proteanme

The combination of antibiotics and sleep is amazing. I’m no longer contemplating tragedies; nor am I groaning because I feel like crap all over. All this just in time for solstice, which I think I’ll commemorate by getting out of bed and taking a shower, which could be seen in the great solstice tradition of rebirthings and new beginnings, as me celebrating beginning of getting better.

I’ve been trying to reflect back on this year. In the past I’ve done this by making lists of favorite songs and books and movies and meals, but this year I’d like try to to pick out memorable events and occurrences and determine if there’s some bigger picture to tie it all together.  To that end I’ve got a list things that happened in 2011 that were meaningful to me or that I liked or that I feel grateful for.

1. Hanging out with Becky in Portland, especially riding bikes, especially at night.
2. Spending time with Lowen, my favorite nephew (who is technically not my nephew).
3. Seeing all of my family even though it was for the incredibly sad occasion of my grandmother’s funeral.
4. Flying from the funeral back to Portland with my sister and feeling glad I had a good shoulder for her to put her head on when we had to non-dramatically abort out landing in Las Vegas.
5. Spending 3 unexpected weeks getting to know Rachel’s cousins better.
6. Spending time with Martha in NYC.
7. Hosting a buddhist nun for 10 days at our house.
8. Camping near the Fossil beds with RU.
9. Writing and reading with the Thank You writers.
10. Figuring out how to teach my REDCap class.
11. Seeing, in person, art by Richard Serra, Willem De Kooning and Lucien Freud.
12. Walking the new section of the Highline.
13. Watching the sun set on the Hudson.
14. Stumbling across Occupy Wallstreet at its beginning.
15. Seeing Jennifer Egan at Wordstock and talking to her when she signed my book.
16. Learning to make great larb.
17. Growing green beans.
18. Making one batch of kick ass ice cream.
19. Eating Thanksgiving turkey and pie with my sister and niece.
20. Taking in a lot of the TBA, including seeing a really good play, The Method Gun. Thank you Susan.
21. Talking to RU on phone right after a retreat.
22. Spending time with Deirdre in DC.
23. Reading out loud part of a story I’m working on and making a lot of people laugh.
24. Listening to hymns when I was feeling sad.
25. Working in my yard. A lot.
26. Buying a bunch of shoes that I’m now trying to sell at Buffalo Exchange.
27. Feeling heartened by the Occupy Movement and feeling disgusted by the U.S. congress.
28. Feeling curiosity  and something like dread at the thought of turning 50.
29. Thinking a lot about my gender.
30. A really great dinner at June with the Uris’es and a great breakfast at Navarre with RU. Both vaguely birthday related events.
31. A couple nice long drives with RU around the Oregon country side.