Thoughts of the Day

Another little book I own is The Answers, a book specifically designed for bibliomancy. Here are three that came up today:

Adopt the pace of Nature: Her secret is patience. ( Give what you want more time. )

Never repent a good action. ( Do what you feel is right and helpful. )

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan but also believe. ( With greater purpose more can result. )

Word Count

Some authors keep track of their progress in the creation of a book by the word count. For instance, a good friend of Ana is the author Keith R.A. DeCandido ( website - http://www.sff.net/people/krad/ , blog - http://kradical.livejournal.com/ ) whom regularly posts his daily progress in his journal. At last post, his daily total for that day was 21,634 words. This man is a professional writer, and sets himself goals (so far as I can tell).
The only goal I've set myself for my writing project is a page a day. Some days I do it, so days I don't. But, in the 20 days I've been working on this, I've written 14,560 words. Is that good? Not by professional standards, but I feel pretty good about it.
As the holidays are coming up, though, I don't expect it to go much higher. We have shopping and appointments, and I know I'm going to lose a whole day dealing with Bureaucracy (Thursday). But, I'll keep you posted.

Thought For The Day

Spirit is the most creative, inspiring, and meaning-giving element in all of life, and yet it is also the most dangerous. When spirit visits us, it moves us toward action, commitment, ambition, goals, ideals, vision, and altruism. All these feed the soul, but they also wound it. To the soul their opposites are equally important - waiting, doubting, retreating, not going anywhere, not knowing, not seeing, and being absorbed in oneself.
When spirit is not grounded and checked by soul, it quickly moves into literal forms - converting others and becoming blindly and callously ambitious. Its powerful force may turn without conscience into violence, its altruism blackened as intrusion into the freedoms of others. Its creativity becomes unbounded productivity, and its quest for ultimacy transforms into jealous possession of truth.

- Meditations by Thomas Moore

Thought For The Day

I have a book of Meditations by Thomas Moore, one of my favorite authors. I sometimes use it for bibliomancy. Bibliomancy is the use of books in divination. This is what I got today:

Sometimes in their chanting monks will land upon a note and sing it in a florid fashion, one syllable of text for fifty notes of chant. Melisma, they call it.
Living a melismatic life in imitation of plainchant, we may stop on an experience, a place, a person, or a memory and rhapsodize in imagination. Some like to meditate or contemplate melismatically, while others prefer to draw, build, paint, or dance whatever their eye has fallen upon.
Living one point after another is one form of experience, and it can be emphatically productive. But stopping for melisma gives the soul its reason for being.

Which Fallen Angel Are You?

Kokabel holds dominion over the stars and constellations.
He taught his wives astrology and knowledge of the powers of the moon.
Kokabel grew more powerful with time, and was a warlord.
He maintained an army of 365,000 evil spirits that were waiting to serve him.


Take The Which Fallen Angel Would You Be Quiz
Brought to you by Angel August's Abode

HydeWorks

In an effort to diversify and showcase my many talents, I've created a storefront at Lulu.com called HydeWorks. There I'll put up for sale stories, dissertations and various other literary works. There's a link on the sidebar of this blog directly to the storefront, so check back often to see what's new!

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

Below are pictures of three things I could really use this year. As you may or may not know, I'm building my own desk so the keyboard drawer would be a big help.



Also, the desk chair I have is several years old and wearing out. It sinks unexpectedly, and I'd like to replace it before it gives out completely. Here is a suggestion for a replacement:



Next, a book stand would come in handy to prop up the big red book I use to help me in my business. This is the kind I mean:



Last, but not least, Santa, I could really use a new computer. The one I have now is over 6 years old and uses an operating system that most new programs aren't even compatible with.

Thank you for listening, Santa. I think I've been good enough to get at least a couple of the things I'm asking for.

Consider This

Apollo gave us the Gift of Prophecy. Dionysus gave us the Gift of Wine. Aphrodite taught us passion and sensuality.

Christian ministers old and new rage against these gifts as elements of the Devil and His minions.

So I ask you, where did the Gods & Goddesses of Old REALLY go?

Work In Progress

I've finally had a burst of creativity. One of my stories is writing itself, and not in the manner I'd originally envisioned. Also, I've got some really good ideas for hypnotic scripts, which I shall write out and wait until I have room to record them.

In case Santa reads Blogs - Santa, I could really, REALLY use an external hard drive. I'd like 100gig, but will settle for 40gig or somewhere in between.

Dionysia

aka Little World

The idea for a planet-ship is not new. Several science fiction authors have used the concept to their own ends. Star Trek has even gone so far as to postulate a Dyson Sphere, which is an entire solar system enclosed in a ship-like space.
I like Star Trek. The technology is plausible, as well as interesting.
I've gotten many of my ideas from the Star Trek universe, right down to the non-invasive hypo-spray. This little wonder allows the transfer of chemicals into a person's system almost without their knowledge. Consider those possibilities!

I digress. I was telling you about Dionysia.
The ship, as the picture above shows, is 800km (497 miles) long,
400km (249 miles) across at the top/front, and
300km (187 miles) across at the bottom/back.
The ship is cylindrical, and looks like a shotglass on accident.
There's a lot of room in this thing!
The main planetary decks are worlds unto themselves. There are fifteen (15) of them, named as follows from top to bottom:

Island Nations
Pern
Amazonia
You Name It
Atlantis/Roman
Metalworld
Plateau City <-- this was the first ever
designed part of Dionysia, and is actually a part of -->
Hedonia
Wonderland - a rather adult version
City/Nile/River
Olympus/Primitive
DragonLance
Forgotten Realms
UnderDark
UnderDarkSea

The planet decks are connected together in two ways. One is the Great River, which spirals up the inside of the cylinder from UnderDarkSea to the Island Nations.
The other is the Turbo-Elevator to Hell, a high-speed elevator that connects the Bridge (that bump on the top) to Engineering (at the very bottom).

There's much more to Dionysia than what I've written here. Perhaps, over time, I will tell you more about each world deck, or, what the ship runs on, or….

Dionysian Tradition

The essence of the Dionysian tradition is the affirmation of the whole self through ecstatic ritual. Patriarchal civilization takes one facet of the person--the rationally calculating ego--and identifies it with selfhood. All other aspects become either demons (as in Christianity) or subversive unconscious forces (as in modern psychologism). In the Dionysian tradition, emotions, fantasies, and sexual longings are summoned forth and embraced as inherent parts of the self.
Patriarchal civilization pits the calculating ego against other egos and views this confrontational situation as the essence of social interrelation. In the practice of the Dionysian mysteries, the essential unit is not the isolated individual but the group-in-action, which manifests its collective energy through the throbbing patterns
of song, dance, and orgiastic sex among its individual participants. In these shared patterns of rhythmic energy, one's sense of self overlaps with that of others, and the felt barrier between "me" and "the world" dissolves.

In patriarchal civilizations, the ego grows at the expense of the rest of the world by taking away from others and incorporating the gain within its own boundaries. The Dionysian tradition aims at ecstasy--stepping outside the limits of one's ego. By participating in the god's rituals, individuals enter an altered state of consciousness, break through ego boundaries, and let themselves dissolve into the world.

On returning to their ordinary mental states, they sometimes find that the old boundaries of ego-definition have been stretched and altered and that they are slightly different persons. They transcend objectivity not only by giving themselves into the world but by participating in the process of their own self re-creation.

The Dionysian tradition sharply diverges from patriarchal civilization in its use of hallucinogens. In societies influenced by patriarchal values, the use of mind-altering substances is usually forbidden or stigmatized. As a result, people who seek to experiment with them have to maneuver around both the legal system and a network of negative value judgments, a situation that gives to these substances the aura of a tabooed self-indulgence. Drug users lack a supportive ritual context for an enlightened use of their drugs. They may also be driven by the self-destructive feelings characteristic of the patriarchal psychosis. If so, they can easily fall prey first to compulsive drug use and then to addiction. Hence patriarchal societies tend to be schizophrenic in their attitude toward such drugs: officially they have an absolute ban on their use, yet large segments of the population continue to use them compulsively and self-destructively in secret.

In the Dionysian tradition, mind-altering substances (a category into which wine was originally placed) are openly used in accepted, traditional, structured rituals aimed at self-growth. Not only does no taboo attach to such use of these substances, but an elaborate system of myth and ritual guides the user according to the cumulative
experiences of generations of previous users. As a result, the extremes both of puritanical denial and of self-destructive addiction tend to be much less common. Users are given the incentives, skills, and supportive ritual context to enjoy their hallucinogens to positive effect. By way of contrast, the traditional approach of patriarchal societies--to condemn all hallucinogens regardless of type or source, to suppress information on rational drug use, to penalize any apprehended drug user--has simply not worked and in fact has often corresponded to a long-term increase in drug addiction.

The God of Escstasy: Sex Roles and the Madness of Dionysos, c 1988
Arthur Evans, St. Martin's Press, New York.

What Kind of Reader Are You?

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm You're probably in the final stages of a Ph.D. or otherwise finding a way to make your living out of reading. You are one of the literati. Other people's grammatical mistakes make you insane.
Dedicated Reader
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

What Tarot Card Are You (I like this one better)

You are The Emperor

Stability, power, protection, realization; a great person.

The Emperor is the great authority figure of the Tarot, so it represents
fathers, father-figures and employers. There is a lot of aggression and violence
too.

The Emperor naturally follows the Empress. Like an infant, he is filled with enthuiasm, energy, aggression. He is direct, guileless and all too often irresistible. Unfortunately, like a baby he can also be a tyrant. Impatient, demanding, controlling. In the best of circumstances, he signifies the leader that everyone wants to follow, sitting on a throne that indicates the solid foundation of an Empire he created, loves and rules with intelligence and enthusiasm. But that throne can also be a trap, a responsibility that has the Emperor feeling restless, bored and discontent.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

It Shall Be Written

Someone once told me I had a gift for writing. Over the years, other people have told me the same thing. Also over the years, I've gotten ideas for things that should be written, but haven't been, as yet. For one reason or another, they just sit in the back of my mind, peeking out at me every once in awhile to let me know they're still there.

The Gardener; she showed them...; "Like Rome, we never really went away."; At the edge ran the Great River.

Maybe one day I'll be able to sit down and write these epics. Or maybe there are things I still need to find before they are ready to come out. In any case, if you ever wonder where I am, as I'm staring off into space, I'm probably in one of the worlds mentioned above, trying to persuade the inhabitants to let me tell their stories.

The Greek Mythology Personality Test

Dionysus 0% Extroversion, 13% Intuition, 72% Emotiveness, 52% Perceptiveness

Although deeply emotional, you are extremely lacking in self-knowledge. You are somewhat needy, and when bored, may become very hedonistic. Your life is a quest for meaning, above all else. You are most like Dionysus. You are primarily interested in serving others, but your efforts are almost always unappreciated. You aren't confrontational, you're often out of tune with your own needs and unaware of the consequences of your own actions. You are, at heart, a good person. You are very affectionate, and you are very loyal to your friends and family. You are very reluctant to burden others with your own problems, to the point that this in itself can become a problem for the people who care about you. This is a particular of a more general problem. Dionysus sends wave of ruin throughout his personal life. He is the photographer who seduces his subjects. He is the teacher who seduces a student. He is the art student who paints nonrepresentational splashes of color, he is the poet who rejects meter and content. You seek sexual partners more than anything else (this is to exploit the nurturing side of others to help fill your own void). If not sexual partners, this desire to become the object of sympathy with other people can manifest itself in other destructive ways. Stinkfist by Tool explains your condition pretty well. It's very likely that you haven't had many experienced mentors. You don't want them either, because you're the sort of person who rejects criticism and boundaries, but they're also your only hope for reaching any kind of emotional maturity. Famous People Like You: John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Marilyn Monroe, Hugh Hefner I'd tell you to stay clear of Hermes, Icarus and Apollo, but you could probably learn something from them. You're least likely to hurt The Oracle, Atlas, Prometheus, and Daedalus, but Atlas and Daedalus won't like you very much. Seek out: The Oracle, Prometheus

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on Extroversion You scored higher than 99% on Intuition You scored higher than 99% on Emotiveness You scored higher than 99% on Perceptivenes

Link: The Greek Mythology Personality Test written by Aleph_Nine on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

What Tarot Card Are You

You Are The Hanging Man

You represent the seeking of enlightenment and spiritual clarity. You tend to confuse others, but your oddities seem deeply satisfying. Self sacrifice is easy for you, especially if it makes you a better person in the end. You are the type of person who is very in touch with your soul and inner spirit. Your fortune: Right now is a good time for reflection and meditation. You should stop resisting the problems in your life, and let yourself be vulnerable to them. You may need to sacrifice something important to you to move ahead in your life. Accept your destiny with courage, and learn to let go of what you think you need.

What Tarot Card Are You?

Descent Into Hellas - Part Two

A Brief History of the early Dionysos Cult (From Wikipedia)

The ecstatic cult of Dionysos was originally thought to have been a late arrival in Greece from Thrace or Asia Minor, due to the popularity of the cult there and the non integration of the Dionysos into the original Olympian Pantheon. But following the identification of the deity's name on Minoan inscriptions this theory has now been abandoned and the cult is accepted as effectively indigenous and predating Greek civilisation. The absence of an early Olympian Dionysos is today explained in terms of patterns of social exclusion and the marginality of the cult rather than chronology. The question of whether the cult originated on Minoan Crete or not is still unanswerable given the available evidence. Some believe it was an adopted cult that was not native, though it almost certainly obtained many of its distinguishing features from Minoan culture.

The original rite of Dionysos, as introduced into Greece, is almost universally held to have been associated with a "wine cult" (perhaps not to dissimilar to the entheogenic cults of ancient Central America in some ways), concerned with the cultivation of the grapevine, and a practical understanding of its life cycle - which was probably believed to have embodied the living god - as well as the production and fermentation of wine from its dismembered body - apparently associated with the essence of the dead god in the underworld. Most importantly however the intoxicating and disinhibiting effects of the drink itself were once regarded as due to possession by the god's spirit - most likely with a little help from certain herbal additives - and later as a facilitator of this possession. Some wine was also given as libation to the earth and growing vine, completing the circle. The cult would not only have been solely concerned with the lore of the vine itself, but almost as much with other components of wine. Wine originally commonly included many other ingredients, herbal, floral and resinous, adding to its quality, flavour and medicinal properties, and was far more diverse than the simple drink we know today. Some scholars have suggested that given the very low alcohol content of early wine its apparent effects were perhaps due to an entheogenic ingredient in its sacred form. Honey and bees wax were also often added to wine, bringing with them the associations of the even older drink mead. Kerenyi in fact postulates that this wine lore superseded and partly absorbed a much earlier Neolithic mead lore, involving the very bee swarms that the Greeks associated with the presence of Dionysos. Mead as well as beer, and its cereal base, were certainly incorporated into the domain of Dionysos at some stage, perhaps via his identification with the wild Thracian corn deity Sabazius. Other plants believed to be viniculturally significant were also included in the retinue of wine lore. Thus were added ivy, once thought to negate the effects of drunkenness, and thus opposite of the grapevine - a symbolic relation also due to its blooming in winter rather than summer; the fig, thought to be a purgative of toxins; and the pine, a wine preservative. Similarly the bull - from whose hollowed horns wine was once drunk - and the goat - whose flesh provided wineskins, as well as acting as a natural 'pruner of the vine', were also included as wine cult animals and according to this theory eventually seen as manifestations of Dionysos. It is likely that some of these associations had long been linked with fertility deities like Dionysos and to a certain extent became reinterpreted in his new role. But an understanding of this vinicultural lore and its symbolic interpretation is crucial to an understanding of the cult that emerged from it, and would take on significance quite apart from wine making that would encompass life, death and rebirth and acquire a deep awareness of human psychology.

If the Dionysos Cult first came to Greece with the importation of wine, as seems likely, then it probably first emerged around 6000 BC in one of two places, either in the Zagros Mountains, the borderlands of Mesopotamia and Persia, both with their own rich wine culture since then, or from the ancient wild vines on the mountain slopes of Libya / North Africa, the source of early Egyptian wine from around 2500 BC, and home of many an ecstatic rite involving animal possession - notably the goat and panther men of the Aissaoua Sufi cult of Morocco. Whatever the case it appears Minoan Crete was the next link in the chain of transmission, importing wine from both the Egyptians and Phoenicians. It was in Minoan Crete that the basic Mysteries probably took form — certainly the name Dionysos exists nowhere else other than here and Greece.

The basic principle beneath the original rites, other than the seasonal death-rebirth theme supposedly common to all vegetation cults - such as the Osirian, which closely paralleled the Dionysian, according to contemporary Greek and Egyptian observers - was one of spirit possession and an 'atavistic' liberation from the constraints of civilisation and its rules. It was a celebration of all that was outside civilized society and a return to the source of being — something that would later take on mystical connotations. It also involved an escape from the socialised personality and ego either into an ecstatic, deified state or into a primal herd, often both. Dionysos in this sense was the 'beast god' within, or as we moderns might conceive it, and Jung certainly saw it, the unconscious mind. Such activity has been interpreted variously as fertilising, invigorating, cathartic, liberational and even transformative. Thus it is not surprising that many of the devotees of Dionysos were originally the outsiders of mainstream society: women, slaves, outlaws and foreigners, non-citizens under Greek democracy. All of these were considered equal in a cult that appears often to have transgressively inverted their roles, much like the Roman Saturnalia. In fact in Greece at its height the Dionysian rites were almost entirely associated with women, allegedly liberating themselves from their suppression in Greek society. However the fact that the titles of the officers of the cult were of male and female gender disproves the once popular claim that the cult was solely a women's mystery.

The trance induction that was central to the cult involved not only chemognosis, but also the 'invocation of spirit' by means of the bull roarer, and ecstatic communal dancing to drum and pipe, much like today's raves. The trances induced are described in terms familiar to anthropologists, with characteristic movements such as the backward head flick, found in all trance inducing cults, and represented most famously today by Afro-American Vodou and its counterparts. And just as in Vodou rites, and the best raves, certain drum rhythms were associated with the trance state. Rhythms are allegedly also found preserved in Greek prose that referred to the Dionysos rites, specifically the Bacchae of Euripides. This compilation of classical quotes describes such ancient rites in the Greek countryside, where they were held high in the mountains to which ritual processions were made on certain feast days:

Following the torches as they dipped and swayed in the darkness, they climbed mountain paths with head thrown back and eyes glazed, dancing to the beat of the drum which stirred their blood' [or 'staggered drunkenly with what was known as the Dionysos gait']. 'In this state of ekstasis or enthusiasmos, they abandoned themselves, dancing wildly and shouting 'Euoi!' [the god's name] and at that moment of intense rapture became identified with the god himself. They became filled with his spirit and acquired divine powers.[2]

This practise is represented in Greek culture by the famous Bacchanals of the Maenads, Thyiades and Bacchoi, and it was no wonder that many Greek rulers considered the cult a threat to civilized society and wished to control it, if not suppress it outright. The latter failing and the former ultimately succeeding in the foundation of a domesticated Dionysianism in the form of a State Religion in Athens! However this was but one form of Dionysianism, a cult that took on many forms in different localities, often absorbing indigenous divinities, and their rites, similar to Dionysos. The Greek Bacchoi claimed that like wine, Dionysos had a different flavour in different regions, reflecting their mythical and cultural soil, their Terroir, and appeared under different names and manners in different regions. On remote Greek islands and the barbarous fringes of Thrace and Macedonia, or so it was rumoured, the most primeval forms of Dionysianism continued to be practised, some of which still included human sacrifice as late as the Roman period. A taste of the nature of the primal Dionysos might be more readily accessible to modern readers when we consider that when the Macedonian Greeks reached India under Alexander and his heirs, they claimed Dionysos had gone ahead of them, in the form of a local deity known to us as Shiva. Bactrian coins were minted with both gods on either side, and strangely the two gods would evolve along similar lines.

Dionysos in this most bestial aspect is believed to preserve the archaic archetype of the "Lord of the Animals", and to a certain extent also the ambiguous "Trickster" archetype. His ritual procession of Maenads and Bacchoi was portrayed as heralded by a troop of panthers or tigers, sileni, and satyrs, often led by Pan himself.

The ritualised atavism of Dionysos was also associated with a 'descent into the underworld' of which Dionysos was also regarded as lord; thus Hades and Dionysos are one and the same, declared Heraclitus a philosopher closely associated with the Mysteries according to some commentators.

I Am With You

Ahead, I lead the way, taking you to new heights and exquisite lows.
Behind, I follow, letting you show me new things.
Beside, we are together, looking forward to new experiences and back on delicious memories.
For I am with you, always.

To my wife, ana.

Descent Into Hellas - Part One A

The kylix is an Ancient Greek drinking vessel. Once I have space, time, and clay, I want to try my hand at making them.

Descent Into Hellas - Part One

I've always been fascinated with ancient civilizations, most notably Greece and Rome. From these times come such wonderful Gods as Dionysus/Bacchus, Priapus, Pan, Aeolus, and myriad others as mankind sought to understand their world.

According to some historians Dionysus (Greek)/Bacchus (Roman) was a newcomer to the GodRealms, and is therefore left off some lists of high-ranking deities. Truth is, the Drinking Deity came in many forms, often before any of the others. And, despite what some people think, Dionysus did not advocate getting totally shit-faced. His Gift was a means of finding Deity and He did not deal well with those that over-indulged.
A personal belief of mine is that the God's Greek name was actually meant to be two words, which were combined to hide His true worth. The gifts of wine and other means of inebriation and altering states of consciouness leads one to find the Deity within oneself, just as His True name implies - Deo Gnosis (God Knowledge).

Yummy!

Molasses, Rum and Ginger Milk Punch

A number of years ago I happened across a book of recipes from a monastery. I cannot remember the name of the book and a search in Amazon turns up nothing remotely near it. One of the recipes in the book was for a molasses drink, served warm if I remember correctly. While the above recipe is not served warm, it sounds really good (to me) nonetheless.

Hot Molasses Milk Punch

Okay, this one is served warm. An milk steamer would make this easy.

New Vocations

Monks both old and new are well known for their brewing and vintner skills. I've been pondering adding these vocations to my "hobby" list. I've tried my hand at winemaking, as well as tinkering in the spirits department. I've even made absinthe. I would like to try to make mead, as well as herbed wines and brews. As usual, my lack of space and fundage are my only stopping blocks.

However, in my wanderings about the WilderNet, I've found some excellent recipes. Here are two for cold weather drinks, guaranteed to take the chill off the coldest bones -

Mulled Wine Recipe

Christmas Glogg

Enjoy!

Order Oratory - One

Instead of Monastic Musings, I've decided to call these Order Orator(ies). Monastic makes me sound celibate, and I'm not that kind of monk.

I had an Order awhile ago. The Diamond Order of the Mind. It was supposed to help those who had "abilities" to hone and strengthen them. That idea is still with me, but the idea of the Order has grown some since then.
According to a seer I had the good fortune of coming across many years ago, DOM was not my first venture into the religious realm. In two past lives, this person told me, I'd founded an order / monastery and then was born into it.

So, what kind of Order could embrace life rather than turn from it? To be all the things conventional religion tells people are bad for the soul? Sex, sensuality, Dionysian revels, Apollonian oracles, to find ones self and delve deeply within, to reach out to others because we want to...and to live in such a way that we step lightly, if lively, upon the Earth.

Virtual Hermit

her-mit

1. one that retires from society and lives in solitude especially for religous reasons.

While I am not religious the way most people think of such, I do believe a few things that others may think of as religious. Not in a Higher Power, per se. At least not today.

I've come to the conclusion that I am, for all intents and porpoises, a virtual hermit. I post here, in this great WilderNet, and seem to be talking to myself. I wander through, seeking things to help me expand or confirm my religious choices. If I touch a life, or another soul, we both (usually) benefit from the encounter. So perhaps I am more monk than hermit, for I do not completely shun the outside world.

Hmmm. Monastic Musings, anyone?

Written word

Anyone who knows me very well knows I used to write stories. I have well over a hundred notebooks filled with stories that fall into two basic catagories - science fiction and erotic. My early works (age 12 to late teens) are science fiction. From that point on, my works turned erotic, and have remained so.
For the last six years, though, I haven't written much in the way of stories. I found new ways to escape from the mundane, mostly in this medium we call the 'Net.
Lately, however, I've felt a pull back into those worlds I created. I think it comes from my writing hypnotic scripts, and therefore re-awakening that portion of my imagination.
One of the side benefits of this re-awakening is that my idea factory has kicked into overdrive. Hardly a week goes by now that I don't come up with at least four new ideas, or improvements on old ones.
In any case, the ride is getting interesting.

Music In My Head

Aside from the ringing in my ears that almost never changes (tinnitus), I often hear music of one kind or another playing over and over in my head. Tonight, it's something like a waltz, a bit slow and melancholy.There's a bit in the middle that gets a little cheerier, like a bit of hope in an otherwise dreary exisitance.

I've been told, by a number of people, that I have a wonderful mind. It ranges far and away beyond where other people go. It sees things others don't, and thinks of things others can't. It bends the rules quite a bit, and often outright breaks them. My mind, my music, my 'magination. Anyone care to dance?

Ideas Abound

I have the good fortune to be blessed with a wonderous imagination. From this imagination has come hundreds of stories, a rich humor, and ideas and innovations innumerable.
In recent years I've designed a high-tech learning system; a couple of alternatively fueled vehicles; after-market add-ons for other new electric and hybrid vehicles. I'm also working on furniture designs that are less like sitting in a hole, and revamping my 5 foot by 5 foot trash-picked workspace.
I still do hypnosis and am still working on my self-improvement projects. One of the big things I need to improve is my journal/blog writing, so there aren't such big gaps in the time line. :)

Self-Improvement

I recently acquired a couple CDs from a company called Life of Gods. These CDs are unique in many ways but first and foremost being members of a small group of subliminal recordings that don't give me a headache.
I've also started using a couple mini-MP3s from a site called XtremeMind. These are interesting, to say the least. Combining these with the above recordings should make some long desired changes much easier.

I'll try to keep things updated here more regularly, letting you know of my progress.