Epic Sea Voyage

YAY!!!!

It's my last day at work for an entire eight days!!! SO and I are joining my family on a cruise to the Bahamas in celebration of Oma's 80th birthday.
Last year was my very first cruise (to Cozumel, Mexico) and I dreaded it. A cruise seemed so horrible to me--what do you do all day? I love to drink, but I don't get wasted (affects my vertigo); I don't enjoy shopping (the many little gift shops, etc. on the boat); I cannot bring myself to gamble any more than $2; public pools/hottubs do not interest me at all; muscial numbers (the shows!) are usually terrible; etc. etc. And retrospectively I couldn't tell you what I did all day (aside from grossing my sister out and reading) but I had tons of fun--plus, THE FOOD!!
Oh-my-god. My foodie-ness has not fully been conveyed. I. LOVE. LOVE. FOOD. There is nothing I will not try, and I appreciate all types. Last year I had escargot and Baked Alaska for the first time. The Baked Alaska I wasn't so impressed by, it didn't live up to my expectations. However the escargot was DELICIOUS! The closest description I can come up with for escargot is that it is some bizarre cross between mushrooms and calamari.
Also last year I was able to go scuba diving in the 2nd largest great reef in the world--which was BEYOND AMAZING.
We've got a show to go to tonight, packing tomorrow, and we leave on Sunday morning.
YAY!! Oh, Boy!!! and all sorts of other exciting words.

: )

should be something more interesting...

here's a little meme for you:
(plans to type a catch-up book reviews are there, but growing longer every week)

*What's your favorite flavor of popsicle?
the strawberry fruit (made with real juice) ones--so so so good!!!

*Last time you were pulled over, what was it for?
a few months ago, to tell me that my tags had expired SEVEN MONTHS PRIOR!!!

*Have you ever felt an earthquake?
yes, and as I'm in east tennessee and it was at 2am, it scared me shitless

*Do you cook or go out for food more often?
LOVE to cook, baby and I both do (lucky us!)

*How many people have you kissed?
I have absolutely no idea...suffice to say, a lot.

*Do you believe in karma?
most definitely

*Are you an organ donor?
yup yup yup

*Bubble gum or mint gum?
depends on my mood; and what I've recently eaten

*When was the last time you had a bloody nose?
too long ago to remember

*Do you look for mistakes while you watch movies?
I don't look for them, but I do notice some.

*Do you keep a condom in your purse/wallet?
don't need to, I love birth-control and my mate

*When someone hurts you, do you get revenge?
I don't plan on ways to hurt them...but I do believe in karma; and besides, very few people have ever hurt me anyway.

*Do you know anyone who's a stripper?
I have met strippers, but none of my friends are strippers.

*Have you ever had surgery?
Luckily, no.

*How many pieces of green clothing do you own?
WAY too many to count--it's one of my all-time favourite colours.

*Beer, wine, or liquor?
WINE!!!! and then most liquors but never beer.

*Do you ever go to the public library?
religiously.

*Have you ever participated in a science fair?
yup, I've even placed. I do not remember the place nor the experiment.

*Do you love someone but can't tell them?
If you're on my list of loved ones, you definitely know about it.

*What's something you misplace all the time?
my keys, my wallet, my bag, my book....basically anything I touch--I'm nearly unbelievably absent-minded.

*Are you claustrophobic?
nope. spelunking is one of my favourite memories.

*How many keys do you have on your key ring?
tons; so many that I have a large carabiner to hold my FOUR key rings (all with muliple keys)

*What toppings do you put on your hamburger?
mayo, dark brown mustard, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, cheese, bacon, etc.

*Have you ever gone apple picking?
nope, I've collected apples from an apple tree in my parent's yard; but never a trip per se

*Do you own a bicycle?
yes, and I do not use it near often enough

*Do you take a daily vitamin?
nope, probably should.

*Do you recycle?
when possible

*Do you know CPR?
no, only the theory, so please please please don't test me on it

*Have you ever locked your keys in your car?
yes. so many times that three people have a spare key to my car.

*Do you know how to find any constellations?
only a few

*Do you peel your oranges or slice them?
usually peel, but I've been known to do both

*When is the last time you washed your car?
oh, wow...umm, an embarrassingly long time ago

*Do you like funny greeting cards or sappy ones?
definitely funny--I like very few sappy things in my life

*Do you have a bandaid anywhere on your body right now?
nope. but I probably should have at least two --I'm pretty rough on my hands

*Do you have tattoos or piercings in any naughty places?
naughty places? like my genitalia? nope, they're working fine without any alterations.

*Do you lie about your weight?
I don't even know my weight, so there's no way I can lie about it.

*Have you ever had to do jury duty?
thank god, no. and if I'm lucky, I'll never have to in my podunk town.

*Where did you go on your last road trip?
was it to Asheville? or, it might've been to a small town west of Nashville...but in a few days I'm going to Atlanta for a roller coaster extravaganza!!!

*Do you shop at yard sales?
all the time, it's a sickness.

*How often do you use q-tips?
nearly daily, and in ways they are not supposed to be used...

*Have you ever planted a tree?
just seedlings

*Is your handwriting sloppy or neat?
my handwriting is different, it's bold and black and large and is usually described as loopy/artsy/"cool" but I don't think I'd call it clean

*Do you have a gym membership?
no, haven't for several years, but I miss it--there's just not a gym close enough to my home now.

*Do you have any weird pets?
my pet is weird, but I don't think that's the same thing--I've always ALWAYS wanted to own a snake and one day that dream will become a reality.

*White or wheat bread?
fo sho, wheat.

getting warmer!!!

I am so mad at myself--not really, just minorly irritated; I had so many plans to keep up with this silly blog--to get me back into the habit of journaling--something I used to do so very consistently and now it's only every few months. I thought being an electronic media, it might be easier for me to stay up-to-date. ah well.....
There's no time even now for catch-up. Baby-girl is gone on tour again, as she will be more and more frequently as summer approaches. I get so used to seeing her daily that I quite miss her now. Even with her occasional bouts of melancholy, she's very quickly become a dear little staple in my life. But, with her gone, this means I'm way behind on work--as the owners of my job have two small children and cannot really accomplish much when they're working.
There's still lots of good in my life, SO's still around, not going on tour, so that's been lovely. We're trying to plan out stuff we want to get for the house for the warm weather that's occasionally here (god-damn tennessee weather!!!), currently it's in the 70's but not four days ago it SNOWED and HAILED all day. Yes, and this isn't even that strange of an event for a March in good ole Tennessee.
I'm excited about the warm weather--I'd love to live somewhere that's consistently above 55 degrees all year long. I love love love New York, and if I'm going to spend my life in a place that gets cold, that may be the only place where I would happily put up with such harsh weather.

Things I'm hoping to accomplish before June : furniture I'd like to paint, carpets that still need ripping up, a darkroom that needs blacking out and a table and all sorts of various patio-type furniture that is waiting for us to come along to purchase and love it.

And there's the family vacation that's coming up--unlike just about every single year of my life, we are not going to the beach for a week (very sad) but are instead taking Oma for her 80th birthday on a six day cruise around the Bahamas (which are very lovely). I'm still pretty excited about it, as a true fire sign, being around the water puts me in an extremely calm state--it's so very hard for me to feel any type of negative emotions when I'm around any water--especially ocean. Poor SO is extremely nervous and trying not to be, bless him. He never really learned how to swim and being surrounded by water is kind of freaking him out--he's also very worried that he may not be able to bring along one of his guitars (and, frankly, I'm a little worried about that one myself) if he's not able to play everyday then he gets a bit antsy, which is a really nice way of saying very grumpy.

I suppose I should get back to work, hopefully by Sunday, we should have a table and chairs for the back patio, a firepit for the yard, and some new duds/goodies from Goodwill (the last weekend of evey month is 1/2 off each item in the store, you know).

Happy Thursday!

sweet serendipity

Last week while SO and I were at the Wal*Store (you know, that horrible chain store that's taken over the world) shopping for road nourishment for the upcoming tour, we were bickering in front of the granola bars of the merits of with fruit vs without (my stance being, he's not gong to be getting many fruits and veggies while on the road) when this little old woman comes up to us and just stares at us. When we conclude the "discussion" (and tossing the granola WITH fruit into the buggy) she leans into me, pointing to SO and asks,
"Is this your sweetheart?"
{smiling somewhat patronizingly} "yes"
-"Are you going to marry him?"
{appraising SO}"probably one day"
-"You should. I've not seen such a beautiful couple so well matched in many years. People tell me I'm crazy, but I thought you should know that your auras match each other very well."
{me, speechless}
SO-{smiling at her} "thank you so much."

and she wandered away.


This may be a completely off-the-wall remark to some, but for SO and I, it actually happens all the time; it happened daily for the several months when we were just friends and refusing to date each other.

It was a nice little portent before the separation.

Rock Star downsides

The upside to having an extremely talented, extremely good-looking, extremely charismatic partner is how much fun it is to show him off, to tell everybody, "yes, this is SO--he's been touring with [this popular metal band]"; "yeah, he's getting ready to leave for two weeks with [this increasingly popular indie rock band]"and so on...also, he's just so much fun to have around. On his downtime he teaches various styles of guitar/bass to local people, so I get used to having him around the house. We'll go some long-ish stretches where he only leaves to teach. But then all of a sudden, he's gone for two weeks again and I'm left to keep myself entertained.

I don't mind being alone, I'm my own favourite company.

It's just kinda strange to be so used to cooking with him, eating with him, watching movies togething, talking to him before I go to bed (he keeps those rock star hours constantly--I'm more of a get-to-bed-around-one-am-girl myself), cleaning up, and other such normalcies; plus there's the regular sex when he's home and probably one of the things I miss most when he's gone.

It always takes a few days for me to get back into the rhythm of being alone again. And, of course, by the time I'm fully comfortable and I stop thinking about how, "well, I shouldn't go see that movie b/c SO really wants to watch it too..." he shows back up again and it takes a couple days to get used to him being around again.

It's not a lifestyle for everyone. One of the many reasons why I've no desire to be married is because I'm testing myself to see if this is the kind of lifestyle I can have for the rest of my life--it's difficult.

He's leaving in just a few days and I already have a HUGE list of things to do around the house, and if I had any money to bet, I'd bet I don't even get halfway through with it before he comes back home.

~~~~~~~

I've been telling myself for two weeks now that I'm going to try to start blogging regularly (or, as regularly as I can without a computer in my own home). Part of that reason is beacuase I want to keep up with how many books I read in one year. I read a whole lot, and people ask me how many I think I read in a year, and I have no idea, because I've never bothered keeping tabs on it--I want to try to start doing that with this blog.
...so, we'll see.

MEIN KLEIN SHREKHUND

Which, is to say, my sweet little dog, aka Ol Wheezy, aka Chubbers, aka Bear, aka Piggy, aka Little Bitch, aka Mein Klein Shrekhund, otherwise known as Attila.

Attila came into my life by pure happenstance, also by a mother who could not knowingly leave a tiny four-week old 1/2 chihuahua 1/2 poodle mix with a family that would most certainly destroy it within two months (and if they didn't, the busy highway feet from their front stoop most surely would have).

I came home one day (not too long after moving back from new york) to find my mother sitting on a chair, saying, "well, I've either done a very wonderful thing or a really terrible thing...either way, you've got a dog now b/c [your father] will kill me if I bring a new dog into this house."

The next day she and I went to pick up this adorable little puppy dog.* This tiny black bundle of fur fit snuggly into the palm of my hand (literally) and I lost my heart to him. All sorts of motherly-type instincts kicked in while caring for this too-small to be believed puppy. Of course, with good comes bad, and I spent several months not going too far from home and countless times cleaning up my puppy's waste, and all the little things he'd chew on, and listening for him to see if he was either A: using the bathroom somewhere in the house or B: chewing up something he shouldn't be. (Needless to say, all the bad re-confirmed my decision to [hopefully] remain childless.)

Attila remained nameless for a few weeks while I tried to come up with something clever that suited his personality. One night I took him to a bonfire-gathering my friends were having to celebrate their graduation/going away from our tiny close-minded town and one of them picked him up after hearing me tell about how this five pound dog is somehow managing to knock over his little gate in the hallway and said, "well, you're just like Attila-the-Hun is all!" And preceded to inform me that the all-conquering Hun was a fairly small-sized man. (I want to say around 4'5'' but it could be 5'2''....I don't remember anymore) and the name stuck to my sweet and yet very destructive puppy-dog.


Attila is a wonderful little doggie. He's really not all the bright, but he's so sweet, it makes up for it. The dog has no concept of stranger, it's simply "FRIEND!!!" or "POTENTIAL FRIEND!!!" he even likes other dogs too, but if there's too many of them he'll go far away from the rough play and just watch them (to be fair, most of my friend's dogs are larger-sized breeds) and occasionally run into the fray to chase and be chased and then run back to his little spot and continue watching.

He's traveled from my parent's house to the shitty apartment complex I lived in while I finished college, back to my parent's house, and now to the house SO and I live in. He such a great little dog that wants nothing more than to have his belly rubbed all day long. His favourite words are, "want a bellyrub?" (and he'll fall onto his back and spread his legs, the little whore) and "alright, let's get a treat!" (to which, he'll make a beeline for the kitchen and sit in front of the shelf where he knows his treats are kept).

I could write so much on my little Attila, how his fur grows out until he's just this black cottonball that runs around my house, or how he loves to "talk" to us in the morning, or how whenever he's playing "rope" he'll growl as he pulls. . . . .so much about mein klein shrekhund, but I must quit here for now.

*I SWEAR! As soon as I get my computer, I plan on posting lots and lots of superfluous pictures of everything around me. (I feel like a terrible photographer, to have a blog and not a single picture posted).

The Shining, Fahrenheit 451, and Siddhartha

Due to lack of my own computer (hopefully, not for long!) and SO having no desire as yet to posess one, my blogging is lacking. Also, I meant this to be a blog with an occasional book review to keep up with my readings; however it's seemed to turn into a book review with occasional spurts of life-blogging. I promise to write a non-book-related blog very soon.
With the short amount of time I've got, here are three books in one post that I've read over the past couple of weeks:


The Shining by Stephen King
I admit, that I'm not a willing fan of Stephen King's work...but it's like a friend of mine says, "he writes so much, that he's bound to write some truly great books...and some really awful pieces of shit as well." This book was surprisingly very good, and also very scary.
I love the movie, LOVE IT. One of my favourites. The book doesn't even come close to the movie. Cannot even conceive of the movie. You learn so much more about the Torrance family, about little Danny and about the history of the hotel. There are parts in it that are very Stephen King-y, which is to say a bit....unbelievable; but overall, it is an extremely good book. And unlike most book-movie combinations this one did not affect my opinion of the other. They are so similar, and yet still so very different, that there is nothing for me to be upset about (surprising, huh?).


Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
This is one of those books that everybody is supposed to have read, and yet I somehow managed to go through my entire school and college career without ever picking it up.
I've read a lot of distopias, and even more general fiction novels. And quite honestly, I thought this book was mediocre. I can see why it is required literature for middle and high schoolers, the whole point being that nobody reads any more and it becomes the law for no one to own any books. But to me, this book was on par with a creative essay from a college student about the ignorance of society. Plus, I have a hard time labeling a book as a distopia when it ends with hope. The man character's name is Guy, which I consider a throwback to Everyman--which also equals great amounts of cheese to me. Everything about this book just seemed so very corny to me, with the exception of the title (if it's true), I love that the title of the book is the temperature at which books will burn.
As a side note, there was a movie made in 1966, but I've not watched it and there are rumors that a new Fahrenheit movie will begin filming sometime next year. (Which, a movie about a book, that is about how people watch tv/movies instead of reading is terribly ironic.)


Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Also, this is one of those books that people just assume that I've read--especially after I tell someone a little bit about my beliefs. I've never read a damn word of the thing until a few days ago. This is a book about eastern philosophies during the time of the Buddha written by a Swiss (some say German) poet in the 1950s. Although very simplistic in its writing style, the book presents a pretty good overview of the eastern way of religious thought--kind of like an Eastern Doctrines for Dummies. Or it's perhaps mine and my sister's fascination with all religions that make the explanations seem so simplistic to me.
The book follows Sidhartha (the main character) throughout his adult life as he tries to find an explanation for why we are on earth. He studies and learns from everybody he meets and eventually realizes that the Self he is trying to escape in order to find the bigger meaning, is actually what life is all about.
Overall, I thought it was a pretty decent little book (a novella? perhaps it could be called) and would definitely recommend it for anybody trying to find some sort of faith to follow.

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

After reading two pretty serious books, I decided to go with something significantly lighter. Now, I've read this book before, but it was a long time ago and it is so very funny.
Two famous sci-fi authors collaborated for this hilarious account of the end of times. There are many points of view narration throughout the book. The characters in the book are really magnificent. There is the demon Crowley who also happens to have started out as the tempter-snake at the beginning of times, his enemy/friend-if-you-can-call-it-that-since-they've-been-together-since-the-beginning-of-time is the flaming sword wielding (or did until he gave it to the first two humans) angel Aziraphale. There is the antichrist, whose misplacement is what the plot is set around, a phophetess and a few witch-hunters. The story is takes place in mondern-day England (or rather, by some dated references, mid-90s England). There are so very many funny quips throughout the who book, that I'd really hate to give it away by giving any examples. The book is also full of footnotes, about the character's past or in one case, "for any Americans who happen to be reading this" to explain some English traits.
One of my favourite parts is how they managed to modernize the Biblical apocalypse. The four horsemen of the apocalypse are actually, two men, one woman, and Death, and pestilance has been replaced by the significantly younger and quipier (word?) Pollution; oh yes, and they ride motorcycles instead of horses.
Without giving away all the funny bits, or the end of the book. Suffice to say that it is a wonderfully funny little book.
(oh, yes, and for nearly a decade, Terry Gilliam [wonderful work!] has shown great interest in directing the movie)

BLINDESS by JOSE SARAMAGO

I finished this book awhile ago, but we've been so busy lately, that I've hardly had any time at all to sit down and write a review. So, I apologize for the brevity.

Blindness was fantastic--no wonder it won a nobel prize for literature.
It took me a couple of days to get used to the phrasing in the book. Saramago hardly ever used any line breaks (means no paragraphs AT ALL) and apparently the period is the only punctuation mark that he likes.
Which means most of the book reads like this:

How can blindness be contagious. No one has ever heard of anything like
this. A white blindness. It doesn't make any sense.
Who's there. It's only me. Do not worry. How can you ask me not to worry. I cannot stand this.

But after awhile I grew used to it, I had no idea how easily I read conversations because they were separated by breaks, or the inflections I read to myself depended not on the words in the book, but the punctuation marks at the end of the sentences.

The book is so good. It's about a white blindness that spreads throughout the country and what happens to people when they must start living like animals. The only one left with any sight is the wife of the eye doctor that examined the first man who went blind.
Also, hardly anybody has a name in the books, when they are referred to, it's by description "the first blind man's wife, the taxi driver," etc.
The way Saramago is able to describe everything through the eyes of the doctor's wife, and some of the terrible things that she is forced to witness is truly amazing.
More boggling is the state of the human mind as people are forced to start behaving like animals, and through it all, it is so very realistic. Not once did I think, 'no. people wouldn't act like that.' Instead, I questioned what I would have done had this happened to me and my family. The terrifying thought throughout the book is not that people are blind, it's that EVERYBODY is blind. The old, the young, the politicians, the workers; it's not as if you went blind and people could help you out--the world is blind. Nobody can see where he/she is going, or where he/she has been, some people went blind while driving, others while cooking, some while sleeping. It's a really fantastic thought.

This book is currently in production of becoming a movie. I have some doubts as to how this is going to transfer into film, but I think, in the right hands, it could turn out really well.

so absolutely exhausted.

I've been working the camera job regularly all month (and am WAY excited about the ridiculous money I'm getting from it) plus working the other job full time, and now we've finally got that house (!!!) and we've been spending what very little free time either of us have fixing it up. Today, I'm going in to paint the ceiling in the bathroom, and rip out some carpet (so everyone can see our GORGEOUS wood floor that some heathen covered up with ugly beige berber) before going in to work.
Wish me luck!

.......shhhh......

I think we may get the house!

....I'm so excited, but I'm terrified I'm going to jinx it.

busy busy like a bee...

To think that I've spent so many months with just my substitute job--which, by definition, is not steady work. It took so long for me to find a job that I thought I'd be happy with for several years and I find two almost immediately next to each other.

My luck with finding a job was so terrible that I thought nothing of applying to several places at the same time--and lo! I recieve two jobs that I really like at the same time!! TWO! The work is fun, they don't mind my camera job and I really liked my co-workers (my priorities in finding a job).

However, I've had to choose, and I chose the one where more money was offered, more strict scheduling was available, and where sneakers were not required.

AND I LOVE IT!!!

(plus, look at me, on the internet on company time.....you know, because nothing needs doing at this moment)



Next on the list, FIND A HOUSE!!!! ....or rather, keep on looking for one as we've been searching since July.

Autumn!

When I walked outside my house this morning at 10:30, the air was...cold. Overnight, east tennessee became eveloped in autumn's cool breezes. Although it signaled the end of my favourite season, and the return of that old dreaded winterness, I smiled at the chill.
I love autumn, the ability to drink my coffee outside without burning up, the boxes of old sweaters and cardigans that I've been collecting for a few years.
Although my weeks are busy with three jobs right now, I had a brief respite of happiness as I shivered in the morning wind.