5 May 2026 Tuesday

i've fallen behind with this journal again. 

things have felt pretty difficult, and also we did 
some traveling. we were on a road trip / camping in
ohio from friday afternoon through sunday evening. 
we went to see (again) a guitarist formerly from 
e's favorite band, on a solo tour. we attended a 
different stop of the tour in the city nearest us
the week prior. e had wanted to camp outdoors, but
i looked and saw the weather was going to be very
cold, and i booked us a cabin at a state park just
twenty minutes north of the venue. 

i believe friday was a full moon. it looked that
way when we got back to the park after the show. 
the moon was brilliant and clear in the still 
sky. 

anyway, today i had my last class of this series 
of ceramics. we did our glazing. i only had two 
pieces. a flowerpot with an attached plate and a
little drain, and a very small squat vase that i 
think i will use for incense. it's always very 
exciting to see how the glazes come out. our 
teacher said they should be fired and ready for
us to pick up by monday. i decided to sign up for
another round of the class, six more weeks, which
will begin in a few weeks, near the end of the month.

yesterday i went and picked up a used washburn "rover"
travel guitar. it has a full-size neck and six steel
strings. i believe its top is rosewood, and the sides
mahogany. i can't find anything about a rosewood edition, 
but in 2015 the catalogue showed they had some 'rare wood'
editions, including spalted maple and zebrawood, as well
as cedar and rosewood. the cedar and rosewood had a 
cedar top and rosewood sides, and its model number ended
with RWC. mine ends with just RW, and is from 2014. mine
doesn't look like any of the newer versions with spruce 
tops (natural or dyed), and it doesn't look like the 
cedar top model. i bought it used from a man who said 
he'd bought it for his grandson to learn with, but his
grandson hadn't touched it. it's really lovely and 
considering how small it is, i think it has a pleasing
sound. i read that rosewood is supposed to provide 
warmer tones, and it does seem that way to me. i'm
excited to have something for practice when traveling 
and/or camping, etc. 

yesterday was the last watercolor class of the course
that e and i were taking it together. he only made it
to two of the four classes--the first and the last. one
he missed because of travel, and one he missed because
of emotional stuff. i got a lot out of the class, and
hope to continue with watercolor. i think it's a good
medium for me to practice being more spontaneous and 
flowing, as i can tend towards debilitating perfectionism
at times. dancing is one place where i am able to fully
let that go, and be in the moment. i am finding that the
more i practice with bringing that mode of being into 
other activities, the easier it becomes. i want to 
keep at it. 

while driving around for work appointments, i listened
to a podcast about the monroe institute and the 
gateway program. in particular, a reading-through of
declassified documents. it has to do with the nature
of consciousness and the universe. the podcast is 
called 'third ear drops.' the speaker went to a retreat
at the monroe institute and through the gateway program,
experienced an out-of-body experience (OBE). it also 
connects with holographic universe theory, bohm, etc.
as well as ancient eastern religions and nondual 
philosophies.