[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon I

[Gossamer]

. Cuteness Who can't love a Chow Chow puppy? If you can't love a pic of a 4 week old Chow Chow puppy something is wrong with you! Seek help. So I hope you enjoy the cuteness. We've been watching this little one grow up for a month now.

[Gossamer]

. Lores and Reality Yes, its a minor rant - bear with me! I get frustrated when it feels like no one reads the lore. Maybe they read it but they don't really absorb it or understand what is written. That's fine. But when someone comes along, points it out to you, and says "IT SAYS RIGHT THERE" please believe them. Yes, this is a rant. Why? I'm frustrated that I think people don't really understand Lore or understand how things work here. First and foremost... Konti. They don't look human. They have scales. They have gills. They are WHITE SKINNED and have pale, white, light blond, or translucent hair. Their fingers and toes have a bit of webbing. The backs of their hands are scaled. Their necks are scaled. Their foreheads and cheeks can have scales. Anyone looking at them can tell they aren't human. They don't even remotely THINK like humans either. Stop passing as human. No one is going to buy it. Seriously. If you saw a Konti walking down the street in real life, it'd look as strange to you as an african amercian albino. Your brain would tell the rest of you 'not right' in a heartbeat. Just because the avatar is a cute blond girl, doesn't mean its exactly accurate. Some photoshop skills might come in handy folks... and I should probably go back and photoshop the images in the wiki as well just to make sure people get it. I didn't before because we were in a hurry to get the race information up accurately, not pretify the wiki in full white scaly glory. Now, onto lores. Just because you don't have a lore on something, doesn't mean you don't know about it. Seriously. Just because you don't know anything about trees even down to what kind is what... you still know a tree from a rose bush. You don't need 'lore of Akalak' to understand the tall blue guy walking down the street is an Akalak. Even if you don't have the lore and haven't ever seen one... you'd know what one was. Don't we all know what Bigfoot is even though none of us (or very few of us) have seen one? Same goes for Ghosts, Paul Bungon, and the typical space alien 'greys'. A long time ago people thought african pygmies were a myth. But we'd all made jokes about them up until it was discovered there were pygmy tribes. Please... just TRY to understand this? Seriously. I see people be a really frankly silly about this. Its to the point that if someone had ZERO idea of what they were looking at when they saw a Zith, they have to be pretty mentally deficient. Because, any good mother would have threatened their children with letting zith eat them if they misbehaved. So... uh... get it?

[Siiri]

First of all: IT'S A BEAR DOG THINGY!!!! AWWWW....

Second: thank you for the rant. My wife always asks me why I'm so mad at the world (we just had the conversation again last night). I always tell her it's because people were born with brains, but more often than not they don't use it. (Yes, I am horrible and mean in person.)

[Jilitse]

Jen, zomg that is a very very very cute puppy! Is it a boy or a girl? We used to have a neighbor dog-breeder and they have chowchows that are just so sweet and fluffy! I am curious though, that puppy looks creamy... the ones I've seen are usually tan-brown. (Or is that a puppy thing?)

The tail is so adorable. More pics!

[Dusk]

Squeeeeeee! I grew up with chows. They are my favoritest. XD Also... yes as well to the whole not-reading-Lore thing.

[Gossamer]

Chows come in the following colors:

Cream
Cinnamon
Red
Blue
Black

[Gossamer]

. Contractors & Faith Part Two of the ongoing Contractor's Suck saga! Now, I have a new rule when it comes to hiring anyone to do any work around my home. If they advertise themselves with a Jesus fish on their logo or push their fellowship at church, I'm not hiring them. Ever. I can't tell you how many times people I know or people in my family have been taken advantage by people that claim they are 'great people' just because they stand behind their faith and use it as some sort of billboard. I don't think those type of people really truly understand faith. Faith isn't an advertisement. It's a way of life. It's doing not saying. It's showing not telling. If you follow a set of beliefs, you should follow everything about that set of beliefs to the best of your ability and in the spirit those faiths were intended in terms of a guidebook to your life. You should trust in those faiths to see you through the hard times and help you make the right decisions. And by right, I mean morally right not economically right. Lets talk about my contractor for a minute. I know hes my favorite topic as of late, but hes also the center of my personal hell. I say that sweetly and with affection, because I think the guy is absolutely talented as a carpenter but hes absolutely blinded to doing the right thing. He's a 'good christian'. He leads bible studies and youth groups and volunteers and does all sorts of things to help out his community or so he says. He sold me on his work with his charisma and his honor. He made promises that he immediately broke and keeps on breaking. That's very frustrating. Very frustrating. I've told you about some of them. This is the latest. So we got the hottub in on Thurs. This was right on time and scheduled well in what we thought would be the tail end of the construction. Now if you know anything about electricity, its expensive to have an electrician come out and put in a dedicated breaker of 220. I basically got bids for the 50V line anywhere from $753 - $1242. I called the contractor and asked him about this previously - checked in - told him it was here and we wanted to hook it up... was that okay? He said sure. He'd work around it. Monday he showed up, unloaded a ton of wood - big pilings, large 6x6x18 footers etc... walked the patio area, and left. I thought that was weird. Very weird. I got a call around noon my time. "Your electrical was in our way. We aren't going to resume work until it is taken down and or moved out of our way." I don't see red easily, but when I do Its hard to calm down. So I took some deep breaths, called my electrician back, and he had some suggestions for moving it inexpensively. Okay. Great. I called the contractor back, said that I'd have it moved, and it'd be done by Thurs. My electrician is out of town until then but he'll take care of it just as soon as he gets back. Deep breaths Jen. Deep breaths. Okay. So this is all fine and dandy until I see the business owner at the fuel stop where I was fueling my goat. He walked in all smiles and dimples and cheerfully said how awesome it was our electricity was in the way... awesome for the business. It was nice outside and they had a new roofing job they could get too immediately. So they wouldn't be seeing me until I made the call that my little problem was corrected. Here's the thing. They still have a huge deck on the front to build that has nothing to do with the patio cover. They could do a million other things that need to be done waiting for that electrical to be moved... a million other things. This was just an excuse and I know it. They wanted the roof job, they got right too it... and now yet again I see their tail lights. I understand whats going on. They let it slip to my mom. They let it slip to us. They underbid our job and its going to cost them money. I've said that before. I think this is just a tactic to get us frustrated enough to demand a refund. Well, its not going to happen. We have a signed contract by them. We've paid half down. We're waiting. And I'll wait them out. I called a good friend last night and talked to him for a while. It was sad really - he began to laugh. He said it was a classic contractor move. Frustrate the client to no end so they absolutely get infuriated and demand a refund so you get out of a bad contract usually with taking some off the top for your trouble and effort already put into the work. I thought about that a long time - while I was soaking in my hot tub last night. And you know what? I took a deep breath, looked up to the stars, and started opening myself to the world. What was the right thing to do? What was the real answer? I turned off all the lights, the jets, and just let the warm water wash at my soul and you know what came into my heart? A deep sense of patience. This isn't like me at all. I'm not a patient person. I'm refractory, proactive, and slightly hyper if the truth be told. I felt like someone was reaching into my heart and mind and yanking all that trouble from me. It was like a soothing voice saying 'It will be okay. Just wait. Be patient. What does it matter to you if its today, tomorrow, or in a month? You'll wait. You'll get what you want in the end." I was so... content with the world in that moment of clarity. And I couldn't help but see the answer that was being offered to me. It was as sharp as a tack and as obvious as the first bloom on a new rose bush just freshly planted in my garden. Thank you. I can't help but wonder if the contractor with all his faith and honor and Jesus fish has ever so clearly received an answer that I know in my heart is the right one. I can't help but assume the answer is no or else he'd live his life differently and treat people better.

[Stitch]

See, this is why last night, when you gave me the option to hear one of two rants... I opted for the other rant! I was pretty sure that this rape would have some pretty heated emotion behind it, and boy, was I right!

First off, I really hate to see that you ran into a Christian like that. You don't even follow my religion, not that I know of, and you described faith much better than I have heard Christians describe it! It is crazy! I totally struggle with this problem day to day, where people who claim to be nice, loving, faithful Christians... aren't actually any of that. Sure, they may look good on paper... But they are the one who wrote everything down! They set such bad examples of my faith, and leave a trail of hurt people in their path. I mean, part of the reason why you trusted him was because of that "faith" he seemed to have, right? And then he goes and ruins it for him, and most to follow.

Argh, I want to round-house kick him. I wish "Christians" would actually be shining examples of their faith once in a while. There are plenty who are, but then tons who aren't. It makes it so hard for the rest of us, who are genuinely in love with our Savior, and want to spread the Jesusy goodness!

Whew. Alright, there is my angry rant.

I like to think that your moment in the hot tub was God as well, filling you with peace and security about the situation. It is kind of a screw you from him to the contractor. "Oh, you, who claims to be my devout follower, are trying to cheat her out of her money and time? Just for your own benefit? I am going to help HER. How do you like that, big guy?"

Yep, that seems like poetic justice.

[Gossamer]

I know plenty of devote Christians that are amazing people. I hope no one takes this as an attack on a very lovely faith filled with wonderful folks. It is not. My contractor could have been Hindi, Muslim, or Pagan. But the honest truth is - regardless of what religion - it should be a warning sign if anyone markets their religion as part of their business and uses it to their economic advantage. And that is my new rule. Its just not the Jesus Fish. It's the Star of Davids, the Pentagrams, and cute little praying Buddhas too.

[Gossamer]

. Habits and Aquascapes Can they possibly be related? Sure they can. A habit is defined as an involuntary pattern of behavior or practice, usually acquired by frequent repetition. We are all creatures of habit. Most of us want to break habits such as snacking after a certain time in the evening or make new ones like saving money. In many ways, habits define us. I have learned through past experience that creating new habits is as hard as breaking old ones. You make new ones by repetition. You break old ones by old fashioned hard work and vigilance. The real key to both is to make the habit you want easy and the habit you don't want harder. Don't want to use your credit card? Freeze it in a block of ice in the freezer. Want to get up on time? Move the alarm clock halfway across the room so you can't hit snooze a zillion times and be late because its not an easy handslap away. Over the past two months I've broken the habit of getting up and writing. I've been getting up fussing about contractors (more drama there btw!), painting, hammering, putting in my own flooring, redecorating, sorting boxes, etc. All sorts of things. I haven't actually been doing any writing. Why? No time. And when I mean no time, I mean a crazy lack of time. Now, involuntarily, the habit of Mizahar has been broken. It needs to be reestablished. These blogs are going to help. If I get up, blog as a warmup, then start posting it has helped. My fingers, for heavens sake, are even sluggish on the keys. That's not right. So, starting this week, I'm going to wake up to blog about anything and everything - probably mostly nonsense - and then at least kick out mod posts Tues, Thurs, and Saturday. Mon, Weds, Friday, and Sun are going to be my PC times. I have to get organized. I have to get my act together. I have to form new habits and new loves. Speaking of habits. I love to garden. I can't indoor container garden because I have an army of felines that live with me so houseplants don't last that long. They are, after all, glorified cat toys and snacks right? So I wanted to keep involved in my habit of gardening and I thought of a perfect way. So, for over the last two months I've been slowly setting up two tanks to aquascape. My goals simple. All natural items inside said tanks... from substrate to decorations to plants. Everything must be living besides rocks and bogwood. I think they are coming along great. The first tank is technically my husbands. Its a 45 gallon one that's looking a little empty since all his plants are babies. But once they start growing and blooming, I just know it will look amazing. The second tank is my own. Its a 20 gallon that has plant friendly substrate and a couple of huge chunks of bogwood in it. I'm in the habit of checking water quality daily and fussing with fertilizer, CO2, and a ton of other things to keep my plants happy. They are still babies too, but most will be thriving for a long time to come. In terms of fish, they are simply stocked with glowlight minnows just to keep the water cycling and have some finned friends with no desire to graze on the vegetation. I wanted to keep the 'gardening' habit going so I'm stoked to have something to fiddle with while I'm watching the snow fall. Its almost the same anal retentive water checking that I've been doing for the hot tub. But I think I have the chemicals for that down pat too. Anyhow, here's some pictures. It isn't anything fancy, but I thought I'd share. So far my favorite plants are the java fern, the sword grass, moss balls, and the foxtail. They all look so lush. Many of you perhaps have no clue about my love of plants. But I'm the type of person that loves trying new varieties. Some day I'll post some pictures of my gardening idea book with all its stickers and labels and notes. I get down on my hands and knees and talk to little things that are growing. My car generally has a bit of dirt in the back seat where I've stolen (*clears throat*) borrowed cuttings or clippings here and there. There's nothing I won't try gardening. Many people wander through life claiming they love nature, but they sometimes miss whole aspects of nature in terms of the rewards of growing things. There's something incredibly charming about watching something sprout from seed and go all the way to fruit. I'm the nut that will plant lemon seeds just to have the lush trees growing out on the porch in pots. I have a green thumb through and through. My gardens outside include kitchen herbs, flowers for cutting, old fashioned roses and wysteria, and magical gardens just for doing things in the moonlight. Plants have power. A great deal of power. I think my respect for them came from rubbing shoulders with great herbalists and striking up conversations about how plants make us feel with friends. And while I'm not saying I'm an expert, I'm not, I do however know a heck of a lot about herbs from making tinctures to hand creams to soaps that foam and don't foam and creating all sorts of infusions and essential oils. I didn't learn from books either. I learned from real people using real plants - growing and experiencing them first hand. I don't pull a text from a bookshelf, thumb through it and go..'oh... thats what I need for a cough.' If you don't have a garden and aren't a gardener... this is really hard to do. I honestly and truthfully have very little respect for the so-called experts that don't grow their own. Mail order is out the window, folks. Not only is it not safe, but its not fresh and you don't know whats been put on plants to keep them growing. I pull out my own notes and dig out my recipe for say poison oak relief rather than grabbing the calamine lotion. Plants are my life. I love them. I love them as much as I love animals. That's why forming new habits, growing an aquascape, and writing on Mizahar is all related. And I look forward to the first week in December. That's when we officially hit our slow period at work, and that means all my vast writeups - herbalism being one of the biggest - will get put in and I can start on my goal of having my gnosis writeups completed at the tune of one or two a week.