In the Last 36 hours I have:

* Visited the classroom where I will be TEACHING! (Its nice, a seminar room with one big round table)

* Eaten a flavorless burrito "at my favorite burrito place" (says some dude).

* Attended, cheered, was confused by, and clapped at my first IU sporting event. (Soccer, which reminded me of Guatemala y Argentina, y por eso hable mucho sobre mi visita a estes lugares).

* Learned what "Sink the Fizz" or maybe it was "Bizz" is. (A drinking game. On the Menu at Nicks English Hut). I watched this undergraduate ritual with shock and awe.

* Slept

* Woke up at 7 am, got on my bike and rode it to Catalina's house for a morning of garage sale-ing with 3 other MFA students. I bought a green thing to hang things on for 10 cents. I am a big spender.

* Thought I was going to die because i had the worse cramps ever so i biked to Kroger's (this is a supermarket and the "g" is a hard g) and bought liquid generic advil.

* Went to the Farmer's market and partook of the 15 salsas at the salsa contest. Wondered what they did to those poor undeserving avocados in the guacamole. (this was the WORST guacamole I have ever had, even worse than the "best" guacamole found at the restaurant on the end of the santa monica pier).

*Attended a BBQ where we discussed Natural Disasters in depth and bredth. I learned in case of a tornado, if you are outside find a ditch and throw yourself in it. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT seek shelter under and underpass. You will be sucked up into the tornado and die.

* Showered and borrowed a dress that was later given to me so I could go Salsa dancing.

* Showed up to Uncle Fester's (an actual establishment) only to find out there was NO salsa dancing, but one of the members of the 90's covers rock group has recently been to mexico.

* Ended up Contra Dancing at the Boys and girls club. This was an interesting experience. While the other 4 girls i was thought it was pretty lame, I thought it was pretty interesting, a cultural immersion into what? I am not sure. It is like square dancing with a partner but in a line. Sound confusing? It is. But really its not. There were people there all the way from Louisville (which is pronounced in some way I can begin to imitate). There were REALLY OLD ppl and Really Young ppl. Most ppl smiled.

* Confirmed that southern accents (which is different than hick accents) can be pretty darn sexy.

* Visited another bar and stood awkwardly until someone took me home.

* Wrote this blog.

* Said goodnight.

6 Uninteresting Observations

1. I have seen more roadkill on my bike rides to campus than I did on our road trip from CA to IN. 4 squirrels. 2 opossums. 5 bugs. When they are so big I notice their squashed bodies from my bike, bugs count as road kill. 2 birds.

2. Spouses can be useful: they share financial responsibilities, they do random nice things, they pick you up from places when it is raining and you have no way home.

3. I am getting restless.

4. And tired.

5. But Barack Obama is going to give a speech soon. His speech-ing is his way of connecting to public, the translation of himself from Denver to My Livingroom, Indiana.

6. Humidity makes me thirsty. Foggy days in IN do not mean cooler days. It is not a marine layer.

I dont think we are in Los Angeles Anymore, Toto.

I joined Freecycle in Bloomington because I am looking for a bookshelf. No luck so far, but I did see this posted:

---
OFFER: Chicken feet
We sell pasture-raised chicken raised on our farm and have several bags
of chicken feet. They are good for soups and general thickening if you
know how to use them. Pick up in Ellettsville area.
---

I wonder how fresh they are? How fresh they need to be? How many chicken feet are needed to thicken a soup? Too bad none of the Chinese Restaurants (Read: Panda Express) around here cook chicken feet.

I also went on a walk today. It was noon. My house was full of strangers. I need to get out. So I went for a walk. I packed a book, journal, umbrella (30% of thunderstorms) and a pita with some peanut butter. Downtown is only 3 miles away. I thought I would take a shot at it. There is a path that runs along a creek. Previously, I had only gone South on this path, so today I headed North toward town. Tree branches hung over the unkempt rocky path. I sauntered along enjoying the green shade. Soon I began running into spider webs made me constantly wiping my arms and legs to get them off and wondering if all the plant my feet were the leaves of three that I am supposed to let be. Katydids and moths were flying about (or at me). The path was more and more unkempt (the southern path has been well-warn and trafficked by many walkers and bike-riders). I swatted at the misquitoes and other biting bugs and soon had welts raising on my right arm. I picked up my pace, unable to enjoy this forest, and wondering if the country folks around here did enjoy it? I heard a cow and a lawnmower and believed that there soon had to be cross-road to get me out of here, to the civilized sidewalk. Sure enough about a mile later the "path" came to a road with big strange truck parked at it. I stepped over the metal ropelike-thing that held a sign that said no trespassing and had some company name. I walked until I found a starbucks. I needed to go the bathroom and the bank light up sign said it was 87 degrees. I supposed I only has 1.5 miles left to town. Now that I was on the sidewalk, I felt like I could make it. But headed for the starbucks instead. A piece of coolness, of familiarity, a place with a bathroom. It was a drive through starbucks and the baristas we all wearing headsets and talking to unseen customers. After using the facilities, I ordered an ice coffee and sat down to breath and open my book of poetry that I think I am supposed to have read. It is a daunting anthology of American Contemporary Poetry. Luckily I turned to the Audre Lorde section which was soon followed by Mary Oliver. These women reminded me of why I love poetry. Why I am in Bloomington. Why I had bugbites all over my arm (which I did not itch and the welts soon subsided). A lot of people at Starbucks knew each other and chatted when they walked in the door. I took the main street home and instead of 40 minutes, in only took 25 minutes to walk, but the sidewalks were few and far between leaving me to walk the on the side of the streets which made me feel like a hitchhiker who was too tired to stick out her thumb.

No, I don't think I am in California anymore. It has been three hours and since I returned home and showered, but I still feel itcy and I think this paranoia of swatting at unseen cobwebs is going to turn into a habit.

Prayer

Matthew 22:35-40

"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

Lord,

I give you my heart; a mess of blood and rhythms; deceit and delight. A wild animal, lifting only an eye above the shrubs.

Lord,

I give you my soul. A thing you know better than me. A texture somewhere between galvanized steel and a butterfly wing.

Lord,

I give you my mind. A handwritten book with its own feet and vocal chords trying at logic like jumping rope.

Oh Lord, Your large hand smooths the ruffled feathers of wild geese. You offer a clear river of strength in your tent of meeting. You shush a whining child and redirect his tearing eyes to things from above.

Help me to love my unknown neighbors, a mysterious set of vowels and exclamations.

I trust you with the hearts minds and souls of the neighbors I have left behind. Comfort, strengthen and bless neighbors miles, timezones near and far.

QW: bumps, bruises and bugbites

Hello again. In Utah (which is closer to CA than CO), I not only learned geography, saw some places that look like Mars, I read and took some free bookmarks that said, "dont let an injury be your souvenior". This was Utah's way of saying, play it safe in Bryce Canyon, etc. On my road trip the things I acquired were: fotos on my digital camera, bug bites, a dent in my bank account in the shape of a gas pump, some receipts, a postcard from kansas, some peaches, and a can of beans that we never ended up eating. From LA, i have the sand burn on my knee from one of my last body surfing waves and some more carpet burns and bruises on my legs from my surfboard my last day surfing. (I say last but i just mean like, the most recent time I went, and someday I will go again). These burns and bruises are fading. My sister has driven away. I am far from alone, in my new home, where there is green. everywhere. But it still makes me sad to see the bruises and burns fading. My legs have acquired new souvenirs and that is bug bites I am trying not to itch with the same concentration and conviction as the mosquito bites I took home with me from Manila. I have a cat named Jackson living with me.

QW: knees

On my knees, I pray. My knees ache not with growing pains, but from surfing and lifting boxes and car tires. The weight of the tire made me fall on my knees. There are fireworks like guatemala exploding and I wonder what saints day it is? There are 5 lanes of red lights heading south and 5 lanes of white lights headed north. I am driving in circles around los angeles, as if tracing the life lines on the palm of a lover's hands wondering if we will intersect again. I will be driving through places I will never call home, will never discover the best coffee shop or where to buy the best second hand clothes. I will post office, beach, fold and stuff and charge the computer and gas up the car, tomorrow. Tomorrow. Will be. My. Last. Day. In. CALIFORNIA...for a while. Goodnight.

Another Ode

My red
is not that of bloody battlefields.
it is not
the red of love, lost or found.
it is the red
of brake lights on the freeway, flashing
again &
again &
again &
again &
again &
again.

I am the slow, angry sentence written in the memoirs
of the 100,000 on the 405 North.

I am a pop quiz on Wednesday at Noon:
How does your breath react?
How close to the edge can I push you?
How bad do you want to get there?
Go ahead, and scour the surface streets in the map of your mind.
Is there an alternative?

Around the bend, I will disappear and you will be rushing
through life again, no time to read the billboards or graffiti,
no time to search for spanish radio stations.

You will miss me, I know.