The Chrisses

Once in awhile I look back over events in my life. I think about people I knew in the past and present and one name seems to reoccur. This name, or a derivative of it, has been present at just about every junction of my life. Of course you have probably guessed it by now.

The first has been mentioned earlier in this blog (July 21) and his name is Christopher. My first friend and longest held friend. Treehouse and childhood spirit. Still my friend today.

The second is Christine. We were briefly friends in first and second grade. She liked dolls, I liked treehouses and baseball. She taught me that there are distinct perceptual differences between boys and girls.

The third is Kristine. My best friend in high school. A smiling, laughing, kind-hearted soul. Alas, I recently visited her headstone at the Catholic cemetery. Rest in peace my friend, fellow voyager of the teenage, boy-crazy years. I smile at the memories of our first boy-girl parties, whispered crushes and multiple drive-by passes of the homes of boys we were crazy about.

The fourth is Christopher also. This person may be reading this blog (you know who you are!), so instead of divulging shared feelings and secrets on a public forum, I will just say that this person was the first serious love relationship in my life. It was intense, surreal at times, and left some scars which I treasure. I love this person very much still and am blessed that we remain very close friends. Our bodies have changed but the souls are the same. Incredibly, his wife, whom I am fond of, is named Christine.

The fifth is Christian. An adult romance that taught me a lot about trust and lack of it. My first taste of betrayal. An opportunity to apply my intuition toward my best interests and act on it before making serious mistakes. We actually retain a fondness for each other and correspond frequently, although from a distance.

The sixth is Kristen. I was her literacy tutor for 6 months and we remain friends. Kristen taught me a lot about people with disabilities and how normal they are, compared to the rest of us! I learned much about patience and that remarkably, I had lots of it!

I’m sure if I think hard enough I’ll come up with some more Chrisses. These are the milestone Chrisses.

And there’s one name that’s the most important in my life: Bill. My husband, man of a thousand nicknames. The one I love. A common name, but the only one in my life.

Worth a thousand words

This pretty much says it all for me.

Faith and science

I was having a heavy rap with a very wise and cherished friend of mine yesterday. She in turn has a friend who is a scientist. These are her observations about him. I don’t mean to pick on scientists at all, I respect them highly and some are actually quite spirit-minded after seeing natural wonders up close. So, scientists, take this an object lesson, not a personal barb.

My friend writes:

“He is a scientist. He wants to see God as something tangible, with physical features. That’s the only thing that would satisfy him. He can’t accept that God is Intelligence (but what else could have created all this?) because you can only see the effects of Intelligence, not Intelligence Itself. You don’t see Intelligence with eyes that only register physical phenomena, but you can see Intelligence with your mind’s eye. Buy that’s not enough for a scientist who want to see it with his physical eye.

I would like to ask him “What do you hope to see when you’re looking for God? What do you want God to look like?””

Cory in Action

Cory is a blur of energy. He has discovered the joys of the indoor temperature-controlled Burger King jungle gym. Where else can you climb to new heights, make friends, and run around in your socks? You should have seen the bottom of his socks when he was done! It was hard getting a good shot of him because he was in contant motion! Via fiddling, I have not been able to figure out how to change the shutter speed on my little Casio camera. Apparently I will have to break out the owner’s manual and do some reading.

Another scorcher today. Nice to be in a cool place. It seems the computer room is the hottest room in my house. I guess the CPU is emitting lots of heat.

A good picture of Me

My friend Candace took this photo of me today. I usually don’t look good in pictures, but I look somewhat human in this one.

Gobi-Pixel news

Gobi, just feathered, playing with his food like all young animals do!

Gobi is not yet weaned and must spend another week with his breeder mom. We are disappointed, but want what’s best for the little guy. So, we’ll just have to wait till next Saturday!

This is big sister Gizmo. She really likes being the only child and couldn’t care less if Gobi ever makes an appearence!

Dogma

excerpts by Edwin Harkins Spina 

After a lecture, someone asked, “Isn’t connecting with God the goal of all religions?”

In their purest form the answer is yes. But based on the particular culture or state of affairs, additional guidelines are tacked onto the universal laws. these rules should be relied upon as suggestions meant to improve a person’s life, not as universal truths. As an example, the doctrine of “heaven or hell” is meant to teach that there are consequences to your actions. The universal law underlying this principle is karma, i.e., the law of cause and effect.

Whenever such rules become “the only way”, they become dogma. This is true whether we are talking about religion, science, or politics. If the letter of the law is rigidly followed without consideration for the spirit of the law, there is the danger of fundamentalist behavior. Understanding the underlying principle would avoid uncontrolled mobs from burning people at the stake…

Religions play a vital role in encouraging virtuous behavior to the benefit of all, but rigid adherence to these rules to the exclusion of the main goal of communing with God is counterproductive and can lead to separation and intolerance. The “Golden Rule”, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” is universally accepted by every major religion. Any action that violates this universal truth can ultimately lead to war…

Imagine God as a bright light covered with various veils. As you peel away these veils, which represent various beliefs and ideas, the light brightens. Your goal should be to connect with this bright light directly. This is your right and reward as a spiritual being living on earth. To the mystic this represents the ultimate goal: illumination.

Name Calling

I knew this would happen.

My husband popped up with another bird name out of the blue this evening. Keep in mind he is in a computer-driven industry when you hear this one…

“Pixel”!

Is that a good name for a small bird, or what?

I’m still stuck on “Gobi” though.

We won’t know till Saturday which name wins!

Mother’s Market

I am a huge fan of organic and whole foods. So when I grocery shop, I go to Mother’s Market in Laguna Woods, or Whole Foods in Tustin. I read labels and am very picky about what goes into my body.

Anyway, I went to Mother’s today to pick up a few things I needed. Since I go there consistently, I have become acquainted with several of the people who work there. I enjoy talking to people and they regale me with their own personal stories and moods. Many of them share similar philosophies about health, recycling, and environmental concerns. It may be that the company’s culture attracts such people.

Today, the cashier, a long-haired, tattoed, very nice fellow whom I’ll call Chuck was on duty. The moment I got to his checkstand, I noticed he was very restless. I asked him the customary “how are you?” and he replied “terrible”.

“Well”, I ventured, “should I ask why or will that make things worse?”

“No, I’ll tell you,” he replied. “I am so sick of arrogant, selfish, apathetic, greedy people. I just can’t stand it. No one cares about the environment and capitalism is out of control. I hate capitalism. I’m tired of the way people act in Orange County and the US.”

I could hardly argue with his take on humanity in this country, even though my own opinions of people are more optimistic. All kinds of people travel through this young man’s checkstand, and as I remember from being a grocery checker in the old days (1979!! pre-scanners!) you encounter all kinds of people in a day’s work with the public.

So, I sympathized with his point of view. I soothed his fears about capitialism, assuring him that capitalism is not in itself a bad idea, but that the extreme capitalism we see all around us at the moment is the problem. It’s funny because when I was this man’s age, I thought socialism seemed like a pretty good idea too – everyone gets an equal share of everything. Sometimes now when I read the news or see a bit about Wal-Mart and how they treat their people, the old pro-socialism thought rears its head a little bit. But now that I am older and wiser, (and yet someone whose politics tend to veer to the left) I understand that capitalism is not the enemy and socialism not the answer. Like capitalism, socialism still has at its root a central group of people who govern, who take for themselves the best of the spoils before the people get their share.

In our country, this administration and the neocons have as their base the rich and privileged. Business is catered to at the expense of the environment, health and social services. This is not a profound idea, of course, but why is it so hard for people to see? These people that the young man is complaining about in Orange County are members of this base. Many of them have no idea of the hardships others face in the world – their counterparts who have two or three jobs and still can’t make ends meet because businesses are allowed by the govt to pay a very low wage. Note to self: find out what Mother’s pays its employees.

Which brings me to another Mother’s employee, whom I’ll call Hildesio. He has three children, and has two full-time jobs, and contrary to popular belief, pays taxes. He clocks out of Mother’s and goes to his next position. His wife also works two full-time jobs. Hildesio’s eyes look tired all the time, but he never fails to flash me a friendly smile and talk to me a moment whenever I see him. I enjoy giving him a big hug before I leave.
You may have guessed Hildesio is an illegal alien. That’s another thing he worries about – whether of not he will get deported sometime in the near future, though he works harder than many citizens do and pays as many taxes as they do. I can only deduce that this is unlikely as the hypocrites in government who are blindly supporting commerce would not force their friends to pay someone like Hildesio a living wage that would raise their business costs. So, ironically, Hildesio can keep his jobs because a government law to raise wages to a living level will never happen.

Sleep tight, Hildesio (that is if you have time to sleep). Your jobs are safe. I will see you next week. Say “hi” to the wife and kids for me (if you ever see them).

Gobi is coming home

Our new Orange Chin is coming home on Saturday. He is one of the three on the right, we’re not sure which! This is a picture of him and his fellow Brotos (Brotogeris is the species of bird) at the breeders where they were recently hatched. He’s only a few months old and just weaned. We have decided on “Gobi” as a name, but this is something that seems to keep changing. Bill will say “how about …” and then we’ll think about that name and like it. But with the weather the way it is here (108 today) it seems like naming a bird after a desert makes a lot of sense.