Nov 17, 2015

Rush and Muse and Whatnots

Well, I hope I don't really make a habit out of running late with my post, but then. this sort of thing happens, and it's not like the world ends because of it, right? So yes, what has been happening these days?

At The University

Well, there isn't really much I could tell you about that. After pretty much like... a month? Yeah, like a month - give or take - since the last forum of the seminar (this forum thing is basically a forum from four scheduled online, where the tutor published a question, we have a week to answer and then the professor has two weeks to grade), but - as per usual - it wasn't graded until the night before the last session or class, which was this past Saturday. Basically all of us - and I mean the whole group - did so-so, but then you can't expect anything else since it's really difficult to nail the right answer when it seems that the right answer is whatever opinion of a case the professor has, and not what you can prove as your opinion. It's even more difficult when it seems as if from forum to forum the opinion of the professor changes.

Adri and I have been working our asses off with the final project. We had a little break but then we've got the grade for the last advance - we are doing rather well with the advances - and so we started working up on it. Saturday after the session we stayed around to work some and did quite some progress. Some stuff needed to be reordered, and we filled up a table that the professor wanted to see, even though all the information (and more) was already in the text.

Adri and I have been feeling like the other two kids are leaning too heavy on our necks. It's like we do so freaking much and have to shepherd them around to get things done. It's kind of hard also how they don't seem to render the same kind of results as we do. Adri has been organizing the whole workflow and giving out directions, working really hard on the letters we must include while I've been compiling and formatting the previous three advances into one document, making the indexes, formatting titles, and then designing the slideshow background and the format of the content. Took care also of a larger load of findings, Financial Estates and conclusions. Adri was right there with me, step to step, like two oxes pulling the cart. And that's all I cana say.

I know both Ara and Serge have their stuff in life and it's not easy, but damned, it's the last effort and others also depend on them! They can get sad and overwhelmed and depressed all they want later on.

The Muse

I have never written as much and as fast as I had since September. Then, from the end of October on, I!ve been literally on fire! I found myself working on "My Liege" and turning an originally long, slowpaced story (like all of mine) into a fast paced, short chaptered story. It was going so fast I actually became desperate for a beta-reader. Not like I found one, mind you. The topic of the story is rather sensitive and difficult as it swings from very violent and gory to sweet and homely, so most likely it will be a story that really won't find many followers. Not like I mind, since I'm not writing with commercial purposes, just for my own entertainment, but yeah... very hard to beta-read.

However, as the University struck again, well, the Muse was forced on hold and now I wonder if I'll be able to pick up the story once I'm out and over with all this.

Whatnots

Kind of related but not, my friend Carrie has been acting strange, to the point where I've been questioning our friendship and if it will last any longer. She has been consumed by all sorts of issues that she keeps close to her vest, which she is entled to, but then, there's something about her, a shift in her demeanor that gives me the impression that a fracture in something has happened and now she'll be shifting away from me.

The thought first struck me with a dab of concern, as suddenly I was wondering about what would I do, how would I arrange my days without Carrie and the costant presence she had become. This lead me to realize that I'm actually none of my friend's best friend, since, well, my very peculiar nature. I'm more like a cat that spends time sporadically with others, rather than a dog that represents more permanent, constant presence in people's lives.

Then I realized that there's nothing to worry about. I like being alone, and if one friend leave, well, there will always be eventually a new one taking their place.

Pagan Festival

As a well deserved little break, and just because I love it so much, I attended Sunday to the Pagan Festival organized by Costa Rica's Pagan Alliance. I wasn't there as much as I would have loved to, nor did I partook of all the activities I had intended originally to, since I went with an acquinance who claimed to know nothing about Paganism and spent more time browsing around the artisan posts than paying attention to rituals.

I still enjoyed myself very much and met with dear friends. Also had the chance to talk a little with Costa Rica's Cultus Deorum, Tribvs Opalina. Last year I missed their ritual and I wanted to check it out this time, but due to the time we arrived there I couldn't. But next year I sure as hell will attend! What can I say? Romans strike my fancy more than the Hellenians - though my friend Athenea (I like to refer to her like that) is, as you can imagine, Hellenic.

The guy I talked to would be the Cultor, as they call it, and we shared a couple of thoughts on the matter. I loved it how open and sharing all of it was. In a very university-like style, he was quick to share knowledge, and also had for sale copies of books hard to get (clones) and DVDs with Roman music and all sorts of Roman and Witchcraft inspired documentries and series. I found it sweet, to be honest, how he put his own books up for sharing, even if for a price, but knowing the cost of reproduction, it was easy to guess he was hardly making any profit from it.

One thing I really love about Pagan Festivals is the richness of them. People from different religions gather and expose their faith to anyone willing to learn of them. Artisans share their art and there's a wonderful openness as Wiccans, Hellenics, Romans, Druids and Asatrus come together respectfully to share their views. None of them shy away from a ritual or lock arms in Celtic dances.

The most curious and beautiful things are showed, and you can walk home with mead, Roman bread and several pieces of jewelry you'll never see anywhere else. It made me smile to remember this guy I went out with recently, who once mentioned how he found it fascinating that I always wore something so "random". By random he actually meant absolutely unexpected and never seen. I held in my hands galaxies, a moon, a bottle with stones and an owl and a life tree blooking with red stones, and I thought to myself: "it's the result of my wanderings for paths unwalked by the masses that I am so filled with beautiful and unseen treasures".

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