blood, dancing, sunshine, and politics
I gave blood today. I'd been meaning to anyway, and then I saw blood drives listed on the Obama website as one of the activities for the MLK Jr. Day of Service, I decided to go for it. If Barack Obama wants a pint of my blood, he's welcome to it. Let's just get ourselves out of Iraq and avoid any more wars that will spill a lot more than a pint of blood, OK? I tried the donation option where they hook you up to a fancy apheresis machine and take some extra plasma in addition to the red blood cells. It took a bit longer, but there was still only one needle stick and they had nifty screens that let you surf the internet or watch TV. My local blood donation center has the best snack options of any place I've donated blood (although it can't match the coolness of the time I donated at Dragoncon's blood drive next to a girl dressed as Galadriel). Really, it's a remarkably simple way to save a life.
San Luis Obispo had a big contra event this weekend. Once again, I failed to register in time to do the whole weekend, but I volunteered to help with snack setup earlier tonight in exchange for dancing on Friday night. The band, the Groovemongers, was wonderful. An expensive dancing weekend attracts a more advanced crowd than the usual monthly dances, so the quality of the dancing was just superb.
With capable partners and enough time spent doing each dance to really master it, you reach the point where the steps come as naturally as breathing. The music carries you away, and you are part of it through the stomp of your feet on the balances and the movement of your body. The connection between you and the other dancers becomes more than joined hands and caught eyes. You are all cells in the same organism, stars in the same sky. You spin on the giddy edge of disorientation, but there are always hands there to catch you, and you will catch them in turn. When it works, when you're not confused by some strange sequence or accidentally colliding with someone in the crowded hall, it is truly an awesome feeling.
I also went hiking on Saturday. I saw two snakes (garter?), a yellow-rumped warbler, and some lovely sea cliffs. There were lots of people out on the trail, but not so many that I felt crowded.
To all those people around the country who are somewhat short of a normal and/or sane temperature, you can find your missing degrees Fahrenheit (or Celsius or Kelvin) here in central California. We appear to have a giant warmth magnet that is giving us unseasonably warm temperatures while everyone else freezes. Sorry, rest of the nation. If it makes you feel better, we really need to have more rain and less sunshine. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. It's nice.
OBAMA'S INAUGURATION IS TOMORROW! I'm happy that I'll have time to watch it on TV before I need to be at work. (Meanwhile, for those wishing to indulge in a bit of schadenfreude, Dick Cheney pulled a muscle in his back while moving. I would have told this administration not to let the door hit them on their way out, but apparently it is a bit late.)
This regime change is so exciting. However, if Obama uses his inaugural address to say that American is sick and needs a Doctor, I'm heading for the hills.
San Luis Obispo had a big contra event this weekend. Once again, I failed to register in time to do the whole weekend, but I volunteered to help with snack setup earlier tonight in exchange for dancing on Friday night. The band, the Groovemongers, was wonderful. An expensive dancing weekend attracts a more advanced crowd than the usual monthly dances, so the quality of the dancing was just superb.
With capable partners and enough time spent doing each dance to really master it, you reach the point where the steps come as naturally as breathing. The music carries you away, and you are part of it through the stomp of your feet on the balances and the movement of your body. The connection between you and the other dancers becomes more than joined hands and caught eyes. You are all cells in the same organism, stars in the same sky. You spin on the giddy edge of disorientation, but there are always hands there to catch you, and you will catch them in turn. When it works, when you're not confused by some strange sequence or accidentally colliding with someone in the crowded hall, it is truly an awesome feeling.
I also went hiking on Saturday. I saw two snakes (garter?), a yellow-rumped warbler, and some lovely sea cliffs. There were lots of people out on the trail, but not so many that I felt crowded.
To all those people around the country who are somewhat short of a normal and/or sane temperature, you can find your missing degrees Fahrenheit (or Celsius or Kelvin) here in central California. We appear to have a giant warmth magnet that is giving us unseasonably warm temperatures while everyone else freezes. Sorry, rest of the nation. If it makes you feel better, we really need to have more rain and less sunshine. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. It's nice.
OBAMA'S INAUGURATION IS TOMORROW! I'm happy that I'll have time to watch it on TV before I need to be at work. (Meanwhile, for those wishing to indulge in a bit of schadenfreude, Dick Cheney pulled a muscle in his back while moving. I would have told this administration not to let the door hit them on their way out, but apparently it is a bit late.)
This regime change is so exciting. However, if Obama uses his inaugural address to say that American is sick and needs a Doctor, I'm heading for the hills.