Ain't Got No:: Reprise

ok, the marathon of all marathons... 

I can barely even read it without my mouth tripping up and over itself.

You'll have to hear (here) it to fully get it.... it's my favourite song in the show... but it's (so far) the hardest.

Vietnam, Johnson, high school, sex, coffee, books, food, scissors,
magazines, news, cigarettes, Hollywood, T.V. Tuesday Weld,
Burton-Taylor, pop art, pop off, popcorn, Popsicle, Andy Warpop, pop
paper, pop up, Popeye, poppers, napalm, England, outer space, astronauts, Jesus,
air, air, air, air, air, air... 

Try to sing that!

Marathon Wednesday

Marathon ... but of my own making.... please don't think this complaining- just a quick recap of how Wednesdays work now.

6:40am- alarm
6:47am- alarm
6:54am- alarm
6:55am- roll up bedding, stumble to shorty's room, turn on his lights, go pee, brush teeth.
6:59am- try to convince shorty to get out of his bed, or at least put both of his feet on the floor
7:04am- satisfied that shorty is awake, stumble to the office to get dressed
(for the next hour and a half pretend to like people while trying to gain full wakefulness)

fast forward....
8:30am- go home (cause, unless you didn't guess it, I was at work) wash face, eat breakfast, (maybe)comb hair.
8:45am- go to work.
4pm- home from work... and cooking for GTI
6pm- GTI dinner (yummy!)
7pm- rehearsal..... (this is making my week bearable)
10pm-finish rehearsal, get home, shower(maybe), pack
11pm- go to work.

It's not likely you'll catch me on a Wednesday.

stay tuned for tonight's "marathon song"....pop-cicle pop-up pop-art Andy war pop pop-a-per......
whew.

the best thing ev-er... or, sometimes I'm still a little slow

Tonight for dinner... I splurged.. both the calories, and the (relatively low cost... high when you consider I've been living off of cabbage and beans and sweet potatoes)(because I LIKE cabbage and beans and sweet potatoes)

This is what I had.

It tasted like heaven.

The package called it "stuffed scallop". (and here's the testament to the speed of my mind...)

the following is my actual thought process...

Oh! this is cute, it's some processed seafoody thing IN a shell! mmm, I haven't had processed seafoody type food in awhile....  (inspects the nutrition label) ... hmmm.. not too bad...

(proceeds to the checkout)

I wonder if there's actually scallops in it? or maybe they just called it that for fun. I'll have to google what type of shell that is.... it's got a scalloped edge to the shell...

wait.

scalloped edge? scallop? scallop shell?   

really?

so, yeah... I'd never really thought about the fact that "scalloped edge" came from looking like the edge of a scallop shell... and.... I'd never bothered to check to see what a scallop shell looked like.

Yes, there was scallop meat in there.

and yes it was the tastiest processed food I've eaten in months.

Which leads me to Saturday morning.

On Saturday mornings at work, I watch home improvement type shows with the men (if they're awake) (oh heck.. I watch them waiting for them to wake up too).

We watch "This Old House" and the others...  at some point in the day, we switch to the discovery channel, and watch "Myth Busters".

So, on Myth Busters, there's a dummy that they use for all their stunts that might cause bodily harm to an actual participant. This dummy has gone thru so many reincarnations, and yet, he continues on... His name is "Buster"... and it didn't dawn on me until I heard the name of the new dummy ("Ted") why his name was Buster.

cause I'm awesome.

and my co-worker laughed at me.

But I'm ok with being slow.

Bunday Monday

the best part of this picture... and totally unintended, was when I hit the button to take the photo- the commercial on tv was doing a count down at the same time as my computer. Fluke.

The Men In My Life

there are a few faces on the street that I watch for each day. people who I don’t know well, but I need to watch for... if only to reassure myself that I didn’t make them up in the first place. There are three that catch my attention more than the others...

quirky men...* They’re all around the same age... 65-70... I guess that’s why the little things they are doing stick out so much... you don’t think you’d see someone quite like them doing the things they do... the way they do them.

Coffee man.

I started noticing him around the bean about 3 years ago. smoke in one hand, coffee in the other, giant headphones plugged into his walkman (that’s right folks... walkman). He still sits hunched over... reading his paper. sometimes he’s bearded, sometimes long haired. always the coffee smokes. I say hi to him each time I pass. it’s taken all three years, but now he knows my name. I tell Jenny that I’m going to marry him. No one really knows much about him... I want to know where he’s been. What brought him here? How is he able to drink so much coffee? Why those awful headphones? Where is his family?**

Hitch Hiker

He’s fairly new. Or maybe his need to hitch hike is new? A lost license? A broken car? A desire to meet new people? I pass him at least once a week. Today I passed him twice. I like to pick up hitch hikers, but when I pass him, I turn onto the next street for work... his sign reads “Graphtown Please” *** after work I passed him while I was headed home (in the wrong direction), walking to where he usually waits to find a ride, sign tucked under his arm. I was tempted to turn around and offer him the ride.

Biker.

Mostly I’m in awe of the Biker. He’s the oldest of the three men. He has a lovely little road style bike. A wire basket on the front to carry his ... belongings. I most often see him resting under a tree near one of the churches. There’s a convenient bench. Across the road sits the man with the two spaniel crosses- he walks them every day at the same time, and sits to rest with a friend. Sometimes they shout across the street to greet the Biker. 

The most extraordinary thing about the Biker is what he carries in his bike basket. 
His oxygen tank. 

No joke. 

I’ve seen him slowly peddling down the street, lines from the basket running to his nose...

*.. maybe there’s an abundance of quirky men- are there no quirky women? or do I only choose to see the men?

** I’m typing this in the Coffee shop... he just walked in, got his coffee, and went to sit out front. I’m in the front window just over his right shoulder.. and I don’t mean to... but I’m watching him out of the corner of my eye. He’s rolling a smoke, one made from the last bits of tobacco clinging to the butts from the ashtray... 

*** name changed to protect the innocent.

more colour

although it's dreary... and the leaves have almost all blown off the trees... and really- it looks like it's going to start snowing AGAIN... I'd like to remember why this is my favourite season.... I mean, other than the fact I can wear sweaters again. 

fall colours

well... the view from my sun roof... the day before it started SNOWING!

Meet and greet

ok, tonight went REALLY really well... I'll tell you more about it later. right now, I've got some sleeping to do.

But first... a link for you.

At GTI breakfasts Ruth usually tells a story after the meal, here's where you'll find the stories... and I have a story about the stories coming up too... need to digest it more first.

Bunday Monday

No more hand-me-downs

They just don't fit.. sooooo, I bought him his very own outfit.

ummm... for halloween... yeah... that's it..... Halloween.

Just for reference... that's a dog size medium. litter tray size too small.

**I had two other photos to go with this one... as it's blurry and dumb... but blogger was being blurry and dumb too.

not quite the 4-H

In my haste to not lose my train of thought, I loosed it from the caboose, and left thoughts behind... or ahead... or at the very least... lost.

Remember how I always say I wish my life was a musical? And then I proceed to sing for the next hour (month)?

So, I may or may not have said: "theoretically" if one were to try out for a musical what should one sing as an audition piece? (and I may or may not have said that just a few weeks ago). But I'm here today to dispel any rumour, any thought to the contrary...

I did indeed try out for a musical. 

And I did sing "Patricia" at the top of my lungs, from the bottom of my toes.

And I was given a part in the play.

And I did decide to do it.

And I did go to the first rehearsal yesterday after first meeting a chunk of the cast and crew at the director's place for a little par-tay earlier in the weekend.

And that was a run-on sentence (though small)

And I may have much love for most of the cast/crew already.

GTI and all that Jazz

There's a particular restaurant around the corner from my house... in the window is a little sign on the weekend that states "jazz brunch Sundays". When the weather is nice, the doors are open and sounds float out. syncopated. unresolved. quick. quick. slow. tap. tap. 

and the horn.

Someday I'll go in, and listen to the whole show.

This morning at GTI was a "jazz brunch Sunday". 

5 dictionary results for: jazz

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

jazz        [jaz] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun

1.

music originating in New Orleans around the beginning of the 20th century and subsequently developing through various increasingly complex styles, generally marked by intricate, propulsive rhythms, polyphonic ensemble playing, improvisatory, virtuosic solos, melodic freedom, and a harmonic idiom ranging from simple diatonicism through chromaticism to atonality.

Who knew music could change so fast? Who knew so many emotions could be felt at the same time?

It started with a story... part something of many. And it hit a little too close to home for some. And there was the joy of an old friend, the relief of a familiar face, the pain of pride, the sadness of pain, the anger of exploitation, contentment and recognition of grace and order, the laughter with friends, the sting of grief, and the shock of distrust.

noise, or intricate notes?

sometimes I'm not sure.

instead of sleeping

So, I'm sitting half heartedly watching tv, mostly just playing online. Reading blogs, checking facebook photos... the usual.

Then it hits me.

(be forewarned... I'm about to swear)

"Shit. I'm old"

Here's what's happened.... I'm cruising thru some photos from high school friends... and I start to notice something... my friends look like they are in their 30's. 

Then I remember... it's because they are.

See that guy? He looks like.... gulp.... a man.

My friends are MEN? My friends are looking suspiciously like their parents?

We're.... aging? 

I don't think I can handle this.

No... really....

I'm sitting in a mild state of shock.

With maybe a little throw up in my mouth.

Pony posted this, and I thought I'd take part... what are your thoughts on this for yourself?

So here's the dealio: I want to learn about worry. You can help by offering some info to me.

1. Why do you think we worry so much?
2. What do you find yourself worrying about?
3. What time of the day do you worry the most?
4. How do you combat your worrisomeness?
5. If you could spend time doing anything other than worrying, what would you do?

ok... my response was this.

Fear. or maybe pride? 
so prideful that I figure "well, my problems aren't worth God taking care of- I'll deal with it myself" which then results in something for me to worry about...I'm not saying that the thought is a conscious one or a decision, but just a general inability to let God do His job. One that I struggle with all the time!

2)what do I worry about? money. no- about the things that need money. Like rent. or more specifically- the mortgage I don't have. 
again, it's something bigger than the money. (or the mortgage that doesn't yet exist) it's the pride again... I worry that I won't be able to make it- to do well, to be self sufficient- I worry that I won't find the man of my dreams and I'll have to pay rent forever with a roommate who doesn't wash their dishes and too many cats, or have a mortgage that I can't afford on my own- and I'll fail and have to have help from someone... 
(** note** I don't have any money problems... far from it... it's just a needless worry)

3) What time of the day do you worry the most?  Evening. or, when I'm alone.

4. How do you combat your worrisomeness? 
oh, I don't. 

worry is something I'm really good at. I can come up with all sorts of spiraling pits of worry... worst case scenarios. I could write a doomsday book. it'd make millions from it's entertainment value. 
THATS IT! I need to write a book! That'll solve everything.

ok... so I like to delve into a fantasy world.... that's how I combat it for the most part.

and prayer helps. and getting involved in things bigger than my own little world.

5. If you could spend time doing anything other than worrying, what would you do? I'd really like to learn to sail.

ear worm

this song has been eating my brain ever since I first heard it.

(chart 107 on R3-30.. it likely made it out before then... but I'm kinda sporadic in my listening... I'll listen to the same chart for like 4 weeks)

you might have seen me dancing when you've walked past the house.

you'll probably like it.

K'naan - in the beginning 

(you'll have to scroll down a bit on the dial for that page)

give it a try.

GTI making the news... for good things

welly well well, it looks as though we've got a little fame going on.

ok, not so much fame.

But we did make page 2 in the news.

Turkey Day '08

We had thanksgiving this weekend here in the 'Burg and the Port of Hope and the Greater Nap Area ... (well, all of Canada really). Many birds lost their lives. I enjoyed eating two of them.

There was some wine and laughs. (Even though it was a rough weekend) (God bless Peaches and Gale)

Yes, the turkey WAS covered in bacon.... it may have been filled with sasuage (God bless Toby for his turkey porking skills)

True, we didn't eat pumpkin pie, but the maple glazed pumpkin cheese cake kicked a$$- (Toby is demonstrating ass kicking here). (God Bless Bethy for her cake building skills)

We played some bocce ball. Dad and I won (God Bless my awesome skills).

The tree avoided damages... there were some casualties along the way... (God bless that old flower pot and the giant lava head that now sport cracks and dimples respectively)

I'm thankful for friends and family.

How did you spend your weekend?

Monday Bunday

Going in.....

Going out....

Make up your mind 'Touff!

Thankful

Thanksgiving...

Sometimes being thankful is hard. 

We have so much, and ... well, we have so much.

It's a rough year for some people.. keep them in your prayers.

Thanks

flip the pages.....

When reposting, please link to http://www.neabigread.org/

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. Well let's see....

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE, and strikeout the books you read but didn't like.


1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (I only read half... but I read that half twice...)
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (2 down.. how many to go?)
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger ( I think I've read this.. but not sure...)
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh .
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan .
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath (another that I think I already read...)
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry .
87. Charlotte's Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo



not too shabby.
I don't think that would be my list of 100 classics/must reads. .. but interesting that they are the top 100 books they've published...

(I stole this from Laney. 'cause she's got great ideas)

ug, again I say.. ug

so, apparently I'm still confused.

I just put the garbage out.

Garbage goes out THURSDAY nights dummy.

today is the day... uh... what day?

So, I went home sick from work today. 

I took yesterday off, and spent all day Sunday on the couch. 

I thought I was feeling better, but by about 10am I'd lost all energy. My boss even said to me "you look ill."

So home I went, to the comfort of the couch, and enjoyed a day at tvshack. So great.

I'm still achy... I'm pretty sure it was the flu- I had a fever on Sunday, it wasn't all bad- just no energy at all. 

And... I keep forgetting what day it is... 

Monday Bunday

Me: Hey Fynn Pants, want to go play outside? The sun is shy-ning! (singingly)

The FP: You're joking right?

100 mile diet revisited

Ok, so maybe one shouldn't be stealing their 100 mile diet food... I'd contemplated putting a quarter into their mailbox, and still may. ;)

Here's a little glimpse into the Folklore B&B (that's where I was staying the other day)

100 meter diet

cooking up some grub... Shelter Valley style

10 mile diet ... living off of Popcorn and cider.. mmmm

Have you ever looked at the 100 mile diet in terms of what that means for you? I think we're super spoiled here in the 'Burg... taking in consideration that it's 100 MILES.. not 100 KILOMETERS... so, that takes us down to the Niagara area, and over to the edge of the Ottawa valley... that's HUGE. We have Bison, Boar, Emu, Cattle, Pork, Poultry, and every type of growing dream land. 

There's got to be some way (short of opening up a 100 mile diet store) to make it easier to do the challenge... hmmmm.....

running running running

Ok, so I'm in love with running.

I'm not doing as badly as I was in the beginning, it's not like I'm "falling forward" anymore. Not that I'm fast. Not that I'm ready for a marathon. But I feel good.

Out at the B&B I wasn't so comfortable running at night - ok, I was scared being outside at night. It was SO dark- only starlight .. and skunks... but since skunks don't give light... weeeeeeellllll.. I was staying inside.  

Instead, last week I ventured into the world of early morning running.

You've seen them haven't you? Those people up at an ungodly hour of the day, hair swept into a pony, running down the road as you try to get the coffee INTO the cup and not all over the counter. I hate those people. But now I think I get them.

sick.

Anyway, a perk to early morning running in the country- farmers fields. more specifically... the apple trees.