Birfday! | Ahoy, Seattle People!
Oct. 3rd, 2007 02:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lwoodYes! It's my birthday! I've made it around the sun another time...so worship me.
;)
Thanks for all of your well wishes, they keep my heart warm.
But speaking of hearts, today I rounded up the IT Department of the Mad Scientists' Home and we went to a local soul food establishment where the food was delightful. To offset the fried chicken, we walked the mile-plus back to the office.
As we came in, just ahead of us was Dr. B--, one of our cardiology folks with an interest in lipids. I allowed, in his earshot, "--not that Doctor B-- would approve..." Knowing, as I pitched my voice to catch his ear, that Doctor B-- is himself a Southern gentleman, and might have a thing to say in defense of his native cuisine.
He turned, and I explained our lunch.
Dr. B-- proclaimed, in lofty tones, "God never said you couldn't have all the grease you wanted once a week."
So there you go. Our foray has been blessed, or at least not actively cursed.
Tonight there will be sushi, which is also blessed.
I have packed my suitcase for Seattle, including the class supplies (although not the mirror, scissors, and glue;![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dpaxson will bring these to dinner, and all will be well). It is sitting in my closet, as it will have to come with me to work tomorrow in order to make it to the plane just after work.
erynn999, shall faeryl and I eat in SFO, or had you a plan when we got to SEA? Alas, that Elvis will have hung up his knives for the evening by the time we land...
But, you Seattle People! Who among you would like dinner witherynn999, faeryl, and I, with possible guest appearances by alfrecht? Speak up, claim your mealtimes (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday all still available--Monday is off-limits to ensure we make the airport), and let us feast!
Also, note to self: need more raven t-shirts, as they are now well outnumbered by the otters and there must be parity. Self, you are going to Seattle, Land That Raven Built. This should be trivial. Get one or more. Perhaps even listen to the corner of the Peanut Gallery that's suggesting red and black. Silly Peanut Gallery.
Okay, I have had fried chicken, collard greens, yams, macaroni & cheese, corn muffins, and lemonade. I want a nap.
-- Lorrie
;)
Thanks for all of your well wishes, they keep my heart warm.
But speaking of hearts, today I rounded up the IT Department of the Mad Scientists' Home and we went to a local soul food establishment where the food was delightful. To offset the fried chicken, we walked the mile-plus back to the office.
As we came in, just ahead of us was Dr. B--, one of our cardiology folks with an interest in lipids. I allowed, in his earshot, "--not that Doctor B-- would approve..." Knowing, as I pitched my voice to catch his ear, that Doctor B-- is himself a Southern gentleman, and might have a thing to say in defense of his native cuisine.
He turned, and I explained our lunch.
Dr. B-- proclaimed, in lofty tones, "God never said you couldn't have all the grease you wanted once a week."
So there you go. Our foray has been blessed, or at least not actively cursed.
Tonight there will be sushi, which is also blessed.
I have packed my suitcase for Seattle, including the class supplies (although not the mirror, scissors, and glue;
dpaxson will bring these to dinner, and all will be well). It is sitting in my closet, as it will have to come with me to work tomorrow in order to make it to the plane just after work. erynn999, shall faeryl and I eat in SFO, or had you a plan when we got to SEA? Alas, that Elvis will have hung up his knives for the evening by the time we land...But, you Seattle People! Who among you would like dinner with
erynn999, faeryl, and I, with possible guest appearances by alfrecht? Speak up, claim your mealtimes (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday all still available--Monday is off-limits to ensure we make the airport), and let us feast!Also, note to self: need more raven t-shirts, as they are now well outnumbered by the otters and there must be parity. Self, you are going to Seattle, Land That Raven Built. This should be trivial. Get one or more. Perhaps even listen to the corner of the Peanut Gallery that's suggesting red and black. Silly Peanut Gallery.
Okay, I have had fried chicken, collard greens, yams, macaroni & cheese, corn muffins, and lemonade. I want a nap.
-- Lorrie
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 09:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 10:15 pm (UTC)Sea Otter totemic tchotchkes are harder, given that they're still extinct in much of their former range, but possible; I have a pair of (for-the-tourist-trade) spirit bowls from my last trip to Vancouver Island: one Raven, one definitely Sea Otter.
Some day I do want something in Land Otter (kushtaka) but that's going to require a trip clear up to Alaska, as kushtaka is specific to the Tlingit as far as I know--and a bit harder to whitewash into tourist acceptability than Raven is.
-- Lorrie
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Date: 2007-10-04 12:52 am (UTC)And having grown up in the PNW, the NWC art styles tend to be the way I visualize landvaettir anyway. What? Me, syncretic? :)
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Date: 2007-10-04 05:58 am (UTC)And having grown up in the PNW, the NWC art styles tend to be the way I visualize landvaettir anyway. What? Me, syncretic? :)
HEY! You are listening to the wights of your odal ground. Syncretic? Maybe, but in the way one might be if one wishes to appeal to one's foster-parents.
-- Lorrie
I dunno if I's want this particular otter.................
Date: 2007-10-04 12:02 pm (UTC)Physically, kushtaka are shape-shifters capable of assuming either human form or the form of an otter. In some accounts, a kushtaka is able to assume the form of any species of otter; in others, only one. Accounts of their behaviour seem to conflict with one another. In some stories, kushtaka are cruel creatures who take delight in tricking poor Tlingit sailors to their deaths. In others, they are friendly and helpful, frequently saving the lost from death by freezing. In many stories, the kushtaka save the lost individual by distracting them with curiously otter-like illusions of their family and friends as they transform their subject into a fellow kushtaka, thus allowing him to survive in the cold. Naturally, this is counted a mixed blessing. However, kushtaka legends are not always pleasant. In some legends it is said the kushtaka will imitate the cries of a baby or the screams of a woman to lure victims to the river. Once there, the kushtaka either kills the person and tears them to shreds or will turn them into another kushtaka.
Since the kushtaka mainly preys on small children, it has been thought by some that it was used by Tlingit mothers to keep their children from wandering close to the ocean by themselves.
Sparrow
Re: I dunno if I's want this particular otter.................
Date: 2007-10-04 05:03 pm (UTC)I've read original Tlingit materials on kushtaka--Wikipedia is essentially correct, but...insufficiently nuanced and appreciative of ambivalence.
While there are stories of kushtaka challenging shamans or even whole villages (and either side may win these challenges), other stories are of a "finding lost people" motif, or "defender of tribal mores" motif, or a braid of several.
When kushtaka was given his shapeshifting power by Raven, his task was to find lost people--but whether that meant taking the target back to a human village or to the kushtaka village...is strictly up to the Land Otter Man, and may come with conditions typical of a brush with Otherworld people. Also, as a person like other people, a given kushtaka may come back to the family it had known as human and help them through hard times. How many more fish might you catch in an otherwise lean year if you had an otter helping set your net?
I've had reason to study kushtaka. They fit, in a way, into the mytho-ecological niche as mermaids did before reconstructed by Victorians and Disney. Not-land, not-water, not-animal, not-man--liminal. You might not come back, but you might, and you might even come home with a story and a shiny.
Very descriptive of the Anglo-Saxon ior rune, as I currently reckon the concept. Shifty, has his own rules, but the day might yet be made. Ior has a slightly more beneficient "feel" to it, though.
*toothy grin*
-- Lorrie
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Date: 2007-10-03 09:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 10:11 pm (UTC)The entire Pacific Northwest is The Land That Raven Built. He figures large in indigenous tales of that region.
-- Lorrie
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Date: 2007-10-03 10:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 10:16 pm (UTC)-- Lorrie
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Date: 2007-10-03 10:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 10:16 pm (UTC)-- Lorrie
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Date: 2007-10-03 10:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 10:16 pm (UTC)-- Lorrie
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Date: 2007-10-03 10:33 pm (UTC)may you celebrate many more birthdays for many years to come.
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Date: 2007-10-03 11:04 pm (UTC)-- Lorrie
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Date: 2007-10-03 11:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-03 11:35 pm (UTC)-- Lorrie
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Date: 2007-10-03 11:44 pm (UTC)Greatest. Pope. Ever.
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Date: 2007-10-03 11:52 pm (UTC)I'll have to round up five Discordians and ask, at which point I will have twenty-five answers, the names of several Popes willing to cop to these things, and a invitation from Eris for Idunna to stop by for a visit and to please bring more apples.
8-)
You still would rule more than any of these, natch.
-- Lorrie
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Date: 2007-10-03 11:56 pm (UTC)I like Her.
And I can only imagine what a Bacon Apple Pie made by Her would be like. Now that would be Mighty.
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Date: 2007-10-04 12:11 am (UTC)Well, you know, as long as it were Iðunn's apples, obviously we're getting some slices off the Sæhrímnir-slaughter of a few nights ago (ain't bacon iffen it ain't cured) and other Mighty Mighty Ingredients.
Mmmmm...
-- Lorrie
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Date: 2007-10-04 04:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 12:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 12:11 am (UTC)-- Lorrie
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Date: 2007-10-04 12:13 am (UTC)A cup of Banyuls for your safe return!
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Date: 2007-10-04 12:18 am (UTC)Hear, hear!
A cup of Banyuls for your safe return!
*googles* Oh, hey! I think I'd like that!
-- Lorrie
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Date: 2007-10-04 01:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 05:56 am (UTC)-- Lorrie
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Date: 2007-10-04 02:34 am (UTC)Happy birthday. (ugh!)
Happy birthday. (ugh!)
Dump your foes in boggy lakes,
What a savage tan that makes!
Happy birthday. (ugh!)
Happy birthday. (ugh!)
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Date: 2007-10-04 05:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 03:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 06:00 am (UTC)-- Lorrie
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Date: 2007-10-04 03:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 06:00 am (UTC)Mind you, the other not-home place I love dearly is the Southwest. Clearly I shall need at least three homes to make this work...
-- Lorrie
Happy Birthday!!
Date: 2007-10-04 05:01 am (UTC)Re: Happy Birthday!!
Date: 2007-10-04 06:01 am (UTC)-- Lorrie
In honor of your birthday
Date: 2007-10-04 06:21 am (UTC)Here you go. More verses than you ever wanted!
Happy Birthday! (UHH!) Happy Birthday! (UHH!)
Death and gloom and black despair
People dying everywhere
Happy Birthday! (UHH!) Happy Birthday! (UHH!)
Now you are the age you are
Your demise cannot be far
May the candles on your cake
burn like cities in your wake
Burn the Castle and storm the keep
Kill the Women but SAVE THE SHEEP!
May your deeds with sheep and yaks
equal those with sword and axe
Your servants steal, your wife's untrue
Your children plot to murder you
They stole your gold, your sword, your house
They stole your sheep, but not your spouse
so you're 29 again
don't tell lies to your good friend
So another year has passed
don't look now they're gaining fast!
Black Death has just struck your town
you yourself feel quite run-down
We brought linen, white as cloud
Now we'll sit and sew your shroud!
So far death you have bypassed
Don't look back it's gaining fast
I'm a leper, can't you see
Have a birthday kiss from me
Burn, then rape by firelight
Add -romance- to life tonight!
Birthdays come but once a year,
Marking time as Death draws near
Now you've lived another year,
And your death is drawing near.
Raise your cup of bitter cheer,
Make the barman eat his ear
Fear and gloom and darkness but
no one found out YOU KNOW WHAT
You're a period cook, its true
ask the beetles in the stew
Now your jail-bait days are done
let's go out and have some fun!
You must marry very soon
baby's due the next full moon
Were I sitting in your shoes
I'd go out and sing the blues
Tho you're turning 29
age to you is like fine wine
Now you've lived another year
age to you is like stale beer
Long ago your hair turned grey
now it's falling out, they say
It's your birthday never fear
You'll be dead this time next year
See the wrinkles on your face
Like the pattern of fine lace
Indigestion's what you get
From the enemies you 'et
This one lesson you must learn
FIRST you pillage, THEN you burn
While you eat your birthday stew
We will sack a town for you
Death will come before the dawn
Now's the time to party on!
People starving on the earth,
Go ahead, eat your dessert,
Rape the horses while they sleep,
See the women wail and weep
Happy Birthday!
Re: In honor of your birthday
Date: 2007-10-04 05:06 pm (UTC)-- Lorrie
no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 04:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 05:07 pm (UTC)-- Lorrie
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Date: 2007-10-05 03:29 am (UTC)The main difficulty is simply that, though I can be free in the evenings, I'm up near Green Lake, which makes downtown (where I assume you probably are) about a 40 minute-ish bus ride away, and not something I'm really up for after dark.
Alas. :(
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Date: 2007-10-05 02:12 pm (UTC)If it's too complicated, it's too complicated, but I know I only stay sane on family visits by having friends in the area that I can visit, so.
-- Lorrie
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Date: 2007-10-04 04:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 05:08 pm (UTC)-- Lorrie