Carousel -- Week Ending 2nd January 2009
[ 1 January 2009 ]
I think I have decided that I love Dallas Clayton (& Sri for introducing me!). You should totally subscribe to his blog. He writes stuff like this.
GETTING QUIT
When was the last time you painted your face?
Not for any reason, or special day,
just for fun, to look like an animal you appreciate
or to give yourself a cool moustache
or a teardrop, like a prisoner who has killed someone.
How would your boss feel about that?
He’d probably think it was awesome and give you a raise.
And if he didn’t?
Well, that’s not the kind of place you need to be working anyhow.
& this.
BEST
Just before bed
I kiss my son
and ask him what he thinks he will dream about.
He responds:
“About a forest, with a big pond, and rainbow, and there are unicorns there
under the rainbow and they are playing tag with me, and my dad is there too.”
I consider this a victory for the forces of good.
...Once you have subscribed to his blog, you should read An Awesome Book by him. I’m telling you, it’s an excellent way to kick off 2009. It starts like this.
University of Pennsylvania’s Authentic Happiness site has lots of tests you can use to measure your satisfaction in various areas. Honestly if you’re not sure where to begin this year, or what to tackle, these tests might help you out a lot. Props, Dr Martin Seligman! You are awesome!
Ahoy, I spy a saccharine beast!
Letters To A Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke. An oldie but a goodie.
Nice things & good ideas: LOVE Revolution. Really good… see?
I want to start a revolution. Not the kind of revolution we’re used to; not a loud one, not a violent one, not one that makes headlines or one that leads to fame and glory. I want to start a revolution in me, and you, everyone who reads this blog, and your family and your friends and the people you meet every day from now on. I don’t want a lot from you, it doesn’t take a lot, it only takes love.
Faking Fashion is a cute Livejournal community (you’ll need to join it) with lots of fashion editorials. I like this Lingerie shoot from A4. It makes me think of a wide-eyed girl who has just moved to the big city & is in her first apartment.
Your Astrological Sign May Not Be What You Think It Is! Hmmm… I do have a lot of Leo traits. How about you? Does shifting back a sign make more sense to you?
Want to go raw in 2009? Raw Food Blog is an awesome resource for absolute beginners. The group blog at We Like It Raw is fantastic too!
Tarotscopes by HiC for 2009. I love HiC, he is amazing, & his tarotscopes fill me with wonder, excitement & hope.
How To Feel Like The Incredible Hulk In 2009 from Tim Ferriss. In 17 minutes, he explains exactly how he conquered his fears of swimming, language learning & ballroom dancing by questioning “obvious” guidelines & dogmatic teaching. Woo woo! Use his knowledge to achieve your own amazing goals this year.
Ever wanted a t-shirt of Obama riding a unicorn? I know you have! Chris Bishop has got your back!
Oh my god! AUDREY PUT HIS BLOG TOGETHER! YAY! I know you’re all excited, & for god’s sake, please pass the URL on to the boys you know who need his help. Boy Therapy is the new jam.
A girl went through a break-up & made a three-part mixtape: sadness, bitterness & acceptance. You’ll need to join the community to see it, but it’s worth it, I promise!
I love Ellen Von Unwerth.
69 Questions To Ask To Review Your Blog. Thanks, Darren! We bloggers LOVE you for all your hard work & extreme awesomeness.
Check out your horoscope at AstrologyZone! I LOVE Susan Miller’s horoscopes, they are SO GREAT, & my one for January almost gave me palpitations from excitement!
Her Balloon Happiness is the best Flickr pool ever! Ever ever! Sometimes I wonder if it was started by a fetishist, but who cares, it’s cute & it makes me smile.
Balloons & Fireworks is a good one too.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, Windows users! There is now a version of Poladroid for you! Just what you need to tide you over until you get a Mac… Hee hee hee… Evil plans!
Steve Pavlina just wrote two mind-blowing posts about his marriage — which he has been in for 15 years — & his decision to explore polyamory. I like him even more than I did & I think he is completely awesome for sharing all of this stuff with the world. He is not the only person who is in a committed relationship & feels like that, so I think he is doing the world an enormous service by being so open & authentic. Check out 2009 Focus – Intimate Relationships first, & then Polyamorous Relationship Q&A. I am so excited for him having made this decision & I’m really looking forward to reading about how it’s all going. Maybe next year when I see him at the Blog World Expo he’ll have five women on each arm, like a true spiritual player!
“The truth is that I love connecting with Erin physically and emotionally, and I want to enjoy that kind of connection with other women too. I can use self-discipline to try to deny those feelings, but that would require turning my back on the principle of Love, which is a big no-no. In this case I have to follow my heart.”
A new year’s wish from Neil Gaiman.
Tim Ferriss writes about Things I’ve Learned & Loved In 2008.
Okay, that’s all I have for you today. I hope it keeps you busy this weekend! Big love!
Love letters & feather headdresses,
Tags: carousel Add Gala on Twitter!
my copy of “letters to a young poet” is highlighted to hell because it’s full of so much goodness.
thank you! sooo many cool links to get the long weekend started right!!
While the Obama shirt is cute. You might want to take note of what it may imply to some:
www.stylelist.com/blog/2008/12…
Cheers!
Gala, you will be excited to know that last night while my sister, mother, and I rang in the New Year, we were thinking of you. Confetti was thrown, poppers were popped, and grape-apple spritzers were drank (drunk?). It wasn’t like we were all “Wow, Gala would be proud of us right now.” It was more, “So this is what Gala means about doing your own thing!!”
Anyway. The point is if you noticed good happiness love vibrations coming at you, now you know.
:]
My best friend loves Obama. she loves that shirt.
My astrological sign really isn’t what I thought it was, I didn’t move a sign over or anything I am the 13th constellation! I went from being a Sag, which was fitting because I was also born in the year of the horse to being a Ophiuchus. What an interesting way to start the year!
Wow these are some great finds! :D
Happy New Year!
Oooh I’m so excited about the PC version of Polardroid! I’ll be putting it to some good use! Audrey’s blog has been added to by Google Reader, I loved his guest posts so I’m looking forward to reading some more!
Thanks for the great links, as always!
Oh Gala!
WHAT A TASTY CAROUSEL!
I’ve now got bout 5 extra internet windows open cos I couldn’t help but click some of those links!
AUDREY YAY YAY.
HOROSCOPES! WOOO!
AND ZOMG POLAROID FOR WINDOWS YAY.
THANKYOU GALA FOR MAKING THE START TO MY FRIDAY A GREAT ONE.
I just read Steve’s polyamorous relationships article last night and though I wouldn’t take that path myself, I give him mad props for being so open and admitting that while his relationship is awesome, it’s time to explore new things. AND! I’m so excited that Audrey finally has a blog! Such good links this week!
Thank you for letting us know that the Windows version of the Polaroid maker is available.
You’re right, it’s totally addicting.
Great carousel!
That ‘real’ astrology artical was really interesting. Dispite the fact i am NOTHING like a taures and the EXACT descripition of a gemini. I think i’ll stick with being a gemini, it suits me haha.
Oh. My. Shit. So I’m not a Leo?? My whole perception of myself has gone totally bonkers. Even though I never really likened myself to a Leo in my whole entire life anyway! It gave me something to aspire to! Apparently I’m a Cancer. (The name of which has always given me the creepers). I just read on the details of what being a Cancer is all about, and damn, I do fit practically all of them! This is a bit scary, yet too interesting to stop reading..
I JUST DISCOVERED THE AUTHENTIC HAPPINESS WEBSITE YESTERDAY BECAUSE A BOOK I’M READING RECOMMENDED IT HALF THESE LINKS RELATE TO THINGS I’VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT/DEALING WITH THIS WEEK AHH GET OUT OF MY HEAD.
Ok so I downloaded polaroid for windows, and it’s all installed and everything.. but it won’t OPEN?
The icon’s on my desk top, I double click, nothing happens.
Anyone else had this happen?
Help?
Mmmm 2009 is going to be such a great year. 2008 was a year of massive personal growth for me and I hope that throughout 2009 that will continue.
Loving the links, but I still reckon I’m a virgo through and through!
Happy New Year all xx
Lou — I don’t use Windows but on my Mac, when the program’s open, there’s a polaroid camera sitting on my desktop. Then you just drag a photo onto it & it turns it into a polaroid for you! It automatically saves it too, I think you can change where in a preferences setting. Hope this helps!
Hey Gala, what size do you recommend for a Moleskine diary? I was thinking of getting a small at first, but now I’m not so sure…
I just found this and it made me think of you. I hope that isn’t creepy.
Good vs. Evil Unicorns Play Set.
www.mcphee.com/items/11649.htm…
I want one!
I Looovvee Dallas Clayton now! Thank you for the introduction!
Hey Gala!
THANKYOU FOR THE HELP WITH POLAROID!
I tried to open it again, (clicking on the short cut) that didn’t work, then I tried clicking on the icon in my task bar and opening a picture through that, that didn’t work but it actually made the polaroid camera appear on my desktop!
Now I can use it! I dragged a photo onto the little camera and it worked!
Thankyou!!!!!!!
huh so i’m a virgo and not a libra? cool beans!!
and i can’t wait to use the polaroid maker!
:D
haha, i posted a link to ‘letters to a young poet’ on a mutual friend’s livejournal post asking for inspirational and self- help texts, i wonder if that’s where you might have been inspired to put it here? :)
Ohh
I’ve been a silent reader of you for about a month!
I don’t know what made me reveal myself just today (:
But I did, so all that’s left is to tell you how amazing and inspiring your blog is.
love
Lots of really fantastic links this week, yay! :D
And on the subject of shifting astrological signs: I love pseudosciences. Even if they’re not scientifically measurable/significant, the powers of self-actualizing prophecy and psychosomatic perception are well-documented, which makes them “real” enough for me (and just plain fun, haha).
Growing up, however, I was often felt. . .how to describe it? Astrologically inadequate. I was always a terrible Aries — quiet, head in the clouds, a total homebody, passive to that which I felt overwhelmed me (which was a great many things). I had the lofty ideas but very little of the practical drive, but trying to take a leaf from the celestial handbook in an effort to “jump-start” my soul (“Go on, go for it! You’re an Aries! Seize the da— the mon— the always!”) never worked for very long. I always felt like I was swimming upstream, going against the grain of my own fur.
Then I learned about the rotation of the heavens, Ophiucus, etc., and discovered that perhaps I was swimming upstream, literally, as a Pisces! It felt like wrapping myself up in a blanket of sudden clarity. Everything fit — the dreaminess, the need for solitude, being prone to guilt and mercurial bouts of “tortured artist” melancholy/creativity, the whole bit.
Now I read the horoscopes for both signs, just in case, and for a more well-rounded reading. But I definitely consider myself thoroughly fishy by nature. ;D In the end, like everything else, it all boils down to you being what you feel you are, and not whatever someone else says you ought to be.
oh my goodness. i read that article about the sun signs and i looked up my new sign – aries. and i think it’s like 1000 times more accurate.
i feel slightly more complete. i didn’t like taurus i’m going to adopt aries as my official sign.
Such a great list! This isn’t going to help me with my New Years resolution to spend less time online!
My lord. Apparently my new sign is Ophiuchus. Where am I gonna get horoscopes now??
OMG that is so cool, I stumbled on The Awesome Book earlier this month and posted in my blog about it!! He is hotttt too. And it’s super cool that you can read that book online.
I think he’s with Shannyn Sossamon too! And they have a kid together!!! (is a gossip)
And freakin sweet for the Poladroid tip; I was stroking the Macs at Fry’s in envy last week.
Oh dear, now I’m stressing about which sign I really am! Ahhhh! Leo or Cancer? I’m most concerned. XD How will I know how to act? Andandand that’ll change everything else around too, won’t it? Rising signs and whatnot?
Ah, it’s a good thing I only read about astrology for fun.
I just pre-ordered ‘An Awesome Book’ because I think that may be the single most wonderful thing I’ve read in a long time.
I absolutely love your carousels! I think they might be my favorite of your regular postings. The mix tape from ljmixtape is awesome, I love it so much. AND my absolute favorite thing in the world right now are the Tarotscopes by HiC. SO GREAT! I can’t believe it, in all honesy. Your blog is so amazing, Gala, and it’s definitely helped me so much in life. I seriously learn and find out all this new stuff every day you post.
PS, what should we do if we have something we want you to check out? My mom, of all people, forwarded me this and I thought it might be something you’d be interested in…she even said in her email that it reminded her of something you’d write a post about!( http://swakproject.wordpress.com/ )
kisskiss, Krista
Wow Gala!!! You bring so much light to my life! Dallas Clayton and those articles by Steve Pavlina have blown my mind, im floating in a place bigger than my body thanks to you and i am very greatful. All the other stuff was major fun too!
Thankyou!
I found those Steve Pavlina articles really upsetting :(
Thanks for the “Her Balloon Happiness” set, I added a few pictures myself!
Also, Windows Poladroid, just what I’ve been waiting for!
Yay, a Windows Poladroid! I’ve been wanting to try out Poladroid since you wrote about it a while ago, hurrah! Thanks for letting us know Gala!
Love all of the links, thank you! Have a wonderful 2009!
Currently earmarking a portion of my birthday money for an Obama-on-Unicorn shirt …
Holy shits, Gala! I luuurve Neil Gaiman! I got the chance to meet him in December at an Amanda Palmer show in Chicago. Thanks so much for giving this amazing man some recognition!
Happy New Year!
I’m a virgo? Say what? But I’ve always been so Libra-y. Eh, maybe I am a little bit of a Virgo…I a little to analytical and tidy to be an honest Libra.
Ruby Soho — Why did it upset you?
I’m a Virgo and I am feeeeelinggg that Tarotscope!!!Thanks Gala xx
Great article Gala. I have to admit, though, I agree with Ruby Soho on the Steve Pavlina articles.
I am so happy for Steve Pavlina. I am very much for Polyamory. Thanks for sharing Gala!
I love Dallas Clayton! Thanks for the link. I pre-ordered his book and can’t wait for it to come!
apparently i’m a virgo now! i was happy with being a libra, but my newfound virgo status really explains my love of organising things.
and i’m seriously considering buying that obama shirt…
Gah! I’ve read about that whole wrong astrological sign thing! Apparently I’m really a Virgo. Hmmm…I DO make a lot of lists…
happy new year gala and everyone! you might already know this or may have even written about it and i missed it but anyway…i found this recipe for raw cupcakes and thought you’d appreciate it :) lots of love xx
www.welikeitraw.com/rawfood/20…
are you kidding me – i’m really an Ophiuchus? but… but… i LOVE being a sag!! :(
btw, i just found you about a week ago, and i’m pretty much in love. i printed out your “100 ways to be a love letter…” and put it on my desk at work. you’re so fantastic!! thanks for existing!! ^^
I dunno about shifting back a sign. I watched myself for a good 2 days and I’m definitely NOT a Taurus. As for myself, I could care less about what I have and don’t have.
shrugsI also feel like they’re missing a couple of explanations in that thesis of theirs.Dallas Clayton! I’ve just subscribed to him…I love, love, love his work. Thanks Gala!
oh yeah… i’m a little worried about steve pavlina… i read the article a couple of days ago, and it’s been bothering me. while i think it’s important to be open minded about life, to try new things, i think polyamory is missing the point. it sounded like there were some issues that needed to be solved in thier relationship, like ‘bottled affection’ and taking the personal connection as far at they can on thier own… is there a limit to connection? solving it by sleeping with other people isn’t usually the wisest answer.
the whole article seemed like a justification… if he truly believed what he is doing is right he wouldn’t need to go on and on repeating himself, and he woulnd’t need to announce it to everyone before he put it into practice, unless he already has, and hasn’t come out with it.
on a different yet related note… when i was young, my parents were polyamorous (it was the 70s and they were young) and to tell the truth, it really skewed my concept of relationships, as with other adults i know that grew up with polyamorous parents. oddly enough, both my parents quite happily converted back to monogomy. and my mother and her ‘new’ husband of 23 years still act like honeymooners… it’s adoreable.
jennine — I see what you’re saying! It’s interesting though, because no matter what he or Erin say in public, no one is ever really going to know what their relationship is like except for them. It’s possible that we’re not getting the whole story, that Steve or Erin are deluded, etc. As humans we’re notoriously incapable of being able to make the “right” choices anyway, so who knows really. I don’t think he’s justifying himself though. He was like this (extremely explanatory etc.) with his transition to raw food, his polyphasic sleep experiments, etc. too. I think he likes to put it all out there so that other people know what he’s doing. It sets the scene for the experiment before he jumps into it. I imagine he likes doing that because it sets him up to be a) accountable & b) it gives him a point of reference so he remembers what he’s striving for.
I don’t know whether going poly is going to strengthen his bond with Erin, & neither does he, & neither does she. But I have to give him MAD props for trying something new, for doing it so openly, for being so genuine & for trying to fix his relationship in the way that makes sense to him. How many people stay in unhappy marriages & never do anything about it? SO MANY. I think he’s a total hero, regardless of how it all turns out.
While the concept of polyamory is a lovely idea, it’s pretty much doomed to failure. It didn’t work in 99% of the communes in the 60’s, and it’s most likely not going to work now.
If you’re already emotionally retarded(I think most people who try this out are. They don’t THINK they are, but sorry you are), this is not a smart move for you.
Sure, in the long run you may learn things, and come out the other side ‘enlightened’. Saying you want to be spiritually intimate with more than one person is fine, but really and honestly c’mon. It’s a basic want of males(and a lot of females)to fuck as many people as they can. Covering it up with the guise of wanting to be close to people is utter bullshit.
I know what some of you are thinking, that I’m close-minded or I don’t get it. I get it all right, as well as I’m a pretty unconventional thinker.
Although I haven’t been in a poly situation, I know people who have. And I know what damage and destruction it can do to not only the original couple, but their relationships with their families and friends.That’s my 2 cents on the subject.
raindog71 — Yeah, but just because your friends messed it up doesn’t mean Steve & Erin will necessarily… They might, but it’s their relationship to mess up! Ultimately it’s really none of our business.
I didn’t say that they would, but based on history on the subject things are more doomed to fail than not. Sorry, but that’s reality.
They can mess it up all they want, I’m not arguing that.
I also find the Steve Pavlina articles upsetting.
Firstly, a position statement… His prerecorded response to “Christians” annoys me quite a bit, because we don’t all go round spitting fire and brimstone and casting people into hell. I’m a Catholic and for me that means getting down to the things Jesus actually taught us and trying to live my life like that, which basically means not judging others and treating others as I’d like to be treated. I don’t think he is hell-bound. As long as nobody is being hurt I don’t think anyone should give a fig about what other people do in their bedrooms.
Which brings me to what really does upset me about these articles. Realistically, there’s a pretty big chance of someone getting hurt. Yet he writes so mechanically of seperation and divorce that it’s like he doesn’t quite want to acknowledge the emotional reality. Especially when he said “If the reality of that becomes too much for her, then getting divorced is always an option, and we can go our separate ways.” Yet in the first article he wrote of how he loves being married to her and is so grateful to have her in her life. I don’t quite get how these two viewpoints can both be authentic.
And also, the central premise of polyamory as a solution to her not being as affectionate as him is a tad disturbing to me. There are so so many underlying reasons why one half of a couple may be less affectionate, such as body issues, menopause, medical situations, post-natal depression, stress in general, and it’s not always even clear when something like that is happening. Whether anything like that is going on for Steve and Erin is of course only known to Steve and Erin, but I do think that in general there is often a less radical solution than what Steve is doing, and I don’t think he mentioned that.
I actually went and read the next article where he discusses the possibility of hurt, and remain unconvinced. Doing what you like, regardless of others, just because you want to be fearless… It just doesn’t seem like the nicest world view…
To me, love is patient, kind, devoted, passionate, a crazy adventure and a soft place to fall, and how you can talk about seperating from someone you truly love in such an offhand manner is beyond my abilities to comprehend. Know that I have spent longer than I thought humanly possible writing this comment, trying to frame it constructively. It probably makes me a closed-minded traditionalist to a lot of people but I really felt I had to say it.
A — I appreciate you taking the time to outline your thoughts so carefully & respectfully, so thank you! I see your point, definitely. But I also understand what he means about loving someone but being open to divorce or separation. I think sometimes you have to be selfish in order to do what’s best for you, & sometimes you have to hurt other people in order to stay true & authentic to yourself. I mean, I know I’ve hurt plenty of people in romantic situations, but I wasn’t just going to stay around if I was unhappy. That’s not love, that’s being a victim. Sometimes you have to hurt other people to save yourself. & as a friend of mine is fond of saying, he feels that by being true to himself in intimate relationships, he becomes a “catalyst for change” in that other person’s life. Not everyone wants that catalyst, of course, but that’s the risk you take when you get involved with someone, surely…
Hey Gala,
I think the issues raised in Steve’s article that bothered me were alluded to by Jennine, and I agree with her point completely. Whatever decisions Steve and Erin make about their relationship (and I have only read his blog – I do not know them personally and as such can’t comment on what they’re like as people) should affect them only. Only hurting yourself or your romantic partner in order to make yourself happy would be fine, I think, if it wasn’t for the fact that there are children involved. Children have to live with the consequences of their parents decisions and their happiness and welfare should always come first. Argh! I don’t want to be judgmental and am trying really hard not to be.
thankyou for introducing me to Dallas Clayton! i’m challenging myself this year by doing something terrifying: reading at a poetry group at my university. now i have the perfect poem!
Liz — It’s an interesting issue for sure! See, I agree that the happiness of the children should rank very highly, but I also think that an unhappy couple together sets a worse example than two happy parents doing their own thing individually. Surely if you want to set a positive example & be a good role model for your children, one of the best ways to do that is by following your own bliss. Regardless of what you do as a parent you’re never going to be perfect, so you might as well teach your children that it’s important to do things that are risky but which make you happy, rather than playing it safe & being miserable or feeling stuck…
this has nothing to do with any of the websites you posted. this www.booooooom.com/2008/11/10/p… seemed like something you might enjoy. the idea is super cute, and something i want to start incorporating into my life. it reminded me a bit of the “You’re Beautiful Project.” There’s 11 parts, maybe you’ll find some of them inspiring.
I’m intrigued by the issue of children in Steve Pavlina’s case, as presented by Jennine and Liz. In many ways, I grew up in a similar situation, but a much less honest one. My father was a sailor, and as such, I’ll never know the true extent he cheated on my mother those 20+ years they were married. I do know the ramifications of the relationship they had and the effects adultery had on it when he was caught though.
From this perspective alone, I have to give polyamory one big +1 — which is that in many monogamous relationships, there is cheating. It’s an undeniable fact, however horrible it may be. Cheating involves lying, a betrayal of trust and intimacy, and a huge sense of disrespect. I would much rather my father been honest with my mother— or now, that a partner were honest with me, about their interest in any sort of intimacy with another woman, than to do it behind my back and lie incessantly about it.
It’s difficult to grow up seeing that a marriage built on love, trust, and respect ended as such. To this day, I will not meet my step-siblings or step-mother. I have no place in my life for people who do not value respect, honesty, and have integrity for themselves.
I would much rather be in a relationship were my partner and I value those things— because hurt is inevitable in ANY relationship, and while nothing can soften it, knowing the truth in the end helps things heal more easily.Never thought I was a true Scorpio (born on the Libra/Scorpio cusp though) but it may be that I’m a VIRGO! =)
*****READ ME!*****
Virgo makeup tutorial on youtube :)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqfDjQ…
My new sign is an Aries… and it is definitely a sign I grew into during college.
Gala, how do you make your poladroid collages? Do you make them in some other software?
Thanks for the tip on the windows version, it’s such a great program!! ;)
I love the poladroid application!
Oh it is so my favourite thing about 2009 right now!
Thanks for the link to Tim Ferris’ blog. I spent an entire night reading his whole blog, went and bought his book the other day, read it in a sitting and my entire perspective and life has changed.
any idea where i can get that version of ‘paint it black’ playing on Supremefreak’s page? love all you do!
Thought you might like to know that the artist who drew the saccharine beast is a japanese artist called Sakizou. Shes a wonderful artist and you can see more of her work here – sakizou.velvet.jp/