Listening: Still -- Far Gone and Out by Jesus and Mary Chain is on right now. Because its a great song and because its the only CD I have still unpacked.

Reading (perhaps quality): Guernica: The Biography of a Twentieth-Century Icon by Gijs van Hensbergen. The quote to the lower right is from this book, page 118.

Reading (definitely pulp): Nothing.

Drinking: Water.

January 25, 2006
4:13 am

Insomnia. Again.

Have been up since 3. Went to sleep at 9:45 so I figure I scored about 5 hours of sleep - not at all all great but when I couldn't get back to sleep after 15 minutes in bed (trying to meditate, counting backwards, mindful breathing, etc) I decided just to get up and get on with things.

Packed what looks to be the next-to-next-to-last kitchen box (running low on packing material - need to bring home some newspapers today). But the kitchen is empty, save cleaning supplies and cat food. Almost scary.

Now its all about the little bit in the bathroom, then my room, then all done done done. Or at all done except the cleaning...

Unrelated to the move (finally!) but on my mind...

Mom talked the other night with an old old family friend that she hadn't spoken to in a while. My parents don't have a lot of friends in common (having parted ways in the 1970's) but some of those folks they do both know have been coming out of the woodwork lately and so both Mom and Dad have been catching me up on people who I haven't seen in over 25 years.

One story was interesting, about the daughter of some friends of theirs. She's a year or two younger than me and was always mean when we had to play together - refusing to share toys or ruining mine (that was the age we were at). Mom said she's just heard from this girl's mom and that the girl married someone 20 years older, had a child about 7 years ago, and is now a Hare Krishna living in an ashram with her child somewhere in the Bay Area.

Wow. Wouldn't have imagined that. I hope she and her daughter are happy. I don't think my life in DC could be much more different than an ashram - funny how you can start off similar and end up so different.

One other thing:

Really enjoying Guernica: The Biography of a Twentieth-Century Icon by Gijs van Hensbergen (a christmas present from SS the SS in honor of our trip to Santiago and the book on the Basques I read along the way). There was one passage that caught my eye, talking about Alfred H. Barr, Director of Museum Collections (1947-67) for New York's Museum of Modern Art :

"His gift, almost bordering on genius, was his ability to make the complex seem simple, without patronizing his audience or trivialising the work. It was a subtle skill that balanced the discipline of scholarship with a deeply held belief that modern art was absolutely central to an understanding of modern life."

I know a lot of deeply intelligent passionate committed people who follow this same grain. And honestly it is what I aspire to, whether it was with biology in college, usability post-grad-school, or the topics of whatever analysis and briefings I'm next slated for now.

Just had to draw this bit out here, as there was just something striking about seeing such a brilliant skill described so eloquently...

Am a little sleepy now. Of course. Think I'm going to see if I can catch an hour or so of shuteye. At least this bout of insomnia was productive, knowing that I'm a little further along with packing should definitely help me sleep easier.

Doing (life and related tasks): Insomnia. Packing.

Doing (crafty stuff): Looking forward to doing something more creative than packing, soon.

Wanting: This to finally finally (and happily) be done.

Anticipating: The move this weekend, of course!