Aww, dammit, Castaneda!!

I’ve loved Carlos Castaneda's books since I discovered them 20+ years ago.  To get more “info” about him and his ideas, I even read books by his female followers. I recently got his last book as a gift, one that I wasn’t aware was published, although apparently it had been out since 1998. So yeah… I guess it had been a while since I really was “into” his books

Well, yesterday, I finished that book… and I just felt a little disturbed.  I guess the fact that the book is prefaced by a note that he died in 1998, coupled with the fact that in his books, his premise was that his ending was going to be very different, kind of bothered me. It’s all kind of fantasy ,“way out there” stuff anyway, although some of his first novels actually do read like an anthropologist’s journal. Somehow, though, in the back of my mind, I guess I hoped some of the stuff about spirituality and energy was true.

So… I Googled him this morning and found this article. The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda. Much darker than I would have guessed.

Its not so much that I believed everything he wrote was true, but that to be such a favorite author of mine and then read about a truly dark and somewhat insidious past kind of pulled the rug out from under me.

Awww, crap!

“What’s new?” you ask

I see some exciting new things on the horizon. 

A cook book, a catering business and a restaurant.  It’s all in the works, some of it in the near future, some of it a little further out there. At the moment, I daren’t say more, because there are things to take care of yet. I’m sure you all will be the first to know when things take off, so stay tuned.

I’ve picked up my pencils, paints, pens and other artsy tools lately, and have begun playing around putting the doodles in my brain on paper.  If I had a natural talent, drawing and sketching would probably be it… I just never practice or think to do it, so my creations aren’t necessarily Art-in-the–Park worthy. Not that I do them for anyone else but me anyway.

I’ve been playing a bit more guitar, not necessarily a natural talent, but it is something that I love to do. 

I’ve put a little work into re-learning and studying more Spanish. Here again… not even close to a natural talent, but I love that language! Who knows… maybe someday I’ll even get good enough to speak to someone other than myself in the truck.

It seems like it might be time to brew a couple batches of beer too.  Something hoppy, something delicious.

And finally… I’ve started applying for Licensure as a Land Surveyor in a couple other states, Vermont & Massachusetts. I’ve been licensed in New Hampshire for 14 years. Getting the first license is the tricky part… it takes a 9 hour SIT exam, years of gaining experience and building a portfolio, 6 hours of the National exam and 3 hours of the State exam.  I’m just a number of months and a 1/2 day State exam away from being a licensed Vermont surveyor…hopefully.

So there is is… a bit of what I’m up to. I know what you’re thinking…. not much of a blog post really … but I just felt the need to play with blogger and I’ve got an hour to kill before I pick up my daughter.  

Winter

I wish it would just show up… at least for a month. I remember snow storms that dropped inches and inches of snow that buried cars. Snow forts, snow shoeing, skiing, winter camp fires, snowball fights, 3 day snow days from school.  I hate to think that winter around here  will be one of those disbelieved stories we tell our grandchildren someday. Its January 14th and 52 deg. F outside right now and what little snow we had is quickly dissipating.