Ah, art school students
There is an art school a few blocks from where I work. It's on my way to work when I walk. Sometimes I stop by the art school café for coffee, sometimes for lunch, but less frequently than coffee.
I love pretending that I'm just one of them, just another art student. I know the employees working at the café think that I am. What else would I be?
The other day I overheard a conversation of two students sitting outside the art school:
Girl: .. and I painted for like seven hours straight, and I told him that and he was like "That's crazy. You shouldn't do that. Nobody ever paints for seven hours straight."
Other girl: What? I do that every day! I paint for seven hours straight every day!
Girl: I know! Me too!
Ah, art students.
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.: posted by Vera 
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Money really is just an energy
So I just found out that if I refer five clients to the surgeon who did my LASIK procedure last year, I will get a full refund. That would be $3,600 coming back at me unexpectedly! So far I have referred two people. Now I need three more.
I have some $300 off coupons to give away. Let me know if you are thinking about getting the procedure done, and I'll mail you one. Also, to refresh your memory, here is how it all went down last year, and now I have 20/20 vision.
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.: posted by Vera
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Radio interview
German journalist and burner Fabian Mohr recently interviewed me about Burning Man at my neighborhood coffee shop. My voice became part of a radio collage that aired on a Bavarian radio station recently [listen].
His parts and my parts are in German, but many parts of the piece are in English. I'm up first, and this is what I'm saying:
At Burning Man, we finally become humans again. When we are here in our modern society, we are often like robots. But at Burning Man, we are humans again. We do everything ourselves and we help each other. And I also think that everybody shows their best side at Burning Man. There is only generosity and gratefulness and openness, and everything else is left at home.
Towards the end of the interview I also talk about wearing pink fur and running around in my underwear.
I guess Fabian liked my statement about becoming human again at Burning Man ("Bei Burning Man sind wir endlich wieder Menschen") because it made the main page of his radio project.
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.: posted by Vera
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Smiles
Me and Vera
Originally uploaded by SFAntti.
Antti has uploaded some pictures too.
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.: posted by Vera
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Magic mountain
My boyfriend and I went to Mt Shasta for the weekend. It was really beautiful. [I could blend the words Shasta and fantastic here to describe the weekend but I won't. You're welcome.]
We stayed at a huge two bedroom vacation house, called the Chalet at Mt Shasta. It had everything we needed - trees all around it, silence, lots of information about the area, extra blankets, a deck, a TV, and even a bottle opener and bubble bath.
We really wanted to hike up Mt Shasta, but on Saturday there were clouds all around the top of Mt Shasta and it was freezing cold up there, so we went hiking somewhere else near some water falls instead. At night we went to a sauna at the Finlandia Motel. It was a "real" Finnish sauna, meaning you are allowed to throw water on the coals. I had no idea how good it would feel - throwing the water sends a surge of extra heat into the sauna room, and it feels like sparks are exploding all over your body. We also sat in an outdoor hot tub right as the sun was setting.
Sunday was warmer and sunnier, and there were no clouds around Mt Shasta, so we went up there. We did a one mile hiking trail, and then we went down a shorter trail to a spring that comes straight from the mountain and filled up our water bottles there. There was something very magical about that water - I could feel healthy energy go through my whole body after drinking it.
I saw a lot of animals this weekend and did a lot of animal card reading.
I also spent a lot of time naked - I went to a sauna and hot tub, took pictures naked at the chalet in the morning, took a bubble bath, skinny-dipped in Lake Siskiyou and then air-dried in the sun, and also did some, um, other naked stuff. I'm discovering that I like being naked. It was a great weekend.
P.S.: On Friday afternoon I told my boss that I will be leaving the company soon.
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.: posted by Vera
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Why I'm going to miss my roommates
Joe: Did you see those guys outside with the car?
Me: Yeah. Their car died or something.
Joe (wiping his hands): Yeah. So I went out there and hooked'em up.
Me: You got their car started again?
Joe (washing his hands): Yeah.
Me: Wow.
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.: posted by Vera
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After the jubilation... comes the freakout
I think this happens every time I move. I couldn't sleep last night and was freaking out all day today.
Will I be able to fit all my stuff into a studio?
Will I be able to afford it?
Will I have to become delinquent on my lease because I can't afford it?
Did I get a good enough look at the place before deciding to move in?
Should I have kept looking till I found a place with a city view?
This move is definitely risky. I am choosing to pay a higher rent at a time where my future income is uncertain at best.
But here is what my personal astrological forecast said today:
If you want your dreams to come true, you must be willing to take a little risk.
When we start out to achieve a dream, it pulls us out of our comfortable little cocoons that we all build around ourselves and love to be in. Your cocoon isolates you from life and protects you from your own fears. It is the place where you are content to just cruise along. It is a place without risk. [...]
However, if you want to grow, if you want to realize your dreams, you need to get out of your cocoon and start tapping into your incredible talents and abilities. If you really want to turn your dreams into reality, it is something you must do. [...]
As Leo Buscaglia has so aptly said:
"...risks must be taken, because the greatest risk in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and row and love and live. Chained by his certitudes, he's a slave. He's forfeited his freedom. Only the person who risks is truly free."
And you know what happens when you break out of your cocoon, Vera ? you emerge a butterfly!
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.: posted by Vera
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I'm moving!
I signed the lease an hour ago. It sure took me long enough, but I have finally found a studio that fits and will be moving in a month.
I found Casa 1093 #5 yesterday morning. It's the first apartment that I actually submitted an application for since I started looking four months ago. It has been a long, tedious and frustrating search, full of converted garages and basements, ceilings so low I can touch them, showers without bath tubs, rooms without closets, refrigerators inside the living-room, etc.
But that search is over. I am moving into Casa 1093 #5, which is on Dolores Street at 24th Street in Noe Valley. I have never lived in Noe Valley before!
The factors:
- It has two closets.
- It has a separate kitchen with enough room to put a table and chairs. I will be doing psychic readings out of the kitchen. It's not healthy to do them in the bedroom.
- It has high ceilings.
- Its windows look out onto a backyard with plants.
- There is a little balcony off of the bedroom, too.
- It has hardwood floors. Not that I'm a snob about hardwood floors, but I can certainly appreciate them.
- There is a shower AND a bath tub.
- It's in Noe Valley, which is a great neighborhood, and it's on Dolores Street, which is a great street with a row of palm trees in the middle.
- It's apartment number 5. I have never lived in apartment number 5 before. I have always wanted to live in apartment number 5. 5 is my absolute favorite number in the world and beyond.
- It's at 1093 Dolores. The first time I came to San Francisco was 1093 - October 1993.
- Parking in the neighborhood is tricky but not impossible. I think I'm ready to stop being a pussy about parking.
- I can paint the rooms as long as I paint them back to "normal" (i.e. off white) before I move out.
So yay! I'm moving! And I'm going to paint it yellow and green before I move in! And I'm going to live all by myself for the first time!
The timing is interesting as well: My official move-in date is Saturday, October 8. Earlier that week, October 3, my Moon Cycle Manifestation workshop begins. And a week later, on October 15, I start a year-long counseling training. So there are new beginnings all over the place.
The only drawbacks:
- It's on the ground floor. But oh well. I'm an earth girl anyway. It's good to be grounded.
- It's expensive. I have never paid this much for rent. I can afford it now but who knows if I can afford it six months from now. But that's okay. My psychic sense assures me that I will be just fine.
After I signed the lease and turned to leave, the property manager said "Be happy there!" I shall. So yay! I'm moving!
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.: posted by Vera
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A sentence
"the universe has noticed your hard work and your manifestation is paying off"
Said by the right person today, it totally made my day.
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.: posted by Vera
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Pictures of my Instead of Burning Man road trip
My favorite bridge
Originally uploaded by Verabug.
The pictures are all here. There are lots of pictures of flowers and trees, bridges and tunnels (okay, maybe not tunnels). There are also pictures of statues and chipmunks and me in the mirror at cheap motels.
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.: posted by Vera
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Labor Day came and went
I'm back in San Francisco. We left Portland yesterday morning, checked out Crater Lake, and then spent the night in Ashland. Today we finished the rest of the drive.
Pictures are coming shortly, but for now here is a list of things I bought during my trip:
In Seattle
- that blue T-shirt with the girl and her pet ghost
- an aura photograph
In Portland
- three different tops, in three different shades of green
- the CD Plans by Death Cab for Cutie
- a ball made out of Christmas lights
In Ashland
- the Medicine Cards, finally
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.: posted by Vera
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Another surprise
In my last post I mentioned the Inn @ Northrup Station. It's the coolest hotel in all the land. The interior is totally bright, colorful, stylish and modern. It's as if the hotel was designed just for me. When my boyfriend asked if we could stay in Portland for one more day, I really wanted to check us into the Inn @ Northrup Station. I tried making a reservation online, calling the hotel and even going there in person, but each time I was told that they were all booked up for Saturday. I was really bummed that it didn't work out but eventually got over it.
Early this morning I asked my boyfriend if he could call the hotel one more time, to see if a miracle had happened. And it had. They had one room available and we made a reservation. I'm in the hotel right now, and it is indeed the coolest and most colorful place ever. I took lots of pictures, so check it out for yourself. I'm so happy right now, I could burst.
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.: posted by Vera
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Surprise
My boyfriend called today and said "I have this crazy idea." Then he told me that he was thinking about flying to Portland. I said when. He said tonight. I asked him how long he was planning on staying. He said well, do you think that you can stay in Portland one more day?
So he is flying into Portland tonight. On Sunday we will start the drive back to San Francisco together. It's funny because just this morning I thought that, even though I love road tripping all by myself, I wouldn't mind some company right about now. Hehe.
Also, the next time I'm coming to Portland I am so staying at the Inn @ Northrup Station.
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.: posted by Vera
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I'm in Oregon again
I'm in Portland sitting at the Portland Coffee House enjoying an iced chai and free wifi. I like Portland. It has really good energy. But today it's a little too hot.
On Tuesday (still in Seattle) I did yoga in the morning and in the afternoon I sat in a coffee shop and stared. It was awesome. In the evening we had Indian food and then Brent's girlfriend Lindsay gave me a haircut.
On Wednesday Brent and I had coffee from Torrefazione; then Brent went to work and I went back to his place to pack. I put everything in my car, met Ariel for lunch and then got on the ferry to Bainbridge Island to meet Ariel's mom, Thér?se. I had a great conversation with Thér?se about my new work. I also had a great time at the Moonlodge in the forest. I thought I was going to be scared at night in the forest all by myself but I wasn't. Only a little bit. But the energy of the forest around Sacred Groves made me feel really safe, inside and out. And wouldn't you know it - while in the Moonlodge I got some great brainstorming done for my upcoming Moon Cycle Manifestation workshop. How fitting.
This morning I went for a walk in the woods, got lost and then found, ate some blackberries straight off the bushes, and then drove to Portland, arriving via my favorite Portland bridge. Yay! I picked out a yoga studio to go to tomorrow morning, and after looking at the pictures online I realized that the last time I was in Portland I stopped in there to get some tea. How synchronistic.
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.: posted by Vera
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