Sunday, July 20, 2008

The Big Dig

I have spent several hours over the last two months digging through the masses of junk that inhabit my mother's house. As of today, my temple space has been cleared (I was using to it for storage as I "cleared the decks" in the rooms the junk would be sorted back into). But there is still a mountain of junk, and hours of work. In terms of visual effect, I am about 70% done. But in terms of hours spent, I may not have passed the halfway mark yet.

I have been calling at "Archaeological Dig" in jets. but it is turning into the same in earnest. First of all, it has been a prime chance to MAKE STUFF GO AWAY. Don't tell any of my sisters I said that. Next, it is giving me first dibs on the COOL STUFF that no one else knows about. But it is only small stuff, so who cares. But the bulk of the work is sorting out stuff that needs to stay and isn't cool. So I box like items together and find a place for it. When I am done, I expect about a quarter of it to go away, half to be reduced and combined, and the rest to haunt me in my private moments.

There is much family history in the stacks. To that end, mom let me purchase a scanner and a few other goodies, on the promise that the photos get scanned and distributed to the clan. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but reality has set in - it will take time to do this. I have no time. Worse, in the last few days I have found more boxes of photos, tripling (or worse) the amount of work I thought I was in for. But if I don't do it, who will?

On the other hand, it isn't costing me any money. Mom purchased the scanner, a 1/2 TByte drive and the CD blanks. The other hardware fell into my lap from work. A desk came to me from Lisa. All I have to do is.......invest time.

That Pleasing Pain - An OTO Update

I have received word from the Electoral College of the O.T.O. that I have been confirmed Body Master of Horus Oasis. I was expecting it, but arrival of the news was an opportunity to pause and think about the whole thing. I am now free to be the perfect asshole leader with no fears from the responses of the peanut gallery membership.

A few of our minervals decided they want to be initiated to first degree. This is a nice thing, but they wanted to choose the date, and a date that was scarcely more than a month off. I reacted as I normally do, trying to come up with a way to pave the way for them. And it could have worked except for two things: 1) They didn't read the e-mail I sent until after the chance passed and, 2) I did the wrong thing.

I was told a few months ago that I need to be the benevolent dictator. As such, I choose the initiation dates and the rest of the world gets to work around that. So there! (An initiation takes much work by many people, and is offered in love and sacrifice. As such, it really is proper for the initiate to refrain from dictating terms.) On the other hand, it points out that I don't have any plans to handle initiations, and I really need to do something about that. Plan A will be to set up quarterly initiation dates. On those dates we will either initiate, or we will do a rehearsal of the initiation. This is in line with the general will of Beverly and Holly who are applying to become chartered initiators.

In other news, a check for 200 dollars was sent to the First Unitarian Church in order to foster good will after the little accident with the exploding charcoal. I haven't heard back from the Right Reverend Tom yet - and doubt that I will - but I am sure it was the right application of energy and will work the magick I intend.

I think this whole O.T.O. thing is going to work, but will crank up a bit slower than I had foreseen.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

(not so) Manly Man

Here is the other side of the story of the tree surgeon and the bees.

Yesterday, while unloading the car at Holly and Beverly's, I put a bit of my lunch on the roof of the car. When I turned back, a hornet was hovering above it getting ready to land and feed. I batted it away with a bare hand then forgot about it. An hour later I was making my way from ladder to roof, a scant twelve feet above the ground, with my heart racing like it was the end of the world. The rain gutters were cleaned out, and I returned to the safety of mother earth.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Manly Men

Off the East end of the Silver Cottage row homes are a pair of very old, very large trees. They are also rotting from the inside and one of them lost a large branch in a recent storm. So the property owner is having at least one of the trees cut down. When I got home from work on Friday, they were well into the project. The crew was using a cherry picker to get part-way up the tree, then climbing from there. No safety lines that I could see. It hurt me just to look at it.

Saturday morning I was looking out the window now and then to check their progress. Early on I looked out the window, just in time to see the guy on the cherry picker drop his saw to the deck and start yelling and jumping around. I assumed the worst and was expecting to see blood and body parts and bones sticking out of severed limbs. But after a moment I recognized the motions of the "get the nasty flying insect away from me" dance. He was doing the dance like a scared little girl.

This blew my mind. This guy was macho enough to dance 50 feet above the ground with a chain saw, but lost it when he got stung by a bee.


The deck lowered, then raised 30 minutes later. There were two macho dudes this time, armed with bug spray. There was a nest in the rotted center of the tree, and the saw had opened it up. So they sprayed it to oblivion, then finished the cut from the other side of the limb.

I've dealt with bees and wasps before, and usually do it with calm grace. But I also know how much a sting hurts. I figure in the balance of things, the tree dude is way more macho than me. It was interesting to watch.