Upping Joy

13. My mom was visiting, and I took her out for a glorious dinner.  Delicious Italian food at Lococo’s, with giant portions and excellent tiramisu.  And, you know, time with my wonderful mom.
14. My family and I went to Kabuki in San Francisco.  Kabuki is a Japanese style bathhouse with a steam room, sauna, hot bath, and a cold bath, plus tea, lemon and cucumber water, and a wonderful atmosphere.  It was relaxing, beautifying, and very soothing.
15. One the last day of my mom’s visit we had a great lunch at Flacos, a vegan Mexican restaurant, then swung by Sweet Adeliene’s for coffee/chai and baked goods, and finally took a walk around Rockridge and Elmwood.  Yo, East Bay?  I love you.  And I love my mom.
16. On a beautiful California day I bought myself a danish and a coffee and walked around, and remembered why I live here.
17. I got a massage!  It was so refreshing and beautiful.
18. After said massage, instead of rushing around all crazy, I took my time, stopped at the library for some new reads, picked up farmer’s market goodies, and relaxed.  No stressing post-massage.

Aerials and Israelis

24. Throughout March I regularly participated in Premium Green forums and commented on sister blogs at Skirt.com.  I love being part of a (virtual) community of writers.
25. I went to a gorgeous Paper Doll Militia performance and watched my friends be completely badass.
26. I went to a J Street mixer and hung out with Israelis.  We drank to sarcasm.  (Fear not, Buddhists, mine was a gingerale).
27. Going to that mixer, I also met someone who not only can help me set up a podcast (coming soon on my website!), he runs a local arts and culture review that I can write for, giving me access to free tickets to stuff.  I’ll keep you informed.

What I Did for Passover

9. Okay, I’m Buddhist but my sister’s Jewish (long story) and as a result I’ve long been involved in Jewish holidays.  Especially if they involve food.  This Passover my mother came to visit my sis and me in the Bay.  On the first night of Passover we all got together for family Seder.  My sister had about four different Haggadahs: a women’s Haggadah, a social justice Haggadah, a peace Haggadah, and a Santa Cruz (*cough* hippie *cough*) Haggadah.  We mixed them up with our vegetarian dinner.  Though I’m not Jewish, I really love sharing some traditions with my family, especially as we also invent our own.  We talked about creating a family Haggadah, one that combined elements from those we used, and drew on other traditions as well.  “I’m fusion-Jewish,” my sister explained.  I like that.  It reminded me that spirituality isn’t only about official worship or like-minded spiritual community.  It’s all manner of reminders of a larger picture, a story bigger than just yourself.  That means activism with a broad vision, offering service, communicating honestly and kindly, and much more.  And for me it also means feminist-hippie-progressive-peace-fusion Seder with my family.  You know, to become a fully enlightened Buddha for the benefit of all sentient beings.
10. With the help of my wonderful, patient mother I got a plane ticket so I can get to the retreat this May!

Life is Weird

20. AT&T sent me a weird bill.  Apparently they charge for all that drama—it’s like a play!  So I called them and got it all sorted.
21. I paid my bills like a responsible person.  Go me.
22. Okay, weird, but my landlords never told me I had to set up my gas and electric.  Since lots of my utilities are included in rent, I figured it all was.  But long story short, it’s not.  I resolved the mystery today by setting up my gas and electric payments.  Still, totally strange that I’ve lived here two months without knowing I needed to do this.  Yet now I did.
23. I looked at my closet the other day and I have some fabulous outfits, but sadly, many of them are not suitable for work.  Or at least they aren’t professional.  I love my skull-and-stars t-shirt that hangs just so that one tattoo shows and another barely peeks at (I have more than two, kids!).  But the world doesn’t really support these kind of fashion in the workplace.  So I did it.  I broke down and bought normal shirts.
24. Washington state sent me a juror duty questionnaire.  I got to write “I no longer live in Washington” about a billion times.
25. My bike is now here in California, so I finally bought a lock and locked her up in my building’s secure bike location.  She’s so happy to be with the other bicycles!

I am now able to make smoothies and baked goods

50. My mom’s visiting (yay!) and with her help, I finally did it: I bought shelves.  My apartment is, as I’ve said before, little, and has precious little storage space.  Shelves would be fantastic, especially because I have a tremendous number of books.  But I know nothing about installing shelves, so little that I hesitated to try buying them, let alone putting them up.  But bought them I have!  I bought shelves for my books.
51. My shower is leaking.  It’s driving me nuts because, a) it makes a dripping noise, and b) it wastes water.  They won’t let me be a hippie anymore if I waste water.  I’ve tried every trick I can to fix it, but alas, no.  So I talked to my manager and left him a note.  He can be a bit flaky, but at least phase 1 of the “stop the shower leak” program is completed.
52. With all my stuff arriving my apartment was a mess.  I decided I needed to get things put away.  Problem is, there isn’t a lot of “away” available.  There is, however, storage space under my bed.  With great effort I got my whole under-the-bed area utilized and organized.  Whew.
53. I figured out what I’m putting up and got some more things sorted.
54. My wonderful mother bought me mixing bowls and mixing spoons, so now I can mix like a fiend.
55. She also bought me a gorgeous, stunning, multi-speed blending.  Pureed soups, smoothies, oh my!
56. The increase in stuff has of course resulted in an increase in mess.  I sorted almost everything in the main room into boxes, got them somewhat ordered, recycled a few things, and put my bike in her new home outside.  So there’s now plenty of room in my home again.

I earn a tiny amount of money!

46. I turned in my invoice for that paying blog.
47. That invoice, though, meant I had to set up a PayPal account.  Which I have now done.  Go me.
48. Once, years ago, I dated somebody who refused to check his bank balance.  He didn’t want to know how much money he did (or didn’t) have.  It was honestly one of the reasons I dumped him.  We dated for years and years and were about to move in together (for the second time) but I couldn’t handle the bank balance thing.  I couldn’t share rent with somebody who didn’t know if his check would bounce.
And yet here I am, years later, having gone weeks without checking my bank balance because 1) I couldn’t figure out how to do it online, and 2) I was scared to look because I wouldn’t have any money.  But I did it.  I figured out the online thing, and I looked.  And it turns out I have money.  Reassuring.  Most importantly I checked instead of angrily announcing, “I will NEVER check my bank balance” when pressed with a financial question.

49. I’ve spent several hours this month researching writing gigs, which will, I think, translate to successful pitching and writing work over time.

Being a Writer

Why “being a writer” both sucks and is awesome: you don’t have to make money to identify that way, but you do have to actually write stuff.  And amazingly, for all I sometimes feel I just lie around uselessly, I have been writing.  Witness:

42. I’ve had a dream of doing this crazy comic with my sister for awhile now.  I finally sat down and wrote a rough story for the first comic today.  It’s about vegan bicycle gangs in the East Bay.  Yes, it will be wonderful.  And it will have recipes!
43. I revised my writing aspirations for the month because they were a little too grand.  So grand that I got discouraged and didn’t bother with them.  Now they’re more things I believe I could actually do, giving me a better chance of actually doing them.
44. The magazine I’m hoping to intern at wrote me back to arrange an interview.  I’m psyched!
45. That magazine also sent me some follow up questions.  After completely overthinking it, I sent them my answers.
46. I had my interview.  Think it went really well.  I had to proofread something, which was terrifying.  But the folks were nice and I think I can be involved.  Wow, I’ll actually do an internship in something writing related.  Woah.
47. A website I want to blog for asked me to send some samples and I did.  It’s a lefty website (more details to follow if I get it), and they said, “You had me at leftist knitting circle,” in reference to my college days leading Crafty Progressives.  Ah, *hearts.*  I worked hard on my sample writing, and I hope they like it.
48. I kept up with my NiceBuddhistGrrrl.Wordpress.com blog all month long.
49. And I kept up my twice weekly Skirt.com posts as NiceBuddhistGrrrl.
50. Plus I kept up with this blog all month long and posted regularly.
51. But most importantly, I wrote.  I wrote 5 times a week, every week, for ALL of March.  So I am a writer.

Emma Goldman Moves In

42. I finally got my landlords to fix my windows!  The windows weren’t broken, just funky.  The kitchen window now can be closed without having to go outside and push it closed, though it still requires special attention.  And now both living room windows open and close just like any other windows.  Magical!
43. Gave my apartment a very thorough spring cleaning.  In my vigor, I almost broke the cheap plastic blinds that came with my windows.  This is probably why I normally don’t clean so enthusiastically: it’s dangerous to objects.
44. I put up some decorations.  Just little travel reminders, but they look nice and bring back good memories.
45. My mom came to visit and brought ALL my remaining stuff.  So (with her help and the help of my sister) unloaded all my things.  For a person who’s supposedly semi-nomadic, I own a lot of stuff.
46. After all that stuff got into my teeny tiny apartment, I unpacked some of it.
47. I assembled my little café table, so now I have a proper table in my kitchen.
48. I also put up some pictures and other decorations that had made the long journey from Washington state.
49. Most importantly, I found a home for my beloved houseplant, Emma Goldman.  She’s been with me since college, and she is now settled in my kitchen.  Now that Emma Goldman is moved in, I’m officially home.

Exploring Joy

8. One of the interesting things about making these lists is that it becomes clear what areas of my life I’m putting time into.  Lately, “joy” has been a bit neglected.  Don’t get me wrong, I do things that I enjoy.  But the way I defined joy for this project, well, I haven’t been giving as much to that.
Then today a friend called me up and invited me to a free community hot tub.  This is one of the best things about the East Bay: there are hidden corners of magic and beauty.  This afternoon my friend and I soaked in a large wooden hot tub outdoors, surrounded by a huge, tranquil yard of giant old trees and native plants growing wildly.  From the outside, the gate to this place looks like any other on the modest residential street.  Behind it, it was like my childhood images of what a secret garden would be.  Except with a hot tub, a hammock, and random soaking hippies.  It was so calming.  I felt alive and at peace, dipping into the water, then lying out to dry in the sun with roots and grasses all around me.  It was exactly what I needed: a little magic, a little joy.

9. FINALLY visited Bakesale Betty where the brownies are so good you’re moaning with delight midway through the first bite.  These are some of the best brownies I’ve ever eaten, and I have consumed a great number of brownies in my time.

10. One of the great joys in life is the library.  I particularly love reading magazines in squishy library chairs.  So I did just that when I needed a break.  I sat down, read a magazine, and relaxed.

11. I went to A’Cuppa Tea.  I have weird reactions to coffee which limits my ability to drink it, but tea I can have all the time.  I love tea passionately, and I heart teahouses.  A Cuppa Tea has an overwhelming selection, and I hope to sample it all.

12. A local spa is having a sale and I bought me a massage.

Yoga mats and unknown muscles

15. I bought a yoga mat.  I already had a yoga mat, but it was in Washington still, and it’s occurred to me that if I really want to stay healthy, I need more than (at best) once a week exercise.  A little yoga or pilates a day, or at least the option, would be nice.  And I don’t want to wait until I have my WA yoga mat to get started.
16. Broke in that yoga mat today with some Pilates.  I’ve got these 10 minutes yoga and Pilates sessions on instant play on my Netflix account.  Though they’re no replacement for classes, I noticed that I need a little bit of exercise daily (or close to daily), and 10 minutes is about perfect.  Especially since my core is currently jell-o.  But I did my 10 minutes today, and maybe with some consistency that won’t be the case forever.
17. I took a long walk around the East Bay on a beautiful day.
18. I went to a yoga class.  Again, totally unknown muscles were worked.  But afterward I felt nice and stretched out and glad I went.