Day 6 Community Support- Never a Dull Moment

I want to start by admitting a truth. I never left 12 days journal #38 at The Royal last night. I trust that you will agree I had a very good reason. I will be giving the journal to my friend Kibby, who I danced with ‘til the place closed down. The crowd was thin but this just meant more space on the dance floor. The Band was fantastic, every number was improvised and yet they never slipped into a rut. Kibby (note: not her real name, as she is ULTRA secretive...darn Sagittarius’) has known about this project from the beginning and has never written in a journal. I think it is about time.

My mother in law’s taxes took far longer than I expected. Our new “improved bandwidth” internet is super slow and kept disconnecting. By the time Chris and I were actually getting ready to go we were already running quite late. We were chatting as we hurried, I relayed a strange conversation I had had with his mother that morning. She had been reading Post Secret, the book version of a blog that was one of the inspirations for my experiment and blog. She broached the subject of the book and told me that she had a “secret”. While I wanted to know what it was, I didn’t want to know, more. I had a feeling it was not something I wanted to hold under a clause of “if you promise not to tell”. She made a few vague statements;

“It is not MY secret. Telling it will effect someone else a lot more than it does me.“

”The secret is not really bad, it is the fact that it was kept a secret that is bad.“

She obviously wanted to be free of it. I got a little more info from her: it was Chris, my husband, who would be effected most, and she worried that this would be a bad time. I have pretty strong feelings about ”the truth“, I shared them with her. There are very few situation when the truth is not the best bet. Other than the questions ”Do I look fat in this?“ or ”How old do you think I am?“, which are traps, the truth is generally the way to go. I told her there would likely not be a ”good time“ for a while yet and that it was probably best to let it out. That if for no one else she should do it for herself, to let go of the responsibility of holding this truth for someone else. I thought about it a bit more during the day and oddly, though I am usually a super sleuth, I never came up with a plausible explanation for what the secret might be. As I discussed it casually with Chris while plucking my brows, he didn’t even skip a beat in saying ”I wonder if I have a brother or sister?“. Of course! He called his mother into our room and asked her straight out. She denied it at first but then says only ”Yes“.

Chris has a sister who is 4 years older than him. After 37 years, he is no longer an only child. Chris’ mom knew very little about her, she was born of a different mother but shares a father with Chris. We drove to the show in stunned silence. I forgot the journal. I had other things on my mind.

I am off with Chris, who I have now affectionately dubbed ”Lil Bro“, to see the art of two of Nelson’s finest visual artists. Both womyn, both beautiful, both funny, both modest about their talent.

The first is Bree Prosser, at Hemp and Company, click HERE to find out where and when.
​

Then off to see Kelly Shpeley at Our Glass, click HERE to find how to get there.

I will take 12 days journal #39 to the openings. Inside it I ask ”How important is it to tell the truth?“. To be honest...I am not sure who I am going to give the journal to. I might tell and I might not!

Day 5 Community Support- Radius and Ulna

I am beginning to wonder if any of the journals are ever coming home? I know it has only been a month and a half, but (sniff sniff) I miss them. I have officially hit over 100 unique viewers to this blog. YIPEE! I am so chuffed. So if any of you “unique” viewers know where any of my little journal babies are, please drop me a line. Now I know how the Old Lady Who Lived In The Shoe felt, so many babies to worry about!

So today a friend told me that another friend is following my blog and has made her own 12 day commitment. (YA YOU Lady! Waving from over here in Canada) I seem to always hear these things on the days when I am wondering what the hell I have gotten myself into. The other night I sat in bed making journals and couldn’t believe that I have only made 50 so far, it feels more like 150! To think that by the end of this experiment I will have made 350..... I must remind myself to breathe, take it one day at a time. It has become a bit of a full time job. I would make a crack about the pay being terrible, but that would only be taking monetary pay into account. The pay, instead, comes like it did today, hearing about a friend from a far off land taking actions because of my words, that is a pretty good return. Thanks Matty for telling me, I love ya brother.

Ok! So, I need to cut to the chase, no deep and meaningful word for ya’ll, just the facts! I need to do my mother in-laws taxes before going out to see Terradactagon.

“Terradactagon throws down thick doses of cultivated improvisation with a sound that is flavoured by jazz, funk, electronic, and world music. The band features Adrian Wagner on vocals, hammond organ, keyboard & samplers, piano, & percussion, Jimmy Lewis on vocals & Drums, and Cormies on Bass.

This trio has been known to ripple the walls, finding the wave of the night, and riding it with the audience into ecstasy. A complete improvisational experience, the Nelson BC based project brings decades of musicianship to the world of purely live synaptic exploration.

A sound to be experienced.”

Yes, I know, cutting and pasting from the website is just gauche! But there you have it folks. I am going to shake my booty to the music of these fine boys tonight. I am going out with my friend Kibby (HI KIBBY) and will meet many more friends there. I love that about this town. Even if I were to go out alone, I never end up alone. Wait...that came out wrong. I better get away from the keyboard before I incriminate myself.

As for today’s journal... listen up I’m gunna give it to you straight! 12 days journal #38 will be either given to someone or left at The Royal where Terradactagon is playing. Inside is the question “What role does humour play in your life?”. I have a few answers which I will write in the journal but it seems appropriate to say, before jumping into the fascinating world of tax land, that I often use humour to pull me out of a bad head space. At the beginning of this entry I was kinda bummed and now I am smiling and making jokes to my 13 year old. Whom, I just found out, forgot to deliver 12 days journal #37 to her teacher. Little sheisse! Good thing for her I am in a good mood otherwise I might have grounded her until next fall...does that seem a little extreme?