take that paragraph, for instance. structurally, it is balanced. symmetrical, to riff off of Tom's half-idea. harmonious, even: 4 phrases, each separated by a comma... a Bach-like inner fugue proceeding from the center and rippling outward to the edges. you can read it this way, for instance: girls/ladies, boys/gentlemen, topic/is, today's/balance. somewhat interesting, isn't it? and honestly, i didn't plan that sentence. that was the first thing that came out of my mind as i began to write this weblog entry. rather, the first pieces of text that sprang from my fingers as i began to type. as literally the first image in my mind was the one of Nikolai's tail stickin' out of my Giants cap. and the first text in my mind was the title of this weblog.

what provoked this thinking? curiously, it was another animal. well, a mythical one: the phoenix. and i was thinking about phoenices as i read Jon Berney's weblog this morning, feeling the balance of the ash-white silence of his dead log counterposed against the vivid, midified textuality of his reborn one. what Spark had to say was interesting, to say the least, and Reason #58 why weblogs rule: they can reincarnate. i had no doubt whatsoever that Spark's weblog would be back from the fields of the dead, and the only remaining question relevant to this weblogging community is when Aaron's will return.

while i didn't have precisely this set of circumstances in mind when i began this weblogging experiment back in late May, by making it a central locus of the Advanced Internet Classroom, i did see that this is the kind of thing that would be happening. it was perfectly obvious to me, upon encountering Manila technology and the editthispage server that it was exactly the tool i had been searching for all these years. and now, here we have a thriving online community with all that means. i've been part of other online communities before, since the 80s even (anyone here know what The Well is?), and one of the things about it is that it's guaranteed to be a roller-coaster ride. and, what we've experienced so far in our tiny little weblogging homestead pales in comparison to what i've seen and experienced elsewhere. we should consider ourselves lucky, so far. there have been no real casualties.

so... what, anyway, is an "inner rat?!"

if you click on the image above, it'll lead you to a larger version of it and you'll see what MY inner rat is. quite simply, it has to do with writing and the mind. it says so right there, on the spines of the books behind Nik's tail! :-) put non-metaphorically, the 'inner rat' to me means a sense of balance and harmony in life. it's a state of being that leads to equanimity, something i've striven for all my life--and achieved for the most part. if you're smart, you'll realize that what you really need in life is a sense of balance. and, with a little bit of work and imagination, there's no reason why you can't determine what that balance is for you. and what i'm saying here is that it's subjective--you will have your own kind of balance and harmony. you just need to determine it for yourself, then go out and find it. and with a little bit of luck (and for those who don't believe in luck or being open to it, you can make it yourself), you will.

{ net.casting }
^