I love google reader. Since I discovered it years ago I’ve used it to track countless blogs, read hundreds of posts. And to confess, I’ve allowed it to become a source of clutter. I’m pretty sure that I have saved over 600 articles in the starred folder. Many of the things in there fall into the category of “Someday” things or projects.

So I’ve decided to start cleaning it out and making today someday. The first and oldest star I’m tackling is this post on making a recipe cheat sheet from 2007.¹

My cheat sheet is more about cooking than baking. I started uber-simple with basic meat marinades so that I’ve always got a protein that I can cook up. Now I can remove that star and actually put the sheet on the side of my fridge.

Do you have a “Someday” project file too? What’s the oldest thing in it?

1. Let me know if the link doesn’t work. I’m blogging by iPod and had to manually type the link in. [↩]

The end of the year is fast approaching. I’m feeling pretty good about it this year too. While it’s always stressful to be running around trying to get together with all our family and friends,¹ it’s that part that is also the most rewarding in the end as well. We’ve given up most of the gift-exchange aspects of the holiday. And we don’t send out cards anymore either². We don’t really decorate much and I try to focus on the holiday of yule more than anything else. Despite all that I still feel the ghosts of stress and guilt at this time of year.

The funny twist is that New Year’s Eve is right behind it and that is my favourite holiday. I’m not sure what it is, but I adore the ritual surrounding the observation of passing through the threshold from one year to the next. Even if it is a little arbitrary,

One of my favourite New Year’s traditions is the practice of reflection and intention setting. I try to focus my energy on that as much as possible. Last year I blogged my experience with Reverb 10 and this year I’ll likely participate again.³

This year is going to be majorly different from all my other experiences though. I’m going to be reflecting even more thoughtfully about what my intentions are going forward and how I want to construct my future.

1. and this year everyone will want a piece of Locutus too [↩]
2. though I might start doing a year-end newsletter for some of our relatives who live further away [↩]
3. So consider this the official navel gazing warning. [↩]

Transformation. I’m not sure who I will be tomorrow or where life is taking me to. On good days I’m just hanging on & letting myself enjoy the ride. On bad days … well there are moments where I feel lost. Luckily the good ones come along more often than the bad.

Since I’m feeling all the magical energy of change humming through me, I’ve decided it’s time to loosen my grip on many of my parts of self. I’ll see what else shakes loose and gets caught up in the general transformation.

I’m already itching to unsubscribe from many of my current blogs and media sources. My main limitation is the fact that I’ve been mostly using my iPod to connect these past seven weeks.

I’m also thinking of a dietary purge as well. Not sure yet what the scope would be, but I’d like to loosen my grasp on food as an emotional crutch.

The focus isn’t going to be on lists and plans. The experience will unfold however it does and I’ll simply be here watching with a dose of compassionate curiosity to see what emerges in the end.

test post

Since Sumo fever has descended on our house the last two weeks coinciding with the test meet happening in Japan, we’ve decide to host a sumo party on the last day/evening of the tournament. We’ve invited friends over to enjoy Japanese takeout, sake, and the live feed of the sumo matches until about 2 am on Saturday. Since a lot of our friends are new to sumo, I decided to have Benevolance write up a brief guest post giving a run down on sumo. If you have questions, leave them in the comments and hopefully one of us will come up with an answer!

Benevolance here!

A few years back, Jennerosity and I had the chance to catch a sumo tournament in Tokyo. I enjoyed the mixture of tradition and sportsmanship and I’ve been a fan ever since. Outside of the country, it was initially difficult to follow the sport. The sumo association had done little to generate interest or enthusiasm beyond the borders of Japan. At first, it was foreigners living in Japan that posted clips of the tournaments recorded straight from the television onto YouTube; but eventually, the association began to host video streams of all the action.

Sumo itself is fairly straightforward. Two wrestlers face off in a circular ring atop a raised clay platform. Prior to entering the ring, the wrestlers are introduced by a brief song. They enter the ring, bow to each other, then begin preparations to fight. The wrestlers clap to attract the attention of good spirits, and stamp the ground to drive out any bad spirits out of the dohyo. They line up in a crouch and stare each other down. Then the process repeats.  When the referee decides there’s been enough posturing, the wrestlers line up for the final time at center ring, signal readiness, and charge.

If a wrestler touches the mat with any part but the bottoms of his feet, he loses the match. If a wrestler touches anywhere outside the ring, he loses the match. After the intial charge, the wrestlers employ a variety of throws, shoves, trips and slaps to force their opponent to lose. A bout is typically brief, often less than 30 seconds, and the best matches are impressive displays of speed, strength and technical skill.

For more info on the sumo tournaments as they happen, you can check out the official goo Sumo website.

Related articles

• Hakuho starts strong as ‘test meet’ begins (search.japantimes.co.jp)

As I’ve been performing various google searches in order to scrap up any nugget of bloggy goodness that I can from the recent Northern Voice conference I’ve been coming across a lot more photo updates than I expected. It’s brought to mind the mix of awe and envy I have for people who take photos regularly. I’d love to take better photos. I know that this means I should bring my camera out and practice. But I’ve come to realize that I lead a visually boring life. I mean . . . I work a 9 to 5 desk job. I stare at the same computer screen and art work day after day. My life follows a pretty predictable pattern that consists of a lot of beige walls and fluorescent lighting. Do we really need to see more of that in the world?

Ok . . . I put the slideshow we made at home on my flickr.  Check out the slideshow here.