been walkabout

"Walkabout is an Australian pidgin (or perhaps quasi-pidgin) term referring to the belief that Australian Aborigines "go walkabout" at the age of thirteen in the wilderness for six months as a rite of passage. They then trace the path of the ceremonial ancestors of their tribe, following the exact route that those ancestors took, and imitating in a fashion, their heroic deeds. These paths are known as the Songlines." - wikipedia

----

"Songlines are an ancient cultural concept, meme and motif perpetuated through oral lore and singing and other storytelling modalites such as dance and painting. Songlines are an intricate series of song cycles that identify landmarks and subtle tracking mechanisms for navigation. These songs often evoke how the features of the land were created and named during the Dreaming. The Dreaming Spirits as they travelled across the Earth, created and named trees, rocks, waterholes, animals and other natural phenomena. Molyneaux & Vitebsky (2000, p.30) augment further: the Dreaming Spirits "...also deposited the spirits of unborn children and determined the forms of human society." Therefore, establishing tribal law and totemic paradigms.

By singing the songs in the appropriate sequence, indigenous peoples could navigate vast distances (often travelling through the deserts of Australia's interiority)." - wikipedia

----

been singing the songs of the old ones

i've been singing new songs

i won't be able to give you a chronological narrative of the passage of my life since last september/october

i'll just have to make references as appropriate

just pick up where things are now

----

i've been walkabout

i've been singing the songs of my ancestors

fighting the election and it's aftermath

the election is long since done

my friends have long since been fired from their jobs with the change in administration

others of my friends are only being found and fired now

my family has been here many times before

i'm physically working in roughly the same office my father worked in in the late '60s when he was roughly the same age as i am now... fighting as opposition staff against another right wing government with the same kind of agenda as the new one

"Songlines are an intricate series of song cycles that identify landmarks and subtle tracking mechanisms for navigation. These songs often evoke how the features of the land were created and named during the Dreaming"

i am now keeper of the library. having been surrounded by the old ones most of my life, and having heard and knowing most of their stories, i have the longest corporate memory of any of the people left fighting the battles.

"They then trace the path of the ceremonial ancestors of their tribe, following the exact route that those ancestors took, and imitating in a fashion, their heroic deeds."

----

it was my daughter's 12th birthday recently. i was able to celebrate it with her, sort of.

her birthday was on days with her mother (daughter has begin spending some days/nights at my place again).

a week prior to her birthday i booked a tatami room at a local Japanese restaurant. the six of us went - Smitten and I, her two children, and my two.

we ordered much food. spent about $275.00 on the evening - about $100.00 more than i originally intended, but i decided to order some saki and beer for Smitten and I and let the kids go nuts on ordering. when you are going out for an evening like this you don't nickel and dime, and i'm able to afford it. i couldn't do it regularly, but it was ok.

the kids were able to order raw squid and octopus and whatever they had the whim to try. Smitten kid's are less versed (actually a bit of pain in the ass about food) than mine in non-north american cuisine, but they were in there like a dirty shirt too.

Smitten is always surprised at her kid's reaction when i take them out for different foods. her kids will try pretty much anything when i'm around - not otherwise. i'm either a good or a bad influence, i guess.

having the private room was good with Smitten's daughter being there - she is 9 and a real go girl - plenty of energy.

we had a very pleasant time over several hours at the restaurant. Smitten's daughter declared she wanted to do it again.

my daughter said to me later "That was awesome!"

----

daughter and i have been getting closer again

she is starting to stay with me and phone me regularly again. she is getting to the point where she may be able to break free of her mother's clutches.

her mother has pulled out all the stops - talking about suicide or just leaving the kids - just leaving town

those and many other histrionics

i had my lawyer send a letter to her lawyer telling the stbx to stop it.

but that is all another post