just laura

It’s one of those weeks where it’s probably be helpful to stop, remember to breathe, and take some nice long deep breaths.

The move is done with many thanks to Hanna, Nitza, Rod, and Duff (and thanks to others like Erin and Lee who offered their services!).

Date and I ended things this weekend, and he’s since then sent two very sweet emails. Yes, he continues to be impressive even after the fact.

I got pulled over last night driving Duff’s truck back to Capitol Hill. The officer said I was going too slow and that he smelled alcohol. I had moving boxes flapping in the back (hence the slow) and as for the alcohol, perhaps he smelled chocolate Halloween candy that we were eating while driving? He actually made me get out of the truck and do tests to see if I was drunk. My heart was beating like crazy at the insanity of the situation. And no, of course I wasn’t drunk. I rarely ever drink, and if I do, it’s a half glass of red wine at some party or maybe a margarita once in a blue moon when I’m home in Texas. Last night I am convinced it was just the Halloween candy from Jeff that could’ve contributed to my driving. Arg.

In Baltimore for work meetings, making a stop to visit Martha and Abbey in DC! Yay!

Here are belated pictures from last month’s art opening at McLeod. Enjoy!

Me and Jess

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Jeff, the photographer exhibiting last month, up from LA, who got down on his knees to introduce himself and offer me cupcakes. (My kind of artist!)

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Samantha and Dream

Ask and you shall (eventually) receive. I’ve gotten numerous emails wanting haircut photos so here they are. It felt a little drastic at first, but I’m pretty content now. It’s maybe five inches shorter and has layers, which bring out more of my natural curl/wave. It definitely does its own thing and I just try not to interfere. Here are the before and after shots (taken by Caroline) and a couple of miscellaneous self portraits (obviously by me). Enjoy!

Before

During

After (excuse the forced smile, I was still in mild shock)

Front view a few days later at work

Side view

Hair that dresses down goes well with crazy t-shirts

Shorter hair supposedly makes me look a little younger (by many accounts)

The end!

When Will was in town staying at the Westin, I had the chance to check out his free coffee from the hotel. It was a Starbucks “Kitamu” blend and the packaging made me laugh out loud. Even with my very basic knowledge Swahili, I know enough to translate most Starbucks East African packages. According to Starbucks, the “Africa Kitamu™ is a bold, balanced blend of fine East African coffees. Kitamu is Swahili for a taste experience that’s ‘delicious beyond description.’” Hmmm. That’s a rather elaborate translation. As I learned it, kitamu relates to foods or drinks and just means sweet (as in it literally has lots of sugar) or can mean yummy in general if it’s not sugary sweet. Here’s an online Swahili lesson I found at

http://learn.kamusiproject.org:

You can use tamu to describe types of food, drink and candy (that contains sugar).
Eg. This juice is sweet – Hii juisi ni tamu
The tea isn’t sweet enough – Chai sio tamu sana(means hasnt got enough sugar for one’s liking)

Perhaps I should get a job at Starbucks and help name future East Africa Swahili blends? Let’s hear it for Starbucks marketing folks for pushing the Swahili word kitamu from “sweet” to a taste experience that is “delicious beyond description.” Pretty funny to me after living in rural Kenya. But then again, while I was a business student before my nonprofit career, I was never a marketing major.

I brought my laptop on the plane on Friday, slept for the first flight, and tried to be productive on the second flight. I’ve now posted lots of overdue pics from the past few months… trying to make up for lost time. Enjoy!

I titled a post a while back with the above title, getting fed up with the ignorance many people have towards such a diverse continent of 53 different countries. Imagine my delight this weekend at Busboys and Poets when I spotted a children’s book called “Africa Is Not A Country.” I think I’ll have to actually add it to my Amazon wish list. :) In other Africa news, tonight I got to meet up with one of the volunteers from this year who’s now back from Kenya. It was GREAT chatting with him and I’m excited to hear he’ll be making a visit to Seattle at some point this spring! In other news, tomorrow I present a half hour talk on my experience in Kenya. It’s now 12:30am, it’s not done yet, and I’ve got to begin before my work meetings. With that, here’s the book. Enjoy!

From School Library Journal
The authors narrate the experiences of children at play, at school, and at home, and use realistic illustrations to explore the cultural, environmental, ethnic, and social diversity of the 53 countries that make up the African continent. They explain that in Rwanda, refugee children (many of whom have been orphaned) are making pictures of war, while in Kenya, two children race to school, dreaming of one day becoming professional runners. From vast deserts with camels in the North to lush agricultural lands in Central and Southern Africa, the widely varied terrains are described in a paragraph or two of text. Unfortunately, there are no chapter or subtopic headings to indicate immediately what country is being discussed, and there is no indication of where it is located on the continent, so it’s difficult to find it on the map. While the art is lively and colorful, and the book concludes with an alphabetical listing of the countries and facts about them, this offering does have its drawbacks.-Daniel Mungai, Queens Borough Public Library, NY

From Booklist
The title says it all. Instead of the “vanishing tribes” view of one Africa with tourists from different countries photographing the animals and primitive people, this informative picture book celebrates the diversity of the 53 nations that make up the continent today. On each page there’s a quick vignette of children in one country, with a bright, happy, colorful illustration. Three girls in school uniform walk on Cairo’s jammed city sidewalks. A boy in Nigeria practices the ancient Igbo dances. At the back a small note on each country fills in facts about geography, currency, population, etc. There’s still the danger of generalization (kids in Kenya running to school), and there are minor inaccuracies (South Africa’s Freedom Day dates from 1994, not 1974); but readers will want to go on from here to explore in depth particular countries that interest them. The essential differences and connections are here. -Hazel Rochman

I got into Seattle this morning between midnight and 1am. Very tired, not feeling too hot, but still got that ridiculous magical feeling flying over Greenlake, Fremont, the Space Needle, and sparkling downtown before landing in Sea-Tac. Don’t know if I’ll stay in Seattle forever, but I do love it. Now that I’m home from Baltimore, I need to either work, unpack, or do something else productive. We’ll see. Seems I first need to get internet at home. Seems the people on my block like to require passwords for their wifi. Tonight will be dinner with Cindy and then off to the Bent Mentor Showcase. Should be great. Anyone interested in joining us? Get your tickets now!

2007 Bent Mentor Showcase with Guest Mentor D. Blair

Bent, a writing institute, and D. Blair
Piggott Auditorium, Seattle University Campus
901 12th Avenue (at Marion Street)

Friday November 9th and Saturday November 10th
Doors 6:30 p.m., Curtain 7:30 p.m.
Tickets :: www.brownpapertickets.com
More Info :: www.bentwriting.com

Seattle, WA – Come bask in the brilliance, revel in the rhyme, and celebrate
the spoken word as Bent, the nation’s only queer writing institute, returns
to the stage for its sixth annual Mentor Showcase, honoring Detroit Poetry
Slam Champion D. Blair. Bent, “the little queer writing institute that
could”, continues to support up-and-coming writers as they put voice to
queer experiences. In the past year alone, Bent has been represented at the
National Poetry Slam, the San Francisco Queer Arts Festival, QueerFest
Seattle, Seattle Black Pride, Seattle Poetry Festival, Reed College,
University of Washington, Seattle University, and the Skagit County Human
Rights Week.

As a part of the 2007 Bent Mentor Showcase more than thirty outstanding
local poets and performers will take the stage for two nights this November
in Piggott Auditorium on the Seattle University Campus, along with honored
mentor D. Blair.

D. Blair is a poet, singer-songwriter, performer, and spoken word artist
from Detroit whose work, in the words of Detroit’s Metro Times, “focuses on
the hope that rises from the ashes of despair.” According to Real Detroit
Weekly, “Blair is a Detroit artist that cannot be overlooked” whose work is
“a set of experimental confessionals born of uncompromising soul and
unmatched lyrical weight.”

Blair’s work and talent have led him to the titles of National Poetry Slam
Champion (2002 Team Detroit) and Detroit Grand Slam Champion (2003). He’s
been named Best Solo Artist by the Real Detroit Weekly Readers’ Poll and has
inspired writers and reviewers across the country and around the world.

The 2007 Bent Mentor Showcase is an opportunity to hear the words and work
of an incredibly gifted, powerful, and nationally renowned wordsmith as well
as the voices of emerging and acclaimed local queer writers. These artists
are rising to the challenge of articulating the kaleidoscope of beauty and
difficulty of lives lived upon the ever shifting boundaries of queer
identities.

In addition to the Showcase performances on Friday, November 9th and
Saturday, November 10th, Blair will be facilitating a writing workshop on
Sunday, November 11th.

Tickets to both evenings of the Bent Mentor Showcase and to the Mentor
Writing Workshop are available at www.brownpapertickets.com.

For as much as I try to be less social, I don’t seem to make much progress. I’m exhausted (and as Jim puts it, I have compelling reasons), but life still seems busy whether I’m exhausted, feeling great, or not. I got back to Seattle early yesterday morning after the long flight from Baltimore than included me watching half of the new Transformers movie, getting bored, reading the first 100 pages of “Into the Wild,” getting distracted, then me just fidgeting in pain in my seat. I then slept for about 4 hours in my new apartment, worked till 5pm, did dinner and attended spoken word with Cindy, ran into old neighbor Chad (sober for 3 spectacular years!), saw Elaina perform, met Foley, and even ran into a former date of Cindy’s (seems to be the trend in this small city… can’t go anywhere and not run into former dates). We were going to hang out at her place afterwards, but I was fading too quickly. (Guess my body’s on east coast time after the week away… I’ve been waking early at 4am or 5am, and been exhausted by 11pm or midnight).

Today I’m hanging at Office Nomads, bearing witness to a super cool barn raising for a website. There’s a user’s group that’s taking a static website for a local nonprofit and in one day they’re rebuilding it with increased interactive functionality. They’re doing it with novices and mentors, all donating their time, all filmed for the whole day by three cameras set up in the space. Quite a cool day to be down here. And they provided donuts, which means I’ve now eaten my first Top Pot donut. (When I left town I was trying to avoid wheat. Now that I’m back and eating it on occasion, a Top Pot day seemed like good occasion!).

Coming up in the next seven days: brunch with Rod, coffee with other recently returned Africa vols, Ian’s 5th birthday, dinner with Erin and Kelly, Green Drinks, photo group, hang with Date?, Andrew’s fund raiser, Nitza & Aldo’s dinner party/birthday, and theater tickets for Franklin and Figaro (I won tickets in a silent auction and the show ends this week). Oh, and working out. I feel like crap these days and I figure as long as I’ve joined the gym and paid for it, I should probably start using it to see what happens. Oh, and at some point between going to the gym before or after work, working during the day, and going out every evening, I hope to actually unpack the boxes cluttering the floor of new apartment. But it’s not exactly a priority right now, even if I would like a less cluttered living space. Oh, and hanging with my new Craigslist roomie Bobbi one of these days would be a good thing too. Then we can figure out where to put a couch, what to do with the giant cube, where to get a dining table and chairs, and other such not-so-pressing questions. :)

After this week, I leave for Florida on Sunday for Thanksgiving. I’m looking forward to having a week with family and a week (ideally) with some downtime on the beach hanging with my nephew Gus. December means more fun, more people, more doctors visits, less physical therapy, more gym visits, and maybe a trip somewhere over the winter break (Texas? Thailand? No idea yet).

Hope y’all are well!

I need to find a gift for the annual family gift exchange and I have less than a week to find it. I got online during lunch to look and got distracted with things I think I might like. Greedy, selfish me. I think I like this pretty sweet amber necklace from signals.com for me, but don’t suspect it’d be ideal for a gift exchange that includes my youngest male cousin to my older aunts and uncles. Alas… back to the internet…

Another fun Green Drinks tonight here in Seattle. Met more nice folks, got more cards, even met a guy who was an MIS major back in the day and is now starting his own “organizational management/change management” consulting firm, focusing on environmental changes possible for businesses. Sweet. Didn’t get winked at this time around, but definitely met some cool folks. Oh, and even left with some goodies: Cha Dao herbal brewed teas (yay local Wallingford company!) and a Flexcar t-shirt (everyone loves American Apparel). Man… if you haven’t tried Cha Dao yet, I’m giving them a free plug because they’re that good. They claim to be the freshest tea in the country, and I’d believe it (based on their yummy samples and the full spiel I heard). I highly recommend the Jasmine or the Ying Yang (half tea/half coffee-ish tea – astoundingly good!). They’re brewed about 1.5 miles from my apartment and are available in local Seattle retailers and even select Whole Foods as far as California and Texas.

Oh. More updates… hanging out with Date last night was good (maybe he shall be known as M from now on?). Hadn’t seen M in two weeks. Nice dinner. Entertaining conversation. Entertaining night in general. Yay entertaining.

Tonight I met a man who’s photos I’ve been admiring for years. That was pretty sweet. I loved the stuff he was passing around the table, and then we started talking Burning Man and naked cyclists and Church of Mez beach burns and then it just clicked. I knew his work. I felt like swooning but tried to control myself. I managed to get a dinner invite out of the deal so I guess I behaved myself semi-appropriately. I’m excited to meet his wife and hopefully have him as a mentor at some point in the future!

I also re-met a guy who I met only once before, on the eve of leaving for Kenya. He was at my goodbye party (apparently he knew a friend of a friend’s?) and he remembered me tonight. Also fantastic and super sweet.

Also got to see Jim and John – great to see oldies like me. Met some other lovely folks too, including a new to Seattle guy working at Amazon and another new guy who looked mysteriously like John Dunn, so much so I almost hugged him on site. We ended up sitting next to each other and I had to actively fight the hugging urge for most of the evening.

Also, I think I may have just gotten myself roped into organizing photo events again. Tonight’s meetup ended up me being named an organizer and with me planning not one but two events in the next few weeks. How did that happen? Now I just need to find some models who want to trade time for photos. Anyone have contacts? Anyone have amateur friends who’d like shots? Do tell!

Yesterday…

• I wore hiking boots and did trail work all day at Interlaken Park
• I went to the library and to the hardware store
• I got my Christmas gift for the annual family gift exchange
• I got sandpaper and suede cleaner for my Wolky clogs
• I did three loads of laundry

Today…

• I drank hot cocoa
• I hung photos, a key rack, and wall hooks
• I bought and assembled a drying rack
• I bought bins so I can finally unpack and put away contents from my last two boxes
• I had the landlord in to fix the dining room light, bath tub, cupboard door, and pantry
• I organized two photo events that should both be pretty good, if I do say so myself :)
• I had tea with Susie and Kerry
• I got my new couch thanks to generous Emily (it’s a sofa sleeper just waiting for my first out of town guest, or in town guest. Anyone’s welcome!)
• I haven’t yet showered, or bought drinks for the party tonight
• I haven’t yet packed for my 11am flight to Florida tomorrow

Weekend so far: an overall success. :)

Suzan noticed the copious amount of babies announced on this site and sent the following link for gDiapers… a new cloth diaper with an inside that can be flushed or composted! How fantastic! Rather than the 500 year time period for a regular plastic disposable diaper that goes in the landfill, a gDiaper can break down in 50-100 days (yep, days, not years!). Pretty astoundingly good idea if you ask me. Suzan reports that her friend’s been using them and they don’t seem to leak like many cloth diapers do. Sweet deal all around! From their website:

gDiapers: The breathable diaper you can flush. gDiapers consist of a washable, cotton outer pant and a plastic free flushable refill. They are made of breathable material just like sports clothing. So, babies stay dry and happy and are far less likely to get diaper rash. Can’t flush? It’s ok to toss flushable refills because they’re plastic-free. Or garden compost the wet ones. They’ll break down in 50-150 days.

Gus loved watching birds and fish from the pier

I’m in Florida this week, keeping busy doing nothing productive, not even email. :) Florida is sunny and in the 80s (perfect!), Gues -
p;\
//

That little randomness brought to you by my cutest ever nephew Gus, now a walking talking fully functioning awesome little toddler. Yep, he’s 18 months and pretty much the coolest. And he likes buttons… on the keyboard, on the phone, on the remote, on my laptop, wherever. Anyway, we’re in Naples this week with the family and we’re being totally pampered with gorgeous weather, perfect blue skies, a private sunset boat trip tonight, an awesome nephew that provides constant entertainment, and an amazing house directly on the beach waterfront next to the pier. Many thanks to generous Tom and Linda for letting us all crash here!

Here are some misc pics from October. More to come eventually. :)

Kim’s goodbye party… I’m an awful friend. How did I get pics of the food but not of Kim herself? She’s now in Nepal and doing fabulous from all accounts. Yay adventuring Kim!

Free fitness program!

Sign posted on Aurora

The Crumpet Shop (gave us free tea! yay Seattle on sunny days!)

So free and so good they get two pics!

In Texas we have taco trucks. In Queen Anne across from my office we have the Thai truck. Sweet!

Good, cheap, fast, and only steps away from our front door!

I know I’m not the only one who thought it entertaining to see a leather whip hanging smack in the middle of the Christmas section at Goodwill

Susie’s fantastically fun mom and dad came to visit in October and we met up at Pies and Pints for some pies, pints, and live bluegrass music. There was even a cutie on fiddle who had to be from Austin (in his boots, Longhorn hat, and Reckless Kelly t-shirt). Good times!

I live on Fremont Ave and our leaves looked oh so fun in the October sun! Gotta love sunny Octobers… made the whole month so much more fun than the alternative!

Still making my way through the never ending task of getting caught up on old pictures. Here are a few more from August and my return to Seattle…

Dieter and Emily were gone for a little bit at Kevin’s wedding and I got a bunch of their produce from their P-Patch and their CSA. Not just that, I got flowers two weeks in a row too! Free veggies and flowers when people are out of town are even better than house sitting!

In August I was preparing to move into an old studio (1910?) in my old Fremont neighborhood. The neighborhood has definitely changed a bit in two years time but it still feels like home. I feel okay about these big bulb things, and you can tell they’re trying to keep it funky and artsy.

Swirly thing alert. What?

Welcome back to the first world, where grown men spend lots of money to scoot around downtown Seattle on a Segway during their lunch break. What?

When was Trans Week? These banners have been up forever in Capitol Hill near Ryan’s place.

Ryan and I spent a fair amount of time together in July, August, and Sept… weekly dates and occasionally more (August meant a party with my friends, two baseball games, movies, cooking, bars, and many nice dinners out). A few pictures of Ryan were already posted so no need to repost many now. They’re already preserved for prosperity’s sake.

One night in August Steph, Ryan, and I went to the Seattle Center for the free outdoor movie at the Mural Amphitheater. We saw the original Hairspray and were fortunate to sit next to a blanket of loud gay men who sang, booed, and cheered as appropriate! Yay audience participation! Ah… being back made me realize how much I missed our gay men! (Hey Miss Beal… remember going to see Never Ending Story at the Mural back in 2001?! The good times never end!)

Makes me happy NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne has a hard-to-spell but similarly easy-to-pronounce last name!

Florida was great but was over all too soon. Saying goodbye to family was hard, hard, hard and saying goodbye to warm sunny weather was sad, sad, sad. I’m now back in cold Seattle and kicked off my return with a party at M’s house on Friday night. Susie was a trooper and came with me. Nothing too crazy to report… saw some familiar faces, met some nice new folks, got a mini tango lesson, and all was quite enjoyable. Last night was dinner with Rod, Clare, and Kat. This morning I got to see Jess who is back in town this week from San Francisco. And now I’m off for date night with M. Hope y’all are well!

Went to the gym this morning before work. :) Did cardio while listening to Paul Simon on my iPod while watching old episodes of Saved By the Bell on one of the TV screens.

Today was a day where I was generally feeling mighty fine so I thought I’d capture and record the moment. :) This weekend was pretty great and I’m still living off that high. I spent two long days with M and am enjoying getting to know a new friend. It’s been lonely at times upon return to Seattle this fall… knowing people changed while I was away, knowing I’ve changed, figuring out where I fit in now with new dynamics, and coping with other good friends leaving once I returned. It’s fun right now to add a new friend into the mix. Last night was great too… I got to see Jess and friends at her welcome home celebration at Pies and Pints. Yay! While I’m excited to have more friends in San Francisco, I do miss having Jess in Seattle.

Today itself was a good day, even if it was a bit long. This morning I finally returned to the gym before work (yay!). At work I had a good day with good productive time and good conversations. I also had an egg nog latte (it grew on me), some quality time on the playground, some good coloring time, and even some time with a 10 year old autistic boy that made me quite happy. I do love my job… even if I might be ready for a change sometime soon. As an added bonus, it was sunny today too!

Tonight after work was the first of two photo events I’m hosting for my photo club. Tonight was a free Photoshop workshop for beginners. We had a great turnout, a good intro to Photoshop, a lively discussion on lighting, and generous use of the space over at Office Nomads. I’d call it a success! The next event is going to be way more chaotic… it’ll be a model shoot/lighting workshop this weekend with 16 photographers and 13 models. Should be great fun!

I moved into my new apartment, in my old building, at the beginning of this month. It’s now the end of the month which means it’s time to host a housewarming. Everyone’s invited. You not only get to see me and test out my mismatched velour furniture, you also get to meet my new roomie Bobbi and even get to chat with M while he’s here. Good times!

When: This Friday night from 8pm onward
What: Drop by anytime for drinks and mingling
Where: Email me or call for directions
Bring: Your bad self, maybe a friend, maybe drinks, or maybe a book for the new empty bookcase

Hope to see you there!

Went to the gym this morning before work. :) Brought a book and read while on the machine. Nice!

Went to the gym after work today and did cardio. Read a book while on the machines.