June 2005

June 1 2005  12:35 PM                                

Some times it seems like Susan knows more about what's going on in my city than I do. She linked up this action. I saw it again at SFist detailed rather clearly here.

 

Sigh.

 

Culture jamming. I love it. Fast food. I hate it. I just have one question. Could the point have been made without taking a shot at fat kids? And. When a fat kid gets harassed at school today will you feel any responsibility?

 

The other night I had the television on with the sound muted because I do that when the  commercials are on. But I looked up and noticed this guy trying to open a bag of some kind of junk cereal and he was clearly unable. I wondered where they were going. Was it an ad for a gym, or a weight loss gimmick? The guy opens the bag with one big rip and the cereal spills out and falls all over the floor. It was a commercial for a fast food place and their breakfast sandwich.

 

We have a culture that needs some jamming.

 

And. Can the point be made without making fun of fat kids? Or fat adults? Are there thin and average sized people who eat fast food?

 

I wouldn't even argue with the idea that people are fatter because of fast food. I'm in full support of people raising awareness about how bad the food is and how bad the food is for you. But the truth is that people of all sizes eat that food. I remember during the presidential campaign there was a lot of talk about the terrible eating habits of the candidates.

 

A typical day of eating for Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards while on the campaign: Breakfast, a McDonald's "Deluxe Big Breakfast" platter with two hot cakes, scrambled eggs, sausage and a biscuit. Lunch, a McDonald's cheeseburger. Later, a McDonald's chicken sandwich and some cookies. And lots of Diet Cokes — about 10 cans — throughout the day.

 

What's my point? Bodies are complex systems with lots of genetic and environmental causes in terms of what goes right or what goes wrong. So rip on the big corporate food mills. But don't add to the hate that is already heaped on fat people. Especially the kids.

 

It's just mean.

 

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June 3 2005  10:43 AM                                

My neighbor and I were having a conversation about Mark Felt and whether or not it mattered that we know who he was. I'm not sure it matters. But I like that we are reminded the press doesn't always need to be a mouth piece for the administration. The public conversation about Felt was about whether or not what he did was the right thing to do. Expose criminal activity in the highest office in the country? Seems like a good thing to me. I keep waiting for the brave people that will do it now. Felt is a problematic hero. He had his own illegal activity to expose and did not.

 

In SF the (now former) PR director for the 49ers did a twenty minute training tape for the team filled with sexism, racism and homophobia, which was defended as something done for the team and never intended to be seen by the public. So then it's OK to be racist, sexist and homophobic as long as no one knows? Criminal activity is OK if it's the president, or the head of the FBI?

 

There's a time and place for everything. We all need a place to say things out loud that might not be popular. And. Some things should never be funny.

 

The same day all this was news we got the news of hate crimes in Santa Clara reminding me of a documentry I watched awhile ago. That joke that isn't really funny between friends is part of something larger and it isn't good.

 

But we are human, aren't we? We need to make mistakes out loud. It's part of the process. And if we make our mistakes in the halls of powere we need people who are willing to call us into the light of day.

 

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June 6 2005  11:01 AM                                

When you write something in a place that may (or may not) be read by people, everything you see gets put in the possible-post box. Like when I'm walking in the neighborhood and see a television, or a part of a computer left on the corner. It wouldn't occur to me to leave something like that on the street. But I often have things I think someone, somewhere might be able to use and don't know what to do with them. Things that aren't good enough for Goodwill.

 

Like my dead APC. Actually, mine is older than the one in the picture. It's big. Heavy. It's possible that I can get it charged but I'm not sure. Other wise it's landfill?

 

There was this big conference in SF last week. Lots of buzz but most people agree that these things aren't much unless they are followed by action. And, as long as the governor drives a Hummer and the mayor drives a SUV it's hard to listen to them talk about global warming. Gore was here.

 

And here am I with a big hunk of junk. The kind that my neighbors leave on the curb. Really. It happens all the time around here. I had a friend who used to leave stuff out because of that hope that someone would need it and find it. Mine just sits in my back room waiting for me to figure something out.

 

I kept thinking there was a post in all of that. Something more snappy than this one.

 

I watched The Five Obstructions the other day. I may have enjoyed more than I might have at another time. I've been working on a piece of writing with a specific word count and it's making me crazy. Although I do love the act of really working on a piece of writing. It might be my favorite thing to do. Dealing with limitation is good. And frustrating.

 

On some political talk show somewhere I heard blogger writing being disparaged. It's all opinion. No guarantee of fact. In a world where magazines are chastised for not having the facts only to have what they reported vindicated, the notion of fact seems hopelessly lost.

 

I am part of the chattering mass. Walking through the neighborhood. Being confused by abandoned electronics, environmental implications and the need to write and have that writing be ... ya know...good enough.

 

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June 7 2005  10:37 AM                                

We really live in interesting political times. I tend to be depressed about it all but yesterday when the news came about the medical marijuana ruling it was quickly followed by reassurances that it was unlikely there would be any big raids.

 

Later in the evening I watched a little bit of Flowers From the Heart Land.

 

The federal government says one thing. The state says another. Cities say something else. People use a drug and authorities turn a blind eye. Thankfully. People have wedding ceremonies and still live in limbo. We're in the middle of something dynamic. I remember a time when I was happy that states rights were over ruled and now I'm happy that we have the hope of being a state in which the federal government has less power.

 

Curiouser and curiouser.

 

I do tend to focus on the worst of what's happening but last night I was watching a film about people from Texas and Nebraska sending flowers to city hall in my town and it felt like hope. It won't take much to get me back into doom and gloom so I'm going to ride in this hope bubble for as long as I can.

 

Heh.

 

Paul posted the WONDERFUL news about a victory in the fat revolution on the new and beautiful BFB. It isn't all good news. It seems the guy who won the suit had the evil surgery. But it is good news. Michigan is the only state where weight is protected from discrimination. SF is one of four cities. (I think it's four. Possibly more.)

 

I do live in the city of my dreams.

 

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June 7 2005  2:03 PM                                

I've been reading blogs. Because it's either that or look for a job, or an agent and I don't wanna do either.

 

Dale has tagged me with a meme. I'd rather be tagged because I'm too real and close to the bone to do a meme but I'm OK with just being a curiosity. (I'm just playin with ya, don't get shook!)

 

Total number of books that I own?

Lots. But not enough.

(Does anyone really know the exact number?)

 

The Last Book I Bought.

Well this is a good story. I think.

I was in the east bay the other day, too close to one of my favorite book stores. I am really not doing well financially and really CAN NOT buy anything that isn't essential for life. And books do count as essential but I have some that haven't read and I've been catching up on old magazines and ...sigh ...I just CAN NOT rationalize the expense.

But I was SO close. Right across the street. I was almost in tears. And then I remembered I had a card in my wallet with a twenty dollar fee books from Diesel. I got it after numerous indulgences there.

Well. I just about telaported across the street. It was dangerous to even walk in because I get so tempted. So I bought All Over Creation because it was one of the first things I saw and it was only fourteen dollars. I also got the newest Believer and only went over by three dollars. Which, for me, was amazing. I don't remember where I heard about her but I have been wanting to read something from her.

 

The Last Book I Read

The Color of Summer. It's the forth in the Pentagonia. One more to go.

 

Five Books That Mean A Lot To Me.

I swear I've done this before. It's a hard question.

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men It's just so beautiful.

Centering It's a book I read years ago. I mean YEARS. It was one of those books that changed the way I saw the world. although my attempts at pottery were thunky.

White Collar Written by the other man I wish I could marry. The first being Agee. And yes. I do know that they are both dead. So?

The Making of a Cook One of the bibles.

Fat?So? It's fun.

If you give me ten minutes I'll answer it differently.

 

I'm not taggin anyone because people get so shook about the meme thing. It's s'posed ta be fun, doncha know?

So, there ya go my dear. Thanks for giving me a reason to avoid the job search. Which. I suppose. I should do now.

 

Sigh.

 

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June 8 2005  11:58 AM    

                            

Years ago I bought a box set of yoga tapes. I went looking for them on the site and it seems they don't make them anymore. I didn't like them much. It's hard to do yoga with a remote in your hand. And then I met Sally and learned enough to practice on my own. Since Barbara healed my back I've been practicing pretty much every day and every day I'm a wee bit stronger.

 

It's helpful to have a teacher. I am not now and never have been a person who lives in my body. I live in my head. It's one of those abstract things that people in therapy say but I feel it. Like this morning when I realized that I was cold and had been for awhile. It was hot last week and I started wearing these spaghetti strap shirts. I woke up this morning and got dressed in the same stuff I was wearing yesterday. (And the day before that if the truth be told.) I ate breakfast and yoga and did this and that. I had opened the window and seen that it was rainy and cold but I just didn't connect that with what I was wearing. I was sitting at the computer writing an e-mail and shivering. I do have a warmer shirt on now. I just don't pay attention.

 

I used to feel bad about that. Being in my head was a bad thing. But I like my head. Interesting thinking often happens in there. It's just the way I am.

 

My body is more and more demanding. My body will tell me when I'm not taking care of it. In no uncertain terms. The days of abuse are over. Now it's all about taking the time to eat good food and do some kind of exercise. I like it. But I also begrudge it from time to time.

 

My yoga practice is troubled by tendency to be in my head. I don't hold the poses long enough. So I pulled out the old videos. And now they are helpful. I am reminded of subtle differences in the pose and when to breathe and there are some poses I forgot.

 

Hours at the pool are limited and structured so I can only get in twice a week for about forty five minutes. Yesterday they were closed because of a problem with the filtering system. I was so sad. The yoga/swim combo really pulls me into my body. And I like it there.

 

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June 9 2005  11:43 AM                                

My first reaction to Dale's post was wanting the rest of the story. He wrote it so well. I went back today to see if there is was more and read through the comments. It was Rana's comment that brought up a more personal reaction.

 

I am SO feeling this post right now. I'm not _exactly_ a child of privilege, but I do feel like a child when it comes to earning a living, like I'm always waiting for some lucky something to happen yet also knowing that I can't depend on that. I too doubt my ability to make a living; what a strange thing, now that I think about it. Putting it like that makes it seem like anything not earning money is not really living. What a dangerous thought.

 

Rana's been dealing with unemployment as well and her doubt about her ability to do so, as with Dale's feelings about the same thing brought up a storm in my already cloudy mind.

 

I got some money when I was twenty as a result of having been hit by truck. Not a lot but it got me to California and then to Colorado and I do seem to be happier in the west than I ever was in the east. My first jobs were in restaurants and, except for some time working in a camper trailer factory (aka hell) that's been the way I've made a living in the world. Oh, I read tarot cards and babysat and sold small amount of illegal substances and watched people breath but the only was I ever really was able to keep the bills paid was to cook. And I liked it for the most part.

 

Now my knees are shot and I can't do the hours on my feet that I did all my life. There's a character in Love who cooks while sitting on a stool. I was in Chef Paul's kitchen in the NYC restaurant and saw him in his electric chair. He's very cute. I might be able to do that in my own place but it's unlikely anyone would hire me to work like that. And, it would be frustrating for me.

 

But before I did all the work I had all those fears about being able to work. Somehow I became convinced that I wasn't someone who knew how to work. My life at the stove gave me a wonky esteem. I knew that I could work as hard and as long as anyone. The harder the work, the longer the hours, the better I felt about myself. It seems like a bad platform on which to build esteem. And it has proven to be.

 

The big push to get the BA and the MFA was my attempt to be someone who could make a living with my brain and not my brawn. But I never unseated that voice in my own head. The one that believed I was lucky to have anyone hire me, ever. Right now I feel erased in the world of the employed.

 

I know people who drag themselves to jobs that they don't love might think I'm lucky right now. I don't feel lucky. I feel erased.

 

Some time ago a friend of mine said she didn't want to be my friend anymore because it was just too much of a drag to deal with what was going on (or not going on) in my life. I'm paraphrasing but that was the jist. It shocked me because she's a pretty smart woman and I didn't expect it from her. I was hurt. And mad. And it changed how much I talked about my life to anyone. Or how much I wrote about it. It confirmed something I've always feared. As long as I'm happy and productive I will get love and support.

 

Intellectually I don't buy into that but emotionally I get stuck in it. I remember when I was twenty and people would ask me what I did. I was recovering from having been hit by a truck. It wasn't very interesting. I wanted to be a singer and eventually I did have a band. But I never really made any money. I got paid. Then I paid the band. Recently I heard from a man who played guitar in my band for awhile. Brought it all back.

 

So I did these things. I cooked. I sang. I did them. I ought to be able to figure out how to do the next thing. And in the meantime I ought not feel so worthless.

 

This is why I love the personal web. Because two people who I've never met had the courage to write about their lives. Now I am thinking about my own and trying to be open. If the only thing I can do is tell the truth about how it feels then maybe that's enough. For now.

 

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June 13 2005  9:47 AM                                

I'm not sure why I decided to watch Into The West. It didn't seem like something I'd be interested in. I was sort of half watching and I got sucked in. The story begins with parallel tales of a young Indian boy who tries to understand the prophesy of an elder and young man in Virginia who longs for adventure. Because it is a made for TV drama these two meet up by the end of the first episode.

 

The show opens with a map of the country in which Indian territory is more than half of the country and Mexico reaches way up and covers California. Every once in awhile I have a conversation with someone about immigration in this state in which Mexicans are the people sneaking in and I always feel the need to say something about how this was Mexico not that long ago. On the web site there's a flash map that you can look through and see how the country changed, specifically in terms of the Indian nations.

 

There's more than one story about why people came from Europe to this country and there's more than one reason why some of them pushed west. Some of the stories are about need. Some are about desire. I just don't understand how people get the deeply rooted sense of entitlement about the land they stand upon. Is it because of the struggle they go through to get there?

 

I had some distant relative who came to SF years ago but for the most part I was the one in my family who moved west and stayed. And, really, I often wish I lived in Europe. It's people like me who wander around and never quite feel at home.

 

Today the senate apologizes for failing to outlaw lynching. Apologies are good. And a trial in Mississippi begins. I don't know. I'm not sure how we make up for all we've done in our individual lives or in our national identities. But. Yeah. Apologies are good. Also today the G8 did some debt cancelation. We must be in some zone of good will.

 

I've been increasingly interested in history. Always trying to understand how we got where we are. A mini series isn't the place to get your history. But there are stories of individual lives wound together in subtle ways. Something about that always draws me in.

 

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June 14 2005  10:34 AM

                               

I had a great big post written about a thread that's gotten some blog buzz lately. But I deleted it. I think Dru summed it up with her new phrase: It's not about the pie fight, stupid.

 

I listened to the news conference about the anti lynching apology legislation on CPSAN yesterday. The grandson of Ida B. Wells was there. A  91 year old man who had survived a lynching attempt was there. It was moving and it is a good thing. I kept thinking about James Byrd.

 

My deleted post was too rambling. As I am wont to be. Too many things woven together.

 

One of the things I loved about blogging, or maybe I should say hoped for from blogging, was the potential for conversation. But it's hard to negotiate. I've left comments, checked back to see if there was a response, given up, gone back a day later and the conversation has morphed. I had the same problem with message boards.

 

My mind is all over the place today. I'm having trouble focusing. But here's a conversation I'd like to have. Is a photo of a naked person always exploitation? Are pictures of naked women always sexist? When are they not? If you see a photo and feel attraction does that mean you are objectifying? Are there some photos of people that are not at all attractive? Is is it possible to view an image as art and not have a response about the humanity of the person? And what does it mean about the viewer? These photos (via BFB) have me thinking. And I would like to have a conversation about them. Conversations often happen in the blog world. I'm wondering if this one will get any traction.

 

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June 14 2005  9:09 PM                                

Gulp.

 

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June 15 2005  9:18 AM

                               

For about twenty minutes last night we were being told there was a tsunami warning. I live on the bay side of the city. I just wondered how full the bay would get and if I'd be able to dive into it from my back step.

 

OK. I'll answer my own questions.

 

Is a photo of a naked person always exploitation?

 

Exploitation is one of those words. You can exploit something for good. In some ways a photo of anything is an exploitation of it. A photo is a frame around something. A setting apart. It can be just an observation but it's unlikely that there isn't some intent in the act of taking a photo. A photo of someone is a portrait and even in those Sears family photos there is something being communicated. One of my friends and favorite photographers took a series of photos of naked people all sitting on the same chair. It was a mediation on diversity.

 

Are pictures of naked women always sexist?

 

No.

 

When are they not?

 

When they aren't taken with intent of creating an ideal of beauty specifically for the male gaze. Men are oppressed by that as well.

 

 

If you see a photo and feel attraction does that mean you are objectifying?

 

Maybe. Sometimes. I think you can objectify people who you love. We all do it. We do it to kids. Sometimes a person is only what they mean to you. It's good to know that because then you can snap out of it. We objectify ourselves every time we look into the mirror and measure who we are against an ideal.

 

Are there some photos of people that are not at all attractive?

 

This was oblique and lacking syntax. I think there are photos that aim to make people look unattractive and there is some bad photography.

 

Is is it possible to view an image as art and not have a response about the humanity of the person?

 

I don't see how. I guess when you are numbed by cookie cutter imagery it is. If I'm in line at the grocery store and I see a rack of magazines with women on the cover they do all look the same to me. And it is hard to remember that they are human. That's a problem.

 

And what does it mean about the viewer?

 

What does what mean about the viewer? Oh. Yeah.

I always go back the same book about photography. Maybe I should read something else.

Every time I look at a photo of anything I try to stay awake. Because looking at photos of horror can have the same effect that looking at the magazines on the rack. The man with a hood on his head and outstretched arms, electrodes attached to his hands has no name. He is an icon. But he does have a name and a family and a life that has to go on and see his photo in magazines. Remember the falling man?

 

Richard Drew has never done that. Although he has preserved the jacket patterned with Kennedy's blood, he has never not taken a picture, never averted his eye. He works for the Associated Press. He is a journalist. It is not up to him to reject the images that fill his frame, because one never knows when history is made until one makes it. It is not even up to him to distinguish if a body is alive or dead, because the camera makes no such distinctions, and he is in the business of shooting bodies, as all photographers are, unless they are Ansel Adams. Indeed, he was shooting bodies on the morning of September 11, 2001.

 

What must it take to never avert your eyes?

 

These photos (via BFB) have always troubled me. I've met the photographer. She is active in the fat political community. She testified at the board of supervisors meeting when I did. I think she has good intentions. I also think she is making a name for herself and money with the photos and that's OK. People should  make money with their art. But. Ya know. Exploitation is exploitation.

 

Photo of a woman in her kitchen. Nothing too intense about that is there? I guess the focus on women of size feels like it's trying to say something but I'm not sure what. I feel the same way about these. Is it about the clothes? Or not? I'm glad these pictures are out there but I'm always a little confused by them. If something is couched as art it takes on a distance. I've seen very real and very cruel reactions to photos that weren't taken with the intent of being fat positive, or negative.

 

There is that whole eye of the beholder thing. And there is the training of the eye. My sense was that my desire for a conversation about it was gonna fall flat because people who love me (or even just like me a lot) might not want to tell the truth about how they felt about the photos. Maybe my questions weren't stimulating or clear. But those photos stir up a storm of thought for me every time I look at them and I always want to talk about it.

 

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June 17 2005  10:26 AM                                

I've been tying to turn off all the noise for some time every day. Or at least listen to music instead of news and public policy. Especially when I do yoga. But yesterday I had to listen to the Downing Street hearing. But it did not disturb me. It made me almost giddy.

 

The information was disturbing but not new to me. I was giddy thinking that it might be the first event in an impeachment process. I understand that it would take awhile but I am just hoping it happens.

 

I listened to it again on CPSAN and then the announcement of the call for a plan to withdraw from Iraq. And can I just say that my choice for president was part of that. It felt like yesterday was a beginning.

 

The mighty John Conyers has a blog.

 

I've been having trouble getting the After Downing Street site to load. Which is a drag. It's almost pointless to write to my representative. She's on the bus for some stuff. I did write though. And I wrote to Ms Boxer. If there is anything I can do to push for impeachment I'm gonna do it. And I'm going to believe in the possibility until there is no reason left to believe.

 

 

June 18 2005  10:53 AM                                

My speakers have been messed up for awhile now. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't . Sometimes movement of the desk gets them to come on. For example, I have a desk drawer that sticks. I opened it one day with the usual tug and the speakers came on. Other times they just seem to come slowly back and they work for day or sometime two and then they're gone.

 

Yesterday they began to work and I jumped on the opportunity to check out the Abdul-Walid post that brought K to ask for tunes. I loved the Shushela Raman.

 

While I was on Abdul-Walid's blog I read some other posts and put part of one on the side because it says something Renee and I talked about once. There is that writing that makes you shiver. Words that you don't know, or never remember to use. Sentences that are so perfect you have to stop and hold them.

 

It was only a few months ago that I read Nabokov. Kristina sent me a lovely book full after I read Reading Lolita. I always thought the subject matter in Lolita would be too hard to bear and it was difficult. But the writing carried me through. I'm actually quite fond of Library of America books. I got a good amount of Nabokov. Enough to fall in love.

 

But in comments someone writes that they refuse to read something that is badly written, which makes me a little sad. I often read bad writing. Sometimes if it's too bad I can't get through it but lots of times the writing is in service to something other than the craft. Sometimes I am interested in what the book is about.

 

I picked up The Schopenhauer Cure because I had enjoyed When Nietzsche Wept years ago. The writing gets the job done but it doesn't make you shiver. It does make you feel as if you've just had a wonderful conversation about psychotherapy, philosophy and group dynamic. The kind of conversation I so love. Right now I'm reading All Over Creation. The writing is really good. Maybe not in the shiver category, but close. And it's a conversation on politics, food and family. Full of complexity.

 

Maybe my favorite sentence in the Abdul Walid post is: Is a surge of irritation what you feel when you encounter a needless adjective?

 

Oh yeah.

 

I'm not really in argument with anything from the post. I'm, no doubt, less carnal than many in how I perceive the world. I can be happy with ideas swirling, ungrounded, never concluding. But I appreciate a good body rush now and again.

 

I've been working on something that I think will be published. We'll see. I haven't really worked on writing for awhile. It felt great. Rewriting is my favorite part of writing and I rewrote the piece about fifty times. It is hard for me to stop picking at writing once I start.

 

I think that shiver-when-you-read-it writing comes from some place in a person who loves language and thinks about how to say something. Some place hard to charecterize. I don't think you can get to it by work. I think it just comes. If I'm reading and writing and not paralyzed with fear about money and life I sometimes say something good.

 

Heh.

 

David used to say, "You're on the page."  Best compliment ever.

 

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June 19 2005  3:06 PM                                

I have this overwhelming and profound loneliness today. It's probably because it's Father's Day. That's my guess. It's my complex history with the idea of father, having never actually had one. Well, of course I had one. A charmer. A cad. A boy who lost his own father too young and was raised by three adoring women who gave him everything and required nothing. He never learned how to be a father. Or a husband. So he was my object of desire and may always be. I met him when I was eleven. Or twelve. I can't remember exactly. If you added together all the time that I spent with him it wouldn't add up to a year. When he died I couldn't imagine I had any grief left in me. It seems like I do.

 

A post on Alas about this article is disturbing.

 

If the woman married when she was thin, had kids, became obese, and then had the surgery, the marriage almost always got a lot better,” he explains. (An estimated 75 percent of all bariatric patients are female.) “But if the woman married someone while she was obese and then became pretty . . . well, then she found a job. Got her colors done. Felt better about herself. And almost every one of those marriages ended in divorce.”

What is that about?

I'm just deep in it today. All of my fear. It'll pass.

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June 20 2005  7:19 AM                                

The problem with having a birthday right in the middle of the year is that I do a critical assessment of my life every six months. On the first of the year and then today. I'm trying not to go there today.

 

Willa found this fun birthday calculator. I was born on a Saturday, which I knew. And I'm an 8. Which I knew. I think I'm really bad at being an eight. My birth stone is an Alexandrite. It also listed pearl, opal and moonstone. I remember reading pearl before. I like Alexandrite better. My birth tree is a fig tree, which I did not know and love.

 

I usually make a special birthday page but I'm not feeling it today. It feels like Monday.

 

When I wrote the post yesterday I meant to add that I know I am loved. I am always deeply grateful for the people who love me. I never doubt that. Well almost never. Only when I'm in a complete zone. The loneliness I feel has been with me for as long as I can remember. It just is what it is.

 

So I don't know what I'm going to do today. I'm going make some eggs. I'm going to do some yoga. And. Then. We'll see.

 

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June 21 2005  9:25 AM                                

I wrote my post, ate my eggs, took a shower, got dressed, did some not particularly focused yoga, talked with Kristina on the phone and then had no idea what to do next.

 

When in doubt, read.

 

I was close to the end of the book. It is one of those books that you want to finish because you want to know what happens but you don't want to finish because you don't want to stop reading it. I was at a place in which the father is on his death bed and his daughter is trying to connect after having been estranged for most of her adult life.

 

Last year when my aunt called to say that the doctors thought Dad would be gone before the morning I wanted to go and be there. I'm not sure why. It wasn't like there was anything I could have seen, or heard from him and there wasn't anything I could say to him. Despite his absence when I was growing up, once I met him I always called on father's day and holidays. We had about as good of a relationship as we were gonna have. I didn't have the money to go and no one was offering to buy me a ticket. I sat here and wept for the next five days until they called to say he was gone. As I was reading the book I started to cry again.

 

And then the buzzer buzzed. It was Renee! Renee with some roses and a big smile. I knew she was back from school but I hadn't heard from her. She took me to lunch and then we came home there was a huge bouquet of amazing flowers from Adrienne waiting at the door. Renee made us coffee and we talked. Just as she was leaving the phone rang. It was Deb. She wanted to bring me something.

 

Deb caramelizes macadamia nuts and then rolls them in cocoa powder. They are SO good. She brought me a bag full and some bosenberry jam. She had picked the berries and made the jam. We talked for awhile and made a plan to go to dinner on a day when she hadn't been working.

 

The phone kept ringing. I talked to so many of the people I love. I'll be going to dinner with Adrienne tonight and brunch with K3 on Sunday. Jeane is coming for a visit in July and so is Jane. Alexandra is taking me out for a martini next week. I got lots of great e-cards and thank you for all the comments. (I sent everyone a thank you who left a comment. I have this fear that people don't get the e-mail I send.)

 

My friends are the balm for every wound.

 

And then I finished the book. It has a wonderful ending.

 

So that was my birthday. It was good.

 

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June 22 2005  9:57 AM                                

Years ago I saw this