...but I did.

I plan to go barefoot as much as possible while in California. I will soak my toes at Big Sur, and walk in the dunes at Santa Cruz, and tread lightly on pine needles in Humboldt with my tootsies shamelessly undressed and flaunting. This calls for delightful feet.

I just went in to have my toes painted blue, but the charming ladies at LyLy wooed me into having a design painted on them. "You toes is beautiful, Jen-ny!" Ly chimes. Ly and I have something of a language barrier, but we get along fine. "You should designs!" she points wildly at my freshly groomed feet. Who can resist this charm? Not this Hardware Girl. In five minutes the pedicurist hand-painted flowers with green stems, glitter veins, and small gems at their centers. It blew me away.
( Incriminating evidence under here )

If I wasn't headed South like Hunter S Thompson into Vegas on Saturday, you can bet your sweet vegan cupcakes I'd be at this:


Come out and ride with the Bike Calendar Girls to all three Cupcake Royales! You could do a lot worse than being behind the pack on this one.

Click here to Get Out!

Go to the dentist, girl doc, oh, and it's time for new glasses.

Thu May 15
Partly Cloudy High 76° Low 57°

Fri May 16
Mostly Sunny High 81° Low 61°

Sat May 17
Sunny High 86° Low 59°

I dreamed I was in a world of mundanities where nothing was really what it seemed to be. In a grocery store I was shopping in the power went out, and I had to prove with much pleading that I had actually purchased cilantro, and it cost five dollars, and another thing that had cost as much but neither had made it into my shopping bag. I had to argue and argue to get them to either give me the herbs or give me my ten dollars back.( Housing and shelter. )

This time next week I will be cast adrift somewhere on the coast of Northern California, likely splitting a glass of whiskey with friends around a campfire and toasting the fact that we don't have to work for a week. I am both excited and anxious, since the coming vacation will be wonderful, but the intervening week is going to be insanely taxing. For Iko and I both the pressure is on at work and timing is critical; in addition I get to go through stuff with my ex tomorrow night and I've got B Choir practice Friday night, and somewhere in there I'm supposed to pack for a week-long roadtrip & camping adventure.

My biggest challenge is to let simplicity rule the day. Each time the bubble of upcoming pressure rose in my throat this weekend I squashed it back down again, letting myself enjoy the simple pleasures of being with Cheryl on an adventurous Saturday urban adventure, enjoying the wonders and company of my Honeycomb, indulging in the long shared laughs, beer and good friends at Stronghold, and spending time with Iko and his family. Being relaxed and confident in the next week will serve me much, much more than freaking out about it. This will be fun.

Rode out to High Bridge Road and back with Iko, metadragon & a guy named Zach today. It was terrific! Learning the curves of the road and the edges of my capacity is invigorating. I really focus on the road and operating the bike, and concentrate deliciously in a challenging environment. I-90 traffic had me thinking faster than I wanted to, but every day I confront and overcome something outside my comfort level. It is beautiful out there, as always, and I adored pushing the throttle and learning; always learning.

I erred a few times: I almost pulled out in front of cars twice, and in a moment of blankness I crossed the center line in a curve, but for the most part Sumoko and I cut a good edge today. Oh, and I managed to drop my bike from a dead stop again. This is ridiculous. Overall it was a brilliant, beautiful ride. I'm glad we took the time.

Managed to make it back to town just in time to run over to Cheryl's for Choir practice. We owe her a couple of songs in her home, since she's our pro bono web designer and biggest fan and all. It was a blast! Singing, wine and acrobatics in the living room. We got some good work done on Balkan pronunciations and sang through the classics "Boys of Bedlam" and "No Naquares" before the night was through. My darling thermotion & his lovely Maggie (with Anakisc in vitro, as well) both came to hang out and sing; a treat! Afterwards we all went in search of a dart board, but three bars later somehow we wound up playing Apples to Apples at the People's Pub in Ballard. Go figure.

Miss Susie and I swore to go riding together, which I am looking forward to very much. It was a gorgeous night, full of fun and challenge and joy.

I usually try to fudge my anniversaries and other important couple dates a few days to have them coincide with holidays-- Halloween for William, Boxing Day & Labor Day for Aaron, Iko's birthday for Iko (sorry about that, Iko.). Call me a girl-behavior-betraying slacker but it makes it way hella easier to remember this stuff.

What is it with holidays and breakups, anyway?

I've always been a pillow talker; at the end of the day my mind tips into a kind of discordant defrag mode that tries to unknot all the nonsense I've thought of throughout the day. Because of my wicked fascination of this bio/sociological experiment we call life (cue Prince "Let's Go Crazy") it usually ends up being about the planet Jupiter or Iggy Pop or quantum mechanics or Georgetown politics or whether or not Tyrannosaurus Rex could actually catch anything with those dinky little arms. Iko, with his big beautiful brain, usually gets drawn into these vortices since though they're trivial they're usually interesting, despite whatever intentions he might have had for sleeping. ( Don't let the bed bugs bite )

The revamped version of "Go Speed Racer, Go!" for the movie due out later this month is a tragic collision of shallow hip-hop, clichés, & hipster angst, blah blah CG effects blah blah trite changes blah blah but check out this freaking awesome car:



There's a great scene cut into the middle that I *love*-- a kid hunkered down inside a hand-drawn version of Speedy's car, obviously rocking along in his imagination. It's out of place in the rest of the video, an honest and charming moment in a video that is otherwise as genuine as your average manufactured Disney flunkie. I hope to see more sincerity in the movie, but I'm not holding my breath.

I also hope to see more of Christina Ricci as Trixie and Susan Sarandon as Speedy's awesome welder Mom. Yow.

Finally, I submit that Speedy's car will be cooler than the Batmobile.

I updated the Get Out! calendar this morning to include such upcoming wonders as The Roots, Peter Murphy, Flogging Molly, DJ Shadow, Vampire Weekend & Nine Inch Nails. The Capitol Hill Block Party has begun publishing their lineup and the Marymoore Summer Concert series is up. Check it out.

Click here to Get Out!


Also, as we all know I live with the Loudest Cat in the World, who is fat so I put her on a diet. Ursula is now the Loudest Cat in the World Made Louder because she is convinced that she is Starving to Her Untimely and So Totally Undeserved Death. Sheesh.

BRICK Presents…

Jorge Martín, founder of Hands Off Venezuela, speaking on Venezuela, the Bolivarian Revolution and Latin America’s “Shift to the Left”

Wednesday, May 7, 2:00pm
SPSCC, Building 26, Room 102

Mr. Martin will also be speaking at the Olympia Free School (610 Columbia St. SW) at 7:30pm

Jorge Martín, born in Barcelona, Catalonia, has been involved in the international solidarity with the Venezuelan revolution from the very beginning. He was a founding member of the international Hands Off Venezuela campaign, of which he is now the international secretary. He has written extensively on the Bolivarian revolution and has traveled around the world speaking in its defense. He has visited Venezuela often, participating in meetings and forums and holding discussions with revolutionary activists. He has been actively involved in the movement of occupied factories in Venezuela.

If you require disability accommodations, please contact the Office of Student Life at studentlife@spscc.ctc.edu or call (360) 596-5306.

www.spsccbrick.org

Flammable warning pillow, messenger bag, Carhartts, motorcycle helmet, iPod, bike lock, water bottle, Fluevog heels. This pleases me.

In short: Willie's Taste of Soul on Rainier is tasty bbq in the perfect quantities and cornering among the blossoms at Seward Park ZOMG YAY FUN.

At great personal challenge on Saturday I managed to get my bike on the ferry, off the ferry, lost, found again, out to a friend's, over many a train track and through unprotected left turns, and finally home, all in the rain, all without incident. I get to my house, triple check that I've shut down the bike all right, hit the kill switch and go to lean it on it's kickstand--

--which I forgot to put down.

*Facepalm*

Tailors, seamstresses, wanna-be tailors and seamstresses, loyal fans, bored urbanites, come one come all: your local circus needs you. Read on.
***
Circus Contraption's The Show to End All Shows is just 2 weeks away and we can use immediate costume help. Experience and non-experienced help needed! If you have a willingness to learn and desire to help with these gorgeous costumes, please call Chris at 940-8672. Just call her when you are available and if she's at the space she'll have you come right in and get started or can schedule a good time for you. THANKS!

Getting Sumoko home was an exercize in personal challenge and perfect timing-- just managed to catch the bus downtown, just managed to catch the ferry to Bainbridge, just managed to catch the ferry home, with metadragon   gamely sprinting for the boat since I was rolling with the Fates by then. Iko & metadragon   endured a trip to Burien to get a new headlamp for my 26 year-old motorcycle ("Never again!," said Iko) so that she would be street legal. With a moment to breathe I brushed my teeth for the first time all day, donned pigtails and headed to Das Haus for a Hardware meeting.

This year's Hardware team is off the hook with awesome-- juryrigger   & leenerella   won't have to do too much to talk me into going. The theme still makes me go a big rubbery one, however, and I have taken up some expensive hobbies that have precedence over BM expenses. I will continue to hold my cards for now.

domichan  , happy birthday, beautiful. I'm glad I got to kiss your beflowered self before going to the show. I was sad to miss the tiki party of the decade but I was just too bushed after DeVotchKa. They put on a terrific show-- moving, engaging, gorgeous, dynamic. Showbox Sodo was packed, and though I prefer DeVotchKa in a more intimate setting I certainly understand why they are blowing up right now. I got to meet the lovely and talented patinatrix   in really real life for the first time-- take good care, lady!

Yesterday Iko & I went up to the R. clan homestead for brunch with his family, and since the day was fine we spent a few hours goofing off playing volleyball and horseshoes with his posse of brothers and their ladies. We hustled back to town for some riding before the sun went down, meeting up with metadragon   for laps around Boeing field, a little trip through the charming neighborhood of Allentown (scheme, scheme), and some sprinting around on the freeway.

I felt like I learned a lot, practicing basics and taking on the challenge of going fast (clocked 70 mph on the freeway), thinking fast, and not freaking out on bridge grating. There were tons of other bikes on the road and I waved at them all. I managed to successfully navigate running out of gas and having the engine die at speed. I rode cautiously but aggressively, had a blast, took risks, and of course I kept up with the boys.

Rode my bicycle into work today. I adore living on two wheels-- though the differences really stand out. No steep cornering with pedals! Both hands run the brakes, remember! Also, aside from the occasional social cigarette I still don't smoke. Also also, a thoughtful coworker brought me suckers from Paris! Also also also, I find I am once again covered in bruises and I'm not totally sure where they came from. My life is nourishing me so, so completely and I dig it-- and things just keep getting better.