5 january joys

1

I’ll be honest. This puppet video could be 1 through 5 of my list because I like it that much. I especially enjoy that it’s from text I had written and long-forgotten on my Facebook page, a page that was in retirement for the last few years and only recently got resurrected. Now, it lives on my Ko-Fi page.

(Related joy: I got my first monthly donor on Ko-Fi and felt very emotional about it. Two years ago, I started making myself make plans months in advance even though I still couldn’t really see through tomorrow. Over time, I started to be able to see a day ahead, then a few days, and now a week or so at a time even. But somewhere out there, there’s a person who sees next month, and in their sight, I’m still here, and I’m still writing, and I’m still writing something that reaches them. That’s something pretty phenomenal, isn’t? Phenomenal, and humbling.)

2

A dear friend brought me an oxalis iron cross plant. I murdered the first one she brought me, so this was an act of faith. Such beauty! The friend, the plant, the faith.

3

I have to give love to technology because it’s stepped up this month in amazing ways. The virtual reality meditations have been a saving grace. I finally found an address book website that is simple enough, but can handle international addresses properly. The habit/calendar apps I use to maintain my pixelated planning are amazing resources.

Oh, and the link up ability for Pepper Day is really exciting to me because I think it might just blossom that monthly event into a truly noisy little community. (There is a piece of a Rumi poem that sums up my goal with Pepper Day : “There is a community of the spirit. Join it, and feel the delight of walking in the noisy street and being the noise.”)

4

I was invited to join a board, and I did. LevelGround.co has some amazing work recently and I’m very excited to be a part of whatever comes next. So far: a writing workshop is in the early baking stages. My first introduction to this organization was a meeting where they were discussing requirements of the board, what to keep and what to lose. I remember that there had been a note about being an active voter, and without me saying a word, they addressed the gatekeeping nature of that. (In my state, those on parole still can’t vote. Some people are on parole for decades.) It was a touching thing to see, good change in motion. The swift power to make something better being used to, in fact, make something better. I’m hoping I can contribute to that energy.

5

I had a fanciful idea to take a picture of the front of every postcard or card I receive this year, and post it to my Instagram Stories so I can have a sort of year-end album or these things. There’s only 3 cards or so in there so far but it’s already so delightful to me. I love us, and it’s nice to have something like a picture album that holds us all together.

If you want to send a card, the same ‘ol address is still good.

Ra Avis

2201 N. Lakewood Blvd

#D1887

Long Beach, CA 90814

Mentioned links:

My Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/rarasaur/

My Ko-Fi for donations of all sizes: https://ko-fi.com/rarasaur

My dear friend’s Etsy : https://www.etsy.com/shop/MourningwoodInk

Pepper Day: https://cheerpeppers.wordpress.com/every-22nd/

LevelGround : http://levelground.co/

Instagram Stories Card Book : https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17878649903077665/

Add your name to my address book to get postcards when I send them out : https://mailbook.app/ra-avis/add?key=7084&h=392


And you, what’s brought you joy this month?

One thought on “5 january joys

  1. Shortly after we moved into the condo we bought in September (almost 5 months ago!) I volunteered to fill an open spot on my condo associations board. The spot was empty because the person who owned our condo before us moved, so I kind of felt like I inherited it with the condo. Voluntarily joining any sort of board where there is responsibility put on me to help make decisions and run things is extremely outside of my comfort zone and I’m still surprised I did it. The good news is, I really like the other board members and it is nice to know exactly what’s going on within our association and what improvement projects are looming in the future that we need to find funding for. The bad news is that I now get to read email threads of other owners and residents being extremely selfish and refusing to face reason or reality. We need money to do big things and that money isn’t going to magically appear, so tiny increases to condo fees will need to happen but some of my neighbors seem to believe that the condo fees that we already pay, which are some of the lowest in the area *and* cover some utilities, are already too high because they don’t have an assigned parking spot (that’s my next door neighbor… yay…) or because they are annoyed with people using the *PUBLIC PARK* that is in our neighborhood… or because they just plain don’t like their neighbors. 🤦‍♀️ We would *love* to have assigned parking, but there are not enough parking spots to assign one to each unit… as far as the public using the public park or people not liking their neighbors… I’m still not sure what that has to do with the fact that replacing the roofs on all the buildings isn’t going to pay for itself. 🤷‍♀️ People can be so incredibly confusing and annoying sometimes, which is why I normally avoid putting myself in the position I put myself in with being on the association board. All in all, I don’t regret it though. It’s stressful, but so far still worth it.

    On another note, I definitely owe you a card of some sort. Hopefully I’ll remember to actually do something about that soon.❤

    Liked by 1 person

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