lion dancing

went to the co-op this afternoon to discover a group of young lion dancers performing on the sidewalk (glad my phone takes pics). they are amazing. i love celebrations and lunar new year is a good one 'cause it's still going.

green curry salmon pot pie

day two of emilys birthday extravaganza. we met at b star for dinner with croquettes, sangria, green curry salmon pot pie and a table of other delicious goodness. then over to buckshot for super fun dancing. real mustache vs. drawn real won hands down. i think the cherry blossoms burst this afternoon. the heat wave has forced them to open a little early.

working out & making out

em and i went to the gym and then off to the kexp 90.3 seattle radio station broadcast live from the make out room in san francisco. a lot of seattle beards showed up and made me even more homesick. went to the latin american club, then put michaels bike in the bakc of my car and headed downtown. our conversation was centered around portland when i was a little lost driving at 1am as we neared the bay bridge on ramp and said "wait where are we going again? i don't want to get on the broadway bridge." this was followed by a little pat on the shoulder recognizing my slight double life months after being in the city.

not sure what you heard in the herd

i have a big ol' crush on a boy that i am not suppose to have a crush on. either way i do, and he saw lu ming discuss the chinese astrology for 2009. well, let's just say that it is the year of the ox and, um i am a goat or excuse me a boar, not to be mistaken with bore. for better or worse i follow this stuff and well i have a copy of his notes to the sold out event(lu has another one this sunday!). in case i cannot make it i have copious notes from the lecture. words of wisdom for yours truly "Don't get your back up - you ornery goat! You will not get your way this year. I said; you will not get your way! Let plans settle but don't make any radical changes. Particularly watch your health (illness and injury is likely) and spending (economize). Stay with your best advisors and friends and do not do anything on your own. You love that herd thing anyway!" Ben broke the news that this would be a challenging year and i felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. i reached a moment of clarity he kept looking over as i sat in disbelief thinking yeah i knew that much. but, then he reminded me that it is a year to simplify and surround yourself with friends. there are few people that i can take advice from instantly and with confidence. thank goodness ben is one of them and i felt calm again with a sense of direction and resolve. this will be a challenging year and knowing that, i will be as prepared as one can be and take it all in stride, surround myself with friends and be happy that i am not a lamb as they will have it far worse. with notes in hand i headed to oakland, stopped for pomegranate wine, snapped a pic of the parking lot mural that love, and spent the evening with friends, goats in a herd. sheers to 2009!

gung hay fat choy

i have been so excited about gung hay fat choy, chinese lunar new year that it became our class focus on friday and by the end of the day i was able to write it out in mandarin. of course i was pumped to explore china town today with a friend in tow. it was awesome. we had frozen yogurt while it drizzled on us and then the sun broke out and it was time to soak up the bliss. found a box, heat strips, and an orchid (no more plants until i move). after hiking around we headed to the gym until complete exhaustion set in and then it was time for the roof top hot tub. oh yeah.

where will you go next?

yesterday:
blooming bird of paradise in january? yes it's true. if i didn't know better i would think it to be a california native, unlike myself. still ogling the abundant flora months after my arrival. i will have my pictures when i leave. saw this clever note "where will you go next?" on the side of a uhaul and it resonated with me more than the advertisers planned i'm sure. well i have resigned myself to move sans uhaul this time. i helped a friend move, had burritos with wine, and left inspired to simplify my future moves. i am up early on a sunday morning listening to KMHD checking craigslist and yes sorting, sifting, purging, and packing my meager belongings.

perpetual renewal

a friend read my ruins and i don't know if it could be any more appropriate or accurate for my life and this is exciting. the reading is in 3 parts.

situation now
uruz

strength - a wild ox
ruin of termination and new beginnings, drawing aruz indicates that life you have been living has outgrown it’s form. that form must dies that life energy can be released in a new birth, a new form. this is a ruin of passage and, as such, part of the cycle of initiation. growth and change, however, may involve passage into darkness as part of the cycle of perpetual renewal. as in nature, the progression consists of 5 parts death, decay, fertilization gestation and rebirth.

events occurring now may well prompt you to undergo a death in yourself. since self change is never coerced we are always free to resist. remain mindful that the new form the new life is always greater than the old. prepare than for opportunity disguised as loss. it could involve the loss of someone of something to which there is an intense emotional bond, and through which you are living a part of your life, a part that must be retrieved so you can live it out for yourself. in some way, that bond is being severed, a relationship radically changed, a death experience.

seek among the ashes and discover a new perspective and a new strength.

learn to adapt yourself to the demands of such a creative time.
firm principals attached to this ruin, and at the same time humility is called for, since an order to rule you must serve. this ruin puts you on notice that your soul and the universe support the new growth.

...................
action
the unknowable

____ is the end, ____ the beginning. this is the ruin of total trust and should be taken as exciting evidence of your most immediate contact with your own true destiny which, time and again, rises like the phoenix from the ashes of what we call fate.

the ___ ruin can portend a death. but that death is usually symbolic, and may relate to any part of your life as you are living it now.

relinquishing control is the ultimate challenge for the spiritual warrior.

here the unknowable informs you that it is in motion in your life. in that blankness is held undiluted potential. at the same time both pregnant and empty it comprehends the totality of being, all that is to be actualized. and if, indeed, there are “matters hidden by the gods”, you need only remember: what beckons is the creative power of the unknown.

drawing the blank ruin brings to the surface your deepest fears: will i fail? will i be abandoned? will it all be taken away? and yet your highest good, truest possibilities and all your fertile dreams are held within that blankness.

willingness and permitting are what this ruin requires, for how can you exercise control over what is not in form? the blank ruin often calls for no less an act of courage than the empty handed leap into the void. drawing it is a direct test of faith.

the blank ruin represents the path of karma -- the sum total of your actions and of their consequences. at the same time, this ruin teaches that the very depths of old karma shift and evolve and you shift and evolve. nothing is predestined: the obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings.

whenever you draw the blank ruin, take heart: no that the work of self-change is progressing in your life.

....................................

new situation

B
growth

another of the cycle ruins, berkana denotes a form of fertility that fosters growth both symbolicly and actually. the growth may occur in affairs of the world, family matters, ones relationship to ones self or to the divine.

a ruin that leads to blossoming and ripening, berkana is concerned with the flow of beings into their new forms. it’s action is gentle, penetrating and pervasive.

what is called for here is going into things deeply, with care and awareness. first disperse resistance, then accomplish the work. for this to happen, your will must be clear and controlled, your motives correct. any dark corner should be cleansed; this must be carried out diligently and sometimes with expert help. modesty, patience, fairness, and generosity are called for here. once resistance is dispersed and rectification carried out and seen to hold firm, then, through steadfastness and right attitude, a blossoming can occur.