No brown dogs allowed

Doesn't seem fair..

Ragnarök

Happy impending Ragnarök everybody!  It was nice knowing you. 
(My house for the afterparty)

Translation Wodan Heerst

Wodan knew where he would go, traveled through weather and wind
Past giant's mountain and shadow-filled valleys
To Mimir's spring, at the foot of Yggdrasil
Where Wodan came to get never ending wisdom
No other man would drink from the spring, so was fate
Only one prize/price* would reward the man
Wodan offered Mimir his eye, should he see better
What that is will yet come to us

Unending, your rage, your wisdom is great
Grant us your blessing, the enemy death
No fear of dying, your people fearless
The world will know that Wodan rules
Unending, your rage, your wisdom is great
Grant me your knowledge of life and death
Open my eyes, unshackle my spirit
And I will know that Wodan rules

Wodan hang in the tree, himself wounded with a spear
A sacrifice to receive the wisdom of the runes
Plagued by his hunger and thirst for nine nights long
So/in this way he made the runes his own
The runescript, the magic script, he gave to the people of Midgard
A gift to us who fight with his blessing
Now we carve the runes in our sword for victory in the battle
Valkyries we see riding through the heavens

From the heavens stare two ravens
They peer over our dark, flat land
And they see how Wodan's people awaken
With Wodan's blessing we go to battle
We reach for the sword, the spear and the seax
The enemy hears how our people yell a battlecry
From our throats sounds the songs
They sing of the Allfather's wisdom and power
And we see how the old god awakens
The cowardly enemy fears for our wrath
We fight for victory and otherwise death
And we see how Wodan lives in us

Source: Lyrics Translate

To love is to struggle...

"To love is to struggle, beyond solitude, with everything in the world that can animate existence- this world where I see for myself the fount of happiness my being with someone else brings.  'I love you' becomes: in this world there is a fount you are for my life.  In the water from this fount, I see our bliss, yours first.  As in Mallarme's poem, I see:

                In the wave you become
               Your naked ecstasy."


Alain Badiou

Mozart Clarinet Concerto part I, Martin Fröst

Hold You In My Arms

Close encounter

Dear Syl.

Though we've just met I must admit you've left a powerful impression on me.  I feel like you know me better than I know myself.  How cliché these first two sentences, but how true.  This has frightened me somewhat because I'm not used to having my insides so radically turned out into the light.  To say our first meeting left me uncertain is an understatement.  Was I happy with the experience or wasn't I?  I couldn't decide.  I wrote about it in my journal to see if I could parse it out.  I spoke with a close friend about you, and she suggested I rethink the terms of the encounter altogether.. in a kind of (re)performative language way.  I've agreed to this and have come to the conclusion that meeting you was a wonderful thing.  My partner has her doubts, but I think she has come to accept our relationship.  I'm not sure how far I want to pursue this.. but rest assured I look forward to the next time we're together. 

Yours
G.Thumb

Safety Comparison of Psychoactive Drugs

Gable, Robert S. Comparison of acute lethal toxicity of commonly abused psychoactive substances. Addiction. 99. 686–696 (2004).

Don't let go

Compatriots
Tell me of love
And I'll sing to you of loss..

Last day together..

On Sex and Love (letter)

Sex, like many other acts, can be reduced to its barest (pun intended) physiological form: in this case, bodies stimulating the genitals of other bodies.  Why is this done?  There are many reasons.  Usually it is because this stimulation feels good.  Sometimes however it may be for reasons of power, violence, despair, intoxication, need for affirmation, loneliness, etc. 

But the question concerned sex and love.  At first this seems rather straightforward.  One has sex with one’s partner because one loves him/her, i.e. sex is a natural consequence of deep-seated feelings of mutual affection.  I should point out that sex is only one natural consequence of this affection.  Perhaps this is only too obvious, but it may surprise some to know there are lovers who never have sex.  I have heard of celibates, for example, who live their lives deeply in love with one another and yet never engage in sexual intercourse.  I have heard other celibates say that even caressing their lover’s arm can send both partners into a kind of orgasmic ecstasy.. a kind of sexual intercourse without what one would normally think of as the sex act. 

A professor and friend once told me that given enough time, any two people, no matter what their gender, trapped on a desert island alone, would have sex with one another if given enough time.  I throw that out there to reflect on.  Quite probably he’s right.  Coupled with one’s biological need for sex (and I do think there is one), social/psychic forces form a very powerful impulse.  Of course, given a choice, I already know who I would prefer to be trapped with on a desert island…

Now if the question involved morality and sex, I would have much more to say about this.  I will say I believe love sanctifies the sex act insofar as it affirms the love relation.  Here I use “sanctify” in the sense of a kind of legitimation.  But there is no need for recourse to the gods, religious law, or to the state’s marriage act.  These are merely usurpers and tumours.  As you know, only Two are required to form the basis of a love relation, and these alone have the right to make any kind of affirmative declaration, either between the sheets or otherwise. 

For a moment looking out over Georgian Bay I forgot where I was..