Fuck It

Tonight I gave in and turned the heat on. It's July 20th and I have the heat on. Cold, windy, foggy, and dark. Summer in San Francisco.

Rapids

Over the 4th of July weekend I went on a 4 day canoe trip down the Eel River. There were 27 of us. 20 adults and 7 kids. My friend has been making this an annual trip for about 30 years. At this point it is so well organized you don't really have to think about anything except when you are going to have your next beer. I got so relaxed on the trip that all of my ailments went away and my sense of humor came back. On one of the days we only saw one other person besides the folks in our group. We also got to see a bald eagle. He was looking stoic high up on a branch of a big tree above the river. On the first day of our journey people were running into rocks and having to bail water from their canoes. I told my brother that we were NOT going to let that happen to us. The day after that we came into some rapids and hit a rock broadside and flipped the canoe. My brother grabbed his 3 year old son and I went after the canoe. We are still blaming the incident on someone's 40 lb. watermelon that ended up in our cooler.

Before I left for the trip I cleaned out some items from the pantry that I knew I was never going to use even if there was an earthquake. Like the non-dairy creamer that has been in there for years. In my neighborhood you can put anything out on the sidewalk and someone will take it away and use it. So, I gathered a box of food from the pantry and set it out for people to take. They took everything but the non-dairy creamer. I took it back inside and thought, "Well, maybe I should take it on the camping trip just incase we run out of milk."

When we flipped our canoe we were just around the corner from where everyone else had stopped to set up for lunch. As they were organizing lunch they noticed some mash mallows go by. Then a hat. Then they swam out to collect the rest of our stuff. It wasn't until later that night that my brother and I realized that a bottle of Maker's Mark and two bottles of wine had been lost to the river. But someone had managed to save the non-dairy creamer. It floated downstream upright in it's half empty plastic container.

It has been two weeks since our trip. Some of my ailments are back and I have forgotten what a sense of humor is. My brother came by today to drop off some things I had left in his car. Some sunscreen, a towel, and the non-dairy creamer. It is safe and sound back home in its place.

Go USA!

I hurt my foot and can't play soccer for 8 weeks but at least I get to watch it. I haven't had enough sleep since the World Cup started. I have to get up early to find somewhere to watch it. I don't have a television anymore and my old computer won't support it live. Sometimes I watch the games at Lynn's house, sometimes at Bill place, but, most of the time I see the games at the new Hispanic rocker cafe down the street from my house. It's called Rock Nation. Usually it is just me, a huge leather couch and a big screen TV. Oh, and Sergio or Angelo. At first I thought they were the same person. They look almost exactly the same and they wear the same headband. The one who used to be a competitive bicyclist is the one who doesn't ride his bike to work. That's how I remember who is who.

Yesterday the US played like Brazilians against Algeria. Not the Beautiful Game but the exciting game. They pushed it right up to the end. Just to make everyone a little nervous and keep folks entertained. That's how the Brazilians I know play.

I heard that the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay were very invested in the US vs. Algeria game because Algeria is a muslin nation. They wanted to see the muslims come out ahead just this once. The guards were ordered not to respond to the outcome in any way.

On the world's soccer stage the once prevailing mullet seems to have been replaced by the gay mohawk. At least that's what we call it here. It used to be a gay signature but now even the muslims are sporting them. Do they know? Should someone tell them? No, it's funny. Like the Tea Party folks calling themselves "tea baggers." It gets a chuckle from us here in SF every time we hear it.

4X

My Brazilian soccer team won it's fourth championship in a row. It was bittersweet. That was good news but there was some bad news too. They decided to take next season off. What do they expect me to do with my Sundays now? Today I went to a yoga class instead. Yuck. Boring. I did not see one handsome Brazilian man there. Not even a sweaty Costa Rican or a hairy Portuguese man. Nobody gave me a hug and said, "Hello, my love," and nobody made me laugh my ass off. I did not get to sit in the sun and watch the next game then go out and eat a big breakfast with the other two ladies on the team. I can't wait for the next season.

Something I've Always Wanted To Do

This weekend the Psychic Fair was in town. I went down there with one task in mind and that was to have my aura photographed. I have a few books about photographs of "the invisible" and they all include aura Polaroid portraits and I've always wanted to have one of myself. I have to say that I've never seen so many kooks in one place at the same time. Well, except for the Renaissance Pleasure Fair when I was about 5. There were a lot of con artists the Psychic Fair too and they kept trying to get in the way of my mission. I got attached my a woman doing henna tattoos. I got cornered by a short, bald New Yorker with my phone number on his mind. There were people rubbing greasy crystals on women's faces to eliminate their wrinkles, there was a man playing a very long didgery doo that was pointed at the chest of a woman with her eyes closed, and people selling flowing gowns like the ones Stevie Nicks wears. Just to list a few of the things I observed. Before I left the house to go to the fair my housemate asked me if I thought my aura was going to be pink. "I'll just have to wait and see." Here is the photo.

Update

My brother thinks that the word "update" is dated. The word "data" too. He likes both of those words together. "Data Update." It does sound very 70's. I would tell you what I've been up to but, first of all my students find my blog so I have to watch my p's and q's, but, also, if I told you what I've been doing lately you would most likely think I'd lost my mind AND gone crazy. Nope.

My New Favorite Photograph

This is my new favorite found photograph. It's from a technical photography book called Photographic Printing published in 1977. I have no idea what is going on in the photo and the caption doesn't help one bit. I seem to be attracted to things that can't be explained. They can have so many meanings.