Today's Apocalypse Sign: End Of July Weekend Graphs

Well summer is 2/3's over according to the calendar but there is no end in sight for these baby's. Pick a favorite...text a friend...pass it on. Now go forth and enjoy!



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Today's Apocalypse Sign: No Really...It's a Sign!

Sliced Sky

This was an unexpected sight tonight after sundown...very unique

I took several shots at different settings and this was one of the best. It looked like a giant knife had sliced the sky open. Be sure to enlarge.

Today's Apocalypse Sign: Alex Gave Me An Award!!

{This is a post I THOUGHT I had published last week when Blogger was giving me fits. It was stuck in my Drafts list. Better late than never, Alex...thanks again!}

I must thank Alex over at Alex J. Cavanaugh for giving me this freakin' cool award...

I consider Alex one of my friends in the blogosphere. He was a great help in kick-starting the A-Z Challenge readership for me starting with his Day 1 mention of my blog on his site. His sci-fi writing is really good and his CassaStar book is a testament to that. If you like this genre you will probably read it in one sitting. His new book CassaFire, the sequel to CassaStar, is coming out next spring...I will be there again on the first day to snag a copy for myself. Check out this awesome banner for the new book...

Badass, right?

Thanks for everything Alex!

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Today's Apocalypse Sign: Weekend Graphs Are Blogger In Draft-Free

Now that I am breathing a bit easier after reverting to original Blogger (Yea! still has the word Dashboard) I feel good about posting this weeks Weekend Graphs. I even did so with a smile on my face. I KNEW I had seen the Harry Potter story before...check out the Harry Potter vs Starwars offering below.

Enjoy....

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Today's Apocalypse Sign: Blogger Must Die!

Sorry, not A Blogger must die...but this new Blogger format must die. It is totally unusable, non-ituitive, and completely pissing me off! Those of you using Blogger please tell me your thoughts...

Some of mine are:

1.   Give me a freakin' Dashboard link right on the main nav bar!!! Ever since it has been removed I have longed for it back. Now you have to click New Post or Design and back into the Overview. It is Freakin' ridiculous! There isn't even a word Dashboard anymore.

2.   I have just spent 3 hours. 3. god. damn. hours. Trying to get a draft post to load. No chance. I have 12 drafts and none will load. I just get a blank white screen staring stupidly at me staring stupidly at it.

3.   I tried to upload my own photo as a background on another blog and even after resizing it and making sure it was under 300k...30 minutes it later I still keep getting an error message stating there were "internal errors and could not complete" or some such bullshit. I am losing my mind!!!

4.   Navigating around inside blogger must be what a moth goes through trying to get out of a cocoon. You go here, nope, not where I meant to go...here, nope wrong again...repeat until insanity sets in.

I sent a long diatribe as feedback to Blogger. I never heard a peep or so much as "your feedback has been received and is being reviewed". Was there a unanimous vote by the group of monkeys posing as programmers that this was a good piece of shit work?? Maybe you have to be Mensa qualified to operate the platform now?  This is to Blogger what Vista was to Windows. Nobody asked me to beta test either one.

I think this sterile, unuser friendly, crapfest should return to its former self. If anyone out there has figured out how to work this with some degree of competence please let me know. I may be a moron.

I may not have heard from Blogger due to the expletive laced tirade and death threats I sent in my feedback...at least I have that. Bastards!

Let me hear from you, fellow Blogger bloggers.

I posted this after reading and listening to some of Alex's Metal Mix but I doubt that had anything to do with my state of mind. Rob Zombie usually mellows me out.

Today's Apocalypse Sign: At Least The Weekend Graphs Are Still Here!

Been a crazy busy week but I can't forget to entertain my fans (all three of four of ya :)). The Weekend Graphs roll on. Here are 6 to get your weekend wrapped up-

Enjoy....



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Today's Apocalypse Sign: Day 5 Extreme Activites Fiji Style - Kava Ceremony

Double celebration...this is my 300th post! and we're drinking kava!

Bula! Drinking Buddies!

Today we round out the busiest day of the trip with the Kava Ceremony. First, a little background on this long-held Fijian tradition.

Kava, known in Fiji as Yaqona, is Fiji's national drink. Traditionally, it was used only in important ceremonies. Nowadays, it is a social beverage. There is a strict protocol associated with yaqona drinking. One should clap once, clasping the hands, take the cup, and drink the yaqona in a single draft before returning the cup to the bearer.  ~ excerpt from Wikipedia

In our ceremony we went old-school. Coconut Man (who conducted virtually every non-diving activity at the resort) had laid out the ground rules a couple days earlier during the palm frond weaving and coconut demonstration.

 He brought the chief rope made of coconut husk strands and 4 cowrie shells tied to the end. The night of the Kava Ceremony, at dinner, he would choose the guest who would be chief and preside over the ceremony. Relax...and go, "awwww", I did NOT get picked as the chief. In fact I never even saw the actual selection for some reason. In fact, even though our group dominated the resort as to quantity (our 30 to about 10 for the Others) NO ONE in our group was chosen. The Orange-Haired man from the others was chosen as chief AND  one other Other, Wimpy Droopy Man, was chosen as the spokeman. If this had been Lord Of The Flies there would have been a coup and a killing right then. Not bitter...not. bitter.

Dinner is over and the ceremony is about to start. The chief sits in front of the Kava bowl and the Spokesman sits to his left. The rope with cowrie shells points to the chief. Coconut man weaves the tale of the Kava ceremony history while another staff member from the Village places the ground kava root into a muslin cloth. The water is poured into the bowl and the sack of root powder is drug  through the water and squeezed repeatedly to release the kava into the water. The muslin, of course, acts as a filter to prevent the sediment from ruining the party.

Did I mention the chief does not speak to anyone and no one speaks to the chief? All requests go through the Spokesman (who can speak to the chief). Once the ceremony is officially started, the chief drinks first. The clapping ritual that follows is a sign of respect. I hope I have it right.

There is one clap by all before the chief's bowl is filled. The chief then drinks and when finished, everyone at the ceremony claps three times. These are not claps like cheering on your team, these are cupped-hand claps that have a deep timbre to them. Not a high-pitched clap used for killing mosquitoes.

After the chief has finished and the clapping is done, each person in succession must clap once, receive the bowl of kava (half of a coconut shell full) drink it down and then only that person claps three times.  The bowl is refilled and process is repeated until the entire group has had their bowl. We had enough people that two half-shells were used in opposite directions to speed up the serving.

Here are the visuals...(I apologize in advancefor the quality, light was very low and flash seemed to ruin the mood)

You can see the rope and shells are pointing toward our Ginger Chief on the left...pfffst

The beginning of the kava mixture. I really wanted one of those giant kava bowls.

My wife in the center of the picture staring intently from the second row.

The Coconut Man (in pink) recalling the history behind kava. Ginger Chief with male pattern balding issues and Wimpy Droopy Spokesman (orange shirt) to his left.

The kava is about ready and the story is about ending...

That's right...bareback, no latex baby!

Ginger Chief and Wimpy Droopy Spokesman are ready to lead us in kava drinking.

Whoa! Kava effects...not really just a bad picture, but effective, eh?

Ginger Chief doing the nasty and drinkin' that muddy water...

Wimpy Droopy Spokesman and his dainty drinking...it got worse

My wife throwing back a bowl like no tomorrow! Go, honey!

Travel Monkey scoring chicks at the Kava Ceremony...sweet!

Arkansas Girl goes for the tsunami bowl

And then there were few. When ever someone wanted to leave the ceremony, they had to ask the Spokesman for permission. Then he ended up leaving before it was over...Wimpy Bastard.

The End. Three rounds and we were done. I personally would have continued.

You had your choice of bowl and serving size. Wimpy Droopy Spokesman kept asking for "teaspoon" because of the shark dive the next morning. Pahlease! All the divers were going on the shark dive. Myself and few others hit the tsunami bowls. In between teaspoon and tsunami, your choice was "low tide" or "high tide".

The numbing sensation of the mouth, lips, and tongue was the most physical trait that came out of the ceremony. We were told that when they drink in the villages it is between 20 and 30 bowls at a sitting! I cannot say for sure what you feel after that. However I did buy five bags of Kava to take home (my bowl is a salad bowl from Walmart!) One night I may find out.

I can say that I went back to the bure and was very intent on editing and arranging our pictures on the computer. Then I slept like a baby.

Vinaka, friends...

Today's Apocalypse Sign: And Now For Something Completely Different (Kinda)

There was a need for this post which will become clear tomorrow. Until then just be entertained by these Fiji photos for no particular reason. Enlarge at your own risk and enjoy...

Today's Apocalypse Sign: Day 5 Extreme Sports Fiji Style - Firewalkers

Bula Friends!

You had a week to absorb the the Extreme Hiking post. If you are stumbling across this vacation tale in mid-stream, I invite you to start at the beginning by going to the Fiji Diary tab at the top of the blog. Those posts will get you up to speed before reading this one.

Today we continue on with the Day 5 activities. At least this next one really didn't pose a threat to my safety or any of my remaining, undamaged digits.

If you're ready, here we go...

Wednesday June 15th, 2011 - The Day That Will Live In Injury! PART II

After the return from the Waterfall Hike aka Modern Bataan Death March, the fire was good and ready and the stones for the Firewalkers were nice and hot. The Firewalkers in their native (and highly flammable) grass skirts prepared for their performance.

You will want to enlarge all of these.

I will digress for a second and give you some background information on the Firewalkers.

Legend has it that a Fijian god once repaid a favor to a warrior on Beqa island by giving him the ability to walk on fire unharmed. The Sawau tribe of Beqa are noted for their ability to walk on white hot stones without being burned. Strict rituals have to be observed before the firewalking ceremony. Two of the strictest rituals are 1) No form of coconut (a staple in their diet) can be ingested for 4 days prior to the firewalk, 2) No woman (no cry?). So no coconut, no sex, four days.

Let's continue...

To prepare for the firewalk they have to clear out all the burning wood that was used to heat the stones during the day.

Then they walk in the motherf*#&ing hot stones!!

Taking turns, standing on the stones for various lengths of time...

Doing the two-stone no hands trick...

Didn't have my zoom with me so my closeups weren't that close...

Show off!

And then they took my wife!!!

And several other women of our tribe...one of the Others

The two young Arkansas girls

And one of our group...

I found the Firewalkers pretty impressive actually. I say this out of a semi-kindred spirit in as much as I also have participated in a firewalk. That is a story for another time though.

I am keeping this post short since the Hike was so damn long.

Next up...the Kava Ceremony to cap off Day 5 of extreme activities Fiji style.

Vinaka for now