Lent!
Topic: Personal
I forgot to give anything up for Lent this year!

Last year it was Spicy Hot Cheetos.

Seriously.

Last year, when a lackadaisically lapsed Catholic co-worker announced his decision to give up coffee for Lent, we all lent (heh heh) support by giving up something too.

I loved, and therefore chose, Cheetos and all its crunchy, salty, spicy, limey, artificial-colored-and-flavored manifestations.

Last Easter my plan was to sit in front of the TV, with a big bowl of Hot Cheetos, and eat until I make myself sick and have to lie on the floor groaning and wishing I hadn't eaten all those Hot Cheetos.

That didn't happen because someone (someone who heard of my appalling plans for the holiest Christian day of the year, mayhaps) gave me a Dove Chocolate bunny, which creamy goodness pre-empted my Cheeto-mania and probably saved me a carpet-cleaning bill.

This year, since I didn't give it up, I have zero desire to eat Cheetos on Easter. Instead, I might be giving myself the gift of unconsciousness only punctuated by brief, but required managment of internal organs that demand attention every few hours.

And one more thing!

Why is Jesus like an Easter Egg?
.
.
.
Wait for it...
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.
.
They both dyed for us.

One ticket, window seat please.

Happy Moments
Topic: Personal
A finch, perched on the railing of the fire escape of my very old office building, singing his heart out, curls of steam rising from his beak in the morning air over the city;

Stepping off the Trolley and looking up over my apartment building, seeing a Cheshire Cat smile of a waxing moon in an indigo sky;

Using algebra to solve a problem at work;

Snagging a fantastic pearl and silver necklace in an on-line jewelry auction for $22 (score!);

The potter who made my blue rabbit teapot also made me some teacups to match;

Watching the sky over the Coronado Bridge turn pink at sunset.

Baby Blues
Topic: Personal
I went to see a girlfriend from work who just had her first baby, and I got nailed by the baby while holding her - actually had to borrow a clean shirt from Marissa to change into so I can drive home. Poor Marissa, she is so completely stressed out - I'm a little concerned about post-partum depression for her. As soon as I walked in she told me how the baby cried all day and so she cried all day too - "I felt like the worst mother in the whole world!" A true friend, I looked at her and said, "Surely not the whole world... Spring Valley, maybe." Of course this made her laugh so it stopped the tears at least.

She is so ready to come back to work after only 6 weeks out on Maternity. I think I would be like that too if I had a baby - I mean, I complain about my job, but like Marissa said, she totally misses adult conversations and grown-up thoughts. We may work with people who act like babies, but at least we don't have to change their diapers.

Oh, this is funny - while I was holding the baby so her mother can go get a bottle, the kid pressed her face into my breast and started - I swear - to look for a snack. I was like, "Sorry little dudette, nothing there yet!" At which point she let fly down my blouse. Marissa was horrified, but I really didn't mind all that much - "Oh well, I knew one of my friends' kids would ruin one of my shirts one day...".

Topic: Personal
I spent all of Friday evening working as the official photographer at the Santee Father-Daughter Dance; I got sucked into it by a friend who's one of the organizers, and I had to ask Kathie, "Why do you want me there? I don't have a daughter, I'm not going to the dance with my dad, and I don't even live in Santee!" Apparently, no one else, even Kathie's husband who works in the video production profession, was willing to sit under a roasting light with a camera en tripod and take 300 pictures of 150 girls and their fathers. Well, if I have to work an event, I much rather be the photographer than the food-server or ticket-taker.

It was still quite a lot of work, and after the final photo I asked Kathie "Am I done shouting '1-2-3-smile!' for the night?" Her husband said "I think you're done for the year!" They're pretty funny. At one point Kathie pointed out me and another volunteer, a Chinese girl name Melissa, "Wow, there's two Asians in Santee tonight!" I said, "That's two more than usual!" Santee having a reputation of being a bit of a white-bread red-neck town. Some of the more unkind San Diegans are wont to refer to Santee as Klantee. It's not really like that, but you see why we're making fun.

The post-production was even more work... I had to examine all 300 photos and adjust color/lighting, doing away with red-eye, and airbrushing away the acne on the teenage girls. The crowd was pretty interesting - the girls are K-8, so from the age of about 6 to about 14. Most of them are there with their fathers, and it was really cute to watch these men with their little darlings. However, family structures having changed as they have, there were a few grandfathers, uncles, stepdads and adopted dads. This event is a pretty interesting microcosm of a changing society and the way men interact with their children. One of the volunteers, working the photo table where they get organized before being sent to my camera corner, swears that some of the fathers has had a few before coming to the dance. [Hey, if you were to spend the evening with 150 screaming girls and forced to wear a giant straw hat throughout, wouldn't you want to have a beer before getting there?]

It's plain to see that some of the men have a better connection with their daughters than others - most of the girls are more than happy to sit down on their father's lap and throw their arms around him. One man was there with his five (5!) adopted daughters and it heartened me to see how lavishly he loved them and how they absolutely adored him. Some are not so much - either the men simply do not have a good relationship with their daughter, or in the case of at least one pairing, was simply Mommy's New Boyfriend. At least most of these girls have some kind of man in their lives - last year one of the girls showed up with her older brother, who was no more than 16. That just broke my heart - first for the girl, who at age 12 have no adult male role model in her life, and then for the boy, who must be under so much pressure at 16 to be the man of the family.

As the night closed, Kathie said, "Lori will send you a cheque for tonight" which stopped me dead in the midst of packing away my gear:
"I didn't know I was being paid for this, I thought I was volunteering?"
"Oh no, we're going to pay you like we pay any other photographer."
"Damn, if I knew this was paid work, I would have done a better job."
"If it makes you feel any better, we're not paying you nearly as much as we would a real photographer."
"Oh, that's alright then. Before the Asians leave Santee, is there any math or kung-fu you need to have done?"
"Nah, only some driving, but we know not to ask you to do that!"

Topic: Personal
Have been completely captivated by the Winter Olympics, despite the IOC being too cheap to give athletes actual medals, apparently now handing out CDs pretending to be medals. Can't believe how much time we spend absorbed by athletes whose names we can't pronounce from countries we can't find on a map playing sports we know nothing about. The only thing that would cause me to watch the Olympic games even more is if horses snowboarded.

By the way, I can't be the only person who things the biathlon (skiing + shooting) can be vastly improved by replacing the rifles with crossbows and flaming arrows.

Museum Day, Tori Amos and Devotional Art
Topic: Personal
I spent quite some time this morning standing beneath the dogwood trees outside the Natural History Museum, smiling to myself beside the little fountain, so much so that when I finally walked away I looked like a Dalmatian - white dogwood petals spotting my dark hair and black sweater.

It might sound strange that I really enjoyed my time alone in the park, and I did miss having someone to discuss the museum exhibits with, but it's otherwise quite nice to have some time to myself. I mean, when was the last time you had seven uninterrupted hours to yourself in an environment that was entirely free of pressures, schedules, or expectations?

The SDMA's still showing two of my favorites - Bouguereau's glowing "The Young Shepherdess", whose sly look over her shoulder always makes me happy; and Ribera's stunning "Penitent Magdalen", with her wet eyes and rich raiments, pressed into a tight composition, she looks like she's staring right into you through her tears. Ribera's Magdalen is part of a big collection of religious European Old Masters paintings, and as I walked through this exhibit I turned up my iPod - Tori Amos' "Crucify" followed by "Marys of the Sea", "Pancake", and "God". Added a whole new dimension of art appreciation. Nothing goes better under a tryptich of the Passion of Christ than "I’ve been looking for a savior in these dirty streets/ Looking for a savior beneath these dirty sheets/ I’ve been raising up my hands- drive another nail in/ Just what God needs, one more victim" or a painting of a fervently praying Mary Magdalen with "St. Jermaine hear the prayer of this supplicant/ For two scarlet women, Black Madonna". I especially liked looking at the stern portrait of a cardinal while this blares in my ear "Seems like you and your tribe/ decided you'd rewrite the law/ Segregate the mind/ From Body and Soul." The paintings of the Virgin Mary with the Baby Jesus grew some extra meaning with this... "Do you need a woman to look after you/ God, sometimes you just don't come through."

Am I going to hell for this?

There was only one new exhibit in the Mingei today, a show of Norwegian folk artefacts including some embroidered costumes. I wasn't that impressed with the embroidery. Possibly my standards for 'fine embroidery' is unfairly high since I'm accustomed to seeing very fine Chinese embroidery and weaving. Still, today's exhibit also included some pretty luminescent-glazed pottery, and I like Mingei's wooden furniture-art that you're allowed to sit on, very much. However, the sooner the Mingei ditch their exhibit of creepy, freakish Japanese Edo dolls the better.

Despite the creepy dolls, I think the Mingei is still my favorite followed closely by the SDMA. Especially now that I have a sacrilegious sound-track to follow along in the Devotional paintings.

The NHM has two new documentaries in their giant screen theatre - one about early Viking settlements in Iceland and Greenland, and another about the rich reef system off Baja California. I found nothing else of interest to me otherwise - thank goodness I love me some documentaries, because this museum has been rather disappointing as of late.

I bought a Museum Passport (entry to all Balboa Park Museums) this morning, thinking I would work my way down the Prado, starting at the Science Center and ending at the Museum of Man. Seven hours later, I've only managed to visit the Natural History Museum, the SDMA, the Mingei, and the Botanical House (where I failed to find my favorite plant - did it die?). Never even managed to set foot inside the Science Center nor the Japanese Friendship Garden. I do miss the Sekitei gravel garden view from the exhibit house in the garden. Perhaps it's a function of getting older, but even five years ago I would not have attempted sitting still on a bench looking out at a formal garden for more than a minute, not to mention being able to contemplate in the silence.

Nasal Lavage
Topic: Personal
No, not the name of a shrill new band.

This is a method of flushing mucous out of the nasal passages and the sinuses. I know, it sounds dreadful, doesn't it? My allergist PA recommended it to me today. Horror and fascination struggled within me and fascination won.

One would think that squirting a stream of warm salty water up one's nostril until it flow out the other - passing through the sinus and nasal cavities en route and washing away the snot and blood - would be really unbearable, but alarmingly not only did I not recoil at the feeling, I rather enjoyed the sensation, and was sorry when the bottle emptied. Snot and blood flowed forth, and to someone with chronic rhinitis, it's really not that digusting anymore. I felt so... clean. So fresh inside my nose, that it's hard to imagine ever being resistant to this practice.

I rather think that I have discovered a whole new hobby!

Topic: Personal
A friend at work gave me a chia pet (a chia kitty) as a going-away present for my transfer to another department. I'm so completely stoked, I'm going to grow it in my window office. I've always wanted a chia pet, but every time I've asked for one as a present I only get a strange look. My new coworkers seem like a really intense group. I'm hoping the chia pet and my gong will bring some fun to the work place.

I found out they lock the floor after the last person leaves, so that no one can even get up the elevator to the department. Also everybody - including the reception area - locks their doors at night when they leave. Damn.

I complained to the friend who gave me the chia pet that I find the world a bewildering & disturbing place sometimes, and then we decided that ferrets must feel like that all the time.

China Dolls
Topic: Personal
We're back from China!

Check out Connie & Sheven's adventures:
Two Girls, Two Weeks, Too Much Luggage.

The San Diego 3 Day is DONE!
Topic: Personal

4,200 walkers
3 days, 60 miles
10.3 million dollars raised for the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation

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Doom Hammer:
"Doom Hammer" is the name of my little pink walking pal, here to be seen riding my shoulder. Since he cannot shower as I could at the end of each day in camp, DH came home a grey bunny, currently sitting in the laundry hamper alongside my formerly white, now-grey (but thankfully not bloody) socks.

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Team Neopolitan Ice Cream:
Here is our team. As you can see, like the ice cream, we are all different colors and different flavors. Unlike the ice cream, we are nutty (even Stacey, who is allergic to nuts despite being one herself).

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Tent City:
A view of our camp. The geography percludes a full shot of the camp, but this gives an idea of the endless sea of tents. It seems even more endless when one cannot find one's own tent in the said sea in the gathering twilight.

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Tiny Support House:
On a display table outside an antique shop in Mission Hills. Shows of support like this really make the walk that much easier. It doesn't hurt that we walk through San Diego's beautiful shoreline either. One Chicago walk had to be evacuated out of their camp due to a storm, and I heard they cancelled the D.C. walk this year - about time too. Who wants to walk 60 miles in D.C. in the middle of August?

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Walkers Day 3:
A view of a long string of walkers in Mission Bay. Due of varying walking speeds, the first walker and the last walker may be as far as 15 miles apart. The last walker is perfectly safe from abandonment as she is followed by The Caboose, a volunteer on a bicycle who's always behind the last walker and occasionally has to insert the last walker into a sweep van to avoid being out in the streets after dark.

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Sign In Window:
Why we walk. The sign says "Diagnosed 7-21-05 Stage One Thank You". Some residents along the route opened their houses to walkers, with signs out front - "Water - Snacks - Bathroom".

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Barbara Jo Krishbaum is #1:
Barbara Jo is the #1 Walker (10 3-days in 2005) and fund-raiser ($46,935). I bow at her feet, and her feat. I met her under a tree at lunch on Day 1, and insisted on having a picture taken with her. It was all I could do not to fawn all over this woman.

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Greatful Med:
Karry of the Bloody Socks about to limp into the medical van driven by the camp doctor. The van picked us up when the sweep vehicles filled up. Karry's blisters also filled up, but that's a whole different, and disgusting, story, involving a lancet, a horrified medic, and lots of moleskin. Incidentally, why is moleskin called moleskin? Did we used to skin moles and use their hide for blister covers until synthetic materials were invented?

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A view of Bird Rock in La Jolla:
It's a big rock. Birds like it. Prosaic and dull as it may be as a name, "Bird Rock" has the advantage of being more descriptive than, say, "Dave."

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Furry Friend:
The event has turned into one big street-wide open party, with kerb-side supporters cheering and playing party music, handing out sweets and trinkets to the walkers as we go past. Not less than half a dozen people brought their dogs, dressed in costume for the party. It's not a dangling participle; the dogs are in costume as much as the humans. Not surprisingly, no one brought out cats dressed in pink hats.

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The Remembrance Tent by Moon.
A video screen within plays a continuous loop of pictures of people who have died of breast cancer, accompanied by voice-over of their family members talking about them. Two banners in the tent invite us to write around the printed words "Why We Walk". I wrote "to be the change I want to see in the world."

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Thank you for your support - next year, we crew. No more walking, but I figure I can dole out scoops of lumpy camp food as well as the next hair-net wearing volunteer.

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Other volunteers:

The Moto Crew.
Guardians of the cross-walk to prevent walkers being run over by cars, which is more real as a danger than you would imagine.

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The San Jose Police Department.
Biking along with the walkers, providing support, safety, and collecting kisses and phone numbers from the younger single girls in the walk. They are all volunteers, doing this on their own time and paying for their own travel and bike tranportation. They even have a calendar, the sales of which goes to the foundation. It was quite a show, and frankly, seeing them riding along in neatly turned out SJPD uniforms caused me a sense of disappointment in our own force, who, outside of the occasionaly traffic direction and patrol officers scowling at us from their cars, were nowhere to be seen.