Oh and I forgot, until 7:30 am this morning-

Another thing that’s been taking up a lot of our time and attention lately is my obsession with the world cup… I’m a Brazil fan, (since 1998) but this morning’s Ghana loss really hurt because I’ve really come to love watching them play, and they’ve really kicked ass and played with a lot of heart. I loved our (US) loss to them. (I do not love the refs, however! In any game so far.) In my opinion, they played better than Brazil today and that was impressive. I also read something yesterday in a Canadian paper about how the team is very religious, half Christian and half Muslim, and that they pray together, and take turns leading prayers no matter the faith of the one leading. That they have that much respect for each other and work together like that was really impressive to me, and inspiring - if a bunch of footballers can work that tightly together across religious lines like that… you know?

I also loved the Japan-Brazil game, which was a joy to watch. I did not like watching England the other day at all. But I love this game. I’m not really a big sports fan, have had my phases with baseball and basketball (and even American football - I was a cheerleader in Jr. High for a second - shut up) and tend to root for people and teams I can get emotionally attached to for one reason or another. But no matter what I’m into, I’m way more into it when I can understand the game and it can hold my attention, and all the skill and slickness and drama in the world cup has totally been getting me up early in the mornings!

Just returned from a heavenly vacation in Canada. Up on the north end of Vancouver Island to visit Josh’s hermit dad up in Port Hardy, to be specific. We saw many many eagles and other raptors, and a mother bear with roly-poly fuzzy wonderful triplet cubs that I could hardly take my eyes off to photograph!! We got to witness one of those eagles very very closely, not even a yard away in the sunset, just before it plucked a fish right out of the water and carried it away before our eyes! There were also deer, swallows, cool insects, nice doggies, new raven sounds, new places, ice cream, several ferry rides, and all manner of colorful human characters. And of course quality time with Josh’s family and wonderfully positive eccentric father… More soon on that, along with pictures!

The last few weeks have been incredibly eventful, as halfway documented in images over on my flickr/photographs pages. My littlest sister graduated from college, I accompanied Josh to gigs with Cuchata and with Degenerates (the show at the Triple Door was the most wonderful lighting and proximity I’ve had yet for photographing them!), and I enjoyed other art and music events, like the Reptet record release party, Susana Baca’s show, a salon at Josh and Haruko’s featuring all sorts of local and national work, a Dead Science/Ocean Color Scene show, and art and film happenings at ConWorks and in people’s lofts. Oh, and last weekend’s wonderful Fremont Solstice celebration, in which I had the honor to sing and play prepared typewriter as part of fellow alum Scott Adam’s Boxitanian Revolutionary Rolling Band. It was my first public singing in almost a year, and very cathartic, particularly considering I thought I’d get away with just being a percussionist and ended up smiling and belting at the top of my lungs from my lawnmower!! This month also included another trip down to the Nisqually reserve, where we saw quail, muskrats, herons and other waterbirds, ducklings, more swallows, big meeping frogs, young mergansers, and eagles.

So as sometimes happens, what with work and rehearsals and zoo trips and concerts, I’ve just been too busy living to document! No complaints there. But I’ll try to be better.

In other news, I got my wee rejection note today, the end of my multi-month process of attempting to land my dream job at my alma mater. The good news is that now I can feel a little more free to blog. I just hope the person that was selected appreciates the job as much as I would have, and pours their heart into it, and sticks with it, and honors it, the school, and the students as I would have. I have every faith that the hiring manager and her team made the best decision they could for the good of the school, so there is some relief there.

And perhaps the search for my place in this world will spice up this incredibly boring blog a bit And don’t try that tired argument about this traveler having already made her mark on the world, because I’ve barely begun.