Large Full Moon

Yesterday evening had the largest full moon of the year. My partner and I walked through our Southgate neighborhood to see the Christmas lights on our way to Rice Village. We found ourselves talking to a woman who was putting up her lights with the help of laborers.

"I am an agnostic." -I said at one point of the conversation, which seemed to tilt heavily towards that one deity that pulls relentlessly like an irresistible gravitational force. It seems no social interactions are immune.

"Really," -she said. "Do you know why you don't believe in God?"

I hurried across the street before I could hear the answer.

What kind of world would it be if Atheists proselytized?

There were other parts of the conversation that took place in the light of that very full moon. For instance, the woman pointed out that the laborers were "good people", in her estimation, because "...they believed in God."

It occurred to me that many people in Texas would think that atheists cannot be good people, because, they are atheists.

Also, the woman said that Obama couldn't really accomplish much because the Presidency was not a powerful office. "The President isn't very powerful, really."

I pointed out that Obama could accomplish a great deal with the proper, broad support of a great many people. Also, I thought to myself, Bush managed to destroy a great deal with this supposedly un-important office. That gravitational force truly does work its spell on one's judgement.

When we got to Rive Village we purchased round, glass ornaments for our artificial Christmas tree. I may be an Atheist, but, I still believe in Christmas; or at least, commerce.

The Party Dec 6th

I was invited to the deck that evening at our friends home. They live in Midtown, but the light pollution did little to detract from the view of Venus and Jupiter.

There were impressive card tricks performed by a professional. I helped prepare the hors d'oeuvres before the party. I had a conversation with someone who was concerned about the financial markets. O.J. Simpson's sentence was discussed.

My partner and I had a conversation with another psychiatrist about life in Houston. She sat down next to me in a chair she was surprised to discover swiveled. Houston is very metropolitan. It reminded her of Virginia, somewhat conservative, where she was from. She had a husband and said that Houston was a good place to raise a family.

More liberal people have to move here to change the politics. It was agreed. Her husband wasn't a psychiatrist.

Spanish

Yesterday, the 8th, I was phone-banking for the Chris Bell campaign. I was able to use my Spanish language skills, limited though they are. I spoke with the voter's mother. Apparently he was in school. Hopefully, we will try again later.

There were, as always, maps of the district for the State Senate Seat that Chris Bell is hoping to win. It is a crazy, curvy district; an "S" that begins quite small but then takes steroids and continues to Louisiana from Downtown Houston. It resembles a piece of modern art more than a district. I like to think of the districts as a plate of spaghetti thrown against the wall. That's what they look like.

We are hoping that Chris Bell wins this runoff election to help ensure that legislation that is not pro-equality is defeated. From what I understand, the HRC and Karl Bach have helped a great deal. I think 37 thousand doors have been knocked on.

Here's hoping for a Pro-Equality Texas!

Chakra

The Chakra is a wheel or vortex of energy. There are several in the human body. They follow a vertical line up the back and to the crown of the head. They seem to represent a hierarchy of consciousness.

I have noticed this in many conversations I have had over the years: If I introduce an idea that someone doesn't want aired, they belittle it, deflect attention from it, or ignore it. This action is from grown adults; people with advanced degrees and impressive careers. In George Orwell's book, 1984, a great effort is made to simplify the language so that many ideas simply cannot be expressed. Thought-control is not just a fixture in Orwell's book, where thought-control was combined with fear.

Totalitarian systems of government are successful at keeping people at their most primitive state of consciousness. Reason, the verb, is simply eliminated. Would this be a more base Chakra, or a lower consciousness? Does totalitarianism seek to make enlightenment impossible? How often have I heard the very idea of finding yourself belittled.

Perhaps this base Chakra could be called the fleeing-perceived-danger Chakra. It is a constant state of fear. Was it ever possible for any society to have all possibility of danger or attack from outside removed? Call it Code Orange or heightened vigilance.

There was the ambitious effort to create more enemies in Orwell's book. Eurasia would switch from ally to enemy and back again. It is important to note that the population would never question this. Aquiesence is necessary. All scarce resources were mobilized to fight. The population suffered great hardships, not least of which was the loss of self; no Chakras there.

Beauty is destroyed in totalitarianism. The possibility of an elevated Chakra is removed. The two things are related; beauty and Chakra.

A Current Project

I am currently learning Spanish. I resolved to learn this language at the beginning of 2008 because we were planning a trip to Buenos Aires. The version of Spanish that is spoken there is somewhat different from what I am learning.

Yesterday, on the plane, while we returned from Washington D.C., I studied my notes for the duration of the flight. I find that planes are an excellent place to study because you are literally trapped at your seat, pretty much. Sometimes you have to ignore a crying baby. I can do that.

I had taken notes on some vocabulary from Spanish books I had been reading. Also, notes on one of the tenses.

I am using a book called: 501 Spanish Verbs, by Barron's.

Today, I used a computer program called Before You Know It Delux. I type phrases and verb conjugations into it. I usually study from a stack of a little over 100 cards that I have typed. The software creates a BFYKI file. It is good to make a back up.

I spent 4 hours on drilling my flash cards today. I look at the Spanish or English side of the card and type in what the meaning is in the alternate language. The program keeps track of your score, adding or deducting according to the accuracy of my answer. All the cards in the stack have to be at a certain score level before you advance to the next stage, a variation on drilling.

Also, I am using a very good text book on the Spanish language called: Ultimate Spanish, published by Living Language. It's the Beginner-Intermediate level. I am very happy with this text book. I ordered it over the internet. Although I am only up to chapter 10, I am not discouraged.

Also, I listen to audio books in Spanish.

The Project

Plymouth is a town in New Hampshire through which run the railroad and Pemigewasset River. It has a small-town square with a doughnut shop on one end and a diner right out of the 30s on the other. There is a jewelry store and a white church with steeple.

Nestled in the foothills of the White Mountains, the town is adorned by gorgeous colored leaves in the Fall. It has steep hills to challenge bicyclists and joggers. And it is graced by the presence of Plymouth State University.

When I was attending it was still just a College. I majored in Applied Computer Science so that I could get a good-paying job. And I minored in Music, which was my first passion.

I graduated with good SAT scores from a Catholic High School, also in New Hampshire. So, I had my pick of colleges. But, Plymouth had the best music department I had seen of all the colleges I went to in person to check out. The best. And over the four-and-a-half years I was there, I made quite a contribution to the department though my performances. The musicianship classes were quite rewarding. And I spent a lot of time in the Music and Theater Departments, across the street from that 30's diner, in a town where at least one of the professors had a big, tall hairdo like the fashion from the 50's and she didn't look out of place.

In order to graduate I had to finish my Senior Programming Project. I majored in Applied Computer Science. I had to get an "A" in order to graduate with a degree due to the low grades I had earned in my other classes in my Major.

Considering my G.P.A., this, in the words of the Computer Science department chair, would be "...by the skin of my teeth." I designed an ambitious project related to my Minor.

It was a program written in PASCAL, a language designed to teach students the concepts necessary to be good programmers. The program was designed to drill musicians on musical intervals, which relates to music theory.

I remember spending the days and sometimes nights on the computer debugging and typing in code for my Senior Project.

In the words of the Department Chair, who was my mentor on the project: "You knew you had to receive an 'A,' and that's what you did."

I did graduate on a wonderful and sunny day on May 20th, 1989. This ceremony was attended by my parents. One of my classmates said I looked goofy walking across the stage.

I am careful to keep my diploma where ever I go. Every time we move I pack it carefully, having just barely earned it.

Conversations on the Bus

When I was living in San Francisco I had a conversation with a man who was obviously successful in business. This was during the early 90s when the job market was really tough and there was a recession. He said that the generation that came of age and entered the job market during that period would never be big spenders. Also, he cautioned that the rise in power of the corporation would ultimately diminish the freedoms I took for granted.

I Shot Andy Warhol

I found myself empathizing with the main character, the one who shot Andy Warhol. It is quite a confession. Come to think of it, the movie title is a confession!

"I Shot Andy Warhol!"

Valerie Solanas acts paranoid and anti-social throughout the movie. But, I had to listen to the things she said. They made sense.

SCUM: Society to Cut Up Men! Valerie writes this manifesto. She repeatedly points out in the movie, which was directed and researched by Mary Harron, that men are defective due to the "Y" chromosome which is an imperfect copy of an "X." She is driven by the goal to reshape society to reflect the fact that men are redundant, and inferior to women.

To an impressive degree Valerie succeeds in realizing her goals, which causes one to rethink the judgement that she is merely paranoid. If someone obviously crazy succeeds in realizing their goals through acting out their own plans born of lunacy are they really insane?

At the end of the movie I had to conclude that she had some very compelling points both about society in general, and, about her situation in particular. Although, yes, she was paranoid.

You can be correct for the wrong reasons.

That Computer Called Brain

I remember reading somewhere about learning a foreign language. Sometimes what's important is the location the information is stored in. Where is it filed?

When I memorize a piano piece I experience some of the different kinds of memory, such as touch: tactile, or sight: visual. I know there is audio memory. Also, some people have very good photographic memories; the music score appears in front of them. I have never experienced that.

Finally, music, and certainly languages make sense. I don't think I could memorize anything that didn't make any sense. What would you call that? Logical memory?

Recent Trip to SF

In early October I visited some friends and family in San Francisco. I came with my partner and we met my sister at the Oakland Airport.

During our stay, we saw many of the sites filmed in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo; The Legion of Honor, Fort Point at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge, and I drove through Nob Hill where Madeleine's apartment was.

We got a chance to see the fog's silent velvet advance over the Golden Gate Bridge while driving through the Marina. We had breakfast in Sausalito.

We also wine-tasted in Sonoma, visited the De Young in Golden Gate Park, and shopped at used book stores in the Mission District after dining at a wonderful Spanish tapa restaurant.

I think the book store was called Lost Planet.

Also, I got a chance to buy a couple of books at City Lights bookstore. We saw Jack Kerouac Alley, and shopped in China Town.

San Francisco is a very walkable city. We had to park the car in a garage in China Town, though.

I had lived in San Francisco for nine years before moving to Seattle with my partner.

Life Goals

I recently heard it said that if its not in writing it doesn't exist. This was in the context of political campaigning. I will take a page from anyone's book.

I play the piano. But not professionally. That's just too hard. I like having creative carte-blanche.

In high school I took Spanish and French classes both at the same time. This would be attempting to learn foreign languages relatively late in life for the first time. I did not do well, but, I think my teachers passed me because, usually, I kept trying.

Another page from campaigning falls to the floor to be read, finally.

When I was living in San Francisco, during the 90s, I took Japanese language classes at the City Community College. I listened to tapes, learned the reading and writing, and, got high marks.

After the year 2000, while I was living in Seattle with my partner, I started studying French on my own. I am not going to say I made much headway.

At the beginning of 2008, I switched my efforts to Spanish. I do emphasize reading books in the Spanish language, using the flash-card computer program from Transparent Language, and listening to audio books in Spanish.

The goal, as is in Music, is to go as far as I can in learning and comprehending this language of Spanish. I think I may not be as handicapped as people may assume with my not being bilingual from an early age (before the all-important period when one's brain changes forever.)

Music is considered by some to be a language. I showed an aptitude for that. Perhaps I will for this.