What Medium of Expression Speaks to You?

Let me first say that I'm absolutely no scholar on anything "artistic". At all and period.

I read all sorts of books . . . in many genres, I gaze upon art in all forms, I tap my foot to music and I know what strikes me in knitting architecture. Tagging isn't art to me, and neither is cookie-cutter design, in any form.

My all time favorite forever artist is Larry Bell. A long time ago, I worked for Robert Higashi, CPA and lucked into meeting a few of his wife's art patrons and clientele. My stereotypical Libra soul felt a kinship in minimalist art. Diptychs and triptychs of solid colors in different saturation (but I didn't know that term then) spoke to me.

It's also where I first learned that our country interned Americans of Japanese decent during World War 2. Americans! I don't think I'll ever wrap my head around that fact.

I've learned and experienced so much in 40 years. SO much. Everything has made me who I am today, and today will help shape my tomorrow.

In the end though, music is the one thing I could not give up. We all have our favorites - swing, do-wop, rap (not so much, but I could pick ONE artist!), A cappella, piss-cutter, oakie, arena rock, 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, soft rock, hard rock, glam rock, the Motown Sound, Rockabilly, you name it.

Music speaks to my heart and soul. It's no wonder I married a closet singer from such a musical family, lol.

What medium speaks to you, my friend?

Parents By Proxy:

It's Thursday night y'all. The night of which we've spent the day excitedly anticipating the newest Survivor episode . . . and it didn't air, no thanks to Basketball. BOOOOO on Basketball! I think it was College Basketball, which is even more of an insult. The only way I will ever find basketball interesting is if they paint gridlines on the court, erect goal posts at each end, use a ball made out of pigskin that has pointy ends and call it football. Not a moment sooner.

We lucked into some pork ribs on sale at the grocery store the other day, and knowing our current house-guest and his son love them some meat on the bone (as does The Mike. Me? I have an almost freakish disgust of meat being eaten off bones. The concept is so barbaric I would probably starve to death if that was the only way to gain sustenance. For reals.) we had the big plan of bbq-ing this evening.

As we're starting the grill, our house-guest comes home from work and proceeds to tell The Mike that he's off to stay in a motel in Morro Bay with his girlfriend (who is on her way from Fresno to MB that very moment)and oh yeah . . . his son will be staying the night with us thankyouverymuch.


Here's the deal.

Wanna stay here for a week or three? No problem
Wanna bring your well-behaved and all-around good kid with ya? No problem
Wanna have your kid stay with us overnight while you have "a night" with your gf? No problem
Do not communicate these desires until the last freak'n minute. Big problem

My sneaking suspicion is that he didn't want to give us any wiggle room to say no, which seriously chaps my hide. That's not a real friend, in my book. The Mike though, he'll put up with shit like this even though he isn't impressed either (and I know this because he tells me but no one else, grrrrr).

The bottom line in this latest scenario, for me, is that I feel bad for the kid, J. He's well aware that his dad left him here so said dad can have "time" (wink wink nudge nudge) with the gf. Dad hasn't taken the kid anywhere or done anything with him for the last four days they've been on the Central Coast, but now he's off hanging with someone else. I had a single mom at one point, and maybe this is bringing up my own feelings, projected onto J. He's had a single dad for a long time, and really crappy mom for even longer, so maybe he's more okay with the situation than I am. He's definitely a nicer and less-bratty kid than I was at that age, for sure. 'Course, back then, I didn't have an iPod and a cell phone to keep me occupied . . . just my own inner thoughts and books to escape into, lol.

Lest I make this blog a diary of all my "gloom and doom" musings, here's something I really like:

Knitting.

I love it so very much. It makes me happier than reading books for pleasure and I never thought I'd utter those words. Ever. One of my earliest memories is reading my own book alongside my mom as she read (and who is an avid reader and instilled that love in me). She loved crochet though, and I just can't wrap my head around that craft. Go figure!

You there. Scoot Over and Make Room:

When plurk came along, I admit I checked it out. There are some really good knitters and popular knitting podcasters on it, so yeah, I spent a tiny bit of time there.

It didn't grab me and keep my attention, so after a few days I pretty much walked away.

Facebook? Nope. Not even close to interested. There isn't anyone from H.S. that I want to find or have find me. I already know what my two best childhood friends have been up to, and I'm pretty up-to-date on my very first love's life since that time. Whatever random stranger from this area is not on my list of "must meet" and really, there's a much better online resource I enjoy.

MySpace? Hell to the No. Last I checked, my age and lifestyle are counter to the usual denizens over there. Think I'm kidding? Meet my niece . . . and her boyfriend. :shudder: Not my thang.

Today, though? Today I climbed right on board the Twitter bus, elbowing my way to a window seat! Not because of my friends Alex, or even CJ! Nope. It's all because of this guy. The man, the myth, the legend, the D.C. regional treasure, Mr. Don Geronimo (Michael Sorce).

I fell in love with the show about 1994-ish. Before I knew my husband, before I knew of this thing called "internet", and well before I ever started knitting. The Don and Mike show is one of my most favorite things in the world, despite it not even being on the air any more. One time, I flew from SLO to DC, stayed in a complete stranger's home and had people in several states all meet up at the station - completely grassroots and one of my treasured memories. On the airwaves, I've listened to his son grow up, him and his wife agree, disagree and laugh together, his heartbreaking talk when Freda suddenly died (and I still tear up just writing that), antics with the other guys on the show, descriptions of his bat cave, the princess phone and his thoughts while viewing television shows. Years and years and years of 4-hours-a-day, 5-days-a-week funny ass shit. There is an entire online community based around the D&M Show (and remember, the "D" in that show left the airways quite a while ago!) and it's where I'm the only female moderator and have been since around 2001. I love the show that much.

Today I found out that he twitters, and so now I'm a bangwagon-jumper-on-er! Oh, you bet'cha I'm following his tweets!

Humanity? Color Me Done:

The Mike's fishing partner (and a really good friend of ours . . . usually . . .) showed up this last Sunday night. To stay for the week. Not just him, but his teen-aged son. Ayup. Please to be knowing that they live in Porterville. Two-and-a-half-freak'n hours away.

Call me koo-koo-krazy, but wouldn't the average duck either 1) call about a week ahead of time to clear it or 2) at least take 5 minutes somewhere during that 2.5 hour drive to call ahead and clear it.

Y'all know how this story played out, I'm sure. No call until they were a few minutes away.

He shows up, not only with a packed case for him and his kidlet, but gawd-damn pillows to boot. Again, if you have time to put extra pillows in your hooptie, you're thinking about the ending of your journey (our house!) and should take a few minutes to get on the horn and give your "friends" a heads-up. And by "friends" I mean me and The Mike.

Don't get me wrong - we love them to pieces and bits and would never turn them away. Our friend is a pleasure to know and his son is from the same mold.

My only complaint, which starts with them but expands to life in general, is . . . where is the civility any more?

The civility that calls before it shows up?

The civility that uses voice-to-voice instead of text messages?

The civility that says "Thank You" when a food server tops off your beverage.

The civility that makes eye-contact with the person behind the check-out counter.

The civility that hangs up their goddamn cellphone in order to maintain human interaction.

The civility that keeps our middle finger tucked down as we pass the slow driver over in the passing lane.

Really. Just the (used to be) common courtesy we all had instilled in us from our parents.

Maybe I'm turning into that stereotypical old lady that shakes her fist against interlopers on her suburban lawn, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least.

I'm just so damn done with people who don't appreciate other people's boundaries.

Oh, and our friend that showed up Sunday with his kidlet? He's here working for this week (and many more after)and his son J is "off on break" from Monache (yeah, where we just escaped from) and "would it be okay if he (J) hung out here?".

Ain't no way we're saying no. J is a very good egg and we respect him immensely (yeah, I just wrote that I not only just respect a teenage boy, but that I respect him immensely. So. Get. The. Irony.)

Bottom line is, our very good friend dropped his (and his kid's) visit on us Last Effing Minute. When did that behavior become not only passable, but fucking acceptable?

Brass Tacks:

I know (I know, I know I know (hides head in shame, trust you me) it's been a Coon's Damn Age since I've talked over at my Blue Content page.

Here's where I talk The Truth, ugly as it may be, and trustyoume, it's fucking ugly.

The economy (lower case) is in the toilet. Everywhere we turn, we're bombarded with Bad Economy, Bad Investment, Bad Investors (Hi Mr. Madoff), bad start-ups, BAD BAD BAD.

Who lost this round? You, me and every small business owner we personally know. Who won this round? I'm thinking every Insurance/Investment/Government Contract Holder tied to big business six ways to Sunday.

That's my Brass Tacks vision at the moment. We (as Americans) have some big damn issues to deal with. Don't think we don't, because we do. We certainly do.

What are you all doing right now?

We'll Call This One a *Coincidence*, Okay?

I noticed my eye twitch seems to have corrected itself right around 9:00 am today.

Hmmm.

Interesting . . .

The Mike hit the road about 9:00 am today.

[sarcasm] What an odd coinkydink [/sarcasm]

Once he left, all my gift-knitting tension seemed to have abated and things are going VERY well here at Chez Knitting Blue Content. I think tomorrow's forecast calls for more of the same! :contented sigh:

Tick Tock:

An eye tick is the first sign that I. Am. Stressed. Out.

The second sign is when my back gives up the ghost and that second sign shows up pretty soon after the first sign.

Please Be to whatever makes this crazy world spin that my back doesn't give out.

I promise that I get it - Too Much.

As I'm ass-deep in Too Much, the only thing I'm noticing that isn't ass-deep in ANYTHING is The Mike.

This may very well be the last holiday I put up with his lazy-assed Ass Self.

More to come while I'm home at Christmas and he's at The Parents for the 39th year in a row . . . opening presents that *I* made while he slept through the last 50 afternoons.

Eye. Still. Twitching.

Change Is Upon Us:

First off, yes, I voted Obama today and the results tonight have me over the moon.

Here's the thing though. I have no real deep problem with Mr. McCain being our commander-in-chief either. There are some issues I don't think he addresses as well as I would have liked, but I feel that for Mr. Obama as well . . . just to a lesser degree.

Both of them picked running mates I am not for . . . just to a lesser degree with Mr. Biden. Mrs. Palin, quite frankly? I don't think there is one thing she's about that makes sense to me, outside of being supportive of Mr. McCain.

I would have like to have seen Mrs. Clinton on the ticket with Mr. Obama. Maybe that would have been too polarizing for the fence-sitters? I don't know. Political strategists and pundits can answer that better than me.

It just seems that Mr. Obama has *it*. That *thing*. A way of communicating hope and change and of feeling represented that no one else in this election has shown me. That I haven't felt for a good long time.

I feel a sense of peace now, knowing that in a few short months our country will be on the start of correcting its path - back towards prosperity, greatness and hope.

Enough with the fear and despair and oppression. Enough with our rights being snatched away under the guise of "in our best interest". Enough with the last 8 years of tanking this country and not looking out for our best interests.

E damn 'nuff.

Tonight I feel the change we're embarking on, and I want to be a part of it and our country again. Barack does that. He has the *it* and a grace about him that makes me believe in us again.

Plus One Minus One Equals Zero

Mike and I voted today, and we voted the complete opposite on everything except for Proposition 2 (you can read an overview of it here).

That means we basically cancel the other out with our votes.

Oh well, at least I made it so his vote doesn't count and I'm sure he feels the same way.

Fingers crossed there are less of him out there in our country, and more of me, LOL.

You know I took pictures!

"No on 8" Rally/Picnic in San Luis Obispo

If you have interest, there will be a rally/picnic to get out the "NO ON PROP 8" word.

Details:

When: This Sunday, November 2, 2008 at 2pm
Where: Mitchell Park in San Luis Obispo (Santa Rosa and Pismo streets)

More information can be found by clicking here.

It's the least I can do to help my fellow Californians in their fight for legal equality.

5 Years Ago Tonight:

I was a single gal, sleeping my last evening as an unmarried person, both nervous and excited.

The last five years have absolutely flown by and it blows me away.

Tomorrow, we celebrate another milestone anniversary and either commit to one more year or quit.

Something tells me we're both re-committing, although sometimes I wonder if one of us just needs to be committed, period, lol.

HBD To Me:

I'm a day late, but still. It's my blog and my 40th, so I make the rules, lol!

So much to catch up on and sorry to disappoint, but no pics at the moment.

If y'all remember, I made mention a while ago that I was planning a "Day of Crafting" the weekend of my birthday, and I cyber-invited all my friends (and even someone I haven't met in person but would love the honor of hanging out with *waves to Ellen*).

Between the original idea formulating and this last weekend, Suzanne, Christy and Carolyn all visited one right after the other and it wasn't feasible for them to come right back over again. The only other person I miss terribly since moving - Diana - is going through a hard time and I knew it would be nigh on impossible for her to make it over.

Despite all who were not there, there was a lot of fun had by those that did make it.

My BIL's girlfriend Misti brought the set-up to make one candle, which she did and then gave to me :grin:. I got to turn her on to the BPAL site Ms. Violet is always talking about for her soap-making supplies. Misti also got to listen and participate in a spirited discussion between me and my sister, regarding California's Proposition 8. It was great having Misti see me among "my people" and not as only another member of my husband's (and her boyfriend's) family!

My sister brought a metric ass-load of rubberstamping supplies and I gotta say . . . it was SO. FUN. !!! More on that later.

My photog friend Alex was in attendance and was such a good sport, she made a card and embellished it with some beads and shiny yarn from my enormous stash. She's not crafty, but I think that's only because she's never been exposed to stuff like this. Her grandmother is a knitter though, and she's said she MAY be interested in trying it "one day" . . . y'all know I'm slowly working that addiction, right? :evil laugh: Although Alex is only 20 y.o. she and I have hit it right off. She's really a tough nut to crack and she reminds me of myself at that age in a ton of ways. She also looks ALOT like my 16 year old niece, which is familiar in a way, but kinda freaky in another, lol.

Sheila eventually made it over after a very long day (and week) of work (she works in the government - elections - and this is pretty much her "tax season" and LORDYLORDY I know exactly what that's like!) She didn't have any knitting with her, so she worked on rubberstamping as well.

The afternoon/evening was slow to start and then ramped up quickly - I didn't even get to the dinner part until 8pm, although I made sure to have dessert ready just as people started to show up. It was my day and I gave license to eat dessert first! Due to the hectic-ness (it so too is a word) my time to craft didn't get going until late in the evening. Eventually everyone wandered towards home and my sister stayed over. I continued to play with all the stamping/crafting stuff until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.

The next morning, my sister and I continued to play. That woman has, no lie, a stash of rubberstamping stuff six times larger than my stash of yarn! She's been into it for 20 years too, and has done it as a 'business' for several years.

When she finally left around 2pm, I got myself together and picked up Alex so we could head out and take pictures at Montana De Oro.

I did not bill this "Day of Craft" as a birthday party. I just wanted my friends to come together, meet each other, and have a fun time. Mission Accomplished!

Other Little Bits:

I blew Alex away with my "craft room". She was genuinely taken aback by the volume of my stash and my deep love of knitting. She had no idea from the times we've gone on photog excursions and the look on her face was priceless. My friend Rhonda didn't make it, which surprised me, and my sister gave me the best presents! A "starter kit" of rubberstamping and (drumroll please . . . ) a camera tripod. If you could've seen me opening it on Sunday morning. Snoopy Dance and whooping right in my living room. I'm SO stoked about it . Also, Mike is getting me the only present I requested - (and yes, CJ, I absolutely stole this from you!) - low-top CLEAR Converse All-Stars to wear with my colorful hand-knit socks.



How frigg'n cool are THOSE babies?

Now I'm 40 and it doesn't feel a damn different than 27 or 34.

Halloween Options:

It just dawned on me tonight that Mike and I are ready-made for the perfect Halloween costume.

Don't laugh. Give it a moment . . .

For your consideration, the roles we were destined to play:



I'm the thinner blond one . . .



And a certain someone - after letting their facial hair grow a bit - is the other one . . .



What say you?

I think we could rock a costume contest with this get-up. The Mike just has to remember that he's the SILENT one, lol!

I Like to Die:

It is so incredibly warm here today. Three months away from the Central Valley summer heat has turned me into a mild-temperatured pussy apparently! That and no air conditioning. SLO doesn't believe in it.

99 degrees today.

CJ, you really picked a great time to visit! The crap overcast weather had just passed, and you got in when it was about perfect.

Today, we're miserable hot.

More to come - once I dry off my sweaty palms and neck!

Crash and Burn, Bass Style:

Do you see them on the list here?

No?

You have to squint and start from the bottom up . . .

Now?

Yeah, 53rd place. What a difference a day *does* make, LOL!

I've come to realize that while he and I can compare our passions, there is a point where we aren't comparable at all.

We both need tools: Multiple rods & reels versus multiple types of needles

We both need inventory: Multiple type yarns versus multiple type lures.

Here's were the difference lies.

I don't "bet" on my passion. I can sit in my living room and be content for hours upon days upon weeks. He on the other hand is not content to take his boat to a local lake and just sit and fish for hours upon days upon weeks. He has to enter competitions and basically bet on the activity. Paying money to "win" a game.

Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods didn't sit in their living rooms dreaming of skill. They got out and practiced, practiced, practiced and practiced some more. Mike wants to only fish for competition and apparently he's not that great at it. I'm guessing this is because of the hours he spends *dreaming* of winning versus the hours he never spends practicing.

The betting is the part I'm really souring on.

Thank you Diana, for the info on the Patron Saint of Fish! It didn't even dawn on me that you'd have the answer, LOL. I just love how there is a saint for everything.

I think I need to get in touch with the Patron Saint of Bettors, or Debtors, or something :eyeroll:

#10 With a Bullet, Baby!:

Check that out!

Out of 96 teams (2 people to a team) Mike and his partner are in tenth place for the first day.

AWESOME!

Tomorrow is another day, and anything can happen (and what other sports platitudes can I throw in there, LOL!) Another team can snag a 10lb slob right off the bat tomorrow morning and change everything. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen.

Everyone practiced Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and Mike didn't catch one fish those first two days, and caught just a few yesterday.

All that matters is today and tomorrow though.

Which one is the patron saint of fish? I need to talk to that guy, LOL!

I'm really happy for his results today - because he's just over the moon about it.

Pictures when my camera gets back, and news as it happens.

And Thus it Starts:

After the visit with my sis last Wednesday, we made a date for her to come over this Wednesday and we'd work on my craft room.

Then I remembered that The Mike was going to be out of town and I have zero interest in doing anything responsible (outside of the care of my pets, of course!) while he's gone so I changed the plans to me going over to her house so she could show me some of my manual camera's features and settings.

Fast forward to our date day today. She already called crying about how she doesn't 'feel well'. No. Literally. Crying. Tears. Sniffles. The whole waterworks show.

I told her it was entirely up to her if she wants company or not, as I have absolutely no agenda besides goofing around with my camera. I wasn't planning some big excursion - just futzing around her house and seeing the family as they got home during the afternoon.

I'm going over in a few, against my better judgement.

I JUST KNEW IT. One week. That's all she could last before dragging out her well-worn blanket of Mystery Illness that she wraps around herself for comfort and sympathy. Too bad Fate gave her a sister born without the pity gene, LOL.

Today, I ran across this on the interwebs while looking at some local SLO stuff.

"It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber."

It's from Food Not Bombs, and SLO has a local chapter.

LOVE THAT!

Gone Fish'n:

I left The Mike in a parking lot in Morro Bay at 5:30 this morning and now he's on his way to Clearlake for a really big fishing tournament. He qualified in the Golden Valley region.

I think I'm going to miss my camera the most, LOL.

Lucky me though, my friend Suzanne gifted me two really nice cameras and there's no excuse left to not start trying them out.

After I get some more sleep. It is WAAAAY to early to be up!

I don't know how much blogging I'll get to this week though - no husband for the next 5 days is too good to waste sitting around the computer, don't you think?

No Tears Equals A Good Visit:

The visit is done, and it went better than I expected. It's not that I want the worst, but I know my sister . . . usually.

It actually went pretty well, and we had a good visit. I think we both are ready to start on easy ground and stay there, for at least a while. No drama trigger points.

She even made a date to come visit again next Wednesday! Her. Visiting Me. LOL.

Postponed:

After several phone calls starting at 10am today, my sister decided at 1pm that she needed to stay home and take care of her daughter.

Since my niece had a headache and her boyfriend just broke up with her as well.

:eyeroll:

It's been postponed until tomorrow.

I really would have liked to be sitting here tonight with it already behind me.