Another sort of introduction...

These next few days I’ll be more or less nocturnal. We’re splitting our operations center in two for a few days due to circumstances in varying degrees of complication, so it became necessary when creating the rosters for our different TOC (tactical operations center) duties to have a day group and a night group, with a few hours of overlap for each. I designed the roster, haha. It took me days and days to finally get it approved so that everyone was happy, but at least it’s complete…and just in time, as it began last night at 2000 with me in charge until 0600 this morning. Hopefully my replacement comes to relieve me…but I’m not getting my hopes up.

We’re on the final stretch of this block of training, but this final stretch will be the worst. The roster is set up so that each rotation gets about ten hours total of comp time when they’re not on duty. My ten hours off are from 0800-1800, so I’ll have just enough time to run or workout, take a shower, then rack out for a few hours before coming back on shift. I made myself part of the night crew mainly because I didn’t want to screw over anyone else, and I don’t really mind the nighttime regardless. In fact, I find it comforting. My best thinking generally occurs at night.

Even though it’s 0530 here now, it’s still pitch black outside. Fall is coming, thankfully. Autumn has always been my favorite season. There’s something that’s always seemed very secret and magical to me about that time of year, with the earth preparing for winter. Winter, of course, with its silence and death and mystery, is the ultimate season of secrets…but autumn as a prelude is still deliciously elusive. The world dying to be reborn again in the spring. It’s a beautiful cycle.

Once my summer detail ends (09 Aug), I’ll have some time to put more thought into the entries. I’ve done a lot of research into early feminist paganism (that is, pagan cultures with more egalitarian and even matriarchal tendencies), particularly in the cultures that gave rise to areas of modern Russian, so I intend to share the more interesting tidbits. I’ve written about three thesis papers on the topic (one of which was actually in Russian…and writing 25 pages of researched, documented, academic prose in a language that is not my native tongue is a feat I hope I never have to repeat), so obviously I find it all interesting :) However, I will filter and only include that which is less commonly known, or at least the parts that surprised me. And as this is a blog, I’ll have a little more freedom and not worry so much about filtering OUT my bias…in fact, I think I’ll let my own perspective contaminate it as much as I like, as after all…this is an outlet for ME, MY opinions, MY thoughts. My papers were unbiased enough…except for the parts where the Pagan and the Feminist in me just couldn’t resist. It is impossible to eliminate all bias, after all.

Today my spiritual development amounted to reading a few news articles about Pagans, courtesy of WitchVox. Wonderful website. I submitted an article a few days ago about an experience I had earlier this summer when I came *out of the broom closet* to some of my friends. Their reactions were what surprised me, and that’s the reason I decided to share the experience. It gave me the courage, and put some of my faith back in mankind, so I hope that my sharing the story will do the same for others. And with that…I will bid you (whoever you are) adieu. Time for tired eyes to get a few hours of sleep before it’s all starting over again.