j'arrive

All this travel finally caught up with me. I didn't make it out of bed until noon today, and 2 hours (and 2 cups of coffee) later I'm still dragging.
Even though it was relatively easy travel, good flights, a comfy bus, excellent company, sufficient sleep--maybe the miles add up, physically, psychologically?
Over the past 20 days: Seattle-->New York-->Dubai-->Addis Ababa-->Debre Birhan-->Addis Ababa-->Dubai-->New York-->Seattle-->Vancouver-->Seattle
Today: Seattle
But, I'm already thinking about the next trip (look out Hays America).
And the one after that.

flying the coop

Its my last day in the USA for about 10 days. Today I'm hanging out in one of the most expensive cities in America (holla NYC) where some people spend more in a month on pet food than others make in a year. I'll arrive a day later in one of the poorest places in the world (wassup Addis Ababa).

Its gonna be a fun trip. I get to meet/work with 11 new friends, build houses and hang out with east Africans. Also, I'm ready to fly the coop for a few days. Between work, readings, family, and love-life drama, its been a pressure cooker of a year.

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So whatsup with nyc flakesters? I got blown off 3x in the past 2 days, a record even for me. Eff-why-eye, the ol' "dude I'm sick" is getting tired. If you don't wanna hang out, say you don't wanna hang out. Kay? Kk.

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See y'all on the flip!

c gulls

Last week I was walking across the University Bridge and saw a pair of seagulls. Fat-breasted with crisp white and gray feathers, they perched on the bridge railing and watched me approach in that sideways, flat-eyed bird way. When I got too close they flapped off. I watched them swoop low and land on a dock below. They watched me continue across the bridge; one flew off, then the other, circling and diving, as though sending me a message: I'm keeping an eye on you. One landed in the water. The other continued to circle, arcing away from his pal and then hurtling back to stick a landing not far away, barely rippling the surface of the cut. The pair swam together, paused, swam some more. Another pair of gulls flapped in, landed, swam close. For a minute I thought the four would swim on together, a convention of waterfowl, but they didn't, they remained two distinct pairs. My gulls--my birds--swam on in front, together, under the bridge, keeping a watchful eye for on-comers. I was swiftly forgotten.

ratburger...aka I heart chobopop

These kids are the cool:
flickr
Fb
etc

sweetbeets

Peep these laid-back beats: Bru Sky, a lazy, sun-glazed afternoon on a reggae beach:

pirate train

Snaps from the R train last week.

unintended

It seems unnecessary to say it but: I survived.

My friends posse'd up, including my little sis, who I couldn't look at in the audience without wanting to cry, and friends showed up to listen who I never would imagined would come to a reading! I felt solidarity among the editors and other writers, I felt scared but also resolved: this was going to happen, and it was going to be okay. We had a drink after at Unicorn. My man texted from the opposite coast to say he was proud of me. Then I hopped in my sis's car and we sped off to the airport.
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This Blue Scholars vid is a most legit Seattle lovesong. And need I remind you that Macklemore shot part of Thrift Shop in the Unicorn's new-ish downstairs lounge? Also fun--spotting guest stars, from Champagne Champagne and the female half of DTTTC (80% sure on this one).