El Rancho

I am heading off to the ranch next week for 10 days. It is Peter's 80th on the 4th so I am really looking forward to seeing everyone. I'm staying on longer as K&B are away and won't be back for the first week and I'd like to see them - it's not like I have a job here! I'll write while I'm there (maybe do some chores too) and start to finalise stuff to send to the publishers.........now that will be a big turning point. I'm going to stay in the yellow house so it's all very familiar. Given it's now summer there won't be any snow but it is hot. It will be lovely to walk the dogs again - sadly Khanie died a few weeks ago - she'd had a really long life given her breed but it made me a little sad, she had such a lovely temperament.
Having spent a good day writing on Thursday I went down to the beach on Friday. It's very close to where I live and the weather has been fantastic. I am sporting a very healthy tan. I wasn't at all tempted to go swimming though - the water is freezing. Generally I'm feeling pretty laid back, although starting to have twinges of nervousness about the publishers! I guess this just proves I haven't gone completely off the rails..........given it's almost a year since I worked.
I've also been thinking about what happens after the book. I'm 100% committed to staying in the US so that part is easy. I've got some ideas and expect life will roll out as it's meant too - with a little shove or two from me of course.
My flatmates finished University for the year so we have spent a bit more time together. It's been nice getting to know her and, because she is an artist and writer (poetry I think), she is very supportive of the writing process. Oh she also proved to be very useful when, despite my best efforts, I simply couldn't get an automated voice machine to understand my accent! I was trying to change flights and had to call. Everything was voice activated and I couldn't even get the machine to understand my name and there's no way to by-pass (I've had that problem before and last time K helped!) so I got Margaretha to talk me through until I could actually speak to a person. I need to work on my American accent.
I've started to meet a few more people, including a Bosnian woman........we have been talking about the war - I had even driven through the small town she lived in, although she wasn't actually in Bosnia when the war started. It's been interesting to hear about how she felt about the war and peacekeepers. Funny coincidence to have met her at this stage.

My personal fav

P!nk - Dear Mr. President Offical Video.
Can anyone tell that I am busy surfing You Tube!

On the campaign trail

Anyone got a crush on Helen C or John K then?

Bereft

Okay not quite. Michelle and Ruth are back in NZ. We have had a fantastic two weeks. It really was lots of fun to have the three of us celebrating and we were easy travelling companions. Went off to the only queer nightclub last Saturday.......it was someone's 30th and, well, the place just rocked. In the interests of being my "new self" I even had a dance or two. We ended up walking home in the small hours - not so bad for me as I was the first house on the list. We also went down to the Boardwalk by the sea and had a ride on the roller coasters and went to a restaurant on the wharf. All very nice. Michelle drove us up into the Santa Cruz Mountains (which are full of red wood trees, I think, big and tall anyway) for a wine tasting on Sunday. Very pleasant it was. Went to one vineyard and they had a special tasting of their award winning Pinot Noir - yummy and unexpected. For the last night we got Michelle's flattie and all went off to the local wine bar I went to on my first night. It was fun and there was lots of laughter.
I am just trying to organise going to the Ranch for Peter's birthday on the 4th of July. It's his 80th and, like all birthdays, they only come around once so I really want to go. It will be lovely to see everyone at the Ranch too. K & B won't be there on the day but will be back on the ranch on the 5th, so I'll stay on a few days and catch up with them too.
It's a hard life being me!

Three cheers for Dr E!

We've spent the last week celebrating Michelle getting her Phd.........she is now officially a Dr of Philosophy. Because we can't do these things by half we started in Las Vagas. M and I got to LV on Monday afternoon and Ruth arrived about two hours later. It was lovely to see her! We all shared a room (M kindly provided the earplugs but somehow we all managed). During the day we lounged by the pool (complete with buckets of beer). There are five or six pools in the MGM and one of them is set up like a winding river - complete with current. Temperatures got as high as 100F so it was hot as but lovely to sit in the shade. During the evenings we wandered around looking at the lights etc etc etc, including going out for at least two fantastic dinners. Did some gambling, not much, but I did manage to make $100 off $2 from the pokie machine - we weren't really big on the gambling thing.

Got back to SC on Thursday and went to M's graduation ceremony on Friday. It was fab - laid out on sportsfields you look out to the sea. Not a lot of ceremony to it - laid back and very personal as there are so few graduating with Phds. No national anthem either - sound track from the opening credits to paramount (or Warner) movies and star wars while faculty and graduates parade through the seating. Aftwards we went back to Ms where she had a few friends over, sat around, ate mexican food and generally toasted the day. M also had a "Pricess Cake" specially dressed just for her.

It's none of my business but...

I'm sitting in a cafe, writing, it's what the students do here - free internet and probably nicer than most of the houses they live in (mine too) - not the point. I’ve just overheard someone in a café commenting that “maybe it’s un-American not to care” – she is joking and I don’t know what she was talking about but it’s a testament to the power of US culture. Have you ever heard a kiwi say it would be un-kiwi or “unpatriotic” to do or say anything?

Gay Pride

On Sunday Michelle and I headed off to the gay pride march and festivities. It was a fab day. Predictably the boys really did turn out in the most fantastic outfits. Athough I did think Obama might have been amused to see his name on the butt of one of the roller girls!
Being Santa Cruz all shapes, sizes and political persuasions were represented. Dykes on Bikes lead the parade (of course, somethings stay the same no matter where you are) and we both loved the Latino dancers - a rare sight M tells me. We stood across from the only gay bar in SC (at least they have one) so
we not only got to watch the parade but the crowd as well. My favourte character of all (and she wasn't in the parade) had to be the Paris Hilton girl.........do you think it's rude to take photos of random people? In case it's not immediately obvious, that is a little dog in her purse. After the parade we wandered into the park where there were a whole bunch of tents selling stuff and promoting various political activities. There was a stage and a series of live performances as well. The SF Cheerleaders (boys and girls) were a hit as they tossed people in the air and generally showed disgusting amounts of energy given the heat of the day. The park was alcohol and smoke free so it was very laid back. I checked it out and SC is about the size of Nelson and probably has a similar type of community - although the University adds a dimension that Nelson doesn't have. Aging hippies sit easily with the more youthful variety. There's also a big mixture of homeless people with quite a large chunk in their late teens or early twenties. Mostly they are pleasant enough and it all just comes with the territory.
Monday we head to LV for the long anticipated trip. Ruth is flying in from NZ and it will be really nice to see her. She's coming back to SC for Michelle's grad as well (although she's been here before). Then her and M head back to NZ.
I'm still enjoying the writing and have had my "first reading" - which has given me some really useful feedback and I seem to be on the right track. I might actually pull this whole thing off! No idea what I will do once the book is done, I guess it will become clear and I am surprisingly nonplussed about it. It could be this lack of a job (and all the stress that goes with it) suits me. Mostly it's had me realise just how exhausted I was when I arrived in the US. I really was at the end of my energy and in desperate need of down time. I am "a pig in muck" - on ocassion I pop out of the pen (or the cave), look around, sniff the air then head right back in again...........I think I'll just follow my instincts for now and see where theylead me!