25 Random things about me

I know this is meant to be a blog about spinning and crochet and the like, but the fact is I'm not doing a hell of a lot of that at the moment, what with a new bubba and the like, and I want to keep writing things here....

There's this thing that's happening in my facebook network, where people are posting 25 random things about themselves, and I really enjoyed doing it... You should try it yourself and see what you come up with!! After about no 15, you've gone through the store of things you wanted to say that you thought you had an endless supply of, and you start having to dig a bit deeper. That being said, I could probably write another 25.....

Anyway, I thought I'd make the most of something I'd written, and put it in here too, so here goes..........

1. I agree with Ellie, in that I don't normally do stuff like this, but I loved reading other people's 25 things, and thought I should share as well.

2. I have 5 children, and when they're all sitting around me, I spin out about how they all came out of my belly, and were made with love inside me.

3. I'm a spinster in the original sense of the word - I spin the fleece for my family - and a creatrix, and it's my 'thing'. I thought I'd never find my 'thing', until my mum bought me a spinning wheel when I was 30 as a birthing present. Which incidentally was the age when she got her first spinning wheel. It's been a mad love affair ever since.

4. Speaking about mad love affairs, and something I thought I'd never find - I live with the love of my life, and it's as good as I always secretly dreamed it would be. We met when we were 28 (we're the same age), and he's my soul mate, constant partner, best friend and most awesome lover I ever had. And the father of 4 of my children. Don't think we don't fight tho, cause we do - like cat and dog. But in the vast majority of our time we have huge amounts of fun and adventures and talking.....lots and lots of talking.....

5. We're also both Fries. Or Friesian. Where the black and white cows come from up the top of Holland. Though we're not Dutch. The Fries are a breed of their own, and the only tribe still living in the same place and speaking the same language from the survey the Romans did in 0 BC. They're also indomitable. I only discovered this a few years ago and I'm very proud of it.

6. I fancy myself a writer, and am in the process of writing a book about spinning, crochet and the things I make, as well as another one about birth, sex and death. I also keep a diary sporadically, wrote really bad poems when I was a teenager (who didn't!), and write down some of the kookier dreams I have.

7. I'm the seventh child of two seventh children, (my mum was the seventh child of her father, and my father was the seventh child of his parents, and I'm their seventh child), which has often made me wish for seven children, because there's a story that the seventh child of a seventh child will be psychic and special, and I'd love to know what the seventh of the seventh of the seventh would be like. But I think we're going to stop at 5, which is kinda sad.

8. My dad died in the Granville train crash when he was 49 (7 x 7), and I was 7, in 1977. He gave up smoking that morning, which meant he was on the non-smoking carriage right under the bridge, and if he hadn't of done that, he would have still been alive on his normal smoking carriage. He came to me after he died and told me that it was gonna be all right. And then I got teased at school that my dad was squashed like a tomato, so I stayed home for a year.

9. I really hated school. I was a head taller than most of the boys, had braces and glasses, wore long socks and long skirts, and was also a Mormon, which didn't really add to my popularity stakes. But I always had one girlfriend who made life bearable.

10. My sister got her boobs touched a bit too much by my step-father, and made a career out of it by turning it all into a comedy routine. I felt a bit ripped off when I found out years later that the 'incest' was just boob touching, cause that happened to me too, and I lost everything in supporting her and getting her out of home. ( I was 7 years younger than her). Notice how these 7's keep turning up?

11. I went overseas when I was 18 for a year, and did the whole backpacker euro-rail thing around Europe. Drank lots of beer, learnt how to scull an english pint in 3 seconds, met lots of groovy people, met 6 aunts, 5 uncles and 25 cousins in Holland, and generally had a blast. It put my life into perspective.

12. I sold life insurance for 6 months on the North Shore in Sydney. I scammed people on the phone by pretending that a friend of thiers had recommended me. I had a whole script that I learnt in training sessions where they used Colonel Sanders as inspiration. I left when I realised that I was seriously ripping people off. Also when they fired me....long story.

13. I'm seriously into Quantum Physics - after all the different belief systems I've trawled, and all the things I've learnt, I've found that Quantum Physics has room for every belief, and helps me make sense out of just about everything.

14. I was one of those horse loving girls, who had fantasies about horses and drew them lots. A bit of a crush I had.

15. I thought I was always going to be alone in that deep dark part of me inside, until I met Currawong, and we shared all our deep dark bits together. Even when we're fighting, I still know I'm not alone.

16. My dad was an uninitiated witch who could melt clouds, and I can too when I want to.

17. I have 4 brothers who won't talk to me, one of which calls me 'boofhead' everytime he HAS to talk to me, and my sister wont either. All long stories, but mostly because I was my dad's favourite and they weren't.

18. At the ripe old age of 38 I've discovered mountain bike riding (thanks Ellie!) and am surprised by how much I love my early morning rides through Kuitpo.

19. I started the Macclesfield Growers Market, although no-one would know - the 6 months leading up to our first market was the hardest I've ever worked in my life. It changed my life....

20. My favourite colour is purple, and I love shades of red and all the hues inbetween.

21. I was a lesbian for 5 years, and learnt a lot, ran a lesbian forum, and was 'super dyke' for a while, with my shaved head and leather wearing habits. I was the typist for the Mountain Lesbian Newsletter for a goodly amount of time.

22. I had a life changing moment in 6th class when a hippy couple stopped in at our playground during lunch. They had a baby boy, and as they were chatting to us the dad was changing his nappy. During the process, the baby pissed in his face, and he laughed!! I was gobsmacked. In my family there would have been yelling and tantrums. From that moment on I knew that somewhere 'out there' were colourful happy people, who lived in peace. And I vowed to find them one day. Now we are them!

23. I felt guilty the whole time I was a mormon, for playing 'mummies and daddies' with my girlfriends as a young child. It was a bit dodgy when one of my friends wanted me to pretend to rape her.... I always wanted to be princess Leia cause I had the long plaits, but she made me be Luke Skywalker cause I was tall.

24. Of all the drugs I don't do anymore, tobacco is the one I miss the most.

25. I hide my shyness by being extroverted

Up, up and away!!

This is the year for me. The year my gear is going to go somewhere groovy. Procreating has been accomplished successfully, and now it's time for me and my man to put our passions in the limelight. I got contacted by a groover at Us Trendy who wants to profile my work and I'm wrapped!! I've been waiting for someone 'out there' to show an interest, and now it seems to be starting. I've got so much to say, and so much to create, and so much to teach, and so much to learn, and so much to write about all the ideas and cross currents going through my head at any given moment. I'm really wanting to move into un-dyed, classic, wrap and fetish designs, as well as playing more with themes I've developed in the past.

And my fella got a call to wear a costume for his drumming troupe, and even though he instantly freaked out at wearing a 'uniform' ( I'm not one of the bloody Wiggles for #$@&'s sake!!), he became appeased when I suggested that I could create an artwork for his body.... We were at Rainbow Serpent Festival years ago, and he was crawling on all fours along the ground like a spider creature, and I got an image in my head of making a dog suit for him with a huge mane around his head, and pogo sticks for his hands, so he could prowl on all fours while I had a leash on his neck - pretty damn sexy I reckon. And how his troupe wants groovy clothes to wear, we're revamping the idea, and wondering how I could go about crocheting them all a costume. Or maybe just my man, who knows. I'm getting glimpses of mesh with crocheted cotton fringes..... Who knows where my imagination may take me....

But back to more practical subjects, I'll put in some photo's of the latest creation, worn by the beautiful lizard queen, to give you an idea of the direction I'm heading at the moment. Less is more, and I want to play with leaving even more open spaces on the body....

Letter to the Zeitgeist Movement

Firstly, I contemplated how many other movies and movements have similar aims of saving the world in their particular way... For example "What the Bleep" and "Down the Rabbit Hole" and "The Secret" are dealing with similar topics, but in a very Quantum Physics kind of way. Showing how our thoughts create our realities, and how this concept has been used by a few to keep us buying the whole monetary/political system. Also how our focus on it creates a hell of a lot more of it, and we'd be better off to visualise and focus on more positive realities if we want to live in them. Fritjoff Capra wrote a book called "The turning point of civilization" in the 70's, which goes into details of the great bodies in our society - law, religion, science, medicine - and how they thought they were doing a good job by taking away an element to study, and thinking this would help them understand the whole. But you kinda have to study the whole to understand the whole. He also explained how it was all falling apart, and it would be the alternative cultures who would show the way into a new reality.

I also thought about the community movement the world over, where people share resources, land and ideas, and have been doing so since the 70's, in an effort to learn how to share and get along with the earth as well as other people. A rather famous and successful example of this is Damanhur in Italy, where they have thier own form of currency, and are nearly totally self sufficient. Everything is done with a sense of reverence for the thing made, and where it's come from, and they eat together, make thier own clothes, grow thier own food, and have an outdoor temple with huge pillars where they study and co-create a spiritual belief system based around self and responsibility.

Another important and relevant movement is the homebirthing movement, where people are striving to reclaim birth from unnecessary medical intervention, and work out the best way to welcome people into the world and educate them for a healthy life. There is also a movie connected to all of this - "What babies want" - that brings into focus how we presently give birth, which is often highly medical and disempowered. We all know the cute story of putting a baby sheep with humans as it's first contact, in which case the sheep bonds with humans and thinks it is one - what is the impact of taking baby humans and putting them with machines??

But this is all fairly modern - what about examples from the past about all the issues you raise? The indigenous folk of Australia have been living in a cash free, resource rich society for over 50.000 years before the white fella's got here, as well as the indigenous folk of most other countries. They have a lot to teach about how to live with the land and each other as well. For that matter, us white fella's have this knowledge too if you look far enough back. For a good 60,000 years pre about 4,000 BC we mostly lived in earth mother focused, matrifocal, non-violent societies. L.Robert Keck wrote about this in 'Sacred Eyes', and he also wrote an essay about how humans aren't by nature violent. It's all a fairly recent invention.

I totally agree that if you gave folk all they needed for a comfortable life, as well as the freedom to find thier individual passions and selves, we'd live in a wonderful society. It would be arranged in as many different ways as there are shades of colour in the spectrum, cause one of the best things about humans is their diversity. One of the best things about everything for that matter. I personally think one of our greatest mistakes is to seperate ourselves from our planet and all the other species, as it's so obvious that we've all got the same bits as the other animals. And I've often wondered about the frontal lobe - which most scientists believe to be where our consciousness comes from - when dolphins and whales have huge ones!!!

And I reckon there's also a lot to learn from the Friesians. When the Romans did a survey of the tribes in Europe in 0 AD, they did a very complete job, and the Friesians are the only ones still in the same place, and speaking the same language! 700 years before the French Revolution, the Friesians were practicing autonomous anarchy in essence - there was no ruling class, monarchy, or political system - they all practiced thier own beliefs in their own way, and respected everyone elses right to do the same. There is a saying that every Friesian was born a noble, and basically they were a peaceable race - unless you messed with thier freedom. And then hell hath no fury like a Friesian unfree!!!!

That's another group that have parrallels to the Zeitgeist movement - Crimethinc - an anarchist group aiming towards sovereignty and autonomy. "Days of War, Nights of Love" is definitely worth a good read.

And a modern concept coined by our local governments (they're not all bad!!) called 'community capacity building'. This basically recognises that all individuals are equal, and have thier own particular skill to add to the whole. Also acknowledges that all systems are based on heirarchys which don't work, and only disempower folk from finding their own 'thing'. My partner and I started a market in the hills that changed our world, based on this concept.

So all in all, I totally agree with most of the concepts in Zeitgeist, but you don't have to totally reinvent the wheel, as there are a lot of similar groups and beliefs going on, that have a lot to say about where to from here. I don't necessarily believe the only solution is a completely scientific and technical one - as I've mentioned, there is a lot to learn from our collective past.

And as Ghengis Kahn illustrated with his dying breaths, we are stronger together than apart. Trying to work out how to divide his huge empire between his many sons, he took a stack of sticks and held them together, and asked his sons to break them, which they couldn't. Then he pulled out one stick and asked his sons to break it which of course they could. And he told them to remember that lesson. Together they were strong, but alone they were easily broken.

As you may have noticed, I have a tremendous amount to say about all of this, and would be more than happy to elucidate on any of the points I've raised. Hope this is usefull!!