Month: September 2008

Scorpio (October 23-November 21)

What reasons might you have to celebrate your own private holy day? Why might you want to go off by yourself or in the company of special people and conduct a reverent ritual that reinvigorates your knack for having fun? Here are some possible answers: 1. You’re overdue for a break from everything you usually do. 2. You’re hungry for the magic that happens when you take refuge in the sacred. 3. It’s time to stop the world and jump off long enough to break the trance you’re in. 4. You would generate uncanny blessings by paying tender attention to your origins, returning to your sources, and examining the foundations of your life.

Ummmmmm, all of the above and…..DUH!!!!!! I’ll have to copy more over from my recent myspace blog to elaborate, but that is ok.

In other news, the answer to #1 comes in two parts, today starts the first part. PROGPOWER USA!!!!! Which also bleeds into #2. 😀 See you guys on Sunday.

Since Randy is posting DFW quotes, I’ll throw my fav from his Rolling Stone article, page 10

Now you have to pay close attention to something that’s going to seem real obvious. There is a difference between a great leader and a great salesman. Because a salesman’s ultimate, overriding motivation is his own self-interest. If you buy what he’s selling, the salesman profits. So even though the salesman may have a very powerful, charismatic, admirable personality, and might even persuade you that buying really is in your interest (and it really might be) — still, a little part of you always knows that what the salesman’s ultimately after is something for himself. And this awareness is painful … although admittedly it’s a tiny pain, more like a twinge, and often unconscious. But if you’re subjected to enough great salesmen and salespitches and marketing concepts for long enough — like from your earliest Saturday-morning cartoons, let’s say — it is only a matter of time before you start believing deep down that everything is sales and marketing, and that whenever somebody seems like they care about you or about some noble idea or cause, that person is a salesman and really ultimately doesn’t give a shit about you or some cause but really just wants something for himself.

I highly suggest reading the paragraphs that come after this one too.

Scorpio (December 23-November 21)

Three enlightened teenagers I know have formed a gang called The Disciples. It’s dedicated to plying the dangerous arts of humility, curiosity, and optimism — three qualities that are so undervalued in our culture as to be almost taboo. Here’s their motto, which reveals how far they’re willing to go in order to listen well, keep their egos in check, and constantly scour their surroundings for reasons to be grateful: “We have no issues and no problems, but only questions.” I urge you to start your own branch of The Disciples, Scorpio — or at least work on cultivating their approach.

FreeWill Astrology

Ya know, this might be the kick in the pants I need. I’ve been feeling a bit stagnant lately and the words I find describing me to be: empty, dispassionate, blank, ambivalent and various other forms of uninspired. It really sucks, really it does. I did a vision quest the other night, with my brother, and found it to be quite insightful. At some point I may detail it, if not here, on my spiritblog. I just have to filter out the symbolism and figure out which symbols go with what detail of my life. At either point, I know that there is peace on the other side of this hurdle, it’s just a matter of having the strength of mind to get through the trials that stand directly in front of me.

The literary world just lost one of the most amazing people in this world.

Good night David, I will think of you always

I don’t write this because I’m a huge fan of his work. He was my Prose II instructor at Illinois State. When he first walked into our class, everyone had this look of awe on their face. I had no clue who this guy was, because the instructor wasn’t listed on the sign-up schedule. I had heard his name thrown around in classes, and knew that there was a class dedicated to his works, but still couldn’t match a name to his face. I guess I should have figured it out, with all the people in my class picking their jaws up off the floor. On the first day, he said that the second part of class was going to be dedicated to works dealing specifically with social sexual taboos. And if stories about rape, child molestation and cross-dressing was an issue, moral or otherwise, the person needed to drop the class.

Two weeks in to the class, after all those who weren’t going to stay ditched out, he handed us the syllabus with his number on it and said, “If any of you have a problem with any assignment, I want you to call me. At ANY time.” He and I sat after class discussing religion and how it changes the course of society. He pushed my writing, especially my course writing, in a whole new direction. He told me to quit writing for my Professors, because being “professional” did not suit me and encouraged me to take a more personal style – which worked. I also remember him looking at me with amazement, when I’d show up to class after driving 12 hours from Atlanta to Normal, just so I could make it to his class. Our first assignment, was a plot analysis of Pulp Fiction and how the anti-chronistic style changed the plot. I failed that paper. But having started in reading Infinite Jest, I completely understand the purpose of that paper and what he was trying to achieve. And I still have all the stories from the second part of class, uncomfy for some, but they were damned good cultural criticisms.

I think the best part of him, was the fact that all the other professors and instructors showed up to class in their suits or “Sunday best”, and he showed up in ratted sweat pants, two ratted shirts with holes in different places, hair pulled up into a bandana and secured with a toothed headband and a ponytail elastic. His shoes were usually mud-caked boots, left untied with the soles falling off in different places (till he got new ones he wore the exact same way). He really was an amazing person and I don’t think the obit really tells everything about him. But he’s one of the rare people in this world, whose passion played out in their actions. I know I have missed him all these years, and I will continue to miss him now.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21)

It’s Let It Go Week, Scorpio — also known as Just Drop It Week. This is a fertile moment in your astrological cycle, a time when you’ll be rewarded with a creative influx if you surrender your tight grip, give up your obsessive hold, and stop clinging to your hardened expectations. So I urge you to summon your most brazen vigor and get yourself as completely unstuck as you dare. And please keep in mind that this should be relaxing fun, not a worrisome ordeal.

FreeWill Astrology

What a good suggestion, of course, with every turning of my personal cycle (yeah the b-day is getting closer) I’m going to start ditching somethings that have proven to be baggage in the previous year. The professional stuff is starting to even out, a little bit, but we shall see how that works out.

*handforeheadstaplegun*

I’d love to comment on the recent rumour and public confession in the media and the various opinions being thrown around. But I honestly can’t articulate them enough.

That said, people are confusing me. They espouse certain ideas, and when someone who doesn’t espouse said idea runs into the problem said idea is set to diffuse, they seem to have a 3rd grade mentality and turn into the person who usually takes the low road. This goes for both sides, and why I’m not particularly attached to either side.