birthday wish...

Good Morning,

Good news. According to a U.K. psychologist, if you are reading this, you've made it through the "most depressing day of the year" --January 24th.

Better news...today is my birthday! (we gonna partee like it's my birfday!)

Interesting news. This time last year I was in Park City, Utah at the Sundance Film Festival. It is 18 degrees and cloudy there this morning...it is 34 here...


Good news. Many of these shows will be coming out on DVDs or in a warm cozy theater somewhere near me this year. I miss the excitement not the cold mountain air.

Let’s see…I’ve been a bit under the weather lately. Instead of my usual carousing, I watched the "Hope for Haiti" Telethon this weekend. Although I'm not sure what comfort it will bring to the Haitians to know Shakira will "Stand by..." them or that Taylor Swift is "Breathless" and waiting for them with open arms…

I do know that every disaster relief telethon should have a back-up tuba player!

The man's name is Damon "Tuba Gooding Jr." Bryson and he is what got me off the couch and to my computer to make my donation.



Mister Tuba Gooding Jr. is a Sousaphonist for the Roots, a jazzy hip hop band out of Philadelphia.

As I see it, the performances on this night were almost too good. The images of the Earthquakes unearthly wrecking ball power and the stories of survival for the brave orphaned children...indeed moved me to tears...

The contrast of the immortality assumed of "Superstars" and their unquestionable talent and beauty left me somehow too depressed to punch 1-800-HAITI...somehow it did not seem the time or place to phone in and hope for a chat with Sandra Bullock (come on come on!!!).

It was Tuba Gooding in this performance. It contained the moment that gave me hope. Shakira the seductive songstress known for her belly-dancing ways stood belting out a beauty of a ballad while a knee bouncing Tuba Gooding Jr...stood by her in the background... (he's most notable 2:52 into the clip)..



I felt happy and uplifted like life will go on...

There is an empowerment that comes from deep within after a moment of charitable giving. Filled with the high of hope and power of the community. I found there’s probably enough spark and energy after on-line donating to clean and put away laundry.

I sat back down on the couch.

Each performance held transference and symbolism. stretching the meaning of a song...

Beyonce was clever changing the lyric "Baby I can see your halo" to "Haiti we can see your halo..."

Madonna somehow turned sex into Third World advocacy with her provocative 1980’s hit "Like a Prayer."

Jennifer Hudson. a past American Idol and no stranger to tragedy herself… she is our Jack and Rose clinging to the raft..amidst a sinking Titanic!

Broke into a powerful rendition of the Beatles' “Let it Be.”

None of this was able to lift me out of the sea of funk. who can forget the images on the news?

"Aftershocks of 6.1 sent people with broken legs running into the street."

Once again lost in the belly of sadness I sat staring at the screen only to be rocked from complacency with the sighting of a big shiny brass bell. To the tune of a mellowing classic someone was going to add the toot of a tuba (i.e., sousaphone)?

I share this clip so you too can enjoy. May we all be filled today with the hope and joy of a dancing sousaphone that finds its way into a power ballad.



This is my b-day wish.

Amanda

5 reasons i would not remove my foot

Good Morning,

Interesting! Interesting!!! is all I have to say this morning...

Have I ever told you the story of my left foot? It's slightly less entertaining than the award winning drama "My Left Foot" (starring the Oscar winning performance of Daniel Day-Lewis...) okay, it's alot less entertaining. the central theme to my story goes--my foot hurts!

Following my injury, as soon as i regained the ability to walk a significant distance...I developed a very sharp stabbing pain in the ball of my left foot. Over the years, the pain has spread across the pad from big toe to pinky toe and crept the full length of the arch into my heel...

I have watched the movie "My Left Foot" and experienced inexplicable joy/relief as the young boy took to the wheelbarrow as a mode of assisted transportation...

It has been 19 yrs. and I cannot remember a day where my foot did not hurt.

Still in reflection, i consider it a moment of grace and clarity that i have never seriously considered the actions of Tom White. Tom White is a 55 year old dedicated runner who lives in rural Colorado.

(an excerpt taken from Runner's World Feb. 2009)

"For Tom White it was a different story. The choice he faced wasn’t life or death. It was life or better. With his natural leg,
he faced a future without running or hiking—the pursuits that animated his physical self. He felt fully alive, he was who he was, when his heart was pumping and his lungs were bellowing. Now he was considering cutting off a part of himself to retain that core identity. For Tom amputation didn’t look like a loss. It looked like a life regained--if everything went well..."

So...

Going after the feeling of once again being whole, Tom White decided, “You know I think it’s time to amputate my left foot!” That is, he requested surgery, a voluntary amputation, to remove his pained appendage.

In passing, I've made this same request. My loved ones have always responded with a concerned looked, a raised eyebrow, offers of help in seeking medical assistance...

Tom's wife's response was uh, a bit unexpected:

"Her reaction surprised him. 'Cool!' she said. She missed him as a running partner. But more than that, Tammy wanted to grow old with Tom—with him." (Runner's World)

Sooo...with his wife's blessing, Tom had the surgery. As the typical disability story goes, at first he struggled with the phantom pain, the prostheses, the multiple fittings, the missteps of his decision but in the end he triumphed over adversity!

This morning, on the day we set aside to celebrate the life and accomplishments of another great man. I stomp my foot in protest! I'm frustrated. shouldn’t Tom White be equally satisfied cultivating the inner life as well? Finding blessings in what he has…two kids, a wife, his health?

All this has lead me to one thing. simply to share the Top 5 Reasons why I would not have my foot removed:

1. elective surgery. no insurance company i have any knowledge of would ever cover this...i imagine asking the voice on the other line "uh, BKA (below the knee) amputation?"

2. Similarly, the Cheetah Flex-Foot estimated cost $22,500. After amputation, the key to regaining one's sporty or athletic lifestyle is acquiring a high performance prosthesis. i most definitely would want one of these:
http://www.ossur.com/?PageID=13462

so that i could then pose nude on the cover of ESPN the magazine:
http://www.shoppingblog.com/blog/10060917

i'm kidding! i'm kidding!

3. what would become of the amputated foot? not too long ago, the freezer in my apartment was dubbed the "baked good grave yard." i cannot part with anything someone has given to me (if i can't finish the entire cake etc. i put it in the freezer). throwing away my foot in the bio-hazard trashcan...the foot my parents gave me...just seems beyond my perhaps overly sentimental sensibilities. I suppose we could cremate it and stick it in an urn? labeled...do not empty until full?

4. i am at times soberingly realistic and practical. much like Tom White i would learn that a prosthetic foot requires a whole new gait. there's the very real possibility of unwanted falls and putting myself totally in a wheelchair before it's time.

5. i still have high hopes for this foot. i have a dream that one day my five little piggies will live on a foot where they will not be judged by the pain in their cores but on the content of their character...

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join feet [sic hands] and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

okay, Happy Monday. Happy MLK Day!

Amanda

the bread machine

Good Morning,

It is no secret that I am a bit lost in the kitchen. Perhaps this is why Morning Dad made a curious but MUCH appreciated purchase from my x-mas list this year. (The fact that I am for all good intent Buddhist and have a Christmas list is troubling, but I ask that we table this for now...)

While my brother's request for an iron (for clothes) raised an eyebrow, the bread machine had been purchased and wrapped...set apart from the tastefully stated gift bags, it's lack of subtlety clear.

"here." he said as he tentatively shoved the cumbersome load my way "use this."

AWESOME! Inside was exactly what I wanted, a BREAD MACHINE! wohoo! This morning I just wanted to reassure and share in a note the sincerity of my appreciation.

10 Reasons to Use a Bread Machine

1. There is nothing homier than the smell of freshly baking bread. (Unless your home smells like feet then I'm sorry for you and advise you to attend to larger issues). Instead of driving with the windows down in C-bus on 315 highway to get a whiff of the Wonder Bread factory i can now just open the door to the den/office and get whapped in face with the heavenly scent.

2. Everyone has an inner Martha (Stewart) worthy of expression. The bread machine provides the structure and support to maximize your feelings of success. The standard loaf is easy to make...like Jello you can create your little heart out by adding in any number or combination of fruits, twigs, seeds, nuts, and/or berries.

3. From my observations, I can say making bread from scratch is an exacting science. You've got to know just the right temp or when to add the yeast. I've witnessed as the best bread making efforts turned out dense baked products resembling gigantic leaded muffins. Somehow as if magic, the modern bread machine eliminates much of the guess work and produces a plump little loaf.

4. You can have a fresh loaf every day! Admittedly, I can not keep up with the output of my/our new machine...honey whole-wheat, brown sugar whole-wheat, cherry blueberry bread, flax-seed pumpkin wheat...i can't keep up with the output. This speaks to the bread machines alternate use. It is also an excellent winter food provider for your local backyard birds.

5. If you want to impress house guests at your Super Bowl party...with one easy recipe book you can even make your own pizza dough!

6. The next morning, no worries about too many dishes. The bread machine is simple to wash. Perhaps someone will want orange donuts made in your bread machine?

7. Making your own loaf of bread is something you can do at home in a robe before noon and still feel good about yourself.

8. Having your own bread machine is very Zen. Well, okay making your own bread (by hand) is very Zen. There's even a very well known Tassajara Bread Book some Bodhisattvas have used as the entry way into their practice.

Ed Brown the book's author says,

"When you knead bread, you're kneading all the channels and acupuncture points in your hands. Whether or not you call that a spiritual benefit or just a physiological one, doing something with your hands is just incredibly invigorating to your whole body.''

I like to imagine that I hold all the world in one finger tip. whala and push the button.

9. Excitement every 3 hours or if you need more try the 58min. express setting!!! The winter gets long. Cabin fever is tough. Even your cat will enjoy as her people spring to life with the simple dinging of a bell timer. "ooooo, the bread's done! the bread's done! Let's go see the bread!..."

10. And lastly, a well-functioning, moderately priced bread machine is a simple way to eat healthier for the new year.

Happy Monday (on a Tuesday)

Amanda
Breadisattva in Training

life as planned

Good Morning,

The New Year is here a time for great reflection...Does the Perfect Fit button really work?



aaanyway... : )

I always hesitate to put forth any meaningful resolutions because I've clung to a significant date...January 3, 1991. On that day, I learned very quickly that life does not always go according to plan. i learned to appreciate the POWER of nature's forces and the strength of the human body.

For nineteen years, I've clung to the certainty of what is gone of what i miss...(i mean come on i learned it all 19 years ago...e = mc (squared) and you cannot push on a rope).

Today, I'm learning to look at life more through the eyes of spirit? In my studies I've learned there are at least four reflections that help wake us up to life...right now in the hodgepodge of my head i can only think of one...

these video clips remind me to stop and look deeply. both taken in winter. (one in Kansas the other in SoCal...) perfect beauty is already here.

winter birds from Amanda Vallo on Vimeo.

Happy Monday,

Amanda

p.s. my favorite part of the infomercial is the young boy/yellow shirt who has outgrown his pants. i also enjoy that they come in jeans...etc. if no one WILL EVER NOTICE!!! why the need for different colors? annnd like what if you're getting intimate? won't they notice you've got double buttons on your pants??? sorry. okay, now i'm done...