Merry Christmas, Yule, Kwanzaa, Hannukah, whatever you choose to celebrate. I have successfully made it through the family celebrations, kids and related holiday madness. I think that next year, I will skip this time of year all together. Maybe it'll save me a hassle and headache.

I am looking forward to the new year however. I have several "resolutions" I will be working on for myself and the new year ahead. My first and foremost resolution is to quit smoking. I know, I know...All smokers have made that statement at some time or another. But, I'm serious. I am taking more stock in my singing and the band I am fronting now. In order to explore my fullest potential in this, I must kick the habit. Smoking is the one to go! So be it! My other resolution is to have more peace, or piece (see previous post regarding: World Orgasm Day). I also resolve to be a better rock star (if even in my own egotistical mind) Gotta love my sense of humor, or not. LOL!!

Anyways...My good friend Tie Dyed Tehuti has made a declaration of his love and wed his long time friend and love of his life, Victoria Rose. They tied the knot on Winter Solstice, Dec 22nd. Romantic to be sure. :) Many well wishes go out to them in their wedded venture. I wish the best for them both.

On other fronts, there was an earthquake near Taiwan, 2 actually. This spawned fears over a possible Tsunami. Especially on the 2 year anniversary of the Magnitude 9.0 that hit Indonesia in 2004 Dec 26th. God help those that are in the way of mother nature.

Space shuttle Discovery crews were safe in Cape Canavaral, FL after touching down late Friday evening. Glad they made it home safe. While another US Astronaut made the International Space Station her home for the next 6 months. What a job she has! I only wish I could live in the expanse of space for that long! Talk about an experience...

In other fronts...Fighting is still happening, war, gotta love it right? Saddam Hussein is headed towards the gallows it seems. Jeez, after so long, I think we're doing him a service in killing him quickly. Maybe he should be put to death like he had so many people killed, over a mass grave, unmarked and shot in the back. Eye for an eye? Perhaps so, perhaps not. I am not the judge or jury (we can all breathe a sigh of relief on that comment). Nor am I God to decide who lives and dies or for what reason. (again, the world can breathe a GENUINE sigh of relief on that last statement).

Well, that's about all I have time for today.

Peace to ALL!
Toby

This was passed to me in an email, I couldn't resist posting it.
www.globalorgasm.org

I mean, what better way to spend time with your sweetie, being amorous and all. What better way to have "piece" in our world. If you think about it, the abbreviation would be G.O.D (Global Orgasm Day) If you think really hard, that is very fitting for this day. After all, whose name do we typically call out during sex? C'mon, that was funny, I don't care who you are.

And another thing......Climbing Mt. Hood in Oregon during December, typically a very cold month for the Pacific North west, the 3 climbers that attempted this feat, well, I feel sorry for them and their families. But, shouldn't those from the area have a better sense of what the weather is doing before attempting a climb to the top of the highest mountain in Oregon? Again, I feel for the families as they worry that their loved ones may have perished in the mountainous range they tried to conquer. I do hope they make it out alive, but there is a slim to no chance of that happening at this point. With the weather being as treacherous as it is now, I have a bad feeling they will recover the bodies during spring thaw. Let's hope and pray that I am wrong.

Have I mentioned that December 22nd is also Winter Solstice/Equinox? Thank the powers that be for the return of the daylight. As we move forward out of the dark times into a lighter side of winter, remember to thank your God, Deity for allowing you to make it this far.

I know I am thankful for several aspects of both the dark times and the light times. I am thankful I have family, both biological and extended to help me stay focused in my dark emotional state. I have been really down and somewhat depressed since November. I guess I have seen this type of emotion before, but it seems to be every year that something happens to make me question all that I believe. Not that I don't have faith in my God, but, I do question where I belong in my spirituality.

I don't feel as though I fit into church, not because of me, but because of the faith and doctrine being preached in those churches. I have followed many pathways over the last 15-20 years. I started out as a Christian, being that my family is all Christian from generations back. Then I separated and started following a Pagan path. Several types of Paganism. From Wicca, Witchcraft, Egyptian (West Isian) Native American Medicine, Shamanism, Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Germanic etc. The only thing I know that I feel most strong about is this: I feel more at home in the outdoors. I worship un-fettered when outside conventional church walls.
I don't see the point of gathering into a common building just to fellowship with other people that don't understand the reason they are there. Or that you don't have to be inside a structure just to be spiritual.

Don't get me wrong, I don't consider myself to be anywhere close to what mainstream Chrisitanity claims. I do try my best to remain true to the Commandments, morals instilled by my parents, the "Golden Rule", perhaps even the Wiccan Rede "An it harm none, do as ye will". There are so many ways to interpret what is right for one person and it never matches what the majority of society understands as "religion". Well, I'm far from being religious. Being spiritual is more important on a personal level.

So, I move on into a quandry. Am I more concerned about what my family thinks of my spiritual path because of their choices? Do I continue to project a Christian belief for their benefit? Do I continue following my own heart and spirit to my version of Nirvana? I think my decision is more based on what I feel is right to me. Seeing as how a Personal relationship with deity is most important to each individual, this seems to make the most sense.

So, for the time being, I am removing myself from the influences of any other spirituality, either organised or not, so I can take a better un-biased look within myself and figure this out. Besides, religion is just a label placed on faith by society to make everyone acceptable. If God is who he is supposed to be, then it should not matter which way he is exalted, praised, worshipped etc. If I praise him in the wilderness, I am doing as was written in the Bible so many hold as true. King David was not trapped it seems by any conventional organised religion. He sang, danced, praised as he felt the spirit move him. True he was doing as God commanded him to, but he didn't do it as an obligation, he did it because of desire to praise. Most of Davids Psalms reflect a poet/songwriter. These are some of my talents as well as being a musician of various instrumentation. So, effectively, I can and should excersize those talents to any extent. Right?

I guess I shall stop here for now. I will post more later.

Peace upon the world.

Hello all. I have not really had time to blog in a while.

Lot's of things to write about, it seems.

With the weather freezing out the "Deep South", not that they didn't give everyone fair warning or anything. Folks getting stuck in the mountains, dying while in search of help...My heart goes out to the Kim family that lost their husband and father to the extreme cold.

Here in Dallas Texas, it's quite cold outside. I say, it's about time! I have wanted to get colder weather for some time now. I am tired of the freezing rain and ice coming in for a night and going away the next day. So far, I think I have counted at least 3 freezes total in my area of Irving. Yay! That means the population of bugs may actually dwindle this next spring and summer. (hey, anything can happen)

On to other news.


From Caleb Silver (C/O www.cnn.com)
NEW YORK (CNN) -- As many as 84 people in seven states have been confirmed as having the strain of E. coli bacteria involved in an outbreak that may be linked to Taco Bell restaurants, officials said Friday.

Now, call me weird, but I have jokingly talked about Taco Bell for years as being "Toxic Hell" I never really meant it until now. Dude! I am staying away from there! I already have an issue against Taco Bueno, just so everyone knows they are NOT more Bueno. I got sick from Taco Bueno 3 times. Each time, I waited for a period of almost 6 months in between until I couldn't resist any longer. But I'll tell you what, after the 3rd time I got the freaking message to stay away. Now we have to worry about Ecoli infecting our food? First it was lettuce, before too long the worlds vegetables are going to be unfit for human consumption all together! What are we to do? (don't let me start in on a soap box as to what we "should" do.)

At least one lawsuit relating to the outbreak has been filed against Taco Bell. The lawsuit was filed late Wednesday by the family of an 11-year-old Long Island, New York, boy, Tyler Vormittag. It claims the boy contracted E. coli after eating at a Taco Bell on November 24 in Riverdale, New York .

"When a restaurant serves food, there is the presumption that it is safe for human consumption," said the family's attorney, Andrew Siben. "Taco Bell breached that duty when serving Mr. Vormittag a taco."

Now listen here you guys and gals...If you start "presuming" a fast food joint is clean, why don't you take a look at some of the "clean" employees they have working there. Let me tell you what, they don't represent the epitomy of cleanliness, that's for sure.

So I ask you all, is it better to "presume" that a place is effectively clean when you walk in, or should you pay closer attention to the workers that handle our food? Should we even reduce ourselves to the lack of effective inspections by the health department? I say we should spend more time at home, cooking and cleaning our habitats ourselves. That way, hopefully, we can be assured of a clean sanitized food preparation. (hint to those out there that don't know the definition of clean: if it smells like bleach for a week after you clean your kitchen, it's likely clean enough) This comes from a person that is very particular about his cooking environment, trust me.

So, enough for now. I will likely be updating my blog in a few days. Until then.....
Blog on!