a hodge podge of notes on the past few days

The mead I started is doing really well. I followed the instructions for making tej, or Ethiopian mead, except I put in blueberries instead of the "hops-like bittering agent" that they normally use, which means that my mead is actually called melomel. I just combined the water and honey (4:1 ratio) in a crock and kept it covered with a towel for nearly four days, stirring several times a day. I added the blueberries to the mix slowly over the four days. By day four (yesterday), it was bubbling, which meant it was time to transfer it to a gallon jug where it will stay for only two to four weeks, loosely capped, until its finished fermenting, amazingly. Everything I had heard about honey and mead was that it took forever to ferment (well, months at least). I guess I'll find out. I'm sure the blueberries helped a lot.

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I'm also in the middle of constructing a journal/notebook for myself, I created and sewed together the signatures last night and put the glue on the spine to dry, and now I'm attaching the covers. It's a lot of fun. I can't wait to finish my current journal so I can start using this one.

I've had a good bit of socializing the last two nights - after a dinner with friends, we went on a latenight bike ride in the full moon light thursday, and last night we had a dance party of sorts (I think I did the most dancing, until I wore myself out at least). I'll be enjoying a night in tonight, listening to the stack of music I picked up from the library this afternoon.

It's been at least (at least) two weeks since I've showered, and even though I've gotten used to my smell (and kind of like it), I'm afraid others have not, so I'll probably take a shower tonight or tomorrow too.

I'm very happy that I am not in college anymore. Dropping out was a very sound move. The only thing I miss is the greater freedom of living on my own (that is, away from my parents). The one thing I do not want to do is mooch. I need to talk with my parents to make sure they don't feel that I'm taking advantage of them. I'm certainly not trying to. I hope we get to a point very soon where my living here for the time being is a mutually beneficial situation. Ran has commented on the idea of mooching before -

Isn't living with somebody without paying them anything called "mooching"?

Yes it is called that, because we live in a slave culture with a slave language! Our ancestors "owned" only small personal items, but now we think we can "own" information and physical space. This idea is a social construction that serves to concentrate power: if I already have power (represented as "property"), those with less power/property have to give me more. If I "own" a space, you have to pay me just to live there, and if you don't, you are taking advantage of me. We have it backwards! It is the alleged "owner" who is mooching, benefiting from the legal right to deny someone their natural right to occupy space in this world, to build a shelter and gather food and live in a cooperative community. (Not that rent-chargers are bad people. Many of them have been forced into a situation where they have to charge rent so they can make payments to still more powerful people.)

Even though I feel my freedom slightly restricted here, it's the best place I could be at this stage, being a safe place to challenge myself to build cooperative community and (in so doing) to heal. I love my family, and I love my friends. I may not have a tribe, but I do have community. If I'm smart about how I use this expanded freedom from dropping out, I expect things to only get better.

Tags:

• community
• unschooling
• food