"American" (?) social perceptions

A friend of mine was saying the other night that he and his friend got called "white people" in a joking, somewhat derogatory way. He's only half "white," his friend's background is Chinese, and the guy saying it to them was Russian. He said that in his experience, in other countries, people usually pay more attention to other things, like one's religious affiliation, and that the concept of a "white person" is a very "American" construct.

Zose songs zat get stuck in one's head or throat

Sometimes. For better or for worse!
Zee most mainstream song: Favorite Mistake
Zee song from zee college days: I Need Love
(Although I think, technically, it came out before I went to college.)
Zee song from zee CD player: Sunny Road
Zee second most mainstream song: 1973
Zee song from around zee ending of childhood: Sweet Child O' Mine
(Funny comment that was made the other evening: "How can someone be old enough to drink who wasn't born before Appetite for Destruction?")

Holly Jolly Holiday

Soon I will be going over to a friend's house for dinner, but this morning I'm watching clips of Cold Comfort Farm. "Robert Post's child!" (Hmmm, maybe it's because she's a big fan of the movie, too.) "Are you sure a parson should have a plane?" "Everyone should have a plane." "Oh, really Charles!" I was watching Dangerous Beauty, which I still like (although I was informed by a friend who teaches fencing that the witty and playful swordfighting scene is about as historically accurate as everyone laughing at someone coming into a party and waving a gun around.) It's a little hard for me to take Rufus Sewell too seriously as a romantic hero, tho, because I keep thinking about him these sorts of scenes.
And here.
And here.
Quiver!

Winter dance song & memory

Actually, The Mummer's Dance sings about "springtime" but I was listening to it recently. I still remember that when I was perhaps 13(?), on rare snowy night, I got up, stood in front of a window, and eventually concluded that I was looking down on a circle of people moving rhythmically in clockwise fashion, half-running, half-bouncing, in the field by our house.

Bonjour, library

Bonjour, C. S. Lewis course.
Bonjour, C. S. Lewis on wikipedia.

More festive music

An especially joy-inducing Christmas album was We Wish You A Merry Christmas by White Eisenstein. For me, it was an introduction to more medieval-sounding music, and I loved it. The tape was first listened to on an island in the Puget Sound. Later, the CD was purchased in Northern California, although I feel as if the shop that sold it probably had some suspiciously New Age-y vibes (which would not have been my father's cup of tea.) Absolutely adored the flute and guitar, and still do, so I have got to find the CD, if it's not at my mom's house. Oooh, Pan-flute.com.
Well, I just tried to look up Coventry Carol. Eeesh. Strangely fascinating, but also gruesome and dire. Rewind, erase, and mentally replay the White Eisenstein instrumental version!

Best Xmas card of this year

Two kinds

Caroling!
Most nostalgia-inducing carol would be: The Little Drummer Boy by Living Voices (I'm downloading that). I listened to it so much that it is my default "proper" rendition of that song. And some of the other songs are kind of that way, too. Like "Do You Hear What I Hear." "Pine Cones and Hollyberries." (I know that one got in my head repetitively!) That is my upstate New York childhood Christmas music.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some of my friends are going caroling tonight in the shopping district of Georgetown and they will be singing alternative versions of carols:
Silent night, holy night
ice caps thawed, polar plight
take your day to a higher place
at the dawn of redeeming grace
money does not equal worth
money does not equal worth.

Grocery shopping...

Me today: standing in front of an aisle of bags of dried beans, comparing prices. Ignoring the sounds of kids' voices behind me, completely (and I must say, almost contentedly) absorbed in this task. Startlingly, I became aware of a little face leaning into my field of vision, peering up at me with intense curiosity. I felt strangely scrutinized. Then I gave him a little smile. He smiled back and ran off (with his brother?) to their parents. I felt much happier after this. A little face of curiosity came over to look at me! Why? In a lot of stores around here, it is more common to hear people speaking Spanish or Korean. I should learn more of those languages
________________________

A few months ago, when I was backing out my car, I heard people shouting in another language, and stopped. An older lady (maybe Korean?) came running behind my tire and scooped up a little terrier dog.
The next morning, after parallel-parking my car, a good half hour's drive away from where we live, I found an animal bone resting on a part of the hood, just below the windshield.
________________________
Once, when I was in the grocery store, I saw a lady behind the counter yelling at some customers because they only spoke Spanish. I thought "Well, I could intervene there," but something told me not to. Still, it made me feel anxious. I went around the corner and then came back to see if she was still yelling at them. A kind of breakthrough had obviously been made, despite the language barrier, because they were all laughing. I felt much better seeing them all laughing than I would have if I'd "rescued" the situation. Sometimes that is the good that comes of not interrupting people.

Celebrity news...

Today an article about the death of a "1950s Pin Up" caught my attention. Part of the reason for this might be because of some pictures a very talented photographer friend took of me when I was 22. She brought them into work and showed some people. I was not a scantily-clad, raven-haired S & M chick in any of them, so when I heard that a guy said I resembled Betty Page, I went, "Who the heck is she?" And then of course I was completely curious to find out more about her. I don't really think I ever looked like her, but it's the only time I can remember that anyone compared me to a celebrity, so that made it's impression on me. Sounds like she had a troubled life but leaned on religion. I think it would have been interesting to have met her. Maybe I would have tried to get her to accept taking pictures of her older self, and wanted douse her with alternative healing therapies!

Sojourners

What do you do when some of your family was not related to you and perhaps you'll never see them again? Like the Canadian woman who kept us at her house when our mother was on business trips. Like a son of two Norwegian immigrants who was a father figure for a while. Like the uncle I had for 19 years who was American, but also from a different culture because he was black. "Hello, beautiful!" was the first thing he'd always say to us. Who else in my life commands that phrase like him, in my memory? I think one of the things you can do is appreciate things they shared with you about their upbringing and culture. "Love the sojourner...for you were sojourners" was the biblical theme of my baptismal program, which my grandmother saved for me. Our spirits are sojourning in these bodies.
Biblical views of sojourners.

Miss Lavender Diamond

She has a video and song called Open Your Heart.
(Actually, that's not her real name, but it was fun to type...)
I always meant to look them up after I read an interview in arthur.

Positive visualization

Healthy lungs and a room that is warm, cozy, well-organized and receptive to higher healing angelic energy. Nice, clean air to breathe. Thank you. Thank you for the down comforter, the many blankets, and the feeling of warming up. I feel that an appreciation of textiles is very important.

Midwesterner's soup

At my old job, everyone I worked with has been laid off.
How to lay people off:
Give a speech about the economy, bolt, and let HR take over!

For future reference!

Life is going to get good; life is going to get better. I used to travel. I went to Peru several times. I went on business trips to places, including Amsterdam. However, I had other lessons to learn. And now, for many, many reasons, I am older and wiser. Imagine, some people learn to knit or crochet when they are like, 8 years old, and I am just learning. You can re-discover things all the time. Early this morning, when I looked into the mirror after coughing into the sink for a prolonged period of time, I said to myself, "See how the human body works in order to survive? Look at those eyes! So alive!" Actually, I didn't think it out so concretely as that, but it's close to how I felt. I'd like to learn about sand play therapy. I have a very good childhood memory of being in a public place and using my hands in a sandbox while standing up. Picture of an adult playing in sand.

Song, song, song.

Idealistically, it's reminding me of being 14 on an island, the first boys who really liked me as a "young adult" (and they seemed so much older!), the first boyfriend, the health food store, the skipping of school, the population's propensity towards mind-altering substances, the hippie artistic people, their parents, riding around in the back of old cars, woods, and love. Norwegian Wood. Ah! Don't kill me, song. Yes, I could write something more complex and intricate about that place, though. I wonder how to do it justice? Maybe I have to take some writing classes. Make myself think hard about imagery and precision. Or just allow it to pour out, and then edit it.

Old favorite painting of mine...

"The Sense of Sight" by Annie Louise Swynnerton

I am going to actively...

Yes, that's actively now, (as opposed to more passively, esp. in this past year or so) learn more about things like HMR and HSP. The blessing of illness could be that it teaches you the value of your own good health. Maybe it can pull you out of a ditch that you were stuck in, if you let it.
Sowing the Seeds.

Nice gallery...

I love pictures from the Perelandra photo gallery.

Bodies are special

Love your bronchial tubes. For me, especially on my left side.
Singing Book. Body Love. Love Your Body. Love Your Lungs.
Rose energy, orange, green, white light, angelic higher healing energy.

IOAMD

Last night was awful. Now is much better. Interesting Objects At My Disposal: Library books! Take This Bread. The Happy Hooker. (It takes a long time to get the original knitting book. There is a queue.)
Laptop + internet = Thank U.

Sigh. Winter.

I ache, I'm cold, I shake, my chest hurts, but...
its temporary........,,,,,,,,,
Time for tea and covers and sleep.
Rose energy, orange, green, white light, angelic higher healing energy...