pearl

pearl dancing at burning man. she danced with friends every sunday morning; it was her spiritual thing. she was such a powerful being. things and people flourished because of her.

janna and her burning man bike; it was later painted white and permanently decorated with flowers and such. sadly, i never made it to the festival with her.

i first encountered and became entranced by this smile in junior high school. it never changed. i'm sure gonna miss this one.

. . . . .

life never gets easier, i've learned. the most one can hope for is to not be overwhelmed by what life throws your way. ironically, the very strength that pearl helped others discover within themselves was never fully accessible to pearl when she needed it most. she constantly pushed and tested her limits in her explorations of human despair, to better equip her to help others cope with theirs. it was not necessarily a noble undertaking, in her view. it was just what she did: she gave of herself to others. those who knew her were better as a result of that.

pearl

my friend pearl died monday; i learned of her death yesterday. i am struggling to put into words how i feel about this loss.

ahead of the curve

that's where i've always striven to stay. so with that as my guiding principle, watch this. and take notes. i tell ya, i'm ON to something that's gonna be BIG.

let's make THIS happen in des moines!!

check out this link to an insane ride--entirely within the portland city limits!
or watch THIS video from 2007, which gpickle tells me is BETTER!!

i hate qwest

Chat Transcript
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Taylor B: If you are at the billing number now, I can have an automated call made to you with the security code or I would be happy to mail the security code to your billing address.
kim west: [reading from current bill] 515-XXX-XXXX-ZZZ
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kim west: yes...
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kim west: whatever. click.

the beauty of delusion: 3' passing laws

jane: "if we just had more laws to protect bicyclists, we could pedal our way right into nirvana."

dan: "jane, you ignorant slut."

ol' dan is right again. read here for today's proof that more laws don't protect bicyclsts; strict enforcement and uniform application do.

that, and an EFFECTIVE public awareness campaign about the policy of strict enforcement.

"no, really: we're just friends"

that's not completely true -- yet.

today, i became a "fan" of former governor and fellow-radio talk show host sarah palin. on facebook, anyway.

but soon, i hope to become an actual friend.

i think i have a lot to offer, in a friendship kind of way, and i think she is sharp enough to recognize that.

but time is of the essence.

the future of our democracy--our way of life--lies in the balance.

or some sort of shit like that.

wish me luck...

i'm going in!