Saturday, February 28, 2015

The past week

Monday I felt so not tired that I did not even have caffeine.

I had a 4pm doctor's appointment.  Afterwards, I turned in my bells. As I walked back to my car after doing that, I found I was crying.  Was I that sad about giving up Morris dance?  Was it because I was tired?  Was it because I hadn't known I was supposed to turn in my baldricks too, so I felt bad for being told I did something wrong?

I went home and got in bed with a fiction book.  Nice and short, so it didn't keep me up too late.

Am I really sad about quitting Morris dance?  Shall I try looking inwards? I tried for a few minutes, then went to sleep instead.

Wednesday in tai chi class we learned something new.  In the fall, we got to the end of part 1 about a month before the semester ended.  The teacher thought that one month was not enough time to start part 2, so we just did nothing.  I  mean, I wouldn't have minded going back over part 1 in ways that helped us improve it, but I felt like we weren't doing that, we were just stagnating.

Then this semester, we have some old people and some new people.  For the first 3 or 4 weeks, we just did drills.  That was fine with me.  It was going back to basics, but I felt like I was learning something.  I felt surprisingly clumsy doing what was supposedly basic stuff that I already know.

But this week, we moved on from the drills and started learning the form.  We split the group in two, with the new people learning part 1 and the old people learning part 2.  So finally I was learning something new.  

Also, at the beginning, before everyone got there, the teacher asked a student if he still remembered the bagua zhang form. The student said yes, so the teacher told him to do it.  I had never heard of bagua zhang. I liked it.  I want to learn that too.

I like tai chi and bagua zhang because they are like dance.  I've always loved dance.

Thursday evening, I lay in bed reading a nonfiction book.  So warm in my bed.  Nowhere else is warm enough this cold winter.  At 8pm, I turned out the light to go to sleep.  Usually I got to bed more like 9:30-10:00, but I just felt like going to sleep.  I was tired.  I'm always tired. 

It did not work.  Still awake, I got up around 9:30pm.  Had something to eat, wasted time on the computer.

I expected to feel extra tired Friday as a result of the interrupted sleep, but I didn't.  Friday I was working hard at my job.  There were several tasks I wanted to get done before the end of the week.

I worked until 8:04pm.  I got a lot done.  I didn't get everything done.

I thought again about how every person, group, or activity has its positives and negatives, and there are some you can live with and some you can't.  In this case, I was thinking of the man I was working with on one of the projects.  He is not really competent to do everything that he should do, but he is kind, and he is responsive.  He works hard to get it done, and he does his best.  I can work with him.  I kind of like working with him, even though I wish he could do more, because it would take some burden off me.

The thing I spent the most time on was making up malarkey.  I had to write all these justifications.  They are so fake.  I mean, we want to do X for reason Y, but the only way we can get approval for X is if we write a justification for reason Z.

That's one reason I hate my job.  Because it violates my integrity.

On the other hand, the days I work late are the days I like the my job better.   I like to rise to a challenge.

It's like the way I was glad to learn something new in tai chi.  I like to be growing, not stagnant.  The problem that I have with my Morris dance group is that we are stagnant.  That's just the way the leadership of my group is, both the squire and the women's fore.  But I love the women's fore, I just don't want her to be my teacher.

One of the reasons it hurts me to leave Morris dance is because it severs me from her, and from the community.  Even though she's the only individual in the group that I really  have any bond to, I have a bond to the group as a whole.

When I woke up this morning, I lay in bed a long time, maybe an  hour and a half.  Usually I lie  in bed for about an hour when I wake up if I don't have to get up, but I think it was a little longer than normal this time.  It was delicious.  I was wallowing in contentment.  In the daytime, when I'm walking or meditating or doing anything that leaves my brain free to think, I think practical things.  I think about what to do, both immediate plans and long term goals.  But in my dreamy sleepiness, I indulged in fantasy.  It was mostly erotic in nature.  There was a lot about the guy I've been thinking of a lot in the past few weeks, someone I knew in college.  There was also my tai chi teacher.  Of course I always thought he was attractive since I set eyes on him, but I don't have a particular sense of connection with him.  But in class last time, he demonstrated push hands with one of the other students, and I thought about doing that with him.  And there were all sorts of other people and situations I imagined too.  Most involved me being in various situations with various men, but there was also the thought of myself being beautiful.  It was like one of those classic paintings, from a time when fleshier women were considered attractive.  I had some sort of flowing, colorful dress or robe.

It was all to a Peter, Paul, and Mary soundtrack.  That's what I've been listening to the past few weeks, and that's the music that  continued playing in my head through my imaginings.  I think it involved  the song Sometime Lovin'.

There were all different things in my imaginings, but what it boiled down to was feeling loved.  Whatever may be missing from my life, I have my internal resources, so I can build what I need in my imagination.

This morning, I went downtown for errands.  The sun was shining brightly.  It was warm.  These days, "warm" means over 20 degrees.  I did more errands than I had planned, and then I wanted to enjoy the sun, so I walked around downtown for 50 minutes.  Wow, going for a walk! When was the last time I did that?  I did go snowshoeing for 25 minutes about 3 weeks ago.  Otherwise, I don't remember going for any walks all winter.  I've been sick most of the winter.  I've been coughing most of the winter.  I do walk when I go to and from work, and for the past few weeks, that has just been constant coughing.  I guess that's both because it has been so cold, and also because the doctor had me go off Flovent for a test.  But I walked, and I wasn't having coughing fits.  Sure I was coughing, but they were just coughs, not big fits that sounded like I was going to vomit, and sometimes I could go for 15 minutes straight without coughing.

I looked around and it was beautiful.  It was beautiful because it was sunny and I was outside and there were trees.  I stood up straighter.  With the lifting of the inhumanly cold weather, the weight of fatigue and coughing lifted.

I got home and it wasn't perfect because I was tired and I didn't do the things I was supposed to do, but it was okay.  I listened to Peter, Paul and Mary.  Their music is stunning.  I'm talking about songs like Sometime Lovin', The Coming of the Road, The Magi, Of This World, Take the Chance, It's Magic, River of Jordan, and Sweet Survivor. 

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Thinking of people I used to know

Thinking back on people from the past.

I think I turn to people of the past when something is missing in the present.  Usually it's when an important present relationship is causing me hurt.  That's not really what's happening now, but the present is not all that I want right now.

People in the past are in the past for a reason.  Sometimes I want nothing more to do with them.  I remember last year seeing one of them.  I did not want to see her.  But when I saw her, it was fun taking to her.  For a bit.  But then before the evening was over, the things I don't like about her came out.

Others in the past I still think of fondly.  I think of reaching out to them now, but I hesitate.  They belong in the past.  If I bring them to the present, I'll be reminded of why they belong in the past, and I'll no longer think of them so fondly.

Thinking of people more or less in the present.  Most people I don't really  have much interest in being around.  So when I recognize in someone something that I like, that's something to take notice of.  Yet, our lives don't always fit together.  I'm not sure that there's anything else that can be done sometimes besides sitting up and taking notice. 

And some of those people in the present who don't really interest me have been kind to me, and sometimes I appreciate such kindness.  Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to dismiss these people.

No, I know what's important to me, and these are people who bug me if I'm around them much.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Dream

The dream I had been having when I woke up this morning:

We were in a car.  The driver was Sonny.  I think there was another person with us.  It was like when we were growing up -- I grew up with my brother, so he was always there, there was always that additional person along, but not like someone who was intrusively strange.

I had driven this route once or twice before more than a year ago, so it was a bit familiar but I didn't know it well.  I told Sonny that we had gotten onto the wrong road, and we needed to turn around.  I pointed out several places where we could turn around, but she was waiting for a better place.  I was anxious, and urging her to turn around now.

The road came to an end at a village main street, where we had to go either left or right.  We went left.  Soon after that, we went right.  The road that we went right onto turned into a highway entrance ramp.  The highway would not have any exits for 30 miles.  That was why I had been anxious to turn around, so as not to get into this situation.

Sonny stopped the car on the entrance ramp and talked with the sheriff.  Even though it seemed like it was too late, she was determined to find a way to go back. It turned out her family was from the area, and the sheriff remembered her brother.

So we got off the ramp and went back.

I was at the house I grew up in, in the room I grew up in.  We had gone in there to have a conference.  I was there with my supervisor, Chuck, and there was also that sense I had earlier of another person being there, like my brother.

It was now my second year of my Master's degree program, and we were talking about how it was going.  I said that the first year did not go well, because it was all classes, all passive, so I didn't really learn much.  I said this year was better because there was more opportunity to be proactive and engaged.

We talked about how recently at Christmas, everyone in the class was supposed to donate to a cause, and then we went around the circle, each telling what we chose to donate to and why.  I said that donating money wasn't very active, and it would be nice if we had the option to do something more engaging, like volunteer work.

Friday, February 20, 2015

The education I want everyone to have

A few decades ago, I went to school in social work because I wanted to do research on how to solve social problems.  I noticed that there was a gap between what is implemented and what works. My idea was to find out what works.  Now it seems to me that the problem is not that no one knows what works, but that that knowledge is not put to use. 

It was maybe a month ago that I heard on the radio, on the Canadian show As It Happens, about a deputy sheriff in Florida who said that kids should spank their kids more often, because then kids would learn not to do bad things, and would therefore not grow up to be criminals. 

The research I've read all points the other way -- that spanking would increase rather than decrease criminality.  Now I haven't read a lot about it, and I haven't read about it recently, so I'm not an expert.  I could be wrong.  But if I'm right, then there is a law enforcement leader who is not knowledgeable about the causes of criminal behavior.  He of all people should have been educated in this stuff.

I think that everyone should learn certain things before they graduate high school.  Critical thinking would be a part of it.  When people hear something that leads them to come to a conclusion, I want them to be able to think about whether the evidence is really sound.  Are they generalizing from one anecdote? If a study was done, at face value, that might seem like good evidence.  But people need to know how to evaluate studies.  They need to think about who funded the study, and how was the sample chosen.  I recently read that a study found that wearing bright clothing does not protect bicyclists from being hit by cars.  Now, I don't know how that particular study was done, but what comes to mind is that if you were to do a study that found that 60% of bicyclists who got hit by cars were wearing bright clothing, that alone tells you nothing.  People need to educated enough to realize that they would also need to know what percentage of bicyclists who did not get hit by cars were wearing bright clothing.

People need to be aware of why certain things grab our attention.  You can see in the stories that go viral that they have certain elements which tap into people's emotions.  We need to educate people about what those elements are, so that they can see how they are being affected.

People tend to latch onto stories that validate their beliefs.  People who are upset about police brutality latch onto stories about police brutality.  They say, "See, I told you there's something wrong with the police."  People who feel that Christianity is under attack latch onto stories that fit with that view. 

We need to education people so that they can recognize when they are latching onto a story that way, and then take a moment to step back and look at the larger picture, to consider whether in addition to this evidence that supports their views, there also exists evidence which counters their views. 

It's not only logic and statistics that should be taught.  Students need to hear the stories of a wide range of people.  It's so easy to assume that what we experience is what others experience, and that what's easy for us must be easy for other people.  A person who has always been treated fairly by police thinks that if police are hassling someone, that person must have done something wrong.  Students need stories to help them understand how the world looks from other points of view.

Voters have their ideas about poverty, crime, health care, education, child-rearing, etc.   Elected officials have to do what will make the voters happy.  And so the programs we have to address social problems are the programs that are consistent with the simplistic beliefs of the voters.  That's why we don't have programs that actually solve problems.  That's why we need to educate people.  So that they can come to evaluate research about social problems, and support effective solutions. 


Thursday, February 19, 2015

Winter

Winter is asthma, coughing, and fatigue.  The cold outdoor air inspires coughing.  Physical exertion inspires coughing.  Indoors, I cough less.  I still cough though.  Indoors, I cough enough that everyone in earshot thinks I am sick.  In doors, I can go half an hour without coughing.  Outdoors, I can go five minutes without coughing.  Outdoors, the cough is like a steady percussion accompaniment as I walk to and from work.

Walking doesn't bother me so much.  What bothers me is shoveling snow.  I normally walk to work, so I don't need to drive every day.  I do like to drive sometimes though.  I like to get groceries once a week, and I often have other errands as well.  But in winter, there are days when I want to drive but can't because my car isn't shoveled out yet.  It's too much to do in one day.  Sometimes if I shovel for 10 or 15 minutes a day, I can get out before the next storm comes.  But it snows every few days, so even if I get shoveled out, it doesn't last.  It doesn't really seem worth the effort to shovel if it is just going snow again before I can go anywhere.  Besides, I'm too tired to go anywhere.

I'm too tired to work full-time.  At my job, there are times when I'm worn out and can't work any more.  After a while they pass and I can get back to work. 

I can't work full-time, and yet I have to, because there's rent to be paid and groceries to be bought.

This lasts through the winter, but usually it's better in summer.  And sometimes, despite all this, there are good moments.  When I'm not at work, there are always chores that should be done, but if I set aside the chores, there are moments of happiness.  When I'm not pushing myself to do the things I'm too tired to do, like cook a meal, wash the dishes, pay the bills, do the laundry, then I can read, listen to music, do tai chi, or meditate, and in these moments I am happy.

Legacy

My brother was dedicated to animals.  He was on the board of a particular animal sanctuary.  After he passed away, people donating money in his honor funded a new animal lodging space at this sanctuary.  It is a fitting legacy for him.

But what about me? What is my cause?  What mark do I want to leave on the world?  While my brothers passion was animals, mine is humans.
  • I want to take care of my family.  If I had loads of money, I would set up funds so that my parents, siblings, nieces, and nephews would have lifetime incomes.  I want my parents to be able to live in the homes of their choice for the rest of their lives, and to have any  help they need when they get too old to take care of themselves.  I want my nieces and nephews to be able to go to the colleges of their choice and pursue the careers of their choice.  My siblings are already well on their way with education and careers, but I want them to always be able to live out their dreams, and to take care of themselves and their families.
  • I want to preserve and pass on the stories of the past.  The lives of those who have gone before us are lost to us, except for the parts that are written down.  I have collected what I can of photos and stories from my relatives.  I want to compile all that I have into a family history book, to be passed on through the future generations.
  • I want to do something about the world.  There is so much ignorance out there.  There are things that are known about how to inspire humans to treat each other with respect and kindness and respect rather than with violence and cruelty, but this knowledge does not seem to be widespread.  People have simplistic notions that you can get people to do what you want by threatening them.  People have prejudices against various religions and cultures.  People don't understand the importance of sustainable living.  I want to spread the knowledge of how to live in harmony with humans and the earth.  
These are my grand ambitions.  But I am too tired to wash the dishes, let alone save the world.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Another chance to sleep

I got up too early.  Woke up early, couldn't get back to sleep, finally gave up and got up.  Probably I was too hungry.  Maybe I should have had more supper last night.  Maybe when I woke up early, I should have just eaten something filling and gone back to bed. 

What happened this time is what often happens -- I know I won't be able to get back to sleep until I eat, but I want to hurry up and go back to sleep, so I eat as little as I think I can get away with.  Often it isn't enough to allow me to sleep.

And so today I was sleep deprived, had trouble getting things done.

Well, okay, I always have trouble getting things done.

But today I attributed it to not getting enough sleep. 

A part of me condemns myself.  A part of me says being tired today is my punishment for not sleeping properly.  That part tends to either lecture myself that I had better shape up next time, or else just escape and give up.

That's not the druid way.  In my previous post about ethical principles, the first thing it says is, "Every action has a consequence."  So, if I don't get enough sleep, the consequence is I'm tired.  It's simple cause and effect.  Maybe tonight I will get enough sleep, and feel better tomorrow.  It's not about being punished for my wrong behavior.  It's just cause and effect.  Every day, I can choose my actions, and every day, I reap the consequences of those choices.

Athelia Nihtscada's ethical principles

As noted in my recent post, I read in Philip Carr-Gomm's book What Do Druids Believe? about Athelia Nihtscada's principles of druidry.  Just now I looked it up on google.  I found that the book's chapter called "Ethics and Values" was on the OBOD web site, on a page called Ethics and Values in Druidry II.   The ethical principles attributed to Athelia Nihtscada are: 
  1. Every action has a consequence that must be observed and you must be prepared to compensate for your actions if required.
  2. All life is sacred and all are responsible for seeing that this standard is upheld.
  3. You do still live in society and are bound by its rules.
  4. Work with high standards.
  5. Make an honest living.
  6. Be a good host as well as a good guest.
  7. Take care of yourself.
  8. Serve your community.
  9. Maintain a healthy balance of the spiritual and mundane.
  10.  Uphold the Truth, starting with yourself.
  11. Be sure in your convictions, particularly when judging or accusing someone, but also when debating. Ask yourself: are you really sure? Do you really know that this the case?
Mostly it sounds good to me, but the last one seems a little weird because it starts of saying "be sure," but what it ends up saying is more like don't be sure.  Or, don't make claims when you aren't sure of their truth.  

Resigning from Morris dance

January 24 I re-dedicated myself to druidry and began daily practice of meditation and movement (well, I did it 12 of the past 14 day).

February 2, I changed my Facebook cover photo from my Morris dance hat (I was wearing it at the time, but the main focus of the photo was on the hat, not on the rest of me) to apples hanging from an apple tree.

Those were the things I needed to do to lay the foundation.

I've been thinking about quitting Morris dance for a long time.  I know I told my aunt I might quit soon last May.  I don't think that was the first time I thought I bought quitting. 

With the druidry and the apples, I was free.  I didn't need to cling to Morris dance as the only meaningful thing in my life.

February 4 at midday was the first tai chi class in two months -- the class had been on hiatus for winter break.  I was exhausted afterwards.

February 4 in the evening was Morris dance practice.  My car was surrounded by a pile of snow that would have to be shoveled.

I couldn't bear it.  I was exhausted.  I couldn't bear to shovel the snow, let alone go out after shoveling. 

Finally, I plucked up my courage and resigned from Morris dance.

It was hard because I had to tell the people I was resigning.  It would have been easier if I could have just stopped showing up when I didn't feel like showing up. 

There are people who do a lot more activities than I do.  Some of the Morris dancers do a lot more things besides Morris dance. 

I feel like I should be able to do lots of stuff too.

I'm not other people.  I have to follow my own pace.

There's an expression "his eyes are bigger than his stomach," for someone who puts too much cake on their plate.  That's what I'm like with activities.  I'm eager to do it all.  I keep thinking, "Now that I've quit Morris dance, I can..."  I want to attend a Unitarian Universalist chuch, attend the Dances of Universal Peace, volunteer at the historical society, take institutional research classes, take library science classes, learn skate skiing, go on retreats, learn to play musical instruments, take Nia, visit the two small cities in which I dream of living, and visit my relatives. 

But first, I need to build my foundation.  I need to go to bed early, meditate, go on nature walks, read spiritual books.  I need to establish that solid foundation.  Then I can slowly add activities, but only to the extent that they don't interfere with that foundation. 

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

What Do Druids Believe by Philip Carr-Gomm

What Do Druids Believe by Philip Carr-Gomm is a short and easy to read introduction.  It's not a guidebook that will help you get started on your druid path.  Rather, it's something you read to decide whether you want to start to walk that path. If you do make that choice, you'll want more books to help you find your way.

The first four chapters had to do with what druidry is, and what its history is.  For me, that was pretty straightforward.  I liked the point at the end of the 4th chapter commenting on famous druids in the past few centuries.  Basically, it's a bunch of eccentrics.  Carr-Gomm says you might think that a spiritual movement needs its famous people to be pious, wise, saintly and so on, but when you look at the famous people from other paths who supposedly have those attributes, you find that they were eccentrics too.

One thing that I thought was interesting in the history was the connections with the Universalist and Unitarian churches.  

Chapter 5 tells what druids believe.  For me, that did not go down as smoothly as the preceding chapters, because there are things in there that I don't believe.

What it lists that I do believe
  • learning from experience rather sticking to doctrine
  • that life is spiritual
  • acceptance of diverse theologies and beliefs within druidry
  • reverence for nature
  • trying to grow in wisdom, creativity, and love
  • history and ancestors
  • trees
  • community
  • reverence for life
  • peace
  • interconnectedness of the universe
What it lists that I don't believe
  • existence of the Otherworld
  • reincarnation
  • Law of the Harvest
The book makes some very definitive statements about the things that I don't believe in.  "A cornerstone of Druid belief is in the existence of the Otherworld....Different druids will have different views on the nature of this Otherworld, but it is a universally held belief,"  and "although all druids would agree that physical death does not end our existence, there is no set of universally recognized Druid teachings that offer details."  If this were my first exposure to druidry, these statements might make me decide that druidry was not the path for me.

If I twist it to my own understanding, I can say I believe these things.  I can say that for the Otherworld, I believe that we can reach a transcendent state of mind, and for life after death, I can say that we live on in the legacy we leave behind -- our writings, the things we create, the things people remember about us.  But to me, that is stretching it too  much.  It is like when I attend a Christian service, I can re-interpret the words to a pantheist meaning, but the fact that I can find a way to accept the words doesn't  make me a Christian. 

The Law of the Harvest is that you reap what you sow.  I believe that it is often the case that if you are kind to others, you will have friends, and if you are cruel to others, you will find yourself alone.  However, it's  not always the case.  Sometimes your kindnesses are never repaid.  Sometimes bad things happen to good people. You get sick or injured.  People betray you.  That doesn't mean that you brought it on by doing a bad thing.

I like what he says about reverence: "Druids treat the body, relationships, and sexuality with respect and as sacred.  Reverence should not be confused with piousness or lack of vigorous engagement -- true reverence is strong and sensual as well as gentle and kind."

The next chapter talks about mysticism, shamanism, and magic.  It says that mysticism is connecting with deity and shamanism is exploring the Otherworld.  It talks about how the diversity of druidry means there is room for people interested in one but not the other.  But to me, both are predicated on the idea that there is something else out there.  To me, there isn't an Otherworld, there is only your own head, where you can enter a different state of mind.

I liked the discussion of magic.  He says that magic includes "adopting an attitude of awe and reverence towards life and the world," and "becoming aware of the creative power that we possess simply by being alive, and then consciously using that creative power in the service of our values and ideals.

Chapter 7 is on ethics and values.  There's a list of 11 principles of conduct from Athelia Nihtscada.  They seem like something I could live by.  I could post them in my home, and meditate on them.

Chapters 8-12 went down pretty easily for me, same as chapters 1-4 did.

Chapter 9 mentioned that birch is often the first tree that grows when a forest is starting, so in ogham divination, it is associated with birth and beginnings.  That sparked in me an interest in learning this divination system. It is an interest that has been sparked other times in the past.  I don't believe that cards foretell the future or anything like that, but that it's a way of tapping into  different part of the self.  He says this at the beginning of chapter 9, talking about ritual: "A psychologist would say that this appeals to the non-dominant hemisphere of the brain that processes art and music as opposed to logic, language, and mathematics.  A mystic would say that ritual opens us to an experience of the spiritual dimension of life."

In chapter 8, Carr-Gomm describes some of the diverse types of druid practice.  One thing he mentions is a daily ritual "to connect with the energies of Earth, Trees, Sea, and Sky."  I want to think about that combination.  I've heard about earth, sea, and sky, and I've heard about earth, air, fire, and water.  In my own Sphere of Protection ritual, I've chosen sun, earth, air, trees. 

Chapter 8 also says, "The  most valuable and life-changing practice of all, though, evolves gradually and simply as a different way of being in the world.  Through working with Druid teachings and cremonies, changes occur in our attitudes, feelings, and behaviour which enable us to live more and more frequently in alightnment with our sense of purpose and meaning, and with an awareness of the inherent spirituality of all life."

I don't think this is unique to druidry.  It is what we get from any spiritual path. 

Overall, I liked reading the book.  There were a few things that were maybe a little different from what I've read before, but most of the material was familiar.  Still, I like reading this kind of stuff.  I find some spiritual inspiration in it.  I like the way it provides examples of the range of druidry, including Christian druids, pagan druids, people who see druidry as a religion, people who see druidry as cultural. 

For me, some ideas from the book that I might want to further meditate on or study:
  • Athelia Nihtscada's principles of ethical behavior
  • The idea of Earth, Trees, Sea, and Sky
  • Divination, with The Celtic Tree Oracle by Liz and Colin Murray
And I just want to keep reading books like this.  This book, and others I've read such as The Path Through the Forest, Druidry and the Ancestors, and Druidry and Meditation, are books were you can read a bit and then meditate on what you have read, and you can keep coming back to them.

Druidry is not a path were you read a book and then you are done.  

Names of my generation

When I was in school, the girls were named Amy, Jennifer, Lisa, Laura, Michelle, Kristen/Kristine/Kristina/Christine/Christina, Karen, Sharon, Cindy, Paula, Cheryl, Dawn, and Donna.

The boys were named Mark, Kevin, Steven/Stephen (called Steve), Eric, Jason, Brian, Andrew (called Andy), David, Todd, Robert (called Rob, Robby, Bob, or Bobby),  Michael (called Mike), Joseph (called Joe), Jeff, John, Sean/Shawn and James (called Jim).