Plum Blog

DMV

I'm confused, wait... where do I go? Where do I get a number? Does anyone have a pen? Ok... ok, I got it. I am sitting at the DMV. I have a small receipt with bright blue letters yelling B108. The screen above reads B089. Oh good, not too bad. I have meditative music to mask the automated woman announcing the next lucky number. She is relentless and diligent at her job. The numbers range through G so she is a busy woman. Two seats away from me sits a silent but not inanimate rock-er out-er... apparently his headphones are creating a different DMV experience for him than mine are for me. A worker behind the counter is lingering his eyes on mine whenever he can catch my glance. He seems nice enough but I am happily enamored elsewhere. In fact, that enamor is the very reason I am parking it at the DMV (pun definitely intended). There are two government employees thumbing through a box of chocolates trying to perk up the day with the perfect chocolaty fillings. One woman is absent minded as she administers the eye exam, probably wondering what's for lunch. Her comrades are having beef stew. There is a framed photograph of Arnold Schwarzenegger propped on a back wall filing cabinet. His hands are neatly folded in front of his professionally, gray suited self and he sits ahead of an American flag backdrop. It's funny to sit here looking at the officiality of this photo. There is something about it that is more of a parody than reality. Like he is going to tear off his gray double-breasted ensemble, with pre-set ripping seems, and reveal his shiny gold speedo and well oiled muscular physique. His governing abilities second to what is really important in California. The best part of this entire scene is that his politically coifed hair has remained perfectly in place, as has his black nylon socks made-up nd wing tips. All the while, Maria is clapping just a few feet away, a little embarrassed, but proud and supportive all the way. Just like I am of my man. Ooohp... there's my number!

iChad

It is a wonderful thing to have a loved one be so technologically advanced. If you live with one such person, those benefits trickle into your lap by default if not by knowledge. Fortunately for me, I am a quick learner and while I will not ever be able to discover the latest and greatest, I will be able to learn from my sweet love just how it all works. Currently, I am using our flat screen television that has been connected to Chad's computer (I don't know how) as the household iPod. It is much better than wearing around earplugs all day and truthfully, I tapped out my music supply during the long drive out here. Chad's iTunes finds are a welcomed media for my nesting days and as background entertainment goes,his playlists have been hilarious interludes between tape and carboard. Yesterday, I found "Mixes Made for People" where I found titles of old flames. My name was at the top of the list and I really feel like it isn't just because my gifted playlists are his most recent. Today, I just discovered an artist called "Chad Woodford." Curiosity caught me immediately and I found a podcast made by mine truly. As I have been listening (it's playing in the background even still), I am delighting that my boyfriend has me laughing out loud, toppling over my belly even. He is so quirky and bizarre and hilarious and I have been marveling at how wonderful he is. As we start this life of cohabitation, I am so happily discovering the man that I am so grateful to be sharing a life and world with. I only wish the same for all people. Someone who makes them laugh and smile and someone who inspires them. Someone who you look at and you see all the good that is within you. Thank you iChad.

The Discovery of the Ordinary-Extra

The loveliest of moments is happening for this girl, sitting in my new apartment in my new life. The window is open, the city behind me and the breeze swirling through as I sit among my boxes and curtain fabric and containers, even the chair I am sitting on is filled so I am at its tip. I am eating fresh dried mango from the corner market and my only company are the wilting plum colored flowers Chad had waiting for me for my homecoming. I've just went for my first alone run to Golden Gate Park and decided to take a different route than my live in tour guide took me on yesterday. I wanted to see if I could get a bit lost and find my way out. And I did. Too easily so tomorrow I will make a greater effort to plant myself in the middle of nowhere I've ever been. The weather is unseasonably warm and sunny as can be. It is the best welcoming I could have asked for. Yesterday, Chad and I ventured together on a run through the park. Families and tourists and people were everywhere and my favorite was a curly haired little girl with her stem of pink crystaled sugar. She was eagerly working her way to the bottom of the stem but she had a ways to go. We had a rest at a duck pond. Today, I ran through the section where the hippies lie on the lawn and I thought perhaps the contact high that would come if I would just spend several minutes may interfere with my ambitious run so I kept going. I found my way to the market and took a long quiet time to discover what my new grocery had as finds. No carob, sad... but there is some not too far from here. Tonight, I will spend time in my one finished room, the kitchen, making dinner for my love who will come home from work to my days progress. I am hoping he will be impressed. I will be impressed when a handy man comes and builds my much needed closet. I will tackle most things but this is one for a professional person with large tools. Meanwhile, boxes... oh boxes...

It all began with the Lion and her Mane...

Welcome to the Plum Blog... you and me! I have thought about the adventure of my life over this past year and thought it time to write it down and share a bit. Also, it would be fun to have a place to share it so that maybe one day, I can create a compilation and maybe be an author. Maybe not. I only wish for anyone reading this a bit of inspiration and maybe a giggle here and there. That's not true, not only a bit or a here and there, maybe even sometimes a big giant "I CAN DO THAT TOO!" Big laughter is fine by me too. So, let's begin...

Today, I wrote a note to the Oprah Winfrey Show asking if I can come on the show and shave my head. I can most certainly see some of you cheering and others of you raising a brow, perhaps even both. For so long, I have been saying that my hair is coming off and I have had so many protesting "WHY"s and some "Right On"s! Either way, my anwer for why is the same. I am not pulling a depression induced (urban word of the day) "Britney" or making a political (and religious?) "Sinead" statement. I am simply making the choice in my year long quest of Inner Beauty to remove the very thing that I spend so much time beautifying to find the place inside of me that lives without a crown of glory. I am taking away the piece that most of us live under, hide beneath, tease bigger to hide an unwelcomed face shape. No more under or beneath or unwelcomed living in this flesh and bone house. I am looking forward to truly letting go, to allowing the world to see what is really behind this mane of mine. Will the real lion please raise her paw. Meow.