#beardedboggan

What a great dad.

What a wonderful and terrifying thing. I'm here if you need a sounding board. :)

Rules: Answer the questions in a new post and tag 10 blogs you would like to get to know better.

A- Age:  41

B- Birthplace: Massachusetts

C- Current time: 10:47 pm

D- Drink you had last:  lemonade

E- Easiest person to talk to: my wife

F-Favorite Song: lets go with Ma Solituda by Catherine Wheel

G- Grossest memory:  the day I was soiled by four different species.  Ended with midnight to two or three am cleaning most of the carpet in my house

H- Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

I- In love: indeed I am 

J- Jealous of people:  I try hard not to be K- Kids:  One

L- Love at first sight or should I walk by again: I didn’t believe in love at first sight but life has proven otherwise or close to first sight.

M - Middle name: David

N- Number of siblings: 0

O- One wish:  health and happiness for my friends and family

P - Person I last called/texted: my good friend John

R- Reason to smile:  My daughter

S- Song you sang last: other than singing my daughter to sleep, Birdhouse in Your Soul by They Might Be Giants

T- Time you woke up:  6:45 am

U- Underwear color: umm.... Transformers?     

V- Vacation destination: I would love to go to Scotland .

W- Worst habit:  constant worry and anxiety

X- X-rays:  chest, teeth, knees, back, ankles 

Y- Your favorite food:  Seafood or Chinese food

Z- Zodiac sign:  Taurus/Gemini cusp

Hello! Oh man, that’s a big question. I think for me the best things about the series really boil down to the characterisations and the care and fore-planning that goes into the writing. They really should be the bare minimum requirement in any show, but they’re often so lacking. With Black Sails, none of the characters ever stagnate. They’ve all had clear and defined arcs over the 4 seasons. The things that happen to them, or the things that they choose to make happen, all have consequences, both to the story and to them personally. When snippets of their backstories are revealed (sometimes 2 or 3 or even 4 seasons in) they add so much depth to what we know about them already. Things that already made sense are suddenly so crystal clear. Why is he so obsessed with making his name famous? Why is she so emotionally closed off and angry? Why is he so desperate to see Nassau made strong and legitimate and freed from the hypocrisies of civilisation? Every one of them has a different reason for becoming what they are, but they all add so much to the wider story of how very uncivilised civilisation was at the time. When it comes to the planning of the larger narrative and the character arcs, there’s so many instances of things which were set up with multiple hints and references as early as episode one, that aren’t cashed in on until full seasons later. It makes the rewatch value so high, because every time you notice something else that was hinting at a plot point they hadn’t got to yet. It’s incredibly deftly done. And the dialogue too is beautiful. It can be quite a wordy show, but the words never feel superfluous or wasted. They all mean something significant to the progression of the story, and they can all be pulled apart and analysed and compared with other instances where similar wording was used. Ultimately, this is a story about stories (in the creators’ words), so it’s fascinating to watch literary characters like Captain Flint and John Silver weaving their own stories, quite deliberately, to achieve a purpose. 

shaBAM, one beautiful raven girl for an equally beautiful @nerdycurvyboundandflirty​, as commissioned by her lovely husabnd @beardedboggan​.  these two are a couple of my offline friends from back in florida and i miss their faces so, so much.  on top of getting to do some fun art of a tabletop character i got the chance to catch up with wonderful friends again and that just absolutely made my week

Looks like a great bunch!

Thanks!  We’ve been gaming together for about 8 years now. We splintered off from our FLGS when the manager and our DM had a disagreement. My daughter joined us about 5 years ago. My son (he avoided the camera) joined last year. Also not pictured is the DM’s wife, who usually plays. She had a rough week, and decided to do bed instead of demonic horrors.

Thank you! I’ve warded stuff off for like a month now, so it was probably about time somethin got through, lol. 

1) Where do I see Gaelic Polytheism in 5 years? 

I think I see it continuing to grow similar to how it is growin now. Some people come in, some people leave, but overall a positive population increase. I think I see more of us fallin into the beginnings of broader leadership roles as our practices grow, as we’ve been doin this longer, and as new folks come in and find us for answers. But in 5 years, I don’t see things lookin just too much different, just with some new faces. 

10 years? 

In 10 years, I think we’ll start to see some changes. In 10 years, I think some of us will have had kids. Some of us will have completed Ph.D.s, some of us will have finally solidified a practice that truly works for us. Overall, I think a lot of the community will still be online, but I also think we’ll start seein the beginning physical spaces. I think some of us will start to emerge as early clergy and/or leaders, authors, ritualists. I think a lot of this can and will be facilitated through existing non-GP groups like UU Pagan groups (or ADFs, etc.) that…splinter sounds negative, but carve out spaces for people on specific Pagan paths rather than what I see now in eclectic groups or various traditions all mish-mashed together out of necessity. 

50 years? 

At this point, this is all what I dream would be reality. There would be some sort of established clergy. Probably only a few, maybe in Boston, LA, Atlanta, Dallas, and/or Chicago. It would still be young and very regional. But there would be concrete spaces. Not literally concrete, maybe, but physical spaces. There would be a priest or 2 that held rituals in these locations. People could travel there to get married or have the regional clergy come to them. Maybe some sort of donation system so that a lot of the cost could be covered by those that could afford it and were local to the clergy so that those living farther away wouldn’t have to shoulder as much of the burden. Eventually even having large ritual gatherings, planting new community centers where the need arose. I think these…we’ll call em temples for now cause I frankly like the grandeur of the word, could help with aspects of local cultus, celebrating the holidays on the “calendar date” along with the rest of the world (I’m also imagining this globally in the background), but also hosting more locally appropriate celebrations in addition. But maybe that’s just a pipe dream. 

What do I like about the South? 

What don’t I like? lol, Obviously, every region has its issues. Poverty here is a big one and it, IMO, is the root of the vast majority of our societal ills. But I love so much here. I love the climate and how warm it usually is (this week can go to hell, tbh). I love how friendly people generally are. And I know, people roll their eyes when they hear that, but honestly, the people here are nice most of the time. I’ve been invited into the home of a white woman my grandmother’s age when I was lost in rural Western Kentucky. I’ve made friends with the little old Black ladies while in the line at the grocery store in North Memphis who told me about the folk magic they learned from their grandmothers. I wandered onto strangers’ property in Appalachia and been met with a curious glance, but not much more than a “you lost?” Bear in mind that I’m a 6′1″ broad, pierced, tattooed, long mohawked, beared man. Cleary, some of my experiences also carry the white privilege I have, but I’ve met far more loving people than I ever have hatemongers. They’re certainly here, but as I’ve long said, hospitality is a part of Southern culture and somethin that I think will be the cornerstone of truly changing things for the better. But as much as anything, it’s home and I’ll be damned if I leave because of someone else. 

My religious background? 

I was raised Southern Baptist in a megachurch with about 30,000 people. It was an evangelical church and one where I was routinely told I was defective and unworthy of love. It lead to a lot of mental health issues that I still struggle with today, though less than I used to, and even once when my parents tried to exorcise me. It’s a little comical now, but it left me soooo many scars. I’d quit bein Christian, though I was scared to admit it, by the time I was 16 and when I left for college at 18, I jumped head first into Wicca, made some mistakes, but all of them lead me to where I am today. Through every attempt that wasn’t right for me, I recalibrated my trajectory, and here we are, 12+ years later.