a typical monday
Today was fraught with dull frustration – hours dealing with printers for work, and no resolution by day’s end. I think the dullness came from driving over 17 twice and eating 2 donuts, the second of which made me sick, as was apparent before I finished it. I had a small hope, as I told my friend at dinner later, that it would kill my sugar obsession to get a little sick on those dastardly fried cake globules. It was not worth it: Headache, dullness, feeling sorry for myself that I ruined my lunch with one fairly good donut and another large mediocre donut. I have a feeling my quest for a really good donut is not over yet. But perhaps the next time I will be prudent enough to eat just one. *sigh*
The donut torpor was temporarily alleviated by This American Life, a truly wonderful radio show that rarely fails to remind me of the fullness of humanity in this country, even when the actions and speech of those whose stories are told through the airwaves shock me to no end, I still feel an incredibly compelling, circular completeness. a kindred spirit rises within me and I feel hopeful and humbled and empowered.
This particular show was about the undecided in the election, and was aired a few days before Super Tuesday (“Here comes Super Tuesday”…anyone remember this obscure song on the radio, which I last heard over a decade ago to the tune of Ruby Tuesday?) Not that I had any doubt before, but my word, the dirty election politics! Especially on the republican side. It was a fascinating show. I highly recommend it. To hear it: log onto This American Life’s website and do a search for Swing Set, broadcast date 10/29/04. You can listen with Real Audio.
A friend and I had dinner at a Japanese restaurant downtown that I thought I liked just as well as the one I usually go to. Now that I have eaten there again, I disagree with myself. I had the amazingly expensive unagi donburi (just over $25 all told), the leftovers of which are now in my fridge, and will hopefully be eaten by me, though I don’t think I can face it tomorrow. I need to eat normal food that I know makes me feel good. White rice, fresh water eel and seaweed…well, I just don’t know about it. It started tasting kinda fishy (even though it’s fresh water) at the restaurant and I had to stop eating it. The wasabi and ginger made a nice masking of the fishiness, but know I don’t have that to work with here at home. Wait…I do have pickled ginger and wasabi paste in the fridge! Whaddya know.
We talked a blue streak, like we always do, my friend and i. it felt good. We had to make an effort to look at the menu and place our orders. By the way, raw fish is intense (I tasted some of her tuna nigiri). It creeps me out more than I thought it did. Maybe because it’s so powerful to eat a creature that close to life. I wonder what it would be like to eat a live animal. I don't need to find out, but I do wonder.
We went to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Convocation at the civic center. Now here is a holiday I can actually celebrate. Forget Christmas and Solstice. Afterward, we walked back downtown in the rain feeling inspired. I feel connected to thousands of people I don’t know working for civil justice and human rights in all ways small and large.
Dr. Joseph Lowry was the keynote speaker, a contemporary of Dr. King. He is a good story teller, as it seems Baptist ministers generally are (okay, i have only heard 4, and though two of them weren’t quite “good,” in the context of what i was expecting (a talk about organic farming in the South), listening to them was a unique experience I have decided I am glad I had). His voice was raspy as a rusty can, but that didn’t stop his spirit from enveloping his words with power and emotion. I was more open (less resistant) to hearing him invoke the lord, and jesus, now that I’ve sat through an intense and unexpected preaching experience (that’s another story). I sort of let “the lord” and “jesus” equal “universe” and “the embodiment of compassion,” so I didn’t tense up. I don’t know entirely why my resistance to hearing religious speak is so ingrained in me. i think part of it is that I sense those who use it are trying to get me to convert, even if they are not directly proselytizing. anyhow, hearing his stories of marches in the 60's, 70's, and 80's was remarkable, as was his humble, powerful eloquence on matters of the day like affirmative action, the war in iraq, the state of the union, and the state of voter registration (millions more to go).
So here's to Dr. King and most importantly, his legacy: all of those people who work for the values he championed: compassion and non-violence and human rights and social justice.
The donut torpor was temporarily alleviated by This American Life, a truly wonderful radio show that rarely fails to remind me of the fullness of humanity in this country, even when the actions and speech of those whose stories are told through the airwaves shock me to no end, I still feel an incredibly compelling, circular completeness. a kindred spirit rises within me and I feel hopeful and humbled and empowered.
This particular show was about the undecided in the election, and was aired a few days before Super Tuesday (“Here comes Super Tuesday”…anyone remember this obscure song on the radio, which I last heard over a decade ago to the tune of Ruby Tuesday?) Not that I had any doubt before, but my word, the dirty election politics! Especially on the republican side. It was a fascinating show. I highly recommend it. To hear it: log onto This American Life’s website and do a search for Swing Set, broadcast date 10/29/04. You can listen with Real Audio.
A friend and I had dinner at a Japanese restaurant downtown that I thought I liked just as well as the one I usually go to. Now that I have eaten there again, I disagree with myself. I had the amazingly expensive unagi donburi (just over $25 all told), the leftovers of which are now in my fridge, and will hopefully be eaten by me, though I don’t think I can face it tomorrow. I need to eat normal food that I know makes me feel good. White rice, fresh water eel and seaweed…well, I just don’t know about it. It started tasting kinda fishy (even though it’s fresh water) at the restaurant and I had to stop eating it. The wasabi and ginger made a nice masking of the fishiness, but know I don’t have that to work with here at home. Wait…I do have pickled ginger and wasabi paste in the fridge! Whaddya know.
We talked a blue streak, like we always do, my friend and i. it felt good. We had to make an effort to look at the menu and place our orders. By the way, raw fish is intense (I tasted some of her tuna nigiri). It creeps me out more than I thought it did. Maybe because it’s so powerful to eat a creature that close to life. I wonder what it would be like to eat a live animal. I don't need to find out, but I do wonder.
We went to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Convocation at the civic center. Now here is a holiday I can actually celebrate. Forget Christmas and Solstice. Afterward, we walked back downtown in the rain feeling inspired. I feel connected to thousands of people I don’t know working for civil justice and human rights in all ways small and large.
Dr. Joseph Lowry was the keynote speaker, a contemporary of Dr. King. He is a good story teller, as it seems Baptist ministers generally are (okay, i have only heard 4, and though two of them weren’t quite “good,” in the context of what i was expecting (a talk about organic farming in the South), listening to them was a unique experience I have decided I am glad I had). His voice was raspy as a rusty can, but that didn’t stop his spirit from enveloping his words with power and emotion. I was more open (less resistant) to hearing him invoke the lord, and jesus, now that I’ve sat through an intense and unexpected preaching experience (that’s another story). I sort of let “the lord” and “jesus” equal “universe” and “the embodiment of compassion,” so I didn’t tense up. I don’t know entirely why my resistance to hearing religious speak is so ingrained in me. i think part of it is that I sense those who use it are trying to get me to convert, even if they are not directly proselytizing. anyhow, hearing his stories of marches in the 60's, 70's, and 80's was remarkable, as was his humble, powerful eloquence on matters of the day like affirmative action, the war in iraq, the state of the union, and the state of voter registration (millions more to go).
So here's to Dr. King and most importantly, his legacy: all of those people who work for the values he championed: compassion and non-violence and human rights and social justice.
