(no subject)

[dr_tectonic]

Yesterday was the blessing for ng_nighthawk and rg_rothko's child, Z. This is a counterpart to the Catholic baptism he got a couple months ago. I'm his philosophuncle ("philosopher-uncle" being the the counterpart to "god-father"), so I got to take part in the ceremony and pick a spirit guide animal for him. I picked Coyote, because I think cleverness and irreverence are important.

Anyway, one of the duties of my position is to share my worldview with my philosophew, so he can get exposed to different ways of thinking. Rhonda got little books for us, so I sat down at tried to write down all (well, a bunch of) the ideas I have about how things work and what's important and how you ought to approach the world.

This is a really hard, but it's an exercise I heartily recommend to everyone. Writing down "what I think is important", even in part, is illuminating. It's a pretty cool thing to have done. Who knows? Maybe in a decade or so, he'll read it and actually take some of it to heart.

Our little homebrew ceremony went well, I thought, and afterwards there was potluck and socializing, which is always pleasant. Afterwards, several of us went to Chris's and played Power Grid, which is a pretty fun game. I expect I'd do a lot better next time -- or maybe just feel more competent while playing poorly...

Poor Jerry and Greg got to stay home with homework and not-sharing-the-sinus-infection, respectively. Today was mostly bumming around. It's still cold enough outside that we've got an inch of ice built up on the inside bottom edge of the window in the shower. Slept in late (we didn't finish the game last night until 2-something). Went grocery shopping. Made soup. Washed laundry. I dinked around with d20 psionics stuff while the boys played X-Men 2.

I have tomorrow off, so I'm going to go dink around some more while the soup finishes cooking.

Comments

[zalena.livejournal.com]

You picked coyote! That child is going to be a heap of mischief.

This I Believe

[nehrlich.livejournal.com]

As a thought, if you're willing to edit your statement down to about 500 words, you should submit it to NPR's "This I Believe" segment - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4538138

I've been meaning to write something for that for months because I agree with you that it's a good exercise to try to figure out what's important. But since I've had no deadlines, I've been lame.

Re: This I Believe

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

It probably wouldn't work very well for that; it's a whole bunch of little bits, not a single statement...

Re: This I Believe

[zalena.livejournal.com]

I actually think this is a great idea, you need to include your relationship to the child as a philosophuncle, your own mixed religious background, and how your sexual orientation affects any and all of the above. It would be something like your above post, but with a little extra of the philosoph thrown in. Think of it as an essay about the situation, rather than a list of direct beliefs.

[dpolicar]

So, do the rest of us get to read it?

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

Well, I left the book with the philosophew. I might try to reproduce some of it, but it was kinda random and scattered. I'll ponder.

[finagler.livejournal.com]

Dang, you'll make an awsome philosoncle!