The Girl with the Dragonfly Tattoo

When my Nana died, I expected that butterflies would be the winged messengers to let me know her soul was at peace upon its reunion with the two men she had loved most in her life, my grandpa and her brother Jim. Butterflies had been her symbol while she was alive, as ladybugs are my mom’s symbol. Instead of being swept up in the flutters of the delicate, beautiful wings of butterflies, I found myself surrounded by other flying visitors in the garden at the home of my aunt and uncle in North Carolina: a multitude of dragonflies. It was their presence that calmed me and silently announced the successful journey of my Nana.

At her memorial service, each story taught me more about the woman my Nana was in life, a woman that I was too young to have the opportunity to truly know. Each story highlighted habits and traits of Nana that are habits and traits I find in myself. Not only do I carry on her genes, but I carry with me her heart, a beautiful (and completely unwitting and unexpected!) continuation of her life through mine.

And the dragonflies helped me see this.

The dragonflies role as heralds should have come as no surprise. In many traditions, dragonflies are the ones who help guide souls to the next realm, in addition to representing renewal and rebirth. As creatures who spend much of their life as larvae in water, they also symbolize awareness of deeper consciousness, yet their metamorphoses into delicate yet strong whisperers of the wind highlight their flexibility and dynamic nature. Their wings beat only 30 times per minute, yet they can fly at speeds of 45 miles per hour, hover, and fly backwards if need be, much like hummingbirds; yet hummingbirds flap their wings at a significantly higher rate.

Those powerful wings also symbolize truth conquering illusion, as its iridescence changes with every microscopic change in the angle of light passing through them. Thus it is light creating and sharing light . . . and isn’t that what we should all be doing in this life?

Finally, the dragonfly’s lifespan itself represents the importance, no, the necessity, of living life to the fullest. After its larval stage, the dragonfly emerges, but only for a fraction of the time it spent preparing for its debut. It has merely a brief amount of time to enjoy its vulnerable fortitude and its synergy with the flow of the wind.

The multilayered and multifaceted symbolism of the dragonfly has recently taken on more significant and personal meaning to me. As I detailed in my previous post, I came close to being completely shattered before I found my innate strength and trust in myself and this incredible universe. The dragonfly represents what I find to be the very essence of life itself: a seamless tapestry of seemingly contradictory dichotomies. I felt it right to commemorate my own crossing over to a new appreciation of love and life.

I got a tattoo.

When I met Kilgore, my amazing artist, I knew she was the right one to give me the divine mark. Yes, it stung at times, as tattoos do, but during the actual tattoo process I did not cry. Yet it was interesting: as she was working on me, she was initially streaming KEXP (a Seattle radio station). It then spazzed, so her coworker turned on Pandora. I think it was a John Mayer station, which I don’t strongly like but didn’t mind too much, though I did almost ask them to change it. Then Kilgore said she was finished. And this song came on:

Then I nearly cried.

You all know how important running is to me, and ever since I started running, getting the Boston qualifier and running from Hopkinton to Boylston Street has been one of my major goals. I qualified a couple of years ago and ran Boston last year on my 29th birthday and will be running it this year, the day before my 30th.

I am still overwhelmed with emotion just thinking of the significance of that moment.

Raw.

Why Raw? I am not going to blog about some miracle wonder diet, nor am I going to write about the intricacies of the 1990’s era WWF. As some of you have noticed, I have not been writing as much on this blog this past year as I had previously. Raw is the explanation of why that happened. I am going to lay myself bare and share my experiences (both the good and the not as good). If you are squeamish, consider yourself forewarned!

Okay, down to the nitty gritty. So why didn’t I provide numerous accounts of escapades at races and reviews of my latest gear discoveries? In a few words, last year was a year during which I reached a breaking point, and rather than simply repair I found myself building anew atop the foundation my life experiences have provided me with thus far.

If you are a student of history, you know that the most epic downfalls occur just after a brilliant and glorious climax. For me it was no different. I had an excellent racing season littered with PRs in distances ranging from the mile (5:19/5:49, downhill and Pearl Street respectively;) ) to the marathon (3:21). At the same time, a number of you expressed concern because you noticed how quickly I was shedding weight. Some people even flat out asked me if I was anorexic, which really hurt because that was not at all the case (I mean really, I was going through a Costco sized jar of almond butter every week). I will admit that while it was nice to be lean and fit, I knew that weighing a buck o five at a height of 5’7” was pushing limits. Yet it was not a purposeful fuel limitation causing it. As I explained in my post My GF Vegan Manifesto, I found that my body was not digesting most of my fuel. I vacillated between bouts of constipation and diarrhea, which greatly affected my training. I was bewildered because I could not figure out what was going on with my body, and to feel like your own body is the enemy is not something I would wish on anyone.

I knew I was essentially wasting away. I was too skinny.

I distinctly remember when I went home for my high school reunion, and my own mother nearly started sobbing when we went clothes shopping because of my skeletal frame. But I was still running well, and the only real problem I felt was the digestive pendulum, so I didn’t feel like it was that big a deal.

Then the pains started. Some nights I curled up sobbing on the floor because my diaphragm felt like it was being ripped in half. One night early last summer I finally had enough. My friend Steve Rizzolo (I still cannot thank you enough Steve) drove me to the ER at 3am.

Upon admission they pumped my stomach (oh so this is what they do with the people I know who got waaaaay too drunk. Yeah, not glamourous at all.) They wanted to give me an antacid, but knowing that the majority of the American population’s digestive issues are actually caused by too little acid in the stomach, I asked for a pH strip to test the acidity of the liquidy stuff being pumped out before I would let them do that. Yeah, nerdy and gross, but it’s my body. I did not want to mess it up more by causing dependence on meds that only serve to make whatever the issue was worse.

They also performed CT scans on my digestive tract. Finally some progress: my esophagus, stomach, and colon were extremely inflamed. Now to figure out what was causing the inflammation.

The GI doc ordered that I get a colonoscopy. Got it done, and it came to the same conclusions that the CT scan had: chronic inflammation, but no idea of what was causing it. While it was an extreme relief to hear there were no growths or tumors or anything like that, I was incredibly frustrated knowing that something is seriously wrong but not know what it was. Again, the doctor preached the gospel of Nexium, but I had heard too many horror stories of people developing dependence on it with issues simply getting worse (and thus upping their dosage) rather than finding resolution.

I refused to be such a statistic.

So I tried a number of natural remedies. Taking HCl orally to help with stomach acid production. It burned.

Drinking copious amounts of water with raw apple cider vinegar to help acidify my stomach but alkalize the rest of my body. No real difference.

When your body rebels, and you are a person like me who mostly relates to the world kinesthetically, your mind starts to suffer too. I found myself scared and bordering on depression. I was beside myself.

Then my friend TJ died. He was riding his bike home like any good Boulder elite runner does when a driver neglected to look both ways while turning and hit him.

Though his life was certainly too short in terms of years, TJ made sure to enjoy the hell out of it. After his death, I realized that death is not something to be feared. Honestly, the one thing that causes death 100% of the time is . . . being alive. His death made me realize that life is a beautiful thing to be treasured and enjoyed as much as possible. Yes, like everyone else, I have days that are not favorites. But there is another day with so many new things and new people and new experiences awaiting me. It makes every day like Christmas! (I love surprises, if I didn’t already make that clear!)

I decided that while I was not able to pinpoint the exact source of my digestive issues, I can do everything possible to show my body the love it deserves by fueling it with things that make it thrive. No processed foods, not alcohol or other such toxins; my body and my life are too precious to exploit and my body is the only one I have. Even though I do sometimes yearn for my 00 jeans (the curse of being a runner surrounded by scrawnies), I am more amazed by the potential to feel powerful and fast while not necessarily a waif.

I also realized that I could wait to realize my dream of making a living as a writer, or I could just go for it to minimize the possibility of wondering “What if I had tried . . . ?” I saw the opportunity to come to Guam briefly, and while it was vastly frightening to pick up from where I had made my home in Colorado to go to a fairly isolated island where I knew no one, it was amazingly liberating. It has reminded me of my innate strength (not to mention provide much inspiration for future writing projects).

Every day I am overwhelmed with gratitude.

I choose life.

I am positive I made the right choice.

A Remembrance of Kisses

Wrote this piece for Elephant Journal:

First boyfriend. After practicing our synchronized diving for our summer team, we’d go to the woods by the pool and kiss. Open mouth, no tongue. His eyes were green with a ring of gold around his pupils.

Next boyfriend. In seventh grade we all went to the high school football games on Friday nights. “Go under the bleachers with him.” First French kiss. Not impressed.

Sophomore year in high school. I had a crush on him all through high school. He was half of the reason I joined the track team. “Hey, I have a birthday present for you, let’s go get it from my locker.” Shuffle shuffle. “Okay, close your eyes.” I covered his eyes (could he hear my heart pounding?), kissed him on the cheek, and ran away. I didn’t talk to him at practice or on the bus for a week.

My first frat party, freshman year in college. The girl at the end of the hall (who later became one of my best friends) insisted I go with her; she had been IMing this guy that she shared a friend with and she wanted to meet him. Wow, he was cute . . . but she was more interested in another guy. What a relief! He and I stayed up past dawn talking in the common room. He said he and his friend had “spotted” me at the all-dorm meeting during orientation. He didn’t kiss me that first night. He was a lot of firsts for me– my first “I love you” that I truly meant, my first . . . well, that’s another story!

Junior year in college. Sorority date party. My high school crush was attending the Academy, but he came down to accompany me then spend the weekend with another high school friend at a neighboring college. We had gone to dances together in high school as part of the same group, but never as each other’s date. I had never seen him dance the way he did that night. He said he remembered the “birthday present” I had given him all those years ago. He finally kissed me that night.

First homecoming after college graduation. I had a crush on him (well, really the entire mens track team, but especially him) my senior year in college despite his being two years my junior. He told me I looked beautiful the night my friend set us up for my senior year formal. We got to be better friends after I graduated. I told him I was in town for the weekend. He suggested we get together after his practice. We met at the coffee shop. I got Dragonwell, he got Sencha. We meandered through town. It was a lovely night that night. We parted ways; he went to unlock his yellow Trek to ride home. “Wait.” I ran back to him. “I want to let you know . . . I mean . . . May I give you a quick goodbye kiss on the cheek?” I went to kiss his cheek, he turned his face to me. It was a beautiful night that night.

OR Wrap Up/Final Thoughts/Peace Out Mormonland!

Most of the excitement happened Friday and Saturday, so Sunday was a fairly low-key day in OR land. Spent it just touching base with the folks I had met earlier (spent a LONG time chatting with awesome Emily at Clif Bar!)

After watching the takedown (very impressed with the efficiency of the takedown crew!) of the show, decided to do some photographic meandering of SLC. It truly is a beautiful town, ESPECIALLY near the Capital and Temple Square. The LDS certainly knows how to create architecture to celebrate its faith!

While meandering, wandered through one of the tourist center buildings and started to explore some family history and was shortly greeted by two young missionaries, a woman from France and another from Colombia. While I respect the fervor the missionaries have for their faith, their desire to share it, and the journey they undertake in the form of their mission, I will not be converting anytime soon. Or ever, most likely. As they showed me around Temple Square, I tried to turn the questioning back on them as much as possible. Not to be rude. I enjoy hearing stories from the life journeys of others (and with this pair it was neat because the French woman had grown up within the LDS, while the one from Colombia had been the initial convert from Catholicism in her family, so intriguing perspectives). However, one’s faith journey is tremendously personal, and I am quite certain that their end goal was to score a convert, and I did not want to reward their kindness with words relating that I was not going to help them meet that goal.

One last night in SLC! Stayed there rather than heading to Park City (Sundance heyyo!) because I planned to FINALLY immerse myself in genealogy on Monday (the Family History Library is closed on Sundays; otherwise would have done it then).

As was the pattern of the weekend, spent more time than initially planned at the library, but found out quite a good amount of my family history and learned some techniques to finding out details as well as how to utilize certain types of records (draft cards, censuses, ship logs) to aid my search. However, while I was able to go back a decent amount of generations on my mom’s side within my time constraints, I was unable to go further back than my dad’s parents on his side of the family tree. I hope that sometime my parents (and perhaps more of the fam) can come out to SLC and we can all explore our heritage together, as the FH Library requires at least a couple of full days of intense immersion in order to scrounge up a significant amount of information.

And onward to Park City! Arrived in early afternoon, and parked just about a half mile from Main Street. Very cute little ski town downtown for sure. The second place I meandered into (after a little boutique) was a house being set up for a post-outdoor-film-screening party. Interesting timing, as I walked in at the same time as a woman (and her posse) who apparently was a cast member in one of the films. The woman in charge of the party, who used to do some marketing work for Teva, was a little more Sundance/LA than OR, as she made a big deal of gifting the starlet with a nice down jacket while offering the rest of us little beanies. Not a huge deal, as I understand why. I was honestly more unimpressed with the starlet, as she was not supremely appreciative but still expectant. She continually exclaimed that the jack was completely not her style, yet did she turn it down, or make any reference to giving it to people who could use it? Nope, sure didn’t! Because after all, starlets are definitely in need of free goods. I don’t intend to ride a high horse by implying that I turn away free goods on the principle that others could use them more than myself. That being said, when I do procure comped items, I either do so in order to share info about them (such as with the Handful bra and the Ex Officio undies) or I *do* give them away (sent some of the jackets and candies to my mom and sister, and gave away some Clif product and jackets to some of the homeless folks I encountered on the street in SLC. Amusing story: after I gave a dude on the street some bars, he asked me to dinner. While I’m sure he was hungry for conversation and company in addition to food, it still bothers me when asked to do stuff like go out when it will so obviously be on my dime. If *I* ask, I’ll ante up if necessary. But that’s when I am interested in a dude, and besides, I am not exactly in a stupendous financial situation at the moment either.) I can only hope that this Hollywood hopeful is the type of person who does give such things away or gives back in some other manner to fully celebrate the blessings she has been given.

After the starlet and her posse left, I was able to chat briefly with the former Teva woman, though, as was epidemic throughout my experience in Park City, I felt distinct air of inauthenticity (and not just regarding her bleached blonde tresses and überpink lips). I appreciated hearing some of her story of what she did with Teva, but was not sad to excuse myself and continue on my way!

The energy in Park City surprised me. Not in a positive nor a negative manner, it was simply different than my expectation. Perhaps it was due to the fact that it was a Monday afternoon, and people there reserved their energies for partying and glamour for the weekends. I was thinking that I would feel tingles of excitement for amazing film as I explored Main Street; that the purveyors whose stores lined the streets and those who set up temporary shop for their own festival purposes would be enthusiastically welcoming in potential customers/viewers in. What I found was more aptly characterized as “tired” in myriad senses of the word: fatigued and unimpressed. I suspect that having just come from OR, where I was surrounded by my people, did not facilitate my adjustment to the Sundance scene!

The saving grace of my time in Park City? Stopping in a spot that advertised having a charging station (which was quite a relief, my phone was dwindling!) and making the acquaintance of a producer from LA by way of Wales as we both waited for our phones to charge. Among many other film-unrelated topics, he told me about the film he had just wrapped up with Josh Hartnett and a Bollywood star that they had filmed in India. The plot sounds like the movie has potential to be decent; later in the year we will see how the execution turned out. (The current title is Singularity http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1321869/)

After making my way up and down Main Street, I started to feel the effects of sleeping in my car for four nights and taking in non-vegan and gluten-containing items (despite being armed with GlutenEase, was no bueno! And so much sugar, VERY glad to be detoxing right now!), so I started heading back to the bubble, the glorious Republic of Boulder. Luckily there was no crazy trucker this time, but there was snow! After driving about halfway, my sleepy eyelids strongly suggested that I pull over for the night, so I parked roadside on some obscure exit to sleep for a few hours before the final bit of my journey the following morning.

Now that I have subjected you to a lengthy recap of my road trip, I will share (a more concise!) version of the highlights!

Obviously I enjoyed OR more than Sundance. While networking/making connections and scoring some sweet schwag was an added bonus, my favorite aspect of OR was the variety of seminars and talks. Donna Carpenter’s presentation on women in the outdoor industry was empowering and has spurred my own interest in learning more about the OIWC http://www.oiwc.org/ As for the social media discussion: that will require its own post, as I took quite a few notes and have a comparable number of thoughts to share.

Phew! Lots of writing today! I hope I haven’t overstayed my welcome at Pekoe!

Have you gone on any adventures that bridge that gap between mini and grand, or that hover in the space between because they simultaneously possess traits of both?

 

Enjoy your adventures,

Megan

 

 

OR Day Dos!

Luxurious slumber in the Sub last night, didn’t wake up until 7! Scurried down to the Marriott to catch Donna Carpenter, president of Burton (some of you may have heard of it, they do snowboard stuff;) NBD!) discussing women in the outdoor industry. Loved the presentation! Though starting at 8 I also hopped between that and a discussion in a nearby room pertaining to the use of social media in retail and the outdoor industry, led by Sara from REI. Again, great info, though she simply utilized PowerPoint for her presentation and I think encouraging the audience to interact throughout the presentation via twitter/Foursquare/Facebook would have been more appropriate and effective.

I woke up this morning planning to make a half day of it before peacing out to go learn my genealogy and head to Park City, but then (as per usual for me!) got sidetracked by chatting it up with folks like this climber dude named Dean* and the folks at Superfeet and ToeSox. Also found some particularly punchy folks at some booths, namely Patagonia (oh wait, they just ignored me, I know they are a big company but the first rule of customer service is to simply acknowledge someone! Apparently they are part of the outdoor industry’s 1%. I still appreciate much of what they do and stand for, such as fair trade, 1% for the Planet, environmental considerations in myriad components of manufacturing, etc, but consumer relations are not to be neglected. I’ve worked 50+ hours over 4 days at expos too, I know what it’s like to be exhausted, but when representing your company you better be on!) and, surprisingly to me, NiteIze, a company based within a few miles of me. A woman told me to snag some of their items, then when I did, she accused me of taking non-sample items, and when I said “Oh, I’m sorry, I must have misunderstood, I thought you said these were the ones I could try”, she looked at them and said “oh, yeah, those are the sample items.” I had taken about 6 items of about 10 models they were offering (which they had about 150 of each model just on the table, so it’s not like they were lacking in supply, and they were tiny items, not big ticket items). Again, customer relations are not to be overlooked!

After much meanding/chatting/schmoozing (the actual Schomooze-a-palooza event was rather disappointing due to lack of hiring companies); the day was starting to wind down, and I ended up at the booth of a textile company called Lenzing http://www.lenzing.com/en/concern/home.html, which makes a product called Tencel. The woman there, Sue, is, like me, a very chatty and amicable woman, and she insisted I join her for a quick glass of wine. I honestly don’t remember much of what we chatted about (no, I wasn’t drunk; I only had a sip of the Riesling!), but it was delightful to make a friendly connection. She then revealed that she and her company had reservations for eight people at the “best Italian restaurant in town”,Cucina Toscana http://www.cucina-toscana.com/pages/home.php, and only six of them were able to come, so I should join them! Despite enjoying the candy and Clif product that was plentiful at the show (finally detoxing from it, yeesh), I figured A- it would be fun if Sue’s colleagues were even just a fraction as kind as her, and B- who in the world would pass up high end Italian for free?

Returned to my car to grab my coat (you’re welcome to all the skiers that were out there, by leaving my coat in the car for the day Murphy’s Law led to SNOW both in the mountains and downtown!) and thus showed up to dinner looking like a freshly washed pet!

As foretold by Sue, dinner was amazing! (Though unfortunately, continued my breakage of my vegan/gluten free lifestyle, still detoxing!) All of the Lenzing folks were fabulous and had amazing stories to tell. We decided to save technical talk for the next day, when Andreas and I would have a long discussion regarding the technical components and the manufacturing process of Tencel, which I was greatly impressed with, as the sun protection fabric Lenzing produces functions like our very own skin/melatonin, rather than relying on a coating of UV blocking chemicals).

Afterwards, I decided to actually act my age and go out, since I bailed on the parties the previous night! Hit up the scene at Club Elevation, met Malcolm Daly and his son, since the cover fee benefitted Malcolm’s nonprofit, and enjoyed some local tunes. A woman from Kuhl absolutely owned the stage and was both impressive and inspiring. Perhaps I need to gather some folks to establish a band for next year’s show . . .

*Funny (both funny-ha-ha and funny-weird) thing about meeting this dude Dean: turns out, it was Dean Potter, who, if you are a climber or BASE jumper, is *kind of* a big deal. But the funny thing is (other than me completely not fawning over him) is that he’s done some jumping/other such adventuring with an ex-boyfriend of mine (the serious boyfriend I had before my most recent serious boyfriend). And yes, I can totally picture them working well together and being friends. Oh, small (read: incestuous) world! Gotta love how the climbing/outdoor/running/insertyouractivityhere community tends to be!

Turning in my OR V Card!

The last few nights have been like a succession of Christmas Eves! I have hardly been able to sleep on account of being so excited to check out the awesomeness that is the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market (never been to OR, eternally grateful to my boy Craig and Buff Inc for the hookup!) AND also attended a meeting yesterday with BoulderNet at which Sue Frederick was the speaker. Sue’s book I See Your Dream Job has guided my life’s journey ever since my last month in PDX, and she didn’t disappoint! Oh yeah, and the 75+ mph winds in Boulder weren’t exactly sleep aids;)

So packed up Wednesday night, went to the meeting yesterday am, and drove 8 hours to SLC (first time here as well, planning to do some genealogy sleuthing tomorrow!) listening to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows along the way, spent the night in the Boulder/PDX clichevehicle Subie and woke up bright-n-early for the Pearl Izumi run:) Met some fabulous folks AND scored a sweet pink beanie, the first OR schwag to be followed by torrents of gratis goods (and unfortunately eats, ate some gluten and my body is VERY displeased with me) throughout the day. Followed the PI run with my own run up to and in Ensign Park, stunning run through the neighborhoods but gloppy mud making massive mudcakes on my shoes! Back to home base, changed, and back to the Salt Palace (names have NOT been changed for privacy, that’s what it’s really called!)

Lots of exploration and chatting, and of course schwag accumulation! Acquired a pair of Yaktrax XTR, which I am beyond stoked to try and then review for you all, as they performed swimmingly as I ran across the blocks of ice they had set up in the booth. I normally have recommended against using Yaktrax for running, as I feel like the Pro model gets iced up and the metal tends to wear down the rubber. That may change now that I am aware of the XTR’s existence . . .

I also spoke with Brian from Keen about the manufacturing process for their wool socks (again, didn’t know those existed until today!) and scored a pair of the hikers (will be used as boot socks, as they are a bit on the thick side, but am very curious to try their running ones) in addition to some gentlemen from Steripen about their product (water purifiers that utilize UV light). No free Steripen, alas, but am very interested in trying the model that charges via USB and, come fall, will also come with a solar charger that will not only charge the SP but can also be used to charge phones, computers, and other USB utilizing gadgetry.

I also chatted with some ladies from Skirt Sports, always have to say hi!, and a woman with a mountaineering book company which apparently is ramping up its website and hopes to include blogs reviewing some of the books (granting the reviewers access prior to official date of publication! If you would like to do that, let me know and I can pass along your info).

Then happy hour hit. 4pm at OR is the beering hour, so many booths have 21+ bevvies and sweet containers for said refreshment! I felt so cool asking for the cup/mug “minus the beer”

More meandering, also ran into Henry from Boulder Running Company and my friend Jayme Moye (editor of Elevation Outdoors and a travel writer who has inspired me to explore a semi similar path). Hopefully will wake up feeling better ($@! gluten!!!) to explore more!

Tomorrow may also be the day I first hit up Sundance . . .

Enjoy your adventures,
Megan

2012: More excited than Jessie Spano!

“New year, new you!” Yes, totally cliched, but any excuse to evaluate one’s past and life to inform what sort of steps and actions to take next is a good thing, right?

2011 was quite a year. Lots of great and wonderful things for sure: new friends, moving back to the beautiful mountains and lifestyle in Boulder, lots of fun races (and some wins!), and just some really neat experiences. However, there have certainly been some stumbles: working at Nike was fun while it lasted, but the ending of my story there was not exactly worthy of being described as “fairy tale.” Love life? Hmmm . . . a mix of awkward first (and second and third) dates and casual datings that just kind of petered out, and of course the usual being hit on by both men old enough to be my father (nope, not looking for a sugar daddy, thanks!) and guys who talked themselves down in front of me and convinced me why I shouldn’t go out with them while in the process of asking me out. As attractive as that is . . . And then of course the GI stuff. In addition to a couple of other things that I do not feel at liberty to discuss until a later date (oh the suspense!)

All that being said, I feel like 2011 was a building year. After all, without strife and struggle, happiness could not be appreciated as much as it ought to be. Life is more Hans Christian Andersen than Disney. I know I learned a LOT from some of the harder experiences from the last couple of years, and am grateful for them in that respect. However, now I would like for the knob to dial down the suck and turn up the RAD&AWESOME!

So, like I said, the last few days (or weeks, okay really months) I’ve been ruminating on what to do with my life. I finally tapped some inspiration from the most divine of sources: a book about the Harry Potter series! (Much thanks to Melissa Anelli, webmistress of The Leaky Cauldron and author of said book, and to Jo Rowling. I think the majority of you know who Jo is.)

So what is the big idea? (Truthfully, idea*s*, but one will be incubating for a while yet!) That, my dears, is a question that will be answered very shortly, but for the moment I am simply going to tease with the promise of some new and exciting perspectives! These ideas kept me going throughout my whole long run yesterday.

NO CAFFEINE PILLS NEEDED!

Stay tuned;)