my first kayaking trip: part of the story

I met with the other interpreter for the show I'm doing this week and she asked me: "So how was your kayak trip last Saturday?" And I realized I hadn't told her the story, yet. When I was done, she said something like, so what is it with you and trying to leaving me hanging with shows?

A couple or so years ago we were interpreting a show and I was scheduled for an all-day job locally. That job canceled but there was another one available in Southern Oregon. Per the policy of the hiring agency, I had to either take that job or forfeit all pay, despite it being a last-minute cancellation. I explained my dilemma of interpreting a play that night and that I couldn't make the drive down to the job and back in time for the play (it was about five hours each way). The agency decided to fly me down for the job, with a rental car provided, and I would be back in plenty of time.

Plenty of time if I didn't miss the plane. More accurately, if the plane didn't leave 5 minutes early. Who's ever heard of a plane leaving early!? But it did while I was dropping off the rental car. I spent the next couple of hours on the phone with the agency, with this same other interpreter, with friends, trying to get this all arranged. There was only one other flight from the very small airport up to Portland that day and it would only leave me with something like 30 minutes to get to the theater. I generally arrive an hour or ninety minutes before a play to get ready and centered before we begin. I also had the opening character of the play, which was an old man talking to a dead stuffed goat. It turned out because a friend agreed to pick me up at the airport and drive me to the theater and drop me at the door (he's a speedy driver and I knew he could do it). I arrived about five minutes before the beginning of the play.

So this time I, well, suppose, I could have drowned or been injured and unable to interpret for a while.

Back to the kayak experience. I sent an email to my partner's step-father after the kayaking trip. He is a very experienced paddler and guide, on whitewater, rivers, sea kayaking, rafting, and so on. I told him earlier that I was getting into kayaking and wasn't that something! So I wanted to share my first adventure with him. Below is what I sent him. He was concerned, which is very sweet, by what happened. But after I told him what the leader did, how she prepped me, and how the situation was handled, he said everything was done right (he thought I should have started on something easier, but I'm fine about where we were).

My email:

I went on my first whitewater kayaking adventure on Saturday and it was, well, an adventure! I purchased a Sevylor Tahiti professional self-bailer. I think it was not the right boat for me and that was a factor in what happened.

We were at Crabtree Creek, which is listed as a class 1 to -2. It is considered good at 600 and it was running somewhere between 596-611 earlier that day. ...

I had fun - but ended up in the creek three times; two I tipped over and one was just an "oops" getting back into the boat near the end of the trip - just leaned over backwards too far going butt first into the boat, just after the person helping me said "now don't go leaning back too far and falling in" - I was only in the water probably less than 30 seconds and we were really near the shore - that one not a big deal.

The first was just a few minutes out; I considered just going back to the car to wait - but decided to hang in there. It was scary, but someone I was with got the boat, someone else got me - I was probably in the water 3 minutes or so. I switched boats with someone who was using an inflatable canoe, double-seater, after that - it was definitely more stable and I did okay - no spilling over. A while later the leader of our group asked if I wanted to try my kayak again and I said yes. Ooops. A little while after that there was what felt to me like a sharp s-curve and there was a debris snag at the coming out final curve. I know some of it was I was not in the right place coming into the curve and to get out of it... and probably wasn't paddling strong enough and all of that -- but I collided with the snag and got trapped and my kayak tipped and I went in - again. The water was much swifter and current stronger -- now that one was very scary. The leader of the group told me to let go and I trust her completely, so I did. I won't bore you with the details 'cuz I know you know the stories. I was definitely in the water longer (maybe 6 - 7 minutes), obviously someone did get to me. The leader tried to get my kayak (which was dangerous for her to try), but couldn't - it was bent nearly in half by the current and stuck good in the debris. Luckily she did manage to get my "dry" bag (not a good one; hence the quotes!) which had my keys in it (lesson learned: keep keys in PFD).

So - I lost my kayak on the first trip out. But I'd already been planning to get a different one, although was hoping to get something back by selling that one. It really wasn't a good one for me at this point. But I'm not complaining - I'm still here, my Blackberry got wet and is history but I had insurance on it and my replacement will arrive tomorrow; I only have one bruise.

So -- I'm looking around at other options. I still want an inflatable. The leader said a hard shell one would have probably cracked and I could have been injured on that same snag. And hauling around the inflatable is definitely easier. I will probably also get different paddle; the one I bought (at the recommendation of where I got the kayak) is a little too feathered for me right now and not enough pull.

I will go out again. I am already scheduled for a lesson and little low-level trip out of Ridgefield on mid-May. I will probably just use one of their kayaks.

climbing back on the, er, dragon

me? afraid?

no way! three days after the kayak trip and here I am going back out on the water with the team.

and what a beautiful night it was!

...thank you dragon spirits for safe passage...

and, yes, I still owe my readers the story of the lost kayak and drowned blackberry.

photograph thanks to

Karen Robida

water, water, everywhere

The story of my first whitewater kayaking trip definitely deserves a little more space and thought than I have time to write now. So just a teaser of what's to come *smile.

Lost: my new kayak, fear of falling in (well, not totally), maybe my pretty new digital camera, my self-image of being a non-risk taker (okay, so there are shreds of that left, but definitely shreds), all thoughts of going kayaking alone (except maybe in a still water pond or lake - maybe).

Found: a bond between the group of people with me, trusting what felt like my life to the experience of another person, physical awareness and joy, and more.

It was a good day with several events, not all including dumps in the water.

reminder: performance

It opened tonight and there are three more opportunities if you haven't seen it:

Music in the Middle: An Evening of Duets
with Mike Barber and Cydney Wilkes
Friday-Sunday October 31-November 2, 2008
8PM, $15 admission nightly
additional matinee performance Sunday @ 2 PM

(See October 27 for more information)

hike 9/27/08

Today we went to the Eagle Creek trail in the Columbia Gorge. There is a short route (about 1.5 miles), a medium route (about 6.8 miles round trip) and 13.3 or so for the full route. We opted for the medium one. (This trail has many other variations and a person could simply turn around and go back at any time.)

The weather was perfect: a cool-ish fall morning and then sunny and temperature low 70s (a little cooler than in town) on the way back. It was a not too steep steady incline on the way in.

We passed several falls, some very narrow areas (cliff going up on our left and cliff going down - sometimes straight down) on our right.

The stock photo I found online (left) is of one of the Punchbowl falls up there.

It felt good to be out of town, hiking with a friend, and away from everything electronic and work related. When we reached the steel suspension bridge at the 3.4 miles turnaround point, we considered going another 0.4 miles to another falls - but opted to head back. We had plenty of energy on the bridge and felt fine to contine. About halfway back we were both glad we'd headed back to the car.

Despite a few aches (such as knees from the steady downhill hike back, especially from places where there were rocks in the path), it felt good. We were both feeling tired about that halfway point - but it was the tired of having hiked and physical activity, instead of lack-of-sleep-too-much-work tiredness. That felt good, too.

We also scheduled our shared workout times through October. We didn't find as much compatible time as we would like, but we do have at least once a week together and a couple all day workouts/hikes/trips planned (partly weather pending, we think).

Ahhh - fresh air, running water, waterfalls, birds, and lots of green surrounded us. Mmmmm - nice.

found: poetry type: Ghazal (pronounced like "ghuzzle")

How to Write a Ghazal

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

The Ghazal is a centuries-old, popular form of poem and song in Persia (Iran), Pakistan and India.[1] It can be an interesting challenge, but fun too.

Steps

1. Decide what your radif is going to be. Every verse ends with the same word or group of words (radif). It makes sense to choose one that can be flexible in use and meaning, so you can use it in different ways in each verse.
   
2. Consider what your qaafiya is going to be. The qaafiya is a rhyme that precedes the radif. Again, pick something with lots of possibility.
   
3. Get writing! A ghazal consists of a series of couplets (two-line verses), with each line containing the same number of syllables. Each couplet is a separate, complete mini-poem, so there's no need for any narrative progression, or any real connection between the couplets. Both lines of the first verse end with the qaafiya and radif. See down the page for an example ghazal.
   

Tips

• You're bound to make a few false starts, and you'll soon realise that your choice of radif is the single most important factor in determining how successful your ghazal is likely to be.
  
• Traditional topics include love (where it's often deliberately ambiguous whether the poet is referring to divine or heterosexual - or even homosexual - love)
  
• Another traditional topic is wine and drunkenness. When taken literally, this is quite something when you consider the time and place of origin of this poetic form! When taken metaphorically, wine represents the divine, or a connection or conduit to the divine. Drunkenness represents a meal of this food for the spirit.
  
• Traditionally, the poet's pen-name was included in the last verse; this final couplet usually contains a 'turn', or change of tone, to something more personal or quirky.
  
• Remember, each couplet constitutes a separate little poem, so don't have one verse rely on a previous one to make sense.
  

Example Ghazal

In this example, the radif is "I do not know", while the qaafiya (the rhyme preceding it) is -ate, as in slate, fate, depreciate, etc. In the example, each line contains 14 syllables, but any length is fine - it's up to you.

Stranger at the Gate

Who cares about the stranger at the gate? I do not know
The poor orphan, abandoned to his fate? I do not know

Where once I had the answers, now my mind is full of doubt
How do these certainties depreciate? I do not know

From noon till night our ardent looks would scandalise the town
Why is it that your eyes are filled with hate? I do not know

It used to be that man respected man for what he did
These days are we just numbers on the slate? I do not know

The wisdom of the years is something valued now by none
The butt of standing jokes, this balding pate? I do not know

The saqi1 turns his back; how many skins will be required,
oh my love, this unholy thirst to sate? I do not know

Once upon a time Amir was counted a believer
To every question now I simply state, I do not know


1 Saqi: a wine-server in a medieval Persian tavern
Released to Creative Commons by the author


Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Write a Ghazal. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

on the eve of our first walking event

Tomorrow is the Providence Bridge Pedal - in which my workout partner and are I participating by doing the Bridge Stride. We will meet up at her house at 7:30 am and then head into downtown, where the event begins.

This is the five mile walk which will take us across two of Portland's bridges, one of which is the tallest bridge in Portland (the Fremont bridge, which is a double-decker for I-405 traffic going from I-5 north on the east side of the Willamette river and through downtown and then connects back with I-5 south on the west side of the river). We each picked up our "vests" for the stride earlier this week. They look more like florescent yellow half-bibs (and maybe that's why they call them vests instead of bibs) and where the bottom of the front is on a large breasted woman is, well, interesting. At least the elastic is loose enough it's comfortable - but it looks kind of silly and I'm sure we will not be alone. This will be a sight, though. But it will be fun and it will feel like an accomplishment when we're through.

It's a big step in doing something different - literally and figuratively. This is another transition time and I'm not sure even what all of my choices are, let alone what I want. I do know I want to keep going down this path of more walking and exercise (which is why I met with a personal trainer last week to see if we are a fit (I think so!) and why I have the first appointment/assessment scheduled with her for Monday). And to do more writing on a regular basis. Now I just need to figure out how to put in one to two hours on most days for working out and another block of time on a regular basis for writing. And then there's the work.

And right now all I have to do is get to bed so I have enough sleep for tomorrow morning! The weather should be perfect (cool and slightly overcast) and the company will be great.

colorado: day 15 (wedn 7/23)

I have definitely crossed the polite "I'm just checking to see if any of my mail has arrived, yet" line - said with a smile - to the "who else can I talk to about my mail" - said with a blank I-mean-business face. I am sooooo frustrated.

The first piece of mail I was expecting was a simple envelope with a one-page tri-copy form inside. At first I thought maybe the sender didn't get it out as soon as she expected (I was guessing it was probably mailed July 11th or 14th), so I wasn't going to get concerned unless I didn't have it by the end of last week.

The second item was a new battery for my Blackberry, because, for some odd reason ("altitude" has been given as an answer, without an explanation) my phone battery is not working well. This is a new battery, less than three months old. At home it would hold a charge, *with frequent use* for two to three days. Here, I noticed pretty quickly that, despite being charged fully at night, it was down to the blinking red and yellow sliver of a battery by the end of my work day the next day. Weird! I couldn't remember the name of the company I bought it from, so I decided to just order a new one and have it sent here. That is my connection to the agencies and individuals for my work and my phone. There is not an electronic store near here, so I decided it would be more efficient to just have one shipped. I ordered that either the night of 7/11 or on 7/12. It was shipped on 7/15. I found out on Monday that there is a delivery confirmation of it arriving here on 7/18. Okay, I thought ... the weekend. It's summer. I know there are many camps and such here at the university so it will be a little slower (I've been told that at least four times by the RAs in the dorm). But now it is Wednesday.

I also confirmed that the envelope with the form which is required for a job back at home, was mailed on either 7/10 or 7/11. Now it is 7/23 and no form. No battery. My opinion: no excuse. Unfortunately, I don't know who else to go to. I will try to find out from the program coordinator if there is another contact she has. This is really ridiculous now... especially the envelope. I would expect the mail room staff to have gotten the battery here by now - since I know it was on campus last Friday. Grrrrr. I hope it all gets here before I leave. Luckily, pages are slow now and I'm not using the phone part much, so the Blackberry is holding the charge until I get back to my room. But if I make a call, it runs out quicker.

And, while annoying, my roommate has it worse. Not the mail, but her tooth. She had a tooth break on our trip to the mountains last weekend. It had been hurting and she was hoping to wait until she got home to her own dentist to take care of whatever was wrong. That didn't happen and now she has to have what is left dug out because it broke off under the gumline and it is now infected. She goes in at 7:00 tomorrow morning. I'd rather be out $20 for a battery and delay starting the job because I have to do the form after I get home than to go to a strange dentist in a strange town. Eeek.

Then there is another staff person whose husband was here with her the first week. (They had to stay in a hotel - which was fine - because we can't have guests/family staying with us in the dorms.) He left on Sunday and, on the drive home to Texas, he hit - and killed - a cow. He is fine, the dog is fine, the truck? Not so fine. But he did get someone to drive him to Texas, where he got his other truck and will go back to pick up the damaged one.
Another staff person's 10-year-old dog (I think it's a Schnoodle), was recently diagnosed with diabetes. She is also staying in a nearby hotel, because we can't have animals in the dorms, either. Last Friday the dog's blood sugar shot way up (380-400 when it should be 80-130) and she had to take it to the vet. The blood sugar has come down a little and she really likes the vet here .... but it's another thing to deal with. Then on Saturday at the mountain park, she went walking up the tundra trail with the dog. She missed the signs (it was small and low) with a picture of a person and a dog with the red circle with a line through it ... she got fined $125 for taking the dog up the trail.

Comparatively, my losses or delays are small in comparison. It still irks me; but I'll accept them if they can't be found. When I talked to the RA last night he asked if I was the person who had given him the confirmation number. I said "no," but I can provide you with one if it will help. He said it wouldn't. Apparently I am not alone in lost mail. I didn't go tonight because there was a slightly tense situation with one student and I didn't want to get any more irritated than I already was. I have been promised a couple of times that there will be a note on my door if any mail comes. Every day I get off the elevator and peer to my left to see if there is a sticky note with my name. But nothing so far.

colorado: day 13 (mon 7/21)

grading
and grading
and grading some more

grading and in-depth feedback on the students' rough drafts of their professional development plans (PDPs).

hopefully, the final drafts will go easier. should, we won't be giving them feedback because they will be done with the program.

I wanted to go for a swim tonight, but the grading took much longer than I expected. Maybe tomorrow night.

interesting how a person's body can adapt to temperature shifts. I've been here almost two weeks and I do notice that I am starting to get somewhat used to temperatures consistently over 90; often around 95. I was inside the building where we present our lectures all afternoon (grading). When I left at 5:00 it was about 95 outside. It was hot - but not the searing hot that 95 felt like last week. I could actually walk from that building to the dorm without sweating or drawing hot air into my lungs.

Lawrenson Hall at UNC in Greeley
from the UNC website

colorado: day 11 (sat 7/19)

The trip to the Rocky Mountains happened. One member of our team rented a car and another person has a car. So the nine of us that went divided ourselves between the two; four in the car with the dog and the other five in the rental car.

We drove up to Estes Park (the town at the base) and from there on into the Rocky Mountain national park. Just after the main entrance, we took the one way dirt road through the park. It was beautiful. We stopped at one wayside to get out and wander a little, walked down to a waterfall and stream.


I'm not sure of the altitude at this point, but it was a significant number of feet higher than Greeley. My increased walking at home, especially the hills and Mt. Tabor stairs, came in handy. On the walk back up my legs and almost all of me was fine with this climb, even with the additional altitude. By the time I reached the parking lot, though, my lungs were not too happy. They hurt quite a bit for a minute - not too long, but long enough to know I needed to be a little cautious and not flip into super-woman mode. I did opt later to not go far up the trail on the tundra at the top; one of the rules of avoiding altitude sickness that I was told was to not push oneself too much. So I decided to just do a short distance up the tundra because passing out or throwing up would not be fun. *smile.



From there we drove out the other side of the park. We first passed the continental divide and then continued on down to Grand Lake. There we bought lunch and ate at a covered picnic table with a view of the lake and full access to the cooling air blowing off the water. We arrived at the town at the end of their Buffalo BBQ days celebration. I never did discover why it was called the "buffalo" bbq; the only bbq they had was chicken, beef, or pork. I did get the BBQ chicken, which was good and enough food for a couple of meals.

Because continuing in the same direction would take somewhere between three to four hours to get back to Greeley, the drivers decided to go back through the park, which would be about two hours. We didn't have to - well, actually couldn't - take the same dirt road back through the park. We followed the main road. This turned out to be a good thing, as we came across a few elk resting in the sun; later we saw a larger herd of elk.

After that, we drove and drove and drove, finally arriving back in Greeley a little after 7 pm. A little over twelve hours from when we'd left. It was a good day. Nice scenery, wonderful company, and a chance to see new-to-me mountains. The following short video is from the trip home, when we were still in the Rockies. There is the sound of wind through the car window, so if your speakers are turned up high, it might sound kind of awful, unless you like the sound of wind whipping across a microphone!


Something you may notice in the final picture, below, are the brown pine trees. You may notice them in other photos here, or you may have noticed them other places. The damage in the Rocky Mountain national forest park is extensive. Throughout our trip we saw the brown trees scattered all across the landscape. We read in the park's newspaper that this is the result of an infestation of the Mountain Pine Beetle. You can read more about this on the Forest Insect and Disease website's leaflet. The beetles have invaded areas reaching from the western part of Canada, the western ten states of the US and down into Mexico. The website includes a map of their infestation. It was a shock to see so many dead and dying trees. And it made me wonder what the park will look like in five years; in ten years. In the higher regions, there were more infested trees than healthy trees. This new-to-me information explains some tree damage I've seen, which I thought was due to human carelessness, emissions, fires, or other similar occurrences. Which may not be too far off the mark from what I read. One of the surest ways to kill off the beetles is the deep winter cold, which destroys the larva; with the warmer and shorter winters, the larvae are not killed off, grow into beetles, and need to search out new hosts. From what I read, there isn't much that can be done once an area is infested. The forest service is doing what they can - but the extent of the situation is probably not imaginable if a person hasn't seen it. If that person hasn't stood on the edge of an open space and seen miles of pine trees being eaten alive, turning brown and gray and the green fading to scattered oasis where something other than pines can escape the beetles' notice.

colorado: day 9 (thu 7/17)

nothing of note except perhaps the rain. this time the rain made it all the way to the ground - big plopping drops more of a sprinkle pattern than a cover the ground and make it all wet and shiny like we have at home. in the distance, as we walked back from the store in the oversized sprinkles, we saw two giant thunder clouds glowing in the setting sun. they truly billowed and rolled and rose up behind the streaked darker clouds nearer to the town here.

now, not even an hour after that experience, it is dark and the streets are dry. not a sign of the earlier rain, which we would ignore entirely at home. "rain" - hardly!

which reminds me of what happened a couple days ago. a local woman asked me if I'd seen the rain that day. I said no, when was it? she told me and said that it never reached the ground, because it was so hot and dry that the raindrops dried before they hit the earth. I just smiled. "rain," indeed.

today was rather uneventful, other than waking up with much difficulty and very slowly. I was absolutely exhausted when the alarm went off and it took me at least 20 minutes to even stir. I did get going and got where I was supposed to be on time. everything went smoothly and it felt good and right to be here, still; and I was so so tired. after our daily lunchtime staff meeting I walked over to the student center and bought a really big iced soy latte to make it through the afternoon. I think it was early enough and I was tired enough that it won't affect my sleep tonight.

I still have to watch the video we will be using in tomorrow's skills lab, but it's only about 20 minutes long. I will make sure to get to bed at a decent time.

and then on Saturday a group of us are going to a 12,000+ feet park in the mountains. which I probably already mentioned. I'll try not to mention it again, until after we get back and then I can talk about the trip and the animals we will probably see - which is the purpose of leaving early in the morning.

colorado: day 6 (mon 7/14)

The first day of class and lab meetings with the students is done. Yay! And it all went well. I was less nervous this morning about my lecture than I was before I left home. I feel it went okay, though, as usual, I feel I could have done X or Y or Z differently or better or.... I started to make some changes to my ppt yesterday: add some movie clips and pictures. Then decided that I already had plenty for the time allotted.

Today I was glad I didn't have more, because I nearly ran out of time. I had to minimize some things near the end, but did get it all in. It went fine -- I would have liked "finer" -- but I'm okay with the lecture.

The lab part was great. That is what I really love. Being able to work with the students on mentoring, talking about the work, working to help them explore their own work and the source message and apply all the theory and practice they've been doing.

And I want to say that I am very pleased with my team Skills Specialist. He really helped make today go smoothly. He sent me a text message early this morning. He is very calm, warm, friendly ... I feel our teaching styles are similar and that we worked really well together. He was supportive and encouraging before and after my lecture. I like him and think it was a good pairing.

My feet are sore. I bought new shoes a couple weeks ago, they are extremely comfortable and fit well. I wore them before coming here to break them in and get used to them. But I think my nervousness today and the high temperature made my feet sweat and - ouch. That, too, will fade along with the nervousness. I don't expect I'll be doing a lot of walking tonight!

My second lecture is this Wednesday and then I won't have any more lectures until the 25th. So I will be mainly doing my favorite duty of mentoring and talking about the work ... and the grading/feedback.

Nothing much else happening today. The first day is done and now I can relax a little! Still a lot to do, but this is more what I know and do all the time - and the first days tends to be the worst.

I have a picture of the collages I made at home, which are on my dorm room wall now, to upload later. There is "an internal error" which is not letting me upload the picture right now.

colorado: day 5 (sun 7/13)

Today some of us from the team took a jaunt to nearby Loveland, Colorado. One of our members drove from Indiana in her SUV, so all six of us piled into the car, with people taking turns in the back storage area. Six is a little more than the car was designed to hold, but we made it work. Our goal was sightseeing, shopping, and food.

We went to a mall first, but decided instead to visit the park and walk before the temperature rose too much and the park became too crowded.

Then we went to Lake Loveland, where there were a lot of people huddled under Alders and other trees, set up in chairs, protective net tents, or sprawled on towels along the lake, and some people swimming, fishing, jet skiing, or boating. And some others just walking, like us. There was a baseball game somewhere, based on seeing a couple kids in uniforms, though I never spotted the game. There was also a not-in-use theatrical stage and arena seating.

We went back to one of the malls (there were about three mall areas within probably a mile; one of them was an outlet mall), thinking that was the one we wanted. We didn't see any of the stores that one of us had emailed to the group when she found it. I was able to look at the email from her and see that we were not at the same mall. The one right next to where we were (which we had already determined was not the correct one) had a Staples store, so we stopped by there so that one of our members could make copies of his PowerPoint for a lecture. The university center hours are not as convenient during the summer months as during the regular school year, so this was an easier option.

We did find the mall we had intended to visit, the Promenade Shops, and the store one of us wanted, Best Buy, and the restaurant I wanted, PF Chang's, were open. The person was able to buy what she needed at the store. We all had a tasty meal and excellent service from the wait-staff.

And here I am back in my room, with a load of laundry drying in the basement, typing my entry for today. I'm putting off going over my notes for my first lecture tomorrow morning, but will do that at a reasonable hour so I can get enough sleep. All the parts of this process start into full swing with the students in this program.

The writing was a priority for me today, so I wanted to do that first. Later my suitemate and I will probably make a run - well, walk - to the store (waiting for the temperature to drop a little) to restock a couple essentials.

It was a good day, with a few hours away from anything related to work, with good company and somebody else at the wheel.

And a plan for a trip to the mountains next weekend (I can't remember the name of the park), where we will be at 12,000 feet. ! ! ! I will definitely be going home with stronger lungs.

colorado: day 4 (sat 7/12)

I was in more training from 8am until around 3:30pm. Getting to know the other team members, doing some practice ourselves of the homework expected of students, each of us also gave a short summary of our individual lectures. Logistics. Making sure we have everything we need and getting a handle on the organization of what we're doing for the next three weeks.

And we planned a little outing for Saturday.

My roommate and I walked to the mall, which didn't appear to be too far on the map, only about 1.7 miles. The only hitch is that there is a freeway/highway between here and there and there was no sidewalk along the highway. Ooops; it had looked like there was some place from the map, which did tell us to walk that way. Oh well. We walked past a nice old cemetery with some interesting names. We could no longer see where we thought we were going (we did see the roof of some of the mall from our dorm floor; we don't have a printer between us, so we couldn't print out the map). There were a number of cars turning down a street, so we thought maybe tha led to the mall. After a few blocks, there was a "no exit" sign and a school half a block ahead. We keep on walking, planning to walk through the school grounds to, hopefully, get to the mall. I was sure we were going in the right basic direction, but we didn't even have the address with us and I couldn't find it via mobile web.

We asked someone out watering her lawn; she was just visiting and didn't know where it was, except she had passed it on the freeway, somewhere "over there." We did find it just a couple blocks away and discovered we entered the deserted parking lot on the back side of the mall. We found our way to the front, to dinner, to some nice smelly products to help cover up the smell of the stockyards and slaughter houses when the wind blows in certain directions, and found another way back to our dorm. After purchasing a Cold Stone ice cream cone each.

We did find a more direct way back to the university with chocolate melting in our waffle cones and catching the tail-end of the sunset before we were left on minimally lighted streets for the last 15 or 20 minutes. With the meandering path on our walk to the mall and our return back via a different route, we probably walked about 3.2 or so miles.

I updated the PowerPoint for one of my lectures after we got back. Found online what I thought was the TV guide for where we are - which only gave my false hope of catching a Law and Order show. I don't have cable at home and never (and this is a true never) sit down to just watch TV. But I do like L&O, some of the CSI programs, and a couple others; and indulge myself when I'm traveling to catch a program here and there. The mouse had slipped when I put in the time zone and, alas, no Law and Order on. Oh well. I read, did some stretching, did a word puzzle and went to bed.

three mile hill walk on Monday

Starting and end point: Multnomah Village. We couldn't just follow the guide book, smile, we modified a bit, by shifting our starting location from a corner of the park to a corner of the street. We were lucky today that it wasn't raining. It started out a little overcast and then burned off before we were done - which was pretty much perfect, in that Oregon kind of way.

We headed up through some residential neighborhoods, winding through little streets, rolly and steep hills, some roughly paved, some with no sidewalks. The houses were varied and we saw some beautiful homes and some gorgeous yards. There was one flowering vine we smelled before we saw it; about half a block later we smelled it and then saw it draped along someone's front yard fence. Neither of us know what it is called, so I can't even bring up a picture because I have no idea where to start. The scent was a little like cinnamon, mixed with the overpowering white and pink lillies that you can't leave in an enclosed space overnight because you will choke on the smell the next morning. (Well, at least that's how they affect me!)


We walked the edge of some newer homes along one of the uphill climbs we did. (We didn't see this actual house, but I couldn't find a picture of where we were walking.) There were no sidewalks in this particular area and the streets were narrow and twisty. On one of the little hills, we had to decide whether to walk towards traffic so we could see it coming before we were hit, or to walk on the opposite side where we would be more visible to cars coming down the hill toward us before they hit the curve. We didn't get hit, though, and did opt to walk toward oncoming cars. It was a very quiet, off the beaten path, residential street, and there was little traffic.

We entered Gabriel Park at the entrance near the community center (which is an amazing space; we didn't go in today, but I have been there a couple of times in the past... it has pretty much everything). We walked past several summer camps, it seemed; past baseball fields and basketball courts, other people walking and jogging. We came to a fork in the road and turned the map upside down so it was matched which way we were walking and made a guess. We walked for a ways, then were confronted with a path leading into underbrush and overgrown shrubbery and we didn't know where we were. The map didn't mention that area. So we decided to get out of the park and head back. Which we did.

And we ended up on a very steep hill going up, with a very narrow gravel place to walk which was barely room for one. But we did end up coming out at exactly the spot where we'd parked the car. Unplanned and perfect.

We drank some water and left our water bottles in the car as we walked down one more little hill to Marco's Cafe. There we split a sandwich on 12-grain bread and a golden beets, avocado, bing cherry salad with white balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Yummy.
Afterwards we walked up that same little hill, which now felt like nothing after a couple of the bigger ones we tackled today, to the car. Three miles of hills and side streets (and a few feet of busy main roads), a refreshing and tasty lunch, and three hours of exercise and conversation with a friend.

I returned home satisfied and feeling good. And I finished up another six sentence story I am going to submit, as well as getting the graphic part of a PowerPoint presentation done.

A good day.

PHOTOGRAPHS ARE FROM:
Multnomah Village in the rain: Portland Ground
Urban street: Andrew Hall, Portland Bridges
Multnomah Garden Apartments: W Realty
Gabriel Park bridge: Portland Parks & Rec
Marco's Cafe: Public Press

"Human Lobotomy - Save the internet"

Thank you to Mead Hunter for sharing this link about net neutrality and why we should care. Although I do pause and wonder about the spelling error in the beginning of the video: "there" instead of "their"...I will look into this issue of net neutrality more to get more views. My search for the original video on YouTube brought up links to other videos which lead me to believe there is some confusion about what it is and where the fear really lies. Still, this has information to digest and see how it sits.

stillness

desire: to sit
to think
to be

reason: so much
every day
the world in crisis which isn't new but the content is shifting
- or the content which we are being shown is shifting because it hits home -
- or we are better sheep when we are afraid -

endings: a group
challenging and engaging
no space for lapsing into autopilot
changes, connections, growth - mine, too

feelings

questions / questing

seeking: a reason
desire
creative expression
connection
being present

brush painting from
Zen Hodgepodge

infomania

There will be more to come on the topic of information availability and the effect (or potential effect) on creativity. The notion of information overload, diversity of available information, framing what we get from mass media, the ease with which we can research and locate specific types of information has been surfacing in several work settings. Then I found an article in the current Poets & Writers (P&W) magazine about the pros and cons of everything that is available to us.

As writers, certainly it can be easier - at least on the surface - to hunt around in cyberspace from the comfort of home in your pajamas with coffee or tea at your side for that elusive roadside stop you remember from 1976 or what roads there are between Greeley and Taos, than to get showered, dressed, and drag yourself to your favorite library or university to browse their stacks and archives. There is the question of validity and reliability of what you find online; but most of us probably have our known sources and try to back up what we find if it is a new site we don't generally use. Hence the "maybe it's easier to surf the web" thought above.

I read "Way, Way Too Much Information," by Frank Bures, in the current P&W issue. There are several interesting points he makes - such as the study about how dealing with email and text messaging can lower your IQ 10 points, or how multitasking may not actually be helping us get things done better because our brain power drops by nearly 50% so we may be less effective - which made me think. The one that really caught me, though, was how the bombardment of information may actually lead to "...the loss of creative space."

Bures cites a 2003 study which found that

...creative people are much more likely to have what's called low "latent inhibition," the ability to look at an incoming piece of information, classify it, and then discard it automatically if experience has shown it is likely to be irrelevant. "The brains of creative people," they wrote, "appear to be more open to incoming stimuli," and more likely to remain in contact with that stimuli for longer.

This is good news for those of us who are trying to create something original out of the material of life, but what does it mean for our ability to stay on task and actually create it? Could one of the building blocks of creativity—an openness to new and interesting things—become an obstruction?

He goes on to talk about finding space and, basically, disconnecting for a while as a remedy to the overload. Then this links back to some earlier thoughts and discussions I've had with other writers and with artists about the need to get out of the familiar sometimes. To find a place to go where we can let go of some "shoulds" and "have to" and become a little out of touch. Or go somewhere so our brains can relax and just take in what we see and think.

Right now, this is an idea which is still forming. I could have waited until I had something more definitive to say - but it feels big to me. Important. And I wanted to get it written down, to make space for it, and I will return. It is a topic I don't see fading away anytime soon.

I'd love to read what others think about this notion of too much information, or that you disagree. If it does sometimes feel too much, what do you do to counteract the impact?

a matter of degree; or, what's the problem?

Last weekend I found myself complaining - to myself because no one else was around - about how busy I was. Why, I couldn't possibly do everything I wanted to do, let alone everything I *had* to do. What was I going to do? I mean I literally couldn't do everything, because there were three events at approximately the same time in three scattered locations.

Then I paused for a few seconds. I thought. I thought some more. And I realized that the dilemma I was having was just exactly the type of "dilemma" I wanted, in a symbolic way, a few years ago. I decided I didn't have anything to complain about and, whatever my decision, wasn't it delicious to have these choices?!! I smiled and sighed. I made my choice. But the point was, I could have done something different.

I did go with the work choice, because it was to watch the play, again, that I would be interpreting on 4/17 with two others and practice my interpretation. "Oh, my," the little sarcastic inner voice comments, "don't make me watch the world premiere production of Sometimes a Great Notion, again!" What a terrible thing to have to go to the theatre again!

I was disappointed to not get to see Ten Tiny Dances #15 in Tacoma (I'd been unable to make it to the Portland performance the week before because I already had tickets to Lucille Clifton for that same night; another "awww" moment quickly quelled). And I knew there would be a Ten Tiny Dances #16, because it's mentioned on the website. While #15 was the collaboration with Seattle/Tacoma performers, I knew #16 would be just as good. I've seen several and knew there was more to come. Below are are links to a few online videos from a wide variety of Ten Tiny Dances performances, as a sampling of what has been done. (note: the tEEth clip is the end of one of my favorites; there was much more leading up to this surprising ending!) There is also an archives page on the Ten Tiny Dances website with photos.

The third thing choice I had last week was to drive to the Bay City Arts Center on the coast for the open mic portion of their weekend of poetry. A member of my recent writing group, David Pickering, was an invited guest for the event. David's poetry is full of life and flows from beginning to end, carrying the reader through the images and sensations. I haven't found much online about him or of his work, but did find this one, Laura adds Botox to her Beauty Regimen, which was published in the Portland Review 2006. He is a "poet to watch for" and I wish I had a link to some of his other work. I think he's submitting a chapbook and I will be one of the first in line to purchase a copy.

So, my dilemma, really wasn't - not once I found my perspective. There have been a couple times in my life where there would be no question about having the resources to make a drive to Tacoma or the coast for a performance or reading. There were times when I was so overwhelmed with just trying to get through each week and month that I rarely thought about getting out to see new performances and listen to poetry readings. And there were certainly times when my work had absolutely nothing to do with creativity of any kind, let alone working with a professional theater on a new play.

I know there are many people who don't have these choices now and there are people who can fly across the country to see a Broadway show, have dinner, and come back home to the west coast. And I'm lucky enough to be in-between. I get to decided if I want to pour money into the gas tank to drive four to six hours to see a performance or reading, or whether I stay near home and do a little creative work. So right now I'm thankful that I have these opportunities and will look for ways I can share this with others who aren't in the same position right now.

Which is one of my reasons for volunteering with Write Around Portland. I know the seeds people planted in me years ago are sprouting and the little opportunities here and there I was given have accumulated into a new view. Sometimes all we need is someone to hold the space for us and let us explore.

Yes, I missed Ten Tiny #15 and, yes, I missed David's reading. But I did see the show and my work on the 17th will be better for it. Perhaps someone in our particular audience will be inspired because of it in a way I cannot predict.

For now, no complaints. Just thankfulness for the opportunities I have and mindfulness of where I've been and where others are.

Ten Tiny Dances examples
(from various PICA T:BA fesstivals)

tEEth - Splinter 2006

Mrs. Nellie Murphy at Ten Tiny Dances

Moon Patrol "Toprock" Performance for PICA Art Festival

Next Line ten tiny dances PICA TBA 2003

bassey ikpi

A poem about language, place and belonging. Thank you, Taiwo, for pointing me to this artist.