Kaymyth

Perhaps Granny Hoid could eat the fear. All problems solved! I mean, I know that compared to souls, fear is empty calories, but it's just soooo tasty.

Given that those DNA tests aren't that exact, it's likely a moot point. They give you a general idea of ancestry, not, "You are related to X Famous Historical Figure". Though amusingly, due to the weirdness of how ancestral family trees spread out, if you have any Western European ancestry you are almost certainly descended from Charlemagne.

Funny you should say that; the original draft was written for me to tell to the congregation as an introduction to a very astrophysics-based ritual. It was designed to bridge the gap between science and spirituality in a way that related to the ritual itself, while being simple enough for the kids to follow. I've got some stuff I'm working on. Did you read that silly little blurb I spit out on the Herd thread about Discord giving Twilight the first several books of A Song of Ice and Fire? Yeah, that's worked itself into an entire episode-esque story where he gives all of the Mane Six "gifts" that backfire in typically ridiculous ways. And then they all find a way to appreciate what they got, and Discord learns a valuable lesson about friendship. It's like I know the formula, man. I also have a much bigger project that I started during NaNoWriMo. It's an Alloy of Law-era fic featuring original characters, its own plot, and airships. Because airships are cool. (The main character of that? She's who's been ponified into my avatar.)

Thanks! I don't expect a lot of people to necessarily believe it, but I at least hope that some folks find the concept beautiful. The universe is vast and marvelous, but we're kind of marvelous, too. There's this concept in pagan circles called Unverifiable Personal Gnosis. Some people actually use it derogatorily, but I'm actually quite fond of the notion. We all have our personal experiences with the Divine and or Really Weird Things . We can't prove it (Unverifiable), it's unique to us (Personal), but it gives us some inkling of wisdom into the nature of everything (Gnosis). Everyone has their own moments of connection with something that fuels faith. Mine might be completely different from yours. Heck, they might even contradict each other directly. But for each of us, that moment was something real and tangible, and nobody can or should tell either of us that those things are anything other than valid.

Human beings are driven by stories. Of course, we all know that. After all, isn't that why we're all here? Because we all have a particular love for a particular storyteller and the amazing worlds and characters that he created. We love stories. Reading them, writing them, listening to them, telling them; it's built into the basic building blocks of the human psyche. Our entire understanding of the world is, at its most basic level, driven by stories. What follows under the spoiler tags is a story that I have written and told before. It'll be a little bit different this time, because this is the kind of story that changes with retellings. This is the sort of story that gives a little glimpse of how I, as a human, see reality. Do I believe it? Absolutely. Is it true? Heck if I know.

Honestly, she's probably already signed the contract with the school district. It's a done deal. And whatever her reasons for going (salary, better career opportunity, a school otter tank) know that it's nothing to do with you.

Awwwww.

Consider it my own personal cosmological headcanon. I tend to look at the concept of the Divine as being the soul of the Universe itself. It's just too big for us to understand, so nobody's got it completely right. We're all holding one piece of a 15 quadrillion-piece puzzle. I've got this funky little piece with a splash of purple on it, and you're holding a bit that's all shiny blue and gold with sparkles. They're part of the same puzzle, but nobody's got enough pieces to even get the edges put together, let alone see what the picture looks like. In the end, we're all going to take what we've got from our little piece. The point is to use what little bits of wisdom we've got to try and be better people. Unitarian Universalism is actually so generalized that trying to say anything that specific about it is going to leave out the beliefs of at least half the members. It's sort of the ultimate non-denominational religious organization. There are a lot of former Christians turned secular humanists, so a lot of congregations operate on that basic structure because it's what they're used to. My congregation is....weird. We're a bunch of mostly pagans hanging out together under the UU umbrella. The UUA doesn't really know what to do with us, because they think we're weird and don't understand how we can get along without a minister. The local pagan community doesn't really know what to do with us, because we're not set into one specific Tradition or pantheon. We are the oddball conjunction of two somewhat oddball sets, a Venn diagram of untraditionalism. Yeah. We're weird.

My view of the Universe is, well....very Unitarian Universalist. I'm a polytheist, true, but of the bent that all gods exist as a result of the Universe and us trying to understand each other. It's always interesting seeing the different ideas of what God(s) and the Universe are and how they fit together into little pieces of the greater puzzle. And heck, if you've read the first Dirk Gently novel, you've got about half of Shada right there. He recycled a lot of that episode into the novel.

I'm actually with Venture. I'm a little squirrelly about getting hugged/touched by people I don't know well.

*droop* I am at work and don't have enough time left in my break to find a sad enough picture and pop it up.

American college = British university = universidad We 'murricans seem to be the only people who call university "college".

Yes! This is what I need! Why have I not found this? Quiver, you are a good, kind soul. Linky?

Dang. That Squeezy-thing is...intense. I think what I really need is a way to turn my General Zoi's ponies to see them from different angles. The profile-only angle is rather limiting. But since I doubt anyone's had the stamina to code that kind of nonsense, tracing and/or hijacking other images and "redrawing" them is my best solution. Do I have time for this nonsense? Probably not. Will I do it anyway? Maaaaaybe.

I'm a Kansas City local, and will be there on Saturday. I'd do the whole weekend, but we're sort of in the process of unpacking the house, and I shouldn't slack the entire weekend.

I am quite certain now that the Dread Book of Faces has achieved self-awareness. It has now twice in the space of a month said out of the blue, "Hey! Do you know this person?" and the answer has been, "Yeessss.....but how do you know that?" I have seen Skynet, and it is Facebook. The fate of humanity balances on a thin thread of keeping it entertained with silly kitty memes.

Dear gods, no. My husband and I already get accused of giving people contact diabetes on a regular basis. We don't need people sending us magic that could make it worse. Heh-heh. Just wait'll I finish ponifying the main Alloy of Law cast. I want to make a scene, but I can't draw worth carp. I may need to do a lot of tracing and Photoshop. Edit: Woo-hoo! I'm a Misting now!

Thanks! I do rather enjoy telling it. I take it as proof that the Universe has a sense of humor. In fact, four years married, and I still sometimes fancy I hear a soft snicker in the background. *And for anyone amazed that I'm willing to give both my first and last name here, I figure that it's already out on the internet in the Book of Faces. And once the internet knows something, it never forgets. So. Eh. Whatevs.

At the risk of getting punted due to pedanticism, technically 2 *is* a prime number.

While I was discontent in my youth, I'm pretty happy with my first name now. I never got a middle name, though; I guess my parents figured my first name was long enough on its own. My workplace bases usernames on first initial, middle initial, last name. If you don't have a middle name, you get an 'X' in that spot. I still really, really regret passing up the chance to make my middle name "Xena" when I filled out my post-marriage paperwork. It was a golden opportunity, and I squandered it.

My name is Rosemary. (That's with a little 'm', folks. No hyphen. No nicknames. Even my beloved husband dares not shorten my name.) I was named after my great-great grandfather. No, wait! There's a story behind this! It's actually a great story, and one I told at my wedding. It figured heavily into my choosing to go with the more "traditional" last name change. So, when my mother was pregnant with me, I still had one great-great grandfather still alive. He was absolutely tickled pink to get the chance to meet a new generation of his descendants, and was bound and determined that Mom should name me after him. Mom was relieved when I turned out to be a girl, because she really wasn't all that fond of his first name. But still, she found a way to honor his wishes; she took his last name, Rose, and expanded it into Rosemary. And there was much rejoicing. (I assume. I was a baby, heck if I can remember. I never even heard this story until I was all grown up.) So, fast forward through many years. I meet my now-husband, we fall sappily in lurve. (Our engagement story is ridiculous. We had been talking about marriage in the theoretical sense, and one day in late autumn I asked him, "So, when we finally do get officially engaged, do you want to make a surprise of it, or do you just want to say, 'Hey, let's go ring shopping." His response was, "Let's go ring shopping after Christmas." All together now: D'awwwww!) And I chose to take his last name, for on that spring day when we went and had our crazy geeky wedding with a Flower Faerie and a Spock teddy bear as our "ring bear", the great-great granddaughter of William Rose became Rosemary Williams. That's right. The final factor in me choosing to change my name was because it was funny.

Hooray!

My response to being called a nerd tends to range from, "Why, thank you!" to "And this is news...how again?" Nerds are in. Embrace it.

The best part would be when a surprise pop quiz comes up, and you could shake your fist and scream to the sky, "KHAAAAAN!" Come on, someone had to make that joke.