Well, I haven't been writing much in this blog of late. I am, in fact, very highly engaged in research and other matters, and when I'm in that "mode", I just am not particularly expressive in this blog. Lots of what I'm working with isn't stuff I would put here (which I try to keep fairly general), and a lot of it is kind of strange, so I fear people would think I'm crazier than I actually am. Most of what I'm researching has to do with spiritual matters, magick (yes, with a k), comparative religion, bioelectric energy, and so forth. I'm on quite a spiritual journey now (I expect it will ease at some point, and then pick up again, that's normally the way it goes, though I've had a pretty big "break" for a long time prior to this), and it's very intense and quite exhilirating. Whee! If I wrote about even half the stuff that's going on in my head and my heart, I'd certainly look like a crackpot.

That being said, I've no intention of becoming a Wiccan (though many of my friends are), a Buddhist (ditto), a Hindu, B'Hai, Sufi, or any of the other interesting things I'm currently learning about. I'm called to my mystical, somewhat Gnostic, slightly heretical faith, which is, basically, Christian (but not one of those Christians, the kind who are all judgemental and holier-than-thou and totally unwilling to even look at anything outside their own viewpoint; I don't like them much and don't associate with them, let alone would I actually be one of them). In fact, I've even been doing reading within the Christian traditions and have learned a few new and fascinating things that I've taken to heart.

I've also returned to some of the things I used to love as a child, actually. This has nothing to do with religion or spirituality, particularly, but I've started collecting rocks and mineral samples. Some of the crystals I've acquired are quite remarkable, some are perfectly ordinary, most are interesting in one way or another. I've got lots of different kinds of quartz now (I've always loved quartz, ever since I was a small child and we'd go rock hunting in the desert), natural points and clusters, carved pieces, specialty quartz, just all sorts of things. Right at the moment there's a piece of lavender colored spirit quartz (also known as fairy quartz) on my desk, along with a rather large cluster of apophyllite, a cluster of amethyst, a couple of pieces of black tourmaline, a piece of kyanite, and a couple of small clusters of citrine, plus a hand-carved Laughing Buddha made of bloodstone...

Since I got complaints about the incense that I like to burn, I decided to get some scented candles. And one of those gorgeous pink-peach salt rock candle holders. And a few more scented candles. And a wick trimmer. And now I'm thinking of getting a candle kit and making my own candles because I find that I really, really like them. I used to love candles as a child, used to make them, even, but now I'm returning to that. The lovely, warm glow of candlelight is just so pleasant, to say nothing of the scent (I like the cranberry and vanilla - known as "Vienna" - from Dusk).

I do have an oil burner, and I use it, but I have an unfortunate habit of forgetting it's on and letting all the water burn out of it. Yuck.

Let's see, what else have I been up to... Keeping dry, or trying to. After seven years of drought, it's been raining. And raining and raining and raining. This past week, it rained every day. I don't want to complain about it because we really do need the rain quite desperately, but it's been a challenge to get Miranda to and from school every day (we walk) without becoming utterly drenched. But rain is good, we welcome rain. Climate forecasts are saying that the drought should break within the next few months, a blessed relief, and I guess this is just a little taste of things to come... ? At any rate, it's raining and raining (to the point of flooding in some areas; yes, Australia is like that).

Oh, and my internet service has gone all wonky for several days now. It's extremely intermittant. It goes out for hours at a time, only to mysteriously reappear. I suspect it has to do with all the rain we've been having lately. I think there's a connection box somewhere locally that's getting waterlogged. It's extremely frustrating and annoying, to say the least, and calling tech support and trying to convince them that it's not my computer, my modem, or me being too stupid to operate a computer will be equally annoying and frustrating, I'm sure.

I'm still having trouble with my gallbladder. Last night I couldn't lie on my right side at all, because it hurt too much (that's the side your gallbladder is on). I had slightly too much fat at dinner (it wasn't like a hugely fatty meal, but it was enough to get the gallbladder upset), and ached all night. Thankfully, I'm going to see the specialist surgeon on Monday, and we'll schedule the surgery for as soon as it's appropriate. I'm hoping that the removal of that stone will help improve my health in general. It can't be good to have a partially malfunctioning endochrine system, you know?

Well, I think that sums up what I've been up to, and part of why I haven't been particularly talkative here (fact is, I do have a journal and I've been writing quite regularly in it about all of these things I'm learning and discovering, but it's fairly intimate and personal, as spiritual journeys tend to be). I'm very much alive and kicking, though. Perhaps you should look me up on the astral plane... I'm trying to learn how to travel there....

If you like the first one, you'll like the others.

I'm burning patchouli incense. Haven't smelled it for years and years. Wow. I just want to wear tie dye and leather fringe and maybe do macramé. Far out.

(Note: EXTREMELY funny, may cause outbursts of laughter, but be warned, has a naughty word in it - Samuel L. Jackson, you can guess the word, I think)

And if you found that funny:

Well, I just came from the doctor. Seems I have a gallstone. The good news is that it's mobile. The bad news is that I'm going to have to have it surgically removed. I'm told that it's keyhole surgery these days, and I do have private health cover, but still. Having one's body invaded by surgical intruments (even through a keyhole) isn't a happy thought.

I also have elevated cholesterol AND something weird going on with my blood sugar, so I have to go back and get that nasty two hour test where you fast all night and then drink disgustingly sweet liquid and get blood drawn several times. I HATE that one.

Basically, this means I'm going to have to go on a permanent low-fat diet. It's a bit annoying, but I've done the low-fat thing before. It's troublesome at first (you crave fat!) but once you adjust to it, it's okay. You start to naturally want to eat low fat things and you start to automatically turn your nose up at high fat stuff, so that's all right. I can do that. I don't eat a particularly high fat diet now (it's just moderate, with occasional splurges).

Well, at least I wasn't imagining it. It's pretty annoying to go to the doctor and have them run a bunch of tests and find that everything looks normal and they can't tell you what's wrong. At least with this, I can actually make positive changes to help fix the problem.

So, well, I just took it all in my stride. The doctor seemed concerned that I'd freak out or something, but, eh, other than being slightly surprised to find I actually have a gallstone, it seems pretty okay to me. I can deal with this (though I'm going to be very annoyed if it turns out I'm diabetic; a low-fat diet is one thing, but a diabetic diet is entirely something else!).

Literally, a Weblog, is all about misuse of the word literally. Look out for those homosexual steamrollers and tennis players that shed rust (does that hurt, do you think?).

http://view.break.com/311805 - Watch more free videos

Pretty damned good argument.

When Silly Walks go EXtreme...

A man was wandering around a fairground and he happened to see a fortune-teller's tent. Thinking it would be good for a laugh, he went inside and sat down.

"Ah..." said the woman as she gazed into her crystal ball. "I see you are the father of two children."

"That's what you think," said the man scornfully. "I'm the father of THREE children."

"No," the woman said with a smirk, "that's what YOU think!"

I actually forgot this year, just so distracted with a ton of other stuff that's gobbling up my attention, but on the 6th it was the 7th anniversary of when I started blogging here. I don't think there are very many other bloggers who can say the same (though I do know a few, of course). When I started blogging I was doing it manually, ugh! Then I used Blogger, and stopped because it kept going down and such (it's much better now, by the way, very good system), and then I used Greymatter (poor archival system, yikes!) and then Movable Type, which I'm still using. So, there you go. Seven years of wasting bandwidth. Woohoo.

(It's funny; Graham would have wanted it to be. Also, not safe for work, has some rude words in it.)

(Note: This was on Andrew's blog, and I linked to his blog entry, but I watched it again today and got such a kick out of it I decided it was blogworthy on its own. Also, all of the dialect words are ones I've had trouble with or confused people with in Australia, except for "lorry", as Australians say "truck" like Americans.)

I left you far behind, the ruins of the life that you had in mind
And though you still can't see, I know your mind's made up
You're gonna cause more misery

Do what you want to do and go where you're going to
Think for yourself 'cause I won't be there with you

- The Beatles ("Think for Yourself")

The priest entered his donkey in a race and it won. The priest was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the race again, and it won again. The local paper read:

PRIEST'S ASS OUT FRONT

The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the priest not to enter the donkey in another race. The next day, the local paper headline read:

BISHOP SCRATCHES PRIEST'S ASS

This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the priest to get rid of the donkey. The priest decided to give it to a nun in a nearby convent. The local paper, hearing of the news, posted the following headline the next day:

NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN

The bishop fainted. He informed the nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey, so she sold it to a farmer for $10. The next day the paper read:

NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10

This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the nun to buy back the donkey and lead it to the plains where it could run wild. The next day the headlines read:

NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE

The bishop was buried the next day.

The moral of the story is: being concerned about public opinion can bring you much grief and misery even shorten your life.

So be yourself, enjoy your life, and stop worrying about everyone else's ass and you'll be a lot happier and live longer!

Well, after our celebration of the 40th anniversary of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, we decided we needed some more Beatles music. We opted for The Beatles (i.e., the White Album). Next we'll start on the earlier things. Eventually, we'll have the whole collection.

Anyway, I was quite captivated by a particular George Harrison song and went to do a bit of reading about him and found myself recognising a kindred spirit in him. His quest for God was legendary and it's in so many of his songs. I could see it and hear it, and I understand it and appreciate it. (And, of course, he was a fan of and friends with the Monty Python's Flying Circus crew!)

When we ordered the Beatles album, I got a copy of The Best of George Harrison, though it's mostly his early stuff and with a couple of Beatles songs that he wrote. I really probably should get myself a copy of All Things Must Pass.

So that's what I'm listening to. George Harrison (and/or a couple of Beatles songs written and sung by him). And now I have a favourite Beatle.

I'm a dark horse
Running on a dark race course
I'm a blue moon
Since I stepped from out of the womb
I've been a cool jerk
Looking for the source
I'm a dark horse.

In his first interview as the chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party, Dennis Milligan told a reporter that America needs to be attacked by terrorists so that people will appreciate the work that President Bush has done to protect the country.

Well, I went to the doctor today. First, I mentioned the problem with nosebleeds, and I asked about getting cauterisation. Turns out I actually have a staph infection in my nose (ick). Doctor gave me a prescription for some nasal anti-bacterial ointment, which just goes to show that staph infections in the nostrils is a common enough problem that some pharmeceutical company makes this ointment for it.

We also talked about my gallbladder. She gave me an exam and poked me in the side and my gallbladder and back hurt all day. Ugh. So I've got to go and get an ultrasound on my gallbladder to check for stones, and while we're at it, I'm getting a bunch of other tests (cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, and some other stuff).

And then she said that some of the indigestion symptoms are probably just indigestion, and not related to the gallbladder. We talked about some ways to deal with that, and I also got some medication to help sort out my stomach. One thing I'm going to have to do is cut way back on caffeine, which I've been meaning to do for a while (now I've got the impetus to do it). Apparently, caffeine can cause the sphincter at the top of the stomach to dialate. Weird, but there you go. So I'm going to have to switch to decaf whenever I can, and I think Coca Cola is probably going to end up being removed from my life entirely, which is probably a good thing, but damn, I'll miss it...

So that's my health situation in a nutshell, I guess. I've got an infection in my nose and an inflamed gallbladder and indigestion. Wow, how attractive is that? (I also have sleep apnea, just to sweeten the deal...)

For the first time ever, I'm linking to Andrew's blog to share an entertaining array of amusing commentaries on misuse of words (because Andrew and I share that particular pedantry): Literally the coolest youtuber!

Yes, boys and girls, it's been forty years since The Beatles released Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. So that's what we're listening to here.

I'm a bit too young to remember any of this, though. I only just turned 43, so it's not like I was into pop music at that age. Hell, I was barely toilet trained, let alone care about whether or not the black carnation Paul was wearing was a secret sign that he was actually dead, having been replaced by a lookalike. Who coincidentally could play bass guitar. Left handed. And sing exactly like Paul. And write songs exactly like Paul, as well. (Well, I was too young then, but I've certainly learned a lot since then, including being fully and completely toilet trained, so there.)

And it really doesn't matter if I'm wrong
I'm right where I belong
I'm right where I belong
See the people standing there
who disagree and never win
and wonder why they don't get in my door

(Cane toads are horrible, and they're tremendously destructive introduced pets. People often hunt them with a golf club or similar. The reference at the end with the bottle is Bundaberg Rum, made in Queensland, where the toads are their worst.)