The Inaugural Days We Won't Forget

I have been busy since I got back Friday but I thought I would just drop a photo down on this here blog and say a couple words about the inauguration. An in-depth story shall follow.

A. It was the coldest weather I have ever been in for 16 hours straight.
B. Wearing 4 pairs of socks doesn't matter, toes freeze no matter what.
C. I met more amazing people in 3 days than I ever have before.
D. I still haven't seen the inauguration at all.
E. I saw Barack from the parade side, and he stepped out of his limo and walked on down the line.
F. Micilin, Steph, and Jacob saved our souls.

Here's 5am on January 20th, 2009. At 7th and E Streets in "line" to get past security.

Barack it like it's hot!

Hi friends. That's Art's slogan by the way.
It's real early on the morning of the 19th and the reason I am blogging is because I am kind of forcing myself to stay up and I needed to think of something to keep my interest and so I thought I might describe the things that are about to take place!

We are headed off to DC tomorrow.....and a long day of 2 plane rides and 1 train ride. We got super cheap tickets from Expedia, but those can often involve 1 stop in the middle of nowhere and a transfer....and these do!
But anyhoo, we shall arrive in DC at midnight and once we get there we plan on not sleeping for about 24 hours. So I am trying to swing my sleep cycle into another direction so that I can sleep while traveling tomorrow.

About a year and a half ago I had a dream at night that I was with a small group of people, musical revolutionary types and good friends, in the middle of the night, in the middle of a big city, running around with excitement under overpasses and through tunnels into music halls and meetings and gatherings....and it was all for Barack Obama. When I woke up there was a very magical feeling that I had, one of purpose and love and revolution and politics...all mingled. I wondered if I should go on some kind of musical Obama tour...or work on his campaign....or something/ anything! This was like August 2007. I ended up not doing anything really HUGE about Obama, but believe me I promoted him in the best way I could to everyone I met and as much as possible. And I researched his history, his campaign, his personality, and I posted a bunch of myspace bulletins about the primaries - practically BEGGING the young kids to get out and vote, as the elections came to each state- and I remember the joy as he slowly took the ones no one thought he could.....and I just crossed my fingers that he would beat Hilary. I don't know why I liked him so much better. For the most part, I would have to say it was a gut instinct. I know that real politicians and scholars would kill me for such a notion and, what with all the other bullshit that goes on in this misguided world, I don't care. I think intuition should be the first thing we base our actions on, and book knowledge and media and such can come second and can verify if our gut instincts are correct. And sometimes they aren't, but often times they ARE. I am a big believer in the workings of things that are invisible. And besides- I knew Obama's differences in policy issues, especially on health care and true justice and taxes. And he seemed more down-to-earth and truly in touch with parts of our world that people like Hilary Clinton had only ever seen from a fancy bulletproof windshield. I loved that about him. And I loved that his father was from Kenya. And I love that Kenya believed in him from before he was even Senator, and so very strongly did they.

Anyhow, it is now January 18th. And in a few short hours I will be on my way, along with 3 of my most favorite magicians in the world, to the other side of our nation to witness his Swearing In as our 44th President. My little night dream is going to come true. I can feel it. I have had a couple of dreams that have come true before, and I know that this is one of those ones. The feeling that was in that dream is about to be in my flesh and blood bones real life! I am so so excited. And to be with Heather and Joey and Emily....who else to be more courageous counterparts in the face of sleep deprivation and jet lag and claustrophobia and no toilets and freezing weather?!!! I can't wait I can't wait! I am actually stoked to be an American.

I know things won't change overnight with Obama, but I know that they will be PRESSURED to change in a way that WILL be realized. Things already have changed. The faces of our country are more optimistic and more inspired. It will take action on all of our parts, but, thank the dear kind lord, I finally have the motivation to take some action and not feel that it would be COMPLETELY IN VAIN, as I have the last 8-12 years. We can do something about things. And MAN, how things are going to change! For the good of all.

What kind of revolution for this 2000 sign?

Happy New 2009! It's ice where I am. Where Heather and I are.

We happen to be cozy in a tiny little home in Provo, Utah, of all places on the planet! I haven't been to Utah in some time, and it's completely different-looking with all this whiteness. It's like we are in Alaska, and I kind of like that. It's industrial looking and wild looking, and I absolutely love those feelings. We are here with my brother Matt and his beauteous amazing wife Amy, and their 3 adorable children, Jarom, Bella, and Orion (O-ey) for those of you who don't know my family so well (just in case this blog ever makes the big time or something? what the heck am I talking about.) Most of you, clearly, if you know me, you know my family. My wild and wonderful Beatty family.
Anyways, Matt and Amy are so inspiring to be around because they can take an ordinary day and make it jam-packed with at least 10 great little adventures. In this one day, January 5th, I have had so many of them! I guess it's the 6th now, as it is quite late, but for me it's still the same long day. .... So earlier tonight, even in the middle of a practical whiteout, we all decided to go roller skating, after a bunch of other fun little adventures and errands and such. It was so much fun to put on the skates and be rollin' with the tiny ones. It was family night, which meant all 7 of us got in for ten bucks! Heather bought our admission because she had fancied rollerskating at a rink for a couple days and hoped we would do it. I have so many more pictures....but that blog will be for the writings I make when I get home. We skated round and round, completely bailed a few times, won a game as a family with Oey as the center skater, and played ski ball to boot. We even won about 130 tickets at the game arcade so the kids got to pick out lots o prizes afterwards! Amy played this one game "Let's Make A Deal" and did fantastic at it! Too bad it wasn't a casino, she would have won like 5,000 dollars or something. But just as exciting in the land of families, she won 70 tickets all at once which is kind of like unheard of! I love being around this family because it helps me to realize just how lazy my internet-obsessed self is while at home. I need to get in the practice of GETTING OFF MY BUM! Because if this little family can make adventure happen, well then so can I! Even if it's just in the form of going to get an ice cream, or go to the library, or to go take a walk in the leaves or snow, or practice music for 2 hours, or write a blog, or WHATEVER...I just must learn to spend my time more wisely. Amy says having kids MAKES you spend your time much much more wisely, because you have so precious little of it free! Perhaps having a lil baby will one day help me out. But I am not sure quite WHEN I will make the leap into WANTING to get pregnant and have a fam. It's gonna happen. I might just be 35 before it does! Until then, at least I can hope I LOOK 26 and not my grand old age of THIRTY THREE. Yikesers. ANd besides, for now, these are the kinds of CRAZILY immature things swimming through my grand old mind:

Facebook is a really weird new thing. Through it I have gotten in touch with so many people that I never would have seen again. It's bizarre. I remember growing up thinking how our parents must be so sad to not see their friends from high school ever, or even KNOW WHERE THEY LIVED anymore. Our generations are so lucky to be a part of the birth of the internet...to communicate with each other for entire lifetimes, to have our fingers on the pulse of each other's adventures and trials and errors and magicalnesses. To wonder how random it is the people we even know in the first place, or how we may have crossed paths the very first time and why. Just being in school is the answer to that question for most people. And I suppose that's true. But I went to 8 different schools growing up so I met alot of people on the move! The longest time I spent at a school was my run at El Dorado High School, and I feel lucky for that- for being in the scariest of my adolescent glow with the same people for 4 years. But before that it was kindergarten and 1st at Conway Elementary in Escondido, 2nd, 3rd and half of 4th at North Broadway Elementary in Escondido, 4th and half of 5th at Arlington Elementary in Citrus Heights, 5th at Citrus Heights School, 6th at Carriage School, Sylvan Junior High for 2 weeks of 7th, then Churchill Junior High, and then El Dorado High School. Needless to say, I don't remember or know alot of people that I knew when I was 5.

Sometimes I think I have a real problem remembering faces. I kind of have these ideas that we all have bar-graphed-out allotments of amounts of certain things we can handle in this life....and then when your bar graph amount maxes out....well your just kind of screwed then. Like you can only drink so much before you become and actual alcoholic or something. And after you get to that point it only takes one sip of a drink...and you just start being alcoholic. Because you used up your freebie get out of karma free cards or something. Not all things are measured in this way (as far as MY own theory goes), it's different for everyone. Some people can drink tons their whole lifetimes and they never max out or become alcoholics. Some people can travel to 6 countries before they are maxed out on traveling and others can travel their whole lives without ever losing that sparkle of sheer appreciation for differences in people and lands.....For me, I think I had a limited amount of faces I could take in before I just got maxed out on face-memory. It's a real problem, and I am the last person on earth that is rude or stuck up, but I KNOW sometimes that I have known someone (even quite well) and then two years later I have no idea how I know them. Or I meet someone like NINE times and I tell them "no, I don't think we have ever met" and then they say (pretty annoyedly) "ummm....yes we have, I've met you like NINE times." (this has happened) and it's totally lame and I feel like I have Alzheimer's or something. But it's a completely different story with going places. I can drive into a town for the very first time and two years later I will remember how all the streets go and where the bakery is and where to find the comic book shop and where the subways meet up. Help!

Anyways, what a rant! It's just that this happens more and more and only WORSENS as I travel more and more, play shows, go on adventures, and meet more and MORE PEOPLE! The worse thing ever is when I know THAT I KNOW SOMEONE, I recognize them....sitting at my restaurant, or walking toward me down the street, and not only that I KNOW THAT I USED TO REALLY HANG OUT WITH THEM! and yet I can't place how I know them or what we did together or anything. What the h??????? My bar graph for new faces....all MAXED out. Maybe God is trying to tell me something? Like....stop traveling and meeting new people and stop playing shows and just shut up and have your own family already???!!!

Who knows.

I just don't know what kind of girl I am.
I know I am a country girl, and I want to be a stylish girl, but for all I know I am completely 100 percent dork-out-of-it and no hipness whatsoever.
I feel to be the gyspy type, a traveler of dashing new ideas and romance and modern things, but I also feel like an old homebody grandma, tired for a cup of tea, holding my cats on my bed, never wanting to leave the WARMthhhh..
I feel like I am lucky in love, that my life is rich in every beautiful way, but perhaps I am just a poor old fool, destined for poverty forever and a life of hearth and beat-up cars.
I thought I was a musician, writing songs of hope and true love to cut the edges of the world back with fierceness and some semblance of courage....but perhaps I am just a failed teenager, a dreamer of nothingness, an insecure mess of grasping-at-straws and fears of being boring.
I imagined I'd have a family of my own by now, but perhaps I am just a selfish bastard, frittering away my giving heart on dancing and parties and other youthful whims of futile.
I know I could have done anything and I believe I could have succeeded, the choices lay like littered paths around me- and I feel I have chosen the best one for me, but I don't know what that path is when looking at it, or what others see especially. It kind of looks like nothing.

I can't say I am a lawyer or a mother, a politician or a graduate, a famous singer or a philosopher of great regard. I can't say I can fly to Hawaii tomorrow, or go to Japan, or swim in the Mediterranean, for I barely have a dime to my name.

This is not depression or regret, confusion or distress.....this only me wondering, what am I?

I think more than I know what I am, I know what I WOULD LIKE TO STILL BECOME.
Some main ones..........
A promoter of true love, by ways that are true to my own happiness because I think you cannot promote true love if you don't love your own life with straight VIGOR.
An activist for children and world poverty.
A singer of great braveness.
A mother of childlike attributes and holy nurturing.
A traveler so that I can converse with wisdom with anyone in the world.
An absolutely good friend, in the true-est of ways.

I must sleep now.
Thanks to any dear lover who's been readin'

Your GOOD FRIEND,
adie