Tempest Penumbra

The act of performing a brake check is a suggestion that maybe, you are checking your brakes to make sure that they are working. This is something that is performed while driving down the road but, you will not find this term or, how to perform it in any drivers manual or owner’s manual because there is no such thing. In fact, the brake check is something that is done whenever someone is following to close, and you want them to back off, which would be a bad time for you or them to find out that the brakes did in fact need checked. Checking your brakes is something that a mechanic does by looking at the thickness of the brake pads to determine remaining life until you need to change the pads. Some people take their vehicles to a shop to have this done, some, like me, wait till there’s a grinding noise coming from one of the brakes, or for the pad to completely come off before changing them. A lot of people I imagine don’t know how to change brakes but changing them regularly is a fact ...

To tell someone not to run with scissors is just an observation of a principle in safety suggesting that one might hurt themselves if they run with scissors, which is true but, what if you were being chased by a bear and you happened to have a pair of scissors in your hand. The odds of being able to out run the bear are slim, you don’t really want to give up your only weapon, and the odds of being able to fight off the bear with the scissors is slim as well. So, if there is a window open to the possibility of being able to evade the bear then it would seem logical, to run, with the scissors.  When I was a kid my papaw owned a wheel grinder which he used to sharpen everything, including the scissors. There really should have been a warning label with the kitchen knives after he had sharpened them, immediately post sharpening, they could cut you if you looked at the wrong.  He would sharpen his ax with the wheel grinder too. An ax didn’t really need to be razor sharp. Splitting ...

It is with great reluctance and fear that I bring you this tale of one whose very countenance is that of tragedy born of joy. It is in an ever last moment of dread that I scrawl through the moments of my life where this thing formed in manifestations of itself until matter betrayed science and became a thing of substance which haunts me to this day. I speak of none other than the ghastly Skeleton Bride. In the realm of irrational fears the people responsible for bringing into existence these names of phobias have only seen fit to assign names to the more generalized phobias while leaving every thing else to simply fall under the label of irrational fears but, I wonder if these wordsmiths have ever seen her in her white raiment billowing as she come for you with her cold touch of seemingly endless cycle of death. I imagine they have not. So....I have done the foot work. I have made the necessary adaptations in the art of word smithing to assign a name to this irrational fear. It is call...

In the realm of words unread, I would like to note that words unread are better than words un-spoken. Words unread at least have the luxury of being recorded where words unspoken, or unwritten are lost in the throats and memories of those who failed to bring them to light. I suppose mumbles would be better for at least some of this incoherent communication would make it to the auditory senses allowing maybe for the subconscious to bare the weight of recording it even if subconsciously.  I would prefer that my own thoughts, one hundred percent of them survive in some sort of account that could be shared but I’m sure that ill never get it all out there. Marco Polo on his death bed said that he had not told half of what he had seen. This has been, of course, an outlet for much lore but, I’m sure the same could be said for anyone. Marco Polo just happened to be “not just anyone.” I have found it very gratifying to record my thoughts and share them with you on this blog. However, the ti...

I believe that my cats think that cat food is manna from heaven. Whenever I open the door at feeding time they come rushing in to the garage looking for the source of this divine substance that gives them life. Touching their little noses gently to everything. Of course, when they hear that sound of the food falling into the bowl thrn that just kind of trumps ever other thought that might be running through their minds. They are predictable like that. Its funny watching cats with their smug attitudes where the only holiness they know is in the deity of themselves which is what they worship. We can think the Egyptians for that. Three thousand years of pampered domestication will do that to a species. It seems also that in spite of their smugness they have this hive mind attribute where they all answer to “kitty kitty”. Really though, what kitty kitty means is that you have something for them that you owe them of course. It funny how you can give a cat a name, but it will act like it doe...

Spring and fall are probably my two favorite seasons of the year. For one, its not to hot and not to cold. Second I guess is the wind. Hearing it in the trees brings me this peace of mind that is just priceless. The chaotic symphony of nature with its crescendos, its pitch rising and falling and coming to a howling sound like that of some wraith improving a heartfelt expression of drama befitting of its condition. With the wind comes the debris. In the fall it’s those golden-brown leaves being snatched up and carried away or just falling lazily like burned out stars to pile up on the ground beneath its benefactor, picked clean and changing the color of the world all around.  In the spring, vibrant with the return of color, the blossoms have their moment in the new sun. springing forth, in the essence of that two-fold meaning of the word in itself, they decorate the tree lines with pastels before covering the world with the chaos of new beginnings coming to an end. These two seasons...

There is a fine line between gambling addiction and gambling occupation. The gambler, business man, professional, knows where the bottom line is in that operating income necessary to keep things moving from one game to the next as it balances between living and working. The addict knows only how to shoot the moon or hit rock bottom. The gamblers greatest trick is in knowing the tales of his competition and, these tales are found in subtle expressions and gestures that are associated with the cards that someone holds in their hand. A good gambler will throw money away making call after call just to see what those cards are.  Now to watch a bunch of professionals go at it is a beautiful thing. There is an art to finding tales and casting faked tales so as to throw your competition off, and the winner of the day is that one that can lie the best without ever having said a word. Now, I like to gamble. I enjoy the art of it but, as a profession it was a gamble I was never really willing...

To each his own craft I suppose. I find myself in a frustrating situation today having dragged out my violin in an attempt to restring and tune it. It sat in a closet for years because I hadn't realized that it had an extra set of strings with it. So I then threatened myself for years to come with getting it out and fixing it. I'm not a master musician but I'm not new to it either. I've played in bands as mostly a guitarist or bass player. I've never often had an electric guitar so some of those fancier tricks still kind of elude me but, I've always kept an acoustic around and having spent years with that particular type of instrument I grew quite fluent in its use and upkeep.  Changing the strings was like some ritual,  which included tea. I always bought new pegs for when I changed the strings. There could be not one flaw in its sound. The second part of the ritual included breaking them in. Once they were on I would tighten them just a little to tight to put ...

If I'm not careful, I suppose this blog will become known as the tea blog. However,  the original intention for this blog was for an esoteric/philosophical/spiritual purpose but, the introductory post set a personal tone that I did not expect which was the dilemma that held me on a state of pause yesterday. So with much deliberation with myself in the art of pacing I have decided that this blog will be approached by me at a more personal level. The "me" shining through. Ofcourse the arcane, I imagine, will bleed through still seeing as how that is part of who I am. Yesterday I found myself in a tea crisis, while an impending storm loomed all about my windows,  I had one tea bag left and it was going to be six hours till my wife returned with a new box. When the storm finally came it was one of those slow cold drizzles like the touch of death that works it's way into your skin before settling into your bones. A fall storm I guess by text book definition where the earth...

Thoth was the Egyptian God of writing among other things. He is attributed to all the writings of ancient Egypt. Its even said that the bible was only written down by men but inspired by God. Since prehistoric times mankind has felt a need to "write it down." Imagine how much the first grocery list would be worth, or a string of love letters between a cave man and a cave woman, preserved in a rolled up animal skin and most likely written in the blood of that which provided the canvas. This also probably inspired that relic of a grocery list. 1. Mammoth chops 2. Fire 3. Cave deodorizer  I have found that most people feel it necessary to have a journal for about everthing in their life. In one article I read, the author suggested a dream journal,  a meditation journal, and a journal to record results from magical rituals. That is three journals to have to keep up with and just seems a bit overkill to me.  However, I imagine that the amount of journals one needs depends on t...

I think it important for my first entry into this blog to give explanation as to why I chose the name "Tempest Penumbra."  #1, tempest is the name of a Tool song on their new album.  #2, my birth sign is a wind element. A tempest, by definition is a violent windy storm. Penumbra, by definition Is the partially shaded region of the shadow cast by an opaque object.  A tempest person would probably be best defined as someone who is short tempered and quick to argue in a violent display of mental aggression. I am not so much that. I am for the most part a quiet person.I withhold my judgement on most things till it is vital or productive or, unless I am prodded. Then I can be as harsh as any tempest person can be (to a flaw I'm sure). The reason, however,  that I chose this name for my blog is because of my thirst for knowledge and the manner in which it builds this chaotic windy storm inside me (tempest, macrocosm) and, the balance within me to project this knowledge in ...