Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees held the record for most consecutive games (2,130) up until 1995 when Cal Ripkin Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles surpassed him, eventually playing 2,632.

Back in those days, ballplayers played about 120 games a season, compared to the….what, 180 games they play now? And back then, ballplayers were ballplayers. They weren’t men on steroids, they weren’t men demanding millions of dollars for a contract.

My grandfather (a picture of him with a recruiter for the Baltimore Orioles, showing where he could hold 7 baseballs in his hand), rest his soul, was always under the opinion that if you’re going to compare records, you should do it on an even playing field. Could Cal Ripkin have played as many games if he was playing less each season, forcing him to play for many more years? Going from almost 15 years of play to almost 22 years?

It’s the same with any record in sports. Most home-runs, most touch downs, most grand slams in a career (a record also held by Lou Gehrig). How can we compare to the men who built the foundation of American sports, when the sports players today are given such an advantage?

Just something I was thinking about tonight while obviously watching a movie about Lou Gehrig. I’m almost touched at the difference in sports from then and now. Where back then men played because they loved the game, and people loved and respected them. Compared to now where….do I really need to elaborate?

Last weekend I participated in a 9 hour intensive on Peer Counseling at the Grove.

Today we held a Deity Swap workshop at the Grove, hosted by my dearest friend Anna, where members were to pick a deity of significance with them, and talk about how they have influenced their life. I originally thought it was going to be a workshop where we would break-off into groups of two, explain our deity of choice to our partner, and in turn our partner would talk about what they learned about said deity to the group.

Turns out, however, that it was just one big group discussion, and each person went through their deity in turn. This, of course, made the workshop span a lot longer than I anticipated, as you know how people like to talk about themselves. And unfortunately I abhor group discussions, and avoid them whenever possible for this simple reason. That and when decisions have to be made with in the group (such as Witan meetings, ritual planning meetings) that everyone has to get the “me too’s” in and you’re stuck there for hours on end. Hardly anything gets accomplished.

But, I stuck it out because I really was interested in hearing from other people, and I wanted to support my friend. I did not speak about everything I wanted to, I kept it short and sweet. Perhaps I will write up my thoughts concerning Athena at another time for those interested.

I also have several thoughts on my particular spiritual mindset that I might delve into later.

Yesterday I changed the oil in my car, scrubbed the bathroom, and started some cleaning for some potential guests tomorrow or Tuesday. My good friend Art from Hemlock Vales Protogrove and his wife may be able to stop in for a visit while in town from northern PA. I look forward to seeing them, as I haven’t seen Art since Trillium. If the plans go through, I will probably take off work early one day to hang out with them.

Tonight is a “Me” night, spent on web projects, MUD chaos, and my dedicant’s program. Earlier I was able to play God and brought down fire from the sky, plagued the streets with demonic rats, and sent tidalwaves over the city, washing citizens of the city (players included) down the street, half-drowned.

It’s dangerous when I get frisky

It’s Mosquito Season. (I worked at Terminix far too long, I think)

Provided by my friend Renee. She has used this herself and says it works great and she was not bothered by mosquitos for at least 4 hours while outside.

As a base/carrier oil, you can use grapeseed, almond, jojoba, apricot kernel, or even olive oil.

(Yes this is the exact recipe, do not bug me about the amount of essential oils)
5 oz carrier oil

Essential oils:

1/2 oz citronella oil
1/2 oz texas cedarwood oil
1/2 oz eucalyptus oil
1/2 oz lemongrass oil
1/2 oz peppermint oil
1/2 oz neem oil

mix ‘em all together, shake before using. it can be put into a spray mister bottle.

She also mentions that Clove Oil and Tea Tree Oil mixed together (or experiment with the recipe above) also helps repel bugs.

An additional set of homemade recipes I found:

INSECT REPELLENT SPRITZER

Materials:
lemon peels and/or orange peels
mint leaves and/or pennyroyal leaves and/or sage leaves
rubbing alcohol or witch hazel

Directions:
(Note Do Not use penny royal if you are pregnant or wish to become so.)

Make a strong tea with the peels and the mint leaves. You can use each ingredient separately if you like or combine them to suit your sense of smell. Its best to soak the ingredients over night in a covered pan. The next day strain. Mix the strong herbal tea half and half with either witch hazel or rubbing alcohol and put in a spray bottle. Spray your self down before going outside in the evening.

INSECT REPELLENT OIL

Materials:
Salad oil of any kind (but olive is preferred)
lemon peels and/or orange peels
mint leaves and/or pennyroyal leaves and/or sage leaves
glass jar sterilized
pan to heal oil

Directions:
(Note Do Not use pennyroyal if you are pregnant or wish to become so.)

Place torn leaves and peels packed in a sterilized glass jar. Heat oil to 160 degrees F. Pour over herbal mixture in the jar to completely cover. Place top on, and let sit in a dark place for at least a week. A month is better. Rub this oil on before hikes or out side activities where one might sweat off a spritzer.

FLEA REPELLENT FOR DOGS

(NOTE: Do not use this on cats. Citrus is toxic to cats in large amounts.!!!)

Materials:
citrus peels
water
pan

Boil left over citrus peels in a pan of water. Pour over your dog after a bath rubbing into the coat. It will make your dog smell like an orange. It will kill fleas AND keep them off your pet.

Besides the adorable words like “Dodgy”, “Posh” and “Bloody Hell”, I’ve recently found other reasons to love the English.

On cable in the states, we have this channel called BBC America. I don’t ever watch it, but I was flipping through channels on a lazy Saturday noon the other day, and ran across How Clean is your House.

I immediately fell in love with this show because obviously it makes my house look like a gold tooth in a mouth of foulness, and because of their ridiculously awesome cleaning tips. And we’re not talking the Americanized cleaning tips where you drench your house in Clorox and Febreeze, but many eco-friendly and frugal cleaning tips that WORK.

That and the tall woman has a lot of british sass, which I love. Watch a sample episode here (and this isn’t the worst episode I’ve seen).

I wish America could catch up the UK regarding being eco-friendly, but I imagine that’s far from happening.

Some tips from the show:

Mix salt and baking soda into a clogged drain, pour hot vinegar on and let sit for an hour.

Put coffee grounds in your fridge to neutralize odors.

Put bicarbonate of soda on your mattress and let sit before vaccumming up to help get rid of odor.

To stop the bottom of your shower curtain from becoming discoloured or mouldy, coat it with baby oil. (though I recommend getting a fabric shower curtain)

When you wash the kitchen floor, use your rubbish bin instead of a bucket to hold the water. This way you get a fresh bin without the hassle of washing it.

And there are tons others, but I may compile them all into its own post at some point.

Tonight, my bosses threw a party at their place. Absolutely stunning brick home in one of those ritzy neighborhoods. Beautiful landscaping drenched in trees and foliage, with a few zen elements added.

We had crabs, shrimp, strawberries dipped in chocolate, devilled eggs, burgers, beer, jello shots, you name it.

The weather was perfect, the company was amazing, and I almost didn’t go.

I’ve been feeling someone of an introvert lately. I haven’t felt like I was connecting to anyone, especially at work. And I was just going to go home, maybe take a nap, work on some personal projects. But I’m very glad I didn’t.

A lot of my co-workers are musicians, and I might have mentioned before that my boss used to play with Lenny Kravitz. He’s an amazing violinist, and a few others are just over-the-top musicians.

Several people throughout the night kept telling me I have to play, you gotta play, I’m not leaving until you play. To be honest I didn’t even realize anyone knew I played anything, except for a select few.

So I downed some rum and coke, because I’m infinitely intimidated by playing in front of so many talented people, and I’ve never played in front of a mic before, or with other people playing with me. So it was a new experience.

I received so many compliments and people telling me they loved my voice, I really didn’t know what to say. I mean what -can- you say? Just a lot of “thank you’s” and smiles. It was kind of scary, because I felt out of my comfort zone. And I never feel like the mainstream covers that I play are any interest to anyone, so I almost feel guilty for making them listen to it.

My mind works in weird ways I guess.

One good thing that came from tonight though, I think one of the guys (who I’ve always thought was an amazing musician) might bring me in to work on a song or two. Which would be kind of cool.

I just want to play music. There’s only so much I can do on my own, I’d love to learn from other people, watch them perform, work on my guitar, whatever I can do.

My bosses also sent me home with a bushel of crabs, a bag of shrimp, and a watermelon for my dad

Rehab Shampoo - (Detox your scalp with rosemary, juniper and peppermint. Purge grime with enzymatic fruit juices and restore strength with olive and almond oils.) This looked like brown egg yolks at first (that slimy juicy texture), but the scent was kinda cool. It lathered well and made my hair feel really clean afterwards. I couldn’t sense much of the mint, which was disappointing because that usually helps any itch on my scalp (also another reason I love Jason’s). A few more uses will be able to determine whether this is a worthwhile investment, or if I should stick to my Giovanni and Jason’s.

Retread Conditioner - (If your hair is thick, curly, rough, and dried out, feed it a nourishing cantaloupe, seaweed and yogurt conditioner.) Initial scent is not very flattering. It’s not bad, it just smells like……soap…I think. I’m waiting for my hair to completely dry, and a few more uses to get the full effect, but so far not as impressive as the description led me to believe. It didn’t give me the giddy “*squee* my hair is so soft!” feeling that Jason’s and Giovanni organic conditioners did. I do have partially dry hair though from when I had been dying it, and this promises to tame that and moisturize so perhaps it will just take a few more uses.

Tramp Body Wash - (picture a tree nymph, imagine how kind and gentle she would be and then think of the soothing effect that our deep forest green, patchouli shower gel has on the hair and skin. You could picture our Dryad collecting balm leaves and archangel herb (also called white horehound which doesn’t sound quite as pretty) to make her hair shine and her skin soft.) I’m all about patchouli products, have been for years. I’ve been using “Peaceful Patchouli” body wash from Kiss my Face for a while now, and wanted to try something a little different. So I tried this surprisingly forest green body wash with much glee. It was definitely much stronger in scent, but very authentic patchouli. It’s going to take a few uses to determine what it does to my skin, but the scent is definitely recommended.

I’m still debating whether it’s worth buying compared to the Kiss my Face though, they both produce the same results (with slightly different scents), but I could just as easily sate my Patchouli craving at a cheaper price.

Honey I Washed The Kids Soap - Did not receive accidentally upon initial purchase (and my very first LUSH order), so will review once they’ve sent me the replacement.

Sexy Peel Soap (received by accident) - (Imagine a fruit basket bursting with lemons, limes and grapefruits and all of their juicy, healthy goodness in one magical bar of soap.) Boy they weren’t kidding. This has got to be the strongest lemon scented product I’ve ever experienced. It’s not bad, but I can see how in one of the reviews someone compared it to a Lemon Scented Cleaning Product. I kind of like it, but I don’t think I’d ever buy it purposefully. Though I do like the suggestion in another review that said to place it in a sock of some sort and hang it up as an air freshener. Once I finished my shower, and left the bathroom to get dressed and put on make-up, when I came back to the bathroom it smelled very fresh and lemony.

The product seemed like a warm block of cheese in texture and color. Somewhat pliable, and it crumbled slightly during use. I don’t imagine it lasts long in the shower, but it has a nice lather, and will definitely wake you up in the morning. Recommended if you REALLY like lemon

They also sent me Skinny Dip (which smells rancid) and Ring of Roses (which doesn’t really smell that rosey, and I hate flower scents anyway). Skinny Dip was alright, but I don’t know if I want to smell like that all day.

Overall I haven’t been impressed yet. There are still a small chunk of things I want to try, like their deodorants and a bath bomb or two. And I still love the Tramp.

Get Rich Slowly posted an excellent article regarding common questions and answers about Roth IRA’s.

I’ve also added this resource to my post that lists various articles that helped me learn more and choose my Roth IRA.