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| | Subject: | joy! | | Time: | 07:24 am |
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Be glad of life because it gives you a chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at stars.
- Henry Van Dyke
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| "Unless you were there, in a position of responsibility after September 11, you cannot possibly imagine the dilemmas that you faced in trying to protect Americans," Condoleezza Rice said last month. (The Washington Post)
Remember that prior to 9/11, Rice and Bush were in possession of a briefing about "Bin Laden determined to strike in US". Where was her position of responsibility then?
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| Check my facebook for some nice Esalen pics and updates. I've been more busy than I thought and not much time to post here.
Today was my first full day off and was the first day that's been foggy and cold. :(
Here is yesterday's sunset.
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| (I wrote the stuff below yesterday while en route and some before I fell asleep. I was so tired that I couldn't type anymore. Unfortunately I woke up on FL time this morning.)
Esalen Journal
Friday May 8 – day 1 (travel day)
I managed to pack everything I wanted to bring into my two suitcases just fine. I hope I picked the right things to bring! The weather in Big Sur at this time of year can vary, and switch from cold coastal fog to mild and sunny, so I packed lots of “options” and layers, with an eye toward layering and toward the comfortable loose clothing one would want to wear when doing massage or being around Esalen anyway.
I also packed lots of other stuff – a yoga mat, my backscratcher, toiletries to last a month, vitamins and other pills, tech gadgets, massage and trail books and one novel, two empty notebooks for the coursework, a favorite pillow, two backpacks (one for my laptop and gadgets, one day pack for hiking), and a few nicer clothes for dinner after Sam has joined me in Big Sur at the end of my stay.
Aside from knowing how much Sam and I will miss each other for 4 weeks, I've been very much looking forward to this trip. Just spending 4 weeks in Big Sur, at Esalen, should be an amazing experience. Intensive massage training will definitely increase my technical knowledge and impart lots of techniques, but I also hope it will nurture my intuition.
(now 1:40am FL time...)
It's been a long day – 2 flights, 2 car rides, and a van. All went about as smoothly as could be expected, although the van didn't seem to want to meet us where they were supposed to. On the van I met several other folks who are in the same 28-day program and got to know them a little bit.
We arrived and checked in. I quickly dumped my stuff in my room (a little hike up the hill) and went down to dinner. After dinner I hastily brushed my teeth and high-tailed it to the bathhouse for a shower and a quick soak. I needed something to wash away the sweat and scent of the day. It was a bit rushed, but it did the trick. The warm water followed by the hike back up the hill to my room meant that I was quite warm and perspiring a bit when I got here. My other two roomies were here and we got to say some quick hellos. Steve is from this area (monterey/carmel) and works in the family hard-wood flooring business and is looking for something else to persue. He seems nice and talkative and engaging and very tan. I think he said he's 47, twice married with 4 kids. Tao (pronounced Theo) is from Vancouver BC bud not lives in Boulder, CO. He's young and nice looking and it's harder to get a sense of why he's really here. I think we'll get along ok. We strolled out on the lawn to watch the sunset together and chat and then took the short hike up to the “Big Yurt” where all our classes will be held. Folks trickled in and eventually we did some brief non-verbal exercised on movement and grounding and breathing and interacting in others' space. We later verbalized what brought us here and what we hope to take away. The folks come from all over – Montreal, Spain, Germany, France, CA, IL, NY, FL, TX, CO, and MA. OMG too tired to type.... must stop.....
(check my Facebook photos from some pics) | | comments: Leave a comment |
| I'm sitting in FLL awaiting departure on my month-long trip.
Today I'm flying to DFW and then on to SJC. Hiring a ride to Monterey where I'll catch a van to Esalen on the Big Sur coast.
I'll be taking the 28-day Esalen massage certification class, which I'm sure will be very intense (and intensive). I'm really looking forward to it, and to spending so much time in one of my favorite places on the planet. I'm sure I will miss Sam terribly.
At the end of the course, Sam will pick me up (he'll come out to CA a few days before that and spend some time in SF with friends) and we'll spend a few more days in Big Sur together before returning to FL on June 9th.
I expect to have Internet connectivity at Esalen, and I hope to post pics, short videos and journal updates. Most pics will probably be to my facebook account, so check there.
I've also joined Skype with the same username as here.
Yesterday was a flurry of packing and preping activity. I'd been making shopping and packing lists for over a month. I was pleasantly surprised that everything fit in my suitcases with some room and poundage to spare. I'm even schlepping a favorite pillow (a 1/2 sized sobakawa thing) in my backpack. Computer backups are all done (fingers crossed!). I was less panic-stricken than I thought I'd be.
so far - no upgrade on either leg of today's flights :( | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| was the awesome!
Sam and I attended a live simulcast of This American Life at a local movie theater. It was great! "Return to the Scene of the Crime" featured, among others, Mike Birbiglia, Starlee Kine, Dan Savage, and Joss Whedon. All good, all fun, some fun video stuff thrown in.
The show will air on May 1 on the radio, the video show will be reshown in theaters on May 7 (I think).
Check it out!
I laughed. I almost cried. It was better than Cats!
--Andy S. | | comments: Leave a comment |
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Is there some web site that collects/reports what people are paying for new cars nationwide by Make+Model+Options?
I'd love to be able to have this info when I go in to "negotiate" with the vermin new car salesman.
Thanks.
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| ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) justetthon was gracious enough to offer to share the LJ tip with me at convention, and we agreed that I'd do the singing call. Rather than dust off the ones I wrote in years past, I got an inspiration on Friday night and quickly jotted down a new one with more "inclusive" scope than just LJ.
The tip was at the early hour of 9:30am, but we managed 2 squares. There is a group photo which I'm sure will be posted elsewhere (and tagged).
I think I will suggest that in the future we might do a broader "online communities" tip, to include those on facebook, myspace, flickr, manhunt, BM/BMB/BML, etc. I think we should even do a "sides only" 2-couple patter for those with headless pics :)
This year's singer was to the tune Heartaches (the Patsy Cline classic), The square dance version I have is Ranch House 905.
OPENER:
LOL CATZLOL CATZ Why are there oh so many LOL CATZ left alemande and then you do sa do 4 men star by the left one time round you go turn your partner by the right your corner allemande come back and swing and promenade her There is one thing of which you can be sure I Can Haz Cheez Bur Ger
[refrain for figure]I could be happy with WordPress too But to LJ I'll be true BREAK:Facebook AppsFacebook Apps I get bombarded by those facebook apps … I click deny and then I click ignore But they keep making more CLOSER:L J L J We are all here because of L J …. Will you please friend me, if I friend you It's not MySpace We have our place To L J we are true
Thanks to all who came to dance!
| | comments: 6 comments or Leave a comment |
| | Ett asked me to share the LJ tip with her this morning... I'm working on a new singer. Be there! | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
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The timing for the surgical procedure I had last week was probably non-optimal. I should have had that cyst removed some time ago, but I'm not sure I had any other choice in finally getting the thing taken care of.
I'll still have the stitches in my back this weekend, when I attend the West Coast Queer Contra dance camp in Aptos near Santa Cruz. Unfortunately, Sam can't attend due to work schedule constraints, so I'll have to impose on friends to help me change the bandage several times during the weekend. It is in the middle of my back and I can't reach it. I probably won't dance as much as I'd like, due to the stitches being there, and the chance of them getting aggravated by energetic dancing, sweating, elevated pulse, etc.
The stitches will be removed next week, but then I jet off to DCDC for more dancing (again without Sam) and probably a few more bandage changes.
We then, unbelievably, will have a couple of weekends home before we head to the LCFD spring dance camp in CT for more dancing the weekend of May 1st
On May 8th I'll head to Esalen for a 28 day massage certification class. This was the thing that made me finally decide to have the cyst removed, as I wanted it gone before this trip and 4 weeks of rubbing and getting rubbed. I'm just hoping it was the right incision decision. I'm excited about spending 4 weeks at Esalen. I'm not happy about being away from Sam for 4 weeks. It should be an "experience" in many ways. Sam will pick me up at the end of my class and we'll spend a few nights in Big Sur together before heading home on June 9th.
| | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| We had a busy and fun weekend.
Our friend Joel [BM#musclesandbooks] from SF arrived late Thursday night for a long weekend visit.
Sam had to work Friday, so I showed Joel a bit of Fort Lauderdale and Wilton Manors, and we drove up to Boca in the late afternoon so that I could rendezvous with Sam and Joel could return in my car.
Sam and I drove up to Melboure where I was booked to call their Friday night contra dance. Not having done this drive before and not sure about what Friday afternoon/evening traffic would be like, we gave ourselves plenty of time to get there. Melbourne is about 3 hours north of us and we did hit some traffic in Palm Beach but the rest of the drive was smooth. As we neared our destination, we stopped for dinner (just ahead of the rush) and made it to the venue easily. Sam was spooked as we drove into the trailer park where the venue was located, but it turned out to be in a very nice municipal parks recreational facility. The dance hall had a good wood floor, high ceilings, was well air conditioned, and the kitchen across the hall had a ice machine which made Sam happy.
This was my first booking out of my immediate area to call a contra dance and it went very well. There were some familiar faces and many others. A group of 20-somethings arrived, most of whom were not contra dancers. They were down on spring break and some of their contra-dancing friends convinced them to come to the dance. They stayed til the end and had a good time. The 3-piece band was good, but not sufficiently amplified for the hall. I got lots of nice compliments on my calling.
While we might have stayed overnight after the dance (they offered housing), we headed home since we had a houseguest. So we had a long drive home and got to bed close to 3am, I think.
Joel chose not to come to the dance, but instead went to the equinox drumming circle and bonfire at the park near my condo. We had arranged for our friend John to help get him there and be his temporary host. Joel said it was a good time. Luckily the rain stayed away until about midnight.
Saturday was a stormy rainy day so we kind of vegged. We breakfasted and then managed to nap a bit and eventually made it to the gym. Later we met up with friends for dinner and then out to a movie. We saw "Race to Witch Mountain" which was fun. Then we went by the Ramrod for a beer and home by about 1am.
Sunday's weather was perfect. We brunched at Rosie's and then went back to my condo to clean up and get ready for our afternoon. We went to Fort Lauderdale Pride where we did a quick lap and then walked to the Parker Playhouse were we had matinee tickets to see Dame Edna. She was wonderful, though I wish that we'd brought "gladdies" to throw <i>at her</i>. Then back to the Pride festival where we saw lots of friends, and had a very nice time. Around 6pm we'd had enough sun and socializing and we headed out for coal-fired pizza and then back home to watch Desperate Housewives and collapse.
Right now, I'm at Starbucks with Joel. He's grading papers. He flys home tomorrow morning.
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| Sam and I are considering going to P-town bear week in July (his birthday falls right in the middle of that week).
Online event registration is still not open yet (and the web site still mentions 2008 on the registration page) but should open soon.
BUT
we've been warned that we should book lodging and travel now...
so,
any good recommendations for places to stay for a week in P-town? I'm sure many places are already booked by yearly repeat offenders.
We are looking for something nice, non-bathouse-like, somewhere in the middle of the price scale and "in town".
thanks! and who else is going?
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| I'm in Dallas this weekend. I serve on the board of trustees of my old prep school here, and I finally made it to one of the meetings this year. It's a large board and I'm one of only two out of town board members. It was a good meeting, much of which was spent talking about the state of the endowment and financial concerns.
Last night, I attended the local area contra dance in Carrollton. I had been to this dance once before about a year and a half ago when I happened to be in town on the right weekend. It's in a nice repurposed old movie theater building with fairly good acoustics and a nice floor.
<rant>
While I enjoyed the dance, much about the calling was just terrible.
- The programming was odd, including a large number of unequal dances (e.g., where the 1's swing) which then got run far too many times through so that everyone had a chance to be 1's for a full time down the line(s). (I wonder if the caller was just a bit lazy and didn't want to teach/call more dances and ran these quite long).
- Another dance with no partner swing, which combined with the above seemed an odd choice to me.
- Several dances with lines of 4 down the hall - two in a row and then a 3rd one later, I think. excessive.
- What felt like a 10 minute clumsy teach of "mad robin" only to find that the dance as notated didn't work, so gave up with that walk through and moved on to another dance entirely without clearly informing the floor.
- The first dance with any sort of hey had a half-hey on the left diagonal followed by a half hey across. With no clear walk-through. Luckily it was with your partner so you could just fake it, as many of the newer dancers did.
- An unsmiling, drill-sergeant style of delivery, without a drill-sergeant's effectiveness.
- Never a smile or a pleasant tone of voice from the caller all evening.
- Bad timing, often late, never early, sometimes confusing.
- Bad teaching, odd choices of words to describe actions ("pirouette" where most callers would say "spin" in a spin "as in Petronella", and lots of others).
- In a Becket dance walk through, refusing to use the word "neighbor" opting for "opposite" instead.
- A truly awful 4-face-4 dance.
I don't know how long this person has been calling. I hope it hasn't been long. I really hope that they are getting some feedback (constructive criticism?) from their local dance community (not Dallas, btw) and getting some mentoring as well.
I know I'm overly picky about this stuff. Having taught hundreds of MWSDers in many dozens of weeks of classes, I am extremely conscious of the power and specificity of the words we use to teach and to describe dance actions. I know that really good contra callers pay great attention to this as well (e.g. Lisa Greenleaf) but there are definitely some who have no clue.
</rant>
On the upside (and part of the reason I enjoyed the evening in spite of the calling) I saw my 3rd grade teacher Mr. Jordan at the dance and we had a nice chance to visit. He still teaches at the same prep school. I was in this class his first year (and my first year) there, and he was probably fresh out of school. So he's probably in his mid-60s now. Back then, he introduced a few of us to international folk dancing and we even went a few evenings to a group at the JCC in town. Years later he got a big kick out the fact that I'd gotten into MWSD dancing and calling. I saw him a few years ago and told him that I'd gotten into contra dancing and he told me that he is one of the founders of the local contra scene in Dallas. People at the dance were at first disbelieving that we'd known each other for 41 years and that he'd been my teacher.
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| Sam dragged me out last night and we met up with fuzzy Eric [BM#hairybull65] and Don [BM#bulldog63] and headed for Bill's Filling Station, where we also met up with John [BM#MuscleStudFtl].
Little did I know that another gay cruise is leaving town this weekend, so the men were out in force - lots of locals and lots of "new" faces. I ran into my calendar bud Jimmer [BCC#9803] and a bunch of his handsome friends. I think I spied cruisebear. Then DavidO/![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) zzbear (non-cruising) showed up to say hello, as well as a couple of friends of Sam's from NYC (also non-cruising). Even newly-minted-on-BMB Pedro [BMB#pocketbear74] was there.
It was a delightfully cool evening. (Men in cute little black knitted watch caps! In Florida!) We had a great time and were home before midnight! We slept with the slider open and cuddled close all night.
I'm still a little congested, so I'm saying that canceling the SF trip was probably the right thing. :(
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