Well we're back! That was incredible. I've been asked a few times now about my favorite part of the three weeks, but I don't really have one. It was all so different, and so amazing. Soon I'll be putting up some excerpts from the travel journal I kept.

Tonight it's Hallowe'en, and we're heading off to the East Bay to help run a haunted house for kids that Troy does every year. It's odd to have dropped back in to regular life here so quickly after having been so disconnected while we were gone... but that's normal.

I'm happy that tonight it's raining up here, and I pray that there will be more cool weather and rain in Southern California to help end the wildfires. Not only have they been generally devastating, but they came perilously close to my dad's and my brother's new homes. Happily, the winds turned and neither of them were evacuated, but as long as everything is still on fire, I worry.

This has already been an amazing and a complete vacation... and we´re only 1/3 of the way through! We completed the Inca trail 2 days ago. That was one of the most difficult and most incredible experiences I´ve ever had. We had a fabulous guide and were on the trail with 5 other hikers, 11 porters and one insanely talented camp cook. We thought we were going to be roughing it, but that part was only true for the trail itself, not at the campsites. The trail was enough. I swear that at some points (particularly on day 3, the hardest day the hardest and longest day of hiking, the day of greatest altitude and sharpest cold --25 degrees F --, and day I was dealing with a painfully gassy stomach and a total lack of appetite), I did not konw how I thought I was at all physically capable of handling this climb. But we had an amazing guide who walked with me on some of the killer staircase portions. Juan (the guide) also taught us a lot about Incan history and religion, and made the trip far richer than it would have been without him. Machu Picchu is also so much more than I ever imagined. I just can´t believe how large it is and have been caught up in its mystery...

Troy and I are now in Ecuador, where we have a day in Quito before heading over to the Galapagos. I´m very excited! This is one of the most incredible trips of my life already...

yes! we're in Lima! Last weekend of SFLX was fabulous and very exhausting. Then Troy and I hopped on a plane and are now at the Hotel Antigua Miraflores... We're off to the Museo de Nacion to learn about all the stuff we're going to see for the next week... More to come!

Yes, I'll try to keep this up while we're in Peru... but I'm not promising anything. I'm getting excited about the idea of spending 3 weeks unplugged. Troy and I will have 3 weeks together with no email, no phones, no Lindy Exchange...

Yes, I'm looking forward to that. Not that I'm not excited about SFLX, but that (like all events I produce) makes me think a lot more about what other people need and not myself.

In other news, I'm getting very worried about this recall effort, and about our insane President. And the U.S. Census Bureau report on Health Insurance is shameful for such a wealthy nation. I really don't feel like identifying as an American a lot of the time right now.

whew! life is very complicated right now. getting ready to head off to Peru, getting ready for the SF Lindy Exchange (which I'm organizing), trying to finish up some work.

so why am I blogging? because i need to get back on with this...

So Leni Riefenstahl is dead. A complicated and influential documentary maker. Helped to lock in Hitler's power through influential filmmaking while refusing to cut Jesse Owens' successes out of her work. Basically the founder of modern sports films, and the first one to use crazy camera angles and tracking the action of the games. Perhaps the ultimate "I'm just an artist" defense to all accusations that she participated in the Nazi horrors. And a brilliant filmmaker. So so complicated.

phew! finally fixed my blog issues... took a little while to clean up all the settings.

The last couple of months have been excellent. Much time with Troy, and all good. This past weekend we went whale watching and saw the largest animal on the planet: blue whales! Then we crossed the state to go hiking for 10 miles, then checked out the largest single living organism on the planet: the giant sequoia named "General Sherman." Last weekend we went out to Bodie, a ghost town which was the first place that electricity was transmitted long-distance (13 miles!). Funny story there: They ran the wires in a straight line from the river to the mill, fearing that if the wires bent, the electrons would "jump off" and the system wouldn't work. hee hee. Now it's the largest ghost town in a state of "arrested decay." Kinda cool. Also walked around on a volcano crater and checked out the weird moonscape of the tufa formations on Mono Lake.

Getting ready for Peru. Must finish lots of work and hold a lindy exchange before I can go, though.

Can you believe the U.S. Supreme Court? Is it even possible to get my brain around what their ruling in Lawrence vs. Texas means?? So so excited! If Texas' sodomy law has been struck down, they're all going to fall!

What an excellent ruling during queer pride month! That, plus the ruling up in Toronto to allow queer marriages... whew!

This weekend, Pride Celebration truly will be celebratory!

Now let's see what our illustrious president has to say about it... hah!

Today, of course, the news is heavily about affirmative action & college admissions. My personal opinion (which is what a blog is for, after all) is that we shouldn't be looking at race so much as class. That's the real issue. Yes, racism has contributed significantly to all sorts of messed up injustices, but when it comes to educational access, the issue really feels like one of class to me. Would be good to get that conversation more strongly out there.

Just returned from Yosemite, and I'm really really sore. More my muscles, but my ankle took a bit of a beating as well. We hiked around 16 miles on Saturday, most of the way up Half Dome, but then I bailed out on summitting. I'm really glad I did. Would have been bad. Today mostly my muscles are sore from going through such a huge amount of work after so long being a lazy lump. But it was so beautiful out there, I couldn't resist. I do love Yosemite!

I'm really going to have to get in shape for Peru. This is going to take work.