It is late August

Some of you are going back to your jobs after spending the summer working on your own work. And some of us are just experiencing the end of summer.

The water temperature here is 75. I am going to go to the beach well into September. Last year I didn't because I was too out of it and didn't understand the beach.

This is a good time of year to enjoy the beauty of the fleeting nature of existence. "Time passes, listen, time passes." Etc.

Had dinner at the Rothenberg's. Yum. Always fun.

Before I take a shower

I'm back from Yoga. Mark, Dan et Mike are off at Lou's Records or perhaps having fish tacos or food at Tip Top right now. It's been good to have friends around--low key hanging out and hyped-up rowdiness!

Jessica tagged me for the 8 random things meme, I'll post that later.

Next week I'll print the covers for my Dusie chapbook, assemble them, and mail them. I'd also like to scan all the doodles and reading reports that are, well, unscanned. I've no scanner here at home, so that's going to take some planning. Those drawings began as a way of recording/interacting with readings and performances in a way that was completely foreign to me. I can't draw. Rather, I can't make realist visual representations of actual things. Now I'm coming to think of them as a loose kind of criticism, or even short memoirs of the experience of being at the readings.

So everything is normal.

I'm looking forward to seeing friends this weekend and to cooking. We do a pretty good job of managing to see and hang out with people around here--a very good job, actually--but the kind of casual socializing that comes with living in a city/not having to drive to get everywhere and knowing people a long time is tougher. There's now an age issue as well: it's harder to become friends with adults. But today I'm feeling optimistic about Carlsbad--I've felt alienated and alone (but not necessarily unhappy, no no no) everywhere I've ever lived, regardless of the number of friends and colleagues I've had around.

The hives persist. It is vaguely comforting to read that, in many cases, not even a doctor can figure out the source of them. I suspect it's a cocktail of several things (as Anne suggested in my comment box a few days ago).

I'm sure it's not just something I'm eating. But if it is something I'm eating, it has to be something that I eat on a regular basis. I'm quite attentive to food, I know what I've eaten, and I haven't eaten anything out of the ordinary. But it took years for my shellfish allergy to become bad enough to obviously be an allergy, so maybe that's the case here. This makes me nervous, though. I don't want to stop eating cheese, nuts, tomatoes, eggs, or any of those common triggers. But obviously I will if I have to. Blech. Really, I'd rather have my body manifest its sensitivity in other ways.

The tactile need not be at the expense of the visual and vice versa et al

My hamstring attachment is feeling better, for now, but I haven't tried hanumanasana this week. Leaping between worlds requires a lot of flexibility, even if it's a figurative leap:

"It was the greatest leap ever taken. The speed of Hanuman's jump pulled blossoms and flowers into the air after him and they fell like little stars on the waving treetops. The animals on the beach had never seen such a thing; they cheered Hanuman, then the air burned from his passage, and red clouds flamed over the sky . . ."

Laura and Rodrigo gave a good reading (or good readings) to the largest crowd yet at CSUSM--almost 80 people. It was good to see them and talk poetry. I might even say that the conversation was pleasurable, stimulating, and productive.

This morning was not pleasurable, however.

Two of my students also ride the 302 bus and one asked me, "why are there so many insane on the bus," so I told her about the shelters, hospitals, drug rehabilitation centers, and women's shelters along the 302 route. She said she was "relieved" that there was a good explanation. "Relieved" was a vocabulary word this week, and I'm always happy when students find the exactly right moments to use new words. I think it makes them happy, too.