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.

whew! time is a-flyin' by. Since I last posted, Troy (yes, he has a name) and I have become positively cemented together. Strange only in that it's all happening fast, but somehow it feels right. He's also a major traveller, and I'm hopping onto his next chosen destination: Peru in October! We're going to be hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Pichu, checking out the Galapagos and doing a little scuba diving, then taking a canoe into the Amazon for a few days. Definitely a whirlwind dream vacation. I love that for him, too, a dream vacation eschews all 4- and 5-star hotels, and instead involves camping out and random forms of transportation. This is good.

So I'm trying to learn Spanish (must try harder), and am going to be working through the summer. Haven't done that in a few years... At least I'll get more diving and climbing time... once my ankle finally heals up, that is... I actually haven't climbed anything in 2 months or more. It's making me a little nuts. I've been cleared now for face climbing, biking, and hiking. No crack climbing. Diving is a maybe, provided I can tape up. But at the end, I hope to be more fully recovered from my now 2-year old injury. I'm determined. If I could heal my back, I can heal my ankle.

In other news, still working like nuts. Putting together the next SF Lindy Exchange. Trying to finish unpacking into my apartment. Enjoying the sunshine.

15 years... Reunion was a pretty... uh... interesting experience. It was good to see people, fun to laugh about stuff we did. Very interesting to catch up with old friends, nearly all of whom were talking about their spouses, many of whom were either showing me photos of the kids or telling me their due date. I was also staying with Erik & Shirley and their kids up in Massachusetts, seeing a life that's very happy, and that I did verify I didn't really want. Despite the fact that I've pretty much actively avoided the family life, it was odd to be the only one at my table not married (I was thankful that I met Troy before going so I didn't have the complete loser feeling!). On the other hand, I got this strange feeling that the others felt that I've been the one to keep the dreams we had at Wesleyan alive... through the work that I do, the life that I'm living, the level of exploration I keep up... That was strange. I didn't get the sense of regret from any of them -- their own lives sound quite wonderful for them -- but it seemed as if they were relieved (or curious?) that I was similar to the way they remembered me, and that everything I do and am is in keeping with how I was then.

Also very curious was bumping up against the many holes in my own memory (thank god I didn't do drugs or it would be even worse!). I had dinner with several people that I mostly hung out with sophomore year, and each one remembered some interesting specific things about me -- things which I didn't really remember. In at least one case, I thought it was a misattribution of memory (or, at minimum, a distortion), but in other cases the stories brought home the reality that small gestures make large impressions. I come away reinforced in the belief that I should be giving/helping/enjoying/nice every day, because I never know what it is that someone might need right at that moment, and that there's a chance that I might be able to give it to them. I may even give them what they need without knowing it.

I was sad that I didn't manage to see my family at all while I was there. Bad (late) planning, and memorial day weekend, all conspired against me. I'll have to return soon.

For my birthday, I did something I haven't done in a long time: I was completely unplugged for 3 days! No email, no logging on, no work... It was kindof amazing. I just enjoyed Disneyland & playing. Actually took a weekend, and then added a day. Pretty dang nice. Also just great to feel goofy and fun and with friends who are the same.

I also made the request for donations of time/money to nonprofits my big birthday wish and lots of folks came through. It was so cool! Getting emails and phone calls about who donated what to where. I loved it.

Now getting ready for the 15-year college reunion. Whew! What's that going to be like?