Low motivation day. Not that I’m short of motivation, really; just that I lack the will to do the things which I am actually supposed to do.
I always did have a hard time paying attention to the trivial things in life like my job, when there are seemingly so many more important things in the world. Like love, and art, and forming spectacular new relationships, and building bridges, and finding God, and Big Ideas, and generally saving the world. There was a period where I managed to stuff all that stuff and bury my head in the dirt of practicality. These days it’s harder than ever to focus on the mundane.
I had a fun weekend. Yard sale-ing, reading, picnicking, hiking, video gaming, drinking good beer on the porch with avivahg and my mom. Good times.
The urge lingers. I still want to be alone.
I’m reading The Ethical Slut now. No great revelations yet, but some good advice. It’s entirely academic to me at this point and for the foreseeable future; but I’ve had it recommended to me on general relationship management grounds, not just as a guide to polyamory. I’m not sure how I feel about the author’s attempt to reclaim the word “slut”. There is something to be said for having a derogatory word for someone who sleeps around indescriminately, irresponsibly, and without care for the health and well-being of themselves or others; and “slut” is already well-established. Unlike the word “hacker”, I’m not aware of any original positive connotation of “slut” which exists to be reclaimed. Question to the poly folks who read this: do you think of yourself or describe yourself as a slut?
Starting to mentally gear-up for (read: freak out about) our planned vacation at the 2005 Porcupine Festival. avivahg is trying to prevail upon me to purchase a large (“family size”) tent. I’m not sure I can get over my allergy to big tents; there’s a part of me that says if you can stand up in it, you might as well be in an RV. Option two is to buy another small tent for the kids; but I sincerely doubt they want to be in the same tent together. Which suggests option 3, one tent each; but the predictable outcome of that would be them crawling into our tent because they are scared at night. Which puts us back at square one. Shame on me for not getting them out into the woods at night often enough.
“These days it’s harder than ever to focus on the mundane.”
I know just what you mean. I still hope to find God and save the world, though; not necessarily in that order.
I don’t really care what games people play with words, as long as they make the rules they play by very clear, so the rest of us will understand what they are saying.
I don’t mind a “large” tent, depending on how cool it is. There are some awesome military style (expensive) tents that are uber cool and will house half a platoon, but set up in, like, 28.5 seconds in the dark, or something like that.
That would be nice. Part of my objection to a large tent is that I can set up my tent, in the dark, in under five minutes. 30 seconds wouldn’t be out of the question if I practiced for a bit. I like knowing that tent setup is one worry I don’t have to concern myself with or make extra time for.
There’s this one.
This one takes 30 minutes, but it might be worth it: And it’s different!
There’s this one.
This one takes 30 minutes, but it might be worth it: And it’s different!
That would be nice. Part of my objection to a large tent is that I can set up my tent, in the dark, in under five minutes. 30 seconds wouldn’t be out of the question if I practiced for a bit. I like knowing that tent setup is one worry I don’t have to concern myself with or make extra time for.
“These days it’s harder than ever to focus on the mundane.”
I know just what you mean. I still hope to find God and save the world, though; not necessarily in that order.
I don’t really care what games people play with words, as long as they make the rules they play by very clear, so the rest of us will understand what they are saying.
I don’t mind a “large” tent, depending on how cool it is. There are some awesome military style (expensive) tents that are uber cool and will house half a platoon, but set up in, like, 28.5 seconds in the dark, or something like that.
Re: slut…
I don’t actually think slut is such a bad word.. and is perhaps worth saving… In terms of the kind of person you describe.. I actually think the word “whore” is a lot better.. (dictionary.com seems to agree–a slut is 1.
1. a A woman considered sexually promiscuous.
b A woman prostitute.
2. A slovenly woman; a slattern.
whereas Whore is…
1. A prostitute.
2. A person considered sexually promiscuous.
3. A person considered as having compromised principles for personal gain.
So wheras slut mainly seemed to be used to describe women who had a lot of sex (or more accurately, women who were considered to have had a lot of sex..) whore is much more egalitarian and negative in terms of compromised principles and such…
on a more personal level.. I know some people who i would refer to as sluts–and generally.. they engage in safe sex.. so perhaps I just have a more positive picture of them…
Re: slut…
Yeah, but wouldn’t sex workers object to the use of “whore” in the negative? In fact, isn’t there a sex worker’s rights group with the acronym WHORES? I’d look it up, but I’m at work.
Re: slut…
Probably.. although I don’t think all sex-workers self-describe themselves as “whores”… but rather describe themselves as call-girls..escorts, and even prostitutes…
of course.. I don’t really care one way or the other… personally.. I don’t mind the term slut.. if someone called me a “slut” I wouldn’t take it badly.. I would probably tell them that they were wrong, since I’ve actually only had full-fledged sex with one person during the past 5.5 years… but the term overall wouldn’t generate so much animosity in me…
if they called me a “whore,” I might be a bit more piqued… but also probably wouldn’t be so pissy about it.. because overall.. i don’t really give a damn about what others think about me… especially when it comes to sexual prclivities… I know what I am.. and I know I don’t go out of my way to hurt others.. (and try to avoid causing pain to others if possible…) so let them think what they want..
Finally.. obviously.. no word will please everyone.. I just think that probably more people would find that the term “whore” corresponded more to the meaning you described than slut..
Re: slut…
Probably.. although I don’t think all sex-workers self-describe themselves as “whores”… but rather describe themselves as call-girls..escorts, and even prostitutes…
of course.. I don’t really care one way or the other… personally.. I don’t mind the term slut.. if someone called me a “slut” I wouldn’t take it badly.. I would probably tell them that they were wrong, since I’ve actually only had full-fledged sex with one person during the past 5.5 years… but the term overall wouldn’t generate so much animosity in me…
if they called me a “whore,” I might be a bit more piqued… but also probably wouldn’t be so pissy about it.. because overall.. i don’t really give a damn about what others think about me… especially when it comes to sexual prclivities… I know what I am.. and I know I don’t go out of my way to hurt others.. (and try to avoid causing pain to others if possible…) so let them think what they want..
Finally.. obviously.. no word will please everyone.. I just think that probably more people would find that the term “whore” corresponded more to the meaning you described than slut..
Re: slut…
Yeah, but wouldn’t sex workers object to the use of “whore” in the negative? In fact, isn’t there a sex worker’s rights group with the acronym WHORES? I’d look it up, but I’m at work.
Re: slut…
I don’t actually think slut is such a bad word.. and is perhaps worth saving… In terms of the kind of person you describe.. I actually think the word “whore” is a lot better.. (dictionary.com seems to agree–a slut is 1.
1. a A woman considered sexually promiscuous.
b A woman prostitute.
2. A slovenly woman; a slattern.
whereas Whore is…
1. A prostitute.
2. A person considered sexually promiscuous.
3. A person considered as having compromised principles for personal gain.
So wheras slut mainly seemed to be used to describe women who had a lot of sex (or more accurately, women who were considered to have had a lot of sex..) whore is much more egalitarian and negative in terms of compromised principles and such…
on a more personal level.. I know some people who i would refer to as sluts–and generally.. they engage in safe sex.. so perhaps I just have a more positive picture of them…
I actually started liking the idea of each kid with his/her own tent. I know Lily would get a kick out of it. Joshua would be the one to complain in the middle of the night on the first night. But set them up close enough to us and it might could work.
I went a-hunting for bargain prices on camping stuff. Try, if you haven’t already, googling “discount camping supplies”. I think that’s what I used. I found a place where we could get that double propane burner for roughly half-ish, or a little more, than retail. …Of course they also had a whole gourmet camp chef setup that had me drooling. But that’s a different story. Oh, and Dutch ovens like you were talking about too – that come with the picker-upper thingie.
OH yeah! And I found what I was thinking of as far as cooking – the over the fire grill. David and I used to use a makeshift one – conder blocks and the grill from a bbq. I realize that setup isn’t realistic for hiking, but we’re not hiking in are we? Anyway,the one that I saw for sale was a light-weight, fold-up deal. Something like $8, or under.
I’m sure there are better deals to be found. But that’s just the beginning of my search. Only so much I can do at work, y’know. 🙂
And settle down, will ya? The trip is going to be fun/nice. I’ll manage the kids when you’re not slave-driving them. 😉 The kids and I are “totally psyched” about this trip. We just need to supply them with oodles of madlibs and headphones for the car. And a supply of good batteries for Gameboy & cd player.
Can’t wait! /me does happy dance
I like the over-the-fire method a lot. There’s no boost to my manly survivalist pride when lighting the cook-fire consists of turning the stove knob to “on” 😉
But I can’t depend on that method, because I don’t know what the firewood situation will be.
Methinks I’ll see if Campmor (a bigass discount camping store in New Jersey run by a friend of Pop’s) has an online store.
They do.
And what will the firewood situation be? Couldn’t we have the propane burners for backup? I much prefer cooking over a wood fire too!
And, for tents, I just found oodles of “bivy”(?) tents on eBay for $10-$25 a piece.
Bivy=piece of plastic, AFAIK.
Well they certainly looked like more than just a piece of plastic.
Well they certainly looked like more than just a piece of plastic.
Bivy=piece of plastic, AFAIK.
They do.
And what will the firewood situation be? Couldn’t we have the propane burners for backup? I much prefer cooking over a wood fire too!
And, for tents, I just found oodles of “bivy”(?) tents on eBay for $10-$25 a piece.
Uhm … “they do”… Campmor
Uhm … “they do”… Campmor
I like the over-the-fire method a lot. There’s no boost to my manly survivalist pride when lighting the cook-fire consists of turning the stove knob to “on” 😉
But I can’t depend on that method, because I don’t know what the firewood situation will be.
Methinks I’ll see if Campmor (a bigass discount camping store in New Jersey run by a friend of Pop’s) has an online store.
I actually started liking the idea of each kid with his/her own tent. I know Lily would get a kick out of it. Joshua would be the one to complain in the middle of the night on the first night. But set them up close enough to us and it might could work.
I went a-hunting for bargain prices on camping stuff. Try, if you haven’t already, googling “discount camping supplies”. I think that’s what I used. I found a place where we could get that double propane burner for roughly half-ish, or a little more, than retail. …Of course they also had a whole gourmet camp chef setup that had me drooling. But that’s a different story. Oh, and Dutch ovens like you were talking about too – that come with the picker-upper thingie.
OH yeah! And I found what I was thinking of as far as cooking – the over the fire grill. David and I used to use a makeshift one – conder blocks and the grill from a bbq. I realize that setup isn’t realistic for hiking, but we’re not hiking in are we? Anyway,the one that I saw for sale was a light-weight, fold-up deal. Something like $8, or under.
I’m sure there are better deals to be found. But that’s just the beginning of my search. Only so much I can do at work, y’know. 🙂
And settle down, will ya? The trip is going to be fun/nice. I’ll manage the kids when you’re not slave-driving them. 😉 The kids and I are “totally psyched” about this trip. We just need to supply them with oodles of madlibs and headphones for the car. And a supply of good batteries for Gameboy & cd player.
Can’t wait! /me does happy dance
We have a four person tent, and it sets up in fifteen minutes, once you know how to set it up. I don’t know why you tihnk it would take so much longer than a small tent. It’s a lot easier than our small tent.
My tent is a 4-person model too, and I can set it up in under 5 minutes. I’m talking about bigger tents than that.
What kind of tent do you have that takes 15 minutes to erect?!
The kind that we don’t set up very often. So Why is four person not big enough? You have four people last I counted.
“4-man” in tent marketing parlance really means “big enough for four men who love each other very much“. In practice, it sleeps two comfortably and with a little backpack-space to spare.
We all slept in our tent, now mind you it wasn’t very comfortable, but we’re all big people to.
We all slept in our tent, now mind you it wasn’t very comfortable, but we’re all big people to.
“4-man” in tent marketing parlance really means “big enough for four men who love each other very much“. In practice, it sleeps two comfortably and with a little backpack-space to spare.
The kind that we don’t set up very often. So Why is four person not big enough? You have four people last I counted.
My tent is a 4-person model too, and I can set it up in under 5 minutes. I’m talking about bigger tents than that.
What kind of tent do you have that takes 15 minutes to erect?!
We have a four person tent, and it sets up in fifteen minutes, once you know how to set it up. I don’t know why you tihnk it would take so much longer than a small tent. It’s a lot easier than our small tent.