Flight

I run. I love to run. Running is, at best, the closest I could ever come to natural flight, and at worst, a great way for me to feel good about myself. The feeling of gravel beneath your feet as you push off of the ground in an attempt to leave it forever is truly divine. The experience of hitting what you think is your limit and pushing through it until you feel as though you could run forever can be more freeing a feeling than any other.
Not all surfaces are created equal. I hate running on concrete. I can't stand it. I can never go as far as I want to and the next day my knees creak like nobody's business! Personally, I like gravel. It's softer than concrete, but doesn't give enough to take away your natural spring. That's why I run on our local Hike and Bike trail. The full loop is about three and half miles, which is a great amount for me to be running right now. The heat makes it harder, but its so beautiful outside that I don't really notice.
Sometimes, when I'm at the beginning of a run, or otherwise not so exhausted during one that I can focus on the conversations around me, I hear very funny things indeed. I pass all kinds of people on the trail from all walks of life. It's fascinating,
When I was younger, my mother and I would go out to the trail all the time. There were times where we went almost every day. At that time I walked, and it was beautiful, but it wasn't beautiful like running is. Walking allowed me to really absorb everything fully and see what was around me. Running is internal beauty blending in with external beauty like a watercolor that's bleeding. There's a point in your run where you become so worn out that you have to pretend your body is a part of the landscape, and it is moving because that is all it can do, and so you keep going, feeling that you are at one with your surroundings. The freedom of running can open you up to the cosmos if you let it. Will you let it in?

Thing to be grateful for today: Freedom.

Amber Alert!

Hi guys, I'm dedicating this post solely to trying to spread the word that a girl who goes to the program I work with, Citizen Schools, was abducted this morning from in front of Bedicheck Middle School. Her name is Karen Anastacio. Here's the amber alert link: http://www.helpfindmychild.net/karen-anastacio
PLEASE be on the lookout and do all you can to try and help this girl get home safely. Spread the word!
Here is a picture of the suspected kidnapper! http://images.news8austin.com/media/2010/5/6/images/02rojas.jpg
Thing to be grateful for today: The programs that help us to find missing children.

Busy Busy Busy

I've been rather busy today, but I also have a confession to make. I watched Glee during the time I could have been spending writing a blog post (for the record, this weeks episode of Glee was actually rather good. It made me burst into raucous laughter more than once). That means, I'm posting a poem, which I hope is acceptable.

The End All, Lose All

A young man, stumbling,

(Blind.

Broken.

Heartless)

Towards the end all,

Lose all.

The shade of suburbia

Lies

Shattered at his feet.

Burning oil drums line the pavement.

(So many lost boys

Holding candles of hellfire,

The wax dripping

Down their burnt digits.)

The light catches his eyes,

And you’ve seen them before:

When bombs are dropped

On innocent souls in the night;

When sweaty burgers are shoved

Down gullets into swollen bellies;

In the faces of chemotherapy skeletons

Lying prone on hospital beds;

In your own face

(Creeping closer).

He falls to the dusty concrete,

Shallow cheek pressed to the ground.

Next to him is a fallen barrel,

Its oil spread into a sticky pool.

He lifts himself up on quaking arms,

Stares deep at his own reflection in the pool,

And with a self-satisfied grin,

Collapses,

Not to breathe again.

Thing to be grateful for today: Good communication.

Random Knitting Rant

Hey. May is for finishing...starting tomorrow. Today, I really wanted to work on the blanket.

'

I have no regrets.
It's 28.5". That's not bad at all. Of course, if I want to stick my plan and have it totally blocked and unpinned so I can sleep under it on the first night of 2011, but not finish knitting in November and then put off blocking it for a month, rather than actually knitting it throughout and to the end of 2010, I'll have to start pacing myself. Maybe one row a day? I REALLY want to still be knitting this thing on Christmas. In FACT maybe I'll make that the official cast off date. Sounds like a plan. Here we are then: Official cast off date for the blanket is December 25th, 2010.

Anyway, tomorrow I hope to have a finished project to show you. Today though, not so much. I've got a couple of neat things running around my head, and I'm trying to give them a firm, WAIT, because I need projects to work on for Germany. The plan right now is to knit one sock on the journey there and one on the journey back, but we'll see how that goes. I'll want to bring the blanket, though I'll probably just put the second piece on hold and start the third one IN Germany so I can carry it around more easily...a third project for the trip is almost certain. Non-knitters, don't judge.

Thing to be grateful for today: The people who I know will listen and the people who I know will tell me I'm wrong.

May Is for Finishing

May is for finishing. I have several projects going right now (knitting and otherwise) that I told myself I'd finish this month. You've seen the knitting projects, so I'll leave those be, but otherwise, there are three things I'd like to finish this month.
My veil painting.
My journal (Well, technically I'd like to be done with this on the last day of school, that way I could, on the first day of summer, start writing in the new fancy journal that I bought in Amherst ).
My Rosetta Stone Program in German (well, technically, I'd like to finish most of it this month and then work intensively on it the first week of summer, just before I go to Germany).

Speaking of the German trip, I thought I ought to start talking about my plans because, as you might have guessed, I won't be able to blog while I'm there, or at least not every day. Therefore, I have to figure out something to do. I have a few ideas. I'm fairly certain that I'll need a guest blogger, though I might distribute the chore between a few people if Lauren doesn't feel up to writing a little something every day. I'm also planning on writing a little something (poetry, journal entries, etc.) every day, and then posting it all in one uber-post when I get back. How does that sound to you guys? Maybe my mother would like to put up a few posts while I'm gone?

Thing to be grateful for today: Making it through.

I'd like to begin with a thank you to Lauren for temporarily saving the blog when I was off of the computer. Yay, Lauren!
The next order of business is to announce the winner of last week's philosophic question response drawing. Will, you get a hat. Come talk to me and we'll decide what you want, though I'm pretty sure I already know.
Yesterday was prom at my school.



I wore the socks I made to add some subtle flair to my otherwise colorless attire.



Here's my lovely date, Megan. She was a total charmer. Totally awesome.



It was an amazing night and I have so many people to thank for that.

Thing to be grateful for today: Friends past, present, and future.

GROUNDED! (Sort of)

This is Lauren (yes, that Lauren) substitute blogging on behalf of Gardiner who has been technology-grounded for a few days by Karen for spending way too much time communing with the internet. Interestingly, Karen assigned herself the same restrictions. I've never tried giving myself a grounding though I have given myself a time-out.

Anyway, Gardiner gave me the user name and password to the blog so that you all wouldn't see the blog go dark and think something dreadful had befallen him. He just wanted me to tell you all what has happened so you wouldn't worry, but actually I could say anything I want, couldn't I? And he wouldn't see it for days since he can't use the computer. Bwahaha (rubs hands in an evil-plotting way).

OK, I'm terrible at thinking up mischief since I'm basically a really nice person. Anyone have any ideas?