Thoughtful...
Well... been an interesting week....
Was just the Lady's birthday Wednesday... Happy Day, Princess! Picked up an awesome NY Blackout cake at the always amazing Carousel Cakes. Got a bigger one than usual, was feeling indulgent, and won't go to waste with the locusts here. We're probably going to pick up new glasses tomorrow. Been a couple years and our old ones are falling apart. But the doc says we have pretty good eyes for our age. Will probably take the opportunity to take her to lunch.
I am seeing the top of the hill of a huge catalog project. Was about as big and as as much of a pain in the ass as I expected, but much more time consuming, not total hours, but linear calendar time, as I had to play tag team with the other projects in the studio. But will be happy when it's out of here and on press... nearly 300 pages. But I am happy to have the hours and pay some bills off.
In other news, on my way working towards my 4th Degree Black Belt in Kempo Karate, I earned my Deshi Title Wednesday night. That's one step below Sensei (Teacher) for those of you unfamiliar with the system. No hurry there, but they're both out there if I keep sweating.
Aside from the poliitical clown show out there, have been thinking about global issues for the past several years, helped a lot by the focus on the Age of Limits in the past six years of the Wheel of The Year Calendar for Four Quarters Interfaith Sanctuary. - also out to press - Yay! And I am fairly certain that there are big changes on the horizon for EVERYONE and EVERYTHING out there. The $3.79 gas that the Republican Candidate show has been busting on President Obama for is quite frankly BULLSHIT. How do you feel about $10.00 a gallon? Petroleum prices are only going one direction in the long run as it gets ever more costly to suck the stuff out of an increasingly stressed planet.
So the Lady surprised me with this one. As I approach the horizon of my retirement... what would I, given infinite freedom, like to DO about it. I am still thinking about. While there is a temptation to build a castle, deepen the moat and raise the drawbridge, that does not sit well with my temperament and spirituality. Since I have been writing about the subject for Four Quarters, I suppose one of my desires is to get more people clued in to the fact that we're living in a petri dish. The Earth being largely a closed system, with only meteorites, cosmic dust and sunlight coming in. It's not a model that we can base an infinite growth economic system on. The issues we're seeing, incessant war in Africa, dept crisis in Europe, income inequality in the USA, the stresses of globalism are all symptoms of a system under stress.
Very bluntly. Resource Depletion is real. Overpopulation is real. Peak Oil is real. Climate Change is real. Ocean acidification is real. Species erosion is real. Environmental degradation is real. Global overshoot is really, really real. All of it, all real, all connected. Native Americans and Indigenous people all over the world know - and have known forever that all this stuff and everything else is all connected, and are on the same page as the scientific community about these issues. Mitaquye oyasin. Hechetu aloh. But be very aware that there are wealthy and powerful interests that are very invested in the status quo to sustain their wealth, power and influence, and are spending fortunes to convince us that none of it is happening. But the choices I see all the nations of the earth facing in our lifetimes, certainly that of our kids, is whether to we choose to change our lifestyles to more sustainable models, or have if forced upon us by massive crisis, unrest, and collapse.
A rather learned presentation at the well regarded TED Talks by Paul Gilding puts it more eloquently than I can. Check it - The Earth Is Full. What's interesting is that some of the comments clearly illustrate some of the context he points out, a HUGE amount of denial and wishful thinking and faith that our tech will rescue us.
Caught a mouse earlier this evening, had to cross him over. Sorry little brother, not your house, or cupboard.
Banzai. Yo.
I'm also exploring a journal at Dreamwidth. http://samuraiartguy.dreamwidth.org
Was just the Lady's birthday Wednesday... Happy Day, Princess! Picked up an awesome NY Blackout cake at the always amazing Carousel Cakes. Got a bigger one than usual, was feeling indulgent, and won't go to waste with the locusts here. We're probably going to pick up new glasses tomorrow. Been a couple years and our old ones are falling apart. But the doc says we have pretty good eyes for our age. Will probably take the opportunity to take her to lunch.
I am seeing the top of the hill of a huge catalog project. Was about as big and as as much of a pain in the ass as I expected, but much more time consuming, not total hours, but linear calendar time, as I had to play tag team with the other projects in the studio. But will be happy when it's out of here and on press... nearly 300 pages. But I am happy to have the hours and pay some bills off.
In other news, on my way working towards my 4th Degree Black Belt in Kempo Karate, I earned my Deshi Title Wednesday night. That's one step below Sensei (Teacher) for those of you unfamiliar with the system. No hurry there, but they're both out there if I keep sweating.
Aside from the poliitical clown show out there, have been thinking about global issues for the past several years, helped a lot by the focus on the Age of Limits in the past six years of the Wheel of The Year Calendar for Four Quarters Interfaith Sanctuary. - also out to press - Yay! And I am fairly certain that there are big changes on the horizon for EVERYONE and EVERYTHING out there. The $3.79 gas that the Republican Candidate show has been busting on President Obama for is quite frankly BULLSHIT. How do you feel about $10.00 a gallon? Petroleum prices are only going one direction in the long run as it gets ever more costly to suck the stuff out of an increasingly stressed planet.
So the Lady surprised me with this one. As I approach the horizon of my retirement... what would I, given infinite freedom, like to DO about it. I am still thinking about. While there is a temptation to build a castle, deepen the moat and raise the drawbridge, that does not sit well with my temperament and spirituality. Since I have been writing about the subject for Four Quarters, I suppose one of my desires is to get more people clued in to the fact that we're living in a petri dish. The Earth being largely a closed system, with only meteorites, cosmic dust and sunlight coming in. It's not a model that we can base an infinite growth economic system on. The issues we're seeing, incessant war in Africa, dept crisis in Europe, income inequality in the USA, the stresses of globalism are all symptoms of a system under stress.
Very bluntly. Resource Depletion is real. Overpopulation is real. Peak Oil is real. Climate Change is real. Ocean acidification is real. Species erosion is real. Environmental degradation is real. Global overshoot is really, really real. All of it, all real, all connected. Native Americans and Indigenous people all over the world know - and have known forever that all this stuff and everything else is all connected, and are on the same page as the scientific community about these issues. Mitaquye oyasin. Hechetu aloh. But be very aware that there are wealthy and powerful interests that are very invested in the status quo to sustain their wealth, power and influence, and are spending fortunes to convince us that none of it is happening. But the choices I see all the nations of the earth facing in our lifetimes, certainly that of our kids, is whether to we choose to change our lifestyles to more sustainable models, or have if forced upon us by massive crisis, unrest, and collapse.
A rather learned presentation at the well regarded TED Talks by Paul Gilding puts it more eloquently than I can. Check it - The Earth Is Full. What's interesting is that some of the comments clearly illustrate some of the context he points out, a HUGE amount of denial and wishful thinking and faith that our tech will rescue us.
Caught a mouse earlier this evening, had to cross him over. Sorry little brother, not your house, or cupboard.
Banzai. Yo.
I'm also exploring a journal at Dreamwidth. http://samuraiartguy.dreamwidth.org