Mary Bellamy

Found this little gem today:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=583&e=1&u=/nm/20050531/od_nm/thailand_monks_dc


I must remember to show this to Savage. It will certainly give him something to think about during his Buddhist meditation.

That was my refrain yesterday: "It's my birthday!" I took the entire day as an excuse for excess (good phrase, must remember it). Tom and I spent about 6 hours at Bob Eley's barbecue. During that time I managed to ingest ribs, a burger, 5 beers, 1 Zima, potato salad, cookies, pie and a not insignificant portion of elk. Oof. I felt somewhat ill watching Empire Strikes Back later that night, and it wasn't just Mark Hamill's whining.

I used my logic to deduce that since my parents' birthday gifts wouldn't arrive until after my birthday, I should open Tom's gift before my birthday, thereby equaling each other out. Hey, it makes sense to me! Tom got me just what I wanted: a Kelty Sonora backpack. 4000 cubic inches of space, which means I have no excuse not to go camping now. In fact, since his office is closed today and I have the day off from my job(s), we're going to go test my pack on the Angel Rocks trail. I'm sure 4000 cubic inches will nicely accommodate the bottle of water and granola bar I plan to bring along for this hike.

Today was the lunch to mark the end of Mushing magazine as we know it. The new owner will be in town on Tuesday, and we'll start working under him then. So for now, farewell Carey Brink and Todd Hoener. You took a big step 17 years ago and started a magazine that grew and grew. I'm glad I had the chance to work for you, and I'll miss the little red cabin in Ester.

As the emergency board meeting draws nigh (that may be the first time in my life I've used the phrase 'draws nigh'), I got a pleasant surprise yesterday.

I stopped by my old house across the street to drop off some mail that had been forwarded to me, and met the new owner. First of all, she's really cool. She's a naturopathic doctor who has a strong interest in bellydancing. But most importantly, she may be interested in renting out my old apartment. I did my best not to do a little dance and scream out "Dibs!" We exchanged phone numbers and she said she'll let me know soon.

I am starting to wear make-up again. This only becomes an issue because my boyfriend, Tom, constantly tells me that he thinks I'm beautiful without make-up. For the record, this is the correct response. But he just doesn't understand why I feel the need to wear it. He also doesn't understand why I would dye my hair either. In my defense, I don't understand why he lets every single dish in the house get dirty and stacks them all up on the counter, waiting for one giant washing. Being able to constantly clean dishes is one of the benefits of running water!

The Friends in Residence are definitely coming. So now it all comes down to whether or not they build a new cabin.

Well, the job interview was today. I think it went ... OK. I wasn't on fire, but I did a good job of answering their questions and asking pertinent questions of my own. The thing is, I found out that they're only interviewing two people. Now, granted those are pretty good odds, but somehow it makes me feel worse about the situation. If they were interviewing five people, I could probably accept that one of them was a better choice for me. But if they're interviewing two people and I don't get it, I was their worst candidate. I don't want to be the worst one.

On the bright side, there are several PR jobs open around town now. Perhaps I'll go for some of those, too.

Now, here's the odd thing. When I got back from my interview, Robert was at Hidden Hill and introduced me to his friend, Maurice. They were there to assess the cabin site. I should say the potential cabin site, as nothing has been decided yet. Robert told me to pray and keep my hopes up. I'm still waiting to see what comes of the May 31 special meeting.

I've realized that it may not be wise to grouse about certain things on my other blog, http://deftpalate.blogspot.com/, because people read that one for my reviews. Best not to have them reading my reviews of them, I should think. So, voila, a new blog is born. Plus, every time I Google myself, I pull up a million references to the Mary Haley who runs a ragtime Web site. Or the Mary Haley that has something to do with children. Maybe, if the stars are aligned, I actually show up waaaaay down on the list for my ACES awards.

Today being a rainy day, I am feeling a little down. However, I've got an interview tomorrow at School of Fish. If all goes well, maybe I can jump off this grant-funded/magazine-sold-to-a-guy-from-New-Jersey carousel I've been on. Still no word on the new cabin. We're having an emergency board meeting on May 31 to decide, hopefully.