Pleasantly satiated w/ the thrill of life... Not overindulged but the kind of satiety... well I'm gratified to capacity, as opposed to beyond, presently.
Had a most incredible journey this past weekend over on Oahu for the SHA conference (Society for Hawaiian Archaeology). I got my mindset outta my current academia and reloaded my past academic file up on the hard drive and just went with it. Fantastic to push homework out of my mind all weekend and just fall in love again w/archaeology. Of course content was political, it was refreshing the coming together of so many ideas, theories, stories, urban legends, amusing tall tales, etc. Damn we are a quirky cast of characters!
It was like homecoming. Like coming home to another family of mine. Some are carnies, some are distant cousins from the 'other' side of the family that no one talks about, some are demigods/demigoddesses that I am still shy to strike up conversation with, some are future collaborators, some past mentors: all of them though are full of true grit. One in particular I'm gathering up courage to approach about what I want to do with my pending Masters (Dec. 14th!) and synthesize it w/my anth/arch heritage to make a kick-ass position for my wandering self.
It's all coming together... I'm starting to relax into gradual acceptance of it. I'm even craving a taste for basking in the glory of it for a few morsels of time. That piece of paper that sums up so much yet so little equally. Just enough to help recover from the brief reflections on how excruciatingly painful the journey was- so bitterSWEET indeed. I love me some bitterSWEET indeed.
My head begins to swell with so many different ideas that continue to expand. I've told myself for so long it's all about getting back to Istanbul, but who knows? This weekend stirred the juices of creativity. Oh and the sweet rains just descended down onto the night blooming jasmine outside my bedroom window... satiated w/THAT pungent aroma. Suddenly it stops & quiet resumes- enough so that I can hear my brain blushing. Yea, life IS good, really good & all this- these experiences rambling on while I walk this trail- well, I don't see the end of the path anytime soon! I see some snow up on the path in the near future, and a snowboard as well.
So yes, back to the weekend. Honolulu was its normal hot, muggy, humid environ. The Uni of Hawaii campus is always refreshing entering up into Manoa Valley. I camped out in a few different hotels, albeit more like crashing on the floor of friends' hotels... The first night turning into a foggy morning w/my hosts offering me some Alieve (who knew it fought hangovers). I recall being up in the pool bar in theier hotel telling those tall tales to a captive audience...or not but I do recall we were all laughing.
Every talk, lecture, debate, powerpoint presentation, etc was just quality. To hear of all the research going on all throughout the Pacific & the culture studies & calling out for more collaboration between archaeologists & linguists- well, that last one especially just makes me squeal w/delight! Oh how I wish I could get aboard that Samoa project in 2 weeks... How can I get out of work & school for a few weeks right before finals??? Damn it's absolutely impossible but to contemplate being a part of an emergency survey team put together to go to Samoa to record sites impacted by the earthquake & resulting destructive tidal waves- well that is a part of a history that could be lost forever & to help recover things like this, it is a moving experience that brings humanity together in beautiful ways.
Some of the science geeks from Berkeley are on Maui this week in Kaupo continuing on w/their work and I at first thought, I can't go over Friday night after work & hang out & talk story because I'll have homework & it's All Hallow's Eve on Sat, but then again, how can I NOT go and take this opportunity to camp out under the stars & hang out w/these minds some more... Sometimes I wonder where my head's at. At those moments I take the time to smell the science fictional flowers and get the tent & sleeping bad out of storage, as well as the cooler & camp chair!Yea
No comments:
Post a Comment