Kort got all Ram Dass on me this morning in the car. "Be Here Now." One would think that this invocation would have some effect on me. I think my recent (ok, so it hasn't been recent, it's been ever since we got here last Fall) irritation has been a gradual awakening to the reality that I am FINALLY accepting (as I prepare to depart on retreat next month) that we will be here in Dallas for an indeterminate amount of time upon my return. Rich Park Cities kids, stabbings in Deep Ellum, bad cowboy fashion, the worst urban planning EVER, very little alternative culture, a struggling lit scene, PhD programs that are laughable, etc. etc. Ok, there are good things like the shop in Snider Plaza where you can buy individual cupcakes and Whiterock Lake and Priya Yoga Studio training and total life cleansing and Belle Invito letterpress studio and a farmer's market where you can get organic strawberries, and people like Karen X, but if only we lived in a bubble which we don't. On the plus side, my best friend's father-in-law lives in Plano and perhaps she can be convinced to relocate. Community is everything.