#365Gratitude Day 218: My friend Benny

My friend Benny in a word: challenging. 

Benny likes to debate.  He's got a lot to debate about. He's an atheist, a rationalist, a skeptic, a gender politics and social justice crusader, polyamorous, and kinky. 

He's smart.  

He's opinionated.  

He's not afraid to tell you what he thinks. Oh boy, is he not ever afraid of that.  

And you know what? That's FANTASTIC.  We like each other enormously. We agree about a whole bunch of things. We disagree about a whole bunch of things. We get on famously not in spite of that, but because of that.  

He might say that the world would be a more amazing place if more people had friendships like ours.  

I on the other hand, would probably say that the world is already amazing just how it is, and that it's irrelevant to me what humanity does as a whole, because there is no such thing. 

He may read this and argue with me about that. If he does, or doesn't, either way I'm very grateful for his friendship.  

#365Gratitude Day 217: New books

I'm obsessed with the Ex-Heroes series by Peter Clines, specifically the audiobooks. 

They're novels about superheroes trying to help protect an enclave of humans during a zombie apocalypse. 

I know.  When I first heard about them I thought they sounded stupid too. 

They're not. They're witty, smart, and fascinating. The books pay homage to all sorts of geek culture tropes.   

The audiobooks are particularly amazing. The multivoice narration is artfully done. 

I first stumbled across the books as part of a promotional sale. I quickly ate through the first two books, and I'm almost done with the third.  

I'm grateful for the way new books can grab me and enfold me in their world.  

#365Gratitude Day 216: My Supportive Friends

This is quick and simple.  I've been doing a series of book readings this summer, while the podcast is on hiatus.  Since it's inception, I've had the attendance of, and support from a cast of regulars who are just wonderful.

In no particular order, I wan to thank:

• Hiddenpartition, who has ALWAYS attended each reading, and joined me in Skype after, to boot.  They're awesome!
• Zorro, my fellow author and good friend, who promotes the heck out of the readings, and my books.  He's a mightily good friend.
• My little girl Valentalae, who not only works the crowd in the chatroom, but who adds her wit and perspective to the readings.  Everything I do that she helps me with is better for it.  I love her.
• Autieab - If I were a country, autie would be the head of my embassy in Redditland.  He promotes my stuff there wonderfully, and I'm super grateful for it.

I'm grateful for these wonderful people.

#365Gratitude Day 215: The Freedom to Be Ridiculous

I'm all about balance.  I spend countless hours pondering weighty philosophical things.  I also have a love of frivolity and poking at social conventions.  I'm intentionally ridiculous, often.  Case in point - my love for silly hats, and dressing oddly.

I started my day running some local errands, and put on the hat in this picture.  It got me some stares at the supermarket, and compliments at the Goodwill.  I thought to myself, the hat's good, but it's not enough.  When I got home, I put on the stripy socks, and the clown nose.  I'm waiting on a visit from friends, and can't wait to greet them at the door like this.  Later, if Missy lets me, I'll wear the whole getup to go out to the movies.

I'm grateful I have the freedom to be such an oddball.  It's fun!

#365Gratitude Day 214: The Way of The Peaceful Warrior

A friend of mine asked me recently why my blog/site is called Only Doing.net, and what's up with the "No starting, no stopping, only doing." tagline.

The name, and the tagline is inspired by a book that's very special to me, The Way of the Peaceful Warrior, by Dan Millman.

I was first introduced to the book by Ms. Lemon, who I used to be in service to, as her submissive.  Her having me read it was easily one of the most significant things that's ever happened to me.  

The book is the semi-autobiographical story of Dan Millman, who was a college gymnast at UC Berkley in the 1960's.  It's not an exaggeration to say that Dan had everything going for him, at the time.

He was wealthy, smart, good-looking, academically and socially successful.  His life was fun.  But he was plagued by a terrible dream, that used to wake him up, shaking, in the middle of the night.  In it, an awful thing happened to him, and a mysterious old man, with two different color shoes, was there to pick up the pieces, and help him to heal, afterwards.

One night he was so disturbed by the dream that he went for a run, off campus.  After a while, he saw a Texaco gas station come swimming up out of the fog, and he decided to stop there to buy himself a late snack.

When he went inside, the old man from his dream was behind the counter.  But Dan didn't recognize him.  They exchanged pleasantries, and Dan started to leave the station.  The old man followed him outside, and sat in a chair by the side of the station.  Dan took just a few steps, and turned back to look at him again - but he was gone.  The old man was up on the roof of the station!  

This freaked Dan out.  So he ran away.

The next night, at 3am he came back, armed with questions about what had happened, how it had happened.  Every time he asked the man a question, he would respond with a question of his own.  This drove Dan crazy, and, insultingly, he called the man Socrates.  

Socrates loved it.  He laughed, and offered to become Dan's spiritual teacher, to teach him the  Way of the Peaceful Warrior.

The Way, as it turns out is a mixture of many things: Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, too.  It teaches mindful attention, and staying present.  It shows us all the ways we get in our own way.  It is a Way I myself have attempted to follow since I first read it.

One of the things that Socrates taught Dan is that life is about traveling, not about starting a journey, nor arriving at a destination.  There really are no such things.  Socrates tell Dan exactly this in one of my favorite scenes from the movie, Peaceful Warrior, based on the book.

I am grateful for this book, and the wisdom it has brought me in my life.