All dressed in pink for a great weekend of burlesque!

All the trees are sporting bright pink spring jackets! Its like "Fashion Week" here in Seattle and green leaves (the "new black") are starting to appear. There are a couple of trees by my office that are ready to declare this winter done! Amen! I just wish it was.

This weekend I went the Moisture Festival's Burlesque in the Round at the ACT theater downtown and it was an amazing show! Simply incredible! There were only two "traditional" burlesque acts. There was a "neo-burlesque" act out of Portland that looked like a bunch of raver kids, eating their candy, texting on the phone and chasing after "bunnies" (whose coats they stole). There was a group called Duo Madrona - the only trapeze act invited ever invited to the circus competition in Paris. Their strength was astonishing and their act barely made the trapeze move at all. Amazing. Then there were my favorite The Aerialistas! They are an incredible group of women, who do these amazing acrobatics in the air - with huge drapes, hoops and other objects. They were dressed as the cutest cupcakes in the world! They wore cute blond wigs, with cupcakes, and did their act with smiles on their faces as they held each other by their ankles. Nanda was a group of male performers much in the vain of "Crouching Tiger". All of their movement was choreographed (with sound effects) and as they would bounce off a pole and rip off a shirt. It was fantastic. There was Chica Boom, a Latina burlesquer, who had this great "Mexican wrestler" story and ended up fisting a donkey penata (a long story for later.) There was this award winning cabaret very psychedelic show and a few "cute" burlesque act. Nothing could beat it - such super creative, high energy, live theater. I loved it. And I loved Seattle for giving me the opportunity to experience it.

Tonight, I raced the spring sunshine home hoping to beat the impending rainstorm that had come rolling in off the coast. The clouds were dark and low and I was sure it would start raining any minute (much like this weekend had been - rain, sun, rain, clouds, rain, rain, sun.) I popped on my outdoor wheels and headed to Greenlake to get some outdoor skating in before rain. And it was great - the stress of the work day rolled off like sweat and it seemed to only sprinkle at one end of the lake. It was a great was to end the work day... and start the week.

My other favorite photo...

Breakin' up a whip! Yeah!

All the things that make a (good) weekend...

There are those parts of the weekend that are worth writing about - like finally getting to spend some time in my P-Patch! Even with SNOW falling on the city of Seattle Friday afternoon (woot! Love the snow. Then sun. Then snow. Then rain. Then snow. oy!), the weather held long enough on Saturday afternoon for me to sneak away and actually work in my P-Patch. Of course it's one of the few growing dandelions as opposed to actual vegetables. I hoed it up and made a goal to plant half of it (the other half covered with mint that I needed to deal with) and I was thrilled to at least get half the plants in.

I went back home to head up to a pool tournament fundraiser for my team. The turn-out was pretty low (and that damn snow had returned! Covering my poor lettuce!) Most of us ended up playing and we made few bucks on the night. Early Sunday morning I found myself awake with a splitting headache at 2 a.m.. Maybe it was from the wine from Friday night when I had some friends over - though we had a great evening, the sulfurs in red wine will often give me killer headaches. Maybe it was from the stress of work and other things. Maybe I was just having a killer headache - at 2 a.m. I did what my mother use to do when I was a sophomore suffering from insufferable insomnia - she would suggest we sleep in another room. (I have no idea what her logic was on that at the time, now I think it was to get me to quit thinking of whatever it was that was keeping me awake and to get me focus on my new surroundings. Whenever I woke her up at 2 a.m. complaining that I couldn't sleep and what should I do, she would suggest we sleep in the den or another room. Whatever it was, it worked.) I got up and curled up on the couch with Monkey. It was freezing cold (snow) but felt better and somehow I managed to crawl past that headache and to sleep.

Today there was no time for P-Patches thought the weather did brighten up a bit (still very cold). I had a team meeting and practice which had it's own aggravating elements. A friend took me out for a beer after practice and sang the lyrics of a Gnarls Barkley song emphasising my own elements of frustration (and we weren't even drunk) and I couldn't stop cracking up. Plus my usual bar tender - Katia (not Katie because there are like a million of them) was there to keep me laughing. Because that's what good friends are for. And P-Patches. These are the things that make you happy some weekends.

Not quite the weekend I was hoping for....

And here it is Tuesday and I'm still wallowing in the fact that I didn't get to play in my P-Patch on Sunday. Saturday was a stellar, absolutely beautiful day where we laid out our new roller derby track, cleaned it all up and then loaded it back in. It was warm, sunny and a great turnout of skaters (which meant that it actually ended on time!) I went to the RCRG bout that evening, cheered on some friends, watched some good derby, when back home for snacks and generally could call it a productive, fabulous evening - cool, sunny, almost spring.

I woke up on Sunday ready to lay my garden out into 4 sections, plant "starts" of lettuce, and seeds of lettuce, corn, peas, carrots, beans and flowers. I couldn't wait to get started on my New Year's resolution but it was pouring down rain and about 40 degrees out. Pneumonia was about the only thing I would get if I went outside. The sun managed to break through about 4 p.m. as I was supposed to be heading to West Seattle for homemade salad and pizza for "Easter Dinner".

Damn.

Today in the sun, rain, sun, rain, sun, rain that has become characteristic of this spring, I did end up hanging out with a friend I know from my days in Cleveland. It had been nearly 8 months since we had last seen each other. He's one of those people that can tell a good story, has had amazing experiences, can tell you a good story about those amazing experiences, and you're convinced he'll have plenty more - you might have even been a part of them yourself. He's a law professor, he's traveled all around the world but some of his best stories are about watching films on the sides of houses in his small town where he grew up in Pakistan. He makes the world feel very small. He's one of those people you like to be around. And I'm glad we're still friends. Even across the county, in the same city.

Pictures of skatin'...

I've had this conversation with a few people - I'm just not a "pretty" roller girl. I mean I don't know how to be cute while racing around the track at top speed or hitting someone but others seem to manage it. I don't. I also don't get too bothered about it but when the photos of our bout come out the day after, I'm excited to see what great hits my teammates laid out, or what great jams they did sprinted - and of course, I look for my rainbow socks to see if I was doing anything interesting that was captured on film. And usually I'm not. It's usually my beak nose (or just plain nose), red lips covering a mouth guard and a determined look on my face. This time around that is a super funny shot where I am acting as both jammer and "referee", calling a skating who was about to clobber me for "20' rule violation". It's a hilarious shot and has been cracking me up all day. I didn't fall down from this hit but I can't really remember the outcome. Either way, it's pretty funny.



Plus I have this sushi bandaide on the finger I'm using to point, and it's very ET like.

I am amused.

Ham sandwiches, a "murder of crows", cabbage juice

All kinds of rollergirls have all different strategies about what to eat before a bout ranging from "power drinks" to bananas and nuts and a zillion other things in between. I'm a pretty light dinner eater on practice nights and I use to have a secret formula to eating the day of a bout but I found something better. At the last bout, because we spent the whole day setting up the floor, laying out the space, etc, nuts, bananas, and granola bars just didn't do it for me. Cia, one of my team skaters, brought some sandwiches from QFC and I easily ate half of a store made ham sandwich. It was my "ideal" prebout meal but honestly gave me me "energy" since I was rather tried out. So I requested another store bought ham sandwich, ate a few bites, and felt great again. It's not magical food to help you win (because it sure didn't last night) but truthfully, the fancy stuff isn't going to make you win the game.

Today, the day after my bout, (where we got lost pretty hardily), I went to the Best of the NorthWest Craft Fair. It was downtown at the "Qwest" events center and seemed pretty massive. Today was part of my secret (read: drunk) New Year's resolution to "do fun and crafty things with my friend Glitter" - who was also a rollergirl. And though we love rollerderby, we find that we need other things in our lives like more art and crafts. We're both crafty people with very limited time. Looking at the website, I thought everything was going to be too pricey and break my budget limit quickly (of $100). We ate some veggie burgers for lunch and headed downtown in the wintry Seattle weather .

It was like many other craft shows but because it was a juried show was seemingly a more "refined" level of craft. Many artists were frustrated though. They use to have this event at Hanger 27, also where Rat City Roller Girls use to host their bouts, and the city kicked everyone out of this affordable event space to allow it to be renovated into a sports complex - which has now fallen through. Anyway, it wasn't a lively festive arts fair that it once was but one that would fit more in a suburban mall. Not that there wasn't great art - there was so truly fantastic stuff. There was an artist, Don McMahon, who was just as funny as his pencil sketches were. And though I tend to think of birds as "flying dinosaurs" (and I mean really, they are) I was taken by a "murder of crows" - which is what a group of crows are called (like a gaggle of geese). It cracked me up and it was completely different my other art work which is comprised of mostly photography, art by women and a series of "f*ck you" pieces. So at the end, we went back and got a framed print. It's already found a home on the wall. http://www.birdsonthings.com/drawings.php?offset=8

The day after a bout I usually feel one of two things - a derby hangover (from getting the shit knocked out of me) or a general hangover (from drinking too many beers on a nearly empty stomach). Today I didn't feel either except an ulcer and a jaw ache. The jaw ache came from one of my own teammates who flung her arm back (while clearing space for me when I was jamming) and hit me square in the mouth - most knocking me over. (I have four teeth dents inside my lower lip.) And then there is an ucler - which upon doing all of this research is caused by bacteria but agitated by STRESS (read: roller derby, being team captain, my new job and not being able to get to the gym much in the last week) and taking things like millions of Advil last year for my knee injury, comes into play. It's self diagnosed but I'm 100% sure that is what it is and it's completely aggrivated. One of the most wonderful people I've met in derby is a second generation organic/natural foods family store owner and she recommended all kinds of things include Aloe Vera juice and DGL (licorice pills to help digestion) to help with the symptoms. But in doing all of this online research I've also found that I need cabbage juice. It actually seems to cure ulcers - which is what I need because anything that takes away my love of coffee, drinky drinks and spicy food must go. But cabbage juice? Gross. I mean cabbage isn't that fantastic anyway - it's a pretty bland vegetable that good as coldslaw and in peanut stew - oh with tons of vitamin C and "vitamin U". Who knew? Do does anyone have a juicer?

The people we admire most...

There are plenty of people I have looked up to in my life - who have been a pivotal influence, a great mentor, boss, a Samba dancer, roller derby skater or someone who amazes me - and I think it's a good thing that they keep changing as I grow in my own life. However, when it comes right down to it, the person I admired most is not a world leader, musician, artist, or writer but simply my Aunt Jane.

She was actually my mother's aunt (my grandfather's sister) - she owned cabins up on the South Platte River in Colorado near the town of Twin Cedars in the Rocky Mountains. She had a bar/restaurant and "general store" right near the state route that ran along the South Platte. We went up there for fishing tournaments. She always hung up all of the crazy things my brothers and I would draw and mail to her. She gave us gumballs. She let us tromp around the forest. She hired a gaggle of teens for the summer to help manage the cabins and all of the fishermen.

Her husband was a drunk. She had no children. She was a "blue blooded Democrat" (and the way the rest of my family said it you would think she was the devil.) Her oldest sister died of the Great Influenza of 1919 (which killed 20-40 million people.) Her other brother (not my grandfather) killed himself. She owned this property. She was the heart of that area. I don't think I knew what I loved about her when I was younger and I'm sure I'm romanticizing her life now, but I admired who she was. I admired her independence, as a woman up in the mountains, all the work that she did and all of the people she knew - her closeness to the land.

The US Gov bought her property though the power of eminent domain - the plan was to dam the South Platte consequently flooding Twin Cedars. She moved down the mountains to the town of Castle Rock. She was older, though she seemed to get even older out of the mountains. She died when I was in high school.

I admired her feisty spirit. I admired she had her own business and going against the grain.

And I still admire her now.

Accosted...

I have this very increased and heightened awareness of my surroundings since a Sierra Club organizer was stabbed to death on New Year's Eve. When it first happened, all of us who do any kind of organizing were convinced that it wasn't a coincidence. It has to have been someone who was on either side of the environmental issue - either a passionate radical environmentalist or someone completely opposed to everything the Sierra Club represents. It was a horrible tragedy and it turns out it was horribly random! Since then, I am just more aware than I was before.

Last night I was walking home from the gym, stopped by the grocery story for a snack and walking home I was just trying to be more aware when I was completely accosted by a tree filled with spring blooms! And there were two more in a row. That is one thing that I can't seem to get use to in Seattle - spring has sprung and it's the first week of May! The magnolia trees are in full bloom and there are random pink lollipop on the sides of the road letting us know that we just need to be a little more patient because summer is just around the corner... after a few more 30 degree mornings.

Ha! And to be so naive....

To think that people change... over night. Because you don't - usually - though sometimes it becomes obvious to the rest of the world over night. He voted for Hillary as a vote against McCain - which I should have known - because Mark voting for Hillary because he believed in her would be like me voting for McCain because I believed in him.

And I just don't see that happening.

Anytime soon.

Politics and Religion...

I have always been told by someone, like many people, you don't talk about politics and religion at the dinner table. When I was interviewing for an international scholarship to travel all around Europe, I got chastised when I said some important discussions were "around politics and religion." Didn't I know you weren't suppose to talk about that?! Of course I did, that's just not reality.

In reality you often talk about it. It does not mean you get into heated debates or impose your views on another person but you're bound to talk about it. The imam's children and I would often get in heated discussions about the role of Islam in modern culture. I have friends who have shared my love of holiday candy (easter, valentines and christmas) but maybe not the love of the holiday itself. I have tried to divorce myself of sibblings over politics at the same time volunteering 80 hours a month leading up to an election. Politics is what I talk about at work. The electric company guys and I, when I was in the Peace Corps, use to wage bets on when the country would be overthrow or go down in a coupe - these were serious conversations about what we saw going on in our community. I won the bet of when the coupe would happen... before the new year.

I am trying to steer clear of politics and religion on my blog because there are other blogs dedicated just for that and this isn't one of them. But I won't let my family off the hook (which should be another one of those thing you never talk about - politics, religion and family. All the same in some cases.) But when I came home from Happy Hour tonight my older brother (calls himself a neo-con but not cool-aid drinkin' one) left me a message saying that he and a bunch of his Republican friends had voted for Hillary that evening and what she had to say was amazing. I'm honestly baffled. Truly. And I called him to make sure I heard him right but he didn't answer (and it was super late). And even if I completely misunderstood him, people are allowed to change their minds and are allow to change their views in politics. Even if it's completely unexpected and unprecedented.

And I'm allowed to blog about it.

Fall City...

Last night I went to Fall City (east of Seattle and slightly north) to hear a rollergirl friend of mine sing in an "idol-esk" competition at the Raging River Saloon. She has been invited to compete with a bunch of other contestants who had also been invited. There was a cash prize but she need a group of friends to cheer for her - like in American Idol. So about 5 of us rolled up to Fall City. It's was rural Washington - kind of like rural Ohio - I knew small town bars.

Well you would have thought we were 5 aliens coming to visit our 6th - instead of 5 cute and fun roller girls coming out to support their pal. A table of women stared at us from the corner. A crazy drunk wouldn't leave us alone, didn't understandwhy we wouldn't get him buy us drinks, or why him standing in front of us while we were playing pool was a problem. I became the "asshole", my other friend the "anti social cunt bag" and the other two, besides being "twins", and straight as the day is long, were "men hating dykes". We tried to defuse the situation but eventually ended up laughing at it (though the "anti-social cunt-bag" was afraid a gun would be pulled.) A waitress tried to make us feel at home adn another one of the contestents invited us to different party. We cheered on our alien and she ended up winning the Idol-esk event including the cash prize! (She had the best stage presence - never mind her fantastic voice!)

We stayed for a follow-up performance, walked each other out to the car and took an "over the river and thru the woods" drive back to I-90 to Seattle (the other way goest thru Cleveland to Boston). It was a super fun road trip and it's been a long time since I've been called anything close to "asshole, or anti socia...." Gosh, anyone who knows me knows I'm a completely social cunt bag.

My Pod...

I am not a technophobe - I am also not one who believes technology will solve all the worlds problems - so somewhere in between - lie people like me. And it has taken me years to decide to buy an MP3 player. The last portible music player I had was my cassette player in middle school where I shared one earphone with Kathy on our way to skiing on Fridays in 8th grade. We rocked out to George Michael. It was great times.

I hadn't gotten an MP3 player due in large part to the lack of my favorite tunes being available on things such as itunes or my friend's favorite Russian website where she got songs for cheaper. But I hadn't quite moved to the whole "ripping" in your favorite music and then putting it on your MP3 player.

While moving offices, I realized how much music I had stored at work and how I had listened to these CDs until I was nearly sick of them. It seem like the time, with the better technology and access to "world" music plus my whole love affair with KEXP, to get my very own ipod. And I did. It's an ipod touch - it couldn't be easier to use. And it's already made my life so much happier! (I love music and have blogged about my whole family's love of music eventhough we're not musicans). At this point it's the first thing I do when I get to work (plug it in, turn it on) and the last thing I pack up when I leave. For the last two days I have shuffled over MIA, Vampire Weekend, Cold Play, Jack Johnson, Gloria Estafan, Angelique Kidjo, Pink Martini, the Killers, Pancho Sanchez and about 56 other artists. It just makes the sun that much brighter and inspiring. Truly.

I haven't gotten to the point of listening to it on the bus because I kind of still like to listen to the crazy people....

My friends...

The other ones - the few non-derby ones - came down this weekend from Bellingham for a beautiful, vitamin D-filled day in Seattle. Christina, who I've know as long as I worked for Planned Parenthood and Jill, who was her assistant for a couple of years, came down for the day. I started my day breaking down a floor for my league but joined after they had soul food and King Fish in Capitol Hill. We strolled around Capitol Hill, in 50 degree sunshine, gossiping, telling funny stories about our past. We headed over to West Seattle where they both said they could live, like in Bellingham, in a little tight community - looked at art, bought a purse, talked about all of our crafty endeavors. We raced over to Ballard for drink but not before buying lottery tickets to help realized dreams of opening dessert bars that served limited pastries and small savory tapas. We had a few drinks and walked over to Madame K's (my favorite restaurant, La Carta - the BEST Mexican restaurant in Seattle was packed, as always.) At Madame K's, we drank some more, ate salads and pizza and ended the night with an orgasm (hot cookie with ice cream) before they headed back to Bellingham and I headed home... where I got sucked into the television series called Heroes.

It was a lovely Saturday afternoon - with my friends.

President's Day

I haven't had this holiday off in honestly, like 15 years - since high school. I was THRILLED to have a break, to catch up on some sleep, eat breakfast at a crowded Voula's, get some tasty vitamin D at Discovery park, go shopping for an i-pod touch (didn't find one, got groceries instead), take a nap like a cat, hang out with my killer trainer Jade and eat some Robin Eggs (my favorite Easter candy.) It was a beautiful, sunny day! Woot!

This weekend was Cupid's Cabaret - an annual JCRG event. This year it was at the Anchor in Everett. We had some great rockabilly bands, some derby girl burlesque and even a team performance. Yes, the Carnies put together a choreographied piece to Sweet Charity's "Big Spender". We had three rehearsals; worked on choreograph, memorized the lyrics and even coordinated costumes (derby allots for many firsts - first time I wore both a garder belt and corset - love it!). However, we didn't anticipate being squished on a tiny stage - we were planning on being spread out on the floor in two "pods" with some of us on stage but the audience was sitting on the floor watching... so it didn't look like what we had rehearsed (does it ever) and was over quickly. In the end, it was a great group effort - we had super fun performing it and are certainly a damn cute team.

Vitamin D

So when I was in Hawai'i for James and Heather's wedding, I made a point of saying, "I need to be in the sun - I'm so vitamin D deprived!" I need vitamin D! And boy did I! According to the Seattle Times today everyone over here needs more Vitamin D!

Hawai'i anyone? Key West? I'm planning a trip next fall, early winter, when our very precious summer sunlight starts to disappear.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2004179538_vitamind13m.html

Sick. Home. Fish

So many people are sick. I feel like every time I walk out of my house I risk running into this crazy "death plague" that is knocking out people for weeks, being spread among my derby league, turning into the flu, Strep, and other terrible nasty things. I've been, on the advice of a friend, taking Airborne for three weeks now... The funny thing is everytime you walk out of the house you take a risk. Yes?

I stumbled across a friend's myspace when I was posting some information about my performance this weekend in Cupid's Cabaret (no, I'm not doing burlesque but something great - I promise) and it's a great and funny song with a refrain of "I don't think I can see what anyone else can see in anyone else but you" and it's making me incredibly home sick. Because my friends are so special at home? I don't know... It's funny how it comes every once in a while like a wave washing over the ferry crossing the Sound.

A friend of mine and I have decided that we're going to take a New Year's resolution out a step further... I'm going to make a $5 donation every time I DON'T carpool to practice, an event, whatever. She's going to do the same thing. I want to make a donation to a fish organization. It's true. I love fish. I just care about fish. I worry about the cows pooping by the stream where the fish are swimming... so if you have a fish organization please recommend them. At the end of the month, each time I didn't find a carpool buddy when I could have carpooled (e.g. going to roller derby practice, meetings, ok it has mostly to do with derby) then I'm going to donate $5. To fish. I'm takin' recommendations. Now.

Roller derby + new job = tension headaches

...is what I wrote on my comments section when scheduling my half hour massage for Sunday. It was an excess of derby, (games, scrimmages, meetings, emails, meetings) and the stress that comes with a new job, (learning it's history, mission, important talking points, etc.) that lead to a headache about every six hours - plus the fact I haven't found a minute to get to my gym. So I made an appointment to get a massage - to work out that stress. And it did. I also made my upper body completely sore. It's funny how in the Pacific Northwest, specifically, massage isn't so much for relaxing as it is for healing...


And there are great things to talk about, including the Caucus, but after a hot epson salt bath, sleep is calling...

Though if you're really interested, here's the University of Washington's write up about the Rust Riot: http://thedaily.washington.edu/2008/2/7/derby-girls-dont-cry-aggressive-face-women-skate-t/

Derby Hangover, why I play this sport...

Until this past weekend, I can honestly say I've never experience a "derby hangover" - which means that you got knocked around so much and so hard that you felt like you got "hit by a Mac truck." It has nothing to do with alcohol (I've had plenty of those in relation to derby too.) I have had a headache about every 6 hours since Saturday. Saturday, Feb 2nd, was the "Rust Riot" - an invitational from Rat City to 7 surrounding leagues to come play in an expo tournament to show everyone who the North West is in the world of roller derby. We were slated to play Olympia weeks ago - a perfectly uneven match up if there ever was one - but we put our hearts into it - with some key players out with injuries and I kid you not - a few playing with the flu (the bio-hazard red puke bucket was in the middle of the floor for a reason). And we lost - as we expected - but not because we didn't play hard and fair (and you can read into this statement we're not a bunch of cheatin', sore sports). Someone had to be thrown to the lions and our team drew the short straw. Honestly, in the end, I was very proud of our team and proud to be part of such a fantastic league. But my clock got cleaned and now I'm paying for it... with three Advil every few hours.

I crawled out of bed early the next morning to assist with the reason I loved this sport - scrimmages with other teams. Skaters signed up from all across the North West with Arson Annie who arranged us into fun scrimmaging groups such as: diapers (under 30) v. depends (over thirty - yes we spanked them); veggies v. carnivores, smokers v. non, moms v. non-moms, etc. It was a great and super fun opportunity to play with skaters you don't ever get to play WITH but usually AGAINST. In the Diapers v. Depends match-up I got to skate with a lot of my pals from PFM days - Mo YaDown, Sassy Chassis, Sara Problem? and Maude Elletee. Libby Raider (RCRG) and I worked together great both as blockers and her assisting me as jammer. Rhea (Rose City – Portland OR) and Roxie Hardknox (Terminal City-Vancouver BC), Petty Rage (Lava City -Bend OR) and I all had blast playing together - assisting and blocking for skaters you just met 10 minutes ago. I got to skate again some of my own teammates - which was funny - because you know them so well. I helped out by "checking in" specific teams and making sure the groups each had enough players. I played in two scrimmages (Diapers v. Depends, and Jammers v. Blockers) and the end-of-the-day pickup game - which was full of crazy diehards - just enough to make up two teams.

And this is why I play this sport. I play it not only for my team and my league but also for the opportunity to play with amazing and dynamic women from other teams, everywhere.

Some photos from the weekend:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/smaira/sets/72157603843196161/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8505592@N05/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/type2b/sets/72157603849837381/

Just perfectly weird....

This afternoon, my friend Weedy and I were walking back to our respective jobs from having sandwiches at the Honey Hole today when we passed by Le Frock - a vintage clothing store on Pine. I stopped dead in my tracks - dressed on the mannequin in the window was the perfect outfit for a cabaret performance my team is doing later this month. She was wearing a red corset, a long vintage, multi-colored striped skirt (very carnival like but with much taste) and a purple tulle skirt peaking out from beneath. It was perfect! Absolutely perfect!

I grabbed Weedy and went into the store and trying to contain my excitement "I love the outfit on the mannequin! It's perfect! I would really like to try it on please. Do you know the sizes of what she's wearing?" The sales clerk, paused, a medium skirt and a 34 corset. Perfect! Just the right sizes! "Could I try them on?" She looked at the owner who looked back at me. When do you need them by? "February 10th." We're not taking them off the mannequin until March. "Excuse me?" Weedy and I both looked completely perplexed. We're not taking them off. We have other corsets in that size. "What about the skirts?" No. We don't have another one of those (it is a vintage store after all.) If you want to stop by later, I'll try and find something else for you. "But it's perfect for what I need." I couldn't believe it. Not that I felt outraged as a consumer, but why in God's name would you dress up a mannequin in a fantastic outfit if you had NO INTENTION of selling it?

We left. I swung by after work, thinking she would change her mind (plus I said I would). "Hi! I'm the lady to whom you won't sell the outfit on your mannequin... your sales clerk said she would find something else for me." And she did. But it wasn't even close and the whole thing was just hugely disappointing.

And weird.

Brrrrrrrrr....

It's been super chilly in Seattle these last few days - and not Midwest bone biting cold but cold just the same (and considering my apartment wasn't made for bone chilling Midwest winters, it's very cold.) With the windchill, it's hovering in the high twenties. The city, being right on Puget Sound, makes for fantastic wind tunnels as you're walking to work.

This cold evening made for a second night of my curled up on my futon, with my kitty friend Monkey, under covers, fast asleep after dinner. All plans to go the gym became visions of sugar plums in my head - pretty much all plans vanished as Extra! relayed very important stories about Britney Spears.

I completely forgot to write about one of the best things that happened this past weekend - at Derby Prom I was voted "best attitude" by my sister skaters. What a great honor! I was surprised and humbled! And some of my skater friends, a couple of drinks into the night, told me what a inspiration I was to them. What a great way to end a weekend. (I also got an award for "best socks for 2007" - they speak for themselves.)

Just plain tired...

I think the euphoria from the last bout, along with a week of practices, my last day at Planned Parenthood, Pyglet's first birthday and Jet City's Derby Prom has worn me out. I was planning on going to the gym tonight after my first day at my new job - to prep a little before this weekend's Rust Riot (NW roller derby invitational) - when the futon in the living room called my name and I just had to take a nap in the chilly living room with some of the kitty friends.

But there are plenty of glimpses from my past week...

A very flattering review of our first derby bout this year:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=107162553&blogID=350814234

Pyglet's Birthday (Lucie)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67749380@N00/sets/72157603812176792

JCRG Prom:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67749380@N00/sets/72157603815974067

Phew.

Goodbyes...

And so it's time to say goodbye... after 6 years (almost to the month) of being with the Planned Parenthood family, I'm packing my bag (clearing my desk) and moving to another part of the women's movement. I'm literally and metaphorically just moving to another part of the neighborhood and I'm taking plenty of friends with me.

Though, my real loss is going to be all of the development officers from all over the country whom I've gotten to know over the years. I was a part of committees, headed a conference and worked on mentoring new development officers. Not everyone will miss me - that's for sure. I've been a pain-in-the-ass for some people. But I've also been really great friends with others.

Tonight will be drinks (but not too many) and tomorrow will be just another weekend before I start a new job.

It's been a great 6 years! I can't wait for my next adventures!

Some highlights:
*Organizing 5,000+ for the March for Women's Lives
*The Power of Women photography auction
*Chic for Choice
*increasing donations by 25% in one of our toughest fundraising years.
*Lobbying
*Counter protesting, raising tons of $$ of protesters - yeah!
*my SUPERvisor Nanci & my pal Teri
*being part of such a fantastic movement and learning more about social justice in general
*Choice
*my friends across the nation
*understanding the role we can all play in a movement
*better understanding for empathy, compassion and social justice
*making a difference
*change


some comments from some of my pals across the country...

Best wishes and hugs – you will be missed! Connie (her real name)

Congratulations, Michelle! Looks like I’m losing my development buddies north and south today… weird. Hope you transition smoothly and successfully into your new digs. Lemme know if I can be of any help here in Pdx.
Liz

Congratulations, Michelle! Thanks for all you have contributed to PP! Best,Sherry

Michelle,Good luck with your new venture! They are lucky to have you.Christie

Michelle,Congratulations! It sounds like a terrific opportunity, but we will miss you -- DOC conferences just won't be the same...All the very best,Debbie

Michelle, You will be missed! Best of luck with your new position. Anne

Hi Michelle,
Wishing you every success in your new job. The Women’s Law Center is lucky to have you – I know you’ll be doing great things for them, just as you’ve done for Planned Parenthood.
All the best,
Mar


Congratulations Michelle!!! that is so exciting, Ms. Director. Good luck - I will miss seeing you at DOC (if I get to go this year...). -Amy


SOOOO delighted to hear you are moving on up!I will miss your creativity, dedication and enthusiasm. Take that with you and nothing can stop you!I wish you the best and hope you can keep in touch.Is your new group from 5 contiguous states and will you have to travel to all?

I got to the NW over the Thanksgiving holiday and was so very impressed! Lovely territory.I went through Seattle and spent time with my brother in Bend OR.Hugs and cheers right back to you!Suzie - And thanks for all your efforts for PP in Ohio and WW!

Michelle –
You will be missed! It’s been a pleasure to work with you. Best of luck on your new endeavors!
John

A clear, bright, chilly... a perfect day for a national holiday.

I ran across an ad for an organization that has caught my attention before - http://www.forbetterlife.org/. I looked it up online, completely skeptical that it was religiously affiliated or trying to do something besides promote positive things. (How sad that one of the most optimistic people I know feels that way.) But it turns out they weren't religiously affiliated, and though I'm not 100% sure how I feel about their message (it's quite good) and I ran across some billboards that they've produced that I've really liked - such as this one about Kermit. And I thought this was the perfect thing to write about today - on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Dreams. Live your dreams. And because of such a great man willing to go out on a limb for so many people, more people can live theirs.

Below are some photos from the bout:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/narra99/

EVIL! EVIL! EVIL!

"Torture, where in your life have you heard hundreds of people shouting 'Evil! Evil! Evil!' and stomping their feet for a bunch of gals on wheels? Isn't that awesome?'" And it was! CarnEvil won in 'final death' yesterday night at our first official bout of the season! It was amazing, close, fun, fun, fun. We were convinced that we had come together as a team and would win against the Hula Honeys but at halftime we were down by 21 points. The second jam of the second half, I scored 15 points as jammer and slowly, we started champing at the score... And the belief in our team became palatable - not only from ourselves but from the fans! Cia raced out of the penalty box and took out the opposing jammer with such malice in her eyes I thought she was going to spit on her, Luna held the front line like it was nobody's business, Suzi took people out with solid, clean hits (we were in the penalty box so much less), Mona Agony, new to our team, jammed like a champ...soon we were down by 7, then 6, then 1 point and time ran out! I was thrilled at our comeback - but then Honeys lost a point and we found ourselves tied!

The crowd was going nuts, people were lined up around the edges and I got back to the line to jam in "sudden death" to break the tied score (my teammates and I were dancing on the line waiting for it to start) - and we knew we had it. The whistle blew for the jam to start - me and the opposing jammer jostled for the line but CarnEvil held her as a got thru the pack. I got around to the pack again (where two Honeys who were in the penalty box) joined the jam - I managed to get around them and score 4 points - hulling ass - I looked up at the score board and finally slowed down with 3 seconds left. We had it! We won! And it was so fantastic! The crowd was going nuts! We hadn't won a single exposition bout last year; we had had our share of drama and we needed this win so badly. And it was fantastic.

The whole day was great: from setting up during the day, to skating your heart out, to the beer drinking with your teammates and others you just played. It's been a long year in the making - our first season! We finally had a venue (though we still can't serve alcohol) and our second time there we've nearly mastered our set up and tear down. Though we still don't have a floor (we're borrowing Rat City's), we're close to owning one of our very own. All of our teams have uniforms, logos, identities and we have a "booty camp" for new skaters that's full of potential. We do community work and sponsor non-profits. We'll most likely sell out our whole season and we have a whole host of opportunities to do some really fun and great things.

And I love it. Even with all of the headaches and frustrations, the high blood pressure, the long days and nights and nearly wanting to pull out your hair - I love what it's done for me and I love what's its done for so many other women - and communities! What a truly wonderful movement to be a part of...and at times completely overwhelming especially if you can get a whole crowd of people to cheer "Evil! Evil! Evil!"

Gentle Chaos, Unable to read music

This is how Heidi described my commute this morning - actually all of Seattle was spinning in gentle chaos on ice covered streets in a city that doesn't invest in salt. My first bus was late and my second bus never came. I waited 30 minutes and then took another bus - along with a hundred other people. The bus diverted it's route, I hopped off 10 icy, hilly blocks away and started walking to work... on the ice. There were school buses suck at intersections and other cars unable to turn. A biker rode by with absolute terror in her eyes. I crossed streets sideways. That's when Heidi called and we laughed at the ridiculousness of the city's reaction to the weather - both being Midwesterners and use to tons of ice, cold and snow. (I flung my phone trice trying to catch my balance.) It made for interesting conversation at the Starbucks next to work (I was already an hour and half late, what was five more minutes), as people had spent a half an hour going a mile or had given up getting to the top of some of the iciest hills.

The commute home was much better and I took a nap (fighting, fighting, fighting a cold) before settling down for an evening of sewing helmet panties, again, for my team and the Hula Honeys (whom we play on Saturday) and I ran into a plethora of problems stitching. My fabric was puckering, the bottom stitch was loose. And because I learned to sew by sewing together 7' penguin puppets for my samba troupe 5 years, I didn't really "learn". I was like a singer or musician who could play music but couldn't read notes. I knew HOW to sew but not why everything worked. I look on the Internet for the solution and found it in the 1970 Kenmore sewing book that came with the machine - I decided I needed a new needle (after realizing that I actually had the right size in the machine, thus surely this one was super dull after sewing all that nylon) and to adjust the bobbin (who knew you could do that?!) and it all came back together - just in time to work on the other team's helmet panties....

Rain, rain, rain...



I heard some rumor yesterday that it was going to be a beautiful week - cool and sunny like it was yesterday. I took advantage of the light and dry weather and did work on my car (changed a newly outed headlight and "tightened" the battery.) I managed to fit in a walk but would have easily spent the day like a cat, on the sofa, sleeping in the bright sun (like they all were.)


Today, there was no sunshine. It rained all day. All evening. And eventually it turned to snow (which was fun for all three minutes of it.) Winters are tough here. It's dark (sometimes all day), rainy (totally living up to it's reputation) and just generally a gloomy time. And the only glimmer of hope in all of this is that spring comes early - the trees start to bloom as early as February and tulips come up in March. And luckily... they're just right around the corner.

Right in front of me...

There is a famous Buddhist saying that goes, "If you can't find happiness where you're at, where do you expect to find it?" which is to say that happiness has to come from within and you can't seek external things to create that. Well there should be something like, "If you're looking too hard for a New Year's Resolution, it's most likely right in front of your nose." And there was. I found it.

My desire to do something better for the Earth - besides ride the bus more (I wish it would stop raining), carpool (do it already), become a vegetarian (not ready to again but now only eat "happy chickens") lead me in circles this last week. I also was trying to find something for my personal growth beside incorporate more art in my life (trying!), write more (I will, I promise) and generally diversify my life. I started to panic about my P-Patch - which I love and which I want to do a better job with this year (I only got one season out of three in last year), when it dawned on me that my P-Patch is the perfect resolution. I will be growing my own food (not all of it of course, but a lot) and doing much for personal growth - like learning how to organic garden better in the Pacific Northwest. I'll get more exercise walking to and from the P-Patch and I'm sure I'll have many tasty dinner parties with all of the food I grow and eat.

I'm so excited! I can't wait until spring! I have so much planning to do in the meantime...

Oh and my other resolution was to spend more time with my friend Glitter Chicken - at least one day a month sewing fun crafty things... and of course I have all of these derby goals... ok. One. I'm sticking to the P-Patch. Reasonable, achievable, good for the Earth. Yeah!

Winds...

Hurricane like winds are sweeping up from California tonight - dumping snow in the mountains and knocking out power lines and trees in the cities. 60-80 mph winds - for all of the things the Pacific Northwest is known for, like rain and serial killer, these insane windstorms are one of those things people don't tell you about. Sitting on the couch, having had dinner at my friends' house, the Christmas lights on the balcony swing but not nearly as violently as the trees.

Of change, is what the Obama campaign is riding on. My father, who was Goldwater Republican in his youth (according to his cousin but I never verified it with my Dad), though these days doesn't tell anyone who he votes for, called me to ask me my opinion about Obama's victory speech. I had been an early supporter (like in 2004-2005) but had backed off all politics recently. I called him back in the morning and said I had been at practice and had not heard his speech. He said "He is such an orator. He's like Reagan. He made my face muscles do things a politician hadn't invoked in ages." He wasn't the only one who was so excited about the hope and optimism Obama elicited. He's a windmill and the people are the wind - to many he's the wind of change.

Look what the cat blew in... after 6 years, half of my working career in development, I'm leaving Planned Parenthood for a Director of Development job with a the Northwest Women's Law Center. I said I wouldn't leave Planned Parenthood for just any job or any organization. (It's been too much of a part of my identity!) And it turns out I'm not leaving the movement but just moving down the street to another house in the neighborhood. I'll still be working to make sure that women have a better place at the table because we're fooling ourselves to think that it's equal. I can't wait!

Exhilaration...

...is what I felt when I left a multi-league scrimmage on Sunday where I got to skate with gals I knew, complete strangers and those I admired all in the name of the "derby sisterhood." It was so much fun and just reminded me of all the reasons I love this sport.

Last night I went out to Chinese New Year's Dinner with some friends. It was a pretty typical Chinese restaurant found in a strip mall in the suburbs complete with it's very American-Chinese dinner menu, much like the one I worked in all throughout high school and parts of college. I loved it! It also reminded me of how many New Years I worked in that restaurant, until 10 p.m., only to have to be back the next day - usually a bitterly cold day. We headed back to Ballard to be "close to home" for the celebrations - walking to Danni's party. Of course, it was a great time, as it always is. I drink organic wine (yum) but it still managed to give me a headache (which was probably the champagne). We were part of a while elephant gift exchange, I hid some one's prize (because it was so damn cute and I had drank nearly a bottle of wine) and we got home around 3 a.m. Some friends stayed over and all started the new year with a big breakfast and chats about our resolutions... I haven't figured them out just yet.

Resolutions are hard because they have to be reasonable, achievable and hopefully do something to make your life or the lives of people around you better. Last year, my resolution was to not procure another plastic bag. I managed to procure about 15 throughout the course of the year and have completely changed my habits. I always have canvas bags with me, in the car, for groceries or even mall shopping. I've gotten a few other people to try this too. It was a great resolution. I need another one... just like it.

Pakistan, Cote d'Ivoire, Ireland

When I clicked on to CNN this morning to read that Benazir Bhutto was assassinated - I fell into a dumb disbelief and heaviness sank into my heart. It wasn't completely surprising based on the past attempts on her life but her determination to return to her country, even with her own problematic past, to make it a better place was to be admired. Any time there is a "democracy" and an opposition party, that opposition must be encouraged - even if one doesn't agree with it. It's painful to watch a country struggle and all of these people grieve for the person they thought could make it better. (Plus I have a soft spot in my heart of India and Pakistan with their tumultuous, problematic and rather rich history.)

One of the main reasons Cote d'Ivoire had a coup d'etat on December 24th, 1999 was because the 3rd party opposition had been thrown in prison - all of the leaders. The presidential candidate wasn't allowed in the country and the people doing the grassroots organizing were tossed in jail when the government, at midnight, revoked a parade permit (for a rally). It was impossible to tell thousands of people NOT to show up. That was in October and it was only a matter of time before the pot boiled over and it did. The initial coup was amazingly peaceful - considering this was the first time Cote d'Ivoire had ever done anything like this. Ivorians liked to compare themselves to their neighbors Sierra Leone - we will never be like that. Those savages. But it didn't take long for it to go from ok to pretty rotten.

When I was exiting a tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, an Irish man asked me how it was. I told him how great the paintings where and the colors, etc. He asked me where I was from - I told him the Seattle, Washington, the USA. "Great place." And you? "Ireland." He went on to bitch about the British a bit and then came back to Seattle. "I would love to live there." Well, if you like the rain, it's perfect. "Yeah, you've got a great country, you know." Genuinely curious as to why he thought that I replied, why do you think so? "It's one of the last true democracies in the world. Really it is. Think about it. It's a great place."

Convergence zones, Santa trackers and the Joy of Cooking...

North of Seattle, between Lynnwood and Everett is a "convergence zone" where the weather is particular hellish - kind of like the snowbelt that I grew up in. If it's starting to snow in Seattle, there are two inches in Lynnwood. If it pouring in Everett (and you're hydroplaning on the highway) it's started to dry up in Seattle - which is what happened last night as I was leaving speed skate - I left in a horrible storm to practice (and all I could think was though it's not "Beverly Hills, LA" I'm still dreaming of a white Christmas), and it was worse in Everett on my way back and as I hydroplaned across the freeway (just riding it out), I was wishing it was snow.

And the three hours I spend at work today, part of it was checking out MSN.com's Santa Tracker - which is pretty funny and rather creative:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22271869/?gt1=10645

And tonight, the apartment is sparkling clean. My roommate and I exchanged small gifts, while John Lennon sings "So this is Christmas (War is Over)", and I flip thru the Joy of Cooking as tomorrow I am preparing dinner for 10 "orphans". I couldn't ask for a better way to spend my Christmas - away from home. I've never made a whole turkey (just a breast) but all of the other delights I have perfected my own receipt for them. I can't wait! Christmas movies, songs, and the Joy of Cooking with friends.

'Tis the season...

For holidays lights, cocktail parties, birthday martinis, Christmas plays, burlesque nutcracker that is so super fabulous, turkeys, cranberry salad, work days where you do the bare minimum until you can sneak out, derby practices and tryouts, gift exchanges, white elepant parties, cookies and cookie exchanges, drunkin' "I love yous", cards from friends and family, more love than you can remember getting before, presents, rain and few blog entries.

Happy holidays!

It's Snowing! It's Snowing!

Snow flurries greeted us as we landed in Seattle on Saturday! I wanted to jump up and shout "yippeee!" (yes, I'm a snow princess.) We stumbled home and all tried to stay up until at least 8 p.m. to stay our jetlag as long as possible.

Sunday was a fun day, even with a wicked travel cold, grocery shopping (for non-salty things), getting out my holiday lights, writing Christmas cards and... running out of steam many times during the day.

Today though, as I stood in the pouring down rain, soaked, having missed my second bus, all I could think of was "this is the only reason I don't like Seattle" and it turned out quite disastrous as rivers flooded, homes floated away and a state-of-emergency was declared.

Welcome home.

Here are some photos from my trip: http://www.flickr.com/photos/67749380@N00/sets/72157603353005636

Friday, Last Day...

In Cairo, and Egypt all together. We have plans to hopefully catch a film at the Cairo International Film Festival though it's hard to figure out which films have translations and where they are all across the city. We might go to Coptic Cairo, hang out with Annika later and just take it easy before we head out of the city at 4 a.m. (kid you not.)

Our night train from Luxor, having decided that the sleeping car wasn't worth it, was a second class Egyptian train... noisy, cold (our door was broken) and smoky, we got just about as much sleep as could be expected. Yesterday we went to the modern Egyptian art museums (great!) and a gallery that had been closed the last time we were there.

Tired of falafal, kushari, mezza, and other Egyptian food and went to a fancy pants restaurant and had things like pasta, burgers and salads. Without a kitchen - it's hard to diversify your menu. How spoiled we are, in so many ways, to have so much access to so many varieties of foo at home...

Off to spend just a little more time with Egypt...

Surprisingly few women, an amazing amount of salt...

There is a small school by our hostel with early morning screaming and excited children's voices filling the air. They are quieted every morning with the Egyptian national anthem and jingle bells - I kid you not - Jingle Bells. It's a beautiful sunny, dusty day in Luxor. Our only real "plans" are to take a felucca ride on the Nile later this afternoon... we leave tonight for Cairo - on the night train - 2nd class. I have a feeling it will be so much better (and cheaper) than the touted Sleeper Train where you really don't sleep one bit.

Last night, before we went to bed, we were chatting about some of the things we found amazing about Egypt both likes and dislikes. One of our observations was there were just an amazing shortage of women - anywhere. We know they're out there. This isn't like Asia where there are fewer women because baby boys are valued so much more. There just aren't that many women in the streets, at the markets, banks, restaurants, etc. They're not in the public workforce. In Western Africa, women ARE the market, restaurants, shops, banks, etc. They're everywhere and so are all of their children. Their men drink tea and chat while they work the farms, schools, everything. The men still partake in plenty of idle chat, smoking shesha and drinking tea but really, really, where are all of the women....

One thing there is plenty of though, is SALT. I had a great dinner last night and went to scoop some vegetables in my mouth - and they were so salty. With each meal, we have at least one thing that we call the "salt lick" - it might be the fried eggs, the tahina salad, shoot the regular salad will have salt on it. So much salt. And for someone who doesn't like salt, it's quite a jarring experience...

Too few women. Too much salt.

This place is full of shit....

is what Kelly Rae said upon entering Temple Karnak yesterday - and truly it's full - of temples, monuments, blocks, pharaohs, statues of all kinds - and tourists. Tons of tourists. Luxor, famous for all things old, dead and amazing in Egypt, is full of tourists - like any town anywhere and you'll get hassled for any and everything.

Today we took a guide to the West Bank to visit tombs of kings and queens. I had been to the Valley of the Kings and Queens before but I had been a recent Peace Corps volunteer and couldn't afford a guide. This time around, we went with a group from our hostel. It's amazing to relearn some of this history about Ramses, Hatsheput and others. (So far it has been the highlight of our trip to Luxor- this tour.)

Of course I have a million other things to write about like the view of the Nile from our rooftop balcony of our hostel, the less than comfortable ride on the "sleeping car" from Cairo, our near death experience taxi ride complete with the worst music in the work (a very remorseful readings of the Koran - oh Allah - it was painful), smoking shesha (hooka) and drinking Turkish coffee, haggling for every single thing (I was so much better at it years ago), eating our way thru Alexandra (which is where we were for the weekend), walking along the Mediterranean, blue skis, rivers, and oceans, dust, dust and more dust- sunrises on the Nile and being awoken at 5 a.m. to the Call to Prayer.

A late night train tomorrow takes us back to Cairo...and if I'm lucky I'll find my misplaced glasses and write more from Luxor before I go...

Relaxing...

So yesterday, Thanksgiving, turned out to be a very typical Thanksgiving Day in that we relaxed all morning (went to art galleries, had Egyptian pizza for lunch) and then headed over to Annika's friend's fabulous apartment (by all standards) for Thanksgiving dinner where we baked pies, made gravey and waited for guests to arrive.... of course like most of my Thanksgivings, dinner was 2 hours late and I am not sure I've ever seen a mad frenzy take to the turkey like I did yesterday. It was crazy - but delicious. We had a hard time finding the ticket station for the trains last night (because nothing is ever easy in Africa and Annika doesn't always explain things completely - as being local you forget that your guests are local too.) Lara and I, who shared a lunch pizza ended up with the same bug and we were just glad to get to bed.

Today starts the weekend (Sabbath) and we're heading up to the very historic Alexandria for seafood, more relaxing and some history. It should be a very nice weekend indeed.

Two Egypts

So far our trip as been divided up into two Egypts - like the money here where one side has a pharaohnic scene and the other side a mosque - our trip has been divided into touristic Egypt and local Egypt. Yesterday we had an incredible trip to various pyramids scatter outside of Cairo. We left the hostel around 9 a.m. to find the driver we hired yesterday evening to take us around all of the pyramids all day for about $5 an hour. (Though I thought he didn't quite look like the guy we had hired...) We headed to the Step Pyramid first. It was the first one every built - the museum attached to it was incredible and sure enough there were 10 different people trying to sell us a tour, take us around for extra money and they all claimed to be working for the government. We then headed off to the Red Pyramid which was not nearly as large at the Great Pyramids but it was spectular - and there were about 5 people there when we showed up. We climbed down into the pyramid - something like 125 stairs with a few people coming up and not light. I made mention to Kelly, "are you closterphobic?" In which case she remembered that she was and decided to stop her descend - which was wise, because though I am not, I was feeling a bit crowded heading down the narrow ladder/stairwell that lead to the antechamber - which opened up to 20 feet ceilings - and the smell of pnoemunia. It was rather amazing and the climb out into fresh air, rather welcoming.

We looked at the Bent Pyramid (named because the designer had to change it's structure half way up because it became unstable.) We couldn't visit it though it was still incredible too see these two pyramids from the Old Kingdom (5,000 years old). We headed to Giza and the great pyramids - where my language failed me and we didn't end up getting lunch. The Great Pyramids are AMAZING, huge, fascinating and crammed packed with tourists, people trying to sell you camel rides, postcards and other tchotchkes, camel and horse shit and garbage. It's still incredible to look at but I felt this need to clean up the garbage, rope off the pyramids, keep people on paths and quit distroying the land and scereny around them. But they've last 4,000 or so years, I'm sure they've got a few more years left.

It was on our way back to our hostel that it was reveiled that this was not the guy we had hired the night before (I had already figured that out with a few other clues, he wasn't chain smoking, he said his name was something else, eventhough I kept asking him if is name was Ibrahime, and a text from Annika.) I didn't know quite how it was going to turn out since we hadn't negotiated a price before hand (because we had done it last night). In the end I ended up explaining, rather poorly, that he was not the man we had hired and we ended up paying 40 pounds (egyptian) extra for our trip. It was a fantastic day.

Food, naps, Lara getting harassed by one of the local boys who agreed to help her, we headed off to McDonalds (yes, another meeting place) to head way out of town to see "The Axis of Evil Comedy tour". And though the headline comedian is escaping me, it was Amhed Amhed, Eric Kader and a very hilarious and famous comedian who had the entire audience in stitches, making fun the of the "Middle East", Americans and George Bush. I feel like everyone needs a copy of it for Christmas. Another mixed up taxi ride home (we picked up the wrong cab again) we headed out to late night falafel at the local Egyptian fast food joint... phew.

The day before we had done all thing touristic, as 4 with a retired teacher/Peace Corps volunteer who we met in the hostel (love hostel traveling) joined us. The day had been spent going to the famous Egyptian Museum to see more mummified pharaohs and their pets (as well as offerings), jewelry, furniture, foods, and the millions of other things you need in the afterlife. Pharaoh-ed out, we headed to local lunch and off to Islamic Cairo (yes there is a neighborhood called just that) where we got lost (as mentioned) and wore ourselves out looking for the City of the Dead. Annika found us and took us around - touring the neighborhood, drinking tea and smoking shesha (hooka) in a world famous cafe (though it was cheap) where the Hemingway of Egypt had spent many hours writing about this cafe and his beloved city....

And though there is so much more to write, I have to run to the train station to buy our tickets to Luxor tonight - on the midnight train... if we're lucky, we'll get some. We're heading out of Cairo tonight... after Thanksgiving. Two Egypts.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

The Duck is the Bucket, Welcome to Cairo

As we walked out of the Odeon tonight, a hip bar that one of Annika's showed her when she first came to Cairo, I wondered exactly where our hotel was in relation to it... i mumbled under my breath - it's probably right across the street. And sure enough, it was. That was probably the only "easy" part of a rather long but very fun day.

We got up, after waking up often thru the night as it was the first time we had had more than 3 hours of sleep consecutively.

Back tracking, we left Seattle at noon on Saturday after a long, dancing, costuming night at Rat City Rollergirls' Derby Prom. (I mean we were packed - ready to go - why not kick vacation off with a big costume party.) The end results were super fun though a slight bit exhausting and hangover. Our plane took off for a 9 hour flight to Amsterdam... and it went very smoothly at first, with individual movies at each chair, games to play and plenty to keep ourselves entertained. Then fatigue set in and my comment about "Oh gosh this is turbulent..." turned into very turbulent and we rode out 10 very bumpy minutes with white knuckles. We landed in Amsterdam and it was 7 a.m. Sunday morning (with time zone changes) and 32 degrees. Somehow we weren't quite prepared.

Amsterdam is based on a very strong Euro compared to our very weak dollar and we drop $40 in 20 minutes buy train tickets to downtown (we go on the wrong train) and breakfast - which should have been $8 but was more like $18 (making me sad.) Not entirely sure what to do in 32 degree weather in a city where we only had 10 hours, we ran into a sign for the Anne Frank House and got in line. I had forgotten that she was in Holland (via Germany) and it was a very real and humbling way to spend a few hours. We then headed to a pub and grabbed a beer talked about our trip with fatigue set in. We had been awake for a long time at this point. We left to get some fresh air and there were, I kid you not, thousands of people it the streets. It turns out some festival was just letting out - and i know there was something cultural going on that I just didn't get but there were all of these characters, somehow related to St. Nick, that were essentially jesters dressed in 'black face' - curly hair wigs, painted faces, gloves and these bright jester costumes. It was so weird and some of the kids who were watching and being carted around by their parents were dressed like them too... (but before i freak out on the Dutch, I need to look it up and try and figure out what the heck that was). We headed back to the airport too tired for words and slept on a some "comfy chairs" mean just for that. A passenger on our flight, actually in the seat in front of me, was injured when a man dropped a laptop on his head (!) sending him in to a seizure (!), then the door on the plane broke. We sat on the plane for two hours before we were unloaded and reloaded - 5 hours later than expected arriving in Egypt early Monday morning.

We made it to our hostel, called Annika and promptly went to sleep in our first attempt to get more than 3 hours of sleep in 48 hours! Annika met us a Hardee's (yes, you heard me right) by the American University in Cairo. We left there and ate some kushari (local dish) and headed to her neighborhood where she had Arabic classes. We sat at the Starbucks of Cairo and sipped a coffee (Annika sent us there to kill time) before we headed off to her apartment, for chatter and back out the door for fool - a local bean dish that I didn't like the first time I tried it but enjoyed it so much more this time. Back to the hostel and to bed before we tried to conquer the Egyptian Museum today.

Which we did. And there is so much to write about - more stories about getting lost, meeting young students who want to take your picture, going to the very top of a mosque and overlooking the city at night, drinking fresh pomegranate juice, smoking a hooka and drinking Turkish coffee, buying a camel snow globe for a friend at home (because it just cracks me up) and the beginnings of all of that and the million of things that make Cairo so interesting and fun.

But I've been walking all day and need to save these stories for tomorrow...

Photos from the wedding....

Click below... beautiful friends at their beautiful wedding

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67749380@N00/sets/72157603136676001

:)

Locals, Friends and the perfect vacation...

Friday, in Honolulu, started with coconut yogurt and an 8 mile hike to Diamond Head (in flip flops, an extremely bad idea), lunch at a local taco place (complete with macaroni salad and rice) and back to our hotel for a quick nap. We got ready for the wedding, showered up and slipped on nice but casual clothes. With the bride and her family, Shannon, Lyman and I headed off to the beach for the ceremony. The waves were magnificent and drowned out the vows, we snapped pictures of each other and the lovely couple (plus a mongoose) and headed to the oldest hotel in Honolulu for a beautiful sunset and reception. The night ended with a toast at midnight and a bunch of pumpkins happily turning in.

Saturday, Shannon and I headed to the beach and waited for the new couple to pick us up. We headed to a fish sanctuary, snorkeling and hanging outwith the sun. It was a wonderful excuse to be in Hawai'i with such good friends. An expensive dinner at one of the most famous restauarants on the island (the Michael Simon of Cleveland, the Tom Douglas of Seattle), more drinks, more good times.

Today, Sunday, my last day in paradise was hanging out at the beach in the morning, buying some tchotches and postcards for friends, then running to the "North Shore" (after we had just found the perfect beach spot) with a local guy (James, the groom) for some of the best shaved ice on the island, private beaches, roadside Thai, and back to the city to grab one more glimpse of the evening with Kermit, the green raft, that Shannon and I had bought at one of the 49 ABC stores on the island.

I head back to Seattle with as much vitamin D as I could possible get, having tasted everything coconut as possible. A red eye will have to carry me through the day and into practice in the evening having spent a few days on one of the best places on Earth for one of the best reasons.

ps - this was wedding 22nd... I forget Rebecca & Rich's wedding - which was small but fabulous.

Beautiful...

I few into to Hawaii and it was absolutely breathtaking and beautiful - clouds covering the mountains, sparkly blue water, green everywhere. I couldn't imagine why James, who had grown up here, would ever want to leave (found out why later.) They picked me up at the airport and off we went to a historic battle scene, over to the "punch bowl" and US Military cemetery, to one of the best shaved ice places in the city (that only a local would know) and then to the "city beach". I was exhausted, excited and couldn't believe I was in Hawaii! It was gorgeous, stunning, and simply beautiful.

I got a bit of a "no friend" burn (meaning I had "no friends" to make sure I was properly covered with sunscreen) in a matter of an hour, showered, had a few drinks by the ocean, walked around, ate sushi and hung out with my old Cleveland friends and read Dan Savage's book (Stranger editor) while sitting outside on the balcony. Tomorrow, a hike awaits early in the morning, a beautiful and intimate wedding in the afternoon and more adventures on Saturday.

Can I say beautiful and stunning... again?

Better footprints...

There are plenty of sites that tell you how your lifestyle impacts the planet and essentially what you "ecological footprint" is. I went to this website http://www.earthday.net/Footprint/index.asp and tried it out. It turns out that some things I scored really well on but others weren't as good. (My score meant that we needed two planets to sustain my lifestyle! And it was low!) So with that in mind, I rolled out of bed on Sunday, having caught up on some seriously needed sleep and headed to Sunday Ballard Farmers' Market to try and improve our apartment (household) score by buying more locally. We managed to purchase half of our groceries for the week from the farmers market (all local). I've also, proudly, been able to say I've taken the bus a heck of a lot more lately (can attribute some of that to gas and the fact that I need my brakes replaced.)

Better footprints... gotta keep working on that - we all have to keep working on it.

My favorite pasttime...

Actually isn't derby - it's weddings. Seriously. I probably go to more weddings than I ever imagined I would. I've thrown bachealor parties, hosted showers, held hands, helped pick registries, dried tears, cried some myself. I LOVE weddings. They're two of my favorite things -cake and dancing. They're love and idealism. They're promise and hope. They're good friend marrying their other good friends. (They're pretty damn expensive.) And I've been happy to play a role in so many of them!

This week I head off to James and Heather's wedding in Hawaii (where James grew up.) Tough I know. However, I think this like wedding #21 or something - seriously. So just for fun, I played a memoryl game and went thru them...


Deb & Mike - I was a guest and spent a lot of time comforting the bride who had planned a wedding on December 31st in Iowa. Can we all say blizzard.

Christophe & Michele - guest - in Dababakala, Cote d'Ivoire -the French guy married the Salad lady. It would happen again. She was beautiful - he was stubborn. They were a perfect couple and though the wedding was cursed with bad magic, they're still together almost 10 years later.

Salimata & Bakery - guest - in Kaffardougou, Cote d'Ivoire - they had been together for years, had two childen but didn't have the money until later for the wedding. I spent the night in a socery ridden village, where the bride might have possibly been cursed but it was a good time.

Jen & Joel - bridesmaid - I was back from the Peace Corps all of two weeks. Her original bridesmaid turned into bridesmaidzilla... I came to the rescue and drink way too much having been my first exposure to hard alcohol in 2 years. Opps.

Kathy & Don - maid of honor - my best childhood friend got married! I gave a speed (when I wasn't scheduled) that made people cry, including me. It was a great time, including dancing with red devil horns.

Denise & Tom - guest - my other childhood friend gets married. A very creative wedding and was a great time - in Chicago.


Mimi & ? - guest - honestly, all I can remember from this wedding is that the bestman's toast was all about himself. Oy.

Jeremie & Fatou - guest - I went back to Cote d'Ivoire with my site partner from the Peace Corps less than a year after having left. I played hostess to the groom's French family, chased fermes (fire ants) out of the house with soap (caustic), took care of my sitepartner who go malaria and got stuck in Morocco for a week becase of September 11th.

Mark & Margie - sister - I didn't play a role in this wedding. It was a nice wedding but my mother broke her hip at the reception. Oy. That was terrible.

Robin & Marc - guest - they had a cermony for their 30th year anniversary. Marc told the "clueless bus story" which I had told him on the stairs at Susan's party (basically talking about the level of cluessness of men from passangers on the bus who can hop on and off, to drivers who think they have a clue and drive with pride... up to CEOs of Cluelessness.) It was a wonderful cermony. They're a couple I aspire to be like.


Susan & Christian - jack of all trades - I ended up helping set up for the wedding having arrived early and found a friend completely overwhelmed. Great vows, beautiful music.

Stephanie & Jonah - guest, wedding savior - She was the daughter of my supervisor. They had forgotten the veil for the Jewish ceremony and me and the medical director (also a guest) drove like bats out of hell to the house and back in a blink of an eye. We made record time and no one noticed that the bride was ever without her veil. It was a very, very fun wedding.


Katie & Clark - guest - they had a private cermony and a very fun reception at one of my favorite bars. She was a former Peace Corps volunteer and a friend of a friend with who I never felt like I spend enough time.

Holly & Martin - guest - they got married in Florida and had a party back in Cleveland. Super fun - I made myself the tour guide on the bus that took all the guest to the side - holy crap -too much fun. Really. The party was a great time too!

Shannon & Lyman - bridesmaid - one of my favorite weedings. I had a reading I didn't know about until the rehearsal dinner. They were the most inlove couple ever. They were my roommaters, they are two of my favorite people.

Megan & Jarett - bridesmaid - my site partner in the Peace Corps. We had been through more than most sisters had and were like sisters (in all the positive and negative ways.) Their wedding was beautiful with many, many touches of West Africa where they had met each other - plus great contra dancing the night before. Wonderful.

Deb & Mike - guest, wedding savior - She's a wonderful artist friend whose "minister" had baled at the last minute. My friend Meredith hooked me up with another minister who could help them out as well as a musician. It was a super fun wedding with people I had met at other events. It felt like I was sewn into the Cleveland art scene fabric.

Heidi & John - maid of honor - truly my best friend. It was an honor to be a part of the ceremony and super fun. I was so happy for her, in all of this ornate India and American ceremonies, she managed to just shine.

Meredith and Scott - guest - Meredith was my early morning walker and art opening pal in Cleveland. (Her brother is Martin.) She is so creative and brilliant. Her wedding invitation requested that everyone where black or white to their wedding. Funny how I missed that part and showed up in brown. Lyman did too - but he did it on purpose.

Jenny & Ethan - guest - a BEAUTIFUL Christmas time wedding with a great band, theatre (and some) derby people. A great time dancing to the live band. A very wonderful couple.

Claudia & Justin - guest - took me to Mexico for the first time, this year. I was probably the most glamerous and beautiful wedding ever. It was magical and it was a great reason to travel to Mexico - to see two of my favorite people get married.

I'm sure there are a couple I have forgotten but I think I have most of them. And I'm sure they'll keep going... and I'll be glad to be a part of each and every one.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Just because you can see straight doesn't mean you aren't drunk....

was what I was telling people when I arrived to set up the floor at Edmonds Community College for our bout. I had a sore back on Wednesday and Thursday morning I couldn't get out of bed because of horrible back spasms - which I had never had - and a pain that was so intense I could hardly breath. I called off work and got the earliest possible doctor's appointment. She said it wasn't a bad injury (pulled muscle) but that my body was over reacting. Will I be about to play in my bout on Saturday? Oh sure, it's going to take a few days - what is today? Wednesday? No, Thursday. Oh, I doubt it. You'll feel better by Monday. But I need to feel better by Saturday....I got a muscle relaxer and went home to bed. Begging my back to just relax. Thursday's practice was sitting on the side lines and getting very excited about our upcoming bout.

Friday I scheduled a massage - which felt great - kind of -they thought I was nuts to think of playing this weekend. (But it was our first travel team bout! I had to be there!) My friends at Fast Girls Skates thought I was nuts and knew what I needed to do. Star TaRiot, another skater on the Travel Team, who was also injured thought I was making the right decisions. It was injury with poor timing - an overused back that had recently helped a friend move furniture, set up bleachers for the Bellingham Betties bout, moved boxes at work, it was exertion 201 that happened to come this week.I called our captain and told her to pull me from the lineup. I couldn't guarantee that I would feel good enough to play. And I didn't want a pulled muscle to become a torn muscle. It felt bad which my rough tears on my way to our travel team potluck revealed.

Saturday I felt great. But it was a cautious great - which is how I decided that "just because you can see straight doesn't mean you're sober." Just because I can walk with out incredible pain doesn't mean I can take a hit and get up from it. Doesn't mean I can turn and see the skater behind me. I left my skates at home and headed to the bout to set up the floor and get this bout going.

And it was an incredible evening - even as a spectator. Our teams all did so well! Our travel team had only practice together for 12 hours - and though we got creamed - we did our best to hold our own. CarnEvil had been broken up (like all other teams) into Blue and Black and it was the first bout for many of our skaters. Everyone did so incredibly well. It was sold out! It was so exciting to be a part of such a fun and exciting movement of rollerderby. I was so proud, even without my skates on.

And today is proof that just because you can see straight doesn't mean you don't have a hangover (not from drinking too much but from drinking without eating after working all day to set up the bout...ooops.) And I made the right decision.

Windy Days and Dreams of Failure...

The ocean is the most obvious dictator when it comes to weather here in Seattle. The ocean will push dense fog over highways, drop misty mornings in Ballard, and toss in a wind storm here and there that will take out power for a week and show down the city - which is what's supposed to happen tonight... I have also learned not to believe the weathermen. They don't seem to get it right - in Seattle.

Today I learned that the AIDS Vaccine Trail in which I was participating failed. Harsh words but essentially it didn't work - it wasn't producing the results necessary. When I was called about it, I started laughing and telling the nurse in charge of my vaccine, "David, don't you remember, I came in for a vaccine one time and told you about a dream I had where it had failed." You're scaring me Michelle. "No, remember, you pulled us all into a room - kind of like a theatre - and told us it hadn't worked and sent us all home." (I blogged about it the dream. And I know I dreamt it because I had no reaction to the vaccine which just made you think nothing was happening.) I made a joke about it because when I find myself in stressful situations I try to find a reason to laugh. But it's not wasn't funny. They had a lot of hope for this vaccine (it was in a Phase II B for those of you who know about these things). A lot of hope slipped away - especially for all of these people in the world who are waiting for something to slow down, alter, change this deadly disease which is killing generations - which has take friends of mine who were parents, coffee shop owners, artists and teachers.

I hate it when you dream of things like this.

A Perfect Fall Day...

Cold rain fell on and off all morning matting orange and red leaves against the street and sidewalks. It felt like fall - where you want to curl up for a nap - especially after a weekend like this one, long days full of events both for fun and for work. we brought out a speaker, doctor, civil libertarian, social Justice advocate whose passion for women, their health care and their rights was so invigorating, so inspiring and so absolutely exhausting. We have so much to do to protect how far we've come.

I would like to be a dancer, please.

The Bellingham Betties rolled out onto the floor and put on a fantastic show of roller derby tonight! There were some incredible hits, nail biting jams, keeping the score within points of each other, many tied moments during the evening. I had been there since 11 a.m. (met friends for breakfast at 10 a.m.) setting up bleachers, the "green room", explaining how roller derby is played to friends and parents of roller girls (one women said I should be a writer... funny.) It was a great evening hanging out with some of my regular roller fans like Weedy and Jon, Papa and So Sue Me. Astro and I saw each other from across a stack of bleachers and ran to hug each other like long lost (derby) sisters. I truly enjoy derby and love, love being a part of it! The Betties did such an amazing job and put on such a good bout - I was proud, once again, to be a part of something so fantastic. At the end of the evening, I had a beer with Hotty and some of the usual suspected before hitting the road for the 85 mile trip back to Seattle.

Road trips at night are among my favorite. My car pushed 42 miles a gallon, I can see the crazies who don't see each other in their blind spots, and you look into the distance knowing there are stars somewhere above the mountains and the tree lines. You pass by certain points hoping the drunks aren't out as the Pacific Northwest fog starts to dance in. The miles tick by, the music is great, and sometimes you wish you didn't have a destination.

I got home to cats deprived of attention and a wine glass calling my name. I put on the public television as background noise poking around the Internet, when the "classic arts" program came on - showing an incredible performance by Romanian dancers. They were modern dancers, ballerinas and gymnasts. I saw long tulle skirts out of the corner of my eye and was memorized by a dance that was mostly upside down with legs in the air, looking more like living art pieces than dancers. Their strength amazed me - their costumes were fantastic. I was rivited. I was thinking of an amazing show I saw as a kid on the public channel in Denver involving animated found objects. When I was younger, I had so wanted to be a dancer.

Going to Egypt...

It took an hour and a half for Kelly and I to buy our tickets to Egypt tonight. (Lara is out of town but we got her's too.) The sites were slow, the prices kept going up. I hitched up my theory that our IP address was being tracked and our poking around various sites was actually blocking us out of the lower fairs. We logged onto a different computer in the house and got back to something super cheap (comparatively) with only one stop (there aren't direct flights from Seattle to Cairo) and voila! We're going. We can hardly believe it. I love it! I can't wait!

Woot!

Fall...

It's been a very cold and chilly week - the heat as been turned on every night this week and the trees are making an earnest effort to change colors along some of my more familiar streets. I love fall, for the reasons most people do - bright colors, sweaters, hot chocolate, tea, totty, evenings curled up watching a movie, windy days, brisk hikes, cool rains, dramatic skies filled with billowing clouds, and that feeling of change which makes me want to get rid of the summer stuff I didn't wear, file that box of papers and toss things I haven't used.

And that's what I'm doing tonight. After weeks of go-go-go, I'm taking an evening to be quiet, do laundry, sort thru the junk mail, hang out with kitty friends and get to bed at a reasonable hour on this windy fall evening.

Coming full circle

My older brother Mark arrived in from Portland yesterday afternoon heading out of Seattle on Thursday morning flight... Are you free? Can you move that meeting? Let's hang out! After having taken 3 days off Deep in the Heart of Texas, my head was spinning but we took off on the town (after seeing up for a work meeting), scooted to the Chapel (old funeral home that's now a bar) for a drink, chatted about kids, being parents, ate some dinner at the Hopvine, told some funny stories, shared some different perspectives, went up to travel team practice (which I couldn't miss), chatted about derby, and headed back to the Matador for late night brews and nachos before a quick nap Mark headed back to Cinci and I went to work. Spinning.

Tonight two of my teammates, So Sue Me and Mile High Mary, gave me flowers and a bottle of wine for all of the work in our skate-a-thon which helped us raise money for a portable skate floor (our goal was $4k and we're past $5k - yeah!) I was so surprised! It was so sweet and completely unnecessary and a bit overwhelming. Such a nice thank you. Which reminds me of my blog posting the other day about thank yous - both giving them and receiving them.

Thank You.

Deep in the Heart of Texas...

I would break out into song every once-in-a-while and make Megan absolutely crazy (not intentionally it just happened.) I just got back from 5 days in Austin, Texas for the WFTDA Roller Derby Championships. It was an absolutely amazing time with some seriously fantastic derby played! We had a pig roast on Friday night and Saturday and Sunday were filled with watching bouts as Kansas Rollerderby Warriors, seated forth in the western conference upset the weekend by winning the championships! Fantastic. And I will consider writing more about it when I'm feel less jet lagged and out of sorts as the temperature was 90 when we left Austin and is a very cool 50-something here in Seattle....