Rantings from the bonfire

[the_nordic_one]

Sanctus Espiritus, redeem us from our solemn hour,
Sanctus Espiritus, insanity is all around us

In my darkest hours.. I see where I belong, I see where I am needed, where I am needing, and where I matter, am accepted.

The Freak Scene (goth/metal/industrial) is like a mother to me, rebirthing me into the man I am meant to be.

Happy Mother's Day to the Scene

Of course never to diss my biolog mother and my other mother from my Other Family, Happy Mother's Day to you both (and may my Other Family and I stay strong as we have to face Zac's birthday without him; that is tomorrow.

A lot - and I mean a whole lot - blessed my socks off this weekend and will do my darndest to remember everything and everyone that made my weekend one of the best I've ever had in my life.

THURSDAY:

Metro: The Transportation System of the Beast.

It was just butt awful today as I am on an Orange line train with a bunch of tourons - née screaming teenage tourons - ruining my blessed rest on the train with their obnoxious touron-ness, so were that not enough, they leave onto Foggy Bottom only to have the train break down at Rosslyn! So we are all carted off and I go onto the adjacent Blue line instead down to Pentagon City for a spell. Slow, crowded, rude-people zillions-of minutes later, I arrive to hang for a bit, have myself some really-utterly-marginal Thai food at the Food Court (ick), and then shop for a better-working disc player I could afford (and could not find), so off to chronosdc I go, of course..

At chronosdc the entire original cast members of those_who_mourn reunite one time before we're parting ways around the world, and that was a magical moment!! Lots of dancing, fun times!! cerberus777 (be safe in Burundi), urgote, Eddy, loss_of_signal, Warren (one of the few bright DJ moments there), dj_dirty_b (the other bright DJ moment), an earlier visit by djpanic and dharmata101, anizee, anarcha, rainingdays and justaputz, and very very few people.. but a really awesome moment with urgote as we discussed some very powerful possibilities for those_who_mourn indirectly inspired by the events at chronosdc..

FRIDAY:

I was resigned to the idea of having nothing to do during one of the most eagerly-anticipated concerts of the year for me. Suddenly, I get this call from urgote that I get to have a ticket for the concert after all..

I am going to see Within Temptation in concert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amy and I left to go to the show at Jaxx and while Lacuna Coil was probably interesting, tonight, they meant nothing to me. In fact, nearly every band there except for Within Temptation meant nothing to me. I was utterly blessed and blown away by the show! Oh and also cool to see midnightscott, Bryan and Arthur of The Groaning there as well..

And of course, as you all already know, I MET SHARON!!!!!!!!! I have wanted to meet the band, especially her, for years, and the chance to do so at last on my own native soil was a gift only God could and would provide! It turns out that for many of us in those_who_mourn and other communities as such, Sharon has more in common with us than any of us ever suspected (I mean c'mon, listen to their new album, draw your own conclusions!)..

What a wonderful moment!

SATURDAY:

More moments await

I get up horrifically early (9am, 0900) to get ready to go to the Metro and get to the EU Embassy Open House. I got there and was joined by Landon..

Our first stop was the Luxembourg Embassy, which consisted of going inside, walking around and leaving..

Our second stop was the Romanian Embassy, and that was a LOT more fun!! They had this awesome multimedia presentation on Romania (no I didn't see anything about its most famous citizen, unfortunately), along with being served cups of very good Romanian wine (the pinot grigio was dry and refreshing), and also ran into djpanic and mrspanic there for a brief chat.. in Romania

Our third and final stop was, well, obviously for my benefit, the Swedish Embassy. And yes, I did practice my Swedish and asked about pepperkakor and kräm, both of which they did not have (they did have Daim chocolates, but that was it). And no glögg? Say it isn't so!!

So Landon and I parted ways after returning to the bus stop at Dupont Circle, and I saw a wonderful sight of freaks gathered around the circle, surrounding DJ London, of course. I did not know them well enough to talk to them, so I stayed at a respectable distance while shielding myself from the Evil Orb with my black umbrella (and watching the "pretty people" part from me like the Red Sea)..

Grabbed some wonderful dan dan noodles from Raku nearby, some dulce de leche latte from St*rb*cks later on (I'm so pretentious sometimes) and then had to duck in a nearby bookstore from the ensuring torrent. Met a guy named Jason inside who was purchasing C. S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters" and convinced him to get more of his works, nice encounter! Then I am off to dcmidnight!

Got there a bit earlier than I usually get there and yet it was crowded already!! I guess torrential rainstorms do bring freaks out after all! What do you know...!! Got to see Marti, Andy and Diane, Jared, Dæmon (you freak you), littlelila's owner who is now the Human Disco Ball, Helen (sigh), dharmata101, rainingdays and justaputz (Thanx for the awesome pics of Freak Day at the Zoo), scarydavedc and heleneotroy, Emperor Kinetic, the Gothic Yard Sale by belladonnas_web, who was flanked by her beautiful compatriots verlise, queen_mab_fae, Virginia and Rachel, oh and dreammuse (only he's not necessarily beautiful to me hehe), music by DJ London (I'm surprised her "posse" didn't join her) and some disturbing antics by DJ Blakula (WTF??!?!?!), and fantastic sets by dj_vlad.. also I saw Aspen, Ben SexPot, Chris (welcome back!), zekebathory, Matt the chess player, Steven, Kat, Victor, kat928, and wait there's more: exquisitetrash was there, thecreature was there, Christy, Brett and even loss_of_signal!! It was a fantastic night to be out and about with just about everyone you know, but for me, the best was yet to come..

Later that night after having yet another awesome chat with Steven, I wind up having one of the most emotionally uplifting talks with Victor, in fact, so much so that I nearly cried. Just to see someone acknowledge where their spiritual path needs to be in light of what they see in your own spiritual path is extremely humbling. It's just me, big whoop. I was completely blown away by the talk Victor and I had and will never forget it, not ever..

As I left, I overslept on the Orange line (what is up with me and the Orange line?) and wound up one stop too far, at Court House. I was unable to get back to Rosslyn where I needed to go to change to Blue line because the Metro shut down in that direction. I caught a cab to take me back to the Metro, but it was too late: the entire Metro system shut down. I was stranded in Rosslyn at 3:45am (0345) with no hope of going home at all. I texted everyone I knew in DC to pick me up; Chris called first, followed by Ben from church, and a barrage of text messages from everyone from parad0cz to Wes, making sure I were OK and needed a ride, which I got from Chris (and even Ben volunteering to stay on the phone with me to make sure I'd be OK until Chris arrived)

You know, in the midst of our Monday Morning Drama, it's great to know that when it comes down to it, the Freaks in this scene will pull through for you when the chips are down, so yes, another God Moment, just not a planned one..

SUNDAY:

I got up fairly late, simply because I knew I was facing the dread of being at work Monday at 6am (0600). I texted some folk for a ride and got one with Brandon to church. What a weird chat we had, OMG ONOZ! ;) So at church it is urgote and Sarah, Amy, Brandon, Amanda, Becky, Katie, Mike the Marine and his friend whose name I don't exactly recall. Got more and more text messages from people from last night including Marian to see how I was doing, I am so undeservably blessed..

Brandon and I were the only ones at Silver Diner tonight, which was fine, this after seeing my old friend Robin from several hundred years ago (she still looks fantastic) who moved to Vancouver. And now I am home to bask in this weekend that I will never forget.

And special thanx to pippilongstokin (Vore du på concerten?) for this one; now I wonder would I have most enjoyed Vaakevandring, Believer with the chamber orchestra, Within Temptation anywhere, or THIS:

Click to view

Called one mom (actually spoke to my sister Annie) and now to call the other..

May God be praised forever!

Phil