shyape

Equipped with delicious coffee and cafe treats, we pushed the little Corolla along the Texas Highways until the Giant Granite Rock of Enchantment was in our view, west of Frederick's burg. Lamb and cows and horses in their respective fields, and one big fat lazy dog on his or her respective porch, watched us wind down the road under a hazy blue sky.

Out of the car and into sunscreen went aphid, paradox, xomox, moonwick, leto, goulo, texaspatsfan, greg, and shyape. The beloved red dog decided to take his chances under the Texas sun. We made our ascent less seriously than our descent, laughing and occasionally skipping up the steep rock, yelling Hi Ho Silver as we passed an old man and woman and their son on their way up too. As I became short of breath, I took more than one chance to enjoy the view and tried to coax noodledog into pulling me up the rock. A righteous wind began to blow us about as we reached the summit of the pink dome at 425 feet above ground.

From the top I could see what all the hype was about. Oak trees, huge granite rock formations and large rock slabs, caves, smaller rocks covered with silver, lavender, and pink lichen, small pools of water reflecting the sky next to patches of deep green moss, beautiful flat, oval cacti with tubular, rose berries. I let myself take it all in, and it me, and felt a deep happiness and calm.

Caves were explored and geocaches caught. At one point in the excursion, we tramped along a pebbly surface between two large rock faces. I thought of water rushing through the valley, carving the fascinating formations we saw, over the thousands (or hundreds? or millions? I don't know the area's history or how the rocks were formed) of years before our modern time. It was a peaceful reminder that no matter what silly things mankind does to destroy itself, the nature on this planet will survive long past humanity's brief incarnation.

Woodie the dog was a marvel. Mostly he led the pack with the Canadian and Netherlander. I called to him now and then, and tried to keep an eye on him, but I think his new friends enjoyed his quiet companionship and enthusiasm as much as he did theirs, so I let it be.

Occasionally Woodie was confronted by the limitations of his form. Lacking thumbs, good climbing shoes, depth perception, and judgement, there were certain rocky crags and climbs that exceeded his courage and ability. And haven't we all come up against that wall in our lives? Or, if we haven't, surely we will. What was lovely was the group's commitment to seeing that he made it up or down whatever obstacle he encountered. At one point texaspatsfan picked up his 65 pounds and lifted him to safety. Another time, aphid, xomox, and I scouted and searched for a way down the rock that was quadriped-friendly, and the rest of the group--now safely at the bottom--used hand gestures to point us to an easy descent. I remembered the old man and woman we passed on our way up and the tender way the younger man walked at their pace and led them up the steep ascent.

Stomachs audibly grumbling, we headed back to town for dinner. Amazingly, the biergarten let us bring in the woodster. Everyone ate huge plates of mostly German food, and we told baudy stories until most of the other patrons left. ;)
On the way home, the pup slept soundly as aphid and I pleasantly chatted under a blanket of stars in clear sky.

It was a beautiful day.

1. Stop biting my fingernails (or anyone else's fingernails for that matter).
2. Try not to become unemployed if at all possible.
3. Do my part to make November 2nd a glorious defeat of religious zealotry conservative fanaticism!
Translated from my own socialist rhetoric == REDEFEAT BUSH in 2004!
4. Be nice to spiders.
5. Go to the gym. Try to exercise when I'm there.
6. Practice kind acts of randomness and intolerable absurdity.
7. Livejournal at least twice.
8. Gargle (but not with spiders! see #4)
9. Continue avoiding people I know but don't much like in lieu of saying hello just to be nice and having one of those painful, useless conversations.
10. Stop making so many lists.

OK, i don't have balls, but you know what i mean, you literal freaks.

Today I went to Pars Deli on Burnet with goulo, ivo, ghewgill, cowquat, and paradox. Pars rocks the house. The Casbah, even. One terrific thing about Pars is that I get to bump into all my old Deja homies. Surrounded by cool work people and good food (chicken kabobs, yummy sesame honey brittle, strong dark tea that has a rosewater vibe to it) I was feeling the love. Ahh.

I'm in a terrific mood. I just went for a post-surgical check-up and Alles Ist Gut! And honestly, today is the first day in a long time (since February or March pro'ly) that nothing on me hurts or feels weird or yucky and that I'm happy and snappy. I think the acupuncture is really helping too. I hope one day to look at the ruins of my life and say, "well, at least I have my health!"

34 years old. That happened since my last post. Mid-thirties. Shit I know I don't look a day over 33. Must be the vodka, makes my reflection blurry, and hence, attractive.
My tits sag down to my knees, but modern technology has graced us with amazing bras (miracles, even). I can't stay awake through a feature-length film, but I'm hoping a speed-ball made from ginseng, geritol, and cocaine will help with that. My mind wanders sometimes, but it goes interesting places. So far, middle-age suits me just fine.

I hope everyone else feels great too. And, if not, remember what Krishnamurti said, "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted in a profoundly sick society."

Morpheus


?? Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ??
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I've decided to let it all hang out.

This afternoon I became one of my alter (or maybe altar in this case) egos, Kali the Destroyer Goddess. This is when something pisses me off repeatedly and I get into such an evil snit that I hate everything and everyone and swear like a drunken sailor. It usually takes a hearty dose of yoga, a massage from Otis (aka Klinky the Clown, aka Clint), some really good chocolate, or a big glass of red wine to bring back our pal the Shy Ape. Tonight red wine was at hand, so after a hearty slurp, I decided to post my official LJ rant of the day.

I was once a network administrator. I learned everything I knew on the job, baptized by fire, so to speak. I didn't know much, but I worked hard and tried to do a better than decent job. But, since I was always just behind the curve, I developed a little inferiority complex when it comes to experiencing technical difficulties. When I encounter shitty software, or a little network slowness, I always assume it's user error. And I take it way too personally. Like it somehow reflects on my worth as a human being if I can't get my stupid bluetooth software/PC synchronization/new phone to connect smoothly. Today I was able to sychronize my phone with my PC PIM once. Then, all hell broke loose and it wouldn't ever work properly again. Right now I'm reinstalling all the software involved from scratch. And wondering why I didn't just do the easy Macintosh iSync instead of messing with my Windoze software. Oh yeah, because I want my work meetings on my phone too. Why? I don't know, maybe I want to be on time to meetings or something. I definitely need to get my priorities straight.

So, once I became Kali the Destroyer Goddess and my panties were in a hella' wad, I drove home. I was driving on the remnants of fumes and it seemed like everyone was trying to get in the way of me and the gas pump. When I was finished pumping, I banged my head getting back into the car! (One funny side-note even Kali noticed: at the pump was a nasty picture of a little delicacy you can procure at Diamond Shamrock for a healthy and filling breakfast. The sausage and egg WAFFLE SANDWICH!!! I so wish I could still eat wheat because I'd be wolfing down one of those treats right now. Oh yeah. American Cuisine. We have so much to be proud of!)

On the way home it seemed as though every finch, grackle, and crow was on my side. I saw birds flying in some fuct- up formations and heard them squawking to raise the dead. When I got home, my dog promptly puked a huge puddle of brown bile on the carpet. My favorite animal in the world, for reasons no one has yet to understand, Sailor the black cat, wouldn't stop mewing at me as a kind of frantic soundtrack to my labors. As I ran to the kitchen for paper towels to clean up the vomit, I knocked the calendar off the wall and almost stepped on the tack. This started a slew of invectives against the dog, the cat, the lord, the assholes who wrote the software for my phone, and pretty much all living creatures. This is what I mean by Kali the Destroyer. When I get into this kind of fury, I wish I could go to the local dump and break windows on old cars with a baseball bat (seriously, if anyone knows a way I could do this, I would so pay for it!) or make fireballs like an X-Men character and set the house on fire.

I wish I were a normal person who could take things in stride all the time and let things roll off my back as I say something profound like, "this too shall pass." But I'm not. I've worked very hard to be that Zen person. I meditated, I did years of yoga and even taught yoga classes, I journal, I see a shrink, I try to believe in a higher power. But the way I'm wired, thanks to God, chemistry, nature, nurture, whatever, occasionally turns me into a spiteful, vengeful, bitch from hell. So, bow before me mortals! And remember, that without death there would be no life. Or something.
http://www.spiralgoddess.com/Kali.html