Things are moving! I am moving!

I've been bad recently and haven't written anything here in nearly a month. I'm sitting upstairs in my room in my parents' house, although it's really only so much "my" room as any room you've never actually lived in can be... my parents moved here while I was in college so I've spent breaks and holidays here but it isn't home. It is home enough, though. 

I'm so glad you've been able to be more creative recently! I've fallen into quite the cellphone trap while with my parents and when I move (in four days!!! I got my visa!!!) I am determined to get my screen time way down. I think I should be able to. Its led me to be less creative than I otherwise may have been during this time. I'd love to see some of your paintings if you're willing to post your work! But I totally get if not, it's a very personal thing. 

Most of the drawings and paintings I've been doing in the past year are plein air, which is something I'd never really done before. I've enjoyed it. 

I went on a road trip to see friends in Colorado and Oklahoma, which was absolutely lovely. All but one of the Oklahoma friends were, up until now, just online friends I made through twitter and I am pleased to report that we got along in real life! The one friend I have there who isn't from online is from college, though we only ever went to school together for one semester, first semester freshman year. 

On the ways to and from Oklahoma I stopped in Colorado and went to two separate tea shops in two separate towns. I've always loved tea but mostly have just drank bagged teas from the grocery store, and when I went to the tea shops I went with friends who really know tea, which was so special. I've been drinking a lot of tea with my family the past few days, making pot after pot after pot, re-steeping the same leaves and talking about how different the first steep is from the fourth. I fear I may be becoming a little bit obsessed, but I'm also excited because it's been quite a while since I last had an obsession. 

I've been feeling a bit brain dead, so I think this is all for now. I'll write something good once I've moved, I think. And updates will be fun then, full of new things.

Chilly chilly cold and clear-headedness

The cold absolutely clears my mind. On days when I've swam in the morning, I don't feel I need coffee. The cold plunge in the icy tub didn't do all too much for me, but I suspect that's because I wasn't in there for very long. Too short and too shocking? I'm not entirely sure. I think the best thing for me is a ten (or more) minute swim in fifty-five to sixty degree water, so that it's cold yet bearable. I also think there's something to be said about being in a natural body of water. It's probably more effective, spiritually, to wade in a cold stream than it is to dunk in a plastic tub in the yard. Wading always has a nice calming effect on me. 

Now that I won't have my early morning swim anymore, I'm considering different ways of communing with nature in the mornings. Unfortunately, neither my future apartment nor my future workplace are particularly close to any nature preserves or particularly woodsy parks in the city. I had been thinking that maybe a brisk walk (and a moment of barefootedness) might be the solution, but I don't think that would be nearly as effective in the big field with the paved paths I'll be living near.

Do you think you can smell snow?

In LA. Thinking about nothing in particular but want to get on track.

I've been thinking to myself "what on earth should I write about now that Liza and I have met, and so recently at that?" I mean, you know everything that's going on with me right now. I haven't been learning anything new recently either, so I can't write about that... I'm at a loss. So here's what I've been up to since Friday.

Over the weekend, I drove with my older sibling, L, to go visit my younger sister, M, as you know. We spent most of the weekend in her house just sort of hanging out. L planned us a D&D one shot that we spent the whole of Friday evening and some of Saturday preparing our characters for. It was set in Narnia and we really only got a tiny bit of the way in because we spent so long on our characters, which means it's turned into a longer campaign. I am a faun named Theo. M is a tortle named Madame Gallonius (unsure of the spelling on that one). She's overly cautious because I think she doesn't understand yet that the DM doesn't want us to die and she doesn't want anything else to go wrong. A lot of it was just her asking questions, understandably. What else did we do? We made some good food, had some good heart to hearts, went for a walk, and watched a movie. 

The house is way out in the boonies in the woods and has a sauna in the backyard. Both house and sauna are heated by wood stoves. What a lovely existence! It's such a special, cozy type of heat. We sat in the sauna on Sunday morning and took periodic cold plunges in the "plunge tub" which is just a huge plastic tub in the yard that's filled with water and, as you can imagine, ice. I've gotten into the habit of a cold morning plunge with my early morning swimmers, but the Puget Sound has nothing on an ice bath! It was so cold! 

I'm in LA now at the consulate. I'm going to have dinner tonight with another friend I met through twitter. Tomorrow I have my appointment, so wish me luck!! Also, my address that you have is temporary until I move, but if you send any letters that get to it after I leave I'll still receive them eventually because it's my parents' address. Ciao!