Chain of foolishness

I really, really want to get my upstairs AC fixed (maybe Wednesday! Fingers crossed that this part works!) so I can get the office painted, so I can get the shelves installed, so I can get the books put away, so I will feel settled and can start to do some actual work upstairs at my computer. Laptop’s nice and all, but it’s not ideal for art or for writing.

I hate to be one of those people who is all defeated by a long chain of things needing to be done before the other things can be done, and then nothing gets accomplished, but in this case… I am one of those people. Stupid thing is that once the AC is fixed, I won’t have money right away for painting supplies. Stupid money. Stupid responsible budgeting and saving. Bleh.

Reminds me of my fave quote from “Meet Me in St. Louis”

Daughter: “Money! I hate, loathe, despise and abominate money!”

Father: “Well, you also spend it.”

Which reminds me of the other day, I saw some quote on life from Judy Garland. No offense, but I don’t think I will take any life advice from Judy Garland.

In other news, I watched all of Gone With the Wind over the weekend, and I had totally forgotten how many of my favorite quotes came from that movie too. And Scarlett O’Hara was a beautifully flawed and broken protagonist, and a worthy action heroine. I loved that movie as a child, and I think I mostly loved the pretty dresses and her sassy attitude, and how she got what she (thought she) wanted. But now, I see other things about her stubbornness and determination and refusal to stop fighting, and I think there are worse things for little girls to admire.

Racial issues and romanticizing marital rape aside, this is an amazing story, and an amazing film. Glad I watched it again.

Also,  I should wear more green.

Thank you for your cooperation

Today’s edition of language pedantry: Your interest has not been “peeked.” Nor has it been “peaked.” It has been piqued.

Unless for some reason you were bored, in which case the point is moot. (Not mute.)

Your attention to these matters will assist in helping to maintain my healthy blood pressure, and prevent the formation of additional squint wrinkles on my face, resulting when my eyes narrow with derision.

Protected: Super(bad)powers

ID, Please

So I was watching a movie last night that was mildly interesting. Well, okay I was watching a movie documentary while I was also internetting and wandering around the house with some chores, so I can’t say I was like, raptly watching it or anything. But it was on, I guess is my point. So this documentary was playing, Nerdcore Rising, about nerdcore rappers on tour. I found it mildly entertaining mostly, at some points LOL funny and at some parts really dull as shit. But it did get me to thinking of a few things.

One of those is the way that geek guys bond with each other. I know a fair amount of really geeky guys, and they seem to share this vast repository of well-loved cultural artifacts that, although I grew up in the same time period, I do not have ready access to. You get these guys in a room together, and they’re speaking a secret in-joke language of games and toys and cartoons that I know about, but for which I have no real nostalgic feeling. And that got me thinking about the easier way in which guys seem to bond, at least superficially. I can sit down in a room with four other females my own age and we will not be throwing out references to movies we loved as kids, usually. We won’t be bringing up how much we loved our weirdo Barbie makeup heads and stuffed Smurfettes. We probably all share that same history, but it’s not a thing that we’re going to be like “Holy shit, Apricot was the dopest smelling of all the Strawberry Shortcake dolls! Lemon Meringue could not hold a candle to that sweet-smelling bitch. Dang!”

I wonder if in some ways that’s because of the types of toys that were/are marketed to girls. They all seemed to center on dressing up, being pretty, playing house, boring crap like that. They didn’t really encourage us to use our imaginations to have adventures and tell stories, they were centered on… looking cute and grooming. Boring. My brother had $6 Million Man toys that had exploding secret briefcases, and a Pele doll that would really kick a soccer ball. I had a giant disembodied head onto which I could apply makeup, and a lot of stuffed animals. Tell you the truth, I never liked toys that much. I liked books. At least sometimes in books something happened to a girl, or she actually started an adventure of her own. Continue reading »

An Ode to the Cafeteria Guy

Oh Cafeteria Guy!

Fuck off.

Benediction and Hail Dents

So a couple of things really.

A) Realized that I have a huge hail dent on the passenger side of the roof of my car, and now I have to call the insurance company and get that looked at. Once I noticed it, it kept getting bigger and bigger, and now it seems to me that whole side of the car is caved in and the car itself barely drivable. I feel like that dent is a giant blinking red light over the car screaming “Something’s wrong. Something’s wrong here.”

Not giving a crap what it looked like is the only thing I miss about my old car.

B) Was listening to random stuff on my iPod in the car this morning (having finally moved on from the Decemberists, for awhile) and forgot that I did not have it on shuffle, which means the songs were playing alphabetically. Which, that’s fine except I thought it strange that all the songs it played seemed to be about bells. Like some kind of message from beyond: take heed, listen to the bells! (Who knew so many songs were titled with “Bells” at the beginning?)

C) Then this Joshua James song (Benediction) came on. Dang, I do love him. I saw him last year, and had tickets to see him again this year, but turns out he was playing in Soulard in the middle of Mardi Gras, and I did not feel at all up to getting in the middle of that, so I ended up not going to the show. I was sad to miss seeing him, but not too forlorn, since I had already seen him once. I was more sad that I am not the type of person who’d say ‘”Fuck a drunken crowd, I do what I want!” But, I am not that type of person.

Anyway, this song is sweet and sad, and sometimes the nice thing about random iPod fodder is running into things like this, that you’d forgotten.

OK OK

So I need to stop with the Decemberists, I know. But I am still listening to them, whether I post about it or not. Now I’ve firmly moved over into “The King is Dead” territory, letting that album slip up on me and get familiar while I wasn’t paying attention. This morning’s selection is “This is Why We Fight” (does anyone else find the “when we die, we will die with our arms unbound” thing a little reminiscent of Morrissey’s “And I will die with both my hands untied” from “Irish Blood, English Heart”? Or is that theme just well used enough that it’s not a thing? It kinda feels like a thing.)

Other good things in the world include a new stripey dress to make up for the fact that it’s too hot for stripey socks, and awesome new hairclips from Katatomic Labs, gifted for my assistance in helping her prep for this weekend’s Craft-o-matic fair.

OK, OK I wasn’t going to post it because I feel I am stuck in a Decemberists rut, but fuck it. Listen to this, it’s lovely and stirring. And there are worse ruts in which to be stuck.

This is Why We Fight

Come the war
Come the avarice
Come the war
Come hell

Come attrition
Come the reek of bones
Come attrition
Come hell

This is why
Why we fight
Why we lie awake
And this is why
This is why we fight

When we die
We will die
With our arms unbound

And this is why
This is why
Why we fight
Come hell

Bride of quiet
Bride of all unquiet things
Bride of quiet
Bride of hell

Come the archers
Come the infantry
Come the archers
Of hell

This is why
Why we fight
Why we lie awake
This is why
This is why we fight

And when we die
We will die
With our arms unbound
And this is why
This is why we fight
Come hell
Come hell

This is why
Why we fight
Why we lie awake
This is why
This is why we fight

When we die
We will die with our arms unbound
And this is why
This is why we fight

So come to me
Come to me now
Lay your arms around me
And this is why
This is why
We fight
Come hell
Come hell
Come hell
Come hell

It’s Been a Week

This has been a really fucked up week. My stomach hurts, my brain hurts, my heart hurts. It’s been short, but seemed long, and it’s been busy, but seemed empty. And I get up too early and go to bed too early and I feel off-sync with everything.

And that’s life, right? This collection of beautiful and horrible and comforting and terrifying moments, from which I suppose you’re supposed to learn something, if only to know yourself. I don’t know, I can’t explain it right now. Like I said my brain hurts.

So this week I had to hide in the basement from a storm, and hail hit my new car, and now I have a long weekend, and I got a three hour haircut, and sometimes my new house that I love has big empty echoes and hollow places in it that I have to fill in myself. Which is going to have to be OK.

Oh and I have an idea for a new art project, but I haven’t started it yet because it seems overwhelming. But I think next week I will.

Anyway, I still haven’t stopped listening to The Decemberists. Indeed it seems I cannot stop listening to The Decemberists. So here’s The Hazards of Love 1.

i

The Decemberists – Hazards of Love 1

My true love went riding out in white and green and grey
Past the pale of Offa’s Wall where she was wont to stray
And there she came upon a white and wounded fawn

Singing oh, the hazards of love

She being full of charity, a credit to her sex
Sought to right the fawn’s hind legs
When here her plans were vexed

The Taiga shifted strange
The beast began to change
Singing oh, the hazards of love
Singing oh, the hazards of love
You’ll learn soon enough
The prettiest whistles won’t wrestle the thistles undone
Undone

Fifteen lithesome maidens lay
Along in their bower
Fourteen occupations paid
To pass the idle hour
But Margaret heaves a sigh
Her hands clapsed to her thigh
Singing oh, the hazards of love
Singing oh, the hazards of love
You’ll learn soon enough
The prettiest whistles won’t wrestle the thistles undone
Undone
Undone
Undone

Your Isolated Information Bubble

Ha!

This is awesome, although technically I do not recall Jesus promising an end to wicked people. But still, it’s funny.

Help Bunny Slay MS!

The summary: Please join us in supporting an uninsured member of the local creative community, who was hit with a devastating illness in April.

The full story: In early April, after experiencing a sudden loss of sensation in his legs, Jason Dunn (guitarist and songwriter for local nerd rock band DICEGRINDER, known as ‘Bunny’ to his friends) was admitted to the hospital, and later diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. His total stay in the hospital was more than two weeks. Despite treatment, over that time his symptoms only worsened. By the time he left the hospital/physical rehab, he’d lost sensation in his entire body, as well as losing the use of his hands.

Here's the spinal lesion that's currently causing all the trouble.

Here's Bunny in happier times, playing with DICEGRINDER

Jason needs our support right now to tide him over this complete financial disaster and ensure that he is able to stay in his home until he’s able to either work again or find another source of income. He also needs help in getting the house adapted to his current needs, and to plan for future flare-ups of this chronic condition.

There are two fund raising events in the works for him. One is a trivia night on May 21st, at Sandrina’s. You can find details about that event and sign up for it here or download the flyer below. (Contact  for more information on that event.)

There will be another benefit event, a concert in June (date TBD) featuring several local bands as well as an art auction.

For those who cannot make these events or who wish to give directly, we’ve set up a PayPal donation site. Truly, whatever you can afford to give will make a huge difference to Jason, and help make sure his bills are paid until he’s able to fend for himself again.

For anyone who’s ever had to work a crappy job with no benefits, and wondered what would happen if they got sick, this is what happens. We all band together and support our own. Please donate if you are at all able.

Please  if you have any questions!

(You don’t have to have a PayPal account to use the link below.)

Emotions are so Mainstream

Exactly