butter me up and all over

I had a Groupon for a face treatment — facial, peel, sandpaper scrub, you know — the works. I had put it off till the last minute — past the last minute, in fact. It was only by the grace of (Skin By) Maria that I could use my expired Groupon. The reason for the…

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gone, not forgotten

I am participating in several World AIDS Day commemorations at the end of this week. I’m attending in the course of my job, but I’m glad to have the opportunity to reflect on all the deep complexity of HIV/AIDS and its impact on the world, and on my life. It’s an issue way, way too…

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sister trip

I mentioned my sister Ann’s trip and accompanying blog briefly a few months ago, but the time has come to revisit this singular bit of beautiful cyberspace. She recently completed posting the journals, and I highly recommend taking a look. It’s a relatively swift read from beginning to end, and is just wonderful. It’s called…

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app talk

My dear friend and crafty queen Polly recently got an iPhone and asked around as to people’s favorite apps. First off, welcome to the vortex, cowgirl … it’s inevitable that we all become pod people, so embrace it! I’ll list my essential apps, though it is a surprisingly meager list. I caught a quick look…

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work it out there, subconscious

Two real-life friends who are also improvisers sat me down and told me “for my own good” that the audiences have not been liking my performances lately. Two helpful criticisms: I’m getting old, and no one cares what I’m talking about. I caught a ride to San Diego in a friend’s friend’s SUV. She worked…

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gratitude access denied

It’s the Fourth Friday Challenge for November. My friend Paul and I, both posting daily in 2011, decided to give each other a job once a month to keep things spicy. In his words, “we want to push ourselves to do something more interesting than we might otherwise.” And here is his challenge to me:…

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thank you, food

I’m preloading this post on Wednesday night, after a surprisingly ambitious and well-executed pre-attack on Thanksgiving. I made these things: Carrot-ginger soup, my famous recipe Yam salad that did not come out at all the way my mouth wanted it to Mashed yams that are incredibly tasty and I should’ve made all the yams into…

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already a warm holiday memory

After the DMV I decided to head to the Police Department because I just needed my fill of bureaucratic nonsense today. I was doing some business at the PD, which sounds a little shady, but I work with the police in the course of my job, really I do. While I was waiting to get…

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rich gentlemen have it, boys — in-di-gestion!

I have been trying to get the Thanksgiving shopping done on off-hours so I don’t drive my car into the harbor with frustration at the crowds/the cars/the stressical atmosphere. I’ve been doing it in phases, too; I leave when I can’t take it anymore*. I can feel my Taurus-horns dig deeper and deeper into forced…

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