Summer Solstice

Blessings to you on this Summer Solstice.

May the Sun shine upon you and those you love, filling your life with warmth and light throughout the summer and coming days.

We're off to the beach to celebrate, Norwich Chant Collective stylee. There will be wine, fabulous people and song. I don't know about you, but Life seems hard going at the moment. I'm looking forward to just chilling out and being with the people I love.

I hope whatever your religious persuasion, you also feel the Sun shining on you.

Life Keeps on a-Kicking

'They' said collective action no longer works. 'They' said people are hip deep in apathy and don't care any more. 'They' were wrong. Thanks to people like Eros and Mago who organised the absolute displeasure caused by the deletion of Infomaniac, MJ is now back and rocking like the fabulous bitch she is. There are still technical difficulties, old comments have disappeared and new comments seem to be going the same way. Eros has started another thread in the Google Help forum to try and resolve this issue, so please people make some noise.

After Infomaniac was restored to us, I looked forward to Filthy Friday this morning. Normal blogging service has been resumed, I thought seeing the naked conga line. And then I saw the post had been dedicated to KAZ. Kaz as you know has been MIA for some time and we've been very worried about her. Rightly, as it turns out. She is currently battling ovarian cancer.

I won't go into my love of the blogging community, cause if you haven't picked up on it by now, well, you're in need of a brain cell or two. Kaz was one of the first people to comment on my blog, nearly 4 years ago. She's been a fabulous friend, always ready with her razor sharp wit and fine sense of humour and has stuck with me through thick and thin.

Funny thing Life. I just had a look back through my stats and then I saw that today is my fourth blogging anniversary. Good grief. 523 posts, not including this one. Fuck.

Frantic Friday

I've had a bit of a busy time. I was going to fill you in yesterday, but with the kerfuffle with Blogger kidnapping MJ's blog Infomaniac, I rolled my sleeves up and threw myself into that melee. Actually, in a way there is a theme that runs through: the blogging community.

I trooped down to Yagnub to meet Z. We'd first clapped eyes on each other at a blog I no longer visit and then we started bumping into each other at Roger's place and then over at Dave's. We met in a lovely cafe. I did my trick of writing down the instructions of how to find said cafe on a slip of paper, which I promptly left next to my lap top. Along with Z's mobile number. Muppet, me? Oh yeah.

It's odd meeting someone for the first time, when you've been privy to their everyday activity, their family and their ups and downs. I didn't know the face, but I knew the soul. After we'd eaten Dilly and the Sage dropped in. Perhaps they were worried I was a serial killer? Hah, if only they knew I'm far more warped than that. Again, I'd heard so much about them, being with them was so easy, it was the meeting of friends. Z kindly took me back to inspect the Great Wall of Norfolk. Z did not appear to think it odd that I greeted her herbs and talked to her vegetables. It was a fabulous afternoon. I would have liked to have stayed longer but I had to hot foot it back home to prepare for a Summer Ball.

Lord Noel and Lady Jacqui made the mistake of inviting me to visit their manor for a spot of dinner. Thursday night, they rang and asked if I'd like to go to the local Summer Ball. Hell yes. As you've probably guessed, I'll turn up to the opening of an envelope. Any excuse to get my glad rags on, and I'm so there.

My first Ball was fun. Yes, you read right. I was a Ball virgin. I have to say, it wasn't quite what I expected. It was held in the ballroom of the local hotel and was...interesting. We invited ourselves to sit at a table and after awhile the three of us looked at each other and said 'we've gatecrashed a wedding'. It was exactly like that. Down to a woman dressed in cream, definitely from the Monsoon bridal collection. There were a few downright fashion disasters. Ladies, please, first rule of dressing up, black dress, black undies. The white bra strap is a no-no. The live band was of a good standard though their play list was a bit...ecclectic to say the least. They played a very decent version of Muses' Knights of Cydonia, immediately followed by Tom Jones' Delilah. I danced, drank and was very merry. Fortunately, I was offered B&B, I think I crawled off to bed at about 3 am. Hence my absence from the Interweb on Saturday. Just a bit fragile. Just a bit.

It's all about community. Whether virtual or physical, it doesn't matter. Don't let the people you care about wonder about your feelings. Roll your sleeves up and participate. These are the things that make my life worthwhile. Being part of something outside of yourself, brings meaning. It's all about the meaning for me.

Censored

It seems that someone over at Blogger/Google has been eating too much moral fibre.

My day started off with the news that MJ, over at Infomaniac has been abducted. Her blog and comments are no more. Before one could read her blog, one had to click the Adult Content warning. It was clearly marked. MJ was shepherd to a remarkable bunch of people from all over the world, all walks of life and she welcomed all expressions of sexuality.

Yes, there was adult content. Filthy Friday was well named. But it was consenting adults and quite frankly in terms of sexually explicit material, it was actually quite light.

That was bad enough.

Now it seems another blog has been removed. I had just started to visit Leni Quinan. I found her through mago.

As I'm a novice reader, I scratch my head trying to think of anything offensive or even mildly irritating over at Leni's. That's not the point.

The Adult Content warning is enough. What happens when adults play, is really up to them. Yes, this material is available to all. But you know what? There is much worse out there. Much worse. MJ neither endorsed nor supported sex relating to minors or non-consensual sex.

Freedom of expression is one of the joys of the internet. The opportunity to express yourself, as much or as little as you want. To be able to explore fantasies, hang out with friends, have virtual parties, it harms none. The censorship of these blogs does not protect the vulnerable. It is an attempt to make the blogging community Magnolia. I for one will not have it. Life is a rainbow and blogging should reflect it.

An Ode to Bottoms

There's a lot of talk of bottoms in Blog Land at the Moment.

This is the Ode to all things backside. Come on people, dance!

Meme, Meme, Meeeeme

More internet thievery, this time from Z.

1. Do you believe in ghosts? Yes. Have had a few weird encounters, one of which led me to the spiritual path I currently walk upon.

2. Are you content with your life? Yes actually. I am exactly where I need to be, doing exactly what I need to be getting on with. Mr Right is obviously running a bit late, but I'm not waiting for him to have a fantastic time.

3. Have you ever been close to point blank? Yes. Twice in my life. The edge is a scary place, but not as scary as the Abyss. I'm happy that I managed to pull myself back and the sun shines in my reality.

4. Is philosophy necessary? Absolutely. I'm always interested in reading about how other people make sense of Life, the Universe and Everything. I may not agree, but food for thought helps the brain to grow.

5. Do you live with books? Totally. I've got 5 shelves of books, some of which are doubled up. My dream is to have a big enough room to call a library.

6. Have you ever been on stage? In primary school. A non-event.

7. Do you regularly read a printed newspaper? No. I tend to get my news delivered virtually. I don't know why I prefer it, I just do.

8. Are you afraid of the future? Nope. I believe the future is constructed in the present. I have plans, Plans and dreams. I'm content today, which bodes well for tomorrow. Tomorrow might be shite, Life might knock me down and deliver a good kicking, but so what? I'll just get up again.

9. Do you know yourself? It's taken me a good 40 years to sort out the impact of other people's shit. The process has been painful and illuminating. One of the things I have come to realise about myself is that I am all about Authenticity and Meaning. I recognise my many faults, but ultimately, I am learning to be compassionate with myself which has lead to a sense of deep contentment.

10. Will you play on? Oh yeah, I like spreading the joy.

I nominate Princess, Mid-Wife Crisis, Savannah, Boxer and Dave (just cause he'll hate it).