古崇賢的学报

I've had a chronic sinus/upper resp thing for some months now. It's flared up again this past week, as has a bizarre rash in my right armpit which also appeared last month at full moon. :| I've an appointment with an LPN on Wednesday for a blood draw, and will discuss both these with her then.

Saturday, i slept almost all day, which health-wise was a very good thing, but sadly therefore missed helping a friend pack and get things into storage, and missed gaming at badmagic's place. :( Saturday evening, at 18:30, i did put in an appearence, with 6 lovely wines, at a church dinner that i'd forgotten i'd signed up for until i got a phone call about it. That evening, i briefly stopped by the nookery and visited with the Nookizens, dmk and her hubby who were visiting from North Carolina. I went to bed early.

Today, i got to church on time, which was good, as today we had an ethnic Bengali Muslim from India visit our class, and who spoke to us about Islam from her experiences. She's also a school teacher whom some of the kids have had, which made for a pleasantly relaxed time. After that, i had a lovely time visting chez mergyeugnau, where i became re-acquainted with ruth_wielgosz, a very wonderful person whom i am thrilled to have run into again. I also made the acquaintance of karma_soupra there; he is most interesting, and i hope i get the chance to know him a bit better. I'm home now, and have been for a bit.

I'm fading VERY fast, and so hope this post is coherent. And somehow, despite my social interactions this weekend, i'm feeling empty, and totally emotionally drained. Here's hoping a good night's sleep rectifies that some.

This post is inspired by a reply to a comment i made in this thought-provoking post in fallenpegasus' LJ, in which he said:

But people are not socially "equal" and cannot be, because people are *different*.

He's absolutely right, and i do not in the least disagree with his statement. But does that mean that we should not acknowledge those who are too different from us; that we oughtn't treat those lower than ourselves socio-ecomically as they are people; that we should refuse to try to dilute the concentration of below-poverty-line people in the ghettos we as a society have, in most places, forced the poor to live, or that we should not at least try improve the conditions therein?
( An auto-biographical vignette, which gives some pertinent personal background - in short, my view of middle-class is skewed. )

In summary, will there ever be full social equality? Very probably not. Can there be less social inequality? Most probably, if not in the near-term. fallenpegasus is absolutely correct that people are *diferent*. We don't all want, desire, or even need, the same things. But hould we each have a truly equal opportunity to have the same? Yes, we should.

I've posted no real content since the 1st. ( Highlights, and I am so tired of being ill. Horizontal lines set off the main non-church, non-illness thing. )

And thus has been my life this month. Oh, almost forgot. I had dinner with muzikmaker and agentxs at Yuan Fu Vegetarian in Rockville on Monday the 18th, at which i get my violin back. I need to get 2 new mutes and a new dampit. I really like the new bridge. It's cut a bit differintly than the one it replaced, but in a good way. And the rehaired bow plays so much better than it did before. Who knew that rehairing would make such a huge differnce. I still want to get a new bow, as i'm not fond of the lightness, nor the balance point of this one, but it's quit usable now. Thank you muzikmaker21!

( Saturday at the log house in the woods )

Leaving there, i'd planned to go to the nookery for gaming. I called J to see what he was up for, and he wasn't up for going out, so i went to his place instead. Had a lovely evening with him, crashed there after staying up half the night.

( Adventures at The Nookery, at which there were frogs )

( On Atheism, Rationalism, Agnosticism, and Unitarian Universalism )

Yet another evening that i feel a need write. I remember when that meant picking up a pen and using paper. Of course, i've found barely any of my pens, though i have found some of the paper. Nice absorbent paper, that really takes the ink. My blotter has been found and unpacked, and is back at its usual roost on a bookshelf. It might fun a day to try western script using my Chinese inks, brushes, and paper.

---

Tonight, i wanted more than anything to talk to someone; not sure why or about what. So, in the abscence of direct human interaction, tonight, i reach out via electrons and introduce you to CRK. He's not on LJ. His name is Chris, but i've always filed him under his initials in my head, heart, and files.

( CRK's tale of woe. There's a light at the end of the tunnel, but he can't see it yet )
Anyway, i tried calling him tonight. He didn't answer. I hope this means he was asleep, and not just too depressed to bother to talk.

After leaving a short, hey, how ya doin' message for him, i read several more chapters in the book i'd started after dinner. But i still wanted to talk, though i'm not sure about what. So, i thought about calling Fred.

---

You do remember Fred, don't you? He was separated from his wife, and was released from a mental ward after 3 days confinement, and showed up at my door. I took him in for a year, and kvetched quite a bit in that time. Happily, our relationship endured, as did mine and nadyalec's after our episode of sharing housing. I ended up not dialing him, as he's in school, and very busy, and by then it was twenty of twenty-three. I miss him. Our relationship is rather mystical, yet grounded. We share a strong connection on a deep level. There are very few other humans to whom i feel that connected. I'll not enumerate others here and now; somehow, that would be rude, at least from my point of view.

Um, i think i'm done blathering for now.

( Here's what came out of my fingers tonight )

And thus was my last summer of innocence. I knew i had an essay itching to get out today. Had no idea this would be the topic. Though it's been on my mind of late. I even pointedly went to, and much enjoyed, a cookout at leiacat and bfudlmint's place on his birthday this year, rather than my usual picnic at the graveyard.

Saturday i left the house early, arriving at 1000 in Springfield to help The Mama* get her new kitchen in order. I got the joyous task of papering the drawers and shelves. Talk about f'n tedious. After that, a 7mi hike through the hills along the river. Got home at 1930 to find my keys in the house, and benhill not home. Read on the front porch in the rain for a bit, then called agentxs and had a lovely dinner at Yuan Fu Vegetarian in Rockville. Got home at 2300 for the evening.

Sunday, slept late, fed the cats, read the paper, dressed, and went to a lovely cookout at leiacat and bfudlmint's place. lonebear, heptadecagram, muzikmaker21, madbodger red_lynx, and others i'm too tired to recall by lj handle at the moment, were there too. Much fun was had by all. At the end of the evening, lonebear and i were trying to wait out the torrential storm. We finally gave up waiting it out at about 2045. I then drove at 25-35mph down I-95 and I-495 to VA 267 back home Reston, VA. Then found a fallen tree on Glade Dr, requiring me to turn around, back up Glade to Soapstone to South Lakes to Colts Neck and back to Glade to home. Bleah. Considering the severity of the storms and the amount of rain, really, no complaints.

The top of my throat is sore too,and it's a bit hard to talk. I should get some lozenges and maybe some chloroseptic. Well, off to bed now, at all too late, early, whatever, an hour.

Saturday, i slept a bit later than usual, despite protest on the part of the cats, then went over to the nookery, ( and gleefully dealt with a bunch of trash and recycling )
It was wonderful getting to spend a bunch of time with nosebeepbear, and we got a lot of useful things done around the house, too.

Sunday, which it still is right now, i got up, started to go to church, realized i forgot the smudge stick, went home, got the smudge stick (of sage and piñón), went to church, and helped lead a very successful Summer Solstice Service, ( and had a lovely afternoon )

Then i came home, fed the cats, who are right now on the couch beside me, sleeping on benhill's blue fleece, read the Post, did some laundry, did the dishes, cooked dinner, then surfed some.

A most wonderful weekend all-in-all. Low key, great company, and fun activities. Little more can be asked of a weekend.

I've had a few readings in the last week. The first three, all of their own accord, with me providing no data to the reader, other than choosing a deck, focused on work. Things will go well there, if not in the way i expect, is the consensus.

The last one focused on potential relationship and basically said, get ye in order, all around, and all will fall into place.

G'night.

Saturday:

1. Maryland Faerie Festival in the morning through mid-afternoon
2. Pick up maddogairpirate from Union Station at ~16
3. Eat
4. Get to 2GV (Closing night, haleluia!)
5. Make at least a token appearance at the joint cast party afterward.

Sunday:

1. Hang with maddogairpirate for a while
2. Hook up with quentinor, with whom maddogairpirate will be spending a few days.
3. Buy some picknicky, easy-to-eat food
4. Meet up with the Dutkys so we can get to Nissan Pavillion to see Depeche Mode (I'm totally looking forward to this because my friend hanklider in Amsterdam raved about the show when he saw it in late April.)

For several years, in high school, and periodically for a few years after, i was in a quartet with a brilliantly talented cellist named Buffy Beverage. Second year of HS, we had a sub in math one day. She passed around a sheet, asking us to write our names for attendance. The sheet made its way around the room, and back to the sub. She looked over the list.

Alright, who wrote Buffy Beverage?, she queried

Buffy raised her hand and says, I did.

So what's your real name?

Buffy Beverage

No it is not. No one would be named Buffy Beverage

The whole class then begins defending Buffy, resulting in the sub writing a nastygram to our instructor, who nearly fell on the floor laughing on reading the note.

I live around the corner from Sugarberry Ct in Reston. That's the street Buffy lived on when we were in HS. Buffy had juvenile diabetes, and died 10 September 2003, due to the diabetes. Sometimes, like tonight, when i drive past Sugarberry Ct, it makes me sad. I'm working on forming a quartet now, which made passing the street tonight especially poignant.

This is not a bad thing. It's just a thing i felt like sharing.

Ecumenicon was a lovely time. I attended classes on curriculum development offered by several people, as well as classes in art offered by Hannah Shapero. The Norse Working with Jane Sibley was an amazing experience too.

We also had a couple of really interesting and productive input sessions during meal breaks which will help us put on better conferences in the future, and has given us the information we need to move toward becoming a full-fledged seminary. Thank you Isis Nefer for your valuable input!

The cats were glad to see me home. The dog was happy to see me too, but i'm not his primary caretaker, so he was not nearly as happy as the cats were.

We've fragrant ants in the house, for t'is Springtime here in DCland. Lots coming in near the fireplace on the 2nd floor. Happily, no food source nearby though, so here's hoping they'll leave. Though i like the piny smell they make when you crush them.

Suddenly yesterday the trees were all green. The understory will be filling out 'ere long therefore. English ivy is thriving again, as is Virginian creeper. We're still several weeks away from the poison ivy leaving, though their roots are reddening, so the irritating substances are flowing well already. And the dogwoods, both white ones and pink ones, are in glorious bloom, and the maples and pines are pollinating like there's no tomorrow.

I'm spending a lot of free time rehearsing the tango i'm playing in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Tonight, i figured out which are the tricky bits. I really need to work out the fingering on the first tricky bit, and i need to just practice the other until the awkward, modified g-minor scale and octave glissando are second nature for me. I'm a bit nervous, as this is my first public performance in 15 years. I'm looking forward to it though, i've been wanting to seriously get back into the music.

Today, i left the house and noticed that:

• the lindens are as green as they are white now
• the redbuds are fading fast
• the dogwoods are on the verge of bursting forth
• the Northern Maples are nearly done blooming, and the Southern ones are about to bloom
• some of the deciduous Magnolia are nearing past-bloom
• the daffodils are going strong still
• the croci are fading

This spring is just flying by.

Lunacon week before last was fun, but financially disappointing. This past weekend, I-CON was fun, and financially rewarding. I'm glad to be home for a bit now.

As a reminder for those of you in the general DC area, i'm going hiking at Sky Meadows on Saturday. I'm being joined by benhill, a coworker of ours, and probably blackfeather. We're departing from Tysons at 09:30, at least that's the plan at present. I'll be picking people up from East Falls Church at about that time for any arriving by Metro instead of car. Final meeting place will be decided tomorrow once i've confirmed who all is coming. Comment or email if you'd like to join in. benhill's dog, Duke, will likely be with us too. I'm heading out there again on the 22nd of April too.

Ok. I think you all know that i've started at DoD. It's an interim job most likely, as i'm not thrilled with it, even though i don't mind it. It is more technical than my last position, which is kind of funny since i worked at a software company. On Thursday at 1400 i inteview with another software company, Plateau Systems, in Ballston. It sounds like more fun; gov't environments and i don't mesh ideally. I find them stressful. They're always going cheap and half-assed about stuff. It is less than ideal to say the least.

Anyway, the question:

If you were to dictate what i did for a living, what would i do?

( Recap of M-R, with details of interviws )
Friday:
Today, i finally got around to going to the lab for the pre-employment drug test for Oberthur, as W & R i was too busy, and the place closes at 16. I'm following up with several recruiters today also. It looks like i'll have 2-3 offers by the middle of next week. Fwee! What a week.

This weekend:
Tomorrow, i'm going gaming at the nookery, which will be a lot of fun; i adore the people there. Sunday i'm going to church, as the sermon "After the Welcoming Congregation, What?" pertains to me, as it specifically address the now that we're a Welcoming [to LGBTs] Congregation,and have been for a decade, now what? Not sure about that afternoon.