Me too! I mean, I had a ball by myself. Not that I was there in 1983. (It would have been quite a feat, since I could barely walk at the time.)
Have been strumming guitar for the past few hours and listening to the thunder outside. So nice not to have papers to write. And the air is so much nicer after that bout of rain. Yay!
ETA: Monday isn’t over yet and we’re already on page 3 :eek:
I love London! But I like the rest of the country outside of London better.
Enjoy–no eye or UTI thingies while you’re gone (whoever’s going).
Off to class now. It did finally rain here-only .25 of an inch, but better than nothing.
We’re a chatty bunch this week!
So, I’m at Panera, and have eaten my Turkey Artichoke Panini while waiting for the reply window to pop up AND browsing elsewhere. Really don’t feel like mowing, but I guess I should get over that and finish up. Also, I’m going to do some spot mulching, I think, because I have a few plants that are really unhappy in the heat. Also, I need to water. I’m thinking I’ll water half tonight and half in the morning…
Back eventually.
GT
Dang - my daughter called - 3rd day in a row!! Just to chat!! Wow…
My baby misses me. Awwwwwww…
How nice! It’s reassuring to see a kid grow up and still like to talk to her parents.
I’ve decided not to mow. It’s just too hot. It’s supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow. We’ll see. I’ll get up early and check out the water status and spot mulch, if it’s not raining then…
Not sure what to do with my evening. Maybe I’ll just watch a movie. Or read a book. Or something else relaxing.
Off to pursue leisure.
GT
Holy Crap! page 3 already? Holy Crap! (and I didn’t think my other 2 posts went thru because I got the “not authorized to access this page” message when I posted.)
mika - that was a lovely, moving poem - and interesting wedding stuff. sorry about your bro’s sitch.
matt_mcl - I’ve had similar “nightmares” with recurring themes - one is that I cannot correctly ‘dial’ (since it’s touch tone) any phone number. Another is that I accidently hit a key on the keyboard at work that causes my computer to explode.
special1 - I always hope* for no war, I’ll just hope extra hard now.
crossed fingers and positive thoughts heading to Kat’s sunny spot
re food dreams - whenever I am doing well(-ish) on a diet, I dream that I’ve pigged out and ruined everything - I must be doing well this time - I had that dream over the weekend.
So you’re the one who ruined Galaxy Quest for me… 
FCM - I like your eye doc’s style and I’m glad you’re on the mend
re jews and chinese food - When I was in grade school and high school, and actually attended regular services (either with the 'rents or with friends) one of the most memorable sights was the block and a half long line outside the Chinese take-out place that was around the corner from the temple on the way home from the close of Yom Kippur.
I went to London once. I as going to Cambridge to attend a convention, so I went out a few days early and played tourist in London. I went to all the touristy places - Piccadilly Circus, Carnaby Street; I ate fish and chips with vinegar, I went to Mme Toussaud’s - all the typical stuff. My only regret was that I was there by myself. I hope to go back one day, when I have working knees.
Ok - I think I’m all caught up now - and if not - appropriate reactions, noises, and responses all around.
Thank you everyone for the good wishes for my brother. Honestly I would feel he was tough enough to handle it on his own, but THEY brought him to this country and THEY wanted the marriage to enable his emigration and THEY are now basically dumping him out. All of their finances are combined, etc., so I really hope they are fair.
Neither do I want to get torn apart in the middle of all this. Eesh.
Here’s something about Ganesh:
Parvati, Shiva’s wife, was chatting with some of her husband’s staff who teased her about not having a true attendant of her own - they all considered Shiva their true master. Slightly hurt, Parvati decided she would make her own attendant.
She created a statue of a young boy out of saffron paste and gave him life. Embracing him, she said “You are my son, my very own son.”
one day Parvati was going to take a bath, and she told her son, “Guard the door and allow no one entrance.” And off she went.
In a little while, while she was still bathing, Shiva came home. He tried to enter the bath, only to be stopped by the young boy. “My mother is bathing,” he said, “and no one must enter.” When Shiva ignored him, the boy hit him with his staff.
Shiva is/was always quick to anger and grew furious. Shiva threw his trident and beheaded the boy.
On he went into Parvati’s bathing chamber. However when he told her of what had transpired, she burst into weeping. “How could you, my Lord? I created him myself. I loved him like a son. How could you kill him?”
She was furious, and Parvati has the power when she wants to destroy the world, being the Wife of the Destroyer. She threatened to do so, and Brahma, the Creator himself, came to her and humbly begged her to tell him how to make amends. She asked for two conditions: her son’s life, and for her son to worshiped before any other gods. Brahma agreed.
By this time Shiva felt contrite for what he had done. When Brahma told him to go and bring the head of the first creature that crossed his path, Shiva agreed. He left with his hunting party and soon returned with the head of an elephant.
Brahma fitted the elephant’s head to the boy and returned him to life. Shiva apologized for his rashness, and said, "From now on I take this boy as my own. He shall be worshiped before all the gods, and I will name him Ganesh, “chief of attendants”.
And this is why before we do anything, before we pray to any other gods, or undertake any new task, we pray to Ganesh first.
What a cool story, Meeks!
Forgot to tell SO that I, too, hope there won’t be a war coming out of the current situation.
GT
So, anyrose–you’re not a Jew, but you’re Jew-ish? <ducks and runs>
cool story and now I know why there is an elephant headed god. But why is he blue?
Head aches, must be the weather. Off to bed soon. But no fever! yay me.
Elephants are kind of grayish-blue, are they not?
His body has to be saffron colored, technically, not blue.
I could swear I have seen him blue. Must be the drugs…
okay - that’s one way of putting it.
Actually, right up thru sophomore year of college, I lit Sabbath candles and attended services (more and more sporadically thru freshman and sophomore year) but there were fewer and fewer attendees each time and the Hillel chapter folded due to lack of interest so I stopped going. Every so often, I find I miss it, and I make plans to attend a local synagogue, but by the time Friday evening comes around, I am always exhausted, and 'purtying up" on a Saturday morning is not an option for me. So I don’t go.
me too, blue elephant god
Kind of a disappointing ‘storm’, but more are promised overnight.
I’m tahrd.
I have a long day tomorrow (ok, golfing, but a long day is a long day…), so I’m getting some sleep.
Carry on.
We have a little sandalwood Ganesh statue that Mr. Lissar’s dad got for us in Bangalore. I like the story. Is Parvati also called Sati? I’ve read stories about her.
I’m home, it’s time to sleep. Bedtime is wonderful.
I have been catching you in that Pit thread, and silently patting myself on the back just for knowing you.
Mika, thanks for the OP. I just watched Scarlet Letter with Demi Moore over the weekend and wanted to talk about that in the MMP but didn’t see how I could possibly tie it in.
It was so fascinating to me that Hester (Demi Moore) came over to America so that she could worship as she pleased. But then she still got stuck dealing with other people’s conceptions of God.
I liked the part where they were putting the “A” (for adulterer) on her, she said to hurry because it was their shame they were covering, not hers.
And the end was cool too, but very different from the book from what I can gather. I haven’t read the book, but in the movie, the husband hangs himself and Hester and her lover Reverend go off into the sunset for several years until he dies. And I liked the last part where the daughter of Hester says that she’ll let God decide what sin is since she feels like she is the product of love.
Great stories, Mika! Sorry to hear about your bro’s situation.
Work was extra busy cause half my cow orkers are either on vacation or down with strep throat. I had an egg sandwich for breakfast, carne asada tacos for lunch, and pad thai for dinner. Tomorrow it looks like I will have to visit our local incarnation of Bad Chinese, as The Princess is having her kindergarten awards ceremony and we promised to take her to her choice of restaurant afterward. The Bad Chinese is her favorite restaurant even though it’s pretty run down. I could swear I saw a drug deal go down two tables away last time I was there. :eek: Oh well, at least it got an A from the health inspector.
That’s a beautiful poem, Mika! I love the message, the way joy and experiences in life are revered. I’ve never been too fond of the (rather popular) belief that one can only achieve divine connections through asceticism. shrugs But hey, that’s just my humble, religiously-uneducated opinion there.
Well, it’s early Tuesday morning here at home – however, where Ali is, it is currently still Monday night. He’s flown halfway across the US for a business trip, and will be in Colorado until July 3rd; having never been away from him for half that long since I’ve met him, I can definitely say these next couple weeks will be rather rough. 
Ah well… at least it should make the reunion all the better, right?
Jeez, you lot are a chatty bunch this week. Third page already and Monday only just officially ended in the eastern time zone. Well, I’ll have my work cut out for me to catch up tomorrow.
So, the story so far:
At work on friday, I was told to clean out my desk. :eek: No, don’t worry. It’s because painters were coming in over the weekend to do the walls, and being that my desk has a ton of books and binders in it, we had to move them elsewhere so they could move the desks to paint. It turned out well; the walls are an off-white again, and clean. The whole office area was a disaster area though. They moved my desk back, as well as my immediate cow-orker’s, but the admin office looked like a bomb went off. All of the desks were moved well away from the walls and clustered into the center of the room, and left there. We spent part of the morning ignoring the phones and restoring order to the chaos.
Meanwhile I’d only been checking the Dope sporadically over the weekend because I had a remix to complete – one whose deadline ends in – ::checks clock:: – two and a half hours. I finished yesterday, but had to do some EQ adjustments and some minor tweaks today. I was rushed throughout the whole thing 'cos I entered the contest with barely two weeks left on it, so it didn’t turn out quite the way I wanted, but … well, it’s done at least. I suppose I’ll see where that gets me.
Anyway, off to bed with me. I’ll catch up properly tomorrow. Or at least I’ll try.