Saturday, February 4, 2006 B

"Strange Doodles and Dreams"
10:21pm

The first one was done last Tuesday:

An odd Elvis...

The second one, tonight:

It looks like some sort of strange hieroglyph. Hieroglyphs are symbols for words.

Sparse, I've been of words, and I hope to change that soon. Well, I could tell you about the weird dream I had this morning. Oh, why not?

*   *   * So there I was, in college, but I was not the nervous, anxious thing I was then. I was as I am now, only younger. My roommate was a chatty, friendly, bubbly thing, brown hair, not thin, but not fat. Not beautiful, but not ugly. Very 'girl next door'. There was the great arranging of furniture and possessions, each of us trying to fit our computers in there, sharing a table for the computers (yes, the room was bigger than a standard dorm room), so we shared like a square folding table, computers at right angle to each other, but it was cramped. I'd arranged everything, went to go take a pee (community bathrooms, remember), and came back to find her chatting on her cell phone to someone about just how weird her roommate was.

Me, being a modern young adult, had one of these devices, too, and so I rang up someone, and told her in ear shot of said roommate, "My roommate thinks I'm as weird as hell, but I suspect we'll survive each other."

Then, there was another re-arranging of room stuff. I found a way to enlarge the room by taking out a low wall fence. (Dreams aren't very realistic at times.)

That happily more spacious, I found myself joining in nearby events. My campus was somewhere in Australia, perhaps near enough to the Outback that a day trip can be arranged. I joined with others, let's just say they are as interested in Ancient Egyptian matters as I am, and we went on this trip. There were maybe a dozen of us.

Anyway, we were all there together in my dream, in Australia, in the middle of the outback in Australia. I distinctly remember the red earth, red like Ayers Rock. Anyway, we were all there to explore some ancient artifact which somehow has Setian significance. Now what could there be of the Egyptian God SET there in the wilds of Australia? There was an ancient statue of a granite jeep truck with its gear shifting device, 'Truck of Set'!. Nevermind, the ancient Egyptians did NOT drive Jeeps, not even the Gods! This 'Vehicle of Set' was much admired over, especially the shifting device. (The shifting device was considered to have 'phallic symbolism', perhaps, congruent with Set's testicles, and such. It sticks up like a stiff... Need I say more?) Anyway, we were all there marvelling at it when I woke up.

*   *   *

Do you expect dreams to make sense? However, I will confess that when I awoke, I did find a letter for me from someone in Australia.

Sunday, February 5, 2006 A

"Reflections on a Weird Dream"
6:33am

I was lying there in bed, thinking about the significance of yesterday's weird dream. Well, I can't just lay in bed and think about it. I've got to pontificate in public spaces. Well, hopefully, I'm not "pompous or dogmatic", as gives the M-W definition. Anyway I'm up early and writing.

Why was the 'Vehicle of Set' a Jeep? Because these vehicles, with their four wheel drive, allow one to go places that ordinary sedans can't go. I remember our frustration four years ago, when Laura wanted to see some raw nature nearby us. Our little red Chevy, it couldn't go on those rough roads. We were getting chewed up, we had to turn back. Now two of Set's titles are 'Enemy of Boundaries' and 'Lord of the Limit'. That inability of our strictly in town vehicle posed a limitation. There was a boundary we could not cross. But if we had a Jeep, hey, we'd just surge on through the crappy road.

On one of my favorite forums, a discussion has been going on about technology. I've been reading with great interest, yet with few thoughts of my own. Yet I've been fascinated for as we discuss, all of our fears and hopes are revealed. Could these devices weaken us, make us too dependent on them? Could then, our focus be drawn outside of our inner Selves from where our strength comes. Certainly, BUT... As long as we remain in control of all these marvelous devices, can't they aid our Xeper? If they save time, facilitate communication, allow us to go places we would not otherwise be able to go, then they extend our range of experience and influence.

Maybe that's what my dream was trying to tell me. The Gods would use all available means to accomplish their ends. Thoth, the God of Communication, there with his writing pad and pen, was using a 'modern invention' of ancient Egypt's time. Today, he might be using a keyboard or a cell phone.

Sunday, February 5, 2006 B

"Mug Shot"
5:41pm

We decided on pizza for lunch. The Bella Vita waitress had said earlier, oh yes, they can do cheese less pizza. So that's what we did. My half the fully meated version, Julia's all veggies, but no cheese, and with an extra of eggplant over all of it. It was the best pizza I ever ate. I, did, however, discover the real reason for all that cheese. It acts as a 'glue' to hold all the meat and veggie bits together. I had to corral the little bits which kept trying to escape.

By the time we were done eating, it was 12:25pm, too late for 'Brokeback Mountain'. So we went grocery shopping, and went home to put all that stuff away. The next movie up that was in my list of favs was 'Underworld', so we went to see that. Same blue washed scenarios as the first movie. A lot of things get tied up in this movie about the vampires and lycans heritage. Chopped up, shot at, stabbed, too... Yes, a bit gory. And I do not think the vampires would feed so messily. But they do in this movie. Like the bluewashing, it's all for an effect of horror.

Still, Selene (Kate Beckinsale) manages to look sexy through out it all.

Earlier, while we were waiting for our pizza, we made silly chatter. Also, I was mesmerized by watching all the tiny bubbles float upwards in Julia's big mug of beer:

Okay, that drawing on a napkin doesn't quite capture the bubbles. Or the shadows. But Julia made a funny when she called it a 'mug shot'.

Tuesday, February 7, 2006

"Heaven on Earth"
8:02pm

Julia thought it was coin club night, and we were surprised to find the back room of the 'Mad Greek' filled with people who did not look at all like the coin club members. A look at the coin sheet revealed the meeting is NEXT Tuesday. However, our taste buds already primed for food, we decided to eat, just the same. The souvlaki was tasty, as always. From my vantage point, I could see the busy cooks, who did not waste a single movement as they rushed about cooking for the many hungry patrons.

*   *   *

Jottings from Old Grey Poet:

"Oh, but I do love to read poetry. I'm wary and slightly worried when I encounter people who aspire to write the stuff and yet, on examination, seem to read little if any of it. For my part, I work on a rule of thumb that I need to read an awful lot of poems for each one that I write."

Good advice, but I seem to seldom ever take it. It does remind me of the advice I received in collage:

"You have the makings of a brisk and lively style. Study the examples of good writing and imitiate them."

That's paraphrased as best I can remember it. One of my philosophy teachers wrote that on a paper of mine. Yes, I can't very well study those examples if I don't read the results of other writers. It's a pity I read so slowly. But better slow than not at all.

*   *   *

In my web travels, I've learned a rather odd fact. GoldenPalace.com has bought a kidney stone of William Shatner's for $75,000. At least that's what Shatner reports on his website. I can't think much of people who are so obsessed to buy such weird things, simply because the person to whom it once belonged is famous. Mostly, I wish I had the $75,000. Shatner, did however, donate the proceeds to Habitat for Humanity.

Back in March of 1996, I don't think I could have sold my gallstones for a nickle, so I suppose fame does have some odd benefits.

*   *   *

Next, I spent time pondering my answer to this weeks 52 Figments question:

2.5.06 :: [Part One] What does heaven mean to you?

The only heaven that matters is this world, here, now.
Don't strain upward, it is here, now.
Don't strain outward, it is here, now.
We are carrying it around inside us,
everywhere we go.

"I have come into being and by the process
of coming into being, the process of
coming into being is established."
By the power that is Within,
I create my world.
I bring into being beautiful things.

I think that's the way I want it. While I was thinking of 'heaven' being here on earth, I thought I'd try a intuitive drawing:

If I try to explain this with my logical mind, I think I am saying 'heaven meets earth'. There is sunlight, with no mystery, and moon with its mystery. The 'tree of life' seems to be animated, perhaps it represents a consciousness. I'm not sure what the V and reversed V 'plants' represent. Perhaps the spiritual aiming to be materialized and vice versa.

Anyway, I like it. For some reason, it reminds me of a tarot card.

I've expanded these thoughts somewhat in a "Markings of my Path" entry.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

"Heaven on Earth II"
2:18pm

So pleased I was with the short poem I wrote to condense my thoughts on the theme of 'heaven', I put it and the image in my Essential Joan collection. However, when I was preparing to place the picture's thumbnail in my Automatic Drawing gallery, the black and white drawing cried out to be colored. And so I did:

My tree of consciousness: feet on the ground, but aware of Mystery which surrounds. I am from Her birthed, yet know my solitary worth. Within me is an ebon flame, a fire which empowers Being. With my Will, I can make of my world a heaven - here on earth. It begins in my mind, each choice that bears fruit, from mind to hand to deed. This life of dynamic balance, this is joy to me. JAL, 2-8-06