Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Mary Beth Abel's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, July 16th, 2009
11:41 pm	July 16, 2009 -- sunny day in Seattle A good day. Guitar lesson. Sun. Work. Some errands. Locket workshop work in TS’s bar-kitchen -- with various glues. Some success! Work with GM on guitar. Some wedding planning. Busy next few days. Work, TMtc’s B-day at Verve (trying to get in touch with Kate to figure something out there). A day of belly dancing stuff with Sz and TS is up for a party in the evening with a live band, performers, and Indian food. Then, a day off to do something. Then, work and a photoshoot. Then, Tuesday rolls around – I’m up for Pilates with DGS (need to get up at 5 AM to make this class). Then, work. Then, pick up dry cleaning. BD class. Not sure what Wed-Fri next week will bring. But, TS bought us tickets to see Trey Gunn’s band next Friday. I finished the C.S. Lewis sci-fi trilogy. I especially like Mr. B, the bear (in the third book). Now, I’ve fallen into reading a book about a women who grew up in Liberia – a wild tale so far.
Sunday, July 12th, 2009
8:38 pm	Trip to the east coast and arriving back in Seattle June 29th, Monday, a work day and getting ready to head to the east coast. I got a zip car to go to a BD class near Northgate Mall and then drive to a House Circle meeting that was attended by Frank S. Frank was a great addition to our meeting. He had his own chair in our circle and alternated among sitting and watching, moving around and doing AT, and then talking with us. I brought away the notion of focusing on my lower ribs and breathing. He said that only RF seems to be a part of his instrument as if it is a true extension of himself and there is no struggle in playing it. B on the course had said to me to consider bringing the guitar to me, like a woman brings her baby to her body when she holds it. A similar idea. Some food and email and more packing. HS sent a nice note to MG and me to take care of D while he is away. Tuesday, June 30th off to the east coast. NC, South of the Border, SC, and Atlanta, GA. Easy flight. Arrived in Raleigh. It was nice and warm. Picked up the rental car and drove to N. Johnson’s place. I was navigator. Mildly excited, I read the number wrong and we went to the darkened porch of house 108 in her neighborhood. Suitcases in hand, we were greeted by a stranger and were told that we were at the wrong house. So, then I checked the number and we drove down the street further to 180. The gang was sitting around chatting. We said our helloes and then got some food and desert. The crowd mysteriously disappeared once NJ’s husband and I and TS got into a discussion about creationism vs. evolution. I’m not used to having to defend evolution face to face with someone, so that was interesting. Mostly, I don’t think I really defended it, I just politely tried to explain things from the scientists point of view. But, I’m wondering if I should send them the Sci American issue that’s all about Darwin. July 1, 2009 In Gardner, NC with the Coberly clan and with Taylor. Today, work up, showered. Then, some pod coffee and chatting. Then, we all went to a rather sparse, local hangout breakfast placed call Pollard’s. Eggs, grits, and biscuits for me. The Coberly clan offspring moved about the space doing their own thing (twirling with ribbons, reading, sitting on a mom’s lap) rather non-disruptively. Then, we went berry picking. It was cool in the shade but pretty hot in the sun. Soon I was sweating and found it hard to enjoy myself. TS had a good time. We picked huge blackberries, a good amount, and blueberries. Both, I think, could have been sweeter. I think, at least for the blackberries, it was the end of the season. Some more hanging about, then we went o the main shack to pay. I got some water out of a large plastic water jug. Very strange-tasting water – it tasted like it had soybeans soaking in it. Taylor and I collected about $10 worth of blueberries and blackberries and were told how to freeze them and to visit a website to learn how to make blueberry cream pie. From there to wine tasting. A plain building on a large property with an old, stately white Southern home. The family had been growing tobacco but the market fell, so they switched to growing muscadine grapes and making wine. Impressive really. They been going for four years and many wine varieties, making it themselves from scratch and from buying grapes from others, and they have a couple of function halls. The couple who started this all are not spring chickens as my dad would say. Our wine-pourer, the wife, said that she had wanted to retire and travel. But, now she pours wine 6 days a week. But, they seemed like a happy couple; the husband is definitely the brains/entrepreneur/crackerjack salesman of the operation. For $8 we got to taste about 14 varieties of wine and take home our wine glasses. We purchased some cheese and crackers to get us through all that. While the adults drank, the kids entertained themselves with books and things. Then, we all went homeward to rest. Mexican food later tonight at Krisy’s. At Krisy’s we first got a tour of her backyard which is populated with 27 chickens. We even helped her collect some eggs. Eggs are pretty amazing in shape and in the whole montage of life. Then, dinner came together well. We were harassed a little by flies and “dad” began to focus on fly elimination. The Mexican food was really good. From there, we went outside and rode bikes. Then, I found some chalk and decided to initiate hangman with the kids. All evening, I had been wondering when to announce that TS and I are engaged, but there never seemed to be a good time. So, I did it with hangman which made things a less dramatic but the job was done. At one point, the guessing was like “We’re equal???” Then, g’s were guessed and things fell into place. Wednesday morning was pretty casual. NJ made wonderful scones that we covered with whipped cream and blueberries. I showed off my lockets. TS and I left around 1 PM. We stopped for some food at Wendy’s then we were finally at the South of the Border location. We decided to stop and check it out. It seems that they have vested some time and money into the place. Things looked bright and cheery. It only costs a dollar to ride the elevator and get to the top of Pedro’s sombrero. Riding up, I felt like it was a religious experience. For YEARS, I rode by this thing with my parents driving and we NEVER stopped. And the one time I did as an adult, the place was depressing and like a ghost town. At the top, you could see how pretty the state of NC is. The land was green all around with clumps of trees. But, directly below was the bright and cheery South of the Border landscape. In the women’s restroom (the next stop after the sombrero), all the graffiti was from ’08 or ’09 – so I really think there’s been some recent repainting. You can check out pictures at the Taylor Sherman flickr site. By the time we got to Florence, I was very happy that I had only stole fries during lunch at Wendy’s and had a really, really big iced tea. AS had spent a bit of time putting together a wide range of appetizers for us. We dove into those and chatted with her for a while until Gy came home. News about Michael Jackson carried on in the background on the TV. Then, Gy came home and we all went out to a local restaurant that was really good. Their specialty is broccoli cornbread which is more like a broccoli-cornbread cake (it was really moist and seemed to be made with a lot of eggs). We skipped dessert and attempted to get a fresh Krispy Kreme doughnut, but the place was hosing down the assembly line when we arrived. So, we went back to their place, showed off the TTA video, and said our goodbyes. Then, I remembered that I needed to make the engagement announcement. So, I did that as a parting hoorah. Drove on to my parents place rather tired. Arrival at Mom and Dad Abel’s. Friday involved dropping off the rental car and then getting a tour around town. We had dinner at a local middle eastern restaurant. Then, gelato at the little café next to and associated with the restaurant – we were served by the Lebanese owner’s wife who was from Greer, SC and in full muslim dress. My home town is changing! I ate peach gelato with chocolate gelato. The peach was made with Greer peaches. Our server (the muslim woman from Greer, SC) pointed out her éclair experiment which had failed. She had followed a recipe but they turned out all flat and hard. She wasn’t sure why. She seemed to be happy in this role and just getting started as café baker, ice cream dipper, cashier. Then, the four of us went and saw The Hangover, outrageous. I enjoyed myself and laughed a lot. Saturday, a bit of a breakfast fiasco because my mom burned the sausages but all else was good. Then, we all went to the zoo and brought a picnic. The range of animals on the planet is so amazing. The best part happened last. We bought cups of nectar for $1 each and fed them to lorikeets who call a lot and perch on your arm while they drink. TS and I went back for seconds. In his second round, TS was holding out his cup of nectar and then got distracted and pulled his arm away just as a bird was flying/jumping to his arm. The bird literally fell through the shrubbery to the floor of the exhibit. Taylor looked down into the back hole and called down to the bird. Apparently, no harm was down and the bird reemerged. We watched Bonfire of Vanities in the evening which an ‘80’s or early 90’s movie with Tom Hanks, Melanie G, and Bruce Willis. Sunday, drove to Atlanta to see my brother, his wife, and kid and their new house. All is well there. Henry likes to be chased and I did that off and on during our stay. We had a number of good meals out on their screened in porch. It made it attractive to get a porch like that – it was so relaxing. We spent a good day at the Atlanta aquarium and then went to the OK café for lots of southern food. In the evening, my brother, TS, and I played scrabble. As I predicted and I could have/should have bet money on this – TS won. He’s really good a Scrabble. Likewise, I was last (I do not excel at Scrabble ever—its just not my game, I guess), and my brother, who was playing for his first time, came in second. We also spent a good amount of time watching the Tour the France—I really like this sport. It’s amazing to see how much coordination has to happen with the race course, the pack of cyclists, the support team, the camera work. Crazy. Back to Seattle on Tuesday. Easy flight. Dinner at the Hi-Life once we returned. July 7, 2009 Officially engaged Now, en route to Seattle from Atlanta. We seem to have less than 2 hours to go. Taylor (TS) and I are officially engaged. The first announcement was made on June 27th at a TTA end of season party. The toast began to send Howard off with many good wishes – he’s attending the course in Barcelona. Then, with champagne all around, I said that that toast was a red herring. Then, Taylor began to speak. Someone said, “You didn’t!” And Jaxie said, “Wait! Bob is in the bathroom!” So, we waited for what seemed a good 5 minutes. Jaxie explained that Bob is fastidious. There were some funny and off-color remarks too during this wait. Bob emerged and Taylor said that he and I are engaged. There was a big happy whoop and hugs and more drinking. I announced to Bob that I would never forget him. So, that’s the first announcement. On Sunday, we had a second official announcement. Taylor and I met up with his family to check out the Flight Museum which was very cool. It helped to have two ex-Boeing employees (Taylor and his dad) there to describe what I was looking at. Taylor and I paid $8 each to do the 3-minute flight simulator. That was great too, but too short. Seeing stuff from the control room for the first flight to the moon was interesting. While waiting to board and old Air Force 1, I plotted how we were going to announce the engagement. In the end, we decided to get ourselves invited to dinner and skip lunch since Taylor’s nephew was getting tired, etc. So, around dinner, we headed to the Shermans where the Giddings were staying for part of the week. Had dinner and made the announcement at dessert. Another good whoop there! The third announcement was while playing hangman with kids and friends in NC. And the 4th took place in Atlanta with my family – good whoops there.
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
5:31 pm	Week on Craft Island, Raft Island, Gig Harbor, WA 2009 Week on Craft Island Saturday, May 30 Raft Island, Gig Harbor, WA At the course, it has been a very relaxing afternoon – a busy morning. Yesterday, a sitting and then homework for my editing class. Then I cleaned my apartment and got very dusty and hot. From there to lunch at TS’s place. Felt weary and took my time. Petered out during more work. Finally just flopped on the bed and gave in to a need for R&R and fell asleep with TS. At one point, we woke up and both experienced a perfection in air temperature..the air felt like a blanket and was very still but not hot. For dinner, we went out for sushi. Afterward, when we were back at TS’s place, I heard a car accident below the window but couldn’t see it. I went down to figure out what had happened. Coming into the building I had seen D who tends to sit outside the building in his wheelchair. I wondered about him and his safety. Things were fine with the accident, a fender bender. But the worry stirred into some feelings of concern regarding the course. The feelings stayed with me the whole drive. Why was I coming? What will become of me? Who wants me? Am I still in the right place? But, more importantly, why do I struggle to be happy? We arrived at the course after dinner…recipe a la Travis and cooked by SBC. We enjoyed the offered food and chatted with the gathered. Including Dev and others. Suddenly, I felt in the right place. Hugs happened. I stayed in that place with TS and read. I headed to bed at 11 PM. Since I had had coffee (made by GM I think), I couldn’t freakin’ sleep. I felt like an idiot about that, but realized that I could just enjoy thinking, meditating, and listening to the sounds the night long. And it was a blessing when I woke up and discovered that I had in fact gotten to sleep. There was movement beginning at 5 AM. I later realized that it was BZ who mistakenly thought it was later. I met TS for breakfast prep at 6:30 AM. I was a little late for that. We made it all well. TS made good eggs, but help with breakfast setup was necessary. Then LOTS of cleaning of webs off things. Not my favorite task. Vacuuming. Finally, a shower. Then, setup for lunch. Lunch had a significant silence and our arrangement of tables compressed us. A relaxed afternoon…guitar for an hour. A walk with TS. Chatting during not-tea-tea as there were no cookies to be had. Now writing. I finished my book From the Silent Planet – a message that stuck with me – fear is a kind of evil. Reading to finish up, stretching, a sitting at 6:30 PM, dinner. Dinner was yummy. Tofu, broccoli, carrots. We were all hungry. It felt like the food wasn’t enough. But my table got seconds from the head table. It was quiet. A new guy horrified my by going into the kitchen through the wrong door to get more water. He exited out of the wrong door as well, loudly. I was struck dumb and scared by the magnitude of the task involved in “handling” beginners. And I was amused too. At one point, RF and I caught each other’s eye. I honestly was worried about what RF would do…how could he possibly bring us all together. And then he lept up and opened his mouth. His voice was loud and with what he said there was a tremendous amount of clarity and humor to be felt. I felt safe and relaxed all of a sudden. Here I wrote my aim which was to play guitar. Then, I wrote “I’m mealy … but I guess that is okay.” Then, I wrote “mealy like a crummy apple – so negative” – gees, I’m so kind to myself. But, this is really how I felt about things at this point. I felt aimless and not convinced that aims mattered. Then, I wrote down some more pathetic stuff that is not worth re-writing. I did say that I don’t think I am in the right place. The opening meeting happened. We mentioned people AAD. A bit of a review of that evening…[next page of diary]…During dinner, I had two cups of tea. I talked to Lance about my lockets (he had read about things in my diary). Then, I sat on my bed in the cabin and wrote down things. A better-stated aim: (1) To play guitar with authority. (2) To hear music to better understand music. At the opening meeting, I noted that Tony G was AAD. Also, at the opening meeting…some points of embarrassment brought to light and mine. A guy asked about getting up and not having an alarm. RF put him on the spot and asked about whether a bell would help. I think the guy said yes so RF said that he could wake up and be the bell ringer and suggested he get help to wake up even earlier so that he could be on time. As he heard RF speak, I saw this wave of self-awareness, respect, “I got it” sweep over him. I learned later that he didn’t get up and be the bell ringer. I suppose he didn’t have to do that…that wasn’t the point. But the exchange prompted JB to tell us all had she had asked a question regarding the same issue. RF asked her how she would like to be woken up. She said by a rooster crowing. So, RF told her to crow at the right time and wake everyone up in time for the morning sitting. And she stayed up most of the night and did this…woke all up by yelling “cockle-doodle-do” down the halls. Then, RF said something like…”There’s one thing that hasn’t been said.” No one knew what it was. I had no idea. Then, I was seized by this (nutty) idea that we hadn’t begun…the time for the course beginning hadn’t happened! I MUST say something. So, I did, and I was corrected and then I clearly remembered that we had in fact begun and even had a time. I blurted out admist some laughter I think…”Well, I’m beginning now.” Due to my two cups of tea, I had trouble getting to sleep again. There were 8 women in our cabin. Crazy. I heard so many various noises as I meditated my way toward sleep. My sounds were due to twisting in my sleeping bag and having to get up multiple times to pee. But, some good thoughts came my way. Sunday, May 31 A quote of the day. Said during the Aldo (?) Gobi Mater dinner I worked on as head chef. “Persistance is the gateway to heaven.” This was in response to EW’s question regarding that it took 10 years of sittings for “the penny to drop.” “Because there is an aim,” he said. This is why you continue. Spent night thinking about the day, trying to be okay about my inability to sleep. I heard snoring, dreaming, twisting, and turning. I got up at 6:30 AM and got ready for the day. Stetching at the chapel and then the sitting. I cell phone went off near me. This was the first sitting I have done that involved keeping my eyes open. When I heard the phone, I was startled but realized that I wanted to get back on track and so I did. Breakfast – I felt cheery and chatty. That gave way to some mild grumpiness regarding not knowing where I fit in the scheme of things. And then I ended up being the day’s tea girl. Ug! But, I was able to practice lots of EotN with the guys and then with JB. I wrote here…” I should go to sleep now…the cabin smells like feet.” Back to writing…After EotN, I participated in the intermediate zone with RF. #1 exercise: “Begin” then another “Begin” and then “Rhythm” The rhythm experience was, for me, like it must be to take heavy narcotics. I just become completely absorbed, intense, and excited and there’s a head rush. This is probably not an ideal state for making music. Working on EotN is getting better. I’ve been getting stronger hands and having more precision. JB noted that I looked awkward with my guitar. She suggested I buy one like hers. But, it is $1000 and the jury is out on its sound. In the end, I decide to keep exploring mine. B, the AT teacher, said to bring the guitar to me. And I can practice not looking awkward with it, on opening up. And during our whizzes, I really felt like I needed an ovation. I still have huge gaps. It is so difficult to make melodies and especially to hear them before. I have no personal muse yet, as far as I can tell. Learned from yesterday: a riff thing from RF – two primaries combined on the 4th and 5th and 5th and 6th strings. Making curry. Somehow I ended up as head chef. We were to make just two things – a curry with a bazillion ingredients and rice (also with a number of ingredients). The chefs included GM, P, and an angel who had just arrived – Tony Grza. And Patrick of course. GM was replaced by DL because he only had sandals. DL spent much of the time in the back cutting things. Tony did what I refused to do – mince garlic. I found the myriad spices and got water boiling for rice, made saffron water, had the dudes put the ingredients all combined in bowls so they could be dumped in at the right time. The curry had so many vegetables – so much chopping. An hour before we needed to be done we had so much to do. And we realized that we needed two pots for the curry, not just one. And the potatoes weren’t getting soft. This was the worst – you just can’t eat hard potatoes – it doesn’t work. So, I kept telling my chief stirrer, P, to just get the potatoes done. Other angels appeared to do the tables setup. A beautiful experience was the rice. Patrick came around and asked if the water was heating up. I was happy to say that I had got that going for the rice. And had it going by about 40 minutes till 7 PM. Then, when I took of the lid after the time for simmering – I saw the most beautiful pot of rice. And then I add in a very sugary, thick syrup with saffron and raisins sautéed in butter and oil by Tony. Stirring that rice was such a beautiful sight. Then, our dessert people helped with serving cilantro. And we were done ahead of time. I literally jumped up and down and did the yeah dance. I rang the bell. The smell of curry filled the dining room as the TTA team performed – what was it? – Lament? I was reminded of a story that I read in Martha Graham’s biography – her dance company performed outdoors in India and the audience made curries and ate them during the performance. They danced with the smell of wonderful curries all around. I think that was the meal’s completion for me. Standing with that curry – a huge, huge, successful pot of it and enough for all, while the music played and the lights were dim and the air was gentle. Monday, June 1st Began to shift my schedule so that I was showering before the sittings. This was a stellar idea especially since I was able to get up before everyone else and enjoy the hot water. It was so nice to be clean. Off to the dining room to hang some privacy paper in the women’s restroom there. Then to the chapel to sit and stretch. Not a great sitting. Wandery mind. Breakfast. 9 AM kitchen meeting. Some sharing about making dinner on Sunday night. I realized that in visualizing the arc of the meal (which I’m not very good at doing), I forgot to visualize where my team was or would sit. Many good comments including DL saying that he hadn’t been able to see the whole picture because he had done so much chopping. But, then when he saw the results he was impressed. 9:45 AM Tai Chi in the sun on a grassy hill. Glad I had my sunglasses. 10:30 AM or so – work with Greg on EotN after about 40 minutes of personal work on a high stool on the porch of the dining hall and looking out over the property. Tree canopy height, my sunglasses in place. When we last played the piece on the porch—just Greg and I—I was proud of how I played the last note. I was very absorbed in what we were doing. Greg said as we finished and some silence and I said, “That was wonderful,” that we had had some help. RF had walked by while we played. That comment resulted in some very mixed emotions. After tea on this day, TS helped me restring my guitar. Then, we played Lament together until my brain was spent. I wrote down 9 steps for restringing my guitar. Step 8 is a diagram. Some notes on EotN’s bassline: First run for the first 13 begins on 7+; Second 13 has single notes beginning with the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th pattern; 3rd 13 has the 2nd run; 4th 13 has single notes. In case you didn’t notice, I didn’t go to Berkley. For Lament, I tried to make some notes so that I could remember the alternative picking pattern. I almost figured out how to sing the song this way. It goes like this: “Dooown, Down, up, down, up, dooown. Down, up, down, up, doown, down, hammer-on, doown, down, hammer-on, down, hammer-on, dooown.” And so forth! Tuesday, June 2nd Up at 6 AM, another hot shower. Some writing. My sitting cushion was neatly taken by MS this morning. His watch was neatly laid across the black cushion on top of a blanket. For a moment in time, I did this – removed the cushion, wrote a note, and left it. Then, I saw how horrible that looked. So, I put it all back, the watch probably not as neatly as I should have. I just sat on my own blanket. I had some wild sensations trying to get the blood to flow to my legs – something I can actually control a little by making micro-adjustments. Breakfast. I did some personal practice in the chapel by myself while Tai Chi happened – notes, new things, EotN. At 10:30 AM the intermediates had work with RF in the intermediate zone. RF left us because we had trouble counting two patterns of 7’s. We worked by ourselves. TS invoked TG’s body beat more or less successfully. But, I learned later that the higher flyers were quite frustrated by all this. I had fun, however. Had a convo with GM about choices. More practice. Sat with TS and Tom R on the bench and waited for lunch. Lunch was yummy lima beans (yes, this is possible), and tofu triangles – I made a dragon shape with mine and gave it a lima bean eyeball. Helped with clean-up and vaccumed. Went to the mistake workshop led by Tom R. My earlier body beat confidence evaporated. I found it was again quite hard to find the beat in a situation where a significant number of others were also shaky. This workshop lacked silence which I needed but it was very good work. Had some more practice. Did body beat on the hill. Tai Chi and dinner. My silence need continued through dinner. I was committed to not saying anything. But, then I piped up in answer to the question about how we should spend our evening. I said that working on repertoire might help satisfy what I wanted to do. But, I was beginning to get frustrated by how horrible the improvs sounded. I couldn’t figure out how to get a foothold and it seemed those who should be skilled weren’t really helping much. I wanted to work on communication during improvising. Somehow, RF thought I was a vote for repertoire…when I didn’t raise my hand for that choice, he pointed his finger at me and said something like “Yooou, said you wanted to do repertoire.” I replied that I wanted to play music. Somehow, I think, this cemented his understanding of what I wanted. Who knows. After dinner. I talked to IK and GM about forming a band. IK’s aim for the course was to work out what he needed to do for the next 6 months. GM’s aim for the course was to meet his new band members. It all sounded good to me at this point. A remarkable evening: 9:30 PM in the chapel. Eventually, setup for two circles (an inner and an outer) became one large circle. RF stood in a corner near the entrance. He said “begin.” One of these “Tower of Babel” improvs began. It totally sucked; I was miserable. That came to a completion. Then, RF stormed into the center and demanded that I and a small group around me improvise for 4 minutes. Total joy for me. The energy pulsed. My hands shook as did those of a person near me. It was so great. This was exactly what I wanted – some focus, direction, and permission to be heard – for some reason, it is hard to give yourself permission to do what you want to do. Then, RF expanded, contracted, and shifted the improve groups so that all had a chance. One person was allowed to solo. I became flushed. Then, for a final glorious experience, we had six groups that improvised in succession. My group was last, I think. When we played, I feel that I was playing a song with a name actually. It was called “Cocktail Lounge.” It seemed dark and slow. Then estatic whizzing. Amazing chords, etc. Percussive wonder – huge energy – and a spiral of upward noise. I am very happy to have been a part of this. My thoughts on the Art of Whizzing. The circle of players becomes like the inside of a bowl of clay being shaped on a potter’s wheel. The sound needs to travel through each player and each player needs to send the chord through to an end point or around the whole circle if that is the task. In circulation, it seems to me that you are passing to your neighbor, not through the whole group. In contrast, a group during a circulation, stitches together a melody note by note or note by silence between the note by note by silence between the note. With whizzing, to achieve maximum energy and velocity around the circle, the circle needs to be smoothed out. The lumpy pockets of sound need to be smoothed out so the whizz moves without obstruction. A single player can help smooth out a lumpy pocket by stepping up intention so that the chord is propelled through the pocket. If all this comes together, the sound is amazing. Unfortunately, during this whizz, I kept my head down….had I looked up, I would have had the complete experience of the sound and my fellow players moving (literally) as one. And from what I understood, for music to happen, one must get out of the way. I was very, very weary during Tai Chi on this day. I almost couldn’t do it. I went to bed shortly after writing this: I send good wishes to myself of Wednesday for the performance and to be at my best during lunch. [I wrote out a pattern for a limb rotation.] Acceptace [boxed in and the aim for the performing trio] I play this music to honor my mom. Wednesday, June 3 Up early. Excited energy. Today’s to do list: sitting, nails (?), breakfast, practice with the band, nails (?), Tai Chi (?), 10:30 AM lunch, 12:45 PM get ready for performing, lunch-perform JB sat behind me during this sitting. But, I didn’t know this until the sitting was over. She sat close enough to me that I felt as if the small sounds she made (like swallowing) were coming from inside me. It was like another presence was inside of me. So, at the end, I was glad that that presence was female and JB’s...just anyone’s would have been a bit strange. After the actual performance, I realized that one really needs a performance checklist. I wrote (1) Attention in a limb, (2) Place attention in the body, (3) Invoke the muse, (4) Space before the performance is important – don’t be a hero, (5) Visualize the whole performance, (6) Visualize space above my head, (7) Connect with the other players. Making lunch. My task was to make egg salad. I made 90 hardboiled eggs and peeled them with TS. Through out lunch preparations, I would have thoughts like, “What can I learn from this carrot?” or “What can I learn from this egg?” The salad was well-received it turns out. Tony Gza was the head chef. I kept to the recipe and didn’t do any thing fancy. Perhaps the salad was good because the eggs were made fresh and the salad didn’t have to hang in a fridge for any length of time. We plopped it out on beds of lettuce. Alex K made an amazing hummus. We had pita and olives. Then, I went out and got ready to play. GM was distracted by his family not being present – he figured they hadn’t heard the dinner bell. We had a crew in the green room so guitar cases were in the way. It was a warm sunny, sunny day. DGS had arrived in a lively way. After Tai Chi, CG said my hair looked like bat wings. Our trio of performers seemed to be feeling good all day. Great! But before a performance, it is rather hard to know where to “be.” I began to think that I could pretend that I was getting paid a lot of money for this performance of EotN. We played first. We sat after walking into place with our stools. The room fell silent. I made an effort to look around. I saw Taylor’s face but the rest were a blur. I felt the presence of Greg’s kids nearby. I began and fumbled. Began again – too quickly possibly. I was glad for my body memory. My hands creaked along playing plinky notes instead of nice ones. IK mentioned that he was relaxed at the beginning but the accumulation of error led to his playing and being like a stone by the end. Keys to performance prep: in tone, in time, in rhythm What I thought I had accomplished in note tone disappeared during the performance. What remained was my ability to be a strong presence I think and my ability to play the pattern. To my greatest dismay, I found that I could not hear my fellow players. I found that I could conjure names and essences, but I couldn’t hear us. I could only hear myself and I could keep playing, hoping they were with me. But, for the coda, I was able to send energy to my fellow players and then the last note, I sent out energy and good thoughts to the group at large. Honestly, it’s a pretty good achievement that our last note felt good and was good (I think). After the performance, the tension caught up with me and I was crying and needed tissues. PS played beautifully to silence that JB claimed was the first real silence that she had heard on the course. She followed by telling us that she asked CG, “How does he do that?” There was chaos, unfortunately, after the meal. I think part of what led to this was that we had guests and the energy was tilted a little. The carrot soup spilled all over someone and on to the floor. The path to freedom is personal discipline. At 3:15 PM, I had a meeting with RF. I had my list of questions. Chocolates! I was delighted by this. [Learned later that AK had declined the chocolates and RF said, “Well, f##$ you then!” …which is apparently the continuation of a joke.] I asked about craving feedback – positive or negative. RF mentioned that each of us is the conductor and we need to have section leaders to manage all our “little people.” Since this conversation, I tried to figure out just how many sections I have (so that I could figure out how many section leaders I needed). There are many variations on a theme. There’s the “I’m a victim” and the “I’m not good enough” section. If I get stuck in one of these, things go south. RF mentioned visiting his hometown and experiencing many little Roberts. I also asked about how one practices our attention – such as when we are speaking. He suggested time slots. Say from 5:20 to 5:25, I’m going to listen to myself speak. He also does limb rotations on the quarter hour (during a course, for example). I found doing this during a TTA performance really amazing…it made things much more clear. After the meeting, I ate my chocolate. Got a call back from RF because I had left my pencil. Then, I did some “shopping” with BZ. It was great in the sense that my deep ponderings completely disappeared. Who needs this GC stuff went there are tops and skirts to buy! Whoo! I bought one of each of BZ’s creative creations. This was a good use of my time and money and very therapeutic. At tea, I talked with Frank S about his book. After his announcement, I flock of people bought up all the copies. On the way to Tai Chi, I took a detour and ended up on Frank S’s table. It was a very nice experience. While I was laying there, he said, “We are all happy you entered Taylor’s life.” “He used to look like Jesus. Those doleful eyes.” I laughed and tried to say something but it was too tricky given that I was on his table and had to keep my eyes closed because of the glare (we were outside under a tree) and because FS doesn’t hear well. So, I relaxed and enjoyed how he did his work – I’m not sure of the right term. Wednesday evening. Dinner clean up. Practiced Lament with TS. A meeting with a larger group (mainly TTA people and crafties) with RF that was very good. The beginner group received a performance challenge. Bed. Thursday, June 4 I woke up at 5:30 AM for a shower and then a sitting at 6 AM with Igor K, GM, Tom R, and P. Smith. It was very nice and peaceful. We kept the doors open and the bird song came in. I think that I would like to do this tomorrow (wake up early) so that I can catch up on my diary. Breakfast was made by the band, P. Smith, and Tom R. as honorary member of the band. I cooked 48 hardboiled eggs. With those from yesterday (90), that means 138 in two days. We managed to get breakfast all ready in time and complete, I thought. Throughout the preparations, I thought about bringing silence. When I finally sat down—after a few extra runs for plates and coffee and hot water, silence came. Then, Jaxie said, “I have a comment.” She said that Patrick’s performance brought her to silence. She said, “I said to Curt, ‘How does he do it?’” She noted that the silence after his performance at lunch yesterday was the first real silence she had heard on the course. The room was quiet. Another comment was also given about the silence. Finally, when the silence ended, I was able to eat my breakfast. The oatmeal was good. My coffee was cold. I should have accepted Tom R’s offer for more coffee – next time—I will take it. My hardboiled egg was fine not hard to peel – great! This means I cooked them well. I sat across the table from Curt. Then the meal was over. I wanted to sit and enjoy my thoughts, but I got up to help restore the kitchen instead. That went well eventually, but it all begun in a swirl. We had three beginners who were semi-pulled into a tense meeting with the other beginners. They all resisted and chose to serve the community and help with restoration. Yay Jim, Andy, and Paul! After breakfast, I had time and relaxed, talked with TS (I think), and signed up for a time with Martin. There was a meeting with the TTA team to figure out our plans for the afternoon. We were talking Brad and SBC, then bringing back Ingrid. Before coming in for lunch, I rifled around in my bag of stuff for my guitar. I couldn’t find my notebook there. I decided to let that go and head to a seat. But, after sitting down, I felt that I should really make sure that I find my notebook rather than leaving it about. So, I went on a walkabout of the porch and found it. I brought it in to the dining hall and placed it under my chair and ate lunch. Something good came of this incident because RF began to speak of the performance principles and I was able to capture the whole discussion as best I could by taking notes. My notes: There is a transition between being offstage and being onstage. There are 6 principles of performance. When people get together, something is possible. Pay attention to the beginning, end, and middle. Each performance is unique and has a life/identify of its own. The creation continues to be created [the performance space: (1) define it, (2) prepare the space, (3) protect the space, (4) enter the space, (5) intention to play the first note; call upon the muse – we can play the notes, but we cannot play music –“organized sound”; before we begin, recognize our place; hold the space for music to enter. The principles: (1) What takes place is beyond expectation – new something, (2) Things go better than we anticipate and better than we deserve, (3) The event takes on a life of its own (it is a novel creation), (4) Every performance is a multiplicity of performances, (5) The possible is possible (the possible is protected from the impossible), (6) The impossible is possible (the impossible is protected from the possible), (7) this principle is invisible and “not talked about” – it speaks its name only in silence. We gathered at 2:45 PM around the vans and cars and stood in the very hot sun acknowledging our departure. RF was there and he, smartly, got a place in the shade. Then, we left with an aim to do a limb rotation on the quarter hour. I found this very helpful throughout the rest of the day. We took SBC and Brad along with us and were to bring back Ingrid. We had an aim to send good wishes to the performers on the course at 9:30 PM. I rode in a van with Igor A driving, Chris G as shotgun, and with Alex K, Ian, and TS. A nice drive. A while of setting up and all performers participating in that. I wrote out the performance principles before finally stopping to eat after most everyone one else had had their food. Just before circling up, I changed my top to Barbara Z’s creation and presented that. Barbara Z was there to enjoy the show. I felt a little off … too much food before the show? Folks were tired, but when it all began it was great. I could hear it was great or at least I had the feeling that the performers were in a great space…that I wasn’t needed that much. I kept to the quarter hour attention exercise and noticed that one “ding” came as there was a moment of tuning. JB initiated for the first time that The Bus Artist is a sing-a-long. The audience became part of the show and an obvious contributing force of goodwill. Then, BW turned to JB to begin Twilight and a large blast was heard outside. I heard JB remark that she had forgotten the chord…she said this to the audience, then stated, “Isn’t that crazy?” I quickly went to the door to peek out. There was a glorious pink glow on the streets as the sun was setting and the wind was blowing, some leaves rushed down the streets. Then, the show was back on its feet, we were breaking down, and heading “home” with intention. Arrival to Raft Island was marked by multiple, yummy desserts and chips and many salsas. I had visions that it would have been nice to have a dance party and actually dance to Little Gangsters for once, but that vision was hard to realize since I was pooped and there was no other energy to spare for getting that going. Friday, June 5th Breakfast and an incredibly long discussion of the previous nights events. TG was not doing well and falling sleep at the table. Eventually he sat over in the intermediate zone. We spent quite a while hearing about the twice-through performance by the beginners. It sounded pretty entertaining with perhaps one group performing a listenable song that wavered in tempo nonetheless. One duo sent TR running out of the chapel in a screaming fit. This act, done twice, was out of alignment with his aim to not bring attention to himself, but everyone seemed glad for it. Then, TTA got a chance to speak about its experience. I had an urge to say something. Usually, when this happens, I have the right kind of energy to say what I need to say and what I have to say seems to have some value that is bigger than me. But, this time, the energy came and vanished as soon as I spoke. Not such a great feeling, so I stopped speaking, then tried again later only to have myself get lost in words again. Oh well. There was a funny moment when RF reiterated my statement--complete with waving hands--of seeing “the wind and the leaves” outside of the performance space. Humbled, the day continued on. I was recruited for lunch which began a bit chaotically because we were behind schedule. I was washing lots of lettuce with AK and he made a statement about the TTA performance to which I began to respond. And that elicited from an overseeing PS – “How much conversation needs to happen when lettuce is being washed?” I blurted out, “None.” And we all got quiet. Then, PS realized that we had too many cooks in the kitchen and I was moved to dinner detail. Having been so chatty at lunch, I decided to sit in a place where there was no one to speak to really…that happened to be near the head table. We had a great artichoke-lemony soup. The TTA team performed Kashmir and I discovered that I could watch at least four accomplished musicians-listeners of music hear this piece. I felt that I could learn something from watching them hear this music--if I learned something from watching, I imagine it will come to me in some way that is inexplicable, but it was a pleasure to watch them enjoy this music, especially a song that I have heard quite a bit. I showed up for dinner and we made something—TS and Ingrid were there. I did the salads and helped with the setup. The main course was a stirfry. We served it all family style. Folks were visiting and announcements went on a for a while. Then, during a racy cleanup—merch was sold. We got is all done in time for the final meeting. The only real mishap was that we left a large bag of garbage out for the local animals to enjoy and pick through. For the final meeting, I decided to not speak, but did anyway. It seemed a good thing to say – to quote that “help is always available.” TG was still ill throughout the meeting and eventually went off in a corner and began to snore during our afterwards logistical meeting. And that was that. Saturday, June 6th Up early to do breakfast. We noted the large mess due to the left out garbage. T. Redmond took care of that no problem (as he was already primed for such large clean ups due to a previous incident.)We gave the last piece of cheesecake to RF. I was head chef. All eggs became scrambled. I had two beginners to work with. We used up most everything. Then, I worked in the kitchen and spent a good part of the morning trying to unload our leftovers. That was pretty successful. Before noon, we were done and off. Our small caravan of cars stopped at Starbucks for coffee and snacks. Then, home. A nap. Then, out to a local Chinese place for dinner. I wore my new skirt a la B. Zimmerman. The food was super great and ordered by Lance in Chinese. Stories from the course were shared. Then, still in a jolly mood, we went over to the Fiddler’s Inn for more drink and such. It was all good and nice to meet the woman who support the Zesty Enterprise. Sunday, June 7th Much sleep and still in pj’s at 3 PM.
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
2:26 pm	June 18, 2009 Awake too early, but a good day so far Woken this morning by a sound that must stop. The leaf-blower guy was at it again. I ran from window to window trying to see my way around Ballard, to see the location of the horrible noise and its noise maker. Finally, I spotted him in a nearby parking lot. He was blowing bits around. TS got up too and he saw that the guy was legit – he’s a parking lot cleaner person. I felt better about having identified the problem. Hopefully, there’s a way to get rid of it (the problem)... I may have to wait until next week to see if it is a regular thing. But, I want to get in touch with people right away. Then, back to bed with the leaf blower noise replaced by the sound of the vacuum truck (audible even with the windows closed). Soon, back to sleep. Up for the sitting. Caught the bus. Hike to CG’s place. Felt a need to apologize for an off hand comment last night. But, by the time the sitting happened, tea, and the lesson began…and I did that, CG said that he hadn’t heard the comment, and when I told him, he said, “It sounds like something I would say.” So, I felt much better. A good lesson with many apologies from me for being slow to absorb info. Then, to Diana’s for our new combo of Pilates with Spanish lessons. We talked awhile before that over coffee. Then, thanks to D, I caught the bus right in time and made it home to begin the work day. Another TTA day and I seem to be on top of my projects. This week began with two goodnesses that are still in progress. For one, I began my new business which involves selling unique lockets designed by me and my collaborator WJD. Please buy one! If you are curious, send me an email at mb@abellockets.com.
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
7:15 pm	June 9, 2009 Sitting, Teeth, and Wading through a Nice Day I was very tired getting up today. But, made it to the zip car and then to CG’s for the sitting. And then made it to my dentist appointment. I have clean teeth. I have no cavities. I have new do-dads to shove between my molars to extract gunk. Then, I went to the market and bought provisions – OJ and such. Slowly I was waking up and working on being super-alert while driving (not wanting a repeat-360 performance in a vehicle). Safe and sound at last and lugged the bags up to TS’s place. Unloaded and we had breakfast with fresh cherries. Then, I got to work and had a one-hour phone call. The beginning of a project is speedily moving toward progress and assigning tasks. Work and tiredness led to a nap. Then, a phone call. And then Tom R disembarked from my apartment. All looked good to me. He showed me a switch that changes the way the fan blows – so that it blows the air down. Good to know! After we got him in the rather bright and shiny cab, I watered my plants, admired my little apartment, took out the garbage, and too the linens back to TS’s for washing. Now, I’m here. I think tonight I should tackle getting a Wash. business license and a trademark. I’m procrastinating. I also should diarize the course and play guitar. But, I feel very sluggish and procrastinative there too. Bleh! Last night was my last editing class! I have successfully completed a 9-month program. Yeah! Instead of the graduation, I’m going to the David Byrne concert. Two weeks from now – lots of stuff – David Byrne on Wed, last TTA show of the season on Thurs, the Planets on Friday, then a June-July open circle. Then, I think I will have TS take me to Mt. Rainier. It’s time to see the volcano!
Sunday, June 7th, 2009
11:04 pm	June 7, 2009 Back from Craft Island Sundays after Guitar Craft courses are somewhat of an undoing of all the good work – your body does not want to move. And so TS and I slept in a really long time. But, I should say that last night we ensured that we would do this by going out with the locals and some course participants and their better halves. We ate a lot, had wine, and talked and laughed. So, sleeping in was partly because of that. We were first at a Chinese joint with large round tables. Lots of food that kept coming. Then, a group of us went to the Fiddler’s Inn and that led to some filling-in stories regarding my recent history. Then, a group of us formed a circle outside and capped off the evening with more stories. Staying together past our time in the bar long enough to need to run back in to use the bathroom. And today—Sunday—after sleeping in—the day has been really nice. TS made a pile of pancakes. I caught up on email in my pajamas. Did laundry, folded it. Then, TS and I connected with Tom Redmond to give him an iron to iron his work clothes for the week. He’s staying at Chez MB and has a few gigs in town for Monday and Tuesday. We made dinner plans with him. The walk about post the iron hand-off to Tom resulted in my reception of my business license at my business PO Box! Tom, TS, and I met up for dinner at 7 PM. Tom told us all about his process for sales--this is what he shares with the world as a means to make his living. Then, some ice cream. Then, a recap of a tale that will go down as executive-level Level T.
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
10:58 pm	May 26, 2009 Trying to stay on the diarizing bandwagon A nice nighttime in Seattle. No coats weather. Yeah! I have showered and communed with my fountain of youth. Drinking wine (not sure that’s a good or bad part of the regime). A longish day of sitting, work, eating, etc and then going to my bellydance class. It’s hard to not do this…its always pretty fun. And as with everything else I do, I wish I could be better than I am or at least faster at getting better. More bus trekking. Getting ready for the Raft Island course. Wondering about how to conserve and not hemorrhage my energy during the course. I’m reading a C.S. Lewis book, one of three…with a guy name Ransome. Interesting so far. The part where he meets this black water creature is really well-told. I suppose I’ll get a hang on the title soon enough. My guitar playing got better last night I think…at least when it comes to EotN…and that was thanks to GM and his patience.
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009
9:00 am	May 23 spring in Seattle It’s nice and springy in Seattle. When I catch the bus and walk 10 minutes to CG’s for the sitting most mornings, it’s a short adventure in flowering plants. There’s one house on the way that totally mystifies me. I’ve concluded it’s the home of an obsessive compulsive—since I think someone does live there although its so perfectly put together (down to the last blade of grass and what looks like a permanently fake and pristine roll of newspaper on the front porch, it looks like movie set). Anyway, today is Saturday and the place around her is tidy as TS’s sister and brother in law will get to see things for the first time. Need to head to the abbey for a meeting about the upcoming course. Then guitar, then Star Trek. Then, maybe somewhat of a grilling party at TM’s. Other things to talk about that I will forget to do. The man who said "Don't breath on my neck." on the bus or did I already talk about that? Yesterday, he was eating fritos on the bus, and the bus smelled that way. My little new business will begin June 14. Things are cooking. I just finished copyediting a 300-page, 100,000 word manuscript (a fictional story) set in India. A mix of American stuff, British stuff, and Hindi stuff--wild. It took a long time to do.
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
7:47 pm	May begins with me on the east coast May 2nd, 2009 Today is my brother’s B-day. When he was born, I was being taken care of my grandmother. At the age of two, I picked flowers and handed them to her. She asked, "Are these for your mother?" I said no, “They are for Dabid.” I’m here in RI. I think my body should think it’s 7 PM, but I’m really tired. Soon to bed. A nice fly and drive in. An evening and morning with J talking non-stop. Then, she went off with a friend andI headed over to Veronica’s. Such a beautiful place. RI is just lovely. To get to Newport, I get to go over two bridges and a big waterway called Narragansett Bay. Newport is pretty, and Wakefield from where I was driving is a nice, quaint, cheery, progressive town with J somewhat at the epicenter of activity. Hung out with V as she made a great lasagna and salad. Chatted. Talked to D. Then, we watched the Kentucky Derby – interesting. V’s mom came over. A great dinner with a whirling dervish of a 4 year old who loves horses. I got introduced to a horse video game for kids – that plus the wine and kid were sort of fun and surreal. Wine goes well with 4 year olds. But at 9 PM, it was bath time, so here I am in my guest room with time to kill, but too tired to take advantage. Checked in with TS – he’s going to go out for Pho. May 3rd, 2009 Sunday night in a hotel and being mostly productive. For an extra $25, I brought my guitar on this trip – a last minute good decision. I’ve actually been playing it. I spent today with Veronica and her family. It seems I became a meat eater for a day. I didn’t want to not eat what was offered or remind my hosts that I am vegetarian. We went to a knick knack shop. Then, I ended up playing games with V and her 4 year old. Some good advice for my little business idea. Then, I got on the road and made my way sleepily to NH. I picked up provisions at the local grocery and got a dose of car talk – hilarious. A guy called in with a need to remove some kind of paint goo from his car. They recommended using a solvent and that an auto repair place or body shop could help – they suggested that they find the guy who seemed to be missing the most brain cells (spoke the fewest words) – since solvents “kill brain cells.” Tonight, I ate, did email, danced, stretched, played guitar for about two hours, checked in with TS at Igor A’s B-day party, and such. Now maybe some more work or to bed.
Friday, April 17th, 2009
9:44 pm	MB back from vacation, can life be just one big vacation? Way behind in diarizing. All is well. Went to Cabo San Lucas with TS. I believe that I’m very good at vacationing. The time was great and I was a happy girl. We arrived back on Saturday night, April 11th to cold and rain. Then, Sunday was Easter at TS’s folks’ place. Good, sugary brunch food. Then, we went to do a fundraiser thing and had rousing time capping off the holiday with a visit to the Hi-L for wine and food. Getting back on track this week wasn’t so bad. But, it’s Friday and I can tell I’m sleep deprived again (something I fixed on vacation). Had lunch with a new pal today. Worked out more details for my new project to make millions! Ha! Back to editing class. Wednesday was a happy day for some reason. Good sun today, Friday. Tomorrow Bat Mitzvahing with J and B for Isabel. I have gotten my two hot dresses all together for that. Can beat a two-dress day with free food!
Monday, March 16th, 2009
11:00 pm	Catching up 2/24 through 3/10 plus or minus details Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 Woke up to a pretty rainy day and a groggy head. Decided to cheer/wake myself up by opening gifts in pjs/messy hair/glasses until TS woke up. He did and we got going to begin the day. First, breakfast at Senor Moose which was very, very good. Then, we killed time by walking around. The only place open was the optometrist’s so we went in there and tried on glasses. This was actually a good use of time and extremely entertaining. Plus, there were lots of mirrors around to check on myself to see what “40” looks like. From there, we went to the Lucy exhibit at the Pacific Science Center. Too early, so we spent time doing nothing in the Seattle Center. Finally, it was time to enter the exhibit…along with many, many 5th graders. Fortunately, they were a studious bunch and all held their museum phones to their ears the whole time. Aside from having these creatures underfoot, it was fine and we only had to wait a short while in line behind them all to sniff the Ethiopian spices. It was a cool exhibit. Glad I’m only 40 and not 3 million years old like Lucy, named after the Beattles’ song. On the way out, TS and I took a pretty good photo-booth series of photos of ourselves. Then, TS and I went shopping. Yeah! We tooled around and finally landed in an Eddie Bauer store. I was slow on the uptake, but soon buying things…like a pair of pants, a top, and a watch (much needed), and socks. The prices were all good and now I don’t need to rely on my cell phone to tell time. Then, we had a smoothie snack and then off to Theo’s chocolate factory for a tour. We had to wear hair nets, eat lots of chocolate, and meander through the factory. It was all very educational and interesting. Good to know I have the only fair-trade, organic chocolate factory in my backyard! Well, after all that, it seemed like eating dinner was a good idea. So, we headed over to Phinney Ridge and were the first ones on the scene at Carmelita, a veggie-friendly restaurant. It was great – cheese, bread, wine, all the food…the desert wasn’t extremely super, but that was okay. We hiked over to see Howard at Yanni’s before catching a ride over to the video store. We then watched a double feature – Charlie’s Wilson’s War (both of us hadn’t seen it) and then Little Miss Sunshine (I had seen this one, but TS hadn’t). The end of this movie makes me laugh and cry at once so that I’m gagging and choking and flailing around – it’s the only movie that has ever made me do that. Well, after all that, we went to bed. On Wednesday, TS bestowed a bonsai azalea on me. I told him up front that this looks like the kind of plant that I have trouble keeping alive and well. So far, it’s doing pretty good and has tons of magenta blossoms. It’s 3/16. Wednesday, February 25th Back to the grind. Work. Editing class. Azalea arrives. Thursday, February 26th Not sure what happened on this day. Took bus to FAAC I think. CG away on a course. Friday, February 27th Hmm….oh well. I’m sure something interesting happened. Saturday, February 28th Hmmm…. Sunday, March 1 through March 5th Good things happened. March 6th Friday stuff. Missed the sitting due to sleeping in. Realized that I need the sittings at the very least to get my day going, otherwise, I feel like a slug and behind all day. Got my work done and worked hard all day. Met up with WJD and met his lovely wife. Now, I have two beautiful things, now what? Called a lawyer to connect. March 7th Up early to another computer workshop at UW. Two interesting speakers, good learning, but I was dragging my ass. I don’t seem to have the stamina for being confined in a class all day. I need to move more. From there, drove with RJ to a ferry. Met up with TS in an adventurous way. Got on the ferry and hung out. Even saw a grey whale spouting a few times. Beautiful, crazy weather day. Arrived on Whidbey Island and got some greasy food in a nice place with a view. Then, met up with RJ at the local theatre. Saw the very entertaining and moving Vagina Monologues. Hard to say if its best that I saw this now at my current state of awareness. What would I have thought 5 years ago? 10? 20? Crazy. From there out for more socializing and then a dozy, pleasant drive home. March 8th Slept in (much needed), up and out to get things and bring over computer. Pancakes and eggs a la TS. Work and such. Lots of sun and happiness. Yoga at 4 PM. Then, over to TM’s to watch another episode of BSG with CG and TS. Food, wine, and then Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (very entertaining). TS and I were good eggs and went grocery shopping at the BM which is open 24 hours. We were efficient. March 9th Sitting, good work day, but felt tired and nerdy. Guitar work with EP. A meeting with WJD in the afternoon to order some things and talk shop. It was a crazy-weather day. March 10, 2009 Sitting, good work day, BD class with S, very fun. I often wondering why I go to class, pay the money, etc. But, when I’m working with this new teacher and friend, I feel like I want to stay a week. Home now, trying to get work done. Made an appt with a lawyer today.
Sunday, March 8th, 2009
3:36 pm	Feb 24th through March 8th -- Behind again Until I get to that, some thoughts. I’m stuck due to a change in technologies. I used to keep info on a Palm, but it doesn’t work anymore and I can’t justify an iPhne right now. So, I’m beginning the laborious task of just writing down the info stored in my old Palm. I’m finding that it is a total pleasure to write things down. And I’m finding that the bits of data that applies to me personally are getting sorted in my head. The swarm of userids and passwords and other bits that I suppose I shouldn’t write down are finding a place in my memory. I’m wondering how much I lose by typing rather than writing information that is important. One thing for sure, I can type much faster than I can write. So, as far as getting my work done and as for getting ideas down, I like typing, and I even like the sound of my typing (but not that of others I’ve found). Another thing, I noticed during this task. Just now. I used to have a HUGE callus on the middle finger of my right hand. This was developed from how I write. I always press my pen or pencil into the side of the top knuckle of this finger. During school days, this callus indicated all the writing by hand that I was doing. But, now, I don’t do much at all. And I’m amazed to see that the callus is gone. How long did it take for that to disappear? When did it go? I used to stare at it a lot and think that it looked unattractive. Now, I think I miss it.
Monday, February 23rd, 2009
6:23 pm	Some February writings, done quickly, to get them in before my B-day Wed, Feb 18th Sitting, Work. Editing class. Turned in a mid-term – the teacher had said it should take 1.5 hours, but it took 4! Homeward with my ride-giver RJ. Thursday, Feb 19th Sitting, walked back home. Work. Off on the bus to TTA. No CG tonight but a good show with good helpers without coughing fits. Last minute audience members threw me off on my chair arranging. Fun time afterward at the H-Life. I tried to get the gang to help me fill in my Oscars (Oscar Mire) ballot but it was slow going. Instead, ended up in a convo with TS and JB about RF’s provocative email. Friday, Feb 20th Sitting. Work. Off for doctor’s appoints. #1: a mammogram – gees you really get squished by those machines, #2: a tetanus shot – I was due for one (I had a sore arm for the next couple of days), #3: a PT appoint – the serious PT guy (after some tests) determined that I was a weakling. He could push down on my legs however he wished and I didn’t have much muscle strength to resist. I couldn’t believe it. But, really, I’m not really that strong, but I have good balance and stamina and that compensates for a lot. I last a long time. I’m flexible too. But, I’ve never been very muscle-bound. Plus, my left leg is much weaker than my right and the left knee cap makes popping sounds that freak me out. I had to do numerous exercises and universal weights. It was tough and induced sore parts. From there, feeling drained, I caught the bus, grabbed a sandwich and coffee, ran to a nearby bathroom, and then caught the bus again to meet up with Sz for some BD practice. A bus ride with food is pleasant. Fun time with Sz who’s a very supportive teacher and very talented at giving feedback. In the evening, I just worked and planned for a big day on Saturday. Saturday, Feb 21st Up early for my editing class. That was from 9 to 3-ish. I was weary the whole day and could feel another round of ick infecting me. I drank fluids and wished to be able to lay my head down without being rude. I was so tired. The teacher felt sorry for us a little and let us out early. Sleepy bus ride. Some rejuvenating at TS’s place. Then, off of my BD gig with Sz at a local Ethiopian restaurant. Some waiting and reconnecting with people, lots of bellydancerly gab that made me worry that TS would want to run screaming. But he hung in there. I was first. It went well, but my choreography vaporized and I had to improvise. Not a big deal since I know the music well. The only off thing was that they didn’t turn the lights down for me. One should always belly dance in low light I think – so much better for appearances and smoothing things out. The changing room was typical – we were in a storage room with napkins, cups, a bag of dried cinnamon, a crappy mirror, multiple women with costumes and safety pins, and a really dirty floor. The service was non-existant. So TS and I didn’t even get a chance to decide if we wanted food. And he saw someone take their platter back. Not a good sign. But the $5 wine was tasty (and obtained with some initiative on my part). From there, I needed something good and comforting. We went for sushi and then rented Hancock which was quite good. Sunday, Feb 22nd Rest finally. I slept until noon. TS made his brand of eggs and undercooked, but yummy pancakes. Then, we puttered around. We did a goodwill run. Then, I used his turbo, Dyson vacuum to vacuum my apartment for KS’s arrival. I'm quite happy with a good vacuum and its results. Then, more things, a shower, some Oscar-watching, some cookie baking, then out for a very soap-opera-ish BSG episode at TM’s. He made good soup. CF made good bread. We brought wine and cookies. CF presented me with a birthday cake! Thanks CF!! Monday, Feb 23rd I bailed on the sitting. I felt like my cold was getting to me. I had a sore throat. These things make me not want to go out. Plus, I don’t want to infect others. Still, I struggle with how much I should push myself and when I should just throw in the towel. I really try to look at where I’m being a slacker. Anyway, I’ve been at TS’s all day working and periodically feeling sorry for myself that I’m sick again. Still reading the second Clan book with is really a historical romance novel with graphic and frequent sex scenes. The first book was so much more of a good story. But, I’ll keep going through this one because I believe the facts are accurate and it is interesting. Currently (in between sex scenes), the main character is learning how to make leather. Also, getting ready for editing class by doing editing homework. Need to work on the airport exercise since I’m due to meet up with SB on Thursday morning to learn the ropes on that. And I’m getting ready for the arrival of my friend from the 7th grade, KS. She knows me well. And tommorrow, I take the day off since it is my 40th birthday! Tonight, to go to the House Circle meeting, I will be using a zipcar for the first time. Should be interesting but hopefully uneventful.
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
10:57 pm	The February Teens Wednesday, Feb 11th Still sick. Keeping low and working. Off to editing class. Sat up front and enjoyed myself. Another “Excellent” on my homework! Yeah! Caught a ride with RJ and he gave me a good suggestion. Thursday, Feb 12th Dragged myself out the door, but missed the bus. Waited on another bus, but it broke down. Began walking to the sitting at CG’s. Crossed the road and then saw another 44 barreling up the road. Rats! Made it to CG’s. Missed the sitting. Spent an hour at Café B working on my editing mid-term. An hour well-spent! Then, my guitar lesson. Then, work. Then TTA. I was very mellow during this both for the setup and show. I had a coughing fit mid-way through and had to excuse myself. At the Hi-Life afterward, I treated myself to cheesecake since my B-day is approaching/encroaching. Friday, Feb 13th Sitting. Work. Met with WJD. A rather intense meeting because I wasn’t quite satisfied with the results. But, after a lot of talk and clarifying and remembering my feet and to be open, it all worked out. BSG evening. Saturday, Feb 14th Up for rehearsal with IK. TS has caught the ick so I bought him cough drops and water for the performance team rehearsal. While at the market, I saw a few scruffy guys making good with beautiful flower purchases. A good rehearsal. Then, over to CGs for some house circle work with him. Then, some hanging out, a nap. Card and V-day chocolate from TS. Ou est mes fleurs? Then out for a battle of the bands event. I was mostly entertained the whole time. Our band—an all girl band--came in second. They did well in spite of some technical difficulties and a stage ladened with testosterone before and after their act. Sunday, Feb 15th Up early to catch a ride with CF. We met up with CG and drove to Portland for the second extravaganza. I mostly slept in the back seat the whole way, waking up for arrival and coffee. A good three hours of work. Then, back on the road. Evening out for Hi-Life food and then some Iron Chef watching. I did some homework too. Monday, Feb 16th Sitting. Worked all day. House Circle with IK and GM in the evening. Posted a 25-things list. That was fun to write, maybe too fun. Tuesday, Feb 17th Sitting. Worked. Did some errands like mailing my tax forms and such. Another meeting in the PM. Things are percolating. Call from K that was fun. Worked on my BD routine for this Saturday. Worked some more. Mid-term seems to be done but I have no idea how much of it is right. Tired now.
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009
9:40 pm	February begins nicely then stops being thus Saturday, January 30th Up to TTA rehearsal at FA. Did quick paint touch up on risers. Wore pigtails -- that was a new look. Worked with IK on EotN and Where it Goes. Then to CG’s for more work. Waiting around, got to watch a very entertaining episode of the CG and Melvin show. Learned new parts of EotN. Then, TS picked me up, we dropped off my guitar, and then went to tango class with the lovely and crafty H-t Lee. Then, we got some dinner at the Pho place and then headed to TM’s to watch The Player. Good but creepy. Sunday, February 1st Yoga, joint hair appts,lunch of veggie food -- interesting bathrooms, superbowl party -- actually more entertaining that I thought it would be, to TM's for a BSG episode, MB peters out. Monday, Feb 2nd Overslept sitting but sleeping in was needed and felt good, work, audio recording, spent most of the day inside, did some laundry, then worked with GM on things for a duo House Circle, bed. Tuesday, Feb 3rd Sitting, hike back with CF part way, checked mail, work all day, felt tired, meeting with WJD on locket – prototype in progress – a jolly guy, more work and such, off to BD class. Talk on bus – skateboarders needing to better grades, Japan enthusiast, huffing man, great class with S who is going through hard times right now, she’s very astute in giving feedback, smart and good-willed without being too soft, both our knees hurt, but I felt great on the way out, bus ride – driver needs to lose weight, only likes a certain kind of diet drink, wears a nicotine patch, hates bananas. At home, some audio recording, stretching, bed. Woke at 4 AM feeling like I had caught a cold – upset about that – cancelled sitting appearance and drank vitamin C fizzy stuff with tonic water which made it bearable. Wednesday, Feb 4th Did my own sitting, working, shower, need to do some photocopying and laminating today. Did that. Editing class. Sickness on top of me by end of night. Temporary but partial cure due to stopping at Dick’s drive up hamburger stand for a chocolate milkshake and greasy fries. Thursday, Feb 5th Went to sitting, guitar with CG, Spanish with DSG that was mostly girltalk. But, I’m getting better with Spanish sentences I think. Homeward. Work. Pretty sick feeling by end of day, but that probably took away edge of first night of season. Things went smoothly. A nice crowd and my buddy RJ showed and gave a Standing O. Cool! I learned that, as HM, if you are three young 20-somethings, loud, and one of you is eating a sandwich, and you want to come see TTA and you are 10 minutes plus late, my first response to you is “No!” and I shoo you away. I had second thoughts, but I couldn’t alter my first one. The TTA show has fragility and its only an hour and there’s no lobby or holding tank for latecomers. I went right to TS’s afterward even though I wanted to go to the Hi-Life. I was seething with disease and feverish by the time he came home. I was so hot! My pjs were soaked with sweat by morning. Friday, Feb 6th I threw in the towel and took the day off for Friday. Couch time. Editing homework. Then, I went and met with my jewelry guy. We have a prototype. Learned this guy is a pices. Then, I went and did some work and buckled down and did all my taxes. I owe, ug! Saturday, Feb 7th Struggled sickily, all day through my web editing class. But, it was interesting. Took 2 hour nap and then dinner with TS at Thai place – nice atm, but I couldn’t taste the spices well – me or them? Then watched 2001: A Space Odessey. Very cool! Sunday, Feb 8th Slept in. Pancakes and eggs by TS. Felt alive. Worked on BD dance choreo and even stretched. Then, I petered out. Shower and such. Some house cleaning. Grocery store shopping. Apparently “going commando” means sans underwear. Who knew? Then to TM’s for BSG episode. “What’s FTL?” "It prevents jumping!" “Oh excellent!” To bed, feeling perky. Monday, Feb 9th Coughing disturbed sleep. Woke up to sounds of freezing rain. Ditched plan to go to sitting. Slept on couch for most of night to avoid waking up TS, and I think it was better to sleep sitting up a bit. Feel terrible today. My head is all stuffed up. Worked all day. Did some plant craft. Made plans to paint the town with KS when she comes up here. I can hear rain -- Walked out of my place and it was really cold and with snow-ice on the ground. I felt the chill to my bones and felt sicker than I had in my apartment. When I got to TS’s place, I wrote to E to see if she still wanted to come over to practice guitar. We decide it was best to cancel. I got some food and practiced on my own. And then crawled into bed. It’s really hard to sleep when you are coughing every other five minutes. A band was playing at the Leif Erickson hall next door. I tried not to hate the music. TS came home. I struggled through the next 12 hours trying to sleep. Bailed on heading to the sitting. Tuesday, Feb 10th Worked all day in quiet. Mostly productive I think. Still have the chills and a cough. I have a sinus head ache too. But, tomorrow should be better. I’m making chocolate chip cookies now. A thrown together batch since I only wanted to make a small amount. When I tasted the batter, something didn’t seem right. But, maybe that’s because my taste buds are shot with this cold. Cookies okay. Sort of puffy and lacking in fat. Need to practice some spanish, more guitar, and do some stretching. Then bed. Yeah!
Friday, January 30th, 2009
6:47 pm	More entries -- Jan 20 through the 29th Note: The addition of the word "sex" in a previous entry has been deleted since it was unintentional. And the word sex does not appear in any entry that follows so that I can maintain my G-rating. As you might have been, dear reader, you will have to go back to reading between the lines. Tuesday, January 20th Sitting (CG had TV on-sound down, NPR up when I arrived for that), Inauguration watched with TS—we sat glued to the TV and ate oatmeal, birthday days for my Dad and V. Work, BD class, rushing out from that to catch the bus I dropped…and killed…cell phone. Crap. Wednesday, January 21st Sitting, took care of cell phone business, work, editing class, ride home with kind classmate Thursday, January 22nd Sitting, Spanish with DGS, guitar lesson—on to Where it Goes since I’ve gotten EotN to a decent place, worked all day to get something done Friday, January 23rd Sitting, work, sold a pile of books/donated to charity -- $5 back, meeting with jewelry guy, puttering, yoga, BSG with gang – food, fun, stress Saturday, January 24th Up for bus, coffee at SB, gangs of teens, all day doing computer editing class, tired afterward, sushi place for teriyaki salmon, movie, McCabe and Mrs. Miller—very good. I like Leo Cohen – unfortunately the movie ended on a depressing note which lessened my initial enthusiasm for this guy…but will pursue kindled interest Sunday, January 25th Slept in, breakfast, work, guitar, yoga, work, food, Annie Hall—hilarity—perhaps my favorite movie, Food Network fun Monday, January 26th Skipped sitting due to late, Sunday night panic about work, work, short sitting, work, panic, work, then an annual appointment at the UW med center – diligently used the many and conspicuously placed hand santizers throughout the building. I am healthy – my doctor in residency seems less “new” than she did last year – mostly interesting and quick time. Still going to the doctor’s isn’t that glamorous. I had ankle-knee aches – now I have a PT appointment. More work then off to House Circle Practice. Pretty good – aim established…sort of. Tuesday, January 27th Sitting, Work and more progress. BD class for a good long time. Unfortunately, my instructor broke up with the violinist. He played beautiful, Arabic songs. Wednesday, January 28th Sitting, work and such, now reading the third in the “Clan” series and still glacially reading “The Art of Making Dances” (a classic) and the interesting “Reading the Bible for the First Time Again.” And even trying to read “The Art of Making Dances” in Spanish – impossible for me, but I’m hopeful. Editing class in evening. Interesting talk with my gallant ride-giver. He and his wife have done something called Voice Dialog. Sounded interesting and promising. His wife is also a massage therapist and ballroom dancer – again interesting and promising to me. I’m craving a massage! Thursday, January 28th Sitting, work, meeting at FA, then hanging in coffee shop doing editing homework. Doing this required concentration of steel because (1) it’s a high-activity coffee shop so coffee and steam spewing espresso machines are part of the white noise, (2) I was cushioned by conversations I could have done without having to overhear – not terrible stuff – it’s just impossible to absorb ideas about when you use or don’t use a comma while the perky, caffeinated guy next to me talks to an older, scruffy painter about how to improve his website, and (3) they were playing Santagold. Fortunately, I’m persistant and can partially pull off deep concentration. Then, TTA tech rehearsal night. Long and lots of things to sort out. Made it through. Need to cultivate something for myself in this role so that I feel less drained something by the end of the night. A highlight of all things was talking to BR who will be a guest cashier. Any readers of this who are crafties are welcome to come to Seattle and be guest house team members. Please do! Secret handshake currently in development. At the H-L afterward, IK mysteriously disappeared, the waiter-guy was happy to see us back, and we ate and drank. Talk centered on adolescent escapades with and without drugs and/or lying. I have a pretty clean record on these counts – so I spent the evening wondering how that happened. I think its because I really did believe my parents would disown me and I would have to live in a box on the street if I did those things. Friday, January 29th Sitting, work, really tired, finished chapter but waiting on things so it will have to be sent Monday. Skipped yoga so I did some apartment craft and called my parents and now I’m writing this. I sent my dad a musical card for his birthday. Both my mom and dad loved it, but it sounds like it freaked them out. They didn’t expect the new fangled technology of a card that makes noise when you open it. My mom even says it surprises her every time she opens it! Dad says that if he could he would move to Ireland because he heard the economy’s better. And he’s worried the Democrats are going to screw up the economy. Still, we had a nice and loving conversation. Later tonight off to see a couple of bellydancers at an Ethiopian restaurant with TS. Busy weekend ahead – an in Texas – there are Zombies Ahead. I have a new cell phone. I liked not having one; life felt more quiet. But, it was weird to use a big, chunky corded phone. Having that big ole, thing with the rubbery shoulder rest near my ear was icky.
Monday, January 19th, 2009
5:35 pm	Monday, January 19, 2009, things and sleepiness Up for the sitting, rather slim attendance on the bus due to MLK day, got to sitting early. Grabbed water from CG’s well. Sitting. During that, strange sounds from Melvin. It took me a while to register that Melvin was drinking from my glass. Then, I figured he would quit soon, but he didn’t. I shooed him away at the moment CG made a move to shoo him from across the room. Walked back to my place with coffee in hand. It was really cold, and foggy. Faxed things to the base office—importantly, doing this means reimbursement. Waited for a prescription at Bartell’s and used time wisely to buy V-day cards. Work and such—including an orientation to MSW ’07—weird. An errand. Sunshine. Visited TS at his place. He worked from home since he has to go to a condo meeting prior to the TTA rehearsal. More work for me. Soon, yet another bus adventure to get to the House Circle practice. Off to do that now. I was sleepy today.
Sunday, January 18th, 2009
7:22 pm	January flies in Tuesday, 12/30/09 Wednesday, 12/31/09 Made nim chow and cleaned; slow-going party at night but fun; we brought in the new year with no mishaps and nice people Thursday, 1/1/09 Up for breakfast; inside day due to weather; Astronomy monopoly with TS (where you buy galaxies, etc); he won and I was a good egg about it Friday, 1/2/09 Back to work Saturday, 1/3/09 Something happened Sunday, 1/4/09 Something happened Monday 1/5/09 Something happened; meeting with TTA peeps in evening; ride over with CF, CG, and TM Tuesday, 1/6/09 MB’s adventure by bus to dentist; BD lesson in evening – lots of rain Wednesday, 1/7/09 Something happened Thursday, 1/8/09 Pick up car with DGS; guitar lesson with CG; then meeting in Bellingham was cancelled due to flooding and a bad back; returned car; back to work Friday, 1/9/09 Something happened; I think we went grocery shopping in the evening for Sunday Saturday, 1/10/09 Out with TS; drop off face plate; went to see lots of water spewing at Snoqualmie Falls and got wet; Greek food at a local place Sunday, 1/11/09 B-day dinner with TS’s dad and family; made moussaka; played an interesting board game Monday, 1/12/09 Sitting, work, met with jeweler about my idea and other things, first House Circle meeting of year with IK and EP Tueday, 1/13/09 Sitting, work, breakthrough with guitar in that I actually played a song from sheet music – cool!, BD lesson in evening Wednesday, 1/14/09 Sitting, guitar lesson – breakthrough with EotN in that I played the whole thing for CG and he had no comments due to the fact that I hit most notes and kept in time mostly, work, first editing class of quarter – fun and work; ride home with RJ—gave hin the cool gifts I bought him as a thank you for my rides each week Thursday, 1/15/09 Sitting, pick up car, drove to Bellingham, corporate training stuff for work for 4 hours—unsure about the value of this, shopping, melt down and idiotic despair Friday, 1/16/09 Sitting, dropped off car, chic from Mississippi, work, yoga, BSG party with lots of food and booze and people who enjoyed staying Saturday, 1/17/09 Guitar at FAAC, guitar with CG at his place – music, board meeting, out with TS—dress up, Moroccan food, belly dancing, improv, chocolate Sunday, 1/18/09 Pretty sunny day, yoga, breakfast, editing work, work at apartment, etc. Hopefully, I’m back on track with this now!
Monday, January 12th, 2009
12:59 am	Wednesday, Christmas Eve 12/24 to Monday 12/29/08 Christmas Eve—We got our stuff together and headed over to West Seattle. We were foiled in our attempts to drive down TS’s parents’ lane. The skies are always bluer, the grass is always greener, and they don’t plow in Seattle. I patiently waited in the car and smiled at an onlooker from inside the car while TS did a maneuver to get us out of being stuck. We ended up parking temporarily down the hill at the food mart. Taylor’s dad retrieved us and drove us UP his hill. Impressive. Food and people all around. Funny incident with German au pair. The family has a tradition where everyone gets their name on a half shell of walnut which is floated in water. Each shell “boat” has a candle. Whichever candle lasts the longest brings its owner good luck for the next year. One of the little kids was playing with a turkey baster (it had been determined that kids like kitchen utensils far better than the toys they get). He kept blowing it on the little boats and upsetting the adults. Finally, the au pair said to him, “S, come here. I’m hot. Blow me.” No one laughed or exchanged looks, but I thought it was pretty funny. Ah…languages! Thursday, Christmas Slept at J and S in a room they call the “sensory deprivation chamber.” “Healthy” waffles for breakfast—we all decided less than healthy tastes better. They drove us to the airport. Made it through security. TS learned he needed to renew his license which had expired on his B-day. Got lunch, read. Fine plane ride. Made it to CO easily. The car rental place tried to give us a convertible. No… We drove to B and M’s and had some pie and checked in. Then to the rather quaint, getting-itself-off-the-ground hotel. Humidity: 0%. Friday, 12/26, Pike’s Peak nixed All are too draggy to make a go of heading up Pike’s Peak. Breakfast, reading. Hanging around. Then, the younger set of us headed to Garden of the Gods. It was pretty windy and cold, but we stuck it out and hiked around, illegally even, on the big red rocks. Nice pics taken. Then, back to the ranch for pre-dinner snacks and booze. TS gets a dose of the family. Back to hotel—heater very loud, lighting very dim, bathroom freezing, sheets a little rough, the company is very good and the price is hard to complain about. Saturday, 12/27 Attempt to head to Pike’s Peak foiled Breakfast, TS and I head to Pike’s Peak to attempt to get on the cog rail by standby. It’s freezing while we wait. And, in the end, we had to make reservations for the next day. In to Manitou Springs for a walk about and food. We got on a waiting list at a really nice veggie-friendly place. While we waited, we tooled around and went to an arcade and played skee ball, and then to a rock/gem shop. Lunch was excellent. Our rear-wheel drive explorer was stuck on ice we discovered and parked on a hill. A 60-year-old+ lady insisted on helping us push it up the hill and off the ice. Crazy. I was grabbing debris and throwing it on the icy patch for traction. The lady went to a nearby house and asked for help and secured two pink towels to place unde the wheels. In the end the neighbor guy took the right action--helped push (he was a big guy) and got the owner of the car down the hill from us to move her car. Back at B and M’s, my parents where there with H. So I played with him quite a bit until it was nap time. Spaghetti dinner with lots of jocularity. Sunday, 12/28 Successful Pike’s Peak trip Breakfast at B and M’s. Learned that my brother’s face bumps and such were actually shingles! He had woken up with a swollen left eye and did some self-diagnosis (with advice from C’s parents) on line. B snapped into action and hooked him up with a doctor and a prescription. Goodbye’s all around as the Abel clan headed back east. Pictures, hugs, etc. Then, TS and I headed off to Pike’s Peak. Nice long ride up with good commentary. Totally freezing and windy on top. We tried to call TS’s dad, took pictures, and ran around. Then ducked inside the café to buy the doughnuts and get hot chocolate. Back down the mtn. For the beginning of the ride, we were treated to the sights of a cluster of big horn sheep—17 big horn sheep asses bid us farewell from 14,000 feet. Nice! On the way down, we got pretty good at identifying tracks in the snow. Tired by the end of the line and back to B and M’s for a nice soup dinner and lots of conversation. TS got a cold. Monday, 12/29/09 TS in cold-mode. Breakfast. A DVD of pictures of my grandmother from infancy to the end of her life when she had Alzheimer’s. A walk with B and M. Lunch. And off to the airport. Home without a hitch. Pick up by J and S. Good to be home.
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
11:35 am	Snippets of life -- Dec 10th til now Dec 24th Wednesday Work, off to editing class, got test, ride back with RJ. While lounging around panicked about things. Like getting older and falling apart. Thursday Up late so I skipped my shower and headed for the bus, sitting, nice time with D speaking Spanish – dealt with some panic by speaking with D, lesson with CG. Hiked to bus stop. Called brother. Work. News that we were going to have a shortage on the House Team and some extra, notable guests. Tried to make a plan. Ride over with CG. Ended up being a fun night and notable guests showed. IB, newly employed that he is, bought us all a round of drinks. Friday Sitting, work, evening yoga. Made cookies, danced, and listened to music with TS. Saturday Slept in, guitar with GM, an hour by myself figuring things out, guitar with CG. Felt pretty good. Home for some work and rest. Off to cookie party. Our cookies were the best I thought! Curried white chocolate chip oatmeal sandwiches with a Triple Sec Cream cheese frosting filling. Sunday Slept in, bought things on-line, puttering around in pjs, off to yoga at 4:30 PM, off to Battlestar Galactica party with wet hair. Frackin' Fun! Monday Sitting – excruciatingly cold, ride with CG, worked all day, no guitar with the gang, talked to bro, laundry, garbage, planning for a busy Tuesday. Tuesday Call in AM, work, dance audition, BD class. A very full day. I was very happy and felt like I was doing what I'm meant to do. The audition was very challenging. Lots of motion (most was hard for me to take in and remember) and rolling around on the floor. I did my best. I'm proud of me for giving it a shot. Not sure what will come of it all but the prospects are exciting. Wednesday Sitting, work, appointment. Thursday Sitting, snow, TTA show cancelled (a really good call; the roads were really icy), Hi-Life for dinner for TS and MBA. Friday Worked, yoga, Battlestar Galactica review night. More pizza, wine, and cookies. Saturday Cleared out FA -- some season completion, breakfast with gang, work, wrapping and more snow. Sunday No Portland Extravaganza due to the weather, stayed in and worked, etc. Got stir crazy. Then, gang over for Wings of Desire movie. Pizza, cookies, wine. Monday Sitting, hiked back with CF with warm beverages, work, in for the night due to TTA completion meeting cancellation due to weather. Tuesday, Sitting AAD, work, very productive! Make garish Christmas cookies! Wine and TS and MBA private Christmas. Wednesday Up early to work and bake b-nut bread. Sending off work to the world. Breakfast with TS. Distracted and lost in space. Holy shit! The b-nut bread! It’s fine but baked a little more than I like. Woe is me! Ug! Ug! Ug! In a space of angst for a while. TS told me “snap out of it, kiddo!” Gotta wrap b-nut bread and shower.