Just a quick shout out to two courageous families, who brought 2 beautiful baby girls into the world recently.

Marley Denise Ballman graces Minnesota with her undoubtedly vivacious (even if only 1 month) soul. I’m so excited for Derrick and Melissa, 2 of the chillest and creative cousins I know. And I can’t wait to get the 2 Marley’s together at some outdoor music festival in a couple of years. (My godson, almost 2, is also Marley.)

Ashley Dawn Lehman squeezed in as a Taurus, on May 20th. She’s blessed with kick ass parents, and I wish her all the best (you can get) in Kansas.

It’s times like these, when people I love and respect choose to create new little people and offer them to our culture and societies, that I remember what a blessing life can be and how important it is for us to keep our environment and our earth healthy. These little soon-to-be-rugrats deserve our natural resources as much as we do. Reduce (save $), Reuse (save even more $) and Recycle (feel good). </friendly environmental plug>

Summer has hit Portland, finally! Yesterday temperatures reached 96 F while John and I rode around Portland in search of a fountain and a happy hour. If you haven’t visited the sunken rose gardens in North Portland, do it! Our super find of the day was “Liberty Glass”, a block south of Fremont on Mississippi. A brother and sister duo opened the cozy, cool and well decorated old “Hula Hands” house only 3 weeks ago. I was bummed to have to miss out on a full dinner and strawberry-rhubarb crisp dessert.

Now I sit in air-conditioned PDX, waiting for my plane to be cleaned so we can board and leave early. I know what you’re thinking: why leave Portland NOW that the sun’s finally staying out and temperatures well over 80? My brother’s graduating high school tomorrow, in Maryville Missouri. So, if luck stays on my side, MO will welcome me back with hot, humid hugs. Traveling with a few t-shirts sure beats lugging around winter gear and jackets!

How timely that I should receive an email touting a handful of games for photo geeks, just days after chatting up with friends how much I absolutely LOVE and need games in my life. (Athletic, competitive, card, dice, board, etc - NOT of the mind variety.)

So I decide to join “Mission 24″ on Flickr. Someone sends out a topic and everyone has 24 hours to submit 2 NEW photos on their interpretation of the word. I join in with 2 hrs left in the current assignment. It’s on “CHANGE”.

Here’s my first submission:

Interesting and appropriate topic. I desperately both fear and hunger for change. There’s a pain in getting stuck in the same ruts and a risk in venturing out into the unknown. So here’s to joining a new group and trying something new.

“[...] to see such a sight, and the FORK ran away with the spoon!”

Luckily, my “virtual valet” reminds me that I have tickets for this Thursday’s (last night’s) performance of “The Little Dog Laughed” at Portland Center Stage. More gold at the end of the rainbow: I convince a friend to change plans and be my date.

The simple set consists of a bed, a couple of square hotel-sleek tables and two tiny circular tables with swiveling chairs. Sitting surrounds the scene on all four sides in black-box style. And the performance, by 4 stellar actors (an actor, an agent, a rent boy and a party girl), is hilarious!

Long monologues and narrations leave the play vulnerable to poor pacing and hokey story telling, but the cast (and director) nail it. Even the one-liners roll by with ease, as if the entire playhouse is exchanging quips at a large dinner party. From a “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” retelling to kick start the show, the vulnerable characters weave their tabloid-familiar misfortunes, fears, love and dreams through short scenes and vignettes to a Stepford-perfect/scary, Cruise and Holmes, Hollywood ending. (It also doesn’t hurt to see attractive men bare all! I kept my head up, but my eyes certainly darted down every so often.

All in all, the performance made my night. The chemistry between the characters, their vulnerability and the agent’s bitter-sweet reality, perseverance and ambition have me mulling over my own life. Where can I be vulnerable and where can I get my own agent?

Local Reviews:

• The Mercury
• OregonLive

Anyone up for “Nobody Here but Us Chickens?” or another running play around town?

After 4 trips to bike shops and 7 test rides, I went back to the first store I visited (twice yesterday and twice today) to buy my new love. This “starter” road bike possesses strength, radiates beauty and invites all, who pass by, on an energizing yet not exhausting 40 mile ride.

This is my third “pure-bread” bike (that I didn’t pick up off the side of the road) and I’m looking forward to a long-term relationship with it, unlike it’s 2 predecessors. My first, a lower-end Fuji roadster, and I were together for a year before heartless thieves ran off with it. A few months later, only last fall, I picked up a Gary Fischer and complained about lack of comfort. So I left it in Missouri, while on my winter/spring road trip, for my 14 yr old brother to ride. (I still get updates on how awesome it is: it’s only 2 minutes slower than a car for going across town!)

So now’s when I ask locals for all their fabulous bike ride recommendations and invites.

“In the End, Everyone is a Loser.”
- Andrew Ross Sorkin (new york times) on today’s/tonight’s Charlie Rose show.

Some may argue he was talking only in reference to the botched Microsoft-Yahoo deal, but the twinkle in the wunderkind’s eye illuminated omniscience.

1. sign up for Aikido seminar - if you pay enough money while you are unemployed you will guilt trip yourself into going

2. go to Aikido seminar - ok, so you’ve already paid and taken Friday night off … but Saturday morning you find yourself wanting to skip it anyway. (maybe you can say you were sick and get a refund?) the hardest part is getting started.

3. breathe

4. don’t listen to techno - you’ve made it through the morning and first 1.5 hr session. you’ve eaten a high-carb lunch in preparation for the next 3 hrs. keep the energy levels up and skip out on the techno in the local coffee shop.

5. attend all sessions - ok, so you stumbled on the techno by accident and find yourself tired again. no matter what, close the laptop and go back.

How’d your trip go? Was it everything you expected?

I cannot count the number of times I’ve been asked these questions. After my first return to the aikiki after four long months my response to the common questions shifts, accommodating the changes I notice in my Aikido practice

I look nage and uke in the eye. I later recall that I breathe without need of reminding. My body wants practice and my mouth holds back on muttering, a sign that my mind has let go of “right” and “wrong” and all I understood is practice, play.

Today I go to Aikido for the second time since my return. I easily mute myself as I feel the words slipping from my tongue. Instead of verbal corrections, I select a piece of form or technique for my body and mind to focus on. As nage during the Jo practices, I search for grace and confidence in sidestepping, as the long stick thrusts towards my torso. (Any moment of hesitation and injury is certain.) As uke, I press for firm and maintained connection and awareness of my ma-ai. I surprise myself when I “see” both nage and a fellow student taking ukemi and am able to switch the direction of my roll to avoid collision.

So what does my more relaxed and confident poise and awareness in action say about my trip?