Cancer is at the front of my thoughts right now. There are FOUR people in my network of friends at the moment who are undergoing treatment for cancer, not to mention cancer survivors who've come into my life recently. Gosh, what the hell is going on?? Why are relatively young, relatively healthy people getting this disease that's really "supposed" to be for old people??
I want to share with you all some blogs by some of the people I know who are currently undergoing cancer treatment.
Peter-Vampire (he calls himself a vampire because of all the blood transfusions, huh huh) - http://peter-vampire.blogspot.com/
Wendy - the vampire's wife - http://www.wendy-thevampireswife.blogspot.com/
The Cancer Blogs (this is George) - http://mycancerchronicles.blogspot.com/
Next, I want to ask you all, what are good organizations out there working to fight cancer in meaningful ways? I know a few, but I'd like to find out about more.
The American Cancer Society (of course)
The Breast Cancer Fund (very prevention-oriented, which I like)
What else is out there that you guys like?
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
I'm not blogging....but I have pictures!
Listen, people, I'm sorry that you keep checking this blog and finding little or nothing new. It seems I'm really not much for this blogging business - for one thing, it's kinda time consuming, and time is something I'm shorter on lately than usual. I'm the world's slowest writer, I swear. For another thing, I don't think I ever managed to reach a suitable balance between personal and public on this blog. It's like, I want to talk about deep and important stuff, and what's happening in my life....but I don't want to post anything *too* personal, since, uh, it's public, and I don't want to post anything about work, because I'm trying to keep my work identity and my blogosphere identity separate. But, once you eliminate the professional and the most interesting parts of personal, what's left?? Well, not much, apparently - so I'm officially giving up!
I will continue to post pictures and travel writing (if and when I ever travel in the future) as a way of getting them out to all the friends and loved ones who'd like to see them, but I think for the time being, I'm done with straight up blogging for its own sake. 'Twas an interesting experiment - thank you all for reading. :)
The latest pictures are about a month old, from my vacation in CA to attend Amy & Chris' wedding. I left most of the picture taking at wedding related events to other people, but there are a few random photos in here worth seeing. :)
Enjoy!
Also, some photos from the training I was at in GA recently. These are by a guy named Mark who's in the training with me. :)
Those are my feet, and that is Spirit the dog.
Me at a meal with the crew.
THAT is a BABY SQUIRREL!!
Fire, yeeeeah. We played a lot of Mafia. :)
I will continue to post pictures and travel writing (if and when I ever travel in the future) as a way of getting them out to all the friends and loved ones who'd like to see them, but I think for the time being, I'm done with straight up blogging for its own sake. 'Twas an interesting experiment - thank you all for reading. :)
The latest pictures are about a month old, from my vacation in CA to attend Amy & Chris' wedding. I left most of the picture taking at wedding related events to other people, but there are a few random photos in here worth seeing. :)
Enjoy!
 |
| Amy & Chris, SF, etc |
Also, some photos from the training I was at in GA recently. These are by a guy named Mark who's in the training with me. :)
Those are my feet, and that is Spirit the dog.
Me at a meal with the crew.
THAT is a BABY SQUIRREL!!
Fire, yeeeeah. We played a lot of Mafia. :)
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Did your brain just flip over inside your head?
Sorry for the long silence, readers! I've been a tad distracted. All the loooong HOT days have the garden looking rather wild and unkempt, so it's been less photo ready than usual. But, we've got a "grown up day at the garden" tomorrow, during which we hope to knock out a bunch of weeding, clearing, etc etc and get things in tip top shape for the fall garden. There will most definitely be pictures, so stay tuned.
In other news:
* I am doing this intensive leadership training program that is requiring me to make a 5-year "personal leadership plan" for myself. I've only just begun to work on it, but already it's got me in super high-gear scheming mode, making up fabulous projects for myself, many of them having to do with gardening! My brain is regularly flipping over inside my head. It is awesome. I am also having a good time asking other people if and how they plan for their futures, and what their priorities are. When your friends are as exceptional and interesting as mine are, you hear a lot of amazing stuff. I think that structured thinking about goals and the future comes much more naturally to some than to others, ahem, like me, who intended to be working on that plan right now. Oops! In general, I tend to just sorta wait for inspiration to strike, and then ride the wave as far as it will take me. While inspiration (and the flexibility and sense of adventure required to follow it) are important to me, I also think I may occasionally be jipping myself because I don't always have a longer-range plan, or a clear sense of the bigger picture of what direction I want to be moving in. Making this plan is very good for me, and very well timed!
* I am going on vacation to CA for the next two weeks to be part of Superzygote's wedding! Aside from the actual wedding-related activites, I have no plan for the two weeks I will spend there.....I may just wander aimlessly in San Francisco for days on end, eating King of Thai and burritos, walking along Ocean Beach, slurping pearl tea, taking pictures and flipping my brain over in my head some more. :::shrug::: I reckon it's time to call around and make some plans with some people. :)
* The quest for the perfect song to sing in the ceremony was arduous but fun (asking friends about their favorite love songs has led me to hear a lot of fabulous music over the past couple months!), and led me eventually to choose Lodestar by Sarah Harmer. It has a beautiful, kind of maritime feel....in the pace and melody of the song, you can hear a boat rocking, the gentle splash of the water, the twinkle of the stars, the peaceful darkness....and then it builds a little towards the end to express just how beautiful it all is, and how beautifully like the intense, kind of elemental connection the person singing feels to the other person on this little boat ride o' love with her, tee hee. I hope it goes over well. :)
That's all for now! Thanks for reading!
In other news:
* I am doing this intensive leadership training program that is requiring me to make a 5-year "personal leadership plan" for myself. I've only just begun to work on it, but already it's got me in super high-gear scheming mode, making up fabulous projects for myself, many of them having to do with gardening! My brain is regularly flipping over inside my head. It is awesome. I am also having a good time asking other people if and how they plan for their futures, and what their priorities are. When your friends are as exceptional and interesting as mine are, you hear a lot of amazing stuff. I think that structured thinking about goals and the future comes much more naturally to some than to others, ahem, like me, who intended to be working on that plan right now. Oops! In general, I tend to just sorta wait for inspiration to strike, and then ride the wave as far as it will take me. While inspiration (and the flexibility and sense of adventure required to follow it) are important to me, I also think I may occasionally be jipping myself because I don't always have a longer-range plan, or a clear sense of the bigger picture of what direction I want to be moving in. Making this plan is very good for me, and very well timed!
* I am going on vacation to CA for the next two weeks to be part of Superzygote's wedding! Aside from the actual wedding-related activites, I have no plan for the two weeks I will spend there.....I may just wander aimlessly in San Francisco for days on end, eating King of Thai and burritos, walking along Ocean Beach, slurping pearl tea, taking pictures and flipping my brain over in my head some more. :::shrug::: I reckon it's time to call around and make some plans with some people. :)
* The quest for the perfect song to sing in the ceremony was arduous but fun (asking friends about their favorite love songs has led me to hear a lot of fabulous music over the past couple months!), and led me eventually to choose Lodestar by Sarah Harmer. It has a beautiful, kind of maritime feel....in the pace and melody of the song, you can hear a boat rocking, the gentle splash of the water, the twinkle of the stars, the peaceful darkness....and then it builds a little towards the end to express just how beautiful it all is, and how beautifully like the intense, kind of elemental connection the person singing feels to the other person on this little boat ride o' love with her, tee hee. I hope it goes over well. :)
That's all for now! Thanks for reading!
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Alleycat, musical obsessions
Last night, I did the Independence Day Alleycat in downtown Raleigh. An alleycat, it turns out, is a jolly bicycle scavenger hunt across town. Alleycat races were originally organized by bike messengers in New York and other big time towns to test the mettle of messengers in the face of heavy urban stuff - traffic, construction, crowds, etc. I reckon the edgy urban daredevil punk chic of it has brought it out of the big cities and into, well, somewhat less intense environs. But Raleigh's got bike punks - somewhere at the intersection of urban hipsters (sporting the latest local designers and copious tattoos), CrimethInc anarchist types (outside the system, below the radar, dumpster diving romantics), and bikers (think dressed entirely in spandex with clips on their shoes), there is the bike punk. A fabulous breed, really.
They kicked our asses, the bike punks did. The race took us a full two hours to complete. Word on the street was that someone had already won by the time we were about halfway. Tee hee. Kate and I were, at intervals, nauseous, giddy, grunting in pain, and shouting at the tops of our lungs that our asses hurt. But we finished the race (arrrr), in 30th and 31st places, out of 41 riders. Take that!! I wish I could scan my map of the race to show you all - it shows the whole convoluted route, and is tattered from 2 hours spent in my sweaty butt pocket, but alas, you'll have to take my word for it. It was long and sweaty. :)
It made me think about how Raleigh ain't that big. If I could bike, like, the entire town in one evening for a race, why couldn't I bike more places on an everyday basis? I really ought to. It'd be fun, and doubtless very good for my out-of-shape self.
It also made me think about how much more in touch you can be with your city if you spend most of your time biking and walking around it, as opposed to driving. In the car, you are really in your own little world. You can't stop and chat, you can't (usually) say hey to people you pass. Even beyond the potential for social interaction, you're just not so in touch with what you're passing - with what the air smells like, how the weather is, the scenery, etc. Biking, it's a little easier to feel in touch with all that. Part of Raleigh is just beautiful at night, and busy. Other places we biked through were downright sketchy and ugly. Construction sites, bad neighborhoods, etc. I think it's important to really feel all of that stuff when you're passing it, not just plow on through. I think it puts you in better touch with what, and who, is really in your town. No one and no place should be invisible, no one shouldn't matter to you, as a voter, and as a human! At the same time, being on a bike means you're safer (and faster!) traveling through rough neighborhoods than if you were on foot, and that's important, too.
So yes, I would like to bike more! The alleycats are highly recommended to my Raleigh friends with bikes.... and don't worry, they're not ALL bike punks, there are plenty of bike dorks, and just plain dorks, who participate as well. :)
In other news, I've got three awesome musical discoveries to share -
Beirut. Ah, be still my Polish heart. This album makes me feel lost in Eastern Europe. And stoned. But not in a bad way - I actually hate to be stoned, and hence haven't been in 7 or 8 years, at least. I mean in a good way. Kind of dreamy, like traveling, like when you're first riding into a new destination, or sitting quietly and watching a foreign town go by, and letting the newness and differentness and beauty of the place just seep into you. Your mind is quiet, you are in awe, you are taking it all in. It's an awesome feeling.
My Brightest Diamond. Moody and beautiful and rocking. A taste of Tori Amos, but in a rock way. I first saw them live, opening for The Decemberists, and they knocked my socks off. Also highly recommended!
And of course, The Number Twelve Looks Like You. I am SO PROUD of my brother for the new album, Mongrel (arrrr!). Wait 'til you sample some of it! You know, I don't generally dig the scream-o stuff, but even I can tell this album rocks. And look at the band glam shots. Holee crap, my brother (at far left in this pic) is always the freakiest looking one in all the pics.
I love that kid. :)
They kicked our asses, the bike punks did. The race took us a full two hours to complete. Word on the street was that someone had already won by the time we were about halfway. Tee hee. Kate and I were, at intervals, nauseous, giddy, grunting in pain, and shouting at the tops of our lungs that our asses hurt. But we finished the race (arrrr), in 30th and 31st places, out of 41 riders. Take that!! I wish I could scan my map of the race to show you all - it shows the whole convoluted route, and is tattered from 2 hours spent in my sweaty butt pocket, but alas, you'll have to take my word for it. It was long and sweaty. :)
It made me think about how Raleigh ain't that big. If I could bike, like, the entire town in one evening for a race, why couldn't I bike more places on an everyday basis? I really ought to. It'd be fun, and doubtless very good for my out-of-shape self.
It also made me think about how much more in touch you can be with your city if you spend most of your time biking and walking around it, as opposed to driving. In the car, you are really in your own little world. You can't stop and chat, you can't (usually) say hey to people you pass. Even beyond the potential for social interaction, you're just not so in touch with what you're passing - with what the air smells like, how the weather is, the scenery, etc. Biking, it's a little easier to feel in touch with all that. Part of Raleigh is just beautiful at night, and busy. Other places we biked through were downright sketchy and ugly. Construction sites, bad neighborhoods, etc. I think it's important to really feel all of that stuff when you're passing it, not just plow on through. I think it puts you in better touch with what, and who, is really in your town. No one and no place should be invisible, no one shouldn't matter to you, as a voter, and as a human! At the same time, being on a bike means you're safer (and faster!) traveling through rough neighborhoods than if you were on foot, and that's important, too.
So yes, I would like to bike more! The alleycats are highly recommended to my Raleigh friends with bikes.... and don't worry, they're not ALL bike punks, there are plenty of bike dorks, and just plain dorks, who participate as well. :)
In other news, I've got three awesome musical discoveries to share -
Beirut. Ah, be still my Polish heart. This album makes me feel lost in Eastern Europe. And stoned. But not in a bad way - I actually hate to be stoned, and hence haven't been in 7 or 8 years, at least. I mean in a good way. Kind of dreamy, like traveling, like when you're first riding into a new destination, or sitting quietly and watching a foreign town go by, and letting the newness and differentness and beauty of the place just seep into you. Your mind is quiet, you are in awe, you are taking it all in. It's an awesome feeling.My Brightest Diamond. Moody and beautiful and rocking. A taste of Tori Amos, but in a rock way. I first saw them live, opening for The Decemberists, and they knocked my socks off. Also highly recommended!
And of course, The Number Twelve Looks Like You. I am SO PROUD of my brother for the new album, Mongrel (arrrr!). Wait 'til you sample some of it! You know, I don't generally dig the scream-o stuff, but even I can tell this album rocks. And look at the band glam shots. Holee crap, my brother (at far left in this pic) is always the freakiest looking one in all the pics.I love that kid. :)
Friday, June 29, 2007
HOT
It's summer and it is hot hot HOT. Hecklers are out in full force in downtown Raleigh, hooting and shouting sweet nothings -
"Where have you been all my life, angel?!"
"Hello, beautiful!"
And the best one, from a young man waiting out front of a store on Wilmington Street yesterday - "right now I'm wishin' I was a little older!"
He was very young and cute, so that one was a little more sweet than icky. Just a little.
Shucks, fellas, thanks.
But generally, they're not so bad - there's not a whole lot that could scare me in broad daylight on a busy street. It is strange behavior, though. Does that ever work, do ladies ever go for a random catcaller on the street? Doesn't it scare off more ladies than it attracts?
Anyway, high temps mean the garden is growing at what seems like warp speed, weeds and all. Check out the giant, GREEN tomatoes. We keep thinking, oh, they'll turn red any day, but they don't. They just keep getting biggeR!
I'm headed to the beach for the weekend, but not for fun.....for work! Not that work won't be fun, it will, and not that I won't squeeze in a little beach time on the side, I will, but it's less fun to go to the beach without friends, or even the dog. AND I have to wake up at an ungodly hour of the morning tomorrow. Bleh, I am so not a morning person.
"Where have you been all my life, angel?!"
"Hello, beautiful!"
And the best one, from a young man waiting out front of a store on Wilmington Street yesterday - "right now I'm wishin' I was a little older!"
He was very young and cute, so that one was a little more sweet than icky. Just a little.
Shucks, fellas, thanks.
But generally, they're not so bad - there's not a whole lot that could scare me in broad daylight on a busy street. It is strange behavior, though. Does that ever work, do ladies ever go for a random catcaller on the street? Doesn't it scare off more ladies than it attracts?
Anyway, high temps mean the garden is growing at what seems like warp speed, weeds and all. Check out the giant, GREEN tomatoes. We keep thinking, oh, they'll turn red any day, but they don't. They just keep getting biggeR!
 |
| Garden6-28 |
I'm headed to the beach for the weekend, but not for fun.....for work! Not that work won't be fun, it will, and not that I won't squeeze in a little beach time on the side, I will, but it's less fun to go to the beach without friends, or even the dog. AND I have to wake up at an ungodly hour of the morning tomorrow. Bleh, I am so not a morning person.
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