[April 16, 2008, 6.56pm:] Taking a piece of advice from reannaremick (see below), I'm going to future-date this entry (which is going to take some getting used to), and keep adding to it, as new information comes in.

Here we go:

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"In Sweat Lodge, Vets Find Healing 'Down To The Core'"

Sweat Lodge Therapy being run by those with proper traditional training, to treat returning veterans who have PTSD and substance abuse issues.

Happy Memorial Day.

Everyone gets one wish, today. Tell me the first thing that comes to your head.

I'll go first: I wish that this wish and all subsequent wishes are granted in the spirit in which they were asked.

Replies are screened. What do you wish?

What are you?

What do you want to do?

What do you want to be?

What do you worry no one will accept?

I'm a monster. A magician. A wizard. A teacher. An adorer of science.

I want to write and think and talk about magic and depravity and sinuous wonder and world-warping perceptions and show people how learning and understanding more about any and everything is the better part of being and becoming.

I want to be unapologetically who and what I am. I want to be the kind of person who simply Is and Does and Knows. I want to be able to know that what I am and want to do will hurt others, to be able to weigh that in the balance, and Be Myself Anyway.

I worry that no one will accept... that. All of that. Me. And the fact that I worry about it at all is the key that fuels that last want.

I don't know if you know it, but you're important to me. You matter to me. If you ask me what it is I "get" from knowing you, you'll most likely get a detailed answer. Sure, in some cases, the answer is "more data needed," but even the fact that I'm still gathering the data should tell you something, right?

I want to build a city or an island, or whatever, with little individually climate-control domes, and I want to populate this place with everyone I know, and keep you around, all the time, and also not have to see you, ever, if you don't want to be seen.

This is losing the thread.

I want to rule this world, if only so I have the time to not have to worry about work and bullshit, and can just cook and talk and laugh and debauch and deprave with friends, forever.

Guys. GUYS! What if YHVH was sick of all the bickering, and just decided to split the difference?

What I mean is, what if Jesus came back as the Tzadikim, except, instead of 36, there are 99 of Him?

Think about it: 99 People, each expressing the Messianic Logos in all of Its attributes and countenances, simultaneously, in the world, and only when they are all aware of each other and in the same place is the Revelation at hand.

Tell me that's not an Abrahmic Apocalypse scenario worth writing a TV series about.

Terrible Secret of the universe: It's all your fault. Good night.

Joyous Secret of the Universe: It's Infinite, and All within your Grasp.

Have a good day.

Tonight went really well. My first class as instructor we discussed Plato's Apology, and Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics.

My students were really receptive, and responsive. Good questions and points. And they seemed to Really like me as a teacher.

Couldn't ask for much more than that.

I am going to need to invest in some lozenges, though, because Four-Hour class is Four Hours.

Ow

Today, I go down to Oglethorpe to meet the department head, and fill out paperwork.

It's time to get a shower, get dressed, and stop being a mopey, lazy fucker.

Thumbs up, Damien. Let's DO THIS.

...And then NBC/Universal/Syfy cancelled Sanctuary.

NBC/Universal, I don’t know what’s wrong with you (I mean, obviously it’s a lot of whatever it is), but I do know that I just fucking hate you, right now.

All of the rest of television? You're on notice.

As ever, the key is to not simply talk, but to do things, & then talk about what you do. Made more difficult when your Doing is mostly Talking.

I guess, then, that we have to do a lot of other things-- work a lot of other places, with a lot of other people, in a lot of other contexts-- so that, when we talk, when we discuss the remaking and remodeling and reunderstanding of this world, we do so from an informed place.

Speak from a place of having been as close to "being there" as you can. Know what you're talking about.

In other news, If I ever say something like "you're almost there," please realise that I probably don't mean some progressivist conception of "thereness," some teleological "end point" toward which we're all tripping, traipsing, stumbling, but rather that I probably mean that you're almost to the place where you realise that there is no "There" there.

The recognition that there is no "way things are," that there is nothing of this universe but out attempts to describe it, as flawed as those ever are.

Things "Are," and whatever words we use to talk about that being gives us different vantages on the "nature" of the "thing."

Good night.

*Alternate title: "There's no There There, you bonny king of Nowhere."

"The problem is a simple one, really. We've been fooled into thinking that there's a cavalry coming. That any minute now there's going to be reinforcements, charging over the hill. Foolishness. There's not even really a foe you're battling, to be truthful. It's all just obstacles. And obstacles only have the power that you let them have. Obstacles exist to be overcome. The only foes in all of this are your friends, family, peers, and so forth. They will tell you that there are certain ways of doing things, certain rules that must be followed, certain boundaries you cannot cross. Repeat after me: 'BULLSHIT.' Anytime you feel yourself falling into that pre-programmed trap, destined for failure, just say that word as often as necessary. Let that be your new mantra. That and this too: 'Destroy all obstacles.' Say it with me. 'Destroy all obstacles.' Good. Now write it down somewhere because the bastards running this show are sure to make you forget it."

Dr. Mortimer E. Cummings
Deprogramming 514 Lecture
University of San Jacinto
May 18, 1977

Widgett sent me this with the note, "Thought you would appreciate it."

He was right.

unknownbinaries and I spent the day at Brandon's barbecue, and she, Bob, and I spent the night with Michelle, Srdjan, and Josh. Fantastic drinks and conversation were held in both instances.

Good night.

An Interview with Comics Creator Jared Axelrod

. . .Here's what Happened when Mr. Axelrod Consented to this insanity:

Jared Axelrod: Let's do this! I am ready to be sleep-deprived-interviewed! Is it cool if we do this via Twiiter? I'm out and about.

Wolven: "Is it cool..." he says. OF COURSE it's cool! For the record, what is your name, quest, and favourite color?

JA: Jared Axelrod, to tell all the stories taking up space in my brain, and red.

W: Also, if memory serves, you just got the advance copy of your "Battle of Blood and Ink" [Now Available At Retailers Everywhere--also Amazon]. Tell us a little about how that felt and, if possible, describe the experience in some kind of non-cupcake-related pastry metaphor.

JA: Amazing. I still breathe heavy when I hold it, it's so exciting. It's got Library of Congress info in it! How cool is that? Like being presented with a stack of pancakes after smelling them all morning. Except by "morning" I mean "6 years."

W: Masterfully done. . .

More awesome answers, at the link!

NBC Universal Replacing Dan Harmon as COMMUNITY Showrunner

Can someone please tell me why NBC keeps making TERRIBLE DECISIONS?! They've already roundly ruined the Siffy, and have an overall lackluster lineup on USA, at best, with one or two gems.

If they stick by this decision, and Harmon's gone do they have any idea how many people will stop watching their Flagship? I mean... Really? They're taking the heart and soul of Community, and they're going to... What? Workshop it?

Oh. That's EXACTLY what you're going to do.

When I first heard about the "hiatus" plans, and they started making meta-jokes about their critics... I was worried we would have another Arrested Development situation on our hands.

This is much worse.

And yes, there are bigger problems in the world than who's writing a TV show, but you know what? The quality and content of our entertainment both reflects and informs the quality of our societies-at-rest. Are we willing to think a minute and realise that an analogy IS "like a thought with another thought's hat on," or do we want to watch people pretend-to-for-real hunt ghosts, or live in a house together and hate each other, or get married, or be from New Jersey?

Yeah, sure, you can do both, but more and more, networks are thinking you only want to do the latter. So, how the fuck do we show them how wrong they are?

I am just so tired of people pandering to the lowest common demographics and doing things like making the nerd equivalent of blackface, rather than doing the work to keep a smart, genuinely funny show up and running.

Stop Ruining Actually Creative Entertainment. You're just... you're just fucking killing me, here...

And yes, right, "read more books," or whatever the fuck snotty, anti-television thing you want to say, but think about this: We have a medium of communication which can reach millions of people at a go, to inform, and edify, and educate, and entertain, and enlighten, and what are we doing with it?

We're using it to make everyone think that the stereotypes that they have about each other are true. That's all.

That's All.

What we have here is the Abstract for my Machine Question Symposium Paper.

I figure it would be a good orientation point.

-Got my paper for the Machine Question Symposium finished and sent in.

-Ate at Farm Burger, for the first time.

A Clockwork Orange - [William Tell Overture - Abridged]--- - Got Michelle's emissions checked.

-Received this Cycle's Water Bill. Bill amount? FREE because they overcharged me, last cycle (and even that bill was kind of low).

-Explained the topic of my paper to a bank teller who both immediately understood it and saw the value in it.

Rajna - [Sanctuary]--- -Got unknownbinaries' and my passport applications in and processed in under 20 minutes.

-Got a summer teaching position, at Oglethorpe University. I start next Thursday.

In a word?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7z192I-mQM

A Campaign Update for my Fundraising Efforts:

As you know, I got my paper finished and sent in, this week. It was just at about 8,000 words (the upper limit). While we wait to hear back about edits, I wanted to give everyone a sense of where your money is going, if you donate, so here's the current budget, for the trip:

Conference Registration Fees: £345 (USD$554.48)

HOTEL: £37.90 (USD$60.91)/night≈USD$420

Passports X2=$380

Food≈USD$50-60/day≈USD$420

Plane Tickets x2=USD$2918

GRAND TOTAL≈USD$4692

So, yeah. Stated goal is now $6,000, in case of overages or unforseens, and I've extended the end date of the campaign to the 29th of June.

So feel free to tell your friends.

https://www.wepay.com/donations/machine-question-symposium-travel-expenses-fund

65daysofstatic - Await Rescue--- If we were monsters, we wouldn't be all over snarls and slimy claws (unless we wanted to, because we'd be the kind of monsters who could shapeshift at will). If we were monsters, we would be the kind of monsters who insinuate themselves into every situation, and fit in perfectly (even though no one could quite remember inviting us there).

If we were monsters, we wouldn't hide under the beds or in the closets of little children (unless it was to teach and show those children the weapons the dark had to offer). If we were monsters, we would find ourselves as the favourite teachers of every child (and the grudging pride of every school board).

Nadia Sohaei - Dragonfly--- If we were monsters, we wouldn't spend our time devouring the peasantry of the countryside (though we would tour their shops and restaurants and compliment their lovely homes, and smile with maybe just slightly too many teeth at their bed-and breakfast boarder). (Covenant - [The World Is Growing Loud]). If we were monsters, we would be the kind of monsters to haunt monasteries and nunneries (but only on light spring days, and only ask the prettiest monks and nuns to, please, give us guided tours of the grounds.. and would you like to come picnic with us?).

If we were monsters, we wouldn't be afraid of crosses or garlic, or silver (but we would certain know when enough was enough; style is key). If we were monsters, we would be the kind of monsters who know the holy books and words, and know precisely what that symbol means, to the person wearing it ("Your nan gave that to you, didn't she? She was always such a kind lady, taking care of those two neighbour boys, the way she did...").

Son-Dha - [Dreaming]--- If we were monsters, some people wouldn't think we were monsters at all. If were monsters, we would the kind monsters who are us.

If all goes well, I'll be teaching a summer course at Oglethorpe, starting next week.

And? Summer break for the class? The week of the Machine Question Symposium.

Serendipitous.

Now I just need a place to live, after June 15th.

[EDIT Then it played this: TV On The Radio - Dirtywhirl

It's like my WinAmp KNOWS I've been talking about The TSCC S1 Finale, "What He Beheld." Creepy.

And AWESOME.]

My Submission for The Machine Question Symposium is finished and turned in.

Now we raise the money and we wait.

But RIGHT now? Sleep. So much sleep.

Counselor Harris: Did Jordan mention any names? Of any specific people she was upset with?

Cameron: Her parents.

Counselor Harris: Anyone else?

Cameron: The hall monitors.

Counselor Harris: Anyone else?

Cameron: [pauses] You ask that question a lot. Is there anything else you'd like to tell me?

Counselor Harris: I don't... think I told you anything...

Cameron: Oh. Okay. [pauses] Can I go now? I'm done with Grief Counseling and I feel much better.

Counselor Harris: Yeah... Please. Go.