"Best Of" #3 - On Time

A meditation on the nature of time. Originally written in December of 2006


“Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.”
-- Douglas Adams

I have learned by hard experience over the course of approximately the past six months or so that there are two sorts of time. The first sort of time is that sort governed by clock and calendar. It is factory time, school-bell time, hurry-up-or-you'll-be-late time. It is measurable, quantifiable, easily rationed out in carefully controlled drips and drabs to this person or that activity. The Greeks had a name for this sort of time, they called it kronos. It is an orderly thing, it moves in straight, predictable lines. Most often it is the only sort of time we recognize in our world of rush hour traffic and speed-dating.

Man was not meant to live by kronos alone and the Greeks knew this. They recognized the existence of another sort of time which they called kairos, time measured not in hours or weeks but in moments and cycles. It is the sort of time that one experiences when the clock seems to stop, when you are so fully immersed in what you are experiencing that all else becomes utterly irrelevant. It does not matter whether the experience is joyful or terrifying, it is on such moments that our lives are built. But we need more than that. We need kairos daily.

Some people claim that the nature of modern life is such that there is little room for kairos. I would disagree. The opportunity is hiding around every corner, the challenge is to see it. Even in a world ruled by time clocks and datebooks we still have a choice.

So reclaim your kairos. Read a book. Smell a rose. Hug someone. Watch the sun set or rise. Feel the wildness in the night wind. Be aware of something other than your watch.

"Best Of" #2 - Design Resources for the Rest of Us

Originally posted in December of 2006 when I was still going to school for web design.



I have to admit something. I'm not really a web designer. I never have been. I may well never ~be~. I don't know.

I do know that I am first and foremost an artist and writer. By extension I also do some graphic design. Any actual HTML coding I do is a total afterthought, something to make sure whatever I want to put up displays properly, nothing more.

Which is something of a disadvantage given that I am attempting to redesign my church's website for my web design II final project. It's no wonder then, that I've been rather stuck for about the last week. I had very little idea what I wanted to do and even less how to do it.

But last night I found some things that have gotten me unstuck.

Miracle of miracles!

I would then like to present web design tutorials for the rest of us.

• Basic HTML part 1


• Basic HTML part 2


• A Good explanation of classes and id's and how to use them


• Useful CSS tricks


• And the tutorial that actually got me unstuck- tableless two-column layout

Have fun!

"Best Of" #1 - I do not want to be

In this series of posts, I am gathering together a smattering of my writing from a variety of sources for your edification and my convenience.

This first piece is a poem that I wrote on my experiences in a polyamorous relationship. I wrote this in September of 2007.


I do not want to be the sun in your sky-
The sun is blinding in her jealousy,
Only rarely
Does she share the vast world-dome
And with so few
I have to wonder-
Does she ever become lonely,
Burning so fiercely by herself?
No, I do not want to be the sun in your sky.

I do not wish to be the moon
Who shines without burning,
But neither does he nourish.
He waxes and wanes,
Sometimes seeming to strive to be
at least a pale reflection
of the glory of the sun.
And I wonder if he tires
Of trying to be something he is not?
No, I do not wish to be the moon.

I am not the wind
To be ever seeking after you
Nor am I
The road beneath your feet.
I am not a rock
To build your house-
Or your heart- upon.

What then do I seek?

I seek to be your pole star,
That while I might not always be
The brightest light in the sky
I might be a
Constant in your wanderings
And a sign to point toward
when you come home again.

Why were we here again?

I confess that I find this being-human-thing to be difficult, confusing, and at times downright distressing. I imagine that some of you do too and that is why I am sitting here, writing this.

In creating this blog I aim to provide a resource for all of you who feel as I do that you are wandering through this human experience lost, dazed, and seeking direction. I can't tell you which direction is best for you but I can give you resources to find your own answers, tell you how I have and am doing it myself, and share the joys and struggles with you.

And I suspect that by thinking about my process in an organized way I will learn as much or more than you will- a most symbiotic arrangement.