I’ve got a job interview at a bank on Tuesday.  I’d love it if I were to get a job because I just got a bunch of money from cashing out my Whole Foods 401K plan so if I did have a steady income on the horizon it would be an excuse to buy nice Christmas gifts for my whole family (because I’ve been working low paying McJob I haven’t been able to go all out for Christmas in several years and frankly I would love to.  I delight in buying nice presents for people). 

 

I was sick last night and did nothing but lay around and watch back episodes of Criminal Minds on A&E then I went to bed at 9:00 p.m. and slept through till 7:00 a.m.  I still felt a little shaky yet this morning so I didn’t go to church for the first time since early October.  I did end up helping my grandmother put up some Christmas decorations.  She wanted to get it taken care of because last year one of our neighbors (who means well but doesn’t realize how tried she gets) came over and just about wore her out decorating. 

 

This afternoon I’m going to work at putting together some homemade Christmas cards.  I have these blank cards that I bought at Target that I’m going to use for the bases then add chocolate brown and pink and aqua Christmas trees. 

 

In preparation for the holidays I’ve also been listening incessantly to Tori Amos’ Midwinter Graces and Ella Fitzgerald’s Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas. 

My grandmother has dizzy spells and two days ago she had one while she was standing at the top of the cellar stairs. Thankfully she caught herself but it every so slightly sort of scared the hell out of me. I’ve told her to ask me to do anything that she might have to do near the cellar stairs and yesterday Pa-daddy rearranged the back room so that the cat’s litter box and the coat rack and the bin we keep bird food in are all away from the stairs. Hopefully that will prevent any future incidents. The whole thing was really scary, and reminded me of just how fragile my grandmother is and what could happen…

What's In My Bag Meme from fitz_carraldo.



1. My purse. I’ve been using it for about a year and a half since I got is last spring at a “Share Your Stuff” exchange that was held at Whole Foods when I was working there.

2. A $25 Barnes & Noble giftcard—a couple of my co-workers gave it to me at my farewell party right before I left Chicago in September.

3. Chapstick from ALDI’s. Probably toxic.

4. An admissions badge from the Corning Glass Museum where my father and I stopped on our trip back from Chicago.

5. A purple Hello Kitty notepad.

6. My wallet—many years old and a bit overfilled. It’s pink and has the Sanrio character My Melody on it.

7. Bath & Body Works vanilla scented anti-bacterial hand lotion. I can’t use regular anti-bacterial gels because they dry my skin out but this works well.

8. Something my sister got for me this summer at G-Fest (a massive Godzilla collectors show). I think it’s some sort of a cell phone ornament from Japan of a Kewpie in a panda suit.

9. Condoms. Just because I haven’t had sex since 2002 doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be prepared.

10. Pens.

11. A crumpled tissue.

12. A zip-loc snack bag containing 3 quarters. Left over from when I was in an apartment and had to go out to the Laundromat to do my washing every week.

13. My leopard spotted Hello Kitty checkbook.

Tomorrow my grandmother, parents and I are going to be having Thanksgiving dinner at a neighbor’s house. 

 

Given my food issues Thanksgiving is always a little uncomfortable for me but oddly I’m not feeling my usual degree of anxiety this year.  I think it helps that I haven’t had to spend the last week dealing with the insanity of holiday crowds at an urban supermarket.  Also I don’t have to work on the holiday itself so I’ll have time to relax and do anything I need to do before hand instead of rushing to work at 7:00 a.m. then having to get to a celebration right afterwards like I have the past few years. 

 

Yesterday I went to the dentist for the first time in 12 years (I know it’s been 12 years because the last time I went was right before my little brother graduated from college which would make it 1997).  

 

It’s almost unforgivably irresponsible to let that much time lapse between dental visits. I have lots of excuses.   I hate going to the dentist.   Because I was bulimic in high school I had to suffer through some extensive dental work when I was in my late teens and early 20’s.  Frankly, it was traumatic.  Also I haven’t had dental insurance since 1998 and I don’t like paying out of pocket to be subjected to pain. 

 

Before I went for my appointment I was absolutely horrified that my teeth would be in such bad shape I’d need hours of expensive dental work to save them (I have recurring nightmares about losing my teeth).  Luckily my teeth were in pretty good shape considering the amount of time it’s been.  I’ll need a filling but that’s it.  Obviously I’m not looking forward to my follow-up appointment after Christmas but it’s a huge relief to know that my teeth are more or less okay.

I’m feeling much better than I was when I posted back on the 9^th. 

 

My health insurance finally came through so I’m taking my medication at the proper dosage once again.  I’ve also taken steps to get my daily calorie intake up to a level where I’m functioning instead of just surviving. 

 

Other positive things—

 

After a couple weeks with nothing promising on the job front, about four positions have come up in the past few days that I’m going to apply for.  Maybe something will work out.  Not that I’m terribly eager to get back to work (because let’s face it, its work) but I’d feel a bit more secure with a steady income and some reliable health insurance coverage. 

 

The weather is wonderfully mild for mid-November, temperatures in the 50’s and 60’s this last week. 

 

I’m getting back into the habit of writing everyday, which is great.  When I’m not writing I always feel sort of directionless.  Practicing and honing my craft gives me a real sense of purpose and accomplishment.   

 

I find taking care of my grandmother really rewarding.  Since I moved in with her, I’ve taken over changing the bedding every week and yesterday she thanked me for that and was telling me what a terrible time she used to have doing it by herself and how much easier having me around made life for her.  It really makes me feel good knowing I’m helping her even if it is in a very small and simple way.

From diachrony.

Current Book:  Inkspell by Conrnelia Funke

Current Playlist:  Tori Amos’ “Winter Graces” album, Laura Nyro, the soundtrack to Where the Wild Things Are.

Current Guilty Pleasure:  Petrellicest (fan fic about Nathan/Peter Petrelli from the TV show Heroes.)

Current Color:  Pink, always.

Current Drink: Diet Mountain Dew Ultra-violet soda.  Celestial Seasonings Vanilla Hazelnut tea.

Current Food:  Gigantic honeycrisp apples from the Cooperstown Farmer’s Market.

Current Favorite Show:   Mad Men (I just watched the season finale).  Heroes (I’m watching the first season on DVD). 

Current Wishlist:  Books on Katherine Howard (Henry VIII’s 5^th wife), an ink cartridge for my computer.

Current Needs:  A job, decent health insurance. 

Current Triumphs:  I started writing again after several months of writer’s block. 

Current Bane of My Existence:  Waiting for my health insurance plan to finally kick in, waiting to get my security deposit on my apartment back.

Current Celebrity Crush:  Christina Hendricks (Joan on Mad Men, Saffron on Firefly). 

Current Indulgence:  I’ve been rediscovering slash these last few days.

Current Blessing:  My family, weather in the 50’s and 60’s even through it’s November. 

Current Slang:  “Bushwackin’, scrub, alkie piece of shit.” 

Current Outfit:   Black yoga pants and a pink hooded sweater.

Current Excitement:  I’m going into Cooperstown to ask about a couple of jobs tomorrow.  Also I'm going to be stopping at the natural foods store.  This constitutes excitement in my life. 

Current Mood: Fine and mellow.

My parents and I went to a literary high tea with a Halloween theme yesterday. 

 

It was held at a church in Jordanville, a small town about 45 minutes from our home.  It started off with tea and a course of all different kinds of little sandwiches, and then a story was read a loud.  After that there was more tea and a course of scones.  This was followed by two more stories and finally a dessert course. 

 

The first story read was “The Most Haunted House” from Spooks of the Valley edited by Louis C. Jones, a legendary folklorist in our area who put together several books of local ghost stories he collected.  The second story was Shirley Jackson’s always chilling “The Lottery” and the final story was Roald Dahl’s darkly humorous “Lamb to the Slaughter”. 

 

I admit I was a little disappointed that only the first story dealt with supernatural horror but still, it was quite an enjoyable and unusual way to celebrate one of my favorite holidays.  Being me I didn’t eat anything but it was interesting to see all the different things that were served and I got some ideas for things to make for the book release party my mother holding later this month. 

I managed to do Master Cleanse for the entire five day period I set for myself and I’m feeling a bit more in control of myself after my recent indulgences.

I spent my first six nights back in New York at my parent’s house, but on Friday afternoon moved in with my grandmother. So far things are going well though it’s a period of adjustment for both of us, not to mention her cat who doesn’t like the fact that there’s a stranger living in his house.

After a week of using my parent’s computer with dial-up I once again have my own computer and a high speed internet connection. I’m not sure how I’m going to pay for it of course as I don’t have an income. Still, I’ve applied for a couple of jobs and at my father’s insistence also put in for unemployment. I’m pretty sure won’t qualify as I voluntarily resigned from my job but Pa still thinks that I may be eligible.

Thursday was my last day of work.

Friday was my going away party. General debauchery. I wore what is called a “Wicked Fairy” wig that I got at Walgreen’s last year for $7.99.


My going away party.

Saturday I took my precious/much reviled kitty over to my sisters to live.

Me and kitty.

Sunday I went over to my sister’s for my niece’s 5th Birthday celebration.

Monday Brown Elephant, a local thrift shop affiliated with the Howard Brown Center for gay and lesbian health came and picked up a lot of my furniture.

Tomorrow my Pa-Daddy arrives from NY.

Wednesday will be devoted to cleaning my apartment and giving up my keys.

Thursday I head to New York.

I finished work at Whole Foods today.

I'm all done and I'm never going back.

I ought to be afraid, given that I'm now officially unemployed in the middle of a recession but I'm oddly elated.

Tomorrow is my going away party then I have a couple days to get organized as far as getting rid of my car and furniture. My father will be here on the 22nd and on the 24th (very early in the morning if I know my Pa-Daddy) I will quit the great city of Chicago.

I am, to quote Little Red Riding Hood from Into the Woods "excited and scared."

Last night my former employer Biff took me out to Lula Cafe, a Logan Square restaurant, for a farewell dinner. I had a really good meal and a really good time.

Biff brought along Julian, his 14 month old son. Even though I’m a confirmed spinster there really is something about little ones that makes you see everything as if for the first time. I had the best time feeding and fussing over Julian.

I brought him a gift, a pull-along zebra toy that I got at Building Blocks, a toy shop right near the store where I work but I also brought a box of organic vanilla snack treats with the Sesame Street character Zoe on them that we sell at the market. Julian loved the vanilla snack treats and also ate voraciously from what Biff and I ordered.

I had lula maki (veggie sushi) as an appetizer, tineka--a spicy peanut butter sandwich and coleslaw—as an entree and for desert little scoops of blueberry, sweet corn sorbet with miniature Johnny cakes topped with blueberry syrup. Very eclectic and delicious and wonderful.

Julian shared everything with me as well as what Biff ordered (an heirloom tomato appetizer and I don’t remember the rest.) He’s an extremely good eater, that boy. It’s funny, while I was playing with Julian and feeding him from my plate I realized that there are a lot of adults who probably wouldn’t be so open to a little guy and would see it as disruptive and for the first time I felt like a good aunt, like I was willing to make the extra effort for my niece and nephew when they were tiny, and to accept and love them.

I feel like that’s really important.

On Saturday a woman I work with was offering a free yoga class in my neighborhood so I went to it. 

 

I have reached the conclusion that I’m weak.  It’s actually pretty pathetic.  I walk for at least 45 minutes every day so you’d think I’d be in okay shape but I seem to have no upper body strength.  Since the class I’ve been trying to do a few basic yoga poses on my own everyday.  My ultimate goal is to someday be able to hold downward dog for more than 5 seconds without shaking. 

 

I’m afraid I’ve sort of fallen off the wagon of The Artist’s Way.  I’m on week six of the twelve week program and I’ve missed my artists date for this week and last.  Also I’ve gotten very sporadic about doing my morning pages; much less the exercises recommended each week.  I’m not sure at this point if I’ll try to hang in there and try to get back on track or if I’ll call it quits for now and try again in a few months when I’m not going through such a radical transitional phase. 

I finally finished George R.R. Martin’s A Storm of Swords yesterday.  I have quite literally been reading it for the last two months—I started it when I was visiting my parents in New York back in May.  An excellent book in an excellent series but my God I am glad to finally be done with it. 

 

I probably would have finished A Storm of Swords several days ago, but I was delayed by a week of “reading deprivation” where I didn’t read anything much longer than a facebook status update.  No books, comics/manga, or articles of any kind.   I subjected myself to as part of week four of The Artist’s Way and I can safely say that it was not a pleasant experience.  According to The Artist’s Way, reading can be used as an escape that allows you to avoid your own feelings.  I have to concur.  I definitely use reading that way.  You might say it’s my drug of choice so going without it for a week was pretty excruciating and my anxiety level was very high.  I’m afraid I ended up utilizing a lot of other distractions (watching episodes of Veronica Mars) instead of actually sitting with my feelings or doing anything creative. 

 

Still, I was able to channel some of the energy I usually devote to reading into positive avenues.  I did some writing and painting and made significant progress with my apartment cleaning.  At the end of the week I took four big boxes worth of junk to a nearby thrift shop as well as tossing a lot of old magazine clippings and other stuff that I’ve stockpiled over the years.  Also I was able to put together and send out packages of artwork in a pretty efficient manner.  I’m happy (and extremely surprised) that I made it through with only one real slip—I briefly got caught up reading about tropes in Dexter on tvtropes.org (more on Dexter later). 

A couple of weeks ago I made up my mind that I would be moving back to my hometown in Upstate New York and even took the steps of informing my landlord and supervisor at work.

This morning I talked to my dad and we worked out when I’ll be leaving Chicago in September right after my niece’s 5th Birthday which is on 09/20/09. My father (who is capable of making long road trips on his own) will be driving out with his van and we’ll drive back to New York together. I’m going to be giving up my beat up 1999 Ford Escort which isn’t up to making the cross country trip. When I get to New York I’ll be able to use my grandmother’s car as she really can’t drive any more.

My pragmatic, Capricorn side is exerting itself at the moment and existential angst over whether or not I’m making the right decision has taken a back seat to practical consideration of dismantling my apartment.

I’ve started the whole elaborate process of cleaning and sorting out what I’m going to keep (clothes I wear regularly, books, CDs and DVDs) and what I’m going to throw or give away (everything else). Going through my stuff I find that I have a lot of artwork—fan art, drawings and some small craft stuff I’ve done-- that I really can’t take with me and can’t bear to throw away.

So I thought I’d offer it up.

If you’re interested in receiving a handmade drawing/collage/craft item comment on this post and/or email me the request along with your address at bitter_fig@yahoo.com and I’ll pick someone out for you from my stash and send it along. Of course I don’t have a bottomless stack of stuff to give away so it’ll be on a first come, first serve basis.

Edit 07/20/09-- I'm pretty much out of artwork now so I'm closing the offer. Thanks everyone for your interest.

Back on the 25^th of June, at the suggestion of my livejournal friend nolan_ash who sent me a copy of the book, I started doing The Artist’s Way, a 12 week program created by Julia Cameron that’s designed to help you get in touch with your creativity. 

 

The program involved “morning pages”, three longhand pages written out everyday as soon as you wake up, a weekly “artists date” where you go do something that nurtures your creativity and a variety of exercises and affirmations most of which involve taking baby steps towards doing things that will enrich your life.  It’s a very spiritual program, very much based on the idea that creativity comes from a divine source and flows through everyone, which is something I’ve always believed. 

 

 Thus far, doing The Artist’s Way is turning out to be a really good experience.  It encourages small acts and it’s gotten me to do things like make a collage and go out to a coffee show, little things that are a big deal for me. 

 

Because I manage to do some writing and a little art here and there I’ve never thought of myself as creatively blocked however working the program has made me realize how passive and stagnant I am about a lot of things.  I’ve never really defined what kind of life I want, much less worked towards it.  I think I’ve always believed that I should take what I get so it’s very hard (and scary)for me to imagine what sort of life would make me happy and if you can’t imagine something you can’t exactly take steps to make it a reality. 

After an unseasonably cool spring, summer has come down full force on Chicago. During the past week it’s like we’ve gone from April to August, the past few days have been oppressively hot. Tuesday night it was so bad I actually slept on my balcony. It was cooler but I ended up with a crink in my neck from being on the ground with only a thin mattress pad so last night I was back to my bed. The problem I have with hot nights is that I tend to sleep very lightly and have bizarre and vivid dreams (such as the disturbing one I had several nights ago about my grandmother being murdered). The problem I have with hot days is that I don’t function. I was off work for the past two days and I swear, both my kitty and I spent the whole time lying around in a semi-catatonic state.

Last night at about 8:00 p.m. there was a motorcycle accident right in front of my building. I didn’t see it but I heard a crash and then screaming and commotion outside and when I went to the window there was a man lying between the motorcycle which was on its side and a parked car. Because it was so warm there were a lot of people on the street and several had cell phones so an ambulance came right away. In Illinois, you’re not required to wear a helmet when you ride on a motorcycle and the man who had been in the accident was bleeding from his head pretty badly, another man was holding a towel to the wound and I could see that it was soaked with blood. The man was taken away in the ambulance and later that night a truck came and picked up the motorcycle, but when I came down this morning the blood-stained towel was still lying in the gutter right outside my building. Sort of scary. I can watch pretty violent movies but seeing people hurt and bloodshed in real life shakes me up.

My visit with my parents went surprisingly well.  The weather was wonderful, the countryside was beautiful and there was no insanity.  After many weeks spent tied up in knots I was able to do some serious relaxing.  I did a lot of reading, walked in the fields, and spent time with my grandmother everyday. 

 

In addition to loafing about, I did some other stuff.  I went to a really interesting panel discussion on Gian Carlo Menotti political opera The Consul.  A friend of my parents showed me around the 1820’s house he’s restoring.  I had coffee with a friend from high school and my father took me to see Angels and Demons (not great, but in general a better film than The Da Vinci Code which had little of interest except the homoerotic subtext between Silas and Bishop Aringarosa.  Also has anyone else noticed that Tom Hanks has the same nose as Richard Nixon?)  I even ate in a restaurant (which I rarely do) and had something over than a side salad (even more rare.) 

 

It was, amazingly, a really pleasant little vacation. 

 

The overall lack of craziness makes me wonder if I haven’t been unfairly vilifying my parents, judging them based on things that happened in the past when they’ve changed and moved on.  Maybe I need to learn to forgive and live a little more in the present. 

 

On the question of whether or not I’ll be moving back to New York, I remain undecided.  I need to really think about it, what I can handle and what I need.  I don’t want to make a decision based on others but its difficult not to.  I feel very isolated and unloved here in Chicago though I realize it’s mostly my own fault.  I haven’t tried hard enough to make friends and connect with people.  A lot of that has been because of my depression and now that I’ve finally gotten that more or less under control it might be worth it to hold on, give Chicago another chance and try to really put myself out there.  

 

Money of course is an issue.  I don’t make enough at my job to really meet my expenses so if I do decided to stay I have to find another, better job or I’m going to have to start drawing from my investment account (which unfortunately was cut nearly in half when the economy crashed last fall). 

 

All factors I have to take into consideration.  I don’t go back to work until tomorrow so went to an ANAD (Eating Disorder) support group this morning.  It really helped me put everything into focus.  I really wish I could make it to these groups more often.  Back when I had an office job and regular hours I was able to go to two meetings a week and it really helped to keep me balanced.  I miss that. 

I’ve been very withdrawn for the last couple of weeks.  Questions of whether or not I should move back to New York have been on my mind to the point where it’s difficult for me to think about much of anything else.  I’m going to visit my parents in New York from the 18^th to the 22^nd and its sort of a scouting mission to determine if I want to move back.  If I get there and realize it’s impossible for me to ever live there again I’ll have to figure out someway of staying in Chicago when I’m not sure if there is a way….

 

In an effort to get away from my worries I’ve been spending much of my free time watching movies and episodes of the television series Mad Men as well as losing myself in novels.  I’ve read some really excellent stuff, including Tom Perrotta’s very funny, keenly observed Little Children and Atonement and Enduring Love by Ian McEwan who is poised to become one of my all time favorites.  His books are exquisite, every page, even paragraph seems infused with so many levels of meaning.  McEwan’s writing makes me feel the same way Henry James’ does, like I’m reading something at a level so high above anything I would ever attempt as an author.  Yet I find this inspirational rather than discouraging, they set a standard to aim for. 

 

Still, I feel like I’m consuming books and movies without digesting them properly, just using them to numb my anxiety and pass time rather than properly thinking about what I’m reading and watching.  Hopefully after my visit I’ll be able to figure out what I’m doing and be able to focus again. 

Since Easter I’ve been pretty busy between work, family, medical appointments and a story I’ve been working on for lgbtfest.

My Dad was in town from New York State for a five day visit. I was working most of the time but managed to get over to my sister’s place to see him everyday. Also yesterday I had off so I showed him around my neighborhood, Logan Square. He was of course interested in who it was named after and the history of the monument, things I knew nothing about but luckily there was some information posted at a kiosk so I got educated about my area as a result of his visit.

We also talked over my future plans. I’m not sure if I’m going to continue living in Chicago. My lease expires in September and when it does I may move back to New York. If I do return to my hometown I’m not going to live with my parents indefinitely as I did in my 20’s. I’ll either find of job and an apartment of my own in a city (probably Utica or Albany) or live with them for a few months until I can set something up and go back to school for writing. In the meantime I’m going to try and start looking a better job and researching schools while I’m still in Chicago. Now that I’m less depressed there’s a chance I can make things work while still living here. Pa is being very supportive, he’s not pressuring me to leave Chicago like my mother would but made it clear that if I feel like this stage in my life is done I’m welcome to live at home until I figure out where I’m going next.

He’s in the middle of a very emotionally charged time himself. Early this year his mother, who lives in a suburb of Philadelphia, was hospitalized with pneumonia. When he visited he was pretty distressed by the conditions she was living in. Unlike many older people she’s not hurting for money, but both she and my grandfather (who passed away in the 1980’s) were antique dealers and their house (as well as a barn out back) is packed with stuff to the point where many of the rooms are unusable. Everything was also pretty dirty and covered with dust.

My grandmother agreed to get rid of some of the excess and since my father is an expert in antiques with a lot of connections he’s spent the last few months making regular trips to Pennsylvania (about a 4 ½ hour drive) to sort through things and organize an auction that’s going to take place next month. During these visits he’s had to go through a lot of drama with his brothers and sisters and assorted nieces and nephews who all feel they know best not to mention Grandma who has always been very good at making him feel bad by deliberately doing things to belittle and exclude him even when he’s doing her a huge favor.

When he was talking to me about this, he said that he’s really starting to not be concerned with things anymore. He said that five years ago he would have had problems with getting rid of things and would have probably gotten into arguments with his sisters over who got what, things like that but now he’s able to let things go. He didn’t say so explicitly but I know this has to do with the religious revelation he had two years ago. He’s changed so much since then and I really respect that though I continue to struggle with faith.

My father used to have a very strict, unforgiving interpretation of religion that I didn’t agree with. He’s moved beyond that, yet in a way I haven’t. In a lot of ways he defined religion for me and I always find myself returning to his old definitions. I know I’ve recently referred to things like the idea that by interpreting the Bible selectively I’m “cherry-picking” and therefore can’t be a “real” Christian. I don’t know that my father would think that mattered anymore yet I still let it matter to me.

This is something I’ve been thinking about a great deal lately, though I can’t seem to compose my thoughts the way I’d like to. I was hoping I’d be able to do so today (I’m off work and Pa went back to New York last night) but instead I’ve just been wiped out all day, probably a combination of my recent activity (and using said activity as an excuse to eat as little as possible) and the sweeping changes in the weather (from the 70’s to the 30’s). I actually ended up falling asleep for a couple hours this afternoon, something I generally try and avoid as I find it disorienting.

There are a lot of things I want to write about—religion, the a performance of Mary Poppins I attended last week, the stuff I’ve been readings lately and my lgbtfest story… Hopefully I’ll be feeling a bit more focused and energetic tomorrow.

I’m not sure if I feel like a different person these last couple of weeks or like I’m finally myself again. 

 

Everything isn’t happy happy joy joy all the time of course, I’ve had a couple bad days and I’m still trying to get my eating back on track my mood has been good and I have energy and ideas. 

 

I haven’t been doing much writing unfortunately, but I have been working on my art pretty steadily and I’m happy to say I sold three some items on etsy.com.  Also after months of isolation, I feel downright sociable. 

 

Over the last two months, we’ve been doing a fund-raising campaign for the Whole Planet foundation.  For at least the first half of this, I collected about $10 in donations because I couldn’t ask customers to give.  I was afraid they’d get angry, I just couldn’t do it.  However when I started feeling less depressed I started asking for contributions and yesterday I found out that of all the cashiers I’m ranked third for collecting donations. 

 

I should note that I work full time while several other cashiers are part-time and that there are a few cashers who are refusing to ask for donations at all.  Still, I’m really astounded that I’ve made such an improvement. 

 

I’ve also seen more of my sister and her family these past couple weeks and… I actually went out twice in the last couple of days. 

 

On Tuesday (which was Saint Patrick’s Day and a wonderful, unseasonable 70 degrees out) I went to see Tom Never’s Head, a sort of traditional/folk band that includes several people who work at the Market with me.  Then on Thursday I went to a dress rehearsal of a play called Blue Surge by Rebecca Gilman.  Another co-worker is a member of the Eclipse Theatre Company and was co-directing.  The play really made an impression on me and touched on some of my personal issues and experiences, I’ll write more on that later but now I really love that I’m able to support others in their creative endeavors again and take part in the world.