Over the Summit

The office holiday parties are done. The shopping is done. It is supposed to snow tomorrow. I am headed, over the summit and through the woods, to family and friends in the Bay Area on Saturday. I get to spend a wonderfully long 10 days in the place that is always home, thereby making this time of year a good time.

One holiday party was at a steak house. I had a delicious slab of prime rib and sat next to our host (read boss) and his wife. It was the first time I had a social conversation with this particular boss. That was nice. Everyone got tipsy (excluding me). This is always amusing to me. Half the staff spent half their time in the bar smoking. Interesting.

The second party, and the office I consider primary, was at the bosses house. A beautiful log cabin on an expansive piece of land, filled with comfort and yummy smells, roaring fire and a big golden retriever named "Rocky Marriage". We had Elk steaks, my boss being a hunter and this is the prize he brought home this year. It was pretty good, very lean. It was a great dinner and there was a bonus AND snugly robes and socks from Bath & Body, thereby making it difficult to get in the shower and go to work once I put them on. We had our Secret Santa luncheon at the office on Tuesday. As luck would have it my secret santa was my hiking buddy and vice versa. She picked out this great necklace, an homage and good luck charm, for our hiking excursions. I got her the camelbak backpack she had been coveting. It was lovely.

MMoxie Hiking Necklace.

So if you check in here and I seem to have abandoned my posts, fear not (yea, like that's gonna happen). I will return in the new year. I wish all my friends near and far a wonderful season and great hopes for the New Year, 2008.

For the Birds

Ice Rink

Djembe Is For Happy

These telling words were uttered by this guy at a drum workshop I attended. The workshop is a production of this gal who is my drum teacher. Bolokada, in his amusingly reasonable english, explained in the first workshop I attended with him in the Spring, that the djembe (say: jim-bay) is for celebration, for bringing people together, for happiness. I was lucky to attend a second workshop with him this last week. Once again I came away with a feeling similar to the term "walking on air". I felt I was levitating, such is the strength of feeling that comes from learning a 3 part rhythm with a group of 30-40 people, from a master drummer. I smile the whole time I am learning or flubbing or playing. For one thing, Bolokada is a high energy, terminally happy guy and he spreads his smile and his warmth through the room. Second, his english makes listening to him rather tricky but that just forces one to listen more closely in order to get the jist of what he is saying, usually a story concept of whatever piece he is teaching. I believe the piece we learned had to do with increasing the fertility of a women in the village who had been unable to conceive. I could be wrong on this but that is what I picked up.
Third, he teaches very straightfowardly - call and response - and then once the class is in sync he plays his little heart out. So I am learning a new piece and I am able to watch a master drummer do a little mini-concert. SWEET!

I have been taking a class at Lake Tahoe Community College with Liz. (see the above link)
This monday is our last class and 12 weeks flew by awfully fast. I won't be tempting fate by traveling the summit in the winter to continue on next quarter but I will be starting up again in the spring. It's been fun and engaging and frustrating and challenging. Such is the process of learning a new skill and two new rhythms, each with 3 separate parts. When it clicks and the class syncs it is the most awesome sound and feeling. When I am all fumble thumbs and mental blocks it is humbling. Practice would help. The other side of learning....must practice. I have not committed to that the way that I could but I think my frustration is mounting enough to propel me towards a more studied approach away from class. That said, I am just proud and happy with myself for pursuing my drumming. I've always moved to my own rhythms and with drumming that inner rhythm actually has a sound.

My Happy