HAIRFEST 2007

This is my friend Melissa, who tried to talk Patrick out of liking slutty women the night this photo was taken. Melissa says what's on her mind and takes no prisoners. She has long, gorgeous, curly brown hair which she wants to make into dreds. I know it's her life and her hair, but, c'mon now, LOOK at that beautiful cascakidading hair. It's so lovely! Melissa doesn't care what anyone thinks on the matter, which is probably why I like her so much, even tho' it means dreds. Her writing is hypnotic. Do you remember the scene in "Amelie" where she takes the old blind man by the arm and leads him to the subway station, chattering a litany of sensory impressions all the while? After that scene was over, the blind man stood on the sidewalk stunned, with vibrating curly-cues wafting off of him? That's what you feel like after Melissa reads her work to you. She weaves her story all over you and you are left stunned, letting it sink in.

CREEPFEST 2007

Oh Clay! This is my bro-in-law with his hair in a creepy chongo. Our friend Dan said the other night that it is totally fitting for Clay to have such a creepy ol' pony tail, since he is a Boomer. Still, look at that smile. That is the smile I always get when he knows he's creeping me out. When my sister and I would go on road trips when we were little and she would get Funyans & Pineapple soda & then breathe the fumes of that deadly combo on me for hours on end, she would give me the same exact smile.

Halloween!

Bugs! Since I am not in Texas anymore, I was missing bugs. Luckily I now know I am still managing to get my recommended daily allowance.

Look at My Cute Sister and Niece!

Readers Forgive me. It has been a month and 6 days since my last entry. In that time I have seen Gerard DePerdue's doopleganger on the bus, which I am beginning to think is some sort of celebrity worm hole. I also am kicking the grad school ass. I got an A+ on my first paper for Publishing.

When I was in Texas my sister Anita, my mom and myself took pix at the Wal-Marts. I just got those pix in the mail! I hate to tease, but I will have to post the pix at a later date due to no scanner at work, but I WILL post the carnage. Kyle runs around the house mocking my sad Wal-Marts photo studio pose. Mean ol' Kyle. Check out the picture above of my sister Anita and my niece Cameron at the top of this post!

Just missed Junior Brown, who played just up the road from me last night. Dang! But, don't cry for my cultural starvation. We had our Memoir Writing Group last Thursday and it was fantastic. We just got a new member, Lorna Miller, who is a Portland institution. She is a singer/songwriter and all her kids are musicians. Two are in the popular local band Lisa and Her Kin, and her oldest son is a guitarist in Austin. She wrote about her grandmother's apple tree last week and it was a tasty treat. Barbara Haga, also an accomplished writer, is in our group. This last time she wrote a funny, heart-pounding story about her son when he was younger and taking their inflatable raft out to sea in the Puget Sound. Melissa Shearer didn't get to attend this last time, but she writes layered prose honeyed w/ asides and insights. Stephani Skalak, the lovely and talented documentary film maker, had to chair her film festival, so couldn't make it this time. She writes straight-forward memoir gleaned from prompts she gets from fortune cookies. I wrote up some starts for a ditty I wanna do about my Grandma Teston. I highly recommend a writing group. If nothing else it's a dedicated excuse to get drunk w/ a bunch of people you appreciate and find funny and smart.

Lastly, I need a haircut. My gal, Lana Guerra, is in Thailand, so I am hoping for her speedy return. She is walking art. Her tattoos are like stitching, like a doll, and has long, lovely dreds. She makes huge, performance piece wigs and also performs with Circus Mundus Absurdus. Crude Things Gallery is where you can look at her work.

Hope yer weekend is good and I hope to post more soon, and on a more regular basis. Not that anyone cares, but I do really find it fun.

Short Like Me

This post will be really short because I'm exhausted, and because I am writing this on my new iMac laptop, which I haven't totally gotten the hang of yet.

But, I did not want you to think I had abandoned the blogging ship so soon. And I wanted to let you know that I did survive Texas, or what my sister Anita and I now like to call Feces Week!

Also, my celebrity sighting on the bus today was George Carlin. He looks very similar to Howard Hesseman, but I KNOW they were 2 singular people.

More after sweet slumber.

I Have Been Remiss

RIP Marvin Zindler. May you not be molested in Heaven by slime in the ice machine.

I do have my own Marvin Zindler story to share. Once when Jynnette, Andy and I were in Houston at the Burger King on Westheimer (I believe) Marvin Zindler and some buddies from the news station came in. Marvin had on a grey suit and a white shirt. He definitley had on his trademark blue specs. And he and Andy were wearing the same exact grey wingtips from Florisheim Shoes!

Ever Had a Warm Bear Claw?

Went to Last Thursday on Alberta Street last night for the art walk. It was so damn packed you could hardly move. I didn't get to see all the vendors 'cause I couldn't get close enough. Then I had a donut, or actually an apple-filled bear claw, and felt much better about the whole adventure.

Things I like about Last Thursday: 100 thousand food vendors. None of which I could bear to wait in those perpetual lines for (hence the donut) but they offer veggie fare and hot dogs and BBQ and Thai and burritos and dessert-y things and it all just smelled yummy.

I also like the street theater, although last night we were such sardines there was hardly room for the drama. But we did manage to hear one woman shout out "I'm gonna sneak in thru your back door and eat all your CORN!" Which, even tho' we weren't drunk, broke us up.

Also, I love all the little art boys selling graphic-y doodles they made on old coffee sleeves and what not. I am a sucker for graphic, b&w, cartoony stuff. I think I am biased towards old Drek-style art. And I LOVED this one guy who did all these creepy, organic, compost-y type of creatures, ink on wood. He had one w/ tentacles and a lamprey mouth. I wanted it and I let it pass thru my fingers 'cause I was broke. I'm gonna find him again!

Other cool things: Guy in fun motorized wheelchair selling poems he makes up for you. And girl playing the SAW! And there was also a gal playing the accordion. Some some lucky day I will learn how to play the accordion. I have petite accordion that I make noise on, but one day, by the grace of Gawd, I will play the accordion for real! The clown bikers were out. They usually put on some sort of show, their bikes dressed up as geese & such. This time they were jousting. They are moving, so soon we won't have a designated spot on which to watch their hijinx.

My friend Melissa saw a shooting star. I think we are about to go thru that kick-ass meteor shower that has 3 times the stars per hour as Persiad. We only go thru this shower every 40 years, so get yer butt out of the city and check it out!

In other news, I am feeling especially accomplished because I got my diploma and my first pay check in a year! I left my cush and mind-numbing office job at the local teaching hospital last year to finish up my schoolin' (I ain't foolin'.) And I just got my first paycheck at my new, cush and mind-numbing office job on PSU campus. I applied for the full-time spot here, 'cuz I am but a temp. However, they chose someone who likes accounting over me. Don't despair! A friend in the Student Activities office has optioned my services and I will not have a gap in my employment record. Whew!