Five weeks left, Austin!

This evening I went through my clothes and made four arrangements: take to Montana, throw in storage, donate, and keep-for-now-in-TX-and-for-the-trip-west.

Do you know what that means??? It means it's getting REAL! I'm physically preparing! 

I am ecstatic. Musings continue.

So far like Carole King, my life is becoming a tapestry. It's a series of varied and fine vignettes, all across the spectrum vibrantly and violently. No wonder I am engaged to the wild country. Seen too much of some wild people. 

So I have Austin for one more month.

To the culture of twenty-somethings in twenty-twelve, I raise my glass, close my tab at Spider House, and laugh, "Give me a break!" as I prepare to depart. No offense, Austin and friends. I just am not learning or doing or seeing the way I want to. Time to go.

By way of the Blue Ridge first, of course, a detour to my roots.







Sometimes I think my perception is an outside element, that it betrays my honesty before I even realize it. What is more real, then? If perception overtakes meditation... is the gut more honest, or is it the deliberation? Is it the knee-jerk emotion or prolonged thought and subsequent realization? Logical versus Primal... gah. As I always say anymore, when ever you ask a big question you are going to arrive at a paradox.

So it's a toss-up, like everything else. What to expect!?
Accept that you may never feel totally certain about anything. (Dig!) Enjoy the chaotic comings and goings of social hives, of spiritual quests, of personal development, and do your best to keep the outlook (and output!) ultimately positive.

Products of a Sunday afternoon rambling at Spider House!

85 degrees and cloudless, under the patio's leafed-out pecan tree. It has been SO LONG since I baked in the sun. My spirits themselves are leafing out; the sun is beaming and I beam back.

On the bus ride down here I saw dozens of people spilling out from the baptist church on Speedway. I am by no means a member of any scripted religion; at least not one which involves indoor services, has a name, and is practiced across the globe by millions of other people.

The spires of my steeples are the candy-brittle peaks on Glacier's eastern front; Mt Gould presiding over Jealous Woman's (Swiftcurrent) Lake.

I want to do some studying, I've just now decided. I want to learn the proper names of locations around the park in MT. Names with stories and significance. It's a tragedy and it's blasphemous that these ancient mountains are called by names of various white men who 'discovered' them, or in some cases white men who hadn't even visited the area!
Considering ol' whitey from that era (and this one too, using that term as a metaphor), he is just an impotent, greedy, bossy, bratty child. With money made of paper and with an army and his bureaucracy, with words like 'civilized,' and with pamphlets and editions coming out all the time, dictating and manipulating, This is how people are supposed to live. This makes a life. I am disappointed in people in general when I go too far down this thought-track... Redirect! It's a beautiful day!

Back to the topic of church, I did match my cynicism earlier with a proper reverence and even a fleeting sensation of warmth. I will always recollect with fondness afternoons at the old Swoope house in VA - being a little, little girl coming home with mom + dad after church at Hebron Presbyterian. Fleeting images of Mom's old early '90s pumps, her big hair and her jewelry all over her dresser, my tiny feet in shiny black Mary Janes, Mom helping me into my tights, kneeling before me ready to catch my 'piggies' in them.

I think there is a sweetness in church, even if I totally disagree with religion as an institution. It's sweet for people to congregate and be reverent toward whatever greater power. Where's my church of philosophy? I am always grateful for life; I guess I pray every day, in my thoughts as I give thanks. I ask much, if anything, of the universe - I just think thanks. Being here and healthy is more than enough.

How could one ever just pray and ask for things? It's boggling my mind to consider that when people pray, it's often just with a long list of demands! "Dear god, I want this + this + this + this, and make everyone I know healthy."

Many prayers begin with "Thank you for this day," and then they circle the drain with the long list of expectations. Sheesh. If you're fed and quenched and sheltered, only offer love and thanks in return for the graciousness shone upon you by The Great Whatever.


Seems so many people are preoccupied. Wants and perceived needs make people disregard what blessings they already have, make them seem a given. It could all stop at any moment. Walk more slowly and with care while the world is cradling you, baby. Be gracious and kind and ask for nothing but always give thanks.

Being appreciative feels good and since I have started to focus on it, it's unstoppable. I'm compelled to notice things more than ever before. It is a part of the adult woman showing herself in my persona. I am on the edge of my self and I am thankful for the ways I develop.

This is my Sunday service - not from a pew with mournful voices all around, but in the face of the sun itself and with a jubilant internal orchestra.

-------     I took a break from writing to read more Muir, and very quickly in my book I came upon this amazing quote, so relevant!

"No wonder the hills and groves were God's first temples, and the more they are cut down and hewn into cathedrals and churches, the farther off and dimmer seems the Lord himself."




I will be on Glacier's eastern edge in two months, and in three months I'll have been there one month, and in six months I'll have been there four months, and in seven months I don't know where I'll be, or who I'll have become, or what changes will have shaped my mind. . . . . and thank god!

   





   Yours truly @ Many Glacier, 2005, first GNP visit with Mom.

Good morning! Good morning! Good morning-uh!

Coffee and the GNP webcams before pedaling up to work.

In 6.5 weeks I'll be going to VA to reconnect. In 8 weeks I'll be getting on the Empire Builder, and in 9.5 weeks I'll be starting my new job... but who's counting down? Who's beside-herself excited? hmm..

SXSW with its chaos and its energy really reignited my affection for this city, and it's been fueled even more since SX is over and I get to relax and know that 'my' town is back to how it's supposed to be for now. The influx is over.

SX is almost like a miniature seasonal gig for those who come from all over the world. A couple weeks in a new place, the locals apprehensive - friendly, but wary anyway. I've seen shirts that read something like "I LOVE AUSTIN! Please don't move here!"

I'm thankful to have gotten my b-day gift from the Mother Badger early in the mail - my very own 2-hour Flip camera! They've been discontinued and I wanted to snag one for my adventures because it's so easy to use. Why would Cisco stop manufacturing something so popular? Tough to say. I suspect I have a greater understanding regarding the economics of ecosystem as opposed to the economics of contemporary business.

I am approaching the cusp -- I have been two months' waiting, and I have roughly two more to go. Whee.. Over the hill!  It's almost time to start making lists - almost time to collect boxes, look into storage units, deposit all my precious LPs with Dad for safekeeping!

I glance over at my beloved bicycle and I feel like I'm abandoning a beloved pet; it doesn't know it's going to be stuck in a storage unit for several months and I feel extremely guilty. It's just lunacy, to attempt to take it up there first somehow to VA and then across on the train.

If I do join the seasonal tribe, I'll have to save up and get a car..

And there you have it! Thursday morning all! 32 in St Mary currently and almost 60 here in Austin. I won't be missing the triple-digit heat this summer.

nicest evening ever / Andrew Bird weather.

Man oh man I am in love with what's happening right now. Damn.

SXSW was amazing and it totally wrecked me in a great way, but it's nice to be done with it now and to have a quiet, chilled-out night at the nest alone.

Get this.. after work I got groceries and walked ~20-30 blocks in the windy overcast atmosphere of 6:20pm or so.. a nice walk, great theatrical weather. Birds were flying without much apparent purpose, like scrambling to get some last-minute stuff done before the storms come in this evening.

At home I took out some garbage, did dishes, put up groceries, straightened up and organized.. oh man. I'm gonna make a great hippy housewife some day. I just really love to, um, -bake- and clean. [/gigglebox] Good God man, and tonight is just perfect Andrew Bird weather. 

Noble Beast is closing with 'On Ho!' as I type this up... ah, sigh. Something about the violin and the crazed wind prior to the thunderstorms.. oof! I love it!

That is all. : )

SXSW makes me sick!

...Inadvertently, at least. 

Here I sit, 10PM, hot tea steeping at my left. Ooh la la. 

Dr Dog on Friday was SUPER cold and wet and I got blasted and I screamed and sang along with all my might. Then I worked all day Sat., then all day Sun. followed by a metal show at 29th St. and plenty of well whiskey thanks to their $1-drinks-till-midnight thing.. then worked all day Mon., Tuesday off so I tooled all over town on my bicycle and made it down to Beauty Bar for Grimy Styles. Pedaled home and crashed, woke up this morning and felt like total ass.

Whatever. I shall deal with it! 

Only, while I'm gross, I should take this sick-time and put it to good use! I am done with my bummer attitude. Oh yeah, dear bloggery,did I forget to mention that I have kept at bumming smokes, and ended up at about 7 yesterday whilst killing time all afternoon with the people I love at Spider House? Yeah. 

In this way, being sick is a blessing.

Also, Grimy Styles plays again on Saturday night at Flamingo. I shall use sick-time to rest up and be prepared to get my dancy-feet on for REAL! 

And Saturday night will mark my 4th full day smoke-free after this non-smoking sick-time, so it will be a celebratory event for SURE!

In the meantime, in keeping with digging it, I want to express how damn imperative it is to daydream all the time.


Instead of thinking about how much a sink full of dirty dishes depresses me when I'm sick... I'll think about living in a nice old house with a wraparound porch and big fragrant eucalyptus trees growing tall on the lawn... being able to transport yourself into your imagination is a great + effective tool to use when you feel like ass.

The end.

"Do you get dizzy on the ground?...

...Must be somethin' going around."

Dear Bloggery, my primary care physicians are Dr. Dog! Straight up AMAZING show tonight.

Before I wear out the Dr. puns, let me add that they prescribed the perfect medicine to warm up the crowd, since it was like 45 degrees and misting/raining!

Earlier today (we're talkin' like 2PM), I took a 20-30 block walk in the rain to S. House and sat outside with the few other regulars braving the frigidity. 

I was out in 50 degrees and rain and wind for like 8 straight hours! I realized Dr. Dog lyrics mention Rain a lot. 

Inside Stubb's pre-show w/ beers and bbq, my friend and I got to see the band come sit right next to us at the table by the bar. They got some food in their bellies pre-show, and they definitely used all that back-up energetic juju to fuel their set, man, they were completely amazing!

The set list was balanced real well taking their recent albums into account.. of course I got to wig out on every song from Fate, since that's the one I first heard and I've f'in loved it for evah! I'm so glad I caught their show @ The Southern in Charlottesville (VA), that show was in like Oct. '09 I think.

So now I've got the heat on full blast and ooh man... It was such a damn great show, and so great to on top of it be in NASTY weather but to not give a darn about said nasty weather. Who cares how cold and wet it is when you're up front and toasty and getting down to Dr. Dog LIVE, on the cusp of SXSW!?!?!?

And on top of all of it, I've never appreciated being warm and dry this much. Mmmm. Dee-lish!

Here's my Dr Dog midnight recuperation process! Look at this dorky girl!

\m/

SXSW descends upon the ATX

Hey there, dear bloggery, it's approaching music craze time here in Austin. The official SXSW insanity begins in just days, and I am excited! Luckily my predictably shitty food-service-industry-slave job closes at 4 or 5 every day, so I have every single got-dang evenin' off to czech out free shows and to meander downtown and take in some people-watching!

I'm going to be armed with my crappy purple kodak digital camera!

Tomorrow night I get to see one of my ultra-faves, Dr Dog, at Stubb's outside. Anxious: It's s'pose to be in the 40s and 50s tomorrow and like misting/showering. Gross! But... as in The Ark, Dr Dog say "God - he called for rain!" And... as in recent times, Austinites say (or ought to say) BRING IT ON! Hydrate this good country!

Sunday night the plan is to look into a buddy's band at one of the usual spots; couple great bands I've seen before also playing - Sweat Lodge, Ssserpentsss; fun and free show with some other kids I know.

Tuesday = Beauty Bar: Art Invasion w/ MF-ing Grimy Styles, only The band that kept my sanity together in 2009 whilst I was slaving away in a cubicle doing fuckoff data entry for a @#$!-ing insurance agency! ECK! Grimy kept it together and kept me barefoot at all times on the floor in front of the stage at Flamingo and The Parish, I miss their shows so when they reunite perennially for stuff like SX, I celebrate.

Serendipitous: Saving money by not $moking. I haven't purchased a pack of American Spirits (or any other smokes) since about Feb. 23 or 24. Hell yeah! Granted, I've smoked about (collectively) a pack since then, bumming of course, but my lord! A pack in two weeks versus a pack in two days?? CanIgetaAmen.


Alright mang, I'm going to bed. I am very much still in love with my apt, it's been my bff.. also in love with my bike, and very much still in love with my self, since I've gotten to know myself a lot more and I've taken better care of myself than ever over the past 10 mo. or so since I got out of a suuuuper shitty relationship. So, Digging it? Yes. I am still very much digging it.

Here comes the but.. but it's not a very big 'but'.. 

But: I am kinda squaring with this healing + knowledge + happiness I've been digging for so long lately, and I'm grumpy about not being interested in anyone.
I have too much else to be in love with, and I leave soon for the true western country anyway. I'm in love with the future, in love with the options, in love with the uncertainty, and in love with the writings of John Muir!

It's annoying to be so level-headed sometimes. This lonesomeness doesn't last long when it comes, it's just like existentialism  plus  lonesomeness, and I guess it  equals  ... staying up too late at night all self-absorbed and blogging about this stuff!

Jesus Christ! or, as I say carefully at work when the new young and religious employee is around, Cheese and Rice!