Update
So this past week has been pretty busy - my dear friend shaix was visiting from the US and we were throwing a 40th birthday party for fragiletender.
I'd done the organising of the food - I had it made by a company that normally does ready-made healthy meals for busy professionals but agreed to do some catering in their slow season. It was great to be assured of food that was gluten-free, dairy-free, low fat, etc. that also turned out to be really yummy, too. There was a bit of stress when my initial deposit took about 10 days to get to them, and I didn't really breathe a sigh of relief until the actual food arrived on Saturday morning. It came as individual servings in lots of little plastic trays, but the company helpfully came by on the Monday after the party to collect them for recycling, so that was good.
The party went really well - probably some 30 people showed up in total. There were some conspicuous absences - happyuncledave and darkjewlz were both ill, poor things, and couldn't make it, but sent their regrets and received get-well-soon vibes from all and sundry. An amazing number of people at the party didn't eat much, just drank a lot, so we had loads of food left over, much of which is currently residing in the freezer. I keep forgetting that we are mutants, in that we feel that food - not just nibbles, actual hot food - is essential and central to any social occasion - could be my otherwise thwarted Jewish heritage asserting itself in the only way left to it.
The day after the party was a recovery day for everyone, just quite chilled and nice with shaix and astvinr, who had stayed over. I went to the gym, which was great. I'd been running around like a mad thing during the party, almost manic, and realised it was probably because I hadn't had enough exercise earlier in the day. I got back and sat round the table with everyone, enjoying the food and the company. We all tried playing Scrabble with shaix, both individually and in groups, and lost quite egregiously. I am convinced that she sacrifices goats to the dark Scrabble gods; how else could she get such letters so consistently?
It being Sunday, I then went outside and fumigated the house with nasty jungle tobacco cigarettes, as is my habit. I wasn't able to hold ceremony this week because of the party, so it was even more important than usual. astvinr came along for moral support and tried his hand (or should it be mouth?) at it; eventually he managed to stop coughing. It takes some practice to be able to get the smoke in the mouth and blow it out without having much of it enter the lungs.
I have come to the conclusion that tobacco in its pure form is quite good for getting rid of nasty spirits, just as my teacher has told me - the trick is not to inhale the stuff. You draw the smoke into your mouth, blow it out under pressure, and blow the spirits away with it; the very last thing you want to do is take that crap inside you. I'm reminded of the African traditional religions and their use of alcohol in a similar way: take it in and spit it out, because it's not meant for you, it's for the spirits. No wonder smoking and alcohol are addictive and then lethal when inhaled and/or swallowed; people are abusing sacraments.
Monday was an odd mix, as it still felt a bit like a holiday with astvinr visiting, but life was starting to settle into its normal patterns again. He and I helped fragiletender clear out her study in preparation for its being painted on starting on Tuesday. catvincent and she had cleared out the furniture by the time we started; we were doing the bookshelves, nontrivial but not overwhelming either. With so many hands it went fast. It's great when we can all be mobilised to do these things; it's just a pity it's happened so seldom historically.
Yesterday I went to the last meeting of my t'ai ch'i class before the holiday break. I brought what was left of the brownies from the party, plus a gluten-free cake I had wanted to try but didn't want to buy when I was likely to be the only person eating it. Both went over very well. There were a couple of pieces of cake left, but by then the brownies had gone and I could put them in the container that they had been in. Then I gave the remaining cake to the nice people at the little Mom-and-Pop health food store that I like to go to, so everyone was happy.
On the way, I stopped by a place that does lovely furniture made by UK artisans from happy, sustainably forested trees and talked to the owner about getting a bed. There was a bed similar to the one I wanted for sale at John Lewis, but it was flat-pack, would need assembly, was probably made by children tied to walls, etc. so I was keen to get one from this other place, but the price differential made my head hurt. Upon discussion, however, it emerged that I could get a bed with just a headboard (rather than a footboard as well) for £500 less. By making a cash deal, I was able to knock the price down a bit further, so the amount no longer made my nose bleed. I stopped by again today with a deposit so that we can get the bed ordered; it'll probably take about 6 weeks (maybe they have to go out and chop the tree!).
Then I went home, had lunch, chatted to the painters (who are very nice hippie couple, complete with classic VW van - she's 8 mos. pregnant but they use ecologically friendly paint), and then went out to physiotherapy. I'm reaching the end of my intensive physio phase; I plan to cut down to once a week in the new year, replacing it with a few personal training sessions at my gym along with my now-standard workouts. I'm glad I did things this way - I was basically a wet noodle when I got back from Peru, and now I've got something approaching muscle tone. After dinner last night, I watched two of the Doctor Who episodes I missed while I was in Peru, in preparation for the xmas special next week. I also started reading Food of the Gods, the Archaic revival manifesto by Terence McKenna. I'm finding it very well-written, though I'm not sure I buy his central premise, that human evolution was jump-started by early hominid consumption of psilocybin-containing mushrooms. As far as I know, there are no indigenous African traditions of mushroom consumption. I'll wait and see if the argument gets any more convincing.
I'd done the organising of the food - I had it made by a company that normally does ready-made healthy meals for busy professionals but agreed to do some catering in their slow season. It was great to be assured of food that was gluten-free, dairy-free, low fat, etc. that also turned out to be really yummy, too. There was a bit of stress when my initial deposit took about 10 days to get to them, and I didn't really breathe a sigh of relief until the actual food arrived on Saturday morning. It came as individual servings in lots of little plastic trays, but the company helpfully came by on the Monday after the party to collect them for recycling, so that was good.
The party went really well - probably some 30 people showed up in total. There were some conspicuous absences - happyuncledave and darkjewlz were both ill, poor things, and couldn't make it, but sent their regrets and received get-well-soon vibes from all and sundry. An amazing number of people at the party didn't eat much, just drank a lot, so we had loads of food left over, much of which is currently residing in the freezer. I keep forgetting that we are mutants, in that we feel that food - not just nibbles, actual hot food - is essential and central to any social occasion - could be my otherwise thwarted Jewish heritage asserting itself in the only way left to it.
The day after the party was a recovery day for everyone, just quite chilled and nice with shaix and astvinr, who had stayed over. I went to the gym, which was great. I'd been running around like a mad thing during the party, almost manic, and realised it was probably because I hadn't had enough exercise earlier in the day. I got back and sat round the table with everyone, enjoying the food and the company. We all tried playing Scrabble with shaix, both individually and in groups, and lost quite egregiously. I am convinced that she sacrifices goats to the dark Scrabble gods; how else could she get such letters so consistently?
It being Sunday, I then went outside and fumigated the house with nasty jungle tobacco cigarettes, as is my habit. I wasn't able to hold ceremony this week because of the party, so it was even more important than usual. astvinr came along for moral support and tried his hand (or should it be mouth?) at it; eventually he managed to stop coughing. It takes some practice to be able to get the smoke in the mouth and blow it out without having much of it enter the lungs.
I have come to the conclusion that tobacco in its pure form is quite good for getting rid of nasty spirits, just as my teacher has told me - the trick is not to inhale the stuff. You draw the smoke into your mouth, blow it out under pressure, and blow the spirits away with it; the very last thing you want to do is take that crap inside you. I'm reminded of the African traditional religions and their use of alcohol in a similar way: take it in and spit it out, because it's not meant for you, it's for the spirits. No wonder smoking and alcohol are addictive and then lethal when inhaled and/or swallowed; people are abusing sacraments.
Monday was an odd mix, as it still felt a bit like a holiday with astvinr visiting, but life was starting to settle into its normal patterns again. He and I helped fragiletender clear out her study in preparation for its being painted on starting on Tuesday. catvincent and she had cleared out the furniture by the time we started; we were doing the bookshelves, nontrivial but not overwhelming either. With so many hands it went fast. It's great when we can all be mobilised to do these things; it's just a pity it's happened so seldom historically.
Yesterday I went to the last meeting of my t'ai ch'i class before the holiday break. I brought what was left of the brownies from the party, plus a gluten-free cake I had wanted to try but didn't want to buy when I was likely to be the only person eating it. Both went over very well. There were a couple of pieces of cake left, but by then the brownies had gone and I could put them in the container that they had been in. Then I gave the remaining cake to the nice people at the little Mom-and-Pop health food store that I like to go to, so everyone was happy.
On the way, I stopped by a place that does lovely furniture made by UK artisans from happy, sustainably forested trees and talked to the owner about getting a bed. There was a bed similar to the one I wanted for sale at John Lewis, but it was flat-pack, would need assembly, was probably made by children tied to walls, etc. so I was keen to get one from this other place, but the price differential made my head hurt. Upon discussion, however, it emerged that I could get a bed with just a headboard (rather than a footboard as well) for £500 less. By making a cash deal, I was able to knock the price down a bit further, so the amount no longer made my nose bleed. I stopped by again today with a deposit so that we can get the bed ordered; it'll probably take about 6 weeks (maybe they have to go out and chop the tree!).
Then I went home, had lunch, chatted to the painters (who are very nice hippie couple, complete with classic VW van - she's 8 mos. pregnant but they use ecologically friendly paint), and then went out to physiotherapy. I'm reaching the end of my intensive physio phase; I plan to cut down to once a week in the new year, replacing it with a few personal training sessions at my gym along with my now-standard workouts. I'm glad I did things this way - I was basically a wet noodle when I got back from Peru, and now I've got something approaching muscle tone. After dinner last night, I watched two of the Doctor Who episodes I missed while I was in Peru, in preparation for the xmas special next week. I also started reading Food of the Gods, the Archaic revival manifesto by Terence McKenna. I'm finding it very well-written, though I'm not sure I buy his central premise, that human evolution was jump-started by early hominid consumption of psilocybin-containing mushrooms. As far as I know, there are no indigenous African traditions of mushroom consumption. I'll wait and see if the argument gets any more convincing.