. . : : Japan takes the QUEEN : : . .

The AIDS Walk is coming up and I am no where close to my goal. Now that I am actually in the country, it should be easier to raise funds. The electronic route isn't really working so much, so I will probably do more than one FUNdraising event to get those donations rolling.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, said my niece who is all of 2 weeks old. That child is a fighter. I may have to record my impersonation of her. It is amazingly hilarious to see that she has such personality at such a young age. She gets those fists going to let you know that "yes...I am hungry and I will let you know by screaming...AND I need to scream for afew minutes, SO I will put my dukes up so you can't the bottle to my mouth...". She's so beautiful! There's not diubt that she's part of my family.

* Tickets to see Iyengar in DC? Anyone have any hook-ups at Lisner Auditorium/GW to see Iyengar on Oct 18th?

I just applied to take my Master's Degree! YAY! It has been a long time coming and I am glad to finally finish after this short?-long?-short? time. The wild thing is that recently, I have been considering the PhD again. Although I got a good bit of encouragement to go into education- curriculum and instruction, I will most likely stay in the sciences. Since I have been back here, I feel much better about persuing the PhD in the sciences. I know that if I stay at my current school I will receive the financial support (of course, IF I find a program that interest me). Even if I eventually get in to admin or curriculum and instruction, I can do that with a PhD in the sciences. I am really glad about how things have worked out for me.

I was talking with a friend the other day about my life. She was basically saying that it is so great to have had the opportunity to travel and do the things that I like to do. I agree. Not too many peopl do what they want to do. For the most part, I have. There are many more things that I plan to accomplish so I am looking forward to seeing how those blessings will manifest.

like SO many others, I have been bothered by what has been going on down south. I know that there are a lot of domestic policy travesty issues related to what has and will transpire. In addition to donations and other forms of assistance, I am sending much love and light to the people who have be affected by the conditions preceeding, during, and after Hurricane Katrina.

bbbrrrrrr.....the weather has changed so drastically within the past few hours. temperature-wise and otherwise...brrrrrr....things are much colder than they seem. It has actually gotten so cold that some of the layers (of who knows what*) have fallen off to bring more clarity.

Conditional clauses have proven to be very tricky in recent developments. If-then, If-then, If-then, If-then, If-then, If-then, If I hear the same type of if-then clause again, then I will be forced to kirk out. I know that there is something better in store for me...so um, can I get an advance on that b/c what I have going on right now, is NOT it.

Tonight I had to publicly deal with some things that I was not in the mood or spirit to deal with. I knew it was coming and I tried to avoid dealing with it in the space where it eventually laid like an open sore...it festered...and festered. I am glad that I was finally able to put it out there however, as I expected, one of the involved parties is still blank slate blinking like they have no idea what I am talking about...blink, blink...blink, blink....blink.

At the end of the night, I was left questioning a friendship. There is no doubt that I was a true friend to this person. Somehow, during my time in J, I missed the memo. I guess memos don't travel via sea, air, telephone waves, internet and all other possible ways of sending messages to "friends". It was almost like when you think you are important to someone and then you find out that you were way off...all you can say is "well dang :( *I thought I was important*" . Then being told, in soooo many other words, "no, no dear...you are not as important as you think" [I am not saying that it was said to me that way...I said "It's like..."]

Anyway, perhaps things will pan out and I will get treated as a significant person in my friend's life. Tonight I had to truly decide that I can't wait for this person to see my light. Like I told another friend "Just b/c someone can't see your light, it doesn't mean that you do not shine"....so I am STILL shining!

*perspectives, bull, indirectness, things to not hurt one's feelings, forgotten words, secrets, stories, ...