Add "Hostile" to the List

I've been called some incredibly colorful words in my life. Even been accused of lots of cool stuff. Most of which I've actually done! It is with my heart filled with jubilant glee, that I announce I have officially been called hostile. Nope, not in any action I took with political revolution. Not even in a situation about which I hold passion. Not towards a well-deserved family member. Methinks it was a total and complete misunderstanding; either related to my questions clarifying paperwork required for me to get paid or a transference of the upsetedness I voiced for a Deaf client (which is called interpreting, which is the job for which I need to ensure I get paid). Funny that nothing about the situation from either of the other two human beings involved came across as out-of-the-ordinarily-happiness we experience daily. The whole hostile thing came as a complete surprise. My boss was shocked (by me? again?) at my giggling response. I've daydreamed since, of the freedom awarded by such a reputation. If you already think me hostile, then I can get away with ___________ without tarnishing my good name ;) The campus offers such amazing opportunities for mental (read: imaginary) rebellions!
For now, I'm happy to avoid the community space to which I am invited and entitled to use in the name of peace making and snark avoidance (in my own self, but oooooh I'm tempted!), and spend time instead, in the office of my friend, chatting about ASL, American Indigenous Peoples, and offering my expertise where it is requested, while drinking Japanese tea. With honorable people who have also been labeled as hostiles. I'm in good company. And Life is Good.
and tee hee, I'm hostile! ♥

I finally got to play it!!

Yes Mary, that fateful lyric finally became useful!
Today's word, in the lyrics game, is eyes. I played first:

Doncha know you have your daddy's eyes
Daddy was an alcoholic

I still think those boys are too dang cute for such an awful lyric in such an awful song...

One Word Answers

Not as easy as you might think! Now forward, change the answers to suit you and pass it on. It's really hard to only use one word answers. Be sure to send back to the person you received it from!

Where is your cell phone? Backpack

Your spouse? Dead

Your hair? Cut

Your mother? Funny

Your father? Evolving

Your favorite thing? LOVE

Your dream last night? Kiefer ♥

Your favorite drink? Coke

Your dream/goal? Happy

What room are you in? Office

Your hobby? Knitting

Your fear? Alone

Where do you want to be in 6 years? Home

Where were were you last night? Baking

Something that you aren't? Tall

Muffins? Dairy-free

Wish list item? Laptop

Where you grew up? Safe

Last thing you did? Blog

What are you wearing? Fleece

Your pets? CHARLIE!

Friends? True

Your life? Amazing

Your mood? Moody

Missing someone? D.U.H.

Your car? Swede

Something you're not wearing? Contacts

Your favorite store? TJs

Your favorite color? Green

When is the last time you laughed? Always

Last time you cried? Today

Who will resendpost this? YOU ♥

Where do you go to over and over? California

Five people who email me regularly? Sandra, Jon, Christine, Jojo, Elizabeth

My favorite place to eat? Cafe
(you know the one, who's name is more than one word)

Favorite place I'd like to be at right now? HOME ♥

Four people I think will respond? Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe :)

Dear God (& President Obama*)

Please destroy Tom Daschle's resignation letter. Cast down your flames and make it disappear! Please?! Please?! Please?!!!! Our country needs his help and guidance through our troublesome & uncertain future. We Americans need Human Beings, those who oops on their taxes and those who make sure those oops' are taken care of, alike.
We the people are not infallible, nor should our leaders be. Accountable and Authentic. Made-in-Your-image, perfectly-flawed Human BEings.
Please open the minds and hearts of those who are so strongly set against his nomination & confirmation. Give better busi-work to those who have nothing better to do than send doubts to heart of our new administration.
If you ain't playing nice, get the heck outta the game... is exactly what you should be touting to Washington, DC.
As always, Thy Will Be Done (it's just that it's so much nicer for me when our wills align...)
Many thanks, yet again,
me

P.S. If this is leading to something even cooler for Tom and the rest of America, I can't wait to see where we're going. I'll work on that whole "trust" thing, too.

*still giddy, everytime I hear this combination of words: President + Obama ♥

"God must have been listening"

whew. Deep breath.
I picked up a newspaper today & read about a recent horrific shooting, involving a foreign exchange student. I am saddened, once again, by the senseless acts of violence we commit against one another... where does it make sense? Never mind, I don't want to know.
I'm acutely sensitive to the pain inflicted when one's child dies. I totally understand far better than I ever want to.
Yeah. And some people are just ridiculously stupid in their speaking...
Here's the quote that left town with my goat:

De Sousa almost broke down. But steadied by his wife, Tiziana Trevisan, he prayed to God: "You gave me Susy, and you are allowed to take her back to you. We all know that it can happen any time. But if you please can do it, don't take her back yet because we need her here."

God must have been listening: Susy's still here.

"This is a message that God sent to us," De Sousa said, "that Susy, she's an angel."

I guess that means that Hannah is not an angel. Mayhap God's hearing aid batteries were dead on those days I prayed (not even to mention the countless others who prayed -- and not even to the SAME God!!) asking for my daughter to be spared.
What. The. Fuck. Am. I. Supposed. To. Think?
Huh, God? Are they right? My family gets smited and their loved one survives and they chalk it up to your listening skills. Which automatically (because listening = love) means you love them more. I. Don't. Get. It.
Well fuck you Susy's Dad, My Hannah's a REAL fucking angel. And God didn't listen to you any more than He does to anyone else - Susy didn't die because it wasn't Susy's time to die. period. Amen.
Just so ya know, I am well aware that the Fuck You Susy's Dad is every bit as insensitive as his comment about God... sometimes you just gotta give a little back -- God understands, He made me this way, the asshole!

Not my first trip to NYC

Once upon a time, I did have a very first trip to NYC. My goal for my very first trip to NYC? Ice skating at Rockefeller Center. Sweet, simple, easy to accommodate and frankly, a dream-come-true for this little girl from souf'akota. Okay I wasn't a little girl then, either! I went to NYC the first time circa Christmas 1989, the Saturday before Christmas. It was wet and dirty and bustling and loud and dark and and and all those things that NYC is in the head of those who've never experienced it (except scary, I distinctly remember a lack of scary in the experience). I was with Big Joe and Ant'ny and I think one of his girlfriends... (quite possibly the one, after dating Joe's dad for 3 months, told us we couldn't sleep together when I visited -- even though we'd already been dating 3 years!!) There was the St. Patrick's Cathedral moment, which deserves an entire post of it's own... though for anyone (else) who might not know, Catholics tend to reserve the presence of baby Jesus until the day we celebrate his birth (i.e. if you're in the church on December 22 and there's no Jesus, he's not been stolen, he ain't been born yet). Of course, St. Patrick's is just down the street from 30 Rock. Easy to get me there, huh? Oh sure, we went there and we looked and Anthony decided it was too busy and he wouldn't wait for me to skate and would head back to Jersey without me if I did decide to go ahead. He says, don't worry, I'll take you to Indian food! You like Indian food? Uh no, I've never had Indian food. I just wanna skate. GREAT! Here's the Indian restaurant!
I was very sad. For a long time I thought I'd missed my one chance...
Then the earthquake happened, years and years and years later. In time to give all of us MLK Day off work. And just before our big ol' DesignTex trip to NYC. SFV Earthquake Monday, NYC Ice skating Thursday and with my bestest friend in the universe! Not only did we get to skate to our hearts content (and our LA blood permitted), we also wandered Central Park, where I borrowed a kid's sled to tackle my first hill in many years (thanks kid!), and we all went on one of them cheezy carriage rides around the Park. I got to see Strawberry Fields *and* the Dakota Building. And we played at FAO Schwarz - I've got pictures of us with Tweety there ♥ and we tried to find a public potty in the Plaza, after not finding one in Trump Towers (though their water feature was nice). What a Grand Adventure is this Life !!

This Post is Dedicated to Elton,

the Real Queen of England, Sir, or the Elton John ticket fairy,
whomever reads my blog first:
Joanna called to say, Elton is on tour with Billy Joel. We gotta go. She's willing to fly, I'm willing to drive. Now $7,000 needs to fall out of the sky so we can get front and center tickets. We deserve them. For Reals. And they're in Anaheim during the OSU Spring Break, when I already planned to be in the Los Angeles area & it wouldn't suck for Jojo to fly Omaha to LAX. OH! Maybe she could come before Wednesday for Disneyland with us, too!! ♥ ♥ ♥ Mayhap Mary left some fanatic mojo and we'll get to meet our hero... Hannah needs to be on tour with The Boys!
Jojo & I last saw Elton and Billy Joel together in Minneapolis, 2001. This is what we saw from our 60$ seats in the Target Center. Aunt Donna and Amy came along, too.
Which means our kids were probably at Tena's - Thanks again and again and again m'friend! ♥
Can anyone name those albums? Perhaps the designer of two of them? I got to interpret the concert for Amy. Here I am in the middle of "The Bitch is Back" My serious bitch interpreter face; cute, huh? Jojo did her best "Mitch interpreting Rocket Man for Amy" impersonation Amy and I had tequila shots together (which we took like men-no lime, tough face) in the downstairs bar, for Mitch, who funded our adventure post-mortem! My only soulful request was to hear Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding, in The Dead Guy's honor. Billy played it for me that night, while Elton crooned. The earth moved. I cried. I need a mischievous vacation with my sister, with Elton at it's center. See? Now to make it happen...

One o'em weeks

It's funny the little pieces that add up to a week of quiet withdrawal... about to bleed, earthquake anniversary, Hannah's love of MLK, new president, new job, kid juggling sleep/awake/loneliness... I've discovered the reason they call work, work, and not something more joy-inspiring like fun, is because it is work and the reason they pay you to work is so you find a way to inspire joy where the fun has worn thin. Love my jobs; still getting used to this whole every day routine. Frankly, it's nice for Hayden to miss me a bit. The school terms are a mere 10 weeks; I know to schedule work earlier in the day and more condensed hours (skip the extra evening hours when he's for sure awake). Interpreting comes naturally for me, and for that I am eternally and deeply grateful... 'cept this one class. I'm workin' in there. whew. My brain is t.i.r.e.d. when I'm done. That's where I make my money. And I gotta walk to the 4th floor for it (which I've just realized is a climb of 3 flights not the 4 flights I'd originally given myself credit for. still burns. may as well be 4. How did I survive highschool? oh yeah, I wasn't a 40 year old smoker back then!). And my boss comes this week, when I'm all-a-funkified, to come watch me work. She witnessed me earning my keep; I pulled it out and away *<:D I'm good. Even running at about 32.48%, so long as I use all 32.48% to it's fullest! And I realized that is probably the secret to making this whole juggling act work. Givin what I got. All of it. Amy Steinberg has something to say about that. On her Fall Down to Fly album, Shine. Yeah, I'm gonna hang out with Amy this afternoon. And bleed. And knit. some. more. After I get dressed (?) and walk the dog. Possibly downtown to get the car. Hmmm, I suppose oxygen would do me good. Daggumit, now I can't avoid walking the dog any longer and I didn't even get to whine about my Loki-possessed cell phone.

Knitting Madness

I've been puttering with phone cozies lately, because they're quick and easy and fun...
and I can't find a one to take a picture of!
Instead, I'll provide a gallery of my latest bagsThis here's a Lucy Bag (^before felting & after felting, below) This pattern was actually recommended to me by a woman on the street in Kalona, IA, after she commented on a bag I'd made (a Booga Bag variation). I think I need to use a heavier weight yarn for this projectSince my mama was gracious enough to send a giant bag of wool yarn and Noah was gracious enough to have a January birthday, I got to whip out another Murse! (a total of 4 days)I used both colors of blue my mama sent & I love the matching button!
(My own pattern I made up as I went along - even made the strap attached ♥)With an added dose of some purple wool, I got to finish this beautyher straps are attached too, so they can thread through 'round back and be worn like a backpack. Though I like the knotted clutch strapAs soon as I've got a pile of dirty jeans, I'll get to finish this one!a combination of leftover solid purple and the lightweight variegated purples for some punch of color on the cream... It'll have wide cream straps of some sort, maybe a drawstring, too... with a square bottom I can block it tall and square or shorter with a rounded bottom... I can't wait to see how it turns out!

P.S. I seriously need a serious haircut! When I look at these pictures, all I can see is all my hair woven into the projects!! eeeeekk!

Internet Withdrawal

Three days... three luxurious days of "nah, go ahead a level your character" to add to my karmic stockpile. Then I looked at the pictures on my phone! We've done so many cool things and I haven't even told these stories yet!! You can't know how much you've been missing "Cindy messed up in a fruit bowl" by Jasper. Now you don't have to anymore.