Rowan's Round of Days

Saturday evening was Kat's Pombagira dance. There were about a dozen people and lots of wonderful food and music. (Kat said this was Boomer Pomba - lots of great oldies were played. LOL) I had been afraid it would be too hot to dance but Oya had sent cooling breezes (erm, winds really - I had such a headwind driving up there that my mileage was terrible... and we prius drivers watch that sort of thing!) I went in and out of trance and didn't have any particularly profound experiences. I did have a nice conversation or two with some people and some Pombas. *grin* I managed to stay awake for the whole 9-midnight dance but was very grateful that I had carpooled and could be less than attentive on the way home. And 2am is a time I seldom see. *yawn*

Sunday Russell and I headed up to San Francisco for an afternoon of the SF Mime Troupe's political theatrics in Dolores Park. It was good, though not their best. The day was amazingly warm for San Francisco, no sign of Saturday's wind. Russell asked the guy who played an amazing Dick Cheney afterwards how long he had been with SFMT and he said 21 years. We have been coming long enough that we recognize him and several of the other longtime folks. My first SFMT show was one of Hotel Universe with Beth in 1977, though I remember the Fact Wino shows of the early 1980's more clearly. They have done some great theatre over the years.

Whilst we were in the Park I grabbed a cache and got rid of a travel bug I have had for way too long. I haven't been caching much at all lately. Partly I'm busy in SL but also Google Earth isn't working with the geocaching kml file and I find that a big barrier. One gets so spoiled! I was nice to find a nice big cache in such a busy place!

This morning I had my annual appointment with my back doc. It went pretty well and afterward I made another try for a cache I looked for last year when I saw this doc. *grin* There was a worker near the cache when I came by and so I headed along the trail and found it flew over the freeway and ended up in the Los Gatos Creek trail (Oka Lane Recharge Area). It was a beautiful day! Geese and ducks honked, swam and flew. Poppies and other wildflowers graced the banks. I found two caches there and then headed back and made the find on the one near the doc. Go me. I need to remember to see if I got any interesting pictures in my creek trail walking.

All this had taken me to after noon and I took myself to the Mini Gourmet for lunch. I am reading Elaine Cunningham's Starlight & Shadows trilogy to get a better handle on Drow (since I'm playing on in SL). I read the first of R. A. Salvatore's Drizzt books but found it plodding. I find Ms. Cunningham a much more engaging author. My character is becoming clearer in my mind even as I am uncertain if I want to be involved in this role playing sim. There are so many things going on! Last night I went to a meeting with some librarian -- we have been gifted with a sim that is to be, for the next year at least, dedicated to Elizabethan England. We're talking about building Southwark so we have the Globe Theatre and other interesting venues. I want to work on that, I want to try machinima. Do I really have time to be a dark Elf? I'm not quite ready to give it up on it, but I admit to misgivings about how best to use my time. Esp. given that the RP schema they use requires a lot of "meditation" rather than actual role play. What's up with that?!

Our land is right next to the John Edwards campaign headquarters inworld and we get spillover from griefers and hecklers. *sigh* Today I had my own griefers after asking several young men not to fire weapons in my garden. I banned them but they sent several nasty attacks. My neighbor Alexie didn't have autoreturn on on her land so several things persisted longer than one might wish. I really don't want to be one of those people who closes off their land. But these guys were obviously alts set up for griefing. No-one who is really only two days inworld knows how to run particle griefer systems. I really don't understand getting off on making trouble for other folks.

Last night I saw Ghost Rider with Kurt & Arthur. It was not too bad a rendition of the comic book... but it was definitely aimed at 13 year old boys. And I'm sorry, but Nicholas Cage is not Johnny Blaze. Nice special effects. Tonight Russell and I saw Bridge to Terabithia. Oh my. I thought they did a wonderful job of realizing that rather difficult book. And I think I may have to buy the soundtrack. It was a three (or maybe four) hankie film.

Okay, time for an almost weekly update, I guess. I just haven't been in journal writing mode!
( of course it is very long! )

Saturday morning I headed out to the post office and picked up a package which turned out to be my birthday present from my mother and another volume of her journal. I stand in awe of her constancy. She has kept a journal since high school and I'm not even sure how many volumes we're up to at this point (I don't have the book with me, it undoubtably says *grin*). The lastest volume is 2001-2004. From there I headed to Fry's and found they didnt' open until 9am. Bah. At 9am I was at the Geocaching Fifty is Nifty birthday event for Marky and all the other January birthday folks. There was a really nice turn out and I had some great chats with fellow cachers and picked up a couple of travel bugs. I left early, hit Fry's for a 2gig SD card for my flash recorder and headed off to the Gard gathering. It was just as well attended as the geocaching breakfast and I had some great schmoozing there too. I got home in the early evening and had a quiet evening. I probably went into SL and spent too much time working on the land. I'm trying to learn how to build waterfalls. I can't say I'm taking to it particularly.

Sunday I read and took myself out to lunch (and fell off my diet and regretted it mightily). Petra and I got the music finished for Rakkasah (well, except that since last night I have a couple more edits to do... as always happens!) I went to a gallery opening in Second Life. The art of Kris Shanks is being showcased in a gallery Caledon VictoriaCity sponsored by the library branch there. It was very well attended and quite laggy so I was soon back at my waterfall wrestling. Russell got home and we hung out some and went to sleep.

Monday mr_kurt & I found a couple of caches at lunch. Yay! My caching is soooo far behind my previous cache-a-day goal! I stand at 656 finds. Monday night we blocked out some ideas for Rakassah and chose costumes. This will be my first time dancing at Rakassah. I never really thought I'd be dancing out again after becoming disabled so this is portentious in a way that may not seem obvious from outside my skin. A hafla here or there just isn't the same at dancing at a big festival. Eeep!

1/12 - a carabiner with a pocket knife in it from Brigid
1/13 - a relief carving of a lighthouse by/from my Mum
1/14 - a puzzle from one of my siblings (no card and I've forgotten whose box it came in) of a bridge from a photograph probably taken by the person who sent it. I'm so bad!

And that is the end of my presents. A whole month's worth! Well, I got another very special one in the mail yesterday, but I won't need a note to remind me of what that is. Now I just need to write some thank you notes!

Friday I had a pretty quiet day. I went to lunch at Original Joe's and saw Happy Feet at the IMAX theatre. Did some grocery shopping. Nothing much. Saturday much the same except Russell and I saw Shut Up & Sing.

As we were heading out to my office holiday party on Saturday night the skies opened up and the rain poured down. I drove very carefully but it was not enough. About three blocks short of Flea St. Cafe where the party was held, an SUV cut in front of me and the car behind me rearended me when I stopped to avoid the SUV. All three of us stopped and exchanged insurance information in the pouring rain. I hit my head so hard on the headrest that my hairclip popped. My car's bumper will probably have to be replaced (or at least the bumper supports). I hate to lose all my bumperstickers!!! The car of the guy who hit me was in much worse shape. His airbags deployed and the windscreen shattered.

I was very shocky and soaking wet when we got to the party. The staff kindly gave me a class of wine and a place to sit whilst I wrote up my account so I'd remember the details even after the stress hormones dissapated. saffronrose sat by me and supported me. (mr_kurt was feeling too poorly to make the party.) I eventually managed to circulate a bit and we had a very lovely dinner with Marina and a couple of co-workers.

Today, despite my aches and pains, I drove up to Walnut Creek to the Northern California Where's George Assn holiday party at Tiki Tom's. I had a nice time. We had folks from all over Northern California and also 88*keys from Oregon and Hank from Massachusetts (the founder of the hobby). I grabbed a couple of caches before heading home. I found myself unwilling to be out driving after dark today and definitely a bit overly sensitive to lane changers and other folks coming at me with their cars. Bah. I hope I get over *that* soon!

So though I feel like I didn't get all that much *done* this weekend it feels like it was very eventful nonetheless.

Russell and I had a nice Thanksgiving. He took some more portraits of me (I really want to capture my hair). I think I'll have a good photo to send out in my holiday cards this year. Assuming I *manage* holiday cards this year which I am planning to but have been very lame about in the last couple. *grin*

We went downtown to see Casino Royale which was a very good Bond film despite the new actor not looking like a James Bond. I liked the prequel aspects and Judy Dench rocks as M. We also grabbed a new cache that had appeared (7th to find) which brings me to 600 caches found. Go me.

I got a terrible headache (possibly a migraine based on the tunnel vision preceding it, but I don't have a history of migraines) and took a bit of a nap. Russell woke me up and we went off to an amazing dinner at Denise & TC's. Denise is a truly wonderful cook. During Casino Royale, James Bond keeps eating these wonderful meals and I was filled with a desire to go forth and eat amazing food wearying fancy clothes. And then I realized that was what my weekend plans basically entail. Thanksgiving by Denise and then dinner at Cityscape tonight. And unlike Mr. Bond I expect to be able to enjoy my food without poison or mayhem. Life is good!

So we're off to Dickens and a stay at the Saint Francis on Union Square. I don't think I'll be paying $15 for internet at the hotel so I probably won't post. (I don't expect the weather to allow sitting in Union Square using the free wifi.) I hope my fellow Americans are having a wonderful holiday weekend and that everyone else is having a great time too.

I'm going totally crazy. I don't remember where I put my GPSr. We didn't go for any caches after the Japanese Gardens in Hayward. My GPSr is not in my caching bag, not in my car, not in my jacket pocket. Wah! I found this out heading over to get a cache for the Coin Quest and finding I had no handheld (I got to the parking area on my car's GPS). Luckily I ran into some caching friends at the site and was able to grab that one. But wah! How can I quest without a GPSr? No caching!!! Say it isn't so! And yes, I texted Rayna and it isn't in her bag either And I was doing so well with the quest.

As planned I got my hair done in a salon Thursday. Dang, the price has gone up about 25% since the last time I did such a thing a decade ago. My hair looks really amazing though. Of course, my face is still disfigured with poison oak and I have found myself reluctant to take pictures. *sigh*

Thursday night rubibees and I joined some of her colleagues for dinner at the Indian restaurant that took over Shalimar's old location. The pasanda was too spicy for me, so whilst not bad, definitely a place I'll have to stick to koorma and pasanda and ask for mild. It seems like the Indian restaurants in the area are getting spicier in the last couple of years. Or maybe my taste is getting wimpier. *grin* It was interesting talking to a women's studies professor from Tulane about post-Katrina life and the politics of academic life.

Friday Rayna had a bunch more meetings and spent the morning mostly taking prim classes in Second Life. I have accepted a storefront in Cybrary City and I'm trying to figure out how to set up a presence there. The screen hanger came by and tried out our new custom window screens and carried them off for painting. My meeting tradesperson job for this Friday. If I hadn't been waiting for him I might have gone caching. A new Coin Quest starts tomorrow, so hopefully I'll manage some big time caching soon. Why do they do this in the winter?!

Just after the tradesperson left, Rayna called and I picked her up. We had a nice afternoon together and then headed off to a tribute celebration for her friend George who had won some sort of award. We had drinks and appetizers at The Loft downtown from 6:30-8. (I had never been there and don't feel a particular need to return. It was adequate for not exciting.) I am really enjoying being amongst archaeologists and hearing about the work they are doing. And the challenges in getting grants and permits and, y'know, I don't really mind that I am a librarian instead these days. I did talk to some folks who remembered some of the digs I was on in Florida, and I think I held up my end of conversations. After the loft we went to the Penn Party (?) at the Hilton where there was lots of fruit and crudities and excellent cheeses. I ate too much blue cheese just beause it was so yummy!

I hit my "she's no fun, she feel right over" limit about 10:30 and sat down by the elevators to wait for Rayna to make her goodbyes. It was an awfully fun evening.

First thing Saturday morning I picked up mr_kurt and we headed to the "Bald Mountain Shampoo", a CITO clean-up at the end of Mt. Umunhum road up in the hills. It was a misty morning and had rained much of the night. However lots of amazingly cheerful geocachers showed up on the mountain and started collecting bags of beers cans, motor oil bottles, gas cylinders, tires, a dishwasher, four computer monitors, a volkwagen bug and various other trash that people had dumped off the side of the mountain. Why do people *do* that!? Kurt & I go three bags and a tire each and helped haul the dishwasher. It had been in a thicket of poison oak and between that and my back deciding enough crawling under bushes for the day, we left by about 9:30. And yes, we used Technu on the site and took showers when we got to our respective homes. Nonetheless, he has a little patch on one arm and I am freaking covered in poison oak. It could be a lot worse, I am so *glad* it isn't a lot worse. It is bad enough. I decided I couldn't face wearing clothes today and worked from home. I thought about walking around the corner to get a burrito for lunch but I was afraid I'd scare the counter help. I have sores and calamine all over my face. I am so icky and sore and itchy at the moment (Monday afternoon).

(but back to my narrative)

Saturday afternoon Russell and I and *lots* of our friends headed over to Ms. Sophia's first birthday party. Petra & Chris had set up the backyard with a lovely party canopy and excellent munchies. We did a nice blessing and I was having a great time visiting with folks. But it go a bit cold (as afternoons in San Jose often do) and folks moved inside. After about 10 minutes I could no longer breathe (cats) and headed for home. I didn't even get to see the presents opened. I love watching people open presents! *sniff* I really, really don't want to be allergic to cats.

Saturday night Russell and I watched the film adaptation of Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. The book is Dickinsian story of love and betrayal and pickpockets and pornographers and ladies in madhouses. Like Tipping the Velvet it does Victorian but with plotlines that the Victorians wouldn't have talked about. I liked it alot!

Sunday my poison oak was really starting to get uncomfortable. I have used Technu, Technu Extreme scrub and Zanfel scrub and I know it would have been horrific without those things. But yuck!

At 2pm we started the NCLC Cog Meeting - mr_kurt and I are co-First Officers this year and I meant to start right on time. And we did have a quorum. But having started with chatted whilst we waited for a few more people to arrived (which they did promptly). *laugh* It was *not* a very well run meeting but we had a very small amount of agenda and the rambling discussions were ones we really did need to have. Nevertheless, I *know* we shall need to do better in future!

After the meeting several friends stayed on and ate munchies and visited. Russell got home from his day of photography and we watched the movie reviews. We are way behind in our film viewing!

This bring me to today. I got up and more poison oak was starting to come up on my stomach. Oh please! I had one long, thick leggings and a trenchcoat... how did i get urusiol on my stomach? *sigh* The idea of wearing clothes and going to work was right out. So here I am, just finished a day's work punctuated with scrubs and calamine. rubibees gets here for a visit tomorrow and I look like Frankenstein's monster. Or a demon off Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This can stop any time. I want to be an invincible super hero. Wouldn't that be nice? No rashes, no aching backs. Sign me up.

This is another update... but I have been off on a retreat and that is a much better excuse than usual. *laugh* Thursday mr_kurt and I started north at about 8:30am to caching from San Rafael to Ukiah. We got 13 caches between about 9:30 and 4:30 (and DNF'd 2). Our favorite was Nimrod’s Nemesis by Bkip (GCXA0K) which is just north of Novato. It is fun caches like that which keep me coming back to this sport. Thirteen is the most I've gotten in a day, I think. So we were feeling quite triumphant when we arrived at the Sacred Connections retreat.

I can't talk alot about the retreat, but I will say that I had much less trouble with transitions going in (a bit of trouble on the leaving side). I am not sure why transitions make me so anxious! It was a great weekend with wonderful weather, lots of good friends and really excellent food. Saratoga Springs has put in wifi since the last time (a satellite dish) so I was able to log caches on site instead of having to find a place in Ukiah on the way in. And yes, that is a quality of life issue for me! *laugh*

Saturday Kurt & I skipped one of the optional sessions and went caching in Upper Lake to get the five caches he needed to get to his 200th find. We got the Fruit Exchange cache that I DNF'd last year. I can totally understand how I missed it in the pouring rain. I'm glad to have found it (and he liked having it for his 200th cache).

On Sunday, with the additional of Russell and his gear to the car it was pretty tight. We only stopped for a few caches (found 2, DNF'd 2) and mostly just stuck with the back Sunday afternoon on 101 traffic jam. *sigh* I did get over 50 miles to the gallon from being forced to go so slow. A least Prius drivers have that consolation.

Monday I was busy catching up at work from taking Thursday off and then at lunch we took Kurt's mother to lunch to give her a break as she waited at the VA hospital for her husband to get multiple stents. What a scary thing... and what amazing things medicine is doing these days.

We had a nice bellydance session with all four of us there for a change. I am not holding up as well as I'd like. My shoulders really didn't like sleeping on regular mattresses over the weekend and holding my arms up for dancing was more of a pain than usual. And we were doing some moves that reminded me of a few years ago when I had frozen shoulder. I am so glad that resolved!

The old South Park icon generator has been gone for awhile but there is one at http://www.southparkstudios.com/games/create/ -- I made myself a Goth South Park icon... be very afraid!