Safe in Auckland

Greetings from NZ!

I'm safe in my hostel with Tim and Dan just outside the Auckland airport. I've already eaten some fresh strawberry ice cream and am just hanging out and resting and drinking tea. It is beautiful and warm and sunny here. Mike gets in late tonight from his layover in Fiji today and it'll be great to have all four of us together. I can't wait for our adventure to begin. I already feel lighter since arriving - as if my body is aware that my sadness and weight of unnecessary things occupying my mind had to stay in America. It's also easy to be excited around Tim and Dan's positive vibes.

I seem to be on the mend from being sick though I still have a cough and get nausiated from time to time. I'm surprised I did so well on my flights but I had good luck: I got bumped up to an Emergency Exit Row and then slept for 9 of the 15 hours. Definitely helped reset my clock. I also watched "Eat, Pray, Love" (which I wasn't going to do as I want to read the book) but I think it was the perfect way to transition from what I was leaving to where I was going.

That's it for now! Happy Tuesday.

New Year New Zealand

Happy 2011!

Today Mike and I set off on the first part of our journey to New Zealand: we'll be arriving in Los Angeles tonight and meeting up with our cousin Chris and his family. Tomorrow night we'll depart on separate flights to Auckland, NZ. I'll be brining the flu, the cough that has decided to bruised my ribs, and abandoning everything that has been weighing me down lately.

I have a list of places to go, things to see, and a mental picture of New Zealand in my head, but we have no plans. We're flying by the seat of our pants and hopefully in the seat of a station wagon if we can secure one in Auckland. Our first stop outside of Auckland will be Hobbiton (yes. Hobbiton). Mike and I will be reuniting with our great friend Tim and his brother Daniel. Our only goals are to kill some orcs and run on some mountain tops.

Because of the time change, we fly out on the 2nd and don't arrive until the 4th. Here's hoping nothing goes wrong in customs and no one notices my whooping cough.

Yes. A Thousand Times Yes.

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/grandmas-superhero-therapy-18

Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 was incredible. Absolutely incredible. It was hands down the best film yet, the acting was up to par, and the screenplay was definitely a huge improvement since Movie 6.

All of the plot changes were made to make the film flow better as a film . They were clearly made because they would have required a.) too much explanation b.) more characters and actors c.) too much time.

The only two unnecessary parts were when Harry and Hermione were dancing and then when they were naked in the Horcrux. The only change in plot that I really wanted to see was Wormtail's death being done correctly. I wish more tension had been built in the particular scenes and that the wizarding war was more prevalent (i.e. Harry walks around too much and there's not enough threat that he is in constant danger).

Other than that .... mischief managed.

The Beginning Of The End

"Grief"

Matthew Dickman

When grief comes to you as a purple gorilla

you must count yourself lucky.

You must offer her what’s left

of your dinner, the book you were trying to finish

you must put aside,

and make her a place to sit at the foot of your bed,

her eyes moving from the clock

to the television and back again.

I am not afraid. She has been here before

and now I can recognize her gait

as she approaches the house.

Some nights, when I know she’s coming,

I unlock the door, lie down on my back,

and count her steps

from the street to the porch.

Tonight she brings a pencil and a ream of paper,

tells me to write down

everyone I have ever known,

and we separate them between the living and the dead

so she can pick each name at random.

I play her favorite Willie Nelson album

because she misses Texas

but I don’t ask why.

She hums a little,

the way my brother does when he gardens.

We sit for an hour

while she tells me how unreasonable I’ve been,

crying in the checkout line,

refusing to eat, refusing to shower,

all the smoking and all the drinking.

Eventually she puts one of her heavy

purple arms around me, leans

her head against mine,

and all of a sudden things are feeling romantic.

So I tell her,

things are feeling romantic.

She pulls another name, this time

from the dead,

and turns to me in that way that parents do

so you feel embarrassed or ashamed of something.

Romantic? she says,

reading the name out loud, slowly,

so I am aware of each syllable, each vowel

wrapping around the bones like new muscle,

the sound of that person’s body

and how reckless it is,

how careless that his name is in one pile and not the other.

Everything, Everything

Portland has been a relief in this long journey. Here is some of the music that has been following and shaping this trip lately.

"Willow Tree" Chad VanGaalen

"Heartbeats" The Knife

"ThunderRoad" The Boss

Go

"Here is the instruction: Only connect. Wherever you are, right now, pay attention. Forever."

- Sylvia Boorstein, Meditation Teacher