The GGA Project -- Day #237 "And Let's Get Forward, Guys"

This was the phrase we heard repeated all day long, from the mouth of our guide to 


Today's New Activity: White Water Rafting!!


Groupon and Living Social have been good friends in the course of this project.  If you are familiar with either of these sites, you know that all sorts of deals on all sorts of random activities are presented on a daily basis.  When I saw the Living Social deal for Action Whitewater Adventures back in February (half price for a full-river trip down the south fork of the American River), I knew I had to jump on it.


I sent out an all points bulletin to former Barnes & Noble coworkers, suggesting we make it a reunion on the river.  I was so happy that my friends Nessa, Benson & Joey signed up right away, with Peter and Brian following closely after.  A couple of other friends were supposed to come, but events in the interim prevented that from happening.  In the end our friend Jay was able to take one of their places, so it was a 7-person group for today's outing.


Now, I have to say that before I signed up for this trip, I hadn't given much thought to the fact that death by drowning is the most terrifying idea to me, and one that haunts me any time I meander even a little ways into the ocean.  This is owing, I know, to a semi-traumatic and super embarrassing experience I had in a wave pool back when I was 9, and it's been that way ever since.  It's something I'd like to change at some point, but at the same time I think a healthy fear of drowning is a good thing; it'll keep me from doing anything stupid.


Unless, of course, balancing on the edge of a raft moving quickly over class 3 rapids is considered stupid.


Make that mostly balancing.


On the very first rapid (named The Meat Grinder), we slammed into a jutting rock at a wicked scary angle and speed, and Jay, I, and Benson (in that cascading order) were launched from the raft and into the fast-moving water.  I have to say that was probably the most terrifying moment of my life, partially because the lead guide had only 10 minutes earlier put the fear of death in us by imploring that we put our toes up in the water should we happen to fall in, unless we cared to get a foot stuck under a rock and be drowned by the rapids running over our heads.  All I could think in that moment was 'don't die, don't die, why did I do this (?), don't die!'


I somehow was soon back at the raft's edge, where I was able to grab onto the oars the others were holding out for us, and Joey yanked me back into the raft.  Jay and Benson had quickly made their ways back to the raft, and we were soon on our way again (mad props to Nessa for having the presence of mind to grab all three of our oars.  We would have been pretty useless for the duration of the trip if she hadn't!).


Here is a sequence of pictures (taken by a local company that sells them for the price of one arm and one leg (thank you Benson and Joey for offering yours)) from a rapid that *didn't* manage to kick us all out of our boat.  In fact nobody fell out for the rest of the day, following that first adventure 10 minutes in.

The only bummer about falling out of the raft so early into an 8-hour day on the river was that it put me on guard for a while.  I was wondering if the whole day was going to be one big, stressed-out quest just to stay in the boat.  It wasn't until after lunch that it finally sunk in how rare the falling out is and how manageable the act of staying in the raft actually was.


But anyway, one nice thing about doing the full-river option was that there was a lot of relaxing, down time as well (almost *too* much on the first leg).  We talked and took in the nature and got to know our guide, Austin, a little bit.  It was a clear and beautiful not-too-hot day, and the water--though cold--was refreshing.  Most everyone jumped out for a swim now and then, but once I was safely back in the boat I was pretty committed to staying there ;)


I was also thankful that we had a full boat comprised solely of our group.  There was one raft in our party (we pretty much stayed in the vicinity of the 5 other rafts our company took down the river that day) that contained a super obnoxious man who was the only one in the raft talking every time our raft came close enough to hear, and who never--in 8 hours--tired of splashing the people in the rafts passing by.  I think their group was only three people, so the other 5 people in that raft were just randomly subjected to his incessant chatter.  Yeah, I was pretty grateful for the friendly, happy, good-natured, non-obnoxious group that made it out for the trip!


When we got through the lower fork of the river, the current subsided and all the companies' rafts chilled out for a 20-minute jet ski tow back to the let-out point.  We watched the river pass by and took in the experience and relaxed to near napping.  A short bus ride back to camp and we were done for the day.


We put up camp and then met up with Benson and Joey in Placerville where, on Austin-the-river-guide's recommendation, we ate at Z Pie, a pot pie restaurant.  They are worth checking out even if only for the experience of eating a pot pie that was not scalding hot in the center or else cooled down to the point where the crusts had hardened.  They had two vegetarian options as well and everything was very reasonably priced.


After that we headed to Red Hawk Casino for a spell, where Benson, Peter, and Brian all won money, promptly using their winnings to treat us to pitchers at Austin's other recommendation--The Coloma Club.  It was the only bar in town (only about a mile from our campsite--score!), but it was enough.  It was actually one of the coolest little watering holes I've ever been to, with old wooden fixtures in the bar area, a good house band playing classic rock, and a huge patio lit by lamps and Christmas lights, where all the locals were hanging out and where Nessa and Brian schooled the crowd in a game called ladder golf.


All the way around, it was a great experience with great company.  I'd love to do it again, now that I'd be more relaxed for the duration of the rafting and know the best spots to hit up afterward.  Thanks to all you guys for making it truly memorable and for waiting until we were all safely inside the raft to pull out the cameras :)

The GGA Project -- Day # 216 "Not-So-Blue-Collar Beverage"

Just after the MLB All-Star break, I'd yet to go to a baseball game this season!  It's not like I've been a regular attendee these past few years, up here and so far from my beloved (bankrupted) Dodgers, but I now live SO close to my 2nd favorite team--the Oakland A's--that it's ridiculous I hadn't traveled the 4 stops up Bart to see them yet.

A few weeks ago my friend Brian and I started planning to get to a game, and tonight's game against the (so-called) Los Angeles Angels was the chosen one.  A short drive to his house and we're then only a 3-minute walk and only two Bart stops away from the Coliseum.  I LOVE being able to take public transportation to sporting events!  I got there and we chilled for a little while, then headed out the door and were walking through the stadium gates within 20 minutes.  Perfect!


It was Bring Your Dog to the Game day, so there were tons of adorable mutts trotting around with various types of A's gear on.  So cute!


One thing that I love about the A's is that they are still a blue-collar team.  Ticket prices are still affordable (made even more so by a 2-for-1 voucher), as is food.  And while I'm all for keeping to ballpark food at the ballpark, my vegetarian diet limits that to the choice of nachos or other snacks, but I hadn't had dinner.  So I went for a pretty decent veggie dog, which is--I suppose--as close as I'll ever get again to a true ballpark meal.


A few innings later I lost a bet on racing dots on the big screen to Brian with a round of beers at stake.  Here is where the sticking-to-ballpark-fare takes a turn and wherein comes


Today's New Activity: Plastic Cup o Widmer


Our tickets were pretty close to a loungy, enclosed restaurant area that featured a full bar.  Not only was the wait much shorter than that for the regular concessions, there were more beers on tap to choose from.  A true purest would have gone for Bud at the ballpark, but I prefer to drink decent beer whenever possible.  I'd never tried Widmer (which has the option of being served with a lemon, though I skipped that), but Brian described it as light and wheaty, so I went for it.

It was just that: light and wheaty, and tasty.  The only problem was that I woke up feeling sick Friday morning, which only got worse throughout the day.  I fought through it because I really wanted to get to the game, but I'm not sure I tasted the beer's full flavor as a result.  It was good anyway.


Brian was a great choice of game buddy.  You just never know when you go to a sporting event with somebody.  While it would be boring to sit in silence through a game, no matter how into it you are, it can also be annoying when people feel the need to comment incessantly.  I like a good mix of paying attention to the game and talking with whomever I've come with about matters related or not to the action in front of us.  Brian seemed to be on the same wavelength.  We caught all the important action but also had plenty of time to discuss whatever and just catch up.  I was also able to forget that I was feeling sick during that time.  Mad props for good company!  And then...the A's won.  Woo hoo!!


It was a great night all the way around.

The GGA Project -- Day #158 "Third & Final Step"

A couple of months back, I wrote about making mead (honey wine) with my friend Brian.  Then, some weeks later, I wrote about step #2 of the process, which was "racking" the wine (removing the sludge that had collected at the bottom).  Finally, today, I learned the final step of this particular wine-making process, which was....


Today's New Activity: Bottling Wine


With the fermentation process complete, it was time to get our concoction a permanent home (homes).  So we took it from these jugs

and used the vacuum device doohicky I described before to get it into bottles.  That part, though a little tricky, went pretty smoothly.


We took a moment to sample the wine, which in an individual glass was a beautiful shade of amber

To be honest, I wasn't as happy with the final outcome as I would have liked.  Brian had a previous version of mead he'd made, which I liked more than this because the taste of honey was very prominent (checking the diligent notes he'd taken 6 years ago when he made it, we learned there'd been 22 pounds of honey used in the making of that batch (!)).  The wine we made was a different take on that, and the recipe included maple and molasses.  Though I'd never tried a mead aside from the two I'd now tried at his house, I can say that, of the two, I definitely had a preference.  Still, it was smooth and novel and certainly worthy of bottling.


We only needed to employ some heavy duty assistance:

The mechanics of the device in the picture are pretty basic.  It's a corking device.  You place the bottle on the black plate, drop a cork in the hole up above, and put all your weight onto a lever that's just out of view, which simply jams the cork down into the bottle.  Brilliant!


It was mini-workout, getting the five large bottles and six small bottles we filled corked.  And look what a lovely collection they made:

The GGA Project -- Day #115 "Meaty Sludge Removal Crew'"

If you'll remember, a couple of months ago my friend Brian introduced me to the art of wine-making (mead, specifically).  What we did that day--the boiling and the stirring and the adding of yeast and acid and the measuring of potential alcohol content--that was all just the first step.


Since then, the mead has been sitting in the glass container we left it in, releasing air bubbles as it fermented and slowly gathering a thick layer of used up yeasty matter (and yes, that's the technical term for it) at the bottom.  Brian had mentioned to me that we should take care of that soon.


Just look at that yeasty matter!

Today's New Activity: Racking Wine


What we needed to do was transfer the clear liquid at the top to a different container so it could finish the fermenting process without taking on the flavor of all that yeast.  The first thing to do was wash out containers for the transfer.  I wouldn't normally feel compelled to share the details of this particular step, except that Brian had the coolest tool ever for this purpose, which we attached to the utility sink in his laundry room.

I know you can't see it very well, but theres a little rubber spout attached to the spigot, which is facing up.  When you place the bottle over it, the bottle's weight triggers the water, which shoots upward all the way into the outer edges of the bottle's bottom.  It was so fun!  Apparently they use these to rinse glasses in bars, but I guess I was never paying close enough attention.

So after our new containers were clean and ready, Brian brought out another tool...basically just a siphoner (which is a word I'll go ahead and make up right here, since I don't know what else to call it other than just a rubber tube--it had a specialized end on the part that went in the wine, though I couldn't tell you what it was for except maybe to keep the large chucks of stuff (like pieces of cinnamon sticks and clove we'd added) from sneaking into the tube).

The tricky part was getting it started without letting the mead escape out of the tube and make a mess on the floor.  And yeah, I failed miserably at that (like I mentioned the first time around....Brian is a very good trainer.  He doesn't just do the steps and tell you what he's doing; he's very patient and explains what needs to be done, then let's you do it (and screw it up) yourself.  It really is nice to actually learn how to do something new.

Almost done!

When we'd transfered all the mead into two 1-gallon containers, we tested it for alcohol content again...it was hanging in there at a solid 16%...it'll be just about right after a couple of weeks in its new home(s).

Finally a preview taste test.  I joked when I smelled the mead that it somehow smelled similar to a little Italian deli called Guiliano's that my parents used to take us to when I was a kid.  "Is it supposed to smell like meat?" I asked.  "No," he said, "it's M-E-A-D, mead, not meat."

No matter...it didn't taste like meat.  It tasted like a rich, sweet, slightly warm going down nectar-like dessert beverage.  I suppose that's exactly what it is.  And it was so smooth going down!  Brian was happy with the outcome, calling it an improvement on past batches, which were a good bit more tart and tough to swallow.  I'm looking forward to tasting the final outcome, after we do the bottling.  For now the mead will sit in its new container for a little while more.

The GGA Project -- Day #106 "New Holes"

Back in 1997 my friend Nicole and I went to visit our other friend Renee, who was studying abroad in England.  A few days into our visit, we decided to head to Scotland for a couple or days, hopping on a bus for Edinburgh. Nothing can create a stunned silence as profound as finding oneself seated across the aisle from a backward facing seat in which this woman, Elaine Davidson, was seated

That's a recent picture.  Back then she looked more like this

It's nothing compared to her 4,500+ piercings today, but back then she was still the world record holder with somewhere between 400-500.  Rather than pass an uncomfortable bus ride trying not to stare, we kicked up a conversation with Ms. Davidson, who was of course very happy to talk about her piercings for more than half the ride (nobody who is averse to attention sets about to set the world record for piercings).  She was a pleasant woman with a good sense of humor, and we were left a little starstruck when she disembarked in Glasgow.


I don't even know where she was getting those crazy face piercings done that long ago...I didn't see that sort of thing mainstream for some time after that.  Needless to say, she left an impression, if only just for the oddity factor.  And while I can't say I'm in love with that number of piercings, I've always liked the look of one or two tasteful, carefully chosen ones.


So I was pretty excited when, a couple of weeks ago, I heard an ad on the radio for a Body Art Expo taking place this weekend in San Francisco.  I thought my friend Brian was probably the best possible person to invite to come with me, and I was happy he was free and down to go.  I've been looking forward to today since then.  Yes, I'd considered getting a tattoo, but I figured out a few days ago that I wasn't going to think of anything I could commit to for life on that short of notice.  But I did know it would be a great place to scope out other piercing possibilities (until now I only had my nose pierced).


Today's New Activity: Embedded Perma-Sparkle


What I really wanted was to get a dermal piercing on my face, near my temple (I didn't know it was called that, I just knew I'd seen one before and I liked it).  The very first booth Brian and I stopped at was manned by a young guy with exactly the piercing I wanted, so we got all the low down from him, but I wasn't ready to commit yet.  Haha, and it turned out nearly EVERY SINGLE TATTOO ARTIST THERE had exactly the piercing I wanted.  Apparently it's a popular thing in the industry.  But I was pretty much talked out of it by the last woman I spoke to about it, since she mentioned that everyone worries about their job when they think of getting that specific piercing done...I remembered that I work in a bank and that I should probably put myself into that category as well.


Still, I love how the dermal piercings look, and she had a bunch of them all over her arm and midriff, which were pretty cool.  I decided to get one on my wrist for the time being, just as a little bit of permanent jewelry-type sparkle.

It really didn't hurt much until she had a hard time getting it to sit right (which she blamed on me since I'd wanted it off-center and she was only accustomed to placing it centered).  The worst part was looking at the face of one of the onlookers, whose contorted expression was so freaked out and disgusted I thought he was gonna puke (and Brian was a sport to take pictures because apparently he is similarly put-off by this sort of thing).  I didn't worry in earnest though until she called in one of her colleagues for help.  At that point the piercing was sticking up in this odd, creepy looking way, and I worried it would end up like that.  But the guy who jumped it set it straight.  Leaving me with a tiny bit of bling that looks like this:

The Monkey likes it.  He's already made a little ritual of pushing on it, which gets him all giggly because I make a "boop" sound every time he does it.  He must just think I grew some kind of soundmaker button overnight.

Really there is no point to it, obviously...it might as well just be something to entertain my son, but I like the way it looks so that's really all there is to it.  When I think about it, that's all any piercing, even the most benign ear piercing, is anyway, so just why not?

Brian's goal for the day was to get a plug in one ear...not anything crazy (meaning he doesn't plan to stretch it in the future).  He went for the 2 gauge right away, and once he's able to remove the silicon starter and replace it with one of the super pretty stones he bought for it, he'll be all set.  

I have to give him props for bravery.  He lay down to be in the right position should he happen to faint, but it turned out to be totally unnecessary.  

He was all pierced up and back on his feet in no time without so much as a swoon, leaving us both feeling successful, all set with new holes :P

We spent the rest of our time there taking in the sights and chatting up the tattoo artists, most of whom where totally down-to-earth and friendly.  It's kind of nice that tattoos and piercings are so mainstream now.  The Expo was full of very normal people who just happen to like to use their bodies as canvases.  There were a surprising number of children there, too.  It was a fascinating family environment.

One of the more interesting things we saw was a traditional Polynesian tattoo technique, which was done using a thickish blade on the end of a dowel, which was pounded repeatedly against the skin using a second dowel.  I don't know if the pain sends people squirming or if it just takes a lot to ensure the lines are made straight, but there were three grown men holding down the leg of the guy who was getting tattooed.

The end result looks pretty cool.  Just thinking of it makes me hurt, though, remembering the process.

The whole experience was a lot of fun.  It was kind of overwhelming, with the constant buzzing of the tattoo needles and the unbelievable number of portfolios to sort through.  I can see now why they were actually selling three-day passes to the event -- it would have taken at least that long to see everything there was to see.  But one day was a good start.  And I even managed to chose a tattoo artist for a possible future GGA activity.  Shhhhhh...   :)

And big thanks to Brian for being great company...it was a great day all the way around.

The GGA Project -- Day #70 "Fish on Ice"

This is a week for cancelled plans.  This afternoon I was supposed to be hanging out with my gal Kelsi, but things came up on her end, as things are always bound to.  One thing that's been a great change for me as a mom is that I now understand more completely how easily and often things come up, and going with the flow is easier than ever.  In fact I myself was supposed to be in Cotati visiting a friend of the family today, but again, things came up (my son was teething something awful the night before, and I didn't want to subject anyone else in the house to the madness, should a similar, wakeful evening make a repeat performance).


Anyway, a late-in-the-day text from my friend and near-neighbor Brian made for some good alternate plans and led to


Today's New Activity: Watching a Sharks Game


What?!  Say WHAT?!  Never watched a Sharks game?!  I know, huh.  I have lived in or near San Jose for over a decade now, at times living and/or working mere blocks from the Shark Tank, and I've never even taken in a single game on t.v.  This is silly, because I actually really like watching hockey.  It's just not one of those things I ever made room or time for in my life.  Also, I really haven't followed hockey at all since I was in middle school and my brother watched the L.A. Kings religiously.  There are apparently at least 6 new or newish teams I'd never even heard of, all of which came into being after I lost track of all things NHL.


I mentioned to Brian that the Sharks themselves weren't even a team yet when I stopped following hockey, and he said, "oh yeah, I think they just celebrated their 20th Anniversary," which made me feel really, really old.  Yikes!


I love supporting local teams though (become a late-in-life A's fan, since it would almost surely kill me to support the Giants), and the Sharks are a legitimate team to get behind.  And it was nice to be able to take in this first Sharks game with one of the team's Super Fans.  I really never even need to watch any of their games, as Brian's numerous Facebook updates during the course of all televised games are enough to let me know what's going on.  But it's so much more fun to take in the action firsthand --including the sounds of the clashing sticks and the sights of blood flying out of recently-punched mouths.  Golly...why so violent?


Since it's been years, and since I was never quite able to grasp the concept before anyway (sorry bro, it's not you or your explanations, it's me), I asked for an explanation of the Offsides penalty, which is called multiple times in any game.  I think...*think* I got my head around it this time, unless I wait another 20 years to take in another game, in which case I'd likely need another refresher.


Luckily, the rest of the rules of hockey are pretty basic and easy to grasp.  It's not like sitting down with somebody who has never seen a single baseball game and trying to explain everything from a basic count to the infield fly rule.  Believe me, I've done that twice and was tired of hearing myself talk by the middle of the third inning.  For the most part, the idea in hockey is to pass the puck to the guy who has the best chance of getting it into the net. Or, just getting the puck into the net yourself (unless you're on defense, in which case you should really really try to keep it out).  With strategy like that, maybe *I* should be a pro hockey player!!


We saw some good getting of pucks into nets.  In fact, the Shark's Setoguchi made three of the Sharks' four goals (in a 4-0 shutout against the Colorado Avalanche), for his first career Hat Trick.  That was a cool thing to see, since it doesn't happen all that often.  The fans threw dozens of hats on the ice to celebrate the feat.  That it all happened on the Sharks home turf made it, I'm sure, a super awesome night for the young trickster and his fans alike.


It was a fun time all around  :)






And for another little baby first.  I bought the monkey his first pair of slippers today:

The GGA Project -- Day #64 "Bootleggin'"

What a nice surprise to discover, about a month ago, that I actually do have a friend living closer to me than the 40-minute drive I make to visit most of the people I know.  Turns out my former coworker, Brian, bought a house that is less than 5 miles and 15 minutes away.  Today we had plans for a GGA playdate, and it was such a rare treat to have this take place so close to home!

Shortly after arriving at Brian's, I was given a tour of his good-sized backyard, in which all of the following are growing (or had recently been growing) in the ground, in bushes or on trees: artichokes, peppers, corn, pumpkins, tomatoes, roses, lemons, oranges, white plums, crabapples, persimmons, loquats, calla lilies, and limes.  It was like a freakin' farmers market!

I am totally in awe of people who grow stuff.  Especially people who grow edible stuff.  I think farmers and vegetable gardeners and even flower gardeners are just amazing people who deserve mad props.  It takes a lot of patience and hard work to see seeds through to their final, beautiful ends, and anybody who possesses that knowhow and skill is automatically cool in my book.

In addition to having a produce/floral section for his backyard, Brian also composts (of course) and makes at home all sorts of consumable substances that contain alcohol.  When I say all sorts, I mean all sorts--from beer to Kahlua to something called Limoncello, as well as numerous varieties of mead, the making of which was a process he was kind enough to share with me.

Today's New Activity: Making Mead

Before today, I didn't even know what mead was.  It's basically honey wine.  We sampled the last of a batch Brian made back in 2004 as we made this new batch, and I really liked it.  It smells and even looks like brandy (that particular version--which also contained molasses--did, anyway), but it is sweeter and with a less brutal taste of alcohol in my opinion.  

Additionally, drinking a glass of it didn't leave me with the headache that wine typically does.  Brian explained to me that these wine headaches used to afflict him too, before he started making his own wine.  Apparently a lot of people have allergies to the sulfides that are often added to wines, and he makes his in such a way that adding sulfides is rendered unnecessary.  Bonus! 

First we boiled some water to be used later in the process, when we would need it on hand to quickly cool down our cooked solution.  We also boiled more water to use in sanitizing the container we would pour the finished mead into.  Brian explained that any remnant bacteria in the container would react with the yeast and end up tainting the flavor, or causing mold, or resulting in any number of other undesirable outcomes.

Check out that cauldron!

Next we boiled ¾ gallon of water and added the following:  honey, molasses, maple syrup, all spice, clove, ground cinnamon sticks, and vanilla.  After letting all of this cook together for a while, skimming whatever came to the surface now and then, we added the mixture to the cooled down water from before.

Then came the science part of the process:

Brian poured a small portion of the mixture into a cylinder and then used a hydrometer to measure the potential alcohol content.  This was partially done in order to determine what type of yeast would be best suited for our concoction.

The reading at this point was about 19%, which Brian explained would go down to just about 15% or so when the fermentation process was complete.

After also testing for acidity, we added acid blend, yeast nutrient, grape tannin, and then, just after pouring the whole dang mess into this container (here's Brian), we added the yeast itself.

Brian was a patient and accommodating teacher throughout.  And the fact that he is both a mechanical engineer and an Eagle Scout meant he was ready with knowledgeable explanations for parts of the process that included but weren't limited to the subjects of physics, mathematics, thermodynamics, chemistry, and just plain practicality.

After the mead was poured, we corked the bottle with a device called an airlock, which allows gas to escape while preventing oxygen from getting it.  Pretty cool!  Nothing left to do but wait about a week and a half, when the fermentation process should be well underway, "rack" it once (remove any sediment that is present at that point), and then let it sit for a good two months to make sure the yeast has ceased to react (thereby avoiding any bottle explosions), then bottle it.

I plan to return for the next two steps, just to see the thing through to its end.

This was a really fun new experience.  I would never have thought it would be so easy to make wine.  Well, it was easy for me because Brian had already done all the reading up on the subject, performed the trial and error, and had a good deal of practice under his belt, which made the process go smoothly and relatively quickly.

It was so seamless, in fact, that we were able to catch up a little on the 6 or 7 years of life that had passed since we last worked together or hung out, in between the mixing and the boiling and the skimming and the whatnot.

That in itself was a pleasant experience.  I was telling Brian that it's nice to reconnect with him now, when all this time has passed.  It's like the essence of him is the same, but with all kinds of life experience to add wisdom and insight.  Not that he didn't have wisdom or insight before, but I don't remember really talking with him about heavy stuff back in the day, and he proved to be an excellent listener.  I felt lucky to discover this, as it seems I had plenty to talk about today (!)

To be honest, I was in a pretty yucky funk this morning.  For a minute I entertained the idea of canceling today's plans and opting instead to putz around on the internet feeling sad and lame instead.  Brilliant, right?  But however anti-social I was feeling initially, I was pretty sure going through with the plans would be good for my state of mind in the end.

And having that come to pass just confirmed for me yet again how happy I am to have begun this project.  Today, it forced me out of the house, out of my gloomy mood, and into the company of somebody with a friendly and positive outlook, as well as a genuinely cool and very new-to-me skill to share.

It occurs to me that healing is not always a giant arc of a process that involves looking ahead and thinking long term.  It is happening bit by bit, everyday.  Every joyful experience and every moment in good company and every sip of something tasty moves me further down the road and deeper into the soul journey.

Cheers  J