bummer II

We went to Berkeley yesterday to photocopy and were too late--the shop was closed--and it was very sad.

In other news, someone on freecycle was giving away a giant gummy worm.

bummer

I seem to have lost Meat Is Murder, which has "Meat Is Murder" on it, a song I hate listening to but which I think is really important, and I want to put it on a cd for A. I guess I could pay a dollar and download it from Amazon. Maybe I'll do that.

edit to add: Listened to it on youtube and decided no.

sad

Today Erik's at the REI used gear sale looking for backpacking stuff. I'm home--I addressed envelopes for the next functionally ill, which is done and I just need to photocopy it. I wish I'd already done that and could bind right now. But I have a manuscript to proofread. Sad faces.

alphabet

Turns out p was taken, so I wrote that essay Post Office for nothing! But I asked for b and wrote an essay called Babies. Erik likes Babies better than Post Office, so it's all good. Maybe I should make my own alphabet zine?

dumbhead

Erik's favorite dubbed line from Drunken Master:

Well now, dumbhead, I suggest that you go clean shit.

Erik's other favorite line:

Your kung fu is bullshit.

conflict

Erik: I want to sit.

LM: I want to type.

Erik: How long do you want to type?

LM: Forever.

Erik: Without intermissions?

LM: Forever and ever.

Erik: This is moving in the wrong direction.

LM: And ever.

Erik: So you're going to stop sleeping.

N

Today I phoned a friend I had never talked to on the phone before. It was fantastic. I got to talk about all my most important things. I felt so listened to and loved. If you're reading, N--thank you for a beautiful phonecall.

Otherwise, not much is going on at Chez Erik et Laura-Marie. Erik's sick with the cold I had.

Oh, I went to the post office and I sent a really important package. And just now I wrote an essay for an alphabet zine--my essay is called Post Office. My letter is p.

vegan drunken noodles actualized

For so long I wanted to make vegan drunken noodles. This morning at the big farmers market under the overpass, I found some Thai basil, so I knew today was the day.

http://lazysmurf.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/pad-kee-mao-drunken-vegan-noodles/

It turned out really good but didn't taste like at the restaurant. I cooked the bell pepper a little too long--I should have put the garlic and chili in before the tomatoes. And I think it needed more soysauce and/or vegetarian oyster sauce. And less green onion. But we loved it.

pc

I got this postcard in the mail the other day and fell in love with the phone woman.

the Mildews

I'm listening to Misery Index by the Mildews, my new favorite band. The third song on the cd is "My Zine." Heck yeah!

Chic for Change

I had never heard of this place, but it might become the meeting place for Sac Icarus!

http://www.chicforchange.com/

good mail day!

Today I got enough mail.* I got the following.

two mental health zines
a regular letter
a love letter
some plant photographs
some Icarus stickers
another letter
a weird letter of unwanted flirtation
another zine
a note with that zine
a letter requesting a zine

Omg--wtf? It took me like half an hour to read the day's mail, and I didn't even finish the third zine.

*Initially I wrote "enough mail to choke a horse" but I didn't like the violence of that image.

camping

Erik wants to take me camping next week and I want to know if the campground has cellphone service so I can stay in touch with my bestie. I feel so stupid calling the rangers and asking, though.

cereal

My mom bought me some Cheerios from Costco. I poured myself a bowl. I looked into the bowl at my soon-to-be-consumed Cheerios. And I felt like a little kid, in a good way. "When's the last time you saw a bowl of Cheerios?" I asked Erik.

busy

Our apartment survived another trip to Santa Maria. By that I mean that no one broke in while we were gone. I always worry.

My to do list is huge, and I have so many people to write letters to. The scary part is I'm sure I'm forgetting people.

I'm sick with a sore throat and cough. But we have errands to run, like we have no bread or tortillas.

Sorry my blogging's been spotty. I want to settle home and do my things, but looks like I'm going on a trip next month too!

empanadas

Erik's watching Inception while he exercises. We're going to see my best friend E soon. I have a sore throat which I hope is nothing. Yesterday we made peach empanadas, and they were good.

seeing K

Yesterday I went to the zoo and met K there. She was standing out in front of the zoo reading a book. A lot of people were around. But we got to go into the special line because she's a member.

We looked at animals. Highlights were the red pandas, the lemurs. The lion roared, which was kind of scary. As it began to roar, people ran to see it. I liked seeing the giraffes get fed, their dark prehensile tongues. I liked catching a glimpse of a tiger and some zebras. I like seeing the people, like the little boy who was fascinated by the koi.

But mostly I just wanted to talk to K. We talked about my trip to New York and Burning Man a little bit and Icarus a little bit and friends. Vehicles. She drove me around the block a few times when she was dropping me off at home so we could talk a little longer.

Sac Icarus Group

The Icarus Project
radical mental health by and for the mad community

support group / discussion group
for people with bipolar disorder and other dangerous gifts

Email robotmad at gmail dot com
for info about our first Sacramento meeting.


The Icarus Project envisions a new culture and language that resonates with our actual experiences of 'mental illness' rather than trying to fit our lives into a conventional framework.

We are a network of people living with experiences that are often diagnosed and labeled as bipolar or other psychiatric conditions. We believe these experiences are mad gifts needing cultivation and care, rather than diseases or disorders. By joining together as individuals and as a community, the intertwined threads of madness, creativity, and collaboration can inspire hope and transformation in an oppressive and damaged world. Participation in The Icarus Project helps us overcome alienation and tap into the true potential that lies between brilliance and madness.

The Icarus Project international collective: theicarusproject.net

organic cherries

Yesterday we went to Berkeley. Then in the evening I saw my friend H. We went for a long walk through midtown. We went to The G Spot and looked at their wares. I enjoyed the night wind and moving through the dark. I brought her a sunflower I picked at Vic Fazio on the way home from Berkeley. I brought her organic cherries that I bought at Berkeley Bowl. We did not go to Tilden Park like usual. We went to Shorebird Park and looked at birds and squirrels. A hawk landed on a boulder, hawk on a rock. We were afraid the hawk would eat the white goose that seemed out of place. I saw a squirrel eating a dead crab. I wondered what a squirrel would be eating that was bright red then saw when I got closer and the squirrel dropped it.

napkin update

I found some good ones online. Etsy saved the day! And they're even made in California.

sleep resolution

I've gotten into this bad nap habit. I resolve to sleep a full night tonight and not need an afternoon snooze tomorrow.

One of our tires was balding, so we got a new tire put on today, and it was mostly painless. I textile shopped and came up empty handed again. None of the cloth napkins really stood out to me as excellent despite the selection. I wish there was a way to get something uniquely Californian. I guess I'll look online.

scissors

I lost my good scissors by hiding them from Erik.

death

Erik: If you hear digging, you have to give him a treat.
me: I don't have to do anything. Death and taxes, baby!
Erik: I do the taxes.

textiles

Yesterday we went to Davis. I was in a bad mood. We went to the farmers market, and I got snap peas there. Hurray! I went to the Davis co-op looking for beautiful tea towels and / or cloth napkins for a present and came up empty handed. But I have two other ideas of where to look.

produce

Last night I slept three and a half hours, so today I napped, once waking from a nightmare with a shout. I have so much on my post-trip to do list and am slowly chipping away at it. Today we bought some nice produce and I forgot the snap peas, dag nabbit. But I've got beautiful cherries, bright pineapple, beautiful small cucumbers.

announcement

Home safe--regularly scheduled blogging will resume tomorrow!

still alive

I am still alive! I will be home Thursday late.