29

it is my birthday. it is 2:30 in the morning and i can't sleep at all. we had a picnic in the park today. i had to get there around 9 to claim the space and i think i just lost track of my caffinne consumption after being there for about 10 hours. a quick run down:
1) read some uplifting and not-so-uplifting news and just about all of miranda july's short stories
2) ate lots of fake meat
3) saw friends with kids
4) saw friends without kids
5) never got to ride bikes

yeah. i don't have any resolutions for age 29...or do i?

1) stop the endless cycle of want
2) get a cool(er) job
3) learn grantwriting
4) score some money for a good non-profit in need
5) ride my bike more
6) start running again...this time in moderation
7) don't eat processed stuff...its bad
8) be nicer
9) more hiking
10) more weekend trips
11) maybe buy a place. whatever. it won't make me happier.

job scoreboard:

1) I've applied to 45 jobs
2) New Teacher Project- Interviewed/Rejected
3) Teach for America- Interviewed/Rejected
4) The Riordan Foundation- Interviewed/?
5) Trash for Teaching-Interviewed/?
6) University of California- Interview on Wednesday

This is boring...

after a three month lull

wow...i haven't posted since january. i guess that there has not been much time.
1) the man that we call d.b. (Dr. Beikman) passed away in January. i miss him a great deal.
d.b. spoke about 10 languages and could read about 20. he was a composer, self-taught computer programmer, and airmchair economist. he baked the best banana bread in the world, cooked a mean crockpot of hungarian stew, and took me to the used bookstore to buy paper grocey bags full of the classics. he was diagnosed with liver cancer in december. the last time i had seen him was two years prior. we showed up for a surprise visit on his birthday. we had an impromptu party/ambush. the house was decorated, the dog was going crazy, he even drank maker's mark. i took some bereavement time from work to stay in indiana for a brutal four days of cold and rain.
2) i am in indiana again. my grandmother died on wednesday of last week. she had come back to pittsburgh where my mother had set her up with an apartment. she simply passed away in her sleep. it was a shock to everyone. she was 77. because my great grandparents lived well into their 90's, we thought that they would both live longer.
3) i'm having a fourth interview next friday for a non-profit based in l.a. fingers crossed.
4) i'm ready to buy a condo. i really mean it this time.

more later.

confession

o.k...prior to christmas, i must admit that i fell off of the anti-consumer wagon. yeah. i know. it was christmas. i bought gifts. i bought some clothes for myself. i'm now reading The Overspent American. its a little dated, but helped me to resurrent my anti-conumer zeal. now i'm a born again. vacation is almost over and it was nice to be able to laze around and read and listen to music. my grandfather is quite ill and will not make it too much longer. i may need to leave the state for awhile.
argh.

inspiration point

-self portrait at the top of the trail

-view of glendale and eagle rock from the top of mt verdugo

so..i wanted to hike to inspiration point. i was discouraged, though, by hiking blogs that warned of the hike being rigorous and taking the good part of the day.

i stuck to verdugo mountain, which is closer to home. the blogs also reported a more slight change in elevation and a shorter round trip time.

it was o.k., but i wish i would have done the mount lowe hike. i've been waiting to do it all week, but the rain has been relentless. verdugo mountain was easy. it only took two hours roundtrip. i hiked at a brisk pace and felt no burning whatsoever. it was also quite boring. it was a fire round and there was just some bare chaparral plants on the fringe of the trail. although the griffith park trails are lame and touristy, they make for more interesting hikes because of the non-native plants that people have brought into the park. yes, that proved disastrous in the last fire, i know. apart from an elderly couple that didn't seem to make it very far, there were no signs of life.

well, i will hike mt. lower and maybe even henninger flats before my break is through.

break

we call this the "edge of the world." i think that everyone else calls it "fermin state park." anyhow, it is one of our favorite spots. when we first met, we stayed up all night and decided to come here for the sunrise. i remember that there were about 30 or so mangy cats ascending from the bottom of the hill in a pack. we finally realized that a crazy woman in spandex was feeding them out of her van. we couldn't stop laughing for some reason or another.
yesterday, we made a kite out of newspaper. it did quite well and i was able to retrive it in one piece. i want to make some different designs. i've read that trash bags also make good kite material.

we went to claremont today to check out the converted packinghouse. it was a nice day to eat a turkey sandwich and take a stroll around an east coast-ish college town, but the packinghouse was sort of a let down. i wanted to ask the people at the prison book project if they needed volunteers, but noone was present. i worked at a similar project in olympia. i probably devoted twenty or so hours a week when the rain season was in full swing and when i didn't have any spending money. that was pretty much the entirety of our stay. i'll try again.

t-giving

Thanksgiving was "bleh" as always. I've never liked the holiday much. I'm not the biggest fan of thanksgiving food. I did run the 10K race in about 50 minutes, which is not bad considering the fact that a lot of people were running with strollers and dogs and the path was PACKED!
Buy nothing day turned out o.k., we stayed in and watched movies. Both of us were feeling under the weather. I'm still deciding what to do for christmas gifts. I haven't really learned how to knit. It looks like I'll be making donations on behalf of people..or something like that. Grrr. I really wish that we could just skip the formalities of these holidays. It causes more stress than what it is worth.

the compact

so...i found about a group in san fran that is in the midst of a year-long fast. i'm not the only one. i decided to nix the knitting yarn from my list of acceptable items. i have enough lying around to make at least one scarf. besides, it is easy to buy a used sweater or blanket, tear it apart, and create something new. people did it for generations..before all of this madness set in.

so far, the fast is easy and manageable. i don't think that i've mentioned that i live across the street from a goodwill.

i need to find other bloggers who are either part of the "compact" or who generally make a habit out of buying everything used.