Words! I have words!

[stitchwhich]

giselle0002 gifted me with them. Now, if only I could think, I'd write something entertaining, or deep, or at least coherent.

Penguins- They are nature's Keystone Kops. I don't envy them their lives - too much danger and hardship there - but I do love to watch them. They are mildly impossible; birds that fly through oceans rather than air and survive for months on end with no food or water. Bumbling and endearing rather than imposing or dignified, they draw smiles and spark a protective need even though they survive in conditions few other animals on this earth could handle. And every one of them, female and male, waddle like a pregnant woman.

Legos - When I was younger, I loved to play with toys that allowed a person to build buildings... even Tinkertoys could be turned into skeletal houses and apartments, or space stations to live in. Legos were rare in my childhood and difficult to keep in one's possession while living with a lot of other children. It was nearly impossible to keep together all the parts needed to recreate the item shown on the cover of a kit box. You were generally reduced to creating your own imaginary buildings and vehicles because the kit ones were only 'around' for the first opening of the box. That was sad, if also intellectually challenging. And then I was an adult and never even looked at them until my sons were old enough to receive an allowance. That happened about the same time that Lego came out with Castles as a product line. I'd drag the boys over to the Lego aisle at Toys-R-Us and show them the kits that they could buy if they just saved up their allowances for a couple of weeks. I'd offer to be their bank and hold their money in trust, if they wanted, trying to induce them with the cool toys to poke their toes into the pool of savings and delayed gratification... too many times, apparently, I did that (with no success in interesting them in saving), but one year they gave me a set of Castle Legos for Mother's Day. I loved them! I loved taking the mess of parts and turning it into a castle. So they gave me more for my birthday. And for the following Christmas. And more. And more, and more...
Until about two years ago all the Legos I owned were gifts. The only sets I remember buying were the three little boxes available at Shell gas-stations during one summer that could only be bought with a gas purchase. I still have those, in their boxes, unopened.
Now I have a 'mad money' fund for purchasing things that I don't feel should come out of household funds. Legos are the majority of those items. I still love making order out of chaos. And more than creating my own designs as I did when I was younger, I derive my satisfaction out of seeing and appreciating the incredible use that others have made of their ability to manipulate finite shapes into recognisable, and even amusing, buildings and furnishings. Every kit has a small surprise, a small 'egg'-gift for the builder from the designer. I love the moment that one becomes apparent and have a small pang in my heart when the building progresses to the point that it is hidden from view.

Religion - From the moment that I first had awareness, I knew that God was there. Some people do not have that sort of awareness of Deity - I can only dimly imagine what that is like for them. Life like that seems so bleak. What I didn't know was how to establish a fulfilling relationship with Deity, or what form Diety would wish to take in achieving that. It took me years of studying and thinking, of weighing and considering, of, frankly, praying and listening, before I found my path... whether or not it is "true" in someone else's eyes is immaterial. It works for Diety & I, and frankly, that is all that matters.

Folks have the right to form their own relationship with Deity. Whether or not they do (or even want to) is their business.

SCA Peerage - I'm a Peer in the SCA so my view is probably different than that of someone who is not. And most likely, different than that of another Peer...I think, theoretically, SCA Peerage is supposed to be a designation that singles out an individual as someone to emulate, someone who knows how the SCA works and how to be effective within it, someone who encourages others to reach in and find, expand, and demonstrate the greatness that is within themselves. Sadly, we don't lose our humanity when we're made Peers so this is also a person with faults and failures.

When the Crowns ask for my advice (ie "hold a polling") about a candidate, I look for certain things. The first thing I look at is the answer to one big question - "Would the SCA experience a great sucking hole should this individual quit being a part of it?" Because Peerage is an SCA-rank, not a Kingdom one. Yeah, sure, the Crowns confer the rank, but it is still a question of the individual's influence affecting more than just their local area, more than merely their Kingdom.

If the candidate passes that test in my mind, then I turn to their personality, their ethics, if you will. No matter how gifted or talented a person is, they are not a Peer of the SCA if they are also petty, power-hungry, dishonest, wilfully manipulative. Again, sure, some current Peers are - and they'd best be grateful that we don't have a recall system in place. I'm not sure I would pass a recall, and I know I don't mean harm to others! They have to pass the 'service rendered vs chaos engendered' test.

And finally - does their skill in the field we are considering (Arts or Service, considering my Peerages) exceed that of most of the members of the Society who I know? Are they truly outstanding in what they do? And are they effective in what they do? Does it enhance our Game more than the contributions of others? (See, we're back to my first paragraph.)

Pride vs Satisfaction - I got nothing. No, really, I've thought about it and thought about it, and I can't really separate the two. If I'm satisfied with something I've done, then it makes me feel good and I like to look at it a few times afterwards, just to feel the glow. I assume that is "pride", so there ya go.

Reincarnation - The soul is infinite. That being so, this life we lead right now is only a small section of one's entire lifeline. I don't really know if we are born and reborn only into this world or not. I believe, as the Mormons do (they don't mention it much) that our existence is a progression towards achieving Godhood. "As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become." They, as Christians, believe in one life on earth, while I think we repeatedly are born and that each life we live, we learn more, experience more, integrate more knowledge into our eternal selves. I don't think we could do that without living multiple existences which excluded knowledge of previous ones - the restriction of life as we know it require a linear learning process, and too easily we could miss important lessons were we to know everything our souls have already experienced. Full awareness of life as a female, now, couldn't be achieved if I carried the memories of life as a man, then, since I'd be constantly analysing rather than experiencing and integrating that into my knowledge base. I think most of us are mere beginners in the Great Story, too young in our existence thus far to encompass awareness of our full lifeline.

Life, death, rebirth in a new form - all the religions in the world teach that as the proper order of our personal stories. The only differences between them all is the 'location', if you will, of the rebirth following this particular life.