October is here

Hard to believe it's already October. I'm heading to 29 Palms in the desert this weekend to rest and meditate, make art and re-energize.

Night Surfing

I don't know what I did with downtime before the internet. I just downloaded a few new mac widgets, googled a few friends, checked my myspace new friends, looked at the earth from a satellite orbiting over us right now, and updated this blog.

Blade conspiracy

I like my legs hair-free but getting a good clean shave is getting more and more difficult, and more expensive, too! It seems that these days all of the female razors (and mens' razors, too) include a "moisture strip" or an "aloe strip". They claim that this allows the razor to "glide" more easily and supposedly moisturize your skin as well. But here's the deal: the razor works great when you first use it, but then as the "moisture strip" gets wet, it expands, lifting the blades away from your skin, making it impossible to get a close shave.

So basically, after you've used a blade once, every time after that is dramatically less and less effective. Man, that's an expensive disposable shaver! It's around 20 bucks for 8 cartridges.

I can't find any blades without this "moisture strip", except the bargain-basement kind with 500 to a bag for 99cents, and I can't seem to ever use those without nicking my ankles. I hate those little sharp snags.

The razor companies know about all this, I'm sure. They're laughing at how something so obvious is just accepted. We just keep paying for those new blades, since we keep needing to shave!

I've looked at the other choices to shaving. There's waxing....ouch! And there's that stinky-smelling Nair stuff we all tried as teenagers. But give me suds and a fresh blade and I'm smooth as silk.

So that's that. I'm stuck buying the pricey cartridges and growling as I'm shaving and showering!

Balance

The weight of my "to do" list is palpable, like a solid concrete warehouse of stuff over my head. Every day brings more, not less, and I can't seem to find a way or a day when things feel "done"! Dumb women's magazines talk about "balance" and managing the whole work/family/life thing, and at this moment, I feel like that's just totally impossible. I'm sure that for every woman you ask, in between their times of "balance" are months and years of crazy off-kilter reeling and juggling.

What should I do first, the vaccuuming or finalize the next Board meeting? Maybe I'll get another cup of coffee first.

Weight

20,000 killed in Pakistan. Hard to even imagine a number that high.

resilience

They're counting on nature's resilience to break down and neutralize the pollutants in the water they are pumping back into Lake Pontchartrain. I keep thinking about what it means to be resilient, and come back into health, after having been shut down, stomped on or silenced.

And I'm amazed at how quickly the media has de-prioritized the catastrophe. With thousands perhaps still waiting to be rescued, how can this NOT still be the lead story on any national media outlet?

I have more questions than answers.

Saw a peregrine falcon today. Stunning. Binoculars helped. The world is easier to take in a narrowly-focused circle of glass.

Prince Wasabi

Nugget Head found his way onto our tiny terrace to lie in the sun. Warm, well-fed, not a care in the world. Must be nice.