thick as molasses

i rode from bloomfield to downtown to the south side, through oakland, back to bloomfield. a good and thorough ride. i realized that i sometimes neglect to notice my surroundings upon encountering some of pittsburgh's patches mid-city forest, one being on carson st. in the south side near downtown, the other being near tim's house on melwood in north oakland last night (the end of the street is yummy-smelling woods)... heard some crickets and locusts recently...

last night ross asked me what i wanted for my birthday. i couldn't really think of much i reaally wanted, aside from some skills i want to learn. i love where i live (despite its minor dilemmas), i love being done with school, and i have an awesome partner and good friends. now if only we could get rid of that pesky government and wage labor for my birthday... and more time would be nice. i told him to get me books and/or records for now.

skills i want:
bike repair and better riding techniques (there must be body stuff that pros learn right?)
keyboards or some other instrument(s)
musical skills of most sorts (recording, etc.)
bookbinding
home etc. repair
fiction writing (a little bit)
tattooing (i don't know if i could deal with blood and such but it's so fascinating)
gardening
people/social
layout & design
various languages
a thing or two i won't mention here
cooking

skills i sort of have (but only make me realize how much i don't know):
information seeking in the library
writing nonfiction and journalism- type articles and music reviews
organizing
vegan baking (a few things)
sewing
dance & gymnastics (not too recently tho)
spanish


at the same time that i feel comfortable with my situation, especially in comparison to when i started this journal (in the midst of the tenuousness of the start of college, end of highschool, moving out of parents' house). i feel pretty privileged, and i sometimes fear that i'm becoming too comfortable in my situation...
at a discussion last night, friends and acquaintances distinguished between the differences between act up activism during the 80s compared with the current global justice movement in the u.s. it was mentioned that with act up, the people doing the activism were the ones directly affected, emotionally involved and motivated, fighting for their lives, many previously unpoliticized. in the u.s., there is expression of solidarity with people suffering from the u.s.' political and economic policies (both foreign and domestic), but not the same intense anger and grief felt in other types of social movements... a crucial point to keep in mind, but it is also worth mentioning that it doesn't necessarily apply to absolutely everyone involved in u.s. struggles...