In Pursuit of Mysteries

This Week

February 26th, 2005 | Comments | Posted in Academic, Daily Life

657 people have read this post.

I got the grade back for my first paper for my graduate history class (the
required one for my program). This is the paper that I posted online. In any
case, I got an "A" and some nice comments from the prof. He didn't complain that
I was 3/4 of a page over in length as well. I haven't heard back from the
philosophy class but that was a bit shorter of a paper.

I have another very short philosophy paper due by next Friday. I finished the
reading for it yesterday so I'm going to try to crank out an initial draft
tomorrow. My history paper did well from having my wife as a proofer so I think
I'll continue to try to enlist her aid. Bribes may be required because I'm such
a cranky bastard about my work.

I haven't written much this week. Mostly, I've felt too tired after work and
other activities to do so.

Tuesday, Rubylou and
I met for coffee and chit-chat. I hadn't seen her in a little while and I needed
to give her the birthday present that R and I had bought for her: a 10" pope
doll/action figure (ol' GI Joe size). I think she promised to sleep with him but
I didn't want to ask too many questions there. She and I hung out for a few
hours, got some food, and promised to go out again in a few weeks. Rubylou is
probably one of my best friends in the world at this point (shhh…don't tell
her) and one of the people I miss talking to sometimes.

R and I have discussed moving to the Bay Area in a couple of years a few
times recently. Leaving behind the handful of friends that I've had since
college and my early 20s would definitely be hard for me. Some of them I don't
get to see that often but they are amongst the few people that I think
really know and accept me for who I am. It's nice to have people for whom you
don't need to put your face on. I'm often surprised about how little
understanding some people that I've known for years (often through work) really
have for things like what I truly care about but it goes both ways. People often
create such superficial attachments to people or keep people at a distance. It's
nice to have someone besides my wife that I feel that I don't have to shield my
true thoughts or interests from.

Wednesday was my free evening. I was going to leave work a little early and
have dinner with R. That didn't work out so well and I wound up leaving work
late and wound up. I spent most of the evening just reading my school books and
chilling.

Thursday was my masonic initiation so I was out the entire evening.

Friday (last night), I didn't have any plans but since I had to get up early
today, I didn't want to go do anything. I mainly puttered around the house a bit
and inspected it for additions to the siding work that I'm having done in a
couple of weeks.

Today was my day to go to McNeil Island Correctional Center. I got up at 5:20
AM, showered, and headed out with my coffee. I got down there about 7:00 AM and
took the 7:25 AM ferry out. It turns out that I might as well have slept in
since Puget Sound, for something like 100 miles, was all fogged up. I haven't
been out to the island on a foggy day before but the prison shuts down all
movement outside and near the outer fences when it is foggy. I assume it is
because the towers can't see each other. The Chapel is next to the fence so it
was closed. I found this out once I was on the island. The officer on duty took
me out and let me hang out. When the fog cleared, everything was supposed to
open up again. I wound up only waiting about an hour before they let the guys
out. We had our session and I have a few new guys to deal with, including one
that seems pretty sketchy on a mental level. He's obviously smarter and better
educated than the others but I think he's heavily medicated, probably for
control issues or something. I could tell that the guys weren't too hip on him
either though they weren't hostile.

On my way home, I picked up my comics and got the new Grant Morrison title
and the second issue of the new Grimjack series. I also picked up the
Disinformation guide for The Invisibles because I'm such a fanboy and I'd
been wanting it.

Madeline came over about 6:00 and we had a nice family dinner followed by
watching Laputa: Castle in the Sky, which no one but me had seen before.

Now a Mason

February 25th, 2005 | Comments | Posted in Spirituality

562 people have read this post.

I took initiation at Queen Anne Masonic Lodge #242 this evening. I took the first degree of masonry there, which means that I am now an “Entered Apprentice” in the order. There are two more degrees within the core blue lodge system for the freemasons.

I’ve been looking forward to doing this for quite some time even though it took me roughly a year to get my application filled out, signed by masons that I knew, and turned into the body. Once they received it, I was initiated within about two months, which isn’t too bad.

I will be working through the next two degrees in fairly short order as work and school give me the time to do so. It was nice that two OTO brothers who are members of the body were in attendance this evening. It was quite cool to have the familiar faces there.

I also found out that Sam Webster, who performed my wedding, is also a mason now. He joined within this last year. He and my arch-nemesis, John Michael Greer, gave a talk on pagans and masonry at Pantheacon. They encourage those of us interested in the esoteric traditions of the West to get involved with the one that is in every major city of every Western nation. While most masons are not esoterically inclined, there is a heavy current of esotericism there for those that take the time to look. I’m looking forward to my continued involvement.