music with meaning

As earlier I mentioned, I like music that I can relate to my life, somehow.  (A friend told me once, it needs caution to try to relate someone else's art/poetry to one's own life, but I find it... comforting to see that others find similar challenges in their lives, and hear their stories.)  So this can be in terms of the music's energy (lately I've been powering myself around with KMFDM,) or lyrics.  When these two match for me, I'm REALLY pleased about it, and I'll tend to listen the 'shit' out of that piece.  Let me give you an example.  The poet's name is Bob Dylan.  (very exciting to share this with y'all... :)

"I married Isis on the 5th day o'May, but I could not hold on to her very long.  So I cut off my hair, and I rode straight away, to the wild unknown country where I could not go wrong.

I came to a high place of darkness and light, dividing line ran through the center o'town, I hitched up my pony to a post on the right; went into the laundry to wash my clothes down.

A man in the corner approached me for a match.  I knew right away he was not ordinary.  He said, are you lookin' for somethin' easy to catch?; I said I got no money, he said that ain't necessary.

We set out that night for the cold and the north; I gave him a blanket and he gave me his word.  I said where are we goin'?, he said we'd be back by the 4th; I said that's the best news that I've ever heard.

I was thinkin' about turquoise, I was thinkin' about gold, I was thinkin' about diamonds in the world's biggest necklace.  As we rode through the canyons in the devilish cold, I was thinkin' about Isis, how she thought I was so reckless.

How she told me that one day we would meet up again, and things would be different the next time we wed, if I only could hang on and just be her friend.  I still can remember all the best things she said.

We came to the pyramids, all embedded in ice; he said, there's a body I'm tryin' to find.  If I carry it out it'll bring a good price;  'twas then that I knew what he had on his mind.

The wind it was howlin' and the snow was outrageous; we chopped through the night and we chopped through the dawn.  When he died I was hopin' that it wasn't contagious, but I made up my mind that I had to go on.

I broke into the tomb but the casket was empty; there was no jewels, no nothin'!; I felt I'd been had.
When I saw that my partner was just bein' friendly, when I took up his offer I musta been mad!

I picked up his body and I dragged him inside; threw him down in the hole and I put back the cover.  I said a quick prayer and I felt satisfied, then I rode back to find Isis, just to tell her I love her.

She was there in the meadow where the creek used to rise, blinded by sleep and in need of a bed.  I came in from the east with the sun in my eyes; I cursed her one time then I rode on ahead.

She said, where ya been?; I said, no place special; she said, you look different, I said, well, I guess!; she said, you been gone, I said, that's only natural; She said, you gonna stay?; I said, if you want me to, yes.

Isis oh Isis, you mystical child, what drives me to you is what drives me insane,
I still can remember the way that you smiled, on the 5th day o'May in the drizzle in the rain."

I love this track!  Such a guy's story.  I really like the whole tale of the journey; I've even managed to memorize the tale and tell it to my classes in my own words.  As well, the way Dylan says the words, along with the simple (yet plaintively complex) music that goes with the song (titled "Isis", by the way) is great.  It gets me swaying, and all misty, and heartens me.

Something about it sure as hell works for me, so I am pleased to have rediscovered it.  Hope you find you can relate as well!

my name

An interesting thing I've just found; a strong case for the origin of my name!!  First, a word from old christian reading...

"Jephthah: whom God sets free, or the breaker through, a "mighty man of valour" who delivered Israel from the oppression of the Ammonites (Judg. 11:1-33), and judged Israel six years (12:7). He has been described as "a wild, daring, Gilead mountaineer, a sort of warrior Elijah."

So, if you're familiar with rules of pronunciation, you could easily see how Jephthah can turn into Jeftha... which I've seen LOTS of in South African phonebooks (that's where my people are from, dontcha know) and gravestones, as both first and last names.  A little bit more stepping-on by the colonizers, and an 'S' appears.  Voila!

The biblical connection is really interesting; it has often seemed interesting to me how black people in places where white people brought them (or chose to stick their noses) often enough adopt biblical names for their children... you might think about that, in the context of the colonization of a people, and the mollification of a pool of labour.

Now further research has me suspecting that the Jeftha name has a strong Friesian heritage!  The Friesians could be referred to as the 'Newfies of The Netherlands'; that portion of that country's population that is somewhat rural, and so ends up becoming the butt of jokes.  Every place seems to have one of these unfortunately so-selected groups (Appalachians, Surrey for Vancouver, Langford for Victoria, etc), so it's interesting that these people may have left Holland for South Africa, eh?   Interesting to me, at any rate.

Learning about my name has been an interesting occasional diversion of mine for a long time.  I am usually the only person with this surname in any place I am living!   And now, it seems I've got a bit better grip on where another side of 'My People' come from.

Never mind that Alexander 'interpreted' means 'protector of man'; the name itself is derived from Persia (and Greece, and Egypt), other spellings can be Iksander, Iskandr, Lixandru, Александр, اسكندر...

jobs+work

Had a great ride today!  We were out for fours hours total, of which three-and-a-half were spent on the move, be it biking or shoving our bikes up the hill.  This particular mountain has a mean south face that the boys wanted to beat their heads against.  I really like that about the Fish gang; they are eager to be challenged; how can I not support that?  As sHoRtBuS said, 'our normal is everybody else's superhuman'.

This is my favourite work in the whole world.  There's something about taking the kids out for a really awesome ride in the woods that I really like.  Being a virtually absolute resource, for issues from flat tires to splinting broken bones (and all that comes with that) is a really empowering thing.  I take it VERY seriously, especially in the light that it is by what I role model that I can impact the world in the greatest way.  As well, the metaphorical buck stops with me in the field, so I have to be serious about it.  It's very fun too!

I even manage to cover costs and buy a bit of food and fuel at the end of the day.  It is a challenge for me to charge a fair price (aka ensure that I am at least advancing myself) for how I best contribute to the world, but I like how that learning journey is going.  I've tried many ways, so I have a decent sample population to examine, when thinking about money for my services.

My first 'real' job was at Ralston Metal Products, aged 14?.  Basically a metal box factory, (fuse cabinets, fire hose cabinets, lockers) I hammered ceramic insulators off spot-welds, and hung the boxes on hooks attached to a moving chain, enroute the paint department.  At least that's the least I remember, and that's enough.  I did get pretty strong!  And I rode my bike there every day that summer.

I worked at a Magna Industries plant at Milton (a car parts factory), in the late 80's.  Actually a pretty nice place to work, me and my buddy Chris moved scrap, garbage, and waste die lube (eww) outside the building, painting, probably a few other things.   I got this job through connections (Chris' father was a lead hand).  Again, not bad (thorough work mind you, dirty and gross at times) work for high school aged people.  As well, my first experience as a unionized worker.

As a thoroughly mechanically-indoctrinated individual, I have made lots of money working with my hands.  I have laid out and poured a foundation, laid brick, done sheet metal work (and random auto servicing and repair), cleaned and repaired firearms (a job I recall fondly), roofed, painted and assembled furniture.

One job I really liked was the four/five months I traded room+board at a farm on Vancouver Island; I met a lot of great people, partied thoroughly, and learned a few things about farms, in general.

I have taught a lot.  I have coached mountain biking for many years, and I used to teach people how to be bicycle mechanics at a registered private post-secondary institution.  Ah, that whole bike thing...

Bike mechanics instructor, wheelbuilder, mechanic, coach, bike messenger, tour guide, tour (not of France) mechanic, program designer for schools and non-profits... geez, that list just doesn't seem as long as it feels sometimes!  And some of these things I still do.

And I have a professional driver's licence; always looking to upgrade that!  Keeps doors open, you see.

I never really cottoned on to the post-secondary education thing, and so that has meant that I've had to be creative and versatile in my work.  Which has really been an interesting way to be.