Hope Is...

...having a kick ass friend like Abbie/Pooka/Puck...
...a hot summer day down by the water and creamees with sprinkles with Suzanne and Abbie...
....a drunken night with the ladies watching scantily clad hotties...
...a cat always on the look out...

...a fresh snowfall and a house decorated with icicles...
...a kitten cuddle...
...a zen like Abbie...
...fresh fragrant buds...

...something to look forward to...
a new project.

Goodbye 2006

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
Oscar Wilde

Well, the new year is almost upon us and it only seems fitting to think a little bit about 2006 before it passes us by for good. I can safely say that I learned a lot this year, took some chances, won some and lost some, thought some big thoughts, had some nice cuddles, cooked many meals, danced up a storm, sent many emails, edited a shitload of video content, started blogging and posting to YouTube and became a techno addict.

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”
Albert Einstein

The other day I was getting some papers signed at Champlain College in anticipation of my upcoming classes. I had that weird new student feeling, probably in part, because it has been over 10 years since I was last in school. I wasn't sure where the right building was or who was supposed to sign this piece of paper. I felt awkward and unsure and that felt sort of nice.

“To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.”

Confused, I ended up outside again facing down Main St from the middle of the hill. The sun was setting over the water and the little town of Burlington appeared straight out of a children's storybook. To be specific, it reminded me of the bustling town of Market Chipping from Diana Wynne Jone's book, Howl's Moving Castle.

I have a distant memory of this view, one so old and time worn that I am not even sure if it originates from a dream or an actual memory. For the many years that I've been absent from Burlington, I've remembered this hazy memory of this view and mused about it.

I sped along mazes of freeways and bridges, traversed BART trains and MUNI, watched the ocean ebb and flow - but there was always a special place in my heart for this view and for this town.

"Hope is the dream of a soul awake.”
French Proverb

And even if I am sometimes conflicted about being here, I had a positive moment of clarity standing on that hill looking out over my town. I know I am supposed to be here right now and I am glad to be here. It feels right.

And as 2007 rolls around, I have hope. Hope for a new year filled with exciting new challenges, struggles, lessons, learning, and experiences. Hope can be hard to come by. As years pass and life loses its youthful luster, it is sometimes hard to hold out for hope and a new day.

But looking out at this magical landscape, it is impossible not to feel hope. And I hope I have hope until the day I die. Because really what else is there?

Pandora's Box

"For ere this the tribes of men lived on earth remote and free from ills [kakoi] and hard toil [ponoi] and heavy sickness [nosoi argaleai] which bring the Keres [baleful spirits] upon men; for in misery men grow old quickly." (Hesiod, Works and Days).

The first mortals lived on earth in a state of perfect innocence and bliss. The air was pure and balmy; the sun shone brightly all the year; the earth brought forth delicious fruit in abundance; and beautiful, fragrant flowers bloomed everywhere. Man was content. Extreme cold, hunger, sickness, and death were unknown.

Jupiter, who justly ascribed a good part of this beatific condition to the gift conferred by Prometheus, was greatly displeased, and tried to devise some means to punish mankind for the acceptance of the heavenly fire.

To that end, Zeus demanded that the other gods make Pandora as a poisoned gift for man. Pandora was given several traits from the different gods:

• Hephaestus molded her out of clay and gave her form
• Athena clothed her and the Charites adorned her with necklaces made by Hephaestus
• Aphrodite gave her beauty
• Apollo gave her musical talent and a gift for healing
• Demeter taught her to tend a garden
• Poseidon gave her a pearl necklace and the ability to never drown
• Zeus made her idle, mischievous, and foolish
• Hera gave her curiosity
• Hermes gave her cunning, boldness, and charm.

Thus the name Pandora—"all gifts"—in Hesiod's version derives from the fact that she received gifts from all deities.


Until then, mankind had lived a life in a paradise without worry. All this changed when Pandora's curiosity got the better of her and she opened a jar given to her by Zeus, releasing all the misfortunes of mankind. Once opened, she shut it in time to keep one thing in the jar: hope. The world remained extremely bleak for an unspecified interval, until Pandora "chanced" to revisit the box again, at which point Hope fluttered out. Thus, mankind always has hope in times of evil.

It was well for Pandora that she opened the box a second time, for the gods, with a sudden impulse of compassion, had concealed among the evil spirits one kindly creature, Hope, whose mission was to heal the wounds inflicted by her fellow prisoners.

"Hope sole remain'd within, nor took her flight,
Beneath the vessel's verge conceal'd from light."
Hesiod (Elton's tr.)

Lightly fluttering hither and thither on her snowy pinions, Hope touched the wounded places on Pandora's and Epimetheus' creamy skin, and relieved their suffering, then quickly flew out of the open window, to perform the same gentle office for the other victims, and to cheer their downcast spirits.

Thus, according to the ancients, evil entered into the world, bringing untold misery; but Hope followed closely in its footsteps, to aid struggling humanity, and point to a happier future.

" Hope rules a land for ever green:
All powers that serve the bright-eyed Queen
Are confident and gay;
Clouds at her bidding disappear;
Points she to aught ? - the bliss draws near,
And Fancy smooths the way."
Wordsworth

During many centuries, therefore, Hope continued to be revered, although the other divinities had ceased to be worshipped.

In order to pay homage to Zeus the Merciful, here is HOT HOT HOT Louise Brooks and HOT HOT HOT 80s rockers, OMD, yum:

Excerpted from: Wikipedia and Phys2622