Monday: 5-28-01 ~ Bemused & Confused

Firstly, I checked out my site stats. It seems that common queries for search engines that produce my pitas a result are:

• choker + fetish
• Hustler + magazine + scans

Crazy ne?

Usagi replied to my previous pita entry, quoting the last line of my pita entry, and replied: didn't you answer your own question? Indeed, I think I did. -_-

OH! New funny ^+^ I rented some anime this weekend from th elocal anime shop, on their tape cases they have : Please keep tapes away from sources of heat and magnetism, just treat the tapes like a vampire.

I found it amusing, yet disturbing.

Sunday: 5-27-01 ~ Memorium...

Tomorrow is a national holiday. For those of you who are neither Americans nor live in the US, tomorrow is Memorial Day. It seems to me, that Americans tend to take "patriotism" as a hobby. There are three main holidays that are closely associated with military service and history. Yet, is it really patriotism? It's like the CEO christians (christmas and easters only). People take out their flags, put them on their house, or car, or mailbox, and wear red, white, and blue. Yet they have no real concept of patriotism or military service.

This weekend was the launching weekend for a new movie, Pearl Harbor. I saw it this weekend, and the re-creation of the actual attack on Pearl Harbor (which took up roughly 1/3 of the nearly 3 hour movie) was phenomenal. The rest of the movie, annoyed me far more than Titanic. Please... a love triangle... all that was missing was them to yell out to the Japanese "listen to my song" and break out into a chorus. (Macross aka Robotech reference). The movie was really two movies badly shoved together, the "love story" (don't make me laugh) and the Pearl Harbor attack. I'd still recommend the movie only for the attack portions of the film. Although there was *ALOT* left missing from the film. Although the events surrounding the character Cuba Goodings Jr. plays is all real, HECK they left alot of it out. His family is hopng that the film will be the added push to get him awarded the Congressional medal of honor posthumously. Frankly, I think he deserves it. I mean think about it... back then the military was segregated. You have a black man join the navy the only two positions he can hold is that of either cook or servant. When the attack came on, he gave aid, risked his life to pull his fellow crewmen to safety, and with *NO* training manned one of the guns when no one else could and returned enemy fire, successfully shooting down enemy pilots. Although he was considered at the time for the medal, I feel he didn't get it because he was black. He did receive the highest honor the Navy has, the Navy cross, and was the first black man ever awarded it.

However, the movie just pisses me off, there's HUGE holes in the history and several anachronisms, such as bikinis. *sweatdrops* They fail to go into the full story too, such as the Japanese were planning to declare war publicly MINUTES before the attack, but the embassy in Washington was too slow transcribing the documents and told Washington officials *AFTER* the attack had already begun.

Since it is the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, and the start of the US's "official" involvement in WWII this Memorial Day has been heavily WWII themed. Documentaries have been airing like crazy on PBS (Public television), many of the news magazines have been running various WWII themed stories.

More than this, a thread popped up recently concerning Nakago pictured in a Nazi uniform on the Nakago ML. Watasee Yuu pictured him thus solely on the image of it's aesthetics. Most Japanese have very little knowledge of the events, and the atrocities the Japanese committed in WWII. The UN is currently working between the Japanese and Chiense over a Japanese history book (a new one for schools) that essentially "justifies" Japan's invasion and atrocities in the Pacific during the war. Most Japanese only know it was a war they lost, and very little of the facts surrounding it. Westerners know very little of the war in the Pacific and are far more familiar with the war in Europe. Someone said that the Japanese were not tried as were the Germans, which simply isn't true. Roughly 30 high ranking Japanese officials were tried for atrocities committed, 6 of which were hung. However, the Emperor never was on trial, and that is all due to US General MacArthur. MacArthur was quite savvy. He KNEW how much sway the Emperor had over the Japanese people. Since he was put in charge of occupied Japan he had to democratize the people. He knew that if you make the Emperor into the first democratized Japanese, the rest of the coutry would follow. He purposefully mislead US officials and world officials to the extent of the Emperor's involvement in the war. As a result, the Emperor accepted the American written constitution. MacArthur was worried because on the homefront the US didn't like how he was running Japan. MacArthur quickly allowed the constituion to be voted on. Well over 90% of the Japanese populace voted, and in the upcoming election several women were elected into office. One would think that MacArthur would pursue a personal grudge against the Japanese for the atrocities committed on both native Filipino's and the US soldiers. Instead, he treated them with mercy. Saying he would not treat them as they had his men. He fed them, and helped them get back on their feet. A woman on his staff as interpreter who was only there looking for her aprents who taught at a university in Japan, ended up into being the author of sections of the Japanese constitution that dealt with women's rights.

It always surprises me how few Americans are aware of the brutal occupation of the Japanese, the forced rape, slave labor, the mutilation and torture of children. Yet they almost all know of the Holocaust. Many of today's major Japanese companies were built on the backs and blood of Filipino slave labor of natives and the American troops left behind.

History is the greatest teacher, and it saddens me that there are so many... ignorant dolts out there. It just goes to prove how not only America but other parts of the world are very ignorant of their roots, and growing more so as time passes. I wonder how many of our ancestors are rolling over in their graves. We do not understand them, we don't understand their lives at all.

It frankly scares me that there are people in the Far East who do not know of the Holocaust at all, just as I'm sure the lack of Americans knowing of the Japanese atrocities endures must surely stupefy them.

What the hell is this world coming too?

Thursday: 5-24-01 ~ Happy Happy Joy Joy

*does the da dance of joy*

I'm so happy! Remember how in the previous posat I mentioned how I had heard from my teacher and my grade was in fact a C? Although I bombed the final, he was going back over it in preparation of us talking over it, and realized he had miscalculated the score by 5 very crucial points. it was enough to make my semester average a B! *jumps around the room happily*

And *beep* from the previous pita entry apologized. I finally received my e-mail zen-in prize a very kawaii matching set of Kero-chan and Spinel keychains. I got to talk to Heart-sib, Clone-chan, and Kero-chan last night. Clone has made me a moderator of the Weib Kreuz FanFic ML and informed me she may be in Dallas in late June. Heart-sib also confirmed she will be visiting in late July! My putzy lazy boss was fired! it has been a great day, once I woke up fully ^_~



Thursday:5-24-01 ~ *Fumes*

Yes I am mad. A certain person, who I will henceforth refer to as *beep* has broke the camel's back. I'm not referring to this person by name because it happens to be someone that many of my friends are also friends with, and I don't want them forced awkwardly into a position of taking or trying to avoid the whole mess.

Anyway *beep* has irked me on more than one occassion. *Beep* comes off very condescending in nature and can make some very biting remarks. *Beep* is highly critical of others. Tonite I see *beep* online and notice that *beep* says that they are no longer a fan of a certain series. When I ask why out of my curiousity *beep* says for me to check her blog. I reply I don't know where it is. *Beep* tells me to use my brain (which irks, *beep* could have just given me the blasted URL). So I check *beeps* domain but still don't find any linkage to the blog in question. I then check some of our mutual friend's blogs and pitas to see if they happen to link to *beep*. But no one does. I then tell *beep* where I looked and again *beep* says it is not hard, use your brain. I say I'm sick of games will she just tell me where it is, again *beep* insults my intelligence, and that was it. I snapped. I told *beep* to stop being so damn bitchy and insulting and left.

I really didn't need this tonite. Especially since by some miracle I heard back from my professor and found out my grade was CORRECT. I realy did bomb the final. So here I was looking for some online distraction/therapy and innocent conversation and I get this whole run-around.

ARGH!

Wednesday: 5-23-01 ~ Stepping Out...

Well, slowly but surely I'm reclaiming the apartment from the video library. I can actually walk through with out having to climb around and over boxes! As I was working on the library I left a program on to do the mp3 encoding of the Hana Yori Dango music.

Kero-chan: If you want the entire CD I can zip that for you and ftp it to my domain so you can download from there. The entire cd has all the main BGM themes as well as TV length opening and 1st closing, as well as the extended length opening and 1st closing. Meanwhile I have uploaded the extended versions of the opening song, and the first closing song. They can be found here: opening & 1st closing. Let me know when you've downloaded them so I can move the files!



Tuesday: 5-22-01 ~ epiphanies and descents...

*wmc pulls out her block from the kasa and stands up on it with authority*

I've noticed lately that some people are really going through a tough time of it. Laurel-chan: I do quite a bit of counseling, and what you described in your verbiose and most recent entry is not uncommon at all. Whether you are religious, practice any sort of faith or spirituality or not, everyone undergoes, what has been termed, "descents" or the "dark nights of the soul." Essentially, every person suffers some wounding in their life. I have my own long list and I'm still discovering others! Bouts of depression, although some may be caused by chemical imbalances, are mostly in my opinion simply a way for the unconscious self to communicate to the conscious self that there are issues that must be dealt with. Even if you bury some old wound(s) and move past them, unless you have dealt with the issue in full you are still being hurt by it. Even if you are not consciously aware of it. Your unconscious mind was just trying to point your attention to things. It knows that those wounds exist and its bleeding even if your conscious mind seems to be fine with it. It's very normal and quite common. Through close examination of yourself through such trying times you have some tremendous epiphanies about your self. You can not only heal those old wounds and truly and completely move past them, you can free and liberate yourself.

To use as a metaphor, it's like you're a sword being tempered through life. The wounds are fire scale, and with proper care, sanding, and working of the metal you can remove that scale and gleam the way a sword should. Find the flaw and turn it into a strength. We may not know each other very well, but feel more than free to use me as a sounding board if you'd like. (Oh and on a totally unrelated note... can you give me a ballpark estimate when I can expect the fansubs? No rush, just curious ^^).

Heart-sib: I'm glad you've finally reached the epiphany I've seen you struggling with to understand and grasp in the last few years that I've known you. It makes me very giddy and happy for you! Especially since seeing you walk around circles as you banged you head against something hard was giving *me* migraines. :P

I'm still a bit down over my grades. I talked to the English Chair today and he informed me that yes my teacher is indeed out of the country and won't be back till at the earliest late June. There went any chance I had at the Honors Graduate Fellowship. I really needed that scholarship money too. *CRIES* Sometimes, it just seems as soon as I get a break it gets taken from me. then again I'm just in a sour and pessimistic mood.

Evil Chibi: Blog format is fine baka. And what parts of the web-design was S finding amusing in particular? Be on the look-out for snail mail.

Clone-chan: You know, I've always loved early Euroepean Lit: Bede, Beowulf, the Eddas, etc. It sounds like you were having fun. I was wondering If I were to send you mpeg, avi, or real media anime fansubs on burned cd's, could your computer handle/play them? Also I have a large box of "donation" tapes. Once we're full inventorying, re-labeling,and re-organizing my anime club's video library I'll send you a list of the tapes. Let me know what you/the club does/does not have from that list. Then if you want it, it's yours so long as you pay for shipping.

Currently my living room has around 1000 video tapes cluttering it as we go through the video library. I can't walk through my own apartment! *BLEH*

Kero-chan: I'll try to encode the MP3's for you later tonite. Watch this blog for the link once they're done and I get them uploaded to my site... Actually I can zip them so you can download them faster. Isthat convenient for you? Or would you prefer the files unzipped?

Anyway I had 2 hours of sleep last night, and was at work by 8am. I'm heading off for a nap. I have my alarm set to wakeme up so I can watch the season finales of Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel. WOOHOO! I'vebeen looking forward to this for a while now. Hopefully theywon't leave me hanging and screaming "NOOOOO" because of some icky cliffhangar ending.

*wmc poofs, appears in her tigger pj's, with tigger on her butt, and pops into bed with her chichiri plushie.*



Thursday: 5-17-01 ~ Summer Blues

My summer was coming along nicely, and then *SCRRECH* the brakes of life were thrown on and I was thrown through the windshield... and I haven't come to a complete stop yet.

*SIGHS*

As I'm sure any regular reader of this pita knows, I've been struggling an awful lot in my Graduate classes. The class I was worried about, Semiotics, really had me sweating blood. Well the good news is I received a B in that class. The bad news, the class I wasn't worried about, Shakespeare, I received a C in. *CRIES* I have to maintain a 3.0 GPA or I get kicked out of the program. I honestly and flabbergasted over that C. I received 5's and 6's (equivalent of A's and B's) on all of the weekly assignments, and the term paper. I got a B on my midterm. And I was meticulously thorough on my final (24 pages). I cannot see me doing that poorly on the final to bring my grade down to a C. Now, granted I was absent a few times, but I talked to the Professor about that and said if he needed to I could show him documentation (doctor's notes, etc) and he said it wasn't necessary. So *HOW* in blazes did I end up with a C? I've been trying to reach him ever since the grades were released yesterday with no such luck. *ARGH*

*pulls hair out*

Additionally, mother phones me at my apartment to tell me that I have been summoned for Jury Duty. >_< Isn't there something that says if you're still a full-time student you don't have to go? HELLO idiots! *grumbles* I mean driving into Ft. Worth paying $10 for parking, losing my pay for the day at work... is not what I consider a fun way to spend the afternoon. It is just *WRONG* to have to pay parking when you are doing government business for the infernal government.

*sighs* I'm also a bit down, because sometimes I wonder if anyone is actually *READING* this anymore. *sniffs* No one loves me.....

Yes... I get... unreasonably emotional and... chibi clingy when I'm annoyed, irritated, frustrated, and sad.



Thursday: 5-17-01 ~ Dying of ennui

I haven't seen another living soul, save the co-worker I relieved, since I've come to work hours ago. Well I did see a bug *ew* but I really wouldn't call that a living soul, since it's dead now.

I've been working on coloring the Evil Chibi Congly. See I worked out an arrangement between Stephen, Seimei, and I. In exchange for my web design abilities for Stephen's main site, Seimei will re-vamp my Chichiri's D. A. Club. I've been trying to come up for a new design for that site for well over 2 years now with no success. So Seimei can do it. :P I'm working on an asian influenced site for Stephen that's multicolored, and has little bunnies hoping all over the place.

Why bunnies? Well for starters Stephen is a science nerd, and bunnies are appropriate. Also he likes Sailor Moon. I also thought of bunnies because he's surrounded by fangirls and we multiply like bunnies and think of boinking our bishounen like bunnies. Many of his online friends are also prolific fic writers and have many plot bunnies running around in their head. I was thinking to be mean to give him a bishounen with wings layout, but thought he'd never get a date that way. Aren't I nice?

*snerk*

Charlene: It appears you are going the way of my roomate. She's obsessed over HYD. If you still havne't been able to find the mp3's, e-mail me, I can make them fairly easily and host them at my website. I know I have the opening song on cd, I'm not sure if I have the two closing songs or not. Also, I want a chibi! I'd like Aoshi na no da.

Clone-chan: DA! I'm laughing my head silly over the BIC site! That place is a *SCREAM*. And the artwork... is just amazing! And you still owe me the next part Of Love and Honor. I did write such a LOVELY Aoshi and Misao lemon fic for it. And I absolutely *LOVE* the Kanoe picture.... If only I could get the picture without all the advertisement text on it... *sighs*

Miracle of Miracles... I actually *WON* something. Kodansha is a manga publishing company, and have recently debuted their English site. They have recognized that there is a market for Japanese manga in an English speaking world, and are now marketing to the English speaking consumer. They have English manga previews of certain mangas ont heir site. Anyway, for filling out a survey on the site it automatically entered you into a contest. I won. I got a Kero, and a Spinel keychain. Sugoi!



Tuesday:5-15-01 ~ Past Due

Hehehhhhehhee ^__^ I have finally come up with a new splash page for Seika.Org. Isn't it KAWAII?! The WMC chibi is courtesy of Seimei. Do the colors, layout, and links work for everyone?

Tuesday: 5-15-01 ~ morning... >_<

I so *LOVE* morning shifts at work. *Rolls eyes with heavy sarcasm* There is something positively inhuman about waking up at 7am, and being at work by 8am.

Clone-chan: DA! I waited around about an hour before I finally got off AIM to get some much needed sleep. It was good seeing you. I *LOVE* the new pita layout! What series is that from? And let me know if you can watch anime on your computer. If so i can burn off quite a bit of anime and send it to you, for far cheaper than tapes. Let me know what you think of my thesis na no da ^_^

Evil Congly: Baka, I need to know your hair and eye color STAT so i can finish coloring in the chibi of doom. ^_~

Heart-sib: Da! Feel Better!

Saturday: 5-5-01 ~ SURVIVOR

Forget Tina the new Survivor Millionaire. (And to think, I've yet to see a single episode of *ANY* Survivor show) I think I deserve hazard pay! I had tonite my third near-encounter with a tornado. It's such fun living in Tornado Alley! I'm perfectly fine. But spending 20 minutes in my tub.... made me realize I really need to clean it as soon as finals are over.

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

The tornado touched down just south of where I live.it seems to have done a great deal of property damage, but so far no serious injuries have been reported.

Some of my friends not from the area don't get how you can be so calm... Texas has some truly spectacular Thunderstorms, paralled no where else on earth except the African savanah. Once you've lived here awhile you get used to it. You learn to respect nature though. Storms present a number of problems from lightning strikes (my neighbor's house truly got fried about 2 years ago), flash flooding, and of course the Tornadoes.

My first encounter was *YEARS* ago... I was I think around 10th grade at the time. The sirens went off so my family and I moved to my parent's closet (structurally the only room in the house truly interior without any windows) picking up the cat en route, and waited it out there. It passed by us and the worst damage we had in the morning was some tree limbs had fallen and broken off.

5 years ago today in fact I was out celebrating my friends birthday. It was Cinco De Mayo. It's a mexican celebration that began years ago because of a military victory. Many people think it's Mexican Independence Day, but that's in September. So we were out, first to dinner, then we went to a friends to watch a movie, then I drove some friends home. The entire night was a horrible weather mess, and by some miracle I missed the worst parts of the storm. At the main Cinco de Mayo festivies, MayFest in Dallas people werebeing pelted with fatal hail, officers were shielding children from harm and sustained injuries that had them on medical leave for a couple of weeks. Other places in Dallas reported soccer size (yes you read that right) hail that went through the roofs of cars like the roofs were constructed of thin paper instead of metal. That night the worst I personally encountered was high winds, torrential downpours,and flooding. I had to reroute several times to find a way home cause the roads were under water inplaces. In Texas there is one lesson that most people learn the hard way by being stranded. If you don't know how deep the water is, don't drive through it. It can look one or two inches deep but be FEET in reality. In fact most storm fatalities result from people driving through flooded roads.

Then last year when I was off attending my Military History class,the sirens went off. The teacher nonplussed said "well we're in the safest place to be... let's discuss the Hundred Year War." He was technically correct we werein the basement, the safest place to be in a Tornado, and technically it was the deepest basement on all the campus. I was in the safest place for at least a 10 mile radius. Meanwhile, back at the ranch (my apartment) my former roommate Angela (not to be confused with the new roommate Angie) was huddled in her closet with the couch cushions over her while she swore the place was tumbling around her ears. This storm produced a series of tornadoes. Officially there were at least 2, unofficially there were reports that went up to around to 5. This was the tornado, for those who follow the news, that ripped through Ft.Worth and crippled the downtown area.

And then of course there was tonite. Boy I have the routine down. I heard the sirens, grabbed my alarm/clock/radio, grabbed some couch cushions from the living room, and the portable phone and went into the bathroom. Locking the door to help secure it and then I bunkered down into the tub, plugged in my radio so I could listen to the weather reports. I got bored.... so I picked up the phone and called my friends in New York asking about how they liked the goodies I just mailed them. My Heart-sib who was one of the recipients of the loot was asleep. I told her roomate (fellow recipient of some goodies) to go in tell the sleeping princess that WMC was waiting out a tornado. She returns to tell me that the sleeping baka had replied still fully asleep "uh huh." I'm not going to let her live it down *SMIRKS*

My parents call in the meantime, as soon as I heard Dad's voice I quickly replied:

• "Yes dad I know there's a tornado, the sirens are going off, I'm in the tub."
• Dad playing thepart of worried father quite well... "is Angie there?"
• "Nope she went home this weekend."
• "I'm sorry you have to be there alone...I'm here if you need me."
• "Dad, I'm bored not scared. I'll be fine. I'll call you later and tell you about the scholarship money I may be eligible for."

The meterologists are strongly urgining residents to be cognizant of the weather atall times this weekend. Why? Well there are two jet-streams flowing over the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, one has cold artic air, the other hot tropical air. In other words prime conditions for tornados.

My biggest concern is power supply, I have to type up my papers aka my FINALS this weekend. So pray the power holds!



Tuesday: 4-24-01 ~ Insanity at Work

It is always so easy to tell when the end of the semester approaches. The computer labs which are usually far BELOW capacity are suddenly overflowing with a waiting list.

As to my paper posted previously... I'm sure the bit about Loki and the Eddas seemed abrupt. That paper was for my semiotics class. Ther guidelines for papers in that class is that the paper cannot exceed one sheet of paper (although it may be a legal size sheet of paper). At least 85% of the paper should be devoted to a summary of the book and semiotic elements the author represented in the book we just studied. Then those semiotic theories are to be applied to a "holy relic" each individual student chooses at the start of the semester. One student chose the fairy tale "the Little Mermaid." Another student choose Stephen Crane's short story "The Open Boat." In my case I choose the Eddas because of my vast famliarity with them that I achieved during the research of my Honors Thesis project. It is extremely fascinating to see how many different interpretations you can chieve through the application of the various semiotic theories we have learned during the semester.

I had taken a nap before I began my papre last night, and began writing it around 2am. I didn't finish it till nearly 6am. (I'm so tired -_-). Since my roomie Angie has no classes on Tuesdays she was up late last night. She's started a diet this week, and attempted to cook popcorn on the stove. She managed to burn it to a crisp, make our two bedroom apartment fill up with a haze of smoke, and even twelve hours later and repeated airings out and air freshener, the place still REEKS of burnt popcorn. I really need to revoke cooking privileges for Angie. She's caught the microwave on fire, burnt the popcorn, and can't cook meat to save her soul.



Tuesday: 4-24-01 ~ Truth & Aletheia

I just finished this putzy paper, and well I know some of you can't quite fathom what graduate school assignments are like. Everytime people ask me 'so what are you doing?' when I explain things, they look at me like 'huh.' So here's an example.

******************

Marcel Detienne’s Masters of Truth in Archaic Greece is an examination of truth and its evolutions in Archaic Greek society. Detienne looks at more than the etymological history of truth, Aletheia. He states that his methodology used in this examination consists in “determining the force lines of a lexical system and identifying groups in opposition and association, in short applying the method of structural lexicology and exploring the theory of a semantic field within the domain of archaic Greece (9).” Initially truth was an efficacious speech spoken by a select few: the poet, the diviner, and the king of justice. Eventually this privilege shifted until truth became a matter of dialogue and discourse between citizens in a society. Truth was no longer defined by its ambivalent relationship between Aletheia (truth) and Lethe (oblivion). Instead Aletheia later became defined through its contradictions in dialogic speech. Although the means by which truth was spoken and determined had changed, truth survived the transition between ambiguity and contradiction. The fact that truth survived this transition proves it as a core semiotic element and symbol of the Archaic Greek culture it represented.

Aletheia is a deity in the Greek heritage. Those who spoke Aletheia (truth) were those who were reserved that privilege by their own society. These speakers of truth became associated with the divine, for to speak Aletheia is to know Aletheia in a philosophicoreligious manner. This divine association was significant because it caused truth to be spoken in the form of an efficacious speech. By the means of this speech Aletheia was brought into the world. This gave the speakers, of this efficacious speech, significant roles in their society that consisted of the poet, the diviner, and the king of justice.

The poet held religious power through the usage of Muse and memory. The muses were the daughters of the God of memory. Each of these daughters of Memory reflected an entire theology of “sung speech.” When considering that the poet recited his speech in a sung or rhythmic manner a close link between the poet and the divine is clearly established. Additionally, the poetic functions that any given poet is expected to be able to perform were derivatives of three muses: Melete, Mneme, and Aoide. Melete designated the discipline, concentration, focus, and attention any poet must learn. Mneme enables the poet to recite and improvise based off of memory. Aoide is the epic poem completed and recited in its entirety. However, there did exist other nomenclatures. Cicero records that there were four Muses: Arche, Melete, Aoide, and Thelxinoe. Arche refered to originality and what came in the beginning. Thelxinoe is a spell the poet casts through his incantation upon his audience. The poetic functions derived from Memory were significant because traditions were passed on orally in early Greek civilization. The invoin of the Muses served to remind the poet of what skills and functions he needed to use to recite the story. Memory was an essential aspect of an oral Archaic Greek life. Mnemonic techniques were developed and perfected to aide the poet. These techniques were formulas taught to the select and privileged few. “The knowledge of these inspired poets was a form of divinatory omniscience. The formula defining their powers was the same; it was knowledge of ‘all things that were, things to come and things past’ (42-43).” The poets served to hymn the deeds of the divine and the glorious deeds of heroes. In this way the poets were associated with the divine again. They kept the divine and men alive through their recitations. They now shared a power akin to the divine in giving and taking life away from men. The poet alone could confer immortality or withhold memory. In this way the poet, the speaker of Aletheia, connects Aletheia with memory. The poet navigates between Aletheia and Lethe as he hymns the deeds of men. Praise is truth while blame or deleterious comments are Lethe. Within the ambiguity between these two poles lies Aletheia.

Aletheia was not only interwoven and irrevocably linked with memory, it was also tied just as bindingly with justice. This association with justice derives from the divine Pontos of the sea who fathered truthful Nereus. Nereus became known as the Old Man of the Sea because he tells no lies, he is trustworthy, and is never forgetful of what is right. He seemingly covered the truth of the two domains of prophecy and justice. As such, he knew of things to come in the same way that the poet, and the diviner knew. The significant difference between the Old Man and the Sea and others capable of delivering efficacious speech, is that he knew more than Aletheia. He acted upon Aletheia by upholding justice. Philosophicoreligious thought holds no distinction between truth and justice; they are equivalent to each other. The efficacious speaker focused on the is-ness of Being. Thus to be in Aletheia, justice must be upheld. The Old Man and the Sea became a judge of Aletheia because of the judicoreligious significance placed upon him by his divine pedigree and his associations with truthfulness and justice. Oftentimes, judgment was passed by means of a sea ordeal such as immersion. In addition to the sea ordeals, there existed the scale ordeal where a royal figure (King of justice) presided over the proceedings. “Through these forms of justice associated with the Old Man and the Sea, the function of sovereignty begins to emerge (59).” This sovereignty gave an individual authority through the use of Aletheia over those around him. In this way, rulers and sovereigns were imbibed with authority to speak efficaciously and judge in the name of Aletheia. Sovereignty was not differentiated from justice. If the sovereign shirked or erred in his judicoreligious functions the community of which he governed suffered. This undifferentiated justice was associated with divination and prophecy. He pronounced themistes, which were oracular decrees and judgments. Thus, sovereigns of justice were also diviner kings. As diviners, these leaders would perform a variety of divinatory procedures as circumstances merited their necessity. One of these procedures was a practice of incubation where a petitioner came to the diviner or oracle, and drank two cups of water. The first cup was from the spring of Lethe so that the petitioner could forget the memory of human life. The second cup, Mnemosyne, was to aide the petitioner in remembering everything they witnessed in the otherworld of the oracle or diviners cave. When the petitioner emerged from the cave, he had been endowed with a memory of second sight which diviners and poets used since they must know what is, what was, and what is to come. This incubation shows that the relationship between Aletheia and Lethe is equivalent and comparative to the relationship between Aletheia and Mnemosyne.

This illustrates the connections between poetry, prophecy, and justice in archaic thought. “In this ancient period, these three domains were no doubt interconnected, since poets and diviners shared the same gift of prophecy and diviners and kings possessed the same power and used the same techniques (67).” They shared the same concept of Aletheia, one that was found in the ambiguity between Aletheia and Lethe. However, this did not remain to be the case. As time passed the warriors got together and began a discursive dialogue as they hammered out the meaning of the Aletheia they choose to bring forth. Aletheia no longer existed in the ambiguity between two poles in efficacious speech. Now, Aletheia existed in the contradiction between two poles in dialogic speech.

In the Eddas, Loki joins the Gods in their assembly hall. He speaks as a bard, hurling deleterious memory about the room insulting the various Gods and Goddesses. He does so to remind those present of where they came from, where they are, and the nearing Ragnarok that is coming. However, his fellow gods do not take kindly to the Aletheia thathe speaks. They will not listen to the ambiguity of his efficacious speech. Instead, they hammer out their own contradictory Aletheia through dialogic speech and mete out a punishment to Loki.

Sunday: 4-22-01 ~ money crunch

I'm really hurting financialy at the moment. Due to my illness I've missed quite a few days of work. Graduate supplies (books, Xerox copies, etc) have cost me a FORTUNE - nearly half what I pay in tuition! In addition to this I was really expecting around a $300 return from the IRS, and got $50 and change, $40 of which goes to the accountant. Oh wow, my refund is enough to fund maybe 2 meals at McDonald's. -_-

SO, anyone who owes me money... GET IT TO ME STAT, PLEASE. Everyone else, support me, I accept donations, or you can bid (or direct people to bid) on the items I've put up on E-bay. I have manga, artbooks, a mini-cd, anime & manga magazines, school supplies, cels, cards, etc from a variety of series such as Kenshin, Fushigi Yuugi, Clover, Magic Knight Rayearth, Sailor Moon, Nadesico, Bubblegum Crisis 2040, Arslan/Arislan, El-Hazard, Card Captor Sakura, Higuri You manga, etc.

In response to Clone-chan's pita: Actually, sorry is not an apology. Literally it means you sympathize with the other person. You say I'm sorry for your loss, but by doing so you admit no wrong doing. Trust me I've had English teachers in High School who if you said youre sorry would reply "You're not sorry (as in loser)" be apologetic. Let's face it diplomacy is being able to use the properly weighted words. From the American perspective we acknowledged their loss but no wrong doing. The Chinese feel like they got an apology. Add to this whole fiasco the Pentagon tapes of the same Chinese pilot flying close enough the crew could read his e-mail address written on a piece of paper the pilot was holding... from previous encounters/flights and it looks even worse for the Chinese. The guy was piloting 3 feet off the American wing-tip @_@ and his plane wasn't meant to fly at those speeds and he was flying all over the place trying to match speeds with the Americans. @_@

Don't get me wrong, the Americans assuming they'll get or should get their plane back is laughable :P But the Chinese pilot is responsible for flying far too closely. As to the spy plane being there in the first place... any nation capable of Nuclear Technology should expect it. Even the US.