i've actually got a really busy week next week with work - we're bringing the new hire to boston for some training with the team (better than starting his first day working from my living room! wanted to show him we're legit!) and i'm presenting at a conference next wednesday in rhode island.
this week has been really fun. tuesday night, i drove down to santa cruz with my sister and her friend to surprise my parents for halloween and see my little cousins trick-or-treat. we drove back that same night - imagine - being an hour away from santa cruz! i have to take advantage of this while i can. my mom kept saying she was so happy we were down and not at a party in san francisco. i guess there were some gang-related shootings in the castro (where the big party happens) so i can see why she was relieved.
and wednesday i went to a lecture at the commonwealth club by malika oufkir, a woman who had been adopted by the king of morocco at the age of 5, and then her father tried to kill the king in a coup and she was thrown in prison with her mother and sibings (her father was killed) for TWENTY FOUR YEARS ... so she came out at the age of 45. imagine, being locked up for twenty four years. i would like to read her book. i just can't imagine.
and yesterday i went to another lecture by deepak chopra, who talked about life after death, and got very existential and theoretical about how our thoughts are always either choices or interpretations ... very miracles like (i can see why he always writes the intros for a lot of the miracles books) and the space/time continuum and lots of other stuff i had to think VERY hard about in order to understand. he's a really good speaker, so it was entertaining as well as intellectual. i wished i had someone to debrief with afterwards, because i'm not sure how much of it i'll retain.
and then last night i went with my aunt lynne's friend carol and her friend willie to dia de los muertos celebration in the mission. VERY VERY COOL - although carol was totally underwhelmed in comparison to years passed. apparently this is the day that people traditionally dress up like skeletons to confuse the dead souls so that they don't change their minds and decide to stay and inhabit the earth - rather than going onto the afterlife. so there was a parade of people dancing and singing and beating drums and playing horns, all dressed in skeletons with white faces and black teeth and eyes. and the procession led to a park where people had placed hundreds of alters to the people they love who had gone. suitcases were laid out and packed for their journey to the afterlife with momentos and pictures and candles and food. it was AMAZING. really neat to see such tradition, and so many people getting into it. (although a skeleton in a top hat we met at the bar said that it had turned a little political this year and that people were protesting the war, etc which kind of ruined it for him) in any case, it was great. and then carol and willie and i went to dinner at a tapas place which was delicious.
i got home around 11 and fell straight to sleep after the red wine. apparently i had a little too much because the building manager knocked on my door this morning and kindly told me it probably wasn't a good idea to leave my keys in my door overnight! doh!
anyhow, a few more hours of work and i am off to boston!
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