Let the Shavings Begin

This was the inspiration for the November shaving... heehee...

Animal? Vegetable?

We thought this looked a bit like a peacock on one side of the face, and an ivy branch on the other...

This One is For you Stephanie (and Jet)

I finally managed to get down to Redwood City to visit with Stephanie and Jet, her and Gadget's(not so) newborn son. I think it took us six months before I actually saw him. Unfortunately for me, it was not until I arrived and she told me I had put the "J" on my head backward -- I had not taken a picture before I left -- that I realized my headline didn't really make sense. Really, I need an automated spell checker.


I was grateful to have just had such a long visit with my nieces. It really prepared me for being in the dynamic of adult and child relating. It was actually interesting how different hanging out with a newborn compared to teens is. I was pretty floored by it, actually. It was interesting how, when I held him and cradled him in my arms, he reached for my breast -- I can only assume he thought I had milk too.

I had a really great time crawling around with him on the floor and an even more fabulous time reconnecting with Stephanie. We had one of the best, deepest, most authentic and intimate conversations we've had in years and I was incredibly moved by the experience. She sent me these photos which arrived the day before my 10 day silent retreat in an effort to inspire me to update my blog. Well, it worked girlfriend -- here I am updating my blog on the 10th day of silence and the last day of my master cleanse filling in all the back entries from August until now (November 25). This one is for you!

Purple (is the color of God)

My dear friend Jon (and one of the many great loves of my life) said to me many years ago, "Purple is the color of God." He then proceeded to cite how purple is a color reserved for high holy days in the Catholic tradition, how the 7th Chakra is represented visually by God and spoke of the purple haze/aura people see when they "meet" God in several references (books, movie, personal accounts). The very first crane mobile I made was for him and it was purple cranes in honor of the God within Him and the divine way in which we met over the years. Unfortunately the mobile burned down when there was a fire in his home some years ago but I was reminded of the whole thing by Lexi's love of purple.

Sunset on the Beach

In retrospect, I suppose it would have made more sense to put this word of the day on my head the day we were making the hoops. Alas, that did not happen.

Lexi had her new hairdo going on with the awesome dye job Matthew and his assistant did for her -- To be honest, when she said she wanted purple hair, I had thought of Steve Freed's crazy mohawks when we lived together at the Poof all those years ago and the manic panic brightness of color you see at Burning Man all the time. I was surprised at how subtle and beautiful the purple looked and was quite impressed.

Anyway, this being the girls last day in town, we went out to the beach and got a great sunset just before the fog rolled in. It was actually great timing and since we hadn't had the weather during the week at sunset previously, I was grateful to give the girls an opportunity to touch the other ocean that bounded this continent. I hadn't touched both oceans until I was well into my 20's so I was glad to facilitate it for them at a younger age.


It was, in typical San Francisco summer style, not warm on the beach, so I was grateful for my cat hoodie (thanks Josie!) because my bald head was cold.

We collected shells, coral, rocks and of course beach glass, played around in the surf, enjoyed the sun going down, played with the camera and finally piled back into the car just as the sun faded over the horizon and the fog covered what might have remained of it. A really fun last evening and I was glad the whole trip had ended on such a positive note.

At the time, I was quite exhausted from the whole trip. Because I am so accustomed to relating with adults, I had no idea how to build rapport with Courtney and Lexi and I consistently wondered if they were actually having a good time or not. I remembered thinking, "How do parents do this?" And I thought of my own parents having five children and was more clear than ever my purpose on this planet is not to be a parent. With time and space having passed from their visit (I write this November 25, 2006), I have a much more keen appreciation of the experience and I would absolutely do it again. Of course, it would be much easier next time since I know them a bit more now and I have a better idea what to expect. I hope when they think back on the trip they will remember it with some fondness, as I do.

Fearlessness

Since I've explored NLP, it seemed to me the word "fearless" was not nearly as powerful as courage. I'm not sure what inspired the word in particular today -- perhaps it was because we were going to see the sharks at the aquarium.

Of course, they weren't nearly as entertaining as the penguin feeding was. It was very interesting to hear their talk on the penguins and I discovered that Jim has always had a love of penguins. Who knew? This emerald green snake is probably my second favorite picture of all of the ones we got on the trip. The color on the snake is so vibrant -- it is truly amazing.


I wish you could actually see more in the penguin tank. Most of the pictures from the aquarium were not that visible -- I guess it has something to do with the lighting and water and basic physics... go figure. :)

Clearly I'm Not Made to Busk in front of Boudin's

One of my favorite bumper stickers ever read: "Visualize Whirled Peas" which resonated with me as much for the pun as for the image and the subsequent conversations it created. I actually took an informal survey when I first saw it, asking people if their peas were whole or mashed or what. What do you peas look like? After primping up my head, we all got on muni and headed downtown to the Powell Street turn around for the cable cars. Despite living in San Francisco for 10 years, I somehow managed to never get on the cable car. I thought it was exhilarating, though Lexi thought, as with just about everything else over the course of the week, it was different. I think that was actually the theme of the week. We took the cable car to Fisherman's Wharf. I was surprised to see the buskers out on the street standing on their boxes doing... nothing. I thought it was an interesting gimmick to get passers by to interact with them -- when you give them money they will do something for you. Most of them simply were not that entertaining when you got them to do something. In deference to their work, I declined to whip out my poi when a drummer was doing some amazing drumming nearby, not wanting to be misperceived as a busker myself, nor wanting to intrude on their income in any way. I was, however, tempted to do so. We walked about by the wharf for a while and then went to the museum at Boudin Bakery while we were waiting to be seated for lunch. I particularly found the information about different traditions that originated in San Francisco interesting, like fortune cookies.

Don't Make the Dew Angry

I love living in a city. Just a few blocks from my home -- which is in a residential neighborhood -- this sign resides on the side of the building where I get my nails done. It's a rotating billboard actually and I'm not quite sure why the girls took pictures of it, but it completely makes sense to me that they would take this picture of Courtney. She loves red and this bush framing her looks so awesome. It is definitely one of my favorite photos from the trip out here. That day I had a gig in the South Bay -- thank you Sean for being my fire safety -- during the day of all times. One of my students Stephanie arranged the gig and I got to spin fire at a luau during the day. The unfortunate part of spinning during the day is that you end up not being able to see the fire as well so it doesn't have nearly the impact. Unfortunately. When I got home, we sat around and answered questions from the Book of Questions for a while. And I was completely exhausted from my outing that day.

Hoop Day

Today was a stay at home sort of day. We made hoops and then I gave the girls a hoop lesson. Later in the day we had a different sort of experience, introducing my nieces to raw food at Gratitude Cafe. And then we went on a car tour of the city where we got some great pictures of the dirty windshield -- on yeah... City Hall is back there somewhere too. :)

Hyperbowl and DDR

The word of the day may have been inspired today by yesterday's outing, but today we had our own crazy San Francisco fun. Off we went to hyperbowl where several students and friends (Michael, Nicole, Amanda, Ian, Jim, Frank and George) joined us. If you have never been hypberbowling, imagine a very big screen in front of you where you watch a bowling ball move down a sort of obstacle course. You get to stand there and control the ball on the screen with a bowling ball size track ball you move. My favorite course is one of San Francisco, where you weave in and out of trolley cars, over trolley tracks and up and down hills in a not so accurate representation of California street heading east toward the Bay. Done with the hyperbowling portion of the evening, we moved on to Dance Dance Revolution. I must say, I felt old. Compare if you will the grace and ease with which these two younger folk (as it turns out, Aaron is closer in age to Lexi than I am to him) to my stressed out image above.

A Inspiring Sight

I dragged my nieces, part willingly, part unwillingly, yesterday on a very sort hike (or, more accurately, a decent walk) in the redwoods in Marin at Muir Woods. If you've never been, I highly recommend it.

I was completely moved when I visited the redwoods for the first time 10 years ago. The trees are massive. I mean, look at the diameter of the cut of the tree there.

Of course, you have to have some appreciation for nature and some desire to explore its beauty. I remember taking my Mom and Dad to see them some years ago and my Dad was fairly disinterested after seeing a bit of the woods and went back to the car.



One of the things that most impressed me was how the trees can live through fire. When you visit, you can view parts of the trees burned out at the base of the tree, yet it still stands tall, towering over your 5-6 foot form. That they are still alive is a testament to the spirit of life. One fun moment was stopping and spinning poi at a fork in the paths. It was interesting to note how people responded to it. And it was fun to watch their responses.
I think, at the end of the day, even my nieces who seemed to not be impressed with anything (is that just how teens are?) thought it was pretty cool.

My Nieces

My Nieces came to visit me for a week. Before painting my head, I asked them for a word suggestion. Courtney being the bright lass she is, suggested antidisestablishmentarianism. Great word, isn't it? Of course, while I could get behind it linguistically, I didn't get behind the message of it, so why not just put another "anti" in front of it?

Simple

One of the things I've always loved about my friend Siouxsie is her elegant simplicity. I had lunch with her today and was inspired to create this headline in her honor. Not suprisingly, she enjoyed the simplicity of it too.

Burning down the house

My friends Jason and Addrianna had their home burn down. Egads.

I suppose that is one way to plunge yourself into dis-identification with your stuff.

I created this image to honor them, that they would rise from the ashes... reborn.

What do you want to be when You grow up?

Other than my own job, I am not certain I could imagine a cooler job than the one Erin Glover has. She is the CEO and Founder of FirePixie Entertainment, a fabulous entertainment company which specializes in children's parties. Which means people pay Erin and other similarly talented actors, to attend their Children's parties and perform as princesses and princes and fairies and fun magical creatures and whatever else the party goers might want. And when that isn't enough? She whips out her fire and flow gear and dances up a storm with other fire pixies dancing around.

Erin's an inspiration to me. She is living her dream and is recently engaged to an equally awesome being. Check her out if you need to hire a performer and we're already booked.

Cultivate

In writing the materials for the workshop, Cultivate, I found I had many things to share with poi students regarding building a lasting poi practice for themselves. After spending an afternoon writing an 8 page handout for the class and then discussing the workshop with students, I decided to write a book on creating a lasting poi practice. I'm curious how long this will take to create. *grin*

Life

The lushness of flowers blooming in the spring and summer reminds me of the gift of life and how amazing the spirit of growth is. It is especially powerful with fragrant flowers, like jasmine, freesia and stargazer lilies. I am particularly fond of the stargazer lily because lily's last a long time from the date of purchase to the time of throwing them away, therefore maximizing the value of the experience.


Aaron bought me flowers some time ago, and not remembering what I had said I liked, made up a flower name -- the Moonlight Iris -- and brought that to me as a gift. It was a beautiful gift and now iris' are my second favorite flower. I still prefer the intoxicating smells of the lily.

Of course, I also am growing increasingly appreciative of side split right anti-spin flowers and I even got a cool photo of that at the Palace of Fine arts taken by Charles Russo.

Jedi Master Yoda

I'd have to say, if I were going to subscribe to a faith that already existed, it would have to be the force. Flow for me is what I understand the force to be, so it really makes sense to me.

Great Jedi Master Yoda said many inspirational things, including this one: Do or do not. There is no 'try.'

The quote cracks me up because of the truth in the deception of the quote... in that one has to try before one can actually do, and once one has done, one knows they no longer need to try and instead they simply can do.

What a long path that can be some times and what a fun gift that is!