This past camping trip was great, it was just me & ATM. We totally slept and slept and slept, out in the woods, drifting in & out of slumber to nature noises. We obviously needed to catch up on some zzz's. And it didn't help that we now have an air mattress, (Thank you, ATM's parents!) so there's no pebbles digging in to ye olde hip bone. We spoiled.

A little green lizard that I called "T-Rex" hung out with us on the picnic table. I've never seen a lizard act so casual with people, they're usually so skittish and you usually see them in the corner of your eye from at least 5 feet away. He was really cute! He let me touch him & take his photo. At one point, I held out my hand to him & he crawled up my arm! There was this ice cube melting on the table -- he went up & drank some water. Awwww.

On our way back home, we stopped by Caddo Valley Nursery which is owned/operated by the lovely Ms. Haruyo Mori. She grows the best mums & pumpkins, which is why I go see her every autumn. She gave me a gift, too, a bag of mystery bulbs. She told me to go plant them now & we'll see what I get in March. See? She is wonderful & I love her.

Instead of going straight home, we took a detour to Hot Springs so we could go to the flea market & eat at Rolando's. I didn't score anything major @ the market, just a stack of plates. I'm done with paper plates & plastic utensils for parties, I'm switching over to the real deal. Which means a ton more dishwashing, but I kinda like being drowned in stacks of dishes, suds up to my elbows & a little radio with classic tunes.

Speaking of parties, I get overly excited thinking about the soiree I'm throwing on the 1st of November, my birthday. This is a milestone birthday, I'll be 30. Wau! It's unbelievable & hilarious! I'm only sorry that I make my mom feel old! Sorry, Mummy! Anyway, the party, it is loosely themed, Dias de los Muertos. We'll have a nacho bar, cervezas, a fire pit, hay bales to sit on, and lots and lots of really good company.

I'm feeling pretty squeee! today.

Oh, my my my!

Thar she blows!

Not that I really understand what any of this means anyway. I'm unable to find two people (experts included) who 1) agree on how things should be handled or 2) really know what would happen should the bailout pass or be rejected.

Will someone paint me a picture of what our lives will be like? Or, better yet, can someone Photoshop me a picture of what our lives will be like? I'm failing to see the bigger picture here.

Eclipse Glasses Banda & Western Meds

Can we have all shows at Flag & Banner?  Really now, you can just FEEL the great things happened there.  Will happen there.  Beautiful.

Eclipse Glasses Banda & Western Meds put on a sublime show last night.  Combined with a great venue & perfect autumn weather, it was magnificent.

Western Meds (Rod Bryan, TJ Deeter, Casey Stewart & Charles Wyrick):




Eclipse Glasses (Lorenza Harrington, Collin Miles, Zachariah Reeves, Kyle Carpenter & Andrew Morgan):

I have to admit, taking live band photos isn't my strength, but I intend on getting a camera that is better-suited to do just that.  I'm not a fan of flash, so I covered the flash bulb partially to make the photos less...flashy.  It explains the dark shadows, which I do like.  

KMHD & Collin (in background):

KMHD & Seth.  I totally miss those "I'm Big On Little Rock!" signs:




Neither band has a website as far as I know, but I did ask ATM to give me music links real soon. For your listening pleasure!

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Winners of yesterday's blog poll betting contest thingy got a burn of Jay Reatard's Singles 06-07!  Prizes!

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Me & ATM are going camping tomorrow.  I am so stoked!  In my mind, I'm gonna practice my kickboxing moves and get some reading done.  Maybe 1 out 2.  

All bets are ON!

Is McCain (a.k.a. Walnuts) going to show at the first Presidential debate tomorrow? Let's take bets! Winners get a prize. Really!

I say...he'll show. Reluctantly, feet dragging, totally whining, but yeah, he'll be there.

Place your bets now!

WARNING: Someone's feelin feisty!

I'm feelin' rude & crude today.  I'm no wordsmith, obviously, so I hope my post doesn't come across as immature & thoughtless.

1.  RE: the economy, who really understands what is going on?  Do I need to panic or what?  Do I need to get my money out of the bank, bury it in the back yard?  Do I need to stock up on beans & rice?  Who can explain the impact that may or may not happen to me and mines.  If I need to go without, well, I am used to that!  Despite the whirlwind madness, I'm real calm about it.  Someone email or text me when I need to er... do something about it.

2.  Calling a spade a spade.  When is being polite uncalled for?  Maybe it's my mood, I woke up looking to pick a fight, but, from now on, if someone is racist (even a little)  in my presence, I'm gonna call them out!  Same goes with the rest of the lot, you know, sexism, homophobia, et al.  I'm so sick of being polite when it comes to those things.  I work with a lady, oh man, she says offensive things 1,000 times a day.  And we let them slide, she's a "sign of HER time" we always say.  But, some days, I think she knows exactly what she's saying and she needs to be called out.  I won't be cruel about it, but a little education wouldn't kill her.  She needs to know better.  AND I don't want my silence to ever confuse someone, I don't want people to ever think that I'm o.k. with that stuff.  I just want people to absolutely know where I stand -- I'm a card-carrying pinko commie tree-hugging P.C. freak, o.k.?!  One who is taking kickboxing, mind you.  

Also, no more getting bullied by Republicants!

A side:  I haven't smoked cigarettes for two days.  I'm trying not to make ado about it, but TWO DAYS!  It wasn't hard.

Saturday was easily spent. We went to a yard sale @ David & Maggie Slade's place. I got some food-serving platters for the annual OCT/NOV birthday party, an Arkansas commemorative plate, and an unused Cranium board game. From there we went to JTDesigns, but I didn't find anything worthy. Me & ATM got loads of housekeeping done @ the house, and that evening, me & KMHD took advantage of my boss's OnDemand and watched True Blood, episodes 1 & 2. We're so hooked. The trouble is is that I don't know anyone with HBO, so we may have to wait until it comes out on DVD/Netflix.

Sunday went by easier/faster than Saturday. There was a nap, ice cream sandwiches & a Damgoode pizza pie. We watched the latest ep of True Blood, too.
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I am so sick of house sitting now. It makes me feel...I don't even know. Stunted? As I've mentioned before, the commute is sick. I hate it! I can't really settle in at my place or their place because I feel I need to return to whichever one I'm not at. I don't feel up to working on my blogs, I am tired, and I miss my own bed. Kickboxing exhausts me, so I don't cook. We haven't gone grocery shopping properly anyway, so we're without food, which means a lot of take-out, which is bad for the pocketbook. My schedule is just so stupid, I can't get my Berings Strait. Ay yi yi. Stop whining, I know. It'll be over in a couple of days. CAN'T WAIT. All I can say is "Hang in there!" to ATM (for putting up with me) and to Omar Little & Lucy (who miss their mommy SO BAD).

Camping this weekend!

POST-LUNCH UPDATE: Me & ATM went out to lunch.  When we were finished, I went to the restroom to wash my hands.  I lost my silver ring whilst drying my hands!  I mean, I'm a little saddened by my loss, but, too, I found that ring on the street AND it must mean that I'm losing some weight for it to keep slipping off my finger so easy.  It's more sweet than bitter.  Finders keepers!

I FORGOT:  I finally scored some purple tights!  Picked up some magenta ones, too.  This is a BFD!

I'm in the market for some new shoes. I've got these in mind:



I'm enjoying some quiet, personal time. I think I may use it to get some extra zzz's.

This is Omar Little:


You'll have to look for her, but this is Lucy's photo. She does not like cameras.


Here's me & KMHD, fixin to take our fourth class:

UPDATE: I've been working on my other blog, O.P.P. Please, take a look & submit!

I've been tired

Between the outrageous kickboxing lessons, the house-sitting gig, work, and occasionally popping in to my own home to pet kitty, I'm exhausted. My brain AND body hurts. I miss my boyfriend and I cannot wait to go to bed.

I wish I liked my kickboxing class. Right now, I dread it with my heart & soul. This is my fault getting me & KMHD involved in this awful mess. I went in wanting to work on my self-discipline and get in shape. Those goals are currently listed as No. 3 & 4 behind No. 1's "I just want to survive this particular session" and No. 2's "I do not want to get injured."

I will try to paint a picture of what our class is like. First of all, there's no entry level class. The white/yellow belts (That's us!) are there the same time the green belts and higher are. So, we are doing the same exact exercises they are doing and it is so hard. Me & KMHD, we aren't getting any lessons on form, meaning that we don't know how to properly put up our jabbing fist, we know no blocks, or how to pivot on the ball of our foot. We barely know how to tie our dumb belts! We're just kinda taking orders (poorly, but A + + for effort) from Master Lee, trying our best to mimic the better students and getting worked out from head-to-toe. By the time class is over, I am in pain, I want to kick Master Lee in the face, I want to cry, and I want to quit. I could not do this if KMHD was not there.

But, we end up going back. Maybe it's because we put down some serious cash to sign-up. Or maybe it's because we know that the longer we do this, the more accustomed we'll be, and we'll just get better. Sometimes we have to pow-wow and amp ourselves up to even go. It would be so easy to quit. At this point, the novelty of learning a martial art has dissipated, this is some serious shit. I just want to be able to do ten push ups w/o embarrassing myself. Losing weight or getting in shape doesn't mean much anymore when all I can focus on is endurance. Isn't that good, though, this shift of focus? I've been told by people who work-out regularly that our bodies start craving physical activity. WHEN?! I'm holding out for that. Too, we may need to speak to Master Lee on helping us out a bit, I mean, we do need some guidance here.

We gave ourselves a 6 month goal. March 11, 2009. That's when we can throw in the towel and try something new. I'm really curious as to what will happen then, but for now, I am counting the days.

Ha, on a lighter note, KMHD came up with a hysterical business plan. It was inspired by Master Lee and other jerks across the globe. If you are stressed and you just want to pound on someone to vent or "just 'cuz" (oooh, violence!), then come on down to "Beat me up, Scotty!" A trained pro will put on protective gear and just let you kick or punch the crap out of them for a nominal fee! You'll feel so much better! I love my sister.

House sitting is alright. They have a nice shower with a real bathtub, not the crappy plastic kind that we have. Too, they have a humongous television, but I've been too tired to care. They have CUTE pets, Lucy (doggy) & Omar Little (kitty). I love Lucy (ha), but Omar is a monster. He's already knocked over my boss' beloved bonsai plant which I may have to take it to a green thumb for emergency repair. Sigh. And the commute is hell. I've yet to shop @ fancy Kroger or eat at Za Za's. Again, too tired. Maybe this weekend!

Giving Sunday the Bird.

Last night, about 1 a.m., our power went out.  We put our food on ice & went to bed.  Five hours later, everything we left on when the transistor blew resumed animation.  It was startling!  We both stumbled out of bed, scrambling to turn things off.  It's amazing how loud a house with electricity really is!  It was almost deafening when the juice got turned back on.  Anyway, I think we're out of Ike's reach now.

I woke up mid-morning & went up to the Kilgore's to walk Lucy.  CKIII was there.  It turns out he'll be here until tomorrow morning, so there's no need for me to be there until tomorrow.  

So, today, I was lazy.  I didn't clean anything.  I didn't work on anything.  I just got in bed with a book & a cat.  After about 2 pages, ATM joined me and we took a nice long nap.  It was awesome!  I need to be lazy more often!  

The most productive thing I did was make a roast chicken for supper.  It was my first time & it was great!  I stuffed that bird with rosemary & lemon and gave it a nice lemon zest/rosemary/ground black pepper/olive oil/salt rub.  It was so good and SO EASY.  We'll have chicken for days (good news for SOLO) and I'll get to make some homemade stock.  

Pre-oven:

The rub:

Ha, there's no "post-" photo, I pretty much started digging in as soon as it was pulled it out of the oven.  Tsk!  No self-control!  No patience!  But, it was very delicious!

Let's catch up!

I am set to house sit for CK.  That's my boss, people!  I will be a Heights resident for 10 days.  I'm looking forward to hanging out with his cute dog (Lucy) & cat (Omar Little) &  his giant television.  Too, it'll be nice to shop in the Heights Kroger.  Fancy!  This gig begins tomorrow morning.  

Me & KMHD, we started taking Thai Kickboxing lessons.  It is SO HARD.  I love AND hate it so so much.  We've only had two lessons & I come home defeated, with my tail between my legs, in pain, and not wanting to go back every time.  Oh, yeah, there are upsides.  We get to learn a little self-discipline, we are totally taking a martial art, which is instant cool, it's good exercise, and we get a cool outfit.  It's just very hard.  And painful.  We're not even fighting, it's the training that hurts.  Our goal is six months.  If I survive this, oh man.   I'll try to get good & I'll take notes so I can show ya'll some moves.  

President, oops, I mean, SENATOR Obama finally reopened his AR HQ today. It's only a couple of blocks away from the house, so yay for convenience! Some volunteer asked if I wanted to phonebank or canvas. I had to say no. I hate bothering folks that much. I'll find something meaningful and important and way less annoying to do!  I don't think it was an accident that his new HQ location is in an old postal workers union building.  Or maybe it is!  It is located in a high-volume traffic location.  Way to go, planners.

Carrying on, we've got some nice plans in the works.  Lots of camping before the season is over.  We're gonna host a shrimp boil soon.  Next month, we might go to Fayetteville.  I hope so!  Eclipse Glasses will play!  I can see old friends, meet new ones.  Later in the month, we're going to Conway to see the Four Tops @ UCA.  We're to meet our pal Binyon before the show for supper & drinks.  We never go to Conway, for good reason, but this could be fun?  Maybe?  Conway?

Today, we're dealing with Hurricane Ike who is droppin' tornadoes all over the state.  Yikes.  Yesterday, our landlord stuck a memo on the front door, asking us to be prepared for possible power outages.  Check the batteries in your flashlights, get ice for your edible perishables it said.  Entergy is spread thin, they're in Louisiana and Texas, so it could be awhile before we get service should anything happen.  I'm all about preparedness.  

Perdido Key, Florida / September 2008

We left NLR on Thursday, after work. We drove to ATM's folk's house in Jackson, MS, the half-way point between AR & the beach. We wanted to break up the driving time for the sake of our sanity & physical well-being. 5 hours to get to Jackson & another 5 to Florida.

We arrive in Florida the next day in the early afternoon & after the greetings, hugs, & leg-stretching, we go upstairs to our new home away from home. I'll let the pictures do the talking about the view from our balcony:

Our apartment was incredible. I didn't know what to expect, but I didn't expect that level of fanciness! It was on the 7th floor, we had a beach view, a private balcony, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a properly stocked kitchen, a dining room, and a laundry room. Best of all, we had very nice company. ATM's parents are so kind, giving, funny & fun to be with. They let us come & go as we pleased, made food for us & let us be us. I felt very very fortunate.

After a brief tour of the apartment, we went to the beach. We put on our swim suits, slathered on the sun screen, and flip-flopped on down. The first thing I did was punch the ocean. Then I swam in it. Then we walked along side it for a long time, picking up shells & poking dead tentacle-less jelly fish. I found a real-life sand dollar, in mint condition. I put it in my bag, I wanted to give it to ATM's mum for her birthday. Obviously, that was a bad idea, by the time I got back upstairs, the beautiful sand dollar was a fine particle pile in the bottom of my bag. I never found another the entire trip.

Souvenirs for the ladies. I'm gonna run a little ribbon through the holes, make a lovely simple bracelet for all the girls.

It was hard to see them sometimes, the jellyfish. Having poked it with a stick, it's firmer than I imagined:


After hours in the sun, I went upstairs & took a nap. To the sounds of crashing waves. When I woke up, we went out for supper @ a dive called The Original Point. I had one of the catches of the day, the grouper. It was just o.k., I thought that ATM's mum had the best plate amongst us. She also got a catch of the day, the wahoo. A.H. got fried oysters for supper. He offered one to ATM's mum & she found a pearl in it! It was a good size, round, and very pretty.
My notes: Good fried squash appetizer, really good entertainment & the best key lime pie I've ever had. Get the grilled wahoo next time.

Shots in the dark:



I woke up early the next morning & took a walk. This fella let me take his photo, but I had to earn his trust first. That meant that I had to be still for a long time. He was small.


ATM woke up & we headed over to The Reef, another dive, for some seriously propah eggs benedict. No need for extra sides, FYI, the main course is plenty. The Reef smelled like WWT, so in my mind, it is the pastel, salty, Floridian cousin of WWT.


We spent most of our time on the beach. ATM's parents had a beach umbrella & some chairs, so it was comfortable.

Photo by ATM's mum


Our last day was the best. Before we arrived in FL, we got a text from ATM's mum saying that they saw dolphins. I never saw them until the last day! I go from not seeing them at all to there being dolphins for miles, swimming in pods, back & forth, playing & chasing fish. They weren't close to the beach, they were in the near-distance, but you could see them clearly & even better with binoculars. Too, the water was the clearest it had been the entire time we were there, you could wade out further w/o being completely terrified of the unknown. I saw all kinds of things, tiny fish, slightly bigger fish eating tiny fish & large flounder. We actually got caught in a fish frenzy, it was scary and awesome all at the same time. The fish were thrashing so hard, it made the water choppy.

Hobbit feet!


Selfs-portrait

Can anyone identify this thing?

Shell line

View from the water

A real-life wild hermit crab!

Real-life wild hermit crab & ATM

Real-life wild hermit crab footage by ME!

Dolphin spying

This trip did us a world of good.  No news, no politics.  Perfect weather, food & company.  I totally started planning my return as soon I arrived.

36 straight hours of rain, by my count! The cat blames me, natch, for her inability to go outside to make. She opted to stay in all of yesterday, so when she really had to go, she was pretty much screaming to be let out. She bolted out into the rain & into the darkness, presumably to take care of business. Poor kid.

Tonite, we get ready for our trip to Perdido Key, Florida. Lots to do! Including finding a real special present for ATM's mama, whose birthday was yesterday. And we totally forgot it. YIKES. Suggestions & remedies are very welcome. I'm still waiting for my copy of Lorrie Moore's Birds of America, suggested by the lovely Sufferin Succotash, to arrive in the mail. It's the thing to do, isn't it, to have a book @ the beach? Anyway. I can't wait to be past the 10 hour drive and my metamorphosing into a beach bum.

Last nite, from the porch:



Had dinner w/ Rett, Keiko & Heather @ Loca Luna last nite. It was good, but rushed. I had the usual tortilla soup, which is so so so so good.

I think we're gonna try to watch Gov. Palin's acceptance speech tonight. Well, maybe.

ATM @ Vino's during Obama's Nomination Acceptance speech, 28 Aug 2008:


Breakfast of champions (Post 5K, 30 Aug 2008):


Here is the new fountain in front of the Federal Courthouse. Apparently, the Fed Judges HATE it. I like it a lot, but it needs a little greenery, IMO. (30 Aug 2008)




I made fish & chips (& onion rings, courtesy of KMHD) for Labor Day.


KMHD for hire, for all of your Labor Day 2008 fly-swatting needs:


Keiko's cupcake:


Happy Birthday, Keiko!:


Bronuts made an appearance @ our home, courtesy of Zach H. I'm so honored!



Labor Day was great, we shared it with really awesome people. KMHD, Zach R., Keiko, Rett, Collin, Delores, Delphina, Heather & Zach H. I'm still getting to know Keiko, Delores, Heather, & Zach H., it's rad to have a good mix of old friends and soon-to-be closer friends.

Having folks over made me wonder what I should do for the big birthday bash. I'm still undecided on the theme! This party isn't just for me, mind you, it's for all of the end-of-October/November babies. I know for certain that I'd like a taco truck there, so if ya'll have suggestions, that's what the comments space is for! Here's one I've been rolling around in my head: Election Day theme! My birthday is November 1, a few days before election day. We can speak in rhetoric at each other! Eh. I need ideas.