VirtualSound’s Neighborhood

i am once again feeling all too listless - which when you actually look up the dictionary definition ('having or showing little or no interest in anything; languid; spiritless; indifferent') is quite miserable.... for some reason i had always used the word as meaning unbalanced, without direction, brimming with energy and ideas but unsure what to do with it.

its a miserable feeling either way. i had thought this summer it was just the weather that was making me feel rootless and ready to wander. now its the winter i know its this weather, but its also so much more. i am bored and i feel lazy and i just cannot find anything of interest. its miserable and dis-spiriting. and the grey london skies probably don't help much either.

and the thought of braving the crowds to go christmas shopping (ugh), and the wind (so cold! i am not sure when i turned into quite such a wuss about the weather...). and i am terrible one for cause and effect, i cannot abide doing something if i can't see how it twists back in down the road, it makes shopping less than fun nowadays...

and i guess the worst part is that i just don't know what i want or where i want to be. its so much easier if there is a clear goal, even if you don't reach it its something concrete towards which you can spend your time working. without some goal you, well, listless. there are not even baby steps to take.

i suppose i just want something to throw myself into whole-heartedly. which seems an ominous request to make, but then again, i never did have much sense in that arena.

i had a fantastic weekend - a few of my former colleagues from gaza come over to london for the weekend (they had some extra time off for eid) and i spent most of the weekend with them. being dragged around oxford street (not my favourite place at this time of year with all of the christmas tourists!), but also going to see priscilla queen of the desert (fantastically fun on stage! i need to find a copy of the movie to watch sometime, probably when i am back in the states...).

and going to the winter wonderland german-esque christmas market in hyde park, being treated to an afternoon of tennis at O2 (thanks K!), a lovely indian dinner with an unrwa crew, an evening out at one of my favourite places (this fantastic brazilian dance bar which is just about enough to make you forget how miserable and wet it is here right now), somehow having enough sense of direction to walk halfway home before finding a cabbie to take me the rest of the way!

a lovely morning-after brunch with the crew, nothing like a full-cooked english breakfast to kick start you in the morning, the lion king matinee (a must for all! the costumes are spectacular and the dancing in the costumes is amazing, such fun!), and then a nice thai dinner to round out the day and weekend.

it was lovely and spoiling and just so nice to see scott and jodie. i hadn't realise how much i missed them and the rest of my friends and colleagues there. its hard just to switch it off. i may have left, but its two years of my life where that was pretty much all i had. you can never just leave it.

but, the week and the adventure continues on. i continue by bout of being homeless tomorrow by trekking across town with all of my accumulated possessions to K's flat. i don't know what i would have done if sam hadn't been out of town and so okay with me just taking over his place... and as always staying with K will be a treat, I'll even be able to cook again!! (sam in all of his certified bachelor glory owns 4 plates, 2 glasses, 4 knives, 4 forks and 4 spoons.... its been an interesting 3 weeks....

and know i suppose i need to buckle down and deal with the holidays. christmas shopping and the like, how joy-fully not fun. i could also probably do with some gainful employment... hmm.... i suppose its best to have goals for the new year after all!

Well I'm not a great reviewer of movies but here it goes.  I wanted to go and see a movie at the Crest in North Seattle.  They have $3 shows anytime of day and they usually are pretty good.  They are a few months after the first run so they do pick the better ones.  So not much planning ahead I headed over and the movie I wanted to see had already started and I remembered the movie clips for The Invention of Lying and I thought this is going to be terrible and didn't really want to see it but it was in the right time frame, I was there and it was playing.

So it was different then what I thought it was going to be, I thought everyone would be lying and it wasn't that way.  The movie is based in a world where no one has any concept of lying and everyone tells the truth and very bluntly and matter of factly too.  It was so crude in some spots everyone in the theatre would giggle with delight or that uncomfortable laugh when you know shouldn't.  The main character is titled by a blind date as the short fat man with a stubby nose, who is about to lose his job as a screen writer.  Eventually this character says something that isn't, thatis how he tries to explain to his friends (his lie) and the great discovery it could be.  I wasn't liking the movie much but it was different so it kept me entertained but then when it all changed and he says something that isn't and how he started to change his life and the life around him, that is when I started to like the movie.  Oh now that sounds kinda bad huh?...Well anyway...

At one point the darn movie made me cry, his Mom was about to die and the doctor told her a matter of factly you will have another heart attack in a few hours and it will be painful and you will die and you will be gone and it will go black and your life is over.  She was so scared, her son Mark (the main character) told her she was going to a happy place where she will see her husband and all of her friends and she will have a mansion in the sky.   It was the sweetest part of the movie.  All of the hospital staff in the room wanted to know how he knew that and were very happy.  Well it all snowballed and they told people who told people and everyone was surrounding his apartment. 

As you have figured as I did in the movie they didn't have any concept of God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  So he came up with the Man in the Sky and wrote out two sheets of rules of how to get your own Mansion in the sky.  There is a lot more to the movie and I haven't told you several side stories like the romantic interest, his friends, his work and how it all turns out but it was a funny movie overall and I did like it and it ended the right way wasn't sure if it would.

So I would give the movie a 7 out of 10 score.  I would recommend seeing it but for adults only.  If you want to go to the Crest Theatre( with Landmark Theatres) here is the phone number for their address and movie times. 206-781-5755 press 1 for the Crest.

DD 

Well I can't seem to blog about whats going on now until I get caught up.  I love getting all the pictures with our digital camera but haven't been so good about getting them into albums.  They all seem to be stuck in the computer filed under my pictures but are spread out over several computers.  I wish I had taken the memory card thats in the camera and took it to the photo store and got some prints but now they get erased so we can get more pics.  So this is a fun way to keep them organized and so we can remember. I just got to get them blogged or get at least a few of the best pictures saved.  I don't think the kids look at my blog yet but they might someday and hopefully will enjoy that I tried to keep the memories for them. 

This group of pics below is of Ben's first time playing basketball on a team.  He played at the YMCA, he had a great coach, coach Reed.  He said his top 3 rules were to Have Fun, Have FUN, and HAVE FUN !  Ben had fun, even though at first he wasn't sure about playing.  Ben was one of the tallest boys.  I don't remember all of the boys names but I do remember Miles, he was really good, and still would pass it to Ben even though he knew Ben might not catch it.  Ben just kept getting better and better. Ben is going to play again this Fall starting at the end of November and goes through March and I think he gets to play on Coach Reeds team again with Miles. 

You can also see Dave working from home lounging in the front yard.  He loves working from home.  I think he has lost over 30 pounds since these pics were taken, he will probably not like these but I love them, he looks so happy. 

Ben is playing video games with our neighbor friend Chris, friends Treyvon and Miles. 

                                                Click on the pics to make them larger. 

i hurt. pretty much all over! while i have been remiss about writing i have not been remiss about traveling. i am in hawaii for the week. and it was my genius idea to hike diamond head trail this morning (at 0800hrs might i add) and then have a surfing lesson at 1500hrs.

i now know why surfers have bodies to be oogled. my arms feel as if they are about to fall out of their sockets. just the first paddle out was enough to fell me! i am pretty sure the only reason that i manged to stand up on the board was because it actually took more energy to fall off it in the end!

but it was super fun! and if i find myself in a place where i can surf regularly i plan on doing so!!! the rest of the day was filled with cocktails (much to my mother's disdain i had a daquiri before setting off on the surfing adventure, the logic being that if i was slightly liquoured up my limbs would be looser and i would be less likely to hurt myself when falling off the board - there was no questing that i was going to be falling off the board!).

i then had lovely sunset cocktails at the moana surfrider (omg i want to stay there!) and meet some lovely kiwi's who joined me at my table (i was a 4 person table - i will never cease to understand why american refuse to share with others when they have space to spare! its a blanket declaration, but as far as i have seen true, i love sharing tables with strangers, you meet cool people that way. okay, sometimes they're odd, but then you just leave!)

anyway, i am shattered beyond belief, and trying to work on a job application, yeah not the best of circumstances!

tomorrow is pearl harbour and yesterday was diving. the diving was super mellow - i was out with two non-divers... but i saw a big sea turtle and a ray so i am a happy camper :) even if it wasn't a wreck dive... the colours here are no where near as cool as in dahab, but i guess is hard coral (cold water) instead of soft coral (warmer water)

and i am off to try and work some more.

and i am back! well, maybe sort of. its been ages since i last wrote. i'm back in the states and bumming around. its fantastic to be doing all of well, not really much! although i must admit our dogs are loving having me back, i seem to have taken on the task of being a living chair...

i kind you not. everytime i sit down they take it as their right, no, their responsibility, to sit on my lap! i've actually had to seek refuge in a cafe in order to respond to emails, update here and work on some job applications. lets just say that while they may be comfortable, daschunds are too long to comfortably fit on my lap and allow me freedom to type....

okay, so just a hello i am here, the move went okay, everything is unpacked etc etc (which in and of itself is amazing!)

the last two days have been amazing, incredible, i don't really know... there simply aren't words. leaving has been a long time in coming. i know its the right decision. i need the change, particularly professionally. my boss and i had a good long talk about it, and he agrees. which in a weird way helps me know what i am doing is right.

personally i am sure it is right as well. its just a hell of a lot harder. there was never going to be an easy way to make the break, but these last two days have made it even harder. albeit all the sweeter and with more memories. when i get dropped off at the airport, i like to do curb side drop, hug goodbye and then i am gone. in some ways, i wanted to try and get away with that here.

it would have been fine. but i should have know better that that would never work. and in a twisted, masochistic way i am glad that it didn't. my palestinian colleagues threw me a lovely surprise farewell with cake etc. yesterday, it was so sweet. and it was great that it was a mix of international and local colleagues who came, that said the most to me. i really, really appreciated it.

and then last night there was my international ppl farewell. it was fantastic. everyone came. seriously. everyone - at least everyone who was in gaza. my (and maria's) flat was full of people, laughing, dancing, having a good time. it was the perfect send off.

and there were presents and speeches, all so embarrassing and lovely. my boss said the sweetest things, and it meant all the more because i know that he doesn't say things that he doesn't mean. it was, again, i don't have words, just so fantastic, it means a lot when people you admire and respect, when people of such experience and background and skill all come together to celebrate you and your time and your leaving. it was very, very special.

and then today, saying goodbye. wow. it was hard and good, i felt the worst when disappearing on my local colleagues. but again my boss was lovely, swanning off to meetings outside after giving me a big hug and promising a recommendation letter for the files and a reference anytime i needed it. he's just been promoted. he's now the equivalent of an under-secretary general. his word counts for so much. its amazing to have that on file.

and then the sneaky bunch organised everyone (including all the drivers) down in the parking lot. there was more hugging and speeches, and everyone stood there waving until the cars left the compound. it was really, really lovely again. and the best memory to leave gaza with. knowing that i will be missed, that i made a difference, selfishly its just so lovely to have that there as my last image.

and yes, now i am off for drinks and dinner with some jerusalem friends, an airport run with maria, a lazy day tomorrow, with drinks with all sorts of assorted friends and colleagues tomorrow evening. i will miss this place and these people, but these wonderful memories from the last few days are just a perfect way to end.

yesterday i actually woke up because it was too quiet.... the sea was absolutely still, no waves, now wind nothing. i don't think i have ever been somewhere quite to serenely peaceful. i mean, at other beaches the surf is rougher (which i like) but there is also noise from other sources. here, occasionally, you have the dive trucks driving by, but thats it.

it has been supremely relaxing and hectic! i finished my advanced certification yesterday, it was great!! we did the canyon first thing yesterday morning before many other groups were there, which was cool, you go down about 10m and then descend about a further 20m into a canyon in the ground sit on the bottom do some 'exercises' - counting ones to check for nitrogen narcosis, colour ones to see the light difference.

then you swim around the canyon looking at all different wildlife and structures. its nuts when you sort of do the math and realise that you're 90ft under water! but now i can do deep dives which is cool :) we also did a drift dive, although to be honest the currents here aren't very strong so i barely noticed it.

for this dive we literally dropped into the water bcd inflated put on our fins and masks - and dropped down into another sort of tunnel/canyon. so as you jumped in and kitted up, there was about a 20m drop right below you, and you had about 1.5m on either side before you hit the coral wall.

so down we descended, and then you do a hop over a ridge and down another 26m and then under this little rock formation and out into open water to view the reef. not for those who get claustraphobic or vertigo!! again, just this amazing view peering out into nothingness on one side, down to a barely defined bottom (and we hadd 25-30m visability) and then this wall of coral just bustling with life! it was spectacular!!

more octopuses and eels (forgot that i also saw and eel on the night dive def. creepy!! as well as this gorgeous blue trigger fish (un blue!!) that must have been at least a foot tall and a foot and a half long!). and just tons of clown fish, zebra fish, parrot fish (so odd looking!) angel fish, everything! it was like living in a tropical acquirium tank!

then i did my third dive of the day - a naturalist one - and had to identifu at least 5 fish. didn't see the turtle though :( we did sommersaults to pass the time at our decrompression stop and played with the clownfish - one actually nipped my finger cause i wasn't fast enough! think it scared him more than me that he made contact with this weird thing!

i really just love the feeling underwater too of the serenity and peace, its eerie and amazing all at once. and the absolutely beauty is staggering, also when you realise that there really is this whole other world that we just don't see. i will definitely be keeping up with it this time.

i need to clue on to booking a flight to HI to see my brother - and book some diving :) i want to do a boat dive, and a wreck dive, underwater photography and maybe nitrox. with those and what i have as a basis, it really opens up pretty much everything for diving whenever and where ever i find myself :)

wondering now if i parents would disown me if i gave it all up and went off to be a diver... technical or instructing, what a life living by the sea, in the sea... of course its not all fun and games - i think i've learnt that lesson at least as well as most!