Independencia

Last weekend, when my glasses had 2 lenses. Our guide is Arren. HILARIOUS dude and an AWESOME boater from FOR. The rapid is Hospital Bar (I think.)

So, obviously my futbol picks are trashed.

Crazy.

For the last few days I've been futbol-ing, outdoor cooking, boating, mourning the loss of my left lens from my glasses, recovering from massive bruising (I fell out of the boat at a rapid we like to call "Troublemaker"-- I ordered a picture that is classic and should have it within a couple of weeks), indoor cooking, doing laundry, enjoying the Alameda 4th of July Parade, adventures with Bonnie including being denied service at the Alameda Sushi House,and getting that ICK feeling of knowing exactly why, enjoying a FINE lunch at Huarache Azteca, and finding the new Farmer Joe's grocery store with Bonnie, and writing an essay analyzing the role of the mulatto character Sara Jane in the movie Imitation of Life and setting up the "what if" scenario for the character, as in "what if" she understood her identity as a latina might? Where blend is legitimate and you don't have to choose either/or?

I woke up with a bit of a cold on Saturday morning and didn't leave my house until 8 am. I thougt I might make a 10:30 launch time, but no deal. I did hear the England-Portugal game and caught some of the Brazil-France game as we bought things for the Project GO Guide Training Graduation party. I couldn't believe either win. I couldn't believe how clueless Brazil looked in comparison to France on that field.

I was charged with making a camp kitchen go to feed 50 - we purchased tri-tip, salmon, tofu, corn, potatoes, salad, watermelon, cheesecake...and with the help of volunteers we had a GRAND FEAST.

After 10 days of river guide training, one needs a feast. During the ceremony I got teary-eyed. I went through training 2 years ago and it pushed me in ways I had never been pushed before. It confronted me dead-on with my demons. And it began pushing me through them. 2 years later they seem more manageable. I still have them. And I still don't have guide confidence, but I feel like a monster in the boat with my paddle in hand. I'm focused and am watching what the guide does, making connections in my brain, and I love reaching over a wave and pulling my paddle through. That's awesome.

I marveled at the broadcast of Discovery launching into the air. I love space travel. Always have, always will. I think our space programs are a promising way humans use technology.

Then they switched stations to Wimbledon. Two very blonde women were hurling the ball at each other with weird banshee screams. I don't get tennis at all. I failed at it HORRIBLY as a kide when my parents took me for lessons at the community park in Endicott.

On to THE game...

Yesterday's game was insane. I LOVED it. I was at Speissekammer in Alameda, amidst a very German crowd. I was rooting for Italy as underdogs. Lots of German cursing at the missed goal attempts and lots of German leering at the Italian selling of and denial of fouls. And in the end, the Italians were victors. They KNEW better than to go down to penalty kicks with Lehmann in the goal. That man is HUGE.

The crowd was dumb founded as our little contingency of Kimani and crew and I cheered on Italy's victory. Jesus...will it be France or Portugal today? I haven't a clue.

Friday I cooked for the week, including a tamarind/coconut fish dish, carrot/grape salad, and a spinach/rice/egg soup. I loved that my kitchen smelled SOOOOOOOOOOO good.

Last night I kinda took a bad turn. I was falling asleep writing my paper with chai on the burner. Man, does scalded milk and spices STINK. I slept with the door cocked open to let the air circulate. And this morning still had the scent of burned bay leaf, clove, cinnamon, cardamom, pepper, anise, and whatever else I threw in there hanging in the air.

I wrote my paper til 2 am and was pretty pleased to bring in citations from Ed Morales' Spanglish. We'll see my grade on it.

Today I have some gnarly purple bruises along the trunk of my body on the left side from where the t-grip whacked into me as I fell out of the boat. I'm dressed UBER-casual in jeans and my Kinky hoodie and sneakers. My hair is behind a kerchief.

It is the 5th of July. I have entered the 3rd month of living on my own.