Bay to Breakers

The AMD and I kicked Bay to Breakers ass. It was super awesome. We were in danger of not making it downtown in time since the stupid 38 Geary was on a Sunday schedule and totally filled to the max when it finally did come, but we hitched a ride with a very nice couple who we owe some cosmic good karma to and soon after we were off and running. Literally.

The Hayes street hill wasn't even THAT bad. And - NO - we didn't even partake in any of the jello shots that people were selling at the bottom of it. ;)

We ran the whole damn thing and had a freaking great time. Even a born-again Christian group at the end (who are there every year along with jews for jesus... but not right next to each other. ;) ) calling me out for my 'exposed body parts' could not dampen the spirits. Especially since everyone around us looked rather horrified for me (since, well, let's be honest, we'd all already been subjected to way too many naked men at this point) and this awesome woman behind us said, "she's running a fucking road-race, what do you expect?"

Warning: my (and others) exposed body parts may show up in the following photos:

too hot

too too hot. too hot to blog.

too hot to work.

too hot to catch up on e-mail.

too hot to remember to send out reminder e-mails for upcoming un-wedding celebrations.

was way too hot to jog today. duh. error on my part.

was borderline too hot for bike to work day, but at least there is a breeze with biking.

it was that feet swelling in the sandals kind of hot. not pleasing.

god, i'm such a wimp.

i really, really hope that it passes in time for bay-to-breakers on sunday... or that is going to be one painful and sweaty (well, sweatier) 12K.

and now perhaps it will be too hot for bed.

marine mammal memories....

this darling elephant seal was featured in my latest marine mammal center newsletter. omigoodness... i like to call them 'little fatties'. when i was volunteering at the center, they would show up dehydrated and malnourished, and they still looked like little fatties. they were my favorite animals that came through... it's something about the eyes. they have eyes like deep, dark, dreamy pools... sea lions have quick, darting eyes that somehow mirror their wicked intelligence and curiosity, but elephant seal pups have a sort of languid, patient beauty that reflects back at you. maybe it's because of how deep they can dive. it's been shown they can go as deep as 5,000 feet. maybe that is part of what i see in the eyes.

almost makes me remember why I got up every wednesday at 6am for a year and a half to go wash the poo out of their pens, thaw and cut up fish for them, towel wrap their heads and tube feed them with 'fish mash', clean fish scales off of things for HOURS... and oh right... there was that one that bit me. and then that whole making sure that i didn't get 'seal finger' thing. right. oh - and also that time that I watched the necropsy of the mother and baby. and oh god...the 30 day old harbor porpoise that had to be basically carried around the pool by a human at all times because... yeah. ok. i'll stop now. oh god! and swissy! the sea lion who had been back several times due to gunshot wounds to the head and all sorts of other ailments, who, just seconds after being re-released into the wild, was snatched by a great white shark.

ah. memories....

but honestly.... the MMC helped toughen me up a lot. and it got me to the marin headlands once a week, which was like therapy for the price of a bridge toll. if any of you have never been, I highly recommend checking it out. :)

Dave Squared

Big Dave came to visit for a week back in April (I admittedly did not get to see him very much due to my show) and had a super snazzy photo session with the AMD. She took some Father/Son shots as well as some single portraits. I think these are pretty great:





Mutti visited as well (for less than 48 hours!) and her visit overlapped with Big Dave, so it was family time in our little one bedroom apartment. Dave and Dave saw her more than I did, but it still meant a whole hell of a lot to me that people traveled 3,000 miles to see the show. A little love and support goes a long way.... :)

random spew

Things are generally good over here on the arweena planet. Up and down still… a little more than I am comfortable with, but I don't entirely feel like I'm driving the bus, so I'm still attempting to be patient and open and all that good stuff…

I have so much to catch up on and none of it interests me… you know, like taxes… :( cleaning… :( and oh god, so many random piles around the house… these are REALLY scary because sometimes things go into them and just get forgotten… bad bad bad.

The AMD and I signed up for Bay to Breakers today. Haven't done it in a few years due to being busy with rehearsal or a show or some such thing… felt like it was time to give it a shot again… I mean, what's more fun than a slew of cold, naked men running past you at 8am on a Sunday morning, right? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Anyhow…

I have to go see Jen Weed for the third week in a row today. it sort of makes me feel like an over-privileged woman of means, but at the same time, not only did she tell me I needed to (and she only reserves such statements for when I really do), but my neck and shoulders are killing me today (along with everything else) probably due to my triumphant return to the circus center on Monday. yeah... wow... ow.... wow.... ow.... so good. :) Elena even gave me a smile (!) and a hug (!!!!) and after about a half and hour into class a compliment (!!!!!!!!). That was all very exciting and well and good at the time, but in my desire to impress her, I think I may have overdone. I know. Shocking. Really.

Have band rehearsal after the massage, which was maybe not so brilliant on my part, but then again, it's not like my guitar is all that heavy. It's more just the standing up…

More later…

but until then, i leave you with this:

May

are you kidding me??!?!?! how is it May?!!?!? how can it possibly be May already?!??!?!

soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. hi. it's getting late. i need to go to bed. i'm not entirely interested.

been working on returning to life. part of me is resisting. and i'm pretty cool with that. seems natural, really. i mean alternate universe and all. yeah... it's not altogether healthy, this acting thing, eh? but dear god, it feeds the soul.... it feeds the soul of the community... feeds the soul of people desperate to actually FEEL something.... to be transported from day to day existence and into something... into ANYthing... different. i mean - that's it, right? theatre is exciting because the people on stage get to transmit something electric to the people in the audience and their response transmits back to the people on stage and for somewhere between 60 minutes to, well, you know, over 3 hours (depending on whether or not you are in 'streetcar' ;) heh.) you get to have this incredible symbiotic, inexplicable exchange with human beings. something that just gets rarer and rarer these days.

i know. i have a big HD TV with surround sound in my apartment. movies look pretty freaking awesome on it. why would i want to leave my big screen and go pay a lot of money to watch people potentially suck big time saying words that make no sense and seem to carry no real meaning whilst they shake their heads and hands in mock realistic gestures? why why why? why do i want to watch a bunch of 'artists' masturbate? (wow - this red wine went straight to my head tonight, i seem to be in a rather cheeky mood...) well, because every now and then something like 'streetcar' comes along and you can actually move people to feel - and feel deeply and think - and think deeply and talk....dear god - talk to each other... for over an hour about a shared experience that happened live in front of them....

ok. this wasn't what i think i was going to talk about at all... but now i've forgotten whatever i was going to talk about.... so....

oh. returning. to life.
returned to day job.
returned to band rehearsal.
returned to massage therapist.
returned to seeing friends.
returned to prepping for summer show.
returned to looking at mail. sort of.
returned to watching some things. Flight of the Conchords. Planet Earth. watched "Carrier" tonight on PBS....rather fascinating actually....

still many things to slot back in.... not the least of which is my silk which has been screaming at me and i have been playing coy... or something... trying not to force it. but i do miss it desperately. i mean, i have 5 of them now... i just need to pick one, hang it up at the circus center and DO IT.

as if it was that easy. ;)