Abject apologies I just returned from my daily swim on the beautiful Fijian beach and realised I have not updated this since I fell in love... You would not believe how hard it is being waited on hand and foot and generally lounging around. Truly!.
I am absolutely consumed with my tan, waiting for the onshore winds, just generally being a Darling to society in general, my day seems to be packed from mid-morning to way past dusk. I am smitten. Life is good.
I send you kisses although very chaste ones. Truly! What do you mean you don't believe me?
This post brought to you courtesy of those brilliant Aussies.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
NM in the News
Spaceport in Sierra County - which is the county just to the south of Socorro County. Check it out:
Life is a roller coaster
All kinds of good news today, but the thing that's on my mind is that I have been really stupid in my dealings with one person who I really like and who's good opinion is important to me, and it was through total ineptness...so, blah. Must fix.
The good news come in all descriptions. Had a great time with a friend last night, made new friends today, ordered harmonicas.
New friends are from PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Gays And Lesbians) who are going to help start a PFLAG Socorro chapter. I'm slightly daunted by the basic requirements - have to form a non-profit corporation, have to have officers for said non-profit, no doubt have to have bank account for said non-profit. But we'll have help with all that, from Katherine and Sheila, who are awesome.
I met them at the Manzanares Coffeehouse's 1st Annual Pride Celebration. The Manzanares - also, awesome. I'm hoping we can have our first meeting there on July 19. which is the third Sunday.
So, yay!
The good news come in all descriptions. Had a great time with a friend last night, made new friends today, ordered harmonicas.
New friends are from PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Gays And Lesbians) who are going to help start a PFLAG Socorro chapter. I'm slightly daunted by the basic requirements - have to form a non-profit corporation, have to have officers for said non-profit, no doubt have to have bank account for said non-profit. But we'll have help with all that, from Katherine and Sheila, who are awesome.
I met them at the Manzanares Coffeehouse's 1st Annual Pride Celebration. The Manzanares - also, awesome. I'm hoping we can have our first meeting there on July 19. which is the third Sunday.
So, yay!
Saturday, June 13, 2009
good news and good news
We're just back from the Albuquerque Gay Pride festivities - that was a blast! The parade was great fun. And also educational. I have to say, I was momentarily disconcerted by the Albuquerque Leather float, but my kids, who've had a somewhat sheltered life, took the sight of a scantily leather clad man chained to the float and being urged on by a man cracking a long whip and also being poked in the behind with a flag pole completely in stride...good for them, I say! Also the Self Serve Toys float didn't appear to faze them in the least. The enormous replica of a self-servicing device on that float..well, the mind boggles.
We were camped out on the median of Central Avenue not far from a place where I once saw Taj Mahal. And later in the day, we went to Barnes & Nobles and I picked up an awesome Taj Mahal CD, with some choice harmonica playing on it.
I keep my harmonica in a special room in my house, a room I visit several times a day. Instead of reading comics in there, I now pick up the harmonica and blow a few notes. It seems to be a good strategy - the acoustics are good, and I think I'm improving. At this rate, when it comes time for the 2nd Ever Socorro Fest Harmonica Contest in October, I will totally blow!
But that's part of the good news - at this year's Socorro Fest, there will indeed be another harmonica contest. And this year, the prize money may make it worth the drive for out-of-towners.
I feel like I'm ready for something more than a cheap Hohner in the key of C, which is what I've got...but I wish there was some middle ground between the Hohner Piedmont Blues 7 Harmonica Pack with Case at $20 and the Hering USA Kit Master Blues 6 harp set at $130. Then again, when you consider what you could pay for a Hohner Bob Dylan Hand-Signed 7-Piece Harmonica Set ($25,000) it seems that $130 is not so expensive after all. Wonder which key is missing in the Hering Set? B, in case you wanted to know. And if you're in the key of B, you can use your F harmonica anyway, so who needs it? What do harp players do when someone hits them with a song in A#? Is it all about bending the notes at that point?
Well, long day.
We were camped out on the median of Central Avenue not far from a place where I once saw Taj Mahal. And later in the day, we went to Barnes & Nobles and I picked up an awesome Taj Mahal CD, with some choice harmonica playing on it.
I keep my harmonica in a special room in my house, a room I visit several times a day. Instead of reading comics in there, I now pick up the harmonica and blow a few notes. It seems to be a good strategy - the acoustics are good, and I think I'm improving. At this rate, when it comes time for the 2nd Ever Socorro Fest Harmonica Contest in October, I will totally blow!
But that's part of the good news - at this year's Socorro Fest, there will indeed be another harmonica contest. And this year, the prize money may make it worth the drive for out-of-towners.
I feel like I'm ready for something more than a cheap Hohner in the key of C, which is what I've got...but I wish there was some middle ground between the Hohner Piedmont Blues 7 Harmonica Pack with Case at $20 and the Hering USA Kit Master Blues 6 harp set at $130. Then again, when you consider what you could pay for a Hohner Bob Dylan Hand-Signed 7-Piece Harmonica Set ($25,000) it seems that $130 is not so expensive after all. Wonder which key is missing in the Hering Set? B, in case you wanted to know. And if you're in the key of B, you can use your F harmonica anyway, so who needs it? What do harp players do when someone hits them with a song in A#? Is it all about bending the notes at that point?
Well, long day.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Six months go by so quickly
Wow. Almost halfway through this year with no reportage. That's because there's so much to do in Socorro. Seriously. I've never been so busy in my life.
But I feel a bout of self-improvement coming on, which I do better when I chronicle my efforts. The problem with self-improvement is that you rarely want to improve just one thing about yourself. No, you want a sweeping overhaul. If I started making a list, I'd be sobbing over my keyboard somewhere around item twenty-nine. It's the kind of thing you almost don't want to share with anyone.
So I'm going to pick one thing at random from my list and tackle that. I want to play the harmonica. Harmonica Central seems like a good place to start. Free lesson number one - Red River Valley. Nothing is explained. Hmmm. I'll get back to you on this. But in the meantime, this youtube video of Jon Gindick playing Safe Sex with 10 Holes in 12th position (with 3rd position foreplay) is totally worth watching.
But I feel a bout of self-improvement coming on, which I do better when I chronicle my efforts. The problem with self-improvement is that you rarely want to improve just one thing about yourself. No, you want a sweeping overhaul. If I started making a list, I'd be sobbing over my keyboard somewhere around item twenty-nine. It's the kind of thing you almost don't want to share with anyone.
So I'm going to pick one thing at random from my list and tackle that. I want to play the harmonica. Harmonica Central seems like a good place to start. Free lesson number one - Red River Valley. Nothing is explained. Hmmm. I'll get back to you on this. But in the meantime, this youtube video of Jon Gindick playing Safe Sex with 10 Holes in 12th position (with 3rd position foreplay) is totally worth watching.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
First, possibly last, time for everything
What do you do with a worthless book? No, back up, first I have to determine whether there is such a thing as a worthless book. Having been raised to respect the printed word above all, above God even, I have a hard time overcoming the belief that no matter how wretched the prose or rancid the content, there isn't a book that isn't redeemed just by the fact that it is a book.
In all my life I've never thrown away a book. (Thrown away magazines, newspapers, yes, so why should a book be sacred? I've packed them, hauled them, sold them, donated them, given them away, left them behind.)
Yes, I dog-ear my pages, but I don't write in them, in pen or pencil or with a highlighter, or tear pages out, or even parts of pages. I can barely stand to write my name in a book - when I do the handwriting shows how close this is to me to real profanity. (Why is dog-earing okay? Don't ask me. I don't know. This is just how my mind works.)
I've burned a few books - bad ones - romance novels*. Not to prevent other people from reading them. Just to stay warm. But I don't throw them away. Until just now.
Yes, I know all about recycling. Socorro recycles. Tries to make it easy. I threw them away, even though I could have stored them a little longer until the next free recycling drop-off day.
There was something symbolic about it, because they were books belonging to my ex, who is not a reader. They were all crap, Tim LeHaye crap and things like it. They were in my house, and now they're gone. Yay!
The next batch I'll recycle. Okay? Okay.
____________________________________________
* My sister once survived a long journey cross country in a van by reading romance novels. She was desperate. Some one, not a reader, had given her a stack. When she finished each one, she threw it out the window. This was not a stellar time in her life.
In all my life I've never thrown away a book. (Thrown away magazines, newspapers, yes, so why should a book be sacred? I've packed them, hauled them, sold them, donated them, given them away, left them behind.)
Yes, I dog-ear my pages, but I don't write in them, in pen or pencil or with a highlighter, or tear pages out, or even parts of pages. I can barely stand to write my name in a book - when I do the handwriting shows how close this is to me to real profanity. (Why is dog-earing okay? Don't ask me. I don't know. This is just how my mind works.)
I've burned a few books - bad ones - romance novels*. Not to prevent other people from reading them. Just to stay warm. But I don't throw them away. Until just now.
Yes, I know all about recycling. Socorro recycles. Tries to make it easy. I threw them away, even though I could have stored them a little longer until the next free recycling drop-off day.
There was something symbolic about it, because they were books belonging to my ex, who is not a reader. They were all crap, Tim LeHaye crap and things like it. They were in my house, and now they're gone. Yay!
The next batch I'll recycle. Okay? Okay.
____________________________________________
* My sister once survived a long journey cross country in a van by reading romance novels. She was desperate. Some one, not a reader, had given her a stack. When she finished each one, she threw it out the window. This was not a stellar time in her life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
