Saturday, June 27, 2009

Happy Pride!

It's Pride weekend here in Minneapolis and I love it! Pride always brings such happiness to the cities for a weekend. Everyone puts away the animosity for a few days and just shares good things. I worked at the Barnes and Noble booth at Loring Park today, just getting people to sign up for a book drawing. I people watched and enjoyed the day.

Tomorrow is the Pride parade and I love that day. When I first started going to pride with my boys it was several years ago, we meet in front of Rock Bottom Brewery downtown every year. My old friend Davey's parents are there with homemade Bloddy Mary's and we all watch the parade, and laugh and have such a good time. And now all my boys have moved to another state. It's not the same without them. I missed them a lot today even while I was working. But tomorrow I think I'll miss them even more. We all still meet in front of Rock Bottom, Davey's parents are still there, and we still have a blast. There will be other friends, boys that I've met over the years, but no one can replace my good old gays.

Heres to you Ryan, Nate, Justin, Matt (newbie), Skippy and James. I miss you more this weekend than ever before.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

When living alone sucks

When you're having a hard day, and it's at the end, and all you want is a hug, thats when living alone sucks. It's late at night and there is no one around and you just want some company. You have nothing to say so a phone call doesn't make sense. You just want someone around, to sit and be with, so you know you're not alone.

My own place is great. But tonight, right now, it's very melancholy.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Today on my bike.

I have never hit an animal with a vehicle while I've been driving. I did once hit a deer coming back from college, with my aunt driving, in someone else's car, withe me in shotgun. But with me driving, no dead animals, thank God.

Today was a different story.

I almost ran over a squirrel. On my bike. The squirrels in Loring Park are stupid and mangy. And they don't brake and run the other way like they usually do in the street. One ugly little bugger ran across just a foot away from my front tire today. I screamed and probably swore at it and rode on.

And then on the way home, I realized that without a windshield of a car, on my bike my face takes it place. On my ride home today I was hit in the eye and the mouth with bugs.

Ick.

But I am going green. I am getting my exercise. And I am saving money with no gas and very little use of my bus card. I think all of that out-weighs the comical-ness of what I experienced on my two-wheels today.

Here is a picture of my bike, by the way. Isn't she fabulous?!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

My little vacation

So I got back from a trip to Olympia, WA to watch a close family friend graduate college. She's like my kid sister and I couldn't be more proud! She has really grown into an independent woman and I'm glad to call her my friend.

Here are some photographic highlights of the trip.


This was the whole gang on the trip. We were on a really really tall bridge, and I saw a great photo op. The dog, however, is not ours. It belonged to the lady who took our picture.


We harvested (if that is the correct word) our own mussels, clams, and oysters nearly every night for pre-dinner. And my word, were they delicious!


Me and my mama. Such a great photo of both of us.


This is an art project that Alicia had been working on called the Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Project. Check out the link at the top! It's amazing!

And this was one of the views from our beach house. Lovely isn't it?

I would retire out there! It was so serene and beautiful and right on the ocean. It could have been the fact that I was ready for a good vacation but it really is a place I'd consider. I like the water and the sun shined (which I realize doesn't happen all that often in Washington) but I also like the rain.

We laughed a lot! And drank and laughed some more. I read, laid out in the sun, went shopping, did a little writing, it was wonderful. And one of the best parts about it I was with people I care a great deal about. They are like family and we celebrate many things together.

It's now back to work, which I don't mind. And back to Minneapolis, which I love. And back to my own bed, which is fabulous. But that vacation hit my need-to-relax-longer-than-a-day-off spot.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

How great is this?!

Tonight I went to my first book club. It's called Books and Bars and it's the second Tuesday of every month at Bryant Lake Bowl. And it's uber fun! I didn't even read the book (which was Bonk by Mary Roach) and I was still able to follow the conversation. My friend Holly mentioned it to me a few months back and neither of us had ever been but neither of us wanted to go for the first time alone. So tonight we finally went and it was totally worth it! Everyone was so open and had interesting things to say. And I even spoke up a few times after the conversation turned from the book to more a societal take. I made some new friends and am going to read the book for next month. That way I'll actually have something to say that pertains to the actual topic at hand.

Then when I got home I sat on my front stoop for about an hour with my neighbors. Karen (who actually went to my high school), Danielle and Lance. We chatted and laughed. Danielle's kids are coming into town for a visit, Lance used to live in Albuquerque, and Karen watched some drunks fight at the Scottish Rite Temple last night. All 3 of us just love where we live and I see them out on the stoop many a evening. I am going to start joining them more often. That was fun.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Two observations

I saw Phantom of the Opera last night with my friend Kerstin. It was wonderful. The lighting was a bit dim. It was full of shadows and really reflected the mood of the scene which is all good. But I would have bumped it all up about 10%. It just seemed a bit dark on stage. The Phantom nearly broke my heart at the end when Christine chooses Raul. And the set was huge! So many drops and and on-coming pieces! On the way out after the show Kerstin and I counted 8 trucks. Thats right, 8 53 foot semis for this show. I thought "My God. This has to be at least a 10 hour load out." When I got off the bus this morning at nearly 7am, they were still loading out the show. Thats insane. All my little shows were just max a 3 hour load out.

But it did make me miss tour. Just a bit. It was so fast paced and so fun, and always kept you on your toes. I would love to call a show like that. With all this stuff flying in and flying out at each scene change. Take about multi-tasking!

On another note, there is a fella who comes into work every day but rarely buys anything. He's at least 75, if not older. Always has on a suit and tie, has his cane with him and his hat on. (And today we noticed that he has guitar picks stuck in the band around his hat. Talk about styling!) I don't think he can see very well because most of the time he just sits and stares at nothing specific. And I know he can't hear very well because when we hear him talk, it's more like shouting. Probably just so he can hear himself.

Well in the last week he's been a Chatty Cathy because he's had some sweet old lady sit down next to him and have a conversation. And boy, does he have something to say! But the best part is, you can barely understand what he's saying! If any of you have seen the movie Snatch with Brad Pitt, that is what he sounds like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJw6PAi5Q8&feature=related
Theres the youtube link so you can listen.

But today we heard him say something about McDonald's and chicken and a 4 piece. And then he said "Hidy ho." I think his mind just wanders from one point to another and he'll tell anyone whos sitting around about it. Last week the woman who he was with grabbed his hand and leaned in a kissed him on the cheek. Well, this chap got the biggest grin on his face! It was so cute! I can't catch most of what he says because I can't understand him. I just get the biggest kick out of the fact that he's been coming in for months, silent and sitting. And just lately we've heard him talk! And boy does he have stuff to say!

Today we were wondering what he was like when he was younger. He was surly in World War II, but we thought perhaps he was in a jazz band, played the guitar. He seemed smooth like that. We don't know his name, we just call him the Detective because any time we see him reading anything he has a ginormous magnifying glass with him. And he's in just about every day. My guess is he lives in a senior center somewhere near downtown and this is his daily outing.

I hope he has more lady friends sit and visit, so we can watch him interact. It's endearing.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Looking back

Last week at some point I was sitting in my apartment doing nothing in particular and I started going through my old blog posts. I went all the way back to the first one and moved forward. Man, did I hate living in Las Cruces. It says something about the town you live in when your favorite part of your day is going to work. And not that it's a bad thing, but I hated it so much that I made myself find at least 3 good things a day to write about so I wouldn't be complaining all the time. Now granted there were a few other things going on in my life too that led to my unhappiness but still.

They say where you live is all about location location location. And now I firmly believe that. I am in a city I love, I'm in a prime location where I can ride my bike to work, and I have public transportation right outside my door. And I just love it here so much more than the desert.

Since I've moved home I haven't had the need to find 3 good things a day because I am no longer that unhappy. My daily life is just good and I can look at it as a whole, rather than bits a pieces. Even though it really is the little things that make it all worth while. But now there are more and more good little things that make up my day rather than 3 things that I had to find to make me happy.

However, in the spirit of my old posts, today's 3 good things are
1. I have a new haircut and feel very sassy.
2. I am going on vacation in a week and can't hardly wait!
3. I close today which means I got to sleep-in a bit this morning.