Last night I read the entire first volume of Grant Morrison's the (now old) New X-Men that (e:matthew) gave me like a year ago. It was very escapist and helped me get out of my head awhile. But here's what scared me... I think I'm turning into Cassandra Nova...

So yesterday I was pretty miserably, even morbidly depressed. I slept a lot, and dreamt a lot. I thought of a lot of depressive things to write about: my total lack of ambition, my intensifying agoraphobia, my tick tick ticking biological clock (one dream I had involved losing a baby for several days in a labrynthine network of cupboards). But instead of talking about depressing depression, I will tell you a bit about one of the strange dreams I had, that involved some e-peepers. It's brief, since I kept hitting the snooze alarm on my news-tuned clock radio, which meant that the dream ended up as a Bush/Kerry debate, which was also pretty weird.

But here is how it started. I was backpacking by myself through a huge jungle nature preserve. Everything was oversized, giant leaves, spanish moss on everything (thanks south carolina for adding that coolness to my visual reservoir!) There were animals hiding here and there in the woods, including the collage-gorilla (e:matthew) made [inlink]matthew,300[/inlink]. It moved around and was gorilla-sized but was made out of tiny pieces of cut paper. This gorilla was with his family and he watched me calmly if cautiously as a trudged by with my grungy pack.

It seemed like I had been traveling a long time, everything I had on was pretty dirty, and I felt pretty seasoned. I crossed a huge ravine by walking over a fallen log and on the other side I met (e:terry) and weirdly, (e:jeremy) (jungle?). They were happy hippies who came to tour the park too. They asked me if I had touched the gorillas, as if it was the thing you absolutely had to do while you were there, and of course I hadn't. They were like, ohhh, you missed out.

So I went to sleep on a high hill and I didn't pitch a tent, I just put down a green tarp and a sleeping bag and slept out in the air. It rained on me, but as I said I was pretty used to traveling so I was only mildly annoyed. It was like I was an itinerant monk trying to mortify myself.

In the morning I woke up and sat up in the lotus position immediately and started chanting a mantra, Nam myoho renge kyo. Which is weird since I haven't chanted in years, and I never chanted this mantra, and I haven't thought about or practiced Buddhism in ages. As I was chanting, a crowd of Buddhist nuns sat down beside me, and started chanting with me. They had shaved heads and beautifully embroidered white robes. One of them on my left looked directly, intently at me, and then I don't remember any more.

Here's a little something about the mantra:
When deluded, one is called an ordinary being, but when enlightened, one is called a Buddha. This is similar to a tarnished mirror that will shine like a jewel when polished. A mind now clouded by the illusions of the innate darkness of life is like a tarnished mirror, but when polished, it is sure to become like a clear mirror, reflecting the essential nature of phenomena and the true aspect of reality. Arouse deep faith, and diligently polish your mirror day and night. How should you polish it? Only by chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime- Nichiren

This has prolly already been posted, but here is a really funny flash short bashing both candidates to the tune of woody guthries's "this land is your land", at jibjab.com . even CNN and Newsweek love it, so get with the center people! moderation or death!

Sometimes it seems that moderation in itself can be a kind of extreme.
--Andrew Bird, Weather Systems

"The beast will walk upon the earth and darkness will follow. The several races of man will be as one in their terror and destruction." Aw, that's kind of sweet. Different races coming together.
--Mayor Wilkins, reading aloud from the Books of Ascension, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 3, Episode 55.

In other news, I want a pony!

Hey Y'all! Follow this to see all the pictures from my trip down south. Matt there are aquarium pictures just for you!

hello! i'm back from the south! here is a picture that pretty much sums it up:



stay tuned for more pictures soon...