I began this morning with a cherry-blossom scented walk and filled my ears with The Best of the Left podcast (which always gets me riled up, dismayed at humanity, and angry to be american). Then I get to work, convincing myself that some kind of brisk commitment to the rearrangement of irrelevant data will have an industrious and fulfilling impact on me and I get an email from my mom sharing information about an upcoming retreat. A Grief and Loss Retreat.
This opportunity got a reaction from me very much like the poignant and brilliant Meghan O'Rourke article from the New Yorker did a few weeks ago: it made me immediately panic and weep. Of course, Pandora couldn't stay out of the fray and dropped in
which is also a weep-inducing song though here I tried to include a slightly more upbeat version than the more spare version from Once.
(This is actually a very good representation of how I typically think and operate all day at work. Sounds discombobulating and crazy-making, right?)
So, I'm thinking that since the chance to heal makes me cry and cry, I should probably do it, right?
3.3.10
2.3.10
Roots
For some reason I ran across Sepultura today on the internets and am now currently enjoying the Roots re-release from 2008.
I'm not sure why such a thing would inspire me to dig through my email for old Janice emails, but it did. Sadly, there are very little so now I am not only listening to loud, angry music while in my angry-making place (work), but I am also just plain angry that I don't have more immortalized Janice words. Boo death.
I'm not sure why such a thing would inspire me to dig through my email for old Janice emails, but it did. Sadly, there are very little so now I am not only listening to loud, angry music while in my angry-making place (work), but I am also just plain angry that I don't have more immortalized Janice words. Boo death.
1.3.10
epic weekend
I had an excellent weekend and I think it deserves a recap and further contemplation. So, here I go. Beginning with Friday:
Our local community foundation was visiting my place of work in order to unveil their new Vital Community grantmaking strategy. They invited various representatives from community organizations to come together, discuss their new plan and brainstorm ways to share information and community-build. This kind of activity is seriously one of my very favorite things to do; since my Evergreen days, I could honestly spend half my professional time seminaring and the other half getting stuff done. I suppose that’s why I love a good meeting. So, we brainstormed with our peers, talking about the value of community roundtables, what their focus should be, who would attend such meetings, etc. It was fun and inspiring, I like talking, I like listening – it was good stuff. Some of my favorite nonprofit professionals were in the room, including the closest thing to a mentor I have in this town, and I ended up having some very delightful conversations which led to a continuing delightful conversation post-work. I met up with my mentor, we talked further and crafted a possible plan for my future in contributing to Tacoma and my neighborhood. So we’ll see but I felt good, felt affirmed, felt like there might be a reason I’m alive after all.
After that excellent meeting, I met up with my mom, a fabulous friend from choir, one of my oldest friends, and her soon-to-be fiancé. We enjoyed fantastic food and wine at Enoteca, a great little wine bar in the Stadium district. My old friend is moving to Montana with her man who I think is a rare person of quality and this is the first time in recent memory that I have seen her happy. My friend and I were both incredibly close to Janice and it was a treat to see a smile on her face after all we’ve been through.
We continued the fun at Tempest where I learned more and varied things about my choir friend (who is a huge talent and a general bad ass). She has been through just a ton of awful crap and has come out on the other end a star and it is a pleasure to know her. My old friend, her man, and my choir friend said goodnight and I was joined by even more buddies. So, a good and gratifying time into the night.
Saturday began with a trip to the Museum of Glass with the lovable and hilarious Jason Ganwich. I’m trying to recruit him to join me in a podcasting endeavor to which he seems amenable; hopefully this will result in hilarity and fun for all in the coming months. The museum has some really spectacular work on display right now and it was a nice, nostalgic throwback to the good old days. All my friends were blowing glass, we poked fun at the fancy visiting artists and cracked each other up reading the creature descriptions of the kid-designed glass pieces in the Kids Design Glass exhibition.
Ah, culture. Jason and I concluded our time together at Hello Cupcake where I watch Jason enjoy a cupcake and overheard cheerleaders getting really excited about bubblegum-flavored lollipops.
Next, my good friend Susan and I decided to run around all over Seattle, taking in some quality time with a baby, eating food and drinking drink. We managed to succeed in all respects. We first headed to Wallingford to visit the beautiful Miss Carmela, a charming baby person who holds my entire hope for humanity in her future. No pressure, baby friend.
We ate lunch at Jhanjay, a pleasant vegetarian thai food restaurant with her mother and caught up on stuff and things. I feel I must also mention that Carmela’s mother is a dear friend, not simply some awesome lady who made a great baby. Mama Erica is the hardest working woman in Wallingford, raising a baby and getting a law degree.
Susan and I then headed down to Seattle's south end to take in some art and culture. We checked out Western Bridge, a fantastic little gallery in the industrial wasteland between Georgetown and Sodo. The work on exhibit was refreshing
and the architecture of the space itself was sending Susan into fits of enchanted glee. You may or may not know that I am a big fan of mountain goats (the most magical of all goat varietals)and Western Bridge currently features an outrageous installation by Euan Macdonald involving a scale mountain top and two white goats that made my heart very happy.
At this point Susan and I acquired the company of the world-famous Chuck and proceeded to go on a Cuban sandwich hunt which ended in success in Ballard. Paseo’s sandwiches are something to be experienced. We enjoyed the scenery (the sky was doing excellent work), demolished our messy sandwiches, and I was pleased by Chuck’s canny identification of tofu's flavor as that of a cheesy pancake. Of course, a cheesy pancake sounds like the best thing to me ever and an apt homage to tofu which is perhaps a different opinion than Chuck’s when it comes to cultured soybean curd.
The evening was marred with mild tragedy when we witnessed a female duck get hit by a car. She and her mate sat quietly on the side of the road, we called animal control and hung out next to them, feeling useless. Just as animal control was about to arrive and Susan had gone on a mission to find some duck-holding containers from a nearby restaurant, the mallard quacked a few words to his lady duck friend and flew away. Lady duck rallied and took to flight as well, her broken leg dangling depressingly. Ah, humans vs. nature.
Since we were in Ballard, we stopped at Hazlewood, an agreeable, good-looking craft cocktail joint that definitely did me right when it came to a quality Sazerac (or two). Susan then made us a reservation at the Knee High Stocking Co. and we headed over to Capital Hill to see just how successful a speakeasy it is. Knee High was definitely disappointing: a tacky, thrown together, ineptly used space featuring a dreadfully formatted menu. But the service was decent (though untalented), my drink and Chuck’s beer were tasty and the ladies were pretty. So, not a total fail.
To cleanse the palate, we decided we needed one more stop and headed to Spur in Belltown. I really like this bar: drinks are phenomenal, good service, and a thoughtful and handsome space. I was very, very deep in my cups at this point which was embarrassing but was thankfully flanked by amiable and tolerant friends who seemed not to be offended or dismayed by my intoxication so there's a mercy.
Susan and I bade Chuck farewell and zoomed back to T-town where I managed to sloppily throw myself in bed. Apparently my state was clear to the chivalrous Christo who force-fed me liquids until I fell asleep.
Sunday was date day, beginning with a breakfast of Herman’s incredible ham (see boca) burgers and onion rings, moving on to a curtain-acquiring adventure (window curtains...not an innuendo), and concluding with a viewing of The Crazies. I will discuss the Crazies more over at Fully Grown Fan but I will say here that it is possibly one of the best genre films I have ever seen, no joke. I was HUGELY impressed.
I rounded out my Sunday with some much needed television viewing and an early bedtime. Really, it was possibly one of the best weekends of all time: you can’t beat day after day of quality time with (at last count) over 20 friends both new and old. Look at me, not moping on my blog!
Our local community foundation was visiting my place of work in order to unveil their new Vital Community grantmaking strategy. They invited various representatives from community organizations to come together, discuss their new plan and brainstorm ways to share information and community-build. This kind of activity is seriously one of my very favorite things to do; since my Evergreen days, I could honestly spend half my professional time seminaring and the other half getting stuff done. I suppose that’s why I love a good meeting. So, we brainstormed with our peers, talking about the value of community roundtables, what their focus should be, who would attend such meetings, etc. It was fun and inspiring, I like talking, I like listening – it was good stuff. Some of my favorite nonprofit professionals were in the room, including the closest thing to a mentor I have in this town, and I ended up having some very delightful conversations which led to a continuing delightful conversation post-work. I met up with my mentor, we talked further and crafted a possible plan for my future in contributing to Tacoma and my neighborhood. So we’ll see but I felt good, felt affirmed, felt like there might be a reason I’m alive after all.
After that excellent meeting, I met up with my mom, a fabulous friend from choir, one of my oldest friends, and her soon-to-be fiancé. We enjoyed fantastic food and wine at Enoteca, a great little wine bar in the Stadium district. My old friend is moving to Montana with her man who I think is a rare person of quality and this is the first time in recent memory that I have seen her happy. My friend and I were both incredibly close to Janice and it was a treat to see a smile on her face after all we’ve been through.
We continued the fun at Tempest where I learned more and varied things about my choir friend (who is a huge talent and a general bad ass). She has been through just a ton of awful crap and has come out on the other end a star and it is a pleasure to know her. My old friend, her man, and my choir friend said goodnight and I was joined by even more buddies. So, a good and gratifying time into the night.
Saturday began with a trip to the Museum of Glass with the lovable and hilarious Jason Ganwich. I’m trying to recruit him to join me in a podcasting endeavor to which he seems amenable; hopefully this will result in hilarity and fun for all in the coming months. The museum has some really spectacular work on display right now and it was a nice, nostalgic throwback to the good old days. All my friends were blowing glass, we poked fun at the fancy visiting artists and cracked each other up reading the creature descriptions of the kid-designed glass pieces in the Kids Design Glass exhibition.
 |
| From The Law |
Next, my good friend Susan and I decided to run around all over Seattle, taking in some quality time with a baby, eating food and drinking drink. We managed to succeed in all respects. We first headed to Wallingford to visit the beautiful Miss Carmela, a charming baby person who holds my entire hope for humanity in her future. No pressure, baby friend.
We ate lunch at Jhanjay, a pleasant vegetarian thai food restaurant with her mother and caught up on stuff and things. I feel I must also mention that Carmela’s mother is a dear friend, not simply some awesome lady who made a great baby. Mama Erica is the hardest working woman in Wallingford, raising a baby and getting a law degree.
Susan and I then headed down to Seattle's south end to take in some art and culture. We checked out Western Bridge, a fantastic little gallery in the industrial wasteland between Georgetown and Sodo. The work on exhibit was refreshing
 |
| From bits and things |
 |
| From bits and things |
At this point Susan and I acquired the company of the world-famous Chuck and proceeded to go on a Cuban sandwich hunt which ended in success in Ballard. Paseo’s sandwiches are something to be experienced. We enjoyed the scenery (the sky was doing excellent work), demolished our messy sandwiches, and I was pleased by Chuck’s canny identification of tofu's flavor as that of a cheesy pancake. Of course, a cheesy pancake sounds like the best thing to me ever and an apt homage to tofu which is perhaps a different opinion than Chuck’s when it comes to cultured soybean curd.
The evening was marred with mild tragedy when we witnessed a female duck get hit by a car. She and her mate sat quietly on the side of the road, we called animal control and hung out next to them, feeling useless. Just as animal control was about to arrive and Susan had gone on a mission to find some duck-holding containers from a nearby restaurant, the mallard quacked a few words to his lady duck friend and flew away. Lady duck rallied and took to flight as well, her broken leg dangling depressingly. Ah, humans vs. nature.
Since we were in Ballard, we stopped at Hazlewood, an agreeable, good-looking craft cocktail joint that definitely did me right when it came to a quality Sazerac (or two). Susan then made us a reservation at the Knee High Stocking Co. and we headed over to Capital Hill to see just how successful a speakeasy it is. Knee High was definitely disappointing: a tacky, thrown together, ineptly used space featuring a dreadfully formatted menu. But the service was decent (though untalented), my drink and Chuck’s beer were tasty and the ladies were pretty. So, not a total fail.
To cleanse the palate, we decided we needed one more stop and headed to Spur in Belltown. I really like this bar: drinks are phenomenal, good service, and a thoughtful and handsome space. I was very, very deep in my cups at this point which was embarrassing but was thankfully flanked by amiable and tolerant friends who seemed not to be offended or dismayed by my intoxication so there's a mercy.
Susan and I bade Chuck farewell and zoomed back to T-town where I managed to sloppily throw myself in bed. Apparently my state was clear to the chivalrous Christo who force-fed me liquids until I fell asleep.
Sunday was date day, beginning with a breakfast of Herman’s incredible ham (see boca) burgers and onion rings, moving on to a curtain-acquiring adventure (window curtains...not an innuendo), and concluding with a viewing of The Crazies. I will discuss the Crazies more over at Fully Grown Fan but I will say here that it is possibly one of the best genre films I have ever seen, no joke. I was HUGELY impressed.
I rounded out my Sunday with some much needed television viewing and an early bedtime. Really, it was possibly one of the best weekends of all time: you can’t beat day after day of quality time with (at last count) over 20 friends both new and old. Look at me, not moping on my blog!
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