It's Opening Night!

*finally*

visualize serenity

. . . rendered speechless

Damn. I don't even know what to say . . . I'm rendered speechless for a number of reasons, and from a number of angles. Where to begin? Mainly, there's the fact that I don't jive with capital punishment. But - and secondly - the man in question committed some horrific crimes. Horrific! And thirdly, just...wow. Imagine if YOUR boss rang the death knell for YOU.

This is going to explode in the media. Especially in this neck of the woods.

complex simplicity

For as much time as I spend around music, performing music, listening to colleagues perform, studying music, practicing music and buying music . . . sometimes I forget how much I actually really just enjoy LISTENING to music for music's sake. Not while commuting or walking or using it as the soundtrack for some other activity, but making the listening the main focus.

A few weeks ago, I felt like I had returned to college when a friend and I sat around for an hour or so just listening to new bands. We had started a discussion prior to that about rock guitar . . . and it just spiraled into an "oh...yeah, you'd like these guys, check them out. And if you like THEM, then I need to play THIS for you." I spent hours of my life doing that same exact thing in college, and I had missed that.

Last night, on my way home from rehearsal, I was listening to Spanish guitar and flamenco guitar on NPR. It just hit the spot - all the stress of the day melted off. When I got home, I tuned the radio to the same station and listened to the entire program. It was lovely.


**UPDATE 9:28 PM**:
As I am sitting here at home, writing some letters and listening to the radio . . . I just heard an advertisement for my show. That was pretty cool, I have to admit.
(We open on Thursday!)

Coincidence? I think not...

I just found out yesterday that the man Formerly Known As LTG and now known as Capt.G is friends with and a frat brother of MY brother.

Consider my mind blown. And please - every and anyone who reads this - get up to speed here.

snippet

Me: "Hey, Dad - how'd you get that odd little bruise in the center of your thumb?"

Dad: "Oh, this? From work the other day."

Me: "Work? Weird. How'd you do that? It's such an odd spot for a bruise . . ."

Dad: "The power switch on our linear accelerator was broken, so everything had to be done manually, and the manual switch sticks. Switching it back and forth hundreds of times throughout the day caused the bruise."

Me: "So. What you're saying is that your injury was caused by a linear accelerator?"

Dad: "Well, yeah."

Me: "You are the only person I know who would ever be able to utter the sentance, 'I bruised my thumb with the linear accelerator.' That is pretty awesome. And funny."

Friday Five - All that you can't leave behind

What are the five things you simply must have when you are away from home? And why? Any history or goofy things, or stories?

1. Some means of telling the time. It could be a cellphone, watch, sundial, etc. Even if my final destination involves lots of lazing about, not bothering with the time . . . I MUST know what time it is when I'm en route (plane, train, auto, etc). I wouldn't want to miss any connections!

2. My camera. I love taking pictures. Though - in a pinch - my cellphone works for that, too.

3. Drugs. Legal ones for allergies and asthma. I've had too many close calls resulting in trips to the ER not to have them with me.

4. A book. Or a few. And I have this habit of buying a book at the airport if I'm flying, even if I already have one with me. I read so quickly, I've got to keep something on hand.

5. Music for listening. Went from walkman to discman to iPod. For as long as I can remember, music has been a must-have for me on any trip. Family trip? Airplanes? Cruise ship? Road trip - good music for the car is a MUST.

Chickens, Muppets, and Music, oh my.

Seriously. These videos brought me to tears, I was laughing so hard. (And it might just be that I'm the right combination of tired/stressed and music nerd that they hit me square on the funny bone. But man...LOVE 'em!!!)

Thanks to AZ for sending the link.

Transformation - yeah, it feels a little like this

Focus. Forget what's just happened. Forget the mistakes, the stopping and starting, the frustrations of the day thus far. There is only this moment - this one chance to get it right.

Wind-up, wound-up. Coiled. And waiting.
Pacing. Wait - No. No pacing. Pacing diffuses energy – did you ever stop to think about that?

Standing. Waiting. Still…yet not. Placid calm belied only by anger, desperation, and “unbe-fucking-lievable”-ness building behind the eyes.

Poised. The pinball pin about to come smashing through the gate.
Crouching tiger, hidden…wait - wrong country, wrong story.

Somewhere – in the back corners of her mind – music registers.

Happy?
Joyful?
Laughing?

How DARE they delight while she suffers in the shadows!
How can they be so ignorant? How can they not see in her writhing body the pain that each peal of laughter brings?
Straight pins shoved up underneath her fingernails wouldn’t compare to this torture.

Laugh upon stabbing laugh upon stabbing and cutting and bruising laugh builds up quickly. And agonizingly . . . slow. Each laugh reinforcing the shattering blow of the previous one.

The dam gives way, the torrent breaks through: she teeters on the brink. With sudden, crystalized clarity – the confrontation begins.

No one ever yet died of a broken heart.

one of these things is not like the other

There’s a lot of hullabaloo surrounding Obama and his current campaign trip abroad. I’m not going to comment on any of that right now, other than to say that I’m just glad Iraq & Afghanistan are back in the news at all. The recent trending has seen both The Long War and The Forgotten War preempted by such fascinating items as Britney giving up custody of her kids and Brangelina’s twins being born.

Who knew?

I never realized that there was an arrow in the FedEx logo until today. I guess my brain never processed that! Crazy!

A few weeks ago at brunch with Sibling

meh

I was awake all night long and didn't fall asleep until 5am. Partially due to the chai I had at dinner...and partially due to a stomach bug. food poisoning...I don't know. ugh. Today, I've been laying low and drinking gatorade. Hence this really exciting blog post. *awesome*

It Came From The Desert

The title of a B horror film? If only. I present to you, dear readers, the CAMEL SPIDER:



And why, you might ask, am I posting a picture of this potentially nightmare-inducing creature? Because of the email I received from P this morning:

The other big event was encountering a camel spider the size of a kitten outside our showers. They eat meat that they tear off large mammals with their fangs. They run around with their front legs in the air and attack whatever they bump into if it seems like its made of meat-fearsome!

HOLY CRAP! The size of a KITTEN????????? *shudder*

Friday Five - What's in a Name?

1. So how did you come up with your blogging name? And/or the name of your blog?
Well, my blogging name, MezzoSF, is a combination of my location and voice-type. As for my blog name "Random Laundry" ... it came from my very first blog post, which I just went and re-read - and DAMN! It's quite the tirade, if you ask me. Thankfully, in many ways, I am very different from the girl who wrote that entry almost four years ago, now.

2. Are there any code names or secret identities in your blog? Any stories there?
I try to use - or I've tried as of late - to use nicknames and initials when talking about other people. I have a couple of codenames for certain people (ex-boyfriends and the like). A lot of times, though, those nicknames are actually used in real life. For example, my brother and I really DO address each other as "Sibling" instead of using each others' actual names. It's pretty funny.

3. What are some blog titles that you just love? For their cleverness, drama, or sheer, crazy fun?
I'm partial to the title of yesterday's post, actually. It cracked me up when I wrote it. And puns...anything with puns or very pithy titles I love.

4. What three blogs are you devoted to?
Hmmm...how about let's do three categories of blogs I'm devoted to:
Real-life friends (see sidebar); Milblogs (again - sidebar); and further down, total strangers, whose blogs hold a strange power over me (can you guess? sidebar). I have a few updates to make to my sidebar. But probably not right now.

5. Who introduced you to the world of blogging and why?
AZ got me hooked to the blogging thing. I'm not sure why. Maybe she wanted someone to link to? Or to link to her? Whatever the reason...well...I've had fun thus far. Especially this year - the blog 365 thing has been more challenging than I thought it would be.

Bonus question: Have you ever met any of your blogging friends? Where are some of the places you've met these fun folks?Other than the people I was friends with before-blogging who now also have a blog...I have not! But I'm sure they are all quite wonderful people!

Because buying school supplies in the fall turns me on

I just signed up for two classes this fall. They both meet once a week and run
10 - 15 weeks.

1. Spanish I: This is through UC Berkeley extension program. A few years ago, I took private Spanish classes for about 6 months. It was great for my conversational skills and some vocab, but not for grammar. I know how to learn languages and I needed something a little more structured.

2. Introduction to Arabic: This is through an independent language school - the other places I looked at didn't have schedules which would work for me. I've never learned or studied a non-western language before; I'm looking foward to the challenge.

I know - at least where Spanish is concerned - I'll probably start off filtering everything I learn through French, then Italian, and then (hopefully) spitting out the correct answer in Spanish. It's happened before. As far as the Arabic class goes...who knows. I have always thought it a very interesting and beautiful language - visually and aurally - and would like to know how to say more than just [ir fawu adeikum terra armi], [salaam aleikum], and [shaku-maku].

Thank you, Steve Perry

Math Jedi came up with this little gem here...

All I Really Needed To Know I Learned From Journey

Don't stop believing. Hold on to that feeling.
Burning love comes once in a lifetime.
You learn to take the laughter with the tears after all these years.
Two hearts born to run, who'll be the lonely one? Wonder who's crying now?
Give me all of your sunshine. A spark is all I need to take away all of the shadows.
Don't give up, never walk away.
I'll be alright without you, there'll be someone else.
Someday love will find you, break those chains that bind you.
Inside is where the heart grows.
If he ever hurts you, true love won't desert you.
I'm not a dead man walking without you, you know I'll be alright. I'm showing signs of life.
So you think you're lonely? Well, my friend, I'm lonely too.
It's sad, oh there's been mornings out on the road without you, without your charms.
When you can't give no more, they want it all, but you gotta say no.
It won't be long, yes till you're alone, when your lover, he hasn't come home, 'cause he's loving, he's touching, he's squeezing another.
Compromise, the price they had to pay.
Take a chance now, the timing's right.
Oh, no, you should be holding on to him girl, just like you want to do.
Any way you want it, that's the way you need it.
There's a time to fall, there's a time to rise above it all.
Some will win, some will lose, some were born to sing the blues.
The memories never fade away.
The road ain't no place to start a family.
To forgive is to forget.
Only so many tears you can cry 'til the heartache is over.
You stole my heart, but you'll never get a piece of my soul.
Living without you, living alone, this empty house seems so cold.
You know I still love you, though we touched and went our separate ways.
Roses never fade.
Be good to yourself when nobody else will.
When you're down in deep despair, ask the lonely.
The fighting is worth the love they save.
When you love a woman, you see your world inside her eyes.
I was alone, I never knew what good love could do. Then we touched, then we sang about the loving things.
You can reinvent your world anytime you like.
Being apart ain't easy on this love affair.
Love's a promise that he made.
Wheel in the sky keeps on turning. I don't know where I'll be tomorrow.

(compiled by DGS, from lyrics by Journey and their various members and collaborators over the last three decades)

Hooray!!

GRAND LAKE has a blog!!!!!

I'm so excited, I don't know what to do!?!??!!?!?!?!

SO, go check out the Grand Lake Outdoors blog. woot!

le spam

For the last couple days, I've been getting French spam in my email.

It's still annoying, like regular spam, but I have to admit that I am secretly thrilled to read it - because I miss speaking French!!

Must. Find. A. Language. Outlet. Soon.

See Also: Nostalgia

It makes me a little sad to think that kids today probably have no idea what The Encyclopaedia Britannica is, much less The World Book.

I spent many happy childhood hours holed up with a volume or three of The World Book. I could study, say, the flags of the world for an entire afternoon.
(And yes, I do realize that this makes me a huge nerd. Still am.) I am pretty sure my parents still have our (now vintage) copy of the 1990 edition packed away in the basement storeroom somewhere.

I’m a big fan of the interwebs and all – don’t get me wrong – but there was something special about opening the a volume for the first time. It was the smell of the gold-edged pages; the crackling of the virgin binding; the silky feel of the thick, glossy paper beneath my fingers. Oooh! And remember when the words “See Also . . . “ were magical? Those two little words would send me into paroxysms of delight! I’d run off to the bookshelf to grab the other four volumes I needed in order to continue down the rabbit hole of knowledge. An article on "Creole" would inevitably be followed up with See Also: "France," "Louisiana Purchase," "New Orleans," "Canada," "Cuisine: French," and on and on. The possibilities? Endless!

Sites such as Wikipedia and RefDesk help to fill the hard-copy, heavy-tomed reference void. And if anything, they make following those rabbit holes much more efficient - everything's just a click away!

But . . . it's not quite the same, you know?

(Perhaps, freshly in my 29th year, I'm becoming more nostalgic for things past already? hahahaha)

wasting time

I can waste time with the best of 'em.

Shoot. If you have an old set of World Books sitting around the house, that is hours of entertaining time just *begging* to be wasted by me.

Anyway. The point is . . . I can waste time perfectly well all by myself, thank you very much.

I do NOT need to be called in to a three-hour, Sunday night rehearsal and sit. On. My. Ass. The. Entire. Time.

I did not do one damn thing during those three hours. Well, not one thing on stage. Off-stage, I sent some text messages, wrote a letter, and shot the shite with my friends there ALSO being under-utilized for the evening.

But I *could* have done all of that at home. ARGH.

off to a good start

well....I guess so far 29 is off to a good start.

Kicked things off with drinks & dinner last night with a small group of friends at Bissap Baobab...tasty Senegalese/West African food. Tasty.

I managed to go to the ATM before leaving the house...and upon getting to the restaurant, I discovered I had forgotten my wallet. oops. Which, would have come in handy because apparently on your birthday (with proof of ID), the restaurant gives you a free pitcher of drinkage.

Sibling got my tab, though...yay! Anyway. It was a good mix of folks. I had wanted to have a big house party like last year. But really? My house is just too small for that. Maybe I'll rent a place out for the big 3-0 next year. hmmmmmmmm. . . .

Dos Vacky Chermins

I'm not sure what it is with wacky news coming out of Germany this week...but, here's another story for you.

Apparently, there's something in the German constitution that would allow for giving children the right to vote . . . via their parents, I believe. STRANGE, ja?

Still headed up! (I ain't over the hill just yet :P)

Friday Five - Summer Camp

1. Did you go to sleep away camp, or day camp, as a child? Wish you could? Or sometimes wish you hadn't?
Yes. I went to summer camp - a couple of them. In middle school, I went to "nerdy camp" for two weeks: the Summer Enrichment Program up at UNC. We stayed in the dorms for two weeks and took cool classes. I remember taking drawing, photography and jazz choir.
I also went to a Christian Outdoors camp (Eagle Lake) for ... like 5 summers, staring in middle school. This camp couldn't have been more different than the other. It was two or three weeks long, and we slept in tents, went on 9-mile hikes, learned how to eat bugs, obstacle courses. oh. And lots of singing (Christian songs) around the campfire. I loved that place.

2. How about camping out? Dream vacation, nightmare, or somewhere in between?
Camping out now is somewhere in between for me. I like the idea of camping...and I love being out in the quiet, seeing the stars at night, etc. But seriously. The last few times I've gone camping, it has rained. Poured. I hate wet sleepingbags!!

3. Have you ever worked as a camp counselor, or been to a camp for your denomination for either work or pleasure?
Never was a counselor - though, I wanted to be one. Well...I *did* work at Lake Junaluska (as a singer) for a couple summers. It is a retreat center of sorts, and I think they hold camps there....not for my denomination though. But those were good times.

4. Most dramatic memory of camp, or camping out?
Camping out memory: a crazy weekend spent on a mountain near an abandoned ranger station in NC. This was a poorly planned, last-minute trip and we had no idea where to go, so we just started driving at dusk and ended up somewhere...nearish....to Pisgah Forest, NC about 10 pm on a Friday night. The next morning, we awoke to a glorious sunrise. But to this day, I couldn't tell ya where we were.
Camp story: I totally bit it one year at Camp, running back up the hillside to our tent...I think I had forgotten my jacket or something...can't recall. Well, I slipped and tore open my knee on the rocks. Man it hurt, but it produced the best scab I've ever had! (Gross - I know!) Needless to say, that one left its mark!

5. What is your favorite camp song or songs? Bonus points if you link to a recording or video.
Favorite Camp Song - from Eagle Lake - was to be sung at sunrise on top of a large mountain right above the main camp. This song was to be sung in order to wake up the rest of the campers:

Way up in the sky, the little birds fly!
While down in the nest, the little birds rest!
With a wing on the left, and a wing on the right,
the little birds sleep all through the night.
shhhhhhhhh THEY'RE SLEEEEEEPING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The BRIGHT sun comes up; the dew goes away!
"Good morning, good morning!" the little birds say!
The farmer comes out, with shotgun in hand.
BOOM BOOM, BOOM BOOM, "No birds on my land!"
"Ha ha! Ha Ha! You missed me that time!"
BOOM BOOM, BOOM BOOM, "I got you that time!"
The maggots crawl in, the maggots crawl out,
They twist and they turn and they EAT YOUR GUTS OUT!

fortun(ate) son . . . or daughter, as it were

I knew it was going to be a long week, when by 7:30 a.m. Monday morning, I needed a drink. I finally got that drink tonight, and eventually, the topsy-turvy events of the evening led me to a fortune cookie!

In this particular cookie there were FIVE fortunes! Count 'em - FIVE!
But I only kept this one:

A four-wheeled adventure will soon bring you happiness.

hmmmm....well, I AM going to be criss-crossing SE Alaska on a mini-roadtrip next month.....hmmmm.....! And I'm expecting that to be a happy time!







But really? The ony reason I kept it was because it's freakin hilarious and makes no sense at all . . . once you tack on the "in bed" at the end of it. HA!

NPR has a sense of humor

Two funnnny things from SF's local NPR station today:

1. Around 2pm, a quick news brief from the BBC was supposed to come on. Instead of the BBC news intro music, this is what happened:

SF Announcer: "And now, here's the BBC news."

...dead radio air...

Brit #1: "FUCK! This thing's not queued up"
Brit #2: "Oh...should I call someone? Wait...hang on...."
Brit #1: "%*#* ... should be on now..."
BBC Announcer: "And in the G8 summit today . . . blah blah blah"

...more dead radio air...

Brit #2: "Oh for Chrissakes...not working again.....let me...."
Brit #1: "Oh...fuck it...we gotta get someone"

...deaaaad air ...

SF Announcer: "Well. Seems as if BBC is experiencing some difficulties in-studio. Let's move on to local area news"

The whole thing only lasted a couple of minutes...but was HILARIOUS! I do wonder, though, how much the FCC is going to fine for this?


2. NPR ALSO ran a solid 15 minute segment on the string of German bunny rabbit murders. Apparently, there's been a rash of 40+ murders of pet bunnies in Germany. Someone has been breaking into rabbit hutches, decapitating the animals and leaving them bloodless for their owners to find. WTF????
One bunny owner has constructed a hutch which she affectionately calls "Fort Knox for bunnies," due to the many locks keeping her precious pets safe. The fear of rabbit-cide is driving many German bunny owners to hide their hutches in the woods. Some officials think that the murderer or murderers might be using geothermal imaging to determine which homes have rabbit hutches in their yards.

YES, people. A 15-minute segment was spent on this story. I can't even believe it. I mean...do you KNOW how freaking difficult it is these days to get news on say . . . the Iraq war? Afghanistan? But bunnies? Hell YES - we got bunnies.
I think we should sic Bunnicula on the killers. He would retaliate by sucking all their veggies dry!

Taking Care of Business

Last week's mystery spot answer:

Dubrovnik, Croatia.
(BB - your guess was not too far off the mark! And it would make a lovely painting!)

- - -

In other news...P's parents got an email from P this morning. They were worried and wanted to hear from him - especially his dad, who had surgery last week to remove titanium rods put in last year after he broke his hip. (He kept them and showed them off to us...ouch!)
As per the email, P's AO (area of operations) is the safest in the city - possibly even the country. All of us back home take that to be GOOD news (even if it might mean P's bored and frustrated not to have much to do...that's gotta be better than the alternative.) Also - it seems that even sandstorms have an upside: they keep the temperatures down a little.

irony? or just plain mean?

I saw the following two article headings side-by-side today:

"Your best body ever!"

and

"Our #1 Cinnamon Roll recipe"

ha. It made me laugh.

La belle France

* le sigh . . . * o, mon pays doux...que tu me manques . . .

Mystery Spot

Can you guess this mystery spot? I'll take country and/or city.

O beautiful, for spacious skies . . .

Photo from the Maverick surf competition earlier this year.

Happy Independence Day!

O! say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming.
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming.
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Home

Yup - these are boat docks. Snowed-in boat docks, to be exact. I'm headed here for the Fourth . . .though hopefully it will be significantly warmer this weekend than it was in this picture :)

Overheard: Cafeteria edition

I work adjacent to, and sometimes in, the HQ of what I’ll call a “fashion empire.” As is such, most of the employees in and around said few blocks worth of offices are what I’ll call the “beautiful people” of SF. Fashion forward, indeed.

Said HQ has a cafeteria for said beautiful people, as well as us - the ‘wacky’ nonprofit neighbors. Below is a conversation overheard between the Elderly Asian Security Guard (EASG), who checks ID badges for entry into the cafeteria, and a Youngish Caucasian female employee (YCF).

EASG (in a very Mr. Miyagi voice. Don’t hate – I’m not discriminating - he really does sound like Pat Morita as Mr. Miyagi): Hey – you get married? You gaining weight. Why. [He stares at her belted waist]

YCF: [Stopping to turn around] What? No. Not married. Yet.

EASG: Oh. Well, why you gain weight? [Perhaps he thinks she’s pregnant…?]

YCF: Uh…........because I eat too much? I guess?

EASG: Don’t eat too much. Ok. Yeah.

- - - and……..scene- - -

YCF was not svelte, but she appeared to be proportional to her height if on the…Rubinesque…side of things. I imagine it’s hard enough to work in an industry where most of the female (and some of the male!) employees waltz around in skinny jeans, backless tunics, and pointy shoes all-the-damn-day-long without having extra attention called to one’s not-built-for-skinny-jeans body (again – no hate here – I’m more Botticellian, myself). I mean, you should SEE the clientele at our neighborhood coffee shops. But GEEZ - that conversation was just not right. I felt embarrassed for YCF, but didn’t now what to say – so I kept right on walking.

And people wonder that today’s “enlightened 21st century grrrrl-power” women still have body-image problems . . .

In the mood. Or not.

I went to half of SFO's production of Ariodante tonight. And, while Susan Graham was STUNNING as the title character in voice and action (heck - I forgot she was a woman playing a man - she was pretty studly, there), I kept "head bobbing." I was getting bored, and it was hot and the man sitting to my right was a heavy breather which was quite distracting.

So. I left at the mid-point. Good 'ole G.F. Handel will just have to accept my "I'm sorry, dear, but I have a headache" excuse for missing the second half of his opera.

And now? I'm watching Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith as I do my laundry and write email.

All in all - a nice, balanced evening.