Memory and Me

I was trying to drift off to sleep last night, I thought of something really clever to write about here. And I told myself I wouldn't forget it. I mean, it was funny and witty and darned impressive, if I do say so myself. And, of course, it has completely fled my mind. Wonder if that means I can't hold onto clever thoughts all that long? Let's not think about that possibility too much.

I'm pretty sure it was something about the whole Sodomy law business and the screaming wails of the religious right about banning homosexual marriage in the Constitution. That stuff still just irks me. Especially when every editorialist in the nation seems to be yelling about how the Supreme Court has catered to the "elitist opinion." That it's really only 2 to 3% of the nation that seems to think affirmative action is good and criminalizing homosexual behavior is bad. And that that percent is the liberal media, spinning away at the news. Now, I've never quite understood the liberal spin (at least from a television perspective - as it seems to me that they're all reporting the same damn thing, even the celebrated conservative bastion that is Fox News). In the press, I can see the evidence of spin either way, so I'm kinda with the editorialists going nuts about elitist opinion. Kinda. But what I don't get is the insinuation that the majority of Americans are against homosexual marriage and would agree with idiots like Santorum, Scalia, and Frist as they scream and yell that it's gays and those who like privacy in their bedroom who are destroying the sanctity of marriage or society in general. That implication bothers me. The other implication is that the elitists think that affirmative action has done and will continue to do good things for this country. Well, if it's only the elitists who think that, then I'm happy they only comprise 2 to 3% of the population. And the other thing that really annoys me with the recent yammerings about same-sex marriage is that everyone seems quite willing to ignore that marriage in this country has been deteriorating just fine on its own for the past 50 years. Didn't we blame feminism at first? C'mon, let's chart the progression of blame on the terrible state of marriage and our society. Right now it's homosexuals. I'm wondering who it will be in another ten years.

Sad thing is, I know I had something very witty and deep to say in that mini-rant. It really did entertain me last night just before I fell asleep.

Speaking of things that hit you just as you drift away to LaLa Land (and maybe this is the reason why I can't remember my clever little line), I got the inspiration last night for the magic of my fantasy world. Strings. I got this idea, strangely enough, from reiki massage. A friend of mine from chorus practices this and gave me a free session on Saturday. I'm usually the curious "I'll try anything once" sort, so I buried my skepticism and asked her a lot of questions. Some of the things she said I thought were totally bogus (like how the soul is attached by a chord to your chest area and can float around - I think the idea of a soul is a cop out for something that we can't possibly understand), but some of it was a really nice way of looking at things. As she worked on my back (an arduous task, I assure you), she started talking about the stresses in my life and such, and she said that she could feel the embodiment of some of that stress attached to me in a string right at my right shoulder blade (where I do tend to get stiffness pretty easily). She said she forgot to bring her little sword that she uses to cut such strings off because people can attach themselves to you in that way and just drain you. Whether or not I believe that is beside the point. It's still a neat way to visualize getting rid of stress. And last night all these little memories collided and gave me the basic form of magic for my world.

Strings. I've already got this scene written (it was one of the first that just sort of came to me from this world) where Airen (name may change) sort of "sends her soul" across an ocean so she can watch over her lover Rayn (again, may change) while he's in captivity. If you've read Melanie Rawn, think sunrunning. Kinda. But after I wrote the scene, I was really at a loss as to how Airen managed this. And I've been struggling with what the fundamentals of the magic in this world would be for a while. And last night I got it with strings. So Airen pretty much did the reiki equivalent of an out of body experience. And this makes so much sense for Corla's gift...and Arzachel's (those names will NOT change, they are far too cool and perfect for those two).

As for the reiki session, that's another post entirely.