Sprizee :: A simple girl replete with complications

I don't believe in quantum physics when it comes to matters of the heart.

I believe in handwritten letters, photographs of small moments, enthusiasm, laughter, thoughtfully reaching out to offer help and graciously accepting it, admitting you don't have all the answers (or any of them sometimes), brutal honesty with those closest to you, finding the good in every situation no matter how dark, champagne cocktails, making meals for people in crisis, the written word, saying please and thank you, holding doors open for strangers, every sentence that crosses Robin Williams' lips in Dead Poet's Society and the wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Arrow straight to the heart.

Hoop Dreams director has turned Roger Ebert's biography "Life Itself" into a documentary of the same name. It opens tomorrow and I can't wait to see it. There is a 1,000,000% chance it will make me cry both happy and sad.

When Ebert got sick and started to lose his ability to communicate as effectively and immediately with the people around him, he stumbled into social media - specifically Twitter - and the world was never the same. I miss his daily observations, but I'm glad there are others - including his wife Chaz - that continue to update @ebert. In a small way it makes it feel like Roger is still with us. By that I mean that the things that he loved still have meaning to many and the lessons that he taught us continue to inspire legions of fans and admirers. Not a bad legacy.

And also, of course, all the words he left behind. "The movies that last, the ones we return to, don't always have lofty themes or Byzantine complexities. Sometimes they last because they are arrows straight to the heart."

Take a hike.

I suddenly remembered how much I enjoy The Writer's Almanac. For the past few weeks I've been yearning to go for a hike. So this, of course, was perfect.

 

How To Regain Your Soul by William Stafford

Come down Canyon Creek trail on a summer afternoon
that one place where the valley floor opens out. You will see
the white butterflies. Because of the way shadows
come off those vertical rocks in the west, there are
shafts of sunlight hitting the river and a deep
long purple gorge straight ahead. Put down your pack.

Above, air sighs the pines. It was this way
when Rome was clanging, when Troy was being built,
when campfires lighted caves. The white butterflies dance
by the thousands in the still sunshine. Suddenly, anything
could happen to you. Your soul pulls toward the canyon
and then shines back through the white wings to be you again.

The Head and the Heart

And the memories we made
Will never be lost, no.

L'important, c'est de continuer.

“Let everything happen to you
Beauty and terror
Just keep going
No feeling is final” 
― Rainer Maria Rilke

Electric Co.

I just found this random text file on my computer entitled birthday...

5 friends, 6 cameras, 1 freshly baked chocolate cake, 2 candles that magically added up to 37, a slight breeze, lots of sunshine and a perfect sunset.

Ah right, from the time I surprised The Dude with an Electric Boat Company rental out on Lake Union for his 37th birthday. I also neglected to mention the baby in my belly and how we kept the boat out for longer than we originally rented it for. I highly recommend you rent one of these suckers. So fun.

2011 Looking Back

2011 Looking Back, originally uploaded by sprizee.

I spend New Year's Day at Carkeek Park, pretending the water isn't simply the Puget Sound and is actually the Pacific Ocean. A few days later I drive to the real thing and write my resolutions in the sand. Floss daily. Say yes more. Do the right thing, not the easy thing. Bread is broken with friends over turkey and all the trimmings for another Friendsgiving. I fly to Las Vegas on business. A week later I fly to Paris. In Paris I start wondering if perhaps there's a big change looming in the future.

It turns out the big change in my life isn't just a freshly remodeled bathroom at home, but news that later this year a new roommate will be moving in. A day later, on the 11th year anniversary of The Dude proposing to me, I surprise him with news of the new roommate. We're thrilled and shocked and excited and freaked out all at once. Other things happen like morning sickness, pregnancy fatigue, weddings of long time friends and birthing classes. But mostly the rest of the year is a blur of happy excitment and anticipation. 

On October 10 my due date comes and goes, and still we wait. 12 days later, after being induced and 3 days of labor Hendrik Orson finally arrives on October 22. The rest of the year is another blur of more happy memories and firsts. At the begining of the 2011, I had a goal in mind that "done is better than perfect" having struggled too many years never getting to things because it wasn't the perfect time, or the perfect place. Let me tell you, it was exhausting constantly waiting for the moon and the stars to align. But letting go of perfection, and just focusing on the doing, was the thing that allowed me to accomplish so many goals things in 2011. 

And it turns out sometimes done is equal to perfect. Especially when there's a Henry involved.

2010 Looking Back

2010 Looking Back

2010 Looking Back, originally uploaded by sprizee.

I drive to the ocean and discover that New Year's resolutions will write themselves if you let them. I learn Kung Fu. I take a roadtrip down to Portland with my mom and meet up with Misty and her sister to watch The English Department's wedding show. We ooh and ahh and then we drive home.

I help Heather and Altrooist with the 1st Annual Drunken Spelling Bee. Heather is brilliant (as always!) and talks Luke Burbank into hosting. I fly to New Orleans to celebrate the marriage of Rachel and Chris and my 8th wedding anniversary. I meet Naomi and Rocky for the first time. Misty and Chris are there too. I decide I want to take all of these people with me on all my future vacations.

I drive back down to Portland with Misty to help her pick out a wedding dress at the lovely English Department. I spend a long weekend in Astoria, Oregon. I sip coffee, chat with my mom, read a book about Richard Feynman, tour decaying museums, hike up a very tall column, visit Canon Beach and generally enjoy the drizzle.

I bike to Gas Works Park to picnic with 7 happily unemployed people and 1 adorable puppy. I attend a wedding where I dance outside in the grass in 90 degrees until my feet are so impossibly bistered that I have to kick off my shoes. I keep dancing.

Work is non-stop busy. Then Misty and Chris get married! I want to give a toast but I'm too blubbering and teary to even stand up.

I visit San Juan Island and fall in love with Washington all over again. I club a golf ball around at Smashputt! I fly to San Francisco for less than 24 hours. A week later I fly back to San Fransisco.

This time Rachel and Chris are also in town and we meet up to devour the Zuni Cafe chicken. Then they take me to this place in the Tenderloin with a secret entrance where you need a password to get in. The drinks are killer.

I give up on the summer and start looking forward to fall. I visit Coupeville on the way to the pumpkin patch with Neilson, Stacy and The Dude for our annual Farmoween trip.

My stupid inherited car finally dies. Luckily it dies in front of my house. I black out multiple teeth in the name of the dead. I go rock climbing with Misty. Indoors. With a padded floor.

I fly to Boston. I'm in love. Then I fly to New York. More city love. I have the most amazing meal at Sushi of Gari 46. I continue to have fantastic food everywhere I go, like The Spotted Pig and Russ & Daughters.

Rachel and Chris are in town too! I try to catch my flight back to Seattle and Delta refuses to let me on because I'm 5 minutes late. I cry and then I pull it together. I catch a cab back to NYC and crash with Rachel and Chris. We hit the Breslin. Life is good.

We wander around NYC some more. The weather is perfect. Blue skies and warmish. I look up and we're in Washington Square Park. It's so warm outside it feels like I'm getting sunburnt. It's the best feeling ever. Then I almost miss my flight back to Seattle again.

Back in Seattle I bake. It snows. I buy a new car.  I roast my first turkey for Thanksgiving. I obsess about what to bring to Cook Book Club. I sit by the fireplace and write Christmas cards, enjoy the little things and bake some more.

I remind myself that I don't need to be attached to the Internet every waking moment of the day and that done is better than perfect.

2009 Looking Back

The general specific.

There are all these randoms things I keep meaning to share, but then the idea of doing it just right allows me to postpone it until I have more time, better hair, the stars align and I'm rich beyond belief. So far that's pretty much gotten me no where. Or somewhere. That somewhere being where this only gets updated once every 2 months, or less. No goods.

So here's some random stuff stuck in my head.

I read a reference to JM Barrie, author of Peter Pan,  this AM and then spent time recounting how fascinating I found this Radio Lab episode about stress and its effect on everything else in our life aka Growing Up is Awfuler then All the Awful things that Ever Were. Have you discovered Radio Lab yet? It's entertaining, inspiring, thought provoking and educational. I loves it.

Every year The Dude heads to Sasquatch with a bunch of hilarious Irish people to enjoy 3 days of music and camping. In theory this sounds fun. Actually, I'm sure it is fun. I mean, SHE & HIM! But it's way less fun for me since it also involves super overpriced beer, awful food, extreme weather (unpredictably both hot and cold), dirty showers and a lot of standing with strangers who might step on your toe or throw up on your shoes. I know, I'm such a killjoy. I'm not really, but it's taken me years to realize ear festivals are not my thing.

Instead I started planning a trip to Astoria, Oregon. I've wanted to go here for years. I plan to rent a bike, walk on the beach, sip lots of coffee and eat lots of fresh, local food. Maybe take a few photos too. Have you been? Do you have tips? I've already accepted the fact that traffic down and back will probably be slow and the hotel prices will be jacked. Don't care. Still can't wait.

Watched Midnight Express this weekend. I think that film is less a look into what actually happened and more a look into the mind of Oliver Stone. It also reminded me of that story my mom shared about traveling thru Turkey in the 60s with her boyfriend Bill who happened to have some hashish on him. Nothing happened. He didn't get caught, but still. Eek.

More later or, possibly, just a photo. 

Is this thing still on? Yep. (Sort of.)

This is too strange not to share.

So I have this awful habit of letting my hair get to a place I like to call Crazytown before I actually decide to schedule an appointment to whip it back into shape. Weeks before are typically proceeded by me pulling my hair into a ponytail in a lame attempt to keep it tame enough to prevent people from crossing to the other side of the street once they see me. Perhaps I'm exaggerating a little bit. But not much. Trust me. Rat's nest comes to mind.

So last weekend after realizing my hair had once again come to the point of unmanageable I decided to call up my guy to schedule an appointment. The guy who cut my hair 2 months ago. The guy who's been cutting my hair for the last 10 years. I dial, and I'm greeted by an automated recording which tells me the phone number has been disconnected. The phone number is no longer in service. Wha?

So I go looking for his email. But then I remember it was in my old work account and I didn't bother to save it. I didn't bother to save it because when I left that job I pretty much delete every email I had ever received. 6 years worth. By pretty much I mean I DELETED EVERY SINGLE ONE and never looked back. So emailing him was out.

So I did what any sane, slightly stalkerish person would do. I googled him. And I found his Facebook page.

So I friended him and I waited for confirmation that he had friended me back. Tuesday night I get an email that he's added me to his account. Cool.

So today I went to his Facebook page to send him a message to see if he's still cutting hair. Except I can't. Because he's unfriended me. WHA? 

Long story short, I still need a hair cut (and I really should stop using the word SO so much). Damn it.