Thought I'd drop by and say "Hey" to everyone. Life's been keeping me kinda busy. I see a few new names, Hello to those of you I haven't met yet. Glad to see some of the old familiar names are still hanging around, I've missed you all quite a bit. I hope everyone is doing well these days (or at least as well as they can be doing, all things considered). I dunno why, but I've been getting really tired lately, I hope no one minds if I just sit for a spell. I'm trying to practice something a friend of mine once told me "Read more than you post online." I don't really see much from him, he must be reading an aweful lot more threads.....or maybe he's weened off his internet addiction like I've been trying to.
 
Not much has changed in life since I was hear last. Still working at mom's store, stilling living with the same woman, still getting by as best we can. How have all of you been doing?
 
Sage

Quote from Ceye Sni Yo on 07/22/10 at 23:20:16:

 
Oh I figured I'd go annoy other folks for a bit Mostly it's just been dealing with work and bills that's kept me away. Although I can tell how much everyone here has influenced my thinking of late. Had a guy come into the shop the other day and somehow the conversation meandered its way to Mt. Rushmore. So I said "Oh, you mean Paha Sapa...." and he gives me a blank look. "Paha Sapa? You know, The Black Hills? They were considered a sacred site to the Lakhota People LONG before the guy carved that tourist trap into them?" And they guy says "OOOOOH! Yeah! The Lakota People are really great! I really admire them!" Yeah, so much that he didn't even know  there was anything there before Mr. Rushmore.  
 
I have been getting sent to enough faires and festivals to give me time to catch up on my reading. Finished "The Vegitarian Myth" by Lierre Keith, and I've been been annoying folks over on Mother Earth News who are discussing that book. Finished "Dies The Fire" by S.M. Stirling, which is a fictional, kinda post-apocalyptic novel set in 1998 about how all modern technology just stops working at 6:15 pm Pacific Standard Time and how the only people who are making it are Historical Re-Enactors and Living History folks who've practiced living without microwaves and TV's on the weekends, Military folks with survival training, one Wiccan Coven who high-tails it into the woods where their High Priestess has a family cabin/farm, a bush pilot who's chartered to fly a buncha rich folks to their cabin in the Bitteroot Mountains (the youngest of which is a Tolkien Fan who's practiced archery and horseback riding and thinks she's an Elf). There's a band of Nez Perce in the story, a crazy guy who's taken over Portland and declared his own monarchy, and the usual scattering of Mad Max-style bandits and, of course, no apocalyptic novel would be complete without Cannibles (referred to first as "Eaters" and later on in the book as "Reivers" as kind of an homage to the "Firefly" series by Joss Whedan." It's an amusing story.
 
Then I started on "Lies My Teacher Told Me" by James Loewen, and that's just got me annoyed at my history teachers and the history textbooks and everything they never taught us. Or worse yet, all the incorrect things they taught us! How is a young person suppose to gain a perspective on how the world came to be the way it is, if they are flat out lied to about the past? It was rather gratifying, however, to see that some of the things I've suspected about the past from the time I was young are backed up by archeaological evidence cited in the book. What's really funny though, is that many of the things the so-called "maverick" archeaologists are making names for themselves writing about....getting famous for "revealling to the public for the first time ever!"..... are things that the general scientific community have known for at least 50 years now. But the textbook publishers won't update the school books to refect these "new" discoveries for fear of offending the "Textbook Adoption Committees". I mean I knew that my high school textbook was biased to say the least, but oh man, the scale of it is staggering! I actually REMEMBER reading some of the examples that Loewen points out, and then he goes on to explain how those passages are written to lead the student to a pre-determined conclusion by omitting certain relavent information.  I dunno if "brainwashing" is the right term for what these history textbooks do, but it fits.
 
Also find I'm spending a good chunk of time watching lectures on TED.com on various subjects and discovering new and interesting things.
 
Just got back from working the Big Bear 1800's/Steampunk/Pirate/Faerie Festival in Fawnskin over at Pedderson's Mill over the weekend. Was pretty slow, but at least it was a nice weekend to camp out in the mountains. I only wish we'd been allowed actual campfires, but the twin-burner Coleman stove and a cast iron skillet made some good pancakes and French Toast for breakfast. One of our neighbors went out fishing while his girlfriend ran their booth all day. I wish he'd kept the catfish he caught instead of throwing it back. That would've made a nice dinner. I just don't understand going fishing and not eating what you catch? Or catching more than you need?
 
I dunno if I'll be posting my view of issues much for awhile, need some time to get settled I think. Thank you for taking the time to acknowledge my return to the forum. I honestly wasn't sure that I was welcome here. Still not sure, to be honest.  Figured I wait and see who else takes the time to say "Hey Sage! Good to see you again!" or "Get the hell outta here Wasicu! We don't want you here!"  

Quote from rono on 07/26/10 at 18:56:37:

 
Good to be back Rono. I'm happy so far, but I think it's just part of my nature to worry. Mom always told me there's no sense in staying where yer not welcome. Guess I'm just feeling out whether I'm still welcome or not. Had some thoughts about things I thought might be important, just not sure if anyone cares to listen and talk about them. So I'm just gonna hang out for a bit, read about what's going on, see how things go. Things don't seem to be as "active" around here as I remember. Or maybe it's the same and it's just me that's changed.

Quote from Jackie on 07/26/10 at 21:32:12:

 
Maybe. Maybe not.  I just checked the forum stats and it says there are only 84 registered members. A great portion of those on the list I've never seen post anything. As I've been catching up on reading, I see more and more names with "Ex-Member" listed under them. I'm not sure what that exactly means, but there were many names of people who were nice to me, and took the time to explain things to me when I had questions in ways that I could understand. It was many of them I'd hoped to reconnect with.  
 
I am glad to see you are still here Jackie. How is everything going with you?

Quote from kinajin on 07/27/10 at 06:30:11:

 
You? Chasing people away? I don't believe it!   That does kinda go along with some of the thoughts I had while I was away, though. I thought to myself "Why do people come to Thunder Dreamers?" If they come here because they have Romantic notions in their head about Lakota, they find something appealing in them and want to learn more....Then when they get here those notions are shattered, then of course they are going to leave because they didn't find what they were looking for. So I wouldn't say that anyone has "chased members away", only that when some folks get here, the reality falls short of their expectations. They can either choose to stay and mold their understanding around reality, or they can choose to leave and keep demanding that the world mold itself around their expectations. One way I think will lead to greater understanding, the other I think will lead to constant disappointment. But either way, it's always their choice as to how to react. And hey, sometimes it's good just to get away for awhile and gain some perspective on what's happened and what you've learned from it.
 
And for the record, I never had a problem with ya' Kin'. Don't always understand you and find you confusing as hell at times, but that's all on me.

Quote from kinajin on 07/27/10 at 14:58:03:

 
Is that anything like "Those you get along with teach you about life. Your enemies teach you about yourself." ?

Quote from kinajin on 07/27/10 at 17:18:23:

 
I've really been trying to take the concept of the Honored Enemy to heart by realizing that when someone does or says something that pisses me off, it's showing me something that is obviously very important to me..... When they argue with me, it forces me to re-examine my thoughts and beliefs, to question whether I actually think that way based on what I've experienced, researched, studied, and learned..... or if I'm just going along with what I was taught by my parents without thinking.
 
I wonder just what Dylan ment by "Sometimes satan comes as a man of peace"?

 Love it!!!!!!

sure, got of lot of them wannabees in my garden
 

 
==
 

Quote from Rico on 07/30/10 at 12:34:39:

 
I liked the first two better.

Quote from Alextakoda on 07/30/10 at 17:04:24:

 
Hi Alex, how are thing going these days?

Quote from m.monja on 08/03/10 at 06:02:00:

 
Hey M., how are you doing?

Me too Sage...thanks for asking