If I Could Keep Time in a Bottle...

I would probably drink it right about now. Yesterday, between various work bits, I transfered the Rune Poem to audio so I can practice it for tonight. I will still probably have to have a cheat sheet, but I want it to flow well. We picked up some Yule stuff, and the gifts for our Saturnalia. My department also had it's party, and they had a Roman theme, so I yoinked all of the togas (really just a cloth ribbon that hangs across one shoulder) for the rite on Saturday.

Despite the crazy buzyness that was last night, we got up early enough this morning to do 'Mikey D's' for breakfast! Everyone had homemade Sausage/Egg/Cheese on an English Muffin (whole wheat for a slight nod to health) and some hash brown patties. Pretty much everyone sat around the table having a nice start to their day. Derrick ever showed up, but made the mistake of lying down before breakfast and was out like a light.

So the weekend looks incredibly full and there is still much to do.

Little Brothers Rock!

Yesterday was a good day, as many of them are in my very charmed life. During lunch I continued to work on the Rune Poem, with a lot of help for Arthur Shipkowski (MA for ADF). I combined the three extant Rune Poems (Icelandic, Norwegian & Anglo-Saxon) and made some adjustments to the underlying Anglo-Saxon. It was fun. Thanks Art. Also, Julie provided the final script for Friday's ritual, and it looks great!

Second on the list, Erik from the College of Stoic Philosophers (and the New Stoa) responded to my assignment and proceeded to send the next one (on Sellars' book 'Stoicism')! But in the interest of the holidays, he gave me an additional week to get it done. More fun, but since I have already done quite a bit of work on Sellars, at least this first assignment should be easy.

André was over last night to help me work on the hallway floor. Thanks to him, we were able to get quite a bit finished! The best part of the night was when he looked at what I had accomplished already and said, "You did all this in two nights? That is incredible! This is freaking hard work!" We spent the balance of the evening (with short breaks for dinner, Christmas cookies, and picking up loved ones) ripping, cutting, marking, laying, slapping, smacking, sweating, cursing, re-marking, re-cutting, re-cursing, and in the end achieved a work of art! Still needs to be finished, and with the accumulation of responsibilities over the next several days, the completed floor may end up being more delayed than I would like, but we will be plugging away at it.

Pam has been getting the Saturnalia ritual ready for Saturday (How appropriate!) It is looking great too. We have some elements to pick up tonight while we are out for Lin's NATS rehearsal (see above regarding accumulating responsibilities).

Finally, one of those moments occurred last night. You know, the moments that lasting memories are made of. While André and I were working away at the floor, Pam decided that she was going make Christmas cookies with Katie (pictured here) who was also there (as was Bill, who had gone to hang out with Josh and Derrick). They measured and mixed and blended and baked away happily as they chatted away, making small talk. Katie kept tasting the frosting while they waited for the dough to chill. When the dough was ready, Bill came up and helped them cut the cookies into shape. A few short baking minutes later and the cookies were ready. Pam called out to everyone in the house (André was gone to get Chantal at this point) and in moments the table was surrounded with laughter and sprinkles and frosting. Everyone was into it, including Derrick and Josh! As soon as Emilie found out (she was at work) she asked to be picked up so she could join in the fun. At that point, everyone stopped, mid-cookie as it were, and the fun resumed unabated when she joined the table. We have pictures, and a little video. The cookies will likely only last a few days. But, because Pam was open to an opportunity, we also have a wonderful memory, as do the kids. Thanks, my love, for making life flavourful.

A Study is to Studying as a Living Room is to...

Living? Yesterday, I began, continued, and completed 3 different projects. That is to say, I began one project, continued another, and completed a third.

The project I began was a study of the Runes. I am attending the Thornhaven right this Friday night (eek that is only 2 days away!) To that end, I have built a study sheet to teach myself the Runes. I have used elements from the old Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem, along with the meanings and names of the Runes, to create my own mnemonic Rune Poem that uncovers the meaning of each individual Rune over three verses. I haven't quite completed it yet, however, the time is fast approaching.

I continued work on the hallway floor. Tearing up the old subfloor is diffucult and exhausting work, but I manage about 1/3 of it each night. There are hundreds of screws and nails to tear out, all of which are covered by a half inch of thin set. I am using a heavy duty ice scraper, levered over a 10 lb sledge hammer, to pop the floor up from the screws, then coming along afterwards and removing the screws and nails. Once this is done, it will be short work to lay down the next bit of floating floor.

The project I completed, and this was at 2 am this morning, is the first assignment of the College of Stoic Philosophers. The assignment is a response to a Questionnaire on S.E. Cannavo's Think to Win. I am inordinately proud of this irreverent little 5 pager. I honestly feel that I have accomplished something, that I have finally FINISHED something! Why am I going to all of this work for an uncredited college? My personal aim is to be a mentor under this school, and I know that this is going to take some time and study. The discipline that I develop by completing these assignments will serve me well in my many future projects.

By the way, the title of today's blog is a reference to where I spent the majority of my evening working on the Logic assignment.

A lot more happened yesterday, but I will save some of that for 'slow news' days.