Z - Zoo favorite: Penguins
Upcoming cons: Morphicon!
B - Bed size: Full (friggin' finally)
C - Chore you hate: Cleaning toilets
D - Dog's name: N/A Ergo changing to Dad's name to match below: Robert a.k.a. Dan
E - Essential start your day item: Backpack
F - Favorite color: Green
G - Gold or Silver: Silver
H - Height: 5'11"
I - Ireland or Italy: One great-grandparent off the boat from each
J - Job title: Associate Instructor, Barista
K - Kid: Nope, no goats anywhere
L - Living arrangements: sharing apartment with a law student
M - Mom's name: Susan
N - Nicknames: Janu, Chew Toy, McFly, McLovin
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: None
P - Pet Peeve(s): Being deliberately misinterpreted
Q - Quote from a movie: I'm mad; you're mad; we're all mad! ~Alice in Wonderland
R - Righty or Lefty: Righty
S - Siblings: 2 older sisters, 2 older brothers
T - Time you wake up: pretty random
U - Underwear: briefs
V - Vegetables you dislike: Lima beans, if you'll count legumes
W - Water or land: Water.
X - X-rated or PG: PG unless it's done really well. X-rated tends to be shallow
Y - Yesterday's best moment: Being able to pass most of my students on a quiz
Z - Zoo favorite: Penguins
Upcoming cons: Morphicon!
A charming story
Posted 12 years agoI ran across this little parable-esque story today and found it too fitting to too many recent conversations not to share it. So, hopefully you enjoy reading it if nothing else.
Quick update: funeral Saturday, then flying to Atlanta for the tail end (hardy har har) of FWA.
When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 Beers.
A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full.They agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and oured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous 'yes'.
The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.
'Now,'said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things---your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.
The sand is everything else---the small stuff.
'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.
'Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents.
Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18.There will always be time to clean the house and fix the
disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented.
The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.'
The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.'
Quick update: funeral Saturday, then flying to Atlanta for the tail end (hardy har har) of FWA.
When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 Beers.
A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full.They agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and oured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous 'yes'.
The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.
'Now,'said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things---your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.
The sand is everything else---the small stuff.
'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.
'Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents.
Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18.There will always be time to clean the house and fix the
disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented.
The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.'
The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.'
On death, separation and loss
Posted 12 years agoWarning: this journal will not be funny, witty, uplifting or pleasant to read. It isn't something in expect many people to read; in fact, it will be somewhat self-selecting to whom it's relevant based on who reads it. It won't be well composed or even necessarily well written. It won't work towards its central thesis with any sort of fluency if it arrives at one at all. It will, however, be honest and will tell many of you a lot more about myself than I normally discuss.
I will start with a few notes on where this rambling road will go. It will touch on death, centering somewhat on the death of my grandfather this afternoon. It will meander through an explanation of why I might not react to separation and loss in ways you expect. It will even discuss what it means when I say "I love you" and why it's not something you're ever likely to hear. Without further ado, here goes.
I have always been someone who connects to people with relative ease. My parents remind me on a regular basis that as a young child I used to march right up to strangers, announce my full name (middle included) and proudly tell them how old I was. This was usually followed up by a very frank comment about why I was saying hello. One of our oldest family friends (by my reckoning) tells me I introduced her to the family by an introduction followed immediately by "You have pretty crazy hair!" This remains true; she does. Looking back it doesn't surprise me that I was so eager to meet new people, because there were always so many new people to meet. I was born while my family was living in Lawrence, Massachusetts. When I was 5 months old, we moved to E. Bridgewater and the extended family there, followed shortly by W. Bridgewater and the other half of the family. When just over 1 year old, we settled in Milford, NH, where my sister met one of her first best-friends. I say first best-friends, because by the time I was two we had moved to Busti, NY and within six months to E. Randolph, NY. I was tested for schools in NY, but never attended, because we had moved to Randolph, Vermont shortly a few months before I turned 5. Slightly under three years later, we had finally arrived in Ashburnham, MA, where my family remains to this day in house no. 8 since I was born, though my own time there was brief.
I give that bit of a narrative mostly to say that people have to develop a mechanism to deal with change. Instead of retreating into myself, I learned how to make friends (well more like make old ladies befriend my parents) pretty quickly. Now, so far this can be many peoples' stories. A lot of people have somewhat transient lifestyles as children. So here's where things get a little more interesting.
I lived a year and a half in Ashburnham which was one of the few towns where my ability to meet people utterly failed me. Partly because small-town New England doesn't take well to outsiders at times and partly because Elementary School is full of children who exaggerate the xenophobia of their parents. So when my music teacher gave me an option to get out, I took it. "Out" happened to be a boarding boychoir school 5.5 hours from home, prompting one of the most challenging and most rewarding separations of my life: leaving home at the age of 9. Since then I've spent no more than three months of the year at my parents' residence, and often much less. The real trick to the boychoir school, however, was the trick of always having a positive public face. Over four years there, I performed in excess of 400 concerts, traveled to 35 states and three countries, performed at some of the most notable venues in the US and beyond. And every single concert came with meeting new people, charming them, and then leaving. Often we stayed with host families. Probably close to 100 different families have hosted me for a night, and then we traveled on. And it wasn't just "go there, sleep, leave;" we had to learn to connect with them, have meaningful personal interactions (at least enough to write the requisite thank you card that we sent out in droves at every new town), and then do it all over again the next night.
The boarding school itself was sometimes very similar. High faculty turnover, high student turnover. This continued to various degrees through the high school I attended as well. Imagine, for those of you who've finished it, your college friends. How they shifted and changed every year or even semester as schedules and rotating graduations made people drift. This eventually gets normalized to the point that you select down to a few friends. The loss of others is something you accept and move on from.
Nearly every person in my life is that and it's something I'm honestly okay with.
Even death itself doesn't particularly perturb me. I'm never been one to fear death and it's not something I grew up having much in the way of illusions about. Sure, my family kinda glossed over it when my great-grandmother passed away when I was four. There was only so much they could do in second grade, though, when one of my classmates died in his mother's murder-suicide. The general arbitrariness of it was made abundantly clear my freshman year in college when a recently-made friend of mine just died one night. Sudden Death Syndrome, in case you are unfamiliar, is essentially adult SIDS. No health issues, no substances in the bloodstream that shouldn't have been, no trauma; if she'd been old, they'd have called it death of old age. And I could tell her other friends got upset with me that I didn't seem to be showing any sadness over it, much as I was working to help comfort them. My family was the same way with the passing of my grandmother, the wife of the grandfather who passed today, in wondering why I was fairly clinical about it.
It's not that I don't care about the passing, either of friendship or of life. It's not at all that I'm not coping with it in some way. It's just honestly that grief and sadness isn't my reaction to either, nor do I think that's a bad thing. Odd, yes. But not bad. I don't mourn the loss of friendships, because friendships pass for a reason. I don't feel pity or sadness for the dead, because death is not a frightening or intrinsically saddening thing for me. Instead, I have my moments of reflection, my moments to ask myself if there's anything about the friendship or life that can teach me how better to live my own life, and then let it pass.
It's the letting it pass part that seems to worry people. It's been expressed to me by a close friend who had witnessed this process a couple of times that it made him feel nervous about how I viewed our friendship, and that there was some sort of doomsday clock on how long I would care. And this...this is largely why I am writing this journal to begin with. The idea that I don't care about the friendships and loved ones that pass anymore is one that troubles me deeply because it is one that fundamentally contradicts how I view my relationships with people. My ability to form friendships and let them pass quickly makes those ones that don't pass very important to me. Just because I can let people go, doesn't mean at all that I want to let them go. The friendships I maintain mean second only to family itself. And not dwelling on them isn't not remembering them; I make each one a model for myself so that I can be a better friend down the line.
In all this, there have been 6 people who have been ever constant and form the support I rely on heavily to keep going. They are my parents and my 4 siblings. Through all of the changes and shifting and loss, my family have been the ones I have always gone back to and for whom I am willing to drop everything I'm doing with my life to support in return. And I know they will do the same for me to whatever extent they are able. Whenever I am in serious trouble, their response is always "do you need us to get you home or come there?" even when I know they can't really afford the trip. And I, for my turn, have and will again completely turn around my plans because my family needs me at their side through a variety of difficulties.
I love my family. Through the minor ups and down (and some major upheavals), there has always been a constancy and love of what I recognize is exceptional strength. But that, to me, is love. And until I know that I have the same constancy, the same willingness to set aside all personal minutia to aid in times of crisis, shared mutually between myself an another person, no matter how much affection I may feel at the time, I will not in serious conversation say "I love you."
I know I can come across many different ways, from cold to flighty, because I can be very friendly to a wide variety of people and don't necessarily talk about my own feelings, emotions, motivations or what have you and don't respond with the same sense of attachment that many people expect from an honest friendship. Hopefully this helps me to explain myself. I do honestly care about my friendships; I do seek to be genuine in my interactions; I do restrain myself at times from getting into too much personal involvement until I know that the friendship isn't going to pass quickly.
This amount of self-explanation isn't something I do often, but it's not something I am unwilling to talk about if someone else asks. If there's any part of it you want to talk about more, even if it's just casual conversation about something that I breezed past and you find curious, please do ask.
I'm going to post this now before I decide to delete it all. Forgive the lack of editing.
I will start with a few notes on where this rambling road will go. It will touch on death, centering somewhat on the death of my grandfather this afternoon. It will meander through an explanation of why I might not react to separation and loss in ways you expect. It will even discuss what it means when I say "I love you" and why it's not something you're ever likely to hear. Without further ado, here goes.
I have always been someone who connects to people with relative ease. My parents remind me on a regular basis that as a young child I used to march right up to strangers, announce my full name (middle included) and proudly tell them how old I was. This was usually followed up by a very frank comment about why I was saying hello. One of our oldest family friends (by my reckoning) tells me I introduced her to the family by an introduction followed immediately by "You have pretty crazy hair!" This remains true; she does. Looking back it doesn't surprise me that I was so eager to meet new people, because there were always so many new people to meet. I was born while my family was living in Lawrence, Massachusetts. When I was 5 months old, we moved to E. Bridgewater and the extended family there, followed shortly by W. Bridgewater and the other half of the family. When just over 1 year old, we settled in Milford, NH, where my sister met one of her first best-friends. I say first best-friends, because by the time I was two we had moved to Busti, NY and within six months to E. Randolph, NY. I was tested for schools in NY, but never attended, because we had moved to Randolph, Vermont shortly a few months before I turned 5. Slightly under three years later, we had finally arrived in Ashburnham, MA, where my family remains to this day in house no. 8 since I was born, though my own time there was brief.
I give that bit of a narrative mostly to say that people have to develop a mechanism to deal with change. Instead of retreating into myself, I learned how to make friends (well more like make old ladies befriend my parents) pretty quickly. Now, so far this can be many peoples' stories. A lot of people have somewhat transient lifestyles as children. So here's where things get a little more interesting.
I lived a year and a half in Ashburnham which was one of the few towns where my ability to meet people utterly failed me. Partly because small-town New England doesn't take well to outsiders at times and partly because Elementary School is full of children who exaggerate the xenophobia of their parents. So when my music teacher gave me an option to get out, I took it. "Out" happened to be a boarding boychoir school 5.5 hours from home, prompting one of the most challenging and most rewarding separations of my life: leaving home at the age of 9. Since then I've spent no more than three months of the year at my parents' residence, and often much less. The real trick to the boychoir school, however, was the trick of always having a positive public face. Over four years there, I performed in excess of 400 concerts, traveled to 35 states and three countries, performed at some of the most notable venues in the US and beyond. And every single concert came with meeting new people, charming them, and then leaving. Often we stayed with host families. Probably close to 100 different families have hosted me for a night, and then we traveled on. And it wasn't just "go there, sleep, leave;" we had to learn to connect with them, have meaningful personal interactions (at least enough to write the requisite thank you card that we sent out in droves at every new town), and then do it all over again the next night.
The boarding school itself was sometimes very similar. High faculty turnover, high student turnover. This continued to various degrees through the high school I attended as well. Imagine, for those of you who've finished it, your college friends. How they shifted and changed every year or even semester as schedules and rotating graduations made people drift. This eventually gets normalized to the point that you select down to a few friends. The loss of others is something you accept and move on from.
Nearly every person in my life is that and it's something I'm honestly okay with.
Even death itself doesn't particularly perturb me. I'm never been one to fear death and it's not something I grew up having much in the way of illusions about. Sure, my family kinda glossed over it when my great-grandmother passed away when I was four. There was only so much they could do in second grade, though, when one of my classmates died in his mother's murder-suicide. The general arbitrariness of it was made abundantly clear my freshman year in college when a recently-made friend of mine just died one night. Sudden Death Syndrome, in case you are unfamiliar, is essentially adult SIDS. No health issues, no substances in the bloodstream that shouldn't have been, no trauma; if she'd been old, they'd have called it death of old age. And I could tell her other friends got upset with me that I didn't seem to be showing any sadness over it, much as I was working to help comfort them. My family was the same way with the passing of my grandmother, the wife of the grandfather who passed today, in wondering why I was fairly clinical about it.
It's not that I don't care about the passing, either of friendship or of life. It's not at all that I'm not coping with it in some way. It's just honestly that grief and sadness isn't my reaction to either, nor do I think that's a bad thing. Odd, yes. But not bad. I don't mourn the loss of friendships, because friendships pass for a reason. I don't feel pity or sadness for the dead, because death is not a frightening or intrinsically saddening thing for me. Instead, I have my moments of reflection, my moments to ask myself if there's anything about the friendship or life that can teach me how better to live my own life, and then let it pass.
It's the letting it pass part that seems to worry people. It's been expressed to me by a close friend who had witnessed this process a couple of times that it made him feel nervous about how I viewed our friendship, and that there was some sort of doomsday clock on how long I would care. And this...this is largely why I am writing this journal to begin with. The idea that I don't care about the friendships and loved ones that pass anymore is one that troubles me deeply because it is one that fundamentally contradicts how I view my relationships with people. My ability to form friendships and let them pass quickly makes those ones that don't pass very important to me. Just because I can let people go, doesn't mean at all that I want to let them go. The friendships I maintain mean second only to family itself. And not dwelling on them isn't not remembering them; I make each one a model for myself so that I can be a better friend down the line.
In all this, there have been 6 people who have been ever constant and form the support I rely on heavily to keep going. They are my parents and my 4 siblings. Through all of the changes and shifting and loss, my family have been the ones I have always gone back to and for whom I am willing to drop everything I'm doing with my life to support in return. And I know they will do the same for me to whatever extent they are able. Whenever I am in serious trouble, their response is always "do you need us to get you home or come there?" even when I know they can't really afford the trip. And I, for my turn, have and will again completely turn around my plans because my family needs me at their side through a variety of difficulties.
I love my family. Through the minor ups and down (and some major upheavals), there has always been a constancy and love of what I recognize is exceptional strength. But that, to me, is love. And until I know that I have the same constancy, the same willingness to set aside all personal minutia to aid in times of crisis, shared mutually between myself an another person, no matter how much affection I may feel at the time, I will not in serious conversation say "I love you."
I know I can come across many different ways, from cold to flighty, because I can be very friendly to a wide variety of people and don't necessarily talk about my own feelings, emotions, motivations or what have you and don't respond with the same sense of attachment that many people expect from an honest friendship. Hopefully this helps me to explain myself. I do honestly care about my friendships; I do seek to be genuine in my interactions; I do restrain myself at times from getting into too much personal involvement until I know that the friendship isn't going to pass quickly.
This amount of self-explanation isn't something I do often, but it's not something I am unwilling to talk about if someone else asks. If there's any part of it you want to talk about more, even if it's just casual conversation about something that I breezed past and you find curious, please do ask.
I'm going to post this now before I decide to delete it all. Forgive the lack of editing.
Flippy's Raffle
Posted 12 years agoThe ever-adorable 
tumblingwolf is having a raffle for a lucky top to be pictured with his character. There are leashes. It's pretty hot (as is he). Go here to enter! http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10063412/
tumblingwolf is having a raffle for a lucky top to be pictured with his character. There are leashes. It's pretty hot (as is he). Go here to enter! http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10063412/Après moi, le déluge
Posted 12 years agoYours truly is going to be part of a concert this coming Sunday in Bloomington, IN! The program is quite fascinating and I'll be singing a bit of a solo in the middle of the "Après moi, le déluge" piece. So if you want to hear a deer singing, there's the time and place! I'll put the entire advertisement down below.
***
What: Decadence & Disaster
When: Sunday, March 3, 8pm
Where: Unitarian Universalist Church, 2120 N. Fee Lane
Cost: $10 admission, $5 students and seniors
Voces Novae will perform a program featuring "Après moi, le déluge," which the New York Times called "somber, sardonic, and bluesy," with Jacobsen Woollen, cello. The music by Luna Pearl Woolf and English text by poet Eleanor Wilner were written in response to Hurricane Katrina.
The one-hour program will explore stories of Katrina and Bloomington: Would Bloomington's social fabric hold or tear if put under Katrina-like pressure? A reception will follow with information available about organizations seeking to strengthen the fabric of our community.
Also participating in the program are IU freshman Mariah Coleman, Middle Way House volunteer coordinator Debra Morrow, and New Orleans style pianist Craig Brenner.
For information, contact: Susan Swaney, Artistic Director
sswaney[at]indiana.edu
(812) 339-5655
(812) 219-3178
This project is supported in part by the City of Bloomington Arts Commission.
***
In other news, FWA may be on the radar, along with MorphiCon and AC.
***
What: Decadence & Disaster
When: Sunday, March 3, 8pm
Where: Unitarian Universalist Church, 2120 N. Fee Lane
Cost: $10 admission, $5 students and seniors
Voces Novae will perform a program featuring "Après moi, le déluge," which the New York Times called "somber, sardonic, and bluesy," with Jacobsen Woollen, cello. The music by Luna Pearl Woolf and English text by poet Eleanor Wilner were written in response to Hurricane Katrina.
The one-hour program will explore stories of Katrina and Bloomington: Would Bloomington's social fabric hold or tear if put under Katrina-like pressure? A reception will follow with information available about organizations seeking to strengthen the fabric of our community.
Also participating in the program are IU freshman Mariah Coleman, Middle Way House volunteer coordinator Debra Morrow, and New Orleans style pianist Craig Brenner.
For information, contact: Susan Swaney, Artistic Director
sswaney[at]indiana.edu
(812) 339-5655
(812) 219-3178
This project is supported in part by the City of Bloomington Arts Commission.
***
In other news, FWA may be on the radar, along with MorphiCon and AC.
Concerning death, in light of recent tragedy
Posted 12 years agoAs many, if not all, of you have heard, 
blueeyedcy / 
lemonade_coyote passed away in a vehicle accident this morning. Though I myself had never met him, I know he was well known to many of my friends, who are now going through difficult emotional times. In lieu of having any other response myself, I want to share for you all a passage that has helped me cope with several deaths and may, I hope, bring some comfort to those who read it. It is taken from the end of Plato's account of Socrates's defense speech (the Apology), during which he is addressing a jury that has already condemned him to death. Without further ado...
"Gentlemen of the jury--for you deserve to be so called--I have had a remarkable experience. In the past the prophetic voice to which I have become accustomed has always been my constant companion, opposing me even in quite trivial things if I was going to take the wrong course. Now something has happened to me, as you can see, which might be thought and is commonly considered to be a supreme calamity; yet neither when I left home this morning, nor when I was taking my place here in the court, nor at any point in any part of my speech did the divine sign oppose me. In other discussions it has often checked me in the middle of a sentence, but this time it has never opposed me in any part of this business in anything that I have said or done. What do I suppose to be the explanation? I will tell you. I suspect that this thing that has happened to me is a blessing, and we are quite mistaken in supposing death to be an evil. I have good grounds for thinking this, because my accustomed sign could not have failed to oppose me if what I was doing had not been sure to bring some good result.
We should reflect that there is much reason to hope for a good result on other grounds as well. Death is one of two things. Either it is annihilation, and the dead have no consciousness of anything, or, as we are told, it is really a change--a migration of the soul from this place to another. Now if there is no consciousness but only a dreamless sleep, death must be a marvelous gain. I suppose that if anyone were told to pick out the night on which he slept so soundly as not even to dream, and then to compare it with all the other nights and days of his life, and then were told to say, after due consideration, how many better and happier days and nights than this he had spent in the course of his life--well, I think that the Great King himself, to say nothing of any private person, would find these days and nights easy to count in comparison with the rest. If death is like this, then, I call it gain, because the whole of time, if you look at it in this way, can be regarded as no more than one single night.
If on the other hand death is a removal from here to some other place, and if what we are told is true, that all the dead are there, what greater blessing could there be than this, gentlemen? If on arrival in the other world, beyond the reach of our so-called justice, one will find there the true judges who are said to preside in those courts, Minos and Rhadamanthus and Aeacus and Triptolemus and all those other half-divinities who were upright in their earthly life, would that be an unrewarding journey? Put it in this way. How much would one of you give to meet Orpheus and Musaeus, Hesiod and Homer? I am willing to die ten times over if this account is true. It would be a specially interesting experience for me to join them there, to meet Palamedes and Ajax, the son of Telamon, and any other heroes of the old days who met their death through an unfair trial, and to compare my fortunes with theirs--it would be rather amusing, I think. And above all I should like to spend my time there, as here, in examining and searching people's minds, to find out who is really wise among them, and who only thinks that he is. What would one not give, gentlemen, to be able to question the leader of that great host against Troy, or Odysseus, or Sisyphus, or the thousands of other men and women whom one could mention, to talk and mix and argue with whom would be unimaginable happiness? At any rate I presume that they do not put one to death there for such conduct, because apart from the other happiness in which their world surpasses ours, they are now immortal for the rest of time, if what we are told is true.
You too, gentlemen of the jury, must look forward to death with confidence, and fix your minds on this one belief, which is certain--that nothing can harm a good man either in life or after death, and his fortunes are not a matter of indifference to the gods. This present experience of mine has not come about mechanically. I am quite clear that the time had come when it was better for me to die and be released from my distractions. That is why my sign never turned me back. For my own part I bear no grudge at all against those who condemned me and accused me, although it was not with this kind intention that they did so, but because they thought that they were hurting me; and that is culpable of them.
However, I ask them to grant me one favor. When my sons grow up, gentlemen, if you think that they are putting money or anything else before goodness, take your revenge by plaguing them as I plagued you; and if they fancy themselves for no reason, you must scold them just as I scolded you, for neglecting the important things and thinking that they are good for something when they are good for nothing. If you do this, I shall have had justice at your hands, both I myself and my children.
Now it is time that we were going, I to die and you to live, but which of us has the happier prospect is unknown to anyone but God."
Requiescat in pace
blueeyedcy / 
lemonade_coyote passed away in a vehicle accident this morning. Though I myself had never met him, I know he was well known to many of my friends, who are now going through difficult emotional times. In lieu of having any other response myself, I want to share for you all a passage that has helped me cope with several deaths and may, I hope, bring some comfort to those who read it. It is taken from the end of Plato's account of Socrates's defense speech (the Apology), during which he is addressing a jury that has already condemned him to death. Without further ado..."Gentlemen of the jury--for you deserve to be so called--I have had a remarkable experience. In the past the prophetic voice to which I have become accustomed has always been my constant companion, opposing me even in quite trivial things if I was going to take the wrong course. Now something has happened to me, as you can see, which might be thought and is commonly considered to be a supreme calamity; yet neither when I left home this morning, nor when I was taking my place here in the court, nor at any point in any part of my speech did the divine sign oppose me. In other discussions it has often checked me in the middle of a sentence, but this time it has never opposed me in any part of this business in anything that I have said or done. What do I suppose to be the explanation? I will tell you. I suspect that this thing that has happened to me is a blessing, and we are quite mistaken in supposing death to be an evil. I have good grounds for thinking this, because my accustomed sign could not have failed to oppose me if what I was doing had not been sure to bring some good result.
We should reflect that there is much reason to hope for a good result on other grounds as well. Death is one of two things. Either it is annihilation, and the dead have no consciousness of anything, or, as we are told, it is really a change--a migration of the soul from this place to another. Now if there is no consciousness but only a dreamless sleep, death must be a marvelous gain. I suppose that if anyone were told to pick out the night on which he slept so soundly as not even to dream, and then to compare it with all the other nights and days of his life, and then were told to say, after due consideration, how many better and happier days and nights than this he had spent in the course of his life--well, I think that the Great King himself, to say nothing of any private person, would find these days and nights easy to count in comparison with the rest. If death is like this, then, I call it gain, because the whole of time, if you look at it in this way, can be regarded as no more than one single night.
If on the other hand death is a removal from here to some other place, and if what we are told is true, that all the dead are there, what greater blessing could there be than this, gentlemen? If on arrival in the other world, beyond the reach of our so-called justice, one will find there the true judges who are said to preside in those courts, Minos and Rhadamanthus and Aeacus and Triptolemus and all those other half-divinities who were upright in their earthly life, would that be an unrewarding journey? Put it in this way. How much would one of you give to meet Orpheus and Musaeus, Hesiod and Homer? I am willing to die ten times over if this account is true. It would be a specially interesting experience for me to join them there, to meet Palamedes and Ajax, the son of Telamon, and any other heroes of the old days who met their death through an unfair trial, and to compare my fortunes with theirs--it would be rather amusing, I think. And above all I should like to spend my time there, as here, in examining and searching people's minds, to find out who is really wise among them, and who only thinks that he is. What would one not give, gentlemen, to be able to question the leader of that great host against Troy, or Odysseus, or Sisyphus, or the thousands of other men and women whom one could mention, to talk and mix and argue with whom would be unimaginable happiness? At any rate I presume that they do not put one to death there for such conduct, because apart from the other happiness in which their world surpasses ours, they are now immortal for the rest of time, if what we are told is true.
You too, gentlemen of the jury, must look forward to death with confidence, and fix your minds on this one belief, which is certain--that nothing can harm a good man either in life or after death, and his fortunes are not a matter of indifference to the gods. This present experience of mine has not come about mechanically. I am quite clear that the time had come when it was better for me to die and be released from my distractions. That is why my sign never turned me back. For my own part I bear no grudge at all against those who condemned me and accused me, although it was not with this kind intention that they did so, but because they thought that they were hurting me; and that is culpable of them.
However, I ask them to grant me one favor. When my sons grow up, gentlemen, if you think that they are putting money or anything else before goodness, take your revenge by plaguing them as I plagued you; and if they fancy themselves for no reason, you must scold them just as I scolded you, for neglecting the important things and thinking that they are good for something when they are good for nothing. If you do this, I shall have had justice at your hands, both I myself and my children.
Now it is time that we were going, I to die and you to live, but which of us has the happier prospect is unknown to anyone but God."
Requiescat in pace
Bloomingfurs Gaming Day Sunday!
Posted 12 years agoAs mentioned here https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4285674/ and then rescheduled to Sunday the 17! We'll be playing Arkham Horror, Cards Against Humanity, and anything else people want to bring along. Games start at 2:00 and run 'til we get hungrier than the establishment can handle (or than the prices of the establishment let us handle). Anybody reading the journal (and anybody else they want to bring...and anybody really!) is welcome and invited!
Rachael's Cafe, 300 E Third St, Bloomington, 47401
What is Arkham Horror? You may well ask!
Arkham Horror is a cooperative board game based on Lovecraft's Mythos. Up to 8 (9 if we use both board expansions) players take on the role of an investigator, someone drawn into the unfolding mystery and horror. As the Ancient One awakens slowly, his minions and monsters flood the board, opening up portals to other dimensions that must be explored. The investigators race to close the portals, keep monsters from overrunning the town, and seal off the other dimensions so the Ancient One cannot awake again...or else stand against the most powerful forces in the universe.
I have the base game as well as two expansion boards that add more difficulties for the players to keep under control. In total I currently have 24 investigator characters, from which we'll do a draw two, pick one random selection. The rest of the rules, I'll teach you all there!
Happy Valententacles Day
Rachael's Cafe, 300 E Third St, Bloomington, 47401
What is Arkham Horror? You may well ask!
Arkham Horror is a cooperative board game based on Lovecraft's Mythos. Up to 8 (9 if we use both board expansions) players take on the role of an investigator, someone drawn into the unfolding mystery and horror. As the Ancient One awakens slowly, his minions and monsters flood the board, opening up portals to other dimensions that must be explored. The investigators race to close the portals, keep monsters from overrunning the town, and seal off the other dimensions so the Ancient One cannot awake again...or else stand against the most powerful forces in the universe.
I have the base game as well as two expansion boards that add more difficulties for the players to keep under control. In total I currently have 24 investigator characters, from which we'll do a draw two, pick one random selection. The rest of the rules, I'll teach you all there!
Happy Valententacles Day
Singing, Gaming, and Crafting
Posted 12 years agoIt's been a while since I've told you fine folks what I've been up to in my life, so I thought now that the worst of the week is over, I'd let you know!
I just got out of singing the second half of the Medieval play Slaughter of the Innocents, in which I had been Herod before they cut the part of the play in which plot develops. Also the acting. And added more people at the last moment who didn't know the music. At least the rest of the concert was okay other than the play?
There will be another, staged play (like we had done this one before the music department got its hands on it) in April. For the Easter season, we'll be putting on the Visitatio Sepulchri (visit to the tomb), in which I'll have the role of John the Apostle. Haven't seen the music yet, but I'm hoping it will be good!
This Sunday I'm helping out at the Trinity Pops Concert, bringing a ton of Jambalaya that I still need to pick up ingredients for as well as fresh veggies and fruit salad. Because of course they assign those tasks to the one allergic to celery and fruits with edible skins. There will be no leftovers of that anywhere near my kitchen after I clean up. I'll also be accompanying one of the singers for my first time back at the piano since the wedding I played for this October.
If you're interested in hearing me sing some time, come to the Unitarian Universalist church at Fee and the Bypass on March 3rd at 8:00 PM for the Voces Novae concert! The central feature is a 20th century Jazz-influenced concerto for cello and choir. I've got one of the solos in the middle, so there's that!
BLOOMINGTON GAMING AT RACHAEL'S (in caps for those scanning) will be on Feb 17th at 2:00 PM. This was pushed back a week from the original announcement for reasons that the space wasn't as free as the schedule had said at first. Also jambalaya (see above). ARKHAM HORROR will be brought with multiple expansions. Please let me know if you want to play, as we can manage at most 9 people for that (10 if I only GM and don't play a character). CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY as well, for those less inclined for long, cooperative games with rulebooks the size of a tax document.
Finally, I'm pulling materials together to think about working on crafts on a larger scale than Christmas presents. I'm hoping to put some samples up soon so people can see if they'd be interested in me making more!
I just got out of singing the second half of the Medieval play Slaughter of the Innocents, in which I had been Herod before they cut the part of the play in which plot develops. Also the acting. And added more people at the last moment who didn't know the music. At least the rest of the concert was okay other than the play?
There will be another, staged play (like we had done this one before the music department got its hands on it) in April. For the Easter season, we'll be putting on the Visitatio Sepulchri (visit to the tomb), in which I'll have the role of John the Apostle. Haven't seen the music yet, but I'm hoping it will be good!
This Sunday I'm helping out at the Trinity Pops Concert, bringing a ton of Jambalaya that I still need to pick up ingredients for as well as fresh veggies and fruit salad. Because of course they assign those tasks to the one allergic to celery and fruits with edible skins. There will be no leftovers of that anywhere near my kitchen after I clean up. I'll also be accompanying one of the singers for my first time back at the piano since the wedding I played for this October.
If you're interested in hearing me sing some time, come to the Unitarian Universalist church at Fee and the Bypass on March 3rd at 8:00 PM for the Voces Novae concert! The central feature is a 20th century Jazz-influenced concerto for cello and choir. I've got one of the solos in the middle, so there's that!
BLOOMINGTON GAMING AT RACHAEL'S (in caps for those scanning) will be on Feb 17th at 2:00 PM. This was pushed back a week from the original announcement for reasons that the space wasn't as free as the schedule had said at first. Also jambalaya (see above). ARKHAM HORROR will be brought with multiple expansions. Please let me know if you want to play, as we can manage at most 9 people for that (10 if I only GM and don't play a character). CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY as well, for those less inclined for long, cooperative games with rulebooks the size of a tax document.
Finally, I'm pulling materials together to think about working on crafts on a larger scale than Christmas presents. I'm hoping to put some samples up soon so people can see if they'd be interested in me making more!
Janu the Horse???
Posted 12 years agoPerhaps, we shall see! 
etheras is doing a YCH auction with his character that is simply too tempting to pass up. The mental image of usually femboy-ish Janu as a muscular stallion with a mop of blond hair instead of the careful trim is rather amusing.
If any of you are interested in having a stallion character appear with Etheras, read the rules for the raffle here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9835672/
etheras is doing a YCH auction with his character that is simply too tempting to pass up. The mental image of usually femboy-ish Janu as a muscular stallion with a mop of blond hair instead of the careful trim is rather amusing.If any of you are interested in having a stallion character appear with Etheras, read the rules for the raffle here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9835672/
Femboy Raffle by Katsuke
Posted 12 years agoOne of my favorite watched artists, 
katsuke , is doing a raffle for femboy characters that all y'all with appropriate characters should definitely enter into. Janu, of course, is getting an entry. ^^
RAFFLE BE HERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9838384/
I'll update on my life soon, but not now.
katsuke , is doing a raffle for femboy characters that all y'all with appropriate characters should definitely enter into. Janu, of course, is getting an entry. ^^RAFFLE BE HERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9838384/
I'll update on my life soon, but not now.
MEME: How old were you when you first
Posted 13 years agoIn lieu of a real life update, have a peek into my life by moderately-probing numbers.
How old when you first:
Fell in love?
Puppy love: 14; something mature: 17
Lost your virginity?
22
Lost someone close to you?
6
Consumed alcohol?
18
Received a kiss?
16
Went to the hospital?
3
Had a broken heart?
14
Lost a pet?
Never. That sucker's a survivor.
Got arrested?
Never. Close calls, though.
Broke a bone?
Never
Got a job?
14
Got a boyfriend or girlfriend?
16
Went to a concert?
9
Met someone famous?
9
Got in a car wreck?
22
Dyed your hair?
Temporary: 19. Permanent: 22
Flew on an airplane?
10
Went to another state?
16 months at the absolute latest.
Got a tattoo?
Contemplating
Had a piercing?
Never
Smoked pot?
Never
Smoked a cigarette?
Never
Went to Disney Land or World?
10
How many do or have you had?
Long term relationships
0 (Longest managed 4 months. That's too short to count as long-term in my books)
Dates with somebody of anther race?
12 specific dates I can think of
Times your heart has been broken
5
Times you passed out from drinking
None
Pets
1
People you hate
0
Times you were dumped
2ish
Times you dumped somebody
2
How old when you first:
Fell in love?
Puppy love: 14; something mature: 17
Lost your virginity?
22
Lost someone close to you?
6
Consumed alcohol?
18
Received a kiss?
16
Went to the hospital?
3
Had a broken heart?
14
Lost a pet?
Never. That sucker's a survivor.
Got arrested?
Never. Close calls, though.
Broke a bone?
Never
Got a job?
14
Got a boyfriend or girlfriend?
16
Went to a concert?
9
Met someone famous?
9
Got in a car wreck?
22
Dyed your hair?
Temporary: 19. Permanent: 22
Flew on an airplane?
10
Went to another state?
16 months at the absolute latest.
Got a tattoo?
Contemplating
Had a piercing?
Never
Smoked pot?
Never
Smoked a cigarette?
Never
Went to Disney Land or World?
10
How many do or have you had?
Long term relationships
0 (Longest managed 4 months. That's too short to count as long-term in my books)
Dates with somebody of anther race?
12 specific dates I can think of
Times your heart has been broken
5
Times you passed out from drinking
None
Pets
1
People you hate
0
Times you were dumped
2ish
Times you dumped somebody
2
End of the World, Christmas, and con crud
Posted 13 years agoIt's about time I updated all y'all faithful watchers (well...watchers anyway) on what's going on in a deer's life!
In case you missed it, I got word from my department head that I successfully passed my second degree examination and thereby, since my coursework is up to par, finished my MA degree in 3 semesters! So I celebrated by going to the End of the World Convention, getting drunk and dancing! Of course, had I failed, I'd have had to make myself feel better by going to the End of the World Convention, getting drunk and dancing. Rewards are funny that way.
EotWC was an absolute blast. I was brought onto the volunteer crew Thursday largely by virtue of being a wallflower at the cocktail party and having my talking buddy mention being needed to help. I in my infinite search for something constructive to do tagged along, which became the defining moment of the con. Folks there may not believe that wallflower is my natural state at parties/dances, but such is the difference feeling useful to people can make for me. I spent much of Thursday night and Friday (about 12 hours Friday) in the dance space setting things up for a freakin' AWESOME rave space with PVC tents and tarped-over walls. Took a long time to get in place, but I think everyone loved it. I know I did.
On top of the dances, the con staff was pretty sweet and (though I know I had privileged access to them at least in part by volunteering so much) were the most approachable con staff I've encountered yet. The one room party I slipped away from the main events to was...exciting to say the least! Which I will.
Post-Con Depression was unfortunately coupled with some awful con crud that made handling even my vastly reduced annual barrage of Christmas services quite difficult. Still, only one pageant mass and the XMas day service was a welcome relief from my usual 5 services over the two days. Being one of few capable substitute organists on the local list (and a list down where my Grandma lives which was the real problem before) can be tiring. I did pull together my annual carol medley for my folk harp, though, for the Mass on Christmas Day. Once in Royal David's City; Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella; and Good Christian Men Rejoice made the list this year, making GCMR the first carol I've repeated since branching out from Silent Night a few years ago.
I'm enjoying a lovely XMas season with my family, who all have time off, save one sister. So we're enjoying ourselves with family games and whatnot. Internet Access is a bit of a rarity for me while I'm here, as we have a single connection in my parents' bedroom and the neighbor's wireless signal (as well as my ability to count on privacy) are inconsistent at best. So if you don't hear from me, fear not! I'm most likely still alive.
I'm gonna make like my g, h, backspace, and apostrophe keys and stop working. :P
Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year (previously mentioned End notwithstanding)!
In case you missed it, I got word from my department head that I successfully passed my second degree examination and thereby, since my coursework is up to par, finished my MA degree in 3 semesters! So I celebrated by going to the End of the World Convention, getting drunk and dancing! Of course, had I failed, I'd have had to make myself feel better by going to the End of the World Convention, getting drunk and dancing. Rewards are funny that way.
EotWC was an absolute blast. I was brought onto the volunteer crew Thursday largely by virtue of being a wallflower at the cocktail party and having my talking buddy mention being needed to help. I in my infinite search for something constructive to do tagged along, which became the defining moment of the con. Folks there may not believe that wallflower is my natural state at parties/dances, but such is the difference feeling useful to people can make for me. I spent much of Thursday night and Friday (about 12 hours Friday) in the dance space setting things up for a freakin' AWESOME rave space with PVC tents and tarped-over walls. Took a long time to get in place, but I think everyone loved it. I know I did.
On top of the dances, the con staff was pretty sweet and (though I know I had privileged access to them at least in part by volunteering so much) were the most approachable con staff I've encountered yet. The one room party I slipped away from the main events to was...exciting to say the least! Which I will.
Post-Con Depression was unfortunately coupled with some awful con crud that made handling even my vastly reduced annual barrage of Christmas services quite difficult. Still, only one pageant mass and the XMas day service was a welcome relief from my usual 5 services over the two days. Being one of few capable substitute organists on the local list (and a list down where my Grandma lives which was the real problem before) can be tiring. I did pull together my annual carol medley for my folk harp, though, for the Mass on Christmas Day. Once in Royal David's City; Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella; and Good Christian Men Rejoice made the list this year, making GCMR the first carol I've repeated since branching out from Silent Night a few years ago.
I'm enjoying a lovely XMas season with my family, who all have time off, save one sister. So we're enjoying ourselves with family games and whatnot. Internet Access is a bit of a rarity for me while I'm here, as we have a single connection in my parents' bedroom and the neighbor's wireless signal (as well as my ability to count on privacy) are inconsistent at best. So if you don't hear from me, fear not! I'm most likely still alive.
I'm gonna make like my g, h, backspace, and apostrophe keys and stop working. :P
Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year (previously mentioned End notwithstanding)!
