Photos of this summer aboard brig Lady Washington (the Interceptor from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean) are at akimbophoto.blogspot.com AND at ladywashington.org
My brainstorming and hopeful plans of starting an intentional community in Seattle are at intentional-community.blogspot.com
My good friend Landon is a philosophy major. His blog encourages discussion at artofwisdom.blogspot.com
Do YOU have a blog that I would like? Please email me!
kim@ladywashington.org
Kahuna Lane, Chapter 1, Moving In
names have been changed
At the start of 2001 I moved into a large house near the University of Hawaii on the island of Oahu. The house was divided into 4 separate sections. The first floor of the northern half was a garage turned apartment with storage and laundry on the backside. The upstairs, as well as both floors on the southern half, were large 5-bedroom apartments with 2 bathrooms, a kitchen and living room. I lived in the southern half in a small bedroom downstairs.
When I first looked at the house and was waiting for the landlady, Tammy, to arrive, this young woman with long brown hair walked up the street, stood underneath the neighbors' fruit tree, cursed at it, then lit a cigarette and came over to me.
"Fucking people! Wasting perfectly good fruit. They never eat that, y'know. It's pathetic." and then she flicked her cigarette onto the ground and went in the house.
Tammy made her entrance shortly afterwards - an expensively dressed older Chinese woman in a Mercedes. She eagerly showed me around and I didn't hesitate to accept her terms. $350 for a small room, with only women living in the house (except for the remodeled garage), and besides the trails of mini-ants and a lone centipede or cockroach now and then, the house was spacious, clean and bright. Those bugs were piddly compared to what I'd become accustomed to in the Hawaiian countryside. Out there there were cane spiders bigger than a child's hand, termites galore and clouds of mosquitoes. A few harmless ants and roaches were completely tolerable compared to all that. Where I grew up there were hardly any bugs at all. The first time a cane spider chased me down I nearly pissed my pants. It was running into the wind on only it's back legs. The front legs and body looked like one of those flying face suckers from Alien. But after 2 years of living in rural Hawaii I could actually sit on the grass and not mind if bugs were crawling on my legs. The only bugs that have made me freak out since are the gnats on Sandy Cay in the British Virgin Islands. Imagine getting 100 mild bee-stings all at once, by bugs that you can't even see. But enough about bugs.
My new roommates on the first floor were Kirzah (the one with the cig, pronounced KEER-zuh), a 25-year-old college student on the 7-year-plan. Steffany, a beautiful blond artist, age 23. And Sabrine, an intelligent and kick-ass 26-year-old black girl from Salem, Massachusetts who was majoring in Fashion Anthropology (tying her studies from the fashion institute in NY to her current anthropological interests. Upstairs there were all quiet Asian girls, except for Caroline, who was Asian-American, I think 2nd generation and grew up on Oahu. Caroline was finishing up her masters and didn't stay long. All the girls in the house were students at UH, and we never socialized much with the girls in the northern half of the upstairs, as their apartment was not accessible from our front door, but they were students too.
People with strong personalities are always attractive to me. I don't mean attractive like sexually. I mean their charisma attracts me, makes me want to observe their affect on others and myself, and be along for the ride (Ack! That just brought to mind common criticisms of Kerouac!). Kirzah seemed bitchy and strong-willed at the time, like she didn't care what anyone thought of her. When that quality is genuine, it's fascinating. That trait is either rare, or the majority of people really are very bland and aren't itching to bust out of some "shell" at all. She was a white girl born and raised on Maui so she had plenty friends all over the place. Since she hadn't bothered to figure out what classes she needed at the community college to transfer to UH, she had taken all of them. Like many rural Hawaiian children, she grew up with a miniature marijuana plantation in her backyard, and later her dad ended up in prison for shipping pot and other drugs. She got fired from her job as a waitress at the Outrigger on Waikiki, and it was rumored that she was living off a huge sum of money stashed right before her father's arrest. Kirzah could have been pretty, but she looked haggard for her age, with her alcoholism, the drugs and cigarettes and probable depression. After living there awhile we would have dinner parties or friendly get-togethers and she would get out of control drunk, walk around naked and hit on me and my friends, loudly play Linkin Parks' "Crawling in my skin" on repeat until 4am or be driving home drunk and crash her moped. But she was an excellent writer. Aren't the best writers and artists pretty messed up? Sabrine and Steffany tried to help her out when she asked. They really cared about her. Both I, and a later addition, P-Funk, were there for her too, but she was on a downward spiral and I got to thinking that she was going to have to hit rock bottom before getting better.
Kirzah allowed us time on her computer for internet use in return for helping out with her online bill, but she hated having people in her room and would freak out over things like the chair not being put back in it's original position by the desk. We had an issue with cable TV, too, because she had lived there longest, and had cable in her room. My friend Eric donated to us an old TV, and since the cable was accessible in the living room, we plugged it in. We didn't watch it much, and nobody would have cared enough to actually buy a TV or cable if it wasn't already there. Kirzah wanted compensation. We paid a little but didn't keep up on it, and didn't care if it got turned off anyway. This infuriated her. I still don't know how that should have been worked out. I think we got rid of the TV. At some point I told Kirzah that she was really self-destructive and rude, and I don't know if that was healthy or not. It's good to be honest with people who get so offensive, but overall she was this messed up but intelligent young woman, going through her own ups and downs. She was smart enough to eventually learn from her mistakes, even if it meant repeating them over and over again until she did. Once we had a big Thanksgiving event at another friends' apartment, and Kirzah ate some of the tiramisu that Sabrina had spent so long preparing. We were leaving for the event and Sabrine found the violated dish in the fridge and screamed. She began yelling at Kirzah and something broke, either from the top of the fridge after slamming the door, I don't remember well, but we left anyway and the neighbors had called the cops. It was the stodgy fruit-wasting neighbors. They were never keen on living next door to a house with 17 twentysomethings and all their guests.
Shortly after that I moved out. I couldn't stand her any longer. I remained friends with several other roommates, and actually moved in with some girls who had lived in the Kahuna house while I was there. They say her life got better and she moved back to Maui.
Some of the other friends I met at the Kahuna house, and the adventures we shared around Waikiki were even more worth writing about. I'll write about those later on...
At the start of 2001 I moved into a large house near the University of Hawaii on the island of Oahu. The house was divided into 4 separate sections. The first floor of the northern half was a garage turned apartment with storage and laundry on the backside. The upstairs, as well as both floors on the southern half, were large 5-bedroom apartments with 2 bathrooms, a kitchen and living room. I lived in the southern half in a small bedroom downstairs.
When I first looked at the house and was waiting for the landlady, Tammy, to arrive, this young woman with long brown hair walked up the street, stood underneath the neighbors' fruit tree, cursed at it, then lit a cigarette and came over to me.
"Fucking people! Wasting perfectly good fruit. They never eat that, y'know. It's pathetic." and then she flicked her cigarette onto the ground and went in the house.
Tammy made her entrance shortly afterwards - an expensively dressed older Chinese woman in a Mercedes. She eagerly showed me around and I didn't hesitate to accept her terms. $350 for a small room, with only women living in the house (except for the remodeled garage), and besides the trails of mini-ants and a lone centipede or cockroach now and then, the house was spacious, clean and bright. Those bugs were piddly compared to what I'd become accustomed to in the Hawaiian countryside. Out there there were cane spiders bigger than a child's hand, termites galore and clouds of mosquitoes. A few harmless ants and roaches were completely tolerable compared to all that. Where I grew up there were hardly any bugs at all. The first time a cane spider chased me down I nearly pissed my pants. It was running into the wind on only it's back legs. The front legs and body looked like one of those flying face suckers from Alien. But after 2 years of living in rural Hawaii I could actually sit on the grass and not mind if bugs were crawling on my legs. The only bugs that have made me freak out since are the gnats on Sandy Cay in the British Virgin Islands. Imagine getting 100 mild bee-stings all at once, by bugs that you can't even see. But enough about bugs.
My new roommates on the first floor were Kirzah (the one with the cig, pronounced KEER-zuh), a 25-year-old college student on the 7-year-plan. Steffany, a beautiful blond artist, age 23. And Sabrine, an intelligent and kick-ass 26-year-old black girl from Salem, Massachusetts who was majoring in Fashion Anthropology (tying her studies from the fashion institute in NY to her current anthropological interests. Upstairs there were all quiet Asian girls, except for Caroline, who was Asian-American, I think 2nd generation and grew up on Oahu. Caroline was finishing up her masters and didn't stay long. All the girls in the house were students at UH, and we never socialized much with the girls in the northern half of the upstairs, as their apartment was not accessible from our front door, but they were students too.
People with strong personalities are always attractive to me. I don't mean attractive like sexually. I mean their charisma attracts me, makes me want to observe their affect on others and myself, and be along for the ride (Ack! That just brought to mind common criticisms of Kerouac!). Kirzah seemed bitchy and strong-willed at the time, like she didn't care what anyone thought of her. When that quality is genuine, it's fascinating. That trait is either rare, or the majority of people really are very bland and aren't itching to bust out of some "shell" at all. She was a white girl born and raised on Maui so she had plenty friends all over the place. Since she hadn't bothered to figure out what classes she needed at the community college to transfer to UH, she had taken all of them. Like many rural Hawaiian children, she grew up with a miniature marijuana plantation in her backyard, and later her dad ended up in prison for shipping pot and other drugs. She got fired from her job as a waitress at the Outrigger on Waikiki, and it was rumored that she was living off a huge sum of money stashed right before her father's arrest. Kirzah could have been pretty, but she looked haggard for her age, with her alcoholism, the drugs and cigarettes and probable depression. After living there awhile we would have dinner parties or friendly get-togethers and she would get out of control drunk, walk around naked and hit on me and my friends, loudly play Linkin Parks' "Crawling in my skin" on repeat until 4am or be driving home drunk and crash her moped. But she was an excellent writer. Aren't the best writers and artists pretty messed up? Sabrine and Steffany tried to help her out when she asked. They really cared about her. Both I, and a later addition, P-Funk, were there for her too, but she was on a downward spiral and I got to thinking that she was going to have to hit rock bottom before getting better.
Kirzah allowed us time on her computer for internet use in return for helping out with her online bill, but she hated having people in her room and would freak out over things like the chair not being put back in it's original position by the desk. We had an issue with cable TV, too, because she had lived there longest, and had cable in her room. My friend Eric donated to us an old TV, and since the cable was accessible in the living room, we plugged it in. We didn't watch it much, and nobody would have cared enough to actually buy a TV or cable if it wasn't already there. Kirzah wanted compensation. We paid a little but didn't keep up on it, and didn't care if it got turned off anyway. This infuriated her. I still don't know how that should have been worked out. I think we got rid of the TV. At some point I told Kirzah that she was really self-destructive and rude, and I don't know if that was healthy or not. It's good to be honest with people who get so offensive, but overall she was this messed up but intelligent young woman, going through her own ups and downs. She was smart enough to eventually learn from her mistakes, even if it meant repeating them over and over again until she did. Once we had a big Thanksgiving event at another friends' apartment, and Kirzah ate some of the tiramisu that Sabrina had spent so long preparing. We were leaving for the event and Sabrine found the violated dish in the fridge and screamed. She began yelling at Kirzah and something broke, either from the top of the fridge after slamming the door, I don't remember well, but we left anyway and the neighbors had called the cops. It was the stodgy fruit-wasting neighbors. They were never keen on living next door to a house with 17 twentysomethings and all their guests.
Shortly after that I moved out. I couldn't stand her any longer. I remained friends with several other roommates, and actually moved in with some girls who had lived in the Kahuna house while I was there. They say her life got better and she moved back to Maui.
Some of the other friends I met at the Kahuna house, and the adventures we shared around Waikiki were even more worth writing about. I'll write about those later on...
Neat-O
This morning after my ferry docked and I was waiting for my bus, I sat down and picked up a discarded Seattle Times sports section off the bench. On the front page was a picture of a girl I attended middle school and high school with. Her name is Hilaree Nelson, and the article called her the "matriarch of mountaineering". She was an athletic and motivated girl in high school, and it appears that she's even moreso now. She's been in 3 Warren Miller films, including the new one just out called "Impact". Check Hilaree out at
http://www.warrenmiller.com/wmiller/athletes/impact/honeill.html
http://www.thenorthface.com/na/athletes/athletes-HO.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2002086721_xtreme10.html
http://www.warrenmiller.com/wmiller/athletes/impact/honeill.html
http://www.thenorthface.com/na/athletes/athletes-HO.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2002086721_xtreme10.html
That Really Made My Day
The most enlightening things ever said directly to me:
"You can be very bossy." - my 4th grade teacher, 1982
"You can be anything you want, and you don't even have to study in school like I do, and you don't even seem to care." - my best friend at age 13 describing one of the reasons she didn't want to be friends with me anymore, 1986
"I never hit you!" - said to me in an argument with a parent when I was 19, 1992 (my instant understanding of selective memory)
The nicest things ever done for me:
18-year-old R. Scott made a homemade sundae with a cherry on top for me to eat in bed, 1991.
Nanette invited me to live with her in Hawaii and she and her husband paid the rent for 6 months in 2000.
Polly, Nanette, Landon, Mason, Bob, Alan K., John-Boy, Mikey Pru and Mikey Two showing they cared at times when I was really depressed and needed some love.
My dad has saved my ass twice. When I was 20 years old and stuck in Missoula, MT during the dead of winter without a job, he bought me a bus ticket home and got me a job at the UW. Exactly 10 years later he did the same thing, except it was a plane ticket from Philly and a different job at the UW. These are the only two times in my adulthood that I have asked for help and really depended on someone else to get me out of a fix.
The nicest things ever said to me:
"Because you're Hottie Kim, and the way you are on deck... you take charge, kick ass and don't take shit from anybody." - John-Boy Morrisson in Marina del Rey, we were going to stop seeing each other and he was responding to me asking him why he liked me so much, '03
"Are you a model? You look like a model." - girl cashiering at 7-11 in the tiny town of Cabot, Arkansas, where I walked in crying in 1994
"This is fucking stupid. Wanna run away?" - Crazy Haida Bob via email, 2 days ago
"There should be a poem written about you!" - Emmet van Driesche at sea aboard the Lady, '04
"You are one of the toughest women I've ever met!" - Alan Kerstetter after trying to furl the t'gallant with me in a wild wind. I was crying because I couldn't finish it and John-Boy had to come help us.
and my all time favorite...
"I'm not sure we would've ever had enough time really Kim. Cause me and you hanging out doesn't seem like it was ever supposed to be a special occasion. It feels more like an old pair of jeans or the house you grew up in." - one of my best friends, Mikey Pru, via email after leaving me in Hawaii in '02
"You can be very bossy." - my 4th grade teacher, 1982
"You can be anything you want, and you don't even have to study in school like I do, and you don't even seem to care." - my best friend at age 13 describing one of the reasons she didn't want to be friends with me anymore, 1986
"I never hit you!" - said to me in an argument with a parent when I was 19, 1992 (my instant understanding of selective memory)
The nicest things ever done for me:
18-year-old R. Scott made a homemade sundae with a cherry on top for me to eat in bed, 1991.
Nanette invited me to live with her in Hawaii and she and her husband paid the rent for 6 months in 2000.
Polly, Nanette, Landon, Mason, Bob, Alan K., John-Boy, Mikey Pru and Mikey Two showing they cared at times when I was really depressed and needed some love.
My dad has saved my ass twice. When I was 20 years old and stuck in Missoula, MT during the dead of winter without a job, he bought me a bus ticket home and got me a job at the UW. Exactly 10 years later he did the same thing, except it was a plane ticket from Philly and a different job at the UW. These are the only two times in my adulthood that I have asked for help and really depended on someone else to get me out of a fix.
The nicest things ever said to me:
"Because you're Hottie Kim, and the way you are on deck... you take charge, kick ass and don't take shit from anybody." - John-Boy Morrisson in Marina del Rey, we were going to stop seeing each other and he was responding to me asking him why he liked me so much, '03
"Are you a model? You look like a model." - girl cashiering at 7-11 in the tiny town of Cabot, Arkansas, where I walked in crying in 1994
"This is fucking stupid. Wanna run away?" - Crazy Haida Bob via email, 2 days ago
"There should be a poem written about you!" - Emmet van Driesche at sea aboard the Lady, '04
"You are one of the toughest women I've ever met!" - Alan Kerstetter after trying to furl the t'gallant with me in a wild wind. I was crying because I couldn't finish it and John-Boy had to come help us.
and my all time favorite...
"I'm not sure we would've ever had enough time really Kim. Cause me and you hanging out doesn't seem like it was ever supposed to be a special occasion. It feels more like an old pair of jeans or the house you grew up in." - one of my best friends, Mikey Pru, via email after leaving me in Hawaii in '02
I Have A Dream!
I come from a long line of hard-working, blue-collar Yankees. My father has always been a carpenter. My grandfather was a carpenter. Most of us spent our entire lives along the west coast, but my grandfather's father and a few generations before that were farmers in Kansas. My mother's immediate ancestors lived in the Indiana countryside. But before that, my family lived in Massachusetts. I don't know what their line of work was, but they helped start a little town called Plymouth after bailing out of England on a boat known as Mayflower. It's possible that the idea of hard work and fairness in the community has been a running theme in the history of my family.
At that party the other night, Nanette and another woman discussed a study they'd read about how the inclination towards spirituality is genetic. It's possible that a lot more than that is genetic when it comes to all of us being predisposed to particular beliefs and lifestyles. Have I already mentioned my theory about people from the west coast being more progressive? Of course we're always going to tout our own, but this one could hold water! Europeans desiring change and opportunity left that continent and headed west. East coast settlers desiring change and opportunity made their way west to the midwestern farmlands. The especially daring went even further west, to the wild west coast! They were real risk-takers when it came to settling the lower 48. I believe there is a little of that spirit in all the 2nd through 5th generation west coast people. Crazy Haida Bob if you are reading this I know that I'm failing to mention a certain community that was already here (notorious for it's charming and handsome warriors). In the tradition of my ancestors I must say that it wouldn't contribute to my agenda here.
Social behavior could be genetic. My parents and I differ socially, but the other day my dad told me how there's a guy at work who is racist and generally offensive. Most of the guys my dad works with are white and say nothing when this guy gets into politically incorrect mode, but my dad speaks up. He said it's got him so annoyed that he's ready to take it to the supervisors. Some people run to their supervisors for much less, but this is a really cush state job where you can be sure that the guy isn't going to get punished anyway, and definitely not fired, so you really have to be on your bandwagon to want to stir things up. We may be different in our social preferences, but apparently we have similar feelings and are willing to take the same kind of action when it comes to members our "community" knowingly working against that community.
Back when I was very young my dad donated lots of time to an intentional community that started in eastern Washington in the '70's. Everyone bought small parcels of property there, had annual meetings, with families and children, and decided how the place was going to be run and what standards to set. Back then, the mountain was full of hardworking outdoorsy families like ours. Today the property has skyrocketed in value, and yuppies have vacation homes there, and locally it's known as "Overachievers Hill". My dad considers selling the mountain house that he has built over the course of 25 years and getting something smaller with more land and less view, because the community leaders there now won't even let he and his wife have chickens.
I have always wanted a sense of community. Maybe it has something to do with being an only child until I was 15, and never having a tight permanent group of friends or neighbors. My family went to visit the "Street of Dreams" every year. These are streets where different architects show off the cream of their crop as far as family homes. All of them were 2-3 stories high, and at least 3,000 square feet. At the entrance they hand everyone a booklet that describes the homes and includes detailed floorplans. After touring the homes I would take my booklet and plan out how I would appoint each room if that house were mine. There was always a room just for hamsters and rabbits and guinea pigs, and there were rooms for all my friends and all of the children I was going to adopt. Even at the house where I grew up I used to try and figure out how many bunk beds could fit into the basement mother-in-law apartment so I could either run it like a hostel or an orphanage.
I've had 3 main dreams in my life. The first is to be part of what is now called an "intentional community", the second is to own a small travel business where I would escort people on eco-tours, and the last is to live on my own sailboat. The only other dreams I've had besides that have been to be a travel writer or to start my own 'zine. Those are questionable, though, but the more I blog, the better I understand what I'm good at when it comes to writing. Anyway, I've just applied to a job that I want very, VERY much. It would involve being a landlubber at least 90% of the next 2 years. So if I'm going to be shore based, I'm going to work on that first dream and see what kind of response I get from people. For a start I'm going to map out my plans on a separate blog. I'm going to delete "the wino and I know" because it's not getting any use. Feel free to email me with ideas on anything I write on the new blog.
Dreams and goals are great. They keep you motivated!
At that party the other night, Nanette and another woman discussed a study they'd read about how the inclination towards spirituality is genetic. It's possible that a lot more than that is genetic when it comes to all of us being predisposed to particular beliefs and lifestyles. Have I already mentioned my theory about people from the west coast being more progressive? Of course we're always going to tout our own, but this one could hold water! Europeans desiring change and opportunity left that continent and headed west. East coast settlers desiring change and opportunity made their way west to the midwestern farmlands. The especially daring went even further west, to the wild west coast! They were real risk-takers when it came to settling the lower 48. I believe there is a little of that spirit in all the 2nd through 5th generation west coast people. Crazy Haida Bob if you are reading this I know that I'm failing to mention a certain community that was already here (notorious for it's charming and handsome warriors). In the tradition of my ancestors I must say that it wouldn't contribute to my agenda here.
Social behavior could be genetic. My parents and I differ socially, but the other day my dad told me how there's a guy at work who is racist and generally offensive. Most of the guys my dad works with are white and say nothing when this guy gets into politically incorrect mode, but my dad speaks up. He said it's got him so annoyed that he's ready to take it to the supervisors. Some people run to their supervisors for much less, but this is a really cush state job where you can be sure that the guy isn't going to get punished anyway, and definitely not fired, so you really have to be on your bandwagon to want to stir things up. We may be different in our social preferences, but apparently we have similar feelings and are willing to take the same kind of action when it comes to members our "community" knowingly working against that community.
Back when I was very young my dad donated lots of time to an intentional community that started in eastern Washington in the '70's. Everyone bought small parcels of property there, had annual meetings, with families and children, and decided how the place was going to be run and what standards to set. Back then, the mountain was full of hardworking outdoorsy families like ours. Today the property has skyrocketed in value, and yuppies have vacation homes there, and locally it's known as "Overachievers Hill". My dad considers selling the mountain house that he has built over the course of 25 years and getting something smaller with more land and less view, because the community leaders there now won't even let he and his wife have chickens.
I have always wanted a sense of community. Maybe it has something to do with being an only child until I was 15, and never having a tight permanent group of friends or neighbors. My family went to visit the "Street of Dreams" every year. These are streets where different architects show off the cream of their crop as far as family homes. All of them were 2-3 stories high, and at least 3,000 square feet. At the entrance they hand everyone a booklet that describes the homes and includes detailed floorplans. After touring the homes I would take my booklet and plan out how I would appoint each room if that house were mine. There was always a room just for hamsters and rabbits and guinea pigs, and there were rooms for all my friends and all of the children I was going to adopt. Even at the house where I grew up I used to try and figure out how many bunk beds could fit into the basement mother-in-law apartment so I could either run it like a hostel or an orphanage.
I've had 3 main dreams in my life. The first is to be part of what is now called an "intentional community", the second is to own a small travel business where I would escort people on eco-tours, and the last is to live on my own sailboat. The only other dreams I've had besides that have been to be a travel writer or to start my own 'zine. Those are questionable, though, but the more I blog, the better I understand what I'm good at when it comes to writing. Anyway, I've just applied to a job that I want very, VERY much. It would involve being a landlubber at least 90% of the next 2 years. So if I'm going to be shore based, I'm going to work on that first dream and see what kind of response I get from people. For a start I'm going to map out my plans on a separate blog. I'm going to delete "the wino and I know" because it's not getting any use. Feel free to email me with ideas on anything I write on the new blog.
Dreams and goals are great. They keep you motivated!
cure me!
I went to a party tonight with a bunch of people I'd never met. They were all in their 30's, with Master's degrees and husbands, some with toddlers. All with money. It was interesting. I just observed, mostly. I interjected in some conversations about politics and they started thinking that I knew what I was talking about, but then this girl asked me to confirm the unemployment rate in Washington and I had no clue. This one woman seemed really insecure. Everyone else just seemed kind of boring compared to the people I call friends. But that's judgemental. One woman had a red Mount Gay Rum hat so we talked for a long time about sailing, and her job, and what it's like to work for people who only communicate via email. These two gay guys were really cool. They run a modeling agency in Germany. In fact, they were the most interesting and entertaining people there. But for once I'd like someone at a lame party to come up to me and say "This is fucking stupid. Wanna run away?" And then just sneak out, drive somewhere, anywhere, or walk, or run down the street to a park.
Oh so last night I wrote a long post that this computer conveniently ERASED. The only thing I want to retype is the words to a song I've been singing for days in my head. The lyrics are by Conor Oberst.
so i came upon a doctor
who appeared in quite poor health
i said there's nothing i can do for you that you can't do for yourself
he said oh yes you can just hold my hand
i think that that would help
so i sat with him a while
and i asked him how he felt
he said
i think
i'm cured
in fact
i'm sure
thank you
stranger
for your therapeutic smile
Oh so last night I wrote a long post that this computer conveniently ERASED. The only thing I want to retype is the words to a song I've been singing for days in my head. The lyrics are by Conor Oberst.
so i came upon a doctor
who appeared in quite poor health
i said there's nothing i can do for you that you can't do for yourself
he said oh yes you can just hold my hand
i think that that would help
so i sat with him a while
and i asked him how he felt
he said
i think
i'm cured
in fact
i'm sure
thank you
stranger
for your therapeutic smile
The consensus around here is that all those red states have a majority of people who are voting based on religion and fear of terrorists. A guy in my office said to a coworker: "...all those people who were volunteering, all the people who were finally convinced that their vote mattered - what are they going to think now? And the worst part is that the religious right is going to be even more vehement in their belief that God really is on Dubya's side, and that engaging in this religious war is justified."
We have also come to the conclusion that it was silly to not even consider that Bush could be reelected, but that we did because we are surrounded by Democrats, and everyone believed that common sense would prevail. People are stunned. I am stunned! But I too only travel in areas filled with Dems; Austin, Seattle, and the rest of the West Coast. My friends are from Portland, Canada, California. I've met only two Bush supporters in the last year, and one of them was a Dominican and not even eligible to vote. The other was a friend's relative who was a wealthy, racist, white 60-year-old man, staunch in his beliefs and ready to preach to his shamefully liberal family.
In the last week, interviewers have asked outspoken celebrities if they think that their campaigning helps. Nobody knew whether Christopher Reeve or Ben Affleck had the power to sway anyone. I think we know now. Not to say that people should take advice from celebrities, but I'd secretly hoped that the more uneducated voters might be (positively) affected by them. Turns out churches were their secret networking weapon. Here in the least religious area of the country, we probably didn't even consider how effective that could be.
Oh yeah! And Bush will get to choose a few more Supreme Court justices this time around. And they'll be around a hell of a lot longer than he will be in office.
We have also come to the conclusion that it was silly to not even consider that Bush could be reelected, but that we did because we are surrounded by Democrats, and everyone believed that common sense would prevail. People are stunned. I am stunned! But I too only travel in areas filled with Dems; Austin, Seattle, and the rest of the West Coast. My friends are from Portland, Canada, California. I've met only two Bush supporters in the last year, and one of them was a Dominican and not even eligible to vote. The other was a friend's relative who was a wealthy, racist, white 60-year-old man, staunch in his beliefs and ready to preach to his shamefully liberal family.
In the last week, interviewers have asked outspoken celebrities if they think that their campaigning helps. Nobody knew whether Christopher Reeve or Ben Affleck had the power to sway anyone. I think we know now. Not to say that people should take advice from celebrities, but I'd secretly hoped that the more uneducated voters might be (positively) affected by them. Turns out churches were their secret networking weapon. Here in the least religious area of the country, we probably didn't even consider how effective that could be.
Oh yeah! And Bush will get to choose a few more Supreme Court justices this time around. And they'll be around a hell of a lot longer than he will be in office.
Viva la West Coast
Today was a great day, but with these election results trickling in, tonight has gotten progressively worse.
I knew that Kerry would take the West Coast. I thought that he'd take a lot more. It's all really depressing and unbelieveable. Is it time to move to Canada? No, but this is definitely motivation to sail away! This is too wierd. I guess all these people base their votes on religion and fear of terrorism?
I knew that Kerry would take the West Coast. I thought that he'd take a lot more. It's all really depressing and unbelieveable. Is it time to move to Canada? No, but this is definitely motivation to sail away! This is too wierd. I guess all these people base their votes on religion and fear of terrorism?
No Treats
I've got a lot to do but find myself being really lazy lately. My dad and his wife spent the night downtown last night, went dancing and to a football game today. I'm supposed to find the sewer pipe and I've already dug 3+ feet and cannot find it. He's going to hook up the sewer pipe to his new added on apartments to the current pipe coming from the main house. His wife studies all the time for college and he's got a bad back, and works full time, so it's good that I can help. But I'm a bit useless and lazy at times. I'll go out later to avoid trick-or-treaters, since I cannot afford CANDY!
Wanna hear about Low Budget Living? Listen to this: I've made about 3 thousand dollars from working this year, and yet I've sailed on a few boats and lived in the Caribbean for 2 months (although I admit I was miserable and hungry much of that time AND living and working in the British Virgin Islands illegally). I always come back to my friend Nan's or my Dad's near Seattle in between trips, or as a place to live while I get settled, but my dad wants me to stick around a bit to help him with some heavy labor, so that's (somewhat) free room and board. I have a whole new office wardrobe for under $75, between Goodwill, free stuff, and last night I dyed two button-down shirts to hide stains and bleach marks from cooking aboard the Lady. I have to have collars on my shirts to hide the part of my largest tattoo that looks like a tentacle crawling up my neck. I dyed my hair last night. Right now the only thing that looks REALLY low budget is my haircut - it's awful. I got the best short cut last June and couldn't afford to get it trimmed. The hair in back was irritating as hell so I SHAVED the back half of my head, but it didn't matter at the time - I was on the boat and we all look silly and homeless anyway. But now it looks so bad! I'll have to go to my favorite cheap barbershop "Scream" sometime this week. Oh! I'm also excited because with this new job I'll get a free pass that gets me on 3 counties' worth of transit systems, including the train! How cool is that?
All this is nothing compared to my friend Sparkle, though. He lives on $1000 a year and hops trains to Massachussetts to visit friends and families twice a year. He has his own treehouse and land, and is fixing up a little sailboat. But even he had to donate his body to science for awhile to avoid full time work. I know this other woman who makes PLENTY of money, working for the government and as a bartender, and has 4 kids, and still goes through all the hormone injections to donate her eggs for an extra couple thousand. All that seems so not worth it.
Later on I'll post some really profound stuff. Promise!
Wanna hear about Low Budget Living? Listen to this: I've made about 3 thousand dollars from working this year, and yet I've sailed on a few boats and lived in the Caribbean for 2 months (although I admit I was miserable and hungry much of that time AND living and working in the British Virgin Islands illegally). I always come back to my friend Nan's or my Dad's near Seattle in between trips, or as a place to live while I get settled, but my dad wants me to stick around a bit to help him with some heavy labor, so that's (somewhat) free room and board. I have a whole new office wardrobe for under $75, between Goodwill, free stuff, and last night I dyed two button-down shirts to hide stains and bleach marks from cooking aboard the Lady. I have to have collars on my shirts to hide the part of my largest tattoo that looks like a tentacle crawling up my neck. I dyed my hair last night. Right now the only thing that looks REALLY low budget is my haircut - it's awful. I got the best short cut last June and couldn't afford to get it trimmed. The hair in back was irritating as hell so I SHAVED the back half of my head, but it didn't matter at the time - I was on the boat and we all look silly and homeless anyway. But now it looks so bad! I'll have to go to my favorite cheap barbershop "Scream" sometime this week. Oh! I'm also excited because with this new job I'll get a free pass that gets me on 3 counties' worth of transit systems, including the train! How cool is that?
All this is nothing compared to my friend Sparkle, though. He lives on $1000 a year and hops trains to Massachussetts to visit friends and families twice a year. He has his own treehouse and land, and is fixing up a little sailboat. But even he had to donate his body to science for awhile to avoid full time work. I know this other woman who makes PLENTY of money, working for the government and as a bartender, and has 4 kids, and still goes through all the hormone injections to donate her eggs for an extra couple thousand. All that seems so not worth it.
Later on I'll post some really profound stuff. Promise!
Crests of Waves w/links
Got all coffeed up late tonight and wasted my time linking stuff to this post...
Below are some pics taken today and yesterday on my cheap little $30 digital toy from Target. It overexposes everything and washes out the finer points (like all the background or far off scenery) but it's doubtful that I'll spend any money in the future on a better camera. It's more likely that I'd just get another tattoo instead.
Thank god for Landon, who has told me what book to read next. "Devil's Apocrypha" (after reading this interview though, I believe it is much more fictional than Brown's novel). After quickly finishing Da Vinci Code the TV has been pulling me closer and closer. It doesn't help that it's right next to the wood stove, either. It's the only warm place in the house. So what was on tonight, you ask? No you don't ask, but I tell you anyway - I hover between #55 TBS (O Brother Where Art Thou and Sex & The City commercials), #60 Comedy Central (Mad TV, Daily Show), #66 Bravo (Ewan MacGregor on a long distance BMW motorcycle trip across Russia) and the channels in between, which offered bits and pieces of Bride of Chucky and Purple Rain. This Brain Drain lasted about 2 hours.
So I got a job and searched ALL OVER SEATTLE for shoes today. I started out very specific: medium brown high boots with a low heel. (of course I can't afford the $160 for the ones on the link, but I'd thought I could find a cheap imitation) By the end of the day I settled for the free shoes that my sister's mom gave me last weekend. If you want to wear boots around here you have no choice but to gain an extra 3 inches and look like an uncomfortable hooker. Low heels do not exist in the boot world right now. In fact cool shoes do not exist in the shoe world right now either. I'm trying to make the rainboot trendy but it might make a bad impression at this new job. I bought some turtlenecks at Goodwill and a cute pink flowered button up shirt for my first day.
This post sounds really lame. TV shows and shopping. In the words of Bobby Darin, "So long sailing, good-bye sailing..."
Give me a month and I'll be quoting the first paragraph of Moby Dick.
The quote that motivates/inspires me lately is simple, and from a Coldplay song- "nothing matters except life and the love you make". Plus I can't stop thinking about that theory presented to me through that movie "Waking Life" regarding the belief that we are all inexplicably mentally connected and virtually all learning new things at the same time.
My latest blog development, besides posting pics here instead of the reference page, is my idea to write stories and experiences from my past. I've always wanted to write the stuff down, because interesting details get lost the older I get. But I hate hand writing anything. And since I won't be popping out any little kimbos to share the stories with, why not let total strangers happen upon them?
Those are my Thoughts For The Day :)
Below are some pics taken today and yesterday on my cheap little $30 digital toy from Target. It overexposes everything and washes out the finer points (like all the background or far off scenery) but it's doubtful that I'll spend any money in the future on a better camera. It's more likely that I'd just get another tattoo instead.
Thank god for Landon, who has told me what book to read next. "Devil's Apocrypha" (after reading this interview though, I believe it is much more fictional than Brown's novel). After quickly finishing Da Vinci Code the TV has been pulling me closer and closer. It doesn't help that it's right next to the wood stove, either. It's the only warm place in the house. So what was on tonight, you ask? No you don't ask, but I tell you anyway - I hover between #55 TBS (O Brother Where Art Thou and Sex & The City commercials), #60 Comedy Central (Mad TV, Daily Show), #66 Bravo (Ewan MacGregor on a long distance BMW motorcycle trip across Russia) and the channels in between, which offered bits and pieces of Bride of Chucky and Purple Rain. This Brain Drain lasted about 2 hours.
So I got a job and searched ALL OVER SEATTLE for shoes today. I started out very specific: medium brown high boots with a low heel. (of course I can't afford the $160 for the ones on the link, but I'd thought I could find a cheap imitation) By the end of the day I settled for the free shoes that my sister's mom gave me last weekend. If you want to wear boots around here you have no choice but to gain an extra 3 inches and look like an uncomfortable hooker. Low heels do not exist in the boot world right now. In fact cool shoes do not exist in the shoe world right now either. I'm trying to make the rainboot trendy but it might make a bad impression at this new job. I bought some turtlenecks at Goodwill and a cute pink flowered button up shirt for my first day.
This post sounds really lame. TV shows and shopping. In the words of Bobby Darin, "So long sailing, good-bye sailing..."
Give me a month and I'll be quoting the first paragraph of Moby Dick.
The quote that motivates/inspires me lately is simple, and from a Coldplay song- "nothing matters except life and the love you make". Plus I can't stop thinking about that theory presented to me through that movie "Waking Life" regarding the belief that we are all inexplicably mentally connected and virtually all learning new things at the same time.
My latest blog development, besides posting pics here instead of the reference page, is my idea to write stories and experiences from my past. I've always wanted to write the stuff down, because interesting details get lost the older I get. But I hate hand writing anything. And since I won't be popping out any little kimbos to share the stories with, why not let total strangers happen upon them?
Those are my Thoughts For The Day :)
Second Half
Not as exciting. I predicted a lot of the things that happened. But all in all, a great book.
I got a job! It's clerical work but I'll survive fine at $12 per hour. Today's list of things to do includes shopping for decent shoes, tights, shirts at the fine establishments known as JC Penney, Sears, and Goodwill.
My dad killed a deer last weekend. On purpose. He and his wife went hunting and he happened upon a 3-pointer and shot him in the neck. I've eaten very little venison in my life; last night was my first venison steak. It was really good! It was just like an expensive beef steak but with that venison-y flavor instead. And with all the utter crap they feed and inject into storebought meat, it felt better for me to eat an animal that's been running around happy and eating wild berries and grass all it's life.
The Red Sox won the world series, which was neat to watch, even though I'm not into sports. Babe Ruth put a curse on the team's owner when he died 86 years ago and they haven't won the world series since, so the curse is lifted and everyone is ecstatic. Apparently the owner at the time had traded Ruth because he bought a movie star instead.
There was a full eclipse of the moon last night. I saw the tail end of it. The news said the moon was going to shine red but it looked gray to me. Saw some funny stuff on TV - Steve-O and sexy Chris Pontius from Jackass did a show called WildBoyz where they get bit and chased by exotic animals (grizzly bears, emus, wildebeest). They were showing their best hits from the season in a really cheesy format, wearing banana hammocks and playing by a pool in Hollywood. Then I watched about 5 minutes of "Drawn Together", a "real world" for cartoon characters. There was some good writing in that. Saw a very creepy commercial for trident Meltaways with all these kids sticking their tongues out. Made me feel like I was Johnny Depp when he arrives at the Vegas hotel, tripping hard with all those lizard people around. Mostly I think Comedy Central is the only channel worth watching. I love the Daily Show.
I got a job! It's clerical work but I'll survive fine at $12 per hour. Today's list of things to do includes shopping for decent shoes, tights, shirts at the fine establishments known as JC Penney, Sears, and Goodwill.
My dad killed a deer last weekend. On purpose. He and his wife went hunting and he happened upon a 3-pointer and shot him in the neck. I've eaten very little venison in my life; last night was my first venison steak. It was really good! It was just like an expensive beef steak but with that venison-y flavor instead. And with all the utter crap they feed and inject into storebought meat, it felt better for me to eat an animal that's been running around happy and eating wild berries and grass all it's life.
The Red Sox won the world series, which was neat to watch, even though I'm not into sports. Babe Ruth put a curse on the team's owner when he died 86 years ago and they haven't won the world series since, so the curse is lifted and everyone is ecstatic. Apparently the owner at the time had traded Ruth because he bought a movie star instead.
There was a full eclipse of the moon last night. I saw the tail end of it. The news said the moon was going to shine red but it looked gray to me. Saw some funny stuff on TV - Steve-O and sexy Chris Pontius from Jackass did a show called WildBoyz where they get bit and chased by exotic animals (grizzly bears, emus, wildebeest). They were showing their best hits from the season in a really cheesy format, wearing banana hammocks and playing by a pool in Hollywood. Then I watched about 5 minutes of "Drawn Together", a "real world" for cartoon characters. There was some good writing in that. Saw a very creepy commercial for trident Meltaways with all these kids sticking their tongues out. Made me feel like I was Johnny Depp when he arrives at the Vegas hotel, tripping hard with all those lizard people around. Mostly I think Comedy Central is the only channel worth watching. I love the Daily Show.
First Half of The Da Vinci Code
I'm only halfway through Da Vinci Code - but I started getting all excited. Hasn't anyone read Another Roadside Attraction? Plucky Purcell finding the goods in the Vatican basement and all that? If only Tom Robbins could capture readers like this author Dan Brown! None of this would be new! Except of course this part I'm getting into about Mary Magdalene - but I'm talking about the stuff that really opens people's eyes - the pagan symbolism EVERYWHERE... the questioning of the whole history of the bible and christianity. Dan Brown backs his words up with facts from history and uses a suspenseful plot to inform the public of these facts. If hardcore christians who read this react in no other way but to at least be more tolerant of other beliefs, then that's good enough for me.
When the book gets into the symbolic breakdown of Da Vinci's "Last Supper" I had to get online and look for myself. Conspiracy theorists or not, it sure as hell does look like that's a woman. Then I found the Opus Dei website, where they try to negate the book, but admit to the use of "mortification". They do not qualify the book's claim that women and men are physically and visually separated at their facility. Throughout the website they quote the founder and other notable figures who support them, one being Elizabeth Fox-Genovese. I thought, what woman would support these guys? So I ran a search on her, and she's widely published. I didn't read everything on her but she's basically very catholic, anti abortion, and is a professor of history. I'm going to go back to reading, but I was online and needed to put these thoughts down before I got too lazy.
When the book gets into the symbolic breakdown of Da Vinci's "Last Supper" I had to get online and look for myself. Conspiracy theorists or not, it sure as hell does look like that's a woman. Then I found the Opus Dei website, where they try to negate the book, but admit to the use of "mortification". They do not qualify the book's claim that women and men are physically and visually separated at their facility. Throughout the website they quote the founder and other notable figures who support them, one being Elizabeth Fox-Genovese. I thought, what woman would support these guys? So I ran a search on her, and she's widely published. I didn't read everything on her but she's basically very catholic, anti abortion, and is a professor of history. I'm going to go back to reading, but I was online and needed to put these thoughts down before I got too lazy.
