Brian B's Open Salon Blog

"I Love You"

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 07:04:49 -0400

"I love You"

What does it mean?

Three simple words. Eight letters, two spaces. Punctuation optional or variable, which affects meaning. And, no question, the meaning is variable.

When we are children, and use the words with parents, it means one thing. No, at least two things- the meaning the parent gives, the meaning the child responds with. Or four - the meaning intended, and the meaning heard. Part of the confusion of the meaning is that speaker and listener do not share the same meaning, always.

As children, we also learn that an "I love you" after a good report card means something different than the "I love you" after a vase is broken. And we learn early that the spontaneous "I love you" we first uttered as learned response, joyously, perhaps, can be a tool, a weapon, a trading card.

For adolescents, and then adults, the simple sentence gains even more nuance and subtle shades of meaning. Does it mean "I want to have sex with you", or "we had sex, it was great, let's do it again" or just "I need a date for the prom"?

With additional years, perhaps a few tears, even more depth is dug. "I love you" may mean "I want to spend the rest of my life with you" or " my biological clock is ticking" or "please don't leave me" or "I need a date to the office party".

At what stage does the cycle turn and we say it to our children as they said it to us? And as we age, does it become a sad final goodbye?

And of course, sometimes "I love you" is just "let's be friends", like on OS.

I love You.

(what does it mean to you?)

It's Super Moon Saturday

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 08:03:10 -0400

"What's Super Moon Saturday?" you ask?

The moon orbits the Earth in an elliptical orbit, so sometimes it is closer than others. Once every lunar month (28 days), there is a full moon. Sometimes the full moon occurs when the moon is closest to the Earth (at it's perigee).

This is called a "Super Moon" .

Watch for it tonight. The moon will look fuller than normal. If you have even a drop of werewolf blood in your pedigree, you may feel the urge to howl.

"Super Moons" can occur up to 4 or even 6 times a year, but many people only use the term to describe extreme super moons which are less frequent.

Today's Super Moon is the strongest in18 years.

Because the moon affects tides, expect tides today to be more extreme than ordinary. There is however no scientific support for the belief that Super Moons affect earthquakes or tsunamis- after the recent Japan quake, some pundits blamed tonight's Super Moon, but that is not likely.

The full moon in March is also commonly called the Storm Moon because of the typically unsettled weather. This makes some folks believe that today's Super Moon will have special significance. Beyond that, however, I have found conflicting and vague theories as to whether or not this Super Moon, or Super Moons in general, has or have particular mystical pagan or Wicca significance.

Anybody out there who knows more?

"Beware the Ides of March"

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 08:03:59 -0400

Ever since I took Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in grade 9, this phrase has stuck with me - for indeed, Caesar was murdered on the 15th of march.

"Ides" in the Roman calendar related to lunar cycles - their calendar was more of a true lunar calendar than our modern version, which required endless rejigging to remain remotely accurate. Instead of counting days sequentially, certain days - such as the "Ides" were tied to lunar events. The Ides originated as the day of the full moon.

We know that the moon CAN control terrestrially events - tides, for example, and there has been lots of talk about the "super moon" - a full moon at the point when the moon is closest to earth- intensifying the Japan earthquake- except that doesn't happen until March 19.

So it is not surprising that the Romans, and Britons of Shakespeare's day- would attach mystical significance to the Ides of March, and forces beyond control or comprehension. Mars being the God of War, it was a particularly risky time. Wariness might be understanable.

Me?Wary? Not so much. I just think it's way more interesting than St. Patrick's Day, which is just so overdone. And I'm still worried about Moon Madness.

What do you think?

Happy Pi Day!

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 08:03:59 -0400

My son who I call Mid-sized B is a Math guy...in fact, he carved Pi as the design on our halloween pumpkin... pumpkin pi(e) , get it?

He's excited that his university Math dept. is serving pie today. And holding a contest to see who can recount the most digits of Pi.

Because Pi is not just 3.14... it is a seemingly infinite number, yet it is, as Lucy Mercer points out this morning in her delightful post, a constant.

Some of us struggle with the whole concept of infinity, which underlies my entire struggle with mortality, finite humanity, and the search for this thing we call the soul.So to have a perfect constant AND infinity all at once boggles my brain. I guess that's why it's Mid-sized B, not his father, who is the math guy...

Excuse me, my head hurts. Maybe some Pie might help.

Making Up For Lost Time

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 06:03:21 -0400

I've not figured out why Daylight Savings Time follows after we "Spring Ahead" and "lose an hour".

First thing, let's all check our dryers. That's a lot of hours to lose, they must all be hiding somewhere.

Under the couch? The bed? That drawer in the kitchen? Maybe the cats dragged it away and stashed it in the basement. Yeah, that's the ticket. Then in fall, they drag it back out.

I felt no need for an extra hour of daylight. I am amazed this spring at how quickly the daylight has lengthened- noticing that I no longer need my desk light when I arrive at work, at least an hour before opening, to enjoy the quiet. And drive how in light, with time afterwords to barbeque, or do outer chores. Once the footing becomes more reliable, I can start walking more, perhaps deflate this spare tire. I'd really like my pants to fit better.

The recent extension of the time change doesn't help. My noticing this and complaining that I liked the old way better just makes me sound crotchety and old. If I sound that way, do I feel that way? Hope not.

It usually takes a week (or more) for my sleep cycles to adjust, yet this morning, I am semi-ready. Was already prepared accidentally- so tired I went to bed insanely early Saturday evening.Woke up before my insanely early alarm which I had not jigged later, even though I have no hard deadlines today. Somebody once wrote that getting up at the same time every day helps sleep. So I do. Routinely maintain the routine, even if there is nothing routine about it.

Final advice or observation: Time really is relative. At least the measurement of it. Simply an arbitrary system of agreeing for convenience sake. If we wanted to, we could label sunrise "midnight". and sunset "noon". the sun would still rise and fall when it wants. Except it neither rises nor, thank heavens, falls. But that would be another blog post.

In closing a few time quotes:

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.”

(Albert Einstein)

“Don’t count every hour in the day, make every hour in the day count.”

(unattributed)

"Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save."

(Will Rogers)

sources:

http://www.tiptopwatches.com/leisuretime/quotesontime.html

http://thinkexist.com/quotations/time/

Good luck... hope you find that time and aren't as mad as Alice's March Hare!