New Becomings

RULES :   There are no rules; players make them up and choose how to follow them. Groups of players may get together to choose rules that they collectively want, the more people playing within the same rules will affect their own gameplay and that of others nearby (socially, psychologically, physically, emotionally, and/or spiritually). OBJECTIVE: At the start of the game, the main objective is to stay alive. Other objectives come into play as you move through the game. Objectives vary, depending on player, where they are in the game, and what rules they've chosen to play by. Objectives may change throughout the game. BEGINNING: In the beginning, you are born with what The Machine randomly gives you; DNA, parents and their rules, location, type of society and its rules, privileges and/or drawbacks. You may not change these and they affect your decisions throughout the game. As you move through the game, you may change your location or society when you have gained enough "matur...

Certain mornings rouse rumblings that only seem to matter when it's dark and weary; the to-do list too long to list, the has-beens and what-ifs... Light streams through sun motes, sanitizing them in a display of keeping busy. Though that frenzy of foreshadowing soon settles into old, habitual mind-crevices, neglected again, until the contamination gets too big to be ignored. No amount of cleaning the internal house can guarantee, assure, or solve anything. If only these enigmas were deciphered with logical deductions and the best of brooms. The oracle's answers, riddled with mystery, only make sense afterwards; when all is said and done, it reasons: that was how it was meant to go. The cluttering and muttering seem to waste time and space - it's bothersome but there's nothing left to do, except buy and sell, eat, drink, and excrete, collect and forget, dance and sing, listen, learn, write and read, and make messes to be swept... yet, Be Still through it all, centered am...

  Autumn is portending outside, seeping from an ending into an anxious beginning; knowing what is coming but unsure of how it will go. Summer has been more of a contemplation than a vacation, where presence took a look around and didn't want to join the preoccupied party. The sound of creaking tin, barking dogs, and logging trucks in the distance, ride on the wind through open windows, colouring the silence of 4am.   The previous way of spending days no longer holds the same satisfaction, yet continues to bait and switch as if there is a problem with it. No apologies or excuses can explain the changes, though there's no need to justify what's happening; it is simply time passing with guarded ease, deepening wrinkles, and falling leaves - the extant stuff of observation to those beyond a certain age, judiciously accepting their years. Melancholy merriment, complacent discontent; incongruent comforts fill the spaces in. More and more, fleeting moments of bliss belie the ench...

What's in a name? A whole lot, apparently. I have been a school board Trustee for 6 months and it's been quite the learning curve. It would have been nice to have a couple of months to review the major things coming for decision, as most of the Trustees are new, but we were immediately immersed in many years' worth of board decisions. One of the things up for further decision at our very first meeting was the rebranding/renaming of a school that had been consolidated with another. It has become a heated issue in our area. And I will begin by stating that this is my personal opinion and I am still learning... In 2017, the board moved to 'rebrand' 2 schools that had been consolidated out of 3 (1 school closed), there was no mention of 'renaming' in that motion. 6 years later, when students from that time have since graduated, we were given a report that said the name of the school, Chippewa, was offensive, "How can they move forward with an offensive name...

First, this is not about frugal dating or how to spice up a romantic relationship on a dime, sorry if that's disappointing, but do read on...    I would do anything for love but I won't do that - Meatloaf As people budget finances, it might be a good idea to look at the 'budget' of Love, an overview of income and expenses - what types of love are coming in and what is being given out. Sacrifices and trade-offs can be assessed for what one would or wouldn't do for love; and nothing should come at the expense of anyone's health and wellbeing - because that is not loving. Romeo and Juliet is not romantic, it is a tale of mental illness spurred by uncontrollable eros. Love is an incredibly complex thing that is, in essence, all-encompassing; as some say, the life-giving source of existence. It filters through our lives in many different stages and endless varieties. It is also used as the 'logical' reasoning behind certain behaviours. The Greeks have ...

  "The success is not mine, the failure is not mine, but the two together make me" ~Great Expectations. We are each the sum of myriad parts, clamouring for attention. There are the scars and triumphs of childhood imparting their wisdom to the young adult who in turn uses those experiences to make yet more mistakes or further achievements, and so on. Once we hit middle age, you'd think that we'd be set up in some time-weary way to avoid major issues and enhance favourable effects. That's not how it goes unless we can separate our emotional reactions from our logical intuitions. People trigger people - and understanding those triggers is a mature way of coping with life as it presents itself. It has taken a long time to stop expecting things from others, or life in general. I do not expect anyone else to be who I think they are, or act in a way suited to my ideals. I do not expect success simply because I work towards it. This in itself is an expectation, but it is ...

  “Life is unfair, but remember sometimes it is unfair in your favor.” — Peter Ustinov I wrote a letter to my grandmother when I was about 21, updating her on my trials and tribulations after moving to the other side of the country. In it, I'd expressed how, once leaving the basic comfort and safety of a stint at university, unfairness was everywhere. My grandmother had always given me advice, usually warnings about strangers with ill-intent and unkind situations that I was bound to run into. Growing up, I'd thought she was a bit overprotective in trying to explain the harsh realities of life, but in fact, she was not. I remember writing: "It's weird that life seems easier for people who cheat." I was in a poor state, making dumb decisions out of pure innocence, and people all around me were either swindled or swindlers themselves. There was a lot of advice from acquaintances about how to cheat the system, I took that advice once - but the nagging rem...