Secluded · Forest

cruitire333

Erynn Rowan Laurie is the author of Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom and A Circle of Stones: Journeys and Meditations for Modern Celts. She lives in Everett, Washington. Erynn has been a student of Irish and other Celtic cultures and mythologies for over twenty years. She has been a member of Seattle's Scottish Gaelic choir, Seirm, where she sang both alto and soprano, and has also studied Old and Modern Irish so that she could read myths and poetry in the original languages. Erynn has a deep interest in the poetic traditions of Ireland in both their historical and mythic resonances. She has written numerous articles on aspects of early Irish mythology and spirituality.

Ogam: Past and Present -- A talk on the history and development of the Irish ogam alphabet, the earliest form of written Irish. We'll cover theories of origin, linguistic roots of the letter names, common misconceptions about the character and uses of the ogam alphabet and modern developments in the use of ogam in different forms of Celtic spirituality.

Poetry and Satire in Irish Culture -- The poet has been one of the most respected - and feared - figures in Irish folk culture. Descendants of the druids, it was said that poets had the power to curse or to bless, to ruin or to raise a name to immortality. Praise and satire were among their functions and in this talk we'll examine some of the ways that poetry and satire were used by different kinds of poets in early Irish culture.

mearcstapafeed

alfrecht

Monstrous things are afoot...

Sagira is an Egyptian Mau, and probably looks something like this:

Oh so pretty!! i'm not sure what color her eyes are though. mmmkittyyyyy

Current Mood:

ecstatic

Tomorrow there's a concert by the Medieval Women's Choir and I'll be down in Seattle for that. Temps are predicted for the mid-80s and I'm thinking about going down early and taking a visit to the Japanese garden in the arboretum. Should be a lovely day for it!

Took a run of groceries over to yiaya. She's doing so-so, with the fever going up and down. Chances are we'll make a run up to Bellingham to see the doctor again on Monday.

I'll be rinsing out the five gallon buckets for the plants and transplanting them today. Then, for dinner, a lamb shoulder chop (they were on sale, yay!) with eggplant, chinese broccoli, onion and garlic, a loaf of seven-grain bread, and a glass of chianti.

Saw one of the eagles over the lake today when I walked up to the Safeway. At first I wasn't sure if it was an eagle or an osprey because the sun was in my eyes, but eventually it got close enough and at the right angle that I could see the white head and tail of a mature bald eagle. I did see one of the ospreys a couple of days ago, though.

If the weather holds until Saturday I'll probably finish up the paint job in the closet, as I'll be able to open up the windows and let the bedroom air out enough to sleep in fairly quickly. Then I can proceed with the incubation chamber setup and do some experimental work with poetic incubation and imbas forosnai type rituals. I'm excited about that one and glad that the season has finally arrived. The steel-grey overcast and the cold and rain were starting to get to me.

Tonight I have to write up a bio and a couple of workshop descriptions for the Irish Cultural Center in Phoenix so they can discuss it at their upcoming board meeting.

Plants first.

Thank you, CA Supreme Court. Now, let's hope neither of those fucking ban initiatives make the November ballot. I literally walked away from a clipboard carrier who had that in his set of petitions for consideration. And told him why. Sure, he was getting paid to hold that thing, but I could not continue. I got sick to my stomach seeing it.

Current Mood:	ecstatic
Current Music:	Permagasm - Momus - Ocky Milk

Features: Fog and low clouds that move in from the ocean during the evening and night hours, cooling the air and reducing sun exposure until it burns off. Often accompanied by breezes and light winds.

Last seen: The day before a high-pressure system formed over the Pacific Northwest and northern California.

Apparently kidnapped by the jet stream. When its ransom note is found, full payment should be rendered ASAP.

Current Mood:

hot

I still have to take a shower, go buy boxes for said brownies and package them, clean the bathroom, tidy the entryway and pack up stuff for the recital rehearsal this afternoon. Oh and make Crock Pot Cheesy Spinach Casserole and Bread Machine Sourdough Bread for dinner tonight.

I guess web surfing and a manicure are right out.

EDIT: At 10:30, I have cleaned the bathroom, vacuumed all the place that my husband didn't think necessary last night, like the entryway, served snack, did another load of dishes, clean up all the toys that the kids had already played with and packed up part of the dance costumes.

EDIT EDIT: By 2:30 I have showered, gone to the store, fed the kids, vacuumed up after feeding the kids, changed the tablecloth, made the spinach Casserole, wrapped the brownies, made the thank you cards, and decided that bread is not in the cards for this evening. Thank you Wal-Mart for cheap everything bread.

Current Mood:

stressed

i also signed up as a sponsor for greenpeace. might as well, i mean, i have been lying to them for 3+ years. and they ARE protecting the sacredness of my world. hmm.

and now i get to start writing my 6 essays, and look forward to a yoshi attack tomorrow night, and a Mochi attack friday! YAAAAY! KITTY KITTY KITTY KITTY KITTY

<3

Current Location:	mrow
Current Mood:	busy
Current Music:	sumthin

My long-winded answer:
Ah, it's not just who you voted for. It's what demographic are you - age, race, sex being the most important, but also income and some other ones. Then there's what issues are most important to you, would you vote for the dem candidate in nov who you didn't vote for in the primary, etc. Then we slice that data a bunch of different ways and give it to the boss, who interprets the data and sends it to the media companies. They're also weighted to account for known skewedness in the data, like Obama voters are more likely to respond to the polls, so we weight them down a bit to make it more like we know the real data is going to look like (from experience). We send these numbers, as well as the interpretations, to ppl in quarantine rooms at the media places we're selling it to. They're in there alone, no cell phone, not even going to the bathroom alone, and they get the numbers and begin writing stories about them. At 5:00, they're released so the networks can start putting the info together. The numbers always leak then because a whole bunch of ppl see them. But until 5:00, only the ppl in our media room and the networks' quarantined ppl see the data. How fucking cool is that?!!! :-D

And Wolf Blitzer SAYS we're important:

All of the exiting polling results from around the country are being carefully studied by McCain and his supporters as they gear up for a potential match-up and as they look for his weaknesses. Full article.

Crap, this job made me make a politics lj tag. Stupid having to take an interest. ::grumble::

Current Mood:

tired

as for my finals, i have to write three essays plus an exam for Philosophy of Religion, Two essays for Medieval Philosophy, One essay for Buddhism, and i have an exam tomorrow for Italian.

twitch twitch.

In the words of Neil Hamburger while driving Tim and Eric to their studio:

"WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT..."

I miss yoshi, but i don't know if i'll get to see him very much in the next few days... :(:(:(:(:( 

Current Location:	borderline insanity
Current Mood:	busy
Current Music:	nuthin

I'm still PO'ed at Belichick for breaking the rules as far as he did. But anyone trying to tell me the Pats didn't deserve that Super Bowl win or any of their others can kiss my ass.

Current Mood:

relieved

plus

Equals

The returning of a vampire

Current Mood:

annoyed

cruitire333

We're arranging for me to do a workshop or two at the Phoenix Irish Cultural Center, where I'll probably be doing stuff on the history of ogam and about the early Irish poetic tradition for a primarily non-Pagan audience. We're also planning a roundtable discussion or two with the local Pagan community, and I'll be available for ogam readings while I'm there as well.

I will be down there from November 13-17, so if you're in the area and would like to schedule something with me or assist in the efforts to keep me transported and fed, please get in touch with cruitire333 and work out the details with him.

Until I know exactly what I'm going to be doing I won't know for certain how much the workshops or other appearances will cost, though the readings will be my standard $40 per half hour. I'll have more details through the summer as we get them worked out.