dangerous compassions

I call you / from the comet's cradle

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

funny stuff

Some funny stuff happened today, but I don't know what it was.  Ming and I went out and had tons of fun, and then we came home and I took a nap.  I was too tired to take off my clothes and get into bed, so I just wrapped myself up in the outer blanket on the bed sort of like a burrito--I mean I was like a burrito--the blanket was like a tortilla.

Then I woke up and said hi to mom, who discovered the flowers I bought her and never got into a vase.  We got them into a vase.  They celebrated her birthday at work today and she brought Ming a piece of cake.  I ate one bite, and it was delicious chocolate.

Other highlights:

lunch at Plenty in Los Alamos
the perfect waitperson
when the flower guy at the farmers market offered me tequila
sugar-free coconut cupcake
reconnaissance mission at Costco
telling Ming my third-favorite joke

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

citizens of the world



This is one of my favorite songs.  Please listen!

vibrant

The sky's so blue after rainy days.  Today we're going to see my bestie.  We go to lunch then a cafe or park or both.  Before, we painted butterflies.  Those days are over.  Butterfly time has passed.

Well, it's always time for real butterflies.

Mom painted my nails rainbow, and we saw a rainbow sticker on the back of a van, then we saw a real rainbow in the sky, vibrant.

Monday, November 28, 2016

Guest blogger again for another lovey dovey post

I love you, Primary blogger !

We are here at the undisclosed location post Thanksgiving holiday. She is spending time with her mother at this time. I hear the occasional Ricola horncall and know they are also playing the Draw Something game on their iPhones.

Today we went to a pier and walked a bit. It was 28 minutes past the highest of the high tide I saw, so my iPhone app told me. Then we went to our favorite cafe in SLO.

"What are you doing today ?" asked the worker behind the cash register at the cafe,
"We are out having fun" answered Primary blogger. She was going to ask how his day was going but he seemed in worker mode.

After writing what might be my last letter to a prisoner penpal (cause he is up for release December 16th, 2016) we then went for a stroll to the krishna cafe nearby. She had a bowl of steamed kale for $3. We then went to Indian food buffet, I loading up on saag and rice.

We then went to a track in a nearby neighborhood park and I walked two laps. An app on my iPhone tells me that I have only gone 7000 steps today, out of my goal of 10000 per day, so that is not ideal. Need to walk more tomorrow.

DuoLingo continues to be fun, I now at Spanish, level 6 and Russian, level 2.

Oh, time for bed.


Well, it is night here. I am back to blogging as Primary blogger has gone to bed and I am up now after we went to sleep together. My sleep specialist doc has suggested that in order to increase wakefulness and consolidate my narcoleptic sleep, I should get six hours of sleep between 11pm and 5am. I don't want to take more stimulant than I already am taking as prescribed for my narcolepsy, so that is my option, consolidated sleep, that I am doing.

I used to and sometimes do now, wake repeatedly from bad dreams, reoccurring throughout the night. I take a medication, an alpha-1 blocker, that is supposed to mitigate my bad dreams. Sometimes it works. Tonight it didn't.

I dream often of working as an RN after a busy nightshift, trying frantically to get work finished and done before the next shift of workers arrives. I dream (and recall) the criticisms of the day shift workers of what they perceive as 'easy' night work.

Well, I am getting tired now, again. Good night !

Sunday, November 27, 2016

new book

Mom's text tone is the one that sounds like a huntsman's horn.  It was going off a lot--I think my brother was texting her a lot.  "I feel like I'm in a Ricola commercial," Ming said, which made me laugh.

We bought books at the used bookstore, or I did, and I picked up two silly ones from the free pile.  Ming started reading one to me, and I think I hate it.  It's by Terry Brooks.  It's about a lawyer.  "Where are the elves and goblins?" I asked.  I guess they're forthcoming.

I got a cute notebook at the dollar store and some cayenne pepper.

My friend's got a new book out.  You can read about it here, and there's a link.

http://www.rubbertrampartist.com/2016/11/24/so-proud

Saturday, November 26, 2016

day of fun

Yesterday we went apple tasting, walked at the pier, visited Avila Barn to see farm animals, and my relatives went on a hayride.  They also saw Santa.  Wtf.  I was nervous and evacuated.

Then we wanted some things and Ming drove me and him to Lompoc for the Friday afternoon farmer's market, only it didn't happen.  We took a spontaneous trip to the museum.  It was fun to learn about Native Americans of the area and look at artifacts.  I was just thinking about the different types of fishhooks.

Then we went to my favorite Lompoc cafe and I ate a power bagel.  I wrote postcards.  I txted.

Overall it was a highly rated day.






Friday, November 25, 2016

fry ups

Well, Thanksgiving happened.  Cooked a whole bunch of food.  Went well.  We bought Mom a tv antenna so we could watch Dad's football game.  Vikings lost.

Now the leftovers.

Thursday, November 24, 2016

necklaces I made my nieces and nephew




Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Guest Blogger posts again

Guest blogger here again.

Yesterday was a day of holiday travel. We left Las Vegas, Nevada, at 5:06am and made great (fast) time to our current secret location. We rest stopped less than we have in the past, stopping this time on the trip at a country store for coffee, a cafe for a small breakfast, a restaurant for a snack, and a park for a walk. That was about it, not needing a reststop for simply rest. I am happy about that.

DuoLingo is a joy. I am studying Spanish and a little bit of Russian with it, with better success than language learning routes previously tried.

We are lucky, I guess, that we are able to take our "work" with us, as we are creating a Nevada Desert Experience winter fundraising appeal while on Thanksgiving vacation. I am also watching a training video online to find out how we may utilize an online program that will broadcast our appeal letter better to meet our needs.

Primary blogger is spending time with her mother as I write to you.

Today was visiting the Solvang Farmer's Market after doing some mundane general shopping for tomorrow's holiday festivities. I even utilized the link from last month's blog post from me to check the farmers' market schedule.

I am not planning on buying anything on Black Friday. There, I have announced my intention.

Guest blogger out.

Monday, November 21, 2016

hello

Today I've had 4,552 hits on my blog so far.  Hello to any new readers!

Seems someone posted a link somewhere to my blog post about visiting the Sikh temple.  And I got a mean comment on it, insulting me for being disrespectful though the Sikhs I spoke with in person told me I had done nothing wrong since I didn't know the custom.

So that's unsettling.  I haven't been feeling well so took it easy yesterday.  Today we're having lunch with another activist here in Las Vegas.  Tomorrow morning early we leave town early for Thanksgiving.  I need to pack and go for a walk.

I've been writing letters, reading zines.  Ming and I went for a dusk walk yesterday, which was unusual, but I hadn't left the house all day.

I like our new thermometer.  It pleases me to know the temps in our house and outside.  I guess I am a low grade weather geek.

Sunday, November 20, 2016

out of character / in character

If you know me, you know I hate television.  But I signed up for hulu this morning.  I think it's because I have a good friend who loves Adventure Time and I wanted to see it.

So I watched the first episode, and I liked it, but it was still tv.

Now I want to write said friend a letter about Adventure Time.  If you know me, you know I love writing letters.

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Beans, Letters, Stories, Thermometers, Standing Rock, and DuoLingo

Guest blogger here again. It is 10:55pm. I just finished sorting and soaking the beans for tomorrow's Food Not Bombs Las Vegas food scooping. I have to wake at 4:15am tomorrow to begin cooking the beans for the serving beginning at 10:30am.

Earlier tonight the Las Vegas Political Prisoner Letter Writing night went well. This time, we got the names of prisoners from prisonbooks.info and from the Nuclear Resister. We had five cards and six participants at the gathering so the numbers worked out great. Each of the cards were filled, inside and out, with wellwishes and greetings.

I listened to some stories being told at a Tellabration event at the local library. That was fun.

It was cold today here in the Las Vegas Valley. Earlier today we got a thermometer to see what our temperatures are year round.

This morning the Las Vegas Catholic Worker did the regular food serving. Last night we were hosts to three Catholic Workers from Guadalupe, California, who were passing through to Standing Rock. They left this morning before the serving of food began. I hope their journey is swift and safe.

Today was a big duoLingo day for me. Spanish is progressing well. I apparently am now 13% fluent.

It is now 11:15pm and I got to go to bed. Good night.


Friday, November 18, 2016

two good deeds and fixing our own computer

Today my computer stopped working very suddenly.  I was using it and it blinked off.  When I tried to turn it back on, it wouldn't turn on.  I was concerned.  We were going to take it to Fry's but were too busy.

King Ron came over to chop onions.  He brought two friends.  Then two other friends showed up to pick up two bags of food for an impoverished person (good deed #1).  We all talked for a while.  Hugs occurred.  Good feelings.  I gave A some zines.

"I have a chromebook that stopped working," I explained on the phone to the geek I was referred to.  "Does that sound like something you could work on?" I asked.

The geek explained that he had never fixed a chromebook!  I was shocked!

Then he told me I should pop out the battery and put it back in and see if that worked.  He said that's what they do with laptops.

We were hungry so we went to Veggie House in Chinatown, which Ming had been wanting to go to.  We had delicious fake seafood.

As we were leaving the parking lot, we saw a man drop something.  It was a card.  I saw it looked like a Nevada driver's licence.

"Stop!" I told Ming.  I jumped out of the car, picked up the license, and went over to the red truck that the man was sitting in.  I tapped the license on his window, and he looked up from his phone, startled.  He opened the door and took the license from me.

"Thank you so much!" he said.  I said nothing and ran back to the Echo (good deed #2).  Ming was blocking the way for another car, and I felt bad.

Then at home I unscrewed the computer.  We opened it up.  It was a bit dusty, so I asked Ming to blow canned air on it.  He blew canned air on the green circuit board and I noticed liquid was coming out of the can.

"What the fuck?" I asked.  "Why is water coming out?"  It seemed wrong to get liquid on my computer's insides.  I said we should let it dry for a while.  We unplugged the battery and plugged it back in.

Long story short, my computer works again.  The geek was nice to tell me how to fix it myself.  He could have made a hundred bucks off us but chose to help us DIY.

The end!

Thursday, November 17, 2016

love thy neighbor as thyself

M:  Seems like they're starting earlier and earlier.
LM:  What are they even yelling about?

langar at the Sikh temple

Yesterday I was so sad.  But then last night Ming really wanted to go to the Sikh temple for their langar, and I gave in.  We picked up our friend C and traveled to the other side of town.

We took off our shoes outside in back of the temple, and I was surprised because if it had been raining, our shoes would have gotten soaked.

Some women in saris were entering the building before us.  I felt like a weirdo in jeans and my new tiedyed teeshirt.  I wore something on my head.  Ming wore something on his head, and C too.  It's required.

We went into the worship hall and some music was being played on harmonium and drums.  Men sang.  It sounded good.

There was a kid who seemed maybe developmentally disabled who kept staring at me.  I was sitting on what seemed to be the men's side of the room and felt weird about it.

We were all sitting on the floor, and there were no cushions.  My legs took turns falling asleep.  I stretched them out and got some circulation back.

It was interesting and boring at the same time.

My favorite part was when they handed out handfuls of sweet prasad.  I was given a lot.  It crumbled as I tried to eat it.

Then one of the main guys came up to us when it was over and told us we were not supposed to sit with our feet pointing toward the guru or have cigarettes in our pockets.  I apologized about sitting wrong, and he said, "Don't apologize.  You didn't know."  We assured him that we didn't have any cigarettes.  He introduced us to the temple's president, who seemed blase.

Then was food time.  We went into another room and got styrofoam trays and were served food.  I refused the sweets.  The food was good vegetarian Indian food.  It was served to us from buckets.

Then we got C and left.  An old lady said goodbye to us awkwardly.

Ming and our friends had gone to several langars, but this was my first.  I don't really want to go back, but it was bloggable.

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Mt Charleston

This morning we went to Mt Charleston.  I was feeling poorly.  We went for a walk.  It was all downhill then all uphill and it took me a while.  We were at 7000 ft.

My favorite part was when I sat on a rock, resting for about ten minutes.  I rested until I got too cold.

Then we went to the giftshop.  I got some Dover bird stickers and two bird postcards.

Then we returned to town and had lunch with a new friend.  It was good but used up my spoons.

I don't have to do anything else today.  But I want to clean my desk and might bind more zines.

Love to all of you.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

#nativelivesmatter

Today we went to the #NODAPL protest at Wells Fargo bank.  I was scared to go but am really glad I went because it was meaningful and beautiful.  So many people took so many pictures but they didn't post them on the facebook event page, which is a little sad (because I can't show any pictures to you).

I held my THE ONLY SOLUTION IS LOVE sign, which is my usual sign.  Ming held my PROTECT the SACRED sign that I made for the drum circle.

Then we went to dinner at our friend's place.  It was a community dinner.  He got pupusas.  J brought donated salads.

My spoons are vanished.  Oh, but I got a new tiedyed teeshirt.  I was looking online for a Black lives matter teeshirt and found one--it hasn't arrived yet.  Somehow tiedye seemed important too.

our days

I've been studying Latin American Spanish on Duolingo and finally after a week got to some stuff that was really new, lots of it.  It's amazing how much work a new language is.

Yesterday I felt bad I didn't want to go to the supermoon drumming circle--Ming wanted to go.  I ran out of energy.

Yesterday we went to two temples.  One to help assemble bajan books, one to have tea with the Priestess and deliver some mailing labels to her that Ming printed.  I had been up at 4:35 am and maybe that's too early.

Today we might go to Red Rock so Ming can hike.  He has laundry in the machine already.  Our friend was diagnosed with kidney stones and needed veggie broth, so Ming gave him some.

My wrists feel weird.  I wish all the stuff I most like to do wasn't so fine motor.

Monday, November 14, 2016

We Are the Standing Rock

Sunday, November 13, 2016

birthday, Trump protest, random ice

Last night we went to a friend's birthday party.  She liked the flowers we brought.  She got excited.  She read aloud the card I made for her, and it was sweet.  She has a ton of friends and there were not a ton of people at the party, so we think she broke her birthday up into multiple parties.

Then Ming and our houseguest went to the Trump protest.  I went to bed.  There were hundreds of people at the protest.  The houseguest carried my THE ONLY SOLUTION IS LOVE sign.  He got some positive reactions.

Today there's Food Not Bombs, a thing at the UU church, support group at 3, and a drum circle picnic thing for Standing Rock.

This morning we brought our houseguest to the airport.  It was packed.  Then we went to Sunrise Coffee, my favorite cafe in Las Vegas now that the Beat is closed.  Then we went to Sunset Park where there was ice on the ground, like ice dumped from coolers but in multiple locations, which was confusing.  Then we went to Whole Foods and bought some nice food.

Saturday, November 12, 2016

happy birthday

This morning some weird things happened.  At the line there was a fight.  No one punched, but there were threats.  One of the guys had a taser.

A little ways down the road, there was another fight, this one involving a rock.  Someone called the police on that one, and three cop cars showed up.  And an ambulance.

A little kid was throwing rocks at pigeons when his mom wasn't looking.  I wanted to tell him to stop.  Then his mom looked.

We lingered a long time at the serving site.  By the time we got back to the Catholic Worker house, the people who had been waiting for us there were pissed off.  I walked into the room and sensed a wall of crankiness.

So there were bad vibes.  I rinsed and sanitized dishes.  There was a busload of kid volunteers.  One was scraping pots--the other was drying dishes.  The pot scraper had a great attitude.  I would hate that job.  I felt bad for the kids thinking we were all crankipants when in fact it was unusual.

Ming was helping kids wrap gloves as Christmas gifts for people on the soupline.  I hung around in the hallway.  I talked to G.  I asked him about an abstract-looking art on the wall, what it was depicting, and he showed me how it was depicting the transfiguration.

Then I talked to M in the kitchen for a while.  Then Ming was done and M was done so we decided to leave.  We were hungry.

I came home and ate some vegetarian meatloaf that J made for me.

Next I need to clean my desk.  Our friend is coming to town and staying overnight.  We pick him up at the airport at around 3.  Then we have a meeting.

At 6 is a birthday party.  We bought flowers and dollar store vases yesterday.  I need to make a card.

Friday, November 11, 2016

drama

Our friends the CODEPINKers and some Vets for Peace went to the Veteran's Day parade.  I guess they were asked to leave and then someone called the cops and two of our friends were arrested.  One of the friends is a filmmaker, and I hope his equipment is okay.  The other was just arrested (and released) yesterday.  I wonder what's going to happen to them.

I feel worried and like I didn't understand how much was being asked of us.  I feel agitated.

One of the guys who got arrested had Ming's phone number written on his arm in sharpie.  So maybe he'll call from jail.

Thursday, November 10, 2016

sugar sugar

I ordered some colorful hemp twine on amazon and a book and some surefire batteries for Ming.  My packages came in one by one, and finally everything has arrived.  Made some mistakes with the twine.  Don't know what to do with the mistake twine.  Well, it wasn't anybody's fault.  Colors look different online.

It's a peaceful afternoon.  We have a houseguest who's a CODEPINKer.  She is nice.  We're taking her to the airport in the morning.

I ordered a Black lives matter teeshirt this morning in response to the regime change.  I do kind of a lot to support peace activists, but I thought I should step it up in other ways.

I have a ton of powdered peanutbutter.  I looked up what to do with it and nothing really excited me.  Well, things excited me but they had sugar.

Wednesday, November 09, 2016

love thy neighbor as thyself

Roasted potatoes for dinner and enchilada casserole--the latter is a dish from my youth--my brief stint in 4-H I made it for Foods.  Wow was that a long time ago.  But this batch, my first in more than a decade, I used green olives because don't have black.  Now that's different.

Neighbor dog barks--neighbor humans scream.  Ming is out--he vigiled at Creech Air Force Base with friends and then they went to the Sikh temple for langar.  The langar goes too late for me.

Earlier an anthropologist was over.  He's Basque.  He's an ethnographer.  A lot of film makers, journalists, book writers pass through here.  We help them a lot.  This one interviewed me for a little while.  I'm afraid he didn't think much of me.  I showed him a zine and he didn't seem too interested.

V was here getting interviewed then singing for a camera, for a movie.  She had her guitar.  I knew all four songs.  She used to have them up on soundcloud.  One of them she changed the ending.  It used to end something like, "Matter of fact, take all your clothes off," and now it ends strangely without that.

I want to redo our bumper stickers.  Ming says no, we should just add.  BLACK LIVES MATTER!  MUSLIM LIVES MATTER!  TRANS LIVES MATTER!

today so far

1.  early morning
2.  short walk
3.  long therapy
4.  kite shopping
5.  vegemite sandwich

Tuesday, November 08, 2016

this morning's Creech vigil



a sun came

This morning we woke up early and went to Creech.  The CODEPINKers were late because Johnnie Bobb was with them and did a sun ceremony.  It was good to see people.  We vigiled two hours then held hands in a circle and sang a song.  "We Shall Not Be Moved."

Then we Catholic Workers went out to breakfast at Denny's.  I learned some people put half and half on their pancakes.  Yep, it's done.

Vigiling it was cold.  Then the sun came up and eventually warmed us.  I held my THE ONLY SOLUTION IS LOVE sign.  I got to talk to some nice friends I hadn't seen in a while.

Military people photographed us for a long time.  We photographed ourselves too.  I'll post some later.

trilobite necklace


Monday, November 07, 2016

today in five things

1.  good meeting
2.  new necklace
3.  delicious pasta salad
4.  desert walk
5.  cafe sit

Sunday, November 06, 2016

home place

Last night we went to a bluegrass concert.  It was in a warehouse with echo-y acoustics.  I thought there would be multiple bands, but there was only one.  It was a fundraiser, so I thought it would be rich people.  But they seemed not that rich.  We had free tickets.  We went with J and G.  We carpooled.  I would have left at the intermission.  Ming and I walked in the dark.  He gave me a piece of paper so I could write a poem.

So I wrote a poem and felt better.  The jokes the band told--some were funny.  Some were dumb.  Some were offensive.  I liked that two of the band members were women.  I felt like they were my friends, though they're not.  They didn't tell any of the jokes.

Last night there were some strange songs they played.  One was about a rooster having sex with different animals on the farm.  (When he has sex with the cow, she starts giving eggnog.)  One about death was tender.  Who will watch the home place?

Saturday, November 05, 2016

starman

All I want to listen to is David Bowie lately.  I really needed to hear "Starman" over and over for a while there.  I love that song.

Friday, November 04, 2016

fail

I saw a puzzle at this diner's giftshop.  It was called a pocket puzzle.  The art on the puzzle depicted Mr Spock of Star Trek and said something like "The many moods of Mr Spock" and it had about 30 different moods listed, all with the same expression / non-expression.  The joke is that he doesn't have moods or he doesn't emote or something.

Today my mood is angry.  I got super mad at Ming today for embarrassing me in front of some friends.  Then tonight I got mad at facebook for lying to me about who can see what and at some jackass I don't know commenting on my personal shit.  I hate facebook for about 100 reasons but try to get the good out of it.  Failing today.

Oh, and earlier I was angry about some racism.  Seems like the trainings people go to do no good whatsoever.  I'm disappointed.

good things
some hemp twine arrived today that I ordered
I have everything I truly need
nice foods
letters
friendship

Thursday, November 03, 2016

confusing

We were at Costco and I was in the car waiting for Ming.  It was hot.  "If I had been a dog, you would have gone to jail," I told Ming.  But I'm an adult human and should have left the car of my own free will.  Free Willy.

"Isn't that a whale movie with Michael Jackson?" I asked.

I googled it and found it was a whale movie, but I think Michael Jackson just sang the theme song.

Wednesday, November 02, 2016

Buddha head only


windy day

This morning we walked at the park and ran errands.  We got a lot done.

Last night I had a bad dream.  I was up writing in the night and went back to bed where the dream continued.  It got worse and worse.

But my nerve isn't hurting me much.  I didn't have trouble getting comfortable physically.

I have a lot to think about.

Luckily, I bought a Buddha head at the dollar store.  They say two heads are better than one.

Tuesday, November 01, 2016

Guest Blogger again

We are home after the most enjoyable ride here.

Primary blogger is sleepy and tired after the long drive today. She is resting right now. Possibly texting with her mom to assuage the grief we all are experiencing.

I think I will close with that.