Hours from Take-off

I had another neat couch surfing experience. I met a wonderful 26 year old college grad who works odd jobs and runs a circus space with her friends. The energy was so positive. It was a bunch of adults who hadn't forgotten how to play. Their definitions of success seem healthy. It's a live, love, laugh, simplicity, and happiness approach to life. It's counter culture and free spirited. The circus space had an extremely high ceiling from which hung various devices for areal tricks. There were people writing a clever song in one corner, two jugglers, and two people catching a stick with other sticks. My host graciously and patiently tried to teach me some hula hoop magic. Sharing and learning permeated the building. Perhaps next June I'll have the opportunity to interact with this community again.

Another interesting experience was attending my first Mary Kay party. Mom used Mary Kay when I was a kid, so when I was young I thought of Mary Kay as a symbol of being a woman. Now that I am a woman who veiw's the world though a feminist lense it was especially fascinating to participate in a make up party. I enjoy comparing my adult perceptions with my child perceptions. The make up party consisted of a group of women carving out time for themselves as an affirmation and assertion of our own value. Yet there is an underlying acknowledgement of feeling less than through the desire to conform to a socially idealized standard of beauty. Skin care products are designed to maintain healthy skin, but women using them are motivated less by a value of health and more from a fear of being old. My understanding of beauty standards as oppressive didn't prevent me from purchasing make up and skin care products.

Our Mary Kay representative was full of passion. Mary Kay empowers women to have their own business and determine their own working conditions. In the same offhanded way I want to do most things, I would consider being a Mary Kay representative. Mary Kay is mainstream, but it's fun, and I could bring in a radical influence.

My last night in Bellingham consisted of camaraderie, song, and dance. My last weekend has been full of family and my best friend. I feel silly putting so much physical distance between myself and all the love in my life. Love grows everywhere, and I'll be back so soon. I'm into the idea of impermanence, but I think love might be an exception to that philosophy. Perhaps love between two people is impermanent, but love as an energy is a pervasive force.

I traded in My backpack on a smaller better fitting one which I acquired from a friend I serendipitously reconnected with on a city bus that I wasn't intending to take. I really admire this individual. So the whole experience was thrilling. I've managed to get rid of a few more things. I've also lost one thing, but I guess I didn't need it after all. I'm sure those who know me most are proud of me for moving every other day for three weeks yet only loosing one thing.