arrival

My sister comes home from survival school today. She is a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force and as an Intelligence Officer is required to attend a 17 day survival school in the mountains of Washington state.

She called home at midnight on Tuesday immediately after coming out of the "mock" POW camp. She was captured for 36 hours and endured treatment I can't even allow myself to imagine. She was crying when she called and said that EVERYTHING from the tips of her toes to the top of her head hurt. We talked for a only short while. She was dehydrated, suffering from sleep deprivation, probably dealing with some level of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and unable to fully convey what she had just experienced.

We hung up and Liv and I had a long, silent hug.

BMI aka "The Spread"

I have been 36 for five days now (ouch). In the past month I have completed a triathalon, swum in the Outgames, done 300 crunches and contemplated getting back into yoga.

Still I have that jiggle in my middle, or the bagel, as Liv calls it.

Today I went for body fat assessment, otherwise known as check for my Body Mass Index. It was the classic skinfold test.

It only took 3 minutes for the trainer to tell me my magic number...30. My BMI is 30, that is, 30% of my body mass is fat.

I am within a healthy range for my age, there is no question about that. I am not fat by any means and that's not what I am trying to say here.

I am, however, feeling like I am starting to suffer from the (dare I say?) middle-aged spread. UGH. The 5 extra pounds I am carrying around look different on me than they would have 10 years ago. I fear I am getting the dreaded "saddle bags."

My resting heart-rate is 55 BPM. I am really healthy, but I eat too many cookies and it has become crystal clear in the last 12 months that in order to trim the fat, I have to say no to the cookies (at least more often than not).

Aging bites....

Rubbing elbows.

Yep, that's me with Martina! Speaking of elbows...and forearms and biceps, she's got some big guns. It's no wonder she's the best tennis player of all time.

It's official

Last week, it became official. In an article for Outlook News I was part of a pair of people labeled "hipsters." My jetgirl partner and I were referred to as "couple hipsters." Seems there should have been an 'of' in that sentence, but nonetheless we are now officially hip.
Can't beat that, right? Especially on the cusp of turning a frightful 36.
At this stage of the game, I'll take my cool points wherever I can.

note to self

Upon return from Montreal Outgames:

1. Join Amnesty International
2. Join N.O.W. (the National Organization for Women)
3. Research ILGA North American (International Lesbian and Gay Association...champion of GLBT rights worldwide, but specifically focused on gaining access to the United Nations for LGBT associations).
4. Remind everyone I know that AIDS is not over...it is on the tip of everyone's tongue outside North America and Western Europe.

P.S. Martina has 14 dogs, 6 turtles and a host of cats, all of which she takes with her in a giant RV when she travels to tournaments in North America.

YVO news

Hi Folks,
I am copying a post I did for the YVO blog, but since many of the people who read my blog follow Liv's work with YVO and because this is exciting news, I wanted to publish it on my blog too. Yipee..... Canada here we come!



Hey Canada folks,

Hang on to your hats, I just got some amazing news. As Liv has probably told you, I am a board member of the Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association, the association behind the Outgames and the Conference you are attending this week (yikes...it's here already). Anyway, I did some snooping around and got you all a meeting with Martina Navratilova for Friday, July 28th.

You guys, she's a superstar. If you aren't familiar with her acheivements, I would really encourage you to do some research before you meet her. She is from the Czech Republic (but is now a U.S. citizen) and is one of the best, if not THE best, woman's tennis player of all time.

She is also a trailblazer for GLBT human rights and for combatting homophobia in sports...she was one of the first out lesbian professional athletes.

You may remember seeing her in one of the videos you watched early on. She's very committed to helping queer youth through the coming out stages, and advocating for education around the subject.

You will probably also meet Mark Tewksbury, who is a superstar Canadian swimmer who won a gold medal in the Barcelona Olympics.



So, not to freak you out, but this is a BIG deal. I have seen Martina's schedule and she is meeting with VERY few groups while in Montreal (she's only there for a few days). Please take the time to read about her work and think in advance about any questions you might have for her about her work with GLBT youth (or anything else for that matter).

For those of you not going to Montreal, I for one will miss you, but we'll take lots of pictures and remember, this is just the BEGINNING, you'll get your turns at the next great thing (hopefully something like Sundance!).

Thanks again to you all for letting me tag along!
Julie

Serena again?

Serena again?

Watch the video

still trying....

Serena and Myskina

Serena and Myskina

Watch the video

My Grandma was a tennis player when she was growing up in Southern California. She played all through her youth and early adulthood and when we lived with her in the mid 80's, she paid for lessons for me to play.

I loved it at the time and made the High School tennis team; it was one of three Varsity sports I played my freshman year...tennis, basketball and track. I moved to Cincinnati after my freshman year and for some reason abandonned tennis for cross country (though my real love was soccer).

I joined the swim team that same year as a way to bridge the off season between cross country and track. I had no aspirations for the pool whatsoever, I couldn't even do a flip turn when I joined the team, but, I was fast and I kept getting faster in the pool and at some point my coach suggested I give up running to focus on swimming. It made sense to me, so I went full force into the swimming world, where I stayed for the remainder of high school and my first two years of college.

College swimming is all consuming. Think 30 hours a week of training, plus study tables, full time classes and all of your social activites linked to the team. I loved it at first, but as I watched the rest that college has to offer elude me, I ditched the pool for left wing politics, djing and explorations of my sexuality.

By the time I was a senior, I had my first girlfriend, a job at the record store, new best friends and the freedom to return to tennis. I spent a summer after graduation in Athens and played daily with my girlfriend and my housemate. Our evening routine went like so: two hours of tennis, home cooked food and a night on the couch watching the Real World on MTV or highlights of Wimbledon. I broke my elbow playing tennis that summer.

That was 13 years ago and somewhere along the way, tennis got shoved into a corner again. Last month I visited my ex-girlfriend and hit the courts again. I immediately remembered how much I love the sport. This week I did something I've wanted to do for years. I went to Cincinnati to watch professional tennis. It was awesome, we lucked out and got to see Serena Williams play one of the other top ranked players in the world. I didn't care who was on the court, I just wanted to see them whack the ball in person. Serena hit a serve 127 miles per hour. Whew.......

I didn't mean to write all of this when I sat down, I was just going to post the video, but I think my relationship to tennis is kind of like my relationship to a favorite pair of shoes. I love the memory of the shoes, I can't get rid of them, I like to know they are still sitting there in the back of the closet, sometimes I like to get them out and wear them again, and everytime I do I wonder why I have neglected them for so long and then I remember why I never got rid of them in the first place.

Speaking of shoes, the ones I have on in the picture are first edition Nike velco tennis shoes. That's me, forever on the tip of the latest fashion trends!

uummff

uummff

Watch the video

Serena is bad ass...just listen.

Incredible

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To see this woman perform live is absolutely unreal. She has more passion, energy and love for her music and her fans than any performer I have ever seen (Garth Brooks comes a close second).

For three solid hours she had us screaming, laughing, dancing, bawling, you name it. It sounds cliche for my big ole dyke self to be so moved by Melissa Etheridge, but she is superb.

Honestly, what touched me so much about her show was that she shouts all these truths that so many people refuse to acknowledge. She sang about homophobia, 9/11, Matthew Shepard, Breast Cancer, Global Warming, coming out. It made me realize how much heavy shit we, as a society, have been through in the past 10 years.

I wish I could meet her and just say "thanks."

She is one courageous, powerful, inspiring woman.

Podcasting schmodcasting

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This little obsession of mine (though waning lately) isn't always a hit with the G.

Ramblin' man.

Sometimes men are gross and they overstep boundaries in the guise of being "friendly."

Elis and I went swimming last week at Sunlite Pool in Cincinnati and encountered one such specimen. He was strolling around the grassy area where people were lounging in the sun and "serenading" bikini clad teenaged girls.


As if his leopard-print draped wanker weren't scary enough, his hideous and repetitive renditions of "Margaritaville" were.

Yikes! Beware of half naked, guitar toting, overaged, ramblin' men.

New pill on the block.

So, in a time of funk, one often discovers the best in friends and family. One such discovery came delivered with a cozy hug and the wry suggestion that I try a new white pill with the best packaging ever.

Who could argue?

P.S. Johnny, you rock.

FUNK

FUNK

Watch the video

I have been in a funk lately. It might be about that little white pill. Or, perhaps the absence of said pill.

funkified

Meteora

I am so terribly behind with blogging, it is almost shameful.
Greece was amazing, so much so that I will probably hit you all with a barrage of posts over the next few days chronicling our trip.

You won't be sorry though, because I will include historical tidbits and stunning photographs, starting with breathtaking pictures of Meteora.

Meteora is in a mountainous region of inland Greece, about 4 hours from Athens. The area takes its name from the giant cliffs that dot the landscape. The word Meteora translates to 'rocks in the sky'--the root of our word 'meteor.' The massive rock formations are a result of a large body of water that was present thousands of years ago. After the water dried up, the shape of the rocks morphed to form pockets and grooves over centuries of decomposition.

In the 11th Century, Greek monks were persecuted by Turkish invaders. In order to be able to practice their Orthodox religion, monks built huge monastic outposts on the tops of 21 rock formations in the area. Today, six monasteries are active sites for the practice of Greek Orthodox peity. We visited the St. Stephen Nunnery pictured below.

Nine hundred years ago, the only way to the top of the monasteries was by riding in rope baskets draped over the craggy rocks and pulled the several hundred feet above by your fellow monks. Today, the rope bags are still in use and have been supplemented with rudimentary cable car systems. We saw several monks moving throught the complex in these cable cars.

The monasteries at Meteora are one of the 812 sites listed on the United Nations' compilation of World Heritage sites. These sites are deemed possesions of the global community because of their historical significance.

The pictures barely do them justice. If you ever get to Greece, take the time to see actual 'meteors' with religious and cultural significance.

Yamas

Saturday night we went to a traditional Greek dance party in honor of the island of Ikaria.

Ikaria is known for their brief period of independence in 1912 and for their potent red wine.
At our table of 10 people we shared 5 litres of wines. Helen and Vaso hogged three of them!

Liv learned her favorite new word, Yamas, which means cheers in Greek. She's pictured here on her 34th Yamas of the night, just before she deteriorated into the boat.


By this point it was "No more Yamas" for Liv.

Ouzo

After 22 hours of cars, buses, trams, airplanes and moving sidewalks, we made it to Athens.

Helen and Vaso met us at the airport and we went straight to Varkiza, a beach on the outskirts of town.

Our first taste of the Greek life appropriately included saganaki, horiatiki, tzaziki, and calamari (I passed on the calamari...my fish/sealife phobia thing, ya know) all washed down with Ouzo.

Vacation rocks.

off

Off to Greece...I'll post if I can!
Later gators.

Me

This is what it looks like for a girl from
Southern Ohio, raised in a military family,
to shout "No Blood for Oil."