March 17, 2009

• WCFQ 40a: There are worse addictions to be had

  Are you addicted to daydreaming?
  slavoki
  

  
  

  I wouldn’t be much of a writer or artist if I wasn’t a dreamer. Not a day goes by that I am not daydreaming something. I live a life of fantasy, and believe me it’s tempting to crawl in and never come back out. My “daydreams” and fantasies are infinitely more satisfying than my “real” life. I daydream on the car ride to and from work. I daydream during the time it takes me to eat on my break at work, providing I’m alone. Nothing worse than having someone interrupt your daydreaming by yapping at you about daily figures or how many of a certain book you’ve failed to sell. (Whatever Borders. I’m blogging about you. Try and stop me. Nyah nyah!)

  I “daydream” myself to sleep.
  
  I don’t daydream like regular people, I think. I tell myself stories, plunge myself into fantasies, become someone new and important in my imagination. These aren’t stories that will ever make their way to paper because unlike certain hack authors, I will never write myself into anything in more than a superficial way. My daydreams are just my way of removing myself from my miserable reality. My daydreams and nighttime prelude to dreams distract me from the stupidity of my bosses and my boss’s bosses. They also distract me from the stupidity of my government, other people’s governments, and the collective ignorance of my entire race. In my daydreams, I am capable of saving the world. People listen to me and do what I tell them for the good of mankind and future generations.
  
  I tell myself stories… so I don’t go crazy and hurt myself. Better I should live in multiple fantasy worlds than accept the evils of our collective reality. At least I can combat the evils in my fantasy worlds and gain some satisfaction from that. What little power I have in this world is contingent on other people doing their part. Even if everyone was doing what they could for the good of all, it’s hard to trace any results back to myself and gain satisfaction.
  
  So yes, I am addicted to daydreams. When I beat the crap out of an evildoer in my head, it is infinitely more satisfying than picking up a napkin or plastic wrapper in the street that some indifferent person has neglected to drop in the garbage. And the distraction from reality helps me sleep at night…

  Thank you, no… I need no interventions.
  

  
  
  

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  March 17th
  

  
  

  Trefuilnid Treochair, the national day of Ireland, is the feast for the “triple bearer of the triple key,” a trident carrying divinity assimilated into St. Patrick. His sacred plant is the shamrock. For everyone else in the world, this is a day to drink green beer and pretend you’ve got some Irish in you. (You all wish you were a quarter Irish like me. )
  
  

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  The Libera or Liberalia is held in honor of Liber, the Roman version of Bacchus, and Dionysus. Slaves were allowed to speak with freedom, and everything bore the appearance of independence. Liber, with his consort Libera, is honored in the hopes of a fruitful wine crop. Old women, crowned with ivy, sell cakes (liba) of meal, honey and oil, and incinerate them on little pans as offerings in the purchasers’ name. From liba comes the word libation.
  
  

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  This is the first day of the six day Buddhist Higan festival in honor of the equinox and the Dead. Buddhists believe when the night and day are equally divided, Buddha appears on earth to save stray souls and lead them to Nirvana. Higan means the other shore. A river full of illusions, passion, pain and sorrow marks the division of this earthly world and the future world of salvation. Only when one crosses the river, fighting strong currents of temptation, to the other shore, can enlightenment be found.
  
  The custom of offering food to the dead during the week developed a general custom of giving such specially prepared food to friends and neighbors. The most common food is Ohagi or soft rice ball covered with sweetened bean paste. Sushi or vinegared rice with vegetable, the Japanese counterpart of sandwiches, is also made in many households to offer to the ancestors and distribute to their friends and neighbors. No meat is used in Higan food.
  

  
  
  

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  • 10:18 pm
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