Deoxy

[helen99]

Browsling around http://www.deoxy.org (always thought-provoking).

http://deoxy.org/psychowork.htm
http://deoxy.org/endwork.htm

Dimitri's opinion of work...

Don't get me wrong. I am not ready to give up my job and play for a living. I don't know if I'll ever be ready for that (it was trained out of me from a very young age). Besides, my owners employers treat me better than any I've had before. But I've always envisioned a time when I actually do something else. Will I wait until I'm too old to enjoy it, like most people? Will I think of something before that? If so, what? I've always thought in terms of selling a product (like opening a little store). But is that really the way to go? For the past several years we've been studying concepts such as "sustainability" and "permaculture" as means of self support. But who among us has the space to build a wonderfully huge compost pile and grow enough food to feed ourselves and others?

In light of http://www.climatecrisis.net, do I have a choice? Personally I think the answer is no.

But (wistful sigh), whatever happened to getting a neat beach place and spending my last years romping on the boardwalk and toasting lazily by the shore and eventually catching (or being caught by) a Perfect Wave? Yes, folks, dark confession time. I am a desert-loving, sun-craving beach bum at heart. Yet here I am, living with a bunch of Wood Elves, which is probably the main reason I do not have skin cancer. Yepyepyep, this is my life. What to do now.

Maybe I'll grow prickly pears. I love those things, and you can eat them, and they grow in Maryland. And get a pair of ducks. That's really all I need to survive.

Comments

[jolantru.livejournal.com]

Good thoughts to gnaw on. Mmm.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

When the cloud is the size of your icon, it reminds me of Albert Einstein as an old man - his hair used to do that same wispy thing...

[jolantru.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. I didn't see that in the cloud. *grin*

[kitten-goddess.livejournal.com]

I love the sun and the heat and the beach. ppprprrrpprprprprpr

I also love the forest and camping out and dancing round the fire cute elf girls. Pprpprprrprprprrprprr

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Yeah I do to (both things). Maybe I should do like Persephone, and spend some time at the Ocean and some time in the Woods. Elves welcome in both settings (I know some Oceanic elves...)

[silvaerina-tael.livejournal.com]

Bah, you just need to move to Halifax. WE have the best of both worlds here, forest and ocean.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Judging from current trends, they probably wouldn't let me in..

[silvaerina-tael.livejournal.com]

Your (and Ri's) skill set should be enough. Of course you'd have to land a job first... I'm not sure what that's like. That said, if something were done with the family property, we could "permaculture" it, there's easily enough land to do that - 35 acres, with access to a brook, and about 15 minutes or so to Parley Beach.

[quorpencetta.livejournal.com]

lets move the whole crew to San Francisco. I'm working on it now.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

That would be so wonderful... The Ocean in front of me, the San Andreas behind me... It would be like living on the Edge of Eternity™ (which we are anyway - this would just illustrate it poetically and provide impetus to live each moment more fully). Those evergreens, that sand, the lush secret gardens behind terraced walls. That sane philosophy, those interesting, artistic subcultures. I have never laid eyes on it, but I've always thought of it as Home to some extent - at least the closest one I'd ever have on this planet. I may be thinking of a place that doesn't exist anymore, or never did...

[fendahleen.livejournal.com]

"Those evergreens, that sand, the lush secret gardens behind terraced walls. That sane philosophy, those interesting, artistic subcultures..."

...and Arnold Schwarzenegger for a governor.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

A mere comma (coma?) in the earthquake of life...

[fendahleen.livejournal.com]

I think work by necessity has become something of a perversion, a product of an increasingly hive-based culture. But I do also believe in the more Indian concept of Work, a something we all have the desire in us to do, and which actually makes us happy when he channel effort into it. I know a few people who would be miserable without the opportunity to do what it is they do.

That's wholly different from the regulated prison the majority of employment represents in this day and age, however.

And forest folk are often ocean folk, too, at heart. Some of them, anyway. I know I am. Growing up in Oz, it's kind of impossible not to be -- though I did always prefer them when the sun wasn't burning and most of the idiots had gone home. It's a different sort of elemental power, but certainly not an incompatible one.

Also if there's a flood you can use the ducks as a floatation device. MASTER PLAN.

[helen99.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, the Work. I think that's what Dimitri was referring to as Play, if I'm not mistaken - the work that feeds the soul. I think I'd fare better at the ocean now than I would have if I'd been able to frequent it after I left Greece, since now I know to avoid the burning sun and idiots... (before I would have tried for the tanning competition...)

I once saw some ducks at the shore of a lake - one of them was a smallish duck. It was cute and seemed quite tame, so I picked it up. It seemed ok with that, but then I thought - it's a duck, and therefore a floatation device. Let's observe how it swims. I put it in the water, and it sank. I kid you not, this duck sank to the bottom. Luckily the bottom was shallow enough that it could spring upward and out of the pond. My companions accused me of duck abuse, but to this day I maintain my innocence. Mater Plan requires extensive testing...