2.23.2013

this week's spiritual dump...

Kinks. 1981. watch it. Then continue on with my post (you'll understand it a bit more I suppose):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRpAANsoG8I

Paranoia The Destroyer... Just a comment. I'm actually a hitchhiker in all this... Sometimes we get paranoid. Sometimes it is for very good reason.  Sometimes not. I admit, I've been paranoid a bit lately (this goes under the 'for very good reason' category BTW...) Anyway... at some point, though, you just gotta say, F*ck it.  I can only be myself.  F*uck it. Whatever. Keep the cameras rolling. Waddya want? You want this? YOU WANT ME??? Come and get me. Have at it if you will. You feel better now? Does it change things? Is 'IT' validated now? Can we now just continue on and honor the true nature of ourselves? So, you can lock this away in your file cabinet under the heading "HollyMissBerry the sometimes awesome Homo Sapiens. Sometimes not."

Next...
for your next preview. Please first watch this to get in the next mood that I want you all in before continuing on reading...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lyu1KKwC74

Normally a song I put on repeat when I split with a boyfriend... (or Chaka Khan's "I'm Every Woman"). Here's why I ADORE it:

*   I'ts so uplifting in its stark reality.
*   It reminds me of living in NYC while in grad school- for no specific reason
*   It is great when you are feeling lonely in a world-weary kinda mood.  Sometimes when you live    abroad you get in these moods as if you are all alone- but you never really are, you know...
*   a good song when you wash the paranoia off of yourself and are DONE with it.

The main point here, "I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down." Well, the only road I've ever been down, is MY road. It takes me everywhere. Sometimes I take the alley (short-cut), sometimes I go off the beaten path for an added kink. I get to do whatever the f*ck I want on this road. Within reason- usually. I can't change my road. I don't even have the path memorized. No entity is allowed to make me paranoid about my road. Well, they can, but it is up to me to let them know that they can just f*ck off.

On a more positive ending note- tax season is coming upon us Amerikans soon...

"I let the melody shine.Let it cleanse my mind. I feel free yea."

Okay. You all know the drill by now...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMyM68jjxTM

This is from Gwenda. She's teaching in the UAE. She turned me onto this clip. I'm not sure how she's using it in the classroom, but I think it's EXCELLENT.

There is no specific reason to watch it that's associated with this morning's blog... I watched it yesterday. I felt really good about Homo Sapiens' afterwards.  That's all. Thanks Gwennie. I wish I could hang out with you @ TESOL Arabia, but it's not in the cards this year...

Next on the spontaneous agenda- I NEED YOUR INPUT
Need some kick-ass running music. I'm not a runner who listens to music, but I have the means to.  I wanna try it out. What you guys have in mind for me? I await your suggestions. Come on. Do it Do it Do it. You guys can't just continue to think that you can just read my blog without producing anything in return...

Speaking of running, today's run confirmed yesterday morning's: it's getting warm enough to not need long sleeves!Also tested another theory on the track this morning: You can actually throw your back back into whack, running, after it goes outta whack, running...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5KmB8Laemg
I want a guy who wants a girl like this.  That's all. Besides, if you wear a short shirt, you MUST wear a longggggggggggggg jacket...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KCBLA-fuVw
no comment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X19iZ4CyJf0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9ozGsAtY28


Okay, back to Hawaii.  I always return back to Hawaii:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1bBMcKtOik

I think that about covers it for this morning.  Nothing like a spiritual dump to accompany your Sunday morning coffee in bed post-euphoria run on a pre-spring sunny morning here in the Fertile Crescent.





2.16.2013

G-Tep stylin Sunday morning

Sunday morning here in the Fertile Crescent. It's sizing up to be a beauty of a day here. I'm back in bed thinking about purchasing a robot that can make coffee for me on weekend mornings... I should not complain as I was already out early on a super sweet, albeit cut a bit short, run through the ormani (forest) behind Gaziantep University. No wild dogs to chase after me either- winning.

I've been traveling for the past month and this is my first weekend back and just wanting to chill. Portugal was amazing. Castles galore. And pork. And wine. Yea I already told you guys all that stuff. So, last weekend I FINALLY had friends from outta town (Ist and  Kabak) visit me... Geeze, what across the street from my apartment that sells Bomonti Unfiltered- in addition to the requisite Efes). I kid. I kid. There is much beauty to be seen here in Gaziantep. Of course, though, the highlight was traveling East. We hit up Halfeti, Bircik (an absolute MUST is the Bald Ibis bird sanctuary that Mustafa Çulcuoğlu runs), Şanlıurfa, Harran, Mardin, Göbekli Tepe & loads of specks on the map in between.

Nothing like a road trip...Some of my best times ever have been on cross-country road-trips, either with family, friends or boyfriends- they are all memorable. I hope it never ends!

Here are some links to pictures:

 For Göbekli Tepe:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151302342688301.455394.595448300&type=1&l=4eb6daa307

For Mardin:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151302265708301.455388.595448300&type=1&l=b2f3bd8096

For Şanlıurfa:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151302224033301.455382.595448300&type=1&l=da3a721c9c

For Harran:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151302187453301.455379.595448300&type=1&l=e15d09a771


For Halfeti:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151302187453301.455379.595448300&type=1&l=e15d09a771

For Portugal:
coming soon...or soonish...

INTERMISSION: i-Robot is getting outta bed to make some coffee...

Ahhhhh. Okay. Not to harp on the subject, but I still have not really acquired a taste for Turkish tea... I just see so many people putting in loads of sugar cubes and think to myself, 'If you need to put 4 sugars into anything, this cannot be good.' Don't get me wrong now. I do drink the tea on occasion (w/1 cube MAX), but it is just so-so.  I dare someone to brew me the cup of tea that will convert me... So, in the meantime, I continue to drink my beloved cuppa-joe! Which, by the way, is like aromatherapy right at this very moment as its scent wafts from my brilliant French Press. It entices me outta bed once again (i-Robot) to pour myself the 1st of the morning. I've waited long enough. I am incensed- intoxicated even- from the smell. It leaves me stuptified. Okay, enough

INTERMISSION: you know the reason

Okay I was discussing travel I believe... So next weekend, perhaps, I'll trot off to Kayseri/Erciyes for a little snowboard action. A colleague went last weekend and lamented about the, well not lack of snow as much as icy conditions. Perhaps a better idea is to stay in Göreme and hit the slopes. That way, if conditions suck, we can play in that sweet village. I wonder if there is a yoga studio in Göreme yet. If not there needs to be...

Okay, here's an interesting kinda-correlation. Between Göreme and Mardin.  I've been to Cappadocia 3X in the past 12 years; 2001, 2007 and 2012. Each time it has a more 'boutique' feel.  Now Mardin, which I've been to 2X over the past year, has this same kind of 'feel' to it. I guess what I mean to say is that it envokes the same kind of feeling that I had living in Hawaii. It's like too much of a good thing, the natural beauty. It gets more difficult every year to see an increase in tourists, yet this is also a good thing for the locals. It's a catch-22 for sure. I wonder how the people deal with these issues as I dealt with it in Hawaii. Well, for me, I just kept moving deeper and deeper into the jungle- where less tourists were likely to come.

Speaking of Hawaii... I'm SO looking forwards to returning home for a bit this summer.

As you can read, my thoughts are all over the place this morning. Also on my mind is the fabulous weather we've had here in the southeast this winter.  I only recall 1 episode of snow, and hardly any rain. Last year was so bloody wet/rainy/snowy. I have not had the heat on hardly at all this winter, and have already started sleeping with the windows open! You all know how much I adore boots (yet hate having my feet covered up all day). I have amassed SO many the past 2 years, yet I have hardly worn any this winter-seriously, just my biker-chic 'go-to' Fluevogs. FYI boot lovers, Fluevog is THE name in boots for this boot lover. And a Canadian at that- Fluevog rocks.

Thinking also about Saklikent Gorge, near Kaş. It looks like amazing trail rides through there. Weather is warming up... Days are getting longer... Only 4 more months left of work until summer... Why is Kaş so bloody difficult to get to from Gaziantep?

INTERMISSION




finally a moment to lay on my couch and ponder...

Yea,

Like how I ended that last post... I vaguely remember having an IT issue while traveling with my iPad. It was kind of like a moment where if I didn't post at that very moment, I was going to lose the entire thing.  Oh well... so, THAT was Portugal. Awesome. Here are a few disconnected yet completely valid words that comes to mind when I think to my recent Portugal trip:
Driving- actually co-piloting...
Castles- especially Castello Novo (?). Spent an excellent evening sleeping in the car on the hill overlooking this- in a parking lot, near the cemetary.
Drinking: Vinho Verde, Reds, Whites, Ports- I didn't discriminate...
Porking: Yes, I did a lot of pork sausage- and cheeses- and breads
Giant Waves
Alfama (Lisboa district): lots of colorful stories much too colorful to even divulge here in my blog...
Boots
Car Camping: and waking up in various driveways, parking lots, woods, castles, open fields, etc.
countryside coffeehouses

So it would have been wise to blog more in the moment as it is all a bit fuzzy already. One highlight was arriving in the surf town of Navare 2 days late after Hawaii dude Garrett McNamara rode a 100' wave- check the link!
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/jan/29/surfer-garrett-mcnamara-100ft-wave)

I arrived back to Gaziantep loaded up with essentials too (this encompasses food/beverage/boots/ entertainment)...