Jan 26, 2009

Jitterbug Perfume, Week 16, Daffy Yum

JITTERBUG PERFUME
Week 16, Jan. 19– Jan. 25

Page 106

This page really expresses the "stone remains, water goes" line. Even water stays if it freezes or gets stagnant. It shows how desire trumps detachment as well. Alobar and Kudra become fierce invalids as they fight the blizzard to get to the Bandaloop and safety. Alobar's desire for life in general and Kudra's in particular inspires him to heroic action to save her.I can understand that. When desire gets ahold of me, its pain and pleasure are irresistible, much like a passionate beauty with very long fingernails.Alobar laughs as his ridiculous life passes before him. What kind of laugh would you laugh at your life? Mine would be rueful and amused I think. How about you?

Dale
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Mine would contain 2/3 what was I thinking?? and 1/3 yippee! finally found the right track, with a dusting of cinnamon on top.

Gem
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My laugh would probably be somewhat hysterical and, whilst not exactly bitter, there would certainly be tears.

Deena
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I think my laugh would be exactly like the laugh Jim Carrey gave as Andy Kaufman at the end of Man on the Moon. Kind of an "Aw, shit--the joke was on ME!" I haven't participated in Daffy Yum yet. I might try to catch up with you all.

pk (popartmonkey)
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It would vary from a snort of acknowledgment that something amusing had occurred to uproarious in reaction to the sheer genius of it all. If graphed in terms of volume over time, it would appear to be a sinc function convoluted with your average everyday transcandenent function.

BoB - whoohoo, math! (Bob Nesheim)
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:-) There must always be tears--an integral part of the endarkenment.

Dale
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LOL (my current laughter at life) BoB. Science in spite of it all.

Dale
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Page 107

I think Tom sort of uses Kudra to fuss at himself. He quotes her interior monologue that Alobar is always prattling about the meaning of things--which is a pretty shorthand way of describing what Tom's novels do, but that I never find tiresome.The Bandaloop have flown the coop. The caves are bare, but Alo-Kud take it all with Taoist calm. Sweep floor. Make love.

Dale
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Page 108

So does anyone know what TV movie Tom is talking about at the beginning of the Seattle section? The Transcosmic Pigout?

I guess Tom Robbins has written so much and about so many things that synchronicity is inevitable. I'm always running into things that remind me of his novels in some way. I'm reading Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints, a book of bio-essays by Joan Acocella. The first artist is Lucia Joyce, the troubled daughter of the author of Finnegan’s Wake. Not only is Finnegan’s Wake a big deal in Fierce Invalids, there is a bonus little Robbinsesque vignette of Lucia, the slightly mad daughter, dancing silently in the background while Joyce worked on Finnegan’s. One biographer cast her as a co-writer of the book, saying that her dancing was his inspiration.

And, of course, the fabric of the ordinary world always crinkles in interesting ways. Weird graffiti has been much with me recently. On a sidewalk, I encountered a reminder of Magritte the painter who under an illustration of a smoking pipe wrote the words, (in French) "This is not a pipe." I ran across a word painted on the sidewalk that said, "Image".

Marijuana leaves are popular for engraving in wet cement around here. And on one wall someone had written, "I am a pussyboy." WTF, I asked myself. Does that mean he is like Switters and knows 100 words for vagina? Or is he like Larry Diamond who describes sexual organs with culinary names like "Pussy Fricassee"? Or is it a pre-op transgender who hasn't quite made up his/her mind? (Who knew that the efforts of Feminists to de-genderize the language would come in so handy for talking about third-sexers.) The world is strange once your brain gets Robbinsized. (Or Robbins sized.)

And that's not even mentioning the smells, odors, scents and bouquets.

Dale
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Who-boy...that’s some "bouncy" world over there, Dale if I had to guess at a title for that movie...it might be a re-make of "The Blob" by Monte Python.

"Perfume...the smell of creation"

Michael

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The AFTRLife (an acronym for alt.fan.tom-robbins) is a website -- consider it an hom(ep)age -- dedicated to Tom Robbins, the cosmic/comic American author. Tom's nine books embrace a Crazy Wisdom worldview and are written in a complex metaphorical style that is grounded in transcendent nitty-gritty reality. As Tom has pointed out; his novels have plot but don't depend on plot. All in all (is there any other way?) his novels are a real good read.

Come on in and play on the mood swings, do a dervish on the tilt-a-whirl and practice Zen acrobatics on the monkey bars. All suggestions for links or info to include are welcome, and, of course, credit will be given where credit is due. Enjoy!

Dale Kirby, editor. Mary Witter, assistant editor.[Credits & Props]

Snail mail to Tom Robbins, PO Box 338, LaConner, WA 98257

B Is for Beer came out April 21, 2009. It is described as ""hallucinogenic hymn to beer, children, and the cosmic mysteries that sustain us all." Details here. Here's a preview from when it was called Gracie Goes to Schooner School.


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Dharma Yum
The Weblog of the Aftrlife

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Jan 19, 2009

Week 15, Jitterbug Perfume, Daffy Yum

JITTERBUG PERFUME
Week 15, Jan. 12– Jan. 18

Page 99

Curious reader seeks confirmation from whisker-growing types re: the following. "It is said that when a man is anticipating sexual activity, his whiskers grow at an accelerated rate."Querent will check own moustache in future for corresponding condition among females.- Carol

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Mary, that is so interesting, because the first Tom Robbins book I read was also given to me by a stranger. It was 1979, and I was working in New York City, commuting by bus to my home in New Jersey. One day, I was sitting on the bus on the way home, reading one of Castaneda's Don Juan books, when I heard a deep, soft voice beside me say "Do you believe in Don Juan?" The next morning, the attractive, bearded stranger handed me a copy of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (which I still have). On the inside cover, he had written "Here's a book that's a friend of mine --having enjoyed the few moments that now have brought forth pen and rhyme...Hoping that you'll enjoy this tale of a cowgirl and her thumbs and the prospects they entail...don' t wear sneakers, if you won't dance a polka... After that morning, my commuting companion was no longer a stranger, and neither was Tom Robbins. Back to Jitterbug Perfume, I was taken by the paragraph starting with "Kudra had awakened him from a long sleep." Ending with "If the earth needs night as well as day wouldn't it follow that the soul requires endarkenment to balance enlightenment? " What a fascinating observation! I agree that there are times we must root around in the muck if we want to enjoy a beautiful lotus.

Gemcaccetta
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Page 102

Yes, this 'kizz', as you call it is unknown in the west. A rather odd sensation, but one I would not object to repeating. I have an open mind."You need only open your mouth not your mind, she thought. But she said, "Then why do you spurn me?"This is one of several instances to follow where TR shows us in italics what the character is thinking, before telling us what the character actually says. This is so true and so funny...like in Woody Allen's Annie Hall, when he and Diane Keaton are on the balcony, having one conversation while subtitles show us what they're really thinking. Humans can be so silly.Gem
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Page 104

I loved hearing Kudra's internal dialogue too, Gem, especially the tone of it in reaction to this very macho man. It reminded me a little of Amanda's attitude toward Marx Marvelous-- loving but amused.As Gauguiin wrote at the end of his life, "I wish I had been born a pig. Only man can be ridiculous." I'm assuming he wasn't talking about male chauvinist pigs. On page 104, Robbins talks about the effect of the kizz on Alobar's "unpracticed Western lips". I remember a girl talked about a guy who wasn't a skilled kisser as "he dove at my face with his lips." But I think she taught him better as Kudra is doing for Alobar. Kizz me baby!Dale, silly human

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Page 105
Kudra is inspired by Alobar's stories. Alobar is inspired to pursue her by her vagina dialogues. Kinda sexist in a way, but realistic in a way that only fantasy can portray.I believe it was ARA and Jitterbug Perfume that cured me of any monastic desires. They did teach me a lot about the important difference between detachment and indifference.I liked Ken Keyes' (of Handbook of Higher Consciousness fame) idea that it helps if one reframes "needs" as "preferences" It helps a little with detachment and, I think, the skillful attainment of desires.
Dale
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Yes! "I always remember that I have everything I need to enjoy my here and now--unless I am letting my consciousness be dominated by demands and expectations based on the dead past or imagined future."-Ken Keyes. The 12 Pathways never go out of style! As Kudra says, "To eliminate the agitation and disappointment of desire, we need but awaken to the fact that we have everything we want and need right now." Great minds think alike!
Gem

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Good quotation juxtaposition, Gem! Ah, the 12 pathways. I once had them memorized and repeated them often like some long-assed mantra. Lot of wisdom in those, I think. Are you a Living Love student?There's a good page on the pathways at http://mindprod. com/livinglove/ methods/pathways .htmlKeyes also wrote a book called Enjoy Your Life in Spite of it All. I wonder if he and Robbins influenced each other.Dale
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Thanks for the link, Dale! I read Handbook to Higher Consciousness in the late 70's, and the 12 Pathways have been part of my life ever since. The Conscious Person's Guide to Relationships also continues to be invaluable. Although I never took any courses per se, I definitely adopted the Living Love way into my life. It certainly sounds like Robbins was influenced by Keyes work, doesn't it?
Gem
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Jan 13, 2009

Pssst...B is for Beer! Spread the word!


From the very begiinning, Tom Robbins's books have been promoted by readers' word of mouth and passed from hand to hand, even as mainstream literary pundits and critics sniffed and snipped. We the readers changed all that and knew Tom Robbins is not only a creator of happenings--he IS a happening! Readers recognized treasure when they saw it and passed it on. I recieved my own first dog-eared copy of his first book, Another Roadside Attraction from a bearded and bandana'd stranger in Seattle's Blue Moon Tavern over 35 years ago. My life has never been the same, and I know I'm not alone. His books are published, read and loved around the globe in many languages.

This is an opportunity for readers to put into action our gratitude for the delicious delights and profound crazy wisdom Tom Robbins has given us over the years. Let's plaster every nook and cranny, blog to high heaven and spread the word as a gesture of homage to this most esteemed author and his latest romp. If you'd like to join in this grassroots joyride, contact Ecco publishing (who also published Charles Bukowski and Leonard Cohen—a rich tradition) at ecco@harpercollins.com for stickers, greeting cards and coasters to help spread the word, Tom Robbins style. Take pictures, too. We'll post your pictures of creative stickering (they're removable) on the aftrlife and on the flickr group All Things Tom Robbins. ~MW

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Jan 12, 2009

Jitterbug Perfume, Week 14, Daffy Yum

JITTERBUG PERFUME
Week 14, Jan. 5 – Jan. 11

Page 92

Bandaloop doctors are in the house, er, in the caves. Alobar tells Kudra of his first meeting with them and his trial by rudeness. Although they heard him without their ears, they did provide him with some roasting ears.

So I’m assuming Alobar is referring to Pan as the god he met, but who is the shaman he is talking about having met?

New words:

WantwitWant" wit`\, n. One destitute of wit or sense; a blockhead; a fool.

Jackanapes: an impertinent, presumptuous person, esp. a young man; whippersnapper.

No wisdom for these folks.

Dale
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Pssst..we met the shaman of Alfreic 'round pg. 40....he hosted Alobar’s flight from becoming the King of the Bean with some perspective-altering mushroom tea and some magic:)

Michael
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Thanks Michael. How soon I forget!

I've always wanted to be King of the Beanies w/propeller.

Dale
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Greetings, one and all! After many years living a life sans digital technology, I have recently surrendered, and jumped into this crazy new world like a bird who has found a lovely birdbath. Splash!! So tickled to have found this group. My 20-year-old paperback copy of Jitterbug Perfume is looking mighty tattered...I have read everything Robbins has published, and JP perfume more times than any of them. (Fierce Invalids comes in second.)

Anyhoo, I'd love to join the Daffy Yum, although my paging is ahead of the groups. But I'm in the general area. Something fun for me to find was pink parentheses around these lines, made by a 20-year-younger me...

"If desire causes suffering, it may be because we do not desire wisely, or that we are inexpert at obtaining what we desire."

The older me reads that and thinks, hmm, the real suffering comes from being taken out of the moment, having the attention drawn away from being mindful of what is, now. Can one desire wisely without thinking of the future? I have all I desire in this moment--and when the tickle comes for that late night snack, presto! it will appear!

gemcaccetta
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Jan 5, 2009

Jitterbug Perfume, Week 13, Daffy Yum

Page 85

These pages are synchronicity- izing nicely with my other reading, The Soul's Code by James Hillman. Kudra's yearning to transcend (read escape) her societally ordained fate (a pretty shitty one in most religious societies) leads to one of Tom's greatest quotes:

"You may protest that it is too much to ask of an uneducated fifteen-year- old girl that she defy her family, her society, her weighty cultural and religious heritage in order to pursue a dream she doesn't really understand. Of course, it is asking too much. The price of self-destiny is never cheap and in certain situations, it is unthinkable. But to achieve the marvelous, it is precisely the unthinkable which must be thought." Robbins

And she does gradually develop her escape routes. This is why when multi-culturalism accommodates too much to repressive religious and cultural practices it angers me, because the very idea of freedom is an escape route for many repressed women and to dangle Western values in front of young people and then tell them they have to obey their religion is a cruel thing. It's like "Welcome to the west, you still have to get your clit scraped off with a rusty tool, you still have to be stoned to death for getting raped, your father and brothers can still murder you for not marrying whom they say. But enjoy freedom!" I really hate repressive religions and societies and their enablers.

Ranting aside, Kudra is following her nose to her destiny. And god love the Kama Sutra.

Some relevant quotes from the Preface of The Soul's Code:

"In the final analysis we count for something only because of the essential we embody and if we do not embody that, life is wasted," Carl Jung

"One always learns one's mystery at the price of one's innocence." Robertson Davies

"There is neither beginning or ending to the imagination, but it delights in its own seasons reversing the usual order at will." William Carlos Williams

"Adolescents sense a secret, unique greatness in themselves that seeks expression. They gesture toward the heart when trying to express any of this, a significant clue to the whole affair." Joseph Chilton Pearce

Dale
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Page 91

Reluctantly, he dropped the satin coconut." What an evocative term. It gives me new appreciation for Hawaiian hula girls and the meat inside their rough coconuts. "So round, so firm, so fully packed," oh wait that's a cigarette commercial.

Dale
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Page 93

Booties. Bootes. It seems to be a theme today. First, we find Alobar's fumbling attempt at the seduction of Kudra on page 93 of Jitterbug Perfume. Booty's on his mind, Kudra's not so sure, though things are heating up and... sparks ignite.

Maybe...maybe tonight?

The stars are aligned, and celestial Bootes are poised for action. Tonight the Quadranids meteor shower pays a visit to constellation Bootes.

Typically, 40 or so bright, blue and fast (25.5 miles per second!) meteors will radiate from the constellation Bootes, some blazing more than halfway across the sky. A small percentage of them leave persistent dust trains. This shower usually has a very sharp peak, usually lasting only about an hour. ( http://www.theskyscrapers.org/meteors/ )

Here's where to look from the northern hemisphere (for those down under, check your local skymaps):

Locate the Big Dipper and follow the handle to Bootes. The Big Dipper is always visible if you live in the northern latitudes. It is to the north and looks like a giant ladle, with a handle and a bowl. Follow the handle in an arcing curve until you come to the first bright star. This is the key component of Bootes, Arcturus. [Latin for Alobar?]

Gaze at Arcturus. This is the fourth brightest star of the night sky and is just 36 light years away from Earth. Arcturus means “bear watcher,” which is a reference to Ursa Major and Minor. There is no star visible from Earth north of the celestial equator that is brighter. Twenty-five times larger in size than our own sun, Arcturus is located at what would be the waist of Bootes.

Look up from Arcturus and see the shape of a kite. If Bootes were being named today, it would surely be called “the kite.” A large diamond-shaped assembly of stars forms the upper torso and head of Bootes and is easily identified. Below Arcturus are the legs of Bootes: much dimmer stars that make the herdsman appear bowlegged.

Watch for the meteor shower in Bootes that occurs each year. The Quadranids seem to be coming out of the upper part of Bootes every December into January. This meteor shower is always worth a look as there can be dozens of meteors each hour. Bootes will be visible in winter, just not in the same spot you saw it in the spring. In the early morning hours, you will be able to find it using the Big Dipper, and then watch for the meteors. The best time for you to observe this meteor shower is during the nights of January 3rd and 4th, as these dates always have had the peak meteors per hour. http://www.answerbag.com/articles/How-to-Find-and-Identify-the-Constellation-Bootes/ae04781f-2aa6-086d-ad0c-6466b2dff60d

If you see the Quadranids tonight, remember to tip your hat to our hero, Alobar. That man sure knows how to impress a girl.

Love and celestial blessings of the universe~

Mary
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