AND NOW WE'RE BACK...FOR REAL

Well, I'm pretty much healthy again now and diving into Seattle life. Recovered from the cold and then from the root canal. (Side note: I just want to say that either root canal technology has come a long way since the old days or all you who used to whine about root canals were fakin' it to get sympathy, becuase it wasn't bad at all and i can't even take pain killers and I'm saying that. It was just yesterday and I am already fully recovered unless I open my mouth too wide, which is about having had to sit there for an hour and a half wtih my mouth open and not about the drilling and poking of it all.)

Anyway, I've started to go full force on the seeing people I haven't seen for a year and a half and it's great. Every day or two I have another reunion in the form of tea or lunch, and it is being fully reinforced that I wasn't idealizing people while I was gone--they really are that cool and i was right to pine for them when I was away.

I think I also had a secret fear that I wouldn't relate to my friends anymore or that they would have no reason to see me now that I've become more focussed on food and farming and sustainability issues and will need to put my energies into that sector rather than theatre and film and the affiliated parties. So silly of me. My friends are not one-dimensional people and I love their art projects and their personal goals and also realized that we still have ways to interact over all sorts of projects. Just some examples of schemes or opportunities evolved from conversations in the last few days:

Plotting to have a cafe/arts cooperative/junk store with my film animator recycling obsessed friend (said coop to have hang-out space and also sewing machines and tables chairs and shelves and things from the dump that can be sold out from under us) We have friends who are bakers and knitters and clothing designers and painters and woodworkers and have all sorts of talents and skills--they need an outlet, dude. Maybe I could even combine it with my long ago plan to open light cafes to treat people with Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Among a thousand other business plans, I also want to start a yogurt business someday, based on Basque deliciously clean-tasting sheep yogurt in clay pots that can be returned for a deposit or kept as tiny flower vases. (If you steal this idea I will hunt you down) I mention this to a friend whose mother's best friend raises goats and sheep and makes yogurt in California and is from France and might be willing to let me do a short learning stint!

Other friends are working on an internet cooking tv show, and I've convinced them to let me ply them with sustainability factoids about the foods they choose to cook on it.

Let's see. Oh yeah, because I have no problem begging businesses to loan or donate things for good causes, I'm gonna maybe be an assistant to the Art Designer for my friend's cool sci-fi movie and get set pieces loaned in exchange for credits or ads or something. And I'm gonna put on my old dramaturgy hat and read through script drafts to give my 2 cents worth of feedback.

Now, you might say, but Appalachia, aren't you sabotaging your aforementioned new focus on food and sustainability by jumping into all these projects? Well, that remains to be seen. My inclination is that i do better when involved in lots of inspiring things at once. This because i am a classic case of extrovert. Not that I'm loud and obnoxious, though that is also sometimes true, but because I get energy by being with people--and specifically by working in collaboration with people when I feel I have something useful to contribute.

I'm also signing up for a once a week Small Farm Business class to give me a bit more knowledge and cred in seeking jobs to help farmers keep their sustainable agriculture businesses afloat and in compliance with legal and regulatory standards.

Ideally, I would actually take some more traditional business or marketing classes too. But those will have wait a bit, I think.

So, this was newsy and list-y, but that's what I'm about right now. Making lists of who to contact to jumpstart career and involvement possibilities, what projects need to be completed so I can move on to others, and friends I haven't yet seen and need to schedule some time with. If only it wasn't cold, dreary january. It makes me want to curl up in bed with books and increases the umph required to get out. But all i have to remember is that the more I see people, the more I'm motivated to see people and that's how I get things done. So, reason to get out of bed.