Sitting on the emptiness
Haven't tried out the new me
Basking in the slowness
Duty-free, peaceful, at ease
Riding out the calm
Till Aries comes my way
Have a feeling when it does
I won't rest again till May
Lining up my ducks
Feels like something I should do
But I'm happy watching clouds
For another week or two

I will be under the influence of hormone treatments the next four weeks, for my sixth and final egg donation procedure. Testosterone/estrogen will be all out of whack. Read with a grain of salt! This will be interesting…always is…

You're better than that
You're better than that
You're better than that
You're better than that

I went off on a Facebook rant tonight, thought it probably more appropriately belonged here!

‎Marriage & Collective Values
When was the last time the government seriously thought about marriage’s contribution to our society beyond informing a tax code? Each presidential administration (or Congress collectively?) should be required to contribute to an evolving, publicly available manifesto on American values, rights and responsibilities. An American mission statement perhaps? Something more fluid and reflective of current times than the Constitution. Like a guiding vision for the state of the union address perhaps? How does America feel about marriage? What do we want to do about the institution? Better to let it run its course organically or has it failed to the point that we need to take collective action? All these thoughts coming from someone who is surrounded by people in happy marriages. Hmmmm….This is such a great country, an experiment in freedom. I just want it to be as awesome as possible in every way. I am troubled by a lot of ways in which our collective values are being eroded.

Monopolies and American Apathy and Destitution
History seems to be repeating itself. Monopolies have evolved into something less local and more pervasive and potentially destructive. Now we have the Big 5 oil companies, the Big 5 banks, the Big 5 phone/internet companies, the Big 5 grocery stores, the Big 5 retail outlets, home improvement stores, etc. etc. Our strength as a species comes from individuals contributing all their effort and energy. Very few people (CEOs) actually get to exert their full effort and energy in consolidated systems such as these. I believe all businesses ought to be limited to 150 employees, the max size of most hunter-gatherer groups. Everyone contributes, no one gets left behind.

Transparency, communication, sharing, cooperation

In the US, we have libraries that have collected books that anyone can borrow free of charge. They are run from tax money, because having access to information makes us smarter collectively. The next generation library is a Google Books concept. Google tried to do what Government has fallen behind in doing: providing educational resources to its citizens in a new technological era. Why can't I "check out" any book I want to online? The local public libraries are a joke; it is inefficient to wait weeks to borrow a book that could have been scanned and put online in a week's time for multiple users.

We need to stop pretending that the old systems of copyright, etc. work in this era of information sharing. Adapt or die! This applies to music, video, and any informational content that can be posted and shared online. Surely there is a way to support the work of people that contribute to society without extreme protectionism and frivolous lawsuits. We need to stop being greed-focused and start being more collectively-focused if there is to be any progress in these areas.

By studying several different tribes of the Western Pacific (employing the method of comparison, popular in ethnography), Malinowski gave confirmations of Lewis Morgan's idea that matriarchy (gyneocracy)[47] was a common feature of primitive societies at early stages, and that female rule needed matrilineality for its existence. He also confirmed that matrilineality often goes hand in hand with promiscuous free love (a fact that was discovered[citation needed] by Bachofen).

According to B. Malinowski:

"As a rule, amongst natives, a high position of women is associated with sex laxity."[48]

"The sexual life of these natives [the Southern Massim tribe] is extremely lax. Even when we remember the very free standard of sex morals in the Melanesian tribes of New Guinea, such as the Motu or the Mailu, we still find these natives exceedingly loose in such matters. Certain reserves and appearances which are usually kept up in other tribes, are here completely abandoned. As is probably the case in many communities where sex morals are lax, there is a complete absence of unnatural practices and sex perversions. Marriage is concluded as the natural end of a long and lasting liaison."[48]

"[The Trobrianders'] sexual life starts long before puberty arrives, and gradually shapes and develops as the organism matures… Chastity is an unknown virtue among these natives. At an incredibly early age they become initiated into sexual life… As they grow up, they live in promiscuous free-love, which gradually develops into more permanent attachments… Marriage is associated with hardly any public or private rite or ceremony. The woman simply joins her husband in his house… In her married life, the woman is supposed to remain faithful to her husband, but this rule is neither very strictly kept nor enforced. In all other ways, she retains a great measure of independence."[43]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matriarchy

Going where the wind blows me
But stretching out my wings, surfing the currents with flair, and enjoying the views
I'm so high
The sun is always on me now
Let me stay up here
A while longer

My FB post about fashion caused a mini-transformation today for me. I realized how confused my wardrobe was after talking with my roommate tonight. I just don't have a "coaching" wardrobe yet that suits my new lifestyle. The majority of my clothes are "office eccentric" if I had to describe them, and during the day I am rather confused about what to wear. I got organized tonight and lumped all my "coaching-appropriate" clothes together in one section of my "closet" so that I could more quickly pick something rational to wear on a daily basis. This also tells me what I am missing and I hope to fill in soon with some better coaching pants and jackets.

I was also really inspired by the documentary "Man on a Wire" tonight, to continue to work on my goal-planning daily. You could call this dream-building. Taking more time to visualize the life that I want and the steps I need to take to make it happen. More active, starting tomorrow!