Yesterday G & I had our first official Burning Man prep day. Reviewed our respective checklists. Went out research-shopping around town. We got a bunch of things chosen, if not purchased, including the main goal of the day: the tent.

Other items that have been picked out: a swiss army knife replacement for G's that was confiscated at the airport; an ultra-rad eye-shaped headlamp for me; a collapsable cube for gray water; an inflatable mattress; slip-on shoes; maybe a folding table. Haven't decided on a camel-back yet. That'll be a tough decision -- but we found a place that sells them a lot cheaper than at, well, REI.

Goggles remain the big concern, but I think we know where to look: army surplus. Or maybe asking about "motorcycle goggles".

G & I went to a showing of the movie "Without You I'm Nothing" at Panorama. Apparently "9ish" means 10pm. (Grr.) The movie was pretty so-so... But I got to dance for a while, which I was surprised to find myself craving. That pleasant quiet on the inside, when everything around you is boomingly loud. Very glad that we remembered to go home and pick up ear plugs beforehand.

Saw "I, Robot" on Thursday with G and mph & Leopoldo. I had sooo much fun! The movie was fine, if not original. I could have a really good time going through it and pointing out where all the interesting bits had been stolen from in recent films. But it was pretty. And really quite well paced -- never found myself thinking about time. In fact, was surprised that it was already over when the thing ended.

I laughed out loud over and over again. Unfortunately for the producers, never when they intended me to. "Ha! Look, he's shouting in slow-mo!" ... "Oh my god! We're supposed to swallow that Will Smith is surfing on a door!" ... "Hee! He's accurately shooting things with guns in both hands while riding a motorcycle through the air!" Oh my goodness, it was hilarious.

Went with G to the Freecycle swap-meet, "Freecyclelandia", on Thursday before the movie. Very poor signage, and all-in-all a pretty bad turn out -- with only maybe four or five freecyclers in attendance. Still, we managed to get rid of some of our crap, and pick up some neat crap from other people. It was being held during the "Last Thursday" Alberta Street arts fair -- so we did get to walk around that. That was pretty neat.

Had a meeting with the departing Development Director and the new head of the board's new Development Committee on Wednesday. I was worried before. My concerns about where we're at are worse now. Very stressful, don't want to think about it.

Today I'm doing secret stuff. Seeeeeeeeecret. G's birthday is Wednesday -- and I have a surprise or two planned. Hee.

I'm increasingly concerned about the departure of PWCL's Development Director (paid fundraiser). We (at least I) need to figure out what the hiring process is going to be. My best guess about when we'll get a replacement: October. In the meantime, we need to figure out what our income projections are for budgeting purposes. And we need to determine what to do about a mass mailing that's been left up in the air.

Here at the Butte, we're supposed to be getting the studio floor replaced with ugly, ugly vinyl composite tiles today or tomorrow -- but the business that's doing the work has neglected to call back and tell us which day it will be. Or even if it's happening at all this week.

I'm sitting in the studio right now, looking out the windows in front of my writing desk... Our new neighbors (goodbye Chuck & Heidi!) are installing a metal mesh door in the passage to their back yard. When I saw construction folk drive up, I freaked, thinking that these were our flooring people. So, in a rush, I got done one of my main to-do items for today: clearing the bookshelf and odd boxes out of the studio kitchen.

Besides the new quasi-panic about PWCL, my big daily worry is Burning Man. I feel like I'm slowly getting a better picture of what details need to be taken care of -- but it still looms as a "what am I forgetting?" and "I'm not doing enough" item.

It looks like we're decided on one thing, though: take super-car Trixie, and sleep in a tent. Presuming there's no last second change of heart on this, this is a huge wrinkle off my forehead. I had thought that we might rent an RV... But at $152 per day for 11 days (min), that's a killer. I was looking into what it would take to rent a pop-up trailer or cargo van, or get the Svan in tip-top condition -- lots of possibilities...

Getting a tent means that we invest in a keepable resource. I like having tools and resources on hand... It raises new issues -- like getting it staked down adequately (rebar?) and making the tent lines safe so folks won't trip over them (required by the Burning Man organizers) -- but these feel like managable details. The bigness of not having our main transportation / lodging choice nailed down -- that, that was doing ye olde mosh pit slam dance in my cerebellum.

A very laid-back day yesterday. Got up and had leftover pasta for breakfast. Snuggled cozily with G on the couch -- which, post-pasta, put me into a nap. When I finally dragged myself off the couch, I segued into writing a new poem: "Staying Warm". Woo-hoo! My 20th poem this year!

G made a simply fantastic dinner: faux chix cutlets fried in olive oil and Montreal steak seasoning, raspberry sauce for the chix (the last of our homegrown raspberries, with soy sauce, and my last minute saving suggestion: sour cream), mashed potatoes, buttered peas hand-popped from the pod. Wowza! We are sooo going to do more with these Qorn brand "naked cutlets" -- they brown well, and are a generation better than the Veat brand faux chix breasts I used to eat.

After dinner, I dug out a poem I wrote in my green scratch notebook back on April 28, and finally got it typed up. Woo-hoo! "Noise" is my 21st poem this year! [G points out that with 53 poems since I met her, it works out to an average of one a week.]

Dueling poetry! With my newly updated poetry notebook, I read G poems aloud -- and laptop in hand, she countered by reading her own poems back at me, often ones written directly in response to what I'd just read. *gush*

We're getting near to the end of Buffy season 6. Last night we watched "Seeing Red"... OH - MY - GAWD! It took wiiiiill power to not go directly into watching the next episode. But two slices of key lime pie each were definitely in order.

I'm still alive.

Yesterday was G's and my Craigslist-iversary, marking 1 year since the day when we discovered that one and another exist!

As star-crossed lovers, I thought it would be appropriate to pursue a celestial theme. I gave a red star lamp to my Scarlet Star; took her to OMSI for her very first planetarium experience (it made her cry!); went out for Cosmic Bowling. ...Well, actually "extreme bowling" at the AMF lanes on 92nd -- but it had black lights and star-shaped gobos, which was pretty good by me. We were dying, so dinner happened at Old Wives' Tales instead of at home. Finally back home, we looked through the other ads that each of us had been pondering a year ago...

Thursday I went out to Spidey 2 again with mph & Leopoldo. Friday I went out shopping for secret stuff -- and managed to find replacement notebooks for my journaling. (Thank god!) [Oops: Actually, I found my notebooks on Thursday, after I went to the dentist downtown, to get a filling replaced.]

Friday night G and I wrote letters to each other, as a way of marking the Craigslist-iversary. ...Only a few days left til our anniversary proper: August 7. Holy crap! One year!

To ponder: A year -- that's astronomical. It's about the Earth going around the sun. A decade -- that's anatomical. The only reason we give a damn about using base 10 is because we've got ten fingers.