I haven't been very specific on my comings and goings lately but I'll share that I drove 1,052 miles in 14.5 hours today. That distance and that much time in a car, combined with Memorial Day traffic, is insane. Just crazy. I'll admit that I was ready to call it a day at the 800 mile mark but there were no other options so I just endured those last 250 miles. It was NOT fun.
I looked at my Memorial Day entry from last year and I drove 950 miles from Rochester to Charleston. Oy. I don't want to make driving on this holiday an ongoing tradition. Thankfully the weather today was accommodating and the traffic wasn't horrible so it certainly could have been worse. There were LOTS of cops along the way, though, and I was very careful.
How does one pass the time while driving for that long? Of course, keeping attention on focused on traffic is probably at or near the top of the list. But listening to music, thinking, chatting on the phone, and counting the miles between cities are also part of the game. Lord knows I've got enough experience with this stuff to know how to do it but it's not something I look forward to. Sigh. The good news is that there was a nice bottle of wine waiting for me. And, I'm already halfway into it. I wish I could say that there was some ice cream here waiting for me, too, but that's not the case. And I refuse to get back into that car again today for any reason whatsoever.
I'm supposed to be in San Francisco this weekend for a wrestling clinic/tournament and I had the best of intentions of getting there. This is the same group that helped me prepare for the Gay Games in 2006 when I couldn't find resources locally and is a wonderful group of guys. The sad fact of the matter is that I have too many places to be and not enough of me (or enough money) to be in all of them. So - here I sit. Wine in hand, recovering from a long, long, long day on the road.
Part of the additional challenge from a day like today is my continuing recuperation from my Dr. O jaw work. It happened 4 weeks ago today but I know from previous experience how slowly some of this stuff can heal. The good/bad news about jaw work is that it swells and gets numb for quite a while, but being vertical for long periods of time (like - 14 hours in a car) make things particularly uncomfortable. Dr. O wrote a book (details here) outlining lots and lots of FFS stuff and I'm sure he mentions it in there but I'll mention it again - this stuff takes quite a bit of time to fully recover.
One of the key people in the HRC Workplace Project celebrated his last day there today. He is moving on and although I'm thrilled to see him move into a new organization and a new role he will be sorely, sorely missed. He called today as he cleaned out his desk to share that something we'd been discussing for a while has come to pass. The "Understanding Transgender Issues" video on the HRC website is available for people who want a copy of their own (details here). Best of luck to Samir!
If you've been in or around Austin very much you'll know who Bob Schneider is. He seems to be one of Austin's best kept musical secrets. Anyway, my song of the day is from his Lovely Creatures CD and is titled "Bicycle vs. Car". The particular video features the words - well worth a listen (there are other versions of it on YouTube if you want to do the work to search them out).
Now - time for bed. I need to get horizontal. Have a great Memorial Day weekend!
1 comment:
Donna I'm happy to hear your hanging in there and that life hasn't gotten the better of you. I saw something in your post tonight that in all the years of reading I can't remember you ever talking about and that's your lack of "Money" I've often wondered and even asked you how someone with No job can cavort all across the country flying here and there ? To which you replied that the conferences you speak at foot the bill, fair enough I guess but it leaves me wondering how someone can do nothing for a living and still live ? How you can break the model of society of having a job and paying bills tell us Donna have you discovered that fabled “Money Tree “ we all heard our mothers speak of when we wanted to get this or that at the store as children ? I also saw something else in your post tonight I never thought I'd see again and that's you hocking an HRC produce...... I for one won't put another penny into their pockets, Not for a Trans video or anything else Joe and his mentions have abused and stomped on the trust of the entire community for far to long with their cuddling of politicians and black tie events all while thousands of LGBT people are without rights and many of them without jobs and others losing jobs everyday. Unable to pay their bills or to even provide for themselves they suffer daily the indignity of unemployment waiting for those like JOE to put down his Cosmo and start fighting for them. I noticed the video is about you and your story and it makes me wonder if that in connection to the lack of money reference earlier means you get a kick back off this video ? Hummmmm
Brandi
Post a Comment