…to ask strangers on the Internet for free shit.
Greetings from Ireland, and Shifting
Last week was a doozy. We were counting down til our departure to Ireland, Jon was required to go to NYC for business during the week, things were intense at work for me, and serendipitously on Monday morning, I was emailed about interest in a job interview.
By the end of the week, I had a job offer for a job less than 2 mi from home with great benefits. I gave 1 mo notice to my current job (my boss seemed happy for me, but not so happy at the same time.) The house was cleaned and we were packed. We spent Friday evening with friends, having a wonderful time, and then Saturday we started our journey. I’m still discombobulated because my life took a turn last week, and hopefully for the better.
We’ve been wandering around Dublin so far, and today we are going to wander more. There seems to be a marathon today, which may account for all the American athletic types I’ve seen around. What a coincidence we just happen to come here during a tourist time.
The weather is not unlike Seattle, which is a relief. Jon has now approached me at this little computer station, so it’s time for breakfast.
Here’s to all life’s adventures!
The Story of Your Body
Diets.
I remember once when I was a kid I saw a poster featuring Garfield. I remember it saying something about “Diet is just Die with a T.” There’s diets emphasizing this, that and eliminating everything else. And it’s all promoted as if one thing fit all. Where exactly does evolution fit into all this? Where it is obvious that American culture (super-size me and all) encourages obesity (well, that and that people live in suburbs, drive cars miles and miles to the “corner store” and rarely do any physical exercise), what about us as individuals with tons of evolutionary genetic heritage?
As for me, I know that my family heritage is rural. Craftspeople, tradespeople, farmers and shopkeepers. Also, there’s the poverty and walking up-hill both ways in the snow. A body that burns calories slowly, knows how to store for long times w/o food and has endurance would be helpful in lean, hard-working times. Some of the women at work call my body-type “thick.” And it’s true, I’m not scrawny woman. While I am overweight, I’ve got big bones. I’ve got my mother’s family’s hips, broad and solid. I was well nourished as a kid — perhaps over-nourished compared to my ancestors. Maybe I’m genetically built to be optimized for hard labor and lean times? I find that I’m not as jazzed by proteins, but I ADORE complex and simple carbs, stuff that is cheap and easy to get. Protien actually makes me more hungry, and I tend to eat more when proteins are involved. Funny, huh?
Jon is different, though. He NEEDS protein. A veggie diet leaves him starved. We’ve found a happy medium, for the most part.
Maybe weight loss, health maintenance and optimization for our lifestyles has nothing to do with what our current culture and science is telling us — maybe we need to ask ourselves, how did our parents grow up and eat and work? How did their parents live? Maybe that can serve as a guidance?
Of course — I have no scientific back up, but it’s an interesting thought.
Coffee vs. Social Work
Early this afternoon I was getting my Nico (a coffee drink at Vivace in Seattle) and chatting with Don, one of our usual baristas. We see Don most days he works, because we are at Vivace most every day. Somehow or another, we started talking about the new Stumptown (Portland-based coffee roasters) locations on the Hill. I mused a bit on how maybe I should quit my job and try being a barista. I told him, though, my barista training came from Starbucks (not to mention my brief time at Seattle’s Best Coffee), and I’m not sure that was adequate. Don encouraged me, reminding me that I did work at the ‘bucks before their push-button machines. Don said something about Stumptown like, “I hear they pay well and have good benefits…”
Maybe I should quit social work and try to be a Seattle barista?
He suggested us swapping jobs. I laughed.
If only!
Early Burning of the Man
from Laughing Squid
They’re promising to rebuild the Man for the weekend burn. This just all seems ridiculous to me. Of course, this is because I went to Burning Man for the first time in 99, about 2 years after it was last “cool.” I went in 2000 and 2004, and my last burn was really not all that great. It was too big, and it was starting to show the stresses of the population. I really believe that once you get a certain population density, even for a brief period of time, like a week, you’re going to start having some of the same problems that other American cities have. I’m talking about everything from sanitation to crime. The larger the population, the more infrastructure by the Org required to keep things seeming like nothing has changed on the surface. The Man no longer sits on top of hay stacks, and now they have a well oiled emergency services and the risk of DYING at Burning Man is pretty low. Hell, the risk of an unintentional fire is pretty low. They put out the man in 26 min, and it was not fully consumed.
While I do think arson is bad, I find it amusing that Burning Man has been the haven for people who like to blow shit up, burn it, prance around naked, do drugs and give the finger to the Law. Burning someone elses art is also bad. The thing is, I don’t consider the Man art any more because it’s trademarked and a brand. And besides, it was MEANT to burn. Isn’t this just what the over-commercialized, over-run event needs? A reminder of how EPHEMERAL the event is supposed to be? It seems that one of the wonderful things about Burning Man is that the burn symbolizes the end and beginning — it’s a modern ritual in understanding impermanance and letting what’s burned stay burned, at least for the year. Why build another man to burn the same week?
One year. One Man.
To me, it just says, “How American.” This year is called “Green Man.” Some people have called for an increased emphasis on envioronmental sensitivity and sustainability wrt the event. There are a lot of resources poured into the event — fossil fuels, lumber and sanitation are just parts of the infrastructure, let alone what people bring in – RV’s, generators, etc. Whatever happened to dealing with a non-recouperable experience and moving on? I think in 2K one of the Man’s arms didn’t go up for the burn. Did that mean that it didn’t burn and we waited for it to be fixed? Sometimes things don’t happen the way we want. It’s not like the Temple doesn’t burn at the end of the week.
Whatever happened to packing up all your stuff with a tent and rations and water, going out and having a great time with the threat of death?
It’s just crazy.
I’ll repeat at the end of this: I don’t think it’s cool that someone lit the Man on fire early. I do think that people should just let it stay burned and not build another man. “Suck it up and deal.”
Iron Head Jane 