Questions about my vacation:

Well I was going to launch into more ramblings on the three chairs in my house, er den, but then I was reminded by a loyal reader than I haven't talked much about my vacation. By way of explanation I should explain that I went through a few rough spots, to put it mildly, almost right after vacation, so I neglected my blog, hell I neglected everything, and when I started posting again I was a bit more inwardly looking rather than picking up where I left off.

At any rate, my loyal reader asks:
"But I'm dying to know what, exactly, (you) did in the Andes? What does a dragon take on vacation, other than a book? Does he pack? Take some of his horde? How were Andean dragons different from where Jack was from? Is dragon culture universal?

These are all quite good questions, and I will try to answer each as best I can. I was in the Andes for the better part of a week, hanging around the area where the Incan empire was once centered. I should note that we dragons love being around the odd bits left over from old cultures. Like humans, we too grow nostalgic, but given our longer life spans there is rarely anything outside our treasure troves that can help us bask in the glow of our nostalgia. But, in a place like the Andes, where the Incan culture thrived when we were much younger, there we can smell, taste and feel the days gone by. So what did I do in the Andes? For the most part I visited old familiar places I remembered from earlier days. It is always bittersweet to go back, but sometimes I can lay quietly amidst a particular ruin late at night when nobody is around, close my eyes and transport myself back to those earlier days. That's what I spent most of my time doing, that and looking for other dragons which are quite scare throughout the world these days.

I suppose I never stopped to think that dragons were so much different from humans when it came to vacations. After all a vacation is a way to get away from home and that we all have in common. That said, we dragons do not take sunscreen, bugspray, clothes and all manor of what you call toiletries with us on trips. Rather, we usually just take books (yes I like to read), and maybe something nostalgic from our treasure trove. I brought several books and a photo graph of myself and someone who was once a close friend. For the return trip I took a few extra bauble for my treasure trove, but nothing more. We dragons pack light.

Are Andean dragons different? Well quite honestly all dragons are unique in ways far beyond what humans consider unique. That said, we generally have a lot in common too. We our immense, brooding creatures who prefer solitude. This does make it difficult to find other dragons, but it takes a dragon to find a dragon and I managed to scrape up one or two in my trip to the the Andes. There is a bit of a culture amongst Andean dragons that might be hard to explain. Most of them lived throughout the Incan empire and experienced the history that lead us to the present day. They have a certain snobbery about how things were way back when and consider the current human 'civilization' to be ugly and distasteful. This tends to color all of their conversations and makes even another dragon tire of their company pretty quickly. They did have some very nice treasure troves though, some that even humans would appreciate.

I hope I answered most of the questions asked and not asked, but to anyone reading this, please feel free to question or comment all you want. One thing a dragon has is plenty of time.

Solitude, Companionship, Community

Way back when I was still a young dragon I used to spend some time with what humans would call a grandfather. Now this is generally quite unusual since we dragons don't do the family thing so well. As a result it is especially unusual for a dragon to actually know another dragon two generations in any direction on his family tree. But, I did no my grandfather and he was a dragon to be admired. The whys of that shall wait for another day.

Sadly my grandfather died when I was still young in dragon terms. It was the first of four great losses that would profoundly effect my life as a dragon. The fourth of these is so very recent that the scar is still swollen, angry, and painful to touch. As for my grandfather, he left behind a serious of journals describing his last few years as a dragon. It was these journals that would be my inspiration for this blog, though I still do not know who it was that scribed them. Dragons can't use pens or pencils on account of our great paws and all. I imagine he hired a scribe who disappeared not long after his death. But that doesn't matter at least not now.

There was so very much wisdom in those journals, that it made my big dragon heart all the heavier with loss and regret. Among this wisdom, I culled some of the best and memorized it as best I could. And today the wisdom I intend to share is this; "I have three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for companionship, and three for community." which is a paraphrase or a restatement of something Thoreau said: "I have three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, and three for society." I can't tell you why my grandfather rephrased it or even if it was he or my flawed memory which changed the wording, but I have always gone by the non-Thoreau wording and that is what I shall post on today.

We all (dragons and people) live lives mixed with some combination of these three social groupings; solitude, companionship and community. I believe that the balance we strike between the three paints are lives and creates the setting for the story we play out over our lifetimes. I also believe that a balanced mix of the three inecessaryry for mental and emotional health. This from a dragon who often sleeps away months of his life, probably not the best litmus test for mental health. I have so very much to say on this topic, more than I realized when I launched into this post. I will break it down amongst several posts with this one just scratching the surface. Maybe that will lead my adoring fans, assuming anyone reads the ramblings of this old dragon, wanting more each day.

Let us then start with definitions. Solitude is being alone and true solitude is being completely alone. Away from other people and dragons, of course, but also away from pets and all but writtecommunicationsns. One can find solitude anywhere, but not enough peoplactuallyly seek it out. Companionship obviously involves others, but ismallal intimate groups. I honestly believe that true companionship only happens one on one and few people have great numbers of companions, though many like to think they do. Community is about larger groups, of less related, more casual people working towards a common goal. This goal doesn't have to be anything special, it could just be making a meal or having fun.

And with that 'ol Jack is going to wrap up for today. For anyone who has been tracking my moods lately, I think this Dragon is on the upswing. We will see what the days ahead have in store. And with that I am off to enjoy some solitude. Though if you are reading this, it would serve a Dragon's ego good to know that he isn't just writing into a black hole.

Even a Dragon can't hide in a cave forever

Well today's the day that Jack crawls out of his cave and into the sunlight, er the cloud difused sunlight. My island doesn't seem to get direct sunlight anymore and I'm fine with that. Dragons don't need sunlight. We prefer darkness and the moon anyway. So with that said I will proudly step out of my cave. No more moping, pining, or laying around on my treasure trove.

We Dragons are immortal and ironically immoratality comes with enough pain to almost outweigh the benefits. But, we also learn that pain happens, devestation happen, and then we must go on with life. Not that all dragons do this. Some whole up in their caves and grottos for years, decades, centuries until the sleeping dragon becomes part of the very mountain he's hiding out in. This is why there are so few of us left in the world.

But ol' Jack isn't one of those dragons. He's not going to spend immortality in his cave. And he's not going to let the linger sting of his loss cloud his life the way thunderheads obscure his island by the day. No, he's going to step out of his cave, and look to the horizon to embrace the emptiness that is there. I only hope that a thunderstom crashes down upon me, drenching my body though my spirit remains warm and dry.

It is what it is, and Dragons live forever. ..

Obsessive Compulsive, me?

In a conversation with a friend (yes, dragons have friends) the other day, I was told that I, Jack Dragon, was obsessive compulsive. I'm not sure this bothered me so much as the way the friend tossed it off like everyone knew this was the case, except apparently me. This does not mean that I wash my hands constantly or that I trace the lines of wood grain on the floor. At least not so much. I apparently show it in other ways, like the way I obsess over my treasure and such. I should note, that I am not surprised that nobody has told me before now, my habit of eating people who piss me off makes constructive criticism something I don't hear too often.

Long ago, I had this other friend (that's two friends mentioned in the same post) for a while as well. A sailor who arrived almost alone on a small boat. I think we spent something like a month or two together though it seems like it was years. We bonded pretty well, which to the sailor meant that she was no longer scared of me, and for me it meant I no longer looked on her as food that talked. Anyway, eventually she was called home to a far off place I will never travel to. Her departure was a hurried one before dawn without a goodbye. I doubt I will ever see her again.

So let's bring this full circle. Even though I know that my friend the sailor will never return, I scan the sea several times a day looking for her ship. At night I sometimes build signal fires just in case she's out there and can not find her way. I know that I will almost certainly never see her again, but I do these things anyway. And not just once in a while, but constantly.

I've decided that I'm going to try to stop, ease off a little at a time. I am only prolonging the pain of knowing that she will never return. But even dragons can have dreams. And in my dream I would see her or hear from her just one more time.

My den calls me, back to sleep, to dream.

Sleeping.....

Ol' Jack just awoke from a long slumber to realize he hasn't posted anything it a while. Well to be honest I've been in my cave sleeping mostly. I'm a dragon, that's what we do. It is dark and cloudy outside and I miss the sun. I shall hope for clear skys, starlight and a full moon tonight, it lifts my heart. I think I shall become nocturnal for what little time I am awake anymore. The constantly cloudy days only depress me.

Back to my cool den and the quiet darkness, I will awake again sooner this time, but sleep calls me. And in my dreams the clouds sometimes clear...