South Park: Raisins

As I was reading Sally's blog and how "it takes shit to make bliss." This reminded me of a South Park episode, Raisins. In the episode Wendy breaks up with Kyle, the boys bring Kyle to a restaurant named Raisins (fourth grade version of Hooters), and while there Butters falls in love with a girl named Lexus.

If you would like to watch the episode in full or the section I am talking about starts around minute 19 click here.

Every South Park episode has a moral lesson no matter how immoral the episode is. Towards the end of the episode Kyle walks by a crying Butters and asks what is wrong and Goth Kid #1 asks Butters to write poetry about death and how pointless life is. He replies, "No thanks, I love life. I am sad but at the same time I am happy something can make me feel that sad. It makes me feel alive. It makes me feel human. The only way I can feel this sad is if I felt something really good before. So I guess what I am feeling is a beautiful sadness. To be honest, I'd rather be a crying little pussy than a faggy goth kid."

This is how I feel about bad days because from every bad day the next good day will feel ten times better because you will remember how rotten life can be. My Grandmother has been stuck in a nursing home the past month with alzheimers and just found out she has been having mini-strokes. While talking to her on the phone she puts on a voice full of happiness which I know is complete bull. I know the reason she complains to my Grandfather and Mom is because of how great life was at one point for her and she truly misses those days and the ability to go for walks when she pleases. Coming from this perspective I try to get out and enjoy life for what it is because at one point I will be in the same bed she is but will be able to think how life was so enjoyable at one point that I am now able to feel like complete crap.

Myth in our daily lives

"Hitherto the god with whose death and resurrection we have been chiefly concerned has been the tree-god. But if I can show that the custom of killing the god and the belief in his resurrection originated, or at least existed, in the hunting and pastoral stage of society, when the slain god was an animal, and that it survived into agricultural stage, when the slain god was the corn or a human being representing the corn, the probability of my explanation will have been considerably increased."
The Golden Bough, Sir James Frazer, p. 351

Well, this morning I woke up with a nice hangover, which typically accompanies Friday mornings after a Thursday night at the Molly. Once I slept in long enough to miss my 8 AM I decided to go on a nice hike. My roommates had left for the weekend in hopes of killing an elk and John left me with his dog, Jet (a 3 y/o Springer). I decide to bring him as well as his vitamin E (electricity)  along with me so he gets some exercise.

I found myself in a beautifully wooded area in the Spanish Peak Mountain Range when Echo came to mind. I decided to let out a hoodie-hoo to see if Echo was with me and she responded going from West-South-East and it felt like my echo rang out for 10 seconds although I am sure it was much shorter. It is times like these as I sit by myself, with no one around except a few horseback riders whom I know only exist because of the feces left by the horses, that I feel so grateful for my father, a mythic creature himself pushing me into the wilderness.
The first time I can remember really being pushed by him to get into outdoor activities was at Outward Bound, now this is a scarce memory as it was when I was a wee one of the age of four or five. The one thing I do remember well is the name of the group I was in, Aquarius, another connection to my being in the wilderness and the "higher" forces around me.

This also got me thinking about Eliade's third chapter, Myths and Rites of Renewal in Myth and Reality. He constantly is talking about the death and birth every year of our surroundings and as I looked around seeing death in every deciduous tree around me was either yellow, orange, or red showing no sign of the stunted green they show every year. This is what makes me miss living in New Hampshire most it has been five years since I have been graced with seeing what New England is most famous for, the beautiful fall colors. The colors are made possible because the tree must go through a process to protect itself during winter and this process includes the death of the beautiful leaves. So it is as Eliade says, "This is their "World," and it must be periodically renewed or it may perish" (p.43) the trade-offs of having a dreary winter for a beautiful fall.

A sublime day

Well, to start this blog I figured I should probably listen to some "subliminal" music while writing. Delta Spirit (click for the site) is a band from San Fran I discovered a while ago on the site "The Take-Away Shows" and traveled to Boulder, CO to see them this summer along with Edward Sharpe (also a link to a Take-Away Show) and Guster.

While Dr. Sexson said we can not go out and create a sublime day, I would have to disagree. Whenever a person sets out on a trip, hike, or daily routine they are inviting the opportunity for something extraordinary to come out of an ordinary day.
My friend John and I headed towards the Beartooth Mountain Range to commence our adventure at climbing Granite Mountain the highest mountain in Montana. We arrived at the parking lot below Mystic Lake around 3 PM and waited about an hour until Tim and Sam arrived from Cody, WY where they had been building a house for one of their friend's parents. Starting the hike around 4:30 PM we planned on camping after ascending the Switchbacks From Hell. We watched the sun set over Mystic Lake as we approached Froze to Death Plateau, which was absolutely beautiful.

                                                       Mystic Lake

After going to bed with a bit of whiskey in our system as no backpacking trip is complete without a pint of whiskey per night in the wilderness. We started the next morning around six and hiked across Froze to Death Plateau which is a five or six? mile hike without any cairns to lead you across but as you travel across. The mountain goats we encountered are what made this trip so special, they were salt deprived and would come up to you if you urinated on the ground. The goats would get within a few feet of you and as long as you didn't make any sudden movements they would hang out around you.

                                                  Sam w/some goats

The goats would come in herds the elders got pee first and the youngin'(furthest left) fed last.

To reach the peak you must scramble up the final stage (photo above) where I was personally wondering where the route up was. It is setting out on adventures like this where I am introduced to a whole new world while working relatively hard on meeting my goal of reaching the summit that I enjoy so much. I was able to interact with goats on an almost intimate level and reach the summit only to descend and see more spectacular views I missed the first time. This is how I, personally was able to go out and create a subliminal day. This is something I have felt numerous times in the woods or while snowboarding and it is what drove me to get a split-board because half the fun is going up and makes you appreciate the turns on the way down. I know each one of us enjoys doing at least one activity that gives us the feeling of nirvana. Once we have found the nirvana it leaves us with a dire thirst for more, it isn't until we recreate the event that we are satisfied, and then as we drive away are thirsty once again.. 

                                                View from 12,799 ft.

                  Sam on a part of the walk back along Froze-to-Death-Plateau.

Books 1-4

Book One
4 Ages: Jove defeats Saturn bringing about the age of silver, resulting in the creation of the universe.

Creation: Unraveling of a god into nature resulting in the sky, sand, and sea.

Apollo/Diaphne: Apollo gone love sick searches for a nypme, is fooled and unable to cure himself of love's wound.

Aeschylus: Incest and murder by women, but Hypermestra spares her providing husband.

                                           Unraveling of the universe.
Book Two
Phaethon: Helios, being an honest father respects his sons wish to take out the pimpin' chariot and there is hell to pay.

Callisto: Seduced by Jove for her beauty and is transformed with her son into the Big/Little Bear constellations.

Apollo/Coronis: Coronis is killed by Apollo who does not even shed a tear.

Ocyrhoe: Healer of the world is struck by Jove's thunderbolt metamorphosing from god-human-god.

Mercury: Steals Apollo's cattle and Aglauros is morphed into marble creating the city of Athena.

Europa and Jove: Named a continent after her but not before she is raped.

                                                          Phaethon
Book Three
Cadmus: Slays a slippery, slithering serpent, and creates Thebes.

Semele: Implodes upon seeing Zeus's heiny.

Tiresias: Blinded for admitting women enjoy sex than their counterpart.

Narcissus/Echo: A woman falls in love with her voice and a male with his looks, surprised?

Pentheus: Born from dragon teeth, spies on woman out of envy, and deserves his death.

 Pine Creek Lake, a nice place for an Echo.

Book Four
Daughters of Minyas: Telling their story to pass time, naw, let's run away.

Pyramus: Love-Thisbe

Arcisus: Truth is always hiding in the shadows.

Perseus/Medusa: Basis of heroic epics slays a snake, woman head all in the name of love.

                                                   The slain Medusa.

Photos for Ovid Book 3

 This is Jupiter with his fond, worshipping women.

Dionysus, son of Zeus and Semele, known to be a lover of women of all shapes and sizes.

Actaeon, caught getting a glimpse of Diana and friends.

Pentheus, caught spying on women activists.

Teiresias warding off not one but two snakes

Hopefully I will have my one sentence summaries finished soon for everyone to read soon