2/15/01 - Thursday

"I try to save one life a day, usually my own." ~~~ John Crichton, Farscape

2/14/01 - Wednesday

"Writing is like eating or making love; a natural process, not an artificial one. Write, if you must, because you feel like writing; never because you feel you ought to write." -John Fowles
from The Written Word - a quote a day email list for writers

New Book Journal entry

2/13/01 - Tuesday

All four of us watched Star Trek: Generations that was on one of the cable channels tonight.  I didn't mean to watch it but it was so pleasurable to hang out with my guys and enjoy a short time off-planet with some of our favorite characters.  We're not Trekkies, but we're fans -- with a critical eye.  We know Generations was not the best Trek movie but it took me back to the days of Next Generation when the kids were younger and all four of us would snuggle up on the couch, watch the show, and talk about it afterward.  Rich and I have watched (and re-watched) Star Trek since the sixties.  When we saw Galaxy Quest we totally cracked up.

2/12/01 - Monday

Car fixed!

First night of the meditation class I teach at community education for District 214.
Key points:

• You deserve quiet time in your day.  You do not have to be infinitely available to others.
• It's better to meditate five minutes a day and really enjoy it than to struggle to sit for hours one day a week.
• No guilt.  If you miss a day, just begin again.

Is Mercury still retrograde?  It sure is!  I was driving down to Practical Magick, a metaphysical store in Frankfort, IL to give a talk to the Illuminaries astrology group.  First, habit took me in slightly the wrong direction heading from home.  No problem, slight correction.  Then, I missed an exit as I tried to connect from one expressway to another. Frankfort is at the other end of the Chicago area universe from me.  I knew the directions but I hadn't been that way before and zipped right past my exit before I realized it.  Still, no problem.  I got off at the next exit, went under the expressway and got back on.  I had to pay a toll both ways, but still -- no problem -- this was retrograde but manageable.

So I'm on the right road, the sun is shining and the roads are clear, and a glob of ice and snow from somewhere lands on my windshield.  I turn on the wipers but they don't go.  I turn them off right away.  I could see fine, no problem.  I found out later that there was ice in the well where the wipers rest and they were frozen stuck.  But I didn't find this out till way after I smelled something burning.  Was it the car next to me?  Then I see smoke coming off the steering column behind the steering wheel.  I am on a four lane road with no shoulders, going through a forest with no turn-offs.  Am I freaking?  Yes.  Is the car going to turn into a flaming wreck?  What do I do now?

I open my window.  Let the smoke out.  Feel the steering column.  It's not hot.  My gauges are OK.  The smoke is not continuing.  I keep driving.  I finally get to civilization, pull into a parking lot, clear the ice from the wipers (which still don't work), and check under the hood.  Everything looks OK.  I'm over an hour from home and I have a commitment to speak, so I keep going.  And going, and going.  It's a long drive but I get there.  The talk went well and I saw my friend Saren.

Obviously, I'm home and all right, but facing a potentially expensive repair.  I checked my aspects and basically transiting Uranus is on my Mars and tMercury retrograde is conjunct my moon.  Astrologer Bruce Scofield suggests that sometimes your car takes on your karma.  So I should be grateful that it was the windshield wiper fuse, wire, motor, whatever, that burnt up and not me.

Rich already started calling around to find the best mechanic to fix it.  Plus he took me out to dinner to California Cafe.  We had roasted garlic, cambozola cheese, tomato chutney for the appetizer.  Asparagus and field greens salad with a citrus dressing.  My entree was fettucine with mushrooms and spinach in a creamy mustard sauce.  Excellent!  I feel much more mellow now.
 

2/10/01 - Saturday

"What happens now influences what happens next."  ~~~ John Kabat-Zinn
from Wherever you Go, There You Are

2/09/01 - Friday

The day after tomorrow is the third day of the rest of your life. ~~~George Carlin
from the Daily Illumination on Illuminations.com

I put George Lucas in Love on my Books My Friends Wrote bookstore page.  It was directed by Joe Nussbaum who is my 42nd cousin.  His dad Danny keeps the family geneological archives and only Danny can tell you how we're related.  Joe and friends did the film as a student filmmaking project at college.  It's become one of the best-selling videos/DVD's on Amazon.  It's just a short -- but it's very funny.  It tells the story of George Lucas trying to write the script for his student film and having writers block.  All of the things he encounters during his typical college day have weird resemblances to creatures and situations from Star Wars.  This is a great spoof, and it lead to a job in the movie industry for Joe after graduation.