iPhone Sadness

I miss my iPhone. We were a team. Noticing that I barely check the Crackberry. I suppose that's more healthy.

Climate Change Call to Action

My friends Martin and Juhi are in Copenhagen at the COP15 Climate Change Conference running a parallel conference call CultureFutures. I'm there in spirit and in blogging.

Extrovert Introverted

Yesterday I participated in an introduction session to Interplay - a movement-based, community-building vocabulary. That's a non-profit lingo way of trying to say, connecting with people through movement. My friends Theron and Elizabeth are deeply involved with the organization and I wanted to appreciate what they find so inspiring. In the process, I learned some interesting things about myself. The grand conclusion is that I love verbal communication and am not so keen on physical communication.

I met a gentleman, at the start of the session, who immediately told me that he was relieved because two of his fears were instantly dispelled: he was neither the oldest participant nor the only man. It made me realize that everyone comes to these sessions with some trepidation. For me I am comfortable when we begin organized activities that involve verbal interaction, or even listening to a presenter. But when we start doing any kind of physical interaction I clam up. In fact, we did so much interaction that my brain went into a lock-down mode. Heck, I have been taking the same yoga class with the same group of people for years and still get nervous when we have to do partner stretches.

Usually I'm super creative, highly interactive and very extroverted - I have to hold myself back from dominating the room. I'm a verbal performer. When we were asked to stand up, find a partner and touch palms I went beyond my stretch zone and nearly into panic. Panic fully hit when we had to stand in a group of four and touch fingertips "in creative ways" for about five minutes.

So, what I learned, is that I want to be able to occasionally offer a comforting touch - kind of how people reach out to you to make a point. That's something I'm not comfortable doing. But in terms of lots of extended physical communication - call me a physical introvert.

Cute Cat Video Gone Mad

Crack is Back!

A crackberry, that is. Went to the Apple store and it would have cost me $499 for a new iPhone - even with my "service" plan, because I still had 18 months on my contract and wasn't ready for an upgrade. I ended up talking to ATT for two hours by phone - first for an hour in the Apple store and then another hour in the ATT store. It became clear, after conducting a cost-benefit analysis, that closing out my account and paying the early contract termination fee and then starting a new account and getting the $99 iPhone was going to save me about $200. When I went to do it, ATT put me through to various departments until the final customer service representative offered a "deal I couldn't refuse."

So, now I'm back to having a crackberry. I'm actually quite excited for a few of reasons. First, the keyboard is so much better on the crackberry. Second, it is kind of nice to be going backwards a bit and not having the latest hottest technology (is that weird?). Third, as you know I love endless change. Here I've changed again. Oh yes, the camera on the crackberry allows me to take better self-portraits and I can post more easily to my blog. That's why you haven't seen portraits in about six months - very challenging on the iPhone.

Here's a YouTube video comparing an iPhone to the Blackberry Bold.



Never a dull moment in Amyville.

Iphone-less

Oh bummer. I lost my purse with my iPhone in it this evening when I went dancing with Hisun. It isn't the end of the world but now I have to replace it. Hisun was kind enough to drive me all over Berkeley, Oakland and Emeryville to look for the lost phone. This crazy path was because we tried out so many dance clubs. We ended up having a lovely evening at The Den in Oakland. When we returned everyone was so nice to us, trying to help find the phone. In my previous life I would have cried and called myself stupid for the loss. Now I have no emotions because it is just stuff and what does stuff really matter? Replaceable.

Swatch Switch

My fantastic vintage Swatch that I bought with my brother Matthew in April (here we are displaying our watches at an Easter Brunch) broke a couple of months ago - the little cover that holds in the battery broke off. Today I finally took it to the Union Square Swatch store. They said it was unfixable but that I could pick out any $55 Swatch to replace it. I was very sad to give up the Swatch because it was so unique. However, it was great fun finding a new one! I picked out one that has big bursts of color shaped like peacock feathers.
Above you can see my new swatch in the plastic case and the beautiful vintage swatch with its battery spilled out. This was so easy and painless - I congratulate Swatch on excellent warranties and helpful customer service professionals. Also found out that the Swatch heart ring I wear every day, and that I bought in London, is a rare find! Swatchalicious.

Culture|Futures in Copenhagen

My friend and associate consultant, Martin Farrell, is facilitating a convening in Copenhagen next week called:

Culture|Futures

an ecological age by 2050

Play a lead role in expanding
cultural engagement to
sustain human and all life

This is a partner-conference to the UN Climate Change Conference 2009. I've been helping behind the scenes and now Martin has asked me to help with the social media aspects of the convening. I'm so excited! I wish I could be there myself but it is quite expensive to fly and apparently there are no hotel rooms left. Well, I'll participate from the comfort of my own home.

Cute Cat Video

I had no idea that there were all these cat videos on YouTube. My friend Leigh introduced me to this one and I've watched it about 30 times and can't get enough.

Holiday Photo Expedition

Three years ago I started the tradition of taking a photo expedition to get a beautiful shot for my holiday card. Last year I took a ferry ride from Alameda to Oakland. The previous year it was the London Eye. This year I ventured up to the Oakland Hills for some breathtaking vistas and also Baker Beach for the beauty of the ocean. Living in such a beautiful area, so close to the ocean and mountains, I often take for granted the majesty of the Bay Area. Looking at some of these photos reminds me of how fortunate I am to be here.

Everything in Moderation

Hanging out with Calm and having a car for ten days has helped me recognize that moderation is a perfectly good approach to life. I've been thinking about adopting a dog and also about buying a car. Now that I temporarily have both it is clear that they are wonderful occasionally but not what I'm needing full time. Having the opportunity to be with Calm now and then for a few days fills my needs - and hers as well. A car has allowed me to visit some friends and locations out of touch of public transit but I certainly don't need a car everyday.

Extended Family

Tonight we celebrated my friend Stacey's big 40. It was her house I lived in for the past 14 months, before moving into my own place. Her party was filled with her extended family, many of which have become my extended family, something I didn't realize until tonight. As we danced to great 80s tunes in a restaurant overlooking Lake Merritt, I recognized that these folks have grown to know and care about me.

Each asked about my new place and the summer "relationship" that I had had - hoping that I was still in it. I forgot how much they know about me. The best moment was when little Lex, my former five-year-old roommate, sat down on the steps next to me and put his head on my lap. We rarely had close moments when I lived in his house but there were times when we were out and about and he touched me so sweetly. With family you know you can just reach out and they are there for you.

Curry Squash

I am eating the most heavenly curry dish made from Thanksgiving leftovers. I took the roasted squash and pumpkin I baked yesterday, removed the skin and mixed with a can of coconut milk, added a tablespoon of red curry paste. Mixed until creamy. Scooped it on top of my quinoa stuffing. Delicious. Took about five minutes to prepare.

Being Partnered

Hanging out with Com/Calm dog and observing her loyalty has helped me understand something about myself. I like being in a relationship. Just like Calm looking after me in the apartment and being tuned into me as we take walks, I like to be the same way with a partner. I previously was seeing this as a weakness that I had to overcome but actually it is a characteristic.

Calm is great one-to-one. She's good in groups too - she was in our game circle during post-Thanksgiving socializing. But she is very loyal to her primary person. After Thanksgiving dinner we went out for a walk and another person was going to hold Calm's leash. Calm kept looking for me to be the one holding her lead. It was amazing loyalty considering we've only been together for a few days. I believe I am the same way. I just have to be careful to whom I commit my loyalty.

Wild Turkey

Com/Calm and I went for an early morning walk and to our shock, and that of some other early-risers along Oakland's Piedmont Avenue, there was a wild turkey running down the street. He actually tried to stop a city bus and get on to escape. The bus finally got around Mr. Turkey who then started squawking as he ran down the center of the street, then on to the sidewalk and then across the street. The few cars on the street stopped to watch the bizarre and ironic site. Mr. Turkey impressed us all by puffing out its feathers.

I've cropped this iPhone photo so that you can see the turkey running along the sidewalk towards Fenton's Ice Creamery. He's about to cross the street. Run turkey, run.

This rivals my Thanksgiving in Houston where a man walked down our street exclaiming, in a deep Texas drawl, "somebody's turkey's burning up, somebody's turkey's burning up." In fact, someone burned down their house while trying to deep fry their turkey. This time the turkey got away.

Looking back on some past Thanksgivings, I've had some real adventures. Last year was in Berkeley with my cousin Diana - we had Tofurkey. The previous year was London, previous year in Scotland, the year before that was Houston. This year I'm hosting my cousin Diana and friends here in Oakland.