Verbal Excursions

This year was the first year that my son (who is now thirteen) would not be with me for Christmas day. This is, historically, the only holiday I have ever been good at celebrating. You might not always get a birthday party in this house, but, By Golly! Christmas is down right picturesque… so I was feeling a bit down that he wouldn’t be here on the actual day, and vowed to make our time together the weekend before an absolute Hallmark-card event.

I should know better by now than to have expectations for anything, right? Long story short, due to inclement weather and a series of crazy happenstance, the weekend before Christmas found me sans the traditional family ornaments (or any kind of holiday decoration, for that matter), with no tree, and flat broke. My plans to bake special gingerbread for our own made-from-scratch gingerbread house went awry… etc etc etc. But my son, being the wonderful person he is, rolled with it. He expressed that he would rather build our own tree than take another one from nature, and that, as long as we still built a gingerbread house, that would be cool.

So, we built this incredible art-deco tree out of my coat rack, and some garland we bought for three bucks.

Much love to my friend Matthew, who graciously contributed the use of the holiday ornaments which were a gift from his mother (several of which sported his awesome elementary school photos). And the three of us shared the best belly laugh of the year, when we attempted (and failed horribly) to decorate and assemble a store-bought gingerbread house. I don’t know how the hell anyone ever gets those walls to stick together – but we made a diligent four hour effort, before ending up with a house that looked like it had been stepped on by a giant. A giant who had also taken a bite out of the roof.

It was probably the best Christmas celebration I have ever had – and it was definitely a much-needed reminder not to take things too seriously.

This one.

Of the numerous starts I planned to make in 2009, I only followed through with a few… but I’m still giving myself a pat on the back. First and foremost, I started this awesome blog. (And the extraordinary website which will replace it is already in the works!) Also, I finally started writing my first book. It’s slow going, but it’s going… and finally, a friend talked me into taking a semester of art classes at the local community college. We’ve since discontinued the, um, extremely valuable course – but I’ve discovered a love of painting, and have continued to practice it. Maybe someday I’ll make something I like enough to post pictures.

don’t be fooled
my friend
when your
opportunity
arrives

it won’t be
wrapped
in fancy paper

it might be
dressed
in a disguise

I moved here.

I moved here.

I <3 this site.

I love to read, and I do it a great deal, so it was impossible to choose just one be-all-end-all book for 2009. In fact, narrowing it down to a top five was even excruciating… so here are my pics for the Top Five(ish) Books I read in 2009. Enjoy!

My sister bought me a copy of this for Christmas last year. Before she wrapped it, she flipped it open to scan the first few pages. When I received it, she sheepishly apologized for the fact that it “looked a little used” – every page had been turned. This book is a must read for every person who has ever longed to travel, gone through a midlife crisis, left an unhappy relationship, or set out in search of their bliss. I related to every word (and had spoken many of them myself).

Jeremy Narby draws links between traditional cultural knowledge and modern-day research to present the concept that intelligence is not unique to humans, but rather inherent in all of nature. If you are the type of person who likes to follow a book by reading the references cited in the bibliography – start here, and you will fill your library shelves for the next year. This is an in-depth anthropological study, painstakingly researched and notated – but the subject matter is fascinating, and the questions it poses incredibly thought-provoking.

This book is for anyone who has ever (or will ever) eat food. Especially if you happen to live in America. Michael Pollan is an amazing writer, who takes an objective and lively approach to research, and has a knack for making non-fiction read like an adventure novel.

If for some crazy reason you choose not to read the book above – you should check out this other book by Michael Pollan, which is equally amazing. This book looks at the development and spread of five different species of plant – and poses the theory that each species furthered it’s own propagation by evolving to fulfill a specific human desire.

Written by a convicted felon, while serving time in an Australian prison, and based loosely on own life – including an escape from a maximum security prison where he was serving time for armed robbery, and the ten years he spent hiding out in India. This is probably the most amazing example of prose I have ever read by a first-time novelist. It is eight hundred million pages long, but I never got tired of it. The deep, heartfelt poignancy of this epic helps to smooth out the rough bits. This book contained the most accurate description of a cold-turkey comedown that I have ever heard or read. It also contained a well-smitten love story, and a thousand gems of this sort – “My heart moved through deep and silent water. No-one, and nothing, could really hurt me. No-one, and nothing, could make me very happy. I was tough, which is probably the saddest thing you can say about a man.” Yep.

This is technically a children’s series, but my son highly recommended it, and so I picked it up…and kept turning pages til I devoured all three books. I’ve heard it said that this was the author’s retelling (and ultimate reversal on) Milton’s Paradise Lost. There has been some criticism of the series by certain religious groups, claiming that the book turns a critical eye towards organized religion. I can’t say that would disappoint me – but really, I found the angle taken to be more satirical or tongue-in-cheek than critical. But regardless of all that – it was a solid, swashbuckling fantasy tale, full of witches and talking animals and parallel dimensions. Who doesn’t love that?

This article by Danielle LaPorte was immensely valuable to me. I took it to heart, and I asked the questions – and I am very glad I did.

Funny enough – I sent these questions to about twenty people who I’ve known for a million years, and also created a public posting inviting feedback from anyone who cared to give it. Considering the size of the audience, the responses I got were very few… and they weren’t at all the folks I expected to hear from. In fact, two of the people who took the time to write had only met me once! But the feedback I received is still rocking me, months later… and I expect it will continue to do so.

So, my deep gratitude to Danielle. And amazing love to Lori, Jill, Harry, Tammy, Marcus, George, and my lovely sister Diana for responding. The depth of thoughtfulness in your words was truly touching.

*muchlove*

I traveled for nine months in 2009, so you would think that I would have alot of trips clamoring for “best of”… but really, the best trip I took was just a short jaunt, within Arizona. It was totally unplanned – we were heading from point A to point B (I don’t even remember where), and ended up having more time than we had bargained to make the trip. We were passing through our home state of Arizona, and on a whim decided to visit a camping spot a friend of ours had been raving about for quite some time. This particular spot was a site frequented by geologists and rock enthusiasts, where quartz crystals occur naturally in abundance.

It was cold and it was wet and it was off-season (digging is only allowed in the winter, to protect the Ponderosa pines that grow in the area), but we spent five days walking up and down creek beds and hiking into the hills to find “hot spots” where the rain had uncovered hidden gems. We spent five nights going through our finds, under a dim RV light. We filled a shopping bag full of lumpy, mud-caked crystals. We filled a little egg crate with tiny, glass-like crystals that we decided that, one day, we should make into jewelry. But what I really loved about it was the spontaneity of it… In nine months, pretty much every second of my time had been planned… and unfortunately, not alot of that planning had included relaxation, or fun. This was really the first (and unfortunately, only) time that my then-partner and I had spent a solid chunk of time together, without any commitments or responsibilities or distractions or to-do lists. No phones were ringing, no computers were online, there was no agenda, and there were no plans.

For the first time since I was very, very young, I remembered what it felt like way back then. To dig in the dirt, and laugh out loud, and to be fully and completely engaged in a project, side by side with your best friend. To wonder at the world and how things came to be the way they are – and what we might be like if we could for one second understand the mystery of it all. To be in awe of nature, her amazing creations, and the perfect movement of the world around us. To be able to pause and take it all in, and enjoy it fully… and to share that with someone you love.

I spent five days disheveled and damp, with dirt under my fingernails and mud in my hair, and I didn’t care. It was silly, yes. It was childish, yes. It was also amazing – and I loved every second of it fully.