Shaking things up!

Dragon Mood? -- bemused

Last Thursday night, as we were sitting in our favorite pub, drinking a pitcher of Fosters, S told me about a funny professor she has this semester. The dude is old, white-silvery hair down to his shoulders, with a giant handlebar mustache to boot! He teaches this engineering course at a top-notch engineering school. In his lectures, he encourages people to bust out of their habits, shake up their thinking, break the rules and defy conventions as a means to awakening and releasing the inner creativity within themselves! (I would love to know how this pertains to engineering?)

So, over at frogblog, frog has this posting about tarot. Taking the professor's words to heart, I tried it. Here's the results for me:

I am The Lovers The Lovers often refers to a relationship that is based on deep love - the strongest force of all. The relationship may not be sexual, although it often is or could be. More generally, the Lovers can represent the attractive force that draws any two entities together in a relationship - whether people, ideas, events, movements or groups.

So then, of course, I had to try S's. Here is hers:

I am The World The World represents the moments when we feel fulfilled and blessed and all that goes into them. It is a very positive sign that you are in a position to realize your heart's desire. What that is for you depends on the situation, but it will always feel great. Remember, though, that Card 21 is a symbol of active contribution and service. To hold the World in our hands, we must give of ourselves to it. That is the source of true happiness.

For a full description of your card and other goodies, please visit LearnTarot.com

What tarot card are you? Enter your birthdate. Month: Day: Year:

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Variations II

Dragon Mood? -- design snorting

(Since she missed the first one), I wonder how long it will take Lina to see this . . .

A grab bag of my thoughts and other mish-mash

Dragon Mood? -- discombobulated

This week was a long week, a short week and a hard week.

I worked 10-hour days (talk about long?), four days this week (short work week), and my days were filled with LOTS OF WORK! After days and weeks of filling time, this week I was setting up images in Unigraphics NX, Photoshopping them and then checking their appearance in the body of text for a training course going to Sweden in a few weeks. The whole forty hours! Whew! I am exhausted but happy to know that I am still capable of working that many hours in a row! And I love working in Photoshop!

Today I am home, away from work, back in the land of the tall pine trees, while my trusty and faithful landboat, the '94 Volvo, gets a few of her internal parts replaced, tinkered with and adjusted. Let's hope the doctor bill is less than $1000.

I had planned to sew today. But I'm sitting here, and I'm just pooped. Tired and without motivation. Not so tired that I can't surf the internet or post a post or three on my blog. But that's about the extent of my energy.

Some mish-mash lolling about in my brain:

• I do think Cisco, our sweet puppy, has been lonely, bored and a bit out of sorts lately. This past week I tried giving her extra attention after work, and she definitely felt like a happier dog. "Hey, Mom, let's go for a WALK!"
• I wrote my intrepid pirate princess daughter, Lina, to chew her out 'cuz we missed the talk-like-a-pirate day. Damn the mizzen mast, we be workin' too hard ta miss our talkin' day! If we don't get our heads outta our arses, there be short planks we be walkin!
• Which led me to re-experience how much I miss seeing my kids on a regular basis. Damn, I wanted you to grow up, . . . but I never wanted you to get jobs and move away and get a life. I would be happy if we could go to Bagel Haul once a week, have breakfast and just talk and laugh with each other. Bagel Haul's gone, you're gone and I miss those times with you! Geez!
  
• On a lighter note, even old dogs can learn new tricks. In preparation for driving home last night, I backed the car into the driveway, left my purse in the car, rolled down the back windows for Cisco who was about-to-be-in-the-car. Then I locked the car (you know, to foil the big, bad city robbers lurking in the bushes). A half an hour later, I carried my bag out of the house, got to the car, realized it was locked, and reached in through the half-opened back windows to unlock the car. Holy shit!-- an alarm went off, the horn started tooting and the lights started flashing. I didn't know my car would do that! This is the car that I've owned for seven years, the car that's paid for, the car I've put 150,000 miles on. Holy shit, I didn't know it would do that! (laughing)

  It took me about thirty seconds to find my keys with the keyfob, although it certainly felt more like five minutes and thirty seconds. Our neighbors, sitting out on their porch, yelled over at me, what the hell I was doing over there? Needless to say, this ol' dog felt just a little stupid. But I did learn a new trick: don't try to out-trick the trusty car's alarm system!

Any more mish-mash? Anything else lolling about up there?? Maybe I'll add more to this later ?

Embracing change

Dragon Mood? -- excited and sad; choosing something new while giving up something familiar

I did something BIG this week. I changed my address.

I / We are giving up our post office box in the little Indian village by the Red Cedar (Warning: mounting soapbox --"which has morphed into another traffic-clogged, where's-the-center-of-town-now?, procession of mini-malls and shopping centers"). It's all very familiar and known. (This is the village where I went to high school, for crying out loud! That's how familiar and known it is to me!) But . . . and you knew there was a "but" coming, it has become more and more inconvenient to pick up our mail at that post office. Plus, it's necessary for me to do this for tax reasons (thanks a lot, IRS!) So, this week, I compiled a list of businesses and contacts that I notified of a change of address. My new address will be at our pied-a-terre, while S will maintain her post office box out here in Sticksville, for tax and employment purposes . . .

. . . which, reflecting upon this change, is pretty significant. It represents cutting my ties (at least, in a formal, legal way) with the area where I've lived, literally, for the past forty years (it will be forty years in '05). And if you knew me like I know me, that's amazing! I love change and I embrace change, but I never could have imagined living in one area, marrying, having kids, divorcing, falling in love with a woman, . . . all these years without leaving. NEVER COULD HAVE IMAGINED IT! Even the astrologer, when she analyzed my horoscope, was amazed that I haven't traveled and lived IN OTHER PLACES! It's right there in my natal chart, for all to see!

So . . . leaving my natal chart for the moment and just being still, I realize that I am grieving. I am grieving a loss. I am realizing that I no longer live here, now I live there. And I now live in a place, literally, formally, legally, that I never wanted to live. And that's big TOO!

Privilege

Dragon Mood? -- humbled and thankful

Driving down a main thoroughfare in the little village of our pied-a-terre, I saw something that made me want to stare. Even though I know it's not polite.

There was a man in a wheelchair, wheeling himself down the sidewalk. Something looked "funny" about the man and his wheelchair. The wheelchair had no backrest. It was more like a little fabric seat suspended between two wheels. The man had no legs. No legs that I could see although he did have pants on and a shirt that he kept pulling down over his backside.

The other thing was that he wasn't sitting up in the wheelchair, but rather was lying face down, craning his neck up to see where he was going. It looked awkward and hard to push his wheelchair with his hands, with his shoulders lifted and his arms pushing behind and away from his body.

What really drew my attention to him was the traffic jam he apparently was causing. I noticed a city bus ahead of me, creeping slowly, with three or four cars behind the bus. I wondered if there had been an accident? I pulled over into the passing lane, and as I passed the bus, I saw the man in the wheelchair on the sidewalk, making his painfully slow and tedious progress up the street.

Exactly what prompted the city bus to slow down alongside this man, I don't know. But I do know that this "differently abled" man had a lot of eyes on him.

Thank you, God, for my legs. And for the ability to stand up. And for the privilege of walking.

Wow!

For all you pissed-off people out there . . .

Dragon Mood? -- why must she post these things???

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned." --Buddha

And while Buddha may be smart and Buddha may be wise, Buddha was obviously not pissed-off when he pronounced that nugget of advice.

Top 10 Bush Tax Proposals

Dragon Mood? -- amused

From CNN:

Democrat John Kerry joked Monday on "The Late Show with David Letterman" about changes under President Bush's tax plan.

Kerry's "Top 10 Bush Tax Proposals" are:

10. No estate tax for families with at least two U.S. presidents.

9. W-2 Form is now Dubya-2 Form.

8. Under the simplified tax code, your refund check goes directly to Halliburton.

7. The reduced earned income tax credit is so unfair, it just makes me want to tear out my lustrous, finely groomed hair.

6. Attorney General (John) Ashcroft gets to write off the entire U.S. Constitution.

5. Texas Rangers can take a business loss for trading Sammy Sosa.

4. Eliminate all income taxes; just ask Teresa (Heinz Kerry) to cover the whole damn thing.

3. Cheney can claim Bush as a dependent.

2. Hundred-dollar penalty if you pronounce it "nuclear" instead of "nucular."

1. George W. Bush gets a deduction for mortgaging our entire future.

My mama, she named me right . . .

Dragon Mood? -- dragony head a mite inflated

From frogblog, comes this fun little exercise on the meaning of my name:

Very much an individual with a charismatic personality and keen mind you attract many admirers and much affection. You are extremely sociable and build relationships with honesty, trust and a good sense of humour. You have great potential for material success using your intellectual skills possibly in writing or speaking. Your industry, determination and positive mental attitude always win out.

Coming at this from another angle (slightly left of perpendicular), my ever-encouraging daughter has encouraged me to wonder about the possibility of making money (huh?) with some curious combination of writing and blogs and that elusive ether of "Eureka" that I have yet to capture in a glass jar.

I wonder if there's anything in that description of my names' meaning that talks about grabbing the brass ring like that . . .

Variations

Dragon Mood? -- design snorting

I wonder how long it will take Lina to see this . . .

Dirty tricks, mendacious malarkey, and then, unraveling chaos

Dragon Mood? -- speak up, speak up, Mr. Kerry. We can't hear you!

From Maureen Dowd and the N.Y. Times:

"... it speaks to the jitters of the Democrats that they're consumed with speculation about whether Karl Rove, the master of dirty tricks and surrogate sleaze, could have set up CBS in a diabolical pre-emptive strike to undermine damaging revelations about Bush 43's privileged status and vanishing act in the National Guard, and his odd refusal to take his required physical when ordered.
...
The administration has been so dazzling in misleading the public with audacious, mendacious malarkey that the Democrats fear the Bushies are capable of any level of deceit.

Iraq is a vision of hell, and the Republicans act as if it's a model kitchen. The president and vice president brag about liberating Iraqis and reassure us that they are stopping terrorist violence at its source and inspiring democracy in the region by bringing it to blood-drenched Iraq.

But what they haven't mentioned is that they have known since July that their rosy scenarios are as bogus as their W.M.D. That's when the president received a national intelligence estimate that spelled out "a dark assessment of prospects" for stability and governance in Iraq in the next 18 months, as Douglas Jehl wrote in today's Times. Worst-case estimates include civil war or anarchy.

Unlike the president, the young men and women trying to stay alive in the unraveling chaos of Iraq can't count on their daddies to get them out of the line of fire.

what's that you said? WUW?

Dragon Mood? -- just a little silly

I ran home at lunch to release the dog from her thunderstorm-protecting space inside the house. Of course, there had been no thunderstorm , but oh well, my intentions were good.

I digress. On the way home, I saw a license plate with the letters, "WUW" and some numerals after it.

WUW? How do you pronounce that?

I'm so logical it's gonna knock you silly (as it obviously did me!).

When babies and toddlers are learning to talk, the letter-sound "W" is pronounced "wah," right? "Wah-wah!" the toddler cries, banging her cup on the table.

So, being logical, I figured that WUW is pronounced "Woo-wah."

Now, my extended family (of which I'm proudly a part) has an affinity for W's as we call ourselves Wild Wends or Wild Wendish Women (if it's just us girls saying silly girl things).

So-o-oooo . . . I was thinking (always a dangerous endeavor for a middle-aged, menopausal wild woman) that we could use WUW as our greeting for one another. Sort of a secret-but-public greeting from one wild Wend to another.

"WUW, girl, how ya doin'?"

"WUW, I'm doin' fine. Did you hear what Papa and Evelyn are up to?"

And . . . watch out, another thought . . . if we're really excited -- or -- we're watching Tommy's boys put it to the Wolverines in the final game of the season -- or -- we're getting ready to congregate and conflagrate at our hopefully soon-to-be family cottage, we could even say, "WUWUW!" Which would of course translate to "Woo-Woo-Wah!"

The very pinnacle of wild Wendish excitement!

Waddaya say?? WUWUW?

I need to be on the lookout

Dragon Mood? -- a little cross-eyed

Usually Jupiter is a good influence for me. Now, the Aquarius Papers has some pretty daunting advice for all kinds of people with various birthdays and with various planets in various sun signs. Daunting and maybe just a little confusing . . .

Here's what Astrodienst has to say for me today:

This is usually an excellent time for most kinds of relationships, but there are some pitfalls. Basically this influence signifies a desire to grow and advance through contacts with others. Probably you are willing to give as much as you get, although in some people this influence triggers a desire for advantages through others without giving anything in return. In fact as they get ahead, such people act arrogantly toward everyone, even those who helped them. This causes others to reject them, and when they hit hard times there is no one to help them out.

But this result is totally unnecessary, and all you have to do to avoid it is to keep a sense of humility and recognize what others have done for you. With this influence you have the potential to become a truly better person, but only if you keep these warnings in mind.

Quite frequently this influence brings a seemingly "lucky" chance through a friend or associate. But it is not luck so much as the fact that you are very sharply on the lookout for opportunities that can benefit you. Your sense of timing is very acute, and your sensitivity to others and their needs is greater than usual. That is one reason why it is so bad to ignore others' needs, because you don't even have the excuse of ignorance.

Benefits can come to you in either your personal and domestic life or in your work. There may be an opportunity to make money or to make improvements in your home that will make it much more pleasant. Or you may meet people who will help you learn more about the world and expand your view of it in various ways. You have to be willing to let this happen, however, which means you must be receptive. This is another area in which being arrogant brings the risk that you will get nothing of lasting value out of this period.

The interpretation above is for your transit selected for today: Jupiter Square Ascendant -- activity period from 10 September 2004 to 19 September 2004.

After reading something like this, I always feel like I need to rub my eyes, shake my head and be a bit more watchful.

Anniversaries

Dragon Mood? -- remembering

Monday, September 6th -- Monday would have been Nana's 103rd birthday. She was my maternal grandmother -- my mom's mom. My mom and I lived with Nana for the first year or so of my life. Dad was in Korea.

Mom said I was like Nana's second daughter. Whenever I was around her, I felt special!

Curiously, she and her husband, Albert, shared the same birth day. He was born in 1900, in Port Arthur, Texas (I believe?), and Nana was born in 1901 outside of Stapehurst, Nebraska (which is outside of Seward, which is west of Lincoln).

They only had one child, Margaret Ann, my mother.

Nana died in June, 1986 at the age of 84. She was a character, through and through. Geez, do I miss her!

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Saturday, September 11 -- I resolved early this week not to watch any television network memorials or schmaltzy "Where were you" commemorations of the attack on our country on September 11th, 2001.

I think we risk cheapening the memory of all those beautiful, wonderful people lost with commercials and celebrities pontificating about the effects on our country.

I am so sorry for all the people who lost loved ones that day. I grieve for their losses.

I am holding them all , dead and alive, in the "light," of God's healing love.

Me and the dog are going to lay in the road*

Dragon Mood? -- laughing out loud

S loves the outdoors. She spends a lot of time wandering our acre "estate," looking at all the forty-year-old pine trees, the Virginia creeper, all the ornamental grasses she's planted, and dreaming about what could be.

This afternoon she was out in the front yard, along with our dog, Cisco. When she looked next, the dog was laying out in the middle of the road. S described her as completely prostrate, with one ear cocked up, in her radar tracking mode. A car came down the road. S started calling Cisco. The dog lifted up her head from the pavement, watched as the car slowed, went around her, and then laid back down.

Later, S was talking to her mom, Sally, and described Cisco's odd behavior. After extensive questioning, dialog back-and-forth, Sally and S came to the conclusion that Cisco is depressed. Depressed because I didn't walk her at 11:00 p.m., like I usually do, but at 10:00 p.m., so I could get in my jammies and watch a movie with my honey. That's why our suicidal dog laid in the road this afternoon.

I should have known better.

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* a quote from S late this afternoon, as she and Cisco headed outside

Lazy Sunday

Dragon Mood? -- ambitions low and falling fast

Once upon a time it was a lazy September Sunday. The calypso-loving dragon had all kinds of ambitions which were far too ambitious for a such a lovely, soporific day. She did some laundry. She made tomato-and-mayo sandwiches with loads of salt and pepper for her honey. She even tried to fix up her blog, which met with only limited success. Finally, she threw all those far-reaching ambitions out the window, posted this little post and took a draggin-dragon nap. End of story.

Happy Wendishday, everybody!

Dragon Mood? -- dragon-draggin'

Once upon a time there was a dragon that went from hardly any work to lots of work, and then all her blogging time disappeared! Poof -- like magic!

Which reminds me . . . have we ever talked about Puff the Magic Dragon? Hmmmm . . .

Lots-a-Dots

Dragon Mood? -- Sunday morning-sleepy

What I've been doing over the past couple of days:

• learning just enough about Word templates to want to learn more

• finding out that my crazy daughter puts vodka in her gazpacho

• making banana bread and brownies (sorry, no vodka, no "funny" brownies)

• learning that my partner, S, is capable of taking on BIG landscaping projects

• learning that 28 yards of soil is a LOT of soil

• recalling that my dad, the soil physicist, always called soil "SOIL," not "dirt"

• discovering that raking a big berm of soil is sort of like frosting a cake (smooth, smoother, SMOOTHEST)

• finding out how many muscles in my abdominal core are still way out of shape

• re-discovering that S is a generous soul -- she bought me a Music of the Spheres windchime (!) -- exotic Balinese tuning

• realizing that eating an ice cream cone WITH my honey WHILE riding in the truck with the windows down is a superlative Saturday afternoon experience

• finding out how to do text messaging on my phone (thanx 2 Yosh)

• enjoying getting clean after getting really dirty (soiled?)

• watching the MSU Spartans get their cramped-up tails beat by the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Get those poor guys hydrated, for crying out loud!
  

• thoroughly and totally enjoying the movie "Garden State" starring Zach Braff and Natalie Portman. Three thumbs up!

• Learning that Natalie Portman has a beautiful and evocative face -- I would compare her transcendent beauty to that of Audrey Hepburn (horrify Josh!). Those Star Wars films made her look like a freak, in retrospect.
  

• Finding out that Zach Braff even has a Garden State blog. How different is that?

• re-discovering that a lazy Sunday morning on the computer is a great way to celebrate Labor Day!

I hope you like my dots (no bullets here; bullets are for guns; guns are for hunters and soldiers*).

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* I don't like the NRA and I especially don't like Charleton Heston. Eeeeewww!

The Republicans' false reality

Dragon Mood? -- pissed off

While the fatcat and/or fundamentalist Republicans are having their love-fest in New York City, this week, us working folk got some more bad news, a confirmation that our economy is not what the Administration is telling us. From the Detroit Free Press:

In another sign of a sluggish U.S. economy and slumping auto sales at General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., the automakers said Wednesday they plan to slow down their plants the last three months of 2004 and make about 165,000 fewer cars and trucks than they did a year ago.

Ford will build fewer vehicles in this fourth quarter than it has in any year since the recession year of 1991, auto analysts estimate. For GM, it will be the fewest vehicles built in a fourth quarter since 2001, the quarter after 9/11. . . .

This was the fourth straight month Ford reported lower auto sales while GM sales have been down or flat the last three months.

"We are doing this to production just to be cautious. The economy is definitely in a soft patch and clearly it's fallen off the growth pace of last year or even early this year," said George Pipas, Ford sales analysis manager. "We are certainly more cautious about the economy than we were three months ago. What we need to see is a resumption of job growth."

I can't wait for this Republican convention to be over, so we, as a people, can re-focus our attentions on what is really happening around us!