tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47328227259645764112024-03-12T21:40:31.104-07:00Park Bench DailyMy name is Pema. Life runs away with me sometimes. And "Daily" is a state of mind.Pemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.comBlogger417125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-81712629676462149272010-05-25T09:40:00.000-07:002011-08-05T09:48:16.104-07:00CuredIdentity discovered. Follow along on Story Charmer. It's the Bench and more.(Post title is linked to the new site.)xoPemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-91649672564602976912009-12-26T10:59:00.000-08:002009-12-26T11:13:42.227-08:00Identity CrisisHi Folks, I'm having an identity crisis. I started this blog way back when to practice public writing. Being out there, getting out there with what I think, how I write. It was a personal challenge then, to be open and naked on the park bench. Then I went freelance, started selling my name and my services, and all over again, I weigh my personal stories and observations against what I "should" orPemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-54519809538309196622009-12-25T09:56:00.000-08:002009-12-27T10:07:41.403-08:00I'm an entrepreneurHey Guess What.The very cool entrepreneur of Upstart Smart, Amber Singleton-Riviere, interviewed 26 women entrepreneurs, and included me in her e-Book, One Entrepreneur's Journey: 26 Stories from Women on the Road.Check it out.Pemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-53743597752898157882009-11-11T09:05:00.000-08:002009-12-26T15:27:08.331-08:00Made UpToday is my step-mom's birthday. We don't generally get along. Or rather...maybe we don't specifically get along, but do okay as long as we keep it general. In honor of Mom's bday, here's a specific memory that keeps floating in like a recurring dream. When I was little, I liked to watch her put on her make-up. I would sit on the toilet seat lid while she stood at the vanity and put mascara on Pemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-34012774292024819382009-11-08T13:47:00.000-08:002009-11-08T14:04:28.274-08:00Oh My GoshThis song is arresting. I was following the packall swallowed in their coatswith scarves of red tied ’round their throatsto keep their little headsfrom fallin’ in the snowAnd I turned ’round and there you goAnd, Michael, you would falland turn the white snow red as strawberriesin the summertimeOriginal by Fleet Foxes. Any way you hear it, holy cow:"Everything is transitory. Still, every thing is.Pemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-80751361609154753412009-11-06T16:13:00.001-08:002009-11-06T16:14:07.929-08:00Unfortunate Web AddressPemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-17233339752423636752009-11-04T12:50:00.001-08:002009-11-04T13:02:40.757-08:00Funny Thing to ForgetI'm in the business of interviews. Often, I record calls with clients, then transcribe them to work with the content. Today's Realization: I like hearing my voice on a recording. Outside of me. Speaking at a time when my own attached mouth is no longer moving. I like to listen to myself talk. It reassures me that I exist. I guess it's like looking in a mirror to see where I stand, what I'm Pemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-38413274106784458962009-11-02T18:23:00.000-08:002009-11-02T18:32:11.304-08:00Part DudeREGINA: Do you have any snacks?(Opens fridge. Looks at PEMA. Laughs.)PEMA: Augi opens that and says, "You're not like any woman I've ever met."REGINA: Doesn't he know? You're part dude!*Pemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-88946459346408977542009-10-18T14:41:00.000-07:002009-10-18T14:44:21.205-07:00Work + Whidbey Island = Novel FeelingPemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-2738938792682423892009-10-07T15:37:00.000-07:002009-10-07T16:01:49.295-07:00What the Body KnowsYe olde break-up and ye olde therapist have had me circled by events past, so much so that I don't know which way to turn to transform them. Ye olde writing teacher says that you have to create chaos in your story so that it can then be ordered. In recent weeks, when I turn to what I know to order chaos in my current life story, I see a shadow or a skeleton looming at me, saying, "wanna fix that?Pemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-2025279537502823932009-10-02T13:43:00.000-07:002009-10-02T13:54:20.094-07:00LiberatedMy first trip to San Francisco, I was 19 and found a 1st ed. The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand. I was blissed out at a coffee bar, belly-up and as far from suburbia as I had ever been. A guy asked me what I got. I held the book in its thin paper bag like it was my dead mother's last possession, recently unearthed. I was embarrassed to tell him it was Ayn Rand, San Francisco being such a liberal city,Pemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-26088455909981007332009-09-16T12:22:00.000-07:002009-09-16T12:30:34.543-07:00Chutes & LaddersI read this in a newsletter sent by author and energy psychologist, Gloria Arenson. Funny timing. Yesterday my therapist sang me the last sentence in the passage. I didn't even have to pay extra for the singing. I'm thinking of asking him to do some singing telegrams for a select few people on my list. Life Is A GameMy five year-old grand-daughter likes to play Chutes and Ladders. As I was Pemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-54892117675418135412009-09-15T09:39:00.000-07:002009-09-15T09:47:14.638-07:00CharacterI knew a guy who woke up and steeped six bags of Earl Grey in his first cup of tea. And then three more in his second. Daily. I wanted to give him a bottle of bergamot and some caffeine tablets so he could eat them in a paste.Pemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-60904221107526865192009-09-14T13:09:00.000-07:002009-09-15T09:47:52.304-07:00Character DefinitionI'm looking at my blog's cast of characters thinking it's time to change it again. I don't write about Allen, the guy I dated a minute, anymore. Grams makes the blog a fair amount, but Nico is so far away, and Suzy. I'm afraid if I move them from the cast list, I will be sad. And my cast will be really small. I don't write small cast productions. I write really really big ones, and then get askedPemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-5329570965887904712009-09-11T11:40:00.000-07:002009-09-11T15:52:24.723-07:00Sounds from a Town I LoveRemembering 9/11 on 9/11.Woody Allen made a short for Concert for NY, a free show at Madison Square Garden for NY's emergency and civic workers, and families of those who died in the attacks. Love letter in a time of loss. Pemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-4136760371431936902009-09-04T09:49:00.000-07:002009-09-04T10:16:15.567-07:00World Smiles With YouYou know how it's all exciting when you have a new boyfriend, and you go around saying, my new boyfriend this and my new boyfriend that? Yeah. Me not so much either. I don't know if I ever said, "My new boyfriend." In any case, I do have a new ex. Today, as it stands. For the sake of conversation. I do. And that makes him all new again. My new ex this and my new ex that. Ohmigod! Y'know?So, Pemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-86449460336586051312009-09-02T14:58:00.000-07:002009-09-02T15:09:39.590-07:00Awake.Geoffrey Smith, director of "The English Surgeon," says the purpose of the brain surgery patient being awake during surgery is to be the last valve of safety, to save themselves, potentially, from the doctor inadvertently slicing away "1968," in other words, slicing away whole swaths of memories. Awake. Save your memories. Save what you know. And others of us so willing to give them away in orderPemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-53726096656800373752009-09-02T12:23:00.000-07:002009-09-02T14:29:14.912-07:00Tell Me LiesBeen thinking about truth. Trust. Honesty. Lies. The absolute need for some of us to have the absolute truth. I've always said I'm best with information. Just give it to me. Wondering if my need for the truth, always the WHAT HAPPENED? is me depending on others to make decisions for me: If I can trust you completely, I can make solid moves in my life, based on what you've said. If I can't trust Pemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-82210916005540226342009-08-31T21:57:00.000-07:002009-08-31T22:05:03.401-07:00Powers of PerceptionPower animal—Chameleonby Amy Katz, MA— www.schooloflivingdreams.comThe power animal for September is the chameleon....Subtle shifts in physiology, emotions, climate and camouflage-needs can cause the cells of this sensitive-skinned reptilian to alter pigmentation. It is both a joy and an amazement to see them turn from brown to green, yellow to blue and back again...he proves that our bodies are Pemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-65095151184122537432009-08-31T21:41:00.000-07:002009-08-31T21:45:11.740-07:00Dinner of ChampionsCourse 1: Chocolate pudding Course 2: Corn chips and salsaCourse 3: Corn chips and hummusBachelor(ette) living.Pemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-37216886359973043952009-08-30T21:14:00.000-07:002009-08-30T21:20:35.178-07:00Life is goodHomemade chicken soup. Night music from KCRW.com.And patience. A whole hell of a lot of it, asking me to have perspective, because who knows what's to come? Ever?Healthy. Sane. Housed. Employed. Fed. Loved. Life is good.And Pollyanna grew up to be my Grandma. That shit is genetic.Pemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-5503126764428767342009-08-26T23:35:00.000-07:002009-08-26T23:44:09.377-07:00Quiet pulseWhile u hear silence, I hear my ears ringing and traffic out my window on the 405. It doesn't stop. Nor does the ringing. Indiscretions in tact and one more thing in my ears: Your silence will not protect you. -Adrienne RichPemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-47546549149764406502009-08-25T21:58:00.000-07:002009-08-25T22:03:52.787-07:00GrandI'm at a bar.After indiscretions have been made. Not by me. Tally ho, motherfucker.Pemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-33770537445880946002009-08-24T12:58:00.000-07:002009-08-24T13:18:52.237-07:00Home. Ish.Coming up on a year here in Portland. I arrived Sept 7 last year. I'm finally feeling inklings of settling in, feeling like everything is not new anymore...even the ways that I think. When I've felt anxious about being new here, still unsettled, I have remembered people saying it takes a year to get used to a place. To feel at home. A different friend said otherwise yesterday. He said, "Pemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732822725964576411.post-2132573177839417752009-08-21T08:09:00.000-07:002009-08-21T08:23:05.706-07:00I am (hardly) the very definition of discipline.8:09am and so far a few distractions. The beeping outside my window at 7am. What the? I went outside for a walk to check it out and discovered it is temporary. Two guys on an airlift, prepping the building next door for paint. In parts of my neighborhood, there are garage doors that sound off a nerve-wracking beeping every time a car goes through. Imagine living above that? I had to go scout the Pemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13322572518468324244noreply@blogger.com0