Undecimilla

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Spirit Building Challenge
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1/20/2025 11:14pm

I think Mallory got it backwards. Ms. Emmery too, which is pretty odd, considering she's a ghost.

Fan and I have kept on with our practice, being real mindful about not creating any spirit. We're in most of each other's classes, and have been spending pretty much all our time together outside of class. Being mindful. Not making any spirit at all.

People look at us funny, like they can tell something is up but they can't put their finger on it. In the Library. At the Spoonbender. We've even been able to keep it up at swim matches, which is hard because everybody's making spirit at those.

But all this mindfulness, not creating spirit. We're not creating a spiritual void at all. It's the opposite.

By keeping our little spirit generation out of the way, that gives everything else room to come in. And I mean EVERYTHING else.

We've tapped into the most Spirit there is. And we've done it by not making any spirit at all.





Spirit Building Challenge
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1/4/2025 11:57pm

Fan and I have been very careful not to create any spirit. But it's getting harder and harder to hold it back.

My roommate (Mallory) came back from break so Fan had to go back to her own room, and the first thing my roommate said was WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING IN HERE and turned and ran screaming down the hall. She went right to the spiritual guidance counselor so of course right away I got a call to come in.

I guess Mallory complained about the spiritual void we had created. The spiritual guidance counselor--Ms. Emmery--is a ghost, but she's really understanding and was interested in what Fan and I were trying to do, in terms of the Spirit Building Challenge.

"You're right about people making spirit," she said. "We infuse a little bit of spirit into everything we do. It's like a natural part of the atmosphere."

I wasn't sure if it was for effect, but part of Ms. Emmery kind of floated up into the HVAC right then.

"So when you and Fan concentrated so hard on not making any spirit, cooped up in your room over break, you really changed the atmosphere in there. Mallory had never experienced anything like that, so she had a small existential break."

Ms. Emmery just said we shouldn't do it in enclosed spaces. And that we'd need to let Mallory build up some spirit in the room herself.

I guess that's fair. Fan and I are figuring out how to work around it.










Spirit Building Challenge
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12/20/2024 11:46pm

Well I can't tell if our experiment is working or not.

For the holiday break, Fan Tompkins and I are staying in my room, because my roommate left, and we have been trying our hardest not to invoke any Spirit at all. Every one of our movements is careful and considered and we are very careful not to get excited or unduly metaphysical about anything.

We get up in the morning and make tea, and some english muffins in the toaster oven and jelly. We get the cups and knives and plates out like it's a tea ceremony. And then we clean it up like it's a tea ceremony.

Then we tidy up like the whole room is some kind of zen mousetrap. We carefully read our books. Fan knits and I scroll. Going outside is ritualized and mindful.

So far we are not rousing up any Spirit. But the whole world seems taut like a balloon filled with energy and it's just about ready to burst.

I can barely hold it together. Fan is doing better than me. Maybe I should learn to knit.





Spirit Building Challenge
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12/13/2024 10:57pm

I don't believe there's Spirit at all. I think people are just making it up.

If it were real, we wouldn't have to make it up. If it were real it would exist whether we believed in it or not, right?

So I'm going to make a deal. Me and Fan Tompkins are going to join the Spirit Building challenge, and we're not going to make any Spirit at all. We are going to be meticulous about not making Spirit.

If Spirit is real, then we won't be able to escape it, no matter how hard we don't make it, we will still have it. In which case we win.

And if we don't discover Spirit by not making it, then it doesn't exist. And the whole "challenge" is pointless.

Do we have a deal?





Spirit Building Challenge
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12/6/2024 10:46pm

I was walking to Psych Jazz practice after school and some older kids cornered me and took most of my Spirit. Then a teacher found the last bit I had and took it and locked it in her drawer. Don't you need a little bit of "starter Spirit" to make more of it?

I've been playing nothing but Psych Blues on my clarinet ever since.





Back to School 2024
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9/14/2024 9:37pm

You know how on registration day when they post those lists with everyone's names on it AND your psy ranking? Don't you find that demoralizing? It's like right off the bat they introduce this hierarchy and where each and every student "fits in." Ugh.