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Went to Gastropod. Was happy with my meal, but not rolling my eyes in ecstasy. The Note Bene was a yummy choice for reds... however the majority of the evening was drowned in gin and concern for the weather. Conversation was about why one should never have a partner in business, much less someone you've dated, even much less someone you want to date. No wait, those were two seperate conversations. Nevermind. Damn that Tanq Ten. And bless it, too.

Speaking of Kits, I have recently been set a-twitter by a man that lives right around the corner from Gastropod. I won't go into details, not because there aren't any, but becuase he's evidently bookmarked this page. Smart lad. Suffice it to say, I am interested more than I have been in a awhile, and holy crap is it refreshing to hang out with someone that doens't count days before phone calls or is afraid to just enjoy another person. Yay.

Thoughts upon Prada-frocked demons

The devil doesn’t wear Prada. The devil understands Prada and makes her own fortune. She wears Prada because it makes her money.

Women who know what they want take it. Sometimes you pay for this in your personal life. How masculine. How powerful. How frightening as hell to every man in the universe.

Woman as the root of evil. How charming. How archaic. Apple, anyone?

Just because she was emotional and human in a moment didn’t stop Miranda Preistley from being a business woman, but instead gave her the rep as bitchy, cold and overly ambitious. If we never saw her cry, hurt or feel, she would have simply been considered a business woman - driven, ambitious and perhaps heartless to all appearances. But her emotional response to her pending divorce, her concern for her children's reaction to "another dad" somehow, what, lessened her. Now she was guilty of crimes against humanity and deserved to suffer her pain. Up until that point we were getting to know steel-nosed business woman and almost respect her for her sharpness, her attention to detail that we all overlook and her cruelty. But no, that isn't acceptable. There has to be an emotional goopy chick in there somewhere. No woman can be THAT successful and not regret it...

Instead a woman is to accept her place – a not so hot job helping someone making “a difference” and making way the fuck less money, but thank god, she can go all the fuck to Boston and have grilled cheese sandwiches after sex with the sous chef. Her dream job of being mother to all. Give me a fucking break.

Well thank god for Miranda. Thank god for her tears, her anger, her intolerance, her laughter, her charm and her understanding of what power really is … fleeting, female and fickle. Hold it as long as you can, and for your own purposes do what must be done to keep your claws in it. It will NOT last. THAT is what separates men from women in business; men believe in eternal life, women believe in reincarnation.

I am not suggesting that being possessed by greed, avarice or bitter need for money is healthy. Of course it isn’t.
Being conscious, strong and willed by intuition and not need, is why women are advancing beyond men, whether they are prepared for it or not, and whether we are paid for it or not. We get it. We gut-feel it. We cannot be shaken, there is no deal; it is because it is. You cannot supplant a woman’s real power, her gut… it is rooted in history, in suppression, in righteous anger and in devout aspiration for greatness.

I stand in the shadow of the Miranda's of this world and take heart, not shame. I know can't have it all. But I will die trying to be every single thing I feel called to be -- successful, maternal, influential and unforgettable.

No grilled cheese necessary.

A long and winding commentary... *warning - God is mentioned*

My friend Ike posted this excerpt from a book on his blog and asked for thoughts... I'm posting mine here instead of on his blog. Because I can, that's why.

From Dallas Willard's Renovation of the Heart:
We each become a certain kind of person in the depths of our being, gaining a specific type of character. And that is the outcome of a process of spiritual formation as understood in general human terms that apply to everyone, whether they want it or not. Fortunate or blessed are those who are able to find or are given a path of life that will form their spirit and inner world in a way that is truly strong and good and directed Godward.

The shaping and reshaping of the inner life is accordingly, a problem that has been around as long as humanity itself; and the earliest records of human thought bear eloquent witness to the human struggle to solve it - but with very limited success, one would have to say.

True, some points in human history have shown more success in the elevation of the human spirit than others. But the low points far exceed the high points, and the average is discouragingly low. Societies the world around are currently in desperate straits trying to produce people who are merely capable of coping with their life on earth in a nondestructive manner. This is as true of North America and Europe as it is of the rest of the world, though the struggle takes superficially different forms in various areas. In spiritual matters there really is no "Third World." It's all Third World.
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Now, some of the other comments to this post include opinions on cultural development, spiritual relevance to character and vice versa, as well as just how darned dark and depressing this makes the future of mankind in it's journey to "getting better" or Enlightenment, or what you call it. I think that the one point Mr. Willard is making is a valid one: as a society at large, we have barely created a structure that maintains human decency, nevermind spirtual awakening. That secular society, regardless of faith, is developing spiritually, but at what rate and to what end?

If it is "the fortunate or blessed" that get to go "Godward" and be "truly strong and good", which to me implies a minority, where's everyone else headed? Man-ward? Satan-ward? Is this the root of the doom of man? Is the reluctance or outright denial of acknowledging that being a spiritual being is akin to being a human being mean we don't get to play with the other reindeer? It starts to sound traditionally exclusive, as most Xtian writing tends to, in that there's an us and a they, that awareness is necessary for "salvation", (very specific awareness, mind you) and that at the end of the day the answer is there but we're all to shallow, materialistic or demonically possessed to see it. But join us on Sunday...

I could very well just be knee-jerking because of my defensiveness when it comes to my religious upbringing, but at the heart of it, it seems quite arrogant, if not omniscient, to claim that the entire world is spiritually Ethiopian and living in the flies, waiting for the second coming of Sally Struthers. Not that it's the days of wine and roses, fer pete's sakes, but I'd rather have a more balanced view - considering I am not omniscient (yet); that in the end the love you make is equal to the love you take.

Ok, so that was trite, but in the end I'm much more concerned with what I do, with my life, my family, my love and my time, than about postulating about the planet's spiritual development strategy. (yes this blog proves me a hypocrite, get over it.) Back in the day when we didn't know what was going on all over hell's half acre, we cared about our communities, our families, our livestock and the crop. I'm not trying to glorify Little House on the Prairie, but once upon a time, we pretty much had to mind our own business, cuz it's all we knew. If the energy that is spent on worrying about who was saved or not was spent mending the fabric of our neighbourhoods, the issues of "the wages of sin" would be drastically reduced, and Sally Struthers would be out of a job. Hallelujah.