Slower is faster

"Slower is faster," said the guitar instructor. He then elaborated.

"Take that bit you are trying to learn.... Set your metronome to an ungodly low speed. Slow enough to make your bones ache. Then learn to play to that tempo. When you get that down, move the metronome up a notch - a small notch. Wash, rinse, repeat."

I am taking bass guitar lessons. My instructor takes the "choose a song and we will wrap the first few lessons around it" approach. So I chose 'Money' by Pink Floyd. It sounded nice and easy. What could go wrong?

My fingers didn't know how to move like that.

Then I remembered: "Slower is faster."

40 beats / minute. It took a few minutes, but........

Cool - got it.

40 goes to 46 goes to ... 50 - 56 - 60

This took about 20 minutes.

Somewhere around 60 I decided to see what the real tempo was.

120

fuck

So, in an act of bravado, I cranked that metronome to 120 and let her loose.

I hit more than I missed. It was good enough you can actually tell what I was playing. And - this is the kicker - there was space in this for me to see where I needed to tweak things and get a better sound.

..and it got better as I went on....

Slower is faster, people. Slower really is faster.

Underwear

Go grab some underwear. Not the ones you are wearing right now - please.

Where are all the seams, tags and other little bits that stick out and become a nuisance? On the 'inside'.

Why?

I wear my underwear inside-out. You should do the same.

Home

We bought a house.

North Ogden, Utah. I plunked down a bit more than 10 grand for a down payment. Then I committed to 400 a month for the mortgage. In exchange for that? A tiny bedroom in the basement. Sharing a bathroom with nasty, nasty teenage boys. Some office space - sort of. And a broad covered back porch, opening to a wide back yard, overseen by an elevated deck. And it is mine - all mine to do with as I please.

Enough maintenance and improvement projects to last my remaining years.

I think I got the better end of this deal.

Muh-yah-ha-ha-ha.

Renewal

It is that time.

The Supreme Ritual

93, y'all

This last weekend, I was a participant in The Supreme Ritual, as performed by N.O.X. Oasis of the O.T.O.

The Equinox of the Gods.

Were you a fly on the wall, you would have equated the event as something of a Keystone Cops movie. At least at first. (Things changed.....) There was a rather animated discussion about just WHO was supposed to be WHERE and WHEN, doing WHAT.

The discussion ended. Black tape on the floor marked the positions of the participants.

The ritual began.

For my part, I had well memorized a few essential parts, and delivered them rather well. "Thou who art as an hawk of gold......!"

Not to be an asshole, or to take away from the contributions of the group, it was when I delivered that line that things turned.

Gads - it was a ritual. It really was.

93 93/93

There was once a woman...

There was once a woman. She allowed me to share her bed three times. The first two times, we had sex. But that doesn't matter. The third time - that is what matters....

When we approached the bed, we both knew that she and I would not have sex - make love - that night. Nor in the future. Yet each of us removed our clothing, slipped between the sheets, then curled into the body of the other. Loreena McKennitt played softly from her computer, as it had in the past. And, also as in the past,  I had free reign - my hands could, and did, roam as they willed. As she slept, my fingertips said a final goodbye to each and every part of her.

Why, after these years, do I think of this?

I don't know. But of the women that I have had the pleasure to love, she stands out.

Every man and every woman...

93

In the philosophy of Thelema, the focus is on the Will of the practitioner, and the accomplishment of the Will of the practitioner.

There are times when this "Will" takes the form of providing support for another person, so that they might realize their Will. (A less than elegant version of this is presented in "Diary of a Drug Fiend".)

This is a good place to be. I take joy in the Will of my brothers and my sisters, my partners and my friends, and of my offspring.

So mote it be.

93 93/93

Fr Wombat

PS - Kawasaki Ninja 250.....  Good choice!

Yeah.

It's been quiet for a while.

On the 4th of August I will be taking my 4th degree and PI initiations at Golden Lotus Oasis. It will be, to say the least, instructive.

But in the midst of this long silence, life has been mostly good. I have been thrown a few curve balls (thank you, Summer and Melinda). But I have also been allotted a few pleasures (Summer [again], Melinda [more than you know - along with that gruff dude what you call your beloved], Shannon, Warren, and the 'Rising Generation' at Horus Oasis).

And there is - as ever - Kat

Hell.....

Hell is reserved for those who turn aside from their appointed paths.

Heaven is an illusion - pure and simple.

Purgatory is the home of the enlightened.

Reality is.