Schedule

Mon 2: 3-cl
Wed 4: 11-6:30
Thur 5: 3-cl
Fri 6: 11-6:30
Sat 7: 12-7:30

Laundry Day

Wow, this whole Ramadan thing is... kinda hard, actually. Especially the no drinking water bit. I've been doing it for three days now and the dehydration thing isn't quite getting any easier. I get little headaches, and I can only imagine that I'm a real bear to work with at the store as a result. But if over a billion Muslims can do this for a whole month in much hotter, more arid climates, then there's no reason why I can't push my own limits a little further. And I kinda like pushing my body's limits, seeing how far I can take something and what new affects might alter me, hopefully for the better. I think I need this fasting period as a means to clean myself out, flush away the toxins of this past spring and summer, and get back to gettin' back. To it, that is.

Sorry there hasn't been much to post that's worthwhile. Not like there generally is, of course. I may take that extended hiatus from blogging like I was thinking about for awhile. Should probably do me some good to purge my body clean from all this internet time clutter. For a month, at least. Maybe.

I'll still be checking my emails. But I'll be here. Fasting. Meditating. Healing.

And slowly dying of thirst.

Schedule

Mon 25: 9-5
Tue 26: 9-5
Thur 28: 3-cl
Fri 29: 2-9:30
Sat 30: 12-6:30

No Sex, No Sustenance, No Lean Cuisines

My Muslim friend Khalid informs me today that yesterday was the start of Ramadan, and he had asked me to go through the first day of Ramadan with him and fast. And here I thought it started on Tuesday so of course I went out and chowed down with Dad and family last night, and I've already eaten today so that pretty much blows both my first and second day of Ramadan, so color me suck-ass at solidarity. And here I had originally offered to go through it longer than one day with him but he insisted that all he'd like for me to do is try it for one day. "It will really purify your body and soul, Melly." he explains. "Sometimes abstaining is good for you." Heck, if that boy poor can go the whole month without his precious cigs, then I can suck up a day without my green tea, can't I? Can't I???

So I shall hereby start tomorrow. No food, water, or uh, other pleasures of the flesh (gadzooks) for the entire daylight hours of September 25th, and if I can, maybe longer. I used to fast occasionally one day a week back in high school, so it stands to reason I can take a stab at it again. But damn... no water? I get hella dehydrated at work all the time. And I am one water drinkin' fool. I guess I'll have a cup of coffee and a bagel (Jewish food on Ramadan?) before sunrise tomorrow before I drive Joe to work. But, hmmm. All pleasures of the flesh? I guess I better stow away the Steve Holmes movies for about 48 hours.

*moaaaan* This is gonna be brutal.

Rules Of Acquisition

About a month ago I met a really nice customer at my store named Sue and we struck up a lengthy conversation about 60's garage rock acts like Arthur Lee, Love, and The Seeds. She told me she was a waitress at Bobbywood, which used to be one of my most favorite restaurants in downtown Norfolk, and I told her, "But Sue, Bobbywood closed down years ago. I was going to take my father there for his birthday once and when I called to make reservations I discovered that they had shut down." Well, she tells me, Bobby is back in business as of just a few months ago, with some new primo real estate on Montecello Avenue down from The Norva, and it's all the same (amazing, delectable, mouth-watering) menu. So seeing as yesterday was my father's birthday, I made reservations, just like I had planned all those years ago to introduce my worldy pops to the place. And it was still just as incredible as ever. I can still practically taste the spices from my etouffee deep in my sinuses, just like it always did when I ordered it back in The Day. And I thanked Sue profusely while I was there. Maybe I should make her a mix disk.

So, it's my final day of vacation. And I feel pretty good. Well rested, to be sure, seeing as how I couldn't have spent a more boring week at home. But I thought a lot of things out, exorcised some demons held over from last spring, stopped picking at my grief scab so it has a chance to heal, and pretty much decided to Move On. And I'm already beginning to, as 10cc once said, feel the benefit. I like this feeling. It reminds me of when I got back from Los Angeles last spring, fully shed of my anxieties from earlier that year. Some of those issues I feel still exist in some ghostly shadow over my relationship with my best friend, but I believe deep down I've done what I can to mend things and just let her know I'm here for her if she needs me. And if she doesn't need me, then I must learn to accept that as well. Like all my friends I've lost touch with over the years for one reason or another, I can only love them privately and wish them the best of everything in their lives.

And work? Work is still going to be work. I love my job, but I still worry about it and where it's all going in the end. At least I've had a week off to decompress before it's once more unto the breach again. But I think now's the time to start seriously cracking down and getting back on the ball and any and all such related metaphors. I've shed my skin of excuses against a rock like a snake and left it behind in one long crinkly tubular... looking... bleach. But that is also a good thing! No more sitting on my ass, on my hands, on my, uh, dignity. Watch out, world! I'm putting on my serious, industrial-strength, bitch-means-business bra! (we ladies all got one, ya know)

What The Kids Are Listening To These Days

Mix CD I made for a young girl at work over vacation break:

1. "Lydia The Tattooed Lady" - Groucho Marx
2. "A Shot In The Dark" - John Zorn
3. "Christopher Reeve Monument" - Doyle Redland
4. "Lazy Ways" - Marine Girls
5. "Not Over You" - Basehead
6. "One More Bump" - Deejay Punk-Roc
7. "Get Up & Get Down" - The Dramatics
8. "Alphabet Aerobics" - Blackalicious
9. "Neckbelts" - Doyle Redland Onion Radio News
10. "Powerhouse" - Raymond Scott
11. "Happy" - Blackgirls
12. "The Dust Blows Forward And The Dust Blows Back" - Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
13. "I Want To Be Loved" - Muddy Waters
14. "Spelling Bee" - Meryn Cadell
15. "Mant" - Buttsteak
16. "Viet Nam" - The Minutemen
17. "Riot In Cell Block #9" - Wanda Jackson
18. "Needle of Death" - Bert Jansch
19. "Last Kind Word Blues" - Geechie Wiley
20. "Yemen Blues" - Doyle Redland Onion Radio News
21. "Nag Nag Nag" - Cabaret Voltaire
22. "3rd Reich & Roll pt. 1" - The Residents

Food Of The Clods

The Friday Five:

1. Given a choice, and imagining that money and time were no object, would you rather cook dinner, eat out or order in?
Usually it depends, but most often I do enjoy going out somewhere for dinner, and it doesn't matter where so much as the company I'm keeping. I love getting together with friends, whether it's fine dining or Dennys at 2 in the morning -- I just love the the restaurant as a venue for socialization. Sure, we can always order in and do the same thing, but more often than not there are distractions at home, like some people watching the TV, some people tearing each other up on the Playstation, etc. In a restaurant you are set in a position to interface with each other, and I kinda like that. Especially with Joe, because for as often as we see each other we rarely get a venue to where we can sit facing each other and talk about things we both enjoy but oddly enough don't often get to discuss in everyday conversation, just because of all the distractions of home.

2. What is the most elaborate meal you've ever prepared yourself or purchased at a restaurant?
Any meal I cook for myself is freakin' elaborate, seeing as how I can't cook for squat. I wish I did know how to cook more, though. I enjoy it, but I just never have time to do it. At a restaurant? I don't think I've ever gone for anything just based on its inherent elaborateness. Although I love to experiment, mostly I tend to like things relatively simple in nature, but prepared with a touch of artistry. And that goes for the time I ate boiled snails on the side of a road in Casablanca, Morocco. Simple. But damn, that was some rockin' good boilin'.

3. What food do you find yourself making and/or eating way too much?
I go through phases all the time. This summer it was the fruit-and-sushi obsession, which has suddenly, mercifully died off (as of today, bleaach). Since most of what I eat involves being in a box labeled either Smart One or Lean Cuisine, I've sort of learned to make do with what limited options are available by that route. Those Lean Cuisine flat crust Brick Over Style pizzas aren't too bad, and by not too bad I mean it beats a mouthful of dirt.

4. What was your most disastrous cooking/eating out experience?
I don't think I've ever had a truly disastrous eating out experience, but I do remember the time I nearly set the dormitory on fire trying to bake a frozen pizza in the oven. Man, all that black smoke. And, nerd that I am, I remember Funkadelic's One Nation Under A Groove album playing in the kitchen while it was happening.

5. Would you rather cook for someone else or have them cook for you?
If I had the know-how, I'd cook for you. Unless you don't actually mind a dinner comprised of boiled eggs and rice pilaf. And I can bake a mean Tollhouse from scratch for dessert.

Blazing Apostles

There's something about watching The Apostle that just somehow puts my fretful little soul at ease. Maybe because it helps put my own life into perspective. Maybe because it helps me reaffirm my own hopelessly naive optimism in humanity when things don't otherwise point in that direction. Probably more than anything, I'm amazed by the fantastic, almost seamlessly pitch-perfect performances in this picture, from Farrah Fawcett to John Beasley, Miranda Richardson to Billy Bob Thorton. There's hardly a flawed performance in the bunch, even and especially the actors in minor roles that really help solidify this town, this place and this time in the realms of the real.

Robert Duvall is Sonny, a charismatic Texas preacher. His faith runs deep, and his talent at the pulpit goes back to his childhood, as well as his many late-night, obstreperous conversations with God that keep the neighbors up nightly. He loves his mother (played by June Carter Cash), his congregation, and his two angelic beautiful young children. But Sonny is also a troubled man, and a sinner; his womanizing destroyed his marriage, and his easy temper gets him into one too many fisticuffs, but when his violent rage provokes him into committing one of the most severe sins against God's law, Sonny evades the police and runs away to a rural town in Louisiana so small and with such racial and economic disparity that he decides that it his is calling to build the community's first church, and through his actions, his attempts to bring God and fellowship and a sense of connection to a poor community with nothing much but themselves to offer each other, redeem him spiritually -- if not by the laws of man, then quite possibly in the eyes of God. When the inevitable moment comes, Sonny is ready to accept his punishment, but he has at least given something back to the world that which he had taken away by his own sinful hand.

And that's what I find so fascinating about this picture. Sonny is a sinner. He is capable of doing terrible things, things that most men couldn't bring themselves to do no matter how much their anger and sense of helplessness forces them to take leave of their senses. But Sonny is also capable of doing good things. He will go that extra mile to see something positive come out of his actions, and oftentimes not even bother to take credit for it. Through church bake sales and collections Sonny is able to buy groceries for the poor local families, but he leaves the bags on the front step and runs away before he is discovered, creating the illusion of a miracle from God. But to Sonny it isn't an illusion -- he sees himself only as God's instrument, carrying out God's good will. Sonny's faith and convictions are so infectious that he inspires the entire community to stand in front of a bulldozer bent on destroying their church, the symbol of their fellowship and spiritual connection to one another.

Whether or not you believe in God is irrelevant to the denouement of this film. It's a film about humanity. In other words, Sonny is human. And probably one of the most realistically human characters I've seen on film in quite a long time. A film like this helps remind me that, as much as I struggle with the notion, I really am far from perfect. I've done things that I deeply regret, and chances are I will probably do more things I'll regret in the future. But at the same time I try my best to mine the depths of my own positive potential, and I can only hope that at times I've given back positively to the world after I've occasionally taken away from it selfishly. I can only hope that when I die people will remember me as a relatively good person who in the end always only meant well, always wanting to help out, and always only wanting to make people happy. My hope isn't to die knowing this for myself, but hoping that I've genuinely left something positive in the people I've left behind.

Eghad, that's sobering. I think I need to go watch Bachelor Party now.

Maggie The Cat Does A Survey

Another random survey thing from my old chum Big Kev. Because there's not much else to do at the moment, and I'm trying to get my mind off of... erm, things.

1. Have you had sex in the past 2 month's?
Yes.

2. Are you gay?
No.

3.Do you have hairy legs?
I do if I don't shave them.

4. Do you smoke anything?
Salmon

5. Do you like monkeys?
I love The Monkees

6. How many fillings do you have?
23

7. Would you rather swim in the ocean or a lake?
Depends. They're both divine.

8. Have you ever licked one of those square batteries?
Sure! bbiblolizttspglt

9. Have you ever read the Bible?
Bits here and there.

10. Did you ever go to Sunday School?
Oh boy, did I.

12. Did you ever bring a weapon to school?
To Sunday school?

13. Have you ever hugged a tree?
Right before I chopped it down.

14. Do you know what a sphincter actually is?
Which one? The human body has many of them.

15. Describe your hair?
Brown

16. Are you a wildbeast in bed?
I am whatever you want me to be, tiger.

17. Do you like to have fun?
NO!

18. Do you like drama?
When Jack does it. Ooo, he does it soooo right.

19. Have you ever taken a bong hit?
Nope. A bowl, yes.

20. Do you like mayonaise?
In mah tuny-fish ah do.

21. Are you afraid to die?
Don't really think about it.

22. Do you like playing in leaves?
Yes!

23. Do you like lyme ticks?
Only crunched up in my salad.

l24. Have you ever peed your pants as an adult?
Almost.

25. Have you ever thrown up ON somebody as an adult?
If I did I don't remember.

26. Are you an adult?
Um...

27. Do you think you have a good handle on spelling?
Oh hels no.

28. Ever won a spelling bee?
See above.

29. Do you ever eat because you're depressed?
I eat more when I'm stressed than depressed.

30. Are you a television addict?
Not at all.

31. Do you think O.J. is guilty?
Why, what did he do?

32. Do you enjoy spending time with your mother?
Yeah, my mom's alright.

33. Have you ever had sex in a hot tub?
Definitely not.

34. On a swing?
No, because I like to jump off the swing high in mid-air and that would be awkward for my partner I'd wager.

35. Do you like Elvis?
Yes.

36. Do you enjoy watching animals "do it" on the Discovery Channel?
Yes because it's funny.

37. Ever been hit on at the zoo?
Is that when the monkeys throw poo at me?

38. Do you like the smell of pools?
The smell of chlorine on my skin after a swim gets me very, urm, aroused.

39. Do you enjoy the calming effects of turkey?
Not really. I hate feeling groggy.

40. Does your mom think someone's hot?
Harrison Ford

41. Are you a sugar freak?
Not really, but I have been lately.

42.When you hear a knock on the door, do you think "oh shit, is that the cops"?
No, usually I think "SANTA!!!"

43. Ever been arrested?
Chased by the cops, but ducked out in a dumpster.

44. Ever commit a crime and gotten away with it, like O.J, did?
What are you implying? It was just a little sidewalk graffiti.

45. Actually, do you like orange juice?
I love orange juice but I don't drink it anymore. Too much sugar for my diet.

46. What sign are you?
Yield

47. Ever do the party girl dance in front of the elderly?
Please explain this party girl dance to me.

48. Where do you wish you were right now?
Doing the party girl dance in front of the elderly.

49. Did you enjoy this?
Sure didn't help get my mind off of, ah, things.

Checking In

Hey guys.

Still on holiday. Working on getting Joe a new car. No new music purchases in awhile. At this rate who knows when I'll get the pleasure again.

Just finished watching Film Geek. I laughed, I cried, I saw a little bit of myself in the protagonist, and then I proceeded to cry some more. But other than that it's been a pretty dry week for new release viewing at home. I am pretty tempted now to stir up some old vids from my stash and have myself a private mini marathon 'o Melp favorites. Which I know could not sound more boring to you all reading this, I'm sure. But it doesn't matter. I've found my One True Love, and his name is Scotty Pelk. Oh dear God. :::weeps again:::

Hope all is well. I love you out there.

Day One

Wow, I can't believe I actually stayed up 'til 5 am last night/this morning, something I don't think I've done since... well, maybe since that night I had a lot of coffee and puttered around on youtube for hours. Thank you Noel for keeping me company online throughout most of the wee hours with your engaging messages. As a result I think I feel about a thousand times better about things in general than I did last night. Only problem is after sleeping all day today I'll probably be up all night again tonight as well. Thank goodness for youtube.

I'm looking for somebody who has Showtime who can tape the October 16th episode of Weeds for me. Jack's gonna be on. Anybody ever seen that show? I hear it's pretty decent.

Rejected Unknown

Oh sure, now I can't sleep. I was zoning in and out of The Devil And Daniel Johnston, which I've been dying to see forever, and now it's after one a.m. and I'm just looking for somebody to put me out of my caffeine-induced insomnia mysery. I hate being up late when there's nobody to talk to. I miss so many people right now. It's worse during nights like these.

I've taken the week off from work, although now it looks like I won't be going out of town like I'd originally planned. It's a good thing I suppose, since I should probably be spending some of this down time getting my foot to heal, which has been alarmingly slow going, but not being on my dogs all day at work should expedite the process I imagine. Joe will be gone most of the days with my car so I'll be stuck at home anyway, doing diddlyshit. No, that's not true. There's a lot I need to do now that I have this time to myself. It's not like I have an excuse not to get things done this week anymore. I might try drawing again while I'm still in the mindframe.

But more than anything I think I need this week to just... sort things out. Mentally more than anything. There's going to be a great purging this week of things that I've kept bottled up since I haven't hardly much time to myself to deal with them since I moved. Grandmother's death (and Tom's), as well as other people in my life who are not really there anymore, and definitely worries about work and what I can do to improve things in that area. A big annual purging can be an amazing thing for the soul and whatnot. In a way it is a good thing that I'm not going anywhere this week, because I really think I need this break right now, before I break in half myself.

I may be alone, but that doesn't mean I want to be lonely, either. Keep me company. Please.

Moving Pictures

Bad astronomy in Hollywood movies. Funny stuff, but even funnier that I haven't seen but maybe three of these movies all together, simply because they look as if they would pretty much be all about the bad astronomy. And funny that I wouldn't think to find them a thousand times more amusing for that fact alone.

Also, I have no idea what's going on here. But it's sorta interesting.

Cinema Of The Absurd

The Friday Five:

1. What's your favorite line from a movie, and why?
"Something interesting is gonna happen here", from Tom Hanks in Bachelor Party. Because if you've seen the movie, it's true. I tend to bandy that phrase about from time to time when the opportunity appears to arise.

2. Who's your favorite villain from a movie, and why?
As far as genuinely scaring the living snot outta me? The Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard Of Oz. Absolutely nothing redeeming or even slightly ameliorating about her, which I find wonderfully refreshing these days, yet still sends me trembling under the bed every time she appears on the screen. Eghad, even her death was unspeakably horrifying. Yep, still deeply, delightfully traumatizing after all these years.

3. Name one movie everyone else loves that you hate.
Any of those Matrix movies.

4. Name one movie everyone else hates that you love.
See Question #1.

5. What's your favorite Pixar film, and why?
Toy Story 2. Loved the first one, but enjoyed the second just a touch more. Why? Toys, baby. Walking, talking toys. And does this officially count as two Tom Hanks movies on my top list? You all may expect my Cool Club Card returned in the mail. Give it a good home, whydoncha.

Putting My Foot In It

Well I just kind of, uh, jacked up my foot this morning. Stomped down hard on a rock in my bare feet running my trashcan down to the end of the driveway. And it, um, kinda went in a little. Definitely not as bad as that giant nail that went up into my foot when I was 10, boy oh boy this smarts. Smarts sumthin' hard. Argh, and I have about 9 hours to be on my feet later tonight. In my heeled ankle boots. Double argh.

I'm missing my grandmother today. The incredible urge to hear her deep, smoky, Lauren Bacall voice telling me she loves me. I think I really need that right now.

Or at least someone to just kiss my boo-boo at the moment.

Sorry, No Pictures This Time

I just put on Gay Batman's outfit and danced around the room all afternoon to this song.

God, how I love days off to myself.

Todd McFarlane Fashions Are So House Of Lebeija

First 20 tracks on my iTunes party shuffle while spending a rather glorious afternoon gettin' down and batusi with Gay Batman, who can sure work a Spawn cape better than any of the other action figures in this household. Yes, yes... we'll hit the real clubs later, GB. Consider this just Happy Hour for now.

1. "Lazy" - Xpress 2/David Byrne
2. "Mother Valentine" - The Wolfgang Press
3. "I'm In Love" - Wilson Pickett
4. "Brother's Gonna Work It Out" - Willie Hutch
5. "I Like To Party" - The Venga Boys
6. "Alabamy Bound" - Somethin' Smith & the Redheads
7. "Ready To Snatch Da Kat Back At My House" - Robbiee Revenge
8. "Le Grind" - Prince
9. "I'm Yours" - Prince
10. "Adios Amigos (with Cecillia Nordlund)" - Marit Bergman
11. "Too Much Pressure" - Manazart
12. "Somebody, Somewhere" - Larry Birdsong
13. "The Rivers Edge-Magic Hours Mood" - Jurgen Knieper
14. "A Fool In Love" - Ike & Tina Turner
15. Pink Turns To Blue" - Hüsker Dü
16. "Loose Booty" - Funkadelic
17. "Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex" - CSS
18. "Brand New Day" - Basehead
19. "Yes I'm Ready" - Barbara Mason
20. "That's Really Super, Supergirl" - XTC

Lipstick On A Pig

Alrighty then... apparently those dolls were once called Gorgeous Creatures, and they have the cow one on eBay right now, as well as, er, a naked pig one. I now definitely think I originally had the horse one back then. But I do remember that cow. And, uh, seeing the pig I now remember how they looked naked as well, since I often tried to disrobe my horse-head to put Barbie's bikini on her.

Thanks to Anita for the links, and for being far more deft at the search button than I am.

Horse With No Name

A site about Strange Dolls. Yes yes, they are all quite strange. But not exactly what I was googling for.

I know most of my slightly younger readership may not remember what I'm talking about, but I'm trying to track down some information on a doll that I had for a short time years ago -- we're talking around late 70's or early 80's -- that I found sitting on a shelf in Toys R Us about that time and bought. They were in with all the Barbie dolls and other assorted knock-offs and although they had the bodies of Barbie's they had the heads of horses and cows with long flowing Barbie-like hair. I remember just staring agog at them on the shelf right at my eye level (a rather tall-for-her-age twelveish-year-old). They looked like factory mistakes, or something from that evil kid's bedroom from the movie Toy Story. But yet there was something so compelling about them -- set in there between all these ridiculously beautiful dolls, unloved, unsold -- they just were so Island Of Misfit Toys that I bought one of the horse-headed ones (or was it the cow head?) and I ended up playing with her more than I ever did with my own Barbie. And a lot of my Barbie clothes fit her, too. Alas, it didn't change the fact that my dear little horse-headed girlfriend didn't fit in well at the tea parties held by my other friends and their Barbie dolls. Who knew Barbie could be such a discriminate snob? Equinophobia was never listed on the box as one of her many inspiring attributes.

So anyway, I don't know if Mattell put them out or however, but if anybody can find any information out there regarding horse/cow headed fashion dolls, please send me links or whathaveya. I'd be sorta interested in getting another one.

That is all.

Obviously Insane

Hell With The Lid Off. The first album by Dallas native Mark Griffin, aka MC 900 Ft Jesus. When I got got my vinyl (and my CD) signed by both Griffin and his talented partner DJ Zero it was the second time I had seen them live at the Nsect Club right around when the big "hit" album One Step Away From The Spider came out 1994, and when I told Griffin how often I had visited my aunt in Dallas but never had the chance to do any decent record scrounging he wrote me out a monster list of indie stores to check out, and dang if I haven't lost that list over the passing years. But really the most memorable of the two gigs for me was the first one, when this debut album had just been released and my friends and I had that record on continuous play during the soundtrack of our lives together in the early 90's. An acidic bubbling cauldron of house, techno, jazz, rap, and industrial similar to the likes of fellow early 90's compatriots Consolidated and Meat Beat Manifesto, "I'm Going Straight To Heaven" was a dancefloor raver for the whole cluster of us, while "Spaceman" and its soft bed of easy jazzy groove under a desultory beat poem reminds me of Ron Dodson's old Deux X Machina club on Granby Street (where AJ Gator's is now) where we'd lie down on the dancefloor and stare up into the light fixtures and laugh our asses off (meanwhile everyone else stood around pissed that they couldn't dance with us lying there like that). We used to take that line "I scan the crowds until I see someone who is obviously insane..." to virtual performance art in such places. And of course "Truth Is Out Of Style", a favorite rap of ours to chant along to on long car trips to D.C., looking for those tell-tale balls on the telephone lines (locals note: you can always tell you're near Washington D.C. when you start seeing those balls on the telephone wires on the interstate heading into the city).

Anyway, let me know if you have any trouble with the samples.

"I'm Going Straight To Heaven" (m4a file)
"Spaceman" (m4a file)
"Truth Is Out Of Style" (m4a file)

Files available for 7 days.

Purchase CD here.

Schedule

Mon 11: 3-cl
Wed 13: 11-6:30
Thur 14: 3-cl
Fri 15: 12-7:30
Sat 16: 11-6:30

Home Again Home Again

I rolled in last night from my overnighter in Nags Head with Joe, Al and Mike deeply exhausted, even more deeply sunburned, yet feeling considerably more rested and just better overall than I've felt in weeks. Just the amazing healing powers of not being in the same place every day for months on end for at least 48 hours -- or at least some place that serves better food and a less nasty body of ocean water to swim in for a change. We stayed at Al's aunt's beach cottage over on Mile Post 4 which overlooks the ocean, and it's funny how being a person who grew up at the beach here in Virginia rarely appreciates what she has in her own backyard (or at least earlier this year when the beach was practically in her back yard) until she really gets to bond with it in the way that she did as a child -- especially with Moe Larry and Curly squabbling with each other in the beach chairs next to me while I idly tried to make a giant sand boob at their feet. Joe and I buried Mike up to his waist and then we all went swimming, which again I haven't done in the ocean probably since high school. In fact I haven't even been to Nags Heads since the summer before my Freshman year of college, a month or so before I ever met Joe, and Joe hasn't even been to Outer Banks at all except for the one time when he had to drive down and pick up his former roommate and drive back, almost 15 years ago. So Al took the keys to my car and drove us around to show Joe all the little landmarks in that side of the peninsula, like Jockey's Ridge and the Orville & Wilbur Wright Memorial site in Kitty Hawk. Oh, and Nags Head finally has a music store now. Sort of. For years whenever I wanted to buy music down there I would always have to go to the Roses' department store in Kill Devil Hills for whatever abysmal cassette collection they had, but now it appears that a tiny indie record store with actual compact disks (Outer Banks is finally dragged reluctantly into, well at least the 20th century) has sprung up and then... um, systematically assimilated by a Radio Shack. So basically it's now a Radio Shack with about roughly 500 CDs, which I guess is something. (I guess?)

Wednesday Al wanted to go to karaoke (i.e. get drunk in a bar and yell at people on stage) and since I've never been to nor performed in karaoke I figured what the hey anyway. Although I was very tempted to get up there and sing Charlene's "I've Never Been To Me" my voice was soon too hoarse from laughing so hard at the boys and their antics, with Joe singing "Cut The Cake" by Average White Band, mistaking it for "Pick Up The Pieces" which is mostly an instrumental and he thought it would therefore be an easy selection, so Joe had to sing all those "Gimme gimme gimme gimme's" and soon pretty much resigned himself to screaming out "CUT THE CAKE!" at random intervals and spazzing out on stage, which had the bar audience in stitches. Joe also did a very sincere "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" straddling a chair with his back to the audience, and a duet of "Ebony And Ivory" with Mike where they ironically couldn't be standing further apart from each other. Best of all, mixed in the catalog with all these dreadful Jewel songs and typical karaoke fare was "Dinah-Moe Hum" by Frank Zappa, which Mike the Zappaphile knew the words to by heart, so picture if you will a 50-year-old black man in shorts and a T-shirt that says Silence Is Golden, Duct Tape Is Silver sitting in a chair on a stage, not even reading along with the prompter as he droned in his usual baritone monotone lines like "I whipped off her bloomers 'n stiffened my thumb an applied rotation on her sugar plum" and that's pretty much the mental image I took home to bed with me that night, as well as the rest of the hootin', hollerin' contingent present that night. Then Mike topped the evening off with "Theme From Shaft" before we all collectively passed out on Al's couches watching Wattstax for the 14,598th time.

So yeah, not a hugely exciting two days off, but it was just what I needed: Sun (well not really), sand, saltwater, and three other music geeks arguing heatedly over which damn Big Audio Dynamite song was playing in the dining room during dinner at the Black Pelican. Pretty much my kinda vacation.

The Song Remains Teh Lame

The Friday Five:

1. If you could pick your own theme song, what would it be?
These days? "Minimum Wage" by They Might Be Giants. Sigh.

2. Now be honest...if others had to pick a song that described you, what would they choose?
"Bounce Your Boobies" by Rusty Warren

3. What song would be/was the first dance at your wedding?
"You're The One For Me" by D-Train. Either that or "Sandwich Of Love" by The Mentors

4. What song gets stuck in your head most often?
"I am evil Ho-mer! I am evil Ho-mer!"

5. What song would you want played at your funeral?
"Ha Ha Ha" by Flipper

La Belle Époque

I'll be gone for a few days. You kids have fun without me. I'll miss you. Heck, I miss you right now. D-o-o-oooon't leave meeee... no wait, I'm the one that's leaving. Damn, do I need this break.

Expect me back this weekend. Kisses until then.

Try To Make It Real Compared To What

I'm beginning to wonder if there is something goofy going on with my music files lately (I have to say "goofy" because I lack the technological know-how to fix the problem, let alone use the proper terminology). I can't seem to find half of what I'm looking for in the hard dive when I want to find the file instead of listening to it on the iTunes. So lemme test somethin' here... I think think think this is an MP3 of Cadence Weapon's "Oliver Square" from the album Breaking Kayfabe so if you try and download it and it turns out to be an M4a then please let me know and I'll both apologize and proceed to bang my forehead against the monitor fix the problem from my end with the usual trail and error. And who knows, maybe I'll learn me something. Or better yet, maybe it'll stick this time.

So yeah, "Oliver Square" is by the 20 year old Canadian rapper Cadence Weapon (real name Rollie Pemberton) and it's one of those songs I love to (or used to, sniff) select on my iPod when I was out power walking in the mornings. Ah, those days. Plus you don't get to hear a lot of rappers sendin' shout outs to Edmunton a whole heckoffa lot. Anyway, hope you succeed (I hope I hope I hope I hope).

"Oliver Square" by Cadence Weapon (MP3 file)???
File available for 7 days.

Buy album here.

Them's Good Genes

Oh my heavens. I do so hope I look that deliciously good when I'm 52 years old. Of course some may say I already look like a 52-year-old man. You'd think the big ta-tas would distinguish us apart (mine not Vance's).

All you fellow Vanceaholics swing on by his crib and wish him a happy birthday in his guest book (like I did). And he has a new song up called "OK", performed by his band The Famous Pies. Let'm hear some love, people. I, however, shall celebrate this day by sitting here and quietly leering at him. *bites knuckles*

Schedule

Sun 3: 12-cl
Mon 4: 4-cl
Tue 5: 9-5
Thur 7: 3-cl
Fri 8: 12:30-7

High Rise

The rains stopped around 2:15pm, and Joe's boss turned up about 20 minutes ago to take him in to work, so I put on my trenchcoat and my combat boots and went out with my camera on my own solitary disaster safari. And remarkably my area appears to have suffered the least of it compared to everywhere else in Hampton Roads from what I've been seeing on the news. I did manage to snap a few shots of what was as of yesterday the shallow ditch-like creek behind my townhouse complex.

When we first moved into our townhouse this spring Joe was a little concerned about the creek behind our townhouses flooding during hurricanes. "It would never happen." I assured him, "The banks are too high and the creek ends just to the left of us anyway." Boy, did I ever eat my hat. And this wasn't even a real hurricane-level deluge, either. I don't wanna imagine. But look at the tops of the little trees poking up over the surface!

See how far up the water came behind our back yards? The levels are already starting to recede (until high tide comes in a little later) but you can see the brownish ring where it stopped for awhile, and yuck, all the garbage that's been sitting at the bottom. No wonder the ducks over there on the right are staying out of it.

More over on the right side. Again, you can see the submerged treetops. It's kinda spooky, actually, standing out there in the eerily silent late afternoon, with just the sound of the ducks and the wind flapping my coat. All I keep thinking about is what if we get another Isabel-sized storm in the next few months? Holy guacamole.

More garbage on the right bank. The water was running back into the ditch even as I was snapping the pics, so the fact that it drains fast is a good sign. Boy, that was one ticked off egret.

The community pool directly behind my back yard faired better than I imagined. I think I was more worried about flooding from that than I was about the creek. Funny how the deck chairs are still perfectly symmetrical to each other.

Joe's car is back home but the front seat floor has several inches of water in it. Anybody know how to dry up somethin' like that? Can I, like, turn the vacuum cleaner in reverse and blow dry that sucker?

Here Comes The Flood

First 20 songs on my iTunes shuffle while nervously watching the water levels rise outside my back patio door...

1. "Around The World In A Day" - Prince & the Revolution
2. "Closer To Fine" - Indigo Girls
3. "2 More Dead" - RJD2
4. "It's Like That" - De La Soul featuring Carl Thomas
5. "Hold Me Up" - Velvet Crush
6. "Television" - Beatnigs
7. "Live At Dominoes" - Avalanches
8. "When You Were Mine" - Prince
9. "Fuck Sonnet" - John Creamer & Prince Quick Mix
10. "Sound Wars" - DJ Shortee
11. "Handbags And Gladrags" - Mike d'Abo
12. "My Drawers" - The Time
13. "The Rising" - Bruce Springsteen
14. "Urrban Guerilla" - Mudhoney
15. "Manic Monday" - The Bangles
16. "Sunshine Reggae" - Laid Back
17. "Porch" - Pearl Jam
18. "It's For You" - Out Hud
19. "(Heart)" - Boredoms
20. "Page 3" - Fantômas

Underwater Boogie

We appear to be getting a hurry-cane. Or some such variant. No major winds yet but it's been pouring all night, and apparently flooding, as evidenced by my boyfriend who had to open his store this morning came barging back into the house an hour or so after he left soaked to the bone because his Taurus stalled out in the flood on the corner of Lynnhaven and Primrose Avenue and he had to hike the 3 miles back in the downpour. He said when he opened his car door to get out the water just came pouring in, so I can only imagine how it's going to look later today when things get worse. He said there were several other cars stalled out along the same road as well. But his district manager is coming by later in his SUV to carry Joe to work, which really burns my britches that they're still considering trying to open the store today, but the thing with video stores that they do twice the business on days of inclement weather that they do on nice days so they're losing money by the minute for every passing moment their doors aren't open. I'm surprised my store hasn't tried to call me in today, since I lucked out in having the day off (I've been getting Friday's off pretty regularly these days). Gah! Now Joe just took off with my credit card with the tower man because he can't find Joe's car out there. Argh, what a morning. I'm not letting Joe sleep at the store tonight, like he was thinking of doing since he has to open again tomorrow. I will go get him myself and I don't care how high the water is by then. I get the feeling most of this will have run off by later tonight anyway. Well, here's to hoping.

Golden Dreams Were Shiny Days

The Friday Five:

1) This is the 1st of September, what do you want to accomplish by the 31st?
To use up as many vacation hours from work as possible.

2) What does September make you think about or feel?
Strangely enough, going back to school, even though I haven't set foot in a learning institute going on 20 years. Also reminds me of Halloween and how much fun my friends and I used to have with all that. And of course, the distinctive b.o. sweat aroma of Sci-Con in the air (RIP).

3) September is the ninth month; can you name nine memories so far from this year?
All I can remember is that one thing with the guy in that place with the cheese sticks. Good times.

4) What does September have in common with three other months and can you name them?
Can I name three other months? January, April, and November. What do these months have in common with September? The fact that they aren't February, March, or December.

5) The first weekend in September signals the end of summer for many even though it doesn't t really end for weeks. When does summer end for you?
Well, back when I used to live at the beach the summer often ended for me Labor Day weekend when the tourist season came to a grinding halt and traffic was no longer so treacherouss to drive down to the porn store Harris Teeter in the middle of the night to buy abushell of bananas. Now that I live much further inland... hmm, heck, summer ends when I say it does. And hopefully I'll say it soon, because I detest the summer.