Neferland

Caleb = love

2009-04-20T22:06:00.005-06:00

Salmon-flavored frozen yogurt = love

Down-filled blanket = love

Nap = love

Entryway rug + ducks = love

Our biblical flood is over

2009-04-19T23:31:00.003-06:00

Outside of our city limits, everyone got three feet of snow.
Within the city limits, we got three feet of rain, snow, sleet, and ice. It all combined to make super-slush. Ick!

It was sunny today, and the ground has absorbed all the slush. I was able to take Caleb on an enjoyable walk this afternoon. Then I went to the laundromat, Target, and Whole Foods. Other than that, I stayed in and watched the crazy weather from my warm home. And there is a new expansion pack for one of my fave games, Children of the Nile, so I played that for a while. I really, really hope they make a revised version of the entire game in the vein of CivIV. And I hope they throw in aliens and zombies because it already has everything else that I like.

I also brought work home and that kept me busy for most of tonight. I worked while the Apprentice was on in the background. Work has been so frustrating lately. There is someone in another department, Miss BlueMeanie, who creates a lot of chaos for other people. I'm getting ready to work on something that she's in charge of, so I'm preparing to be yelled at for random things and to be on the receiving end of her hatred for humanity. That's a drag. And there's nothing I can do to prevent it.

I also work with someone, Miss Incompetence, who doesn't want to do her job (because she doesn't know how) and is therefore trying very hard to get me to do it for her. I don't have time. I also don't care about her job. If I did, I would have freakin' applied for it! When I tried to say no to one of her many emails cajoling me to do her work, she barraged me with so many stupid follow-up emails that it was just easier to do her job than keep explaining to her that she needs to do it herself. She is never going to stop because that's how she has operated her whole life - ignoring the word "no" and sending an insane number of emails with happy faces. Because, you know, happy faces make ANY email valid!

I didn't get an MFA so I could end up as a secretary to Miss I and a punching bag to Miss BM. *sigh*

On a happier note, Caleb has really enjoyed the salmon-flavored frozen yogurt. And I rediscovered my XTC CDs. I finished re-reading The Eight, which is always a good read. I signed up on Twitter but I haven't tweeted yet.

2009-04-17T00:06:00.004-06:00

Oi. It's already mid-April. Well, another thesis deadline overtook my life for a while. I needed time to lounge on the couch and watch Spongebob, read product reviews online for all sorts of items that I don't need to buy anyways, and monitor the cuteness levels of Caleb and Rhu. Then I needed time to quickly revise my writings and print all those revised thesis pages.

In the meantime, Rhu had a birthday and much salmon-flavored frozen yogurt goodness ensued. I will post pics of him later...

I also need to post two pics I took from work today. I looked out the windows and saw that bands of mist had settled far down on the flatirons. It was gorgeous. It was like Ann-Margret in a yellow headband of awesome.

Otherwise, a lot of changes are on the horizon. With changes, even if they're good they can still be difficult to navigate. Like, there's nothing better to me than moving in to a new place and being able to set up the living room furniture in a new arrangement - but there's all the packing that goes on before the fun stuff of deciding which wall gets the tv. And currently a lot of obligatory duty is going on and not much ferris wheel riding happening.

We are under a winter weather advisory, so we're going to have either a little bit of rain or 36" of snow. Surprise!

Continuity Issues

2009-03-31T19:24:00.002-06:00

Dear State Farm: You know those commercials with the kids asking to borrow the car? And the kids change into the teenagers that they are currently, but the little kids symbolize how the adult sees them? They're cute commercials, but I'm really bugged that the little dark brown-eyed kids are supposed to become light blue-eyed teens. I can suspend a lot of disbelief but that's over my limit. How tough is it to find dark brown-eyed teens for a commercial when all that's required is huffing and stomping out of the house? That's like being themselves and getting paid. Huh.

Snow Day 2

2009-03-27T14:30:00.014-06:00

We got 17" of snow, which was enough to close work again today. Four-day weekend!!!

The sun is out right now so everything is melting pretty quickly. My neighbor shoveled the sidewalk and then I got out and shoveled paths to and between our doors and the sidewalk. Parts of the paths look totally clear and dry right now. I enjoy shoveling like I enjoy mowing a lawn, in that both make me feel like a hard farm laborer deserving of a fried chicken dinner and a 7pm bedtime. Too bad I no longer eat chicken...

I'll finish the driveway tomorrow after giving it more time to melt away, and then I'll re-shovel the sidewalk and add ice melt. Our front sidewalk is a pain as we have a long driveway and then the sidewalk, which slopes inward from the street. This means that all the melting makes our sidewalk area a puddle of goo that then becomes a puddle of everlasting icemania. And thanks to VileNeighborette on the other side of my next-door BFF (aka GoodNeighborette), GoodNeighborette and I must make certain our sidewalk is clear at all times or we will be reported to the city and we will be fined. This is because VileNeighborette and GoodNeighborette have had a few unpleasant encounters, by which I mean VN has left crazayzee threatening notes on GN's car and door, and GN has refused to bow down to VN and her massive crazayzee head. *sigh*

Here are some pics I took of all the springtime snow goodness.

Snow next to the front porch, Thursday early evening:

Like Edward Cullen, the snow sparkled like diamonds in the sunlight.

Caleb navigating his yard Thursday afternoon:

Trudging through Thursday evening:

View from the kitchen door early Friday morning:

View from the front door early Friday morning:

My neighbor's car was buried:

Looking out at the front yard in the morning:

The front gate to Caleb's yard:

Icicles through my bedroom window:

Caleb went out with me while I shoveled the perimeter of the backyard for him.

Springtime Blizzard

2009-03-26T17:23:00.008-06:00

My phone beeped with a text message at 6:45am with the news that work was closed due to all the blizzarding. We had snow falling at 3" per hour earlier today. It's now down to 1"-2" per hour, but it has not stopped. And the weatherologists don't expect it to stop until sometime tomorrow. The whole city is shut down. People are skiing on the streets.

It's beautiful!

I watched History Channel for most of the morning. I took a nap. I didn't shower and dress until 1pm. Karen came over for a little while and loaned me the latest Indiana Jones DVD and also Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.

Photos from earlier today:

What it looks like outside:

Shrubbery next to my front porch:

Karen's dogs, Mick and Izza, running around in the front yard:

Mick loves catching snow in his mouth:

A very cold Izza wanted to go in my house and visit with Rhu and Caleb:

All the fast-falling snow made it impossible to get a clear photo. Izza:

Where was Caleb? Well, since he's shorn like a little lamb in a lion-cut, he doesn't really want to be in the cold outside. He'd rather have a warm nap indoors with his ducky:

Update yada-yada-yada

2009-03-10T22:02:00.008-06:00

Happy Purim, y'all. It's a holiday that gives license to people dressing in costumes, so I'm all for it. Plus, the story of Esther is pretty cool.

I did turn in the rough draft of my double-thesis just over a week ago. And then I got really, really sick and had to go on a week of bed-rest.

What else has happened over the past months? Hmmm... I've seen a fair number of movies. Slumdog Millionaire was great and I'm very happy it won the Oscar for best picture. Australia was surprisingly good and epic. Had I not read and enjoyed the books prior, Twilight would have been a meh mess - but I appreciated the movie just because of the novelty of seeing the characters onscreen. In the books, it works that a whole lot of nothing happens most of the time. In a movie, a whole lot of nothing doesn't work as well.

I'm working on ideas for a website that would include a blog. My main concern is the site name so that may take a while. Then there's the design and set-up. I think early summer is the earliest it will be ready.

And the boys have been hanging out, being adorable as ever.

A successful photo sans glowing eyes.

Boxing. With glowing eyes.

I think Rhu is adorable when he yawns.

And also when he stretches in the sunlight.

ORLY?

Happiness through the window

armageddonnostradamus2009

2009-01-08T01:11:00.001-07:00

I am surrounded by fires, high winds, and avalanches. It's pretty much everything the History Channel promised.

Today (yesterday by now) sucked on a level so high that I can't even sleep tonight.

On a much happier note, Rhu is quite happy with his half-price Xmas bed from Target. I placed it under my computer desk so he could sniff it and get used to it. It was facing the wrong way, though. Rhu is very specific about in which direction he naps.

Fanny over-hang: U has it.

I re-directed it and lo, he fits snuggly!

Then I moved it on top of the entertainment center, and now I can barely see him when he naps.

In other happy news, Caleb had a bath and groom today. He's soft and fluffy and all his shedding hair is gone.

Otherwise, I am trying to keep in mind good things. My neighborhood isn't being evacuated. Rhu and Caleb are healthy and happy. Lost will be back on tv this month. No one won the lottery in tonight's drawing, so that's still a possibility. I've been gluten-free for over a week now and haven't caved. It's been so long since I've read one of my fave books that now while I am re-reading it, it seems like I'm reading it for the first time again. Ooh, and I got my $3.50 (including shipping) dvd of a Japanese time-travel/aliens/martial arts movie.

Fa la la la la la.....

2008-12-25T23:06:00.011-07:00

Thanks to my fabulous family and my fabulous friends, I had a fabbity-fab Christmas.

Merry Christmas from Santa Cthulu.

Santa Cthulu brought stupendous and unheard-of splendors awaiting below...

Rhu got an endless cave of darkness. It crinkles. And it is sprinkled with catnip.

Caleb loves the ducky from Nonny and Poppy. He likes to stand it upright and then knock it down.

Whoa, Caleb!

... I warned you.

Eventually, Caleb figured out the ducky can double as a napping pillow.

Rhu had plenty of attention and play with friends this morning, which caused him to crash out hard.

I had friends over this morning for presents and a pancake breakfast. So, so good! I got an amazing haul of presents that I will enjoy a lot. After my friends left, I cleaned up and put the turkey on and laid down on the couch. The History Channel had a Roswell/UFO marathon, which was like a whole other Christmas present for me! Seriously, I am Mulder and I want to believe. I couldn't keep my eyes open and ended up taking an almost-two-hour nap. There is something quite decadent about taking a nap on the couch with the television on.

Karen was going to come over to watch movies and have wine tonight, but she ended up having a terrible holiday. So instead of entertaining again I played Animal Crossing on the Wii (an xmas present) and drinking a glass of pinot noir. I'm now watching the Golden Girls Christmas episode marathon on Lifetime. It's been so long since I've watched this show. Best line so far? Dorothy telling Blanche "I"m getting herpes just hearing this story." Er, happy holidays, I suppose...

I'm currently thinking of previous Christmases, the ones spent with my family. I have two favorite Christmases. One is when I got the Barbie mansion and all the furnishings - like the china cabinet with little silver utensils and a refrigerator with ice cube trays and little plastic ice cubes, etc.

The other one is the Christmas when my mom decided to read the Bible at Christmas Eve. We read the Book of Matthew together, and then at midnight Mom opened the door to welcome the spirit of Jesus. I don't remember what presents I got that year. I don't even remember how old I was then. I do remember my mom reading from the family Bible to me and I think it is the very same Bible where my dad found my first name. I remember that the phrase "do not be afraid" is in the Christmas story according to Matthew several times.

Because this is my favorite time of the year - new year celebrations of many traditions are around the corner, my birthday happens next month, schools start back up soon, the sun still sets early enough to have a real evening, snow falls, and many other good things in life happen now - I feel a real connection to this time. Add to this that in five months, I will have a hard-earned MFA degree. I have no career and no idea of where I will be living next year. I have no life plans, which is in my opinion the best way to live. It feels like at this time every year, I am afforded the chance to start over again and to choose new directions. During this holiday season, I am trying to keep in mind that I do not need to be afraid. Things have a way of working out for the best, and I just need to remember to open the door and let Christmas spirit in. I am Mulder. I want to believe.

Jolly Season

2008-12-24T23:54:00.002-07:00

It's been ridiculously cold here. It's been negative-degree cold. This is the inside of my kitchen door window. It has a layer of ice. Inside the window. A nice, thick layer of ice.

Rhu enjoying his warm home.

Caleb enjoying his snowy yard.

Caleb enjoyed the snow so much that when I asked him to come back in the house, he stuck his tongue out at me.

Rhu's newest hang-out spot is the space vacated by my now-packed-away sandals.

Rhu-kitty, world-famous for his double-pawed boxing prowess.

A view of the mountains from Lafayette (east of Boulder).

View 2 from Lafayette.

Karen pieced together Jason's Christmas quilt on top of my quilt on my bed. It made my eyes hurt.

I bought Rhu a sweater for Christmas Eve. He caught a cold during this extremely freezing weather, so it wasn't just all about the cuteness factor. Although aqua is his color.

Rhu hated the sweater. It was too small across the chest. I'll have to take it back and see if I can trade it for a medium.

Caleb and Rhu are waiting for Santa...

Latest Photos

2008-11-28T19:05:00.009-07:00

First snow of the season from about two weeks ago. It melted almost immediately.

Rhu loves the inbox.

Rhu also loves fresh laundry because it's like a warm, fluffy tunnel.

There is a neighborhood kitty that's discovered my back bedroom window. Rhu and the other kitty paw at each other and purr and meow. It's adorable!

Rhu's xmas stocking:

Caleb's xmas stocking:

The stocking pair:

Autumn Life

2008-11-01T20:54:00.009-06:00

I'm taking a break from finishing the magazine cover in order to post a few recent pictures.

The Samhain Monster finds library books enticing:

Cheap Indian-pattern blanket = happiness

My yard has been 100% leafiness. I finally raked today so I no longer see this when I step outside:

See how Caleb acts like a magnet for leafy-bits? Then he acts like being brushed before coming in the house is a big hassle for him.

Rhu has been playing "boxer" a lot lately, much to Caleb's dismay:

Rhu cuddled in my arms and sleeping:

Rhu has been enjoying play-dates with our neighbor, Izza:

The toys... They are exhausting...

Happy Birthday, Caleb!

2008-10-22T21:31:00.008-06:00

Today was Caleb's birthday. We walked to work and then he elected to hang out under my desk:

The best part of his birthday, according to Caleb himself, is that he got doggy frogurt. He got a tub of homemade frozen yogurt that is banana-peanut butter flavor. He LOVES it.

Rhu tried to get in on the frogurt action:

Caleb quickly guarded it with his tongue:

Frogurt made Caleb so happy:

I had no idea Caleb's tongue was this long:

Frogurt lurve:

Ready for Mercury Retrograde to Be Over

2008-10-15T00:27:00.002-06:00

The past week (or so) has included some rough days. There has been much miscommunication happening. Someone smushed up my car in a parking lot and then left me a wrong number to call about it.

I am taking a two-weekend workshop but it's terrible. So far it has been a bad combination of daycare/therapy center. I am not kidding. The problem is the low-residency students. There are three of them in the workshop and they have really lowered the quality of the classes. They are obviously in severe need of attention from anyone, especially negative attention. They just want to talk about sex, penis jokes, breast jokes, and how "weird" and "unique" they are. They are supremely untalented writers so it's really boring to listen to them read their works. One of them has such a loud, shrill shriek of a laugh that I seriously took earplugs to class because her laugh causes me to have bad headaches. They bitch about how the residency students don't hang out with them. It's because they suck, and the other res students can't stand them just as much as I can't stand them. Gah. I can't believe I have to sit through two more days of them...

In happier news school was closed today so I had no work and no school. I still had to set my alarm, though, because I had so many errands and meetings.

Wow!

2008-10-05T21:57:00.002-06:00

I haven't blogged in over a month!

I've just been super-duper busy. The new magazine is out. It's gorgey (cover illustration and lay-out by moi!) and going over very well. Also, we had our first two events in our reading series. Friday night was our debut and we had over 35 people, which was a better turn-out than we hoped for seeing as how a well-known poet was also reading the same night. Today was the café reading, which wasn't as populated (20 I think) but still a good time for a weekend afternoon.

Otherwise, I was super-duper sick this past month with the ever-lasting flu. I think I was sick a total of two weeks and I lost a full week of work time. That was sucktacular.

If you'd like me to mail you a copy of the magazine, drop me an email or comment here and I'll send it along.

This doesn't seem like a holiday

2008-09-01T00:34:00.003-06:00

We had our first official magazine meeting tonight.

When I got home, I could see that the curtains in my front two windows were missing. WWIII had broken out in here.

Apparently, Caleb got very sick to his stomach. He tried so hard to get outside before going in several spots on the carpet.

I now need to replace my roman shade, my kitchen curtain rod and possibly the corresponding curtain, the mini-blinds in the kitchen (although I think they will be passable for a little while), and the runner rug in the entryway if the poo doesn't come out of it. I also need to steam clean the carpet in the living room asap. Asap! There were already some big icky stains on it, so it's time.

This whole place is looking so ghetto right now that I am depressed.

And if that all weren't enough, he tore down the peg holder with his leash and harness. He also chewed up the doorknob in the kitchen. Bless his heart, he was trying to get outside so desperately. He really was using his best doggy logic.

He's fine now. This stomach issue happens an average of twice a year. I didn't yell at him this time, though. He was so shamed and upset already. Besides, I can get another roman shade or whatever, but there is only one Caleb.

In other news, I think our magazine might be amazing. We have really great ideas.

I'm going to try to spend the day tomorrow not politic-junkying or news-aholicing. There is so much to worry about that I don't feel like I've really had a holiday weekend, or even a standard weekend. I need to relax.

Icky Politics

2008-08-29T23:57:00.005-06:00

I have been doing some research on Sarah Palin. I must say in summary that so far I have found her stances on issues to be frightening.

Sure, I'd like a woman to be in the White House, but I'd like one who will move this country forward, not send it spinning backwards. It's offensive if the Republican plotters think women will vote for someone with Palin's credentials and positions just because she's female.

Personally, I'm not about to vote so we can shatter a glass ceiling only to get knifed by the shards.

School + DNC

2008-08-27T00:27:00.008-06:00

So school has started up again. This is my last semester of classes, which is a bit of a relief and yet also sad.

I will not miss first day introductions, though. Why is it that whenever a writer speaks about what they are working on, they sound like a total arsehole? I'm not exempting myself from that, btw. I only said I am working on figuring out my thesis topic(s), which is very true and also very brief. Everyone else pretty much said pretty much the same thing.

Here is a template for MFA students:
I'm (insert name). I'm working on a (modern/post-modern/post-post-modern/futuristic) piece right now. It's a (hybrid/neo-hybrid/post-hybrid/post-post-hybrid) (novel/screenplay/poetry collection) about (zombies/vampires/lesbians/hippies) in a dystopian world who (mutate/smoke pot/overthrow the government/read Kerouac).

Gah.

My books will be around $150 this semester. Relatively, this is pretty good considering these are books I'll be able to keep and use beyond the semester and in past undergrad semesters there were books that were $125 per book, which I could not resell nor realistically use again.

Of course, it's politics-central here this week with the convention. I wish I had known The Daily Show and The Colbert Report were shooting here! I might have made arrangements to go... But it is a very busy week with school and work as it is.

Oh, I did not get tickets to Invesco. I had enough volunteer hours before the tickets were given out, but there were still too many of us. I suspect they gave my ticket to Charlize Theron or Ben Affleck...

That's okay. I'm going with La Tora Verda to the theater and we're watching a simulcast. I just hope that simulcast is not set to Fox or CNN because I have had it with both of those stations. After Hillary RC spoke tonight, the commentators drove me bonkers. I thought she gave a good speech. I thought she was gracious. I don't care how many pronouns she used, or if her pantsuit color was a secret code, or if playing her speech backwards will tell us the walrus is Obama.

In local news, the boys continue to be adorable as ever. Caleb is feeling much better and acting like himself again.

Blah Blah

2008-08-21T22:24:00.006-06:00

I'm off work tomorrow, which is exciting because there will be much sleeping. This is my last weekend before school starts again.

Caleb got a bath and groom today. They evened up his mane and coat a bit and trimmed his furry paws and cut his nails. He looks beautiful, but when I went to pick him up they told me he had a boo-boo. It seems that when he was taken to the blow-dry area, he panicked when the guy started the dryer, and he reared up and hit the top of his head on the metal nozzle trying to get away. So he has a big bloody gash on his head. They put medicine on it, and I put more on after we got home. But it's still a little worrisome. Also, he is exhausted and acts like it hurts to get up. I think they made him stand too much for too long today, and that combined with his hurt head and not eating until almost 6pm has made him just feel unwell in general. He's not pawing at his head, at least. I'm hoping that a good night of sleep will make him feel much better.

I've taken some sleepy meds to help me sleep and not stay up all night fretting over him.

In entertainmenty stuff, Gwen Stefani had a baby and named it Zuma, so peoples assumed it was a little girl but turns out it's a boy with a girly-sounding name. wtf? I love odd names, but this one is a wtf for a boy or a girl. At least it isn't as bad as the celebabies named "Story" and "Ever."

And PR this week was a masterpiece. Chris March + Drag Queens + Worst Designers in PR History = Love. The guy who makes a big deal about how straight he is won this week. I totally thought he was going to have a meltdown but instead he rallyed and created a Navy Barbie a la Ann-Margret.

She was adorable, but I thought the punk rock kimono deserved to win because it was 227% more FIERCE.

Making Sigue Sigue Sputnik fit for high fashion takes GENIUS.

My brain has gone Nancy Pelosi.

2008-08-14T23:24:00.005-06:00

I was talking to my brother tonight and I couldn't remember the name of the Speaker of the House. I was trying to tell him that my brain was gone when I suddenly remembered her name. So I said, "My brain has gone... Nancy Pelosi!" Which he heard as, "My brain has gone Nancy Pelosi!"

I can't help it. I didn't get much sleep last night.

When I got home last night from work there were three guys in my yard and two of them were in my huge dead walnut tree doing some Cirque du Soleil moves while holding chain saws. The third guy was holding a rope that wasn't tied to anything in particular. I walked up to the third guy.

Me: Are you cutting down that tree?

Guy: (smiling, nodding) Yes.

Me: That's such a shame!

Guy: (smiling, nodding) Yes.

Me: (trying to be cheerful because I don't want to ruin this guy's outlook on his job) Well, it was pretty dead, right? It had to be done... And it looks like you're doing a great job!

Guy: (smiling, nodding) Yes.

Me: It's just that tree was so old... It was enormous. It must have been here hundreds of years and.... (long exposition follows on the tree and the sadness of losing it - it was like a Shakespearean soliloquy on pondering treeness).

Guy: (smiling, nodding) Yes.

The guy didn't speak English. He was probably just trying to placate me so I wouldn't loose upon them the Beast of Hades who had been barking up a storm in the house.

After much ruckus and circus-acting, the guys got the tree all cut down. And they loaded up the bits into their low-rider Toyota. Seriously, the wood and limbs were twice as high over the top as the entire truck's height. It made the neighbors nervous. And when the men left, the truck barely made it out of the driveway.

But they left behind the big stump, a few sections of trunk, and plastic bottles. After an hour, I went out and checked on the plastic bottles and found they were full of stuff that smelled like gasoline. I asked my neighbors if they thought it was safe. VeggieBoy has done lawn work and treecutting, so I figured he should know. He said, "Huh, that's weird that they left gasoline. It'll probably be okay."

Probably.

So last night I was exhausted, lying in bed and listening for the sound of a passerby or resident of the neighboring condo flicking their cigarette over the fence. Said cigarette would surely find its way to the gasoline.

Never mind that this is the Republic of Boulder and people just don't smoke cigarettes or eat doughnuts here.

I finally took an over-the-counter to force myself to sleep. I got three hours.

The men showed back up at 7:30 am this morning to pick up the rest of their stuff.

*phew*

I'm still a wreck. I was all crabby and nervy-spazzy tonight when VeggieGirl came over and I scared her. I then had to go over to apologize but I went first to recycle my paper so I was holding a trash can and she thought I was trying to give her my trash and that just made her more confused and convinced I was unhinged. Thankfully she came back over to chat and all is well. I just told her all my woes about work (a few), school (many), finances (MANY), and my life in general (infinite). She is not only really nice and sweet but understanding as well.

*phew*

The good news is it's already tomorrow as it just turned past midnight here. The bad news is I am going to be very exhausted still tomorrow. The best news is Chris March will be back on Project Runway next week and it's going to be a car wreck of bad fashion and drama. I just have to make it to next Wednesday.

Obamamania

2008-08-11T21:42:00.005-06:00

Tomorrow I begin volunteering at the campaign headquarters in my town. I'm going to be making phone calls asking for support for my guy, Barack. Doing this will hopefully lead to my getting tickets to the Invesco Field event complete with jumbotron screens and the inevitable fireworks show. If not, I'll settle for just getting my guy into the White House. I'm also going to be set up as a voter registrar, which will be helpful on campus this fall.

I'm all for the bumper stickers and the buttons and the slogans and the general atmosphere of hopefulness. But I will not wear the Shephard Fairey shirt. No way. That thing is hideous.

Shepard Fairey t-shirt:

It looks hideous, but it's only a matter of short time before the Juicy Couture peoples design an even more hideous t-shirt for Obama.

Juicy Couture is responsible for crap like the following:

Really, it's just more stuff for Paris Hilton's closet.

So I was thinking about what kind of t-shirt the vacuous, vapid duo of valley girls responsible for Juicy would design for Obama...

Here's my Juicy Couture t-shirt design:

*shudder*

Mishmash

2008-08-07T23:24:00.004-06:00

Wall-E is a really cute movie. I don't think it got the deserved recognition because it was released in the midst of all the other summer movies. Well, Batman. It was released the same year as Batman. But Wall-E was adorable and not at all what I expected.

Dear Peoples Who Make Those Mummy Movies: There should be a restraining order issued on your collective arses for suddenly giving a 39-year-old leading character a 35-year-old son. Thankfully, the son isn't Shia LeBoofus. But it is still a stupid idea.

Ruby's is pretty much my favorite restaurant currently. They serve mimosas, which I think is quaint. They advertise the mimosas on their breakfast page as "a good way to wake up." How very Thurston Howell.

It is finally no longer 900 million degrees here. It has gone down to 800 million degrees so far this week. I hate summer. It's the most useless season with the most unfortunate wardrobes on display. Even summer holidays are the dullest as they are all basically barbeques.

I am still waiting on the information about my tickets to Obama's acceptance speech at Invesco. It's going to be historic and I want to be there in person to cry with loads of other crying peoples on the jumbotron screens.

I don't have real scissors in my house, just the kitchen scissors in the knife block and a pair of mini-children's safety scissors that are aqua and magenta. When I look for scissors, I always begin looking for a normal pair with yellow handles and then I realize I don't have any like that so I have to settle for the clown-colored kidlet pair. I think I once had yellow-handled normal scissors in another house or at another job and those were imprinted on my brain as "scissors."

The hip new therapy is clown therapy. I found this out by discussing happy hour plans with someone and finding out they won't be able to make it because they "already have plans to attend clown therapy." (Erm, hello? Dude, that's what our happy hour is all about. We just aren't licensed.)

Someone showed me a German tarot card deck today. The Chariot card has a Formula 1 race car on it. It was a really vivid and angsty deck, plenty of sturm und drang.

Chinese musicals are much more fun than one might think.

This season of Project Runway is tragic. Christian and Chris, come back and bring the fierce with you!

Mehness

2008-07-27T23:06:00.003-06:00

I have slacked on the blogging, and everything else lately...
I've been meh. Sheba's passing was rough. Also, I got the result of my tsh test (thyroid) and is was horrible. Normal thyroid is 0-3, hypothyroid is anything over 3. Mine is 47.9. I can't get in to see my doctor until August 4th and he will likely refer me to a specialist. I expect a biopsy will be in my future.

So, I'm back to no cow dairy/gluten/soy/egg. I'm also going to do yoga every morning and early evening, with core exercises in the morning.

The good news is that Rhu & Caleb are as adorable as ever. Sadly, Caleb's adorableness includes the discovery of Rhu's toybox. We've been here a year, and Caleb just figured out how to get his furry fill of toys whenever he has a craving. He eats them, and it's pretty canibalistic to watch. Not to mention nerve-wracking because I don't want to imagine what that synthetic fuzziness can do to Caleb's insides. A lot of Rhu's toys are now stored in a drawer.

Other news is that I did see The Dark Knight last week. If you have not seen it, GO BUY A TICKET ASAP!!! Not only is it actually worth the $30 it costs to see a movie in the theater, it's worth seeing *twice* in the theater. We're going to Denver next weekend and are re-seeing it at the IMAX. It is just all kinds of dark goodness, and they filmed four scenes with an IMAX camera so it should be amazing all over again.

Goodbye, Sheba

2008-07-24T21:46:00.002-06:00

Sheba (Caleb's mommy) died yesterday afternoon. She was almost 15. I'm incredibly sad that we lost a member of our family. She was a beautiful, smart, loving, calm dog. Caleb inherited a lot of his disposition from her. She enjoyed a long life and good health and was very, very loved by our family.

Arts & Crafts Show & Tell

2008-07-21T21:19:00.008-06:00

I wish I knew how to effectively photograph shiny things, like pet eyes or ceramic doodads. In any case, here are my first two ceramic works in blurry photo-likeness.

La wine bottle stopper:

El foxo in foresto:

Whatnot

2008-07-20T23:57:00.001-06:00

You know how on Blogger they list recently-changed blogs so you can see what other people are writing about and perhaps click on it and find a new good-read? Well, I just saw one titled "Rubber in Italy." I didn't click on it because my imagination has created all sorts of wonderful scenarios for that blog, and now it can't live up to any of them.

I have lots of news.

First, I got published in a very thick literary magazine.

Second, I joined the executive editor board of a new lit magazine that will be supported by the school. I'm sure that means "rules." But, whatever. I'm going to propose I do an agony aunt column called "Dear Jackie." I figure disembodied, nihlistic writers have lots of personal issues they need advice on, and why not make fun of them for it?

Third, on Hunter S. Thompson's birthday, we went to see Gonzo, the new documentary about him. It was inspiring. It may have inspired us to roadtrip to Woody Creek to see the giant gonzo fist memorial in the sky that shoots out fireworks.

Fourth, I have taken up ceramic tile painting weekly just like a seventh-grader at summer day camp. The downside is there's only so much painted tile one residence can hold. Once I am past that, I don't know what I will do with my painted tile goodness. Also, I am guessing the limit of painted tile my small place will hold is five. I've got four more to go and then I will be in need of a new hobby. I get my first one back from the kiln tomorrow night and will be posting a picture of it if it turns out decently. In keeping with the overall theme of this blog, I will get a picture of it on the floor between Caleb and Rhu.

Now Reading: Stop in the Name of Pants! by Louise Rennison

Oh, happy day!!!

2008-07-16T04:46:00.000-06:00

I have waited years for this:

I have also waited for what seems like years for the summer writing program to be finished. Finally, after four weeks of the very best of times and the very worst of times, I am five pages from being done with the portfolio. Once that is bound and turned in by noon later today, I am done. Done!

The Big Read Top 100 Books

2008-07-01T23:42:00.000-06:00

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you love and strikeout the books you read but didn't like. (I didn't strike any out because it takes a lot for me to not like a book, and I found something to like about the books I have read that are on this particular list.)
4) Reprint this list in your own blog

1) Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2) The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3) Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4) The Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

5) To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6) The Bible (Parts of it, as a kid I was really only interested in Revelations)

7) Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8) Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

9) His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10) Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11) Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

12) Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13) Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14) Complete Works of Shakespeare

15) Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16) The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17) Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

18) Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19) The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20) Middlemarch - George Eliot

21) Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22) The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

23) Bleak House - Charles Dickens

24) War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

26) Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

27) Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28) Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29) Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30) The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31) Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32) David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33) Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (only the first three books)

34) Emma - Jane Austen

35) Persuasion - Jane Austen

36) The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis

37) The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38) Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39) Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40) Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne

41) Animal Farm - George Orwell

42) The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43) One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44) A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45) The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46) Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47) Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48) The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

49) Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50) Atonement - Ian McEwan

51) Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52) Dune - Frank Herbert

53) Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54) Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55) A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56) The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57) A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58) Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60) Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61) Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62) Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63) The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64) The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65) Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66) On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67) Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68) Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding

69) Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie

70) Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71) Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72) Dracula - Bram Stoker

73) The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74) Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75) Ulysses - James Joyce

76) The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

77) Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78) Germinal - Emile Zola

79) Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80) Possession - AS Byatt

81) A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82) Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83) The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84) The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85) Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86) A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry (Huh?)

87) Charlotte's Web - EB White

88) The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (I'm pretty sure I haven't read all of the stories, though)

90) The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton (Huh? Never heard of it!)

91) Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92) The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93) The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks (Never even heard of this one, either!)

94) Watership Down - Richard Adams

95) A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96) A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97) The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98) Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100) Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (Tried it in high school may be time for another try...)

Aw, blimey.

2008-06-23T00:39:00.000-06:00

George Carlin died earlier tonight. What a shock and how sad that is... We should celebrate his life by getting good and pissed at the government. I think that's what he would want (and it's not like it's too difficult or anything anyways).

YouTube has about a bazillion videos of him from all eras of his career. I would post links but it's late and I'm tired.

Also in the World o' Infotainment, there is Wino news.
AmyAmyAmy. *sigh*
So, Amy Winehouse has emphysema and an irregular heartbeat. Gah, Wino! You know, usually when the phrase "Stop smoking crack" is used, it's in jest - as in "Stop being so stupid-crazy, yo." But, seriously, "Stop smoking crack."

Top 100 Albums 1983-2008?

2008-06-21T12:05:00.000-06:00

Entertainment Weekly just released their list of the top 100 albums from 1983-2008.

I italicized the ones in my collection.

1. Purple Rain by Prince and the Revolution (1984)

2. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill (1998)

3. Achtung Baby by U2 (1991)

4. College Dropout by Kanye West (2004)

5. Madonna by Madonna (1983)

6. American Idiot by Green Day (2004)

7. The Blueprint by Jay-Z (2001)

8. Graceland by Paul Simon (1986)

9. Back to Black by Amy Winehouse (2007)

10. In Rainbows by Radiohead (2007)

11. MTV Unplugged in New York by Nirvana (1994)

12. Stankonia by OutKast (2000)

13. You Are Free by Cat Power (2003)

14. Disintegration by The Cure (1989)

15. The Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem (2000)

16. Rain Dogs by Tom Waits (1985)

17. Odelay by Beck (1996)

18. People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm by A Tribe Called Quest (1990)

19. Dangerously in Love by Beyoncé (2003)

20. Tidal by Fiona Apple (1996)

21. The Emancipation of Mimi by Mariah Carey (2005)

22. 3 Feet High and Rising by De La Soul (1989)

23. The Soft Bulletin by The Flaming Lips (1999)

24. Come On Over by Shania Twain (1997)

25. Turn On the Bright Lights by Interpol (2002)

26. Time Out of Mind by Bob Dylan (1997)

27. Funeral by Arcade Fire (2004)

28. Illmatic by Nas (1994)

29. Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson (2004)

30. Appetite for Destruction by Guns N' Roses (1987)

31. FutureSex/LoveSounds by Justin Timberlake (2006)

32. Life's Rich Pageant by R.E.M. (1985)

33. As I Am by Alicia Keys (2007)

34. Is This It by The Strokes (2001)

35. Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette (1995)

36. CrazySexyCool by TLC (1994)

37. The Moon & Antarctica by Modest Mouse (2000)

38. Raising Hell by Run-DMC (1986)

39. Sheryl Crow by Sheryl Crow (1996)

40. Ready to Die by The Notorious B.I.G. (1994)

41. Legend by Bob Marley and the Wailers (1984)

42. Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) by Wu-Tang Clan (1993)

43. Paul's Boutique by Beastie Boys (1989)

44. Car Wheels on a Gravel Road by Lucinda Williams (1998)

45. If You're Feeling Sinister by Belle and Sebastian (1996)

46. Homogenic by Björk (1997)

47. Exile in Guyville by Liz Phair (1993)

48. American IV: The Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash (2002)

49. A Rush of Blood to the Head by Coldplay (2002)

50. Sounds of Silver by LCD Soundsystem (2007)

51. The Score by The Fugees (1996)

52. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga by Spoon (2007)

53. King of America by Elvis Costello (1986)

54. Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 by Janet Jackson (1989)

55. It Takes a Nation of Millions... by Public Enemy (1988)

56. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco (2002)

57. Harvest Moon by Neil Young (1992)

58. Surfer Rosa by The Pixies (1988)

59. Ray of Light by Madonna (1998)

60. Crooked Rain Crooked Rain by Pavement (1994)

61. Paid in Full by Eric B. & Rakim (1987)

62. OK Computer by Radiohead (1997)

63. The Joshua Tree by U2 (1987)

64. Mama's Gun by Erykah Badu (2000)

65. Elephant by The White Stripes (2003)

66. The Chronic by Dr. Dre (1992)

67. Metallica by Metallica (1991)

68. Wrecking Ball by Emmylou Harris (1995)

69. Give Up by The Postal Service (2003)

70. My Life by Mary J. Blige (1994)

71. Rock Steady by No Doubt (2001)

72. 1984 by Van Halen (1984)

73. The Queen is Dead by The Smiths (1986)

74. Play by Moby (1999)

75. Born in the U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen (1984)

76. Heartbreaker by Ryan Adams (2000)

77. Dummy by Portishead (1994)

78. Vs. by Pearl Jam (1991)

79. Let It Be by The Replacements (1984)

80. Back to Basics by Christina Aguilera (2006)

81. The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails (1994)

82. Grace by Jeff Buckley (1994)

83. Learning to Crawl by The Pretenders (1984)

84. Low-Life by New Order (1985)

85. Home by The Dixie Chicks (2002)

86. Loveless by My Bloody Valentine (1991)

87. All Eyez on Me by 2Pac (1996)

88. So by Peter Gabriel (1986)

89. Bachelor No. 2 by Aimee Mann (2000)

90. Toxicity by System of a Down (2001)

91. Siamese Dream by Smashing Pumpkins (1993)

92. The Writing's on the Wall by Destiny’s Child (1999)

93. Either/Or by Elliott Smith (1997)

94. Synchronicity by The Police (1983)

95. Trap Muzik by T.I. (2003)

96. Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea by PJ Harvey (2000)

97. Britney by Britney Spears (2001)

98. Transatlanticism by Death Cab for Cutie (2003)

99. Live Through This by Hole (1994)

100. Faith by George Michael (1987)

Mid-Summer Madness

2008-06-19T22:31:00.000-06:00

I haven't been posting because I've been busy sitting in the Performance Arts Center on campus (PAC) enduring the summer writing program.

This week's morning workshop has been awfully boring and useless, but it did produce a wonderful "only here" moment when one of my fellow students said, "Can I say something? I've been studying Spanish anarchists, too, lately." I don't even know if the person speaking before them said anything about Spanish anarchists, but I really hope not because the more random that statement is, the more wonderful it is.

This morning, we had to write a backwards message to someone else in class about a magic wish we intuited for them. The student who gave me a wish wrote, "My wish for you is that writing takes you to your true self." I guess she intuited I am the Wizard of Oz. I wrote, "I wish you easy publication of your story" and then realized I was projecting on to her my own wishes for me, so I added "and that your garden is lovely." She was wearing one of those small-print floral shirts. She totally gardens. Then again, so do I now. I can't get away from projection.

Oh, and our school now has a career counselor. I'm going to make an appointment with her because supposedly she will administer tests and assess what fields I'm best suited for. I hope she's better than the one I went to in junior college because I ended up with a top three of: 1) Stand-up Comedian, 2) Religious Minister, 3) Cartoonist. I'm sure it's pretty obvious that none of those are in the $100,000 starting salary range. Also, none require an MFA. I want a job that requires me to have my MFA degree framed in my office and my business cards to list my MFA title.

And here is Caleb sporting his summer cut. You can see the flowers and sage plants that my dad planted for me behind Caleb:

The Price of Beauty

2008-06-09T23:09:00.001-06:00

It was tough to find a groomer willing to shave a dog of Caleb's hugeness and furriness. I was told by his "regular" place that shaving him was a bad idea and his coat wouldn't grow out nicely and he needed all that fur to help air condition him. Oh, yeah, because a fur coat = a big fan blowing constantly. Lame-o.

So I got a recommendation from the vet about a place that keeps getting voted best-groomer-in-town. I ignored the fact that they have a big sign advertising "Paw-dicures $10" and took Caleb's shaggy self in today in the middle of the night, which was 8:00 am.

This is what happened to Caleb's bed while he was at the salon:

Caleb looks beautiful with his summery lion-cut. I asked them to trim his mane up quite a bit, though, so he's not as lion-y as last summer. I just felt like his neck deserves to be cooler along with the rest of him. He is currently snoozing back in his bed after reclaiming it from Rhu:

Also today: Mom and Dad sure are early risers. They like to get up in the middle of the night, which is 6:00 am for Dad and 8:00 for Mom. I was hoping this vacation would give them an opportunity to correct their sleeping habits, but so far no. They aren't even derailed by the one-hour difference between time zones. They just keep on waking up early.

Dad and I went to Home Depot, which made me feel productive. Just standing there in my Tevas alongside the other Teva-wearing shoppers who were buying sod and hoses and flowers made me feel like I was a good citizen (although I skipped the socks with my Tevas). I bought Lazarus II (see earlier post about Lazarus I) and top soil and wildflower mix seeds and other important things. We even used a flat-cart to shop. It was total business.

Dad fixed my air conditioner's cord. Rhu chewed it up over this past winter. Some days he would just feel sad or lonely (they call it "Seasonal Affective Disorder" or "SAD", folks), and he would go in and just chew on the cord like a little maniac. I also discovered that my air conditioner has a filter and it should be vacuumed - regularly. It looked like no one had vacuumed it for about twelve years. Now, I have COLD cold air and no risk of being shocked.

Good News + Good News + Hail Storm

2008-06-04T22:31:00.001-06:00

Dad went to the spine doctor this morning and it was all good news. He has to get some cortesone shots and some decompression therapy, but he's okay and he's going to be okay.

Caleb went to the doctor this afternoon and she was impressed by how healthy he is, and she even commented on how happy he is.

We had a ferocious storm through this afternoon. I was pretty happy to see so much rain, but Caleb could have done without the thunder. The hail was amazing - almost snow-worthy in coverage.

Mom is still here. Dad will now be out this weekend. I'll be posting pics from this past week's touristy goodness and backdating them to when we went places. Meanwhile, enjoy the storm pics!

All the Tea in Boulder

2008-05-30T21:30:00.000-06:00

Today, we went to the Celestial Seasons tea factory. We went on the factory tour, then visited the café and the gift shop. The factory tour was very inspiring and we bought a lot of tea.

The café:

The enchanted trash bins:

The scenery:

Vote Cook!

2008-05-20T20:12:00.000-06:00

AI: Note to Universe, please please please let David Cook win - and please please please show a close-up of Archiebot's stage-dad at the moment the winner is announced. Thx.

It's hot here. I've had to leave the living room ceiling fan on for the past two days. It's been in the 70s. Our air conditioning is out at work, too, so it's been miserably hot there.

Only eight more days until Brother & Sis-in-Law and Mom arrive! I've gotta get cleaning on this place - it's a wreck.

Now reading: White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Karmapa & Karma

2008-05-16T20:52:00.000-06:00

I got a ticket to see the HH Karmapa next weekend! I'm going to the inter-sangha event where he will answer questions from members of the local sanghas. Too bad I can't take my digital voice recorder.

Neighbordude continues to scale the heights of ridonkuluhsness with his drama towards the new neighbors. VeggieGirl tried to talk to him last night - and I mean tried. She attempted to explain their situation and let him know they don't intend any awkwardness, etc. And, uh, Neighbordude was just an asshat. He's already called the landlord because it's unacceptable to him and if there will be people in the driveway then he'll have to buy a curtain for his living room because otherwise it's an invasion of privacy and he doesn't want to hear their dogs bark and the parking of the camper-van and dogs included should be illegal..... blah blah blah. So, yeah, two years after living in that half of the duplex and now two weeks before he moves he suddenly needs a curtain?!

Two weeks and goodbye, Smokey!!! Hooray!!!

Have I mentioned that I am going to see HH Karmapa? Oh, I did? Huh. Well, it's just that exciting!

Smokey Frowns

2008-05-14T22:10:00.000-06:00

About 30 minutes ago, Caleb began barking so I went outside to hush him. Smokey the Neighbordude was in front and he asked me "Hey, do you know these people with the camper?" So I told him they are the new neighbors and he frowned. Then he asked if I was sure the landlord said they could be parked in the drive and I reaffirmed. Then he asked about the dogs being inside and wasn't that a bad idea, and I told him they were frequently checking on them and feeding them and watering them and walking them and playing frisbee with them. He frowned again. "So, they're just gonna be LIVING here?" And I got to say, "Yup!" "In front of my house?" "Yup!" He frowned yet again. "Well, that's kinda crazy."

And the camper van windows are all open to just the screens, so if VeggieGirl was inside she totally heard him. Which would be very awkward. I hope she wasn't in there... They really do seem like nice people, and there is something admirable about following an artistic dream even if it means living for two weeks in a camper van.

So Sayesha left AI tonight, which was as predictable as Archewhosit singing a treacly ballad every week.

Now Reading: Cheap Coyote Tricks by Greg Keeler
Genius. You can read the entire book online at www.troutball.com/coyote/contents1.htm

Oh, Sailor

2008-05-13T20:43:00.000-06:00

I met my new neighbor... hmmmm... I was thinking her nickname could be "HippyChick" but that's pretty much every female in this town. How about VeggieGirl? Of course, that's also pretty much every female in this town... but she's a produce manager at a farmer's market so it's apt.

She and her fiance (VeggieBoy?) just moved from Vegas in their camper van and are parked in the communal driveway, living la vida camper until Smokey the Neighbordude moves out at the end of this month. They had to move up here early for jobs and they are on their own, trying to create a new life.

They have two doggies who are medium-sized. They are small compared to Caleb. Eensy. I am sure Caleb can't wait to be their Godzilla.

In very important news, Rhu has enjoyed wearing his new sailor collar. Nothing says "Springtime" like a cat wearing nautical-themed clothing.

AI was on tonight, and the contestants sang three songs - which were three too many for two of 'em. David Archawhosit is the creepiest mccreepy ever. Sayesha is adorable as long as she refrains from doing the baby cry impersonation for the remainder of the season. Or her life. David C can do no wrong unless he is singing the monstrous ballad sung by Aerosmith as the theme to that movie where an asteroid is heading to earth and everyone is going to die unless Bruce Willis the Astronaut can stop hitting the Jim Beam long enough to get back in the proverbial saddle and prove his worth because he's really a rugged hero in disguise - and the song is written by some lady who belongs to a gardening club and yet David C is screaching it at top volume just like Steven Tyler and it is all just vair, vair wrong.

I'm adding a new feature to my blog, which, by the way, is still eventually moving to wordpress mainly because that blog has a way cooler name than this one. I'm going to add a little "now reading" blurb to the end because I am all about the bookage.

Now Reading: Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

Watch This Space

2008-05-07T23:36:00.000-06:00

New Rhu photos will be posted soon.

I bought Rhu two new ties tonight!

Also, the mandatory Rhu-cradling that must be done whenever I sit down at the computer has gotten increasingly bothersome. Therefore, I am on a quest to buy a Snugli-type fabric baby-sling so I can type with two hands - and hopefully see the full keyboard again.

Rhu is so high maintenance. He's like Diana Ross with a pleasant personality.

Caleb is on alert because tonight is the one night this year when we have thunder. We never have thunder here. Caleb has therefore forgotten that his standard thunder-behavior is to whine and cower. He has been barking at the thunder and running through the house.

I have one more class meeting tomorrow night and then this semester will be DONE. Bah! Next I just need to survive this graduation shindig on Saturday and then I am going to have the most fabulous relaxed Sunday evah.

Boo -> Yay

2008-04-30T00:12:00.001-06:00

I got home tonight at 9pm.

My stinky neighbor is home from Utah. Boo.

There is a "For Rent" sign in our yard. Yay.

Stinky neighbor had told my dad last fall that he would be moving out-of-town to a more reasonably priced place, so it's not surprising. This means that in less-than a month, I'll have a new neighbor. I'm sending a big request out to the universe that New Neighbor will be fairly quiet, really nice, laid-back, loving towards animals, and understanding that although I do my best to be a good dog owner there will just be some times when my dog barks - I can't be home everytime UPS delivers or whatever. Also, no pot smoking or growing. Whatever peoples do to their lungs is their biz and all... but if they live next door then I've gotta live with the stink. Ew. So, here's to my New Neighbor and all their good qualities for neighborliness.

How did the weekend end already?

2008-04-27T23:17:00.000-06:00

Today was on the upswing as Rhu wanted to spend a long time being held like a baby. It's rough trying to type on the laptop while he does this, but he's so cute:

We have a flower in our yard:

These pretty purple-flowered things are all over. Just based on their awesome powers of flourishing, I suspect they are weeds. But they are pretty, weeds or no:

I like this sans-flash pic of Rhu contrasted with the white-blooming tree/bush/whatever outside my bedroom window. It worried me a little bit when I moved in and realized there were metal bars on that set of windows, but we don't live in a rough neighborhood, so I'm not sure what the story is on those. Anyhoo, the pic is a nice and relaxing view if you can ignore those grisly pawn-shop window bars:

In other news, I saw Enchanted this weekend. It was cutesy and Patrick Dempsey (sp?) sure is charming. Very unbelievable, though, as anyone who had to live with almost-princess Giselle would surely toss her out on her floral-clad rump the second time she sang her song about the power of true love's kiss.

I'm writing a story for my workshop class this week. I'm not sure if I'll have time to do it up right, but Sis encouraged me to write a deep and meaningful story and/or epic poem about the Loch Ness Monster. I'm going to set it in a Gossip Girl type of situation where Nessie attends a posh high school with wealthy socialite kids, and I'm going to use some $3 words so it's poetic-y and whatnot. I hope to annoy at least half of the class, if not all. After the wreck of a first year that I've had, I'm setting some big goals for the end of the schoolyear.

Today = Fail

2008-04-25T00:42:00.000-06:00

Today didn't even try to live up to yesterday's standards.

I had applied for two grad assistantships and I didn't get either. Fuck you, Kerouacians!

I feel completely disconnected. I thought this school was about creating community but instead it's about creating an ogliarchy. I could drop out tomorrow and the only way it will affect my school is they will lose my money. I have no problem paying for my religious studies classes, but my writing classes have been wastes of time. The faculty and staff have no interest in helping me succeed, and are actually detracting from my chances of success. Instead of achieving because of the people here, whatever I accomplish must be done in spite of them. It's like being forced into battle-mode. I'm tired of it and I'm going to talk to two other local schools to see about transfer credits. All I ask is that I be provided instruction that is relevant to what I want to do in writing, and support in designing a career. Isn't that what's supposed to occur in an MFA program???

I'm going to go have a long cry, watch Lost with Rhu & Caleb, and get a few hours of sleep. Boo.

Enlightenment

2008-04-24T00:19:00.000-06:00

I found out that the big pouffy foam grey circle hats are supposed to be hockey pucks. That's so reedonculous.

Rhu has a new favorite thing to do other than bite my head in the early morning. He likes to get on the couch and paw frantically at the divide between the two cushions at the back. That's my cue to pull one of the cushions out a bit so Rhu can have a crawlspace. Sometimes he has lost a toy in the nethers of the couch and was genuinely just wanting his toy back, but even after he's reunited with the toy he enjoys playing hide-out.

Today was pretty stellar. I had a good time at work and I did a good job. Some random guy gave me a free piece of pizza - and it was cheese and it was tasty. I got to go conduct an interview for my research paper and it was really enjoyable and interesting. I have a pretty cool idea for a novel and I'm excited to start it. The screechy, angry, egotistical Irish singer got kicked off AI (noooo, I'm not talkin' about Bono, y'all!). So, yeah pretty stellar. Tomorrow has a lot to live up to now.

Another week is starting already.

2008-04-21T00:54:00.000-06:00

We had our first writers/bowlers group outing Saturday night, but only two of us actually went out. I think that perhaps because we didn't stay in Boulder plus it's almost the end of the semester that people weren't inclined to join in. But, Miss Encyclopedic Knowledge (MissE) and I took the bus into downtown Denver and had beer and food and saw many fugly prom dresses and tuxes (and a few cute ones as well) and went book shopping and saw street performers and walked and walked and walked. My feet have welts on the tops from my shoes being stupid. It was a fab time.

The bus ride home was amusing as the bus contained a lot of drunk hockey fans. The Avalanche(s?) won some championship game which had been played in downtown. We saw a lot of people wearing jerseys and slurring loudly. Also, there were foam hats like what the sporty cheesehead people wear - those big puoffy slices of cheese strapped on the head. These Avalanche hats were big grey foam circles strapped to the wearers' heads. I guessed they were representing big dirty snowballs, but I'm not certain.

Today because of the welts I decided to buy some good sandals for walking. I spent more moolah than I had wanted to spend, but I am asking a lot out of these shoes. They must be wearable and comfortable and cute, and must be appropriate for walking by myself or with Caleb, walking on sidewalks and trails, being in class or at work, and not giving me welts. So I bought a pair of leather Tevas:

They're like buttah.

I watched the Rock of Love 2 reunion special but was vair disappointed. Not enough Heather, too much Ricky Rachtman (sp?). It was *gasp* boring. I'm quickly running out of tv shows. I will be watching the RoL replacement show next Sunday. Something about "Celebs trying to be magicians" or whatnot. All I know is one of my celeb crushes is on it: Hal Sparks. Hal is like the forbidden love child of Jim Carrey and Seth Green, so his appeal is totally mystifying - which can only help in his quest to be a magician.

Fight Night

2008-04-19T00:39:00.000-06:00

I finally gave Caleb a bath, but he didn't go willingly. Here is a very wet and exhausted post-trauma Caleb:

That's right. He's on my bed. And I am too tired to care.

Brazilliant

2008-04-19T00:07:00.000-06:00

Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life?

Some of my faves:

More here: http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com

Today was just a series of annoyances

2008-04-15T23:06:00.000-06:00

I had planned on going this morning to get my blood drawn for my thyroid levels, but overslept. That is annoying.

My thyroid med isn't working and I know it's about 1/100th the amount I need to be taking just to live somewhat normally. That is annoying.

Caleb smells. Seriously, I can't remember the last time he was so smelly. We went to buy shampoo at Petco and while I was test-smelling an olive and fig variety, he piddled on an endcap. He has never piddled in a store before. I suspect he was piddling over another dog's piddle, like who can be Mr. Big Time Piddler of the World competition-style, but still... I had to go to the sanitation station and get paper towels and cleaner and then wipe it up. Now at least we have some wonderful olive and fig shampoo and some almond milk conditioner, but Caleb isn't excited about having a bath. He is a 125lb doggy, therefore when he doesn't want to do something he can make my life really miserable. So, he is still smelly. That is annoying.

Rhu smells. Not as much as Caleb, but because Caleb is so smelly I am aware that Rhu has also not had a bath in a long time. Rhu is a mere 11lb cat, but he treats bathtime like a deathmatch. Petco didn't have any cat bath bags, which are the net bags for naughty claw-slashing cats. Rhu is sleeping on the couch, not actively smelling but I know he is overdue for a bath and so he smells in my imagination. That is annoying.

It was a million degrees here today. I didn't check the weather to see how to dress for my afternoon class, so I left the house in dark jeans and a sweater and dress flats. After I walked to class, I was feeling all mucky. I hate hot weather being here. That is annoying.

TV is really boring. I miss my Project Runway. I did half-heartedly watch AI tonight but it was Mariah Carey night so it was just these super sappy stupid horrific songs for an hour. And the hawt Aussie guy got kicked off but the annoying Irish gal is still there. To be able to be Irish and yet make me dislike you strongly is a pretty rare feat.

I'm going to go do a facial mask and then take a shower so I can crawl into bed and read. I'm going to wash my hair with the lovely new olive and fig shampoo and almond milk conditioner because they smell really really great and I am just dying to use them on someone.

Enrollment Update

2008-04-08T21:06:00.000-06:00

I got the classes I wanted. My schedule is 12-3 on Mondays and Tuesdays, and then 3 weekends of full-day practicums. I am rilly rilly rilly sad that I can't take a Religious Studies class this fall, but hopefully those weekend practicums will help me be employed as they are practical practicums. I miss the religion students already!

I didn't necessarily lose the enthusiasm for a writers' group, but I did forget about it today. So, no news on that.

My story was workshopped today in class. The professor asked the workshopped writers, "What are you trying to do with this piece? What are your goals for it?" and everyone else told her really flowery things like, "I want to dissolve boundaries in my writing, and I want to discover where the threshold is that the reader can cross to discover themselves" and whatnot. She asked me and I said, "I want this story to entertain."

Speaking of entertainment, who's watching Dancing with the Stars? I present my latest 5-minute Photoshop artwork: "The Many Moods of Priscilla Presley."

Day 47 of Not Moving This Blog Like I Had Planned.

2008-04-07T23:19:00.000-06:00

I'm going to sleep early tonight and hope to be snoozing by midnight! That's because I've gotta get up early tomorrow morning so I can register for the classes I want for fall. More news on that once it's complete...

I'm also thinking of starting a writers' group to get some sort of community thang happening in this city. There are loads of writing events, but they are all either listening to someone else read their work or reading your own. This inspiration may or may not last until tomorrow. It all stems from talking to other people in my MFA program and mentioning how there's no community here and it feels like I'm just out on my own, trying to figure everything out. And they all said they feel the same way. I feel like a lone wolf, but it's okay because other people are just as alienated from everyone else! Yay for mass alienation! I just hate to suffer alone, ya' know.

So I'm thinking that we need some type of social club for us moody writers where we can hang out and be neurotic in different areas of life. For names, I'm thinking "NU Cribbage Club" or "Dead Bingo Players" or "Poker-Keeno All-Stars." And because I don't have time to do traditional fund-raisers, we're going to need to be involved in bootlegging and panning for gold.

Random news:
Project Runway is moving from Bravo to Lifetime. This is horrible! I can't emotionally handle the upcoming segments from hot mess hissy fits - to - commercial for Tracey Gold movie where her child dies and only the true love of a small-town cop can save her from herself - to - a competition where designers have to fashion clothing from Cover Girl product packages. Oy.

I just got a check mark + * on my assignment for my Monday class for the fourth week in a row, which is the highest grade possible. I'm on a roll with this stuff. We also had to read our plays for the class and everyone enjoyed mine a lot and they laughed a lot (but the good kind of laughs).

I also realized today that if I were to write plays, they would be the one-woman-show kind and I would need to perform them. I resented having to pair up with another person to read my stuff. It took me back to third-grade when I wrote a play based on Heidi and I directed it and everyone just kept screwing it up. The actors couldn't memorize their lines, no one dressed appropriately, no one said the words properly with the correct emotional tones. It was a nightmare. I had to make index cards with the dialogue on it and I still ended up reading the dialogue for most people because they just weren't getting into character. I'm sure that out there somewhere is a woman who cries when she remembers the cruel taskmaster in charge of that third-grade play, a mean little blonde who constantly snapped at her because Heidi didn't have an American lisp but crisp Swiss accent. Well, that woman was an undisciplined trainwreck with poor enunciation skills and I can tell you she isn't crying enough over her failed Heididom.

I kid, I kid. I mean, it really was that frustrating and the actors really were that bad. But if they couldn't remember anything back then about my play, they sure aren't fussing about it now.

One more for the 6th...

2008-04-06T23:13:00.000-06:00

Today would have been the birthday of a guy who had been a good friend for ten years. So, I will be listening to Oasis CDs tonight while I finish up my homework in honour (and spelling British, as well) of his birthday.

When did it get to be April?

2008-04-06T22:13:00.001-06:00

Not that I'm complaining. March was hellacious in a dark-night-of-the-soul kind of way, but without the Oprah tie-in show reward.

MARCH

My uncle died. Mom & Dad came out for the funeral. There were many relatives and we all did a lot of hand-shaking.

During the burial, Dad collapsed twice and lost consciousness and was ambulanced to hospital. It was terrifying.

Sis & Bro-in-law and kiddos came out to pick up Mom & Dad and they all returned home.

I developed the Sinus infection from Hades and was sick for many days, even running a fever.

I discovered that although my school has an online program, none of their on-site class credits will transfer to the online program (and vice-versa). So, that job would mean I lose a year of graduate school. (Even though it's credit from the same frickin' school, mind you. My school's academic structure makes zero sense. ZERO. "Sorry, we can't take our own credits as they are worthless to us!" It's like a Monty Python sketch, but costs tons of money and is less funny.)

I have been sad that my current job will end at the end of this semester.

Carly kept getting voted through to the next week of AI.

I broke up with my nutritionist because he was pressuring me to give him a deposit in the thousands to prove I was serious about being healthy (and he always prefers to be paid in cash). When I told him I couldn't afford to see him anymore, he got pissed off and told me I was lying. He suggested I drop school and focus on my nutrition.

My thyroid medicine hasn't been working and it's probably about 1/100th what I need to take to function like a normal person.

I can't find a decent, honest doctor in this city.

Yes, March was bad to me. And on top of all that, I read Janice Dickenson's autobiography which is a downward spiral into everything wrong with society.

April, I'm so glad to see you. And thanks for bringing the nice weather.

This Saturday, I raked the backyard for the second time. I hadn't raked in the fall as I thought the leaves would compost during winter.... but it's too arid here. So they stayed and my yard looked like this:

After I raked and cleaned up Caleb-poo and put away wintery things like ice melt and snow shovels, it looked great! My yard is GREEN! It was just like when I vacuum and discover my carpet isn't the same color as the pet hair! Here is Caleb enjoying the improved yard:

Poor Rhu can't go outside, so he's left indoors pawing at the door:

I also got some good pics of the boys smiling. Here is happy Caleb:

And now here is happy Rhu:

Rhu insisted on showing he has range, so here is his serious expression:

Drama camp was expensive, but the results have really paid off for Rhu.

Yawn

2008-03-18T04:37:00.000-06:00

It's about 3:30am and I am 24 minutes away from being able to finally go to sleep. I'm printing out my story for a workshop and it's going to take my slowbee printer another 24 minutes to finish.

Here's what I woke up to this morning. Well, yesterday morning. Trees coated in powdery snow. Lots of it.

Most of it is gone by now, which is good because Mom & Dad are driving in tomorrow.

Bye, Uncle Jake

2008-03-16T23:54:00.000-06:00

Uncle Jake died.

My uncle was a good person. He was a Marine, a Vietnam veteran, a husband, a dad to three girls, and a grandfather to three kiddos. He had a good sense of humor and laughed a lot. Even when he got too sick to follow a conversation, he would smile and nod.

Shortly after I moved here, Uncle Jake had his birthday and we went to a restaurant that Jake really liked with good Mexican food. During dinner, Jake said, "Pssst, Emi," and handed me a half of his sopapilla. He was worried that since I hadn't ordered a sopapilla that I would be missing out. He had gone to the casino a few nights previously and had won something like $500, so he insisted on picking up the check for everyone. I kept trying to pay for mine, but there was no arguing with Jake. He was stubborn and generous.

I'm so sad that he's gone.

Boo-hiss.

2008-03-13T23:40:00.000-06:00

Rep. Sally Kern said: "The homosexual agenda is destroying this nation, okay? It’s just a fact. Not everybody’s lifestyle is equal, just like not all religions are... As a matter of fact, studies show that no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than, you know, a few decades. So it’s the death knell for this country. I honestly think it’s the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam, which I think is a big threat."

A big boo-hiss to Sally Kern, the Oklahoma Representative who is giving Oklahomans a tarnished image with her hate-speak.

I don't care if she finds homosexuality agreeable or no, much like I don't care what brand of shoes she finds most comfortable. It's all her opinion. But, when she starts crazy-talking that the biggest threat to Americans is our gay population, then her opinion is a problem for all of us. The job of our an elected official is to solve problems and improve lives, not to use their position to spread hatred or to focus on personal agendas of bigotry.

Lady, my gay neighbors, friends, and coworkers are not destroying this nation. Wanna know what is? The wrecked economy. Lack of health care. Poor educational systems. Increased work hours and decreased vacation and sick-leave time. Chemicals that are okay for companies to put into our food because politicians won't interfere with big manufacturing companies. Shipping our manufacturing jobs overseas to cut costs (yet mysteriously not cutting prices). Sending our kids overseas to fight a war that lacks a logical cause or feasible planning. Dubya Bush - the whitest, most far-right "Christian", heterosexual good ole' boy possible - is destroying America far more effectively than disco music and independent films.

I'd like to know if she plans on reading a history book any time soon. She's going to be really surprised when she discovers that the Roman Empire lasted for years and years and years, and then they embraced Christianity and shortly afterwards their society declined. I'll bet those silly Romans just embraced a less-equal version of Christianity, though. Maybe if they'd casted out their gays and attended Sally's church, the Romans would still be around to enjoy the greatness of disco music.

Battery-operated television

2008-03-10T20:12:00.000-06:00

I went to the pet store yesterday and bought a present for Rhu:

I set it up for him last night. He was skittish about it because it has a mechanical arm with a feather duster on the end that randomly darts in and out from the nylon skirt. (This is the cat who runs through the house and jumps at the head of a growling dog - and the dog is 9x the cat's size.) I put the contraption on the lowest speed so he could get used to it. He did. He ended up lying across from it and watching it. Just like a tv. Like a $30 battery-operated tv with a "Feather Show" channel.

I sped it up a bit and he got more interested:

I'm going to wait a day or two and try again. The instructions say that I can roll the feathers in catnip to add to the cat's interest. It's fake prey, shouldn't he already be interested? What else does he want? Go-go dancers and fireworks? This cat is so high maintenance.

In other news, I am really busy with school and work.

When I came home this evening, I saw my neighbor sitting outside on an upturned bucket. He was whittling. There were pieces of sandpaper on the ground. The whittled-upon-thing was a very short wooden stick with a little ball-like top. So I asked what he was making and he said it's going to be a cane. Shouldn't canes be people-sized? This thing is tiny. Anyone using this as a cane who is not Barbie is asking for a back injury. He said it's for an art project for school. That was the end of our conversation because I just didn't know what to say.

I'm totally too busy to be writing this.

2008-03-04T22:39:00.000-07:00

Today was Community Practice Day so I was out from school and work. I spent Community Practice Day like any other holiday - sleeping in until after noon. Then in the spirit of the day, I took a communal nap with Rhu and Caleb. It was great. I was going to take Caleb for a walk, but it was crazy windy and cold out. There is a really cool park up next to the mountains, about a mile and a half from our house. I downloaded a map of the park for future walks, and noticed there is a Lupine Lane in the park. Do these park planner people not watch horror movies? Hello, Lupine Lane is not something to name the road that runs alongside the wilderness trail.

I went to the store only because I had to pick up a few things, then came home and watched American Idol. It's about community, y'all. I've gotta say, David Archawhosit is pretty creepy. Behind the "aw, shucks" demeanor lurks pure dagnasty evil in a Charlie McCarthy puppet-form. Other David was really great and so was Dreadlock Boy. Dreadlock Boy is a lot more convincing as an "aw, shucks" kinda guy - mainly because he never won Star Search and hasn't been performing professionally his entire life. All-in-all, it was a lame hour and I should have been utilizing the time better, like writing in my blog just as I am now.

I noticed that and am acknowledging it as I'm trying to work on time-management. Right now, I have none. I did find a book I want at Amazon on it: How Did I Get So Busy?: The 28-day Plan to Free Your Time, Reclaim Your Schedule, and Reconnect with What Matters. It's gotten mainly 5-star reviews, except from one crabby reader who thought that if someone is really all that busy they won't have time to read such a long book ("When I opened the first few pages, my first thought was... 'Would a really busy person have the time to go through all this?'"). It's 256 pages! Obviously, Crabby never had to read Moby Dick in high school, or anything by Tolstoy, or - shudder - Les Misérables. Too bad Cliff Notes doesn't do non-fiction for these people, I'd hate to think they were wasting an evening reading instead of being really, really busy.

To counteract all of my testiness, here is Rhu sporting his latest tie:

I have been going through all my random papers and found one earlier tonight where I wrote about the first gift my niece gave Rhu. It was a pink baby doll dress, one that I had handed down to her when she had been baby doll-playing age. That dress, incidentally, was one I used on a stuffed white cat that Niece's mom, my sis, had found in the trash and then given to me when I was very little. Sis wiped it off and drew black whiskers on it with a sharpie marker. I think it may have originally been a bear, but I liked it as a cat. I was very into Richard Scarry books and Huckleberry Cat and his sister Sally were my favorite characters. Sally wore a pink dress. And, now that I think about it, Rhu looks just like Huckle and Sally - he could be their little brother.

Speaking of prezzies for Rhu, his birthday is almost a month away! Start shopping now!

Nevah Say I Don't Promote Cultah

2008-02-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

Especially if the cultah-rully item is something written by me. Then I'm all about promotion.

In the contemplative class I'm taking, we spend a lot of time meditating and then writing spontaneously. It's just like blabbing on paper, which is perfect. It's like The View, but written and without the two annoying women. Not those two, the other two who are totally bonkersly annoying.

So, here is what I turned in today and you, dear reader, will be pleased to note that it is a poem.

I know. I don't write poetry. And I've been having issues of me-against-them with the poets in my classes. But that's all so five-minutes ago when an assignment is due in three-minutes.

And so, just like water under the Waterloo Bridge, I am self-cleaning and enjoy promoting culture to the masses.

Mind Writing Itself:
Here, Possibly Occurred

It is a house, it
is a castle. It is
a palace. With a garden
roamed by synapses,
sparking when they
say hello.

It is a collection of
facets and shadows,
where ghost-lights and
puppet movements
travel through
a tunnel.

It is eternal thinking,
unable to cease.
If told, “Don’t think
of a zebra.”
There follow…
thoughts of a zebra,
of all the zebra-ness
possible.

It is a turning
in stillness
and a shifting
against clockwork.
Example X is a
transparency.

It is a flawed recording
of bees whispering
“hello” to apes, and
telling of all that possibly
occurred in a
garden.

Update: Obligatory Oscars Round-Up

2008-02-24T23:10:00.000-07:00

Watching the Oscars was just like watching the Grammy's, but a lot less work.

This time the only bit I bothered to attentively watch was "When Busey Attacks." E! has provided us with a lot of joy and, uh, entertainment throughout the years - but this was the greatest present they could give the world. It was Christmas Eve all over again, two months to the exact date.

Ryan Seacrest is doing his pre-show red carpet shtick and making polite mumbo jumbo, when Gary Busey appear and bellows, "Seacrest! Been lookin' all over for you!" Ryan says, "Oh no, what have I done?" and Busey replies, "It's what you HAVEN'T done!"

Oooh, this could be good! But Ryan has been attempting to get the attention of the Bobbsey Twins, Laura Linney and Jennifer Garner, so the camera dumps Busey to focus on the girls. They smile and act coy and ask if Ryan thinks they could be sisters.

Check out the grimmace on Laura. She's a good actress, but not a great one. She knows this is all anyone sees:

Laura does get some love shown by the Busey, who has tired of waiting on Ryan. The Busey knows he'll have to schmooze his way back into Ryan's direct path. He knows Laura, or at least her name, and he gives her a nice, steady handshake. Because he's a nice, steady guy.

In an ill-fated attempt to divert the Busey's attention from whatever Ryan has not done, Ryan asks if the Busey knows Jennifer Garner. No, but that won't stop the Busey from grabbing her in a tight hug and kissing her neck ferociously. Both sides of her neck. Wow, Jennifer gets more affection from Laura's imaginary friends than Laura. This Bobbsey Twin friendship is so doomed.

When the Busey is peeled off from Jennifer, she's too shaken to answer any further questions from Ryan. She says she's nervous, and she and Ryan both wonder where hubby Ben is. Like Ben is going to be of any help. I hate to break it to her, but she's married to one of the wussiest wusses ever. Remember the Bennifer 1 years when he always walked two steps behind J-Lo, holding the train of her fur coat? When your best friend is the one who makes it big as an action-hero - and that best friend is Matt Damon - you rank pretty high on the wussometer. Sorry, Ben, you'll always just be one-half of a Bennifer, any Bennifer, to me. A fretful Jennifer will have to fend for herself when it comes to the Buseys of the world.

In real time, I did catch a few of the main awards. I did manage to miss all of the song performances as well as the always-awful "Who Died Last Year!" montage. I missed the intro skit(s), but judging by what I saw, John Stewart left his funny at the door.

I didn't see any of the movies up for awards. I didn't care about anyone winning or not winning, except for Johnny Depp and I knew he wouldn't win. Otherwise, a bunch of people involved in movies about poverty, wealth, murder, shacks, guns, more murder, dirt roads, explosions, and even more murder all got awards.

And also Tilda Swinton, whom Sis calls "The chick who doesn't believe in makeup." I looked online for a photo of Tilda in makeup just so Sis could see her all gussied-up, but I couldn't find one. Apparently, she just looks like this all the time:

So to balance out the universe, here's a pic of someone who is never seen unless she has spray painted makeup on with the dial set to 11:

I'm just going to say, at least Tilda's skin has breathed fresh air during this century.

It's only February and this is the 9th holiday of the year already...

2008-02-14T00:57:00.000-07:00

Happy VD!

Isn't it grand how the holiday that stationary stores mutated into a celebration of luuuuuurve has those initials? It's like the Circle of Life, but Bret Michaels style.

I'm actually pretty happy to be single on this holiday. No stress. The only expectation of me is Rhu's wanting to be cradled baby-style while I type this blog entry. I have gotten some nice Valentine's presents, but I got one of the absolute best - if not the best ever - tonight. Sis sent a card and niece included a handwritten copy of a poem she wrote for class, "My Aunt Who Loves Me." Reading it turned me into a Josiah from American Idol pretty fast - lots of crying. And a British accent.

I'm offended that Natalie Cole is offended that WINO! won some Grammy's. Didn't Nat get the memo? The Grammy's don't mean diddly. In fact, winning a Grammy means you can effectively retire as you are no longer even remotely a threat to the establishment (for example, the Foo Fighters).

To celebrate my offendedness towards offendedness, I am celebrating WINO! WEEK! based on her acceptance speech where she says, "To... my Blake, incarcerated." So I'm going to include it in daily conversation, like "My Caleb, incarcerated," or "My Rhu, incarcerated." Although for those two hooligans it's not a very big stretch. What will be interesting is to see how it goes over tomorrow with people who make more money than me and who didn't watch the Grammy's, even on YouTube. "My boss, incarcerated."

Yes, I am still moving my blog, but it's going to take some time as I hadn't realized what is involved: work. I just found a shiny new site with shiny new features and shiny more storage (which I will need if I am going to continue on with my amazing ImageReady skillz). I can't believe they don't have a shiny new button to press to move my posts automagically. Boo. So, more on that in about a week.

The Grammy's According to Me

2008-02-11T20:58:00.000-07:00

Do you know why Hollywood gossip and entertainment news is overtaking America? Avoidance.

So, here I will avoid doing homework and instead discuss the Grammy's.

I didn't really watch all of the Grammy's. I probably saw a good 15%. But that's not going to stop me from having an opinion, y'all. Thank goodness for YouTube or I would have no clue what I'm saying. And thank goodness for the fast-forward button on YouTube or else I would have had to sit through some pretty bad stuff in order to tell you how bad it was.

There were some good things about this year's Grammy's. Mainly, I was very happy to not see Justin Timberlake. John Mayer was there, but he doesn't have anything else to do so I couldn't blame him for showing up. And Christina Aguilaaaaaaaaaaaaara spared us all by skipping, which was brilliant.

But, can we not get a limit on how much Beyonce and Alicia Keys an awards season can handle? They were on every five minutes doing some "Hey everybody, lookit who came onstage to sing with me!" and the crowd always responded with a roar because they were shocked. Because they have never watched an awards show and they would never expect that a "special guest" would show up to duet with Beyonce or Alicia Keys. Quelle surprise!

So, speaking of duets and special guests... Beyonce sang some horrible intro thing about how when she was little she dreamed of being on stage but she would need to soul of Eartha Kitt and the class of Ella Fitzgerald and the whatever of Billy Holiday - which was totally fake as we all know Beyonce grew up wanting to be Janet "Miss Jackson if You're Nasty" Jackson. A little girl wanting to grow up and be Billy Holiday makes as much sense as a little boy wanting to grow up to be Ernest Hemingway. Puh-leeze. The only good thing about this sham is that is was all an intro to a very special and very surprise guest: Tina Tuner!

So how hawt was Tina Turner and her silver Snausage outfit? Most people would just look like a sausage dog treat in a bodysuit like that, but she looked like a name-brand sausage dog treat and she still looked better than anyone else in that auditorium!

Better at almost 70 than pretty much anyone at any age.

There was also some surprise guest mash-up between an orchestra and the Foo Fighters. I used to love me some Foo, but hasn't the whole "We just wanted to take the song to a new level by incorporating an orchestra but, you know, while still rockin' it" been done to death?

Little was seen of Dave Grohl's face. Because he was rockin' it.

Foo Fighters' last CD was about the lamest thing they've ever done. So of course they won a Grammy or two this year. Boo.

The most exciting part of the evening was when James Lewis came out on stage all serious until someone brought out his keytar - and then he was Jimmy Jam. With a keytar!!!

Two things missing in today's music? Creativity and the Keytar.

So Morris Day - in a gold lamé suit, bless him - and the Time busted out "Jungle Love". And it was the most exhilerating time in the universe until Rihanna showed up to do the "Umbrella-ella-ella" song. That song was acutally okay, but she needed to let Day and the Time do their thang and then maybe later show up for a little "ella-ella-ey-ey." Rihanna showing up in the middle of "Jungle Love" was like an unshaven Richard Nixon showing up at John F. Kennedy's pool party.

Universal Law #29: The ONLY reason someone not in The Time should be allowed onstage during "Jungle Love" is to bring Morris his mirror!

They saved the most intriguing for last. Or maybe not as it's hard to tell what order things happened in because YouTube-rs don't number things in order of occurance. It's enough for them to rip and load. But I did keep the television on Sunday night until that very special Rehabber made her appearance. Yes, I'm talking about Amy Winehouse, or as her homeland folk call her "WINO!" (Why do I think she may be pigeonholed?) Ah, bless WINO! If she didn't exist, John Waters would have to create her.

So, for Niece (and any others who missed her performance), here is WINO! for you to enjoy throwin' her finest gang signs:

It's like VH1's White Rapper Show never went away!

I do miss the days of Skunkarella WINO! It's hard for a crackhead to look healthy, but she pulled it off for a good month. Here's a nice memory:

The Suicide Girls' Club

Let's see, some other stuff happened. People made speeches. Kanye West is the greatest human ever and he apparently won the Battle of Valley Forge AND built the Pyramids all by hisself. I think he may have ended the Cold War, but it's hard to tell because the violins began playing over his speech at that part and then he started yelling "Jesus! Mama! They want me to have another #1! Heaven just told me!"

Vince Gill made a comment that was hilair about the whole Kanye-is-nutso scene so if Vince is found dead the FBI should be pointed to Kanye's house pronto.

Carrie Underwood sang some horrible song about bashing up a truck and she wore a dress made from a tablecloth I saw at a Cotillion in the 90s.

I missed Cher and I barely saw Cyndi Lauper, who looked so fantastic she was like a 100-watt bulb of pretty. Cyndi Lauper is going to be the next Tina Turner. That's right, I'm calling it now. I would post a pic but I have got to get some homework done.

Moving Day!

2008-02-08T20:05:00.000-07:00

This blog is movin' on outta here. I found a new home for my rants that is just a wee bit cooler so I'm packing up previous posts and will be setting things up over the next week or so.

If you want the new address, drop me an email or add a comment to this post.

R.I.P Lazarus I

2008-02-08T19:14:00.000-07:00

HippyMom came in today with HippyBaby for a surprise visit. She didn't come back to where her cubicle is, which is very very good.

But she will be back Monday afternoon and she will be checking out her cube as she intends to "straighten up a bit."

My temporary job is covering for HippyMom while she is out on maternity leave, so I am sitting in her cube. Her cube had three plants in it. Once was shoved into a corner and I didn't pay much attention until one day I was throwing my coat over it and saw the leaves were looking droopy. I panicked and remembered something about plants needing light and water, neither of which were happening in that dark corner where my coat gets thrown.

So I brought the plant out and I talked to it. I said things like, "Please live. HippyMom is very earthy and you probably mean a lot to her. You probably belonged to her now-dead great-grandmother, or were a Valentine's gift. I'll tell you what, you'll get so much water it'll be like a mudbath. Please? How about some music? Care for Arctic Monkeys?"

And for the next two weeks I watered that thing like it lived under a waterfall. And every day I would walk in and see the leaves curled further inward. Frankly, it was depressing for me to have to work at the same desk. But I kept the faith and believed that the plant was coming back. Any day.

People would stop by to say hello in the morning, and they would startle. "What happened? That plant is DEAD."

I would correct them, "No, no. That is the Lazarus plant and he is coming back. Any day now."

And they would be so stubborn. "No. That plant is DEAD."

And I would say, "Please, please don't tell HippyMom I killed her plant."

BookishOne kept on about it being DEAD until he realized that if the plant came back, it would be a zombie plant. This gave us both great hope.

The super-soak watering didn't seem to be making the leaves better, and a plant-keeping person suggested I let it dry out completely.

We were on day 4 of the dry-out when I came in Thursday morning and Lazarus was GONE.

There was a note, "E - The plant was DEAD. I tossed it."

Gah!

Oh, ye of little faith!

So this weekend I must go out and get a replacement plant that is the same type and same size. Only I never took a picture of Lazarus. He had purplish leaves on the underside and his trunk (?) was kinda browny-gray. He looked a bit like a tree but without branches. Or squirrel holes. I think there is some potting soil in the backyard shed. I hope it's okay to use frozen dirt.

Lazarus I
???? - 2008

Happy Losar!

2008-02-07T23:22:00.000-07:00

Happy new year to everyone!

Work and school were both closed, so I had a nice holiday. A nice holiday is a weekday where I sleep until noon.

Here are some pics of a standard attack of the not-quite-stealthy cat on the not-so-innocent dog.

Caleb knows minimum batting distance, so he gives Rhu a three-second warning.

Rhu backs up and tilts his head totally sideways. He's puzzled by the snarling. He would never bat a dog.

He was just trying to find a place to rest, one that is reasonably close to the dog. Because he loves him. What say we all just take a nice nap?

Bat!

You sure are cranky. Perhaps I shall take my nap elsewhere.

Poetry = Huh?

2008-02-04T19:45:00.000-07:00

Our first writing workshop is tomorrow and almost everyone wrote poetry. Really deep and meaningful poetry. I know it is deep and meaningful because the words are spread out all over the page, which is a sign of high-level poetry-writing.

as
we
all

know

How can I write criticism of something when I can't even tell who is in the poem, or what has happened, or what is happening? It's random - but not even good random. There is no dada in this bunch, just a lot of writing without punctuation or capitalization or sequence.

I am just going to write that I can't make a judgement and am willing to trust that the author knows what they are doing.

My story will not be workshopped until next week, but that should be very, very interesting.

I knew a writer, Mr. Writer, from a class. Mr. Writer would write a story, it would be critiqued and then he would turn in the finished product, which would be the exact same story. I knew that Mr. Writer had reached a point where he knew how he wrote, he knew what he wanted to write, and he just did it.

I always figured that was the goal in writing: know and do.

So why are people so insistant on making a story something it isn't?

Last week we turned in a revised story after being critiqued by two classmates. I changed one word - the character's age. That didn't go over very well as it wasn't the story the other two people wanted to read. You know what? Y'all are writers so if you want a different story then write it yourself.

I have obviously reached workshop irritation capacity at this place.

Sweeeeeeet

2008-02-03T19:06:00.000-07:00

I got a sweet new outfit for Rhu. It's a dress collar and tie combo. Check out my little retro Rhu!

Overtly-Sunny Sunday: Illustrated

2008-01-27T23:25:00.001-07:00

Today it was in the 60s and overtly-sunny. People wore flip-flops, shorts, and tshirts. Caleb went with me on some errands this afternoon. I pulled into the laundromat, but it was just too nice of a day so I put the key back in the ignition and we went to the downtown park instead.

You can't tell, but beyond the trees there are some ice sculpture things sticking out from the ground.

The tea house.

One day I will take photos of these mountains from someplace other than a traffic light stop.

Overtly-Sunny Saturday: Illustrated

2008-01-26T19:02:00.000-07:00

Today it was in the 50s and overtly-sunny. I went to the main library, which I always enjoy as it isn't just a library - in my mother's words, "It's a cultural center!" Really. It is. There is a gallery in one end and they always have really interesting and beautiful stuff. Usually they exhibit only one or two artists so there are a lot of pieces to see a good scope of a person's work.

This month they have two artists who are so awesome I was sad that I can't buy a 3'x5' canvas and paint. Even if I could splurge on the cost, it wouldn't fit in my eensy house. Fo' reals. I would have to paint outside and I'm just not that outdoorsy.

When I was finished with the gallery, I passed the main information desk into the rest of the library. I overheard the desk clerk talking with a woman and man.

"Leo?"
"Oh, that's June tenth through sometime in July."
"Oh, really?"

I knew two things: they were astro-talking, and I couldn't let misinformation spread. So I turned around to the information desk and told them the dates of Leo. The woman asked me what is June twenty-fifth, and I told her Cancer. The man was a Pisces. She kept asking if that was a good match and I said generally speaking and only based on sun sign, yes it is. Both feminine, both water. And the woman said, "I should have known that in a town like this, someone who knew this would be walking by." And I said, "Yes. There are roving astrologers everywhere." So I told them a few nice things and moved on with a content feeling. If you know me, you know I'm all about helping the people.

There is a full-on cafe between the gallery and book part of the library. There is also a used magazine and book area. In the book area, I was able to go to the new fiction and pick up a copy of a book I would spend weeks waiting on in my previous town. I think that because people here are so rich, they just buy books. So it works out well for students because there is no waiting. Even better is their service of mailing books right to your door for $1. My brother says it's the Netflix of libraries.

The book side.

The gallery side.

After the library, I took Caleb for an hour walk which was great because he hasn't had a nice walk in ages. The snow and ice is finally melted enough so we could use most of the sidewalks.

Freaky Friday

2008-01-18T20:32:00.000-07:00

Caleb and Rhu traded places with each other for the day:

Local Weather
Current Conditions
Today: Snow
Tonight: Snow
Forecast
Saturday: Snow
Sunday: Snow
Monday: Snow

Third Class Accomplished

2008-01-17T23:03:00.000-07:00

I went to my religious studies class tonight. It's a capstone class, meaning that it's the final class for students in their final semester of a two or three year master's program in religious history or divinity school (and it took some wrangling to get into it from a different department). It could have been a bit of "This iz serious class, we iz serious studentz." But it wasn't. It was another fabulous class to add to the other two fabulous classes.

There are eleven of us in this class. On one side of me sat a Buddhist monk from Bhutan, and on the other side sat an American in the process of becoming a Jewish rabbi. We have Christians, Buddhists, Jews, Pagans, Hindis, Theosophists, and Spiritualists. Sadly, we have no Muslims because that is the religion I know the least about and I'd like to have heard what they say about the readings.

The RS students are adorable. Being in their class is like studying another species. They aren't competitive like my department because they aren't all in a race to get the only slot available to be a published writer. No, these people don't have career plans for the most part. One guy said he wants to start a cult and another said his degree is going to hang on the wall next to his online-bought pastor license. One girl said she was going to go out in the world and be the most authentic person she could be. Most of the others were going to go on to a PhD.

The professor is an environmentalist working on her PhD in religious studies. I was very disappointed as the books have been changed so the class description that lured me in was wrong and there isn't as much of a mystical focus. That turned out okay. I came for the Helena Blavatsky, but I'll stay for the Barbara Tedlock. The books we are reading are a mix of heavy critical texts and less hefty personal views. The professor spoke about the class like it would be a heavy duty philosophical venture with a lot of academic rigour, but then ended with, "When it feels like this is getting too much with the postcolonialism and the postmodernity and the postpostmodernity and all that, just remember it's all made up. Everything we are studying is just made up so there are no rules about what you can or cannot make up as well."

And I am such an outsider that I'm not expected to know anything except all the literary stuff that I should know. The professor emailed me that she was excited I would be in the class so I could bring knowledge of postcolonialism and all that jazz. Boy, is she going to be disappointed. Especially when she asks me about it in front of everyone and I reply with, "Postclownism? Isn't that what Stephen King did with the clown symbolism in It?"

If nothing else, this class is going to give me a lot of material to use during thesis time next year. Also, the professor said she wants to teach us how to merge personal belief with academia - a lot of people are going on to get their PhDs and they will end up teaching, but most classes don't teach anything about how to navigate the world of scholarship or university life.

In other news, today my boss handed me back a folder of letters I had typed and given to him to sign. There were about 60 of them. He had signed them at home last night and then on top of the stack he added a handwritten note to me telling me what a great job I had done and he thought the letters were outstanding and he's very grateful I'm here and doing a great job. Wow. It's a good feeling to work in a place like this.

Second Go-Round

2008-01-15T22:04:00.000-07:00

This semester makes up for all the ickness of last semester. I've been to three classes so far. Two are keepers and the other has been dropped.

Class One: Contemplative Writing
I know four people in this class already and they are four really cool and funny people. The others seem like they will be okay with the possible exception of one guy whom I shall refer to as GuyGuy.

In this class, we will spend the first portion meditating so people are asked to not come in late as it disturbs the class. Well, GuyGuy had to interject his experience with a previous class that had a meditative component. He went on and on and on about how when people came in late it broke his concentration and sometimes he had only just started breathing great and then it was ruined... His whole "experience" was ruined, sometimes his whole day was ruined, blah blah. And he got teary-voiced and shouty about it. He even thrashed his hand in the air a bit for emphasis.

I don't like to be late to meditation time. But, I've gotta admit that I nodded slightly and tried to look compassionate - and yet in the back of my mind I was thinking, "I've gotta be late at least once. And I've gotta remember to pay attention to GuyGuy when I walk in because I know he'll be freaking out and that's gonna be comical." And I was also thinking, "If there are eleven of us in here besides GuyGuy, and we can be late a maximum of two times before our grades suffer, then can we make arrangements for one of us to be late every time the entire semester? Because GuyGuy will have a nervous breakdown by those last couple of weeks and that's gonna be comical to the n-th degree."

I will obviously be spending meditation time contemplating how evil I am.

The professor is a total Ivy League guy who wears blazers and loafers. He's very soft-spoken and comes across as genius-level smart. All-in-all, I think we're going to get away with a lot of craziness in that class. I love the reading list and I love that he puts everything online so we don't have to buy books.

Class Three: Zen Buddhism
I knew within ten minutes that this was all kinds of wrong for me. The guy teaching it doesn't smile. His co-teacher/life partner doesn't smile, either. The students were all undergrads in dreadlocks and Che Guevara t-shirts. One guy kept yelling out "What is the sound of one hand clapping!" and "Who are you?!" because I guess he is just that Zen already. And yet when the teacher called roll, the dude couldn't even answer and he made wild hand gestures instead so the teacher counted him absent until someone said, "He's here. Right over there. He's been waving." So when the teacher understood the dude was present and just hadn't answered, he said to him, "Oh, Jimmy. That's 'who you are,' right? Ha ha." And Jimmy got riled and actually spoke, "That's my name, but THAT ISN'T WHO I AM!!!"

We went over the syllabus and there were five books for us to buy. Five. That's a lot for something I may not care about once May is past. Two of them were by the teachers. We were told that we would learn the history of Zen in China and Japan but not in Korea, and that we would be doing a lot of reports and the teachers would be gone for four classes but that was okay as we would use those four weeks to work on extra reports with our classmates. The guy who sat on my right side is deaf in his left ear so he had to ask his friend "WHAT?!!!" everytime the instructor said something, so I got to hear everything twice. It was doubly-boring.

We also were told that we had to spend a mandatory weekend at a Zen center which I thought would be divine. But the center is one town over. It is 20-minutes from my house. Carpooling is a must because parking is an issue due to shops and businesses located around the place. Uh, I do not want to go on a retreat 20-minutes from my house, and I do not want parking to be an issue because I want to have a place to store my car while I meditate and attempt to be spiritual and whatnot.

Then we went into the shrine room to do a half-hour of Zen meditating, which is just like regular meditating but with counting the breaths as they go both in and out up to ten and then starting again. I don't know how Zenners do it, but when I tried to meditate and count I would get to about thirty-three, realize I've messed up, then think about how I need to start over again soon but don't want to do it on an out breath as the out breath needs to be the "one" when I start over, and then bemoan the fact that I am fretting about my numbers while I try to glance around non-obviously to everyone else, who all look very serene and at-one with their numbered breaths. It was quite unsatisfactory. The only nice thing about meditating is that when we entered the shrine room, GuyGuy was in there meditating, and as the door opened for the twenty of us to loudly shuffle in, he shrieked, "What is THIS?!" (Note: Speaking is a no-no in a shrine room unless one is chanting.)

After the meditation, we took a break. I tried to speak to the instructor but he was very non-responsive. He answered my questions with questions. Again, maybe that is tres Zen but is was not helpful. After everyone left the room on break, I gathered my stuff and fled. I unenrolled myself as soon as I got home.

Class Three: Architecture
I came to school here to take classes like this. First, the professor is amazing. She is Indian, but was raised in England so she has a clipped Brit accent. Almost all of us had gotten to the class and were seated and a very confused guy popped into the class and here's what followed:

Very confused guy: Am I in the right classroom?

Fabulous professor: Well, what have you come here to study? Are you here to study Philosophy? Are you here to study Mathematics? Do you know why you are here?

Very confused guy: Uh, I'm looking for a writing class. Is this it?

Fabulous professor: This is a class. This is a writing class. This is a writing class about writing about forms and structures and shapes, some of them real and some of them imagined. This is a class on discovering what you are here to write. Does this sound like something you are interested in? If so, please stay as this is your class. If no, please leave and find yourself a class elsewhere on subjects you will enjoy.

Very confused guy: Uh....

Fabulous professor: Does this sound like it is your class?

Very confused guy: No. This isn't my class. I'm actually enrolled in something a bit more concrete.

Fabulous professor: Then I wish you luck in your endeavors in that other class.

Very confused guy: Thanks. Bye.

Fabulous professor: GOODBYE FOREVER!

So then we wrote about our favorite building and read those bits aloud as introductions. And then the professor read us a letter she had written to us last night. Let me say, this letter was one of the most amazing pieces of writing ever written. It was about airports and monkeys and matrices. Mind-blowingly great writing.

So those are it so far. I am now enrolled in Shambhala II in place of Zen as I suppose that is my type of Buddhism. However, I did hear back from a professor in religious studies that I am approved to take a class on spiritual literature (of Western writers who traveled East and then brought back knowledge) as long as the department head is okay with it. I hope that one pans out as it would give me material to use in my thesis.

Saturday Photos

2008-01-12T20:01:00.000-07:00

The mountains this morning.

Caleb is all fluffyfied after his day at the salon.

How classy am I?

2008-01-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

Because there are many rich and snooty folks in this town, the wine selection is spectacular. I am currently in an Italian phase so I purchased a nice merlot and a nice Vernaccia because Michaelangelo wrote about Vernaccia in a poem.

Anyhoo, I just looked at the merlot bottle and realized it is a fine example of how classy I am:

No wine topper, no problemo.

One of my favorite sights is a cat with its limbs entwined:

Caleb and I have Day o' Beauty tomorrow. He is going to the doggy salon to get all clean and fluffy. Also, his talons will be cut because I am tired of bleeding every time he wants attention. After I drop Caleb off I am going to the spa/salon to get a facial and massage. Then I'm going to go one town over to shop for some businessy shirts to wear to work. This town is a little limited in clothes. Shops are either totally outdoorsy gear or super spendy expensive.

I've been working on an info page to take to Caleb's doggy salon so they know all about him. I listed his birthday and then I added he's a Libra. And then I added that he's also a Pisces Moon and an Aries Ascendant. And then I realized that no matter how fruit-loopy this town is, the groomer isn't necessarily going to take his chart into account when dealing with him. Although it is fitting that Pisces rules the feet and Caleb really hates for anyone to touch his feet. He needs his nails cut and the fur on his paws trimmed on top and bottom. Poor groomer.

Politics, schmolitics

2008-01-11T19:27:00.000-07:00

82% Hillary Clinton
79% Chris Dodd
79% John Edwards
79% Barack Obama
73% Bill Richardson
69% Joe Biden
68% Mike Gravel
68% Dennis Kucinich
44% Rudy Giuliani
37% Tom Tancredo
33% Mitt Romney
31% John McCain
25% Fred Thompson
24% Mike Huckabee
21% Ron Paul

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

Ron Paul Broke My Heart

2008-01-09T21:37:00.000-07:00

About two months ago, I started hearing Ron Paul's name mentioned. The more I heard about him, the more I liked him. I got the paperwork ready to change my affiliation to Republican just so I could vote for him in the primary. I sent an email to the Obama campaign asking them to remove me from their mailing list as I was going to vote for Ron Paul instead.

And then Ron Paul broke my heart.

I found out that one of Ron Paul's main goals is to make abortion illegal. He's so big on it that he has written two books about it. The Libertarian Party's platform on the issue is this: "Recognizing that abortion is a sensitive issue and that people can hold good-faith views on both sides, we believe that government should be kept out of the matter, leaving the question to each person for their conscientious consideration." So I was extremely surprised to find out that Ron Paul considers it a matter for the government to be very involved in.

Old rich guys have no business telling women what can and cannot happen with their bodies.

If Ron Paul wants to counsel family and friends against abortion (or birth control or any reproductive matters) then that is his business. If he believes abortion or birth control to be morally wrong then that is his business. But if he thinks that he has the right to control all America's ovaries then he is just wrong.

So now I am seeing other candidates. It's a bit of back-to-the-drawing-board.

Obama: I'm not as fond of Obama as I was when he first came on the scene. He's spent way too long answering questions with, "Well, that's something I'll need to take a look at and then work with people on a committee on creating a committee for looking at that particular issue." But he still beats the pants off most of the others. And he still has that charisma. I don't know if I can stay mad at Obama for too much longer. Especially when I see clips of him booty dancing on Ellen's show.

Edwards: I just can't get excited about him this time around. He made an adorable vp candidate but he doesn't have enough oopmh on his own. He's also too politician-y to be effective. I look at Edwards and I imagine a pile of bills in an in-box while he bargains with his lobbyist buddies on the office phone.

Clinton: I don't agree with her stance on too many issues. I also don't appreciate her bungling the health care situation the first time out, and as that is a major issue for me I can't vote for her.

Kucinich: I wish Kucinich could win because the White House needs a good aura cleansing and also I would like a first lady with a tongue piercing. But there is zero chance of him winning.

Gravel: I like where he stands on the issues and I honestly have not paid enough attention to him before now. Obama may have some competition. Again, he has zero chance of winning, though.

The Republicans: McCain, Romney, and Giuliani can't be bothered to do anything about my personal number one issue of health care. Huckabee is a right-wing nutter who wants to run the country according to his religious beliefs.

Well, Ron, it was a good time until now. I'll always cherish the memories of being excited about your candidacy. I'll remember fondly how I thought you were such a cool anti-Washington maverick - like Perot but with actual policies and without the crazayzy. So long, Ron.

Goodbye, 2007

2007-12-31T18:44:00.001-07:00

Happy New Year!

The temperature has dropped to the single digits and the wind chill is below 0. Winds are 40 mph. The streets have inches of ice on them. The highways around here have been closed due to avalanches and visibility problems due to high winds blowing snow around. Even Caleb was okay when I cut our walk short after just 15 minutes this afternoon. When he's fine with skipping a walk, it's bad.

So, Caleb and Rhu and I are snuggled here in our warm house. I just had a pizza delivered and I'm going to watch a movie and then chat on the phone.

I'm not really a fan of New Year's Eve and I haven't been for a few years now. I haven't made a list of resolutions in many years and I started mentally compiling one earlier... but I think I would rather just stick with something simple:
Enjoy and appreciate life more.

Here is Rhu earlier today, enjoying and appreciating the pyjamas I got for xmas:

I'm going to go put those pyjamas on and turn the heater up. Brrrrrrrrr.

I hope everyone has a safe and warm New Year's Eve.

Post-holiday cheer

2007-12-30T18:38:00.000-07:00

Caleb has sure been enjoying Rhu's presents!

Christmas!

2007-12-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I am enjoying a beautiful white Christmas. It's been snowing since sometime last night, so by the time I woke up at a little after seven there was a nice fluffy cover. I got the turkey on and started a batch of bread. Then we opened presents!

Caleb in the early morning snowfall

Caleb snoozed while I got things ready

Rhu loves presents

The haul

The perfect gift for a fruitaholic such as myself. The fruit along with lots of candy arrived last week and it's all amazingly good stuff.

I can never be poisoned because I have a royal taster. Rhu licked the lemons and declared them tart and safe.

I made the most awesome wedding cake cookies ever

New lungta (windhorse) flags above the front door

Rhu playing with a new toy from Nonny and Poppy

Santa Caleb

The naughtiest elf

Enjoying Christmas

Caleb loves to watch snow fall

The snowy side yard

My snowy home

An exhausted Caleb naps with his new Boo Bear from Nonny & Poppy

The finished bread loaves

I have had an unbelievably great Christmas. This is the first Christmas I haven't had plans or obligations, so I'm schedule-free. I was going to go to my aunt's house in Denver and visit this afternoon, but we just spoke and she's going to come visit me this weekend instead. I'm going to relax and enjoy my presents, take a nap with Rhu & Caleb, and have a great turkey dinner with fruit salad and bread and all the baked goodies Mom sent me.

Because of the ice storm and the utilities being off for over a week, Mom wasn't able to ship her baked goodies to me until Saturday. We thought I would get them tomorrow, but I opened up my front door a few hours ago and there was the box! I didn't expect to get any deliveries on the holiday, especially considering that my mailman hasn't delivered my mail for over a week now (with all the snow and ice I've had a hard time shoveling, and if he doesn't think it's shoveled well he won't attempt it). So that was an extra nice surprise.

It is still snowing heavily so I think we will get another foot before it stops. I'll take some photos after it's all here and post them so those of you who don't have snowy scenery can enjoy it.

Graduation 2009

2007-12-20T18:58:00.000-07:00

I will graduate on Saturday, 16 May 2009. You are all invited!

Not Finished Yet

2007-12-11T22:53:00.000-07:00

It's snowing crazy amounts here. My afternoon class was canceled and we are supposed to have a make-up class Thursday afternoon. I had believed that if it were canceled, we could just drop our chapbooks off at the office and be done. I want to be FINISHED! Gah. So, I will be done Thursday afternoon sometime.

Worst. Semester. Ever.

I deserve a medal

2007-12-11T01:33:00.000-07:00

If I can't have a medal (a French one with lots of fancy schmancy ribbons), then I deserve a Wii.

It's 130ish in the night and I just finished editing my last story for my chapbook. And the professor had best read it because there's a LOT of work in it. We students suspect she won't... but I hope we are wrong.

All I have to do now is finish printing my chapbook, print the cover page and get it ready to take to work so I can use the industrial-strength stapler, and then decide what story I want to read as my final piece in class tomorrow and print a bazillion copies of it.

And then I can go to sleep. And sleep the sleep of a person who is finished with the big suck that was this semester.

At 6pm tomorrow, I will be FINISHED!

27 Years Later

2007-12-08T21:27:00.000-07:00

He would be 67 tonight....

The more Britney-d, Beyonce-d, Fergie-d, Timberlake-d, and Timbaland-ed music gets, the more Lennon is missed.

Here's a page where you can listen to recorded scan of NYC radio stations the night of Dec 8th, 1980, as they were reporting the news of the shooting:
blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/12/nyc_radio_the_n.html

Some of my favorite quotes from Lennon:

I believe in everything until it's disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your mind. Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?

I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong.

I'm not going to change the way I look or the way I feel to conform to anything. I've always been a freak. So I've been a freak all my life and I have to live with that, you know. I'm one of those people.

If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or my music, then in that respect you can call me that. I believe in what I do, and I'll say it.

If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal.

My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.

Part of me suspects that I'm a loser, and the other part of me thinks I'm God Almighty.

Surrealism had a great effect on me because then I realised that the imagery in my mind wasn't insanity. Surrealism to me is reality.

You're just left with yourself all the time, whatever you do anyway. You've got to get down to your own God in your own temple. It's all down to you, mate.

Everybody loves you when you're six foot in the ground.

Snu

2007-12-08T20:27:00.000-07:00

It has been snowing since late Thursday night. Friday was warm, so most of the snowfall melted. Today it has been about 28 for most of the day, so we're getting a good accumulation. I think so far we have 4-5 inches and tonight we're supposed to get another 3.

Caleb on the porch this afternoon.

Caleb in the backyard this afternoon.

The backyard shed this afternoon.

Caleb in the backyard early evening.

The backyard shed early evening.

Caleb enjoys the snow.

But he quickly turns into a snowball.

Employment News

2007-12-03T02:39:00.001-07:00

I have lucked into a job with the school as my work-study is being upped to contract. This week, I move to 20-hrs per-week and then in January it goes up to 30-hrs per-week. The department is interesting, the people are good-humored and nice, and the work itself is usually low-stress. I'm mainly doing accounting and database work, but I do get to write as well.

I feel very, very fortunate.

And in a little over a week I shall be done with this semester!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T19:28:00.001-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

I am fascinated by the snow.

Did you say something about turkey?

I can smell the turkey, but can't find it.

Is the turkey smell coming from that counter top?

I wish I could have some turkey.

Is that turkey?

I want a pony for Christmas.

The boys helped cook. Right.

The finished product. Why, yes, I do love cranberry sauce! A big, big thank you to Dad & Donnie for the yummy turkey recipe!

First Snow!

2007-11-21T22:31:00.000-07:00

When I woke up this morning, here's what I saw:

It continued to snow lightly most of the day. I think we got 4" total.

Bleh

2007-11-20T20:58:00.000-07:00

I'm sick. I called in sick to work this morning and I missed my workshop class (yay for missing workshop). Since noon, I've slept eight hours. Most of that time I dreamed about laundry. I dreamed my neighbor came over to visit and he brought a miniature washer & dryer set. Doll-sized. And while doll-sized household objects are creepy, I was really envious. I miss having a washer & dryer. *sigh*

I'm getting ready to go back to sleep! Snow is on the way and when I wake up tomorrow, I'll take pics of it. I just let Caleb in and there were beads of ice on him.

The Sky Above My House

2007-11-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

Rhu's Thug Life

2007-11-15T19:11:00.000-07:00

Stealing Caleb's bed when the dog is outside.

Trying to steal Caleb's bed while the dog is on it.

Terrorizing the neighbors with window drumming.

Stalking the dog.

Biting the dog's paws.

Sticking his paw between the growling dog's toes.

Miscellaneous Updates

2007-11-14T19:24:00.001-07:00

We had our first frost this morning, so there was a layer of white on the roofs and yards.

In my workshop yesterday, we did zippo with the chapbooks. She didn't want to see them, and told us to hang on to them so we can update them as we rewrite or add to our stuff. So. Pointless.

And for everyone's info... I won't be home for the upcoming holidays. Any moolah I have needs to be spent on other things - like rent. It's just as well as I'm reluctant to try flying to and from the airport because it's notorious for being shut down during that time. It seems like it's going to be a mild winter, but I don't want to get stuck or have the boys stuck at a kennel during family time.

In good news, I adore the people I work with and I really enjoy my job. It looks like I'll be getting more hours soon, too!

Too Martian

2007-11-12T20:58:00.000-07:00

You know those memes "Which Goddess are you?" Well, if I were to take one right now, I would be the goddess of war. I'm in a totally foul mood.

I've just finished printing out 78 pages so my classmates can critique a story I wrote. There are maybe two people in there who are half-way decent at critiquing. The professor NEVER critiques anything. It's so pointless. It's like the Ayn Rand School of Why Writing Sucks (school motto: Stilus est futile).

I am getting ready to print out another 40 pages of everything I've written this semester. I've already printed those out. I had to print clean copies to take to a one-on-one meeting with the professor. But, they were seperate copies. She wants them compiled into a chapbook, so the pages must be in consecutive order. We must choose the best order to present everything. And there must be a table of contents. And a cover page. Yet, she hates any font that isn't Times New Roman. And she doesn't like anything "different" because it might be hard to read. So, yeah, not much point in trying to do anything creative in this class either in writing or formatting.

What chuffs me is her telling us, "Making this chapbook will help you give you an understanding of publishing."

Huh?

So publishing companies will ask us, "What order would you like your stories in? And could you type up a table of contents in Times New Roman? Oh, and would you staple it all together lengthwise?"

And why am I wasting all my paper and ink on something she won't even read?
Grrrrrrrrrrr.

Spring Schedule

2007-11-07T07:10:00.000-07:00

I hit refresh until the exact moment I could register, and then got all my first choice classes! And as soon as I finished, I checked availability and two were filled already. *phew*

Here's what I'll be in next semester & the class descriptions:

Contemplative Poetics (Writing workshop)
This course explores writing as a contemplative practice joining mindful attention with imaginative letting-go. We explore the meeting of Buddhist and Asian meditative and aesthetic traditions with examples of the poetics of the U.S. and European literary tradition, and the particular way in which their meeting took place here at our university. Course work includes substantial sitting meditation, reading and discussion, and weekly creative writing exercises.

Zen Buddhism (Elective)
We study classic Zen writings as signposts for living our own lives. Students are required to keep a journal with weekly entries of at least one page showing how the texts being studied that week affected their life. Texts include The Three Pillars of Zen, the Zen teaching of bodhidharma, the diamond sutra and Dogen's Genjokoan.

Notes on Architecture (Lit class)
In this class, we read works inspired by the experience and imagining of architecture: the passage, the corridor, the underground tunnel, the corner of a city perpetually turning. How does architecture inspire writers to imagine narrative and poetic structures, whether virtual or real, and how can we, writing, enter into the space continually opening out from the one preceding it: or not - what is it like to enter a sequence of rooms that are already there, furnished by the previous occupant?

Do you speak Bardo?

2007-11-06T21:17:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, I have to get up in the middle of the night at 6am to enroll for my Spring semester. I'm staying awake so I can go to a noon lecture by a well-known Rabbi who is speaking on Jewish Mysticism.

Earlier today, I signed up for a three-day course this weekend at the center. It's called "Mind Beyond Death," and it's about using the Bardos to face personal fears about death (and life), and how that can allow us to live a more creative and compassionate life. I am really excited about this class! In Shambhala at school, the other MFA student and I have to do extra work to receive grad-level credits, and attending this class fulfills all of my extra credits.

I got my second of three papers back in Lit. I got a 100/100. I've been getting applause and compliments in my workshop (weird). Things are going pretty swimmingly after such a rough few months....

When talking to people from home or reading their emails, most ask some form of the same question: Are you happy?

Yes and no - and sometimes both at the same time.

The department I'm in here is rough. MFA students are bred for cruelty and combativeness. People who tout themselves as mavericks will only speak to the people who agree totally with them, write exactly like them, and read identical books. Second-year students look down on first-year students, but most often the first-year students have superior work. A lot of it is, I'm sure, the same as what happens in most MFA programs in most universities. I wonder if med school students are the same and I expect not, even though I think that there's a lot more room for different artists than for different doctors. The MFA-ers here act like only ONE person can get published. Ever. And it had better not be YOU because YOU SUCKETH. It is a very wearing atmosphere.

And then someone will say something brilliant or recommend a lifechanging book, or I'll see a parade of monks or I'll hear a drumming circle class and this seems like the best place in the universe, completely irreplaceable.

I could be happy or unhappy in a lot of places doing a lot of things, and happiness and unhappiness will pass wherever I am and whatever I am doing. The important thing for me is to be where I can learn the most in this moment.

I am.

Since I have to get up sooooo early, it's time for sleep. Rhu demonstrates:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

2007-10-31T01:40:00.000-06:00

Happy Halloween from our house!

Happy Birfday!!!

2007-10-22T01:01:00.000-06:00

Caleb is 11 years old today!

Here he is snoozing on his present, a new deluxe orthopedic bed (with his purple blankie on top):

Walking Tour

2007-10-17T21:40:00.000-06:00

Caleb and I have been taking two walks every day, about 4 miles total (we go slow so he can read the doggie newspapers via sniffing and piddly-diddling). It's really enjoyable because this town is so beautiful.

Here are some pics from our venture this afternoon.
Click on a picture to view it in detail.

Whittier International Elementary School

Whittier from across the street.

Adorable and for sale! (hint: Mom)

I like the wooden gate and arch. The streets are really hilly, so it's hard to take level photos!

This house is über-modern. I'm not sure if the weed garden is part of the artiness...

Every time I see a yellow Victorian-ish house with a porch, I think of my sister!

I love this house! It just needs to be painted purple.

Check out the curved balcony and the sleek lines on this house.

I would love to see the front of this house.

The next few are all from the same house. I love this place because it's so serence!

A ginormous four-story house.

Front view A of the house I have named Le Bleu Moderne.

Front view B of Le Bleu Moderne.

Backside of Le Bleu Moderne.

Le Bleu Moderne's garage o' funk.

The yellowest house I have seen.

The Catholic church.

Another beautiful Victorian lady.

Side view of the Shambhala Center.

Front view of the Shambhala Center.

Detail of the Shambhala Center front.

Another detail of the Shambhala Center front.

The Methodist church.

An vintage theater.

Fall is such a lurvely season!

Eau, de wet pets

2007-10-12T22:47:00.000-06:00

I wanted to be productive today, so I bathed the pets.

It took about a half-hour to lug Caleb's 110 pounds into the tub. I had placed a towel on the bottom of the tub so he wouldn't slip, so once he got in things went relatively smoothly.

After Caleb's beauty bath, I had to move the couch out to grab Rhu. He howled and struggled and growled. He tried to scale the tub walls to get out and he clawed my left arm up a bit. Sheesh. I wasn't able to towel dry him because he ran under the couch. He stayed under the couch for the rest of the day. In the early evening, he came out so I got a towel ready to dry him. He saw the towel and went into his litter box. And stayed. I lifted up the lid and he was curled up in his litter! Gah! He ran back under the couch and only reemerged about a half hour ago.

Here they are. Exhausted. Like they had to wrestle wild animals into a bath today or something.

In other news, I went to my new job yesterday and it was fabbity-fab-fab-fab. I have a desk and a phone with an extension - and I'll only be there two days each week!

Goodbye, brownies. Thank you!

2007-10-10T16:52:00.000-06:00

Well, the folks left this morning after ten days here... It was like having the brownies come visit - now my house sparkles and everything is mended.

I now have a digital thermostat, a mop & broom organizer, an indoor/outdoor remote thermometer, a digital ultrasonic humidfier, kitchen cabinets that close and are Rhu-proof, a kitchen faucet that works properly, a shower faucet that doesn't spray sideways, a snow shovel... It's amazing as I can look around my house and see so many improvements...

And the brownies cooked my favorite meals, too!

But they left this morning, which was vair sad. Thankfully, I had set up some appointments to keep myself occupied.

First appointment was a job interview. And I got hired! So I now have a job at the university and I start work tomorrow. I'm all kinds of excited about it!

Second appointment was with my advisor to discuss classes for next semester. I've been thinking a lot this week about just changing my major (hello ADD!) to religious studies. I feel much better after talking to my advisor, am staying in my original program, and will graduate on time. I'm going to have an amazing spring semester provided my selected classes don't fill before my enrollment time.

I have lots of photos I need to post of the mountains and downtown. I'll try to get those up soon... It's gorgeous right now as the trees are turning red and gold. We have a real fall here, y'all! Seriously, I do like having all four seasons, and October is my fave month so it's nice to have it feel all Octobery.

Race for the Cure

2007-10-07T16:59:00.000-06:00

Today we got up at 5 am, which is the middle of the night, to attend the Koman Race for the Cure. The Denver Race for the Cure is the largest Koman race in the US.

My Aunt B (Mom's sister) is a breast cancer survivor. It's her seventh year!

Aunt B has Mom add the seventh ribbon to her race hat.

The Navy Honor Guard gets ready for the Survivors Ceremony.

The ladies will walk under the sabre arch in groups according to length of survival.

Here's Aunt B! She's wearing a pink boa.

Aunt B reaches out to her granddaughter.

Aunt B's signs read "I race in Celebration of... 7 Years Cancer Free & My Life."

The survivors gather on bleachers for the ceremony.

The wave - it's always present when there's a crowd and bleachers!

A Swan Lake dress topped with a white marabou headband was one of my favorite outfits. I admire exuberance.

Aunt B surveys the crowd.

The top three race winners in the survivor division.

The survivors celebrate.

Doves being set free.

Aunt B gives her granddaughter a big hug.

Aunt B and Mom hug.

Aunt B holds seven fingers for her seven years.

A fortunate family: Aunt B with her daughters and granddaughter.

Late/Early

2007-09-29T06:23:00.001-06:00

VH1 only has five videos and I really hate four of them... I am having to watch Lilo & Stitch the Series on Disney. The series is meh, but the movie is my favorite Disney movie evereverever. TV is limited at this time of the day...

Yes, I am still awake and have not gone to sleep at all. Over the past month, my bedtime has shifted to 5am. I may as well stay awake and start over again tonight. I'm a natural night owl, but I'm tired of feeling like I've missed entire days.

I've spent oodles of time cleaning, so the rest of the day will be spent reading, running a few errands, and figuring out what outfits the pets will wear for the arrival of their grands-parents humains. I've been teaching them French because I want them each to be le sophistiquer since I am not. They are just one million dollars and a few more sleepless nights away from a Swiss boarding school.

Too bad their spring-print scarves aren't in season... they look adorable in them!

I have got to stop watching Tim Gunn's Guide to Style...

Fabulous News!

2007-09-29T00:57:00.000-06:00

The doctor called this morning with an update.

Bro-in-Law is cancer-free!!!!!!!!

Thanks to everyone for all the prayers and good thoughts!

Since things are okay back home, Mom & Dad are going to come out here for a visit and they will be here tomorrow night. We'll be going to Colorado Springs and staying the night. Yes, baby Caleb will be going with us so he won't destroy the house. Dad grew up in about 14 leedle-bitty cities in Colorado and he's going to give us a tour. I'm not sure how reliable a tour guide he will be as he is claiming that "Garden of the Gods" was named after him.