weapons of massdistraction

My wonderfully strange boyfriend. In the past week or so he patiently drove us a bajillion miles through five states over six days. We finally got home Monday afternoon. I just wanted to unwind with a glass of wine. What did he do? Unloaded, unpacked, cleaned the floors, got a load of laundry in the wash and then started playing with his new toy. A Shark vacuum cleaner. He looked SO happy as he sucked up cat hair with it around the living room. I swear, I would have a cult following if I started a cleaning porn web site featuring this hot man. All the other single moms would be super into it.

The rest of this week hasn’t been so swell. Turns out my son has scoliosis. It runs in our family. His may need correction. Our pediatrician referred us to a specialist and I booked the earliest appointment possible - nearly two months away. And then our home internet went down. Tuesday morning. CenturyLink still doesn’t have it back up (I’m writing this from our neighborhood library). But they’re sending a tech out. SUNDAY. Too late for my son. He leaves for Canada tomorrow to spend a few weeks with his grandparents. And today I was behind had a frantic last minute push to get this “Consent Letter for Children Travelling Abroad” - from the Canadian government - filled out, signed by both parents and notarized. I DID IT. Phew.

How about five good things? Or maybe five slightly less depressing / frustrating / anxiety-inducing things.

• In Madison, WI the trend for tiny homes is catching on. And in some cases tiny homes are being built for otherwise homeless people.
• This Station to Station music project, with bands on trains, looks super cool. And local favorites Brute Heart may or may not be on board.
• We are huge nerds for Adventure Time in our household. And what is nerdier than the Adventure Time opening sequence re-done in stop motion LEGO? Just lovely.
• This is fun. “Listen to the new Doctor’s old post-punk band (featuring Craig Ferguson)”
• I’ve been following some friends’ Scandinavian adventures this past week. They started in my beloved Iceland before working their way to Norway. They are currently attending a nordic music fest - featuring KRAFTWERK! So jealous. But at least they are thoroughly documenting it all on twitter, vine, Facebook and flickr.

Tomorrow night I’m camping, in a tent, for the first time ever. But it’s not like up North at the BWCA. It’s just on the edge of the metro area, at the Square Lake Film & Music Festival. There will even be hot foods for sale from Icehouse. I just hope we’re far enough out that I can get a glimpse of the Perseids meteor shower.

Oh what a difference a week can make. Last week was long and hot and the bad weather melted my brain. During the day I enjoyed life at Clockwork HQ, with the magically chilly air. But as soon as I headed home my energy and motivation drained away as I slogged my way up to our 2nd floor apartment, with our miserably hot kitchen. I had no choice but to huddle in a corner of our bedroom near the window a/c unit. Pitiful. This week the weather is back to blissful and I’m feeling much happier and more productive. My son is out of town again (another four day trip to Wisconsin Dells) so I signed up for a two night studio lighting class at the MPLS Photo Center. So far so good.

And one week from today? We leave for wild wild Western road trip adventures. Ok, maybe not so wild. But we might stop at Wall Drug and/or the Mitchell Corn Palace. And we’ll definitely see Mount Rushmore and the Badlands and the Wind Cave and we’ll be staying in hotels and a cabin.

Because it’s been too long…ten good or interesting things instead of a measly five (been saving them up with too many browser tabs open):

• Only recently did I learn of the Nachthexen, Russia’s female fighter pilots in World War II. And right after that one of them passed away. Nadezhda Popova, WWII ‘Night Witch,’ Dies at 91. Fascinating.
• This was amusing to me: ‘I turned down ‘Robert Galbraith”: Editor admits rejecting JK Rowling’s secret novel. And then I had to read it of course. And The Cuckoo’s Calling was quite the page turner! If it turns into a serial I’ll will definitely read more. Love me some gritty noir-ish private eye stories.
• There’s going to be a Calvin and Hobbes documentary! And the makers have scored themselves a distribution deal.
• Speaking of movies, total babe Benedict Cumberbatch makes for a pretty convincing Julian Assange in the trailer for The Fifth Estate.
• For fans of Pixar movies…The Pixar Theory and the more condensed Pixar Theory Timeline.
• And how about Handicapping The 5 Nominees For The Internet Cat Video Festival’s 2nd Golden Kitty Award.
• Hear now: Mazzy Star unveils new song, ‘California,’ teases album. Brings back memories of the 90s. As did last weekend’s AmRep records anniversary bash at Grumpy’s.
• My goodness: Scientists Say Sex and Time Travel Might Not Mix
• We’ve been hearing about a Cosmos reboot for a while now, hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson. The trailer premiered at last weekend’s Comic Con in San Diego.
• The latest show we binged on? Orphan Black. Which, according to the av/club, “flips the sci-fi script by putting female agency first.” Yes! Love it.

After next week’s road trip it won’t be long before our Canadian adventures. And quickly after that the beginning of a new school year. So some time in September I plan to check out another of our area pizza farms. This time, the Two Pony Gardens one right in our very own state.

Yesterday’s post was a little on the heavy side. Enough with the grim. The weather this week has been mostly perfect. Wednesday I ate my breakfast, lunch and dinner outside and it was lovely. And we might go tubing down a river this weekend. And we’re having an outdoor cookout with old friends (wherein we will be boggling at how large our children have gotten).

Five more good things for a Friday:

• Dang, I wish I could have attended photographer Alec Soth’s Summer Camp for Socially Awkward Storytellers. Sounds like it’s right up my alley. “This really is a camp about telling stories — with pictures. In a world where smart phones have made cameras ubiquitous, Soth challenges the group to return to an older form of storytelling — the slideshow.”
• So that was visual. Here’s audio - Radio Producer as Earwitness: MPR’s Marc Sanchez on World Listening Day and more about it in this post A Listening Experiment
• Now for the combination of audio with moving pictures in storytelling, Joss Whedon on being prolific. I still need to see his Shakespeare adaptation. And definitely before his Avengers TV spinoff, Agents of SHIELD, begins airing.
• Switching it up from fiction to maybe slightly fictionalized truth, I would love to see this documentary about musician MIA, if it ever gets released.
• I’m not quite sure how to categorize this one: Jay-Z Is Lip-Synching the Same Song for Six Hours and It’s Art. Huh.

Gah, it’s nearly mid-July already! It’s been a complete clusterfuck attempting to renew my son’s passport. Going to give it another go tomorrow morning and expedite it. But first we have a road trip out West before we leave the country. Hard to believe his summer camp times are drawing to a close already. But he’s been enjoying the heck out of it. My summer treat to myself was going to be a new tattoo but I haven’t been on top of it. This interview with artist Stacey Rozich is a reminder to get in gear, and pick something of hers to be permanently inked into my right forearm.

It’s a particularly somber Fourth of July for my family this year. My 20 year old nephew (my step-brother’s only son) deployed to Afghanistan this week. Last night he Facebook messaged me, asking me to let everyone know he had arrived safely. To the war. The poor kid was excited to see mountains for the first time. But acknowledged that the circumstances under which he is seeing them are less than ideal. We hope that his deployment passes by quickly and uneventfully.

And because it is a patriotic holiday I am posting something I think is important. That yes, it actually is patriotic to question the government. A government full of officials that we-the-people elected (or who were appointed by those who we-the-people elected). This is most definitely worth watching. Glenn Greenwald gives a public talk, for the first time since NSA leak story: Glenn Greenwald skyped in to the Socialism 2013 conference in Chicago, to speak about Edward Snowden’s leaks about the NSA’s surveillance program. Of course this issue is bigger than Edward Snowden. There are a number of “Restore the Fourth” events happening around the country today. Protests organized to “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated…” And Mozilla started the website stopwatching.us. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

The last few years, when my birthday rolls around, I feel a twinge of guilt thinking of Patton Oswalt’s bit about birthdays. “You are only allowed 20 birthdays.” (They are 1-10, 13, 16, 18, 21, 30, and then every ten years after.) But this year, oh, this year. My birthday was LEGIT. I turned 40. That part still floors me. I keep growing older (as does my son) yet I never quite feel like a grown up. And that is ok. Especially since this birthday was the best I’ve had in years. Possibly the best ever. Thanks, in large part, to my wonderful boyfriend. And a large group of friends who have been willing to indulge me. I’ve gone a little overboard with birthday week this year.

Sunday: I had a backyard brunch / hangout which we dubbed “Feel the Burn” as we put our friends’ Xmas wreath into the firepit. Wow what a fire! And who needs eyebrows anyway? And my dear friend Manny performed in the backyard, as Hack. It was lovely.

Monday: Dropped my son off for camp in the morning. It’s usually a day camp. But this year his group, the older kids, got to head off on a four day trip to a camp at Wisconsin Dells. So that evening the mister and I indulged in a ridiculously rich and late dinner at the 112 Eatery. Neither of us had been before and we ordered far too many dishes to try. Most were excellent (particularly the swordfish with mint chimichurri, and the butterscotch budino - wow). We had boxes of leftovers but I left feeling overly full. I still felt full when I woke in the morning. Which was far too early…

Tuesday: My birthday. The boyfriend and I both took the day off from work. Unfortunately the mister forgot to disable his phone alarm. And he had it set to go off *much* earlier than usual. So on my birthday, a day where I didn’t have to take care of my out-of-town son or get up for work, I was rudely awaken at 5:30am. I nearly cried. I don’t fall back to sleep easily. Thankfully the day was salvaged. It was gorgeous. Perfect, calm weather after too many wild storms. I called my Dad, Werewolf Cop, to wish him a Happy Birthday (I was born on his 29th). I opened some fabulous gifts (good good books, funny cat t-shirts, concert tickets). Then we watched a season three episode of Game of Thrones. Eventually I felt hungry enough to head to Modern Times just before the breakfast menu ended. Errands were run and suddenly it was time to get ready for our pizza farm adventures. A couple of friends came to our house and we loaded up the car. We were meeting several other groups of friends there. Our parties arrived at staggered intervals but we had a healthy sized group - about two dozen friends total. The wait wasn’t long for our pizza. And that was consumed with beverages under clear skies. But bam, it was a race against the clock to get back to the Twin Cities. To pick up my amazing Izzy’s ice cream cake (that the boyfriend ordered for me) en route my show at the Hex. I felt like a jerk, showing up halfway through the first band’s set, but otherwise it was a great show.

Wednesday: We’d gotten to bed so late but sadly I wasn’t able to sleep in too late, because I’m old now. But I did work from home. And worked my way through leftovers. Didn’t get dressed until late afternoon, to go pick up my CSA box from the co-op. We considered going out to a movie but we wound up staying in to finish off season three of Game of Thrones. The last two episodes. Which I, apparently, got quite worked up about. And now we have to wait along with everyone else for season four. Boooo.

Thursday: Back to routine. Went into the office. Cranked away through work requests. A co-worker brought me a French silk pie for my birthday. At the end of the day I left to retrieve my son from the camp’s bus stop. After four days away from home he was tired, stinky, hot, hungry and a little bit crabby. I handed him a chilled water bottle and whisked him away to Grand Shanghai for his favorite dinner - broccoli & tofu with a side of vegetable dumplings. And drew a bath for him as soon as we got home. Later I’m back out for a friends’ band’s show, to hang out with out of town friends. Friends who flew into town today because of my ridiculous 2nd birthday show on Saturday at the Turf.

Friday: Too many BBQs, shows and hangouts to choose from for tomorrow night.

Saturday: A busy one. Need to make an early visit to the passport office with the kid. Then on to a family function with the boyfriend. Then to drop my son with his bio-dad while I head to my big show at the Turf. And stay out too late. Things are likely to get out of hand. And one of the bands is demanding another ice cream cake, since Tuesday night’s show got one. Yes, we will chillibrate. And then my birthday celebrations will finally come to an end for 2013.