6 posts tagged “brandon”

As I watch opportunities keep unfolding and opening up for me here in Iowa City, I feel that even though Baltimore is on the horizon- that horizon isn't as immediate as I once thought- or was trying to make it. I've recently joined Iowa City's Public Access Television to start work on video projects ideas that I've been toying around with for awhile. Also, I've started practicing Reiki again- something I've taken a hiatus from since the late 90s. The work with Reiki has been very rewarding and I plan on continuing and expanding this practice.

Also over the past couple of weeks- maybe three now, I've been very fortunate to see old friends and make new ones.

My dear friend Brandon came to visit over a three day weekend. I snapped what he considers "unflattering" pictures of him taking a nap. Flattering-schmattering. Adorable is as adorable naps. And, um... kind of funny.

                                                            Moni's scarf never looked better!

Also, I made a brand new friend in a fellow creative, sagittariun soul named Shane. He's an artist who also loves to work on re-creating clothes, plus he is interested in collaborative performance and creating a public art studio space. Sagitarrius in spades. Here is in modeling his handmade "Pan" mask:

My friend, Amelia from Omaha- who I had not seen in 4 years (!!!), visited last weekend. I introduced her to Iowa City and it's varous charms (of course, this was during an "away game"- otherwise, I'm afraid those charms would have been lost in the drunken din of yellow and black Hawkeye Fans clogging the streets and soundscapes. go...hawks...). She stayed at the Fancy-Schmancy Vetro and really enjoyed it. 

One specific spot I got to introduce her to was Home Ec Workshop. She sat down, pulled out her knitting and joined the Saturday morning breakfast crew in the ever-welcoming circle of crafting.

And that is a very general synopsis of what I have been up to as of late, my friends. I took a break from crafting for a while, but I've been inspired to get back into as of this week. More pics on those creations as they are completed!
 

Recently, I was able to hang out with two very good friends on two separate occasions. They are both so dear and adorable and it makes my heart sing when I see their faces. So I thought I would share their cutey beauty here so that you could benefit as well.

 

                                   

DSCN1156

But, really, I don't expect you to pick which one you find more adorable- it is just too hard to decide and the debate would be endless.

so here we are, post xmas and pre-new year.

went to my family's for a few hours on xmas day, then hung out w/ my friend Brandon in Omaha on the 26th. i found that even for one day, i was not comfortable in Omaha. just for that one day, i felt like i was wearing this big heavy, dirty coat that i used to have to wear all the time. which is not to say that i am not grateful for all that Omaha taught me and for the experiences i had there. and i love the friends i made while i was there, even though i am only in touch with a small handful of them (that is just the natural consequence of moving away and starting your life somewhere else). but i just couldn't get comfortable or relax. and i think part of that was also my fears of graduating in May following me around. i've been so eager to rejoin the world of adults, but at the same time, there is so much cushion when you are in college. and there is no guarantee as to what comes next. i do trust my path and i do trust things will work out, but that doesn't exclude the possibility of turbulence along the way to landing. so i guess this winter break will be a good time for me to get clear on some decision making and some action taking.

here is a pic of Brandon when we were having coffee/tea and scones at Caffeine Dreams:

and here are a couple of pics of my family:

 

well, alrighty.

i'm in Omaha and plan on getting ready for bed soon. Brandon is out playing pool w/ friends- I had to leave early cuz the smoke was bothering my eyes- plus I'm a non-drinker and bars are kind of boring when your not tipping a few back. but it was still good to hang out for a while.

tomorrow we are going to go shopping for biz casual clothes for Brandon- which will be fun. i will get to whip around my "queer eye" skills. i love doing that. and i might even buy a couple of things for myself- it could just get that crazy.

it is quite nice to be in Omaha- although sometimes it is just a little too familiar. but soon Bran will be living on the east coast and I can go out there to visit him. i've never been east. only west and south- and just a bit north. but never east. new places will bring new thoughts.

anywho, here's to sweet dreams for sweet boys- and girls.
Kman

so at the moment, it is 6:20pm. i worked at the parking ramp today and it was super duper slow. which was great. i worked on some minor rewrites on the first half of a musical that i've been writing forever. but the first half feels very solid now. i'll have a good friend who is a great writer look at it and get some additional feedback.

tomorrow i am leaving to visit my friends in Omaha. specifically to see Brandon, but i think this is going to be a bit of an "old home week" for me with friends i haven't seen for awhile. it will be good to get reconnected to people and share our little life stories.

tonite i will work out, wash some clothes, force myself to do some cleaning, and get ready for the trip tomorrow.

iowa city feels very empty at the moment. graduation is over and many of the kids are gone. i would say a vast majority. and initially this feels sad, cuz i feel like i should be going off somewhere for the summer as well- for an internship or a lengthy vacation. and it is in this way that my life feels a bit constrained. but in reality, i am following my flow and things are moving just as they should. but oh how the grass can look so green sometimes on the other side of the flexible fence that contains my life.

Kman

had a really cool dream this morning. I dreamt I was Madonna and sometimes I was me, but other times I was her, but it was all from first person. and it started off- well, god knows where it started off. but it had to do with allowing and not controlling. it started off, I think, with me hanging out with Brandon. and he wanted to go somewhere to do something- was it video games or skateboarding- something that he doesn’t do at all in the waking world. and I was still me, not Madonna, and I had just ordered some food at this chain fast food place- also something that is very unlikely. he wanted to go somewhere and I didn’t (I had just ordered and wanted to sit and eat it) and it seems like we eventually went to this huge gymnasium (it may be that i went there to meet up with him after i ate). there were all kinds of different things going on in this gymnasium. in one area there was a ballet being rehearsed, in another  basketball was being played, and so on. it was like big rooms sectioned off, or a bunch of smaller gyms inside a big one. anyway, I quickly got separated from (or went to go meet up with him), but I didn’t worry too much about it. I ended up in this gym where people were having a competition- there were teams. and these guys- maybe some gals, were really geeky but trying to be cool within the bravado of their team spirit. and it seemed like it was a skate board competition, but somehow different. I remember one guy skating from his team’s end to the other team’s end and it was just getting from one side to another, no ramps or anything, and the other team leaping toward their end of the finish line to intimate the guy from completing or completing well. then it also seemed like there was some sort of obstacle course skate boarding or maybe even synchronized skateboarding. but it was all competition and everyone was very into the pride of their team but it just came off so geeky. so I am watching this for a while, then I am not sure what spurs me to go on, other than maybe the obvious. I eventually end up back in something that is “my room.” I think there is more here that goes on, but I don’t recall it all. anyway, the thing I remember next is this window opening in my room- it is like a window that is a door. actually, the whole wall disappears and I can see the world outside- that is how big the opening is. and this line of poetry or song come to be about it. and I try writing it down, and I try waking up to write it down cuz I really want to capture this line. and I think I have woken up to write it down, but I really haven’t. the ink is pink and the words wouldn’t stay fixed. but it goes something like, “every open window is road that is waiting to be taken.” something more poetic and less cliché than that. the feeling it gave me was one of openness and relief. like I could trust going through open doors that opened for me- and I could trust that doors would, in fact, open. then I remember being Madonna and holding a 3 or 4 year old Lourdes. we were on a balcony of an apartment, maybe, looking down. and there was something she wanted me to see down across the view beneath us- something over in this grassy area. and I was getting annoyed with her because I didn’t want to have to go down and check something out on a whim, but then I remembered the thing about the open window and decided just to go with it. and as I went down to this area, Lourdes disappeared, but not in an alarming way, more like her role was over so she faded from the dream. the area I went to was very beautiful; it looked like some tropical or “undeveloped” countries' yellow grass field- don’t quite know how to articulate it here. and I thought, well this is why I needed to come down here, to see this beauty. but what was also going on was this area was becoming Industrialized or at least the work going on was being headed up by Americans for the purpose of harvesting grains and what not to sell. it was American controlled. and I remember being up on this truck’s flat bed talking to a overweight guy about what was going on, very concerned about how the people were being treated. and I was going to make him naked in my dream, just pushing a perversion even though I didn’t find him attractive- but then going back to the open window philosophy I stopped and just let what was be. still debating the fairness of what was going on a man behind me said, “Come on, Katarah. They aren’t going to listen to you here.” So I went with him. Again, he disappears or perhaps I am just not remembering what came next. I do remember walking back to my room, and for a moment thinking how it is likely I won’t find it as things always change in dreams and one things is never where it was last time. however, I let this thought go, following my new philosophy and surely enough I easily find my room and walk into it.