[Laghail]

1 minute ago, deftona said:

 

 

How to piss of 10 1/2 million people there with that England jersey and not the Great Britain one...

 

Ahaha! Hold on, the Danish author has a defense for this choice! 

 

Last appearance of Union Jack:

Spoiler

 

First appearance of St George's Cross:

Spoiler

 

Author's explanation: 

Quote

England got his proper flag this time, mainly because I’m a lazy fuck who hates drawing the UK flag over and over.

 

Sorted! ?

[Everstorm]

1 hour ago, Laghail said:

Plus a smelting set needs me to have the design created from a 3d printer anyway

 

I was going to suggest you ask them both if they are into 3-ways, but asked and answered. 

[sylph]

2 hours ago, Laghail said:

Chills Sylph, that was really beautiful, and also efficient as heck.

They* have a lot of brief little poems like that. Given my tendency to use twelve words when three would do, I appreciate their ability to conjure such evocative imagery with so few words.

 

There are a couple they have that pertain to "loss" that are so poignant... perhaps I'll pop those in later in the challenge.

 

 

*I don't actually know preferred pronouns for certain in this case, but saw them listed as such on other, indirectly associated poetry  sites so apologies if I'm in error here.

[Laghail]

34 minutes ago, sylph said:

They* have a lot of brief little poems like that. Given my tendency to use twelve words when three would do,

 

Why would you attack me like this??

 

34 minutes ago, sylph said:

I appreciate their ability to conjure such evocative imagery with so few words.

 

There are a couple they have that pertain to "loss" that are so poignant... perhaps I'll pop those in later in the challenge.

 

Please do, thanks for sharing.

[AerynLee]

21 hours ago, Laghail said:

Forgot if I said, Liam landed a job that starts on Monday. It's a 6 month contract at a headquarters of a multinational consumer chemical company, whose headquarters are a mix of a giant spray bottle and a flying saucer. This is actually not a joke. Corps are weird. 

That looks like hell on earth to me. And I'm a certified desk jockey. But give me some damn cubicles so I don't have to see everything and have a least a little sound barrier

 

21 hours ago, Laghail said:

Presidential debate tonight and I'm making fancy coffee drinks and using copious 420 to survive. Nothing will be as bad as the Hillary/Trump debacle from 2016, but I suspect this will be awful in a different way - the tired meme of Trump being brutalized rhetorically yet ignoring Kamala and dropping dog whistles and outright calls for ethnic cleansing, trying to at least light up our tired sense of outrage. The VP debates should be at least humorous. Speaking of VP, please accept the below clip of Walz being adorably midwestern, with some spoilered links for local context to wth he's talking about.

I'm one of those people who have to avoid politics lately to keep my sanity so I did not watch the debate. I have gotten the impression that I love Walz and that clip made me a bit more sure of it  

[Laghail]

2 hours ago, AerynLee said:

That looks like hell on earth to me. And I'm a certified desk jockey. But give me some damn cubicles so I don't have to see everything and have a least a little sound barrier

 

Mood. We'll see how hellish the actual workplace is. The whole place was designed by Frank Llyod Wright, so the choices are bold and questionable. That's supposed to be a spray bottle in the second image, god bless.

 

2 hours ago, AerynLee said:

I'm one of those people who have to avoid politics lately to keep my sanity so I did not watch the debate. I have gotten the impression that I love Walz and that clip made me a bit more sure of it  

 

Smart AerynLee is smart. Should have done the same but I had vague notions of civic duty. Stupid. My elevated BP and cortisol did zero good for anyone. 

[Sea-to-sky]

9 minutes ago, Laghail said:

The whole place was designed by Frank Llyod Wright, so the choices are bold and questionable. That's supposed to be a spray bottle in the second image, god bless

Its like they built something from one of those 1950’s scifi futuristic tv shows. 

[AerynLee]

20 minutes ago, Laghail said:

Mood. We'll see how hellish the actual workplace is. The whole place was designed by Frank Llyod Wright, so the choices are bold and questionable. That's supposed to be a spray bottle in the second image, god bless.

And here I thought Felix's company (in aviation) was a little silly for putting an old retired Leer jet on a stick as decoration (it's actually pretty cool, but also silly)

 

22 minutes ago, Laghail said:

Smart AerynLee is smart. Should have done the same but I had vague notions of civic duty. Stupid. My elevated BP and cortisol did zero good for anyone. 

I keep thinking I should pay more attention for civic duty, but (especially in this case) me watching has zero effect because I know who I'm voting for and it will just make me angry and upset

[Laghail]

Wednesday September 11

Kennet Others + Practitioners Lineup by Penticide

 

Quote

The Chain binds the wearer if wound around them and can be turned around to bind another.  The chain may be a fine silver chain or a rusty steel one with a hook on it, meant for towing cars, or it may be something in between.  The nature of the chain determines its focus, and the fine silver chain could be stronger for binding than the heavy steel one, if what one wants to bind are specific ethereal Others.  Versatile, strong, and sometimes used by those who would bind themselves more than anything else, to restrain that which dwells within them.  As a part of a diagram the chain can be likened to the border, warding off or containing.  A favored choice of binders, wardens, and sealers.

 

Exercise: Consider how the rope might differ.  Conversely, the thread is very different from the chain, but how might they be similar?

 

 

• Weight-loss clinic stuff

Spoiler

Another installment of "sleep hygiene was the missing component for body recomp. Down 4 lbs of fat, up 1 lb of muscle. On the 5mg dose of Zepbound and I'm expecting its effects to trail off over time, leading to a higher dose prescription, but I'm still getting results from this lower dose so I locked in for another 90 days. I can change things if the trendlines show bad results, but fingers crossed I stay on the lower dose through end of year. Friends who have stopped using this GLP-1 class of med after a successful tenure with it, they talk about their time on the med being useful to get out of the metabolic triangle, and then to engrain robust maintenance habits. We'll see....

• Finishing Bale's Travel Guide to the Middle Ages this week and it's been interesting. Methodical enough to be tedious in places, but that's not a complaint per se. Interesting for the meta-discussion on the emergence of travel as a consumer experience and the codification of travelogues as their own genre. Also sooo much state-sponsored prostitution! #SexWorkIsRealWork 
  • 

[Snarkyfishguts]

I am following. I like the crispy cozy vibes here! ?

[Laghail]

David Dodd Lee - Downsides of Fish Culture

[athousandwords]

Here a little late, but following along! Maybe I'll find a poem to contribute soon - I feel like they cross your path when you need them. ?

[Sea-to-sky]

the trees are all being very autumnal sounding at the moment as the wind blusters about them. To me (seashore dweller) it always sounds like a second ocean out there. Just slightly more rooted to the soil. 
 

The sound of tree by robert frost

 

I wonder about the trees.

Why do we wish to bear

Forever the noise of these

More than another noise

So close to our dwelling place?

We suffer them by the day

Till we lose all measure of pace,

And fixity in our joys,

And acquire a listening air.

They are that that talks of going

But never gets away;

And that talks no less for knowing,

As it grows wiser and older,

That now it means to stay.

My feet tug at the floor

And my head sways to my shoulder

Sometimes when I watch trees sway,

From the window or the door.

I shall set forth for somewhere,

I shall make the reckless choice

Some day when they are in voice

And tossing so as to scare

The white clouds over them on.

I shall have less to say,

But I shall be gone.

 

[Laghail]

6 hours ago, Sea-to-sky said:

the trees are all being very autumnal sounding at the moment as the wind blusters about them. To me (seashore dweller) it always sounds like a second ocean out there. Just slightly more rooted to the soil. 
 

The sound of tree by robert frost

 

Spoiler

Gorgeous and kinethetic, right? I love how the piece invites your body to follow along with the movements.

 

[Laghail]

Thursday September 12 

The Devil(s) you know by 00aquila00

 

Quote

The Stone is one of our illustrative examples in addition to being our first example implement. An unadorned, uncarved raw stone, such as that which is found in nature, presumed to be heavy.  It is our sole ‘undesirable choice’ that can be considered a virtual non-implement.  The stone gives us some opportunity to address some pitfalls of a bad choice of implement.  It is heavy, impractical to hold and to wield, and it harbors little appeal or history.  So how does this matter?

Consider that the implement, through the ritual, is tied to the practitioner.  What, then, is the effect of a practitioner chaining themselves to a rock for life?  One’s effective mobility is hampered, and this will act as a symbolic and functional impedance in the practitioner’s life.  As spirits take note and start to act in accordance with this badge of office, the practitioner will find that travel becomes hard.  It represents the practitioner’s handling of practice, and it is hard to deftly handle; practice then becomes cumbersome, heavy, and slow.  It may have more impact and longevity, but the cost is not worth it.  Finally, there is the social impact; with an audience Other and practitioner, and in subtle ways even mundane people, what would the collective thought be about the man who is chained to a rock?  That he is a fool.

 

As a part of diagrams, to return to the analogy given in the introduction, the stone is heavy and has little functionality as anything but an impedance, and not an especially nuanced one.

 

Exercise: What might be the difference between a square granite slab and a smooth igneous rock?

• Sleep sabotage last night!!! Just forgot to take sleeping meds on time and I was up until 3. Fairly groggy today but I cancelled some early meetings to snag 6 hours of sleep.
• Anyone ever mess with Strong Towns? They're the grass roots equivalent of a thinktank, sorta advocating for built environments that are inflected by the needs of the specific residents and pedestrians using the environment, and designed with local expertise factored in. Weirdly the org is lead by a libertarian-ish catholic fella, who cheerfully works with socialists to eliminate racist minimum parking requirement and accessory housing unit bans. Anyway, they have a Milwaukee and South Milwaukee chapter whose entire political presence in the city is to build bus stop benches and install them, without consulting the city and also without receiving any complaints or tickets. They also are developing an app to help notoriously transit-phobic suburban white people in this region use the fucking bus. I'm not saying this is the grand revolution, but I'm debating visiting their general meeting tonight. Just weighing if I have the spoons this month vs next. 
  • Cute article on the local chapter
    • 
• Bio-family rambling:

Spoiler

Had a chat with a younger sibling last night and those always raise compound feels around expectations and sorta the paralyzed part of recovering from a savior / martyr complex. Been at a healthier place personally where I'm not trying to save any of the siblings from their various mixes of real life / mental illness / religious extremism, but I'm still carefully holding boundaries between myself and their endless needs. I think I used to need narrative aids to drive those boundaries, sorta dwelling on real or imagined character defects in the various siblings as the reason for them having needs, and thereby giving myself a pass from self-sacrificing at every opportunity. Lately I've been trying to accept that even good people can have needs, and a need I observe doesn't defacto become my obligation. Meh, that's certainly still a work in progress. This latest season has been me cautiously engaging with 5-6 of the healthier siblings, and trying to practice small bids for connection, and me sometimes meeting small needs for them. Bringing my own needs / expectations for connection / belonging / role-playing a happy birth family, that's certainly also tricky, so for now I'm focusing on the last of those slashes - connecting carefully with the goal of generating / exploring a feeling that I'm someone who can have healthy ties to birth family. Healthy small ties. Very very small ties. It does mean the connection / belonging pieces don't get necessarily get met, which of course is why I'm not making a bid for those needs to be met from birth family, but my dang feels aren't always cooperative. Baby steps tho.

 

[AerynLee]

1 hour ago, Laghail said:

Anyone ever mess with Strong Towns?

I had not heard of them, but I really like their mission. This is the type of political thing I would want to get involved in (assuming I had the available spoons)

 

Commiserations on the struggles with bio-family. Even using those narratives to help enforce boundaries is hard because you want to help them get past those defects that are causing them to struggle. I have found that moving 10 hours away helps with boundary setting ?

[Laghail]

David Dodd Lee - Downsides of Fish Culture

[Laghail]

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Andrea Gibson

 

I.
There was a typo in the book.
The line read, I want to merry you.
But merry was spelled M-E-R-R-Y.
I thought, That's what I want to do— 
merry somebody until their blush 
paints the town red.

 

II.
Years ago I went home with a woman 
and right before our lips met for the first time, 
she jumped up out of the bed, ran to her closet, 
and grabbed a stethoscope. She put the earpieces in my ears, 
slipped the knob down her shirt onto her heart and whispered, 
I want you to listen to my heart speed up when you kiss me.
I kissed her and I listened as it beat faster and faster.
I gave her an apple when I left.
She kept the seeds and has called me
Johnny ever since.
But we didn't live happily ever after.

 

III.
When I was a kid I had an imaginary friend named Johnny.
He did all the bad stuff. He spilled my father's ashtray 
on the white living room rug. He paid Tim Willindanger 25 cents 
to pee in his own hands. He snuck into Julie Hill's toy room 
and ripped the eyeballs off of all of her favorite teddy bears.
He called Beth Hayword a stupid poop. (She was a stupid poop).

 

IV.
If you have an imaginary friend as an adult, 
there's a good chance you need a whole lot of therapy. 
I had been paying my therapist's mortgage since 2004.
Johnny had dated everyone I have ever loved.

 

V.
You were behind me in line at the coffee shop, 
and you heard me place my order, and you said, 
I don't think that's your drink. I think 
you've been a long time ordering the wrong kind.

 

VI.
The first night I touched you 
I swore to never touch you again 
until I'd had spent an entire year
pulling every button from the shirts on my back 
and sewing new eyes for the teddy bears.

 

VII.
You're my favorite editor.
You're the only person in my whole life
who has ever convinced me I could spell marry with an E 
and it could still also mean forever.

 

VIII.
These are my vows:

 

—Johnny Appleseed, whose real name was Johnny Chapman, 
was someone who would never hurt a fly.
So much so that if he spotted even one mosquito 
flying too close to a flame, he would jump up
and put out his own campfire on even the coldest darkest nights.
(That's the type of Johnny I intend to be.)

 

—The heartbeat is actually the sound made 
by the heart valves closing.
If you, my love, ever hold a stethoscope to my chest, 
I will tell you to listen for the silence in between.
What is and what will always be yours 
is the sound of my heart 
finally opening.

[Laghail]

3 minutes ago, Laghail said:

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Andrea Gibson

 

Spoiler

Jesus Christ, how the fuck could Gibson do that to me?? Verse IV, how the fuck am I supposed to be normal afterwards?
Like the final stanza has a punch but it’s the final stanza, it has an unfair advantage just by being the end. 

[sylph]

maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing 
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea

--e e cummings

 

 

 

Spoiler

Being about the beach, this looks like a summer poem at first blush, but to me it's always had that wistful, beginning of autumn, last hurrah kind of feeling to it.

Without naming any of the...any thing really, in this poem, you still know exactly what each of the girls is experiencing.

The range of emotions always gets to me as well as the simile 'as small as a world and as large as alone'

damn.

High school me (who first read this poem) found this to be very profound. 20+ years later, I don't think I disagree.

 

And then the assertion that we find ourselves in the sea. I used to always read this as hopeful and uplifting, but as my perspective has matured over time, I realize that for some folks, this isn't a hopeful thing. If you don't like your self, or don't WANT to find yourself, coming face-to-face with who you are is more of a threat than a promise. Personal experience and current perspective on self can greatly influence the overall tone for individuals as they read this one, I think.

 

 

 

Edit: Also, thanks for the poetry theme... I've been down a few rabbit holes I haven't visited in awhile and it's nice revisiting some old poems and digging up some new ones.

[Laghail]

2 hours ago, sylph said:

it’s always ourselves we find in the sea

--e e cummings

 

Gorgeous! 

 

Spoiler

Liam contributes that EE Cummings liked to portray women as having complicated / nuanced / messy lives, which violated sexist conventions of the time. Women supposedly tranquil unthinking components of nature, all but inanimate berths for world-weary and complicated men to rest within. 

2 hours ago, sylph said:

Edit: Also, thanks for the poetry theme... I've been down a few rabbit holes I haven't visited in awhile and it's nice revisiting some old poems and digging up some new ones.

 

Thanks for participating, and feel free to go as hard as you want. Whatever feels fun.

[MaeradCase]

On 9/10/2024 at 4:25 PM, Laghail said:

 

Ahaha! Hold on, the Danish author has a defense for this choice! 

 

Last appearance of Union Jack:

  Hide contents

 

First appearance of St George's Cross:

  Hide contents

 

Author's explanation: 

 

Sorted! ?

Oh my gosh, these are delightful!

 

I know an artist whose webcomics sometimes include very cool explanations on the differences of the Nordic languages! Minna Sundberg, who has published A Redtail's Dream (ARtD) and Stand Still, Stay Silent with lovely and dark Finnish mythos involved. 

Spoiler

https://hivemill.com/products/stand-still-stay-silent-the-nordic-languages-print

 

Here's a link to the comic I was thinking of

She's had other pieces since then involved with her recent change of faith that I think are lovely as well, and one short tale that discusses the dangers she perceives in the developing social credit systems. I've followed her art since my sister introduced me to it in 2012, among other narratives. ❤️

[Laghail]

Friday September 13

Quote

The Wand, a thin, wooden or metal pointing instrument that may be carved or decorated, is a common choice for practitioners, and is rooted in a long history and tradition among practitioners.  It is the tool of practitioners who intend to deal with other practitioners and the practice, and this can be its strength and its biggest caveat.  It dwells on practice and little else, and because of this, much of its functionality is as a flexible, light, and nuanced tool, a stark opposite to the stone’s cumbersome nature in that it is so easy to handle and flourish that it can be applied after the fact or in the moment.  A tool for the subtle and the expert, used to redirect, and to make small changes to ongoing practice.  It can be used on one’s own practice, or used to target, alter, or deflect another’s.  A fine choice for many, closing few doors and harboring next to no drawbacks, outside of its tendency to work primarily with practice and practitioners rather than on the powers of Others or on the mundane.

 

An exercise: what are two objects that are not on this list that you might consider a close relative of the wand?  How might they differ in use?

• Skipped Strong Towns last night as I was fortunately car-less and that made the decision for me. Plus I'm fine waiting on potentially investing time with the group until I live in that neighborhood. Laura was doing some price comparisons this morning and housing prices are trickling down a little from their late spring all time high, but we're all luxuriating in the reality that liam's six month contract means we need to wait until Spring 2025 at the soonest before he'll know if he's getting hired on long term with the consumer chemical company or with another firm. Sorta both the event last night and the move in general, it feels delicious to do nothing and not have to take responsibility for the decision.
• Running theme of me enjoying not doing things, a lady at the gym wants me to do a meet with her next month in nearby Appleton. It's a solid meet whose single stage is offset by it's smaller size, and the October 2023 meet I did there felt so wholesome and affirming. Buuuuuut it'll cost $250ish in league registration fee, meet fee, and hotel room; and yield data I already have.....

  • I'm not sure how I feel about the competition aspect. I technically won my weight division last time at the 2023 open, but I was also the only lifter for that division ?. Repeating my numbers from last year at current body weight would get me #25 in state and a reasonable increase would get #18 in state. I don't know how much this motivates me. Once I move to Masters, I'll consistently place 2nd through 4th for the state. I also don't know how much this motivates me. Neither performance would qualify me for nationals, but again, I don't know if that prospect is actually enticing. 

  • I thiiiink I like the project of progressively moving my score higher over the years, and I think that makes regular participation valuable to me. Buuuut I think I'm nervous about tracking progress this year when I'm in the middle of the GLP-1 weight loss stuff. Also money isn't suuuper abundant. I think my reservations are are about:

    • money

    • interrupting what's been the most successful body recomposition I've ever done

    • delivering mediocre performance and not knowing what that would mean to me.

  • I think I'm going to do the open in October 2025 and then state in March 2026. The first would be in the open league and the second in masters. Done. Sorted.

    • Note to self: investigate bench specialist rankings in Masters for the state and the country.

• Moving today's squat work into tomorrow since I've been roped into another Chicago trip tonight and that includes some "bro-pump" bench at the sauna. There are moments when I find myself living a cliche and I'm mostly okay with it. No one said this life of mine had decent writers. 

[Sea-to-sky]

12 hours ago, Laghail said:

No one said this life of mine had decent writers. 

Know that feeling.

[sarakingdom]

On 9/13/2024 at 8:46 AM, sylph said:

it’s always ourselves we find in the sea

 

 

A Woman Speaks

By Audre Lorde

 

Moon marked and touched by sun   

my magic is unwritten

but when the sea turns back

it will leave my shape behind.   

I seek no favor

untouched by blood

unrelenting as the curse of love   

permanent as my errors

or my pride

I do not mix

love with pity

nor hate with scorn

and if you would know me

look into the entrails of Uranus   

where the restless oceans pound.

 

I do not dwell

within my birth nor my divinities   

who am ageless and half-grown   

and still seeking

my sisters

witches in Dahomey

wear me inside their coiled cloths   

as our mother did

mourning.

 

I have been woman

for a long time

beware my smile

I am treacherous with old magic   

and the noon's new fury

with all your wide futures   

promised

I am

woman

and not white.