Even scientists get the munchies....

I've been thumbing through a book recently called Plant Intoxicants which basically just goes through a wide list of natural intoxicants (from coffee to opium and chocolate to fly agaric) and describes their composition, growth habits and effects on humans (and animals). It was first published in 1855 by a German baron, Ernst Von Bibra. It has been an interesting read, and quite humorous at times. The other night I decided to read the chapter on hashish. It was fun reading about the different preparations used and the ways in which different peoples ingested their cannabis. It was also quite intriguing reading about the ideas of some of the scientists/researchers of the time and how they considered race and climate to be determining factors in how the drug affected a person. At one point, the author estimates that almost three hundred million people worldwide consume hashish (in 1855 that is). Anyways, I really just wanted to share a short little section from this chapter that I found amusing. Von Bibra was discussing the experiment he undertook on himself (he decided to try it), the different effects he felt and his overall experience...

"While watching the figures assume shape in my white cloth and my study extend itself in perspective, while listening to the corporeal notes of music and experiencing an enhanced love for my child, I ate an extremely large portion of cold cuts."

Cold cuts aren't exactly my idea of good munchie food, but I guess anything works. Ha.

Xmas over

Well the xmas holiday has come and gone. I went to the always not exciting Springfield to see my family, which was nice, despite the not so fun long drive. My nephew has grown quite a lot since I last saw him nearly six months ago, and I'll have to admit he is pretty damn cute. My family seemed to understand my request to not get me useless crap, so for the most part they gave me useful things like food and socks. I made everyone cookies and some delicious chocolate cherry creme cupcakes (pictures coming later). I also got to hang out with my good friends I know from East Wind who are living in Springfield right now, which was great. I don't get to see them very often so it's always a treat. It's kinda a bummer we don't live very close together because we get along so well! Oh, and I finally got my Korean food fix while I was there. Ahhh...delicious kimchee...

Pine will be coming for a visit on New Year's Eve, so that is exciting! I'm looking forward to hanging out with him again, maybe we can work on our hoops.

Blah blah blathering. That is all for now.

A Year of Owl

Today marks exactly one year since I met Owl in person for the first time. It's not that big of a deal I guess, it's just hard for me to believe it's been a year already. On one hand I wonder how it could be only just one year because SO MUCH has happened, so much has changed, but on the other hand it just doesn't seem like it's been that long. It seems like this past year has gone by so quickly.

I have been reflecting on all the changes that have taken place since I met Owl and how different things would be had I not met him. Meeting Owl was a catalyst for some major life changes for me. Pretty much all these changes have been positive. If it hadn't been for him, I wouldn't be in this cool place I am in now and I wouldn't know the amazing, wonderful people for whom I am so incredibly grateful. I would never have met Rabbit, Wolf, Pine or Pet, all awesome people whom I adore. Also, he introduced me to a spiritual path that makes so much sense to me. It has really felt like a homecoming and when it started coming together for me, I felt like I had finally found what I had been looking for. I will be forever grateful for that. I have also gone through some big personal changes that were influenced by Owl and by our relationship. Some of his insights and my realizations during certain experiences we had together have led me to reexamine certain behaviors and thought patterns that were unnecessary or detrimental to my mental and spiritual well being. I have also developed a more positive worldview and attitude, partly as a result of dealing with the ups and downs of our relationship. Wow, it's crazy to think of how much influence he has had on my life. One whole year...

The photo is of Owl and I at a wedding last New Year's Eve, a mere week after we first met in person (we met online a few weeks earlier).

Vegan Cinnamon Almond Cookies

I've been stuck in a cookie rut for a while. All I had been making were no-bake cookies, the classic but amazingly yummy chocolate chip cookies, gingersnaps and peanut butter oatmeal cookies. Well and of course the sugar cookies Pine and I made a couple of weeks ago. But, what I had been wanting was a totally new recipe, something I had never made before. Well, about a week ago I made some almond milk and was left with a bunch of almond pulp that I didn't want to just throw out. So...almond cookies came to mind! I found a recipe in Joy of Cooking and modified it just a bit. Here's my version:

Cream together:
1 cup sugar
1 cup earth balance margarine

Add and mix well:
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1 cup almond pulp (or ground almonds)

Add, mixing with hands:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Chill for a couple of hours, then roll out and cut (I just used a small glass to make circles). Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees. I got almost six dozen 1-2 inch cookies.

They are pretty tasty, and I love the size. They obviously didn't rise (well, no leavener!) so they are fairly flat, but they are so cute and compact. I like 'em!

Merry Yule!

Ah, the winter solstice is finally upon us. I have been waiting for this day for a while now. The shortest day of the year, the moment after which the light will start growing again. The moment of the rebirth of the sun and the slow return to life. Lately I have been feeling the lack of sunlight down deep. I have been bundling up and hibernating and taking time to contemplate and reflect. Tis the season for such things I suppose. Thankfully I have not yet begun to feel sad for lack of sunlight and warmth, that usually doesn't happen until February or so. I am so very thankful though, knowing that now the sun will be in the sky a little longer each day, instead of the other way 'round. So, tonight I will celebrate the return of the sun. For now, I think I will pop outside to watch the moon, it is quite lovely. I wish everyone a very wonderful solstice and hope you all will enjoy the return of the light as much as I will! Goodnight!

Burning Man, 2008 Festival Fun

I have something exciting to announce.....I'm going to Burning Man!!!! WOOOOOO! I am SO excited! Just recently I had decided that since one of my lifelong goals is to have rewarding/enriching/enlightening/amazing/fun experiences that I should spend next year doing just that. The year is mostly open anyway and I'll be traveling to and fro around the country, so I decided that maybe I should just hit up some festivals while I'm at it. If we can make it happen, Rabbit, Wolf and I will be going to Starwood in upstate New York and I might make it out to Pagan Spirit Gathering in Ohio for Summer Solstice, unless I'm still busy camping in Oregon. Recently I had been considering Burning Man as well, since it just sounds like a very unique, crazy experience and I thought I'd want to go at least once in my life. Why not next year!? I hadn't seriously considered it until I found out that Pet was also thinking about going. I did some research a couple of days ago and the more I read about it and looked at pictures, the more I realized I wanted to go. I really just want to experience it all for myself. So, I called Pet up and....we're going! Well, we aren't 100% sure yet, he has to make sure to get off from work...but, tentatively, WE'RE GOING TO BURNING MAN!!! YEEEEAAAAHH!

The photo is of Black Rock City in 2006, and is here on Flickr.

Sweaty Vag Soap and Jesus Buttplugs (OR Hot Muffs)

I'm really not going to write about vag soap and buttplugs (although they are both great topics), these things are just something the opening cook and I talked about this morning at work. I think my talk of hot muffs brought it up. You see, I make muffins every morning I work, so the word muff is used liberally when I am around. Lately I have been known to yell out something like, "Hot muffs! Hot muffs! Watch out I've got some hot muffs!" whilst carrying the muffins pans still hot from the oven through the kitchen. Y'know, I wouldn't want anyone getting burned from the muffin hotness. This morning I made some delicious peach raspberry coconut (with a hint of orange!) muffins and cut one up to try. I took the plate back to the kitchen so everyone else could try it and when the kitchen manager refused it, the owner said, "What's the matter? You don't want a bite of her muff?" Ah...that could probably constitute sexual harassment, but seeing as how the kitchen manager and owner are boinking, I don't think he cared. Wow, I work with some awesome people...

New Skill to be Acquired: Barista!

I'm feeling good! I've been looking for another job for the past couple of months, and I finally found one today! I'm so glad! I will now be a barista at an awesome locally owned coffee shop. It was pretty easy too, I picked up an app yesterday, handed it directly to the owner today and we talked right then. I'll be starting next week, woot! I'll have the chance to work at their location downtown, or at their kiosks around town. This change will be really nice I think. Something new and different at least. And it means I'll have some coffee shop experience, so finding a job wherever else may be easier. I'm pretty glad to have found a job at another local business (woo for not working at Starbucks!). I was beginning to think I'd have to go corporate because I wasn't having much luck. Corporate working, while it has its perks, just doesn't seem as fun! Yeah new job!

Make less babies

I found this on Global Orgasm and thought it was a great statement that I wanted to share:

"Let’s make children even more valued by making fewer of them, before the pressures of overpopulation drive our children to kill each other. "

Flickr Love

Veinous
Originally uploaded by DaddyNewt

I've been spending a lot of time on Flickr lately. There are some really amazing photographers and images out there. The creativity just boggles my mind. If I spend a few minutes just surfing around, I always find something really awesome and I end up feeling very inspired. Something I love about Flickr is that not only are there some amazingly creative photographs floating around, but it's just a great resource. It's almost like a warehouse of images. I love using it for plant, fungi, bird and animal identification. There are a lot of group pools dedicated to just that, so all the photos in those pools are usually correctly labeled and tagged. So if I'm looking for a photo of Amanita muscaria, it's there. Or if I need to verify that it was a Cedar Waxwing I saw (one of my favorite birds btw), that's there as well. This awesome photo of some kind of winter squash is one of my favorites.

My love for William Orbit will never die

Have I mentioned how much I love William Orbit? I would even have his beautiful and musically talented babies. And you all know how much I don't like babies. Wow. I mean, WOW. This music puts me in such an amazing place, it just blows me away every time I hear it.

Of all his music I have heard, I love Hello Waveforms the best. Such beautiful music. I just listened to They Live in the Sky on Pandora, and fell in love all over again.

Go here now. Listen to Sea Green. For me. Maybe you'll want to make sweet baby makin' love to William Orbit too. le sigh...

Fire Hooping

I'll be doing this one day...

Domesticity and Fun in St. Louis

This is me being the Domestic Goddess. The tough, fiercely independent Domestic Goddess, who sometimes likes to make sugar cookies. Delightfully awesome and tasty sugar cookies.

So, as I am sure is obvious by the photograph, I had a good time in St. Louis this past week. The sugar cookie making madness was enjoyed by both Pine and I. He was not afraid to step in and get his hands covered in flour. It was quite cute. I learned that Pine likes to bake, so score yet another point for Pine and his awesome-ness (first the fire-eating, now the baking! whew). It took us at least a couple of hours since I made the whole recipe, so there will be no shortage of sugar cookies at either of our houses anytime soon (that is unless my roommate who is even more of a whore for baked goods than I am gets a hold of them). We even mixed up several colors of frosting and laboriously iced each cookie. That doesn't mean they look very good...I mean really, there is not much finesse involved in icing cookies with a butter knife. However, they are quite colorful and very tasty, and that is all that really matters. It had been a while since I was so domestic. My other domestic activities of the week included making yummy vegan enchiladas, leek soup, late-night pancakes (great munchie food btw), a couple breakfasts and cleaning Pine's kitchen. I know how bachelor men's houses tend to be, and I need a clean kitchen to work in, so, voila! Clean kitchen.

I also spent a lot of time hooping this past week. Pine and I watched a few basic hooping videos, and while Pine was out one evening I finally got the hang of the one hand beam me up, although I have only perfected one rotation at a time. It made me feel good to learn a trick so quickly. Pine was impressed I think ;-) I can definitely feel where the hoop has been rolling around my hips, I even have a bruise already. Ha.

Remember the Shoes video that everyone loved so much a year or so ago? I remembered that I was very impressed with the fire hoopers towards the end, so I looked it up and watched it again with Pine. The fire hooping is pretty hot I have to say. One day, that'll be me.

Pine and I didn't go out much, except for Friday night. We met up with our cool friend Pet, who we have both been wanting to hang out with. I'm going to go off on a tangent here and tell the story of how I met Pet....
Last May, on a lark, (which seems like eons ago now) I went to a Beltane festival at Ozark Avalon with Owl, who is already very familiar with the land and folks who spend time there, unlike me. One of the first people we ran across after we had arrived and set up camp was a tall, tan man wearing nothing but sunglasses and a lacy sarong draped around his hips with a bikini clad woman in tow. I was only slightly taken aback by such a character, as Owl had informed me I would see oddly dressed folks and strange situations at this event. So, I was introduced to Pet. To be honest with you I wasn't very interested at first. I was actually quite guarded for most of the time I was there. I didn't speak with him much at all really and didn't think about him again until a couple of months later when I got a random phone call from an unknown number. The man said he was looking for Owl (who at one point was giving out my number as a way to get a hold of him) and we got to talking. It turns out he was the scantily clad man I had met months earlier at OA. He remembered me as the pretty woman Owl had brought along. It was a nice conversation, albeit a little odd considering the circumstances. He stopped by my work one morning a few days later when he was in town and I almost didn't recognize him because he had so many clothes on! He encouraged me to call him later on since we seemed to get on so well, and I was open to making a new friend, so...we started talking and became instant friends. At one point he told me something that a friend of his had said, "good people know good people". So true. We met again at Pagan Pride Day right around the time of Mabon this September and spent some time together chatting. So, it was nice to finally get to see him again.

So, like I was saying, Pine and I met Pet at a pool hall (where we did actually play a game and have some drinks) in preparation for going to an event which Pet had suggested, Journey to Bethlehem. This is something that he apparently used to go to years ago when some of his family members attended the same church. He wanted to go experience it again with friends he knew would understand the silliness of it all (he said to us at one point during our "journey" that he could "smell the hypocrisy", hehe). Wow. It was quite an odd experience. I think now I have had enough "church" to last me for quite a while. So after "walking to Bethlehem" outside in the very cold weather and being slightly disturbed, we headed back to reality. Pet suggested hitting up the casino just for fun. I wasn't ready to go home yet, and really, what would be a better way to end such an odd Friday night? So, away we went. We didn't actually go inside the casino itself, but we wandered all about and people watched. They all looked kinda sad, or drunk, or both. It wasn't overly exciting, but as I told Pine, it was a good way to balance out the church craziness. It was just great getting to see Pet again! I'd love to spend more time with both Pet and Pine, we seem to make a great trio.

So, that was my week in St. Louis. It was great getting away from my house for a while. I was actually able to sleep rather well at Pine's house. It's so much quieter there than here, without all those crazy dogs running about. I swear this house is like a circus....

Sugar Cookies and My Hooping Beginnings

I'm in St. Louis for a visit right now, just keeping myself entertained while Pine is away for a few hours. I mixed up dough for sugar cookies this morning (frosting to be made next) so this evening we will go crazy with the cookies. I am so excited! When I was little, my family had a great sugar cookie tradition. Once a year during the holidays, we would gather in the kitchen and make tons of sugar cookies. My mom would mix up the dough and my sister and I would help her roll it out and cut them into shapes for baking. We would make all different colors of frosting and pull out our ridiculously large selection of sprinkles that we had acquired throughout the year. Then my dad would come along at some point and we'd all sit down at the table with the cooled cookies to frost and decorate all of them. It got quite crazy at times, with all sorts of weird colors and oddly decorated shapes. It was great fun! I really wanted to do that again this year since it's been a few years and Pine thought it was a great idea. So I'm really looking forward to it. I'll definitely get some photos!

Last night Pine and I made some hoops! It was quite easy and they turned out well. I've been playing with mine quite a bit, although I pretty much just have the basic hooping action down. I've been watching videos for some help, although I'm not finding a whole lot of super basic videos. It'd be helpful to have someone around who really knew what they were doing. It's still fun though and I feel like I'm getting a good workout when I do it. So, woo for hooping!

Did I mention I'm going to start hooping?

That's right kids, I think I've found the toy I've been looking for. Pine and I will be acquiring the necessary supplies next week to start making hoops. I'm so excited! I've been spending a lot of time reading about hooping and watching videos. Here's one that, while not very trick heavy, is just sweet and so like me.



Some other cool hooping videos:
hooping at Santa Monica Beach
Bassnectar Jam
Spiral at Earth Dance Festival
Spiral Dance at Burning Man 2006
Hoopnoxious w/ LEDs
The Good Vibe Hoop Tribe
Blindfolded hooping to Old Dirty Bastard (you'll like this Willow ;-)

My hooping links on del.icio.us

Germans are fun. Really...

hehe...