A Treasure Found at Home

j got a picture of me with the chainsaw this weekend!

this morning i drove to work so i’d be able to leave in time to get to my eye appointment in the city. the train comes in just a little too late — it pulls in about when i should be pushing the elevator button downtown. so, driving it is.

i had to stop for gas and wanted coffee so i figured i’d go to a station along 280, but i picked the wrong exit and ended up driving around the suburbs finally finding an easy to enter station just before the place where i could get back on the highway! rock on.

i pulled in and pulled up to the first pump on the third island from the street. as i set things up to pump away, i heard a woman yelling, ‘excuse me!’

she was pretty far away and i couldn’t hear her well, so i didn’t understand that she was yelling at me. finally it sunk in and we shouted across the gas station lot. she asked if i would buy her some ‘food items’. you know, i was going to go in anyhow to buy myself some coffee and a doughnut (knowing full well it was an awful choice of breakfasts), and she wasn’t asking for money, so i agreed.

we met up at the door when my car was finished being filled and i bought her just over $8 worth of chips and drinks and a sammich. she’d asked as we went in about how much i was willing to spend, and asked if she could get ‘a couple’ drinks.

i felt good about being able to share in this way. i’m in a place right now where i *can* do this and there have been times in my life when i wasn’t. just six years ago i stopped drinking much beyond water because it was too expensive, and stopping for a cup of coffee was luxurious to say the least (that was when mom started sending me *$’s cards so i could treat myself — for which i am still grateful). now that i’m living in abundnce, why not share it? i would have felt very different about the exchange if she’d asked for cash, and would have refused.

it was a nice way to start the day. we should all be reminded of just how much we really have and how easy it is to help others and make a connection. it was a nice gift she gave me.

there were chainsaws and babies and paint and fires and friends. i slept 13 hours the first night there. good lord it was wonderful. i have some super cool friends and i love being with them and i love my new tent and i love the outside and i love the bright orange chainsaw chaps. next time, more dogs.

i’d love to spend a week up there. i should create a willits/laytonville camping box. i should also find my headlamp.

i returned full of gratitude for the people in my life and the gifts they are willing and able to share, even when that gift is unknowingly reflecting myself back to me and thereby telling me it will all be a-ok.

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mom called wanting to discuss my budding relationship with sp guy. she jumped ahead a few years and started talking shared spaces and jewelry! *cough* *gurgle* *scream* *run*

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i want this floor!

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my to do list is seven miles long.

… where my day of things not going right continues apace. please fill in the longish, accidentally deleted post with complaints about house hunting and the glories of the mobile phone card that lets me connect to the internets when i don’t have lan access.

is the concept of alphabetization really that hard? i get lists of names to look up all the time that are no where near to alphabetized! why?

it’s too big to fit on the page without bleeding into the sidebar, and if i shrink to fit, it’s too small to read. so clicky clicky it is. sorry if this posts to the rss feed every time i edit it. i hope it doesn’t.

i stumbled into the kitchen at work for a second cup of tea. the chai didn’t do the whole job, so i reached for a bag of earl grey. there was another box in the way and as i pushed it out of the way the name, moonight spice, caught my eye.

‘orange spice white tea’ it said.

hmmm. ok, i’ll try that.

i pulled out a bag and looked at it. nice and orange and at the top it said:

shipping through peace
hope floats away

i wondered what it could mean and read it again

shipping through peace

shipping through peace

sipping through peace

sipping through of peace

sipping thoughts of peace!

huh?

sipping thoughts of peace
hope floats away?

no

sipping thoughts of peace
hope floats my way!

holy cow. with that much effort and time spent just on the package, i had to drink the stuff!
sipping thoughts of peace
hope floats my way

there were two deliveries for me yesterday. when i walked up to my porch i discovered the box with my wireless card that will let me on the wireless phone network and…

a dozen roses.

i have to say my front porch was a very happy place last night.

i have headache. maybe i’m dehydrated? that would certainly make sense. i think i’ve had a latte and, um, a caramel macchiato today.

i was planning to rush home and help housemate move himself into the living room tonight so he can continue to be housemate. however, checking in with him just now i found out that he’s not going to be home till after my bedtime…essentally. so i’m shirking the feeling of responsibility and heading instead to beautiful downtown mtn view and the e/w bookstore! books! books! smelly things! soothing sounds! ahhh. i think i’m relaxing already.

then i’ll join sp guy and walter for walter’s training class. i’d really wanted to start joining them so i’d understand how i can help walter be more on top of things. he’s supposed to be shown soonish, and i want him to do well. now with the new relational db training starting i’ll miss out on training classes till august unless i go tonight. so, tonight it is.

after the bookstore.

om.

well, new to me, anyhow.

i flew to la friday to pick up what used to be my brother’s car, and which was my father’s car before that. on the way down i sat next to a guy who worked as part of the stage design team for madonna. he said they’d had to fly to sjc to spend two hours sorting out some weight problems with the lighting. actually, he only said the two ours part, the rest i sorted out based on what he was talking to his co workers about.

la was just like pretty anywhere else with my family. we painte a wall in bro’s new place, watched a move (d.v.code) and ate out. i napped while bro and dad painted the wall since i didn’t know to bring painting clothes.

then, sunday am dad and i got in the car super early and drove up to sf where we met my realtor and looked at property. then we met sp guy for lunch and i dropped dad at the airport. after working out with ‘b’, during which i was in an even worse mood that usual, i met up with sp guy again and we went to see ‘hedge’ since it didn’t seem it would require a huge amount of mental or physical energy.

my cat was very glad to see me come home, and immediately dripped two spots of drool on my leg as a reward for returning. love that galahad.

again: new car! new car!

a friend of mine is riding in the california aids/life cycle. it’s a bike ride from sf to la. a long long way to go, and for such a good cause.

she’s got a goal to raise $5000. let’s all help, shall we?

http://aidslifecycle.org/1573

i think i’ve just becme the sf resident co-lead of what is going to be a very cool camp. we’re out of the conexus village, but this just feels right.

anyone who has some old luggage they don’t want back, please contact me.

wow. yeah. there’s that old feeling of buring man sitting in my heart. this is goodness.

driving back from a hike recently with sp guy, i was dancing in the car. i looked a the car full of 20something guys in the next car. they were groovin’, too, and laughing. then, when they all looked at me at once, i realized they were laughing *at* me.

whatever.

i’m cuter.

i’m reminded of this because i’m dancing in my chair at my desk with my headphones on right now… must look odd.

why deny the obvious, child?

i’m so tired. i guess i just didn’t sleep enough last night, or the night before, or the night before…

my nose is all stuffed up and allergy-ish. pout.

in good news, i’ll be able to catch about 30 min on the flight to la friday after work.

even though i didn’t end up being picked for the jury i feel like i’ve learned a lot about, at the very least, how jury duty is perceived by the general public.

we were required to swear an oath stating, among other things, we understood that by lying during jury selection we would be committing perjury. who wants to perjure themselves? apparently, some people just don’t mind.

it seems weird to me that someone would give their word in the form of an oath stating that they’ll answer all questions truthfully, then brazenly lie when asked something directly. maybe that person didn’t say ‘yes’ or ‘i do’ when it came to that part of the orientation?

maybe i should back up.

several of us were randomly chosen to be part of the jury selection for a trial to be held in courtroom 503. we all filed up and sat down in the chairs provided, including some of is in the jury box. i got seat 13. we were given some instructions, role was taken, the oath was sworn, and those of us in the jury box got up and went to stand by the door so the box could be filled with those at the top of the ‘randomly’ generated list.

(random is in quotes there because true randomization is so difficult to manage that i have to believe the computer in the basement of the city courthouse is not doing true randomization. anyhow, that’s just me being geeky. back to the story.)

the first group of people were asked a series of questions about their allegiances, if they felt they could be impartial, if they felt a police officer’s testimony would hold any more weight than a citizen’s testimony, were there religious reasons they could not sit in judgment of another, were there physical reasons they could not be on the jury, etc.

then each attorney got a chance to ask some questions. the first guy, who seems a little younger, asked some questions then requested answers from only 3, maybe 4, of the prospective jurors on each question. the second attorney, though, asked each prospective juror the same two questions. it became tedious.

then we moved to the part where they each take turns thanking and dismissing prospective jurors. the woman who didn’t speak english well was dismissed by the judge (along with some others earlier on - like the prospective juror who happened to know the defendant). the high school girl who thought ‘your occupation’ meant who lived in your house (what a stunning display of what our public schools are teaching our kids!) was one of the first to go.

they also dismissed the woman who stated that if someone were arrested, they must have done something wrong. after many iterations of the possible jury, we reached 4:30 and were required (thanks to union rules) to break.

back on tuesday morning at 10:00, and in the court room by 10:40ish. it became clear that i’d probably never make it into the box. my name was at the top of the third page of the randomized list. the attorneys took their sweet time some more, and were encouraged by the judge to hurry up.

finally, a jury of 12 was chosen. next it was time to chose and alternate. due to the anticipated brevity of the trial, only one alternate was chosen. thankfully, the next guy on the list was approved by the judge and both attorneys!

still, i would have liked to have served. it would have been very interesting. this case, as far as i could tell from the questions asked during jury selection. was about a man who’d been asked to leave a store, somehow a fight broke out (outside the store maybe?), the police showed up after the fight started and arrested the patron. it seems they were going to say the store owner used force first and this guy was just acting in self defense.

i’m sure you’re all aware i love story, and i really wish i could have stuck around to hear the rest of this one.

oh, well. maybe next year.

i’m on jury duty this week. so far the jury for the trial i’m assigned to hasn’t been chosen so i have to go back today. i know it would be better for the folks i work with if i didn’t get chosen, but it does look interesting, and it’s a pretty short trial, so i’m hoping i get picked.

in other ’serving your country’ news, ian rhett is at it again folks! check out his latest video. it’s just been released. please please please post this on your own blog if you like it at all… let’s get it circulated!

http://www.sharedvoice.org/semper_fi

it’s based on his sister’s life and her service in the marines. i find it really very touching.

IMG_8485

Originally uploaded by whipartist.

last night a local radio station set off fireworks. they guy who sets up the show uses this opportunity each year to try out new things. i think i heard about these cube designs last year, but this was the first time i’d seen them. there were sparkly things which are really hard to describe but i’ve never seen those before either. and little wormy guys.

beautiful.

we watched from the roof of the building where sp guy has his office.

i didn’t bring my camera, but other people did and i found this set on flickr. have a look.

if i’d had a full length mirror i might have noticed before i left the house. as it is i’ll just have to tell myself that somehow it happened during dinner.

but when i got in the cab to go to our super secret location for goddess worship last night… i realized my pvc pants were torn.

this will be heartbreaking news to many who saw me at tribal connections at the uu church last december. sorry, creampuff’s man. all i can promise is that i’ll be looking for replacements.

luckily, for last night anyhow, housemate and i had dinner just around the corner from home so it was a quick walk back up the hill to change and just long enough to plan in my head what else to wear.

i kept the sparkly shoes, but changed everything else.

then it was off to super secret location, which turned out to be a swanky dance club complete with velvet ropes and a vip room! we ate chocolate while wating for all the other couples (sets? pairs? ‘couples’ seems to imply a romance) to arrive, toasted mighty berb’s new niece (born just that morning), thanked the men several times, toasted conexus (to which the money for this auction item went), we danced, chatted, and gazed *deeply* into each other’s eyes… during which exercise i laughed and laughed and laughed. whatever, i was being genuine. we each got a long stemed red rose.
as we were organizing to leave berb asked where i live. then she said, ‘that’s very close to housemate.’

‘yes,’ i said, ‘very close. he lives in my extra room.’

she had no idea.

tarzan drove berb, housemate and i home. 3am with only a little nap on the train… i was beat.

i was just day dreaming about this old friend of mine this morning. i’m not in direct contact with him anymore, but i’ve always thought he was cute as sin a very talented musician! i hope i can catch a performance when i’m next in big d (for my birthday, the day before a friend’s wedding). anyhow, i just got this little flier in the email. how many times did i dance the night away listening to you?

rock on, chris, rock on. and congratulations, man.

i always wondered if it was *really* illegal to drive without shoes on. last night when i got pulled over the officer didn’t say anything about it. was that because he didn’t notice?

my feet were all blistery from these shoes i really want to be able to wear but apparently will never be able to. no matter how much i love them, they’re going to have to go.

i walked barefoot from ritual up over the hill to where my car was parked a block from my house (this is mostly uphill). driving barefoot i discovered didn’t help too much with the pain from the bottom of the foot blisters.

i hobbled from where i parked up the street, intending to go to the cafe. i was wondering about glass in the street and if they would serve me without shoes and thinking about having to go meet manager later at ritual again and if they’d let me in with no shoes and …

and i saw a shoe store!

look at my nice new birks. i was sort of in the market for casual brown shoes anyhow.

happy feet.