325 Long time, no write

Feb. 20, 2002
I'm back at work today. My in-box had garbage in it. Apparently kelli
got a file that I had requested and so she stuck it in my inbox with
a nasty note on it, basically calling me an idiot. Whatever. Because
the records came back from child support and it got put on her desk,
I get yelled at. Whatever.

And then Janice stuck something in my in box that I'd apparently
forgot to request an interpreter on. I distrust our computer program
immensely; I am normally very hard on myself and very critical of my
mistakes, but since I work with such a P.o.S. program, I have been
more inclined to question whether it was my mistake or some bug in
the program. In a way, it's emotionally healthy to NOT beat up on
myself for every stupid mistake that happens, but then it's also sort
of disempowering to think that I could be doing everything right on
my end and STILL get slammed for fucking up. In a way, I'd rather
have it be my own mistake. If I'm going to get the blame, I'd like
the control, too.


Amazing how quickly the vacation-high goes away.


Quick recap of my vacation:

Thursday: my wonderful friend J. gets to town, we go have margaritas
& fajitas at Flores' with Tom & Uncle Bob

Friday: The J Crew warehouse sale. Jen got 3 sweaters and a pr of
shorts. I found a pair of black shoes. Rubens Red tag, got cloves,
Butterscotch Schnapps & Baileys. Jen and I shop in funky boutiques on
and around 6th st. We meet a very cool wine-guru guy named Howard at
Wiggy's. He and J rhapsodize about Chateau Montrachet and whatnot. I
got 2 bottles of wahtevever, but the port broke in the driveway. Foo.
This evening was for watching Barbarella on DVD and drinking Buttery
Nipples. Pizza, lots of junk food & drunken stupidity. "I am
Dildano!" heehee. It was just me, Jen,and Tom. No Kathleen, Jaime, or
Xtal. Xtal was sick :( and Jaime forgot he was hosting an open mik,
and of course Kathleen is attached at the .... hip.

Saturday: Spa morning at Austin Body & Soul. Takes longer than I
expected, but a very nice way to spend half the day. J gets the super-
facial (Signature) and a manicure. I get a manicure, massage, and
less-elaborate facial(European custom). We both finish up around the
same time--2pm!! My nails look nicer than they have in a long time.
My face feels the same. Good massage. I could get used to a regular
massage session. Lunch at Kerbey Lane on 183, then home to get ready
for San Antonio. We don't get into SA until after 6. No Chinese New
year stuff for us. Dang. But we mall rat a bit at North Star Mall.
The perfume saleswomen at Saks mob us unmercifully. I feel like a
white trash shoplifter with all those women pestering. The lady in
the DK boutique area later tells us that the cosmetics ladies have
just been put on commission. So that was basically a panic-mobbing,
not a "we will bother you because it is obvious that you do not
belong in our store" thing. Amazing how one's personal experiences
can influence how one interprets a gesture. I have more fun in
Sephora (How cool is that--there is a Sephora in the mall!). So I
take my makeup up a couple of notches in preparation for the next
phase of our San Antonio Experience: Gothfest:Midian. On the way to
Gothfest, we stop for dinner at the 410 Diner. Great food. Decent
margaritas. Cute server. Fortified with alcohol and chicken fried
steak, on to Midian. We arrive. We people-watch. We smoke clove
cigarettes, we wonder if the bands on stage even know who the Sisters
of Mercy or Bauhaus are, even though they sound just like 'em. The
lead singer of the second band looks like Morrissey. We laugh. A guy
with a mullet hits on J. I laugh. Apparently we are laughing and
smiling way too much for goth-ness. There is a pale, very very sad
girl in a cloak. Everyone keeps walking up to her and hugging her and
rubbing on her and stuff, but she just sits there looking miserable,
putting her hood further and further over her face. I keep seeing
this bizarre-looking older guy milling around. (Who is this
fruitcake?!?) Finally I recognize him. Uncle Satan from my old old
Rocky Horror days. He was like the God of San Antonio Rocky. He had
(has?) a thing for 15 year old girls. I was too old for him even in
1987. I had a feeling I was going to run into someone I knew; wierd.
We had thought to hang out until the Fashion Show...but there was
some kind of drama on the stage, and after a long wait with no
Fashion forthcoming, we decided that our ennui receptors had reached
optimum capacity. So, on to Earl Abel's for coffee and dessert, then
home to Austin.


Sunday, we got up and went to breakfast with Tom. Lotsa protein at
Jim's. Then off to the Enchanted Trail to go wine tasting. Out of 9
wineries up thataway we only got to 3. Ah, well. They were good.
Sister Creek, then Fredericksburg Winery, then lunch in
Fredericksburg at Der Altdorf (or some German name like that) then
Chisholm Trail. Lots of good wine. Some not so good. The folks at
Chisholm were very nice and gave J some perspective on her existence.
It's a husband-wife team that are both lawyers and started their own
vineyard. They basically do the law thing in order to pay for the
wine-thing. They had a nice spread; several horses, dogs, cats,
cattle. Great weather. Serious German Food. Gorgeous day. My wine
rack is full! Got back into town just in time to get tickets for The
13 Circles, clean up and change clothes, and then back to the Vortex.
It was an hour long performance, and the audience was supposed to
stand up for the whole thing. The 13 Circles was agonizing in every
possible way; physical, emotional, spiritual, psychic...it was just
dreadful. I have nothing against darker themes. I have nothing
against nudity. But this...it was just mysoginistic and Freudian,
pornographic in a negative sense, very very wrong. James of
James&Joanna was in the production, and stationed up near us. He had
seriously bad BO and my legs started cramping up. We were not the
first to walk out in the middle of the performance, and we were not
the last. I have never done that before. I waited till intermission
for that mess at the Paramount. But I just couldn't take it anymore,
and J was appalled. Usually the Vortex is so interesting; challenging
and bizarre, certainly, but not offensive and never so anti-woman,
male-centered. Bleh.

Monday, more wandering in Austin. Bookstores. Central Market.
Cavender's for Tacky Texan stuff. Then off to The Salt Lick for
dinner. Faboo! Jen's friend WiscoJohn finally got into town and we
went and picked him up at his hotel and went to Mother Eagan's for
drinks & conversation.

Tuesday, we shipped Jen's 17 bottles of wine off, had brunch with
John at the Other Kerbey Lane, then J packed & we just visited some.
Then off to the airport--very very creepy to see guys with guns just
wandering around. That is very freaky. And then J was gone...*sigh*

We had a great time. I am broke! But I can't wait to do it again! We
may do a 3-day weekend in Fredericksburg next time; 2 days to go to
all the wineries, 1 day to shop in F'burg, which we didn't really do
this time

328White Wolf

Feb. 20, 2002
I'm curious about these, but the web search engines are being slow.
Or it could be something wrong at this end. Anyway,,,

look these up sometime when there's time:

White wolf, werewolf tribes (?)

Stargazer
Children of Gaia
Black Spiral Dancer
Glass Walker

wizard's attic web page has some pretty cool jewelry related to these
4 'groups'. I think Black Spiral Dancers are bad guys. I like the
name Children of Gaia best. Glass Walker is pretty cool, too.
Stargazer's symbol is the best.

Stupid. I guess that's part of my "type 5 enniegram" thingy...I tend
to be into alternate realities, rpg's could really mess up my head.
It's been messed up before (Liz and me and Arthurian role
playing)...so I know better than to get involved. Then again, I wish
I could stop guarding myself and trust myself to get involved in
something. *something*. Just not sicko role playing stuff.

329 White Wolf stuff

Feb. 20, 2002
These web sites have temporary tattoos! If I liked 'skye',I'd get her a
couple.

http://www.gamersattic.com/roleplaying/weregear.htm
http://www.gamersattic.com/roleplaying/weregear.htm
================================================================

The Stargazers are an oddity among the Garou: they have mastered
their rage. Tracing their roots to the Far East, they practice
peculiar martial arts and a transcendent mysticism. While others
dismiss them as aloof and eccentric, they know they alone have
received enlightenment. And those who think Stargazers can't fight
without rage, well...

Our tribe existed for millenia. We are living mainly in Asia.
Meditation is our way. Some tribes will say we don't act. This is not
true. We just prefer to see where the future lies before taking any
actions. And the stars help us much. You can see many things in these
shining little dots. Many Garou don't understand us. That's surely
because it is our role to understand and explain things.
=====================================================
Glass walkers:

While the Bone Gnawers merely survive in the city, the Glass Walkers
thrive there. They see the city as just another kind of wilderness:
an ocean of concrete, a forest of skyscrapers or a coral reef of
condominiums. They feel that the city has a kind of spirit and life
all its own, and they seek to explore the diversity that this "new
wilderness" provides.

The Glass Walkers originated in Mesopotamia, where they split with
the Garou and came to live in the cities despite the proscriptions
against doing so. They became enforcers and mercenaries for merchants
in the Middle Ages and allied with guilds and the like. They were at
the forefront of technological change during the Renaissance and
later in the Industrial Revolution, learning that everything has
spirits, even great steam engines and assembly lines.

The Glass Walkers developed Mafia ties as a result of their enforcer
past, and in the '20s, Glass Walker gangs provided muscle to many Mob
actions. With the advent of computers, the Glass Walkers learned
about a new kind of spirit — the Net-Spiders, the computer spirits.
Befriending these spirits, they found themselves in control of
spirits that could alter and gather information from computers all
over the world, and they discovered an entirely new world called the
CyberRealm. The Glass Walkers believe it is their duty to guide the
cities and technology of the world to a path allied with Gaia.
Indeed, they see Gaia as a part of the city itself.

Totem:
The Cockroach

This may sound disgusting at first, but Cockroach is the most adapted
animal in any city. Some Glass Walkers hold Spider in high regard as
well
=============================================================
Black Spiral Dancer:
Evil, the Wyrm, has many minions spread throughout the Tellurian. In
the Realm there are many who are eager to sell their sanity in return
for the powers granted by the Wyrm. The Wyrm has wrapped its coils
tight around the world, using its minions as its soldiers of
corruption and destruction. The Black Spiral Dancers are among the
most fearsome of these dark servitors.

Many Garou fear to speak of the Dancers, lest their voices attract
the Wyrm. The tale of their corruption, however, is still told. It is
too important to be forgotten. Around the Grand Moots, when guards
are set against the marauders of the night, the Moon Dancers begin
their tale of the Dance of the Black Spiral which tore a tribe from
Gaia's womb.

The Black Spiral Dancers are evil's avatars on earth. Twisted shape-
shifters gifted with the madness of Truth, bringing the horrors of
the Wyrm up close into the faces of their enemies. Insane machines of
death and destruction, they leave a trail of corruption in their
wake. The average Black Spiral Dancer has a short and violent life,
their goals bringing them into direct conflict with the remaining
Garou tribes.

Black Spiral Dancers deal with Bane spirits, and practice a corrupted
form of the Litany. Their bodies are malformed by the Wyrm's taint,
and there is none sane among their ranks. They breed like rabbits,
and draw added numbers from other tribes by actively corrupting other
Garou. Of all the tribes, only the Dancers are growing in number. The
Wyrm is everywhere. Gaia has lost. The battle is over. At least, that
is what they want you to believe...

===================================================================
The Children of Gaia (CoG) are one of the surviving tribes of Garou
(werewolves) fighting on the side of Gaia. They are known as the
peacemakers.

It might be easy to think of CoG as being typical environmentalists.
You know the Vegetarian, Animal loving, bleeding heart liberal type.
You are wrong!

Think about it.

Werewolf and Vegetarian - I don't think so.
Animal Loving - Well just a little.
Venison does taste pretty good.
Bleeding Heart - It is true we occasionally have bleeding hearts.
Usually of the used to belong to a Pentex executive type.

What we are is a tribe dedicated to protecting ALL of Nature.
This means allowing Hunting for food, but it does not mean allowing
hunting for sport only.
This means protecting Animals that are in danger of becoming extinct,
but does not mean
worrying overly much about stray cats and dogs.
And most importantly it occasional means taking the fight to the real
enemy when you can't find any other
way of behavior modification.
It is our belief that the way to fight the Wyrm (the expression of
Destruction and Entropy) is by fighting the cause of the problem, not
it's symptoms.
We are often derided by other Garou for not fighting directly against
their common enemy. We are also mistakenly thought of as weak,
because of our peaceful beliefs.
The other tribes are very wrong.
The CoG's efforts have probably had a more significant affect on the
long term outcome of the war against the Wyrm then any other tribe.
Our attitude that one should only fight only when necessary, means
that when the CoG fight we have already decided that we have nothing
else to lose, so we fight with the ferocity of one backed into a
corner. We rarely lose when they are forced into a fight. Also, our
desire for peace often finds us with far more allies then any of the
other tribes. Sometimes our efforts are as subtle as a Shadow Lord.
As an example: Teens are running around terrorizing the countryside
destroying plants and animals alike. If we were Red Talons or Get we
would just eliminate the teens. As CoG however, we will first try to
track down the root cause of the problem. In this case we find the
teens were neglected at home, because their parents are often sick or
busy with work. We find out they are busy at work because some of
them are sick. We then find out the reason some of them are sick is
because of local drinking water. We find out a chemical plant
upstream is not being properly monitored and is allowed to release
unhealthy chemicals into the stream. We find out that the inspector
is a friend of the plants manager and lets him get away with most
anything. At this point we take a three pronged attack. One -
Publicize the water contamination. Two - Arrange for protests of the
plant to try and get it shut down. Three - Bring the inspectors
relationship to the attention of his supervisors, with the goal of
getting him replaced. Finally if any of these fail then we take
action. The inspector goes first. Some of the other tribes would take
out the plant manager first, but we take the long view. We know
Pentex will replace the manager before the body is cold. With the
inspector on the other hand we have a good chance that we can get a
good inspector as his replacement, maybe even one of our kinfolk. He
can then shut the plant down with the stroke of a pen. Much more
efficient in the long run. Cost Pentex more, since they get fined,
lose business, and have to spend more money upgrading the plant on
top of it all. Also in the long-term, any dirt that we can actually
get to stick to Pentex is worth it. What does this have to do with
the teens, well after the plant shuts down or upgrades, parents get
well start asking about their kids and call in the local law
enforcement to shut down their activities. Sometimes even this does
not work and we have to take down the teens, but at least the problem
won't happen again for a long time, since we attacked the actual
problem. On rare occasions we can make even the Get of Fenris look
tame. Take above situation. We discovered the supervisor was being
bribed to put said inspector in place. well we still have not figured
out who bribed him although we have our suspicions. Let us say
however, said supervisor is not going to be bribeable for a long
time. Something about problems identifying the pieces of the body,
especially after we found out he had been infested with a Bane. We
liberated the bane from his body, although it was a bit messy doing
it. Police are still trying to find who did it. Unfortunately the
only talking witness claims a nine-foot high gray haired Wolf did it.
Needless to say he is currently wearing clothes with wrist ties in
the back living in a comfy padded room. I really hate the tribal
curse.
For more information on My tribe read White-Wolf's Children of Gaia
Tribe book - available from a lot of bookstores, Game dealers, or
directly from White-Wolf.

Each human we alienate, every careless frenzy we give into and every
petty power play we engage in fills the bloated belly of the Wyrm to
the point of bursting and drowns us all in a flood of hate and
putrescence.
Amidst the sea of violence and anger that consumes the Garou race,
there is an island of reason and restraint. These gentle and empathic
souls are the Children of Gaia, so-named because of their self-
professed claim to be the tribe closest to the true purpose of Gaia.
Children of Gaia believe, unlike the majority of Garou, that humans
can be taught the error of their ways. They argue that by persecuting
the blind, naked humans, Garou have only isolated these errant
children from their place in Gaia's scheme. Caught between the
ravages of the Impergium and the dangers of the untamed wilderness,
it is no wonder that they sought shelter in the dark shadows of the
Wyrm.
The Children of Gaia propose that cooperation and education are the
best tools the Garou have to rectify the mistakes of the past and
hopefully prevent what appears to be a darkening future. The Children
only hope that it's not too late to avert disaster.
The other tribes often scoff at the pacifistic disposition of the
Children, calling them hopeful dreamers. When cornered or defending
what they see as a noble or just cause, the Children of Gaia can
become a terrifyingly lethal force, even though they lack the blind
fury that they despise in their brethren.
Totem:
The Unicorn
==============================================================
Uktena:The Uktena belong to one of the three tribes of Garou that
came to America across the Bering Land bridge. They believe that open
rage and narrow vision will be the downfall of Garou. They also
believe that, by coming to understand the Spirit World, they will be
able to spread wisdom and allow the Garou to purify the world of the
Wyrm's influence. The Wyrm is seen as a very real spiritual taint
that spreads itself all across the world.
To the Uktena, the "real" world is not important. They would rather
be in the Umbra than walking about on earth. Since the destruction of
the Croatan Tribe, the Uktena's maxim is "Know Thy Enemy." They put
their spirits on the line in order to venture into the heart of the
Wyrm and discover its foul plans.
The Uktena were once purely Native American, but they have since
begun accepting those who are alienated from other tribes. They have
incorporated many magical beliefs and cultures into their tribal
rites and moots.
They are also concerned with fetishes, as they see them as spiritual
tools to strengthen themselves as spirit warriors and protectors.
They also feel that it is their duty to watch over Wyrm-ridden areas
and protect other Garou from the Wyrm's influence. They will often
raid the holdings of mages, Tremere vampires and even Black Furies to
recover fetishes they believe should be used in service to Gaia.
The Uktena are secretive among themselves and are often accused of
allying with the Wyrm because of their close study of it. This is not
the case, however, as the Uktena are probably one of the only tribes
that knows enough about the Wyrm to begin seriously harming it.
Still, taint by the Wyrm is an ever-present danger, and all Uktena
are aware of this fact. It is common practice for all Uktena to
undergo the Rite of Cleansing regularly in order to clean themselves
of Wyrm-taint.
Totem: Uktena, an ancient water spirit

=================================================================

http://www.shades-of-night.com/corax/ww.html: Corax
The Corax are Raven's children, gifted with the ability to shift back
and forth between human (homid) and raven (corvid) forms, or even
into an awkward half-man, half-bird (crinos) form. They can also fly,
in both corvid and crinos forms. As birds, they're on the large side,
even for a raven. As humans, they tend to be on the short side, and
lightweight. All of them inherited Raven's curiosity, and consider it
their duty to learn as much as they can about the world, and share
those secrets with others.
As far as totems go, all corax have Raven as a totem - but there's
something else tossed into the deal, too. Helios (the Sun) also acts
as a totem to the corax.. The reasons behind this are complicated,
and involve some trickery on raven's part (well, that's a surprise,
hey?), but the fact of the matter is that Helios smiles on raven's
children and grants them his blessings.



========
Vampires: Daughters of Cacophony
The Daughters are distinctly modern phenomena; no Kindred claims to
have heard of them before the 1700s. The Daughters are such masters
of song that most Kindred believe they are an offshoot of the
Toreador.
The Daughters are singers without peer, but their melodious harmonies
are not their main claim to fame. It is the damage their songs can do
to the mind that causes their Kindred concern.
The Melpominee Discipline appeared simultaneously with the Daughters
of Cacophony and is intrinsically linked to that bloodline. It allows
its possessors to use speech and song for a variety of supernatural
effects.