We finished the second Jurassic Giants camp by "exploding" volcanos all over our table, using the baking soda/vinegar method, mixed with enough red food coloring to make the porch around our table resemble the scene of some horrific slaughter. The kids all screamed so loud with excitement that people came out of the center to make sure everybody was all right. I also did an animal program with the other Jurassic Giants instructor. She brought her coffee drinking cockatoo, Jackie Chan, and I brought my Water Monitor, who made Jackie Chan so nervous that he puffed up his feathers in order to make himself look like he was of inedible size.

On thursday, M. and I went up to Oakland to see the live debut of Om, who are a duo consisting of Al and Chris, late of the band Sleep. The amplification was excessive in all the right ways, with enough snarling bass and crashing drums to completely satisfy everybody's need for loudness. In addition to seeing Al, who I've known since he was a kid and worked with at two different jobs, and Chris, who I hadn't seen in a decade or so, I ran into Doug, who I used to sing backing vocals with in a band that was fronted by one of my current co-workers, Mary, who we had last seen in Toronto and had just gotten back from the 32,000 mile solo road trip that had taken her there, Jeff, who I hadn't seen since last year's Current 93 shows in San Francisco, and Allan, who I had worked with at Tower Books nearly a decade ago, and who was just recovering from a botched vasectomy that had left him unable to wear pants. Lots of talking was done. Especially interesting was the fact that Doug lives up in Willits (am I spelling that right?) at the end of a 30 minute drive down a dirt road, in a small community where everybody actually cooperates with one another. It was good to see all of these people again.
We also popped up to Berkeley, where I got into a discussion about hair with an old hippie who just happened to be walking the same way as us. His hair was actually a good foot longer than mine, which is unusual.

Okay, I'd better publish this before the computer freezes up and I have to start over again. Goodnight.