[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon I

[Gossamer]

It's The Dark Moon
Here's a song that's appropriate.
It starts slow but its an amazing song.

[Gossamer]

The Secret To Happiness

I always want to start scrap posts out on a positive note. But I’m having a hard time finding an angle to hit this Scrap topic that isn’t negative. Maybe its just my perspective, but people seem to have a rough time figuring out what to do in life and how to find happiness. It’s really no big secret. Anyone that is truly happy knows this. But lately it seems like there’s been a lot of negativity and people who log into the site – especially chat – and just want to talk about why they are unhappy and whose fault it is. Mind you, rarely if ever is it their own, according to them. Which, truthfully, is something I DO NOT BELIEVE. You are in charge of your own happiness. And the secret to happiness is incredibly easy.

Stay tuned. I’ll tell you all about it.

People think I’m a hugely negative grouchy bitch 99% of the time and that’s pretty much as far from the truth as possible. I have friends that tell me daily I shine with a very bright light and when I show up to events my friends host, there’s a lot of positive that comes with me. In fact, one of my friends just booked SJ Tucker at her home for the first weekend in August and she let me pick one of the songs SJ is going to sing! I felt amazing given that privilege. Of course I picked Hymn to Herne. It’s going to be a fantastic night. If anyone is in the PNW and a fan, I can arrange for you to come.

I’m getting off topic. But Hymn To Herne always reminds me to Walk In Your Power. If you don’t understand that concept, you should do a little studying. I don’t care if you are Christian, Pagan, or Atheist. We all have power. And if we embrace it, we do a lot better in life than we do if we let others take our power or we borrow power from outside of ourselves. But I can talk about that in another scrap. This one is about Happiness… which granted is linked, but not in the way you might anticipate.

Happiness isn’t about a few things. Let us talk about those first. It isn’t about stuff. Stuff won’t make you happy. New cars, fancy houses, rings and makeup and kittens with bells on their collars are nice. Happiness isn’t about how you look, your nationality, the amount of money in your bank account, or if you are with the right guy. Happiness isn’t about what people think of you or what people say about you. You enter this world alone and you leave it alone too. Just ask someone at the beginning of their life. There are no lonelier people in the world than young children and the elderly that have been forgotten. Remember back to when you were in grade school. Most people didn’t feel understood, like they fit in, and longed for something else, something better… something more suitable. I think sometimes it takes us the whole of our lives to get comfortable in our own skin and be happy with ourselves.

So now we know, or should, what happiness isn’t about.

So what is the secret to happiness? It’s a really simple thing. The secret of happiness is love. If you love yourself, what you have, what you are gifted with, and who you are around then life has a whole lot more meaning and richness in it than you can ever imagine otherwise. Happiness is about building a micro world about you and dwelling in that world to the fullest of your ability. You can pick your friends. You can pick your location. You can pick what you choose to surround yourself with. Nothing is far better than the wrong things. And loving what you do have and what you can have goes a long long way to building more wealth in your life.

Self love changes you.

It allows you to expand and to glow and to recognize the gifts you have. And once that happens others love you as well. And that love builds your own love and reflects back and builds up their own love until it magnifies outward and becomes this huge thing in your small sphere of influence. And I don’t care if those people are people you have never seen or interacted with in real life. Influence is influence and love connections are love connections. There are so many people here I love. I’m not ashamed to say it. Sometimes they love me back and that’s such a blessing its not even funny. I could make a list and it would fill up a thousand pages on how people have touched me and what they mean to me. And the same can be said of people in the real world. Sometimes when I’m lucky, the real world has touched the internet world and the two things have overlapped. Sometimes they never can.

But I see so many people on here struggling. I see so many people on here unhappy and just waiting… sitting around waiting for life to move them forward in their minds. Life isn’t about the future, folks. Death is a reality and you could be staring at your last day on this planet any time. Happiness and life is about right now. And honestly it doesn’t matter if you are experiencing happiness by writing a scrapbook on a site out in the middle of AZ that no one has ever heard of… or if you are simply sitting in your home painting a small flower on a ceramic vase that maybe only ten people will ever see in its lifetime of existence. And it doesn’t matter if my sphere of influence is different than your sphere of influence and what I choose to fill mine with is different than what you choose to fill yours with. It would be boring if we were all the same.

The point is. Now. Now. Now. Now. Now. Life is now. Life is not tomorrow, or when we graduate or when we move out from under our parents thumbs. Life isn’t when we retire or when we find Mr. Right or when we finally get that pony we’ve been wanting our whole life. Life is now. Happiness is within your grasp. Build your own sphere… live in it. Live every day in it. Be happy. Allow yourself that. And don’t let someone else dictate what should manifest that happiness for you. Manifest it for yourself. I don’t care if that means you need to as a man dress in women’s clothing. Do it. I don’t care if that means you quit your high paying job for one that is more fulfilling but pays a lot less. Do it. LIVE FOR NOW. It’s okay to plan for the future, save money, and grow in ways like education and do things like get healthy or fit. But while you are doing that, put more emphasis on the NOW.

LIFE IS NOW.
LIFE IS NOW.
LIFE IS NOW.

Life isn’t tomorrow. It’s not Friday. It’s not two months from now. It’s not when you turn 21 or 50. Life is about living each day fully and building that center universe that you can touch the things that move you and dwell in the space that makes you happiest.

Don’t forget it. Pick your friends. Invite people you admire into your sphere to visit. Go visit theirs. Overlap the two if you find it pleasing. But please… just go out and do it. If you don’t, you are like those sad chatters that are always in chat talking about the fantastic threads they want to write, but never do. Instead be that person that is in chat talking about the fantastic thread you JUST WROTE because you just LIVED and you just made yourself HAPPY.

That is the big secret. It shouldn’t be a secret at all.

[Radiant]

Dear, Goss.

I fully and wholeheartedly agree with all of your points. Thank you for posting, reminding and opening our eyes.

Sincerely,
Radiant

P.S: Yes! people should share music more often! If you'd like, you can dump all the musics you love and want to share in my scrap.

[Gossamer]

Just Another Song
Neon Stars by The Skylife.

I really like this song.
I can't pinpoint why other than I love the lead singers voice.
It makes me think of summer.

[Estrellir Konrath]

Well said about happiness! I agree 100%. In fact that's just what I needed to hear at this moment, so thank you! I like to think I know that, but I still tend to forget sometimes.

SJ Tucker! In fact I listened to her a lot after you linked her in a scrap. Hymn to Herne is really an amazing song. I'd totally come over if I could, haha.

[Gossamer]

Incredibly Unhelpful & Unthoughtful HD Tickets and PMs
And why they are left to rot usually...

So if you send a HD ticket requesting to be a Dire something... odds are without a lengthy explanation as to why you want to be super huge, you are going to get a no. These sorts... "Can I be a dire chicken?" Beginning and end of HD ticket result in an automatic no. Why? There's zero effort on the player's part to make a case for why they want to be big or why a dire chicken would exist.

You want to be an exotic creature from one of the cities creature lore postings (which usually isn't in the wiki) and you ask to be but don't tell the HD what the creature is or where a link is too it.... answer?? No. Why? Because those of us in the HD don't know what animals people have made up in cities far out of our scope and for you to be so incredibly unhelpful as to not quote a text or a link or something cluing us in on what one is... means your lazy, unthoughtful, and probably don't deserve the special permission to begin with.

When you send me a PM or a HD Ticket, please be very clear on what you want and why you want it. Making me play twenty questions with you in the HD to get some actual information out of you to make an informed decision is something I will pass on because after all, its not me wanting the special permission or gnosis or whatever... it's you. And if I have to pry the info out of you as to what and why you actually want something, its not worth my time.

It would be worth my time if you were the only ticket or PM around... but honestly there's a page and a half of ambiguous HD tickets, gnosis requests, NPC requests, etc... that after the 1,000th time of explaining how to acquire a gnosis via story in the HD, I get to fed up with things to continue the nonsense and then don't touch the HD tickets or my PMs for days.

And... thank you for the people that post clear concise very well thought out requests. You suffer because of the bozos. I try to get to you guys fast and first, skipping over the re-re ones... but it doesnt' always work.

Goss

[Gossamer]

BEE TUTORIAL: HOW TO CATCH A FERAL SWARM
Or what beekeepers (and Goss) does when shes not on MIzahar

First, you find a resting swarm that has settled for a few hours or even for the night. You sometimes get calls from people that know you have a BEE ADDICTION and that they'd rather you have these bees than they move into someplace on their property.

When you track down the sighting, you walk right up to it fearlessly without your suit and take lots of pictures of all different angles. Because, hey, someone might want to see you doing this crazy stuff if you post it on the internet right?

This swarm was kind enough to set up next to the road where folks could see it... and beekeepers like me could go round it up.

Then grab your best bee buddy who is as crazy as you are, set up your equipment, get a good sturdy garbage bag, and bag that badboy, trimming off the branch so you have bees and branch and all in the bag.

Then of course, strike a Victory Pose!

Dump the whole mess in a beehive that you already had ready. Once all the ladies have been knocked off the branch, pitch it off the side of the road. Take a moment to count heads and admire your handiwork.

After dumping them in the box, take a soft bee brush and brush them all back in. This is a lot like herding cats. They have to want to go and you have to be patient, but eventually they will smell the nice bee smell in the box and all wander in happily.

Then you stand back, admire that you have captured the majority... and wait for the ones flying around to land and crawl in the box. Oddly enough they do. Why? Bees hang out an fan telling the others with pheromones that they have found a new great home. Okay, no one ever called them smart right? Below is a closeup of a worker fanning her wings telling the other bees they have found a new home.

Then you just wait.. it takes everyone a while to calm down, settle into the box, and while you do that you pat each other on the back, take lots of victory selfies that you don't dare post on the net due to the silly nature of them, and have a lot of fun. Within a half hour your on the road taking the bees to someplace new.

I have been out assisting on bringing in swarms for days now until the bad weather set in here in the Northwest. It's been a blast. Here's a couple other pics of swarms we've been called too or found.

Aren't bees cool? Special thanks to my bee buddy and mentor Rob Jenkins of Winlock. Hes the bee wrangler in all the shots! Im just the paparazzi!

[Grace Lechar]

I think that has got to be one of the coolest hobbies around. Thanks for telling us about it! Looks a lot simpler than I imagined it, but I don't think it is as easy as it looks? I don't know. That's pretty cool!

[Gossamer]

Hi Folks.

I wanted to let you know that I have a lot of free time scheduled for today. I'm going to devote it to writing and catching up the HD. If you have a ticket that's langished for days ( a week?) then please bump it today. If you've been thinking about getting something posted there for approval etc go ahead and get it in today because it will be answered today without question.

If you do NOT get an answer today, please bump. You are back on page 1435 and I will not be going back more than say four or five pages to catch up. So BUMP BUMP BUMP.

Jen

[Gossamer]

Well,

All that free time evaporated into what amounted to a horrible day. I was called out on swarms, inspections, and had to hold some hands while we destroyed beehives that were full of disease. When I got home, I was too heartsore to write or work on the HD. I'm going to try and get to it this week, but we've had a full plate this week too. We had more emergencies with friends, one stranded, one missing... she's fine, he's fine, but it is scary when folks break down especially in the big old woods of Western Washington and its all hands on deck to cruise logging roads and try to find vehicles. It's also wicked hot here (for our standards) so things are coming to a grinding halt while we all bake.

I'm also frantically making room for more family members. I fell in love with a rare breed of heritage turkey that's about as cute as a button and lovely beyond belief. They are called midget whites and if you can imagine a full white thanksgiving style plumed out turkey that's pint sized that's what they are. A friend of a friend found out how interested I was in breeding and is giving me Puff Daddy and his girlfriend Lurkey Turkey so we are building them a new compound in the chicken area of our farm. These birds are amazing. They were genetically created by one prof at the U of Mass. Then the U of Mass maintained a flock until the prof's retirement. Then one of his students took over the flock and shipped it to the U of Wisc. There they thrived until that prof retired. Once that happened the flock was passed into the hands of hobbyists. Then tragically in the 70's the breed was down to 6 individuals. Breeders and lovers of the midget took over and now we're back up in the hundreds. That's not a lot, but its enough to keep the breed going.

The midgets are so small they rarely get larger than chickens. Hens get about 8 lbs. Toms can get about 13lbs. So imagine this beautiful full plumed turkey all decked out in the miniature. And they LOVE people. I know several people with them in the area now (they are popular here... I think we have a big portion of breeders here) that got them for meat birds then loved their personalities so much they named them and kept them as pets. I know Puff Daddy is a character and his lady Lurkey is just as cool. She sneaks in the house for cuddles when the door is left open.

So.. .we're getting those pens ready. I have to do a lot of in-home care for my mom right now too who isn't doing well... so that's taking time. But I'm desperately fighting to get back to Miz as soon as I can. That can't be soon enough, in my way of thinking.