Heading to Los Angeles

29May2007 Filed under: Trip Out

While I sit here navel gazing until I become the psychological equivalent of a klein bottle, I would like to inform you that posting may be slight this week because I’m heading to Los Angeles tomorrow night. While there, I intend to mostly talk, smoke, and laze about in the sun with friends not thinking about all the stuff that’s been driving me batty lately* — but I’ll also be doing two readings:

SATURDAY
7:30pm Offbeat Bride reading and drunken farewell to my book tour
@ Tangier Lounge, more info here

SUNDAY
8pm LA Angst reading (like the Salon of Shame, but with more sun!)
@ The Liquid Kitty, more info here

*Sample discussion re: me being batty:
Me: Whine whine whine!
Andreas: Uh, we should all be so lucky to have those problems, Ariel. These are problems of abundance.
Me: … DOES THAT MAKE THEM NOT PROBLEMS!? [returns to sullenly sipping Cristal by the infinity pool]

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4 Responses to “Heading to Los Angeles”

amy.leblanc
May 30th, 2007 at 12:11 am

what dre calls problems of abundance, i call “first world problems”, and whenever i start bitching about them i try to catch myself. if that doesn’t get rid of them (r at least force me to stop complaining after a large dose of perspective), then, i don’t try to make myself stop thinking of them as not being problems (cuz they are if you think they are), but of much less significance than i was formerly putting on them.
have fun in lalalalalalala…..
Therese, Air's Mom
May 30th, 2007 at 10:34 am

A zen approach to “problems of abundance” is to immerse oneself in the here and now fully. “Problems” are mostly mental stories we tell ourselves rather than a real-life thing we have to deal with. However, our powers to manifest are tremendous, so if you “think” you have problems, no doubt you will start manifesting some. My ‘moods’ are where my problems come from–my mind wants to make a problem with something just because I’m feeling anxious or depressed for no good reason. Amy has some good advice –really! My favorite anti-dote is to focus on something I really enjoy like listening to the birdsong or delighting in the warm sun. Focusing on good things in the REAL world helps dispel the problems…..

HAPPY FULL MOON SUMMER DAY Ariel!
Ariel
May 30th, 2007 at 10:48 am

Thanks for the thoughts, Amy & Mom. One point of clarification: “Abundance” in this case doesn’t necessarily mean money.

Also, I’m not being completely fair to myself … some of the issues I’ve been wrestling with have nothing to do with having too much.

That said, I’m keenly (neurotically?) aware that my life in many ways is blessed and wonderful. It doesn’t negate the blues, however. In fact, in many ways it makes them even more complicated.
Ben Haley
May 30th, 2007 at 10:18 pm

good luck in the L of A, my friend. the end of the tour is at hand! woohoo?

Hey there. I'm Ariel Meadow Stallings, a native Seattleite who's written my way up and down the Left Coast. Electrolicious is where I post daily randomata, but I also write for a living. My first book, Offbeat Bride, was published last year.

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