work to quit or live to give?

Why is there no light in the freezer? Why do you have to open the fridge so you can see in the freezer at night? I got home from SD poetry slam, opened my freezer for just one spoonful of Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia. I just stood there wondering why it wasn't lit... did our bulb go out? Then I realized I'm not a late night ice cream kid, and in fact there is no freezer bulb to replace. Interesting I thought.

Rudy won at Voz Alta tonight.. again. The guy's a genius. www.collectivepurpose.com

Mondays are always interesting. I woke up late, actually I snoozed one alarm, and my phone (the backup) was on silent. As I was rushing to work, I contacted STA travel to see if we could get better fares than the 373 we were quoted by another travel agency. I worked all day and met some super interesting people. This one girl read the sign in the window about raising money for Hurricane Katrina Relief. (The sign is promoting 'stress relieving massages for Katrina relief'. The money raised will go towards plane tickets and other transportation once we get into New Orleans. She came in and I gave her a neck, temple and hand massage. We started talking and I got to share about what we'll be doing in New Orleans.. how it's an amazing parternship with Habitat for Humanity and FEMA. Then we talked about the tsunami and I talked about the Moken people. All of that to say that she was in Campus Crusade for Christ at UCSD in '99. It was so great for her to hear that transformational stuff is still going on. Naturally, she was encouraged too.

I got a call from STA this afternoon on my walk home.. a flight from LAX to New Orleans with a layover in Washinton/Dulles... 263 total with taxes and all. Such an incredible price. The 10 other I'm going with are pretty stoked about the 100+ savings.

This afternoon I took the trolley home and met some super nice teachers from Virginia.. that are here for a conference. I recommended Little Italy restaurants to try out.. we chatted it up and I acted as tour guide as we passed USD and Old Town. This older man kept nodding and smiling at me. There's people that nod and smile and then look away and there's those that hold the look- he was a holder. I got off the trolley to switch lines and he said, "Alright Allison, have a great afternoon." I stopped in my tracks... "how the heck did he know my name?" He was a nod and smile guy and now I was the shaking head, puzzled expression girl. I saw a girl that transferred the same time as I did. I said, "I don't know that guy, but he knows my name. He just said 'Allison'. " I was pretty distraught.. and all she said was, "Maybe the cup...." In my hand was a Starbucks Iced Coffee with my name. Mystery solved.

This afternoon it was raining and when it rains, I get artsy. I have this old pair of jeans.. the ones I've worn so much that the lines rips aren't creating my some factory worker.. I put them there. I thought they'd look really different if I cut the waistband off, making them lower and an unfinished top. Lesson learned. Waistbands keep your jeans banded around you waist. Without them.. you pants fall off. Katie called me to go to Voz Alta the very second I got out of the shower. I threw some mascara on, my new jeans creation, a zippie, and my rainboots and ran out of the door. I spent the night keeping my pants up. I don't know if any of my creative endeavours have been successful, now that I think about it.

One of the poets tonight asked "do you work to quit or live to give?" I've been thinking about it since.