Washboard

The last couple of days have been really busy with music! Last night I had a good time on the Regular Friday night Carey's gig and played the washboard. I kinda fell in love with it and had a great time! I'm going to have to keep washboarding it up!

Moshi

I dreamed last night. Something not unusual for me--But what I dreamed was disturbing.

I dreamed I was in another country. I'm not sure what I was there for, but a little girl about 6 or 7 came up to me and smiled at me. I asked her what her name was in a different language I didn't know I could speak. She responded Moshi. Swahili for Smoke. I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, and suddenly, the light the shined in her eyes was gone. She pointed to he bloated stomach. Moshi was starving and knew she would never grow up. Suddenly, other children appeared and one by one shouted out there names. Each of these children were from different countries than Moshi, but all had a bloated belly. After all the names were spoken, they suddenly grew thinner by the minute, until nothing was left except their bones. All stacked in a pile with no identity. I tried to help the, but there were invisible barriers that I couldn't get past, I watched in horror as they died. Then there mothers one by one appeared and said to me in their native language: "Couldn't you have helped them?"

I awoke from my terrible dream, but I couldn't forget the graphic detail of it. Does it mean I'm supposed to do something in my life where I can help these children?

Vermillion

I'm glad to be back in Vermillion. Being home was nice, and this may have been on of the first visits where I wasn't really ready to leave, but being back to Vermillion feels right. I went for a long run today, took a nap and worked.

I'm watching The Hot Zone Documentary right now. It's very interesting. Kevin Sites will be the key note speaker at Ideafest. I'm excited to see him speak. Check out his site. hotzone.yahoo.com

Easter

It's Easter. Well it was anyways, it is 12:01 Am. Its funny to me--Easter is a holiday, but it wasn't any more special than any other day for me. Yes, we went to church like my family does every Sunday, heard the story of the Resurrection like every Easter, and ate a bunch of food like every Holiday and every Sunday that I'm home. (Which is very rarely.) But ya know, it was nice. Nice to take a break, nice to relax and hang out with my family, nice to eat good food that was prepared especially for me (I'm a Vegetarian, but my family is not!) Nice to take a Sunday afternoon nap. Although I didn't maybe take any risks today besides wear high heels in the snow, it was a good day.

Horton Hears a Who

Dr. Seuss is one of my favorites. Horton Hears a Who was a very enjoyable movie and like the story has a great message. "A person is a person no matter how small." My favorite thing about the movie was the who's that were powering themselves with a kite and a blow dryer. That makes me think of my day today.

At around 10:00 this morning, my dad and I went out to the frozen like. The wind was blowing 18 mph, and the deceivingly powder soft snow lay like a blanket on the cold hard ice below. Kampeska. The lake I grew up on. Waterskiing, Ice Boating, Windsurfing, Wakeboarding. The waters of Kampeska have enveloped me time and time again--Swimming in her small waves to cool off my warm body in the summer heat, waterskiing at high speeds feeling the spray from my ski in my face, being thrown off a tube at 30 mph with my brother driving the boat, learning to windsurf--The lake has taught me many lessons and has bestowed upon me numerous memories.

Today Kampeska once again showed her mighty strength. I learned to kite when the wind was blowing 10 to 12 mph. 18 mph was a bit much for me. I flew the kite above me, high in the sky and maneuvered it to the left and right and headed down wind. I tried to turn into the wind to go to my starting destination, but was continually pulled to the other side of the lake. I couldn't make it back. And then I crashed. The kite went end over end, and it drug me with it like a rag doll drug behind the hand of a careless little girl. After the kite settle for a few moments, a gust of wind picked up the kite, taking me with it about 4 feet off the ground. I landed hard, in the deceiving powder that covered the brutal and impenetrable ice below biting my tongue. The kite had settled. I looked around me to try to figure out what happened tasting the blood that filled my mouth. I spit, and the pristine whiteness of the snow was tainted with orange. I stood, untangled my lines, and lifted my kite into the sky.

I had been beaten, and was beaten again after I continued to try, and will be beat again until someday I finally die, but until then, I will continue to welcome the challenge of the wind, the lake, and the speed that everyday life throws at me.

Garden Carrots gone bad...

So, I'm still working on paying my bike off. My parents agreed to pay for my bike repairs if I worked for them. I cleaned the garage, basement, folded my Dad's underwear, (RISKY!) only 2 more hours left.

More Kiting

Today I worked and worked so I could pay off my bike. $126. Ouch. Oh well.

I went kiting today again! WAY FUN! You really can get going crazy fast. I think it might be one of my new favorite sports.

Not much new to say, Wish I had some money. Thats about it.

Kiting

Today was a good day. I finished a great book at 1:40 this morning called The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. It was comical and down to earth. A must read. I woke up, went shopping with my mom, bought some new jeans, got a new pair of running shoes. Good stuff.

Then Bruce from the bike shop called and told me I could come down and watch him fix my bike so I could learn how to adjust things if need be. Pretty good stuff. I learned a lot. Unfortunately, my bikes going to cost a few bucks to fix though.

Then I went kiting with my dad. Kiting is incredibly fun! Here is a video if you've never kited before or seen it done. One of the craziest thing about it is when you are just standing still, you can hear the ice pop and crackle. It's kinda erie, but very cool. Flying a kite that big is pretty hard, bu after you figure it out it is really fun! Once it even lifted me off the ground. There is definitely a lot of power in that kite! The winds were only blowing 12-14mph.

I'm hoping that I can go out again tomorrow, and that my bike will be finished too. Then I can ride and kite. Two very exciting things!

Nothing risky today.

The last two days of my life have been anything but risky. The most risky thing I did today was go to the dentist. (Which I hate.) The sounds are terrible. I also tried a new recipe. Pretty boring. Wish I had more to say. My bike is in the shop, and won't be fixed until Thursday or later... And I have to work for my parents to pay it off. Absolute bummer, but sometimes, you just gotta do what you gotta do. But, it will be nice to get it finished!

I'm at home now for spring break and am so far enjoying it. (Besides the two hours in the drilling chair.) My parents are so funny together. They crack me up. I think now that us kids are gone, it has forced them to love each other even more. I didn't think that was possible.

I'm hoping tomorrow I can go out kiting with my dad after work, because that would be pretty fun and risky. Something to get my adrenalin moving again. I don't think I will look like this when I first start though, (or ever!) but, It will be really really fun! Unless the ice breaks, or a break my arm, but hey, it is a risk worth taking!

Pi Day!

Yesterday was Pi Day. Not a particularly risky day, but fun none the less. Because of the intense bike ride on Thursday, I couldn't sleep very well Thursday night. So, I was kinda crabby all day.

I took a history test that I wasn't prepared for, that was risky. Ate lunch with Conor on my Fire escape, Went for a bike ride, and then had to play at a concert. I came for the dress rehearsal and played for 10 minutes then played the concert. I sight read the piece. Pretty risky.

But the big deal of yesterday was Pi Day. 3.14 (March 14th) Conor and Liz and Mike and I made pie. Apple Pie and Pecan Pie. We had homemade whipped cream, Homemade Carmel Sauce, ate ice cream, and drank wine. It was a good good pi day. The risk was that I might become a type 2 diabetic because I hate so many sweets. (Just kidding... I'll be OK!) I just had a good time with friends.

My neighbor that lives above me had his music on so loud that I couldn't sleep after that, so I went downtown and met Ben there. He came over for tea, and knocked on the door nicely, my neighbor didn't answer, Ben knocked again louder, no answer. Then, Big Bad Ben, Pounded on the door, and the music was finally stopped. Techno and eighties is never a good combo.

My day may not have been that risky, but it was a good day. I'm fortunate to have great friends who are crazy enough to have Pi day and pound on your Neighbor's door!

31.6 Miles... Half in Pitch Black

Today started like a normal day. Woke up at 8:00, did a little Yoga, ate Kashi with Soy Milk (RISKY I KNOW!), Took a test, practiced, went to class, ate a sandwich for lunch. Nothing risky besides the Soy Milk.

And then, I decided I was going to hang out on my fire escape. Now, to get to the fire escape, one must climb out of my bathroom window or climb up stairs. I decided to climb out of my window. Now the fire escape is a lovely part of my roof and doesn't look at all stable, but it held me and a friend while we chatted, supported me during a nap and reading, and was very stable for me. I'm excited to spend more time out there. On the way back in, I climbed back through the window and almost put my foot in the toilet.

I thought that might be the riskiest part of my day, but it wasn't. At 5:30, two friends of mine (Ben and Letsche) and I went on a bike ride. Being that it was the first ride of the year we weren't planning to go far, maybe just 12 miles or so. We headed to the Vermillion-New Castle Bridge in Nebraska and road over the Missouri River. At that point, we decided to continue on because it was such a nice day! There was very little wind, it was warm enough for shorts and a long sleeve shirt. So we road farther into Nebraska a came to the junction of HWY 19 and 12. A few of my friends passed us, and cheered us on! We were all indecisive on whether we should continue on, but then we saw a sign that said Maskell, Nebraska 3 Miles. Now, I knew that Maskell had the smallest City Hall in the US, but none of us had ever seen it before so we decided to ride. We continued to ride, and my friends made a loop and once again cheered us on. When we arrived at Maskell, we headed North for 3 blocks and there it was: The Smallest City Hall in America. It looks about the size of a Port-a-Potty.

We rode out of Maskell still feeling great about the day. It's still nice out, and we've only been riding for about 45 minutes. Ahead we see a sign that says New Castle 6 miles, once again we all are pretty indecisive. Letsche and I know that there is a good place to eat there called the Copper Stop that has buffet, and we think we can ride there, eat, and then ride home before it gets too dark. So we ride the longest 6 miles of the trip which are mostly uphill, but we finally get there. We walk into the Copper Stop and see that there isn't a buffet, so we order off the menu. (Being in a small town in Nebraska, there wasn't anything Vegetarian on the Menu... So grilled cheese for me.) Our bodies welcomed the break, but we are all freezing because we are no longer moving. It takes a little longer than expected to get our food, but the salad bar was great because it had Cookie's-N-Cream moose. Being that we burned around 500 calories, it tasted pretty great. When we were finishing, Ben looked out the window and saw that it was very dusk.

Once again, we hopped back on our bikes and rode. It got pretty dark, pretty fast. Because none of us had lights on our bikes and very little reflective gear, every time a car approached from behind, we headed off the road into the soft, muddy, ditch. We did this probably five or six times. It was a little bothersome not knowing if the driver saw you or not. Once we stopped, and I saw deer tracks. We looked up and the car that had just passed us, just about hit a few deer. Good thing they slowed down for us, because the deer and their vehicle may not have been so lucky otherwise.

The next challenge was riding on the bridge. This was really scary, but really really cool! Now, the bridge doesn't have much of a shoulder, and if a car doesn't see you, you've got a fall to your death down into the river. We made it past the bridge and no cars passed us luckily. We continued to ride and made it back into Vermillion. As we were going up our final hill on Dakota street, someone drove extremely close to us. We were all OK and made it, but it was a little too close for comfort after riding with a high stress level on the way home. We made it though, and I'm glad we took the chances.

Now I'm working in the Library. Working as in sitting. I'm glad for the chair. My body is tired. My shoulders and neck are sore. But I feel good, and I'm happy. I'm glad for the friendship with Ben and Letsche, and I'm glad we took every opportunity to go farther. I really like this quote by Muhammad Ali: "Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything." I know that friendship is making decisions that are absolutely crazy sometimes, but experiencing them together makes it worth every minute. I know that when I try to explain this adventure to anyone else, that only Ben, Letsche, and I will ever really understand exactly what it was like--our fears, our laughter, our tired aching bodies, the two clumps of Cookie's-N-Cream moose--but my hope is that each of you that read this experience that same type of friendship.

31.6 miles. Half in the dark. Ben pointed out that it sets the bar pretty high for our next ride. As I sit here eating my rice cake with Peanut Butter, I wonder what I'll do for tomorrow's risk?

Risk

Risk: exposure to the chance of injury or loss; a hazard or dangerous chance.

Each day, we all make decisions. Some are simple, such as what we are to wear, some are more difficult such as what career choice we should pursue, and frankly, some are just risky.

Everyday I strive to take a risk. I like the challenge, I like the adventure, and I like the adrenaline rush. But what happens when normal risks like riding your road bike in the snow are no longer risky? Bigger and Better risks are pursued.

Last night I took a long ride out to the river and I realized how much the river has changed, but mostly how much the river has changed me. Everyday for the last 4 years, the Missouri has flowed past Vermillion and I've enjoyed its beauty. And each year I pursue more endeavors on the river. Last year I Kayaked and Canoed it almost everyday. I canoed 59 continues miles down the last wild stretch and saw her beauty and her power. She dared me to be more daring and challenged me to more adventures than I thought I could I could do.

The ride I took last night was my risk and I didn't feel that risky. 18 miles at dusk. But the risk had more to do with gravel on the road and the drivers than it did with me. But in the end it felt good.

Lately I've been itching to take a risk that is really risky. I want to ride my bike from South Dakota to Boston. --By myself. I'm not sure if I'll do it yet, but I willing to take that risk.

I think challenging yourself and risking it all, makes you realize how precious life really is. The closer you are to losing it, the closer you are to finding its meaning.