Shiny Painted Faces

Yesterday, after convincing the Public Library that I really am trustworthy to have my privileges back, I was driving downtown and saw that they are repainting the old mural on the bridge. Not only is the paint new, shiny and not partly peeled off onto the road it's a completely different mural than before. Granted it's probably more appropriate than scenes of the Berlin Wall coming down, ancient history that it is. Considering the blandness of downtown I'm really happy something bright is going to be there and hopefully it'll last just as long as the first one did.

There's something to be said for summer. Surely someone has written something epic and poetic in praise of the season and everything that goes with it. I might even try it myself one day. Today I am reduced to spending a great deal of time erasing type as my wayward bandaged finger is stumbling over the keys like a drunk sailor on stilts. All this free time is getting to me. It's strange and bizarre and so so so boring. I miss school. I miss stress. I miss anything that is not sit in the house, or outside of house or up the street from house. If this is what retirement is like I'm glad I have like 50 more years to go. So against my better judgement I have started Warcracking again. For a few weeks I debated whether to quit all together or at least take a break for a few months like last year. But I like talking to everyone and then the walls in my house tried to eat me so I went back like a bat out of hell.

Last summer was so cool. A pilgrimage to different authors' homes and roots. People I have read and respected since I was a child. But I ran out of authors who lived an easy drive from my house. So August is now the month of new adventures, new places and new calls to my Dad when I get horribly lost and can't find the interstate...again. Woot, all hail Summer!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Kay! It is my niece's 21st birthday and to that can I get a wohoo? Wohoo! When I left the party the tiki bar was still going strong and I think they were setting up beer pong. Now only the best parties have tiki bars and light up straws. The thunderstorm and later on heat lightning only added a bit of natural flare to the otherwise brilliant afternoon.

Sadly I could not stay until 12 when everyone is going down to the Anchor for her first drink in a bar, but I'm sure it'll be great. I need sleep. Not for work, I really couldn't care less about whether I am conscious or not as I watch cameras. No tomorrow is the day I have waited months for. The Dark Knight...at IMAX. Oh Yeah. It's gonna be sweet so I am getting as much sleep tonight as I can so I don't accidentally fall asleep before we leave. It's happened before and I will not let it happen again.

Plus, well, I don't sleep much and for whatever reason I am really very sleepy right now. I think I will take advantage and soak up as much as I can.

Encounters with Nature

What a week. There's been action, thrills, and pouting, with some scary jolts and laughs. Where to start... So the neighborhood has come under attack. Barbed wire has been laid out and motors fire off occasionally in the dark. Nature has arrived. By nature I mean a large as-of-right-now unidentified animal that is now Jupitor's nemesis. 3am rolls around a few days ago and I am blasted out of a dead sleep, (sadness!) by Jup trying to get at something. One tiny problem, there were walls between him and it. So he tried to go through the window. Apparently this mystery animal wasn't finished cause it came back two nights ago. Now I think it's just taunting him.

Considering the area where I live one would think wildlife would be everywhere. Take skunks, at my old house we had a 'neighbor', whenever I would call the cats in for the night he's show up too. Completely unagressive, tail down, he was kind of cute. I wanted to call him Shep. Down here I have not seen nor smelled a skunk. So tonight on our walk Jup was acting weird. I was expecting 'the nemesis' what we got was one pissed off skunk. Tail up guarding his meal of garbage down the street so I did what any normal person would do. I ran. What did Jup do? He walked. No self preservation instinct.

However, Jup can't be counted out yet. It's bizzare to say but I think he's been rolling his eyes at me lately. You seen I have just reached the tail end of a binge. I have an...addiction. Sometimes binges just happen and you don't even realize until you're in the middle. He has watched me for two weeks and I am happy to say it is finally over. Mostly for two reasons. A)I remembered I'm not an ATM machine, B)I have run out of bookcase space and now have overflow piles. Not saying that books are a bad thing but, well, damn I have no argument that works.

Mecca has been found!

There are very few times in life when you find something that truly sings to your heart and soul. Something that echoes with who you are and who you want to be. Today I found such a thing. Ninja Warrior. Oh yeah I have jumped into the inexplicably fun world of genius. Go ahead. Google it. You'll see what I'm talking about. Who would have thought Japanese t.v. would be so fun.

Ok so yes I have a love affair with a country that I will never fully understand no matter how long I try. Dealing with a culture so vastly different from my own does have mines and I am sure the culture shock I go into when I finally reach that near mythic shore will be equal to a mild coma but there is beauty there. Forget the shinto temples, the fads and bustle of Tokyo, the food and manners. While they are nice right now all the beauty that my mind can see is the half an hour of happiness I find when Ninja Warrior is on. I cheer, I laugh, I even make sqwiggy faces when someone doesn't land right.

I want more Ninja Warrior! Sadness. It's not on for the rest of the night. :(

But oh the memories...

Flying Cows

It's one of those days. A day when nothing goes wrong but nothing goes really right either. Everything is squewed slightly to the side like. That is the day I am having. But it's ok. I have a buffer, a pillow of happiness. Like something straight out of a Piers Anthony novel it is there when I most need it. Canolli Cake. Oh my God I have found a new obsession. This stuff is my own personal crack. And the dessert gods smile down on me since I live right near the bakery responsible for this WMD.



OOo look, a transition. Not one of my usually, that-doesn't-make-any-sort-of-linear-sense kind of transition either. Ready? Self control. Obviously since I am now trying to hook myself up to a canolli cake IV I lack this important yet optional life skill.

The question is how much self control can and should one person have?