Well I tweeted about it, but it looks like LoudTwitter is down. So the skinny,

They did make their second appointment, calling ahead we were polite and congenial and they kept asking me if I believed in this or that or what I thought of this religious idea. Then they read to me from the book of Mormon. Alma 32 for those that are interested. Which I look at my copy I have from previous visits of different missionaries and I find a bookmark in that one directing me to the same chapter.

The idea is to "plant a seed of faith" in your heart and tend this "seed" and see what fruit it will bear. It also says that if you neglect this seed it will wither or die. So they let themselves have an out here. If I do as this book says this experiment its up to ME to exercise this faith and "tend the seed" but it if does not bear fruit well then, I did not "tend" it properly.

And then comes the challenge they leave with to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it and see what results. I told them I would if they would read a book of my choice after all "fair is fair" They asked what book and I replied with Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. I was told that they could not. It turns out Mormon Missionaries can only read books from a very short list and are not to do any outside reading. Heaven Forbid they should encounter any new idea!

But really they left pretty quick when I told them why I would not be joining them at church, and I explained how the Mormon church has instituted discrimination in the Boy Scouts of America and their support of California's proposition 8. I think it was the gay marriage talk that got them. They left pretty quickly after that. They were polite but I feel that if they could get away with it, they would have RAN. They did not even leave me with a good-bye prayer though they told me they like to begin and end with such a thing. They just left. They did not make a follow up appointment. I do not think I will be seeing them again.

Current Mood: quixotic

• 00:59 Living as a bachelor means its ok that the only can opener I have is on my swiss army knife. #
• 15:34 @amandapalmer you DID coin the term. You just did not know you were not the first. Same thing happened to me with "CodePoet" ... #
• 15:54 I really REALLY need to stop breaking my "poverty fasts" with McDonald's when I get a few bucks. Ow my poor tummy... #
• 16:01 I DID invent the "Come to the Darkside we have cookies" meme though cookies is a mutation of the meme from the original "Candy" http:// ... #
• 16:02 The origin of the "Come to the Darkside..." meme bit.ly/CGzir #
• 16:17 Strapped on my sporran and belt and am ready to go out in the world, kilted! #
• 17:28 "sweet skirt" -- Some anonymous mall rat making a comment on my kilt. #
• 17:33 I think I am going to wear my kilt all summer unless dressing up in my steampunk gear, what I really need is a steampunk kilt! #
• 18:53 @mopedronin Woot that is great! Congrats you Dad, you. #

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• 22:27 happiness is seeing public declarations of love #
• 23:01 I thought handwriting was the most inefficient way to make words. Then they invented text messaging using a phone's keypad. #
• 23:43 I can tell I am happy again I am practicing guitar. I have put it down too long and am rusty. No one would pay to hear me these days. #
• 01:38 @mopedronin downloads fine but there is no file extension. I only gathered it was a pdf from your previous tweet. Acrobat crashed 3x trying #
• 17:02 Approximatly 259278 and counting. I really need that stopwatch. #
• 18:08 Seconds came from "second minute" dividing a minute which was 1/60th of an hour by another 60 as timepieces became more accurate. #

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• 20:38 @amandapalmer Well heaven forbid you have fun on a friday night without us! Enjoy yourself. We will be here when you get back, #LOFNOTC #
• 22:58 I am so hungry I am not hungry. Forcing myself to eat. Greenbeans. #
• 23:35 WANTED: One Stopwatch so I can count the seconds between talking to the one I love. #
• 17:42 @Darien_Mason The Difference Engine was a specific purpose computing machine. It only does ONE thing. What we need are Analytical Engines! #

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• 20:12 I seem to have misplaced one of my beloved Mickey Mouse Guitar Picks my best friend gave me for xmas. Ah writing about found it just now! #
• 20:46 Watching Bad News Bears in Breaking training. Why when they played in the Astrodome were they the home team and the Houston team visitors? #
• 22:35 You know, sometimes reading a book that a dear one holds a special place in her heart is a way to grow closer. #
• 22:42 @dmitchell1985 good thing those places are open late! :) Have a lot of fun #
• 10:56 There is a certain joy in hearing my 10 days shy of being 10 year old son yelling "PWNT!" when playing video games #
• 11:04 Show support for democracy in Iran add green ribbon to your Twitter avatar with 1-click - helpiranelection.com/ #
• 17:21 Someday I am going to invent a really really nice camera... with a really shitty phone in it. #
• 19:53 Newsflash: All my California friends: I AM COMING HOME (sometime around 2017 or later) Start planning. #

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• 21:13 @Neuroptik78 So you like the Maxx? I once upon a time was friends with Sam Keith. Hung out at the same comic store. Would talk after con #
• 21:35 I found my bluetooth headset today. I keep losing that damn thing. #
• 21:51 Last month I won two Spock Figures from Nuke the Fridge. I call them Spock Prime and "Slyar Spock" Sylar Spock has the exciting accessory.. #
• 21:52 Sylar Spock comes with ... wait for it... A CHAIR. #
• 10:51 Paddle Ball is a sadistic little toy. MINATURE paddle ball given as a birthday party favor is exponentially more so. #
• 13:11 Too hot for jeans, don't know where I put my shorts when I put them away in wintertime. So kilt it is! #
• 17:08 Apparantly www.michaeljackson.com/ has not gotten the news. Tickets are still on sale... #
• 17:11 What makes me sad is I will never know if Michael Jackson was indeed a modern day castrato. #
• 17:22 @magzkam I did not know how I would ever discover. But consider. 1) High Speaking/Singing Voice. #mjcastratotheory #
• 17:23 2) When being investigated as a child molester the boy claimed there was something "distinctive" about his genitalia. #mjcastratotheory #
• 17:27 2a) The sherrifs dept. photographed Jacko's Jock because of the boy's claim of something distinctive of it. #mjcastratotheory #
• 17:50 @magzkam Castrati can also be the result of a endocrinological condition. #

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So a few days ago, I am sleeping, and I get a knock on my door. It is too female Mormon Missionaries. Now I have a nephew (well an ex-step-nephew-in-law) that was a Mormon Missionary, so I always treat those that come to my door with the same respect I would hope they treated my nephew. Though I have to admit that I would not expect much respect knocking on the doors of strangers trying to convince them of my beliefs. But you come to my door, expect my hospitality, then we will have a dialog.

I have a long history of stymieing door to door missionaries though my tactics have changed over the years. I started out by knowing the bible as well or better as they do, and knowing their doctrinal quirks that don't quite line up with the text. (Both Mormons and the Jehova's Witnesses have their own bible translations that cover up some of these foibles, but not to be deterred I pulled out the Hebrew and the Greek). Then years later I took a kind of universalist approach where I accepted that all religions and myths are equally true (something I still believe but in a negative not positive light) and because of the variety of the human species, many religions were needed as one religion could never be a fit for everyone as diverse a species of H. Sapiens many religions would be needed to lead us to the divine. So it was a line of "yes I believe what you are saying is true, but it DOES NOT APPLY TO ME."

Now they come to my door, and I am an atheist. I told them as much and they had questions I answered to the best of my ability. They wanted to come back and talk to me some more. Again my own personal code of hospitality does not permit me to refuse them. Not to mention they are young, if I could plant some freethinking ideas into them or set little cracks in their shells of indoctrination, well its worth a dialog. Some good fruit may come of it, and if nothing else, it could be fun. If it ceases to be fun, they are guests and I would have no compunction in asking them to leave.

So they made an appointment to return, with a third person so they could come inside. (They stated a rule they could not come into my home with less than 3 people and stayed on the porch the first visit). So I took note of the date and time. (Today at 7:00pm) they took my number and left. So that date and time has come and gone and they did not show up. I turned down a chance to be treated to a viewing of the new Transformers movie to keep the appointment, and "Sister Goodbear" did not even have the courtesy to call saying they could not make it.

But I enjoyed my time. I put a chair out on my patio and read in the evening light. Shortly after 8:00 I notice that on the card she left me was a number so I called her.

She told me she had just gotten out of a meeting and that the third person who was to come with them did not show up. (A double excuse when one would have sufficed.) I asked why she did not call, and she feigned ignorance at having my number and asked if they took it down. Both Sister Goodbear and Sister Bennion took down my number and I said so, and she admitted to having it. She then rescheduled for a week's time at the same time. I told her clearly that if she would not make it to call. So we will see in 166 hours and 20 minutes if they are capable of keeping their word this time.

I was looking forward to declining the inevitable invitation to their church and telling them that even if I believed in what they taught, I would not associate myself with an organization that has introduced discrimination in the Boy Scouts of America, and spent so much time and effort on Proposition 8 in California. Yes, I am an atheist, and I believe that Joseph Smith's vision has as much importance of my own vision of the Irish God Lugh, but I would not set foot in their church not for doctrinal reasons, but for political ones.

Current Mood: quixotic

• 16:43 @i_love_jack The Meaning of Life: To love as openly and freely as possible and risk not being loved in return. #

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I have been in a pretty lonely dark place since the break up and divorce, and I have written sporadically and some of those entries were self-pitying downers. But that is where I was. I had the occasional good time, and the often heartbreak.

Things are looking up. Not in any small part to the ministrations of Missneuroptik78 who saw one of those depressing entries and got in touch with me. Her heart went out to me, knowing the loneliness of living in a place where you do not fit in or belong.

In our chatting, I defaulted to my usual communication with beautiful women and flirted. It was enthusiastically returned and an offer from her to enter into a long distance relationship was put to me. Now I have had a crush on her since I first encountered her 6 years ago. Pondering her offer and accepting took me all of about 2.25 seconds. I was happy to learn that she too has had a crush on me for that long -- I had NO idea! So now we are looking forward to our first visit probably this fall depending on schedule and price of flights.

I am not upset at all not knowing of our mutual crush of the past 6 years, neither of us were really in a place where we could have had a relationship with one another, as we are now. I have done a lot of growth in that time, and though in our marriage we were polyamorous it was always on her terms, I was not really free to live my own love-life. Where I found compersion, she could not get her jealousy under control. I have been out on my own now for about 3 years and am again confident in who I am and my self-identity and what I want in love.

The distance is good for me, I usually rush into love, and here by our circumstances I am being forced to take it slow, build it over time. I am very happy and very confident in this relationship already, building it strong, working at connection.

Where I have been worrisome about marrying again someday, this has for the moment been lifted. Its enough to know that someone wonderful in the world loves me, and is willing to visit me, and I her as often as we can. And though I would love a Primary Live In Partner again, the pressure to find such a person has been relieved. When Conor is grown, I will probably move from Wyoming to somewhere more fitting for me. I would like that to be San Francisco where neuroptik78 lives and my second favorite city on the Planet after Amsterdam. I am a big believer in long term planning, and August 2017 sounds like a good time to Move to the city by the bay.

Right now, I am a very happy Zen and in love. I feel like I am being healed of the hurt of the past 3 years. Thank you my dear one.

Current Mood: optimistic

I had a dream last night where I sneaked into a mosque and rotated all the contents 180 degrees.

It occurs to me that they bow to Mecca when they pray, but if they rotated themselves they would still be pointing at Mecca though I guess the long way around. So I wonder how they determine which way actually points to Mecca and what way points away from Mecca when both those directions would in fact, converge right there on the Kabba don't they?

Its not the strangest thing one would do for religion I guess.

I'd better cage my mind before it wanders too far away...

Current Mood: cattywumpus

To the surprise of no one with a grasp of science, the courts ruled today in three test cases that the Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccine is NOT a cause of Autism and parents seeking money under the govt. Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

In a related story, I do not know if this had any influence on the court ruling but the original study that linked MMR Vaccine to Autism has been debunked. In short, Dr. Wakefield took his study sample of 12 children and used selective reporting and actually changing the findings to assert the link to MMR vaccine and Autism.

When Conor was first suggested he might be autistic, someone pointed out the link between vaccines and Autism to me. I was devastated thinking that *I* had done this to my son. Then I got educated and realized that this was unlikely. But I think a lot of parents latch on to this, that Autism is caused by some environmental influence and is hence "curable" by changes to the environment. These so-called treatments do not have any hard science backing them up, the results are just anecdotal and frankly its a drain of money and false hope. Remember, Autism is exhibited in childhood by developmental delays not a stop to development. Children on these so called therapies such as chelation or gluten free diets show progress that they likely would have shown without these treatments.

But I understand the guilt of these parents. How it can drive these grasping at straws measures. In at least one case it lead to the murder of a child. But in the end it comes down to understanding what Autism is, accepting it, and working with it. I think with my ex wife and I that we both had disabilities of our own informed our attitude towards our son's autism. Also our abject poverty prevented us from seeking out any of these so-called cures.

There is no cure for Autism, and I doubt there ever will be. It is a complex neurological disorder and not the result of any pseudo-scientific bogey-man. I have the difficulty of living with mental illness. This too will never have a cure, nor would I want to be cured. It is part of who I am. What makes me a unique character. I cannot divorce who I am from my Illness. I imagine that it is the same for an autistic individual.

There is no cure, the best to be hoped for in both our cases is to learn to cope in a world that will never understand us

Current Mood: thoughtful

Changing the Haiku in my Haiku Box.

Old Haiku:
The mist fills the air
clouds are dancing with the hills
Train passes below.


New Haiku:
A song is whispered.
breath of nature bites my skin
Leaves blow in the wind

So I am used to filling my prescriptions every month and paying about $16 in co-payments to do so. I went to pick up my prescriptions yesterday, first time in 2009 to discover that apparently My insurance still covers the medications somewhat but now my co-pay is $254.50. This is as many of you know, beyond my means.

I will have to call my insurance company and see what is up. It is a Medicare Part-D provider so I do not have high hopes.

The stress of this has kind of incapacitated me due to a slight mood swing associated with this, but I should have internalized it enough by tomorrow to make a call and get to the bottom of this. But I cannot give nearly 40% of my monthly income for medicine and live.

I know its been nothing but bummers. I promise no bummer next entry.


-- Zen

Current Mood: aggravated

I think I realized why I don't update anymore. There is just nothing of note going on in my life. Wyoming is my purgatory, and I feel I have years left on my penance. I am not sure what my sin was, but exiled I am.

I just go through my days, filling it with stuff to read, movies to watch, and spending time in Second Life.

The community in Wyoming holds no interest for me. My character is so out of step of the typical Wyomingite. I may live here but I will never be a Wyomingite. My home is California and I am separated from it.

My Poverty prevents me from bettering my situation. My disability keeps me in poverty.

When it comes down to it, all I want is someone to love, and the chances here are so thin. The population is so small, and such a small percentage of that would be compatible with my Liberal California Blue State Ways. My thin chance is meeting someone online somehow and convincing them to come to me. I am not optimistic.

Conor turns 10 this year. In 2017 he will turn 18. It is that year that is the earliest I can return to California. Until then I will do my best to survive. To exist. But when will I live?

Current Mood: despondant

So I spent the last 5 days at WBI here in Casper, the local psychiatric hospital. I am ok. My meds needed adjusted and really needed a better support network. That is pretty much fixed now.

I did not know how long I would be in. My ex told me that she heard that I could expect a 2 week stay so I packed accordingly. 3 T-shirts, 2 Pair of jeans, a pair of shorts, several underwears my kilt and 10 books 2 Magazines and a comic -- all Star Wars.

So mental hospitals are 2 parts hospital, 1 part prison and 1 part pre-school. One of the things that had to happen was I needed all my books approved by a therapist before they would let me have them. That happened on the second or third day.

So we are going through my books, they are all star wars, I am wearing a t-shirt that said "What would Yoda Do?" and the therapist assitant asks me, "Are you a trekkie?

Now I am not exactly sure, but as I was being discharged today they were going over my treatment plan and along with my 20+ year old diagnosis of Bipolar disorder, they added "A Personality Disorder of unspecified type" and the therapist seem to imply that this referred to my obsession for Star Wars.

Makes me wonder when star wars worship will be added to the DSM.

Took Conor to go see Wall*E today. It was his second time seeing it and my first. He got a Wall*E cake this past sunday for his birthday and the little toy robot from the cake has been his constant companion since. So today he was commenting that it was kind of funny how Wall*E watched his own movie.

He also voiced regret as to not figuring out how to tun his plastic mini-Wall*E on.

Like all Pixar offerings it was good. Not the best yet (though I would be hard pressed to say which Pixar movie was the best, Finding Nemo? The Incredibles?) but definatly up there.

I love going to the movies with Conor. He usually ends up sitting in my lap at one point if not for most of the movie.

Today Conor was playing with my guitar and singing. He decided to serenade me with his version of Weird Al's The Saga Begins</a> which is the telling of Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace to the tune of American Pie by Don McClean.

Apparently in Conor's version of Star Wars, Charmander the Pokemon is the chosen one.

So one thing I have been doing with my time is working on my podcast. Its called "Zen & The Art of Steampunk" and covers Steampunk themed stuff as well as my virtual home in Second Life, the 19th Century Victorian Steampunk.

The site is housed at http://SteampunkZen.blogspot.com

You can subscribe by pointing your favorite podcatcher to http://feeds.feedburner.com/SteampunkZen

OR if you have iTunes, you can subscribe by clicking This finely crafted link

Do have a listen, subscribe, tell me what you think.

So I wake up yesterday about 5 am with pain. It just gets worse and worse, eventually I drive myself to the emergency room. I have the worst pain of my life. Turns out I have gall stones.

I went to go get my prescriptions this morning, and Walgreen's tells me that there is some message I forget which -- story short: I have no drug coverage apparently. I call medicare and they say my coverage is still through Unicare, but they can't give me the contact information "because my computer is down". I go to the Unicare website, and there is contact information for 6 states and wyoming is not one of them.

The lady at Walgreen's said I had to call who I signed up through -- but I was automatically enrolled, she asked if I had a social worker -- I do not.

In short, I am fucked. I need medicine but don't have the $400+ I need to get it.

I just got back from my first Yoga class. I learned about 7 poses, two of which do not hurt.

Its part of this thing I am doing this year of getting out in the world and not living it all in front of the computer. No one really talked to me though. There were 5 of us in class. I didn't learn anyone's name.

So in Second Life, I am the Technical Director for the ZeroG Skydancers.

Story about that can be found in my Second Life Blog Journal of a CodePoet. But for your viewing pleasure our trailer.

Tags: second life, zerog skydancers

So I get KFC tonight for dinner. I like my Chicken Extra Crispy. (Say anyone remember the spicy crispy they used to have? Hmm maybe next time I want chicken I will go to Popeye's) So I order extra crispy. What I got was sorta crispy.

I actually think they forgot to bread the chicken.

But it was good. It reminded me of Manny's in Stockton which closed since I moved away and stopped supporting them. A lot of stuff had changed in Stockton since I left. It was disappointing not to be able to eat at Yoneda's or Manny's. I never got around to Jack in the Box either, which does not have any franchises where I live. I miss the ultimate cheeseburger. Though, I am not sure I could finish one these days.

A week was not nearly long enough of a stay in California.

Tags: california, food
Current Location: Casper, WY

You know Wyoming is a strange place. It is beautiful here. There are wide open unspoiled patches of land that go to the horizon, you can even forget there are other people here. To some that is a paradise and a reason many live here. But for me its more of a perdition. I am trying to see the good of being alone, but when it comes down to it, I am a very social person. Its places like livejournal and second life that are life savers for me. I can reach out to communities virtually where the physical real world community I find here holds little interest for me.

When I arrived I was happy, and content. I find now that it was the love of my wife that sustained me. Now that I do not have a wife, I must find something else. I'm working on it.

So really there is no difference between Heaven or Hell, they are BOTH right where you stand, right now -- its what we make out of them.

I've spent enough time in purgatory here. Time to start diggin' my way up to the light.

-- Zen

Tags: heaven & hell, wyoming

Conor writes his own jokes. Most of them are rhyming jokes that the punchline depends on a similar sounding word. He wrote this one, only to find it later on the side of a Wendy's Kid's Meal bag (alas great minds...)

Why did the chicken cross the playground?
To get to the other slide.

So he came up with two more today that I am recording here for posterity.

What is a fairy tale creatures favorite toy?
An I-Clops.

What do you get when you cross a skunk and a teddy bear?
Winnie the Pyu.

Tags: conor jokes

So I put that Haiku Box on my journal meaning to update it all the time, but I got attached to the one in there, but its time to start using it like I meant.

Old Haiku:

A Haiku for Stacey

standing against wind
troubles will pass beside you
strength is in bending


New Haiku? Look at the box on the left.

Tags: haiku box

So, I have picked up the LiveJournal Habit again. I've missed you. I've been off doing other things in that other world, but I have decided to make time again for this. I have missed it.

But the question remains, should I get off this ad-based account, and start paying again and get back my userpix? I have so many I cannot use, and I need new ones to express how I have grown in the year since I was blogging regular like.

Plus there are paid features I did use often. And I like LiveJournal its worth supporting.

Man its been a long road, when I started LJ you had to get an invitation from someone just to sign up if you wanted to do it for free. You had to know someone, and I was anxious to get my code. Now there are a bajillion journals out there, so many friends to make.

I think that is what this is really about, connecting with PEOPLE. I am ready to start connecting again. I am reading and I am commenting, and I hope you will continue to do the same for me.

Hi. I'm Christopher. You can call me "Zen". Lets be friends.

Tags: friendship, livejournal, random thoughts
Current Location: SteamKingdom of Wyoming

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

From the Court of His Majesty, King of the Wyoming SteamPunks, ZenMondo in Casper WY.

LET IT BE KNOWN on this day January 4, 02007, that bigfishsearcher is made DUKE of the Steam-Freehold of Laramie. Furthermore he shall be styled DEFENDER OF THE PASSES, and made a fellow in the BROTHERHOOD OF KILTED WYOMINGITES.

FURTHERMORE, it his Majesty King Zen's pleasure to commission bigfishsearcher in the ROYAL AIRSHIP CORPS OF THE STEAMKINGDOM OF WYOMING with the rank of SKY-ADMIRAL. It is up to His Grace to provide his own Airship.

Due to His Grace Duke of Laramie that he will be given a pension of FIFTY WYOMING STEAMBUCKS a year as soon as we start printing Wyoming SteamBucks.

As the current sole subject in the SteamKingdom of Wyoming, he shall swear no fealty, for I shall not accept it, we are all free and beholden to no powers in the SteamKingdom of Wyoming.

Being a subject and resident of the SteamKingdom of Wyoming, the appearance before His Majesty is hereby waived, but it would still please His Majesty if His Grace Duke of Laramie would appear in the presence either by visiting His Court or hosting a visit.

In Cog We Trust,

-- King Zen.

Tags: steamkingdom, wyoming
Current Location: Casper, WY

So this year I have decided on two new year's resolutions.

1) In Second Life, I will become a builder. Not a great builder but a passable one. Its high time that I learned to put prims together in a professional manner.

2) In real life I have pledged to be content being single. Not that I won't look for romance, or accept it if it comes my way, but not to be anxious about it as I am wont to do. To help with this I have begun listing things in my mind that are good about being single. I will now move my list here to LiveJournal.

* I can stay out as long as I want and not have to call anyone about it.

* When I go to the store I can just run in and don't have to wait or help anyone out of the car. Shop just for my stuff and get out.

* There is no negotiating when I want to go to the movies, I pick one and a time and go.

* I can flirt with whomever I want.

* I don't have to coordinate meals with anyone.

* I can dress however I want.

(today I dressed like this:)
( My new favorite outfit )

* I can watch TV or use the computer whenever I want.

* I can put anything I want on the walls of my apartment.

-=[*]=-

The third thing I will do this year is try to get out more be more social but that is not a resolution but a directive from my therapist.

Which brings me to this. My recent trip to California and especially visiting San Francisco has made it clear that I do not belong in Wyoming. Here I am a stranger in a land that is all too common and lacking the strange. I have decided to stop trying to assimilate here and just be content not fitting in and owning my California soul. So I will be California Dreaming a lot. I don't have much hope of finding kindred souls in Wyoming, but I will make more of an effort to travel again or host visitors from elsewhere.

There could be more misery for me here in Wyoming, more loneliness, but I will find hope, even if I never really feel at home here. I am sure I am not the only one who does not belong here.


-=[*]=-

In other news, I have determined that I am Wyoming's sole Steampunk. Another reason I do not fit in here. But there is a bright side to it, I have declared myself KING of the Wyoming Steampunks. I will probably abdicate my throne on the news of my first subject, unless of course they like me as SteamLiege. I have also Decided to annex the territories of Montana, Idaho, and the Dakotas as they seem to be void of Steampunks as well. I will lavish titles on any visitors to my court in Casper, WY (though it is our hearts that make us noble not the title) so if you ever wanted to be a Countess or an Earl or something like that, as King of the Wyoming Steampunks I would be happy to ennoble you so a fully recognized title in the SteamKingdom of Wyoming and those kingdoms, principalities, territories and Sky-Admiralties that I have diplomatic relationships with.

You may also gain a title by hosting a State Visit of the King of Wyoming SteamPunks.

I do plan on printing my own money, the Wyoming SteamBuck, but I need help designing the notes, any artists that wish to help will of course be paid in Wyoming SteamBucks.

One thing I don't like about living in Wyoming is that I pretty much stay where I am. This trip has allowed me to travel, and I love to travel, I like going places, and being around other people heading somewhere.

Its for this reason that I like going to the flying J Truck Stop, they are always off the highway and crowded with people going somewhere. A hundred little adventures waiting to be written.

So the aerodromes I visited on my way here (oh for those readers that did not see my friend lock post, I traveled this week to California to surprise me mom for christmas) on the way out was like that. Casper was kind of small and low key, but I was around people going somewhere, though not that far. Walking through the terminals in Salt Lake city was much more exciting. The vibe of people with a purpose -- they were fellow travelers like me. Nearly everyone I saw was going somewhere, looking forward to whatever stories they would play out when they got there.

Yesterday, I traveled to San Francisco to meet in the real world, someone I have collaborated with in the virtual world of Second Life for more than a year and a half. I was gonna take Amtrak, but my mother offered to drive me to the BART station in Dublin and I took that train into the city. Again I was with travelers, this time on a smaller scale, but with a common destination, traveling the way god & queen intended on rails of steel.

I had a wonderful time in San Francisco, got flirted with at a museum (though I had to have this pointed out to me after the fact, drat) but all too soon I was on BART again on my way back to Dublin.

One more full day left in California. Tomorrow is Aikido training which I am really looking forward to then at 3 am I leave Stockton, head to the Aerodrome in Sacramento to arrive 2 hours early for my 6am flight.

Hello Mary Jane.

So Conor and I had our Christmas together today. Conor got some presents, and I did too. With one of my presents I have now been able to do something I have wanted to do for over 2 years and could not.

Remember May of 2005 and I entered and won that Anchor for a Day Contest? Well as of tonight the video of my Audition and part of my sportscast (star wars style) is posted on youtube.





I am such a knerd.

I am battling a mild depression these days and I am pretty sure of the cause.

This will be my first thanksgiving alone. Ever. Last year I had Conor, and his mom even gave us turkey to eat so she saw him that day, but I will just be at home alone.

I'll probably order pizza. Or maybe go to a restaurant, maybe both I dunno.

I wish I was stronger and not dealing with depression, I mean I should just accept my lot in life and carry on. Which is what I will do in the end, just be sad about it. Still sucks, no matter how you cut it.

Last Month, I signed Conor up for Cub Scouts. I was a Scout when I was a kid, and I am glad to share this with Conor. Also I love that we now have a big book of things to do together as he walks his Trail to the Bear Badge. But before the Bear Trail, Conor had to do his Bobcat Trail. I am happy to report that we worked on it and had it done by the time of his first Den meeting.

To earn the Bobcat badge the Cub Scout has to memorize a lot of things. The Cub Scout Promise, The Law of the Pack, The Cub Scout Handshake, the Cub Scout Motto, The Cub Scout Salute, and the meaning of Webelos. I was so proud of him that he was able to do all that.

Tonight at the Pack meeting (Conor's second)he was presented his Bobcat badge in front of everyone. There was much speechifying by the Cub Master as to what a BIG DEAL this was and Conor was so proud and excited, he even gave a little fist pump, and "yes!" while we were up there.

Since this was the October Pack meeting, they presented Conor's badge in a small hollowed out pumpkin. With the Badge he got a little card and for me a Bobcat Pin to wear. The tradition is for me to wear it upside down until he does a good turn.
(If I remember right, "Do a good turn daily" is the Scout Slogan, not to be confused with the Scout Motto "Be Prepared").

Well the cubmaster said I could wear the pin, I remember the MOMS wearing the badge pins when I was a cub, but then again its the 21st Century. I really wanted his mom to be there for it, but she had to work late. And I like wearing the pin and Conor was excited to pin it on me, and really we work hard together, I feel like I may have earned it along with him. He does the hard work of course I mean I did this once before... but I just love love love doing scouting things with my son.

Just in coincidence this year is the 100th Anniversary of Scouting and when Conor is 11 and crosses over to Boy Scouts, it will be the 100th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America.

Current Mood: accomplished

This is my first attempt at a vlog. Dunno if I will keep making these.