I just discovered that I have a blog. I haven't written anything here since 2008. I wasn't sure it would still exist.
I wonder if I should start writing again. I wonder if anyone would care. Maybe I should, maybe I shouldn't bother.
Anyone have any input?
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Sunday, November 30, 2008
. . .
I kind of feel like shit today. I woke up with a headache and have felt just kind of 'crunchy' all day. A little depressed.
I'm on Facebook now. It's a mixed bag and I've thought about just quitting after only a couple of weeks. I got my mom hooked and have made contact with a couple of old friends through the service. The one problem is that that connection comes with a price: the past.
I don't have a bad past. There are no horrors or terrible regrets. It's mostly the looming judgment that I fear. You see, until I was 19 I was part of a fundamentalist Christian church. I'm a pagan now. So every time that I sign in to FB I have this fear that someone from my past is going to 'friend' me, and then I'm faced with the choice of either saying 'no' and offending people that I bear no ill will to, or I say 'yes' and have to explain myself to people that are convinced that I'm going to hell. I'm tired of that. I have had to defend my spiritual path to my parents for the last 20 years and I'm tired.
Well, it happened last night. My best church friend from nearly 30 years sent me a friend request. I looked at his profile and found that he graduated from seminary and is an associate pastor. goody. I wrote him and explained my dilemma. I said that as long as he didn't bring up religion, I would add him.
He surprised me by saying it wasn't his place to judge me and that he would honor my conditions. It was a relief.
I still feel like shit.
I'm on Facebook now. It's a mixed bag and I've thought about just quitting after only a couple of weeks. I got my mom hooked and have made contact with a couple of old friends through the service. The one problem is that that connection comes with a price: the past.
I don't have a bad past. There are no horrors or terrible regrets. It's mostly the looming judgment that I fear. You see, until I was 19 I was part of a fundamentalist Christian church. I'm a pagan now. So every time that I sign in to FB I have this fear that someone from my past is going to 'friend' me, and then I'm faced with the choice of either saying 'no' and offending people that I bear no ill will to, or I say 'yes' and have to explain myself to people that are convinced that I'm going to hell. I'm tired of that. I have had to defend my spiritual path to my parents for the last 20 years and I'm tired.
Well, it happened last night. My best church friend from nearly 30 years sent me a friend request. I looked at his profile and found that he graduated from seminary and is an associate pastor. goody. I wrote him and explained my dilemma. I said that as long as he didn't bring up religion, I would add him.
He surprised me by saying it wasn't his place to judge me and that he would honor my conditions. It was a relief.
I still feel like shit.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Friends Near and Far
I won't bother with the "I'm back" entry.
I've recently made contact with a couple of friends. Contact. it's a funny word. Actually, more vague then funny. For one friend it means that I have recently been in communication after a long period of non-communication. Not a big deal, really. We were best friends in high school, lost contact, re-established contact, lost contact, and recently found each other on Facebook. I don't really think we will do much more than give each other brief descriptions of what's been going on in our lives, and probably lose contact again.
With another friend it's different. We have been forum pals for a while now and have kind of skimmed the surface of our deeper states of emotional reality now and then. Recently, an offer was made to establish an email correspondence for the purpose of venting our internal frustrations and the things that we didn't want to have on a public forum. I think we have made a kind of contact that goes into the realm of connection: something a bit deeper than just touching base.
I don't have a lot of friends. I have A LOT of acquaintances, school chums, and people I talk to regularly. Apart from my wife, my best friend, I have no friends in the small town in which I live. My nearest school chum is 75 miles away. My nearest friend is over a thousand miles away and we connect through keyboards and wires.
There is something here, some deeper concept that I'm trying to explore, but I can't quite make it appear on the page.
Maybe later.
I've recently made contact with a couple of friends. Contact. it's a funny word. Actually, more vague then funny. For one friend it means that I have recently been in communication after a long period of non-communication. Not a big deal, really. We were best friends in high school, lost contact, re-established contact, lost contact, and recently found each other on Facebook. I don't really think we will do much more than give each other brief descriptions of what's been going on in our lives, and probably lose contact again.
With another friend it's different. We have been forum pals for a while now and have kind of skimmed the surface of our deeper states of emotional reality now and then. Recently, an offer was made to establish an email correspondence for the purpose of venting our internal frustrations and the things that we didn't want to have on a public forum. I think we have made a kind of contact that goes into the realm of connection: something a bit deeper than just touching base.
I don't have a lot of friends. I have A LOT of acquaintances, school chums, and people I talk to regularly. Apart from my wife, my best friend, I have no friends in the small town in which I live. My nearest school chum is 75 miles away. My nearest friend is over a thousand miles away and we connect through keyboards and wires.
There is something here, some deeper concept that I'm trying to explore, but I can't quite make it appear on the page.
Maybe later.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Hmmmm
A member of one of (well, the only) forums I frequent posted that she liked my writing but thought I could use some spelling help. She ain't wrong.
The upshot is that I was reminded that I actually have a blog and that I haven't written a word for months.
Here I am, writing a word or two.
I haven't much to say actually. I'm back in class at Mesa State College and that is taking a good deal of time. I'm stil working part time on this home remodel that I've been working on since summer. The owners were going to move in in June but have since decided that they will use it as a summer home. Must be nice.
I've been selling wands (HP style) to the local magic shop and liking that.
Mostly I've just been getting behind.
Done now.
Tipper Slinger
The upshot is that I was reminded that I actually have a blog and that I haven't written a word for months.
Here I am, writing a word or two.
I haven't much to say actually. I'm back in class at Mesa State College and that is taking a good deal of time. I'm stil working part time on this home remodel that I've been working on since summer. The owners were going to move in in June but have since decided that they will use it as a summer home. Must be nice.
I've been selling wands (HP style) to the local magic shop and liking that.
Mostly I've just been getting behind.
Done now.
Tipper Slinger
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Go Figure
For a number of years (ok, maybe decades) I've hade a veague desire to try sailing, you know, the boat with the bedsheets and the broom stick thing that lets you skim the surface of the briny deep powered only by the breeze. Lately I've been thinking mora about it. A couple of semesters ago I had a professor who is an avid sailor. In a conversation about my least, and his absolute favorite novel, Moby Dick, he said that he thought that I would be the kind to really enjoy sailing. My wife did a bit of sailing in her youth and said she liked it. Hmmmmm.
Well, the other day I said that when we have some money that can be spent on a leasure activity, that I would like to get a small day boat and give this sailing thing a try. My wife agreed that that could be fun and so I started to search the web for small boats. I found some. I found a lot of them.
I found out that a "small" sailboat can be anything from 7 to 25 feet. Keep in mind that I'm thinking of learning to sail in Colorado. We only have maybe three lakes in the state that would be big enough to handle a boat of more than about 12 feet that had a keel more than 8 inches long.
I also found out that new boats in the size that I'm after run about a thousand dollars on the low end. That's a bit steep for me. So I started looking at used boats. WTF?! The little things I'm after are still over a grand but I'm finding LOTS of boats over 20 feet for less!
Maybe I'll go back to looking at a crate with the broomstick and bed sheet.
Well, the other day I said that when we have some money that can be spent on a leasure activity, that I would like to get a small day boat and give this sailing thing a try. My wife agreed that that could be fun and so I started to search the web for small boats. I found some. I found a lot of them.
I found out that a "small" sailboat can be anything from 7 to 25 feet. Keep in mind that I'm thinking of learning to sail in Colorado. We only have maybe three lakes in the state that would be big enough to handle a boat of more than about 12 feet that had a keel more than 8 inches long.
I also found out that new boats in the size that I'm after run about a thousand dollars on the low end. That's a bit steep for me. So I started looking at used boats. WTF?! The little things I'm after are still over a grand but I'm finding LOTS of boats over 20 feet for less!
Maybe I'll go back to looking at a crate with the broomstick and bed sheet.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
It's Over for Now
I submitted my final paper for the semester yesterday afternoon. I'm
done with school for the holidays. It's a bit odd not having to be
thinking about what I have to read or what I'm going to write about for
some class. I get to do some pleasure reading now.
I also get to go back to construction work. I have a project that has been waiting for me. Lucky for me the clients are not in a huge hurry. Monday I think I'll take some equipment out to the job and try to get a plan together for how to make the most of the break. I would like to get as much of this thing done as I can so that it isn't hanging over me during next semester.
Speaking of next semester, I'm going to have to be on campus EVERY *(*&^%$ DAY!! It wouldn't be so bad if my commute to school wasn't an hour and a half one way.
All this so that I can get a teaching job that will pay almost enough to bring us up to the poverty level. It's a good thing I'll have summers off. Then I can work to pay off the student loans.
Why is it that in nearly every election campaign "education" comes up and instead of doing something like increasing teacher salaries, the gov. spends money instituting standardized testing that doesn't do any good. The good teachers go become corporate trainers because they can get paid, the teachers that do stay in the school systems are hamstrung by the tests that essentially require that the students are only taught how to take that test, not the information, and we are left with "our future," our children educated in a half-assed way.
Bloody politics!
done with school for the holidays. It's a bit odd not having to be
thinking about what I have to read or what I'm going to write about for
some class. I get to do some pleasure reading now.
I also get to go back to construction work. I have a project that has been waiting for me. Lucky for me the clients are not in a huge hurry. Monday I think I'll take some equipment out to the job and try to get a plan together for how to make the most of the break. I would like to get as much of this thing done as I can so that it isn't hanging over me during next semester.
Speaking of next semester, I'm going to have to be on campus EVERY *(*&^%$ DAY!! It wouldn't be so bad if my commute to school wasn't an hour and a half one way.
All this so that I can get a teaching job that will pay almost enough to bring us up to the poverty level. It's a good thing I'll have summers off. Then I can work to pay off the student loans.
Why is it that in nearly every election campaign "education" comes up and instead of doing something like increasing teacher salaries, the gov. spends money instituting standardized testing that doesn't do any good. The good teachers go become corporate trainers because they can get paid, the teachers that do stay in the school systems are hamstrung by the tests that essentially require that the students are only taught how to take that test, not the information, and we are left with "our future," our children educated in a half-assed way.
Bloody politics!
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