Hey Aimee, I'm glad you poured your heart out. It was very interesting, and I'm so happy for all three of you.

Do find some time to just be man and wife, though, okay? I know there are folks in LA who'll babysit.

Well, bored, I need to live vicariously through you for now.

Well, not through me. I want to hear about Arizona.

Argh. There are people in the alley behind my building being very loud. Or actually, I'm not entirely sure how loud they're being, but the way that sound echos in that alley makes everything sound very loud from here. Last night, it was a neighbor having a party until about 1. I am so not in the mood to deal with drunk singing people.

t edit: there are no more drunk singing people in the alley. There are now, however, drunk singing people in the apartment next door. If it lasts much longer I might go tell them to be quiet. It seems to be getting quieter now, though.

The freaking cable went out!!! Just came back.

Do find some time to just be man and wife, though, okay? I know there are folks in LA who'll babysit.

We are actively trying to suck it up and do this. We went out by ourselves on Valentine's. It was nice.

I've missed you, despite not being so present myself lately.

I've missed you too, love.

And I'll be back at work soon which means more time to post!!

Plei & Jen, have you seen this Leonard Cohen interview? It's a little old, but interesting.

Bugs Bunny, et al., to be "reimagined" and "updated."

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Have you googled "Buzz Bunny" ?

Thomash has a new tag.

Aims, I wish you and MM adjustment-ma.

so, we wetn to the silent films tonight. found out someone has rented the theater fot about ... 14 hours tomorrow. Yup 14 hours of LOTR, Director's cuts. DH is trying to sneak in...

actually, he is really playing the keyboard. It sorta sounds like hockey intermission in my living room.

Wish I could be there to sneak in with Matt!

Aimee, you sound so happy. Tired, but happy, and centered, and dealing well. I wish you and MM all kinds of couple-ness, aside from parent-ness. Emeline couldn't have better folks to teach her how to be a good human.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. I'm proud to share the date with Kat and lori and Benno.

It's incredibly late, and I've had an attention-seeking husband much of the day. I caught up when he went to bed early, but before I could post, he got up and wanted company watching a movie, so we did that, and I've forgotten much of what I wanted to say. He's returned to bed now, so I'll try.

Except, I understand that people are curious about others' beliefs, and that some of us want to share what's so important to us about what we believe. But it seems like we're having this discussion more frequently here. I wonder what that says about this thread in particular, and the b at large.

I started out with a default belief in God and Christianity, given it by parents who made sure we were at church every time the doors opened. Every activity I was encouraged to participate in was church-sponsored, or church-oriented. Church parents went out of their way to provide facilities, transportation and supervision, in a vain attempt to keep children and teenagers from finding interests elsewhere.

It's almost always a vain attempt, because it's the nature of humans to want to know what's over the next hill, who are those people over there, and why do they do things differently. If we manage to keep the other innate trait, fear of the unknown, at bay, we manage to not automatically label "different from our way" as "wrong." Unfortunately, at this moment in history, fear is by far the strongest motivator, of Christians, and of the population in general. I think fear drives a lot of people to seek solace and salvation in the church. And I think fear keeps a lot of people blind to the possibility that other cultures have religious and philosophical practices and beliefs which evolved in their societies the way Christianity has done in European and USian societies.

From an observational point of view it seems clear to me that humans share a need for a greater being than themselves, to serve as both a protector and a guarantee that, in some form, each human will continue after death. That another life, another plane of existence, another consciousness will provide the fulfillment a person may fail to achieve in this life. That we will meet again with those we've lost, that things that went wrong here on earth will be put right in the afterlife, or the next life, that some justice, some fairness, will be reached. I think it's natural for humans to long for fairness, to recognise the briefness of existence, and to expect a reward for enduring pain, privation, and suffering here on earth. And I think it's natural for humans to fear their expectations may be wrong, which is why every society builds myths and theologies, to give their people heart and hope.

Events in my life have led me to believe that any higher being who may have had a hand in creation has, as P-C and Hec? I believe? said, since gotten bored and wandered away. If there was ever such a being at all. I do believe in a life force which drives the planet. The Buddhist theory that erika described comes closest to what I believe, that life is the same, and precious, no matter the size of the container, and that when a butterfly or a redwood or a human dies, the animating spark returns to the collective energy that powers life, to be portioned out in new containers as need. The concsiousness, the id, the self, doesn't continue, and I'm okay with that.

I know many people who cling fiercely to this life, to this experience, because they are so afraid of whatever comes next. Most of them profess a belief in the Christian afterlife, but rather than rushing toward it in joy, they back away from it in dread and paralyzing fear. It's a hampered way to live.

Because I (continued...)