Oh BOY!

So.... I participated in an event. This event was a group meeting of photographers, models, hair stylists, MAU's and style gals..I'm not sure what their title is....whose main goal is to build everyone's portfolio by working together to create amazing shots.

It was....sublime.

Yes, many things went wrong and there utter and total mayhem during most of the 9 hour day. Yes the outfits and set-ups were often ludicrous and something I personally would never, in a million years, have chosen to photograph. However; the experience was not to be missed. I learned an unbeleivable amount and got shots that when I look at them now, it's hard for me to believe that I made them.

Yes, yes. It ruled the school.

A little of this or that

I have been filling my days with scheduling ; ballet, music class, gymnastics and painting school. All for people under the age of 6. You know, we used to have such a simple life. We used to sit around and make art, play puppets and chase each other on atv's. What happened? Was it the move? Was it kindergarten?

Either way, i'm over-scheduled and cranky.

On the upside, I got a lead on a dancer who needs portfolio shots and will do TFp with me! yay. I heart building my portfolio! I bought reflector discs the other day and cannot wait to break them out. I have an entire shoot all planned in my mind with the dancer. wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

I AM alive..

But its been a near thing.

The headache? It turned out to be a prolonged sinus infection that the nurse practitioner at the Minute Clinic in CVS ( no i'm not joking, i don't have a doctor and apparently there were no other options) gave my antibiotics for. I finished my round two days ago and guess what? I'm still congested and burdened with a sinus headache. Fantastic.

In other news:

Annapolis is apparently the boating capital of the East Coast; this culminates in a yearly Boat Show, where boaties get together and talk shop over beers for 4 days. It's so very exciting for them. It's so very obnoxious for me. There are people everywhere! and they all think they are the shit because they own a Catalina, or a whatever. I joined my roomi J for a drink last night with the owners of her timeshare company and while they were lovely people they were so BORING! to me. This was because all they talk about is boats and not in a fun and informative sort of way but in a detail oriented, my engine is made out of this and my sails are this big sort of way. S-N-O-R-E. So i stared into space for two hours and knocked back as much screwdriver as i could without seeming like a lush. I couldn't even gossip with my roomi J because for her a) this is interesting and b) she's still working in a way.

Bleh, so I went home and boozily enjoyed Rock of Love a little too much. I may have shed a tear as Brett Michaels explained the tragedy of his diabetes and Jess teared up explaining how his epi-pen was "really intense".

Are you kidding me?

I've had a migraine for 4 days...its unbelievable.

Just a thought

or two.

One. I've had it with the DMV and their ridiculous bullshit. It is not fair to charge me arbitrarily for years after a ticket with no reason other than you feel like it. I need that 125 dollars and I'll need it next year to. You, DMV, do NOT need it. I am sure of that.

Two. Why is it that no one is Maryland is capable of operating a vehicle? Did they even have to take a test to get their license? Are they aware of the purpose of the YIELD sign? or the MERGE RIGHT sign? Apparently not. I have nearly died at least 15 times in the last two weeks due to the failure of other drivers to follow these signs correctly.

Three. That's all, except I sure do wish adobe would hurry up and work already.



grouch grump grouse

I Just lost 6 hours

to Photoshop!

but here is some of what I've learned:

Lesbians are to folk music as...

ducks are to water.

It's just true and I was reminded of it all over again last night as a lovely woman leaned over to me laughing and said into my ear " oh you know, it wouldn't be one of "those" parties if we didn't get out the guitar. And then there was a round of singing.

Actually tho, the host sang very beautifully and the lovely woman sat down and sang harmony and for a moment it was so different from anything I had ever really been to. Everyone was sitting around, listening and giving each other laughing smiles and some were singing along. The songs were harmonic versions of men's songs...so it was strange to hear these words sung by two women and then a crowd of women start hollaring out the chorus.

I met many, many women last night and had a long moment with one in the form of across the room stares. She was truly lovely and unusual and of course I said and did nothing except nervously clutch my Red Stripe and chat with my roomi J. and of course everyone thought we were a couple because roomi J said things like " well we are looking to move into a house that is in Edgewater, we really like that neighborhood" or "oh an event in DC...Keziah you can skip work right? Just give her the flyer we'll go!" My entire night was in the form of WE and to me it was entirely funny that she was so unaware of the rampant assumptions going on around her.

As I Was Walking One Day

My roomi J and I went on a great adventure today!

We went into the woods and got lost and made some art and laughed and talked and assured each other the path would show back up and vowed that there was no one else we'd be rather lost with and in the end returned to our car sweaty and worn out and much closer.

I think that since I realized that I have been unhappy because I haven't been making art and decided to do something about it I've actually been so very happy and had such lovely things happen. I've produced more in the last week and a half than I have in months. I've started on a learning curve that is terrifyingly steep and instead of being dismayed, I am thrilled. I feel the way I used to when a roller coaster was clicking its way up to the first peek, anticipation ringing through me.

Today I made this:





We came upon a pile of bricks, it looked as tho a house had simply fallen down one day in the middle of the woods and been left there to become a part of the natural decay. Of course, I immediately asked my roomi J to lay down on the bricks...and to my surprise she did. She is a lovely model and unusual, so I feel as tho the images I can make with her are a whole new breed of work.

Who says muses aren't still about?

Quiet Waters

Sometimes when hiking in the woods you happen upon a summit that is so surprising and beautiful you just don't know what to do.





I love this place.

Maybe I will and Maybe I won't

I might get back to recapping the NYC adventure....but in the meantime it's simply too daunting and I have other things I'd rather post about.

Today I took the Littleman to Quiet Waters Park which is only about 10 minutes from my house and stunning. It's huge, with playgrounds, dog beaches and winding lonely trails. It also offers a dock from which you can rent boats of various kinds and zoom around the sleepy inlet. Littleman and I pleaded and begged and finally got a paddleboat to ourselves ( we didn't have nearly enough money with us) and so we ventured out into the water.

Now, I have never operated a paddleboat. Nor have I ever taken a child out on the water. I was living in fear and gripping Littleman's arm so tightly I was probably cutting off his circulation for the first 15 minutes. Then i realized that we were the only thing moving, the boat was not about to capsize and we were in lifejackets....so I relaxed a little bit. I did not let go of the man however, simply allowed his arm to receive blood again.

The feeling once i relaxed and looked around us was almost instantly overwhelming. Here we are in silence in the middle of the water with a perfect, untouched coastline all around us and skies full of blossoming clouds over our heads. It was dreamlike. I let the Littleman lean over the side ( with my hand clenched around his jacket as tho it was candy and I a fat kid) and catch at leaves and sticks floating by. We didn't even talk, there was nothing to say. It was, in every way what my body needed; floating around, through rippling murky water, catching up an early fallen leaf and laughing at the seagulls who are flying and divebombing all around us.

We were in heaven for half an hour.

I love it here some days.

Some Recapping Action

So...NYC happened and it was great. here's a summary as best I can remember, day by day.

Thursday- At 7 i roll out of my tangled up bed and proceed to stumble around my room, frantically stuffing clothing, toothpaste and a comb (?) into my backpack. I have a long minute of panic over what shoes to bring, since every single time I have been in NYC I choose shoes wrongly and get horrible blisters as punishment. Then I go wake up the random teenagers that are crashed out in the office and force them to move their vehicle which is parking me in. I hop behind the wheel, plug in the adress of Baltimore Amtrak into my GPS and off I go.

I did not, however, really plan for morning commute traffic and so I arrive at the Amtrak with 5 minutes to spare and am forced to practically abandon my car without a second glance at the exact location in which its parked. Oh well. My train ride was lovely and dreamy, zooming along the chesapeake and its contributing rivers then inland through the modern ruins of Philadelphia and New Jersey.

I arrive in Penn Station and then proceed through the subways to arrive sweaty and limp at Sax's front door. She swings me up into a hug and, after handing me an icy beer, launches into all the gossip I've missed in the last month. Perfect. Caleb arrives an even sweatier mess about 3 hours later and we all lay about panting for a few minutes before it's already time to leave for Coney Island, where our concert is being held.

As our sub pulls into the Coney station we realize with sinking hearts that tickets are still at Sax's house and now we must turn around and ride the sub all over again. And then again. We finally arrived to Hipster-Heaven with 2 minutes to spare and then proceeded to enjoy the best concert ever. My brother has an excellent recap in his LJ, here. Afterwards we stumbled back onto the train and sat smiling and sweaty with hundreds of other youngpeople in exactly the same condition. Except for the kid who puked into his fedora....he was in a worse state.

We were planning on going out to bars but upon returning to Sax's we were much to wrung out and so we got a beer and some greasy diner food and sat up on the roof of her building for a bit. The view was spectacular and the vibe was mellow and pleasant. I turned in earlier than Caleb and Sax, climbing into Sax's beautiful red bed and falling asleep the second my head hit the pillow. Sax climbed in an hour later and as she pulled me close and snuggled her curly head into my neck, I mumbled sleepily to her that she is a great friend and how happy I was.


end point day 1

day 2 will be tomorrow since i am tired and want to nap.

Come on down!

I got a new CAR! and not new in the sense that its new to me but actually brand new! It's a toyota corolla and its a 2007. I'm in love. I'm in debt.




Hooray for financing and bosses that suprise you with a bonus downpayment!

Yesterday..

..because recaping NYC right now is overwhelming. I'll do it, I swear, but it involves long stories for every day and right now I just don't have it in me. Suffice it to say, it was fantastic and probably one of the best trips I've had in quite a while. All went right and those things that didn't go exactly right ( like getting all the way to Coney Island and then realizing we left the tickets back at Lynn's house) still went ok ( the total travel back and then forth plus grabbing tickets and cursing time still had us arriving well in time to catch 2 out of 3 of the opening acts).

Yesterday I started the first of 3 days of continuous work. Meaning I sleep here until wed night. This is ok, I don't really mind, except for a few things. I'm scared someone will break into this massive house to steal the garunteed buckets of fancy things that are in this bohemouth. Also, I'm in the process of turning in the Lexus for a new toyota and the dealer has taken up residence on my shoulder and its becoming increasingly difficult to sort through what he needs me to do while I am not home and at perma-work.

However, we did manage to have much fun running in the sun yesterday and taking a bike ride along an overgrown and utterly charming bike path.

And Then..

I wandered around and took these...

Dorking out at HRC

Last night I had the particular good luck to be invited to a rooftop birthday party for an employee at HRC by my long time friend SB. Now, I do not know the birthday boy, nor do I work with or for HRC but I do happen to know SB from years and years of dating people who are friends and so always being at each others parties and houses. We have years of dirt on each other and as we found out, years of stored up gossip about the girlfriends, the girlfriends' flings and of course our own ill-advised behavior from back in the day.

The party itself was held in a ritzy apartment building on a happening corner in D.C.. I parked a few shady blocks away and meandered around until I bumped into SB, adorably dressed in a tie with a corona in hand and a giant grin on her handsome face.

As an aside, SB is a genuine person who has always managed to be the life of any party she is at and somehow also the shoulder to cry on or the girl to talk it over with. She is a tomboy in the older sense; she likes to climb trees and cut her own hair and looks down on shoes as entirely unnecessary. She is charming and goofy at the same time and manages to steal your heart with a lopsided grin and swagger that ends in a sprawl.

The party, as I mentioned was a rooftop affair with a DJ, a bartender and an amazing view of all the D.C. sights. I stood for a minute with my sweating beer in one hand and just stared out at the monuments and historical buildings, this perfect landscape of urban sprawl and senatorial construction and thought, " I cannot believe I am here. I cannot believe this is my life right now". Amy Winehouse howled through the speakers and people laughed and chatted all around me, talking shop or gossiping over office romance and instead of feeling out of place, I felt very very content.

I had a lovely time, met many interesting and unique people and talked until 3 am with SB, catching up on all our foibles in the 3 years its been since we saw each other last.

Oh lovely night.

The Height of Fashion

as determined by a key fob, that is.





This little beauty now belongs to ME! and it makes me a swell, yes it does.

Genius? or boredom?

A copy of this that I made today while running a mini-lesson for LittleGal (Monkey), who was reveling in the joy of having me all to herself since LittleMan had art classes at an institute today. It's in ballpoint and crayon.....I know. I'm classy. It's just true.


I love it.

Hulk...M-A-D....

OK, I'm a tolerant person in many ways; I'm patient with small children and old lady drivers, I don't correct men when they insist they know where they are going or how to fix something, I keep my peace as a general rule. Now, I know everyone has seen me lose it before and of course, I am not saying I don't. I do, however, I do not throw tantrums when I don't get my way. Usually, unless I'm sick or very tired and then only around Caleb or my mother.

That said, I will recount an incident from last evening that is still pissing me off, even after I've slept on it. Which takes a lot.

I come home from work early and in a generous mood, so I park on the street to wait for others to get home and park in our 3 car driveway. Since I am first out I like to be last in at night but usually this is acomplished by parking in the driveway and then when others arrive home we do the old switcharoo. The reason I don't usually park on the street is that I don't have a street parking permit and therefore run the risk of being ticketed after 2 hours.

All of this aside, I don't mind waiting on the street as long as I keep an eye out of the window on the ye old meter maid.

So, Miss Mack is already parked in the driveway and done driving for the day and my Roomi J arrives home around 6. I check with her and she says she's home for the night and her boy G is on his way. I offer to leave my car in the parking spot on the street to save it for him until he arrives. I do this because parking on our street, or really anywhere near it is difficult and one often finds ones car 4 blocks away from ones destination.

G arrives abotu 10 minutes later and I hurtle outside to make sure I grab him before he turns off the car, because as we all know it instantly becaomes a pain in the ass to move if you've already turned the car off. Instead of gratefully accepting the saved spot HE GIVES ME SHIT ABOUT MOVING! He launches into a childlike argument about equal odds for ticketing and how he shouldn't have to move oblivious of two major facts:
1. Why does he think I haven't already parked in the driveway?
2. IT'S MY HOUSE and MY DRIVEWAY

So eventually I gently point out that the driveway is mine and I must park there because I live there. This causes him to fly into a tantrum and start cursing, slamming doors and telling me to hurry up. since he is now horribly put out.

This, in effect, ends the debacle as I park and go inside not to speak to him again since he hurries to safety of my Roomi J's room.

Overall, I'm angry because I don't think it's appropriate to fly into a tantrum and to curse at someone who isn't hurting you or deliberately working against you. I was doing the opposite, actually, I was trying to do him a favor by saving the spot right outside our house for him.

SIGH


Tragically, I think this has no resolution either because it seems to me he is the sort who thinks this is over and if he waits a long enough time I won't be angry anymore. Or perhaps he even thinks I'm not angry at all.

A Beautiful .....moth?

To tell this story, I have to go back a few weeks to a hot day shortly after we arrived here in our fair city. Littleman and I were taking a bicycle ride/ walk in the absolute swelter of the morning sun, this was to my mind a great idea for exercise and to hell with the inevitable sunpoisoning. As we drag ourselves along my little guy notices a wooly caterpillar and shrieking with glee grabs it up to bring home to die. Now I say this because we have a long and painful history with caterpillars, we love them....to death. We give them leaves and sticks and little caterpillar houses, we check on them daily, we take them out to crawl on our joyful hands.....we kill them. Every time.

So, when I saw this unfortunate wooly, I thought..."Not This Time" and promptly took Littleman to the store to get a new caterpillar house. We took great care with this guy; fresh leaves dipped in pool water every morning. New and fun sticks to climb daily. We shook all the poop ( there was a lot!) out of the cage every day to give Wooly a clean house. The kids were obsessed....I was obsessed.

Two weeks ago, Wooly went into a chrysalis (cocoon) and we all got nervous. The cocoon stage is were we lost our last unfortunate friend. The days are slowly ticking by, we are getting more and more nervous and the butterfly fails to appear. Mr. K and I are exchanging looks that mean " should we clean out the cage and say it flew away in the night?". Then, yesterday as I finally decide to just clean out the cage and get it over with, I notice in the corner...A BUTTERFLY!




Wait, a MOTH!


who cares, really? At least we brought it to the end of its life cycle without killing it this time! It was quite pretty actually, a delicate orange color with soft spots, Big and thrilling to the kids who hollared and tried to hold it and gave it copious amounts of new wet leaves for the singular accomplishment of surving.

Hooray for nature!

Wine Fairs and Promethazine

The full story of my sudden and inexplicable illness is long, dramatic and confusing, even for me who lived through it.

In Short:
( a day by day play by play)

Sun Night: start to feel both nauseous and faint, throw up and go to bed.

Mon Morning: Wake up in horrible pain, centering in my belly and back area, freak out and go to ER, where they give me a contrast CAT scan and morphine. Neither makes me happy, both make me cry.

Tues Day: Home feeling better until I am suddenly struck with a blinding headache. I go rapidly to bed.

Wed: Having not slept all night due to headache, I am grouchy and still in horrible pain, I call a doctors office, get rejected thanks to my stupid ny-only insurance and am advised to go directly to the ER....again.

I go and get more CAT scans, more drugs leaving this :



Then my loving and hapless father who happens to be in town comes to pick up my sad self and return me to my bed of pain.

Overall Diagnoses:

Headache...Virus.. I-Have-No-Idea

Either way the next several days have consisted of my taking Tylenol and Motrin in rotation along with my prescription for nausea and drinking plenty of Ensure since solids having been disgusting me.

Today I do feel much better and so My Roomi J and I journeyed out to the Annapolis Fairgrounds to engage in a $22 wine fair. The fair itself was rather sad, with many a redneck and a few soggy, made-in-china nicknacks for sale. the wines were mostly local, and a decent assortment but mostly people were chucking them back like it was water in the desert, not a lot of "wine tasting" going on.



Either way, we tasted and gossiped and then typically, the heavens opened and decided for us that we were done with our foray into 'fancy' wine. Oh well, at least we got out of the house.

Upon our return to our den of doggiesmell and brown furniture, we made some mac and cheese and curled up on the couch for Office Space.

yay sunday

ER X2

What a hideous week!

and its only Thursday! The mysterious stomach virus is making a second pass at my body, this time involving symptoms strong enough to send me to the ER not once, but twice in the span of 3 days. My arms are black and blue, I've had more IV drugs than like to think about, flashed several patients and nurses due to those damn gowns and had 2 CAT scans. I'm exhausted.

What is the diagnoses?

uhmmmm, a virus? maybe?


Fantastic.

On the upside, I had some very nice people taking care of me and my dad came and got me from the ER yesterday and took me home. Hooray for dad's.

Also, I have learned that I could never be a iv drug user, as the feeling of receiving drugs intravenously is so awful that I'd rather be in pain. No joke, it's as if someone just reached in and stopped your heart.

Either way, I'm in much better spirits today and tomorrow I will go back to work! YAY!

Blinded by Barbie

I embarked on what has turned out to be an extremely foolhardy venture; sewing a miniature wardrobe for Barbie. What was I thinking? Firstly, Barbie has changed her shape in recent years, so all patterns made before five years ago do NOT fit her, also conversely old Barbie will not fit into new clothes. NOT AT ALL. Her breasts are simply too large, and her hips? forget about it. I busted an adorable pair of capri's on her fat ass.

This is what i have so far:



Five outfits and hopefully a few more tomorrow if I can go get a Barbie that they will actually fit. BUHHHH


SO now, I will take myself off for martini's with M and a strange group of older people who apparently really enjoy her company. I really enjoy the company of a martini.

OH NO!

I get home yesterday, starving and all wiped out and ready to just curl up with my sewing machine, a bottle of wine and CSI. OH, and some PIZZA. SO, i walk all the way down to the joint where i can get delicious slices of thin cheesy pizza ( which also happens to be next to the liquor store!), get some wonderfully hot and tasty pizza slices and walk back home.

Now, I will note I was carrying my box properly, even tho I was not paying attention because I was on the phone.

The box failed, the pizza went slipping right out the side, into the dirt, cheese side down. I grabbed it up as quick as I could but too late....the cheese was filthy. Seeing as I was starving and desperate,, I brought it home, peeled off the dirty cheese and attempted to eat the slices anyways but to no avail, it was all gritty and I kept worrying about bugs. I would never make it as a homeless person.


It was tragic so I went right to the bottle and sewed and drank my sorrows away.


Now I am up at the crack of dawn...ugh...to engage in a full day of sewing ( I ambegining to think I should have started this project much sooner) and then maybe a wine festival with Roomi J.

Too Early

It's 6:30 and I've been up for an hour already....and by that I mean I woke in a PANIC at 5:30 because I remembered that Mrs. K wanted me here early today. At 6:00. CRAP.. So I put on clothes and hopped into my car and away I went, only to wait on Mrs K till 6:30 as par usual.


sigh


Plus, I hear the little man in his room making noise, which usually means he is dressing himself and this usually means I will find him in several shirts, all of which will be backwards, insideout underwear ( also backwards) and jammi pants. Lord only knows why this is the outfit I find him in every morning, but there it is.


So I will sit here with my coffee and struggle to wake up and wait until get-up time ( 7:15) and then enjoy the tragedy of clothing on him.


In other news: I started fashioning Barbie a wardrobe of 50's dresses last night for the LittleGal's birthday and damn but those old patterns are complicated. I spent three hours and my entire outer shell of a dress is wrong. DAMN rickrack. I will try again with another piece of fabric. The upside is that because the clothes are so small, you can make them fast and with very cheap amounts of fabric. Hopefully, if I have enough time, I can make her a matching dress. Her birthday is only 5 days away.

I also need to find a teeny suitcase for Barbie to put these clothes in. hmmmmmmmmmmmm....



Yep, I have interesting things to say at the wee hours, don't I?

I rode a CAMEL

It's true! I really did.




I took the kids to the Baltimore zoo and I have almost entirely good things to say about it. The habitats are huge and thoughtfully constructed. The animals are healthy and living in packs along with other animals that would live with them in the wild. They have separated animals by continent and also created large learning areas arround certain animals. The only con is the cost. Everything cost money and it was A LOT. I spent 80 on just tickets ( entry, camel ride, carousel) plus I left our packed lunch on the counter in the kitchen so I spent more on food...and ice cream.

The entire park was larger than I like to think about really, with a tram that takes you from the front gate to the actual animals and habitats so large you need binoculars to see some of the animals. This, of course, translates into some very tired babies by the end of the day. They slept happily in the back seat while I endured rush hour alone and listened to Lemony Snicket play to their unconscious bodies. Lovely.

BUT, we had a great time and I GOT TO RIDE A CAMEL.

I also saw this sign on the side of a Police station, aparently their solution to car theft and murder:

Don't get DEAD beacuse your battery is.

I locked the doors and took a picture with my cell...because really.

Yachts, Tempers and Coconut Rum

Yesterday was the end to a long week, and so my roomi J asked me to join her and Co. on a yacht ride from Baltimore to Annapolis. Naturally, I said yes without even stopping to ask any pertinent questions such as what time will we be back or who's coming.

Who's Coming:

M: previously mentioned RedHead who is buckets of fun most of the time and only occasionally grumpy.

R: M's boyfr---er---special guy. He's a male model ( yes, seriously) and a law student. and he wears Polo shirts and insists on wearing sunglasses after the sun has set and also posing around the yacht even though no one is taking pictures.

B + L: A similarly dressed couple who seem to be upper class and enjoy the sort of relationship that is defined by the guy doing whatever he wants while the girl sits around twirling her hair and mixing him drinks.

C + N: A lovely boating couple; he's Dock Master at the Baltimore dock, they live on their boat with an exhuberant puppy and a lot of love.

and of course my roomi J + G ( her man)



so yes, you've figured this correctly, it was a couples cruise plus me. Altho, with the amount of nonfunctional relationships on board this actually turned out to be less awkward than one would imagine.

The sail itself was amazing. 5 hours of just trailing along the water, watching the sun set, stargazing, wind blowing through our hair and the gentle shushing sound of water as we go. Really, every cliche is true. It's incomparable. I want to go again. NOW.

Tragically, I forgot my camera, but J and G promise we will go again soon.

Now, all the joy of the sail was slightly marred by a very pitfalled docking, in which people got angry, shouted, threats were made and eventually large groups of people stormed off while I walked home with a dog feeling more than a little confused.

I refuse to let this mar the memory though, so I will pretend it was two different experiences. They were, really. One languid and dreamy with nothing to intrude on me but black, thick water and constellations I haven't seen in years. The other full of typical bullshit, people taking out their frustrations on eachother and acting like little children.

Either way, its sorted out now and J and I are going to breakfast because we are way to frazzed to cook.

Children say the darndest things

Yes, well I am back to work full time and the kids have yet to be their horrifying versions. Instead, they have been all sweetness and light and yes'. I'm in a parallel universe, I'm sure.

My little gal is enrolled in a summer camp where she is learning about Japan. There are about 5 other kids in this camp ( some friend making opportunity!) and only 1 little girl her age. When I questioned her about their potential friendship, she gave me a longsuffering look and said " Keziah, its way to soon to tell! I spent LOTS of time with B ( her best friend in NY) before I knew we were friends" She told me.


Otherwise, life is good, HOT but good. It does make motivation low, this intense wet heat but yesterday it rained and thundered and the kids and I spent the afternoon in the treehouse, dry and cool and practicing reading with a large magnetic board and alphabet letters. I heart phonics.

Dyke-i-licious

Yes, I'm home renovating....I know. I'm waygay. We all know.

But, I couldn't stand the tremendous cracks in the walls in the bathroom one day longer, the walls looked like they might, at any minute, simply give up on being walls and decide to be the floor instead. So, I chipped, I scraped, I spackled and I primed. So far I'm about 1/3 of the way into the job and already i feel both victorious and depressed. The wall will only get to a certain level of repair, it will NOT look 'good as new'....ever. It will look bumpy and dented but relatively flat when compared to its previous state of huge fault lines and holes. I think once the color is on, it will look lovely and homey and admittedly, its age.

i am all fumey tho, the bathroom is small, with one thin window and the primer is T-O-X-I-C! So, i'm taking a break and laying in my room with an airconditioner and paint taste in my mouth.


nice.

This is Lovely

Firecrackers and Drag Kings

Fourth of July...

yes yes it was that, and how does a little northern queer such as myself spend this oh-so-holy of patriotic days? Why with booze and women of course.

Firstly, I arose late in the morning and shuffled about my house with fresh coffee and a beleagured feeling. Why I felt so shuffly, I'm not sure but there you go. Then as I'm chatting away with BestBoy over his current walk of shame, my roomi J realizes that she is out of tortilla's. This is earthshattering because she is already in the process of making a quesadilla, the pan is heating, the veggies are cut, its all ready to go but WHERE are the tortillas? So I get off the phone and help J root through the kitchen in what we both know is a vain but earnest effort to locate said tortillas. They are nowhere to be found.

J leaves the kitchen in a fury ( holidays are not her favorite time and when a girl wants a quesadilla, a girl should get one), so I settle in to making scrambled eggs and coax J back to the table with the lure of hot breakfast.

We then bum around for a while, doing not much of anything and then finally manage to get ourselves together and over to M's house for our patriotic duties of sunbathing and drinking.



We mill about on M's roof, laughing, gossiping ( it seems this is our primary activity around here) and discussing important novels such as 4 Blondes by Candace Bushnell. After a few cocktails we are drowsy and head home to nap. J leaves for work shortly afterwards and I settle in for a long solo evening of the Sims and beer.

NOT TO BE

Instead, I receive a phonecall from a chick I met on myspace who I've hung out with once in DC and with whom had a generally good time. She asks me if I want to go into the city (DC) and watch these guys perform. Of course I do.

So I quickly pretty myself up and head into the world's biggest traffic jam, known as fireworks in DC. The streets are blocked by people who have simply stopped driving and gotten out of their cars to watch the fireworks.....fantastic, people. The sidestreets are full of packs of people throwing firecrackers at cars to watch them swerve and then laughing uproariously. There are three year olds with popcans full of bottlerockets, laughing and tripping over the forties that are clogging the gutter. People are roaring down the streets and spinning out only to crash and be driven past as though nothing has happened.

unreal.

I finally get to the show, gulp down my beer and proceed to enjoy one of the finest performances of Drag I've ever been privy to. It was nuanced, clever, playful and sexy. The performers had a wide range and while making clear statements about gender and sex, they also riled the crowd up and poked fun at themselves and society at large. I had a grin on my face from ear to ear, thoroughly enjoyable. At point I was so amused, I started to bellylaugh out loud.

so the moral is:

even though your life may be in danger, drag is always worth it.

Oh You Know

Lets see here....

What did i do with my wonderful day off yesterday, you might ask, and the answer is...not a lot. Which was nice actually. I hung out with J until she went to work, then I wandered around town getting sweaty and taking an occasional photo until I became so uncomfortable that I began to look as though i was planing to blow up the capitol building. So I went home. I did run into M on the way and we chatted for aminute and planned to get together for cocktails later that night.

I then spent the next several hours finishing a book ( Leaving Dirty Jersey), watching Kyle XY and dorking around on the internet. This made me happy. Then I got myself together and made myself pretty and met the girls out for cocktails at a bar called The Sly Fox. We had much fun laughing and gossiping and receiving comp shots from the bar owner. Then we moved along to another bar called Stan and Joe's which was crawling with DOUCHEBAGS, so we stayed for one beer and hightailed it home.

Today we are planning to sit on M's roof until there are fireworks...or we pass out due to too many cosmo's. Either way.....should be fun.


Out of chronological order of day is this:

Yesterday morning I walked over to the Italian Cafe, which had fantastic coffee and yummy croissants and an appropriately bitchy barista, and then i wandered down this dock:


and chatted with my bestboy on the phone. Lovely.

Acme

So, I met my roomi at a little dive named...ACME...last night. Yes, its true, Annapolis has an Acme, thank the lord. We were there to watch a band, Plasmagora, with whom J is friends.

Overall:

good band, good live performance and interesting songs. Yes, they do covers but also mix in their own stuff and the crowd keeps dancing. Members seemed pleasant and full of pep, came right over, chatted and laughed with us. Good times.

The bar itself was nice in its divey-ness, and J and I had many laughs and gossips. A little while after the band was through M joined us with her new roomi and we all set to some serious gossiping. Then J and i went home and porchsat for a while and talked about life, kids, frustrations, etc.

i had a good night.

Other news...

Well lets see here,

besides it being a stunning example of a day outside, I do have other things to talk about.

I went into the bigbad DC last night to venture into random little clubs and bars in search of 'the cool kids'. That had mixed results, mostly leading into situations where i was involved in one of two conversations. Either i was busily informing an insistant gay man that i was NOT in fact jackie, and no he can't buy me a drink, no really, look at my arms...do they look muscular? OR I was engaged in what i like to refer to as the Hunt-By-Proxy in which a man insists he either knows someone perfect for me...where did they go? or that he can find someone by the end of the night for me. I don't understnad this behavior, why not put all this effort into your own hunt? Why are you, a total stranger, suddenly rabbidly involved in my dating life? I could not convince these do-gooders that i was actually not looking, that all i wanted was a beer and casual conversation and actually having to be witty and interesting was more than i was really capable of for the evening.

silly men.

Other news: I talked over the SG issue with Savine and she is ready to push forward with the sets. Now i realize i haven't discussed this issue here so here's an EXTREMLY shortened version:

We shot a set and submitted said set to SG, waited and when it was rejected we were shocked. We put it up for Second Chances and the primary feedback is not enough nudity. Now, on one hand that is true since we shot in a public park and had about 3 minutes to do the full-nudity shots. On the other hand, who cares! It shouldn't be all about total nudity...i think sexy has many definitions and total nudity isn't the only one, or even the most important one. W/E. We decided to go ahead with the other two sets we shot and if the nudity level is still an issue, we are backing away with our hand in the air and our underwear on.


I did review the work from our 3rd set, Sunday Morning and Lord but its lovely.

Stunning

It's just amazing how absolutely gorgeous this place can be.




I took a walk with the very patient puppy this morning and grabbed the camera, since i am trying to shoot daily as an exercise for my art. Somehow, everything i saw was just bursting with color and promise of an amazing shot. Everywhere i look today, its beautiful.

List

I must get these very essential ( and some less essential)  things done today:

sign up for a gas card
find a new local bank and open a checking account
find the library and get a card
make an artistic agenda for the next week
unpack at least 2 boxes
laundry
find a local knit group and join
spoil mysef with a new book
work on the podcast issue...?.....
call family to reassure them i'm alive and well


things i've already found?

the mall
several movie theaters
a park/hiking trail
blockbuster
art store
post office
maggie moos ( its important!)
my own way to and from work without GPS
yoga classes



i'm just amazing...that's all there is to it

oh and this awesome street art:







which i think is fantastic and random for this town.

The Bedroom

Keeping in mind that i haven't yet got any nails to hang anything, or any paint to cover the blah white of my walls, oh and also I still have boxes littering my room and other rooms of the house, this little pic isn't too bad. Today, maybe, i will attack my house more vigorously.

Here's a little story for you;

Yesterday I arrive home from work around 2:30 and instantly fall into a coma-like sleep that is the result of staying out way too late with M and having an illadvised shot with the bartender of said Irish Pub. When i arrise from my slumber I'm too groggy to go and do any of the things i was planning on ( coffe shop, mall, bank, etc.) and so decide to stay in bed with a book and CSI on TV. So, about 4 hours later, I am fully paranoid and riddled with Crime Drama scenarios of all the things that can go wrong to you in YOUR OWN HOME. Now, mind you, I am home alone for the weekend since my roomi Jan and the Dog are off on a sailboat race until Sun. Suddenly i hear thumping and bumping, my cat instantly perks up and shoots off the bed and the stairs into the attic. I am tempted to follow. So i grab my toy gun ( personal security system) and then becomde paralyzed with indecision. Should i hollar out " WHOS THERE?" or should i sneak around FBI style and corner the perp? So as i sit in my bed, motionless with fear and clutching my toy gun I hear this little voice go " heeeellllloooooo?"

I instantly stow the gun, assuming a heinous felon does not have mickeymouse voice, and pop out of bed in time to see a little face peering in my door. Turns out, we have a third roomate who is temporarily living in the office and has been on a roadtrip or something this whole week. So this newcomer is small and tan, delicate with a mane of dark hair. She is also an M so we'll just call her Newcomer. We chatted for a bit and she seems pleasant so i'll try not to worry about having a third roomate in a hosue that really isn't that big and only has one bathroom.

Revelry

What a lovely night, after my dinner with my father my roomi, her boy and the lovely M and I hung out on our porch watching a spectacular thunder and lightning storm. J's boy made quesadilla's and M and I kibitzed until he kicked us out of the kitchen.  After the quesadilla's were eaten and we were all dolled up ( as defined by just not being covered in sweat) we went off into town to watch a band and have a glass of wine.

We went to Rockfish, a very well desgined bar with a upscale crowd and a crappy cover band.  We only stayed for one glass, long enough to gossip like washerwomen over everyone in the bar.  Then we went off to a local ( one block from my house) irish pub, at which point J and her boy left to go 'sleep' and M and I were on our own.  We chuckled and gossiped our way through a few more glasses of wine as M fended off a near constant stream of men who were desperate to get in a minute of her time.

As a side-note, i have to say i just enjoy the hell out of M. She is entertaining and sincere and open and just really fun.  She invited me to virginia beach for the weekend and i really wanted to go but I have so much to do here and haven't even settled in at all.  I have yet to find a lot of my belongings and forget about the studio....its a pile of boxes.  I'd like to get some work done this weekend, draw some, shoot some more...maybe get some of the studio set up. the beach would be greta but i'm just not settled in enough to be off on adventures yet.

Conquer

Yes, that bedroom is begging for mercy....that is...its very clean and organized!  Yep, Little Lady and I spent the morning sorting Polly Pocket and Barbie into their separate piles and then giving them appropriate places to live henceforth. It was very successful and we followed this amazing adventure of housecleaning up with a trip to Chuck E Cheese's.....its just true. and i don't really want to talk about it.  there were giant mechanical fluffy things singing weird variations on beach boys songs.  Nightmares.   For days.


Also, i had a lovely dinner with my father tonight, which consisted of wine drinking and ravioli and talk of economy, politics, the Navy ( we are in annapolis afterall) and whatnot.  All around good time.  We then spent a good twenty minutes on my front stoop aggressively discussing the state of modern economy.  


who am i?  

i have no idea.

Before i go to work

I did take a walk yesterday in the intense heat, with my new doggie friend, Angel and it wasn't half bad.  Annap is just so pretty, with so much to look at around every corner. I could ramble on in cliche for paragraphs...but I won't.  It's lovely, is all.

Also, i took my darling little people on a boat tour of the harbor the other day and it was such fun! They hooted and hollered and stuck their little arms out towards other boats. My little girl typically shouted "ARRRRRRRRRRRR" at passing Navy trainees.  It made for a lovely time.


that's all.

If you can't stand the heat..

Oh, if only I could get out of the kitchen, but the kitchen is everywhere apparently! It's so hot that the minute I step outside of my cool bubble bedroom, I become drenched in sweat.  I WANT to go shoot, I WANT to go explore, I WANT to not suffer near heat stroke every time I am in my living room.  But this is not to be.   

Oh for heavens sake.


Things over at the K's house are going less than swimmingly.  The children's rooms, last on Mr K's list of priorities, look like a toy/clothing bomb has recently been detonated in them.  toys which prior to the move were brand new and in mint condition are now shabby and in pieces all over the floor.  Clothes are laying around in heaps, mixed in with bedding and the occasional hapless stuffed toy.  The children, blithely unaware, flounce outside into the curtain of heat without a backward glance at the horror that is their living space.  I timidly mentioned to Mr. K that the kids might settle a little if their clothes were not creating forts in their rooms, he simply looked at me with the look of a man on the edge and sighed.  I took this as my cue to take on the rooms myself.  So tomorrow, ROOMS BEWARE, it is your final hour as a disaster area.  

We also spent an hour today driving around looking for Light, one of the two family cats.  Light ran off in a giant huff of fury when released in the new home, after having spent a week at a kitty hotel.  Needless to say, she did not stop to check out the new home, but simply bolted into the nearby woods.  4 days later we are beginning to worry and so this worry manifested as ME driving to the nearest ( i.e. 30 minutes away) animal control center.  She was not there.  Ironically on the way home, we nearly ran over a black lab who was boldly hurtling towards our vehicle and I was forced to call Animal Control.  I did not run it over, don't worry.  I did hit the brakes so hard the car skipped and all the children's toys including the water they were holding, flew forward into the front seat.  Awesome.  The dog somehow managed to turn at the last minute, a fact I only discovered after a long and panic filled minute of searching under my wheels for a fury body.


On the up side of today, I found Blockbuster and TJ Max, as well as a Petco, where i picked up some room deodorizers to help mask the INTENSE doggie smell in the apartment.  I also snagged some very cute sundresses since capri's make me want to kill someone who may have airconditioning for their home. I then happily took my new things home, greeted my canine friend and laid down for a VERY satisfying nap.  Refreshed, I may venture into the velt outdoors and try to shoot  a little.  or just grab some iced coffee.

Arrival

After many mishaps, the kind that will be funny in 4 years but are still smarting now, i am in my new apartment and have managed to hook up my computer and get it to run without shorting out the airconditioning.  The airconditioning actually takes top priority since it is the seventh level of hell here.  Hot + Humid = -4 lbs in 2 days.  So, yes i'm skinnier but now also damp and fragil.  I am sure i'll learn to tolerate it, especially since my new friend M is also from WNY and is breezing around town with a sweaty and vacant me in tow as though its a cool spring day in Vermont.  

M, a tall redhead with freckles galore and a grin that could swallow Texas, happened upon me as i was struggling another box of what was marked shoes and turned out to be books up the stairs.  M is my new roomie, J's best friend.  She had come by to let the dog out and go for a walk to see J. She instead spent the next half hour chatting to me about you name it and then went on to invite me to a walkaround the town the next day with her, to show me the sights.

So, yesterday I take the kids to Murder-Capitol and we have great fun at the aquarium watching dolphins defy nature and poking wary sea things in a special "petting" tank.   After a long drive home, in which GPS insisted i drive into a traffic jam and then refused to give me an alternative route all the while pointedly telling me to move forward please, i dropped the kids off at home and met M for our walking tour.  It was wonderful, M is open and chatty and filled me with gossip about people i don't know, interesting little tidbits about places to shop and of course, what bars have what and when. 

Afterwards, M went off to a dinner and I laid about my new room ( which is 
adorable of course) 
and watched C.S.I. till i couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.

All in all, a lovely first day.




since i don't count the week at DGH.