May your misery have company

...today's blessing courtesy of the Blessings Game

101 Fun Things to Do

101 Fun Things to Do from the readers of the Business Woman's Advantage.

This is Good Glee - oriented stuff. A perfect example of The More the Merrier principle in action.

Frog Spirits

"The frog," writes Ted Andrews, "is a totem of metamorphosis. It is a symbol of coming into one's own creative power. It changes from an egg, to a polliwog, to a frog. Even after it becomes a frog, it lives close to and spends much time in the water. It always has contact with the creative force out of which it came."

How do you say "croak" in French

Here's a little language sampler in case you find yourself in an international gathering of Frogs of Enlightenupment:

Afrikaans: kwaak-kwaak
Arabic (Algeria): gar gar
Catalan: cruá-cruá
Chinese (Mandarin): guo guo
Dutch: kwak kwak
English (USA): ribbit
English (GB): croak
Finnish: kvak kvak
French: coa-coa
German: quaak, quaak
Hebrew: kwa kwa
Hungarian: bre-ke-ke
Italian: cra cra
Japanese: kerokero
Korean: gae-gool-gae-gool
Russian: kva-kva
Spanish (Spain): cruá-cruá
Spanish (Argentina): berp
Spanish (Peru): croac, croac
Swedish: kvack
Thai: ob ob (with high tone)
Turkish: vrak vrak
Ukrainian: kwa-kwa

The Game of ME/WE/WE as purportedly played by Oaqui

Among the mysteries of the Oaqui is game of "ME\WE\WE." It is said that to play it, the Oaqui would sit or stand or lie down in a circle. The randomly volunteering game-starter would then turn to the personna on his/her right/left and say either "Me" or "We." The next personna immediately would turn to the personna on his left/right and say either "We" or "Me." It didn''t seem to matter which is said, nor to whom. The game would continue in this manner until quite a good speed was reached, or everyone decided which way it's supposed to go around and what - "Me" or "We."

It is also said that the Oaqui would often evoke the Circular Butterfly of Benevolence and even the Circular Frog of Enlightenupment during this very exercise, thus compexifying the experience beyond mortal ability while at the same time giving silent voice to the collective conscious.

"Can Meditation be Fun?"

Alan Watts says "it's supposed to be fun" - and I quote:

"What we call meditation or contemplation -- for want of a better word -- is really supposed to be fun. I have some difficulty in conveying this idea because most people take anything to do with religion seriously -- and you must understand that I am not a serious person. I may be sincere, but never serious, because I don't think the universe is serious."

Consulting the Oracle Butterfly

The Cross-Butterfly of Benevolence, as graphically depicted below (that's me and Rocky - could you tell?), is known for its uncanny oracular powers.

According to legend, the Cross-Butterfly of Benevolence, when asked a question, will flutter its wings once for yes, and twice for no (or vice versa). Since the Cross-Butterfly of Benevolence is, at one level of reality, two separate people, it is likely that, in answer to a given question, one wing will flutter twice (to indicate no) whilst the other once (as in "yes"). This is considered to be an indication of ambivalence, and the seeker is advised to consider either rephrasing the question or playing something else.

Cross-Butterflying

For some of the many, it appears that though the potential joys of Cross-Frogging are vividly apparent, the desired dexterity is daunting. Hence, Cross-Butterflying (see Two-Handed Thumb-Mouthed Butterfly of Benevolence below.

Cross-Frogging

Many of the Meditation Games I've been designing lately have been for groups of meditators, or meditating groups, or both. These games involve an unyet-documented and significantly amusing leap in the art of Frog of Enlightenupmenting: Cross-Frogging.

Clearly Cross-Frogging is something for which you will require another Frog with whom to cross. Successful Cross-Froggery, then, becomes an act of transpersonal communion, wherein each participant is actually only a half-Frog, and yet combined, becomes a mutually manifested Frog of Enlightenupment. Genetically altered to produce a Frog that is neither your Frog nor the other's.

A frog that can speak for both of you, with oddly one voice.


A Frog of Mutual Enlightenupment.

Game Theory and Popular Culture

I like to think of game theory as a tool for exploring at least two of the three Glees (see below). Fortunately for the frolicsome few, here's a site that relates game theory to fun - which, as any follower of game theory will tell you, is a most praiseworthy accomplishment. The authors have created a compilation of movies that illustrate, in full cinematic clarity, some of the key insights of game theory.

The Good Glee, the Bad Glee, and the, uh, Glee

n 1: great merriment [syn: hilarity, mirth, mirthfulness, gleefulness]
2: malicious satisfaction [syn: gloat, gloating, schadenfreude]

Then there are the clubs of glee wherein songs of both glee-persuasions are often a capella'd.

Of which Glee am I Guru?

You could ask such a question?

A toy maker appeals to adults

This from an article about Japanese toy makers, called "Toy makers see future in adults’ dreams of childhood":

I laughed:

Popular among women in their 40s and 50s is Bandai's Purimo Pueru, a doll that says, “Good morning” in the morning and “I'm sleepy” at night. Patting the doll several times prompts it to say, “Stop touching me.”

I cried:

This wish to return to one’s childhood when life was full of dreams has reportedly contributed to the phenomenon in which adults buy snacks that include figurines of fictional characters popular with children.