14 degrees out today... daggum it

Today is the day. After 21 years of waiting, I have finally been summoned to jury duty. In less than one hour, I am required to call to see if they need me today. I'm on pins and needles, just hoping that at 10:30 I will be at the courthouse being interviewed by attorneys. The most I have ever done in a courthouse is translate, and I took a tour of the Boise Courthouse once in Cub Scouts but I've never been a part of the legal system before. This is my duty as an American citizen, just like voting, and if I don't ever get to do it, I will feel cheated. How many of the 7 billion people on the earth even have the opportunity to be jurors? I find out in 54 minutes if I'm one of them. My alarm went off at 7 AM this morning, but I was already awake, happily thinking about jury duty. It's going to be great.
Yesterday I went Christmas caroling for the first time in three years, and also checked out books from the library for the first time in over two years. I feel like I just got out of prison and I can do anything I want to. In my high school Latin class, I used to mix up the word for book with the word for freedom, so it kind of makes sense now. I really miss being a missionary, but I also really miss reading about history and linguistic philosophy, something I could never do on my mission. I'm in that awkward stage of life where I have no clue what's going on, and I can't decide if I'm happy or sad or elated or devastated; I can't decide if I'm more happy to be with my family or if I miss the South more, and, after a month of deliberation I don't really know whether I'm happy to be back or not. I have no real plans for the near future, just a long range blurred vision of a couple of vague goals that may or may not ever happen. But I'm content this morning, I'm ignoring life, and I've decided that today is going to rock, no matter what happens. We'll see about tomorrow, and the day after when I get that far.

10:05 Update. "They settled, you are excused for today. Please call back this evening after 5. Thank you."

Things from south of the South

I have been meaning to put pictures of these souvenirs on my blog for quite a while, but I never remem-
bered to take pictures of them when I was in the blogging mood. This morning I just finally decided to do it. I'm about a month overdue. Anyway, here are some things that I collected while I was in North Carolina. I came back with a lot more than just this, but these are the things I like most. Most of these items were gifts from people that I got to know pretty well. I will put them on in chronological order of when I got them.



The first two pictures are a little handmade clay doll from Ecuador, given to me by Nancy Guerra.


This is a pot holder, also handmade in Ecuador, also a gift from Nancy.




This is a knife with the Mexican flag on the handle and "Viva Mexico" on the blade. It's pretty sweet. I love Mexico so much. I want to go to Mexico City and Oaxaca and Guerrero and Michoacan, and Chiapas, and Monterrey, and Guadalajara and Guanajuato, and pretty much every other place in Mexico.



This is a wooden flute from Ecuador, I bought it from some of my friends who worked at Smiley's Flea Market in Fletcher, NC. They were real native Americans from Ecuador, and they spoke Spanish along with their native language. I talked to them often, as we went to the flea market almost every Saturday, and I was in the area almost eight months.


This is a replica of a very ancient and special artifact from Peru. It antedates the Inca civilization, but I don't remember anymore what the name of the civilization was. I will have to look that up. This was given to me by Raul Quino my last day in North Carolina. I love Peruvian people, they are so cool. I could live in Peru.

Well, that's all the souvenirs that I've taken pictures of for now. I'm rather fond of them.

Scary Dream

Last night, I dreamed that I was in a group searching for Glenn Gould and I dreamed that every step of this journey was a fight to survive. We had to cross mountains and fields and we walked probably thousands of miles, and the worst part was that the whole way there, the rocks would join together to form giants that would then attack us. In the fields of tall grass, the grass would wrap around our ankles and we had to constantly cut it off of ourselves or be dragged down and suffocated. Most of the time our feet weren't even on the ground, we were just standing on top of the grass, and every so often it would give way and we would drop below the surface. If we walked too close to a tree it would wrap its gnarled arms around our necks and feet. Everything that could possibly come alive and attack us and try to stop us did so. You don't know how terrible grass can be until something like this happens to make you appreciate the terror of the situation. I remember how desolately gray and brown the whole landscape was. When we reached the top of one mountain, we had to climb over jagged rocks to find that there was no way down the other side. We couldn't drink the water because it would change from blue to purple and things like neatly arranged leaves and twigs would appear on the surface, and several times they talked to us. We ended up finding Glenn Gould, and it turns out he was the one causing all of our discomfort along the way, with his mind, and he was actually going with us the whole way and we didn't recognize him. The whole thing was like a mix between Lord of the Rings, an Andy Goldsworthy exhibit, and death. Don't get me wrong, I still like Glenn Gould, and I still like Andy Goldsworthy, but they definitely should not be allowed in the same dream together. My subconscious almost died last night, then where would I be?

Merry Christmas, you wonderful old Building and Loan!

I'm feeling festive today. The first music I listened to this morning was Christmas music I found in an email played by a local trombone star. I dressed in my only green and red shirt to go donate blood this morning (blood is also red, therefore festive!) After collecting my pint or so of blood, they gave me a red sticker that says "Be nice to me. I gave blood today." and a rem arm band. You just don't get more spirited than this. When I got back, I took a few pictures of the Christmas decorations in my house. And now I'm just sitting here typing this and thinking of Christmas elves as I listen to Enya. I think she's an elf. And I think that Enya plays in heaven. The only thing that is missing this year is the snow, but who's complaining? The sun is even out today! I feel terrific. Here are some of my pictures. I have to give credit to my mother, the creative genius behind all the decorations and locations of furnishings. Merry Christmas!


This is me looking fabulous in my Vermont-
themed Christmas outfit. Notice the attractive
arm band on my left arm. Those are a hot item,
everyone should donate blood this Christmas
season to get your very own.













This is the stocking that I've had since I was born. Awwww... I especially like the holly tucked up under his hat. I'll do anything for a good sprig of holly.

This is the first thing you see when you come
into my house. Isn't it beautiful?















This is a picture of a nice sunny day. It looks pretty blue, because well, it's winter. But it's a nice effort. I think it's impossible to take a red picture in the winter. It's really more of a summer color, and you can't fool the sun. Blue it is.