Once more, with feeling

I'm anxious. What if I forget something?

I'm exhilarated. What miracle will occur there?

I'm harried. Why is there never enough time?

I'm sighing. Why does this event move me to tears?

I'm resentful. Why is it so far and so much work?

I'm hopeful. What will I learn this time?

I'm going. I'm going. I'm going.

Who pooped?

This site is going to make any young child giggle:

whopooped.org/

unlike the picture chosen to illustrate this post.

APOD plug

The APOD (Astronomy Picture Of the Day) site is a source of beauty and information.

antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/

Damn I've been lazy!

I've been to FM 2008, BM 2008, and a bunch of other places, and I've neglected to blog at all. It's been a good year. I have everything I need and then some. I do not know how I came by such bounty, because I know people with less who deserve it more.

OK, here's a little tidbit I recently ran across, thanks to www.dailykos.com. Apparently, there are conservatives who think that Stephen Colbert is a serious conservative:

hij.sagepub.com/cgi/conten...ct/14/2/212

Somehow it confirms my suspicions about their grasp on reality.

On Being an Optimist

Despite being old enough to know better I remain an optimist. It is not because I feel that everything has been good, or is good, or will be good. It's more because I desire things to be better and I find that optimism is the most practical way to get there.

Being a pessimist is a form of laziness. It enables one to sit on the sidelines and moan about how awful it all is, and how much worse it will become. "Why bother?" the pessimist asks. And by taking that attitude the pessimist becomes more and more accurate.

When life gets better, and sometimes it does, there is an optimist behind it. Someone who is willing to risk time and effort and safety to bring about the improvement.

It may be that pessimists are right more often than optimists. So what? The pessimist's reward for being right is that life is worse. The optimist's reward is that life is better.

I've read a lot recently about how politics is hopeless and all politicians are corrupt and so forth. Much of this is about how Obama can't be elected, or if he is elected that he will turn out to be just like any other politician.

I refuse to go down that road. I think that there is a good chance that he will be elected president. If he is, then there is no chance that he will be worse than the incumbent. And I believe that he will be far better than the business-as-usual alternative.

But this entry is not really about politics. It's about approaching life with love and a dash of faith in the possibility of joy. Start a project that might not succeed. Listen to someone who might not reciprocate.

There is nothing about being an optimist that says that you have to ignore reality. I do not advise picking up a red hot rock with your bare hands. But refusing to experience something because it might be hurtful is on the path to experiencing nothing at all. This is especially true for emotional risks.

Enough preaching. It's time to go out and enjoy the sunshine.

My pix are up from bm2007

I was really busy this year, and it was really dusty, so there are fewer pictures. Still, I have no regrets. I was there.

Check out the bm2007 set in:

www.flickr.com/photos/dr-placebo/sets/

So, why did I join BED?

Before I joined BED (Bureau of Erotic Discourse) I was relatively naive about sexual assault on the playa. I'm not in a high risk group, I had not heard any stories about sexual assault, and I liked to think utopian thoughts about Burning Man. In short, I was in denial.

As I learned more and heard more, a comment in a thread over on ePlaya led to me an early BED member, and to the formation of BED, which was started by three burner women concerned about sexual assault on the playa (and elsewhere). I was fortunate enough to help with BED's first year on the playa, and I just got hooked by the mission.

Why should I focus on sexual assault as an issue? Because it pits the physically strong yet morally corrupt against the physically weaker and trusting. Because it takes what should be a delight and turns it into fear. Because sexual assault is an especially cruel form of injustice. Because I do wish for the playa to be something better. And because it really pisses me off.

It has been an honor to work with these wonderful people, and I hope to keep doing so for years to come.

Where I'm headed

I'm going to Burning Man again. I'm going with an open mind and open heart. After this many years I can't say that I'm going with no expectations. I expect to be charmed, amazed, befriended, gifted, and hugged. I expect to work hard and play hard. I expect to have difficulty and ease, both at unpredictable times. I expect to be challenged to grow, to accept, to revel, and to dance. I expect to see friends from previous years, and to make new friends. I expect to have a good time, at least most of the time.

I'll be with CLEU camp in the walk-in area somewhere near Landfill and 3:45, pretty much like last year. If you are looking for me, look for a school bus that looks like the picture above. And come get a Cleu!

goddess quest

where is she who holds the world together?

there is no need to ask, for she stands by your side

she spins you around, lifts you up to the clouds,

and sets you gently on the rich earth

giddy and alive

my feet hurt

my feet hurt, but i gotta dance

my back aches, but i have to stretch higher

my ribs are cracked, so hold me tight

my lips are sore, so kiss me again

i'm too old to act my age, too young to know it all

i may never see the dawn, so i'll howl at the moon