King Cat Breaks

I bought a copy of John Porcellino's King Cat Classix, a large compilation of King Kat Comics, at the University of Minnesota Bookstore's Bargain books section. What a great find. I read it while expressing breast milk at work. I have my own little room at the library and for the past 10 months I have been going there three times a day for my pump break. Sometimes I talk on the phone with friends or family, but usually I read. I read all of the Parents and Fitness magazines that a previous mother left in the room and when they ran out, I read a couple books and every once in a while I would go to the periodicals room and find a random magazine. On an off note, there is a professor next door to this room who once told me to keep it down when I was on the phone. It was pretty embarrassing. He knocked on the door and when I tidied myself and went to the door he said, "I can hear every word you are saying." I happened to be talking about foot corns. Anyway, John Porcellino makes me sad. Sad that I didn't make some sort of document of my own life. I want to remember all those little things that I will surely forget or have already forgotten. I feel like time is just flying by and sometimes I can't remember if certain memories actually happened, or if I dreamt them. King Cat comics vary between remembering little moments in time and documentation of dreams. Now that I'm older with a baby, do I have the time to begin documenting some of the things that I'm afraid of forgetting? My mother passed away 11 years ago! It seems like it was yesterday. I could write an entire book about my mom. But if I don't start now...

Our Blog Sucks

Hey People! Either we blog or we don't but even I got sick of looking at Casillos who is a babe and I thought that that was never a possibility.... I know we all have lives to lead, so maybe we aren't bloggers...or is it a winter activity....are any of you reading this? Is anybody out there? Does anybody care?

Okay, enough whining! Here's a photo from my recent hiking trip. Can anyone identify this beautiful plant?

Viva Espana!

The Eurocup was won today by Spain against Germany, 1-0. The picture above is of Spain's goalie, Casillos, who just might be the most beautiful soccer player ever. We went to Brit's Pub in downtown Minneapolis and amongst a sea of beer drinking fans cheering for both Germany and Spain, I, in my red tennis shoes, cheered for Spain with all my heart and soul. I haven't always been a soccer fan, but when in Spain, do as the Spaniards do, and it is a really, really fun game to watch. The fans make it fun too, as it is always raucous and loud and very exciting, no matter who scores a goal. Most of my friends were for Germany, and I must admit that I thought Germany would be the winner, so it was quite a happy surprise for me when Spain won! Podemos! Animo! A good day.

long time gone

I do believe this is my first very belated post on the blog. Apologies for all the broken promises, bananafish. I wanted to put up some photos I've been taking in the garden. Not much so far, but more will come as the weather warms up and I plant the veggies. I got some great photos of some alliums that are blooming. The one in the photo above has some strange green growth that the others don't have, but it's so beautiful. Maybe it's just me being a 30 year old woman, but I think it looks totally fetal. Here's a more normal one...

I've got a flicker set where you can see more, so here's a little something to entice all you cat lovers:

Need I Say More?

Muxtape

A friend recently introduced this website to me. It's cool. People make their own "mixtapes" with MP3's on this site and then other people can listen to them. Or you can listen to anyone's tape. Check it out!

http://muxtape.com/

Wavering

Between Going and Staying

Between going and staying the day wavers,
in love with its own transparency.

The circular afternoon is now a bay
where the world in stillness rocks.

All is visible and all elusive,
all is near and can't be touched.

Paper, book, pencil, glass,
rest in the shade of their names.

Time throbbing in my temples repeats
the same unchanging syllable of blood.

The light turns the indifferent wall
into a ghostly theater of reflections.

I find myself in the middle of an eye,
watching myself in its blank stare.

The moment scatters. Motionless,
I stay and go: I am a pause.

-Octavio Paz
trans. Eliot Weinberger

Spring Has Sprung!

Someone who goes with half a loaf of bread
to a small place that fits like a nest around him,
someone who wants no more, who's not himself
longed for by anyone else,

He is a letter to everyone. You open it.
It says, Live.

-Rumi

Guitar God and Miss Guided

I have heard many people talk about the game Guitar Hero, but I had never actually played it until last week - so. much. fun. Seriously, I have to get this and have all my friends over to play.

One of my co-workers brought their WII into the office for happy hour and I gave Guitar Hero a try - the music selection is very limited, but it's just so much fun rocking out and watching the crowds reaction (both in the game and in the room). We followed it up with some boxing, which was actually a serious workout. I was sweating and laughing hysterically - good times.

Also, I want to recommend a new show on right before Lost on Thursday nights called Miss Guided. I caught the pilot last week and it was really funny and well-written. It's about a guidance counselor at a high school - in the first episode it is established that she is jealous of the hot cheerleading coach teacher and totally in love with the Spanish teacher. The interesting thing is what a dope the Spanish teacher guy is - he is good looking, but a terrible teacher and completely clueless about her. I'm curious to see where they go with this show - it's not completely formulaic. We'll see how the rest of the season plays out.

Child of God

I just finished Child of God by Cormac McCarthy - it's a pretty slim book, almost more of a novella.

It was actually written in 1973, I'm not sure exactly where that fits into the overall timeline of McCarthy's writing, but its obviously early. It's not as clear of a narrative, like No Country, it's kind of like watching a train wreck in slow motion. The feeling of dread that builds throughout the book is excruciating - similar to the way I felt about Chigurh.

The writing style is very sparse - the descriptions of nature are poetic, in contrast to the ugliness of some of the action. I don't want to say too much about what happens, but it is truly shocking. The story starts out with the town auctioning off Lester Ballard's property - he has defaulted on payment and the whole town has come out to see it sold, like a carnival. The town is excited and are basically eating up the entertainment of the auctioneer while this man's livelihood is being taken away and he is now homeless.

The bottomless pit of loneliness that this man, Ballard, lives in is deeply sad and hopeless. His desperate attempts to have some kind of connection with other human beings ultimately drives him insane. The cruelty displayed toward him is thoughtless, and you can actually see what drives him to do what he does.

There are some amusing asides that remind me of the stories that the sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones character) tells in No Country - little nuggets of life in a nothing little town - that are great.

Overall, I think this is a great book - it made me feel an immense amount of compassion for this man - some might think he is a monster, but you see how everything played out, you see what was driving him to that point in his life.

I Heart Nick Andopolis

I have finally experienced the awesomeness of Freaks and Geeks - I have 2 dvd's left in the 6 disc series of the show and I am so sad that it is almost over. I have heard for years (the show originally aired 1999-2000) that this was a great little gem of a show, but I didn't want to set my expectations too high going into it.

The first two episodes started a little slow - just getting to know the characters a little bit and setting the scenes for the Freaks and the Geeks. The heartthrob of the show, played by James Franco, is named Daniel and he is obviously the guy that Lindsay (the main character - good girl starting to hang out with the freak crowd) is after in the beginning, but he gets back together with his girlfriend.

And then comes Nick Andopolis, played by Jason Segel (also on How I Met Your Mother), and I am completely falling in love with him. His character is just so goofy and sweet - he's so EARNEST. I love the way that he takes the time to give Lindsay little compliments and even though he is a "Freak" (poor grades, pothead) he is so proud of her accomplishments. My favorite scene so far - he and Lindsay have just started to be boyfriend and girlfriend and Nick is lording it over Daniel:

"I heard your girlfriend got an A on her Western Civilization test - oh wait, that was MY girlfriend...and did you hear my girlfriend has detention for flipping off the gym teacher, oh WAIT, that was YOUR girlfriend!"

Also, I checked out the Wikipedia site for Jason Segel - and now I think I heart him too. My three favorite facts:

1. He was dumped by his girlfriend for gaining 20 pounds and being too fat for her. Seriously, read the article and tell me you don't love him:
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2006/02/17/linda_cardellini_broke_up_with_ex_becaus

2. He love musicals! Check out this video excerpt from an interview he did where he busts out a song from Les Miserables with Neil Patrick Harris(!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhXsJjVdj1E

3. He's going to direct the next Muppets movie.

Seriously, I can barely stand it.

Elephants and Rabbits

I just finished two very different books, but funnily enough each had a fairly main character that was an animal.

Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen was a great story with a lot of action and interesting information about train circuses back in the 20s and 30s, but frankly, the animal abuse, sometimes implied, sometimes described in detail, was just too much for me. I won't belabor the point because I know I've talked to all my friends about it already, but this book made me just ache with injustice. If the characters had been real, I think I would have actually hurt the main animal abuser, August. I am so conflicted about circuses and even zoos sometimes. I understand that a lot of these situations keep the animals in caring environments and I like being able to see and learn about wild animals up close. But for some reason, human beings are just too easily cruel in these situations and it absolutely drives me crazy. In short, the book is a good read with some interesting thoughts on growing old, but ultimately made me very glum and I felt like I couldn't read anything for several days afterward.

I did finally pick something else up that I thought was going to be a bit more cheerful (I was wrong), called The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett. I have read other books by Ann and really liked them, she is a great writer and I will continue to read more by her. The main character in this book is a woman who has been in love with a gay man, the magician to her magician's assistant, for over 20 years. The man and his lover have just died of AIDS and she is left behind in the house the three of them had shared. She is a bit of a pathetic creature, I had to really work sometimes to respect her, even though I think she is intelligent and grieving. I found it sad that she wasn't able to own more of her own life, that she lived so vicariously through her "husband" Parsifal (they got married shortly before he died so she could inherit everything) and his lover Phan. The main character in the book was really Parsifal and you just learn everything about him through her, but she really doesn't have a voice of her own - until maybe the very end. I definitely liked this book, but I feel like if she was my friend I would get very annoyed with her as a person.

I'm not really doing this book justice, there are some interesting twists and turns as she learns about Parsifal's life and she ends up travelling from LA to Nebraska to stay with his estranged family. The things about this book that I love is that all of the characters are very fully formed - from the physical descriptions to the consistency of their internal motivations. These are complicated people who have made mistakes in their lives and need each other to get through to something better.

Oh, and she has an awesome pet Rabbit, named Rabbit, who used to be in the magic show. She loved him and I appreciated what a central character he was to her life and how the people around her loved him too. He reminded me of my little buddy.

Indonesian Yum Fest

Day by Day created a spectacular meal of Indonesian food. Unfortunately, I can't remember what anything was called. We had beautiful cabbage salads with polenta cakes, spicy beef dishes, coconut crusted shrimp and ginger infused rice wrapped in bannana leaves. Some dressed up for the festivity and they looked gorgeous. Dinner conversation included new job prospects, weird dreams where a 7 month old baby recites commercials for prescription drugs and oral sex techniques. That didn't sound right...I mean the adults talked about oral sex, not the baby.

Next dinner party will be Tapas. When I was in my early 20's, I would sometimes wear a black spanish sun dress that was my mother's, put on the song "Tiawana Taxi" by Herb Alpert and dance on tables. Yes, I danced on tables. I have changed quite a bit through the years. Apparently, these memories are surfacing as I think about eating little spanish dishes. Perhaps if I had enough Margaritas, I would dance again.

Tom, O, Tom

If you have never listened much to Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, particularly circa 1979-1982, you are really, really missing something great. I hadn't and then I started watching this DVD of their videos while working out, and I was blown away. My favorite songs are, Insider, The Waiting, Change of Heart, A Woman in Love (it's not me), and Here Comes My Girl. The Insider had a great video of Tom Petty singing with Stevie Nicks, but they've removed it. Bummer. But of course there are so many more. Here are a couple of youtube links so you can make up your own mind!

The Waiting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLCJEYLIBQY

Here Comes My Girl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=800KU4VtJws

Change Of Heart:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSps-f343I4

Warning: these songs can become addictive!

My Worst Habit

My worst habit is I get so tired of winter
I become a torture to those I'm with.

If you're not here, nothing grows.
I lack clarity. My words tangle
and knot up.

How to cure bad water? Send it back to the river.
How to cure bad habits? Send me back to you.

When water gets caught in habitual whirlpools,
dig a way out through the bottom
to the ocean. There is a secret medicine
given only to those who hurt so hard they can't hope.

The hopers would feel slighted if they knew.

Look as long as you can at the friend you love,
no matter whether that friend is moving away from you
or coming back toward you.

--a poem by Rumi

Love Affair with Walt Whitman

A Noiseless Patient Spider

A noiseless patient spider,
I marked where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Marked how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launched forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be formed, till the ductile anchor hold
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.

So, this sort of blows the cover of my handle, those of you who know me, will know who copied this poem. Don't know what to say in addition that isn't said perfectly in this poem by Walt.

bizarro little house episode

When I am working from home, I tend to watch the daily Little House on the Prairie rerun and usually I've seen the episode at least 10 or 15 times before. I still love it and frequently even cry while watching (earlier this week, the 2 episode arc of James (played by little Jason Bateman!) and Cassandra's parents dying and then going to live with the Ingall's was on and I cried like a baby).

Well, today I turned it on and saw an episode I've never seen before - and it was CRAZY!! I missed the first 10 minutes or so, so I'm not sure how it started, but what I saw was so completely awesome, I had to share it.

As I turned it on, Almanzo and John Carter (the hot neighbor with the 2 boys, one of whom is little blond Jason Carter) are on some kind of vacation in Minneapolis or Sleepy Eye. They walk up to a Japanese bath house and have this weird exchange with the proprieter - then proceed to get naked (!) and step into an indoor bath. Then, 2 Japanese women come in and try to scrub them in the tub, which totally freaks them out. They ask the women to stop scrubbing them and then this giant sumo guy comes in with 3 smaller Japanese guys, who all get naked and come into the bath. The women start scrubbing these other men who are writhing around and loving it.

Seriously, this was the raciest scene I have ever seen on Little House - but the awesomeness doesn't stop there. Almanzo and Jeb are walking around the next day and this little old lady asks for help crossing the street - they help her out by causing this big scene to stop traffic and walking her across. Of course, she pickpockets Almanzo and when they try to get the wallet back she totally manipulates the situation and gets them arrested.

Back in Walnut Grove, a hot new preacher comes to town (!) which makes Reverend Alden and Mr. Edwards kind of freak out - I'm not sure exactly why though. Anyway, Hot New Preacher is actually in town to present Rev. Alden with a new house, so he asks Laura and John Carter's wife to help him get the house ready. Of course, Mr. Edwards thinks the HNP is totally sexing up the ladies and spies on them, eventually running up and punching out HNP. In fact, Edwards thinks HNP has cast a spell (!) on Laura and Mrs. Carter in order to make them have sex with them - he goes to Doc Baker to find out if this is possible.

Anyway, ultimately Almanzo and John have to stowaway on a train to get home (they must have been in Minneapolis) and Rev. Alden gets his new house, which he loves, and all ends well.

This new Little House episode was such an awesome Valentine's Day gift - I got such a kick out of it. I wonder if there are others that I haven't seen! A girl can only hope...

Neighbors for Porkys in Northeast

I just stumbled across a blog called "Neighbors against Porkys" where concerned residents of Northeast Minneapolis are complaining about the new locally owned burger drive-through restaraunt on Central Avenue. Honestly, I think the only way this place hurts our neighborhood is by putting a little extra fat on our waistlines. If I am correct, there is an ugly old Burger King a block or two away on Central and I don't hear a big uproar about getting rid of that. Could Porky's possibly be a really horrible thing for the neighborhood? If you live near Central and 19th, I think there are much bigger problems of crime than Porky's could ever contribute to. Would you rather live near a big vacant lot on a sketchy street? If you choose to live that close to a busy street like Central, of course there will be businesses close by. One of the blogging posts is titled "Local "Pork Tenderloin" Blogger Says Porky's Disappoints" Is this for real? By the way, the Tasty Burger is supposed to be fabulous. I guess when the weather warms up, we will see if the classic cars and motorcyles make a horrible noise and upset the calm, soothing ambience of Central Avenue Northeast.

Netflix for Books!

So, I know I've mentioned to some of you that I think it would be a cool idea to have a Netflix for books. I was thinking real, live books - but I just discovered Netflix for Audiobooks! I'm so excited! It's at http://www.simplyaudiobooks.com/ - I've already signed up.

I am going to save the audiobooks on my iPod and listen to them at the gym or on the plane. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

White Magic

Check out this band, White Magic. I saw them while in Portland and the lead vocalist, Mira Billotte, is absolutely amazing and captivating. If you click on the link you'll go to a myspace page and to the right you can listen to some songs. My three faves there are "Very Late", "Childhood Song", and "The Light". If you ever get a chance to see them perform, DO SO.



On a disparate note, I finished a portrait painting last night of my friend, and will include dark, badly shot, picture of said portrait here. The portrait's subject's blog is up and to your right, Jason T Miles, a true artist, check out his blog peeps!



Me, I'm a dabbler, but how I enjoy dabbling...

wet delhi cow slime

I just wanted to share this from an email Ryan sent me from India - I could tell you this story, but I don't think I can do it with quite the flair that he has:

ok-one funny story-so all the cows walking around-if you want to call the cows to come to you to feed them-you would say "la-la-la-la-la",etc.-so I couldn't quite remember this, then it just came to me- I was not paying attention to how many cows there were around me, so I said "la-la-la-" to one of the cows-at least five came running around the corner totally surrounding me sticking their wet slimy noses all over me-ICK!! wet delhi cow slime-some local saved me and lured the cows away with some white bread- kinda freaked me out-funny, I speak hindi cow.

Next Blog

I've never really spent much time in Blogger before we started this blog, but in messing around I have clicked on the Next Blog link at the top a few times and, man, there is some awesome stuff out there.

I guess you just get sent to random blogs as you click on the link, so every experience is different. Last night, I actually found that Obama video from one of the blogs, which was definitely cool. I also came across some woman's scrapbooking blog last week - I was completely fascinated. You should have seen the intensely detailed scrapbooking pages she put together - I marveled at the thought of having enough time to do ONE of those pages, let alone books of them.

I've seen people's travel blogs (young Dutch kid in New Zealand, elderly couple in their RV), notes on video game exploits, art projects, comments on media - everything. I definitely recommend people take a spin.

I also wanted to add a couple of friend's blogs to our list of links, but I can't figure out how to do it.

#1: Brooke's India blog - this is Ryan's brother Aaron's girlfriend. She is making some comments on their travels. I love her telling of the time they spent in New York with Sergio and Bretton:
http://mysteryintrigueandgiardia.blogspot.com/

#2: Eric and Maria's blog - these are friends living in Seattle. Some of you may have met them when they have visited (Melissa knows Eric from college). They are having a baby any day now and this is their baby blog. The video of Maria's belly completely freaks me out. I'm seriously rethinking the whole pregnancy thing - enjoy!
http://web.mac.com/mesztergal/iWeb/Eric%20%26%20Maria/Eric%20%26%20Maria%27s%20Blog/Eric%20%26%20Maria%27s%20Blog.html

Reservation Road

I finished reading Reservation Road by John Burnham Schwartz recently. I was interested because I was recently slightly obsessed with Joaquin Phoenix after seeing "Walk The Line" and I wanted to read this before seeing the new movie based on the book that he is in.

It is a devastatingly sad book, the majority of it explores the aftermath of a child being killed in a hit and run - both from the perspective of his family and the man that killed him. Yeah - this isn't exactly a fun read.

But it is really beautiful at times - mainly about the treasure of small moments, little observations of love that a lot of times are so small we just enjoy them internally and never share them with the person we love. The family that has lost their son spends a lot of time remembering moments with him and trying to find their way back to each other - the man that killed him is dealing with observations of his love for his son that he knows he must give up in order to come clean about what he did and face the consequences.

One of my favorite moments is when one of the dads is comforting his son at night and he lifts his son out from the covers and feels the trapped heat under the blankets from his small body. I just love when a book finds those moments - something that I've felt before, such a feeling of intimacy and love and caring, but I've never really articulated it. I know that little ball of heat when my cat is sleeping under the covers, or when I lean over to kiss Ryan good-bye in the morning - those sweet private moments that give me a little pinch of love for my family. I just appreciate that this book made me take more notice of those things and remember that love is made up of so many little moments. I shouldn't be moving so fast that I don't remember to feel all those special things.

I also think it is really interesting to get in the mind of a person that I'm sure anyone reading this feels an immediate disgust for - the hit and run driver. This book isn't an excuse for him - it just puts you in his head and gives you all of the motivations and situations that led up to him making that decision. Then, it lets you see how trapped he is, both in his hatred for himself and his dilemma with his own son. I really feel like his story ends up as heartbreaking as the family that lost their boy.

Really, the only downside of this book is the subject matter - it makes me ache just thinking about it again. It's a tearjerker at times, but I feel like it also trys to be honest, warts and all - there are no one-dimensional characters, it's really a portrait of human beings.

Music & Memory

After writing about the Editor's show the other night, and the dance party, and so on, I've been thinking about the nature of music and memory and how it enters our lives in unexpected ways. I bought a car that has only a tape player, so I dug out my moldy old tapes, and on a long drive started listening to various mixes. I found one made for me by a boyfriend in college that is pretty great considering it's from-oh-1992 or something. Lots of Peter Murphy and so on. Then I found a tape made by someone I was in love with who was far away at the time (circa 1995 or so)...these songs that I hadn't heard in years brought back sharp feelings and longing for those days. Then a mix tape made by my best friend for my 25th birthday. It's amazing how we all have the ability to sing along word for word with songs we haven't heard in maybe a decade and it's like not a day has passed. My musical taste and interest has obviously changed over the years and I wouldn't choose to listen to most of the music on the tapes now, but there is something so visceral about my reaction to the songs I once loved. Music can cement a certain memory and emotion in that time and place and to hear the songs again brings back that emotion in such an unexpected, strong way.

The Editors

The Editors


Last night friends and I went to The Fine Line and saw a few bands. The first was Louis XIV which I did really like. They were pretty theatrical, but I think it worked for them, and the vocals were really good as well. After them were Hot Hot Heat which I did not really like too well. The lead singer was very interesting and energetic, but the music left me cold and a bit bored. The headliners were The Editors from the UK. They were great. The lead singer is like a skinny cute Robert DeNiro/Edward Norton. Awesome voice. The other dudes are cute too, even if they are-oh-15 years too young. Fun to watch and had that Interpol-esque 80's dark bass thing going on. If you click on the link you can watch a video and hear one of their songs. A fun time was had by all, in spite of the fact it was an all ages show so there were swoony-dancy-not-aware-of-anyone-around-them teenage girls that were annoying. I am such an amazon I can sort of rise above it all, but for cuties like muchachachita, it's not so easy to disregard the rudeness and cluelessness. Oh well, all in the name of rock.

The Peacemaker

So, I have this ongoing conflict with a co-worker. We have resolved our differences and restored peace a few times in the past year. Now, she is preggo and things got Bad-to-the Ultimate-Nth-Degree yesterday. I let it ruin my day yesterday and I vented about it to my boyfriend last night.
This morning she was crying about me (apparently I am not respecting her and some other stuff about me being unorganized...) She basically lost it today and just like usual, I try to explain why she is now stormed off crying and redfaced--after she treated me like garbage and flew off the handle. (Imagine crazy arm/hand motions, arched back, high pitched squealing, and defensiveness abound as she is lashing out on me...then she usually says "her back hurts" or something a few minutes later or some lame excuse when she is more calm.)

Well, I felt bad. Felt bad this pregnant woman is crying because of me. Felt bad I'm difficult to get along with. Felt bad I'm part of this drama stirrup at work. I rationalize that everyone dislikes her and it's not just me, but I wonder how much easier both of our jobs would be if I was a Mother Theresa, easy going , hippie, laid back, peacemaking, smily, passive, quiter gal.

So, I leave work to get a latte and stew a bit about how its seems most logical and easiest to just quit my job. Half of my brain knows this is nonsense. The other half wants to quit quit quit and join a travelling Cat Show with Patsy. Or Pickles.

I calmed down about 15% after chatting with aforementioned boyfriend. Then I decided to make amends by buying a lot of chocolate. Mini cheesecakes, an oreo cake, and some pints of assorted delicious ice creams. It is the evil crying preggo's birthday tomorrow and I thought I would bring these desserts to our staff meeting today to cut any tension & basically buy my way out of an uncomfortable situation. I came in with bags of treats, apologized for being difficult to get along with, told her I want her to have a nice birthday and to accept my chocolates as a truce. She quietly thanked me without eye contact and ate some turtle cheesecake. She also said she isn't exactly the easiest person to get along with either. (Which surprised me and was good enough to make my blood stop boiling.) Dare I admit that I am just as dominant and strong personalitied as thios woman? Ug! Makes me want to cut off my tongue.

Maybe my New Year's Resolution should NOT be giving up pizza, but rather, giving up gnarliness and being such a perpetrator of conflict.
---Nan Halen

Patsy's Fabulous Cat Show..extended until Monday night!

Boy am I depressed I missed the St. Paul cat show. Where was my head when I instead went to IKEA with Rana to shop for a rug for her house? My priorities were all amuck.
Luckily, every morning at 6 a.m. I have my own personal cat show. Loud, fuzzy, up-close, and personal. Very loud.

I actually thought a CAT SHOW t-shirt (if they sold them) would have been such an excellent Valentine's gift for my love. He would laugh, never wear it, and then I'd end up wearing it to the gym or while cleaning out the catboxes.

Speaking of the GYM: had to cancel with my personal trainer on saturday morning after our little impromptu get together friday nite. SUPER duper hungover and miserable. The hot sweats big time. Felt foolish and embarrassed to tell my P.T. that i couldn't make it through an hour of lunges and weightlifting.

On another note, I will try to pick a day soon to commence our supper club of the month deal.
Tenatively, hows about February 9th, Saturday? Cuisine to be announced. Possibly Middle Eastern.
And by the way, I guess after quizzing myself, I'd vote for John Edwards. Most likely never going to have that chance though, I presume. There's still lots of time to form my ultimate decision, although I'm pretty sure I know who I'd pick.
My next blog whoudl have a 'theme'. Oh well, it's my first time and I'll be amazed if I even did it correctly. Love, Nan Halen

The Best Cats in the World (or at least in Minnesota)

Imagine walking into a large "ballroom" in a downtown St. Paul venue to see a sea of cat kennels. Over 25 breeds of cats, including kittens with huge black, red and white ribbons pinned to the cages. Hey, I can't call these cages! These kitties are in luxurious suites with heart shaped beds and loving owners right outside their doors lovingly taking them out to groom them once again. What do you think the sound would be? A meow here or there? A hiss? A scratch on a cage? I mean this is 300 cats in one room for heaven's sake! Well, you would be wrong. These cats never make a peep. Why? Because they are so F***ing good. They are the best cats in the world. Any cat owner who is a novice to the world of show cats would be as flabbergasted as I was. I was able to catch a few cats being judged, but I didn't really know what they were doing. I'm going to do a bit more research for next year so I can figure how the judging works. What makes a cat best in show? What are they looking for when they look at the cat butt? Cleanliness I assume. I really didn't know the etiquette as a spectator either. I was scolded for looking at a Main Coon in his cage before he was judged. I don't know if it was because I was distracting the judge and the audience because of the cute baby in my arms, or if I was disturbing the cat before his big show. We didn't stay for the end, but apparently they crowned cats King and Queen of the show. I saw the cloaks and the tiaras though. What a photo opportunity that would be.

Money Money Money Money MONEY!

I just finished reading No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, it is excellent. I think the movie completely did it justice and reading it really made me appreciate Javier Bardem's performance even more because he makes a succinctly written character completely come to life. Tommy Lee Jones' character, Sheriff Bell, is really the driving force in the book and there is a lot more reflection from him, which is what I think gives the book a bit more heart than the movie. Also, there is an awesome scene with Llewellyn (Josh Brolin) and a hitchhiker he picks up that is not in the movie and is some of the best dialogue and sweet/sad scenes I have ever read.

So that said, I've been thinking more about the central reason for the conflict in this book - money. I think it really says something about greed (perhaps only my greed), that when I saw the movie I didn't really find it that odd that Llewellyn took the money. I guess I could picture myself trying to get away with taking it all as well - but reading the book, I wondered if it wouldn't just have made sense to take $100,000 or so. Would you be able to walk away from 2.4 million and just take a few packs of $10,000 bills? I mean, how many times have I daydreamed about finding a bag full of money and all of the amazing things I would buy if I found it, how many of my "problems" would it solve? But realistically, it is just so crazy that Llewellyn takes that money and decides to fight for it - throws away his whole life and his wife's life and many others, for MONEY.

I'm having all of these anxieties and stresses and disappointments about money lately and really, even if I had no bills and no debt, I wouldn't live my life any differently. I don't even think I would quit my job if I won the lottery - as all-consuming as it can be, it still gives me a great deal of personal satisfaction. And I sure as hell would not give up my way of life for a bag of 2.4 million dollars.

So, oddly, reading this tragic, dark, tense book has given me comfort and made me freak out a bit less about money. I don't think that was quite McCarthy's intention, but there you go.

And We Danced

Dancing is good for body and soul. Last night muchachachita, another friend, and I on the spur of the moment had a dance party in their living room. An hour+ of bliss, fun, and feeling alive. Why don't we dance more often? I love it and think it should become a weekly activity for all.

Here's the dance party songs from last night:

1. And We Danced Hooters Definitive Collection
2. Get Up Off Your Knees The Housemartins London 0 Hull 4
3. Take On Me a-ha Hunting High and Low
4. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
5. Banquet Bloc Party Silent Alarm
6. Born In The U.S.A. Bruce Springsteen Born In The U.S.A.
7. Extinguish Me Coachwhips Bangers Vs. Fuckers
8. Friday I'm In Love The Cure Wish
9. Jailhouse Rock Elvis Presley Elvis 30 #1 Hits
10. Oh l'Amour Erasure Erasure: Pop! 20 Hits
11. Take a Chance on Me Erasure Erasure: Pop! 20 Hits
12. Jacqueline Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand
13. Fire With Fire The Gossip Standing In The Way Of Control
14. If I Should Fall From Grace With God The Pogues Essential Pogues
15. Video Killed The Radio Star The Presidents Of The United States Of America The Wedding Singer
16. Broken Boy Soldier The Raconteurs Broken Boy Soldiers
17. Good Lovin' The Rascals The Big Chill
18. DRANGONSTEA DIN TEI(HAIDUCII) Recopilatorio BLANCO Y NEGRO HITS
19. Debaser Pixies Doolittle
20. Cherry Bomb Runaways Dazed And Confused
21. Stadiums and Shrines II Sunset Rubdown Shut Up I Am Dreaming
22. Sad Sad City Ghostland Observatory Live at Austin City Limits: Music Festival 2006

January Reading Reflections

One of the main things I want to keep track of on this blog is the books that I've read. I can't wait to look back in 6 months or 6 years and reflect on them.

So, starting in 2008 - so far I have read:
Wickett's Remedy by Myla Goldberg
(Grade: C) It was alright, the beginning was sort of interesting describing World War I-era South Boston and a girl trying to make her way out of her poor neighborhood. But the second half just got so boring - the book is billed as exploring the influenza epidemic in the US during WWI, but it ends up being completely inconclusive and gets sidetracked with a tepid love story that I just didn't care about. Kind of disappointing considering she also wrote Bee Season, which was really interesting (although also had a weak ending).

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
(Grade: B+) I loved the scenes from the Gold Rush in 1849 and there were definitely some historical facts thrown in, but I think I wanted a bit more understanding of how the phenomenon fit into global events - probably a bit too ambitious for a book about a girl running away from her home in Chile. Actually one of the coolest parts was the side story about her friend Ta'Chin while he was living in China in the mid-1800s. I think I need to find more books about that era.

The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory
(Grade: B) I still love these books - I read all of her Tudor series now and they totally entertain me and I can barely put them down, but realistically they are not super well-written. There is a ton of repetition and pseudo-Harlequin novel prose. But I love the court scenes and the political discussions - it's kind of fascinating to see European history played out in the inner workings of the palace. I think I'm going to try her Wideacre series which takes place in Edwardian England - could be good!

Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
(Grade: B-) Lots of action, lots of repetition - this is the third in a series of books about an actual wizard living in Chicago in the present time. It is kind of interesting because it explores the supernatural as if it were fact - so there is a lot of history and background about, in the case of this book, ghosts and vampires. (Book One was wizards, natch, and Book Two was werewolves). This book just went on a little long - I mean every chapter had about three cliffhangers. I do like it because everything doesn't work out perfectly in the end and the main character is definitely flawed.

Maybe as I post more while I'm reading I'll have more interesting things to say, but I just wanted to catch up to where I'm at.

Water

(So I guess it has to start somewhere...who'd of thought it would be me.)

How much water do you all have stored in case of emergency. I think I have 3 gallons. I've heard that this is not nearly enough...especially when you include enough for all my animals, etc. I've also heard that water goes "bad" after six months-it is hard to keep replenishing my supply. Does anyone else have water reserves? Food? Does planning for a "what if" scenario define me as a "worrier"? I don't think it is good to be a worrier.

Tokyo Rose

Our Collective Blog

My friends and I are starting a new blog of which, so far, there are 8 female members. We will all post to this blog our ideas, experiences, quotations, things we hear and are affected by, recipes, paintings, photos; you get the idea, basically anything we want to express. We each will have a "handle" so you can over time start to know who's who. I hope it will be fun and interesting for others as well as for ourselves.

-bananafish