Drastic --- Yo yo yo!! I had three dreams about pioneering last week! None of them told me where I need to go, though. I saw Alex Donote from Martinique. He was visiting here for a series of play that I was attending, so I asked him how the theatre scene was in Martinique, and found out general info about what's going on down there. In another dream I was trying to get into China, but they wouldn't let me in because I didn't have $4... There's one girl that got in for $1! I even tried sneaking in with my mad spy skills and my tight black suit (you should've seen how buff I was!), but I ended up at the same customs spot, and was denied again, so I ended up in the giant indoor park, walking around with friends and hearing about the birthing of pharaos ensuing from rape by a long haired pretty-boy. Then mages (members of "The Chamber") invaded the island, with war and magic, until one of them turned kamikaze at the top of the tower, and merged with the town chief into a giant dragon who went off to summon a "double-stunami". At this point, I went to the spot where the scary-faced, giant-jawed stunami was to hit except that Chrono (from the video game Chrono Trigger) hit the shiny jewel with his sword, which cancelled the tsunami. But right before the sword hit, since everything was in slow-mo except me, I got to check out the hotel lobby and other sets of the movie, which was kind of cool...



I'm not supposed to know, but my friend Sneha just declared (herself a Baha'i) last night, which actually made me cry for joy! I can't wait to visit them all (Baltimore friends) next weekend.



We had our first play practice for "In His Presence" on Saturday, which was a lot of fun, as well as highly encouraging. It's so amazing to work on a play that's explicitly spiritual in orientation!



I'm a gangsta!



Bea and Ralph Wiggins brought a CD of Brian's music (their son) to Feast tonight, which was really awesome! There are 5 CDs total, which I plan to purchase. He past... gosh... over six months ago now. He was the primary person to motivate me to learn to play myself! Some months ago I got to make him a hot meal, like he used to ask me when I'd go over to visit with him... I miss him.



Holy Smokes!! The Naw Ruz (New Year) party was super-radical! We had such a blast. The Cook family was sorely missed, though - their presence was very felt on the occasion last year. Our choir finally performed the beautiful song entitled "He Verily Loveth the Spot". It's got all kinds of overlapping parts and lyrics that make a surreal harmony, both intriguing and enchanting. We reportedly pulled it off alright. I danced, of course, showing this odd talent of mine to moved perfectly with the music, in an esthetically chaotic series of motions. One day I'll actually learn some kind of form dancing and further validate this talent...



Well, the Fasting period is over, and it was truly amazing. It's definitely still getting better every year, but I'm also still very aware that I have a lot to gain and learn from the true spiritual value of fasting. I had no trouble eating during the daytime today, though, especially that I had lunch at my favorite restaurant, down the street from my house, called Jumping J's Java. It turns out they get their veggies from this micro-farming place! plus they cook all of their stuff on location according to what goods they have; they've got the great fair-trade coffees, all kinds of international food and other products for sale; they play Putumayo's international music non-stop, and I just got a date with the server...



I read some Rumi at the Just Poetry Jam, which was very well received. I also read some lyrics from The Mars Volta, which expectedly went over all our heads. Plus I just finished the poem I will recite at the Just Poetry Slam (competition) on Monday. It's called "Home" and is pretty intense! I saw "The Forgotten" last night, which has several related themes - always cool when that happens. I also saw "The Incredibles" this weekend, which was exceptionally entertaining in its rich humor and tickling plot.



Robbie and I have been having a BLAST playing ping-pong, recently instituting mutual training, where we come up with excercises for each other to improve. These improvements have now become what we call super powers, each of us having developed a very distinct style.



At the moment, I'm thinking of going to Martinique, Mali, or China, but anything can still happen. It was definitely inspiring and helpful to have a pioneer to pray for each day during the Fast (several members of our communities had one or two pioneers to pray for during this period).



I finished my new d-Plan (a "spiritual transformation plan" which lists all the projects I'm working on at the moment, with lines of action to fulfill over the next period of time - generally 2-3 months)