On Wednesday, I was taught these fighting styles:

Having trouble sleeping. After an intensely stressful half-day+ shift, which did not end on a note of peace and goodwill, I believe I'm just too wound up to sleep good. I know I talk little about work here, and I'll keep to that, by and large; I enjoy my job, and also realize that it's not really an enjoyment that parses well into words. It is, in no small part, a very Tao thing, my work life.
Perhaps not so much, my SCA life. There, I seem to be seen as a person who's almost bigger that the body who holds him, a minor celebrity (unlike, say, achbarr, who is famous). I oftentimes struggle with that, and I think, sometimes, that I've developed this research maven bit in the SCA in reaction to being seen as mostly a physical guy, the dancer.

More introspective than I expected when I started writing this...but what the hey. Anyway, here's the books I just ordered:( See the list... )

On Thursday, I was taught these fighting styles:

Date:	2004-11-18 22:29
Fighting Style:	Oldcastle's Brew
Everyone knows this kung-fu stance
Mood:	rushed
Music:	DJ Riko - Come Together Mix (2002)

From the end of a tribute to Duke Gyrth Oldcastle:

It says something about the generosity and joyful approach that he had to the SCA that he could drop this fact into a conversation lightly and leave you with the insight that there is more to fighting in the SCA, or wars in the SCA, than crushing your opponents, and that a worthy career in the SCA could and would include its share of setbacks, disappointments, and famous flubs.

On Wednesday, I was taught these fighting styles:

OK. If you're a Bush fan, this isn't the post for you.
This is for the dozens of people who woke up for find a nightmare on TV or radio.

Even if Kerry manages to squeak out a upset, there is still blame to go 'round. The youth vote was horrific, the candidate too laid back to fight the Pretty Hate Machine from the GOP. The vote was sent out, but it wasn't;t enough, wasn't really motivating anyone to vote _for_ something.

And that was the core of my last post, and why I'm trying to quickly post again, before I run off to move some servers. If you really, really believe this was horrid, then do NOT give up. The Loyal Opposition didn't give up through their president impeached, their party practically driven out of office. They regrouped, reorganized, and fought.

I'm hearing a lot of "I give up" lip. And, frankly, the Other Side loves that shit. That's what they need, and there's a reason we have 2 sides to these things.

Find a group that supports what you believe in. Everyone, from the NAACP to Planned Parenthood is going to need the help. The Democratic Party seems to be in desperate need of fresh blood, and new ideas.

Most importantly -- for both sides, frankly -- is to keep involved. There's no way a democracy can work with only one side being heard. And, from these results...we're real damn close to that, to a totally one-sided government.

So get to work, people.

On Friday, I was taught these fighting styles:

So. The Bastard is still alive.
[Various of you reading this no doubt think the same of me, right now...]

Needless to say, we now remember our fears. And, with an election only days away, the trend says that this is good for Bush.
But there's some more commentary, beyond the mere political. There's a point I'd like to make, while the sunlight of the media analysis has not dried the dew on this latest revelation away.
When did we become a nation driven by fear and rage? When did we learn to fear the Other so fiercely that all rational thought seems to have gone away? We're polarized, each side unable to listen to each other. I posted, months ago, an offer to listen to Bush supports on my log, and I know there are a few. An echoing silence filled the room.
When a sneaky bastard like OBL* has to tell the American People that he can see the fractures -- his opinion about Bush aside -- we, my friends, have problems. Deep problems, the kind that bring down nations. Or even superpowers. Ponder that, the next time you call the other side unpatriotic, or even downright evil.

And yes, he is sneaky. He may think he's on the side of right, but when you have to pervert the teachings you say you live by to justify killing thousands, and consistently deny a role until you can show up and sound holier-than-thou about it, then I have but one thing to say to you:

FUCK. YOU. UP. THE. DRY. ASSHOLE.

What made him think anyone in America will believe him? No matter what message of reasoning he offers now, for _years_ he offered nothing but since remarks and covert ops held in place**, idle threats to blow up more stuff. If he truly thinks we, as Americans _can_ listen without prejudice, then he's more whacked that I thought, and, frankly, I never though OBL was insane, nor stupid.
Unless he just couldn't resist meddling, or is trying to throw it to Bush (there's almost no game plan that makes this a good for Kerry), or is just sending the "sekret message" that the analysts are always looking for...bah.

I'm supporting Kerry. There's not much, this year, but, dammit, it's still fuckin' America, the land of dreams. And frankly, I've had it. From coving naked statues to the PATRIOT ACT (parts one and two) to banning Kerry supports at rallies, I see repeated fear on the part of the Bush team.

I will NOT give in to fear of the other, no more than I will give in to some self-killing and sneaky bastards. As always, as I should, as my grandfather*** and millions of patriots fought for, I'm voting my hopes, and not my fears.

Thanks for listening. I'm to bed now; I've work tomorrow.

VOTE, goddamit. OBL hates it when you vote, you know.


* Since there's nothing like a good Arabic transliteration, and I wanna kick 'em in the bollicks anyway, he gets the initials treatment. My way of saying "fuck you!" to him, if you will.
** That was the most interesting part for me, his statement that his one singular goal was to blow up those towers. There's a ton of speculation that goes with that, including the fact that he may simply be out of interesting things to do to America, on top of not being in a position to direct systematic attacks, thanks to our hunt for his skinny ass. What do you do when you've finally hit your lifelong ambition?
***The one I was named after, in fact, which wicked_wish might find amusing. Black military man in Italy in WWII...

On Thursday, I was taught these fighting styles:

Date:	2004-09-09 13:16
Fighting Style:	Catching Up
Everyone knows this kung-fu stance
Mood:	rushed

Hi gang,

Still insanely busy. Move+Work takes up most of my time.
I've not read my Friends List since coming back from Pennsic, so if there's anything you need me to know, post a link, or email me.

Otherwise, I will attempt to catch up soon.

On Tuesday, I was taught these fighting styles:

I'm alive, and back from Pennsic:
( With a new cameraphone... )
Communications with me, in just about any medium, will be sporadic -- I have about a week in which to move.
More details later.

On Wednesday, I was taught these fighting styles:

Date:	2004-08-04 08:27
Fighting Style:	Asim@Pennsic
Everyone knows this kung-fu stance
Mood:	anxious

This is where I'll be camping with Clan T'Bbas:

( Map of my location )

It's Clan T'Bbas, in E19, Willow Point N.A. Do NOT turn down the road that says "Willow Point", as I'm not down there; our encampment's a little father down Great Eastern. Usually, by Wed. or Thur. after land grab we have Indian-style tapestries up as walls.

I hope that's clear enough for all. :)

On Wednesday, I was taught these fighting styles:

Watch this guy:
( Hiding the image... )

Forget Powell. If Barack Obama doesn't screw up like he did against Bobby Rush, or do worse with the bit of hubris that is the hallmark of almost every pol ever known to man, he'll be the first black President.

Mark my words. Or, better, mark his.

Here's why.

On Tuesday, I was taught these fighting styles:

For those looking for, perhaps, a little more depth in Spiderman 2, this comment via Slate, via someone I read _somewhere_ (sorry!):

Subject: The Queer Semiotics of Spiderman2
From: Ang_Cho
Date: Jul 8 2004 10:16AM

Whenever there is a play within a play, the audience should know that something is up. In Spiderman 2, the play in question is Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest." For those not familiar with the play, it involves a young lady determined to marry someone with the name "Earnest." Unfortunately, the man she loves is really named "Jack" and so hijinx ensues to ensure she never discover the truth. But Providence intervenes and it turns out, that Jack really WAS named Earnest, due to an improbable "switching-at-birth" scenario, so common in Victorian and Edwardian fiction, and now mainly relegated to Three's Company reruns. Well, you get the picture: mistaken identity, impossible love, machinations unmasked…

And then there is Wilde himself. Although there is some dispute of whether Wilde "lifted" the story from his rival, WS Gilbert (with a nod to NoStar), the inclusion of a play "by" the notorious queer, should lift another eyebrow to those in the Spiderman2 audience who are "in the know," (i.e. not the 8-10 year olds, presumably).

May I also mention that "Earnest" was an Edwardian term that also meant "queer?"

On Friday, I was taught these fighting styles:

What I want for Christmas:



(click for website)

...OK, screw XMas. I'm gonna get it NOW. To quote:

The goal of the project was to mashup music featured (and not featured) on the soundtrack with other forms of music. To essentially create an alternate soundtrack to the film.

Actually, it only sounds OK, from the clips off the website. But the idea, and the cover art, has me mesmerized.

OK. Enough work, today -- to bed with me.

On Tuesday, I was taught these fighting styles:

Date:	2004-06-29 13:26
Fighting Style:	Strength == Weakness
Everyone knows this kung-fu stance
Mood:	pondering

There's an old Christian saying that goes, "God doesn't give you anything that you cannot handle".
This is a patent lie, on it's face. You can't "handle" cancer, just die of it. Kind of horrible, when you think about how we are so small, how unimportant to the grand scheme of the universe.
But, in an odd way, we keep coming back to that as a strength, and it fuels our desires -- itself, a fit subject for a discussion. Perhaps this is another side to the Tao, where we find both strengths and weaknesses are the same, when viewed correctly, from one central source.

Or maybe I'm just tired and hungry.

[EDIT: No, I, nor anyone in my family/friends, has cancer. It's just one of those example things, promise!]

On Wednesday, I was taught these fighting styles:

Having just finished my 2nd run-through on this, I'm already on the road to reworking it; I want to expand the commentary on goomluks, add more images, clean up some of my discussions, and so on. Hopefully, I'll also be able to put together the dyestuff information soon, and majorly expand the fabric discussion as well. I have that fabric list somewhere...
Anyway:

Ottoman Garments : An Overview

as-Saiyid ash-Shareef (Honorable Lord) Asim al-Talib

asim@mindspring.com

Last edited on Thursday 21 Raby` al-THaany 1425 Anno Hegirae, known as June 10th, Anno Societatis XXXVIII to the Franji

Introduction For SCA-reproduction purposes, there are 3 core pieces to Ottoman period-era clothing:

• The front-slit undershirt
• The tapered pant
• The rectangular coat

All three pieces were worn constantly by both men and women, in very similar styles. To appear without one, except in unusual circumstances, would be as to appear naked in public.

On Tuesday, I was taught these fighting styles:

Normally, I'd take the time to convert all this into proper, clean, non-stupid HTML. But I'm tired, and can't be arsed to do so, right now.
But soon, as all this will hopefully go up onto the web in the next 2-3 weeks. In the meantime, comments welcome...( Ottoman Clothing research stuff below... )

Passed on (with slight editing) for a friend of mine, cross-posted to sca_garb:

"Starting June 7th, 2004, I am having a SILK SALE! Free shipping until
July 15th! 8mm 45" wide Haboti/China silk for $5.50/yd. ( More information, for the curious... )"

On Thursday, I was taught these fighting styles:

Date:	2004-06-03 14:37
Fighting Style:	Special Force
Everyone knows this kung-fu stance
Mood:	contemplative

Hmmm. Have a few minutes*, so I thought I'd touch base with the collective -- warning, this is likely to be "rambly"...

Ignoring work, I'm busy with garb making for Pennsic, getting ready for University, and generally pondering some internal changes. My current read is out of the bargain bin at Borders -- Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces by Clancy.

One thing I'm noticing is the poise that a large number of the best military guys have, similar to what you see in the best Martial Artists. More than just stance, we're speaking about a certain level of balance. A review on a related work brought this concept into focus, as it's something I've been playing around with for a while, both internally and externally. The review noted, without complaint, that these guys really make for boring reading; you have to be really into this stuff to find it fascinating, or special. The story about the Achille Lauro hijacking is a slow, ponderous read, with lots of boring names and not a shot fired. Vietnam was a major firefight, and pulse-pounding, but the buildup tot the tale makes one thing clear: Special Forces teams do NOT like to shoot, per se.

What they do -- and in this, I also include SEAL Teams, and other "elite" forces -- is, in many ways, expand upon the concept of warfare as Sun Tzu notes it. The ideal involves buildings teams that are not simply trained to an amazingly intense degree in acts of destruction, but also trained intensely to be culturally and politically sensitive, 2 themes that weave through Art of War like the river that feeds a country. You'd hardly ever guess that Taoism is a Special Forces trait, but that's the lovely thing about our world. What I see is that ideas flow together, and greet ideas build not from a vacuum, but from other ideas; you see that a great deal in the commentary in Shadow Warriors, as some hotshot creates a new way to do something.

The suspicion is that the broad talents they are given indoctrinates them to realize how small they are, in the big scheme. And that gives them a perspective from the "top of the hill", looking down and seeing how much more there is to learn. By opening up their skills to the near-human peak of perfection, they become all-too-aware of how tiny that peak really is, in the grand scheme of things. Doesn't always work, but there's a reason I use the term "indoctrinate".

I fail, all too often, at the act of being humble, and thankful. Even having this blog, as un-public as it is**, is an act of ego. And one of the traits of great teachers -- and Special Forces are teachers, as much as anything -- is that sense of balancing a humble and realistic mien with self-confidence and power. The difference between the power that's enforced upon others, and power that's self-contained. SF guys seem to have power within, not without, and it's a very different, comforting, feeling. I think I'll have to try to cultivate it.



* Not really. But I'm fakin' it for lunchtime, you see. :)
** I don't allow google to Index, for one. And I stopped using it in my .sig years ago.

On Wednesday, I was taught these fighting styles:

Date:	2004-05-19 14:28
Fighting Style:	War and Peace in Hong Kong
Everyone knows this kung-fu stance
Mood:	contemplative

Exactly what does it mean, when you ask the Magic 8 Ball "What the Hell am I doing here?!?"...
...and it lands on it's edge?

"No fate but what we make?" Too much thinking about the Art of War translation I've been reading? I've been pondering Taoism for years, now, but I feel like I'm starting to understand it.

Or maybe I'm sliding farther down the slope of insanity.

The trick with it, for myself, is feeling your way down what some call the Middle Path. You can't be too much of one thing, or else you lose all balance. And it's hard to reach up, without losing that essential humanity.
Art of War is a perfect Taoist text in that regard. Its essential humanity shines through much of it. And that's the beauty of it, the contradiction that lies at the heart of so much of this stuff. What is esoteric in many places becomes clear in AoW, as the concepts are applied to the roughest life a person can live, the life of a solider.

But the less I grasp, the more I seem to hold. Sweet, that.

On Wednesday, I was taught these fighting styles:

Date:	2004-03-24 17:27
Fighting Style:	Real-Life Swordswoman
Everyone knows this kung-fu stance
Mood:	nervous

For my further contemplation:

( An Image of The Swordswoman... )
South Korean traditional art of sword-fighting 'Haedong Gumdo' master
Youn Ja-kyung holds a sword in Seoul February 23, 2004. Youn, a
26-year-old woman, has practiced the art since she was 13-years-old and
became a master in 1995. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

On Monday, I was taught these fighting styles:

Date:	2004-03-22 10:20
Fighting Style:	So, I went to Spirit weekend before last, and all I brought back was 400 pictures.
Everyone knows this kung-fu stance
Mood:	exhausted

Well, and some cool ideas, and a ton of fun memories. Spirit 2004 was much, much fun, by and large.
Here's one picture:( HUGE image of my peeps from Spirit ) Taken after the last class, on our way back to the hotel for napping and more partying.

What, you wanna know more? Patience -- let me get the desk cleared off from my work this weekend. Give a tired man a few days, please.

On Thursday, I was taught these fighting styles:

Alright. I'm dosed up on NyQuil, and running short on coherent time. So I only have the once to say this, before I super-collapse.
First, various of you didn't hear from me, again. That's my fault. Hopefully, I'll make it up to you, soon.

Been quiet 'round these parts, eh? There are reasons. That, and a couple of excuses. Major emotional upheavals will do that to you, I'm told.

The main discovery? That which one has to rediscover, time and again. Leaving your happiness in the hands of others is a sucker's game. This is quite different from being happy with someone, or even felling as though someone else might complete you. People do complete others, and that's a healthy thing.
But some of us must strive to complete ourselves. To find balance in our lives.

...*sigh* No, I'm not dropping this LJ. Nor is this an official "hiatus". I've never been that public, to need to drop, and I'm glad for that. I want to keep writing here, on APOSTATE, and elsewhere online, for quite a while yet.
Mostly, it's just an explanation. That, from looking within, I'm developing some of the Tao that I've felt was missing. A sense of inner peace, if you will.
Of course, I'm developing that in the middle of exhaustion. I've rarely worked less than 10 hours a day for the last few weeks. Which is nothing for some of you, I know, but suffice to say I'm burnt out.
And damn if I'm not glad about it! Burning through my fears, of being like my grandfather, a workaholic, I'm merging ideas, concepts, my approach to the SCA leaks into my work, and vice versa. It's interesting, what's in my head. I hope to write it all out when I have some time.

Which, right now, I don't. The time I do have is taken up by the new books, and the continuance of research, and trying to keep my head above the waterline of clothes and crap around me.

For the first time in a while, I'm giving 150% to the team. And the feeling that I'm actually contributing is good.

Crap. Coherent time ran out awhile back, didn't it?

On Wednesday, I was taught these fighting styles:

Date:	2004-02-18 15:22
Fighting Style:	For my SCA India peeps
Everyone knows this kung-fu stance
Mood:	guilty

From erskine, via SciFi Wire:

Turner Rolls Into Goddess

Director Ismail Merchant has hired Tina Turner to play the Hindu goddess Shakti in his upcoming fantasy film The Goddess, Variety reported. The movie will star Matthew Modine and a group of Bollywood actors, the trade paper reported.

Turner, who recently converted to Buddhism, has spent two weeks touring India to familiarize herself with Indian culture for her role, Merchant told the trade paper. The 63-year-old pop diva went to the southern state of Kerala, where she saw Hindu pujas (prayers) and the way Indians live, Merchant added.

The movie is about the power of women. Shakti gives people energy to survive, the trade paper reported. Merchant said shooting for the film, which will have songs in Sanskrit and English, will begin early next year.

Um....recently? Maybe on a friggin' geological scale -- I recall her discussing Buddhism in an EBONY interview, during her 80's comeback.

But, um. Tina? YEA.