21 posts tagged “life”
I think this one might be my favorite. For the first time in 5 Christmases, I didn't put it up by myself. And while that may not seem like a big deal to some people, it means the world to me to have friends that close to me. You rock.
I was on the CNN page earlier looking for information on Nasa's plan to shoot the moon when I saw a little piece about a new massive ring discovered around Saturn. It made me think of some other, similar recent discoveries and it started to sink in: Despite how much we've destroyed in one conquest or another, despite our seemingly endless capacity for stupidity - more things have been discovered and invented in our lifetimes than perhaps ever before. So many things that it has become impossible to know them all. Imagine that. We've discovered and created so much that we've actually diluted our own ability to know about them.
It's a valid argument to bring to point the ancient Egyptians (who were, if you do your research) extremely advanced, well beyond the later Greeks and Europeans, at various points having running water, sewers systems, medicine, mathematics, chemistry and physics and that later, people traveled the world and coumented for the first time new speicies, places and cultures. True. But still, I have to wonder how much that compares to speed and breadth with which we discover things today.
For the longest time, I truly felt like the time for finding new things was over, that we'd have to leave our planet and maybe our solar system for even a chance at a discovery. In some cases that's been true. Massive telescopes, new technology and fresh eyes have found more things in the universe than we ever imagined, from galaxies and black holes to comets, new planets and giant ice rings right in our neighborhood.
And how cool is that?
Then, right here on our own little rock we've started finding new species of plants and animals, hundreds of them in the south Pacific. And that's just the past few years alone. We've looked macroscopically at the universe and microscopically at ourselves and found so much.
There's a line from Men in Black that despite the campy subject matter is really kind of a marker of our time. Tommy Lee Jones' character tells Will Smith's about aliens living on Earth and says,
"Fifteen hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everyone knew the world was flat and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that people were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow."
I like that. Imagine what we'll know tomorrow.
or, Let Them Eat Cake, Just don't Make Them Eat it on the Floor.
It's been a seriously productive, active and exhausting month since I moved in. So much so that I can't believe it's been a month already! The house is starting to come together and feel like home. It seems like it doesn't take much, really...a piece of furniture here, some art there. That is until you see the credit card bill. Things are shaping up though so perhaps I can slow down on the getting stuff.
So far I found a couch I wanted (and had to build), climbed up into the attic and wired the speakers for the iPod, soldered the wiring for the iPod connections down in the closet, painted the bedroom (California Pine), installed a ceiling fan and light in the bedroom, mounted and hung the TV, set up the surround sound and Blu-ray player, started installing a new stone path to the deck, treated the lawn for the massive number of mosquitoes that seem to live there, wired and installed landscape lighting along the drive so I can see where I'm walking in at night, fixed the front porch light and weed whacked the edging. Oh, and somewhere in there I bult a dining room table and ordered chairs to go with it. I looked all over and just couldn't find one I liked so I got tired of looking and just found lumber. Much easier to find.
The Top, legs and bracing are red Oak, and the base is Poplar.The chairs are Rubberwood and came from India. I like that the chairs are Rubberwood, it's about as sustainable as lumber gets since the trees produce a sap that's used in latex. After 20 to 30 years, the trees produce less and less latex and are cut down and replaced. The cut down trees are then used for lumber. They are never grown just for lumber, which is kinda cool.
Maybe it's time to slow down a bit and just enjoy the last days of the summer. Right after I get some patio furniture...
It's funny how the littlest things can make you an absolute wreck, throw you off of everything you do, keep you awake at night and make you tetchy with people you care about.
It's also funny how a little thing can turn that all around and just make you smile like an idiot. Today it was a plain white letter in the mail.
It said: Biopsy results benign. No further treatment is necessary.
I can't even begin to express how terrified I've been, or how ecstatic I am in this moment.
"No man is useless who has a friend, and if we are loved we are indispensable."
-- Robert Louis Stevenson
Yesterday was one of the most perfect Georgia winter days I can recall. The morning began as winter will, wrapped in warm sheets in a cool room too comfortable to surrender, with the icy world outside resting beneath its own blanket - a sky too blue to be real in anything but the movies. These are days you remember when the summer skies turn apathetically white and the air becomes so thick even mosquitoes take the day off. But really, these are just the days you remember.
Friends and I met early and headed south to High Falls State Park, a short hour from Atlanta and an easy drive on a Saturday morning. Right off I-75 we found a perfect little piece of heaven. Trails, vistas, created areas blended seamlessly into the natural landscape, picnic tables and friendly people greeted us in that southern style you always hear about but rarely experience anymore. We hiked and goofed around, took hundreds of photos, jumped off rocks, had a picnic, kicked around a ball and just enjoyed everything there was to offer, especially hanging out with each other.
I also took the time to watch my friends a bit. I've always been a people-watcher, fascinated by the human condition and dynamic and I think this was really the first time I've been out with them in this kind of a setting. Bars and parties, dinners and movies, quiet time at home and with family, sure. But sometimes being outside without the distractions and interactions of the industrial world can show you things about people you might not otherwise see. I suppose it was a chance to learn new things about people I've really come to care about, and that's always a good thing.
And I did learn things, not only about them but about myself. Watching my buddy with his kids, watching them conquer fears and live and play, seeing his interactions with them and never really hearing a single real complaint from them about the cold or the sun or it being boring, I learned what a testament they really are to their father who's helped shape them this way. They're such a positive reflection of him. I watched my other friend laugh and play and be silly, climb steep trails like she was born on them and then run down a precarious incline with the reckless abandon of an 8 year old, all while secretly making sure none of us fell off the side of a cliff or got washed away in the river but never saying a word about it. I watched her be a goofball with the kids and with us, crack jokes and stop to stare in awe at the beauty of it all. I watched her watch us, too, free and happy in the great big world. When she started dodging and dancing around on the trail with one of the little ones and laughter filled the forest, I verified something I think I've known since the day I met them all...something that makes me really happy. These are genuine, good people.
The people I've become good friends with, the people I care about and want to share time with are who they are no matter what. They are the same people on line as they are in a bar or at dinner or at work or out in the middle of nowhere. Genuine, real and without pretense, agenda or master plan.
I wasn't at all surprised to see that confirmed once again but it was still nice. It's always nice. I guess what I learned about myself is how happy it makes me to have people like that in my life. I used to say that who you were online was not who you are in the real world. And while that's certainly true for a lot of people (including me, once upon a time) I'm so glad to have met people for whom that rule means nothing.
It's been a month since I returned from Paris, something of a crazy whirlwind month and yet it somehow seems like another lifetime ago. So much has changed (including me) and it's been so busy that I haven't really had time to reflect on it all, and really I've barely written about it, mush less the month in between.
Part of that is just life: a lot of time with new friends, dinners and drinks for this occasion or that, work and all the mundane stuff that comes up every day, and a lot of time with Liz, which has been really good. I met her sister and spent some time in her classroom with the kids, worked around her house and hit the Farmer's Market. Last weekend we went to one of the school's basketball games where a few of the girls from her class were playing, which might have been the cutest thing ever. They try so hard and some of them are really good already. They adore her and it was great to just be there and be a part of it. It really is the little things...cooking together, breakfast at Sun in my Belly and just hanging out...just normal life. :)
The other part of that is I've been as sick as a dog for the past 10 days. I had a little sore throat when I got home that turned sinusy but I seemed to get over that within a few days, but then it returned with a vengeance in the form of a sinus and upper respiratory infection. I finally broke down and went to the doctor and got prescriptions for a heavy antibiotic and a steroid to boost my immune system, along with a few things to clear me out. It's worked amazingly fast so far and after a couple of days off work (my first sick days I think) I'm finally on the mend. Liz has been sick too with the flu and strep, probably the least fun combination of over the counter illnesses you can contract together but she seems to be on the down slope of it, as well. So it's been busy.
Earlier today though someone said something that reminded me of it all and it kind of hit me. A little over a month ago I was walking the streets of Paris, taking photos and living this surreal life. I ate in little cafes and spoke with people on the street. I took photos for tourists, partied with the masses and just walked for miles and miles. From Moulin Rouge to the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs to the gardens and the Louvre, I walked. I rode the mtro, got lost, found my way and lived. I did something I have wanted to do my entire life and I did it the way I wanted to do it. I'd almost lost that glow in the midst of simply living but then there it was again at a moment's notice, a small light still burning within, etching a smile across my face without warning.
I think I understand what people mean now when they say "I'll always have Paris."
I will always have Paris.
Last night I went to my second "Tweetup" and was just beyond surprised to see so many people (some of whom I had not seen if a couple of years - which seems strange to think about). I don't know what the final count was but it was easily over 50! We took over El Taco starting around 6 and closed the place...which isn't a huge deal since they closed at 10 but there were still a lot of people when the night ended the first time. It's always good to see people stick it out to the end.
I say first time because a good number of people continued on to the Righteous Room after that and then on to The Majestic for breakfast around 4am. I was good, though and headed home for sleep. Not because I didn't want to join them but because I lost the feeling in my face walking to the car in the cold. :D What's up southern latitudes?
It's hard to get over the Twitter phenomenon. Yesterday I learned about the plane crash on Twitter before I saw it on the news. The night before, I posted I was out someplace and invited any and all to join and 6 people showed up. Just like that. I can't remember ever having a time in my life before this where that was possible. There's something magical about the whole social dynamic...a sort of "If you build it they will come"...or maybe "If you post it they will come" thing. And how cool is that?
I like that. Last night Maigh and Tessa organized the hell out of it all and it rocked. They had our own drink when we got there (Twitterirta - complete with lime, mint and jalapenos with tequila) and the staff was prepared to handle our demands...which were likely many considering how many of us there were. I met a lot of new people, some of whom I had only known by screen name and some I had seen on Face Book and Flickr...and quite a few I had no idea existed, which is always nice, too. I think there used to be a sort of stigma to the on-line social system but something about Twitter and meeting people from there makes it different. You share your day with any and all and you connect.
And isn't that really what being social is all about? Maigh posted photos here and I'm sure others posted somewhere as well. There were a lot of cameras. Going to have to get used to that. lol
Highlights I think...The Trust Fund Discussions, Rudeness with Nav (Seriously, man. Hit that.), taking photos with other people's cameras, someone stealing my badge because they couldn't remember my name, seeing old friends and making new ones and just being in the masses. Not bad for a night's work.
But I don't mind. :) Navigation in Atlanta can be something of a...hmm, mess? Roads often have no street signs, change names randomly and without notice, and often get rerouted for construction. Couple that with my typical "glance at the directions and go" method of navigation and it's not surprising that an 8 mile round trip can end up being 20.
I really don't mind, though. I guess it's just how I get to know a place and so far, I've had a pretty good time with it. Today I headed out to Sun in My Belly in Historic Kirkwood. It's a quaint and perfect little cafe built in an old hardware store. It's not far from me, but I managed to make it far. LOL
Once I found my way, though...happiness on a plate. I had a single shot mocha latte, an omelet with spinach, ham, smoked gouda and maybe wild mushrooms in it that was simply perfect, some potatoes with rosemary and onion and a bowl of fresh berries. I really need to find some place that makes actual hash browns (you know, the crispy shredded potatoes with just a hint of salt?) but all in all it was a really nice breakfast.
I woke this morning to that icy blue winter sky, cool and perfect, slipping so stealthily through slatted blinds, rose a little wearily and began the list of things to accomplish today. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a slow Sunday in the south with the usual snags. I almost double-paid my Visa bill, requested credit agencies stop selling my information to credit companies who deforest the planet to try to help me get further in debt, grabbed breakfast, spilled my coffee, twice, burned my mouth on the unspilled portion and managed to finally get my car washed. I found a useful coupon for once and actually used it.
In a little while, I'll start cleaning up a few things around here, and getting some things organized that are in the way of getting out my Christmas Tree. It's a bit early for me this year but since I don't plan to be here for the last half of December it seemed like a nice thing to just start now. I didn't put it up at all last year and that kind of sucked.
All in all, as I was driving home from the car wash I still had that lazy Sunday feeling...and maybe a little of something else. The fact is, I'm kind of lost right now. Not a lot, like a kid fresh out of college who just got his first electric bill, but more like a guy who climbed out of the stream of his life for a moment to see where he was, couldn't quite figure it out and just jumped back in. It's a quirky metaphor but apt; once you're in the water your head is never high enough to actually see what direction you're going, know what I mean? So you swim, get lost, climb out for a second, look around, get found, change course, dive in, swim and live.
I was thinking about that when I got home and looked back up to that vast blue canvas, so usually empty in the cold of November. High above me about 400 geese were circling, noisy and chaotic. They just swam through the air, layers upon layers of them cackling and practically colliding, clockwise and counter for about 10 minutes. And then as if caught in some celestial current they all smoothly slipped into large Vs and swept south. First a dozen, then a score more, then all of them in groups great and small until they'd left the winter sky alone once more.
I guess we all lose our way some times.
It's ok. Swim.
