Watching an old TV show on DVD. We slept in today, this week having been a tumult that exacted some energy that we coulda used this weekend. After rousing ourselves, the house was cleared of furniture we were storing for friends. After that, beef stir-fry, good stuff -- and then this series.

It's late again & tomorrow is May Day. Each year, the gang joins up for an actual may pole dance. They've been doing it since '90 or so. You can imagine the build up of ribbon after 15 years. I'll tell you something, there's a lot of ribbon after 15 years, that's all I can say.

We're thinking about making lamb stew tomorrow. The idea is to use the last of the fresh rosemary from earlier this week. The beef stir-fry had rosemary in it, but the ginger flavor took over through the cooking.

I've been dreaming, in the excessive sleep that has resulted from the exhaustion of this week. The dreams feel as unfamiliar as the weeks' distressing tension. Wish I could remember them, but I get only glimpses of sensation. There were people I don't remember, ideas I can't comprehend.

Jema is at my feet, I've pulled her bed over to where we're watching the TV show. She's all curled up & completely asleep. I put a heater under her bed, which sent her packing at first, but she seems happier, now that it's later & chilly.

It's rainy/sunny these days. Seattle is known for rain & this year has been uncharacteristically sunny. We look for rain, for snow on the mountains - to ensure our water (which we share with all states southward)will sustain for the summer. Backpacking is a goal for this year. Who knows whether or not I'll be able to enjoy it.

Preparing the soil. It's all about accepting the enrichment without bloom, without harvest. That's what this time feels like. As a side note, I just read the Smithsonian article on coal fires burning under the earth across the world, that the idea of purifying soil is better than figuring out how to fight fires of anthracite across the globe.

I guess I can wrap up there. Life is like butter, y'all. Viscous, but kinda tasty in moderation.

Heart Speaking

Many years ago, I followed an itinerant British folk singer from San Francisco to Massachusetts. She was funny, irreverent and I thought, a genius. I found who she truly was in a creek outside of North Hampton, where she took her regular swim. This concept of regular anything was alien to me & so made quite the impression. She let me sing backup on a tape recording of her music & so I was quite taken with her, her productivity, her sharing.

Now it's almost 20 years later. My husband took me out to see the Flaming Lips film at the local independent arts theater. A story about hillbilly punkrockers who finally divine their sound, their text. Very inspiring!

We came home to chores. I'm very wine-anated & a Virgo mars, and so that is the ultimate in appealing to me. Odd, that. So, I'm done with dishes & the house is clean on Friday at 1:28AM. We have a busy, friendly weekend ahead of us & an arduous, but full of love week behind us, so I can't think of anything better. What I mean by that is, I'm still of the mind that doing service in my home is the best way to open my heart for my friends, the best way to clarify my intention.

Wine glasses later, J's in bed. I'm typing along. My head is spinning, I can't deny it. This week was the most tough at work, the most loved of the folks I worked with were the most difficult to decipher, to me the most inaccessible this week. I'm used to a pretty clean slate at work, especially, so this broke my heart quite a bit.

There are fights that occur between people because things aren't what they seem & boundaries need to be redrawn, but that's honestly no fun for anyone. My hope is that the work that I've done & that the folks I've worked with have done, will end up being in harmony. But in the end, I cannot claim attachment to what happens in my life, I can steer it, but can't predict it. I have proof of that, given that my life has already topped anything I've been able to perceive on my own, but still feel sad that my emotions remain so raw & reactive.

The Flaming Lips film was all about the consistency of work ethic. I did not start out in life with work ethic in the forefront of my efforts, but it's been readily apparent that work ethic is the bulk of what will eventually carry me through this phantasm of physical experience. I do more than surrender to it, I contribute all of the subtlety that I can muster. I honor it, I salute work ethic.

Here's why: Wayne Coyne has pulled a beloved friend out of addiction and back into maximum creativity, along with offering his nephew & family the magic of creative pursuits without 'putting on airs' and is, according to the documentary, about the work he can provide. Granted this is from a documentary that could be slanted, but I've seen too much of this attitude's success to question it indefinitely. I'm game, I'm ready to do this work.

Beyond that, my fluffy - short-haired white cat just click-clacked by me on her way to her food. I love this 16 yr old, blue-eyed marvel. I do. But love, you see, is easy for me.

the...end...

Pictures!

Finally, I was able to upload a bunch:

Herkimer Cafe

Moving day & all of my co-workers are distributed around Seattle - plugged into laptops & Instant Messaging each other to make sure we're set to go.

I finished packing pretty easily yesterday, but still stayed late. J & I went out to see Sahara last night & really enjoyed it. We dinked around at home for too long to ride our bikes to the theater, which we had planned to do, but the movie made up for the change in plans.

Funny, violent, ludicrous and the music! I can't unequivocally recommend this flick, because there were many bullets & car explosions, etc. and some folks don't like that - but I thought it was a hoot.

Today, J & I are at his local "office away from home". It's calm & fun and the neighborhood is chock full of pilates & yoga folks, artists in huraches and babies who are hanging out with their moms. It's nice to sit across the table from J, laptop to laptop. Just good stuff.

So, art. I've got two months of photos cut to the right size for the web, but no way to upload them yet. I'm booked for the weekend, but looking at ways to do daily art practice. So far, the best I could do was rent Sister Wendy flicks on Netflix & sign up to attend Pam's art show. Oh, wait, that's super stuff. Now, if I could only get into my studio for a good 4-7 hour shift...

Back to work.

On the speakers:
Beta Band inner meet me

Procrastinating/Move

Whew. I'm at work, it's the last day to pack before we move back to my favorite building. I'm listening to Neko Case & Her Boyfriends, the track is No Need to Cry from Furnace Room Lullaby. It's been hectic at work, nothing new there. We're all glad to move - I'll be across from a conference room & have promised to give the stink eye to anyone who meets there. You know, just for fun.

We recently had a "guac" off. Our production folks all brought in guacamole & we voted on which was best. This was very well received & so next comes a "salsa" off & "margarita" off. We've got a beer & chips thing coming up, so I'm encouraging folks to merge the two for maximum morale lift...

One more work item - one of the women who works for me is collecting feedback for our site. There are some gems. Here are a few:

Part of my job is making sure the American Flag is being flown right. I have one big problem with that. I don't know when the Flag should be lowered and when it should be raised. I watch all the flags around town but they too are having the same problem by the looks of things. Is it possible to have one little spot on your Home Page that shows the status of the Flag each day?

i love policies

Dear Sir I request you to mention a site like our fishing site on your home page for sharing in revenue, this will bring in new additional revenue for your site and be a good partnership for publisher like this. For this we are happy to work with your company for better transparency and income in regards to this alliance, if you were to agree. We would be happy to review your proposal, that would benifit each partner. Thanks and best regards, Z Effendi *EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED*

Do you have anything that will block porn sites?

I am very shocked that you would have a picture of a naked person on your website. I will not be coming here every day as I used too anymore.

I hate it and am going to quit it s.a.p

please dont Glorify people that spend time in prision, your sending mixed messages to our children ...

I will not under circumstance provide my birthdate on the internet. The next thing I know you will be asking for my social security number. Are you nuts?

(Please forward this email to Management) Gentlemen: As I am a Christian man, I am putting forth an effort to establish/build a non-profit Christian radio station in my area. I am also seeking financial assistance for this purpose. Your help would include finances for the studio(s), transmitter, tower, surveys for tower locations along with applications, etc. In exchange for your help, you will receive PERMANENT commercials for as long as the station exists, and your commercials would be ABSOLUTELY FREE just for financing the station. If this is of interest to you, I would be more than happy to hear from you. If you wish to have information from me to conduct a background check (to ensure that this is not a hoax), please feel free to ask me anything. I look forward hearing from you. Thank you

can yall give me 1,000dollars. me and my husband dont have any money.pleeeeease

It's practically impossible to blog lately. There are two things that I'm having issues with:

1. no time - this one is my bad, I'm taking work too seriously & my new role has me reflexively working both day & night.

2. malaise - this one is about the state of the world. I won't dwell, but the US administration has me pretty bummed. Beyond that, I'm thinking about friends in times of turmoil and generally feeling a bit tired of all the 'Man's inhumanities to man' theme in world news events. I'm soaking in it, but that doesn't mean it's what I want to write about.

two small tales:
Valentine's day out: J & I went out spraypainting/tagging for our valentines date (delayed a bit from the 14th :>). I could tell you that it was all legal & that we minded our p's & q's property rights-wise, or not. It was exhilarating & reminded me of why I am with this guy.

Tapes: Finally, all of my tapes are synched with J's - I sorted them last night (to get out of a different chore). I have craploads of astrology tapes & a surprising amount of tapes from road trips, friends bands (and me in a band) my time in Scotland & at Talkspot, along with a bunch of ambient noise tapes J has. It was a blast to listen to old mixtapes & see the music trends that brought me to where I am now.

Odd duck tapes:
Sound track from Zoot Suit - I dated a guy from Mexico for a while in San Fran & we always went out salsa dancing. I suppose I did ok for a gringa. He loved this odd mix of cholo music & 40's swing

Passion Plus - the Peter Gabriel music that came out of his work on the Last Temptation of Christ was huge when I was in Cornish - we listened to everything that came out on the real world label. It's good stuff, but odd to see after all these years

Israeli pop - this was from Rachel, a woman I hung out with in DC in the 80's. She was heading to Israel to do an army tour for someone in school in the US & loaned me this to tape.

Pam Dougherty - My roomie from San Fran let me copy to tape. Pam Dougherty is a Seattle artist who has a beautiful voice & feminist bent. Her retelling of Dorothy & the Wizard of Oz predates Wicked, with a similar tone - fun stuff, but ardent!