Dear Reader,
Thank you for following this blog over the years or thanks for visiting for the first time. This is not a goodbye but rather HELLO AGAIN! I'm a creature of habit. I used to do this out of habit, then I stopped doing it out of habit. Tonight, I'm resuming the healthy old habit of posting here nearly daily. I also have over a 1-1/2 year's worth of back posts to drop here which will be coming in on a regular basis. The best way to see them is scroll back through my posts in sequence. I'll update this blog post and keep it at the top of this blog with notices of what back-posts have been dropped here and what dates they can be found at and links to them via their hyperlinked titles. Please keep coming back and I guarantee you won't be disappointed!
See Picture of the Day - Post-Storm #3 (1/25/2019)
Last updated 6/30/2019
Showing posts with label Eclectic Arcania. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eclectic Arcania. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Changing Background of Eclectic Arcania.
I am currently playing around with the look of my blog having just changed to a black background from a custom-made one. Exploration and experimentation with various options is ongoing and partially relies upon outside input. Over the course of months and years I have received occasional criticism that my blog page is hard to read for some due to the background and that it looked too "Myspace-ey".... as if that is a bad thing. What do you think?
Monday, October 5, 2015
Back By Popular Demand
In regards to this blog I've slacked off this year generally and in recent weeks especially. Lot's of distractions and dramas and traumas that account for it some of which I shall soon reveal here. However, in the meantime, I'm back and I hope you enjoy what follows.
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Eclectic Arcania Has A New Look!
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| The breaking of spring and the start of my spring break, the end of winter and my winter quarter, as well as my continued evolution as a man, led to the transformation of the appearance of this blog this past day. It had ceased to reflect my personality at present resulting in the changes. The centerpiece change is the background above which is not an actual photograph. Rather, it is a graphic image often erroneously shared across the internet falsely labeled as an image of a solar eclipse as viewed from the International Space Station. The image came to my attention in recent days falsely attributed to the recent solar eclipse in Europe, Asia, and the Mediterranean Basin. Soon after seeing it I realized I wanted it here as my background and so it is. There have also been other changes to the header and footer, cartouche at the bottom of each post, and column configuration. These changes should make this blog easier on the eyes when reading. Special thanks to my sis Linsis for technical assistance. Image courtesy of A4Size-ska/DeviantArt (all rights reserved). |
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Random Musings of a Ramblin' Fool XLVIII
Well here we are again: another long over-due Random Musings column as in it has been seven months since my last one here to get you all up to speed on my prosaic little life. By the way: this blog has now received over 298,000 distinct visits. I thank everybody who takes the time to read this blog regardless if they do it randomly one time only or with any semblance of regularity. It is my desire in the future to move it to a different blog-hosting service and start generating ad revenue. It seems fair to get a little remuneration out of my time and effort invested in this blog. I have much upon which to comment but this go-around of this column will be more Kim-focused than I like simply as a practical matter of getting you all caught up on my particulars. Next time will be soon I hope and I have much upon which to opine about not relating to me directly. I actually don't enjoy talking about myself.
Since we last talked I earned enough general education credits to earn an Associate of Arts in Social and Behavioral Sciences degree at Cuesta College. However, when filling out the application papers to receive it I erred. I was not walked through the process by anybody and had never done it before contributing in my error. By checking the wrong box on a form I did not receive that degree but will do so this coming May. At that time I should pick up a second degree, to wit, an Associate of Arts in History. In the next month I am going to reapply to Cal Poly and see if God really wants me there or not. As you may or may not recall I applied a year ago and was accepted. I did not take Cal Poly up on their offer due to some important logistical issues such as housing and commuting and a desire to pick up additional units less expensively at Cuesta before making the big leap. More importantly, I knew in my bones that God did not want me to make that jump quite yet for whatever reason(s). By next summer there is a strong possibility I will be able to move into my mother's house in Atascadero cutting the commute to Cal Poly in half and cutting down on my housing costs tremendously from where they are now which is already incredibly low for what I'm getting due to the generosity of a dear friend. I've known this friend since junior high school and he is paying forward to me a good deed done him by a long-time friend of his who helped him out during his own transition from being stuck to moving forward. Anywho, I might also apply to Fresno State and UCSB as well just for kicks and see what happens. However, if I do not get into Cal Poly this time around it has occurred to me to perhaps get more heavily employed and take a one-year break from school and then reapply to Cal Poly a year from now. I would need to take that before my Creator and inquire as to His will in this matter.
I am currently struggling in my college algebra course this semester. I recently achieved my first ever "F" on a test in any subject my entire life from Kindergarten onwards to the present. This happened even after working hard to be prepared for the class as well as consistently working hard in the math lab on my homework. I must confess that over the past several semesters I have been attending Cuesta College either part-time or full-time I have been largely skating along on accumulated smarts and natural talent and not investing the sort of time and effort and focus that is necessary to be successful at the university level. Doing that the past three semesters earned me an A-, and two B's in classes (MATH07 / MATH123 / MATH127, respectively) that were largely refreshers courses for me. However, this semester I'm in MATH232 which is called "College Algebra" but is essentially Pre-Calculus sans a few concepts that would be broached in this class if it were for students planning to go on up the ladder and take more math (in which case it would be MATH242 and be five units). However, this class is a terminus math class for those of us for whom only one three-unit 200-level math course is required to graduate and/or transfer as is the case with me. I have long been haunted by the theme of those in a struggle or conflict whom encounter great setback but lacking the adequate nerve to succeed fail to knuckle down and hang in there and see things through to the brutal end. Most poignantly stuck in my mind as a sterling example of this is the premature panic and errant suicide of Cassius in the Battle of Philippi in 42 B.C.E. when he erroneously heard that Brutus' army had been defeated (when in fact Brutus had soundly defeated Octavian in their first engagement). Cassius' jumping the gun then caused his army and Brutus' in combination to be defeated once and for all. We see this concept repeated time and again in usually less-climactic and realm-changing circumstances all the time. I nearly did that myself in withdrawing from this math class and retaking in the Spring. I'm glad I did not as mom pointed out the folly of it in concept and in practical matters I realized that by simply working harder and doing better on the remaining three unit tests plus the final I can bring my average from three test scores (70, 63, and 47) up. Not only that, but with perfect attendance (which I'm on track for) my instructor will add 20 points and she takes our worst unit test score and replaces it with our score on our cumulative course final if it is superior. By being able to state truthfully that I'm in a 200-level math class when I apply to Cal Poly this month my case will look stronger, too.
I am now officially a licensed security guard employed by Vino Vice, Inc., having passed the mandatory minimum initial eight-hour online no-fail course and submitted my Livescan with the California Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and submitted an application to the California Bureau of Security and Investigation Services (BSIS) which is within the Department of Consumer Affairs. I must now complete online another 16 hours of online instruction in less than a month's time and another 16 hours of online instruction in the next six months in order for my license to be more than merely provisional as it is now. This curriculum is broken up into modules which makes it easier and it also is all non-fail. This weekend I will be working an event (a release party) at Firestone Walker Brewery in Paso Robles, CA, on Saturday and "Giddy Up Round Up" Family Fun Day at Santa Margarita Ranch this Sunday. A week from this Saturday I shall be working perhaps the last public event ever at Windfall Farms (the old Cardiff Stud Farms out in Creston, CA, formerly owned by Alex Trabek of "Jeopardy" fame), to wit, the Garagiste Festival. The corporate owners of the property don't care to do many if any events there in the future as they move in another direction with the property from how it has been managed in its recent history. Soon, however, events will quiet down for the Winter and work will dry up until the Spring so I hope to catch some season work this coming Holiday season.
In the morning I'll be attending the first ever meeting of the North San Luis Obispo County CERT. I'll have to leave early to go work but I hope to catch the first 45 minutes of it and then attend the make-up meeting for those who could not make this one. I plan to join the team having already passed the basic CERT course offered by the North San Luis Obispo County CERT program. At the morrow's meeting I also plan to inquire as to the next CPR & First Aid class offered locally so I can renew my certifications which expired last May. I'm already certified for Mental Health First Aid as of last April as I shared here previously as well.
They hired me last spring as you might or might not recall from my initial report. It turns out they intentionally over-hired initially and then simply called a select group out of the total to come work and blew off the rest of us. That is not how I do business nor anything with which I wish to be associated. I'm not willing to ingratiate myself in order to work AFTER I've already been hired nor, for that matter, at all ever under any circumstances. Either hire me or don't hire me but don't jerk me around! I consider working at a venue like Vina Robles an honor and privilege. I likewise feel that it is an honor and privilege for such a place to employ me. It is up to them to see my potential and exploit it to their benefit... or not. Given how a typical concert there means about six hours (max) per concert at starting pay of $8/hour and be jerked around as to if I'm actually employed there versus working with honor and respect and for a longer annual season with starting pay of $11.50/hour at VinoVice with many more hours at stake plus sometimes overtime guess where my loyalty lays? Nonetheless, I'm grateful for the very brief experience I had there and feel honored to have worked the first ever concert there.
Today my late father, James Gordon Noyes, would have turned 67, but instead died later this month 28 years ago at age 39 and nearly one month. I'm now over 43 and six months of age so I'm in a strange place as I realize dad was never my current age. He is now eternal and immortal and beyond sin and suffering and has avoided all the shit that I have plowed through since his ascension that cold, dark, damp, foggy late November morning early my freshman year of high school. God took him away and I know why which is more than most people take away from such a tragic event. I count myself blessed in this regard. God has used that happenstance and what followed to shape me into the thing He has planned for me to become which metamorphosis is still underway.
This year has been spiritually challenging for me and most of that has been self-inflicted. Simply put, I have not been in God's Word this year to the degree I have been in the past and need to be all the time. My schedule is busy and I tend to rush out of bed and get into my day without setting time aside for God to give to prayer and reading scripture in putting on the armor that will sustain me. It's all about tithing time not just money and making God a priority in this respect and I continue to struggle in this regard. I am a creature of habit which can be to my benefit or my bane. The dearth of "Scripture of the Day" postings here lately directly correlates with this phenomenon. That being said, I have been growing in Christ nonetheless and moving along spiritually, but perhaps not as quickly as if I'd had my nose in the Word every day along the way. I choose to change that. That is my power. All of that refers to my private relationship with God or rather "vertical" worship. My relationship with God through fellow believers or rather "horizonal" worship is doing better than ever after my 20-year hiatus from attending church and being involved with other believers. I continue to worship regularly at North County Christian Fellowship as that is where God has assigned me for now and I am content to be there. A Thursday evening "home group" from that church is my adopted spiritual family. I am also now lately visiting a second bible study group Thursday evenings that is populated by Paso Robles Bible Church members which church I have attended off and on over the past few years.
My wonderful mother Lynda seems to be moving forward in her life and big things seem to be on the near horizon for her which are rather momentous and exciting. She is a private person so I won't divulge much but for what I am willing to share stay tuned! My Grandma Noyes is also doing quite well, but must ambulate with a walker which is a relatively new development. She is thriving in her post-married life and she and I have never gotten along better than now following many troubled years in our relationship both during and after the demise of Grandpa Noyes. Grandma and I love each other as always but now we like each other as well. Her husband was in my estimation a wicked man with a religious facade but no reality of Christ within him. He failed to lead our family and caused me much pain and hurt over the course of my life. I know his son (up until his death) felt that way to the point of tears. Forgiving him has been a spiritual battle for me. Since Grandpa Noyes shed this mortal coil his wife has thrived as I never could have imagined. This follows the pattern her mother followed who after marrying an unsatisfactory man in like manner then thrived following his demise. My brother Andrew continues to live in work in Flagstaff, Arizona. We hardly ever talk as he desires no relationship with either me or his mother. The loss is his as I have formed my own new family. Who says you can't pick your family?
A former untermensch roommate of mine from the late 2000's period of my life recently revealed to me the degree to which my ex-girlfriend blabbed very private details of our relationship with people who were even enemies. The same ex-girlfriend also made patently false accusations to a mutual friend regarding my character back nearer the time of the break-up (breakup was in 2009 and the ugliness came out of the blue in 2010). Given that I at no time during or since our breakup disparaged her behind her back to anyone or murdered her reputation in any way, shape, or form as she has done me it seems terribly cruel and unfair a development which it is. However, that merely revealed to me the true nature of the person in question whom I never really knew as well as I believed at the time (nor she, me, I suppose). I hope she is doing much better these days and is not now the same essential person who did those things a few years ago just as I am no longer the same person I once was who at times failed on my part in our relationship causing her hurt. However, from the get-go I took ownership of that shit and fell on my sword in and around the time of the breakup. Unfortunately, there has never been any reciprocity in this respect.
The aforementioned untermensch who shall go unnamed here as he does not deserve to be mentioned continues to stalk this blog (and perhaps beyond that). He periodically trolls in the comments section of specific postings. It was obvious back in the day from fairly early when I lived with him that he had absolutely no class nor character. He manner was so piss-poor that he caused me to start suspecting he is some sort of sociopathic individual. His actions since continue to confirm that suspicion. Someday he will die alone and nobody will care, least of all me. It sucks to be him.
At the recent Cayucos Gem & Mineral Show at which I am one of the organizers and was in attendance part of the weekend I inevitably ran into my old boss/former friend with whom I had a falling out earlier this year as I shared on this blog (I'm intentionally not providing links to the postings but you can find them if you really wish to read them). The whole saga is rather sad and actually quite egregious. Anywho, he and I exchanged strained pleasantries and platitudes but that was it. He was too proud and stubborn and selfish to reach out and make any attempt to heal the rift. He, too, will die alone someday and that will be fully on him. He betrayed our friendship and the supposedly inviolable trust that bound it. He is like that you know. So many people get stuck in their own lives and don't even know it. God showed grace on me and delivered me from myself in this regard.
Education Update
Since we last talked I earned enough general education credits to earn an Associate of Arts in Social and Behavioral Sciences degree at Cuesta College. However, when filling out the application papers to receive it I erred. I was not walked through the process by anybody and had never done it before contributing in my error. By checking the wrong box on a form I did not receive that degree but will do so this coming May. At that time I should pick up a second degree, to wit, an Associate of Arts in History. In the next month I am going to reapply to Cal Poly and see if God really wants me there or not. As you may or may not recall I applied a year ago and was accepted. I did not take Cal Poly up on their offer due to some important logistical issues such as housing and commuting and a desire to pick up additional units less expensively at Cuesta before making the big leap. More importantly, I knew in my bones that God did not want me to make that jump quite yet for whatever reason(s). By next summer there is a strong possibility I will be able to move into my mother's house in Atascadero cutting the commute to Cal Poly in half and cutting down on my housing costs tremendously from where they are now which is already incredibly low for what I'm getting due to the generosity of a dear friend. I've known this friend since junior high school and he is paying forward to me a good deed done him by a long-time friend of his who helped him out during his own transition from being stuck to moving forward. Anywho, I might also apply to Fresno State and UCSB as well just for kicks and see what happens. However, if I do not get into Cal Poly this time around it has occurred to me to perhaps get more heavily employed and take a one-year break from school and then reapply to Cal Poly a year from now. I would need to take that before my Creator and inquire as to His will in this matter.
Lessons From Defeat
I am currently struggling in my college algebra course this semester. I recently achieved my first ever "F" on a test in any subject my entire life from Kindergarten onwards to the present. This happened even after working hard to be prepared for the class as well as consistently working hard in the math lab on my homework. I must confess that over the past several semesters I have been attending Cuesta College either part-time or full-time I have been largely skating along on accumulated smarts and natural talent and not investing the sort of time and effort and focus that is necessary to be successful at the university level. Doing that the past three semesters earned me an A-, and two B's in classes (MATH07 / MATH123 / MATH127, respectively) that were largely refreshers courses for me. However, this semester I'm in MATH232 which is called "College Algebra" but is essentially Pre-Calculus sans a few concepts that would be broached in this class if it were for students planning to go on up the ladder and take more math (in which case it would be MATH242 and be five units). However, this class is a terminus math class for those of us for whom only one three-unit 200-level math course is required to graduate and/or transfer as is the case with me. I have long been haunted by the theme of those in a struggle or conflict whom encounter great setback but lacking the adequate nerve to succeed fail to knuckle down and hang in there and see things through to the brutal end. Most poignantly stuck in my mind as a sterling example of this is the premature panic and errant suicide of Cassius in the Battle of Philippi in 42 B.C.E. when he erroneously heard that Brutus' army had been defeated (when in fact Brutus had soundly defeated Octavian in their first engagement). Cassius' jumping the gun then caused his army and Brutus' in combination to be defeated once and for all. We see this concept repeated time and again in usually less-climactic and realm-changing circumstances all the time. I nearly did that myself in withdrawing from this math class and retaking in the Spring. I'm glad I did not as mom pointed out the folly of it in concept and in practical matters I realized that by simply working harder and doing better on the remaining three unit tests plus the final I can bring my average from three test scores (70, 63, and 47) up. Not only that, but with perfect attendance (which I'm on track for) my instructor will add 20 points and she takes our worst unit test score and replaces it with our score on our cumulative course final if it is superior. By being able to state truthfully that I'm in a 200-level math class when I apply to Cal Poly this month my case will look stronger, too.
Guard Carded
I am now officially a licensed security guard employed by Vino Vice, Inc., having passed the mandatory minimum initial eight-hour online no-fail course and submitted my Livescan with the California Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and submitted an application to the California Bureau of Security and Investigation Services (BSIS) which is within the Department of Consumer Affairs. I must now complete online another 16 hours of online instruction in less than a month's time and another 16 hours of online instruction in the next six months in order for my license to be more than merely provisional as it is now. This curriculum is broken up into modules which makes it easier and it also is all non-fail. This weekend I will be working an event (a release party) at Firestone Walker Brewery in Paso Robles, CA, on Saturday and "Giddy Up Round Up" Family Fun Day at Santa Margarita Ranch this Sunday. A week from this Saturday I shall be working perhaps the last public event ever at Windfall Farms (the old Cardiff Stud Farms out in Creston, CA, formerly owned by Alex Trabek of "Jeopardy" fame), to wit, the Garagiste Festival. The corporate owners of the property don't care to do many if any events there in the future as they move in another direction with the property from how it has been managed in its recent history. Soon, however, events will quiet down for the Winter and work will dry up until the Spring so I hope to catch some season work this coming Holiday season.
CERT-ified
In the morning I'll be attending the first ever meeting of the North San Luis Obispo County CERT. I'll have to leave early to go work but I hope to catch the first 45 minutes of it and then attend the make-up meeting for those who could not make this one. I plan to join the team having already passed the basic CERT course offered by the North San Luis Obispo County CERT program. At the morrow's meeting I also plan to inquire as to the next CPR & First Aid class offered locally so I can renew my certifications which expired last May. I'm already certified for Mental Health First Aid as of last April as I shared here previously as well.
I'm Not Vina Robles After All
They hired me last spring as you might or might not recall from my initial report. It turns out they intentionally over-hired initially and then simply called a select group out of the total to come work and blew off the rest of us. That is not how I do business nor anything with which I wish to be associated. I'm not willing to ingratiate myself in order to work AFTER I've already been hired nor, for that matter, at all ever under any circumstances. Either hire me or don't hire me but don't jerk me around! I consider working at a venue like Vina Robles an honor and privilege. I likewise feel that it is an honor and privilege for such a place to employ me. It is up to them to see my potential and exploit it to their benefit... or not. Given how a typical concert there means about six hours (max) per concert at starting pay of $8/hour and be jerked around as to if I'm actually employed there versus working with honor and respect and for a longer annual season with starting pay of $11.50/hour at VinoVice with many more hours at stake plus sometimes overtime guess where my loyalty lays? Nonetheless, I'm grateful for the very brief experience I had there and feel honored to have worked the first ever concert there.
I'm Older Than Dad Ever Was
Today my late father, James Gordon Noyes, would have turned 67, but instead died later this month 28 years ago at age 39 and nearly one month. I'm now over 43 and six months of age so I'm in a strange place as I realize dad was never my current age. He is now eternal and immortal and beyond sin and suffering and has avoided all the shit that I have plowed through since his ascension that cold, dark, damp, foggy late November morning early my freshman year of high school. God took him away and I know why which is more than most people take away from such a tragic event. I count myself blessed in this regard. God has used that happenstance and what followed to shape me into the thing He has planned for me to become which metamorphosis is still underway.
My Walk Of Late
This year has been spiritually challenging for me and most of that has been self-inflicted. Simply put, I have not been in God's Word this year to the degree I have been in the past and need to be all the time. My schedule is busy and I tend to rush out of bed and get into my day without setting time aside for God to give to prayer and reading scripture in putting on the armor that will sustain me. It's all about tithing time not just money and making God a priority in this respect and I continue to struggle in this regard. I am a creature of habit which can be to my benefit or my bane. The dearth of "Scripture of the Day" postings here lately directly correlates with this phenomenon. That being said, I have been growing in Christ nonetheless and moving along spiritually, but perhaps not as quickly as if I'd had my nose in the Word every day along the way. I choose to change that. That is my power. All of that refers to my private relationship with God or rather "vertical" worship. My relationship with God through fellow believers or rather "horizonal" worship is doing better than ever after my 20-year hiatus from attending church and being involved with other believers. I continue to worship regularly at North County Christian Fellowship as that is where God has assigned me for now and I am content to be there. A Thursday evening "home group" from that church is my adopted spiritual family. I am also now lately visiting a second bible study group Thursday evenings that is populated by Paso Robles Bible Church members which church I have attended off and on over the past few years.
My Family
My wonderful mother Lynda seems to be moving forward in her life and big things seem to be on the near horizon for her which are rather momentous and exciting. She is a private person so I won't divulge much but for what I am willing to share stay tuned! My Grandma Noyes is also doing quite well, but must ambulate with a walker which is a relatively new development. She is thriving in her post-married life and she and I have never gotten along better than now following many troubled years in our relationship both during and after the demise of Grandpa Noyes. Grandma and I love each other as always but now we like each other as well. Her husband was in my estimation a wicked man with a religious facade but no reality of Christ within him. He failed to lead our family and caused me much pain and hurt over the course of my life. I know his son (up until his death) felt that way to the point of tears. Forgiving him has been a spiritual battle for me. Since Grandpa Noyes shed this mortal coil his wife has thrived as I never could have imagined. This follows the pattern her mother followed who after marrying an unsatisfactory man in like manner then thrived following his demise. My brother Andrew continues to live in work in Flagstaff, Arizona. We hardly ever talk as he desires no relationship with either me or his mother. The loss is his as I have formed my own new family. Who says you can't pick your family?
People Can Be Disappointing
A former untermensch roommate of mine from the late 2000's period of my life recently revealed to me the degree to which my ex-girlfriend blabbed very private details of our relationship with people who were even enemies. The same ex-girlfriend also made patently false accusations to a mutual friend regarding my character back nearer the time of the break-up (breakup was in 2009 and the ugliness came out of the blue in 2010). Given that I at no time during or since our breakup disparaged her behind her back to anyone or murdered her reputation in any way, shape, or form as she has done me it seems terribly cruel and unfair a development which it is. However, that merely revealed to me the true nature of the person in question whom I never really knew as well as I believed at the time (nor she, me, I suppose). I hope she is doing much better these days and is not now the same essential person who did those things a few years ago just as I am no longer the same person I once was who at times failed on my part in our relationship causing her hurt. However, from the get-go I took ownership of that shit and fell on my sword in and around the time of the breakup. Unfortunately, there has never been any reciprocity in this respect.
My Stalker
The aforementioned untermensch who shall go unnamed here as he does not deserve to be mentioned continues to stalk this blog (and perhaps beyond that). He periodically trolls in the comments section of specific postings. It was obvious back in the day from fairly early when I lived with him that he had absolutely no class nor character. He manner was so piss-poor that he caused me to start suspecting he is some sort of sociopathic individual. His actions since continue to confirm that suspicion. Someday he will die alone and nobody will care, least of all me. It sucks to be him.
No Love Lost Apparently
At the recent Cayucos Gem & Mineral Show at which I am one of the organizers and was in attendance part of the weekend I inevitably ran into my old boss/former friend with whom I had a falling out earlier this year as I shared on this blog (I'm intentionally not providing links to the postings but you can find them if you really wish to read them). The whole saga is rather sad and actually quite egregious. Anywho, he and I exchanged strained pleasantries and platitudes but that was it. He was too proud and stubborn and selfish to reach out and make any attempt to heal the rift. He, too, will die alone someday and that will be fully on him. He betrayed our friendship and the supposedly inviolable trust that bound it. He is like that you know. So many people get stuck in their own lives and don't even know it. God showed grace on me and delivered me from myself in this regard.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Eclectic Arcania's Biggest Fan
This evening in response to my Make That Three Scholarships! column earlier today I received this positive feedback from Eclectic Arcania's biggest fan:
Anonymous May 19, 2013 at 3:18 PM
In response to this lovely little comment I kept it real and responded thus:AS I monitor the weather disaster that touched down near mid continent airport in wichita, I AM PLEASED TO READ THAT YOU MAY STOP EXPLOITING THE CALIFORNIA EDUCATION SYSTEM AT FRUTILITY AND PERSUE YOUR PAUL BLART MALL COP CARREER - YOU ALREADY HAVE THE RENT-A COP BODY. GET THAT GUARD CARD AND ABANDON THIS MID LIFE CRISIS. LINDA IS GOING TO NEED YOU IN LATER LIFE
Dear Anonymous,
Your mother must be proud of you. You, her little baby, hides behind your online anonymity and makes disparaging comments sans attaching your name and reputation to them. This was undoubtedly the sort of thing which on the day you were born and she first beheld your countenance and embraced you within her arms was the sort of thing she envisioned you would someday grow up to do, thus inspiring her to work all the harder to raise you.
Undoubtedly your mother brags to her friends and peers that you, her favorite child, trolls the internet in such a fashion as to place you on the verge of cyber-stalking on other people's blogs.
Your mom's friends envy her that she has raised a child who has grown up to live such a meaningful and productive life that it allows you the time to dabble in an online activity for whom the world views its practitioners as lowest form of life on the internet.
I'm certain she is heartened to see you, her beloved child, appear to fully grasp the intent and purpose of financial aid as well as the benefits of acquiring an education.
Not only that, your mother would be filled with pride to see you commenting upon someone else's weight and that from a position of anonymity.
As if all this weren't enough your standards of "netiquette" have you using ALL CAPS in an attempt to place emphasis although it actually means in internet etiquette that you are shouting all of which she would find as quaint and charming as I do.
However, your mother might wonder what you meant by "FRUTILITY" and "PERSUE" and "CARREER".
Your beloved mother and I definitely wonder who "LINDA" is and if by that you meant my mother "Lynda" and if so how it would be my responsibility and not her husband's primary responsibility to provide for her.
Also, your lovely mother and I both wonder how I could support my mother as she gets older if I were to pursue a career as a security guard as you are suggesting when everyone knows a college graduate has a higher earning power than a non-college graduate.
Lastly, we all admire how fast you were able to transition from beginning to comment about the severe weather in Kansas today and seamlessly segue into your inspiring message to me.
I am grateful for this opportunity for meaningful interaction with you this day. I am heartened to know there are purveyors of truth and goodness out there in the ether of the internet such as yourself whom strive to be a positive and inspiring influence in the world on their fellow human beings and in particular, fellow American citizens such as myself.
I don't wish to distract you from the important stuff you are doing with your busy life by commenting here any further so I wish you a lovely day!
Kim Patrick Noyes
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Random Musings of a Ramblin' Fool XXVIII
*Note: I've repaired the blog subscription feature here and invite you, the reader, to subscribe to this blog if you have not already and care to do so.
In addition to the aforementioned detail I have also culled the herd of my blog postings here eliminating over three dozen posts that for various reasons I wished to delete. I also deleted all past pending posts that I had neglected to finish and publish here all of which were from the period 2008-2009 and were exclusively related to rock shows I did during that period. By now I have forgotten many/most of the pertinent details relating to the experiences of those shows and in some cases never downloaded the accompanying photos which are now no longer available. I have kept all previously published rock show postings however as I feel they hold some value and benefit to me and perhaps others as well.
I have also culled the herd of Kimmer's Favorite Blogs while also adding a number of blogs to that list. The remaining blog links have all been checked that they are still active and that the blogs are still active in most cases.
An upcoming change here is going to be the visual look and layout of this space which will better reflect who I am and what this blog is all about. My ex-girlfriend did a fine job setting it up in early 2008 when it reflected our creative collaboration. However, that collaboration ended a year and a half later in 2009. Yet this blog failed to reflect that change as I lacked the emotional wherewithal to bestir myself to carry on without her given how much I associated this place with her and needing to move on in regards to her I also needed to take a break from my creative activities here. Fortunately, that period is now over as of last month and Eclectic Arcania is back.
As with my blog so now with my Ebay store I have been unable to bestir myself to do anything with it because I strongly associated it with my ex-girlfriend and needed to walk away from it for awhile for the same reasons as my blog. And as with my blog so now with my Ebay store I am ready to start over anew and am eager to transform K&K Earthwerks Store into my store instead of "our" store as it was when my ex-girlfriend and I were still together and the store was our collaboration. She did a great job and I am forever grateful to her for her getting me set up and established on Ebay given my chronic technophobia.
I will soon be culling the store inventory of things that have not sold and will not ever sell and will instead dump them in my friend Ryan Adam's soon-to-be-opening art gallery in Atascadero. I will only leave in my store inventory the sorts of items that fit my niche of rare and unusual if not at times ugly minerals from hard-to-find places that in some cases are now closed and no longer producing that connoisseurs of such seek out.
I will be adding a line of Benitoite and Neptunite from New Idria as well as a line of Cinnabar nodules from the New Almaden Mine as well as a line of Elmwood minerals as well as a large line of Dale Harwood rare and uglies that are typically Ebay gold. I also plan to cull my personal collection of anything that I do not love and that has provenance. The stuff I do not love and that does not have provenance I will dump in Ryan's gallery and price it to move. Since I'm upgrading the quality of my store the prices will reflect the elevated niche I will be occupying but my prices will be reasonable for what I'm offering.
Week before last I finished my 2010-2011 academic year at Cuesta Community College. Although our grades have not been officially entered into the records I already know I got straight "A's" in my three classes (8 units total). I achieved the same outcome in the two classes I took the previous semester which means I completed a total of 14 units this past academic year and earned a 4.0 GPA. I feel the Lord is directing me to increase my course load to about 14 units next semester and stop working for Dave Richter except for the local shows. This means I will need to find some part-time work locally which will require a "God Thing" to happen... again.
Within a short time after posting on my Facebook "Wall" that I needed to purchase a used car within a certain price range I received a call from an old friend. She received a 1999 Oldsmobile Intrigue for free from her church, Harvest Bible Church, here in Paso Robles. She is the volunteer church secretary and during a time of severe need a year or two ago a car that had been donated to the church was given to her as a gift. She is now back on her feet financially and purchasing the soon-departing pastor's current car and asked him what she should do with her old car. The pastor told her to give it to somebody else ala "Pay It Forward". She was contemplating whom to give it to when she saw my Facebook Wall posting and knew that moment she was to offer it to me. So in our phone conversation she laid out the details for me and by the end of the conversation I knew I was to accept this beautiful gift. The plan now is for me to take receipt of it this weekend. I will need to smog it and get the brakes fixed and some minor electrical things dealt with and then I will be outfitted with a car that actually works. This will be the first car I have owned since early September 1990 when I traded in my 1988 Chevy Beretta for a 1990 Chevy S-10 4WD Blazer which I in turn traded in for a 1994 Chevy S-10 4WD pickup in June 1994 which pickup is now broken and can't pass smog and is not worth fixing assuming I could even afford to fix it which I cannot.
The #1 cylinder in my V-6 4.3 litter engine has inadequate compression and the unburnt fuel going into that chamber is going out my tailpipe. As that fuel passes through the catalytic converter it is destroying it. I can feel the diminishing power over time whenever I try to accelerate. I can't afford to fix it and have not since last year before my registration expired at the end of June. I have been driving the truck around with an expired registration since that time and have avoided detection through a combination of luck, pluck, providence, and skill... until about a week ago.
I was traveling southbound on Vine Street here in Paso Robles a few blocks north of 24th Street when a northbound San Luis Obispo County Sheriff patrol car that passed me suddenly swung around. I immediately pulled onto the nearest side street but he saw the maneuver and followed me and pulled me over.
I had dreaded this moment for a year and finally it was happening. I just fell into God's hand in this and trusted Him to make things work out because there was nothing I could do but simply plead my case and cause. This was about to be my third interaction with SLOSO deputies inside a year as I dealt with Deputy Kemp the day I found my friend Dave Brooks dead last August and then I have attended a few bible studies at the home of Deputy Calagna. Both men are class acts and I hoped to experience more of the same.
Two deputies got out and came up on opposite sides of my vehicle and the lead one on my side explained that my tags were expired. I immediately explained my mechanical and financial situation and that I was working on a solution. I also pointed out that I had a valid driver's license, up-to-date insurance, and that I had paid the registration fee for my pickup so that I was paying to use the roads just like everybody else but that because of merely this smog issue my tags were expired. I also revealed that Cuesta College police had already ticketed me about this very thing. The deputy was very reasonable and understanding and professional but firmly yet politely admonished me to get this situation resolved because technically I should not be driving around in my pickup under the circumstances. Approximately a week later God gave me a car!
I have now successfully installed a pond in my backyard and cleared the area around it in preparation for a herb and flower garden which my next door neighbor Lori will help me design and plant next month. In the meantime I'll work to get the pond ecosystem thoroughly balanced and established. At present I have algae mats and some sort of water vine in it plus small fish and tadpoles and polliwogs and water skeeters and some other assorted stuff in it. I'm trying to find snails for it but have thus far been unsuccessful. The Salinas River has been the source of these flora and fauna. I used a plastic pond insert that used to be in mom's backyard when she had a pond during the previous decade.
I have joined a Community Supported Agriculture operation several miles away whose drop house for their vegetables and herbs is next door where my neighbors Lori and Dori live and whom both work there. Kiler Canyon CSA is a wonderful agricultural endeavor that provides me with an amazing array of the bounty of the garden for a mere $21 a week for a half bushel basket which is the smallest consignment of food and still more than I can get through in a week. I plan to devote an entire blog posting to Kiler Canyon CSA at some point in the near future.
Fini
Eclectic Arcania is Cleaning House!
In addition to the aforementioned detail I have also culled the herd of my blog postings here eliminating over three dozen posts that for various reasons I wished to delete. I also deleted all past pending posts that I had neglected to finish and publish here all of which were from the period 2008-2009 and were exclusively related to rock shows I did during that period. By now I have forgotten many/most of the pertinent details relating to the experiences of those shows and in some cases never downloaded the accompanying photos which are now no longer available. I have kept all previously published rock show postings however as I feel they hold some value and benefit to me and perhaps others as well.
I have also culled the herd of Kimmer's Favorite Blogs while also adding a number of blogs to that list. The remaining blog links have all been checked that they are still active and that the blogs are still active in most cases.
An upcoming change here is going to be the visual look and layout of this space which will better reflect who I am and what this blog is all about. My ex-girlfriend did a fine job setting it up in early 2008 when it reflected our creative collaboration. However, that collaboration ended a year and a half later in 2009. Yet this blog failed to reflect that change as I lacked the emotional wherewithal to bestir myself to carry on without her given how much I associated this place with her and needing to move on in regards to her I also needed to take a break from my creative activities here. Fortunately, that period is now over as of last month and Eclectic Arcania is back.
K&K Earthwerks Store Redux
As with my blog so now with my Ebay store I have been unable to bestir myself to do anything with it because I strongly associated it with my ex-girlfriend and needed to walk away from it for awhile for the same reasons as my blog. And as with my blog so now with my Ebay store I am ready to start over anew and am eager to transform K&K Earthwerks Store into my store instead of "our" store as it was when my ex-girlfriend and I were still together and the store was our collaboration. She did a great job and I am forever grateful to her for her getting me set up and established on Ebay given my chronic technophobia.
I will soon be culling the store inventory of things that have not sold and will not ever sell and will instead dump them in my friend Ryan Adam's soon-to-be-opening art gallery in Atascadero. I will only leave in my store inventory the sorts of items that fit my niche of rare and unusual if not at times ugly minerals from hard-to-find places that in some cases are now closed and no longer producing that connoisseurs of such seek out.
I will be adding a line of Benitoite and Neptunite from New Idria as well as a line of Cinnabar nodules from the New Almaden Mine as well as a line of Elmwood minerals as well as a large line of Dale Harwood rare and uglies that are typically Ebay gold. I also plan to cull my personal collection of anything that I do not love and that has provenance. The stuff I do not love and that does not have provenance I will dump in Ryan's gallery and price it to move. Since I'm upgrading the quality of my store the prices will reflect the elevated niche I will be occupying but my prices will be reasonable for what I'm offering.
Spring 2011 Semester is Over!
Week before last I finished my 2010-2011 academic year at Cuesta Community College. Although our grades have not been officially entered into the records I already know I got straight "A's" in my three classes (8 units total). I achieved the same outcome in the two classes I took the previous semester which means I completed a total of 14 units this past academic year and earned a 4.0 GPA. I feel the Lord is directing me to increase my course load to about 14 units next semester and stop working for Dave Richter except for the local shows. This means I will need to find some part-time work locally which will require a "God Thing" to happen... again.
God Gave Me a Car...
Within a short time after posting on my Facebook "Wall" that I needed to purchase a used car within a certain price range I received a call from an old friend. She received a 1999 Oldsmobile Intrigue for free from her church, Harvest Bible Church, here in Paso Robles. She is the volunteer church secretary and during a time of severe need a year or two ago a car that had been donated to the church was given to her as a gift. She is now back on her feet financially and purchasing the soon-departing pastor's current car and asked him what she should do with her old car. The pastor told her to give it to somebody else ala "Pay It Forward". She was contemplating whom to give it to when she saw my Facebook Wall posting and knew that moment she was to offer it to me. So in our phone conversation she laid out the details for me and by the end of the conversation I knew I was to accept this beautiful gift. The plan now is for me to take receipt of it this weekend. I will need to smog it and get the brakes fixed and some minor electrical things dealt with and then I will be outfitted with a car that actually works. This will be the first car I have owned since early September 1990 when I traded in my 1988 Chevy Beretta for a 1990 Chevy S-10 4WD Blazer which I in turn traded in for a 1994 Chevy S-10 4WD pickup in June 1994 which pickup is now broken and can't pass smog and is not worth fixing assuming I could even afford to fix it which I cannot.
...After I Got Pulled Over
The #1 cylinder in my V-6 4.3 litter engine has inadequate compression and the unburnt fuel going into that chamber is going out my tailpipe. As that fuel passes through the catalytic converter it is destroying it. I can feel the diminishing power over time whenever I try to accelerate. I can't afford to fix it and have not since last year before my registration expired at the end of June. I have been driving the truck around with an expired registration since that time and have avoided detection through a combination of luck, pluck, providence, and skill... until about a week ago.
I was traveling southbound on Vine Street here in Paso Robles a few blocks north of 24th Street when a northbound San Luis Obispo County Sheriff patrol car that passed me suddenly swung around. I immediately pulled onto the nearest side street but he saw the maneuver and followed me and pulled me over.
I had dreaded this moment for a year and finally it was happening. I just fell into God's hand in this and trusted Him to make things work out because there was nothing I could do but simply plead my case and cause. This was about to be my third interaction with SLOSO deputies inside a year as I dealt with Deputy Kemp the day I found my friend Dave Brooks dead last August and then I have attended a few bible studies at the home of Deputy Calagna. Both men are class acts and I hoped to experience more of the same.
Two deputies got out and came up on opposite sides of my vehicle and the lead one on my side explained that my tags were expired. I immediately explained my mechanical and financial situation and that I was working on a solution. I also pointed out that I had a valid driver's license, up-to-date insurance, and that I had paid the registration fee for my pickup so that I was paying to use the roads just like everybody else but that because of merely this smog issue my tags were expired. I also revealed that Cuesta College police had already ticketed me about this very thing. The deputy was very reasonable and understanding and professional but firmly yet politely admonished me to get this situation resolved because technically I should not be driving around in my pickup under the circumstances. Approximately a week later God gave me a car!
My Pond Is In Place
I have now successfully installed a pond in my backyard and cleared the area around it in preparation for a herb and flower garden which my next door neighbor Lori will help me design and plant next month. In the meantime I'll work to get the pond ecosystem thoroughly balanced and established. At present I have algae mats and some sort of water vine in it plus small fish and tadpoles and polliwogs and water skeeters and some other assorted stuff in it. I'm trying to find snails for it but have thus far been unsuccessful. The Salinas River has been the source of these flora and fauna. I used a plastic pond insert that used to be in mom's backyard when she had a pond during the previous decade.
Kiler Canyon CSA
I have joined a Community Supported Agriculture operation several miles away whose drop house for their vegetables and herbs is next door where my neighbors Lori and Dori live and whom both work there. Kiler Canyon CSA is a wonderful agricultural endeavor that provides me with an amazing array of the bounty of the garden for a mere $21 a week for a half bushel basket which is the smallest consignment of food and still more than I can get through in a week. I plan to devote an entire blog posting to Kiler Canyon CSA at some point in the near future.
Fini
Friday, April 15, 2011
Random Musings of a Ramblin' Fool XXIV - 41st Birthday Edition!
Today I begin the fifth decade of my life as of about 4:30 AM this past morning. You wonder how do I figure that? The 10's of our years belong to the decade before as in 20 is the last year of our second decade of life and 21 is the first year of our third decade of life. So in that context 40 ended my fourth decade of life and 41 starts the fifth decade of my life.
Anywho, I did nothing special today which is typical for me as I'm not a festive person unless it is forced upon me. Instead I worked all day and made some money as I did yesterday and as I will do tomorrow, Lord willing. I was humbled by all the birthday salutations I received on Facebook and thank those of you reading this whom participated in that.
It seems strange being 41 because the number mentally seems more up there than I can relate to and yet I feel the same physically as I did when I was in my 30's and mentally I feel better than I ever have in my life as I also do spiritually despite the struggles I've had lately in my walk with God in regards to some things that have had power over me in my life.
In spite of that God still loves me and is working on me and progress is being made on all fronts, some of it rather rapid and some of it rather glacially slow and some of it somewhere in between. Call it my learning curve if you will; it's my unique and distinct process of becoming who God put me on this Earth to become.
Back To Church
I have come to realize my drift from God during the 1990's was in no small measure due to my rejecting God's church in favor of my own personal spiritual journey. Such journey's are essential but must needs be in addition to, not in lieu of church attendance and involvement. Consequently, I drifted from God and the changes in me, all of which were negative, were so incremental I could not detect them. I have come back to God over the course of the last year and a half or so although I have learned much from the period I was away from God so all was not a waste during that time period. Just because I'm walking with God again does not make me some goody-goody who wears his religion on his sleeve. In fact, I detest religion AND the wearing of it on the sleeve. In lieu of religiosity one ought to be in a real relationship with God and it must be not worn on the outside but worn on the inside which will result in a reflection on the outside that won't need to be advertised. Not only that, I am still quite human and a Flawed Sinner who daily struggles with Sin and the consequences of it upon my life. That being said, I am very positive and indescribably humbled and grateful to still be here on this Earth living in this presently healthy body and feeling what I feel and knowing what I know now. I will elaborate more upon these things here in the future so stay tuned.
Back To School
I enrolled in classes at Cuesta College (Paso Robles Campus) last Fall taking six units: a 3-unit Geology of California course and a 3-unit American Government course (The Irony of Democracy). I received A's in both classes, ergo, I earned a 4.0 GPA.
This current semester I am enrolled in 8 units of course work: a 3-unit Geo-Hazards course in which I'm getting an A+, a 3-unit History of California course in which I'm getting a solid B to B+, and a 2-unit Standard First Aid & CPR course in which I'm getting an A+. That class will upon passing allow me to be Red Cross certified for CPR and First Aid.
I plan on taking Summer School courses as Cuesta College is offering them after last Summer altogether canceling such classes due to budget cuts.
This coming Fall I plan on taking a double digit load of course work including math and English courses and Spanish and a U.S. history class with my current history teacher who is amazing.
My current career direction seems obvious enough to those whom know me: Emergency Management. I'll keep you posted on my grades, course work and career movements.
Still Single... and NOT Looking
I have not been in a relationship since my last one ended at the end of August, 2009. I have needed the quietude to reflect and grow and focus on my relationship with God and on improving myself and fighting my private battles with my personal struggles.
I have been dirt-poor for a a few years now going back to halfway into my last relationship and am still not imbued with the resources necessary to woo and entertain a young woman. It is worth noting that being poor is incredibly emasculating for we males to a degree most women cannot grasp.
Also, I am limited by the fact I will not get into a relationship with a woman who cannot be a spiritual partner in my walk with God... meaning: I will not get involved with a non-Christian woman... or even a woman who is a self-proclaimed Christian but is not "real". The emotional and domestic and sexual aspects of a relationship are great and are important and obviously I need those things, too. However, those are all secondary to the spiritual dimension which is the foundation upon which all the other elements of a relationship between a man and woman ought necessarily be built and nurtured.
Unfortunately, it seems that not a few gals whom I like as friends are attracted to me which is flattering to me and I'm grateful for the affirmation. However, these are not women to whom I feel attracted. Conversely, the sort of women to whom I feel attracted are either married or aren't in a position to be there for me spiritually at this point which is not to say they won't be later on nor is that to say they would be lousy girlfriends and wives now in the other areas mentioned like emotionally and sexually. But as stated before those things are secondary albeit admittedly important.
As for my previous relationship, it was a starter relationship for both me and my now-ex-girlfriend. It was the first either of us had ever been in and as such it was a learning process. As it turns out we got started too quickly and for the wrong reasons (and NO, NOT THAT reason... we never did that) and we were simply incompatible. It was a close call for both of us as we had discussed marriage quite directly. I do regret our friendship did not survive the breakup for whatever reason despite the breakup itself being harmonious and cordial and the friendship seeming to last several months after the relationship ended. Perhaps someday we will be able to resume our once beautiful friendship which preceded the commencement of our relationship.
Taking Care of Business
I continue to do general labor stuff for several clients and periodically help my friend Dave do shows. I have learned to live incredibly austerely as I never imagined possible which over time will make up for the free-spending days and allow me at some point to pay off a debt to a former friend who helped me out with some money when I first hit the wall financially (thanks K.). I am learning that there is honor in ALL work even when one is shoveling shit. This is in contrast to being on the public dole doing nothing and merely working the system and being supported by other people's hard labor and living on the margins of society by choice. Through my labors and travails I have finally learned the value of a dollar and the value of my labor per unit of time and measure of difficulty after spending most of my life living off of an inheritance.
Cavalry To The Rescue
My Pell Grant application was accepted and I took receipt of it this past Monday and placed it in the bank this past Tuesday. It was only half the maximum due to my taking 6-8 units per semester this school year (2010-2011). This money will immediately go to replacing my 1994 Chevy S-10 pickup that is unable to pass smog and consumes gas like an M1-A1 Abrams tank (gallons per mile). I will get some money from the sale of my pickup to the auto wrecking yard and sell my pickup shell on Craigslist which will help things immeasurably. I will miss not having a pickup which I have found are so very useful and convenient.
However, the mid-2000's Japanese car I'm getting will have much better mileage and be much less expensive to maintain which is what I need at present. I don't do my own shows anymore nor do I travel all over the place anymore but simply drive to and from work and to and from school. My life has a much smaller foot-print now and is infinitely more efficient.
For those of you whom know my attitude about welfare for able-bodied people, this is no contradiction to my value system. The Federal funding I have received in the form of a Pell Grant is money the Federal Government stole from my family when they took $100,000's in inheritance taxes from my grandparent's estate when the last one of them died which was outrageous.
On The Home Front
I'm still living in Paso Robles, CA, having moved to my current address back in Fall 2009. I rent from my childhood friend Mark Wiberg who lives next door in the front house while I rent the rear guest house which is small but perfect for my current needs. We are getting along quite swimmingly. Our unique and distinctive personalities blend perfectly. I get this feeling that at some point we are going to creatively collaborate on something hilarious and nefarious. I'm a great writer (I think) as is he (he thinks... hahaha) as well as he is a stand-up comic. We both are free-thinking intellectuals with a warped sense of humor with a South Park sensibility. Anywho, we are currently building a barbecue pit area for this coming Summer so that maybe we can lure actual female human beings to come and hang out with Mark (hahahaha).
Klau Mine Dave Is Dead
My dear friend Dave Brooks who since the early 1990's was the caretaker of the Klau/Buena Vista Mine complex on behalf of owner Harold Biaggini died of emphysema and a right lung infection last August. Dave was also known to many Central Coast residents as Studebaker Dave. I was blessed with being with Dave in his final days and cursed in finding his body the day following his death at his home. I will write a complete account of these events as well as of Dave's life at some point this year (probably for the one-year anniversary). Dave was 47 at the time.
California Disasters
One of my few passions from the past that has carried over to the present is my California Disasters group on Yahoo Groups. We are now really rolling with a real sense of what we want to be and how we want to do it and we do it well and 1,537 people seem to agree because they are willing members. We provided excellent coverage of the recent Pacific Ocean-wide tsunami event resulting in damage along the California following the 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake & Tsunami in Japan. The group is updated daily with interesting postings about ongoing incidents and past disasters and future hazards. The membership covers a broad cross-section of professionals and amateurs alike and all are welcome including new members for whom this mention is made.
As you can see this is the eighth consecutive day I have posted a blog here and I have no intention of stopping anytime soon. I needed to take a break from doing this as it was deeply emotionally connected to my experience with my ex-girlfriend and it was necessary as part of my healing process from that experience to take an extended leave of absence from posting here but that is now officially over. I have been informed that Feedblitz is no longer supporting subscriptions to Blogspot so I need to go figure out how to get that fixed so those of you whom wish to subscribe to this blog can do so. When that task is accomplished I shall announce it here.
Eclectic Arcania Is Back!
As you can see this is the eighth consecutive day I have posted a blog here and I have no intention of stopping anytime soon. I needed to take a break from doing this as it was deeply emotionally connected to my experience with my ex-girlfriend and it was necessary as part of my healing process from that experience to take an extended leave of absence from posting here but that is now officially over. I have been informed that Feedblitz is no longer supporting subscriptions to Blogspot so I need to go figure out how to get that fixed so those of you whom wish to subscribe to this blog can do so. When that task is accomplished I shall announce it here.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Random Musings of a Ramblin' Fool XXIII
Long Time No See
I beg your pardon for yet another long delay in posting here (nearly three months) but I've had more important fish to fry. It is also true to say that blogging is a habit either in doing or not doing. Once the habit is set either way it is hard to break out of it. However, I'm going to reverse that trend in the coming days and weeks. Once back in the blogging groove expect regular postings here. Facebook has absorbed all my free time of late as well as managing my Yahoo Groups and reading the news online. Of those three Facebook is the least important and thus the one that when I cut back my time spent on it will provide me with the excess time for blogging I so desperately need.
Fish I've Been Frying
It appears I have a new job and a great one it is: part-time but lucrative enough to keep me going for now and help me dig out of my financial hole instead of digging deeper into it. David Richter of Rocks & Relics has taken me on as an assistant in his shows and so far the results have been amazing for both of us. Given the part-time nature of this I have time to do other part-time work for family and friends as well as tend to my K&K Earthwerks eBay Store. Ebay activity has been decent considering how little time and effort I have put into it but that is about to change. I haven't done much work for Steve Shears of late but that is about to change as the rainy season is about to significantly slow down for the year.
The aftershocks of my move last November and helping somebody else move a bunch of their stuff in storage in Adelaida up to Washington State are now almost finished. Both endeavors left me with a lot of excess stuff which I've been selling on Craigslist or giving away on Freecycle which has occupied not a little of my time and energy.
I've also been busy with the three local rockhounding clubs thus far this year (Santa Lucia Rockhounds, SLO Gem & Mineral Club, and the Orcutt Mineral Society). of which I'm a member of each and a vice president in the former two.
Central Coast Rockhounding
My Central Coast Rockhounds Yahoo Group is thriving of late with lots of great content provided by a core group of contributors including your's truly. This activity seems to be a reflection of the renewed interest in the rockhounding hobby in Central California this year. I have not made it out to rockhound this year which amazes and distresses me given this has been an El Nino rainy season with lots of runoff and wave action to promote erosion, a rockhound's greatest friend. I hope next week to get out and get after it so we'll see. There are many options: Ant Hill in Bakersfield, Templeton biconoids, Highway 46 West Summit biconoids, San Simeon State Beach, Villa Creek, Shell Creek fossils, Toro Creek/Hole-in-the Fence Beach, Montano de Oro State Beach, Cuesta Ridge, Salinas River, Adelaida-area mercury mines, Gaviota Coast, etcetera.
My pickup has had beaucoup problems for a long while; most distressingly my two cracked exhaust manifolds. A good buddy of mine is helping me get them fixed in my own carport for a nominal fee and teaching me the hidden wisdom of auto repair in the process which has been cool. We found that one or two of my six spark plugs were not even working and that some of my spark plug wires were a bit burned. Add to that the fact that both manifolds were cracked all the way through and had secondary cracks as well. This all explains the potent odor of gasoline coming from my exhaust fumes as well as my piss-poor gas mileage (sorta like an M1-A1 Abrams tank ~ gallons to the mile!). Thinking of what this might have done to my catalytic converter makes my butt pucker. We hope to be done by the end of this weekend. I've been stranded here at the house for three days thus far.
Feeding My Soul
When not doing shows with Dave Richter I am attending church on weekends. Although my search for a church home has probably not ended I am settled on a church home for Saturday nights, to wit, Harvest Bible Church here in Paso Robles (actually just a few blocks away so I walk there). They have an excellent young pastor in Chris Swanson whom I first met before every going there when I sold my Paykel & Fischer washer & dryer and he picked up it.
As for Sunday mornings while not settled yet as far as I know I feel a lot of promise at North County Christian Fellowship also here in Paso Robles and pastored by Steve Calagna. I've only attended one Sunday service and one Wednesday night service there but both were excellent and I will go there again tomorrow morning. Pastor Steve is good at preaching the word even if he appears to not utilize the expository method which I prefer. Although a charismatic church and I am definitely not charismatic I am out of the business of finding reasons why I don't like churches and should not attend them and am simply allowing God to direct my steps in this matter.
Whichever church I find will be imperfect just like me and that's okay. We're in an evil time and the apostasy is running full-tilt and I accept that the pickings are slim when it comes to decent churches so whatever I find will be better than not attending church at all as I did for nearly two decades to my own detriment.I like what Pastor Swanson told me when I first met him and discussed with him some of this: "If you find the perfect church be certain to stay away." I got the point and laughed heartily.
Daily Kim
I will soon be starting a society and politics blog I've named Daily Kim and I guarantee it will be better than Daily Kos.
Check the upper left-hand corner of my blog and you'll see my proud new Facebook badge!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Random Musings of a Ramblin' Fool XXII
Eclectic Arcania is Back!
It was three months ago this date that we last posted on Eclectic Arcania. Much has happened since that time, most notably everything has changed with us. Now it's just me. This means things here will no longer be the same. However, I will strive to have her visit us with an occasional guest blog posting. In any case I hope our readers will return and hang out with us heading into the future. I will endeavor to make this blog better than ever and hope you all are satisfied.
Fini "Us"
My girlfriend and I are no longer a couple. Our breakup was as loving and right as any breakup in history.
We were great together for 2-1/2 years and grew so much during that time and had many wonderful times together.However, over time we realized we were not to spend the rest of our lives together and mutually agreed to part ways as dear friends.We could not have gotten through our breakup without the love and support of the other person. We continue to be the best of friends but are both still hurting a lot since we made it official August 26, 2009.
K&K Earthwerks Kaput (Sort Of)
I have been forced to pull out of all my shows and and restrict my business K&K Earthwerks to just an EBay presence. Show after show this year was either too quiet or was busy with visitors who were just looky-loo's and spent little or no money. This was the collective experience of most dealers I know. However, most dealers do it on the side and not full-time like me so this wiped me out.This Saturday I will be selling at Cliff Brewen's rockhound tailgater event open to the public.That event will be held from 8 AM to 2 PM at 6384 Monterey Road in San Miguel.I will be selling not only from my business inventory but from my personal collection as well.
I'm A Paso Roblan Now!
I am now living in Paso Robles having made the move from Atascadero this month. I still have about half my stuff at the old place but on the way home from work each evening I fill my pickup with another load of stuff so I am making good progress. I was stuck in a rut living in Atascadero and needed to leave as part of my starting over in life. I must say that as the years have passed I have grown more and more contemptuous of Atascadero and even before I realized I was moving to Paso I felt that was a cooler town and one that had its shit together unlike Atascabama/Atrashcadero/Mudhole as many folks variously call it.
Shows Out, Church In
Doing rock shows for a living makes going to church secondary as shows are basically weekend affairs just like church. I realize now doing shows is for me incompatible with my relationship with God at this point in my life and it is no coincidence that the show aspect of my business failed.Since closing down the show part of my business I have been church tramping in my area looking for a decent church that is the right fit for me.
Right now the top candidates for my church home are Paso Robles Bible Church and Faith Baptist Church in Atascadero.
All Work Is Honorable
Right now while I regain my financial footing and formulate a Plan B I am doing various oddjobs for friends and acquaintances. To date of have planted fruit trees, split wood, cleaned a house and painted both it and a duplex on the same property, helped somebody move their stuff, mowed lawns, helped build a concrete slab and put a shed on it, house sat and babysat dogs at said house, did a show in NorCal for a dealer who couldn't make it himself, helped another dealer set up and break down his booth at the Big Sur Jade Festival among other tasks I have done. If anybody reading this has need of me for some task please let me know privately and we'll work something out. Of coure, on the broader picture and longer haul I am seeking a steady, well-paying job which I fully trust the Almighty will provide when the time is right.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Okay, I'm Back!!!
Okay, I'm back to doing daily "bloggings".
I got out of the habit almost two weeks ago.
For me blogging is a creative process as much as anything and I have to feel inspired which I have not of late.
Not until tonight, when the suffocating malaise of inertia I have been languishing beneath lifted and I had a productive evening and to a lesser extent, day.
Perhaps it was having A&E's "Andromeda Strain" remake/reinterpretation keep me company helped inspire me.
Such End-Of-The-World themes have always haunted me and increasingly much it seems such is the case with my fellow countrymen as well. I'll post a blog about that movie later this week as I'm watching the two-part movie tonight and tomorrow night.
There seems to be an increasing fascination with and attraction to such themes throughout the world.
It's as if on some level or another most of us know we're screwed in the Long Haul and it's just a matter of time and the specific details to play themselves out.
Me: I'm betting on the big bolide impact.
Fini
I got out of the habit almost two weeks ago.
For me blogging is a creative process as much as anything and I have to feel inspired which I have not of late.
Not until tonight, when the suffocating malaise of inertia I have been languishing beneath lifted and I had a productive evening and to a lesser extent, day.
Perhaps it was having A&E's "Andromeda Strain" remake/reinterpretation keep me company helped inspire me.
Such End-Of-The-World themes have always haunted me and increasingly much it seems such is the case with my fellow countrymen as well. I'll post a blog about that movie later this week as I'm watching the two-part movie tonight and tomorrow night.
There seems to be an increasing fascination with and attraction to such themes throughout the world.
It's as if on some level or another most of us know we're screwed in the Long Haul and it's just a matter of time and the specific details to play themselves out.
Me: I'm betting on the big bolide impact.
Fini
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