This week's Gemini 'scope from Free Will Astrology:
week starting August 29th
Astrologer Caroline Casey offers an apt metaphor to illustrate
how crucial it is for us to hear and read good stories.
She notes that if we don't have enough of the
normal, healthy kind of iodine in our bodies, we absorb
radioactive iodine, which has entered the food chain through
nuclear test explosions conducted in the atmosphere. Similarly,
unless we fill ourselves up with transformative, soulful stories,
we're more susceptible to sopping up poisonous, degenerative
narratives. This is always true, but it's especially apropos for
you now, Gemini. Why? Because you're erecting new structures
in your psyche, and you need the very best building materials.
Poet Muriel Rukeyser said, "The world is made of stories, not
atoms." I'd add, *"You* are made of stories, too."

"...more than 90 percent of foot surgeries in America are performed on women."
90 more reasons to buy clogs! my new green ones are fabulous.

from Hermione and Her Little Group of Serious Thinkers,
by Don Marquis
(thanks to Project Gutenberg.)

HOW SUFFERING PURIFIES ONE!

Oh, to go through fire and come out purified!
Suffering is wonderful, isn't it? Simply WONDERFUL!

Harmony! Harmony! Oh, to be in accord with
the Infinite!

Nearly every night before I go to bed I ask my-
self, "have I vibrated in tune with the Infinite to-
day, or have I failed?"


UNDERSTANDING, AND ONE'S OWN HOME

Sometimes I think I shall WRITE!

Express myself, my real Ego, in Song.

Not rhymes, of course. If I worked a year I
couldn't make two lines rhyme.

But rhyme is going out, anyhow.

Vers Libre is all the rage now.

We took it up not long ago -- our Little Group
of Serious Thinkers, you know -- and I feel con
fident it is My Medium of Expression.

It is so untrammeled, isn't it?

And one should be untrammeled, both in Art and
Life, shouldn't one?

Often I ask myself, at the close of day: "Have I
been untrammeled today? Or have I FAILED?

If I could put my real Ego -- and how wonderful
the Ego is, isn't it? -- into vers libre, even Papa
might understand me.

I have always yearned to be understood!


THOUGHTS ON HEREDITY AND THINGS

Isn't the Subliminal Consciousness wonderful;
simply WONDERFUL?

We're going to take it up in a serious way some
evening next week, and thresh it out thoroughly.

But I must run along. I have an engagement
with my dressmaker at two o'clock. You know,
I've really found one who can make my gowns
interpret my inner spirit.

Today I got home from work with so much tension in my shoulders that I thought they must be visibly curled forward, and went out for a nice long brisk walk down the Panhandle and back, about 40 minutes. boy, did I need it.
A block away from home I started to pick up the pace a bit, and turned up the volume on the De La Soul tape that Eli made me, when I neared an elderly woman who'd sort of stopped on the sidewalk. I turned my walkman down for some reason, and smiled at her very wide, and she pointed her cane and started talking to me, so I stopped for a second and looked at her.
"Keep that smile, honey! Listen to me, I'm 90 years old, and I say, hang on to that smile, honey! I get so sick of young people I see, they look [mock serious expression], and honey, if you got that smile, you hang on to it!"
I was so momentarily flabbergasted that I didn't manage more than a very misplaced "I'll take your word for it," which is not really what I meant, but she said, "Well, you better listen, honey! I'm 90 years old! You listen to an old lady!" and by then she had passed by.
I almost burst into tears. I realized that I always smile for people at work whether I'm happy or not, and it's f***ing exhausting. Also I'd spent the whole day taking my stupid job waaay too seriously, and the very genuine response from a total (grandmotherly) stranger on the street was just about all I could take. very sweet.

i must type like archie for a little while; i just painted my nails, and very sloppily, too, if i do say so myself. i don t want to get purple nail polish on the new white keys.

i went to my doctor this morning; i had picked her pretty much at random almost a year ago, and just never went in for a check-up until now. i selected her for multiple reasons. one, her office is not far from my house. two, she's female. three, she has an awesome name, dr bella nudel. stress is on the '-del.' nudel is how you say 'noodle' in german, and bella, well, no translation needed. of course it turns out that she's russian, and her staff and most of her patients are, too. the irony. i hope the universe doesnt mind if i take it as a sign that i must continue my study of the russian language.
there's nothing like having a stern 60 year old woman with a strong russian accent and dark pink lipstick admonish you for your bad habits. tho' i suppose it's better than some condescending 60 year old white guy with too much money and a leer.

---

today on my way out of the house there was a very sad note tacked to the little bulletin board at the bottom of the stairs in my building. it's still there now.
it says,

to the mean person who's been
impaling snails in the back yard,
please stop.

dinner with Ken's parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew tonight. The baby just turned 1 in June, and Annie's due to have the second one... any minute now. It's a little nerve-wracking hanging out with a woman who's 9 months and 3 days pregnant.
Ken and I must have had just enough to drink, because I came home and said, "I feel like Carmen Miranda in these shoes."
and Ken said, "I'm going to read you your Miranda rights:
'you have the right to wear fruit on your head.
you have the right not to wear underwear...'"

Burning Man (or-- Boring Man, in cynical moments) is looming ahead.
do I want to spend $200 on a ticket for the privilege of driving for 8 hours to buy supplies and food for a week to hang out with a bunch of crazy yahoos who live in my city anyway?
no.
(but if I were independently wealthy and didn't have to use up vacation time I'd go again in a heartbeat. there's no way I go for less than 5 days, though.)

oh, it's time for bed.
there's so much to play with. I'm getting behind in my reading (so what's new).
here's a funny post on someone else's blog...
*rubs eyes*yawn.

Erika is in Rome this week!

here's a little archy and mehitabel fix for today.


I found this in the NYTimes Op/Ed page today. I've been somewhat obsessed with the Trans-Siberian railroad for a couple years now, ever since my friend Misha mentioned that he was going to take it someday. Now Misha is leaving for China in two weeks, where he'll spend a week or so before taking the Trans-Siberian to Moscow (making several long stops along the way). Then he'll head to St. Petersburg, wander over to Turkey, maybe Greece, who knows where else, and eventually wander over to Italy, where he used to live for a while. He doesn't have a totally set itinerary, and isn't sure if he'll want to come back at all. He has his rent paid through the whole winter.

curses to a certain someone who introduced me to the halfbakery.
after promising myself that I wouldn't blog or email at work today... I went to that site and read half the silly things there.
eek!
the internet is a blaaaack hooooole of the brain.

The Word of the Day for August 1 is:

aught • \AWT or AHT\ • (pronoun)
*1 : anything
2 : all, everything

Example sentence:
"It was too early for aught but a few dogs to notice us as we noticed birds." (Claire Gerber, The Christian Science Monitor, January 8, 1987)
Now there's a word we need to bring into daily use again.