Something I’ve never given much thought to before, but was handed a full on learning experience this morning around 3:30am when a friend called in serious distress: Something, GHB most likely, was slipped into her drink sometime last night. Other than horrible physical side effects the drug caused, my friend is safe. But now, after sitting, waiting, thinking in the ER for hours, I’m trying to process- trying to understand… What can women do to protect themselves from such unseen enemies? Why do we have to fear so much in our world? The greatest power we have is choice, and if that is taken from us… what do we have then?
I think some sleep might be good right now to clear the head and heart.
Duane tagged me a few weeks ago, and I’ve been really lazy to follow up- but now in my current state of self-reflection, it seems like an opportunity…
Here are some things about me that nobody probably knows, or perhaps even care to know? Hehe, captive audience!
- I suprised Dustin with this the other day: I know the smell of a dead mouse. Most people have no idea what a rotting mouse carcass smells like, but I do. It’s very faint, almost sweet smelling. It will last for a few weeks then disappear. I don’t know exactly how or where I developed it, but I have it in my smell-bank. (I had the chance to show off my dead-mouse detecting abilities a couple days ago, as we currently have this smell coming from under our sink. But it makes me happy to know it’s dead.)
- I have a deep and almost delirious love for the writing of Jack Kerouac. I have read On the Road every year for about 12 years. Always in the summer, and I try to start it when I’m heading out on a road trip. I think it is perfect.
- I like to : scrub the bathtub, wash windows, and vacuum/sweep the floor. I consider these three things “instant gratification”. They all make a big difference in my visually-motivated life.
- I eat a small piece of pickled herring almost every day, usually just before I start dinner. Gram Dorothy swears by eating fish once a day, so I’ve taken some advice and joined her in trying to get those crucial omega threes. She is 91, she must know some things about this stuff. And Gram Dora used to eat herring, too, so there! The product of these 2 women is: fishy ME!
- When I was in grade 10 I dreamed (DREAMED!) of becoming a pilot. I just wanted to learn to fly so bad, I phoned and found out about flight lessons ($$$$), and which school was cheapest. I tried to convince my parents that I would give up EVERYTHING if they would pay for flight instructions. I tried to bribe the flight school- Could I work for classes and flight time? Nothing ever happened… It all just kind of went away after a few months of dreaming about it. Oh how I dreamed! If only the money… (This also ties into #6)
- Also in grade 10- I decided to write to Bill Gates and ask him for some money. I had heard he was interested in humanitarian stuff, and I thought I would be a perfect candidate. Young, adventursome, idealistic- I figured if I got 1 million dollars from him, that would be perfect to accomplish all my dreams in life. I wrote the letter, but alas, I never mailed it…. BUT oh how life would be so different!! I’m here stuck in this dreary existence!! (dramatic emphasis!) SIGH! Oh Bill! My benifactor!
Okay, enough! Alissa- tag, you’re it!
(Thanks Duane, that was fun. Although I really wanted to include a photo of my favorite stuffed animal, too, but the camera is at the studio. So I’ll save photos of Bob for another time. Yes, Bob.)
ciao
Duane phoned on Sunday afternoon. He mentioned it was “random acts of kindness week”. Funny, cause that very morning I was raising money for the Gogo grannies, putting my lips to work at a Kissing BOOTH! Part of A love A fair, over at Blim. My good friend Keiko organized it, and what a good time! I was wo-manning the booth for an hour, hard at work with my tools of the trade: lipstick and breath mints. People were very excited to be kissed! They would come in the door and get very excited when the saw a.) they could put some money towards a great cause b.) get a kiss from a happy human being: people were SO EXCITED! Me too! Did you see the Free Hugs campaign? I totally felt like that, the part in the video when everyone starts hugging him and it makes me cry it is so human and joyful.
Dustin asked me last night what Valentine’s day made me think about. Well, yesterday I was running a bunch of errands downtown… and I kept looking around at the strangers shopping, reading, browsing next to me and wondering: “what is that person up to today?”, “where is this person spending valentine’s?”, “what is this person doing at the library right now?”. Duane talked about Blue-box of love in his post yesterday, and I can totally see his point. From my perspective: Why is it that only on this one day I look around at strangers on the bus hoping they have someone to go home to, or someone to love? Why don’t I extend that same sense of compassion on other ordinary days? Is this also part of the random acts of kindness that should be extending out to the rest of my life?
CFL’s discussion, Here’s the update: We now have 5/9 lights in our house running off of CFL’s! Dustin did the first round of this about a year or so ago, where he put in 3, and after I wrote last I went and bought 2 more and stuck them around. I unfortunatley am not so down with the math part of figuring it all out, energy savings, etc. but I KNOW it’s a difference. Thanks Duane for getting this discussion rolling!!
Alissa updated her blog! Hi Alissa! I started commenting on your blog last night and it turned into a letter, so I’m working on a letter, instead.
Time to head to work.
ciao
Well, Folks.
Global warming is NOT:
- a joke;
- left-wing-liberal manipulation;
- some kind of anti-American conspiracy.
It’s time to deal with reality, and I ask: what are you doing to help?
Duane’s got a great suggestion here. Pair it with this suggestion: Next time you go to visit an elder, bring along a couple CFL’s and offer to put them into a couple of high use areas in their home.
Need even more ways to help? (I bet you’re curious!) Go to this website.
Hey remember Awen? Well, he’s going to be 2 in about 2 weeks! Already! Life has seen him grow so much this year, and today his mom brought him over and the three of us went for a picnic lunch. We got chinese take out and went to the park and played in the most sunny lovely weather.
So at the park, you know the digger in the sandbox? It’s that funny tangle of bars and scoops that levers and thrusts and manages to pick up sand only to drop it again- well that seems to be a favorite of Awen’s, although he seems more facinated watching other people try to manage it. But I got skills with the digger. I impress.
He runs away from me yelling “I chase you!” cause that’s what I say when I chase him. I guess that’s the title of the game. He runs with his chest pushed forward, arms flapping behind him as if they would fall off any minute and he wouldn’t notice anyway cause all he wants to do is get away from you yelling “I chase you!”
We also practiced our balance beam performance on the wood edge of the sand box. He was particularly amused by me jumping up, turning around and then landing on one leg. (all those years of gymnastics to entertain a 2 year old!) Although he seemed even more amused when I fall off. Thanks for your support, kid.
Digging, chasing, balancing. These are all very marketable and highly transferable skills I will teach him someday. Then he will rule the world.
ciao.
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