Grateful

I will be re-posting my earlier posts from Tribe as the spirit moves me.

This was my first blog post ever!!!

On Satuday we were outside by our fire and MonkeyBoy was having a little nap and I was listening to the leaves fall and luxuriating in the joy of it. MonkeyBoy is quickly recovering from his second (much smaller surgery) and I am grateful for PSA tests and great medical care, and having such a great, wonderful, grownup boy to love with. I love my life and my job and , living in the amazing space of San Francisco with the freaks, and how I get to live inside the Burning Man community. Amost all of my friends on Tribe are people I have met in the last 5 years since Burning Man. My life is richer than it has ever been.

I have 2 friends who with absolute certainty get that I truly want their lives to be joyful and amazing, and even when I am a jerk they know I love them and am just being awkward, not mean...2 friends..I am blessed.

The MonkeyBoy has taught me to live without debt, the previous boy tried to teach me but he was so difficult I could not help but resist. So financial freedom has been amazing, to come from evicted all the time as a child to working part time and still being able to pay all the bills. YIPEE!!!

and making art, I am ruminating even as I write about crafting a Peace Pilgrim that talks and interacts on the Playa. So, 2005 has been a challenging year with MonkeyBoy's cancer, just living in the shadow of the "C" word has been quite an experience, but we love each other more than ever, he is on the mend and it seems like this cycle might be coming to an end, so YIPEE again...

Thu, December 1, 2005 - 6:47 AM
I am so happy to hear about MonkeyBoy's recovery. This has been a difficult year for the two of you, but at the end of the year there is love and peace and great joy in your life. I hope that 2006 brings even more of the good stuff! Affinity, I am grateful to have you as my teacher! Thank you!

Armadillo

Thu, December 1, 2005 - 2:06 PM
Hooray Affinity, you're so wonderful! My best to you and MonkeyBoy in the upcoming year, and those after!

Jenni

originally posted December 1, 2005

Life Before Her Eyes

This movie is gorgeous, Uma Thurman and Evan Rachael Wood never stop being beautiful or being superb actors...but the theme creates redundancy.

The movie was not as angsty as I expected it to be but the actors keep you wanting all to be well because they are trying so hard, but this movie can be missed. Good for Uma for being willing to do a small film...

http://www.lifebeforehereyes.com/

Sex in the City

I know you have heard all the hype, but this was a must see for me on the BIG screen. Every scene is gorgeous, cheers for the art direction and the costuming, story a little lame but I was in fact engaged the entire time. Candace Bushnell/Michael Patrick King are storytellers, New York is worth seeing alone, and the LA secenes you can just feel the difference in the light, just like the California Impressionists.
http://www.abbeville.com/interiors.asp?ISBN=0789201763&CaptionNumber=05

"Vivienne Westwood has caused a ruckus by describing the Sex and the City movie as 'boooring,' and 'not very fashionable'. In fact the film bored Lady Westwood so that she stalked out of the premiere after the opening credits with her nose held high and a newly reinvigorated contempt of all things US fashion. “I thought Sex and the City was supposed to be about cutting-edge fashion and there was nothing remotely memorable or interesting about what I saw. I went to the premiere and left after ten minutes.” "

I can't say I loved the fashions, but I loved seeing them, I loved that they were beautifully photographed, and what do I know about fashion.....

Brick Lane

You have seen this movie before, arranged marriage, big city, beautiful woman, fantasies of "home", hard to understand the dialogue.

The friend I went with liked it more than I did....I found it a little slow, even slower than I usually find underedited films.

I cannot recommend it but another point of view of someone else's life always has value for me and I find I am thinking about it some today....

Paul Taylor, Dancemaker, 1998 DVD

Loved this documentary. I love it when they tell me why they choreograph, what a jerk they are when they do it, how much they love the angst, and then tell it from the dancers side, and they all adore him still.

Love to know how it is to perform in another country, how it feels when one of the troupe "is not working out".....loved it.

of course my standard complaint is that IT is slow in the middle still stands.

And the dancing is fabuous!

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

I have SEEN some movies since the MonkeyBoy has been away. I chose this photo because every scene in this fluffy romantic farce is gorgeous. Art noveau sets, amazing clothes, beautifully framed shots. Just a gorgeous, on the brink of WW2 period piece.

Just the movie I was in the mood for. I don't know how it will be on a smaller screen but I loved seeing it.

What I miss when the MonkeyBoy is out of town!

So MonkeyBoy is at the Burning Man Ranch helping to build the "Man" and I am sure he is loving it....

In August he will be gone for 3 1/2 weeks and I thought you might like to know how it is for me when he is gone:

I miss:

• him being happy to see me,
• him calling me "princess" in THAT tone of voice,
• being able to catch up every evening with my best friend (I NEVER thought I would have a boy for a best friend)
• him bringing groceries up our 70 stairs,
• drinks on the patio, although it has been pretty cold in San Francisco this week for patio time
• having my buddy to go see the Burning Man movie on Saturday night

What I don't miss:

• Thinking about what I am going to feed him for dinner, especially if I have a big lunch I can just skip dinner
• keeping the tv quiet so it won't bother him when I can't sleep (my issue, not his, he says he does not hear it, but I am a worrier)

Guess what, I cannot think of one more thing that I "don't miss", that is how much I love this boy.

I have been looking forward to the Brooklyn Bridge Waterfall

Eliasson Waterfall at Brooklyn Bridge from rsguskind on Vimeo.

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/19/brooklyn-bridge-to-g.html

Looks like art to me!

The American Dream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/halcyon/

Changes on the Playa for 2008

This year's street names will be:

Esplanade

Allanté

Bonneville

Corvair

Dart

Edsel

Fairlane

Gremlin

Hummer

Impala

jeep

K-car

2008 Black Rock City Plan Changes
Did you feel the squeeze in 2007? Well there are some BIG changes to our city this year! Remove 2007's three inner blocks -- Esplanade through "C" -- and you have our new Esplanade for 2008. After the Esplanade, the streets for 2008 run A-K. Since we've taken the three shortest concentric streets from the inside, we added two longer concentric roads at the back of the city. The distance from the Man to the Esplanade road is increasing from 2200 to 2700 feet, which also means the length of the Esplanade grows over 2500 feet longer than last year.

To see a comparison against last year's plan:

http://www.burningman.com/media/doc/preparation/maps/08_maps/bm08_map_diff.pdf

Voyage in Utopia

Castro Theatre

Friday, July 18

8pm, Burning Man:

Voyage in Utopia
85 Minutes
Carnaval, tribe or mystic retreat? The film depicts the journey of artist David Best through the building of the temple.

$10 Film Premiere Screening & Discussion
8-10pm $75 - $150 VIP Reception w/ Film Maker Laurent Le Gall & Artist David Best
6-7:30 pm, Theatre Mezzanine Benefits Black Rock Arts Foundation.

Tickets www.frantix.net