What am I doing during quarantine?

I'm keeping busy, loves.

I've been cleaning. (with help) I'm running low on curb space for trash bags. I've found my dutch oven (Missing 7 years and declared legally dead) and my cookie cutters.

I've been knitting. Because I need the soothing.

I've been reading online.

Sparrow's nest has children's stories. I read these for my grandsons. But sometimes, even adults need a bedtime story

Wild Hunt, chapter 1 and 2 are up. The rest will be at my patreon.
That's https://www.patreon.com/NickRowan $1/month gets you all the reprint you want

I've been doing daily photodumps at Tumbler
https://nicholasrowan.tumblr.com/

I'm going to move a couple of chairs and use the front room to choreograph new drag routines.

Stay in.
Enjoy the videos.

Things to do while quarantined

All right, so we're all stuck at home for the next month. There's talk of going back to school April 24, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, so we're going a little stir crazy after we have burned though all the netflix we really wanted to watch.

Here are some ideas to fill all those hours we're used to working.

Establish a routine. If you're working from home, work at the same time every day. If you're off, as I am, try to get up at the same time and do the same things to start your day

Start a new hobby.
Michaels is still doing Buy Online, Pick Up In Store orders and offering curbside delivery.
Drawing takes a pencil and paper. Writing, ditto although a word processor is a good idea. Origami just takes paper and a youtube tutorial. Crochet is yarn and a hook. Knitting is yarn and 2 needles.

Weed your current hobby supplies.
(tomorrow's task here, I just found a rubbermaid of yarn)
Shopping for craft supplies and using craft supplies are two different hobbies. We all have more than we need. Sort it out, label each potential project and get rid of the excess. That 1970s hideous yarn you will never use. The tiny orphan balls (or use them up, right now for that scrap afghan)

Weed your library.
I have stacks and scads and boxes of books. I have 4 bookcases full and need a couple more. But am I going to read all of these? Unlikely. Some have monetary value. Some have sentimental value and are autographed. Some are just ephemera and need to go to new homes.

Do the house things you always you would.
I've put off a lot of housework. Am i doing it while I'm off? Yes. I've cleaned out cabinets and closets, cleaned up my art, cleared out the catch-all of my front room. I'm running out of curb space for the trashbags of stuff. And I found my dutch oven, missing these last 7 years!
Get organized

Plant a garden
(this also gives you an excuse to go to dollar tree for seeds, they're 25c/package)
Planning a garden. Starting seeds. Digging the plot and planting, then the daily tending can help you establish a routine. If the supply chains start having trouble, you have food. If they don't, you have tasty veggies this summer.

Exercise
Just because the Gym is closed doesn't mean you can't do something.
The Y has online classes https://ymca360.org/
Chris Hemsworth is offering a 6 week free trial of his new fitness app
There are lots of dance tutorials on youtube. (work up that very choreographed drag routine!)
Create your own routine

Take an online class.
There are lots right now.
Make pasta with Nonna Nerina, an 84 year old Italian grandma
Gardening classes
Some universities are offering classes too https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/7-elite-universities-offering-free-online-online-classes Just little schools like Duke and Harvard.

Visit a museum or zoo online.
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/travel/a31784720/best-virtual-tours/
Want to go to the Louvre, the Vatican Museum, the Smithsonian?
The San Diego and Atlanta zoos are clicks away
You can even do Disney Ride Throughs and pretend you're there.

Join Pinterest.
If you want Disney snacks after your virtual visit, there are lots of copycat recipes on Pinterest.
You can find anything you want here, from recipes to craft patterns to organization ideas.
(I'm valarltd and my copycat recipe board is here: https://www.pinterest.com/valarltd/food-copycat-recipes/)

Learn a new language with Duolingo
It's a challenge. but Duolingo is fun and easy.

Read.
Get some of that reading in. Go through your shelves. Go to Project Guttenburg. Get free ebooks everywhere. (Including here, if you leave a request in the comments)

Expand your cinematic vocabulary
Check out AFI's lists for suggestions. https://www.afi.com/afi-lists/
Or try the 1000 movie challenge https://www.listchallenges.com/1000-movies-to-be-seen
Or the 1000 movies to see before you die. (I've seen 258 of them)

Blog or keep a diary
These are Interesting Times, folks and diaries are useful for the future.

Before you go to bed, make a plan for the next day.
Tomorrow is Thursday
I will get up, get dressed, make my bed, put in my teeth
I will eat breakfast (cold cereal)
I will swish and swipe in my bathrooms
Declutter 15 minutes in my bedroom and clean off my nightstand
I will put away dishes and wash more.
I will soak cookie cutters
I will scrub my tubs and mop my bathrooms
I will clean out the Nitro so I can pick up the washer on Friday
I will work with my cleaning crew
I will plan my garden based on seeds I have
Dinner is cheddar brats and tater tots

A long decade

In 2010, I was 42. I worked for Schneider and delivered auto parts. I was home every night and wrote books. I had a 17 yr old senior, a 14 year old freshman, a 12 year old 6th grader and a 9 year old 3rd grader. I had been married 20 years.

2009 had been my best sales year ever, with Glad Hands selling brilliantly. I had gone to GRL in New Orleans and had a splendidly miserable time. It would have been fun without the GI distress to the point of internal bleeding.

Everything has changed.

I'm 52, and in much poorer health.
I was fired from Schneider in 2012 and worked for RGIS for a year and a half. Then I got on with ActionLink in 2014 and build displays for 2 1/2 years. In 2016, I trained to drive school buses and began that job in 2017.
All my publishers went out of business. My own small press failed. I'm still writing but much less.

My kids all graduated from High School. Victoria had a full ride to University of Memphis and dropped out her first semester. Chris couldn't get any help, despite holding the record for the highest number of AP classes passed at West Memphis. The government shutdown cut off his chances of financial aid as well. He went into the army. Jon failed out of ASU and Mid South Community college. Olivia is holding down straight Bs at MidSouth.

Victoria and Olivia are both getting married this year. Chris is talking about it. Chris made me a grandma in November of 2019.

Mudd left teaching in 2013 and  went to to truck driving. He rolled the rig and broke his back. He went back to teaching and has been in Brinkley since the 2014 school year.

We started the decade with a Ford Focus and a Toyota Prius. In 2010, Victoria wrecked the Focus. I got a PT Cruiser. I traded the PT Cruiser for a Dodge Nitro in 2016. The Prius gave up the ghost in 2018, after 300.000 miles. We have a gray Ford Focus again.

On a personal front, I started identifying as trans, although genderqueer. I can't make the full change at this time. I do drag as Dean O'Bedlam to get my masc time in.

I had all my teeth out in 2015 and got dentures. My health improved a lot. Mudd and Gabriel got their teeth out last summer. They're doing better too.

In 2017, the Morrigan kicked me in the head and announced I was hers, regardless of my Greek patrons. We've been working together for a while now.

Mom died in 2014.
A good friend was murdered in 2015.
I lost more friends to cancer and suicide over the course of the years, some closer and some less.
My girlfriend's father died in December of 2019.

I had a bad year that lasted about 4 years, from the firing in Oct 12, to Darren's death in 15. Money was horrible as I tried to run a 4000/mo household on $400.

It hasn't all been woe. There have been many good books, good movies, good times with friends and family.  I got married by accident in 2015, giving me two husbands. I have grandkids.

[Pagan} Tourism in the Land of the Dead or I've been dead three times this month and didn't hand make any presents

Only in pagan circles.

Christians will say God told them to do something. And they never scruple about talking to God.
But if you want weird religious experiences, talk to pagans. We've been kicked in the head, possessed, impregnated and more by our gods.

And I've been dead three times since my birthday. More specifically, I've been to the land of the dead twice, and dead twice.

I walked the path to the Land of the Dead the first time on November 15th in the Festival of Souls Labyrinth.

The Labyrinth is the same pattern from year to year. But every walk is different. I've done it three times in 13 years. The first, I walked and chatted with my three grandmothers. (maternal, paternal bio and paternal adoptive)

The second, right after I lost my mother and a good friend, was a dark walk down into darkness, with the candles dying in my wake. No one was there, except me.

This year was a quiet, meditative walk. There was only one other person in the labyrinth (the other cook) and we passed like shades, sometimes near, sometimes from afar. I understood then, there was no one in the labyrinth to see me or visit me from the other side. This was my journey. I was recreating a soul's journey to the Land of the Dead. I had to understand it. That I have to understand this, tells me I may be called on to serve as guide again.

I came to the center, lit some incense, breathed and grounded. Then, I stepped over the rows of candles and let myself out. Because when you serve Hermes Psychopompus you get a "Get out of Hades Free" card. My arthritic legs needed it.

On Saturday night, the 16th, Gabriel hosted the Primal rit.

We passed though the veil (we were draped in cloth and had it raised on the opposite side we entered, letting us into the circle) and were beyond the land of the living.

There was a tale of The Beast, and how, after death, we are allowed to run with the Beast, and dance, and explore, until we choose what we would like next.

We chanted and danced, literally until we dropped. Then we were raised back to our feet, back to life, and sent back to the Land of the Living.

It was a powerful thing and I was very quiet rest of the weekend.

After all, I had been dead and was back. That changes a great many things about perspective and attitude.

But after my return, I wasn't quite right. Things were dark, dim. Even a sunny afternoon felt bleak. And I was dim myself. Food didn't taste much. Nothing moved me. I hadn't smiled for weeks. And I realized, I had left something on the other side.

So, December 13, at midnight under the last dregs of the last full moon of the year, Gabriel sent me back to the Land of the Dead. It took very little, just energy straight into my brain.

I walked with Hermes on the banks of the Styx and Charon came for us. Hades and Persephone welcomed me. They said I had left a lot here and I needed to take it back with me.

Hades showed me a pile of scintillating glass, in a rainbow of colors. "All the bits of yourself you have thrown away and killed off. You need them back."

"How?"

Persephone put the glass into an amphora, raising it in a vortex and swirling it in. "Drink it down, dear. The glass will work its way out of your skin as you reabsorb the traits you need."

I stared at the vase, a good three feet tall and full of bits of sharp glass. "I can't."

"You will." Hades brooked no argument. He's a stern god and when he says, you do. He held the amphora and I swallowed, the glass flowing down my throat in a painful river. I drank forever, tears running down my face.

I went down, deep inside where the cauldron of sacred fire rides in my hips, burning an eternal green. I guided the glass to the fire, hoping to be more comfortable. I had cast these unpleasant bits out for a reason.

Persephone stroked my face when I was done and told me I had done well. Hades reminded me they didn't want to see me for a long while. They sent me back to Hermes who walked me to the banks of the Styx.

Just as Charon hove in sight, Hades came to us. "You need to take this with you." He gestured at a coffin.

I opened it. Inside was a middle aged woman, a younger version of me, either dead or sleeping. In her arms lay a drowned little girl of about three or four, her skin waterlogged and gray, lake-water soaking her hair and dress. Marie. The original personality.

"I can't carry the box," I said.

"It cannot stay here without you?"

I stared at Angel, the public personality who had gone into the box several years ago, leaving me in charge. I wanted to cry at the sight of Marie. It was my job to protect her in death, as none of us could in life. And here she was, out of her room, out of her bed, looking worse by the second.

A deep ripping started somewhere near my head and Zara stepped out of us. We hadn't seen her in months. She stood, tall, all in black, her long black hair flowing free down her back.

"I will keep them until the others return." She covered the dead ones up and closed the box with a sorceress' seal. She lifted the box which grew smaller in her hands. She pressed it down to the size of a wallet and tucked it into her robes, near where her heart would be, if it wasn't in a jar. (at least I hope she put it back in its jar after the rage of grief in '15)

Hades smiled as Charon beached.  I thanked him, and thanked Charon, who grumbled about "tourists" as he shoved off. Hermes sat beside me with his invisibility cloak draped over us as we rode

I felt sicker and sicker, the glass riding badly. He held me and let me cuddle into his chest. One of the pieces of glass worked its way out of my skin on my chin, Clear now, all of me gone from it. He plucked it away and tossed it in the Styx.

"This is ridiculous. I can fix it but it will hurt a lot."

"Love, I just drank a pitcher of ground glass and had a whole alt ripped from me. Right now, pain is the least of my worries."

(about here, Megan opened the bedroom door and I came up briefly into the dream of reality. Gabriel sent me back down and he and Evan put their hands on me to help me stay down)

When we disembarked, he took me to a quiet part of the shore.

A gesture brought all of the glass out of me, shredding my skin. I screamed at that. He brought the brazier of scared fire out of me too. In a way only a god could, he passed the glass through the fire and it came up on the end of a glass blower's pipe.

"Blow, all you have and are and can be, blow it in here."

I blew the longest breath ever, draining everything to the tip of my toes. I took the fire back into myself, because it is mine. He tapped the glass off and said, "Look."

A beautiful, multicolored tempered glass heart lay in his hands. "It's still breakable, and as such will never be truly practical." He tipped it into my chest. "Go back now."

I sat upright and my eyes were clear. Evan was shaking his hand which was all pins and needles. Gabriel laughed at him. "It's been in the land of the dead, son, did you not expect it to feel odd?"

I told them all that had happened in the 18 minutes I had been gone.


Tonight was my most recent trip.

Tonight, my girlfriend's father died of stage four lung cancer. Eight months ago, it was a spot smaller than a dime. Tonight, it had eaten most of his lungs and metastasized into his bones. Agent Orange is a hell of a thing.

I went to the astral. He was waiting for me there, looking lost. And then looking a bit confused that I was the one to help him.

We walked the labyrinth together, his arthritis and the limp from his brain damage (car accident) gone. We talked. I promised to look after his daughter. It was a long walk to the center, even though it was only a seven-turn labyrinth. His grip on my hand got lighter and lighter.

At the center, he let go in a blinding flash of light and was gone.

I let myself out the usual way, stepping over two rows of candles.

When I opened my eyes, it was twenty minutes later than it had been.

He has gone swiftly and well.


Now, I'm hungry again. This veil crossing stuff will do that to a guy.

So there it is. Been dead twice and walked up to the gates of it two more times. It's been a rough forty days.

How does it end?

I listen to the repeat of John Fugelsang's show as I drive to work in the morning. He does a segment called "Enhanced Interrogation" and always asks "How does this end?" I listen to Dean Obeidalla at night, and he always says "I can't predict what's next because I'm not a sociopath or a psychopath."

I am a psychopath. And I know how it ends.

1) The impeachment passes the House. The Senate either refuses to convict or refuses to hold the trial at all.

2) That man gets a second term, whether though Russian/Ukrainian interference, gerrymandering, general fraud or all the above.

3) Having declared Jews a Nationality as well as a Religion, he begins encouraging moves to Israel. Soon these become less encouraged and more compelled.
3a) Birthright citizenship is abolished.

4) He expands the concentration camp system. ICE gets less careful about making sure the people interned are not US citizens. When American citizens bring suit, Hispanic and Latin@ people will be declared automatically illegal aliens. More deaths. A major illness gets a foothold among the population and massive numbers of deaths occur. The bodies are buried in a mass grave, or cremated. The world is outraged.

5) The UN human rights commission and ACLU and major news outlets demand to see the camps. Observers are invited to do so, and promptly interned. Reporters are declared enemies of the state, of the people and of the world. Killing them is encouraged, jailing them is mandatory. When the UN logs a formal protest, it is evicted from New York City and the US unilaterally withdraws (via executive order, of course)

6) ALEC gets enough support for that constitutional convention. They only need 6 more states. With this group in charge, all changes will be made to benefit corporations and the rich. They'll start with a balanced budget amendment, and this will mandate cutting all social and benefit programs, in fact, everything but the military, to achieve.They may remove the very outdated 3rd Amendment (quartering soldiers), and use that as a springboard for others. The 13th, 15th and 19th are going to come under special fire.

They absolutely repeal the 22nd. The first is deeply abridged.

7) The 2024 election is rigged even harder than the 2020. Trump is either completely gone mentally or has died in office and been rigged up as an audioanimatronic. (h/t Norman Spinrad's "World War Last") Should this not be the case, he will have passed the presidency to either Don Jr. or Jared.

8) We have elections every 4 years, but the votes aren't actually counted and there is forever a Trump in the White House. Until they move it back to Trump Tower because Washington DC is a declasse address.

9) Under Mike Pence, the Evangelicals get their way in every particular. When Roe, followed by Griswold, is overturned, some of them lose their fervor and close their pocketbooks, so the next great enemy is created. As Roe was used to take the place of segregation, so they will use racial issues to take the place of Roe. America is a White Christian Country, and by their White Jesus, they're going to make it one.

Non-Christians are encouraged to convert. Soon encouraged becomes required. Places of worship are closed, meetings are banned, businesses are boycotted and sometimes targeted for violence. It starts with Jews, Muslims and Hindus, soon expanding to Sikhs, Buddists and pagans. Some white atheists begin quietly passing for Christian, as do some white non-Christians.  Some manage to out-migrate.

Modesty culture becomes mandatory and sumptuary laws are seen again for the first time in centuries. Women begin to be shut out of some jobs, and then more and more.

The QUILTBAG is forced back into the closet, legislated against and tracked. Rumors of re-education/concentration camps abound.

10) As we have run out of Hispanic and Latin@ people, African Americans are declared African, not American. Under the 13th amendment alterations and destruction of birthright citizenship, they are illegal aliens and can either be interned or re-enslaved. Or deported. Those who can still afford it, escape to Mexico, Brazil and Canada. Some join the African Deportation, sponsoring their own ships, and planes, with captains guaranteed not to dump the passengers in the ocean.

Through it all, we keep cozying up to Russia. More and more Russian words begin to show up in everyday use, beginning with Fox News and carrying over to politicians. By 2032, it almost sounds as if we're speaking Nadsat.
We remain entangled in eternal wars around the world.

As rest of the world tries to move forward, we maintain our stubborn retreat. As the oceans rise, our scientists are banned from talking about climate change. People who can get out start trying, but soon the borders close.
The economy continues to be lopsided, many many low wage workers, a few very wealthy at the top. No middle class. Some people still identify as such and try to maintain the mid-20th centuries values from their grandparents and parents, but most do not. Corporations make the laws, alter the tax code to their benefits and nearly own the people outright. The Company Town makes an appearance, possibly in its shiny, futuristic disguise of an arcology.


How does it end? This nasty retreat into corporate feudalism?
I'm not sure it does. But this is where I see things going right now, barring some cataclysmic event.

Goals for November

November is a busy month.

Nov 14-17 is Festival of Souls. I am doing a class on death, one on Hellenism and helping with Olivia's handfasting. And I am The Kitchen Witch. Meals are planned, shopping lists made and submitted.

Nov 27-30 is Thanksgiving break. We're going to Lawton OK because Christopher's son should be here by then and we have presents for everyone: Baby, Dad, Mom and Brother. We are very excited although it will be crowded. Dad and Jen, and Mudd and me, Jon and Oli and Evan. Bun was considering joining us, but I think she's changed her mind


So, in light of all that, my goals for November

16 days to the gym
8 mystery shops
50,000 words written
5 lbs lost
300,000 points on KO Trivia
4 movies watched
4 books read
Baby blanket
Nursing shawl
mer-tail afghan
dragon hat
Reinbeers

Clean energy is the future

The ordinary conservatives laugh at the idea of solar power. They've been told for 40 years that it's a joke. They believe climate change isn't happening, and renewable energy is a pipe dream.

Disney doesn't think it's a joke. 25% of the entire Disney resort in Florida runs on solar. 2 of the parks are completely powered by solar. For the record, the Disney resort is the size of San Francisco. Their solar farm produces 50 megawatts, enough to power 10,000 homes. It's set to halve their emissions. Disney takes global warming seriously because if Florida gets too hot, or is washed away, they lose millions a day.
(Forbes talks about the finacials of it here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2016/02/29/disney-world-taps-solar-power-with-mickey-mouse-pv-project)

Tokyo Disney uses solar for much of its electricity. Paris Disney uses geothermal.

They're also trying to make it pollinator friendly, a place for bees, birds and butterflies, in an effort to combat the species depredations.

Lego has gone all renewable as well, 3 years ahead of schedule.
https://www.good.is/articles/lego-renewable-energy
The fun part of this is that their new wind farm is made entirely of legos!

So, the largest media and theme park company, and the largest toy manufacturer. This is child's play, silliness, right? Wrong.


The US military, in an effort to be more self-sufficient, has gone heavily solar.
Many bases are partially solar powered by the 130 megawatts of solar farms. Military oil consumption fell 20% between 2007 and 2015. This reduces our dependence on foreign oil and keeps us safer in the field. 10-12% of casualties are fuel and water convoys. Long supply lines are the bane of any force, and equipping soldiers with their own gear to provide personal power instead of large generators is safer and more effective. It reduces the individual's load by about 25 lbs and also adds a stealth factor. Diesel generators are noisy and can give away locations.
https://solarmetric.com/learn/how-is-the-us-military-using-solar-power/

This article from 2017 is excellent, talking about the ways various branches are using renewable energy. "Marines in Afghanistan began carrying solar panels in 2009 to forward bases in battles with Taliban fighters. They used them to power batteries for communications, GPS and night-vision goggles. The panels not only reduced the need for convoys, they allowed marines to shut off generators, hushing operations and making them harder for enemies to detect."

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-military-green-energy-insight/u-s-military-marches-forward-on-green-energy-despite-trump-idUSKBN1683BL


Other companies are going solar, many choosing to own their solar panels outright
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/28/10-massive-corporations-going-big-on-solar-power.html
Ikea, Johnson & Johnson, even Macy's. Amazon and Costco.

Even Walmart is going green, using 100% renewable energy
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/top-companies-that-are-going-green.php



Apparently there is money to be had by going green.
Companies, retailers, even the military are accepting the idea that the world is changing.
Maybe it's time to listen to them, and open some eyes.