3: October 2003 Archives

When it finally occured to me that if I hurried, I would have time to walk to work and still get there on time, I was standing in the shower at 6:30 am. I wasn't in the mood to hurry, as I'd already basked in a long, lazy morning.

It was 7:15 when I left, and it was still mostly dark outside. The moon was a thin waning crescent in the dusky sky above the greenbelt, but a rosy band of gold overlaid the tree line. I walked my normal route, ticking off each conceptual third of the path as I covered it. By the time I reached the first major crossing, the sunrise was only just beginning; by the time I reached the second crossing, it was at its most beautiful.

Before the second crossing, I passed the daycare again. As early as it was, there were still children out playing in the yard. The woman watching them was wiping down the aluminum hurricane fence, but she would turn and look at the kids, no more than toddlers, and try to rein them in with her voice.

"Sit at the table," she told one recalcitrant toddler, her voice rough and her tone firm, then shortly thereafter, "Sit at the table," she repeated. Her tone softened as she tried a third time: "Sit at the table, please," but the little boy wasn't listening. Finally, she started singing, off-tune and hoarsely:

Let's sit at the table,
Let's sit at the table,
Let's sit at the table,
and eat our breakfast now.

Her little song was punctuated by a phlegmy smoker's cough, and as I walked on, chuckling to myself, I wondered whether Patty and Selma had opened a daycare center.

It's been another incredibly long day, and I'm the person on call at 8am tomorrow, but JournalCon is going very well, and I wanted to post a quick update before I go to bed.

I attended several panels throughout the morning and afternoon and presented my own panel, What Not to Wear: Web Site Makeovers. I've been working on a new design for my friend Pecan of Estoy Nueces, and I'm excited that I can finally show it off. It's been something of a secret in the weeks leading up to JournalCon.

Iko of Eileene.net put together a lovely redesign of Devota's page for the panel, as well.

I had a great time presenting my panel. I wasn't particularly nervous, I always had something to say, and a lot of people seemed to find it entertaining. Mission Accomplished.

We didn't have internet access in the conference rooms, so I couldn't really show, though I was tempted, that my own site is still very similar to the standard MT template. I feel all inspired by my panel success to redesign my site, bits at a time. I imagine the photolog will come first.

In the evening, we all packed into the Hideout's theater to watch excerpts of two one-woman shows, as well as some skits that Omar put together for the Latino Comedy Project. The place was packed full of JournalCon attendees, and I helped run stuff up in the A/V booth. Everyone seemed to have a great time!

After the show, a bunch of people went off to do karaoke, but I went with a group of people to Forbidden Fruit (the tattoo/piercing part, not the sex toy part, just for the record) to see Mnvnjnsn (buy a vowel) get her new tattoo. I wanted to document the process, so I took pictures, of course. While she was still being worked on, Shannon got a henna tattoo of a lizard on her back. I think the henna ones are more my style -- I haven't got the attention span to pick a design that will be meaningful to me in five years.

Alright, it's too late. I'm off to bed.

Every year in Austin, there's one day where the breeze starts to blow a bit crisp-cooler, and the leaves fall off the trees softly-silently like raindrops or feathers or maybe even kisses. No matter when the first official day of autumn is marked on the calendar, this is the day that I mark as my very own first day of autumn.

I was thrilled when I woke up this morning and the breeze outside was crisp-cool, and the bright yellow leaves glided across the black asphalt weightlessly, with an exquisite silence, a dancing poetry.

It's lucky that I noticed the dancing of the leaves across the street today. One more day, and I would've missed it. It's easy to miss things when days and nights are equally busy.

Tonight was Ani in concert. Tomorrow is preparation for JournalCon, Thursday is the pre-party, and then Friday through Sunday is the actual event. It wears me out just to think about it.

Autumn is here just in time for all the lovely people we've invited to Austin. The weather should be beautiful, Chamber of Commerce days if ever there were any. This evening was cool and clear for the concert -- so clear that the music was its own atmosphere beneath the starry Hill Country sky.

And when this week is through and I'm looking back upon it, that is what I would like to remember.

I should be back next week, after JournalCon is over.