mermaidcamp
Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water
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All God’s Children Got Shoes
December 18, 2012
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This song has been going around in my head as I focus on my goal for 2013. I plan to convince Tony Hseih that Floatli is the perfect official company sport of Zappos, so he will want to market it with me. Normally they take already developed products being sold elsewhere and market them. I want the Zapsters to partner me to refine and package it to perfection with me as well. What I can offer is an international trademark on the name Floatli, my expertise, and a fun versatile product that works for sports as well as therapy and training. It is a perfect match for Lake Mead, or the inevitable pool for employees downtown that will be in the future. When I visited them I was really happy to know they can pull off such a pure and direct match between the core values and the results. Floatli also works from the core, and is fun. I came within a few yards of Tony as I was leaving in my Zappos shuttle back to Vegas. I had a giant urge to blurt out my intentions, but I thought better of it. Now I have thought about it, and I am clear. I want to Zap, and believe I can convince the Zappsters of the merit of Zapping with Floatli. We will work this from the ground up, starting with the most important of all things, shoes. Once I know which shoes to wear, then I will enumerate the core values and how we align perfectly, fluidly, and even geographically. Yo, Tony, I am going to convince you, and you will like it. I want to Zap with you for the benefit of ALL the sentient beings. Resistance may not be futile, but Floatli is a lot more fun (one of our mutual core values).
He’s Got Shoes
Virgin of Guadalupe Day
December 12, 2012
New Mexico celebrates 12 Dec
The village of Tortugas near Las Cruces, NM takes the 12 December very seriously. The fiesta and pilgrimage to the Virgin of Guadalupe is the main event of the year in the town close to the border. The Piro and Tigua traditions are honored in this village.
Dances 12 Dec.
Procession
Virgin of Guadalupe Surfin Safari
December 11, 2012
mosaic on underpass
I was lucky enough to see the surfing virgin in person during her brief stay on an underpass in Encintas, CA. She was perfect there, just a few blocks from Moonlight Beach. She was removed and I think she went to LA to a collection. There was a great uproar to save the art work, but alas she was taken from the site. Tomorrow is the 12 Dec, Virgin of Guadalupe day. I know all her fans at the beach wish she still had a shrine they could see every day in Encinitas.
Surfing Virg
During the protest the Kook at Cardiff was dressed in her image to show solidarity. If you enjoy costuming and are not familiar with the Kook, you can check his calendar here.
Kook 2013
Christmas Customs in Colonial America
December 9, 2012
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This gives us the history of the celebration of Christmas.
I have had several of you ask me about how true are the wreath decorations of Colonial Williamsburg. So true to form, I did some research to confirm their authenticity. In my research I came across some interesting information on customs and traditions of Christmas within the colonial period.
During the colonial period in Virginia, the Christmas season followed a four week period of Advent. Most Virginians were devout Anglicans and they would have observed a period of fasting, prayers and reflection. They would have read daily from the Book of Common Prayer. Fasting would have been only one full meal, which generally would have been meatless during the day. After the four weeks, they would end with a Christmas meal and the start of the Christmas season.
Did you know that most of New England didn’t celebrate Christmas during the colonial period? Christmas was outlawed in most of New…
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Let Us Eat Cake (or Not, But Let Us Not Give it Superpowers)
December 8, 2012
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American Gothic corn bread
If you go to war with cake it will win. If you pretend that December makes food more important than Jesus, you will be damned in all possible ways. I have nothing against cake, but only eat it two or three times a year. Since bakery cakes usually do not satisfy any of my gourmet desires I make my own. In order to glorify the special event of cake creation I purchased a bunt cake pan that is super gothic. Making the cake your creation and your gift is the opposite of going into a trance to eat an entire crappy tasting store-bought cake quickly before you become aware that you are shoving something into your mouth. If you give a cake power to control your actions, what are your saying to your own soul? If you take your time and select the ingredients with care your cake can be a reflection of your Epicurean celebration of good taste and tasting good.
Goth cake pan
I have dusted off the super goth pan for a winter delight. In the running for chosen recipe is a green tomato bunt cake I made a few years ago. It is not unlike zucchini or carrot cake, in that one does not associate the taste with the vegetable right away. Persimmon pudding is another favorite of the house. I never get as far as icing, and hold my breath every time I dump it out, hoping it will not break as it exits the bunt mold. I have bought a gigantic piece of lovely fresh ginger root which is already being used in all kinds of dishes. I think it is fitting to find a gingerbread creation that can go gothic.
overhead shot of corn bread
Zombie Fruitcake Identification
December 5, 2012
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In this busy season while everyone prepares for the end of the world as well as the year zombies take advantage of the rush to inundate all segments of society. Vigilance has never been more important if you want to avoid being dragged into the zombie vortex.
Although you may think zombies exist in certain geographical or demographic ways, they are much more able and agile than anyone suspects. Shape shifting is their life. There may be zombies in your workplace, in businesses you frequent, and yes, gentle readers, even in your home. Don’t bother trying to identify them by appearance, as they are masterful at disguise. It is their bread and butter. There is only one proven way to know if you are dealing face to face with a real zombie. You shall know them by their fruits. This means that the results are the only way to determine what the intent has been. The zombie creates works (fruits) without merit and without meaning, coarse and wasteful. So if you are gifted a fruitcake by a zombie, do NOT regift it. It is evil. Do your part.
Gal 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is, charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity.”
If your zombie fruitcake has none of the above ingredients, toss it straight in the landfill. Better yet, take it to Colorado and enter the fruitcake toss. What could be more fun than lighting your perfectly legal doobie and launching a fruitcake into flight?
Hallelujah!!!
December 2, 2012
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Hallelujah, the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth, for sure. My holiday dreams have finally come true. Technology has made possible the flash mob Hallelujah Chorus. Be still my heart. Kill the muzak, strike up the choir.
Choice and Awareness
November 29, 2012
What choices do you make all the time?
Free will is the ability/responsibility to choose. It is not something that we have or have not, but something that is always there to varying degrees. Choices are realized through awareness. These choices are enabled or hindered by situational variables. These situational variables are very much a product of choices made in the past. The variable that determines the choices made is self awareness. This is because most of what we choose is based on who we believe ourselves to be. Think; “what would I do in any given situation” and you will see that it depends on who you understand yourself to be. Therefore, it matters less to the well being of the situation, how many choices you have to choose from, than it does the ability to discern between those choices. Focusing on self awareness seems to be the optimal way to bring about a collective existence which…
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Superhero, Satyameister, Slayer of Mendacity
November 27, 2012
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The world is full of mythical beings. Some of them are art rendered by comic book or animation experts. Some are created simply by stereotyping everyone and everything. That guy is both mythical and all too real. I notice that some are not attracted to the concept of personal branding, while others embrace the on line chance to portray themselves as much better than they actually are. There are many who use our new digital instant PR machine to broadcast how miserable they are. It all boils down to attracting the kind of attention that you want to attract. The digital world of communication mimics the physical world by the giving and receiving of attention. Attention takes time and shows the quality of the identification that has been made. When an artist creates a new superhero it is imperative to know what kind of attention the character will solicit. For some reason this kind of scrutiny is not given to the image people project of themselves.
Through the clutter and the noise of endless status updates and offers, very few personal brands ring true. I like the joke that says Facebook is where you lie to your friends, and twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers but nobody cares in either case. The imperative to build an image requires that one question be asked. That question is, “What kind of attention do I want?’ The most common attempts are to solicit envy and or pity in an alternating way. These both work very well if one wants to find like-minded personal brands. If you want to stand out and be noticed for a positive attribute, you need to know what that is and honestly live in the reality you claim to be yours. The job requires self examination as well as craft, editing, and artistry.
I entered the wold of social media by listening to the book Trust Agents, a clear mandate to listen more than you propose. I am now reading the sequel, Impact Equation, which amplifies and expands on the original message. The overview and function of the entire communications system is what enlightens us in this latest book. Brother Brogan is my own bodhisattva of digital darshan. Maybe I bonded with him so much as my first teacher who instructed me on how to enter this strange new world. Maybe he is my superhero because I have never played a video game or felt the need to understand why and how people game. He loves tech and gaming in ways will never interest me, but he does not hang his hero hat on the gaming hook. He finds common ground by keeping a very tight relationship with the truth. He models Satya for the cosmic and decidedly digital age in which we live and express ourselves. His avi wears an outfit not unlike Superman’s own, but the S in his case stands for Satya. I know as a teacher myself that all students do not match all instruction. Style is a strong link that can hold attention for a short time. The teaching must contain truth, however, to hold the student’s deep attention. I am completely into the idea of Chris flying through my dreams in his truth suit, fighting sketchy versions of reality. Satyameister has my attention. There is much to learn.
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