We? Are stuck in Hawai'i.

Well, more specifically one of our flights got cancelled, so we had the option of being stuck here over the weekend, or flying back to Dallas, staying in the airport all day, then taking our chances on a flight to Baltimore that may well also be cancelled, renting a car from Baltimore (assuming we actually arrived there) and driving home. So we chose the option that's guaranteed to get us home without stranding us somewhere we don't want to be, even if several days later.

This? Is after my flight from Hilo to Honolulu earlier this week was cancelled because the airline ceased to exist. At least this time we actually got rebooked on a new flight.

I think this is an appropriate moment for this message from AA.

If you haven't noticed, most of my photos from Hawai'i are of scenery, and a lot are of the mood shifts as the scenery shifts while you're driving or sitting in a spot. I think, in general, I take photographs that reflect the feeling of whatever I'm doing, which means if they have people in them, the people are doing something.

How about you?
Poll #1056814
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

When you travel, you take photos mostly of...

Is your travel photography representative of what you usually photograph?

What do you usually photograph?

Today, I saw a volcano.


We went up to the park just as it closed. Stood out and looked, walked through some steam vents & then walked on some lava to see Pele's seat in the near-dark. It was like the moon and god and something pretty creepy all at the same time.

Also, we ate a lot and I fell asleep on a couch on the porch.

The sun rose!


(clicking the link takes you to the gallery of sunrise photos I took this morning)

So, in another hour and 15 minutes, I'll have been awake for 24 hours solid. Keep in mind that I am still trying to shake this cold, so I am dragging.

On the other hand, I am currently looking at the Pacific [Technically, I can mostly see Turtle Bay, but the point is waves! Lapping! I see and hear them! And torches!] and I intend to use those 75 minutes to eat poke and drink pineapple juice. Right before I pass out. (clicking on the photo takes you to my unimpressive driving photos)


Love you all, miss you, wish you were here. Don't think I'm complaining. I am here in this place that I love.

I've been home from my six-day camping for three hours now without taking a shower! Or a bath!

I should probably lie down.

In 12 hours, cutegaychick and I will leave for Pennsic! Yay, Pennsic!

Watch the internets for us while we're gone, okay?

I've been trying to pick between expensive (because most of Hawai'i? Does not do hotels under $100) largely identical hotels in Hawai'i on and off for the past week. [PS - volondoinyaface, please tell me I can sleep on your floor the first week of September. Or even a high-backed Victorian chair.]

Mostly what I've accomplished is an unhealthy obsession with my favorite North Shore resort's webcam. Tiny people swimming! And driving cars! Ooh, and if you catch it at a time when other people are watching, you can see what they want to look at.

My weekend actually started Wednesday with dance practice. ( What we do to prep for a big performance, if you're interested ) After practice, we drove to the wilds of Chesterfield because garrity and family are swell. And I went to bed way early because, I think, I was still healing (I am a little in awe of people who get tattoos that take several hours, given that my own recovery time was so long).

Thursday, as mentioned, cutegaychick and I went to Natural Bridge to act like dorks.

Friday was basically - get up, run mad errands, get in car at lunch time, drive to DC. We listened to the Buffy musical on the ride up, which made at least an hour of our three hour tour go faster and more fun-like. After that and tech and trying to get food and getting dressed and watching all of the other performances, I really don't remember how the show went. Brettocks and Dave took pictures, if that helps. ( Some thoughts on the other performances, at least, since I hardly remember ours... )

Friday night missmeridian and I stayed up too late. Saturday morning was a driving comedy of errors the likes of which only DC can produce. I did not get lost, though! I did, however, get to the workshop late. But in a way that was good - it helped me approach the workshop as just another way to dance and get better and have fun. I tend to keep skulking off to the back to take notes, like writing it down will help (it will at least give me a reference) even though I'm more of a kinaesthetic/spacial learner. I feel like I have to find a way to ingest everything because it may be a year before I have a teacher in front of me again.

This time was different, though - more time to focus on refinement, more willingness to dare and fuck up, no notes taken whatsoever and hardly even a second's break from dancing. It was so cool to see so many beginners there! It was even better to dance with new people! And I left Sunday with a Sahra turn and a calibrated spin which did not suck.

Also, I feel like I've now been invited into a sisterhood of tattooed bellydancers. I think everyone who knew the tattoo is new came up to exchange tattoo stories. Though people did mistake the pomegranate on stage for chili peppers, goldfish, and a variety of other unexpected things, apparently.

So, yeah. That was a really long weekend to not feel at all like a weekend. Just like a different kind of work. I LIKE work, mind you, but it does tire a girl out.

Prompted by a similarly random non-work conversation: Bureau of Transportation statistics.

My Asheville photos are up (note, there are 2 pages).

And I am still up, too! What's with that?

I am typing this on a street corner downtown. Because the city has free wireless! Free sloooow wireless, but still, yay.

I haven't been a particularly good time, but a few hours alone with raw vegan food and public art has restored me immeasurably. Pictures later. Now, I think I will go see animals and nature stuff.

After I finish running a dance company, which it turns out is like a full-time job.

I'm on hold waiting for someone at Expedia to talk to me. You know those "for quality assurance purposes, this call may be monitored or recorded" messages?

When I worked in customer service on the phone a million and a half years ago, it always felt like that was a license to spy on me. Well, it's not. What it actually is is an opportunity for people like me who create stuff that, way down the line, gets used by my colleagues on the phone, to understand just how complicated customer service is and how badly the 'simple' things we want people to do work out in the end when we aren't vigilant about communication, training & support for those colleagues.

I know some of you are phone workers, and I thought you might appreciate that. Line management in a call center is rarely even aware of the forces that create change to what they do, but the people behind those forces listen to calls and realize just how much they fail to help to folks on the phone. Call monitoring isn't about how well phone folk do their jobs (although there are a million other monitoring tools that are supposed to do that - like those stupid "how fast did you get them off the phone" metrics); it's about how well a company is doing its job.

Of course, what would be ideal is if we structured phone work in a way that emphasized craft, so phone workers could tell us about these problems and work with us to solve them directly. I know people (including phone workers) tend to think of customer service as repetitive drudgery, but I think you could change the things you measure people on from just cost-based (did you get off the phone, how many calls did you take, what did you sell) to primarily service-based (how did you solve something, what corporate problems have you found) and change their perspective on the work like that. Yes, I do I live in a utopian world of imagination where work is concerned, thankyouverymuch.

By the way, the Expedia representative was just lovely, and it turns out that the most viable option is to cancel the current Hawai'i trip entirely and plan a new one later, not in August. Never try to book a hotel (or an effing flight - what, $900??!!) last minute in an island state during the summer.

Yeah, I saw mongoose in Hawai`i. That's pretty darn cool, and certainly the most unexpected animal sighting. They were all over outside our little cottage thing.

And now I know the plural of mongoose is acceptably: mongoose, mongeese, or mongooses.

But I think mongoose is the most reasonable, considering:

Etymology: Hindi & Marathi mãgus, from Prakrit mamgusa
: any of the viverrid mammals that comprise two subfamilies (Herpestinae and Galidiinae) often grouped in a separate family (Herpestidae), that include agile ferret-sized mammals sometimes with bands or stripes, and that feed on small animals and fruits

I was very busy. And LJ was blocked from the office (for like a week, isn't that odd?). And then we went to Hawai`i.

( What I did on my (early)summer vacation )

If any of you are in bookclubs looking for reading recommendations, I suggest Paul Campos' "Obesity Myth" and Jonathan Rauch's "Gay Marriage". The former is something everyone should read and talk about. The latter really bothered me, but would make for interesting discussions about what marriage is meant to be (as a social institution). His theory that gay marriage is good for everyone, because it's so stabilizing, ended up convincing me that marriage isn't good at all.

I need to stop going to the same places all the time so I can color in this map. Or, you know, not.



create your own personalized map of the USA
or write about it on the open travel guide

There's a good chance I'll convince my DC peeps and a certain fan of the Butchies AND Washington Social Club (snidegrrl, this show was clearly designed for you) to come to this show on the 24th.

If you're in DC for the March, you should come, too.

( pro-choice freak show )

I'm jealous of West Coasters sometimes. Like, if I lived somewhere that wasn't thousands of miles from Portland, I'd definitely be headed to Fat Girl Speaks this year.

But, since it would mean a cross-country flight two weeks before my previously scheduled cross-country and then some flight (for this very air-travel-averse girl), I doubt I'll make it. Have any of you gone before? Would it be worth the trip next year, maybe?

I'm going to the March (in less than 2 weeks now, woo hoo!). But, partly because I'm a slacker and partly because I Hate Buses, I'm not going with the local coalition. I'm staying with my DC peeps and we're going to be among the hordes of random cute disorganized marchers who don't have matching t-shirts.

I think, also, the night before me and my DC peeps are available to hook up with other exciting peeps for compelling pre-marching funs.

So, who wants to march in our itty posse? Or join us for funs?