Movement, flow, and interconnectedness

Well, we’re in. I unpacked our last box yesterday, and took the last box to put into storage. It was a suprisingly effortless move. It’s quite nice to be able to run down to the beach for a quick sniff of ocean air before driving into work.

I’ve been virtually incommunicado since the move, because RoadRunner isn’t hooked up yet. I called weeks ago to try to get it so that the service was ready to go when I moved in, and was told it wouldn’t be a problem at all, and to call back the week of the move. I called back on Monday, and they “set it up for me.” I got there, of course, and nothing works. They are supposed to call me to set up an installation, which is where we stand. I have to wait around. Hopefully they’ll call on Monday.

So I’ve missed everyone. If you have emailed me recently and not gotten a response, this is why. Call me at home if you want to reach me.

I’ve also missed events. I have no idea what happened with the debate the other night. I’m almost glad.

On another note, I saw Yo again last night. Looks like he’s ready to settle back in to the Freakwitch reality — we’ll have a bass player again! Yeah!

More anon.

Goodbye to Portland

Well, we are declaring victory for the night. We are 85% packed after a good long day of work. We’re going to crash early tonight, and rise early tomorrow for the move. Get the truck home by 9am, load it, then go to the new place to drop of stuff we’ll need, then put the rest of our stuff into storage, then return the truck.

Then, we make a new home, albeit a temporary one.

My next post will come from the beach.

It’s been an amazing 7 years in Portland. This is a great city, without a doubt. As I commonly said, it’s about as much city as I want to deal with.

I’ve changed quite a bit since living here. One thing this place has taught me is that we are heavily influenced by proximity. What is around us, influences us. The universe vibrates, and we entrain with those vibrations.

Portland has been good to me. I’ll miss it.

But exciting days are afoot…

Would some Dem named John please say something?

Where are you, John Kerry?

I’ve heard virtually nothing from you since the Dem national convention. This means that anything you have said (probably lots of verbiage) has been lost in a sea of noise. You aren’t saying something interesting enough that will resonate with enough people to get any attention.

Be bold. Come out and Speak Your Truth. I don’t want to hear mindless nonsense and speechmongering. The Reps have mastered the rules of this stupid game, and the Dems are not going to win with those tactics. It’s time to change the rules of the game, and Freaks everywhere should be taking the visionary lead.

Do something interesting, and quick, or you’ll lose this election just like Gore lost it in 2000.

History seems to be repeating itself.

Pre-travel log

So I’m beginning to research different options for our upcoming UK trip. I want to in general avoid prepackaged tours; I’d much rather explore on my own for the most part. But I think a one-day tour through the Highlands may be interesting leaving out of Edinburgh. So I thought I’d post several links on this entry:

Welcome to the land of the Freeâ„¢

Many of you have heard by now that Cat Stevens was diverted to Bangor, ME and denied entry to the US. But what isn’t as widely reported in America is that Marillion was also on the plane:

Speaking from Bangor, Marillion singer Steve Hogarth, 45, told PA News: “We flew today on Flight 919 to Washington Dulles en route to Mexico City where we have two shows.

“At 1453 (Eastern Time), the plane touched down. As it touched down, an announcement was made by the stewardess that we were not landing in Washington because of bad weather.

“Then there was an announcement made by the captain saying they stopped to refuel. But after another period, of about 10 minutes, the captain made another announcement saying it was, in fact, an FBI security alert.”

Mr Hogarth added: “We all had to get off the plane.”

Passengers then went through immigration and Mr Hogarth was warned not use his camera.

He said: “This was pretty peculiar and I had wanted to record it for my diary.

“I then met a security guard who said the two people escorted off the plane were Cat Stevens and his daughter.”

Mr Hogarth added: “I was really stunned. Everybody knows he converted to the Muslim faith. He is a pacifist and a great songwriter.”

He said security men were swabbing bags as they began the process to reboard.

I think Marillion are discovering firsthand that America is a very different place now than it was last time they were here, 7 years ago.

Fallenness

Yesterday and today have been the first fall-like days of the season. Windy, blustery, highs in the 50s, lows in the low 40s. These are likely remnants of the hurricanes down south.

Normally this time of year is my favorite. I love the fresh feeling of cool when you’ve been baking in heat all summer long. And historically, lots of good things have happened to me in the fall.

Though this trend is definitely continuing, I don’t have the same feeling of excitement now that fall is here. I think it’s because it’s been the mildest summer I’ve had yet in Maine. There are typically a few heat waves in Maine summers; stretches where it’s uncomfortably hot at night and hard to sleep. This year, we had none of those. So it still feels like I’m waiting for summer to land, yet autumn is already rearing its head.

I’ve said all along that I hope we get a good “Indian summer” this year once we’ve settled in to Ocean Park.

I think I just need to find more ways to generate heat in my reality.

when it rains … go to the UK.

Now this is exciting. I have wanted to travel to the UK for many years, and for a variety of reasons. And, I had always wanted to schedule a trip to the UK to coincide with Marillion activities, to be able to see them on their home turf.

Well, as it turns out, we’ll be able to do exactly that in March. An unexpected gift came our way, which will allow my family to travel there. It’s funny how timing works out. The first 3 days of our trip will be spent carousing with a few thousand Freaks in Minehead, near Cornwall (actually it may be in Cornwall; I’m not sure where Cornwall’s border is). Then we’ll have about 10 days in the UK afterwards.

This will, of course, be a huge homeschooling project for us as well. We’ll have to decide exactly where we want to go. There are many possibilities,
Glastonbury, Tintagel, the Rosslyn Chapel, and of course the old standbys like Stonehenge, not to mention London itself. We’ll most likely go up into Scotland for a bit as well.

On a spiritual and intellectual note, I’ve been interested in the Arthurian legends for many years, and the grail image — particularly the idea of the grail quest — has been perhaps the central metaphor in my spiritual pursuits for the past decade and a half. There are of course many places in the UK to visit that are connected to this legend; indeed, the entire island seems to resonate on some level with this mythos.

Luckily, we have several months to plan things, and we can always be spontaneous once we get there. But this should definitely be the adventure of a lifetime. It’s many years overdue in my case; I know LM was ready to go, and Mo is more than a little excited.

Thanks to everyone who made this possible.

Morning Sounds

This morning, I woke up to the sound of my daughter reading aloud to herself in her room.

Of all the sounds one could hear in the morning, this has to rank near the top of the list. I’m so proud of her. She’s worked very hard at reading, and it’s clear that the light bulb has come on in recent weeks.

I find it very interesting; literacy experts still aren’t quite sure what causes people to be able to read. Their best advice is something close to “surround them with books and workbooks, and eventually they’ll get it.”

I’m happy to say that my daughter is very much getting it.