Archive for October, 2009

Halloween

Saturday, October 31st, 2009

Today is Halloween, a day that most of America celebrates with trick or treating and costume parties. In the New Age community, Halloween is often thought of as the Wiccan New Year, though there is little anecdotal evidence to support this view. As I grow older, I find myself looking at the older traditions of All Hallow’s Eve, and despite my Wiccan background, partially rejecting the idea that Samhain is the new year.

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on being a writer

Friday, October 30th, 2009

<meta content="OpenOffice.org 2.4 (Linux)" name="GENERATOR" /> <style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </style>I love the idea of being a writer. Hollywood itself is in love with writers, partly because writers are responsible for the material that comes out of it. I like to think there’s more to it than that though. Like speaking, writing has an immediacy to the creative process, and to the evaluation process. You don’t have to write or read someone else’s writing to get a sense of how good it is – or how bad. As I said, I love the idea of being a writer – what I don’t know is if I love being a writer, or just the idea of it.</p> <p> <a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/30/on-being-a-writer/#more-324">(more…)</a> </p> </div> <p class="postmetadata">Posted in <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/life/" title="View all posts in life" rel="category tag">life</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/writing/" title="View all posts in writing" rel="category tag">writing</a> | <a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/30/on-being-a-writer/#respond" title="Comment on on being a writer">No Comments »</a></p> </div> <div class="post"> <h3 id="post-323"><a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/29/at-the-crossroads/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to at the crossroads">at the crossroads</a></h3> <small>Thursday, October 29th, 2009</small> <div class="entry"> <p><meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" /> <title /> <meta content="OpenOffice.org 2.4 (Linux)" name="GENERATOR" /> <style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </style>I’ve had a feeling on and off over the last couple years that a time for decision and action is fast approaching, at least with regards to my career. Like many people, I’ve decided that the career I’m in is not really the one I want to be in in the long term. This begs the question of what do I want to do with the rest of my life? I have more than one potential answer to that question, and it may be that the ultimate answer to the question is not a mutually exclusive choice from among the possibilities.</p> <p> <a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/29/at-the-crossroads/#more-323">(more…)</a> </p> </div> <p class="postmetadata">Posted in <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/life/" title="View all posts in life" rel="category tag">life</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/writing/" title="View all posts in writing" rel="category tag">writing</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/change/" title="View all posts in change" rel="category tag">change</a> | <a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/29/at-the-crossroads/#comments" title="Comment on at the crossroads">1 Comment »</a></p> </div> <div class="post"> <h3 id="post-322"><a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/28/writing-my-future/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to writing my future">writing my future</a></h3> <small>Wednesday, October 28th, 2009</small> <div class="entry"> <p>I have a tendency, or at least a desire, to write. That’s rather obvious, or you wouldn’t be reading this blog. Though I couldn’t stand it when I was younger, writing is an activity I’ve come to enjoy – to the point where I think it would be fun to write for a living. Yes, I know it’s a lot of work, but hey, if I have to work at something, better to work at something I enjoy doing, you know? Not that I don’t enjoy writing software, but let’s face it – it’s not exactly the thing I’d rather do more than anything in the world. If it were, you wouldn’t be reading this because I’d be sitting in my cube learning something new at lunch instead of writing this entry. I like writing software, but hey it’s a job like any other. I do it 8 hours a day then I go home and do what I really like – which isn’t writing software.</p> <p> <a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/28/writing-my-future/#more-322">(more…)</a> </p> </div> <p class="postmetadata">Posted in <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/life/" title="View all posts in life" rel="category tag">life</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/writing/" title="View all posts in writing" rel="category tag">writing</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/change/" title="View all posts in change" rel="category tag">change</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/metaphysics/" title="View all posts in metaphysics" rel="category tag">metaphysics</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/law-of-attraction/" title="View all posts in law of attraction" rel="category tag">law of attraction</a> | <a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/28/writing-my-future/#respond" title="Comment on writing my future">No Comments »</a></p> </div> <div class="post"> <h3 id="post-321"><a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/26/states-of-being/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to states of being">states of being</a></h3> <small>Monday, October 26th, 2009</small> <div class="entry"> <p><meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" /> <title /> <meta content="OpenOffice.org 2.4 (Linux)" name="GENERATOR" /> <style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </style>It is mid-October, 2009, and I am 5 ½ years into my training in DanZan Ryu Jujitsu. Earlier this year, I had planned on testing for black belt at the clinic our dojo puts on in November, but I started my preparations too late in the year and would not have been ready, though I would have been close. I have learned and experienced a lot of things on my journey so far, and some have challenged the world view in my mind. Having reached ‘middle age’, I find that my concept of the world and it’s functioning is sometimes wrong and less flexible than I’d like it to be. Oddly enough, two of the areas where I think my thoughts should be closest are areas where they are the farthest apart. This tells me that I don’t understand either thing as well as I think I do. These two things are martial arts and the Law of Attraction.</p> <p> <a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/26/states-of-being/#more-321">(more…)</a> </p> </div> <p class="postmetadata">Posted in <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/life/" title="View all posts in life" rel="category tag">life</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/martial-arts/" title="View all posts in martial arts" rel="category tag">martial arts</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/metaphysics/" title="View all posts in metaphysics" rel="category tag">metaphysics</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/law-of-attraction/" title="View all posts in law of attraction" rel="category tag">law of attraction</a> | <a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/26/states-of-being/#respond" title="Comment on states of being">No Comments »</a></p> </div> <div class="post"> <h3 id="post-320"><a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/26/dynamic-balance/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to dynamic balance">dynamic balance</a></h3> <small>Monday, October 26th, 2009</small> <div class="entry"> <p><meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" /> <title /> <meta content="OpenOffice.org 2.4 (Linux)" name="GENERATOR" /> <style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </style>I’ve become acutely aware of the energy of my home lately. There are two or three main areas where clutter has accumulated, and despite my best efforts so far, I have not been able to get them cleared out and arranged. This leads me to think a couple things – one, I have too much stuff still, though I certainly have less now than I did, by choice. Two, I need more storage than I have, or at least I need to organize it differently than I have so I don’t have this clutter. This is indirectly bringing me to the topic of Feng Shui, the Chinese art of placement, though I’m going to talk about more than just Feng Shui. I’m just using this as an illustration to make a point.</p> <p> <a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/26/dynamic-balance/#more-320">(more…)</a> </p> </div> <p class="postmetadata">Posted in <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/life/" title="View all posts in life" rel="category tag">life</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/metaphysics/" title="View all posts in metaphysics" rel="category tag">metaphysics</a> | <a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/26/dynamic-balance/#respond" title="Comment on dynamic balance">No Comments »</a></p> </div> <div class="post"> <h3 id="post-319"><a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/22/the-happiness-experiment-day-two/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to the happiness experiment, day two">the happiness experiment, day two</a></h3> <small>Thursday, October 22nd, 2009</small> <div class="entry"> <p><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 2.4 (Linux)" /> <style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </style>I prefer my blog entries to be standalone entries – write my thoughts out into a few brief paragraphs and let them go, rather than carrying them over a several day period. It makes them easier to write, and I don’t have to worry about things like continuity, or whether you’ve read the previous entries so this one actually makes sense to you, stuff like that. But I felt the impact of the experiment could potentially be so great that it deserved at least one more entry. So I’ll start by giving you an update on how the rest of day 1 went.</p> <p> <a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/22/the-happiness-experiment-day-two/#more-319">(more…)</a> </p> </div> <p class="postmetadata">Posted in <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/life/" title="View all posts in life" rel="category tag">life</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/gardening/" title="View all posts in gardening" rel="category tag">gardening</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/change/" title="View all posts in change" rel="category tag">change</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/metaphysics/" title="View all posts in metaphysics" rel="category tag">metaphysics</a> | <a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/22/the-happiness-experiment-day-two/#comments" title="Comment on the happiness experiment, day two">1 Comment »</a></p> </div> <div class="post"> <h3 id="post-318"><a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/21/the-happiness-experiment/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to the happiness experiment">the happiness experiment</a></h3> <small>Wednesday, October 21st, 2009</small> <div class="entry"> <p>I mentioned in a recent blog that I’m reading the book Be Happy, by Robert Holden.  One of the exercises he had me do, as a reader, gave me an idea for a little experiment of my own.  This morning I started that experiment, and I thought I’d tell you how it’s going at midday.</p> <p> <a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/21/the-happiness-experiment/#more-318">(more…)</a> </p> </div> <p class="postmetadata">Posted in <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/life/" title="View all posts in life" rel="category tag">life</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/change/" title="View all posts in change" rel="category tag">change</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/metaphysics/" title="View all posts in metaphysics" rel="category tag">metaphysics</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/happiness/" title="View all posts in happiness" rel="category tag">happiness</a> | <a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/21/the-happiness-experiment/#respond" title="Comment on the happiness experiment">No Comments »</a></p> </div> <div class="post"> <h3 id="post-317"><a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/21/samhain-is-coming-2/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Samhain is coming!">Samhain is coming!</a></h3> <small>Wednesday, October 21st, 2009</small> <div class="entry"> <p>Woohoo!!! Samhain is coming! </p> </div> <p class="postmetadata">Posted in <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/life/" title="View all posts in life" rel="category tag">life</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/wicca/" title="View all posts in wicca" rel="category tag">wicca</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/pagan-subjects/" title="View all posts in pagan subjects" rel="category tag">pagan subjects</a> | <a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/21/samhain-is-coming-2/#respond" title="Comment on Samhain is coming!">No Comments »</a></p> </div> <div class="post"> <h3 id="post-316"><a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/20/nature-of-change/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to nature of change">nature of change</a></h3> <small>Tuesday, October 20th, 2009</small> <div class="entry"> <p><meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" /> <title /> <meta content="OpenOffice.org 3.0 (Linux)" name="GENERATOR" /> <style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --> </style>This past weekend I had the less than enjoyable experience of replacing my tires and get an alignment done to my car. Monday morning I had the even more enjoyable experience of having my zipper break at work, and a trip to the mall to get some pants so I wouldn’t be exposed to the world. These two events are fairly common events in the world we live in – things change. Tires wear out, alignments get skewed, clothes wear out – things age and wear out, most possessions do. Change is constant in the world around us. Many people, myself included, pay so much attention to other things around them that they don’t see the changes going on until they become big enough to force themselves into our consciousness. Others spend a lot of time pretending it isn’t so, or deluding themselves into not seeing the changes that are happening around them. Many people fear change – but it doesn’t need to be that way.</p> <p> <a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/20/nature-of-change/#more-316">(more…)</a> </p> </div> <p class="postmetadata">Posted in <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/life/" title="View all posts in life" rel="category tag">life</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/change/" title="View all posts in change" rel="category tag">change</a>, <a href="http://www.phagos.org/category/metaphysics/" title="View all posts in metaphysics" rel="category tag">metaphysics</a> | <a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/20/nature-of-change/#respond" title="Comment on nature of change">No Comments »</a></p> </div> <div class="navigation"> <div class="alignleft"><a href="http://www.phagos.org/2009/10/page/2/">« Previous Entries</a></div> <div class="alignright"></div> </div> </div> <div id="sidebar"> <ul> <li> <form method="get" id="searchform" action="http://www.phagos.org/"> <div><input type="text" value="" name="s" id="s" /> <input type="submit" id="searchsubmit" value="Search" /> </div> </form> </li> <!-- Author information is disabled per default. 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