A friend jonniebard  sent me this website, which is an interesting interactive art piece. The concept is to write a digital "post it" about a good deed you have done for others. Enough good deed and we can create peace. Or at least peace of mind. I read through many and they are expected things like "helped an elderly person carry bags" and "gave money to a charity" but many of them I found disturbing- the Christian ones.



There are many notes that say things like:



"I pray."

"Jesus within me gives me peace."

"I am a Christian- that is my good deed."





So, being a Christian makes them automatically good people? WTF?

I Believe…



1. That it is not important how human beings got here, or what might happen after we die, but that it is the here and now that bears all importance.



2. I believe that both Heaven & Hell are here on Earth and which one you live in depends on your view of life and humankind.



3. That the population of the world is vastly overcrowded and to avoid a mankind threatening crisis, humans collectively are going to have to take drastic measures to slow down or even stop breeding.



4. That there is no meaning of life- that it is a journey.



5. In doing, not talking.



6. That fanaticism about ANYTHING (particularly religion) is a form of mental poison.



7. That 80% of what US public schools teach in a high school curriculum is either useless or bullshit.



8. That being bored with life is a serious character flaw.

9. That the sexual orientation of human beings is unclassifiable and should not be labeled as gay, straight, bisexual, etc.



10. That random- or planned- acts of senseless beauty are more valuable than diamonds.



11. That if you have never questioned your sexuality, your religion, your fundamental way of life- you’re not thinking hard enough.



12. That every person should do one thing every year that scares the living crap out of them.



13. That to question, criticize, try to change and ultimately rise up against one’s government is the most patriotic act a person or group can do.



14. That we are blessed to live in an age of flourishing technology and that we should never take fro granted the power we have to communicate in this age.



15. That beureucratic dogma filled policies and rules are just screaming to be broken.



16. That doing fantastic things in life is possible for anyone but society has conditioned people to think that any path that strays from the “normal” is frightening or too difficult.



17. That human beings are capable of enjoying and expressing bounds of happiness and pleasure, and that enjoying these things fully is part of our natural experience here on Earth. To deny ourselves joy is unnatural.



18. That strict monogamy among couples does not work for most people.



19. That everyone who is reading this should think of one thing they would like to do before they die.



20. Now go do it.

After Faerieworlds things got dramatic around here so I have not been posting to my journal due to my stomach being in a constant knot.

THE GOOD NEWS:

During the Faun concert Saturday night at FW, Alec and I decided, lets get married, the legal way. At the very least let's have another wedding. November is our 12 year anniversary and we both believe you should renew relationship vows every decade because basically, if you are still the same person you were a decade ago, well, that's lame. So we are planning a wedding and honeymoon :-) The sickeningly cute part was that we both looked at each other and said, in unison; "Hey, let's get married."

THE BAD NEWS WITH A GOOD END:

Alec went to Panama on business and 12 hours after arriving, he contracted Dengue Fever. While not life threatening in most cases, it is still pretty worrisome. The first three days are the critical period. Being separated from my sweetheart by thousands of miles and not being able to care for him was making me crazy. BUT- as of one hour ago- the news is that Alec is past the icky stage and recovering very quickly. He is even surprisingly functional now- though I made him promise to stay in bed and recouperate as often as possible.



The business trip is to sell one of our properties in Panama- the big 20th floor bad ass one. We don't need to sell it- but we would like to use the cash out to buy a little place perhaps in Peru or Ecuador. We have an interested buyer but it is a matter of figuring out the proper banking and such. If all goes well, we should have enough to invest in another rental property and still have enough left over to play with. He might not know this but I am planning on taking him on a nice vacation when we do get the house sold- maybe take my sweetie on a trip to the southern tip of Argentina because he has always wanted to see it- Terra del Fuego.



Hmm, didn't one of my LiveJournal friends take a cruise to Patagonia a year or two back? Crap, I can't remember who! If it's you, I'd love to chat about planning for something like that. Please drop me a line. Hugs :-)



UNIMPORTANT BUT MENTIONABLE

In other news, I just registered for SteamCon. Yay. Now I must piece together steampunk costumey things.

Anyone want to join us at SteamCon

It's Friday morning and Faeriworlds starts in just a few hours. I am quite honestly, very nervous. I did not put as much effort and time into making my booth look fabulous as I would have liked. In fact, I fear I am a booth with shabby curtains and some makeshift tablecloths, and not much else, but it's my first big vending show- perhaps I am being too hard on myself. To throw a little sand in the delicate machinery of life, my chronic insomnia has decided to rear it's unsleepable head and I have gotten exactly 7 hours of sleep in three days and two nights. I got zero sleep last night. I am not so much stressed, as just... an insomniac. I have been since I can remember. And so I sit here in my quiet bedroom, the hum of air conditioning and the lull of my husband's snore making a kind of weird rhythm. All I want to do is sleep.

So, the day before Faerieworlds, I get an email from one of my favorite authors. My publisher put him in contact with me- which is great, but the sucky part is that I cannot say who it is! I am sworn to secrecy because there is something that might happen that I am not allowed to talk about either. It's a good thing though! A great thing! An Oh My God, Seriously? thing! But, holy shit, he like, talked to me! I'm over the moon :-) Ok, I won't tell you who it is, but I'll drop hints.



So, when this Faerieworlds madness is done, I am going to be kicking my writing gears into um.. gear. Hardcore.

My publisher is interested in the new book idea, and is talking a possible advance. Not a big one, but still, an advance. For someone like me, a noob, that is the bee's knees.



In other news, it is just hours before Faerieworlds and I am still not packed completely. Plus, I had to make some last minute costuming fixes, like the fact that my top hat is too small for my head, so I fixed some straps to it. I found Alec's old Scottish costume thing, and made some adjustments to the doublet but it kind of looks a little like a midieval bomber jacket. It is going to be wicked hot at the festival grounds and I hope I don't get heat stroke.



Wish me luck.