Sticks and Stones

Monday, August 28, 2006

Next Stop: Dust



I have been riding that fence that tends to rear itself for certain folks this time of year. The going to Burning Man or not

'fence of confusion' (somewhat like the teeter-totter of death).

So, as of last Friday...I let myself fall. I landed on the side of the fence where you head out to the desert. I have rented a car and have about two days to ready myself while tending to my normal 9-5'er and loving my beau. Last part, is not hard but is quite necessary....especially since I just found a tiny little spoon in my purse and feel overwhelmed with the joy that it is there to remind me of the love in my life....sometimes a spoonful weighs a ton (bad or good - it is true).

Anyway, what else have I been up to as of late? Well, I went camping with 5 other people (one being my prince) and it was a most lovely weekend. It stared with camping - middled with pontoon boating - and ended with Hoteling in Santa Barbara. Great friends, great times, great food, and great wine.

Memorable moments include: The shot-gunning of beers by all in attendance (but special award should go to Astrid - she planned ahead and wore a faux napkin bib), the best BBQ a campground has ever seen and the most tended to s'mores (do and do it well - is what Felix said), So many stars - millions, Swimming in the lake, Felix's smile as he drove the boat, Jeff and I floating on the life vests entwined in each other, Jeff...Jeff...Jeff, Frank adjusting the L3 to settings such as sand and at some point stealing a blue light bulb, Lobster, seafood, steak, yummy stuff, wine and cheese, hanging by the pool, chatting with Spesh and the gang, using walkie talkies to communicate (RedRooster and WeGotNuthin')....so lovely...so wonderful...sigh..

Ok...I am at work...more soon....likely after I return from the playa.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

.....Amazing....

Sometimes life hands you such amazing gifts. People will say thing like you deserve this or worse you don't, but nonetheless pockets full of wonderfulness will befall you at times when you least and/or most expect it.

For me, it usually happens when I least expect it. The most magnificent creature has climbed into my life via an electronic portal (if I didn't love email before folks - watch out - I certainly do now). I hasten even to breathe my happiness too loudly for fear that someone will snatch it up and twist it into some sort of crueller leaving me with half diluted notions of what I once had.

But for now my mind's eye plays slides of blue eyes peaking out from under clouds of white sheets as the first and best moment of the day...that moment offering that it is indeed real. There is nothing more quiet and amazing to wake up and see before you that which you thought you could only dream to have. And those moments are utterly too rare in life...or at least rarely noted...and I am not going to take this for granted, not for a second.

But what has happened since I last blog - logged? My little comments on life...I have some, for sure, but I need to work my way back into this. Let's see...the most interesting thing I saw lately was a section of a music store. I went to buy a Cd and left with 4 or 5...but in the search I noticed many many things or at least two.

First, music sellers (excluding your large chains) are as whacked as audiophiles. Their organization sucks in any sort of sense that could be comprehended by the public at large (Why is rap next to electronic? Why is electronic such a small section broken into a million subgenres - none of which I fully understand (and I think I understand some EDM) for instance there is an electronic music section which has a subgenre of techno which has a subgenre of experimental (I mean - could we have some definitions? What will I find here?) and then there is a sub genre just labeled dance (I search for a section labeled undanceable...but as of the time of this writing that was not in existence), they do not seem to care or plan for fires (all fire exits are often blocked with boxes, posters, and a general mess of things in the maybe-we-will-need-these-someday pile), and although they most certainly want you to pay for your goods the register is usually completely hidden - piled in the back next to a angst ridden youth - residing seemingly jammed under doodles, old papers, sweatshirts and some oddly placed arts and crafts (though the manager will complain constantly that there is a large sign with an arrow pointing to said obvious cash box...and to his/her credit there will be a huge sign with a huge arrow but said signage will be viewable from exactly two points in the room and to truly see it you much be the size of a chicken...but they are right).

Second and likely lastly, I would like to point out that which I found to be the most interesting of observations at the homestead of this merchant of sound. I found a section which both shocked me and tickled my funny bone. It was a section entitled "Used Soul". I know - let it sink in. What is this section? A suggestion in the past tense? A practice in the macabre....are people dealing in some very dangerous karmic retribution? Obviously, I was intrigued but cautious and tried to peer at this section without losing what I think is a perfectly good soul of my own in the process. From my vantage point, somewhere in the post-punk section I saw three souls trapped in this Used Soul district. They were Marvin Gaye (a soul in my opinion which deserves to be freed), Sam Cook, and Otis Redding (perhaps that dock was more metaphorical than I originally imagined). Anyway...I ambled away...I am planning to find a way to free those souls but I am not entirely sure what I am getting myself into... I mean what if they try to take my slightly/hardly used soul...really it is nearly new - I swear. Or worse what if one's soul was rejected from this used soul containment? Where would it end up?

Perhaps - hip-hop?