9. re-enact a scene from the Miracle on 34th Street (32x32)

Initially, I wanted to re-enact the fountain scene from the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, because it is the most memorable to me. However, in the spirit of the season, and because I came to NYC on a Monday when the Metropolitan Museum of Art is closed, and because Alley has a book of 1,000 Things To Do in New York Before You Die, we decided to re-enact the waiting in line to see Santa at Cole(thinly veiled "Macy")'s scene from The Miracle on 34th Street by Valentine Davies.



I remember my mom reading from the edition illustrated by Tomie dePaola and I remember watching the Natalie Woods black and white version in the days leading up to Christmas.



To be honest, if I were a little less shy, I may have explained to Santa (after only a 30 minute wait in line... which is a miracle in and of itself) that I have a 32x32 list and that coming to see him was part of my wish list. But I got flustered. Alley asked him for a kiss and I asked him for some trainers. wtf. I should have tugged on his beard. I should have made Alley speak in Swedish to see if he could speak Swedish. Or I could have used sign language like in the book to prove that he really was Santa. In the end, I got the proof: the trainers which I couldn't find at the specialty running shoe store in Connecticut in the shoe department. Wish fulfilled!

24. attend Salmagundi club function (receive token). (30 x 30)

On my father's side of the family, I am somehow related to a man named Irad Hawley, which if you ask me, is a great name.

Okay, so I intended to just look this up, just to read up on Irad... and my day has been swept away in a time vortex.

My great-great-great-grandfather, Irad Hawley, married Sarah Holmes and they built a wonderful house at 47 Fifth Avenue, NYC, NY. They had 8 children (Lucy Ann, Maria Louise, Judson Elisha, Chauncey Irad, Daniel Edwin, Addison Holmes, Henry Eugene, Sarah Lavina - all great names [except Chauncey]). My great-great-grandfather, Henry Eugene, was born in 1838 and was married to Elizabeth Jane Lockwood in 1862. He was a partner in a merchant company, Carter, Hawley & Co. They had four children (Elizabeth, Edith Judson, Sarah Sadie, Henrietta Eugenie). In 1897 Sarah Sadie married Dr. Thadeus Halstead (my great-grandfather) who was an orthopedic surgeon in New York City. They had two children Halstead Hawley and Ogden King. My grandfather, Halstead Hawley went to Yale, which is why he was not drafted into the army during the first world war. He married Muriel Battey (daughter of Donald Elerby Battey and Muriel Crawford [He married Muriel Crawford September 17, 1915, daughter of John Crawford and Mabel Nast {granddaughter of Thomas Nast}). My father was the youngest of their three sons, Matthew King.

The house that Irad and Sarah built is now where the Salmagundi Club resides. The Salmagundi Club originated in 1871 as a sketch class in Johnathan Scott Hartley's studio and purchased this mid-nineteenth century brownstone house in 1917 as its second home. It was cited in 1957 for its architectural distinction by the Society of Architectural Historians and the Municipal Art Society.

Originally formed as the Salmagundi Sketch Club in 1871, the Club adopted its present name a hundred years ago after Washington Irving published his potpourri of wit and wisdom called "The Salmagundi Papers". The name also serves as the club dining room's famous "Salmagundi Stew". For a more complete history of the artists, read the exerpt from Alexander W. Katlan's book, "The Salmagundi Club Painting Exhibition Records 1889 to 1939: A Guide to the American Exhibition of Oil Paintings and the Annual Exhibition and Auction Sale of Pictures."


About The Salmagundi Club

Founded in 1871, the Salmagundi Club is one of the oldest art organizations in the United States. Housed in an historic brownstone mansion in Greenwich Village, New York City, the Club offers programs including art classes, exhibitions, painting demonstrations, and art auctions throughout the year for members and the general public.

The Salmagundi facilities include three galleries, a library, an elegant period parlor, and a restaurant and bar with vintage pool tables. All facilities are available for special events and private rentals.



The Club owns a collection of over 1,500 works of art spanning its 140 year history and has a membership of nearly 850 artists and patrons. Its members have included important American artists such as Thomas Moran, William Merritt Chase, Louis Comfort Tiffany, N.C. Wyeth and Childe Hassam. Today the Club builds on this legacy by providing a center for the resurgence of representational art in America.

Alley and I traipsed down to the Salmagundi Club on Monday (after going to sit on Santa's lap at Macy's) and to attend the 104th Annual Thumb-Box Exhibition. There were some really wonderful pieces on display, my favorite was this pastel of a china teacup and a lemon slice by Barbara Groff.


Alley is an amazing illustrator, founder of Dutch Kills Theatre, and is also a model, maybe she'll join the club! I wanted to buy a tote, but they didn't have any left so I bought a t-shirt instead and I'll put it in a memory quilt... whenever I get to making a memory quilt for my own shirts.

1. donate hair to Wigs for Kids (32x32)

As part of the 32x32, I cut off the mermaid hair and donated it to the Wigs for Kids organization! Originally, I was going to wait until I got back to LaLa to cut it off with Gretta after the winter, but then I started thinking that there's a kid out there who needs some hair this winter way more than I do!



Sarah's agreed to do the fix after everything is cut off, but I invited a bunch of friends to come over last Saturday help.

I had seen pictures on the interwebs: you braid it up into little bits all around and then put a rubber band near the scalp and another at the end of the braid, that way it doesn't unravel when you snipsnip.

Apparently, no one else is as intrigued by cutting off hair as I am! It just seems like something we've always been told not to do ourselves and to leave to a professional; and that cutting off our own hair symbolizes some sort of grief or emotional turmoil. So, I wanted to offer everyone an opportunity to do something kind of forbidden without the emotional hangover because it's for a great cause. My sister joined me and Sarah via Skype and we did it!

15 inches to Wigs for Kids



and a work appropriate version of the aeon flux hair...



If you like this hair cut, give Sarah a shout!

making the next list: 33x33

It's that time of year when I review the last list, see what I can get done in the next few months and make my holiday/birthday gift requests. Let's review though what has been accomplished over the past three years, because holy shit, it's a lot!

(and thanks hyperbole and a half for this joke...)

(30x30) 2. go on a dog-sled trek in vermont. (Complete)
(30x30) 3. quit smoking cigarettes. (Complete)
(30x30) 4. see Mission of Burma live. (Complete)
(30x30) 5. go sky-diving. (Complete)
(30x30) 7. figure out my weight, in "stones." (Complete)
(30x30) 8. Finish ONE tom robbins book. (Complete
(30x30) 9. finish 1 quilt. (Complete)
(30x30) 10. learn to knit socks, make Mary Zwarg socks with wool from Colorado. (Complete)
(30x30) 11. read Catch 22. (Complete)
(30x30) 12. go to Barbados, snorkel. (Complete)
(30x30) 13. and drive a scooter, come home alive(Complete)
(30x30) 14. learn to hula dance (Complete)
(30x30) 16. go water-skiing (Complete)
(30x30) 18. eat sea urchin. (Complete)
(30x30) 19. ride a bike from my house to mom's and back in one day. (Complete)
(30x30) 20. try living gluten-free for a month. (Complete)
(30x30) 21. meditate/yoga at least once a week. (Complete)
(30x30) 22. drink suggested amounts of water daily. (Complete)
(30x30) 23. broaden my communist horizons, attend something inspired by a marxist. (Complete)
(30x30) 24. attend Salmagundi club function (receive token)
(30x30) 25. join a professional association. (Complete)
(30x30) 26. make a mobile. (Complete)
(30x30) 27. take a metal-welding course. (Complete)
(30x30) 28. kiss an elephant, a real live elephant. (Complete)
(30x30) 29. play an entire game of tennis, keep score. (Complete)
(30x30) 30. finally attend Halloween party as Rogue from X-Men. (Complete)
(31x31) 1. Knit all the things (Complete)
(31x31) 2. Read ONE Vonnegut novel (Complete)
(31x31) 3. Go to the opera (Complete)
(31x31) 4. Crochet a doily(Complete)
(31x31) 5. Get my palms read(Complete)
(31x31) 6. Serve home-made pierogis and golabki to someone other than family. (Complete)
(31x31) 7. Increase flexibility to do a turtle pose (Complete)
(31x31) 8. Go to a professional sport’s game (Complete)
(31x31) 9. open an etsy stall (Complete)
(31x31) 10. drive an antique car (Complete)
(31x31) 11. complete a 10K, donate $1000 to livestrong charity (Complete)
(31x31) 12. Allocate 35% of net income to personal debt (Complete)
(31x31) 13. Finish quilt #2 (Complete)
(31x31) 14. Join activity association, like a tennis club. (Complete)
(31x31) 15. play dominoes with dirty old men. (Complete)
(31x31) 16. Go bowling at the White House (complete)
(31x31) 18. Visit a state never visited before (other than Montana and North Dakota)(Complete)
(31x31) 19. go sailing (Complete)
(31x31) 20. Knit an adult size sweater or cardigan. (Complete)
(31x31) 21. Have a birthday party (Complete)
(31x31) 22. Touch a spider, a big hairy spider. (Complete)
(31x31) 23. Write and illustrate a children’s book. (Complete)
(31x31) 25. hike the Appalachian Trail (Complete)
(31x31) 27. watch top 100 AFI films (Complete)
(31x31) 28. grow mermaid hair, go to the mermaid parade on Coney Island(Complete)
(31x31) 29. International Yarn Bomb Day (Complete)
(31x31) 30. complete Nation’s Triathlon (Complete)
(31x31) 31. Move out of my mother’s house. (Complete)
(32x32) 1. donate hair to Wigs for Kids (Complete)
(32x32) 2. establish Needles to Say (Complete)
(32x32) 3. complete a century ride (Complete)
(32x32) 4. close out corporate bank account, open up checking at a credit union (Complete)
(32x32) 5. go play seal/otter/walrus (Complete)
(32x32) 8. go on 3 blind dates (complete)
(32x32) 9. re-enact a scene from the Miracle on 34th Street (Complete)
(32x32) 10. vote (complete)
(32x32) 13. Send a message in a bottle (complete)
(32x32) 16. Fold a 100 origami cranes and give them to someone special (Complete)
(32x32) 17. smell a coffee plantation (complete)
(32x32) 18. go to a silent meditation weekend retreat (Complete)
(32x32) 19. go on tour of the Capitol (Complete)
(32x32) 21. make garden needles, knit a blanket with +10 strands of yarn (Complete)
(32x32) 22. Complete a half marathon (complete)
(32x32) 23. read something by David Foster Wallace (Complete)
(32x32) 24. make an anonymous donation (complete)
(32x32) 25. improve race time on another triathlon (Complete)
(32x32) 27. eat something I can't pronounce (complete)
(32x32) 28. raise an anxiety-provoking amount of money for a good cause (complete)
(32x32) 29. knit a blanket with +10 strands of yarn (Complete)
(32x32) 30. blow kisses to all highway patrol cars (Complete)
(32x32) 31. steal a choir suit and run around singing, clapping, and praising (Complete)

Left over from previous years:
(30x30) 1. go see Kandinsky's "thirty" in Paris
(30x30) 6. take sailing lessons for a tiller boat.
(30x30) 15. learn to play the russian marche by mozart
(30x30) 17. go to one lecture per university in DC consortium.
(31x31) 17. Keep to a budget with a 10% margin of error.
(31x31) 24. Go ice-skating in Canada.
(31x31) 26. Climb a water-tower without permission.
(32x32) 6. dye & spin my own yarn
(32x32) 7. watch all the alfred hitchock movies
(32x32) 11. go to Lee's college graduation
(32x32) 12. Be a member of the audience in a TV show
(32x32) 14. Run to the top of the Statue of Liberty
(32x32) 15. Go geocatching
(32x32) 20. finish trunk projects
(32x32) 26. swim across the Long Island Sound
(32x32) 32. sit in the gallery during a Supreme Court trial

... I think the 33x33 might be a catch-up list...

3. go to the opera (31x31)

Children in the Mist: A Horror Opera


From Michael Beeman's article July 14, 2012:
Children in the Mist follows a plot-line familiar to anyone even loosely acquainted with King’s writing: the average inhabitants of Anywhere, Maine, are visited by the supernatural when an ominous mist rolls in from the sea. The townsfolk shore up at the local grocery story, the setting for much of the opera’s action, and wait for the mist to clear. It doesn’t. They panic. Soon the townsfolk find themselves fighting each other as well as the supernatural creatures that begin attacking them from the mist at night.

The crew finds inventive ways to use light, darkness, and obfuscation to create atmosphere in a spare set (But no mist! None!). The shrieks come mostly from the stage, but each is answered in turn with a hearty laugh from the audience (a note to horror opera producers: half a corpse is more terrifying than a full corpse any day). Although audiences of Children in the Mist are unlikely to leave clamoring for further operatic adaptations of King’s entire catalog, they will have to admit they had fun watching innovative Riverbend Opera Company’s clever mash-up.

... we left during the first intermission... the only reason we stayed that long was for Alexandra Friendly,


wife of my buddy from highschool, Oliver, and bff of my bff, Alley. They could give a theatrical critique which I don't have the expertise. All I know is Alex was awesome and the dude who played the shop-keeper was so amazingly over-the-top. maybe that's what opera is supposed to be?

10. vote (32 x 32)

TCB, baby.

13. send a message in a bottle (32 x 32)

Once upon a time in an arena not so far away a woman who had just recently returned to the east coast from LA, who enjoyed free yoga in Santa Monica with her besties, who returned to her old job which she had left twice already for greener grasses, who had been sailing and swimming since she was a month old, walked up to the olympic sized pool in a granny bathing suit to jump in only because she missed the water and it was frigid November so the river was out of the question. She had gained a few pounds since her return from the existential crisis that took her out west, but hadn't yet started the sugar binge that gave her hypochondriac fits of diabetes. As soon as she got in the water though, she calmed her self-consciousness; only to have it rise again when she looked a few lanes down to see an athletic man, dressed in tattoos, and oblivious to her. Immediately, she began to create stories about who he could be. The first was that he was an economics professor who would cover up his tattoos for classes on game theory. The next was that he was a post-doctoral student with the languages department. All of the possibilities teased out in her mind as she swam, pulled handstands, and turned summersaults at the end of the lane that day.

A few months later she was knitting a scarf for a friend out in California on the commuter bus when the man from the pool said hello. and her heart nearly popped out. he wasn't supposed to notice her. She had been looking for him at the pool and hadn't seen him again, so that he recognized her was entirely unexpected and terrifying. He asked what she was knitting and asked if she could make him one too, of course, she said. As it would turn out, they had some mutual friends in the city and she had excuses to see him, enjoying every time he said he would "harass" her to hang out. they would go swimming, catch a coffee break back when she was still smoking and he said camels smelled differently than any other cigarette and that he wanted to eat them.

One day, she told a friend of theirs that her hands get sweaty and her ribs felt tight whenever she would be about to see him. Her friend endorsed his handsomeness and then dropped the curtain to a wizard, he was married. still in the contemplative stages of a possible divorce, which is what the friend had in common with him and which they would commiserate together; but still married. She tried to play it off, but was honest and said that he had never mentioned it; more importantly, she had never asked. Effectively, it didn't really matter though. She was still growing up, still making decisions about her values, still reaching for healthy goals, still seeing what traits in men she liked and what she disliked. She turned to determining if she wanted to be friends with the man, turns out she did and they've been friends ever since.

He helped her establish a no-sugar diet, then a training diet, then a triathlon training schedule. She offered an ear when he began the divorce and separation process. He started dating another triathlete when he moved out of his house, a small petite woman who owned a few dogs. When she was unemployed he helped her out and let her work a contracting job at the museum where she met two ladies to whom he said he was attracted. They were lithe and shorter than she was, both athletic. These bits of information solidified her conviction that she was right not to make waves in their friendship when he was separating, he would never be attracted to her because of her stature. There's nothing she could do about her height or normal weight, for the most part she was content with her appearance. He gave her a rope sculpture, which he said was phallic. She gave him a scarf with images from his paintings woven into the pattern. He gave her a painting which spoke of nurturing and he said that that was her nature.

A few years later a few things happened: He broke up with his girlfriend and moved out onto his own for the first time in more than a decade. Her friend from California came to the east coast to join her for a race. Her friend is muscular, tattooed, still shorter but more like her physique than the others. He asked about her friend's sexual preferences which happened to lie with other women, and said that she was attractive. A few emotions happened nearly instantaneously: doubt, hope, and jealousy. She began to doubt her contentment with their friendship, she began to hope for some romance, and she began to feel jealous of the time that he spent with others which quickly turned to guilt because a friend should be happy for another friend who is working towards his goals and reaching them.

She wrote a message on a little slip of paper; she wrote that she had always been in love with him, that she was so grateful for his friendship which brought her laughter and solace and joy. Then she rolled it up and put it in a bottle. And she held on to it because it seemed a selfish thing to send. She thought that she was being thoughtful to his emotions and what he was working through, she didn't want to add more layers of roles. She imagined that he needed her to be a friend while all these other things were going on in his world.

In the fall, she meditated on the different stories she tells herself and what her life or her day would look like if she didn't believe those stories. While she has never been accused of being logical, this thought process happened: The story she believed was that there was going to be a "right time" to reveal her feelings for him. What that translated into was there was going to be a "right time in order to get what I want." That left the opportunity to reveal this aquifer because intrinsically it meant that she knew her love was worth sharing.

So she took the message in the bottle, wrapped it in a page of a map, tied it up with string from her sangha which had all the metta and all the amazingness of the vipassana retreat, and left it for him on the table in the lobby of his apartment. unconcerned with the outcome, because all we have is right now.

the end.

24. make an anonymous donation (32 x 32)

with all of the confidentiality capabilities at my command, I will try to make this as anonymous as possible. I gave something to someone when I was on retreat. I wrote a note with it, but didn't sign my name. actually, I don't even know if the gift was picked up or kept.

all this ties neatly in with one of the concepts taught on the retreat: dana.
Dāna as a formal religious act is directed specifically to a monastic or spiritually-developed person. In Buddhist thought, it has the effect of purifying and transforming the mind of the giver. Buddhists believe that giving without seeking anything in return leads to greater spiritual wealth. Moreover, it reduces the acquisitive impulses that ultimately lead to continued dukkha.

the dana talk we received was very interesting. it spoke to the differences between Eastern and Western cultures regarding generosity. In the East (i.e., India), the monks walk down the street in the morning with a bowl and people come out of their houses and give a scoop of their food to the monks. As soon as an infant learns to walk, a spoon is put in their hand so they may give to the monks. Obviously, in the West we don't really practice this in such direct terms. We do pay local taxes to pay for teachers and other civil servants, but it's the directness that maybe is the key in lessening dukkha.

Years ago, when I was in the middle of a particularly harsh moment of self-centeredness, my buddy Michael suggested that I go do something nice for someone and not to tell them and not to tell him about it either. just do something nice, be generous, and not expect any praise or promotion for it. Of course I was immediately transported into gratitude and humility, which were much more pleasant.

and as my mother says, "give and forget the gift."

18. go on a silent retreat (32 x 32)

There really aren't words to describe the peace which came from this retreat, appropriately so. I guess just the basics: Against the Stream organized a week-long retreat in NW Massachusetts, Berkshire Mountains, at a place called Earth Dance.

I heard of it through a post on the DC Dharma Punx group on facebook. I had gone to sit with the DC Dharma Punx once, but felt it was a little hokey; then earlier this year I went for a walking meditation and didn't follow any of the instructions and instead had a lovely time wandering around the National Arboretum with a good friend and conversation.

I didn't really have any expectations, except to be in an environment where there wasn't going to be any external chatter so I could focus on internal chatter. And there was a lot to listen to. noble silence means: no talking to the other yogis, only talking for clarification of work during the work meditation, no eye contact, no phone calls, no texting, no writing/journaling, no facebook, no smoke signals, no polite things like "thank you" or "excuse me"

Our days were structured thusly:
5:45 morning bell
6:15 yoga
7:00 breakfast
8:00 walking meditation/work meditation
9:00 dharma talk
10:30 walking meditation (i usually went for a run, or wrote in my journal, or took a nap during this time)
11:00 sitting meditation
11:30 walking meditation (i usually showered during this time)
12:00 lunch
12:30 my work meditation: food finisher (i put away extra food, rinsed bowls for the dishwasher)
1:00 walking meditation/work meditation
2:00 sitting meditation (i usually knit during this time)
2:45 The 5 Rhythms
4:15 sitting meditation
5:00 dinner
6:00 walking meditation/work meditations
7:00 Metta talk
8:45 sitting meditation
9:30 Pablo Das song and then bed



The way the vipassana built up over the course of six days went thusly:
Monday - breathing
Tuesday - sounds
Wednesday - feeling tones (pleasant, unpleasant, neutral)
Thursday - full vipassana of insight meditation
Friday - full vipassana
Saturday - full vipassana

some of the beautiful things from the week:
stars! a bear which I mistook for a skunk (in the middle of the night without my glasses), foxes on the compost heap, none of the books I brought with me had any blank pages in the back to tear out to write upon, iridescent blue bells, a hummingbird flew within arms length of the window I was journaling, men openly weeping, sydney and shawn laughing until they cried, the transition from chaos to lyrical in the dancing practice, the bole in the apple tree which you can pass your arm through, caterpillars:

(crimson ghost caterpillar)


(mr. t caterpillar)

i had a few key insights:
1. i love nan, that shit is delicious
2. there's residual anger for people who have physically hurt me, and
3. that anger comes up as competitiveness with others
4. there's no need to compare anyone with my old unicorn, no one will be him, and that's a good thing.
5. i need to work on being okay with being abandoned (thank you very much george haas for this sucker punch statement)
6. finally, the biggest one: letting go of barriers so that i can love unreservedly, not holding out because of long-term implications or psychodynamic mumbojumbo. this is difficult to put into practice. someone's ability to commit is a character trait to them, not to me. which means that it can change.

it has been very surreal, coming out of the noble silence. first thing I heard from back home is that a friend of ours passed due to his addiction. because the whole week had been on impermanence, it was difficult not having anything to say to comfort others. I was still wrapped up in the insights and the barrage of noise and stimulants.

i would highly recommend this type of retreat for someone who needs some balm for their soul. or needs ways to work towards forgiveness, compassion, joy, and equanimity.

namaste

3. complete a century ride (32x32)

Although it wasn't on my 31x31 list, last year I rode a metric century portion (68 miles) of the full 100 mile Sea Gull Century in Salisbury, MD. The trip was such a great time, I was still living in Wilmington, DE, Beth Anne and Megan scooped me and Dottie before driving the length of the Small Wonderful into Maryland for a weekend of camping and riding. The DC Chain Gang had organized three adjoining campsites, for about 20 people. Kevin was the camp cook making some kind of Frankenstein mac n cheese with velveeta, kielbasa, and hot red sauce the night before the ride. The morning after the ride we had bacon beignets. and that could be the end of the story, because they were just so stinking amazing. I think we brewed eight pots of coffee too. I went into the Sea Gull not really knowing how far I was going to be able to ride, but giving myself permission to go until I felt like stopping. The first 40 miles were pretty solid, but I was feeling a bit of pain in my knees by the second pit stop. I thought I could make it to the third stop, which was on Assauteague Island. Somewhere between miles 50 and 60 it became apparent that I couldn't urinate anymore even though I felt like I had a full bladder, which worried me, a lot. a lot of a lot actually. I was SO lucky that Kevin had decided to ride with me even though I was going super slow, stopping a lot, and basically struggling with the ride. We made it to the island in time to catch the last SAG van and met up with everyone at the beer tent in Salisbury.

There was planning and then some unplanning for the Capitol to Capitol century in Richmond this weekend. People are so awesome and generous and it makes my heart feel full when I think about the friends in my life today. Tiffany rearranged her plans to visit DC to do the ride (which is on her 40x40 list), Matt let her borrow his touring Masi, Charlotte lent me her bike rack, Jacob taught me how to put it on my car correctly, Velocity bikes rented us space to clean and fit our bikes, and then Brendan, Grayson, and Therese let us crash their campsite.

how to NOT attach the bike rack: like Egon said, never cross the streams, it will be very bad.

at velocity, cleaning and fitting

on the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again!

We camped at Pocohantas State Park for Friday night, everyone (except me) set their alarms for 5:30am. The century started at 7:30am. We had the fastest registration time, EVER. Tiffany and I were even on the road before Brendan and Grayson (Therese was meeting up with some other friends and riding the 50 miler), and then were quickly passed by both of them. There were rest stops (which they called feed stations, which is entirely too reminiscent of an agricultural reference for personal comfort) about every 12 to 15 miles. We stopped at each one, filling up on water and carbs for me, simple sugars and nuts for Tiffany. The first four stops felt solid. Between miles 60 and 80, I hit a wall. We took some ibuprofen at the 62 mile stop, I thought I was only going to be able to make it to the 73 mile stop, but it was a phantom stop and didn't actually exist! So we kept on riding. Once we got to the 86 mile stop, there was no way I was getting on the SAG with only 14 miles left to go, we kept on, with alacrity! Although we were a little turned around about 3 miles away from the finish, the last leg through the wooded ravine was absolutely breath-taking and as we rolled up to Rockett's Landing around 4:00pm, Brendan was there waving us in! People were cheering and waving and made such a fantastic welcoming, I'm still a little shy about it. Grayson and Therese were there waving and cheering too, last year's event was Therese's first century, making it a neat little connection with her. We sat on the green and ate bar-be-qued chicken, finished all the water and stretched. One of my favorite parts of these events is the debriefing that occurs afterwards, getting everyone's input from the rest stops, the traffic, the course, the other participants, the trials, and the sights. For example, no one else noticed the huge deer carrion or the half-dozen vultures picking at it on the side of the road around Mile 17, which Tiffany described as grotesquely National Geographical awesome.

The difference between Mile 28 and Mile 86 is pretty clear I think:

MILE 100! this is a big deal!

afterwards, I noticed the heinous jersey burn, oh well.

I could still feel the saddle for most of Sunday and my shoulders felt a little sore, my legs felt absolutely fine though. I had heard that there's a wall you hit after 60 miles and as soon as you work through it, the rest of the ride is cake. I'd like mythbusters to take a look at this phenomenon (baht-doo-bea-do). I have a few more centuries planned this summer too: North Fork Century and the Sea Gull again in October. Hopefully, we'll get to do some informal centuries with the DC Chain Gang as well!

23. read something by David Foster Wallace (32x32)

I'm working up to Infinite Jest with the short stories of David Foster Wallace in Consider the Lobster. The first short story, "Big Red Son," Wallace's account of his visit to the AVN Awards, an event that has been dubbed the Academy Awards of pornographic film, and its associated Expo (originally published in Premiere as "Neither Adult Nor Entertainment" under the pseudonyms Willem R. deGroot and Matt Rundlet).

Am in love with his writing style. Also, heart the number of words I had to look up...

Plangently - having a loud reverberating sound
Synecdoche - a figure of speech by which a part is put for the whole (as fifty sail for fifty ships), the whole for a part (as society for high society), the species for the genus (as cutthroat for assassin), the genus for the species (as a creature for a man), or the name of the material for the thing made (as boards for stage)
Clerestories - an outside wall of a room or building that rises above an adjoining roof and contains windows
Vertiginous - inclined to frequent and often pointless change
Chicane - to use chicanery: a wretch he had taught to lie and chicane — George Meredith
Berm - a narrow shelf, path, or ledge typically at the top or bottom of a slope; also : a mound or wall of earth or sand: a landscaped berm
Fissile - capable of being split or divided in the direction of the grain or along natural planes of cleavage
Rube - an awkward unsophisticated person
Cerise - French, literally, cherry, from Late Latin ceresia
Klieg-glare - [not in the dictionary] google challenge: "three excitation modes David Hurst (after Ted Berrigan) i[sic] they can't admit in the penetrating klieg glare of television lights their natural urge to suckle"
Coterie - an intimate and often exclusive group of persons with a unifying common interest or purpose
Spiriferously - [also not in the dictionary, however I am not the first to google challenge] - Having a spiral structure or spiral parts
Leptosomatic - n., Leptosome, a person with a small bodily frame and a slender physique
Anuresis - retention of urine in the urinary bladder : failure or inability to void urine
Porkpie - A pork pie hat (a.k.a. porkpie) is a type of hat made of felt or straw. It is a type of fedora which has a cylindrical crown and flat top. This style of crown is called a "telescopic crown", but the hat overall resembles the boater hat. It is short (usually 3" to 4" in height) and has an indentation all the way around its top, allowing it to pop upward slightly when worn. Furthermore, as stated in a newspaper clipping from the mid-1930's: "The true pork pie hat is so made that it cannot be worn successfully except when telescoped." The same clipping refers to the hat also as "the bi crowned" [sic].

Distaff - As a noun, a distaff ( /ˈdɪstɑːf/, also called a rock[1]) is a tool used in spinning. It is designed to hold the unspun fibers, keeping them untangled and thus easing the spinning process. It is most commonly used to hold flax, and sometimes wool, but can be used for any type of fiber. Fiber is wrapped around the distaff, and tied in place with a piece of ribbon or string. The word comes from dis in Low German, meaning a bunch of flax, connected with staff. As an adjective the term distaff is used to describe the female side of a family.

17. go to one lecture per university in the DC Consortium (30x30)

Never really got on top of this one until recently. To be perfectly honest, some universities are better than others when it comes to publishing campus events and sometimes I'm better at getting to where I need to be than others. Not all of the events I've chosen for this item are "lectures" exactly, but it's getting onto new campuses and doing relatively inexpensive things around the city that counts and learning new things! Learn all the things!

In Washington, DC there is a consortium of universities which basically means that if the university to which you attend does not provide a certain course during a particular semester or at all during the year, you have the option to take that course at a different university within the consortium. There are 14 members of the DC Consortium (which is about six more than when I was an undergraduate at Marymount University). I've planned to attend events at most of them, except when they are not open to the public (i.e., National Intelligence University, National Defense University) and I'll update the post when I've gone to the event... or change events because other things come up (like really awesome job opportunities... see Catholic University of America)

American University - Woodblock printing Demonstration - Friday, April 6, 2012 Katzen Museum

The Catholic University of America - The Matter of Meteorites – And Why It Matters - April 12, 2012
Dr. Guy J. Consolmagno, S.J.
Vatican Observatory
Castel Gandolfo, Rome, Italy
Meteorites are rocks fallen from space, most dating from the earliest ages of the solar system. Pioneering studies at the Vatican Observatory of meteorite density, porosity, magnetic susceptibility, thermal conductivity and heat capacity have turned out to be crucial to our understanding of asteroid structure and evolution, with implications for how the solar system was formed. But in fact, none of those goals were in mind when the measurements began. Why was the role of the Vatican so crucial to these studies? What does this tell us about the bigger questions of how, and why, science is done?

Unfortunately, I was a) caught in heinous traffic on the 3rd Street tunnel, b) lost on CUA campus, and c) taken off guard by a call from an organization I would really <3 to work for and so talked with the HR manager for a half an hour. Hence, I was 45 minutes late to the lecture. There was no back entrance into the stinkin hall! C'mon CUA! Why can't you make it easy for people who have things they need to check off their lists?! However, I also saw this little gem on campus...

Corcoran College of Art+Design - NEXT at the Corcoran - April 14, 2012
My buddy Pamela Hadley was exhibiting her senior thesis, amazing work!


The Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art + Design presents NEXT at the Corcoran, a dynamic, interactive, and innovative presentation of work by the graduating students of the Corcoran College of Art + Design. NEXT, for the first time, includes both an exhibition of the thesis work of the Bachelor of Fine Arts class of 2012 and a showcase of the Masters of Arts degree programs at the Corcoran.

Gallaudet University

George Mason University - Economics Community Forum: “Three Hard Solutions to America’s Debt Problem” - Monday, April 9
Garett Jones.
Jones is BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism at the Mercatus Center. His research interests include macroeconomics, monetary economics and the microfoundations of economic growth. Previously, he served as economic policy adviser to Sen. Orrin Hatch and as a staff economist to the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress.

The George Washington University
Georgetown University
Howard University
Marymount University - Bullying: Educational and Legal Implications - May 8, 2012
National Intelligence University - Not open to the public.
National Defense University - Not open to the public.
Trinity Washington University
University of the District of Columbia - Calvin Jones Big Band Jazz Live - April 30, 2012
University of Maryland

15. play dominoes with dirty old men (31x31)

This weekend, Cara and I had some major accomplishments: we breathed and absorbed Vitamin D. After abandoning the idea of riding my bike or going on a run Saturday morning, I drove into DC and spent the day outside with one of the best besties a girl could ever ask for. We walked to Dupont Circle after brunch at Annie's Paramount, and after stopping into Kramer's Bookshop to look for a book on living in our future. We brought dominoes to the park with the intention of joining anyone else who happened to be playing. There were only chess players at the tables so we started our own game. It was a beautiful day, 80 degrees, sun shining. I put on sun screen not for the first time this season, so lucky for this amazing weather!

Cara taught me how to play dominoes last fall and winter in preparation for a trip to a nursing home so we could play with some dirty old men. Never made it to the home, however, there were plenty of old men around Dupont AND one of them in particular was pretty dirty. He was very concerned for Cara's dominoes getting dirty and that my phone was going to get pollen on it if it were left out in the open. We needed to have the phone out and playing music though to distract from the music man singing (like a cat in heat) by the fountain. At one point further into the game (when Cara was soundly beating me) a gentleman came over and watched us play for a few rounds. He gave me some pointers and was very kind.

In the end,I only lost by 15 points, mainly because I figured out how to read Cara's hand via her sunglasses... it's fine, I told her I was cheating.

We wandered away from the circle to Dolcezza for gelatto and into Looped for the Metro Yarn Crawl where we learned we were quite exhausted from all the breathing and sunning and so went back to her place to knit for a few hours. yeah, hard-knock life, I know.

14. Run to the top of the Statue of Liberty (32x32)

shit. the interior is closed for renovations.

I'll have to run to the top of something else.

12. Allocate 35% of net income to personal debt repayment (31x31)

Being made redundant in a "reduction in force" in July 2011, this item was seriously hindered. Because it was a RIF, I was eligible for unemployment AND deferment on my student loans (thank the baby buddah). I'm also incredibly lucky that my family was able to sustain the payments to credit organizations too.

Not like I was making big bucks when I was an entry level consultant, but damn. Let's look at it this way, let's say the average income from Jan2011-July2011 was 100%. My income with the unemployment and gifts from my family and odd jobs here and there from Aug2011-Nov2011 was 45% less than what I had been earning. After I boomeranged back to Virginia, up until now (Dec2011-Mar2012), my income is 70% less than what I was earning the same time this year. damn, gina.



That being said, because I was able to return to the roost and even though I'm only making 70% of what I used to, I have been able to make some debt repayments in the past 3 months.



The average percentage of my net income to debt repayment is 24% since January 2011. Broken out among the major life changes:
31% when I was fully employed living in Delaware,
13% living in Delaware unemployed,
25% living in Virginia unemployed.

Currently, I'm working a temp job. I'll sock away as much as I can towards my debt but I don't think it's reasonable to set any sort of expectation for the next year unfortunately.

Over and out.

28. kiss an elephant, a real live elephant (30x30)

FINALLY!

After years of waiting and multiple failed schemes (which were simple excuses to go places where I MIGHT run into an elephant for kissing), I have finally kissed an elephant. It wasn't the super-caring-loving-trunk-hugging kiss that I wanted it to be; it was only a kiss on my hand straight onto her ear. But it was still a wonderful moment for my life. And an amazing day to boot!

About six weeks ago Dar and I made plans (Because Dar and I are PLANNERS. I love it.) to go elephant-kissing with her kids, Phaedra and Cagney (Similarly, I tried to hook my friend John's 10-year old twins into going to the Insectropolis with me. They were non-plussed on the prospective excursion). She had sent a text about left-over items from past lists and I brought that one up, randomly. I googled elephant rides and low-and-behold, the Natural Bridge Zoo blipped onto my radar.

After devouring Jacob's vanilla french toast and back bacon from the farmers market and watching the last 40K of the Tour of Flanders (or Ronde van Vlaanderen...) Dar and the kids, along with her buddy Tara, packed into the car and headed west!


Phaedra has the cutest toes, in the world. whole wide world.

When we arrived at the zoo, we went straight to the elephant ride, and I immediately started asking questions about her. Like, she is from Africa. They bought her and raised her in Virginia when she was a calf. She loves the winter, actually because they are such large animals, they do very well in the cold. Her owners make sure she does not get frostbite. Her name is Beautiful. Her skin was very strange and thick with dirt, sometimes deep crevasses. There were sporadic wiry hairs.

Here's my problem: I asked if I could kiss her. This issue continuously arises in my life, I never should have asked my camp counselors if I could smoke on the sleep-away camping trip when I was 14, I should have just done it until I was caught. Then I asked "why not?" when she told me I wasn't allowed to kiss her. Apparently, kissing an elephant is on the same ettiquet elevation as kissing a stranger on the street, you just don't do it. Tara had words to the opposite effect. So, I kissed my hand and then placed my kiss on Beautiful's ear (huge, mondo, African-elephant sized ear, which also had some amount of yuck on it which then transfered to Tara's foot when we were riding).



Dar & Cagney (this is a VERY big deal, Dar is not such a huge fan of animals)



Then, we visited the giraffes!




then, the dicks of the animal kingdom (because they spit), llamas.


then, babboons!

(Urban babboon)


flamingos!


bunnies!


guinea pigs!


camels!




kids! (no, seriously, young goats)


Then we were lunch...


nononono, then we ate lunch. At the Pink Cadillac Diner!


and then this happened...

#neverletagirlwithavideocameragounnoticedinthebackseat

and then Phaedra fell asleep in my armpit.


the end.