Bloggy

So, I decided I really didn't have much going on in my life right now, and decided to start a new club! A hula hooping club! There's one here in Portland already, but the girls who run it I think are running out of steam. Plus, they meet on Sundays at noon, and that's pretty inconvenient for a lot of folks. Many Sunday's I am not out of bed by then! So, Portland Hoolagans was born! More out of a need for hooping girlfriends than anything else. I can't be out hooping without people asking about it, or weirdos approaching me, so now I will have something legitimate to tell the cool people, and hopefully our numbers will scare off the gawkers. Yay! And just as I was researching music choices for my new club (with officially 1 member, and 4 invites out so far) and I ran across this old photo of yours truly waaay back in 2004 when I was a member of the Bay Area Hoopers. See if you can tell which one is me!! Those were the days! Do you see that sound system they have se...

During the great depression, many people were, uh, depressed. I am reading a book right now called "Dark Age Ahead," by a woman names Jane Jacobs who predicts the coming of a dark age in our culture, signaled by a breakdown of a few important aspects of our culture. Family and community (thanks to our car culture), education, (hello worthless university degrees, and schools unable to support demands)... I'm only halfway through, there are more. Anyhoo, Jacobs uses the Great Depression to foreshadow what may lie ahead. She lived through it the first time. She says it was unemployment that made life hell for people, and differed greatly depending on what part of the country people lived. The constant rejection for work was overwhelming for many people, especially those supporting a family. It was hard for people in their 20s, I understand, and harder for those in their 30s who may have gotten an education and a start to their careers before feeling useless and idle. But it ...

Being broke has its pluses. Among them, it has forced me to reevaluate everything I have ever known about work, money and the world. For instance, have you ever wondered what it really costs to live? Let's say you couldn't work for an entire year, how much money would you need just to survive? Or, how many hours would you have to work at a later date in order to repay that debt? Well, I sat down an crunched some numbers. It's pretty shocking what we civilized humans spend our money on. Sure, we go to work to get money to survive, but I discovered that a lot of the money I need to keep going is money that I spend on work itself; clothes, getting to an from work, relaxation after work, etc. Take transportation. I live where I can walk everywhere...except for work which varies and is usually across town. Car loan: $150/month car insurance: $70 Gas: between $60 and $90 Monthly total: About $300 Yearly total: About $3600 That doesn't sound like much. But, when you've got...

Today marks the day of my first grease fire! I was cooking Indian food for dinner, when I heard some weird crackling from the kitchen where my vegetable sukha was supposed to be simmering. It was not simmering, it was full of flames! It's times like that when I wish I'd bought a fire extinguisher, or at least some emergency grease-fire baking soda. The first thing that ran through my head was that I had planned to search the apartment complex for the nearest fire extinguisher-- something that conveniently slipped my mind months ago. The second thing... what the heck can I throw on here that won't make it worse? Water? No! Water? No! What else? Milk? Popcorn... I searched my cupboards while slamming a pot lid and a pan on the fire. Finally it died down without the smoke detector going off, and I was able to save the sukha. Lesson learned. I need a fire extinguisher! It happens so fast, and fire is hot! I thought it just happened to people who deep fry stuff, or cook really f...