Before I left my home mid-April I had not one, but five farewell parties.Too many good people in the one night muddles me into not knowing if it really happened.
Now that the non-stop commotion of delivering myself to a New life has settled down, I can look back on it and re-enjoy my pre-eviction days.
This one was a costume party for begetting your very own 'New Life', a chance to start over as Casanova, Revolutionary, Renaissance or Born Again (Yes, with guitar and songs).
"Bring a one-minute skill to share" was the brief, and even I had FUN.
Organization, Brevity and Discipline - that's whats starting to look attractive to me.
Organization - Concertina filed hair and bodice frills, alphabetially ordered.When you put files where you can FIND them instantly, it feels like flying.
Thanks to Marc, I can now find the special photos, special people right away - in my newly-organized Gmail contacts, newly automated photo files.
Brevity - represented by leather hotpants (not pictured for sensorship reasons).
My brother John is master of this, so my model for the next decade.
He doesn't burden me with the scribble-pad of his thinking process, just decisively tells me its result, and what he wants me to do next. Restful and clear.
Brief, communicative emails, brief intense conversations - juicy!
Discipline
This word and I traditionally don't have much in common.
But what if it meant this: Being a disciple...of myself. Of the tempting things I've decided to do. Just submitting my workaday self to the hackwork that my dreamy self wants done, trusting it will be worth it.
The wiry guy is Marc from Quebec. In his new life he'll become a proficiant electrician, probably over Wikipedia. Marc can do anything, or find out how to do it. While I ran around looking for a campfire hire company to warm my guests, he wordlessly went out and made one with some bricks.
Stephanie is exploring her Geisha self, and her one-minute skill was this:
"Aging makeup - dark eyeliner in your creases, white higligher on top"
That didn't take long, so she added a bonus desert -" banana, chocolate, tofu. Blend. Mousse".
Jorge the Photographer went to great effort to come as RELAXED.His skill: how to pose so you look good in Photographs.
Slightly side-on for slimming, lean in so you connect with the viewer. This happens to enlarge the, um, chest.
Maybe he wanted to see what the results of Not Relaxing would be like, Jorge got Stephanie to do him over.
Jorge?
Bria's Harajuku Madam Pompador coached us on how to make a beehive.
On Lahta.
Who taught us the correct wine-tasting words for identifying wankers.
For unknown reasons, Miki got us playing a left-handed drawing game, instead of the Bach violin recital.
Dr. Shoso Shimbo (flower doctor?) is one of the worlds top flower artists, exhibiting at Chelsea Flower show. His tip was for how to sleep at night: step on bamboo for five minutes, till your soles are warm. It will work, but you wont do it. Then he delivered the secret to his universal success "see this tall flower...choose a vase that is tall. See this white flower - ah, this vase is perfect. White".There you go.
Thank-you Mark, Stephanie, Maki, and all you talent-laden guests and friends.
