many things are different

after periods of elation, of worry, of amazement, of disbelief, of hunger, of exhaustion, of distraction, of wonder, of more emotions than i can list, i'm experiencing stasis, balance.

i did, however, lose my balance momentarily--another sort of balance--just yesterday while standing still and moving my foot ever so slightly. turns out this is a normal response to a shifted center of gravity. but mentally, i'm feeling a bit more in control, which is nice. these days i think of new dwellings, of names, of love, of change, of growth, of history, of the marvel of life.

top five new experiences

1. dance dance
i'm not a gamer, but when a buddy who works at cnet gave me a tour that ended at one of the employee lounges equipped with arcade games, and he invited me to play "dance dance revolution," i figured if librarians at the last few conferences i've attended can join in, so can i. after a few misunderstandings about the dance cues, past gym classes in the 80's where we learned the hustle really paid off!

2. civic duty
for the first time in my life, i was summoned to jury duty. i was very excited, and like most experiences in my life, i was well-prepared. i dressed nicely, i read the pamphlets, i emptied my mind of biases (ha!), and readied myself for days, maybe weeks, of deliberation. you can imagine my disappointment when i was the 2nd juror asked to leave. my bias? i work for a non-profit. in the minds of the plaintiff's lawyers, i'm a classic do-gooder.

3. mt. tam
david and i spent a magical afternoon at a mountaintop birthday party this weekend. our perch overlooked both bolinas and the city. it was glorious.

4. goat farm visit
took a trip to a sweet goat farm, where we watched the cheesemakers frolic and had an opportunity to benefit from their good eats and luxurious lifestyle. mmmm cheese!

5. highway one delight
enjoyed a roadtrip to big sur with a good friend visiting from seattle. as midwesterners often do, we took a weekend drive that led us to sights both remarkable and memorable.

top 10 lessons learned in hawaii

1. bananas, quite possibly my fave food, are local (holy crap: i may have to move there!)
2. not much else is, food-wise, unfort. (guess i won't move there.)
3. holl and i have been friends--good friends--for 20 years without a rift, pause, or break. ('cept for one ill-advised detour on a road trip that caused a bit of feather-ruffling for a few weeks one college summer.)
4. often, we were the youngest and friendliest tourists around (maybe someday i'll blog about the overwhelming percentage of tourists with entitlement and rudeness issues).
5. sand, giggles, and long talks make for quite a restorative sesh.
6. Tales of the City was best read out loud, on a beach. we loved it SO MUCH, and had SO MUCH fun reading it, that we plan to read the sequels during each return trip (did i mention we've decided to make a january trip to hawaii a habit?).
7. my room last year was not haunted (holl decided to sleep in it this trip just to be sure. what a good friend!).
8. shorty pants (what holl calls kids) surfers are more fun (and thrilling!) to watch than their elders.
9. best food is found at Sunshine Markets (kauai farmer's markets) where lady finger bananas and butter avocados are in abundance. mmmmm....
10. returning to seattle (dreary) was much harder than returning to the city (sunny).

patronage

as someone who is related to an artist, i appreciate and understand the support--in the form of emotions and dollars--it takes to nurture a creative soul. that's why this article so appealed to me. that an unknown, an admirer, and an art supporter would offer such a generous gift to a struggling artist is quite a gift indeed.

and i just love how absolutely reclusive and mysterious she is. dylan would write a song about her.