Many Musings
Jun. 21st, 2004 08:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
teleidoplexThis post went through a lot of titles, one for each thing I wanted to talk about, before I finally gave up. Witness now as I attempt a cut for those of you who don't want to wade through it all...
There...and there again, a Kitsune's tail...er, tale
So, I have now learned the valuable lesson that if I'm going from B-town to catch a flight in Chicago, I need to leave at least 9 hours in advance. I learned this because I stupidly got on the road only 7 hours before my flight, thinking that would be *plenty* of time to drive the 3 or so hours to ancientwisdom's parents, the 1 or so hours from there to O'Hare, and still leaving me with 2 or so hours before my flight.
What I didn't count on was the jack-knifed truck on the I-65 near that stretch around Renssalaer that doesn't have an exit for, like, fifteen miles. Not that an exit would have done me any good since I didn't move more than 20 feet in the hour and change that I sat there. In desperation I finally risked the ditch. Luckily my car didn't get stuck (I think the fox would have, so phew on that one). I then had to take this big detour to get around the accident and back to the 65.
So I ended up getting to the airport 1/2 hour before my flight left, and since they won't check anyone after the 45 minutes before departure mark, I was shit out of luck.
That's right, I left 7 hours early, and I still missed my flight.
Luckily, the lady at the counter was very nice (well, she was actually kinda rude in that Roseanne Barr "I'm so funny when I'm rude" kind of way that I really don't understand, but she did a nice thing for me, so I'll assume that she was nice). I had to pay a change fee (which I shouldn't have been allowed to do since they were expedia tickets), but she booked me for the flight the next day (cause there's only one, apparently). She also gave me a hotel voucher that reduced my room rate to a piddly $20. So, it cost me about $175 total, which sucks, and really put a dent in my already jalopy-esque budget, but I got here. I'll be eating ramen a lot while I'm here, but at least it will be Irish ramen! Er...ew.
Canada the UnCanny
I had a funnier title for that, but I can't remember what it was.
So, my flight was through Toronto, which means I got to experience the uncanniness of Canada. For the most part, being in Canada feels like being in the U.S., but then you start to notice little strange things that emphasize that what seems familiar is really rather alien. For instance, Canada smells funny.
I don't know what it is. Maybe it's just the knowledge that you're in a foreign place that causes you to be more aware of things like olfactory input. Maybe Canadian Airports and U.S. Airports have the same funny smell, and I just never noticed it, but I don't think this is the case. Nor could I really identify the quality of the smell, although there did seem to be a stronger odor of human bodies that may or may not have anything to do with the type and quantity of deorderant used.
At any rate, no real musings here, since I was only there for a few hours. There were just a bunch of little things, like the lack of unsweetened iced tea, the no free drink refills, the absence of chain burger joints in the terminal (like McDonalds), that kept glitching me up.
Christ Church Cathedral...or is it Fox Church Cathedral...or maybe it's Raver Church Cathedral. You decide.
So, as per my usual when I am in Dublin, I made my pilgrimmage to Christ Church Cathedral on Sunday. I am not religious in the typical sense, and I don't usually go to church, but Christ Church has become a very important spiritual node for me, and as such I always return. I've wondered and worried a lot about whether this is inconsiderate of the people who attend services there, because I am not going there as a catholic or even a christian. I do think that I approach the place and the services there with a deep reverence and respect, and that at the core I share many of the good intentions and sense of wonder that people attending services are supposed to approach such a place with. Maybe that's just equivocation.
At any wise, this visit was just as special for me, though as always in a different way. Firstly, I apparently accidently stumbled in on Ordination to the Diaconate day, which meant that instead of the normal communion mass, the Archbishop of Dublin held an Ordination Mass. It was really wonderful and uplifting to be there to witness those two people (Ian Cruickshanks and Norma McMaster) make such an important step in their lives, and to pontificate on how this moment would touch not only their lives, but the lives of all the people they would touch in their ministry.
So, there was some ecstasis there for me.
But on a more personal note, there were two other kewl things. First, the Cathedral got new chairs, and on the backs of every chair were carved the two foxes that are kind of the icon/logos of Christ Church Cathedral. They're basically little fox pilgrims with staffs and backpacks and hats, and their hands are held out begging for alms. They are on the tiles that form the main motif that runs up the center aisle, and now they're on the chairs too. Yay!
The other cool thing was the bathroom. So, you have to go through this heavy wooden door and down these dark stairs into this huge underground crypt with stone walls and sarcophagi and all sorts of dank and spooky stuff. Then you have to go to the complete other side of the crypt (that runs the length of the Cathedral), and open the door to the bathroom, which is basically a windowless room with walls of rough crypt stone, a toilet, a sink and...
A blacklight!
That's right, the only light in the room is a blacklight, and it looks so wickedly cool when you close the door and the light picks up the toilet, the sink, the tp, and the little flecks of white in the stone. And it got me to thinking how cool it would be to have a rave in the crypt at Christ Church Cathedral.
And More Foxes!
So, there's probably a whole bunch more that I'm forgetting, but this is already getting way long, and I still have Irish homework to do. I'll close with the observation that I saw a fox today. He was hanging out in a patch of sunlight in a garden behind Newman House, which is where the seminar is being held. We were being given a tour of the house, and we walked into this absolutely beautiful room of pale gold, that had floor to (very vaulted) ceiling windows looking out into the gardens behind the house, with the late afternoon sunlight streaming in. I went up to the windows to look out, and lo and behold there was Mr. Fox. Apparently you see foxes out back fairly frequently, especially on the rooftop of the priory building that is back there, but also lounging in the gardens. This was a very fine fellow, with his fur all rusty red in the sunlight, and a long inquisitive nose, and slightly overlarge paws. He reminded me of ancientwisdom, and with that, I'm signing off so I can call my very own foxboy.
Fare you all well til later. Tomorrow the actual seminar starts, so I'll have more to say then, including the dish on my new seminar friends, all of whom seem very cool and interesting.
kitsune
So, I have now learned the valuable lesson that if I'm going from B-town to catch a flight in Chicago, I need to leave at least 9 hours in advance. I learned this because I stupidly got on the road only 7 hours before my flight, thinking that would be *plenty* of time to drive the 3 or so hours to ancientwisdom's parents, the 1 or so hours from there to O'Hare, and still leaving me with 2 or so hours before my flight.
What I didn't count on was the jack-knifed truck on the I-65 near that stretch around Renssalaer that doesn't have an exit for, like, fifteen miles. Not that an exit would have done me any good since I didn't move more than 20 feet in the hour and change that I sat there. In desperation I finally risked the ditch. Luckily my car didn't get stuck (I think the fox would have, so phew on that one). I then had to take this big detour to get around the accident and back to the 65.
So I ended up getting to the airport 1/2 hour before my flight left, and since they won't check anyone after the 45 minutes before departure mark, I was shit out of luck.
That's right, I left 7 hours early, and I still missed my flight.
Luckily, the lady at the counter was very nice (well, she was actually kinda rude in that Roseanne Barr "I'm so funny when I'm rude" kind of way that I really don't understand, but she did a nice thing for me, so I'll assume that she was nice). I had to pay a change fee (which I shouldn't have been allowed to do since they were expedia tickets), but she booked me for the flight the next day (cause there's only one, apparently). She also gave me a hotel voucher that reduced my room rate to a piddly $20. So, it cost me about $175 total, which sucks, and really put a dent in my already jalopy-esque budget, but I got here. I'll be eating ramen a lot while I'm here, but at least it will be Irish ramen! Er...ew.
I had a funnier title for that, but I can't remember what it was.
So, my flight was through Toronto, which means I got to experience the uncanniness of Canada. For the most part, being in Canada feels like being in the U.S., but then you start to notice little strange things that emphasize that what seems familiar is really rather alien. For instance, Canada smells funny.
I don't know what it is. Maybe it's just the knowledge that you're in a foreign place that causes you to be more aware of things like olfactory input. Maybe Canadian Airports and U.S. Airports have the same funny smell, and I just never noticed it, but I don't think this is the case. Nor could I really identify the quality of the smell, although there did seem to be a stronger odor of human bodies that may or may not have anything to do with the type and quantity of deorderant used.
At any rate, no real musings here, since I was only there for a few hours. There were just a bunch of little things, like the lack of unsweetened iced tea, the no free drink refills, the absence of chain burger joints in the terminal (like McDonalds), that kept glitching me up.
So, as per my usual when I am in Dublin, I made my pilgrimmage to Christ Church Cathedral on Sunday. I am not religious in the typical sense, and I don't usually go to church, but Christ Church has become a very important spiritual node for me, and as such I always return. I've wondered and worried a lot about whether this is inconsiderate of the people who attend services there, because I am not going there as a catholic or even a christian. I do think that I approach the place and the services there with a deep reverence and respect, and that at the core I share many of the good intentions and sense of wonder that people attending services are supposed to approach such a place with. Maybe that's just equivocation.
At any wise, this visit was just as special for me, though as always in a different way. Firstly, I apparently accidently stumbled in on Ordination to the Diaconate day, which meant that instead of the normal communion mass, the Archbishop of Dublin held an Ordination Mass. It was really wonderful and uplifting to be there to witness those two people (Ian Cruickshanks and Norma McMaster) make such an important step in their lives, and to pontificate on how this moment would touch not only their lives, but the lives of all the people they would touch in their ministry.
So, there was some ecstasis there for me.
But on a more personal note, there were two other kewl things. First, the Cathedral got new chairs, and on the backs of every chair were carved the two foxes that are kind of the icon/logos of Christ Church Cathedral. They're basically little fox pilgrims with staffs and backpacks and hats, and their hands are held out begging for alms. They are on the tiles that form the main motif that runs up the center aisle, and now they're on the chairs too. Yay!
The other cool thing was the bathroom. So, you have to go through this heavy wooden door and down these dark stairs into this huge underground crypt with stone walls and sarcophagi and all sorts of dank and spooky stuff. Then you have to go to the complete other side of the crypt (that runs the length of the Cathedral), and open the door to the bathroom, which is basically a windowless room with walls of rough crypt stone, a toilet, a sink and...
A blacklight!
That's right, the only light in the room is a blacklight, and it looks so wickedly cool when you close the door and the light picks up the toilet, the sink, the tp, and the little flecks of white in the stone. And it got me to thinking how cool it would be to have a rave in the crypt at Christ Church Cathedral.
So, there's probably a whole bunch more that I'm forgetting, but this is already getting way long, and I still have Irish homework to do. I'll close with the observation that I saw a fox today. He was hanging out in a patch of sunlight in a garden behind Newman House, which is where the seminar is being held. We were being given a tour of the house, and we walked into this absolutely beautiful room of pale gold, that had floor to (very vaulted) ceiling windows looking out into the gardens behind the house, with the late afternoon sunlight streaming in. I went up to the windows to look out, and lo and behold there was Mr. Fox. Apparently you see foxes out back fairly frequently, especially on the rooftop of the priory building that is back there, but also lounging in the gardens. This was a very fine fellow, with his fur all rusty red in the sunlight, and a long inquisitive nose, and slightly overlarge paws. He reminded me of ancientwisdom, and with that, I'm signing off so I can call my very own foxboy.
Fare you all well til later. Tomorrow the actual seminar starts, so I'll have more to say then, including the dish on my new seminar friends, all of whom seem very cool and interesting.
kitsune
