Lately I’ve felt like I’m biding my time, waiting for I don’t know what. For my motivation and/or mojo to come back? For the return of my darling ex? To win the Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes? I’m not sure. But it kinda sucks.
Five things that don’t suck:
- My friend Maria will be here from Berkeley in a couple of weeks.
- The Threadbare reunion show is next week at the Triple Rock. It’s a benefit to raise money for a memorial scholarship in honor of Steph Perry.
- The little man and I have been enjoying the Flat Stanley books at bedtime.
- I was pleasantly surprised to find that a restaurant near my office, Brasa, has a number of very tasty vegan-friendly food items. The yucca was my fave.
- In news of the nerd, I’m look forward to seeing the new Hellboy movie with my Dad soon. And it won’t be long before my pre-ordered copy of Breaking Dawn arrives.
Bonus: This “lightning through my camera” freaks me the hell out.
Plus: It’s called epMotion - “sending your thumbs into overdrive” - and it’s kind of awesome.
And: Jasmine 26: A Second Look. I’ve been meaning to go back to try the salt and pepper tofu.
A lot of it has to do with the suffocatingly close weather - and our brutal lack of air conditioning - but I feel like I’m running out of breathing room. My bills are quickly catching up to me, now that I have the mortgage plus two home equity loans to pay back (and the utilities, car loan, insurance, childcare, food, etc). And I just received a notice from my mortgage company about a $400 escrow shortage. I may need to turn to craigslist to find a roommate, though I am less than thrilled by the prospect. I am tired of extreme highs and lows. I’d like to spend a little more time on middle ground. For now I need to spend less money. And am already regretting yesterday’s brief jaunt down to the Taste of Minnesota. Where we dropped too much on one lousy Ferris Wheel ride - eight “tickets” each which is $5 in real world money. And we didn’t even see/hear much of The Zombies, and skipped out entirely on Eddie Money’s set. Oh well. The rest of the summer is going to be all about free events that are actually free.
Bonus: The History of the Chaos Computer Club. Oh Bre Pettis. So dreamily nerdy. Or nerdily dreamy?
Plus: I hung an old portrait in my room, one my Dad had drawn years ago. I was unsure of the subject’s identity. Turns out it was good old Dick Drew, inventor of cellophane tape. He had been a co-worker of my grandpa’s years ago at 3M. Wacky.
And: The DIY Craft Fair at the 80/35 Fest was limited, to put it mildly (I think there were three or four lonely-looking booths) but I did find some awesome vegan lip balm. Hopefully I won’t lose all three tubes immediately.
Been spending some time, yet again, boggling at the wildly confusing nature of interpersonal relationships. Hopefully time…and space (the next frontier?) will help us sort some of these things out. I delivered the ex to the airport the other morning, so he can spend ten days in Taiwan. He’s kicking things off in style at Taipei’s Charming Castle Hotel. I went on a much more modest trip. To Des Moines. Jessica was a wonderful traveling companion, though, and seeing Andrew Bird and The Flaming Lips for the Fourth of July was just the thing. Especially when the swoon-worthy Wayne Coyne waxed on about our founding fathers being innovative weirdos.
Also over the long weekend I’ve retreated into escapist mode, seeing Wanted with my Dad and Hancock with my son. Afterwards I read Ebert’s reviews of both movies and was surprised that he got some key details dead wrong. Huh. But now I want to read The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, after he made mention of James Thurber’s short story.
Bonus: I love this. My First Crush: The Handmade Art and Animation of Julia Pott.
Plus: I intend to try out the newly opened Cafe Agri. The restaurant has an emphasis on organic, locally-grown sustainable foods. Speaking of, I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in our CSA delivery for tomorrow.
And: Oh dear. Check out the Miss Lebanon “Constants” (pretty sure that should be contestants). I wonder if more eye make-up would make me look more Lebanese.
Thinking dark thoughts and desperately trying to suppress petty impulses, but it’s hard sometimes. This hurts. At least he’s leaving the country for a while. I don’t think his vacation could have come at a better time. Big fun!
How about five good/weird things?
- My new favorite cooking show - FOOD PARTY! I love the devil.
- I’m going to see The Flaming Lips on Friday, with Andrew Bird. In Iowa.
- Video of a co-worker and I doing jumping jacks. Why do I do the things I do?
- I got a shout-out from More Cowbell, for some photos I shot of local bands. That’s always nice.
- I resisted giving into the temptation of single issues, and my patience is finally being rewarded. After five long months of waiting - and remaining spoiler free - I will have the final trade volume of Y: The Last Man in my grubby little mitts tomorrow. Maybe I’ll re-read the other volumes tonight.
I feel like I’m way behind so I’ll just get this all out of my head and spew in chronological order:
The not so good
- I’ve been contending with some serious writer’s block/lethargy. Obviously.
- Our shower is broken. I’ll have to take baths until I have the money to fix it. Which, at this point, will pretty much be never.
- Came home one day last week to find a dead, mangled mouse in the kitchen. I didn’t even know there’d been mice around. Guess Freddy took care of that.
- The ex’s family has stopped inviting the little man and I to their functions.
- I cried on my birthday. That’s never fun.
- The old TMJ disorder has been acting up and it hurts. I must be grinding my teeth at night again.
- I was drunk-texted awake at 4:36am Sunday morning.
- My new driver’s license arrived. It must’ve come from Bizarro World because the photo makes me look like a jaundiced Oompa Loompa, even though in this reality I’m quite pale.
The good
- Finally gave up and washed that gray right out of my hair. Or went to the salon, rather, to have my hair colored. I feel better now.
- Took my son and my Dad to the Star Wars exhibit at the Science Museum.
- Afterwards I set my Dad up with his first personal email account. Instead of saving up weird clippings from the paper - which was charming, I’ll admit - we can now exchange links via the interwebs as well.
- Received an impromptu visit from my old friend Anton, who was here from Chicago for half a second.
- We’ve made too many trips to Izzy’s lately (I’m looking at you, Mary!) and they’ve had greater variety in their soy ice cream offerings.
- Our CSA boxes started coming to the office last week. I’ve gotten creative with produce that isn’t in our regular rotation. My fave so far? Garlic scapes.
- As a birthday present to myself I had two ceiling fans installed, one in my bedroom and the other in the kitchen. Just in time for summer’s heat to hit.
- A good group of folks joined me for some Pizza Farm adventures, with the bonus of unexpected birthday gifts and goodies.
- Alan Sparhawk. Through a strange quirk of fate I spent a couple of hours with the man last week - for work. Which only makes me love my job EVEN MORE.
- Took the kid to see some friends’ bands play MMAA’s Patio Nights. It was a little exhausting, chasing after him, but overall it went well. And the videos he shot are adorable.
- Found a new babysitter (a friend of a friend who lives in our neighborhood!) which allowed me to see some other friends’ new band play their first show at Stasiu’s on Friday night.
- On Saturday a bunch of peeps let the little man draw on them with a Sharpie. The best piece was the ogre’s butt.
- Finally got my childcare sorted, to cover the gap while the little man’s school moves to a new site. A huge relief, especially since I found the perfect man for the job.
Thankfully the good has outweighed the bad. By a lot.
Soon I will post a round up of birthday-related activities but first, a quick break for five good things - all sent to me from other folks who know what I like:
And thanks for all the birthday wishes today! It’s made it an awesome day. Now I’m off to a hopefully awesome dinner.
There’s been too much bad news this week. More friends losing their jobs (three of them today). Relationships gone seriously awry. Friends of friends being murdered and mugged, near places I frequent. Folks feeling generally unsafe out and about. Some so much so that they are going to extremes, like stealth cycling at night to avoid being harassed and/or arming themselves with weaponry. That seems like ridiculously risky behavior. But I don’t think disguising oneself as a vending machine would do the trick either. There are no easy answers. But there’s got to be a happy medium - somewhere between tempting fate and battening down the hatches at home.
Bonus: JK Rowling’s commencement speech, on the usefulness of failure.
Plus: I am a great believer in To Do lists. Compiled in the Backpack application, scrawled on scraps of paper, and sometimes even jotted down on my own hands. So I had to smile when I saw these To-Do Tattoos.
And: A collection of unexpected photography.
Monday brought an unexpected boon. Free tickets to see Peter Murphy at the Fine Line. I’d seen him solo once before, and with Bauhaus three times (the reunion tour of 1998) so I knew his set would be worth seeing. And it was.
Now let’s talk about blood-sucking freaks. And I don’t mean goths gone bad, I mean mosquitoes. They’ve always been more attracted to me than to those around me - like my blood is oh so much sweeter. Other folks will get a couple of bites after being outside for hours. After a quick trip to take out the trash I return covered in angry red welts. So this news is particularly unwelcome:
Bumper crop of mosquitoes expected
Spokesman Mike McLean of the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District says it may feel like there are two or three years’ worth of mosquitoes out this summer.
A big BOO to that.
Also? Not looking forward to having the the Republican National Convention in my backyard, for so many reasons.
Bonus: A fellow vegan gave me the heads up about Oprah’s 21-day vegan diet. My friend’s commentary on the matter is the most amusing part: “I’m not sure if you know this, Sharyn, but being vegan typically entails turning down pies from billionaires and movie stars. I don’t know how anyone does it, really. Especially when there’s no vegan food in Vegas.”
Plus: TV in Japan never fails to amuse.
And: I’ve been thinking about getting the little man a big trike for some time now, like a Desoto or a Torker. But this Steampunk trike is so much cooler.
Trying to keep my mind off my troubles. Yesterday’s Cat Attack Orchestra set, at Eclipse Records, was an excellent distraction. Also popped by Cupcake Saturday but did not partake. This crappy cold has left me without the ability to taste food. But I can still appreciate its presentation.
Five items of interest:
My ex-husband is going on a date. With someone else. Other than me. We have remained close friends since we split up, so I find I’m taking this bit of news very badly. My thoughts on the matter are more irrational than I’d hoped they would be, under the circumstances. When my first husband moved on I was relieved. Not so with the second one apparently. It’s not like I haven’t explored other options in the last year or so. But nothing much has come of it. Hey, I’m a twice-divorced single mother. Who’d want to date me? Yes, the pity party is in full effect on my front porch right now. It doesn’t help that I’m dealing with a nasty summer cold. I’m all achey and sick and spent most of yesterday laying around, watching Adam Ant videos on youtube and reading. Finished up The Merchants’ War by Charles Stross and started in on A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. Escapism is all I’ve got at the moment.
