I've thought of writing several times, but each time I've shied away. I've had thoughts a brewing and varrious debates with myself. I've learned some new things and had experiences and feelings to share but I've put off blogging or simply chickened out when the time arived.
I've been thinking about coincidences and how it really does feel like a small world at times. So many people who are in my life now have had cameo appearances previously and it becomes like the game of spotting Hitchcock's cameo in each of his movies, who and how and where and why. I've had some breakthroughs and some light bulb or aha moments. It's almost comical to look back at ways that I was so sure my life should go and now understand how unhappy these things could have made me and probably others; I now see that the direction of reality over the dream has been better for me. It's nice to be reminded that there's a plan for my happiness by one that knows better that I do at times, what will bring me happiness.
P.S. I've really been enjoying this song.

Have a very Merry Christmas, or a happy holiday.

A random and unrelated to Christmas post

My little brother is playing some computer game where I am repeatedly hearing a shooting sound -like gun shot- and I found myself thinking about the one time I went shooting. One of my friends really wanted to go to a shooting range so she, I, and a guy she was interested in who was also interested in shooting went. I'd never done it before but I figured it'd be no big deal, that maybe I'd feel like a character from my favorite spy show.
I really didn't realize how far removed it would be for me from the tv show. (I know that ought to be obvious but some things are only obvious when you've stepped back for a minute and given them real consideration). We went and bought a box of ammo and rented a hand gun, a .45 if I recall correctly. We put on our ear muffs/hearing protection and eye protection and went back to the range.
I hated going shooting
pretty much from the moment we stepped into the shooting area. Even with hearing protection, gunfire is incredibly loud. I wasn't prepared for casings flying everywhere as shots were discharged. I wasn't prepared for muzzle flare. I wasn't prepared for how terribly awful I felt shooting a gun. I took my first turn (we were sharing) and shoot the magazine full, by the end I was just closing my eyes and firing down the range, I could see the flare through my closed eyes. I just wanted to be done. Though my friend's friend thought I was totally lame, I conceded all the the rest of my turns, anxious never to do it again.

Snow

I am happy because there is beautiful snow on the ground. I love waking up to find snow, it's one of the happiest things for me to find a beautiful, white blanket of snow undisturbed on the ground. I was disapointed yesterday because even though it was snowing a lot of the day, the snow was melting and there wasn't much snow when I went to bed. So it's really Christmas-y now, the tree's up and decorated, there's even a train set up around the tree. Hurray for snow.

picture by Campbell Photography

Christmas in Killarney

I was introduced to this song last night by some friends and I quite like it, it's nice and jolly. Enjoy.

Make art not war

That is now my own personal hippy slogan, it's probably been used before. Oh well.
Yesterday while watching a travel show focused on Greece, the show was going through a museum of Greek antiquity, especially their art and the host mentioned that there weren't many of the spectacular golden age bronze statues because some had been melted down for weapons or something else to do with war. It makes me sick to hear such a thing, that priceless, beautiful works of art were melted down in order to kill or help kill people.
It saddens me that dazzling shrines in Tibet and China survived for hundreds and thousands of years, until they were destroyed in the cultural revolution.
How can we reach the point where we come to war, where we destroy beauty around us and more than that destroy people, men, women and adorable little children? Maybe we really ought to step back a minute and admire beauty so that we remember it and don't destroy it.

Busy

The Christmas season is upon us, and the busy/crazy ness has commenced. From last Sunday until Christmas I've got more Christmas events than I can believe. I have three holiday related events to attend before Sunday. I don't have to go to all of these events, or even any of them, however I want to go to them, the amount of them just makes things a little crazy. This is a wonderful time of year for getting together with friends and family, it just makes me wish that we could spread them out into the rest of the year a little more, rather than having them all now. Maybe I'm wrong. Anyway I hope everyone out there's having a wondeful Christmas or other holiday season.