IntenseDebate - Pretzelcoatl

10 years ago @ The Toast - Cocktail Hour: Open Th... · 0 replies · +4 points

I like how you put that. I'm finding, as someone who has been an individual practitioner for a long time, that the nice thing about organized religion/groups in general is that it's nice to know where there are people who are actually "experts" in certain areas.

I mean, yeah, one big turn off is that you're going to encounter people who think there is only one way to do your thing. But I would rather seek the advice of, say, a hospice chaplain who follows a certain religion than a random person who is so individualistic that they think they are the only one who knows what's up and offers you unsolicited advice on how to deal with your grief.

10 years ago @ The Toast - Cocktail Hour: Open Th... · 0 replies · +4 points

Surprisingly not yet! And yes, I totally agree with that. I forgot to mention in my initial response that I thought about local pagan and Buddhist groups, too, but I 1) either couldn't find any or 2) couldn't find any I felt comfortable in. I knew three friends who went to UU, so that seemed the best choice.

10 years ago @ The Toast - Cocktail Hour: Open Th... · 2 replies · +5 points

Short story: I feel like I've needed a place to talk about deep questions and do social justice stuff with a supportive community, so I started going to the local Unitarian Universalist church with my sister. (In that regard, I guess "convert" is probably not the best word, but...)

Long story: I grew up in an ELCA household. Pretty liberal, but it was still not really for me, especially since I had an interest in meditation and Eastern religion, as well as a smattering of pagan ideas. I considered myself a "Christian mystic" for a long period of time and then that changed to just "agnostic" because of some of my changing attitudes. Meditating by myself and having that self-reflection is still really important to me, but I really wanted to find a place with a community because I felt like I would be able to do more good things and stay focused with a group of relatively like-minded people. Plus, I missed some of the aspects of ritual, like singing.

10 years ago @ The Toast - Link Roundup! · 1 reply · +18 points

I haven't *seen* a ghost, but my senior year of college I lived in a place that used to be a mortuary. Two things happened that I usually recount when my friends tell SPOOPY GHOST STORIES:

1) I was working on a paper late one night and my roommate was asleep. I heard him doing this weird chanting in his sleep. I have no idea what it was, but it definitely was something that wasn't English but had a rhythm to it. I was a little weirded out, but didn't think of it until the next day, when he said he had this dream in which he felt like someone was on top of him.

2) I liked to meditate a lot back then, so I figured I would try doing it in the apartment. Did the whole aspect of calming myself, finding myself in a trance-like state, and then I felt something brush against me, which jarred me out of it. I found a rather big cut on my arm, which was weird since there was nothing nearby which could have made that.

I decided just to go for walks instead after that.

10 years ago @ The Toast - Link Roundup! · 52 replies · +21 points

So what was everyone's first cassette or CD? Mine was TLC's CrazySexyCool.

10 years ago @ The Toast - Link Roundup! · 0 replies · +10 points

And technically rugby involves the latter too.

10 years ago @ The Toast - Link Roundup! · 2 replies · +9 points

Considering how I went from running into rugby as my primary form of exercise, I'm pretty sure I'm becoming an expert in the Pain and Discomfort area of conversation that article mentions.

10 years ago @ The Toast - Link Roundup! · 2 replies · +11 points

My sister and I still make our grandma's Chicken Catherine recipe which embraces cream of mushroom soup. It was something I loved even when I was a picky eater, so haters can just leave more food for me. OM NOM NOM.

10 years ago @ The Toast - Link Roundup! · 1 reply · +12 points

I was thinking the same thing about re-reading The Dark is Rising (although I might follow my sister's lead, since she re-reads it every year around Christmas). I'm also feeling the urge to reread The Chronicles of Prydain, possibly because of the need of badass princesses and bards in my life.

10 years ago @ The Toast - Link Roundup! · 1 reply · +33 points

I keep on deleting all of the comments I have about Earthsea and The Dark is Rising and how influential they were for me since they blather on and on BUT I will say they both cemented my life goal of being a wizard.

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