In limbo

I had great intentions of posting a segment about my latest shoot for the First Wives World image campaign, but I am in a state of mild agitation this week as I wait to see if I've been approved for the only apartment I've liked enough for which to submit a deposit.

*sigh*

I hate waiting!

In the meantime, here's a picture of 2 little mischief makers who have made the apartment hunt a hell of a lot harder:
They are lucky they are cute. Realtors keep asking me if I can leave them behind, but who could abandon such great cats? I've had them for 11 years now. They are like family to me. And Gizmo is a fierce watch-cat who I'll definitely need if I'm going to be living alone!

*sigh*

OK - I'm off to pack up the china. (Yes, can you believe it? I own china. Thanks to my mom and her quirky southern traditions. I've had it for 4 years now and never used it once! Hmmm... maybe getting this apartment will be a nice reason to have a fancy dinner on my Jewel Sapphire Lenox collection. Of course, I only have 3 sets, so I guess it will have to be for me and 2 other lucky people! All the rest of you will have to use the fiesta ware. Sorry!)

Trapeze!

Guess what? I finally got away from the city for a weekend! I haven't had an official vacation in ages, what with all the saving for a new apartment and work and such... so I decided to do something dramatic. Can someone please tell me what's more dramatic than aerial acrobatics? OK - there are tons of things I can think of, but none of them are less than 2 hours away, fairly affordable, and can be experienced in a weekend.

It was Julie's idea. We both took a beginner's class in June at TSNY. Julie liked it so much that she and her husband signed up for an Intensive Flying Workshop. (You may remember the pics I posted not too long ago.) I was working all summer, so I wasn't available for the IFW... sad! But then Julie found out about the Trapeze rig at Club Getaway and signed us up for 8 hours of weekend air time. Yikes! 8 hours! Sheesh...

I discovered quickly that Julie is an excellent travel partner. She brought everything we may need for any kind of mishap that could occur:
...And when we got there, we barely had time to get settled into our cabin before we were swept up onto the rig! Here's my attempt at catching the "Set Whip", my first trick.
...

...
We met lots of dedicated and entertaining people. The instructor team was headed by Jeff, Dino, and Bobby from the Espana Streb Trapeze Academy. I think I might take a class or two there this fall. Here's Fran, a seasoned aerialist, doing some impressive maneuvers on silks.
... Trapeze isn't the only recreational activity at Club Getaway. There is also a lake for water-skiing, kayaking, or swimming; a climbing wall and zip-line; archery, dancing, and hiking, and even a bizarre drinking game called Flip Cup which turned out to be a very popular activity!
...
But, we weren't there for Flip Cup or those other, ahem, humdrum pastimes. Here's Julie working hard on obtaining a professional flyer swing! Notice her unassisted, one-handed take-off...
...



Can you believe we actually woke up at 6:00 am every morning? (My mom will be so proud!) There was absolutely no way I was going up on that board without downing at least 2 cups of coffee! But, it pays off in the end as you can see below...



Yay for me!

An akika, Hannah, and a sunset.

So, it's Sept. 3rd and guess what?

I didn't find an apartment! Sad!!! I was the one left standing when the music stopped. Needless to say, I do have a rather high bar set in terms of what I need. Wood floors. Sunlight. My cats. Easy N/W train access. A stove for cryin' out loud. Can you believe that people these days can live in an apartment without a stove? I may not cook that often, but I'd like the option to break out the Dutch Oven once in a while. (At least until NASA invents some version of the replicator.)

I took Labor Day weekend off to lackadaisically lament my circumstances, escaping into several movies and a Sci-Fi miniseries called The Lost Room. I loved the first 4 episodes of this bizarre little piece of television. The bus-ticket segment made every molecule in my body happy. I think I would have been happier with the rest of it if, rather than a miniseries, they had completed an entire season. The writers certainly left enough of an open ending to suggest they may turn it into one. If so, I may have to break down and get cable. (At the moment I make do with basic television and Netflix for the must-sees.)

Fortunately, all I need is a little mind-expanding sci-fi to help get my bark-chewing perspective zoomed out to standard cosmic focus. With that one vision-blocking Redwood back to normal toothpick height, I released all the expectations I had around moving and decided to have a labor-free Labor Day.

Lucky for me, Ahmed's friend Hani invited us to an akika for his newborn son, Adam, in Astoria Park. An akika is a celebratory gathering of friends and family of a newborn. I have been to several and they are truly festive occasions: tables laden with Egyptian cuisine, mounds of presents and cards packed with money, scores of beaming adults and five times as many kids barreling around the park. Here is Hani, his wife, and their son:
And here's a better view of Adam.

He's only 9 days old! Oh, I could hardly stand the cuteness. I cooched and cooed and took scads of pictures, packing in the cute fix, and then, just as I was coming off the high, look who popped up!
That's Jen and her daughter Hannah, who, coincidentally, were also attending a little gathering in the park less than 2 yards away! Weirdly enough, I had run into her husband, Hiro, on the train a few days before and had been meaning to call and touch base. How do you like that for universal synchronicity?

I ended up having a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and took this picture of Ahmed as we were leaving the park:
and found this quote to accompany it, being so fitting for who he works to be:

"We must get back into relation, vivid and nourishing relation to the cosmos and the universe. The way is through daily ritual, and is an affair of the individual and the household, a ritual of dawn and noon and sunset, the ritual of the kindling fire and pouring water, the ritual of the first breath, and the last." -D.H. Lawrence