Today, as encmonkey and I sat by the canal, I mentioned I planned to check into how I was doing on the year's plans. I wrote these back in January.
Plans for 2009:
1. Pick a wedding date. Ha! But I believe we know our location and season which was half the battle. Half point.
2. Go dancing (swing?) four times. Every time I went to sign up for swing so far, half the nights would be in conflict with my own plans. But, I finally figured out where to go for drop-ins that's on my side of the Seattle bridges in Greenwood. Greenwood is the outer edge of convenient for us, but way easier than Century Ballroom. So we're giving this a shot soon. Also, I've lived .6 miles from Greenlake's Little Red Hen for almost 3 years and I had no idea until this week that they have free dancing lessons on Sundays - Tuesdays at 8 PM. It's country, but a coworker told me I'd love it so I should check it out. Also, it might be a way to get Captain Amy and her secretly-country-music-loving girlfriend out for an inexpensive outing. Although I should scope it out first to make sure they'd be friendly/open-minded to the gheys. And of course Jim's Laura lives nearby, making it an excuse to see them. Zero credit yet though.
3. Go to Bikram Yoga once. HAHAHA. Still very curious. Again, will I totally freak out? Only trying will tell. Zero.
4. Go to omakase in Seattle. I was about to laugh at this one too, when I realized I went to omakase last Saturday night to Kirkland's Izumi on seattleforge's advice in the January entry. Technically not Seattle but I totally meant in Puget Sound when I was thinking of this. But Izumi was killer and crazy inexpensive for omakase. Like $25. I guess this is done in the spirit but maybe I will only give myself half credit so I'll make it to Kappo. I should also head to the one in Lynnwood. I really love sushi. And I really love rice but I digress. Half point.
5. Resurrect 2007's tracking spreadsheet. Oops. Well, I log most things on my gCal. Zero.
6. Make my list of those I haven't spent time with recently to plan how to get back in touch. Oops again. But I caught The Malaise so I shouldn't have expected much on this one. Then I alternate between feeling bitchy or boring so maybe it's for the best that I'm getting in touch with my inner hermit. Zero.
7. Comment more/reply to all comments on various sites. I've gotten way better at responding to every comment. And I'm commenting more out there. Point.
8. Go to GREECE. CHECK! I should give myself ten points for this! It was awesome. We'll return.
9. Supper Club. See #6. These are linked. But something may be brewing out there thanks to reuniting with a twitter friend who I met years ago when I used to assist in cooking classes with. I can already latch onto her plans which is even better than me doing any cat herding. I'm a little excited about this because I sense she is a kindred spirit a la Anne. Half-point.
10.Stay committed to letting go of certain people. Yes, I have succeeded in Phase 1. Point.

4.5 out of 10.
That's pretty good since I always plan for 50% when I write the list in the first place.

Isn't that Mark Sanford story a kick in the pants? I was trying to relay the "LOVAH" (a la Will Ferrell) emails to tibadoh earlier tonight as we were driving to a party...pretty sure it was lost in translation.

Lots in flux. Home life has never been better. I have Ideas on where we might get married. It seems disconcerting to some that I'm slow on developing a final plan but I mostly see those interactions as more illuminating on the state of the other conversational party. I want to make sure we commemorate appropriately. I'm enjoying tibadoh more than ever and The Baron has been showing his more princely side, less of his old man river grumpiness. He must just love the sun too.

A lot's going great. Despite this good fortune, I seem to be taking other events in the worst possible way, even when I'm reassured I might benefit from such change. Some things are clear, others -- I'm not sure they'll be okay again. I've been trying to refocus myself. But most of the time, I just want to be a hermit.

I was in the middle of packing up my desk a couple of weeks ago and ran across an old scrap floating in my file cabinet. I'd taped it to my work monitor for most of 2004-2005. It's seemed prescient, again:

When one door of happiness closes, another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.

It's been difficult to get over The Malaise. In the meantime, I've been working on our Greece pictures to share. They make me smile. It's my 2009 highlight so far. Certain things were already getting me down before we traveled and our trip was a nice break from reality.

Anyhow, I've got the start of a big set here. I've written up quite a bit already offline. I'll share more eventually. Look at that blue sky! I loved it so much:

I've had a soft spot in mah heart since I saw this Shepherd Smith clip on Colbert--this link was his "we don't f*1king torture" rant, which is how I ranted to my mother, f-bombs and all, the same week when we learned an old Sunday School teacher of mine & family friend was the leading authority to sign the torture memos and is under investigation for war crimes. It was really difficult to find out that someone I so admired and respected growing up was one of the Bush 6 and had let that happen on his watch. I babysat his kids, often. He nearly talked me into law school, my final year of college.

This is Smith's latest making rounds:


After seeing some rhetoric from acquaintances, even some friends, the recent fringy radicalization worries me. I hope he lasts on FoxNews.

I'm writing up tips for my manager, who's going to Maui soon. For starters, I'm emailing Prince but I'd also written up where we ate in November...just never posted it publicly yet.

If you've got any recommendations for Maui - share!

I'm especially excited he's going to Hawaii. His wife just graduated from grad school (she went back after their 3 kids started school) and for this trip, it's just the two of them. He nearly booked to go back to Scottsdale (he's a big golfer...they just went last year) but I campaigned for him to pick the place his wife would want to go. I looked into various Euro destinations or other dreamy places, but ultimately she wanted HI. And besides, his hotel is within putting range of at least two courses. Everybody wins.

As I sit next to him, I could pester rally advocate frequently. Exciting! I love playing travel agent. Too bad it's a minimum wage gig in the real world.

Love this picture - by Frank Melchior.

Very similar to this one from last night. I'd show the pic here like I link above but it seems I can't.

In the Athens airport, I spotted the fan mags & Greek translations of Twilight, New Moon, etc., which still always takes me by surprise. This morning, I ran across news that a Twilight cruise'll be setting sail next August 2010 from Seattle. Autograph sessions, panels, meet the stars, stuck on a boat with a thousand other Twihards...how could anyone pass this up???

Link to the official site and itinerary is above, but more details here from Associated Content.

A few weeks ago, we had those first really nice weekends that fake out the Californians (i.e. transplants inc me) into thinking they can switch to their flippy flops. So happy we arrived back in time for part 2 of that. June might fake us out all over again until 4th of July & beyond like last year, but damn this weekend was awesome. The wounds of Spring/Summer '08 are still so fresh I wouldn't plant anything from seed. It didn't stop us from going for the tomato starts at Swanson's after work on Friday. I hope we have more than green tomatoes this August.

I'm still tired so once again, postponing any sort of trip recap. And for now I'm going to mostly skip the fiasco that was flying Continental back from Athens through Newark. Ok, I'm not. That is a story in itself, holy hell with cops getting called onto the plane after we boarded to deal with a sick ~8 y.o. child and his AWFUL, NEGLECTFUL mother before we pulled away. (Earlier, I was sitting next to them at the gate during plane delays and the poor kid kept throwing up while his mom wouldn't put down her iPhone. Kid got real attention when he begged flight attendant for help.) While we waited for them to interrogate the mom, I heard from a seat neighbor that an Italian woman was arrested in our original gate-waiting area for losing her g-d mind. I must have been riding a people mover at the time.

(This may sound contradictory, but outside of the boarding/gate experience, I kept noticing how NICE everyone seemed at EWR, down to the security guards. There was even a uniformed guide at the airport TRAM offering assistance which never happens.)

During boarding, I'd also noticed different cops stripping clothes off another dude at our plane's gate door to check for drugs. Half dressed guy in Che paraphernalia would have been hard to miss, you know. It was one of the longest travel days of my life. Ultimately we all made it to Seattle only 2 hours late -- bad mom of the month, her son, Che dude, and all. So. The memory's already fading thankfully. Next time, Air France there and back if possible. Even in light of today's Air France catastrophe, the trip to Athens via Paris was dreamy. New plane, champagne after takeoff for everyone, unlimited movies, easy(ish) sleeping. Comfortable enough that the snippy french flight attendant couldn't phase me as she chided all for taking too long to fill out in-case-of-swine-flu contact documents.

( The Weekend: sushi, Bourdain & Batali, crawfish boils, wine dinners )

I still haven't copied all the Greece trip photos from my memory cards. I had my first possible data loss after 6 years of fanatical camera use -- An Incident where I left some Mac Finder windows open while switching out cards. Total rookie mistake but all is not yet lost. Tibadoh is trying to fix this and get those gigs back...in the meantime, I will point you in the direction of pro photographer BH Neely, also known around these parts as fshusband or bpsphoto. He was one of our hosts and with annesblog, showed us the ropes in Greece. This one's one of several gems, from our last night walking in Oia, Santorini on tibadoh's birthday. Another good memory -- a timelapse of the starry night as we finished off the ouzo with the neighbors from Fairfax.

From A&B's balcony during afternoon coffee hour. Ours is up and to the right.



A has the Greek data plan for phonepics so you can catch more of our goings-on here: http://annesblog.livejournal.com/
There's even one of me and tibadoh visiting their balcony with olives, ouzo & coffee hours after arrival. (It was windy our first night so we unpacked the jackets. The gods began blessing us with heat and sunshine.) Hooray!

Uncracked the wifi today after a few days here, so maybe I'll post some pictures later. I'm running out of hard drive space for pictures.

This is one of the best vacations ever. It's like we stepped into a travel brochure. The company is delightful.

I've indulged in some self-loathing lately that I'm not doing any journal-keeping anywhere as much as even a few months ago. Okay self-loathing is overstating dramatically but I'm not happy with the situation. Partially, the conflict comes out of never wanting to fully indulge in some of those other sites that are fracturing our time but I succumbed completely anyway. I got drawn in when they threw great parties. I'm seeing more and more comments lamenting lack of writing by others, for similar reasons. I relate. I feel rusty when I try to write here. And then, since folks are on the new flavor of the month, comments and convo aren't as free flowing. Boo on that.

scearley commented "The advent of blogs was a welcome boon to literature - more people reading and writing. Twitter has destroyed that." This immediately reminded me of my favorite jkottke missive months ago: "How many innocent blogs have died so that Twitter may live?" Indeed.

Complaints aside, I enjoy that it's brought out those who'd already fallen silent and that it gives me another avenue to keep up with beloved pals...just wanna be more conscious of how it's dividing my time and how it's detracting. Those that haven't let your writing drop off, I love you for it. FYI.
--
I'm also not running as much as I used to or want, despite having just finished that half marathon last Sunday. Overnight (okay over Saturday night) I became one of those people storing the laundry basket on her treadmill because it needed to be out of the way of houseguests. It's been there 4 days and I'm disgusted every time the floppy sock hanging off the side catches my eye.
--
I reignited sibling rivalry 2000 miles away. Very proud. I've wanted to send my mom some outrageous arrangement for Mother's Day for years. Usually I forget to send a card until the day before. Someecards and emails just ain't the same. This year, I remembered and sent 2 dozen roses as a surprise on Friday. My mom was thrilled. Her coworker uploaded photos of the event on Facebook. (Yes, her coworker friended me. It's a story. I came to terms with it quickly & have used it for good. See also: scheming with the rose deliveries.) My mom is beaming in that way where I know she's excited. She sent a midday email recalling how my Dad never bought her flowers that could die quickly -- always planted rosebushes for her instead -- and even though she enjoyed the backyard full of paperwhite lilies, she said she never convinced him it wasn't exactly the same. But see, she still has the hydrangeas lining the yard.

Saturday, my brother went out and bought her flowers too. (He lives with her, but rarely buys cards for anyone unless my mom's pointing him in the direction of the stationery aisle.) I had to laugh when she said she wondered how we could one-up each other next year. I'm relieved I remembered since I'm the type to wonder about next year or the year after.
--
I read The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao in book club this month. Highly recommended. Easily top 5 of last two years. I like to throw that top 5 thing around when I'm too lazy to actually rank it and that sounds nice, doesn't it? I think motomotoyama must be smoking crack to perceive tricksy magical realism afoot but hey, I wasn't ever the English Lit fancy pants, grad-school wonk, so what do I know. I am thinking she just isn't as entranced with Latin American lit as the rest of us and likes to throw that accusation like red paint on a fur coat. (Feel free to let this provoke you into making your case. Insufficient closure on the topic Sunday and all.)
--
Every time people ask, we like to cackle like crazies: we haven't set a date for a wedding yet. A friend eloped Friday night at King County Courthouse, then invited us downtown for an impromptu party. It was inspiring and more fun than many weddings I've attended. Related: I bought my 1st wedding magazines on May 1. They were kind of dumb & set me off for hours wondering why so many buy into big wedding dream$ when the small daily things feel more alluring to me. I never dreamed of big to-dos as a child when I got married someday, outside of the party idea. I just held the veil for my friends -- veils being curtain sheers pulled off windows, attached to barrettes or headbands -- when they played let's march down the aisle. I dug that role.
--
The french fries at Schultzy's are still REALLY really good.
--
Maybe next time we'll talk about the old family friend up for possible trial since he's one of the Bush Six. I'm going to move the laundry basket now. Maybe.

I'd be remiss if I didn't share:
Awkward Family Photos



In other news, this is another busy month between birthdays, a final Technical Communications class which I'm enjoying although it's only adding to limiting my personal writing time, trips to Vancouver and an upcoming visit to Greece to see annesblog and fshusband. I haven't even uploaded the Vancouver pics off my phone or cameras. I went to an impromptu celebration at Purple last night for friends who eloped at 8 PM & will be having their shindig in July. And of course, after a stop at Vessel for snotty service, I thought it was a great idea to get deep-fried mac and cheese at midnight at The 5 Point.

It took 4 half-marathons to get one in the Northwest without snow or rain -- even my full marathon in October was the first time of real rain in the history of the Portland race. But yesterday it finally happened. Perfect day in Vancouver!





And also: of all people, sprizee karaoked last night! More than once! Canada is a magical, magical place.

Hoping this works for international users -- Colbert's response to the NOM gay-marriage ads, from the April 16 show:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Colbert Coalition's Anti-Gay Marriage Ad
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

In honor of tibadoh's and 4hour_ramona's recent woes. Oh - I just heard mr. tibadoh's sneeze attack.

Such a lovely day! I was just thinking Friday that now's the time of year when all the Cali expats starting thinking Spring has fully arrived. Consider me fooled as well since we're sitting in the backyard, drinking summery pool drinks and wearing shorts & tanktops. To think, it snowed 4 days ago!

...still not gonna plant anything fraggle*.

*I'll tell that story later.

Modern Love has been ON IT, lately: link here.

A very different take on Alzheimer's than my own grandmother's, but that's a good thing.

There had always been an element of existential fury to my grandmother’s barbed wit, concerning her lost time and missed chances. But as her Alzheimer’s advanced, she forgot to be angry. And she seemed healthier, too: her pace quickened, her complexion brightened, her hair thickened. And with my help and her husband’s credit card, even her wardrobe improved. Her transformation was magical and unmistakable.

So I've been at a loss on what to snippet when posting this article here so I'll just rip the bandaid off and just tell ya to go read, "The Different Kinds of People that There Are." My favorite Stranger article in maybe ever.

Also, check out the new Life.com site. It's a joint venture between the old Life mag people (Time) and this other company I know about. It launched earlier this week. Try not to get it confused with the Life/Google venture. Different thing. ;)

In other news, I have this completely unrelated project hanging over my head and I can't wait until it's done because it has seriously cramped my LJ posting even when I don't actually get any traction on the project itself.

Also, Iceland Air is having a Seattle Special at the moment for their new inaugural service in July & August to Nordicland. Starting $569 RT. Just thought you should know.

Approaching 72 hours of being back from New Orleans for our friends' wedding. An interesting, 5-day fast trip where a lack of announced schedule enabled me to relinquish control over all of my time. There are good and bad features of this approach. I'll have to tell you about it in-depth sometime, but it's really the first time I've stayed in the quarter in continuous amount of time like that (or should I have used continual over continuous? don't really care, but I remember there's a not so tricky distinction from editing days. feel free to lazyweb me). This is an experience I've long wanted to have, so I am chalking up the quarter residency experience to a win, net gain, and am trying to ignore the guilt I feel for not leaving the neighborhood as I'd thought to visit my family more or the people I hoped to see. I could stay in that small radius for days and never feel like I *need* to leave for anything. Oh wait, I did that.

The wedding food was crazy delicious & the new couple truly picked a great spot to have their wedding & celebration. Never mind that we were taken FOR A RIDE by that cab driver who pretended to go deaf every other block for what was supposed to be a SIX BLOCK ROUTE FROM POINT A TO POINT B WITHIN THE QUARTER that one time on our way to the wedding but as Gus noted, we earned the $20 back in the retelling so far.

Detroit's Beautiful, Horrible Decline



This series almost makes me want to visit again. I haven't as an adult. My Detroit memories are limited to brief days here or there on our way to Kitchener, Ontario (where my bro was born) -- we visited old family friends nearby on the Canadian side, every few years when I was growing up. We were in the neighborhood annually for Ohio but my Mom had family in Michigan. For Americana, The Henry Ford and Greenfield Village made as much as an impression as the Smithsonian did.

A few weeks ago I had the option to choose a 9-hour layover in Cleveland or one in Paris in May, on the way to Greece. I went for Paris and realized a few days afterward I'd missed my big chance to finally visit my father's grave in Cleveland for the first time. (A family plot is there including the one with my name on it.) It will be 15 years in June since he was buried but I was basically too poor to go with my mother to the grave-site. As it happened at the time, my brother was on an LDS mission to Cleveland & had missed the Louisiana funeral -- it was not policy for them to release missionaries to attend funerals out of their "zone" -- so at least one child represented at either Memorial. He wonders occasionally about us all going together to visit sometime but...it's not exactly like planning a trip to Disneyland.

"Give it a Second, It's Going to Space!"

Seriously, I can't stop sharing this.

Much better than the last long (now private) diatribe I wrote here about friends with cancer getting laid off, people getting robbed, and whatnot. I mean, that stuff blows, no doubt, but perspective is always welcomed around this joint.

A. I'm searching for a Seattle-based videographer for a nonprofit project. Let me know if you've got a lead.

B. Reading too much negativity in the news? The Recession Blocker's for you. "Blacks out unwelcome words." Really doesn't block out enough, but gives nice perspective on how much of news is CRAP right now.

C. There's going to be a Snuggie Pub Crawl in San Francisco soon. Wow.

D. Speaking of questionable fashion, need plural clothing? Check out Pantalaine. The Sweat-heart Sweet-Shirt first caught my eye, but the Sprizee and I fell out of our chairs over the Couch Dress. Okay, maybe it was just me that fell out. Lordamercy. Then tibadoh had to go and scare me with, "I know what someone's getting for her birthday!" (The sweet-shirt.)





Wow, I am doing some serious procrastination. (See exhibit A.)

E. Sometimes being a local radio show stalker pays off!

After a lively evening at Casa monkeyvamp, I realize I must share Gladys and Ellen here as well.



I cannot believe I am awake and posting here before 9 on a Saturday after our rowdy evening. P.S. The gingery Don Q Stormy at Ballard's Puerto Rican La Isla is magnificent, as is that one bartender.