In Italy, even Blogger is in Italian

Arrived Florence today, 12:38. Travelogue to commence shortly!

Yes!

From Climate Change Blog :

Washington to Be Sued Over Global Warming
A California court has cleared the way for a coalition of environmental groups and cities to sue the US government over global warming. This is highly significant as it is the first time that the potentially disastrous impacts of climate change have been recognized by a court. The lawsuit names two government agencies - the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (Opic) and the Export-Import Bank of the United States - claiming that 8 per cent of all the world's greenhouse gases come from projects they support. One way or another the climate change movement will not rest until the government of the United States and others stop impeding the necessary policies required to stop climate change. This will require moving forward on all fronts - supporting renewable energy, conserving energy, protesting - and yes, challenging climate villains in the courts.



What?? How crazy! I wonder how successful it will be; most of me, at this point, thinks not very.

Things are really speeding up around here. Expect more links and less reflection etc. I'm having a hard time keeping all of my dates and plans as there is so much left to do, packing and otherwise. T -3 days and counting!

Dhammapada

These aren't the most insightful passages from the Dhammapada, but I think they uncover and advise against an ill, or an attitude, pervasive in American spirituality today. I'll include them here, without commentary:

"(49) As the bee collects nectar and flies away without harming the flower, its color, or its scent, let a wise person go among the people and things of all this life.

(50) Let not a wise person note the perversities of others, nor what they have done or left undone.

(51) Like a beautiful flower without scent are the fair but fruitless words of the one who speaks of virtue but does not act accordingly."

Crunch Time

One knows, whether or not they'd like to admit it, that they have lost control of their life when they no longer have time it takes to tend to all of the things they have collected. Which really, right now, means I'm frustrated I haven't gotten a chance to get to all the books I took out of the library -- at this point, except for perhaps one, there isn't a chance I will get to them.

My things are running my life, taking up all my time. I haven't even started packing yet.

What about creating iTunes playlists for my iPod while I'm away? What about finishing the scarf I'm knitting for winter in Italy? What about promoting my blog before I go, what about joining webrings? What about reading my teachers' book on Reiki? When am I going to do my laundry? I doubt I'll even have time to go to a final yoga class at Avalon, meaning yes, an extra $15, but an hour and a half less sanity.

Would anyone else be put off if their psychiatrist used a hip-hop station as office background music?

I got more of my anxiety medication for my trip to Italy today. I thought my psychiatrist was just being nice by giving me 3.5x the normal number of prescribed pills (so I wouldn't have to bother to get the prescription refilled in Italy) but no, he actually just thinks I'm 3.5x crazier than my previous psychiatrist (meaning 1 tablet 3 times a day as opposed to 1 tablet every other day). Terrific! Though I still plan to stick to my original prescribed dosage; it'll be nice not to worry about prescriptions while I'm away.

I've been stuggling lately with the concept of intent and its role in a genuine life. It plays a large part of Reiki therapy; though one is to let the energy flow, without trying to direct its course or the outcome of the therapy, the therapy and power behind it will be stronger if one follows Usui's principles (similar to the eightfold path). Janeanne Narrin, author of One Degree Beyond: A Reiki Journey into Energy Medicine states:

"No one is excluded from learning and practicing Reiki. Age range is not a limitation, nor is sex, body shape or size, talent, intelligence, perceived eccentricities, or occupation... but presence of mind is necessary and Intent is essential.

Three decades ago, IBM researcher Marcel Vogel, concluded two things about Intent:

• Intent produces an energy field.
• Our thoughts and emotions reflect living things around
  us.

Intent is serious business. This takes precedence in the practice of Reiki."

This ideal has always sat well with me: you create in your reality what you put out. This takes into play the concept of karma and gives power to the mind we may or may not quite understand but are able to manipulate and use creatively. It is how one event follows another, one action has a reaction, etc.

Now though, Steve Hagen's Buddhism Plain and Simple sets out the opposite supposition. Following an anecdote detailing the change in the author's emotion towards a vandalization when it turned out the perpetrator was an animal and not a malicious human being, the author writes:

"We often think the purpose of taking up a spiritual practice is to produce good actions as opposed to bad. According to the buddha-dharma, however, this is completely beside the point.

The point is, rather, that we become aware of when and how we act out of our intent.

Most of us, most of the time, tend to act with intent, trying to bring about some desired end. But nature doesn't act with intent. A buddha doesn't either. Acting without intent means acting out of Wholeness--out of seeing the whole."

Hagen presents intent as a problem, as something getting in the way of peaceful living. But without intent, how are we to accomplish anything? I'm not talking making millions of dollars here, but come on, when one desires to relieve himself, one carries the intent to do so! This is necessity! Perhaps these authors mean different things by the term intent. One insinuates grasping, attempting to alter events; the other describes a thought-form, a statement, a decision, an action, with indifference to the outcome. Both theories give credit to the universe to figure things out. Both offer freedom. Maybe that is the synergy between the two.

Spiritual Texts

I've just started reading the Dhammapada, and it feels like a breath of fresh air. Prior to that I'd been reading B.K.S. Iyengar's translation of the Yoga Sutras (Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali) and had been stumbling and losing concentration. I enjoy learning new Sanskrit words when reading texts, don't get me wrong, but even in Iyengar's introduction, he'd use maybe three in a sentence, and the onus would be on me to look them up in the glossary provided. This makes it ridiculously difficult to concentrate; not only is the context in which the words came completely forgotten once I finally figure out what all of them means, but I'm also spending so much energy just trying to remember them so I don't have to look them up again that I end up absorbing very little of what I'm reading.

Anyhow, the Dhammapada is simple to absorb and exceptionally insightful. It has nothing to prove, I don't feel as if I am running up against an ego, a clear presence on the other side; Iyengar's translation is so thorough, so complete, but I feel as if the time he takes in the beginning to discuss the sutras is only included to show him capable of presenting his translations. With the Dhammapada I don't feel confronted by the text. There're verses I may post here, but not now.

Tomorrow I've got to do the bulk of my errands for Italy, which include going to Long's to pick up small things for the trip, going to Barnes & Noble to get a California picture book for my host family, and going to Ghiradelli in the mall to get some chocolate, also for my host family. If anyone else has got any ideas as to what might be better gift options than these, I'd be happy to hear them.

Money, Healing and Family

Nothing like having over $2000 in your checking account to make you feel financially secure (nevermind that that extra dough comes from a completely liquidated mutual fund and that $1000 of it is going towards paying school tuition)!

My short weekend of learning Reiki was interesting to say the least. I am now certified to practice Reiki I on anyone -- look out world! But it's been fun; it definitely works, somehow, you just have to let it which is always a strange concept for me (letting things go). My hands have never been so warm in my life! Matt has been very patient and has let me give him truncated Reiki treatments two nights in a row. What a champ!

My aunt, uncle and cousin are here staying with us until after I leave for Italy. It's nice to have family around, and feel like a family again with my own immediate family. It helps that they are likeable people! The only difficulty is trying to find time away to practice yoga, and trying to do it subtly so as not to attract any real attention; I've already had to answer vegetarian questions, now it's only a matter of time before they realize I'm also reading books on Zen and Ayurveda, and practicing yoga for 80 minutes a day. That will be the crunchy liberal tipping point!

It's starting to get down to crunch time in terms of packing for Italy. My packing list still seems dreadfully underwhelming; as I would like it to remain, don't get me wrong, but I know the issue is not that I suddenly have less stuff to bring, it's that I'm leaving tons of things off the list. It'll all get sorted out, I suppose.

Reiki

I've got a Reiki Level I class tonight that I just started getting a little worried about after I realized it would be held in someone's house. Is that legitimate to be worried about? Just kind of awkward I suppose, but if "we are all one" etc etc then it doesn't really matter, does it? Whatever. 7-10pm with total strangers, I can hack it. We'll see.

Gwenyth Paltrow and Purses

I did yoga this morning, first thing. It's really different, before breakfast, next to the window while the fog is just beginning to break. It was wonderful. Aaaand Shiva Rea can do things with her body no one should ever ever be able to do (such as a full lotus while holding up the hips in a shoulderstand posture)!

Matt and I saw Gwenyth Paltrow in Union Square in the city today. We thought it was strange until we realized Coldplay was playing tonight. She looked soft, together and beautiful. And I was so busy going through a, "Huh, that woman looks a lot like Gwenyth Paltrow! Wait a...no.. Wait.. no no.. Wait, yes!" that I didn't think to look in the stroller she was pushing. We always see celebrities together (by always, I mean two confirmed, a few maybes) -- our first was Jameel White (Steve Urkel) at the Adidas store on 3rd St in Santa Monica. We're totally not celebrity obsessed, don't follow up on that stuff or anything, but whenever we see people we think we recognize it throws us off balance.

I've having a really tough time finding a purse for Italy. As Matt says, I am not a purse person. I can't find any I like, so I think expensive ones are what I want since I won't have to worry about them because of their, you know, cultural significance, as in money can't be wrong! But when I get up to the point of actually slapping the money down on the counter I get antsy and can't follow through. Which I am thankful for, that good sense, but dammit it certainly doesn't help me find a purse!!

Cows Fed Confiscated Marijuana in Russia!

From The Scotsman :

Russian cows set for a high old time feeding on 'grass'

RUSSIA'S long winter will fly by for a herd of cows which is to be fed fodder containing confiscated marijuana over the cold months.
Drug workers said they adopted the unusual form of animal husbandry after they were faced with destroying the sunflowers and maize crops that the 40 tonnes of marijuana had been planted among, according to reports in Russia.
A Federal Drugs Control Service spokeswoman for the Urals region of Sverdlovsk was uncertain about the effects of feeding the drug to the animals, but insisted that there was no other choice.
"There is simply no other way out," she said.
"You see, the fields are planted with feed crops and if we remove it all the cows will have nothing to eat."
She added: "I don't know what the milk will be like after this."
Drug use in Russia took off with the decline of the Soviet Union and police have been fighting drug smugglers - often shipping heroin from Afghanistan - for years.
Such large hauls are relatively common, although they are normally burned.

Noise Pollution and The Celestine Prophecy

My stepdad is in the other room, watching some movie about a boat taken hostage and things being blown up, and honestly, I have never, ever heard him crank the volume up this loud. This isn’t just a phenomenon in my family; the only sound systems selling anymore are those specifically designed to be heard outside the four walls of a house, and send any sensible household pet running for cover. Is this noise craze simply an extension of our current obsession with violence, just another sensual element to increase the experience? What are we trying to drown out? Utne Reader did a special an issue ago about noise pollution; when I read it, it seemed like a bunch of whiny liberals (of which I am one, don’t get me wrong, but as that is my own nature I am particularly sensitive to the whining of others) trying to find something to get worked up about, but the more I’ve thought about it, the more it does seem like cause for concern. What strikes me most now is what I guess one would call the economic noise divide; that is, those without means suffer the greatest from the high concentration of noise in urban areas while those who can afford to move to areas with less concentration. I am positive that this kind of intense noise pollution contributes to the mental and physical health of those subjected to it.

Anyway, on to other things.

I finished The Celestine Prophecy today, a preposterous book with some veiled insight not nearly worth the time to finish the book. On a side note -- when the New Age craze hit, and all those authors in the late 80’s to late 90’s wrote their books, why were they all so hooked on the millennium? Reading those books now, as 2005 draws to a close, I can’t help but imagine both the authors of these books and their readers are disappointed by the lack of social and spiritual change they had anticipated.

Anyway. The Celestine Prophecies is about a man from America hunting for 9 Insights in Peru (which are meant to show the way to human spiritual evolution) while fighting violent resistance from the Peruvian government and church. Though the insights are indeed insightful, seemingly graceful propositions, the context in which their presented nearly spoils the entire message. Why does Redfield choose to wrap them up in a silly, strangely unfolding adventure novel when a much simpler approach would have easily sufficed? Even if the story were true (a detail which is neither resolutely confirmed nor denied anywhere within the book, soooo fiction), a book which simply detailed and laid out the ideas presented in the insights would’ve been so much easier to digest!


Grumbly grumbly grumbly, I know. I’m workin’ on it.

In better news, I got the Yoga Shatki DVD in the mail today and it is incredible – the scenery is incredible, the amazing posture matrix revolutionary, the poses are complex, it includes balance postures, pranayama exercises… I can’t wait to get through the whole thing!

Poetry

What is the difference between gimmick and artistic obsession?  

Sharebuilder Promotion

Just invested a free $50 through the Sharebuilder IPLANGIFT promotion on Sharebuilder.com. Like everyone else in on this, I invested in EEM - MSCI Emerging Market Index Shares. On the 22nd, if everything goes as planned, I should be receiving $46 (minus the Sharebuilder $4 transaction fee) in EEM. The big plan is not to touch it for, you know, 100 years, and then take it out when its nice and ripe (read: $4,000,000)!

The Exurbs

From jack/zen :

"The fastest growing development in the country (US) is the exponential growth of exurbs - the formerly rural areas now sporting instant "communities" of suburban-type areas where commutes to work are 45 minutes, stores are big box and half-hour away, and soccer traffic bottlenecks everything on a daily basis. One of the top 10 revenue generating companies in the US happens to be one of the top developers.

The houses are designed by focus groups with prime requirements like maximum privacy and storage space (for the vast consumables people can't use). Major developers attract new buyers with the promise that personal living areas will face away from neighbors and the neighborhood.

It's a lifestyle that would implode without fossil fuels and depends precipitously on a culture of fear, personified by the fact that the top housing requests by new home owners are related to safety and security."

These really are popping up all over the place; the drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles is littered with them, both on 5 and the 101. They're eerie, to me the manifestation of a community built 100% around consumption and consuming; houses built for maximum profit, surrounding chain businesses glad to open branches nearby because of the immediate monopoly the isolation creates, a complete lack of concern for character, culture, real substance.. It's frightening. Is this the future of real estate? I hope this trend dies out soon.

Oh, For the Love of God.

Didn't I just berate myself for my exorbitant spending? What's wrong with me?

Today Matt and I went to Mollie Stone's (a great Bay Area-wide grocery store founded my the father of a girl I went to elementary school with) where I found the Weleda moisturizer I'd been looking for ($15), Triphala and Ashwagandha supplements (the most basic supplements of Ayurvedic medical tradition, $20), and a 2 week cleansing program ($20). The woman at the register gave me a 20% discount, I'm not sure why, but still, WHAT THE CRAP! My Reiki class is this Friday so the cleanse was sort of expected; my whole reason for visiting Mollie Stones was to pick up the Ayurvedic herbs; and the moisturizer, well, that was a serendipitous coincidence (the moisturizer, btw, feels as if I've covered my entire face in Vaseline and smells equally delicious; hoping for a miracle in the morning!).

So really, the spending is getting out of hand. The class this weekend is going to cost $100, I need to pay off my credit cards some $160 (at least I refuse to let any balance go unpaid for even one pay period; there's at least one good habit I successfully maintain!), and I still want to get a couple books for while I'm in Italy. And I leave in 2 weeks. Spectacular!


I took my anxiety medication today for the first time in two months. I would feel bad about it but I feel so much better it's overwhelming.

On Today's Shopping Trip

Department store bras are either for women who are positive they will never be seen naked, or those whose old age has granted them the liberty of just not giving a shit.

Needless to say, I bought three pairs.

After declaring yesterday that I didn't want to spend any more money for the rest of the weekend, I spent $30 last night on dinner and coffee, and $15 on eyeliner from Sephora. So much for spending limits, eh? Of course, I can justify both major purchases: dinner was a special occasion, with friends I hadn't seen in a couple years and god dammit it was good and worth it; the eyeliner, well, the one I currently use gets wiped under my eyes and off of my lids, making me look disheveled and chronically sleepless. But really, in the scheme of things, these are rather shallow excuses. I just need to do better.

Notes from today

Taken @ City Lights following a delicious dinner at Steps of Rome with semi-old semi-friends and coffee from the best place in San Francisco, Caffe Trieste:

1. Distance manifests possibility? - best self, unstuck in past, free to create self continuously
2. P.[oetry] is like coming home
3. Knowing kills art a. like zen philosophy, b. "knowing" only artifical anyway

Does this make sense to anyone but me? I wrote them to elaborate on when I got home but I don't really have the energy now. Maybe I'll get to them later. PS, feeling a little foolish about my last city / San Francisco rant, as I did and still do love the North Beach area.

Anxiety is back, in full force. My throat is closing up again like it did the summer before my freshman year of college -- could it be because of going to Italy soon? A kind of background stressor invading my everyday life subconciously? That's what I finally decided it was in 2003, as once I got a month into college it vanished completely. I don't know what it is, I hate gasping for breath so much that I get cramps in my chest and shoulders.. I feel like all of this shouldn't be coming now, shouldn't be happening now that I've started practicing meditation, doing yoga, trying to be mindful, etc. Of any time for it to return in full swing, why should it happen now?

Anyway, this convinces me more than ever that I need to visit a psychiatrist here in the Bay Area to get at least a months supply of those stupid anxiety pills I've been trying to wean off of all summer, just in case. I don't want to get to Italy and be chomping my mouth apart. It's just so disappointing for all of that to be coming back now. It's been two months since I last medicated my anxiety and I'd been successful for such a long time. Disappointing.

The Importance of, you know, Eating

I spent all day today doing nothing really productive, reading Deepak Chopra's Perfect Health (which I picked up during one of my big runs at the Burlingame library while I was there for other books; when I saw the library had three copies of Perfect Health I thought it must be something important!) which is quite interesting, and drinking a couple cups of tea. I started my morning with some Kashi cereal around 11, and followed it up with a perfect peach around 3.

And. That's. All.

Normally, you know, I abide by the old adage of eating when you're hungry, which has usually worked just fine and did work fine for the majority of the day. Until I decided to return to the Avalon Art & Yoga Center for another hour and a half Hatha class with Ayse. Last week's was really incredible; I felt strong throughout, worked hard, but very capable.

I felt like a twig this week, especially in the balance postures, and even the twists which I usually find stabilizing and opening. I wobbled over numerous times in tree pose and when I could find my balance, my leg left on the ground was in constant motion. About two thirds of the way through I realized my lack of any real energy providing food prior to class was probably the culprit. I think I even fell asleep in savasana! I've never done that!

Shaking even as I rolled up my mat, I barreled awkwardly toward the door, into my car, and didn't really stabilize until I got home. So I suppose that's a lesson, eh?

I didn't do any practice yesterday; yoga gets addicting, whenever I start really enjoying it I remember all those silly yoga accessories, pink shirts that say "Yoga Girl" under a little black outlined cartoon woman with a ponytail stretching into a posture I'm not sure really exists... Or just the way in America it seems as if we've got to consume something in order to truly know it, or hold it, "consuming the other" -- so if you really like something, it isn't enough to really like it, you must prove it through consumption, your lifestyle, your hobbies.

Anyhow, practice today felt like letting things go, stretching to get air and space back into pockets of my body where things had compacted without rigorous movement. I feel like those spaces I now have after practice daily didn't exist before; I've had to create them through practice and continue to maintain them. As if my body really is addicted to that movement, as if the opening out is dangerous without upkeep. Things get locked in, tension, things.

I have been doing a lot of complaining lately, here at least, probably everywhere else. I've been feeling dissatisfied. I feel like things, people go too fast to act wholly all the time. It's hard to be present when others are granted a wall around themselves by living elsewhere and inhabiting personas which are not their true selves. That's the challenge, I guess, and why it's a constant journey with no destination. This is supposed to be the whole point.

San Francisco, CA

There is something about cities which, after a long day spent at the beach, really makes me feel as if we're done for. How can we possibly continue in this arrogance of nature, of the importance of the earth and the ecosystem, knowing precisely the consequences of all the havoc we're wreaking on the planet and not giving a damn? Thinking we're smart enough, we're just witty enough to outsmart the earth, to grow from it independently and without its support? We terrorize the landscape and call it advancement.

At the beach I spent nothing, ate breakfast, took a two hour nap and woke up next to the waves, the fog beginning to break. It becomes that same meditative silence that doesn't need to be broken, a silence to which any interruption would prove inferior. Unnecessary. Do we try to make ourselves necessary? Does our conquering make us matter, is that why we feel it signifies progress?

In the city we sat at each stoplight backed up in traffic, got lost in a maze of one way streets, and ended up in a parking garage for which we paid $12 for 2 1/2 hours on top of the $8 each matinee pricing for a movie which turned out to be not worth the trek. And what could have been? $20 and a good 4 hour investment of time doing nothing, sitting through traffic and feeling somewhat important because obviously something is going on for all these people to be here, we must be important, doing something, going somewhere.

Too cynical? I'm sure. But such a stark contrast begs attention and on an empty stomach, caught in the fourth red light cycle of the same one city block, watching the fog intersect the sunset in the spaces between skyscrapers, there isn't much to be hopeful about.

Vanguard Funds

Alright so stocks, I'm beginning to understand a little bit, or more I'm forced to.

My Mom just let me know we'd be closing out my current Vanguard Index 500 Fund (VFINX) to use for college this year. Though this is a little frustrating since I wasn't expecting it, it is fair and what's more, I've already got $1000 in a Vanguard Target Retirement 2045 Fund (VTIVX) which I transferred from the 500 six months ago. This whole thing gives me the opporunity to begin researching a new fund as my ING Direct balance continues to grow steadily with weekly deposits of $16 (give or take a few wily credit card payments here and there).

So at the moment, I'm thinking of investing in either an Emerging Markets or an S&P Index fund. I know the S&P would be more reliable, but other world economies are growing so quickly in relation to the US and, given the housing market situation, we can only really go down from here. At some point I hope to obtain both funds, but I'm just not sure which to start with now. Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Yoga Practice

I feel as though I made a major breakthrough in my yoga practice today -- maybe doing zazen yesterday when I was feeling too sore from class on Friday for my usual practice really did help. I also think that Friday's 90 minute class was a far more whole practice for me than any that I've had so far. Doing yoga today, my mind cleared almost immediately, and in all my movements a sort of intuition took over, and I was able to move further and more gracefully into every posture. I felt the energy more than ever before -- even my lunges felt natural!

More than anything, this is heartening. These are things I didn't know my body could do. That my body could surpass my mind's preconceived notioins of capability rekindles a hope for possibility, a more limitless possiblity, not just in yoga, but everywhere.

This entry isn't very eloquent, I know, but at least this way I'll have a record of a time when everything, all of it just clicked into place.

I'm so jazzed about going to Italy and traveling in general. I decided on my Eurailpass (the 10-day Flexi Pass), and have been looking at international phones. Dear God international travel is so expensive. On the STA Travel website they list volunteer opportunities from the $1,000s! Idealist.org has listings of verified trusted volunteer opportunities, a service they offer for free. They only provide the link between you and the source, and you can search by location, by language, by any criteria, really. Over $1,000.. Really, I think all the money goes to website upkeep as even I must admit, the i-to-i site is rather flashy, as is the Global Volunteer Network site, but even that costs over $300!

Anyhow, I'm starting to think more about volunteering internationally this summer, also about traveling the world the summer after I graduate. It's tempting, I admit, going on a whirlwind tour of the globe and having a job waiting back home for me when I returned. Beautiful.

43 Things

My 43 Things (and how many people share the same goals):

help people: 149 people
publish a book: 213 people
meditate daily: 335 people
be less judgemental: 45 people
save lots of money: 3 people
volunteer internationally: 2 people
learn to garden: 24 people
get more sleep: 561 people
live sustainably: 16 people
travel more: 350 people
start my own business: 690 people
knit some more scarves: 2 people
write letters: 22 people
end genocide in darfur: 9 people
learn the medicinal uses of herbs: 4 people
learn reiki: 5 people
take vitamins daily: 88 people
become a STRICT vegetarian: 3 people
learn how to cook more vegetarian recipes and generally become a better vegetarian: 3 people
be a travel writer: 6 people
become a yoga teacher: 4 people
go on a yoga retreat: 5 people
go to costa rica: 14 people
visit all 50 states: 517 people
get an enjoyable job: 2 people
find the perfect pair of jeans: 66 people
get a dog: 405 people
learn. learn. learn something everyday: 16 people
pay off my student loans early: 2 people
retire early: 65 people
publish a book of poetry: 55 people
redesign my blog: 85 people
vacation in Greece: 4 people
invest wisely: 9 people
find my dream job: 8 people
host dinner parties: 3 people
follow my intuition: 2 people
drink more water daily: 14 people
write more: 477 people
own a hybrid car: 78 people
switch to mac: 31 people
go on a spiritual retreat: 2 people
wake up when my alarm clock goes off: 872 people

Professor Fitzpatrick, I'm on to you!

I just found my advisor's blog on the internet -- what?

Things have been relatively busy. I just have to keep looking ahead to the day when I won't have to wake up before 9am in the morning for the kajillionth day in a row: next Monday. Following that, I can go back to reading and yoga-ing all day. Oh yes.

Today Matt and I went into the city to get his visa for China. We also visited the Blues Jean Bar, which is really a shopping marvel. After a frustratingly worthless though admittedly beautiful trip to the Presidio, we eventually ended up eating at a terrific place in North Beach.

Man. Sometimes life just gets so good. You know? I'm leaving for Italy in less than a month and I just found out the school offers a 4-day trip to Paris for free. I was an hour late for work the other day and my boss actually called it cute. I am so excited about all the books / other things on my Amazon wish list it's ridiculous. (PS is that normal?) Happiness tonight is a big sweatshirt and, a little embarrassingly, the season finale of Kept at 9pm.