The 8 of Tentacles Bodes Well for Travel & Impeachability

OH Friends, What’s Up?

Let’s hear it for our contributors to The Octo Review #2. Hundreds of views from all over the world, everyone loved it. (why do I feel like Donnie Trumpo when I say that?) 

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Well I keep meaning to drop in here and let you know what’s going on, but these past few months have been so busy I haven’t had time to think, let alone be an octopus. 

You know how i HATE being busy, too.

And you know I’m trying to determine whether I have early onset dementia or if all the technologies have made my brain less linear and organized. (or maybe it’s the testosterone? but probably the dementia.)

There is so much i want to address here in The Octopus Extra Extra Fake News Diary—I’m going to make a list so I remember it all, and I’ll get around to expounding on it whenever.

1. The #metoo hashtag. This was eye-opening for me, but probably not in the way you think. I wasn’t surprised by the numbers, I was surprised at how sexual assault has come to include the slightest micro-agressions—stuff that was considered “nothing” when i was young—along with the most violent physical attacks. And despite all this redefining and boundary-setting we’re still not 100% clear on what sexual assault is. I think the hashtag started out as a “raise your hand if you’ve been harassed at work” but it became much more than that; women shared accounts that ran the full spectrum from verbal harassment to horrific bodily injury. [Some men chimed in too, either in support of women in their lives, or in revolt against sexual assault being seen as only a “women’s issue.”] But so many of the posts began, “I’m not sure if this qualifies as abuse or not…”

And since we’re still not sure what qualifies as abuse, it keeps happening with alarming frequency.

[I didn’t chime in. Had I known #metoo would be trending in 2017, i wouldn’t have written extensively about my experiences with sexual assault in 2010/11 (back when I was a better writer & didn’t have dementia). I didn’t feel like recounting it —again!— on the Facebook wall. But I do have more to say about the whole phenomenon; I picked up lots of cool academicky gender-studies lingo too, so you bet I’ll be slinging that around. SOON, in The Octopus Diary.]

2. I heard it was National Coming Out Day a few weeks ago. I read some (mostly) heartwarming coming out stories and it made me think… I’ve never told my coming out story because my coming out was sooooo prolonged and squashed and deformed and untimely and shapeless. I’ve decided I’m going to “architect” a coming out story that is both true and heartwarming, possibly w/ illustrations. Possibly an Adventure in Reality. I will share it here in The Octopus Diary. Soon. 

3. Speaking of coming out, Adventures in Transitioning continues and I’ll share some of my progress because you’re all adults and you can handle it: I’m still afraid I’m going to be made fun of (or labeled crazy, or beaten up) if I take myself seriously as a trans man. So I go about it in a half-hearted manner. Lately though, I’ve been passing as male more often, so I’m forced to reckon with seeing myself as a guy. It’s quite a mindfuck, both exhilarating & scary. I’ll say more about it SOON (you know where)

4. I experienced age-ism for the first time. I say “we’re all adults here” but are we? Just like gender and sexual assault, adulthood falls on a spectrum. There’s a funny little anecdote that goes with this & I’ll try to remember to tell it to you , here , in T.O.D.

Eloise & Pecker

5. But here’s the most important thing: In preparation for becoming a mystic in my twilight years, I’ll be offering free Tarot readings for the next year or so, or until I feel like I’m skilled enough to charge the standard mystic rate of $120/hr.

As you may’ve read in my Summer Series on Spirituality I have studied and dabbled in many mystical arts since I was young, but a couple years ago when I was going through an extra difficult time, I returned to studying the Tarot deck in depth. I found much comfort and reliable advice (not always easy, but reliable) in the cards, and I feel like I have a much more intimate, intuitive relationship with this fascinating oracle than I ever have. 

I would love to practice reading for other people, so if you’re interested, let me know. (If you’re local we can meet in person, but I can also read for you via Skype or the dreaded phone if you’re out of town.)

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Eloise & Pixel

All right. That about covers it. As you probably heard (on Earbook) our little kitty Eloise died. Enjoy these photos of her unbelievably cute life.

I may not be back here until I finish my Illustrated Adventure in Coming Out, so if you don’t hear from me before the end of November, remember—

—submissions for the Winter Equinox issue of The Octopus Review open on Thanksgiving weekend. Send me poetry & art!!!!!!!!!!!!