bohemiangypsey

Enough Already!

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:16:55 GMT

Ok... I have had about enough about Michael Jackson. I realize that he was an incredibly talented entertainer.... but come on, folks. Have we forgotten the years of child molestation charges that had followed him? This is the same man that sees nothing wrong with the love between an adult and child. Can we say pedophile? I'm sorry... he wasn't the only one that passed from this life last week yet he's all we hear about ad nausium. Ok, folks... the freak show is over. Time to move on already!!

Birth, death and life

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 02:16:04 GMT

For the most part, today is a day like any other... except for me. Its a day that carries with it a lot of emotion and significance - its the day my children came into this world. Today, they celebrate their third birthday and I have to wonder where the time went. It seemed like just yesterday that I heard the immortal words that send all husbands into hysterics: "my water broke". I remember the ride to the hospital, my father-in-law driving because I was to nervous to know which key belonged to the car. Then rushing her upstairs to the delivery ward. Once she arrived, a host of doctors and nurses descended upon her (it wasn't an easy pregnancy) and the next thing I know, she's been wheeled in to deliver our children. One of the nurses kindly handed me what looked like an bio-hazzard suit and left me to dress - had it not been for my mother-in-law I would have still been sitting there trying to figure out how to put it on. From there I was wisked away to the delivery room. The entire ordeal was surreal. I see a form on the operating table (she delivered via c-section) and in my mind, I know its the woman I love more than life itself... but her belly is coated with iodine so she doesn't look real. The OB and the midwife chat amicably as the incision is made and I watch as if its a movie. I see the OB reach in and pull out this little purple noodle and realize that its my daughter. She's so small and fragile... and all I want to do is protect and cherish her. They take her tiny body to her own little pit crew of doctors and nurses who make sure she is breathing and ok. In the short time it takes to turn my attention back to my wife, the OB is reaching back inside her to pull out my son. Now, this is where things get funny.... she tugs once, twice, three times and then the biggest head I have ever seen on a baby emerges from the incision. He, too, is taken to his own little pit crew... but it takes a while before he is breathing on his own. Meanwile, my little girl starts to cry.... more like a shreeking scream than only a newborn can make. I start to sing to her some little song I made up when she was still inside her mother... and her little head turns as if she knows my voice and she stops crying. I looked over concerned that I still don't hear any screaming from my son.... and then there it was.... he let out a good strong cry. I can't begin to describe the joy I felt at the moment.... I went back to watching what they were doing to my wife now that I was satisfied that the kids would be ok... Up until that moment I was fine and then the afterbirth started to come and that was my que to leave. I remember that there was a lot of blood... to much in fact and the OB was concerned. I was worried... but by then the nurse was escorting me out and back into the recovery room. I remember sitting there and feeling an incredible sense of aloneness as I allowed my tears to flow freely. I wasn't there long when my wife was wheeled in. She couldn't talk but signed to ask how the kids were. Once she knew they were ok, she sank into a brief oblivion. My in-laws joined us and we headed to the nursery. I admit, I counted fingers and toes... and checked every inch of their little bodies. My hands shook the first time I held my daughter - she was so small. I was a lot more sure when it came to hold my son - he was a little bruiser. The four of us were left to get to know each other....and at that moment I had a family. Its not that my wife and I weren't bonded to each other beyond this life but there was an extra dimension now and it made my heart swell.

Over the past three years I have learned a lot.... learned how to be a better husband... how to be a father... and learned to look at life in a way I never thought possible. All of a sudden those two little lives had become the center of our world. I have also had to learn patience..... and the meaning of unconditional love. I have lost a lot of sleep... and have been so frustrated over something one or the other has done that my head wanted to explode but then they will do something that makes it all worth while. I certainly can't imagine my life without them.

The day is also bitter-sweet... it was my mother's birthday. She passed away a little more than a year before the babies were born. All she ever wanted in life was to be a grandmother...but she never got to hold her grandbabies.... at least not in this life. I am convinced that those two kids have a guardian angel looking out for them by the name of Anne (Grandma).... and there are times I catch my daughter talking to the air and smiling.... so I know she watches them. I also catch myself talking to her.... telling her how much I miss her. I used to be angry at her for leaving me... but now I realize that she is happy and not in pain any more. I still miss her.....and I'm sure I always will.

So.... today is the day that three very important people came in to my life. Its a very good day!

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:56:09 GMT

Moving sucks, let's face facts. Lately we've been doing an inordinate amount of it and frankly, I've had enough for a while. Its hard to see your entire life be reduced to a handfull of boxes and storage containers. All of a sudden your treasures begin to look shabby and trite.

Packing makes you become introspective (not necessarily a bad thing) - you tend to think of each piece that's being placed into its protective cardboard home, remembering when you bought it or the last time you used it. It forces you to examine your life and take stock in where you've been and where you want to go. There is also a nostalgia that creeps in... something that's usually detrimental because end up keeping things you should have gotten rid of a decade ago. As the timetable starts to close in, the introspection is forced to end and then the pandemonium begins as things are arbitrarily thrown in a box, never to be seen again. How did this happen? How did my normally ordered life degenerate in chaos? Oh, that's right.... I'm moving!

Of course the bedlam doesn't end. Now you find a new place to live and then you have to unpack it all... all except the 'last box' which is usually the first thing tossed in to a closet. Once things are unpacked, the hope is that things will start to feel like home now that you have your stuff around you again. Some places, no matter what you do or how you arrange things I still doesn't feel like home. That seems to be the way of things for us lately..... One day, maybe, we'll find a place that feels like home again.

What Kind of Modern Tradition Witch Are You?

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:41:17 GMT

What Kind of Modern Tradition Witch Are You?

You scored as a Greenwitch

He studies trees, herbs, wildflowers, wildlife (animals), and the cycle of the seasons. He will probably know what kinds of trees grow in the different parks in her area. He will study both magickal and medicinal herbalism. He may also study the care of, and working with animals as well. A greenwitch practices most of his rituals and magick in natural settings, in the wild, in farmlands, in parks and his own yard. A greenwitch will have a garden, if at all possible. He will also go in to the wild to gather plants and practice his ritual and magick. The tools he uses are going to mostly be natural, practical tools he has crafted himself, such as wooden wands and staffs, besoms (brooms) made from local bushes, perhaps dishes made from clay. As well as the tools of herbalism, pruning shears, and maybe even a shovel or digging stick. His shrine/altar may be in his home, yard or garden, as well as in a secluded area in a nearby forest or field. His patrons will likely be deities of nature, the wild, animals, healing, agriculture, and the harvest.

Greenwitch

92%

Hedgewitch

79%

Cottagewitch

79%

Hearthwitch

42%

Gardenwitch

29%

Kitchenwitch

29%

Something to make you go hmmm......

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 02:20:30 GMT

After Katrina hit New Orleans, completely devastating it, religious conservatives (mostly Republicans) said it was God's wrath for their sinful ways.

What I find rather curious is that the on the first day of the Republican Nation Convention, hurricane Gustav is about to wreak havoc on the city.... Coincidence?

Hate Crimes

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 01:49:17 GMT

I'm not sure how many of you have read the story about the 15 year old boy (Larry King) who was murdered at school simply because he was different... actually he was gay. The young man in question would dress in a 'feminine manner' - a manner that he felt comfortable expressing himself in. The courts will try the young shooter as an adult with a clause for a hate crime (a small victory) but some opponents think that because of his age, he should be tried as a juvenile. If convicted as an adult he'll spend 51 years behind bars for his act. One article said that would be cruel and inhumane. Talk to Larry about cruel and inhumane - he won't see another birthday... or graduate from high school or have a first date.. or anything else for that matter, all because his classmate was uncomfortable..... or threatened... by his gender expression. Some will say that the shooter was too young to have impulse control. I'm sorry, he didn't haul off and hit someone in a flash of rage, he took time and thought things through. He found a gun, smuggled it into the classroom and shot Larry King point blank in the head while in a first period computer lab. A kid of 14 certainly knows right from wrong.. and he had to know that killing someone was wrong but he did it anyway. The fact that after he shot, he tossed the gun aside and walked out the classroom calmly is disturbing. If an adult did that he would be considered a sociopath and locked up for the remainder of his days. Can someone like that actually be rehabilitated? I'm sure there are some folks out there that will say 'of course', afterall he's a young man and there were extenuating circumstances in his life. Come on! You can't be serious?!?! He's 14 and already has taken a life with little show of remorse!! I'll remember that excuse the next time I get pissed off at someone like Rev. Phelps for protesting a transgendered or gay funeral - what he does makes me uncomfortable and threatened. That's extenuating circumstances, right?

Post-Modern, Post-Processual Nightmare

Mon, 12 May 2008 09:33:02 GMT

Lindow Man has come home to Manchester - at least for the next year. For those of you that don't know who Lindow Man is - he is an Iron Age bog body that was found in the local area in 1984 along with 2 other partial bodies during peat cutting activities. It is one of the few bog bodies that have been discovered during modern times. As an archaeologist, its the stuff that dreams are made of because of the information that it can tell about our prehistoric past. Our scientific toys can now tell us a whole host of things about this individual and how he lived and died.

What has me riled is the exhibit - its a post-modern, post processual nightmare! I sat on the planning commission and there were wonderful ideas bandied about as to the best way to display the body and to put him into a meaningful context that would be respectful and educational. (FYI: the archaeologists from the university were dismissed before the implementaion of the project) Somehow it was all tossed out and it became some homage to the 1980's. There were brief blurbs from the forensic anthropologist, an archaeologist who specializes in Iron Age landscape (both reputable and respected) and then things got nuts. Next up, we hear from a child who was alive during the discovery of the body... from the peat cutter.... and from a modern day druid priestess. On display was a Care Bear.... t-shirts with Lindow Man's face on it... other memorabilia from the 80's, misrepresented artifacts (they weren't Iron Age) and a few actual Iron Age artifacts thrown in for good measure. There is nothing on the Iron Age in the written descriptions: nothing about its culture or ritual practices. Nothing to suggest why Lindow Man had his end in a bog.... Even how he died was sugar-coated. Does anyone see a problem with this?

While the exhibit talks about showing reverence for our ancestors and being respectful of past cultures, the body is openly displayed and there is nothing about who he was or why he died. How is that respecting the ancestors? How is that educating people about their past? Its a travesty! I listened to the conversations taking place around the body and there were a lot of questions being raised but there were no answers to be had. What did they walk away with from the exhibit? Probably a feeling of a waste of time looking at a shriveled up, flattened dead guy that's all twisted up. Who would give a rat's ass about that? I certainly wouldn't!

I am all about multi-vocality but there comes a point that there are to many voices in the choir and that the real story is drowned out and obscured. Do we really need to know what the school children thought who were in the area at the time of the discovery? Do we need to know about the peat cutter? How about the modern druid priestess? What about the voice of the scientists who worked on the project - the ones who are dedicated to understanding of the past? The material should be allowed to tell its story - egos be damned! As archaeologists, its what we all strive to do... bring the past to life and here was a perfect opportunity to meet an ancestor and it was a disastrouss failure in the way it was executed!

The Senselessness Of It

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 14:31:32 GMT

Okay, I have to admit, I'm pissed off! Lately there has been a rash of vandalism and petty crimes in the area that we live. Its been little things... like a brick thrown through a parked car's window, or grafitti on someone's door... or a garage broken into or a rock thrown through a window. There are saplings being knocked down, small fires being set in the park or crap being spray painted on public walls. The funny things is - when a garage is broken into nothing is being taken. The contents of the garage are strewn across several yards but its all still there. Last night was an exception. A neighbor down the street had a washing machine stolen out of his garage. How the little creeps were able to make off with that unnoticed is beyond me, especially since they don't have cars.

The question is WHY? Why do people have the need to destroy property? I realize that there isn't always a lot for teenagers to do - going to a school dance isn't cool, and you aren't old enough to go ito a bar. Certainly there has to be better things to do with their apparent copious spare time! Where are the parents? Why don't they know that their kid isn't home and alseep at 1 am? I've heard to many times that young people just don't have pride in where they come from and are only expressing their frustration in the only way they know how. Frustration at what? They are in school (or should be), getting taken care of by their parents... as they walk around in the latest clothing. Its very easy to go on 'the dole' and its become endemic with certain segments of the population - so much so, that generations have never held gainful employment because the governement is allowing this to continue. Why bother going to school to learn something when you can simply go on welfare and have all your needs met? You can hang out with your buddies and basically do what you want and not be encumbered with a job or responsibilities. So... what kind of attitude does that breed? One of apathy and entitlement. Its ok to destroy what's around me because the government will fix it.... and after all, its only a bit of fun, right? The thing is, our tax dollars are going to pay for these people.... so that means I get to slave at work for their sloth... and to clean up their mess. Nice, hunh? It also effects those who's garages they've just broken into.. or property they've destroyed. We now have to fix the door, or window... or replace what was stolen.

Frankly I'm sick to death of these little punk bastards! Get off your shiftless asses and get a freaking job! Have a little pride in the fact that you can stand on your own two feet and not have to rely on handouts from someone else!! Its not a bit of fun - its the willful destruction of property and its a crime.

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 22:28:09 GMT

What The Holidays Mean to You

For you, the holidays are about emotional connections and bonds. You are happiest being around those you love.

You celebrate the holidays in a minimalist style. You are likely to only give one great present and decorate your house with a few special items.

During the holidays, you feel magical. You love all of the decorations and how happy people are. You like to sit back and take it all in.

You think the holidays should be nostalgic and sweet. The holidays bring out your inner child.

Your favorite holiday memories strongly evoke your senses. You are vividly aware of all the tastes, smells, and sounds of the holidays.

Thanksgiving and Changes

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:11:31 GMT

Thanksgiving and Changes

Its funny, as the year rapidly comes to a close, you look back at all the changes, and hopefully find something to be thankful for.

We've had a particularly challenging year, one full of change an upheavals. This time last year, we had packed up our lives into boxes and purged all the things we no longer had a use for. Bits of our life were given away, sold off, put in a box or tossed out. It was an incredibly poignant time. We left a place that had been our home for over seven years. There were a lot of memories, both good and bad that haunted that place. There are days we miss it alot, but we both knew it was time to move on. From the Midwest, we traveled to the Southeast, spending the holidays with family and preparing for the next chapter of our lives to begin. How do you distill you life into a shipping container? One would think it would be relatively easy now that so much stuff had been jettisoned already but it wasn't.

We arrived in England as strangers in a strange land.... beginning a new adventure. I started my PhD...and my partner settled us in and made a home for us. Kids are resiliant and everything is a new adventure. As their world expanded with each new discovery, I was having a similar experience but my world was expanding because of the thoughts and ideas that I was being exposed to. I felt like I had been asleep intellectually for the last several years of my life and awoke to find Wonderland. My partner seems to have had a different experience, but no less profound. In a weird sort of way, she found herself in taking care of two little lives. For the first time in a long time, she was writing again and was happy.

Life is never bowl of cherries.... we faced a few hardships along the way but we came out the other side stronger than before. In a weird way, priorities have changed but in a good way. Being driven is a wonderful thing, but if you don't stop and smell the proverbial roses once in a while, you become hollow inside. When you look back at your life, accomplishments aren't always enough. Life is meant to be lived and experienced and not just read about.

I look at all the things I'm thankful for - my family being at the top of my list. Without their love and support, I coudn't go on. There is nothing better for a crap day than little arms that slide around your neck for a hug.... or the wet sloppy kisses of a toddler. I'm also thankful for the ability to persue the thing I love most in life besides my family - my work. Not only do I find myself in an intellectually enriching atmosphere, but I'm also challenged to think in new directions and look at the material in a new way. I am so incredibly lucky that I have the ability to follow my dreams. My extended family has also been a wonderful source of encouragement and love... I miss them terribly. Somehow, we've made new friends and reconnected with old ones.

I can't wait to see what the new year will bring - its certainly brimming with possibilities.