The place where lost socks go...

Hellllllo, LJ! (or at least all six people that are left here)

A very happy almost-Yule to you all, my gentle readers! I hope that everyone is having a spectacular holiday season! Huzzah!

In just over an hour, the sun will set in Oxford, starting the longest night of the year. Our coven, Dreaming Spires, will light a candle -- as we always do -- to carry the Light through the longest night and into the new dawn. Tomorrow morning, we will greet the new Sun at Stonehenge, as has been our tradition for several years now -- this will be our fifth Winter Solstice spend amongst the ancient Stones.

I shan't dare to hope that we will see anything nearly as breathtaking as the dawn that greeted us last year. That was my eighth Stonehenge sunrise[*]... and the first where I actually saw the Sun make more than a cameo appearance through the clouds. This is England, after all! The temperature is to remain above freezing, so there's no chance of snow on the Stones, either, like we enjoyed in 2009 and 2010.[**] Still, the chance of precipitation is between zero and 20%... so we are likely to stay dry. Unlike, for instance, at Summer Solstice 2008, where the sky leaked down on us all night.

Of course, some also say that tomorrow will be the end of the world. Well, if the world is going to end, I think that Stonehenge is an excellent place for us to see it off! May just climb the Stones to get a better view for the final farewell. I know you aren't supposed to but, really, who's going to stop me if armageddon is in progress??

The one burning question I have, dear friends, is precisely the same one that I had the last time the world ended, about a year and a half ago:

The world ends tomorrow. Fine. I buy that. Who am I to argue? But... at what time will it end?

No one ever seems to know the precise time of these things. Always the day; never the time. For something so important, you think they would like to be precise! Do I have time for one last cup of tea, or don't I?

If somebody could provide me with a little more precise timing information, I would be much obliged. Otherwise, have a fantastic End-of-the-World tomorrow, everyone, and I shall write more on Saturday...

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[*] Summer Solstice in 2007, 2008, and 2009; Spring Equinox in 2011; Winter Solstice in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.

[**] 2010 saw us experiencing a snowball fight inside of the Stonehenge circle! Now how spiffy is that?!

Returned to the Event Horizon last night, following the nearly nine hundred mile drive home from the Sooper Sekrit October Pagan (SSOP) festival. This marked my sixteenth year attending, and eighteen for my beloved cheshcat, who starting going two years before me. We have moved around quite a bit in that time, living in different states and different countries... but we always make the October pilgrimage. The SSOP is my spiritual home, and the people that attend are my extended logical family.[*]

This year, cheshcat and I were organizers again, like we were in 2010. Back then, we did it all on our own; this time, we were part of a team of six -- working with the ever-awesome jeneralist and three others, we put together a pretty spectacular gathering... if I do say so myself!

On the long drive home yesterday, I had plenty of time to mull over the long weekend just passed. It was quite spectacular, in many ways... and just what this doctor ordered! There was, of course, all the usual excellence -- like the various rituals, some great workshops, going canoeing, the fire circle, taking in the breathtaking Autumn foliage, going to the Sunday night dance, et cetera, et cetera, and so forth. I did not find time to make it to the sauna this year, but I did spend some lovely time in both of the Sacred Sexuality spaces -- the Temple of Aphrodite[**] and RG's Dark Temple.

As always, there were many awesometacular new people at the festival. I want to make a particularly special shout-out to my newest LJ-friend, the lovely creativexangst -- welcome aboard, sweetie!

In addition to the parts that are the wonderful staples of the SSOP, there were certain extra bonuses that made this year even more special than usual. For instance, I received multiple heartwarming comments about how well cheshcat and I had handled the community crisis of 2010, which unexpectedly exploded into our laps during the year that the two of us had been entrusted with the stewardship of the community. Our efforts at the time sucked up enormous time and energy; two years later, however, it is clear that they were a success. This acknowledgement was immensely gratifying. I did the WORK as a labour of love... but it is a nice surprise to see the fruit of said labour recognized.

Another unexpected moment involved finding out that I am a movie star! Okay, a really really minor movie star... but still. Has anyone ever heard of a 2005 film called "The F Word"? I had heard of it before but, not being much of a movie buff, never seen it. Then, at dinner one evening, CR comes up to me and asks if I knew that I was in said film. Um... what?? As it turns out, the movie uses interview footage taken of me shortly after I was released from jail following my arrest at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City. I very vaguely remember giving that interview, but I never followed up on it after. The film intersperses the footage of me with a press conference by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, using my words to put the lie to his. Excellent!

Perhaps the most touching moment of all came from the wonderful bloodsong1.[***] I met this fantastic woman only last year but -- as is so often the case in poly-friendly community -- we have a bit of a strange relation. She is the widow of the ex-husband of my first poly partner, from waaaaaay back in the mid-90s. That's right, my ex-secondary's ex-primary's wife. I very much enjoyed meeting her and was rather pleased that she returned to the SSOP this year. This time around, she brought her two children: IDK (aged 12) and the Cuteness (aged 5). IDK glommed onto me immediately, wanting to play with boffer swords and go canoeing together and eat his meals with me. I was really touched by this bond... and further honoured by a request that his mother asked of me regarding IDK. Without bloodsong1's explicit permission, I won't mention details in a public forum, but I can say that I was delighted to accept.

This was most likely the final SSOP to be held in the buildings that have been our home for twenty-two years.[****] By next year, the current buildings may be beneath one billion gallons of water; we will be on the same site, but in new structures currently under construction on higher ground. The gathering ended with a procession from the old buildings to the new, bringing our essence with us to transfer to our new home. It was a most fitting ending.

Of course, every ending brings with it the promise of new beginnings. In this case, the SSOP ended with multiple invitations, to visit HY and EB in NYC, to visit with AB and rbdarkly in Kingston, and so on. As we urgently needed to get back to the Event Horizon to start packing up the house, we had to defer these invitations until we return to the States in December. However, they were still very much appreciated; it feels good to have a community where one fits in so well and just belongs.

With all these amazing happenings, I was feeling very well balanced and grounded on the car ride home -- a most welcome change from the drive out, where I was feeling rather ungrounded about some matters that have nothing to do with the SSOP. I was thinking how very good this year's SSOP was for me... until, sitting down to write this entry, I happened along a post written just after the 2010 festival. Ah, it looks like this may not be the first year that I have come away from the October Festival feeling refreshed, rebalanced, and rejuvenated. I guess that is why P**T*** is home!

I will wind down this entry now with a picture, taken on Sunday afternoon by your friendly neighbourhood Nomad. Tis the famous Wiggly Bridge that is such an icon of the site where the SSOP takes place. Enjoy!

Sunday October 7^th 2012: A Bridge Over Peaceful Waters

(click for full-sized version)

There is much to do in the next two weeks before I head back to Merry Olde England. However, that doesn't mean that there will be no time for fun. Having just connected strongly with my East Coast community, I am very much looking forward to connecting with my Chicagoland community at the final Event Horizon party this weekend!

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[*] "Logical family", in contrast to "Bio-Logical family".

[**] A great many thanks are due to kenshardik and CG for making this happen on short notice. At the last minute, the person who was supposed to serve as the Priestess of Aphrodite could not come. After a hurried organizer conference to discuss suitable replacements, I tapped kenshardik and CG each on the shoulder as they arrived and asked if they could run this Temple. It is very much to their credit that they did not run screaming in horror... and thus the "Acolytes of Aphrodite" were born.

[***] bloodsong1's own quick synopsis of the weekend can be found here; it features an outfit that I really need to get.

[****] The SSOP goes back over ten years further, but it was at a different location before 1991.

Good evening, gentle readers!

Your friendly neighbourhood Nomad has been a bad bad blogger of late! Too many lovely goings on and not enough time to write about them. Alas, there are far worse fates!

With only six days left before Christmas, what have y'all been up to, dear friends? Enjoying the holiday season, I hope?

Here in the City of Dreaming Spires, all is quite well. The holiday hecticness is in full swing. On Friday evening, we had a party to celebrate the birthday of my beloved cheshcat, starting with a feast at the Pink Giraffe -- one of our favourite Oxford restaurants. Once we were all quite, quite full, the party moved back to Chiron Beta Prime for birthday cookies (replete with firework candle), presents, and games. On Saturday, our coven celebrated the another notch in the Wheel of the Year by doing our Yule ritual WORK. Tis a good start to the season, with much more to follow, of course! The fun continues tomorrow, when the lovely weegoddess and J arrive for a visit from the States!

Meanwhile, here is a Christmas card for all of you out there in LJ-land! From our living room into yours (or wherever you may be reading this) -- Enjoy!


(click on picture for full version)

Looks like it is going to be one of those weeks. You know, the kind where I live up to my sobriquet! I am writing this entry right now from Haneda Airport, very near to the observation deck spot where this entry was written.

It is Sunday night. I am in Japan. On Monday, I fly six thousand miles back to Merry Olde England, where I will get to enjoy spending one day at Chiron Beta Prime with the lovely miss_amaranth. On Tuesday, I fly four thousand miles to Chicago, where I will spend one day with the gratuitous gyades at the Event Horizon. On Wednesday, I drive eight hundred miles to New York City, where I will be reunited with my beloved cheshcat[*]... as well as the fabulous squeektoy42 and her spiffy husband, A. On Thursday, I rest. Then, on Friday, we drive two hundred miles to the [UNDISCLOSED LOCATION] where the Sooper Sekrit October Pagan Festival will begin! Huzzah!!

Lao-Tzu said that "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". Whilst this may be true, the journey of ten thousand miles begins with a single flight!

Just a few more hours until it all begins! Very excited, as this should be a most excellent week, filled with loads of awesometacular people!!

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[*] I will also see my darling cheshcat during my day in Oxford, but we are taking separate flights, on separate days, to separate locations in the States.

...the lovely miss_amaranth has taken the record for my longest emotionally serious and significant relationship in the UK![*] Huzzah! Congrats to us, Sweetie! And here's to the many fun times ahead!

In other news, this week has been both hectic and full of surprises. Hectic is easy to explain: I leave for Japan in eleven days, with a collaboration meeting to prepare for. I have one or two analyses of my own to present there, plus two or three students that I am helping to ready for presentation, as well.

One day after returning from Japan, I head to New York for P**T***, the Sooper Sekrit Pagan Festival. This P**T*** will not be quite as much work as last year, since we are not the organizers this time. Still, I continue to wear a lot of Official Hats^TM in the community: Vice-President (along with cheshcat), member of the Board of Directors, Chair of the Feedback Analysis Committee, and now a new administrator for our new online facilities. Roughly translated, that means boatloads of work! So even though Dreaming Spires[**] is not running the show this year, preparing for P**T*** is a rather involved process. At the moment, I am preparing two workshops, using our expertise from last year to assist the current organizing team, writing the closing ritual for 2010, interfacing with the main ritual coordinators, preparing a private ritual with cheshcat, and gearing up to field questions about the feedback analysis. I am not the only person working this hard. cheshcat is certainly doing as much as I am... and I know that several other people on my f-list are also busting their butts in preparation.[***] Tis proof of how amazing P**T*** is -- I would not give so much if I didn't love the community so very very much!

Other items that have (or will have) grabbed some of my attention include: Bell ringing at Iffley on Wednesday and at a new tower -- North Hinksey -- last week; theatre in Oxford tonight, and on Monday with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon; and the annual Oxford Open Doors event this weekend!

As for the surprises? These have come in various shapes and colours. For instance, in one of my online games of Carcassonne: The Castle, it seems as though I may defeat the #2 player on the site to advance to the finals in my current tournament. Being the #14 player, this was not at all expected! In the other part of the playoffs, the fantastic wolfpeach has completed a similar upset, trumping the #4 player to advance. If I can pull this off, it will be the first time that I face off against a friend in tournament play... and for a championship, no less! Definitely not what I expected... but good fun!

Another surprise was, less than one week after declaring my intention to leave the UK bisexual community, receiving an offer to help run the community's biggest event in 2013! Given that the two happenings seem entirely unrelated, the coincidence is rather amusing!

And, of course, I wrote about a really fantastic surprise earlier in the week: Receiving the incredible list of shows lined up for the World Shakespeare Festival next year!! Hooray!

Hurm. This post was supposed to be a quick events round-up leading into an entry about the bells of St. Giles. However, the lead-in seems to have taken on a life -- and a length -- of its own! Perhaps better to end this update now, then, and make a completely separate entry on the bells. Stay tuned, gentle readers!!

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[*] For the pedants out there, I should state that I am not considering cheshcat when counting. Since I imported her from the States, she does not qualify here!

[**] "Dreaming Spires" = Our coven, founded at Samhain 2008.

[***] In the interests of respecting your privacy, I won't say who you are publicly... though do feel free to stand up and take a bow if you like! Y'all know who you are, awesometacular people, and you are absolute gems!

For those of us in the North, yesterday was the Summer Solstice -- the longest day. As one who thrives on sunlight, this is a wonderful time of year to be living in England, with long lingering twilights that give us skies which never go quite dark. Astronomical twilight begins after 23:30 and lasts for only about three hours -- the rest of the time is nautical twilight or brighter!

In recent years, I have been celebrating Summer Solstice at Stonehenge, taking part in the overnight open access to the Stones. This year, having spent both the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox at Stonehenge, we decided to do something different. Thus, we held our Solstice revels at an ancient Stone circle that is a bit closer to home -- the Rollright Stones, here in Oxfordshire.

The Rollrights are a rather picturesque arrangement of Stones, in three parts. The so-called "King's Men" comprise the main circle of Stones and remind me a bit of the Castlerigg Stones in the Lake District. As we were there for ritual WORK, not as tourists, I did not bring the camera this time. I shall return to take pictures -- particularly since they are so close to home -- but, in the meantime, you can see some photographs here.

Originally, we had planned to hold Summer Solstice at the Rollrights last year. However, just before, PE² broke our car and we were unable to travel anywhere. Our plans, thus deferred, materialized this year ( with a potentially interesting impact on the ritual. )

Although quiet and secluded, other groups wandered amongst the Stones during our time there. Some were simply tourists, whilst at least two other groups also appeared to be doing some sort of ritual WORK. The site is quite lovely, with breathtaking views of the countryside from the King's Men Circle. I definitely plan to return -- both for future ritual WORK... and also as a proper tourist with camera in hand!

Happy Beltane, Everybody! Hooray for Beltane and warm Spring weather!!!

Good Friday to you, gentle readers! As you may (or may not) have noticed, the Nomad has not been the most conscientious blogger of late. To that, I say: Um... whoops! In an attempt to get the LJ ball re-rolling again, I bring to you that time honoured and ever-reviled much anticipated of entries: The Week-in-Review post! So sit tight, dear friends, and fasten your seatbelts! The week is about to begin!

Friday: Last Friday, I spent the day with a visiting josington. Although I stayed home from work, it was still a workday and, thus, we passed the time by installing Ubuntu and other useful software onto my new laptop. In the evening, my beloved cheshcat and I went to visit the supertastic wolfpeach, who gave us lessons on how to make our own [vegetarian] sushi. Much yummy food was made and consumed; there was also a game of Settlers of Catan, in which I eked out a very difficult win. On our way home from wolfpeach's place, we picked up the adorable miss_amaranth from The Island. Once home, all four of us -- cheshcat, miss_amaranth, josington and I -- stayed up late with much talking and cuddling.

Saturday: Woke up early and made my way into city centre with josington to attend OxCon, the annual gaming convention hosted by the Oxford University Board Game Society. These days, I mainly attend for the Puerto Rico tournament. This consists of four games of PR, with tournament points calculated based on the scores of individual games. I have been participating since 2007, making this my fourth year[*]. By the end of the third game, I was ranked amongst the highest four players, thus earning myself a seat at the top table for the final game. Alas, I came in third (of four) there and so I did not win the tournament. Maybe next year.

In the evening, the lovely fire_kitten rounded out our numbers to five. We made our way to the delicious -- and vegetarian -- pub, The Gardener's Arms for dinner, then came home to play games. We started with Apples to Apples, in which the delightful miss_amaranth achieved victory, then finished up with Bohnanza, where my darling cheshcat took the cake. Or at least the beans.

Sunday: Sunday began with josington and I making our way to St. Andrew's church to ring bells for services. After that, she made her way to a Quaker meeting whilst the four of us who were left headed out to the church-turned-restaurant, Freud, for brunch.

In the afternoon, we all reconvened in Chiron Beta Prime and prepared for our Imbolc ritual. This was the third ritual that we have WORKed together in the current turn of the Wheel of the Year. Just as we did two years ago, cheshcat and I have committed to observing all eight sabbats during this turn. In October, my dearest cheshcat ran our traditional Samhain ritual; in December, I stepped up to the proverbial plate and ran Yule; now cheshcat re-took the reins to be HP for Imbolc. The ritual itself was rather interesting, involving elements that I had not worked with previously. I cannot give much detail in a public forum, but my sweetie put together another job very well done!

After ritual, fire_kitten needed to go. josington and I headed out at the same time to ring bells for evening services at St. Giles church, in city centre. Shortly after we returned home, wolfpeach arrived. Together, the five of us played Puerto Rico. Because I had not played it enough the day before, of course! Actually, I rarely get tired of PR... and a five player game has a very different dynamic than the four player rounds that I was engaged in the year before. Due to this, I started out way behind as cheshcat took a commanding lead early on. She was so far ahead of everyone else that I bet her a pizza she would win. As the game went on, however, some early investments in infrastructure began to pay off and I caught up, winning by eleven points. cheshcat still passed everyone else by a wide margin, but I claimed victory... and she claimed a pizza!

When the wonderful wolfpeach left, the four of us remaining wound down for the evening with an episode of Jeeves & Wooster.

Monday: Monday morning started, as Monday mornings so often do, with the weekly T2K UK analysis meeting. One of my students was giving a presentation, so I paid particularly careful attention to her talk. It went rather well, I am pleased to report!

After work wrapped up on Monday, josington and the delicious miss_amaranth and I met my sweet cheshcat at The Mission for burritos. Then the evening's extra-curricular activities began.

This week, the theme seems to be a double-dose of evening activities. For instance, on Monday evening, josington and I rang bells at St. Leonard's church in Eynsham -- a new tower for both of us! This makes the eighteenth tower that I have rung at. The Eynsham bells are a little tricky, though nowhere near as frightful as what josington has dubbed "The Devil Bells of Garsington". Actually, the #4 at Eynsham was rather nice... and the #2 was not bad, either! The band was moderately experienced, so nothing more than Plain Bob and Grandsire Doubles was attempted.

When ringing ended, we collected miss_amaranth from the Island and went to the aforementioned Oxford Go Club. I played on a 13x13 board with the same gent who I had squared off against the week before. It was close... but he did defeat me, 23 to 11. Meanwhile, the lovable miss_amaranth had been learning to play. She and I had a 9x9 game and she did very well for her first match!

The evening ended with us gathering up cheshcat and going for bagels and ice cream at G&D's... then miss_amaranth had some lovely alone time for talking and snuggling and whatnot!

Tuesday: During the day, Tuesday was filled with errands. My dearest darlingest cheshcat and I had our semi-annual dentist appointment, which I am pleased to report went rather well. Then I made a blood donation before bidding miss_amaranth and josington farewell.

In the evening, my first extra-curricular activity was bell ringing at St. Andrew's church, here in Headington. That was followed with heading into city centre to meet cheshcat at the Burton Taylor studio for a performance of Edward Albee's first play (from 1958), The Zoo Story. I have seen this before, but not for many years. Indeed, yavin7 and I starred in a production of The Zoo Story that I had directed for my acting class at Hampshire College, way back in 1992! It was interesting to re-visit the play with adult eyes. Whilst I still enjoyed it, it was not as compelling as it had been all those years ago.

Wednesday: I began Wednesday -- Groundhog Day -- in a time loop... as some of you may have noticed. Then I made my way into London to spend the day working with RT and others at Queen Mary University of London. Upon my return to Oxford, my first evening activity was to ring bells at St. Mary the Virgin in Iffley. I followed that on with a T2K-SK meeting at 22:00. When the meeting ended, my wonderful cheshcat and I enjoyed a lovely stir-fry that she had cooked in her new wok, then I wound down for the evening.

Thursday: Yesterday began by continuing the string of meetings that had begun the night before. The first was our weekly Imperial T2K group meeting, which I chaired. Then I had a brief one-on-one with one of my doctoral students, GK, before the collaboration-wide T2K analysis meeting began. We are very close to approving our first results, so the meetings are coming at us fast and strong!

In the evening, I scaled back to only one extra-curricular activity. In honour of a visitor from Sweden, I opted to forego ringing at St. Giles, playing with the Oxford Go Club, and attending the Oxford Pagan moot. Instead, we convened at Skullcrusher Mountain for an evening of transhumanist gaming. We started with Betrayal at House on the Hill, in which AS commanded a hoard of bats determined to suck us dry. Thankfully, we scared them off and won! Particular kudos go to H, our visitor, for role-playing the Professor so remarkably well!

After Betrayal, the kid gloves came off and we played Illuminati. This was a rather long game, and extremely hard fought. I played the Bavarians and, after many hours and a couple of close calls, finally managed to squeeze through to victory!

Hmmm... If one considers each game separately, I suppose that Thursday can be counted as having two extracurriculars, too! Each game certainly took longer than the other activities this week!

Friday (again): Today has been mostly spent on working. And writing this entry. This evening, I will meet my phenomenal cheshcat at the Oxford Playhouse to see our third show of the year, Master Class, a piece based on the life of the opera singer Maria Callas.

And that, gentle readers, is the week that was. Still with me? If so, congratulations for sticking it out through the dreaded WiR post! Consider yourself awarded fifty points for sheer perseverance -- well done!

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[*] I was unable to attend in 2009, as I needed to be in Japan for a T2K collaboration meeting.

Happy Groundhog Day, everyone! (And Happy Imbolc, too!)

A few days ago, there was a meme making the rounds in which people were supposed to sum up 2010 in a single word and then encapsulate their hopes for 2011 in a different word. Not being one for memes, I did not participate. However, recent days have involved many plans for the new year.[*] Additionally, it will soon be time for me to make my annual "goals list" -- which I do in lieu of resolutions -- so I have been giving some thought as to what I am hoping to achieve in 2011.

In terms of theatre, the new year already seems to be richly stocked! My beloved cheshcat and I already have fifteen sets of theatre tickets for the first third of 2011. Not too shabby, especially as I am planning to spend a month working in Japan during that time! Eight of these shows are in our most frequented venue, the Oxford Playhouse, with a couple of others elsewhere in Oxford -- Marlowe's Dr. Faustus performed by Creation Theatre in the basement of Blackwell Books and an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece at the Burton Taylor Studio. The five other plays will take us further afield: The RSC's new theatres will be the venues for The Tempest, Romeo & Juliet, and another rendition of The Rape of Lucrese. Milton Keynes will be where we see Derek Jacobi as King Lear, and in Woking the lovely miss_amaranth joins us for Chess. For the past few years, including this one, my annual theatre count has tallied in the high thirties. With such a strong start, I am aiming to break 40 shows in one year for 2011!

With regards to travel, I have been looking at where the obvious holes are in our English sightseeing and attempting to fill them in. Thus, at a minimum, in 2011, I want to visit Windsor Castle, Chester, Westminster Abbey, the white cliffs of Dover (as well as nearby Hastings and Battle), the South Downs National Park, and the Broads. Also, at D&J's Thanksgiving Party, TH and I made plans for where to go cruising this Summer on his narrowboat; looks like in 2011 we will be cruising the Thames upriver from Oxford -- should be fun! Additionally, cheshcat and I want to complete the tour of Wales that we started on our fifteenth anniversary in 2009. Back then, we spent five days exploring South Wales; in 2011, we plan to take a similar amount of time in the North. Outside of Great Britain, I would like to take a long weekend off from one of my Japan trips to finally visit South Korea. I had been planning a nice lil' trip to Seoul back in May this year but, to paraphrase Mr. Burns: "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men... can be thrown asunder by volcanic ash!" The other travel question is what to do with the eleven day holiday that has been brought to us by the Royal Wedding. Possibly a road trip to somewhere on the continent? Must ponder further...

Looking at Pagan events, cheshcat and I are no longer responsible for running the Super-Sekrit October Pagan Festival, but we will surely be attending. Indeed, 2011 will make my fifteenth consecutive year of doing so! Besides, the circle that we opened for P**T*** 2010 is still in place and we need to be there to take it down! For my Summer festival, I am a bit more perplexed. This year, I found Brushwood's new SummerFest to be very..... okay. I had fun, but it just wasn't anywhere near the intensity of Starwood. I miss that. So, for 2011, I am currently undecided about whether to return to SummerFest, whether to sample Brushwood's larger and more established Sirius Rising, whether to follow Starwood to their new home at Wisteria, or whether to make a long-overdue return to Free Spirit. Ah, would that I had all of July off to sample three in a row! Any thoughts from you fellow Pagans? Where will you be going in Summer 2011? Additionally, cheshcat and I have plans to get more involved with local Pagan community in Oxford and the UK. Nearly five years after moving to the City of Dreaming Spires, we are still feeling the lack of community on the East side of the pond and we are hoping that this will fill an open need.

In bell ringing, I would like to ring my first quarter peal on a working bell. Thus far, I have only rung QPs on a covering tenor or a hunting treble. In 2011, I would like to ring tower bells for a quarter of Plain Bob Minor or Major. Plus, I would like to ring the trebles to a QP of Plain Bob on handbells. I would also like to get to the point where I feel competent to ring touches of Grandsire (Doubles or Triples), and Stedman (Doubles and Triples). Finally, if I reach the stage where my plain courses of Cambridge Minor are smooth, I will be a happy camper; touches of Cambridge can wait for 2012.

Interestingly enough, I have a very difficult time in assembling professional goals for the coming year. It is a very exciting time for T2K and I want to continue working with my students to get some physics results. But framing specific goals for the next twelve months? That is proving to be more elusive.

Of course, there are other goals that do not fit into specific categories. I would like to go SCUBA diving again in 2011, I would like to try gliding again, I plan to compete in an Olympic Triathlon, and I want to write the book that has been percolating in my head. Plus, I am toying with the idea of reading my entire Iron Man collection, starting from 1963's Tales of Suspense #39 up to the present day.

Those are my initial thoughts as the list of goals for the new year start to come together. What about you, gentle readers? What are you hoping to accomplish and achieve in 2011?

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[*] Indeed, there are so many plans falling into place that my next completely free weekend is that of June 3^rd to 5^th! Not sure how that happened. It used to be usual to find that weekends for the next two to three months were full. Six months, however, has come as a bit of a surprise!

[ETA: Why does the emoticon for "thoughtful" always look so sad? Being thoughtful is not a bad thing!]