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Sunday, June 3rd, 2012
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12:00 pm - My tweets
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| Thursday, May 31st, 2012
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12:00 pm - My tweets
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| Saturday, May 26th, 2012
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12:00 pm - My tweets
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| Friday, May 25th, 2012
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12:00 pm - My tweets
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| Thursday, May 17th, 2012
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11:40 am - First rejection
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Hmm. Got a note from HP saying, "After careful consideration, we regret to inform you that we will not be pursuing your application for the Research & Reference Librarian position."
Not even interviewing me, with as good a fit as I was for that position, I'm guessing they already had a candidate. S'okay, didn't really want to commute to Palo Alto anyway. Wish I'd gotten an interview though just to practice.
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| Wednesday, May 16th, 2012
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12:00 pm - My tweets
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| Tuesday, May 15th, 2012
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5:47 pm - My week - SiVIC, Pagan Pride & more
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What a great, whirlwind week it has been. Let's see. Last Wednesday I had lunch with Chris C. Hadn't seen him in ages and it was nice to catch up. Then on to the dentist for teeth cleaning (I don't mind).
Thursday I went to a suicide prevention talk at the SiVIC Religious Leaders Forum. The guest speaker was Elena Tindall, the Suicide Prevention Coordinator for Santa Clara County. They put out an annual report on suicides in the County and they offer training in how to talk to people about suicide and about plans to kill themselves. It was interesting that Ms. Tindall was coming out of a Mexican Catholic background and so saw a lot of stigma around suicide that I don't think exists in our community. I may do their online training and SiVIC will probably sponsor more trainings on this issue.
Friday Nette brought over the various props from Beltaine to store in my basement for the year and then we went out to lunch. Then I picked up Russell and we went to Costco and got salmon for Tuesday dinner. I'm glad to have a Costco membership again.
Saturday was the 11th Annual Pagan Festival and Parade in Berkeley. This year's theme was "Paradigm Shift" and the 2012 Keeper of the Light was T. Thorn Coyle. I worked the info booth from 10 to noon and then marched with the Northern Californai Local Council of Covenant of the Goddess and the Gardnerian Wica contingent in the parade. Ouch, they told me it was going to be shorter than that. My body totally rebelled so I spent the next hour or so flaked out on the grass watching the Keeper of the Light passing of the light ritual and a bunch of fine acts lying down. It was a really sunny day but my SPF 70 sunscreen did the trick again. Russell and Liza went off to ride the merry-go-round and hike in Tilden Park and David and I headed off to Dogwood, David's daughter Lexi's bar in Oakland. She makes a lot of her own charcuterie and is going to open a deli soon nearby. I had one of the best Manhattans I've ever drunk and a very nice plate of sausages, cheeses and pickles/olives to tide us over for dinner. So yummy! And David delivered some condiment boxes he had made for the bar. So good errands run all around. Good cooking runs in the family, for dinner David made a lovely eggplant and sausage and spinach stirfry.
Sunday had most of the usual World of Warcraft madness. Falkenrath Knights ran a dungeon. Then David and I played our baby paladins. Then I went to Jae's Ice Crown Citadel run. The only achievement I still needed was heroic Lady Deathwhisper so Roszfianna got Glory of the Icecrown Raider (25 player) and received her Reins of the Icebound Frostbrood Vanquisher. Jae still has to do one more week because she is a shard short for the legendary, so I'm probably not done with ICC but maybe I'll bring another toon.
Monday I did my orientation with Lee Hecht Harrison, the "career transition" company Ricoh contracted with to help us laid off folks. It seems like they have a lot of resources and I look forward to taking some classes. I have a chat with a coach on Wednesday.
current mood:  busy
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| Saturday, May 12th, 2012
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12:00 pm - My tweets
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| Tuesday, May 8th, 2012
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9:37 am - Captures
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A couple of things I want to capture from Facebook and a beading tutorial.
Kevin Kling on On Being - http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2012/losses-and-laughter/
Catching up on podcasts I missed whilst I was gone. Krista Tippet in conversation with Kevin Kling on APM's On Being. Bits that stick in my head about disability and things you learn, "there's a difference between healing and curing", "there are ways in which we need to heal, which are not going to be about everything being all right", " a loss is a loss, whether it's a heart, a limb, a promise, a person. It's all loss and it's all trauma, and it's all things that are broken that can't be cured. You can't go back. But you can heal it, and that's an important thing to know."
Thoughts on relationships
A recent ancestralizeme.com blog post "Paleo Women are Phat", linked to this article http://180degreehealth.com/2010/12/weight-fixation-waist-of-time which I thought said quite a few wise things. I liked the statement of the value proposition in the middle, "For mutual attraction to emerge between two people, there has to be a state of value equality between two people… and equal exchange. When the exchange is equal, the two people have matching self-confidence (self-worth, the prime determinant of your attractiveness), and they feel equally lucky to be in the relationship because each possesses something that the other values." Clearly the "ideal" of our society where wealth marries beauty is flawed because wealth accumulates (ideally) and beauty fades (inevitably) so you get failed marriages. It is so important to value traits that have staying power - brains, humor, kindness and integrity. I feel very blessed in my relationships and circle of friends.
Very cool bellydance beading embellishment tutorial. http://www.shushanna.com/beading.html
current mood:  good
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| Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
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8:38 am - Beltaine and the week after
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I'm still trying to find a routine. I need time to read blogs, to write my Lj, to keep up on LinkedIn and Facebook and with my email. I have some structure as in "I do this on Mondays" but my daytime structure doesn't really exist. I may even have to break down and do "to do" lists. I really, really hate "to do" lists.
It was a great week though. David came down Friday afternoon and we went to Kubota for dinner. My first dinner there since my return and I have to say miso glazed eggplant is still amazing. I showed David around Japantown, both the historic plaques and the wonderful market where we decided that unagi was perhaps too weird and expensive to take as a potluck item to Beltaine. *grin*
Saturday we headed up to Live Oak Park for the annual NROOGD Beltaine, which Owl Moon was bagholding this year. Chris was stage managing it for his red cord project and he had recruited wonderful folks and everything went just wonderfully. Jack in the Green and the Queen of the May chased off the Hag of Winter and we danced the Maypole and called the 'Obby 'Oss. The wheel was turned. It was a really beautiful day and folks hung out in the park afterward for a couple of hours. David and I followed Gwen & Nette home and we hung out there, hot tubbing and sharing food, for a couple of hours. A great schmoozing day.
Sunday we signed David up for WoW and he watched my dungeon run with Falkenrath Knights. My biggest problem is my character slots on Bronzebeard are full. I may have to transfer someone.
Sunday afternoon was the end of the Silicon Valley Reads program with Authors Willow Wilson and Sumbul Ali-Karamali at Santa Clara Public Library. I had the SiVIC Our Religious Neighbor Next Door display set up and we got a fair bit of interest and gave away about 30 flyers for SiVIC. It was nice to hear the authors one last time too.
Monday was a nice quiet day. Kurt had a migraine still, has had for the better part of a week. But we got our worgens through Old World Children's Week in WoW. I have to say that having a mage around to port one to the capitols makes that waaaay quicker. I miss world portals.
Tuesday we had family dinner at Amber India in Mountain View and I had wonderful tandoori rack of lamb. (Of which I am eating the leftovers as I type.) This is curry week evidently. I had bought curry powder at Ancient Ways on the way home from Beltaine and the bag broke in my purse so my iPhone smells of curry powder and I have been craving curry. So last night I made curried cauliflower and also curried turkey. Thus the tandoori lamb and curried cauliflower for breakfast. There are definitely things I love about my life!
Tonight is Pagansing at my house. We will undoubtedly sing May songs and then tomorrow is Rabbit's Oshun party up in Oakaland at Sacred Well. And At Home on Saturday. And I need to find a new gardener, deal with job search stuff and clean house. And do Children's Week on a few more WoW toons. I'm not sure why I keep thinking I'll have free time in here somewhere.
current mood: busy
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| Monday, April 30th, 2012
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12:00 pm - My tweets
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| Thursday, April 26th, 2012
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12:00 pm - My tweets
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| Wednesday, April 25th, 2012
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12:00 pm - My tweets
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| Tuesday, April 24th, 2012
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9:36 pm - Catching up my week home
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Well, I've been back for a week almost and way too busy to write a journal article. LOL I can't wait until after Beltaine when things should get a bit more low key!
So I left Costa Rica on Wednesday and had a lovely stop over in Miami where I got to hang out with Mic & Rayna and the boys. The flight home was on a total cramped bus of an airplane but I slept a fair bit and got home on Thursday midday. Kurt picked me up at SFO and carried me off to my favorite diner for food. I am very happy to be home!
I don't really remember what I did Friday. Unpacked. Did laundry. Got started on my interfaith photo project.
Saturday was a bembe. Between this and that I hadn't been to a house event in months and it was really nice to reconnect with folks and with the Orixa. I went out for the usual suspects (Pomba, Ogun, Oxossi, Brigitte) but also for Oko since Diana and I were the only senior mediums present and she was still Nana at that point. It was really interesting. He looked at our dance floor as a plowed field that needed to be prepared for planting. There was thick broken glass shards (like maybe from a vase?) all over it which he saw as rocks that needed to be out of the field. So he cleared all of those and also took a trowel Ogun had been sharpening and tackled some of the weeds. He was very intent on making the floor into a place we (the House) could grow from. It felt like a pretty helpful working even though he isn't a Power with whom I have much history. I got home about 8pm and basically fell over. My pedometer says I danced a couple of miles over the course of the day. Orixacise. *grin*
Sunday morning I did some World of Warcraft. Sad to say, I haven't had any TIME for WoW since getting home to speak of. But I did an hour on a gear run in Ulduar and then an hour with Falkenrath Knights, our friends and family guild. And then I had to get ready for the coven and friends to arrive to work on Beltaine. We had a totally awesome get together which included a read through, restringing the maypole and a barbeque and picnic in the back yard. We have amazing friends and family and I hope Beltaine is as good as that rehearsal party.
Monday and Tuesday I worked on my interfaith photo project. It is about 95% finished; I only need to print some captions that had typos or that tore when I was trying to put them on. The tacky spray glue was much stickier than I had hoped (the period when you can reposition is quite short) and for some reason the fact that the cardboard tri-fold is black made my hands into grimy paws that a blackleg miner would recognize. Totally crazy. Russell came home and we cooked dinner finished watching whichever Harry Potter movie we're up to (we've been watching them one by one).
And so now I'm caught up. Tomorrow the carpet cleaners are coming, so I imagine I will finally get to play some WoW since I will be hanging out waiting on tradespeople. And then Thursday I have an interfaith meeting and I'll need to finish my project up. Friday David comes down in anticipation of Beltaine. Saturday we do the ritual and Sunday is the big culmination of Silicon Valley Reads and the Religious Neighbor Next Door project. So next week, I want some bloody time off. But I will probably apply for unemployment and make an appointment with the placement firm I have a month's consult with and, well, time off seems unlikely.
current mood: busy
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| Monday, April 16th, 2012
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7:03 am - In Tamarindo now
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So I said farewell to Samara and tried to find the road to Carillo and the wild animal park. After driving around for about 45 minutes of back and forthing I gave up. So no nice close-up pix of tropical animals. I got to Nicoya and could not find the road to Santa Cruz, or really how to get out of Nicoya. The second local I asked turned out to live in Santa Cruz and to be on his way to the bus station to head home. So this elderly gentleman, Fernando Cortez, hopped in the car and directed me to Santa Cruz. Otherwise I would be stuck in Nicoya forever. After I dropped him off, I was once again at the mercy of the nonexistent road signs. The car place had told me to go on to Belen and approach Tamarindo from the north. This was probably a fine idea. Except I couldn't figure out how to get to Belen. And I saw a turnoff to Tamarindo and even knowing I shouldn't probably take it without a 4x4, off I went. The first half was the best paved road I have been on in Costa Rica...then I got to the unpaved part. It was bad. Like driving on a giant's washboard. But I picked up a young woman hitch hiking to work in Tamarindo so at least I was useful to someone. She hadn't heard of my hotel. I dropped her off at the Copacabana beach restaurant and drove through town. No sign of my hotel.
I stopped at a parking area by the beach win lots of souvenir shops. And a restaurant where I had an amazing lunch. It was kind of like a pizza with the "crust" being fried plaintain topped with cheese and shredded meat. I plan to eat there every day. LOL A couple of the shopkeepers got involved in trying to find my hotel. But even with directions I drove around for another half hour before coming back. The nice person who had helped before let me call the on her phone and the guy drove over and led me to the hotel. Which was only like two blocks away but on a side street I had missed. Which brings me to the streets of Tamarindo. Everyone has sneered about how built up Tamarindo is. For some reason that had me envisioning paved streets. Evidently resort hotels and beachside condos do not imply paving. And it is Costa Rica, so of course no street signs or names. Samara had two blocks of paving. I am not sure this much bigger town has much more.
Anyway, I checked in, dropped off my car and wandered through a dozen or so shops and generally wandered. I had dinner at Copacabana since it looked nice. I finally got a green curry of seafood and zucchini. My hotel does not have great wifi. It comes and goes and isn't very strong my room. I got a bunch of mosquito bites sitting on the steps by the office trying to upload pix before giving up. Bah humbug. Unpaved streets is one thing...give me Internet!
Oh and prob still no snorkeling, they are having a red tide.
current mood:  okay
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| Sunday, April 15th, 2012
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7:29 am - I HAVE to find time to write something for this!
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| Saturday, April 14th, 2012
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3:55 pm - Being sad about leaving Samara
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Last day in Samara. This morning I checked at the tour place; no snorkeling. So I am back and googled frogs to find more pictures to work from. I found some great snaps and drew my gaudy tree frog. I like how it came out. I haven't seen one, but they are an icon of Costa Rica today (along with parrots and sloths and turtles).
The I went for a walk on the beach and went to my last lunch at the soda where I have been eating lunch most days. I decided to try the whole fish instead of my usual filet. Yep, whole fish, head and all. I sat looking at the beach from my shady restaurant table and missing it in anticipation. Then I walked around town, saying goodbye to things. But not people. Other than the folks at Il Vino I haven't learnt any names. That is kind of sad too.
Then I came back and read more _Corridors of Death_ by Ruth Dudley Edwards. Murder amongst the ministers of the British government. The sort of thing one would see on mystery.
And I packed up. However did I get everything in one suitcase! Oh well, I won't have to final pack for a few days. And I seem to have lost my friendship bracelet. I am kinda sorry about that despite its lameness. In another hour or so I will go have my final meal at Il Vino and say goodbye to folks there.
Tomorrow at 9am I pick up my car. I plan to head over to an animal roadside attraction in Carillo, the next surfing beach south of here. I want a chance to see some animals (and I don't feel up to hikes and zip lines). Then back to Samara and inland to work my way to Tamarindo. There isn't a real coast road which is kind of sad. With a 4x4 and a willingness to ford rivers going up the coast might be possible... not in a Yaris.
Oh another topic all together I am "out" as myself on Facebook. I was googling myself to see what a prospective employer would see and (a) I am a pretty transparently public weirdo and (b) librarians are supposed to be tech aware and not being on FB might well be a strike against me. So Rosmairta's Kilara is now also Rowan Fairgrove.
Edit: Wow,way to reinforce a melancholy mood. Il Vino is closing in 10 days. They were supposed to be moving down by the soccer field. But the guy with whom Christiano had a handshake agreement about the new place reneged today. Everyone is totally freaked out. This storefront is gone and now everyone who works at Il Vino is looking at an uncertain future. I cry for them.
current mood:  melancholy
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| Friday, April 13th, 2012
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3:58 pm - Lazy lie about day
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Amazingly lazy day. Finished my ox cart wheel picture, though it doesn't look much like one and I rediscovered what a pain geometric designs are to paint. I also discovered that the Flickr app ignores any edits you do on the iPhone. So it is annoyingly uncropped. But I am too lazy to fuss with it.
I spent some time trying to draw a frog without success. So I finished reading _A Good and Useful Hurt_ by Aric Davis. It is a murder mystery set in a tattoo parlour with a bit of magic throw in. I liked it for the quirky characters but I often don't read modern mysteries because I really don't want to read about serial killers. This was over my 'mind of a killer' limit. But if that sort of thing doesn't bother you, it is a bit of fun.
I am reaching that stage of a vacation where the lure of my own bed, familiar food and my loved ones is overwhelming the joys of being away. Although I admit that the forecast of cold and rain at home for this weekend does not appeal! But I really want my own food, esp. greens. And I want it at the hours I want to eat. It is about 5pm and I plan to walk down the beach in an hour or so in search of the BBQ place, El Legarto whose YouTube video I was drooling over ages ago. They are evidently on the other side of the inlet so if the tide is very high it is quite a hike out to the bridge. Adventures.
Edit: found them, this side of the inlet but they hadn't turned their lights on yet so I walked on down to the end of the beach and came back as the lights came on. They were fine but Il Vino is better and across the street. But hey, I went there and fulfilled a wanna.
current mood: Headachy
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7:29 am - Last day at Intercultura
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Yesterday I spent most of the morning painting the flame ginger bush outside my room. The I wandered over to the school supply place and bought orange paint for my ox cart wheel painting. (why does the spell checker keep wanting to turn ox to oz? Grumble)
I got to class and realized that when doing my homwork last night I had missed the culminating essay worth 30% of my final. So I was a bit distracted thinking about that. Also I think I was just kind of hitting a wall with studying. But we got thru the afternoon, I wrote my essay at break and I graduated from my week of classes.
At the graduation I fell chatting with an older fellow I had noticed. Turns out he is a travel writer who mostly concentrates on tennis vacations. He had won a week at Intercultura and was going to be in CR to review the courts at Hilton's Four Seasons so he took a class. We went to Il Vino for dinner and had a nice chat. Also fresh langoustino had arrived and I splurged. Yum!
No snorkeling this morning. Bah. Not sure what I want to do. Paint, I guess.
Note to self Villas Kalimbas http://www.villaskalimba.com/ if you come back to Samara with a friend.
current mood:  artistic
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| Thursday, April 12th, 2012
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5:29 am - Random mutterings
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Yesterday was Juan Santamaria Day, so much of the town was closed. Even the restaurants on the beach. Next time I come I want self-catering!
But school went on, they are taking Friday off instead to give folks a 3 day holiday. My class went on much as before. One of the topics we discussed was music, which really showed my age (and/or lack of pop culture impulse anyway). The teacher and the Quebec guy both recommended a Calle 13 video on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkFJE8ZdeG8 I really loved the tight cuts and animation and imagery of Latin America.
So today will be my last day of classes. I am trying to get a snorkeling tour for Fri or Sat. But it is a minimum of two, so I have to wait to see if someone else signs up. I need a buddy.
Still not sleeping well. I had a nightmare that a friend somehow did something to the back of my hair that buzzed it off. I was going to have to get one of those short middle aged cuts that I abhor. Nooooo. I wonder what my subconscious was up to with that?
Okay, enough chatter. Think I will walk on the beach before breakfast.
current mood:  awake
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