Showing posts with label spirit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spirit. Show all posts

Monday, July 13, 2009

And now for something completely different

unless, of course, you live in my world ;)



The lighting on the talking inserts is horrible, all the speakers look SO much better than they appear, but the dancing is fine.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Michael Jackson



My friend Meredith posted this on her Facebook page and I couldn't not post it.

I remember see The Jackson 5 on TV at a friend's house when I was kid and being mesmerized by Michael. Later watching the Motown 25th show with my brothers I was blown away by his performance.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Hmm roast chicken...

with cranberry sauce!

I almost feel well. It must be feed a fever...

I wonder how long it will last ;-)

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

I don't like death

I really don't.

It feels so strange to lose people who are full of life and love when so many people just let it pass them by.

September-Bernadette
November-my mom's cousin
March-Anna's Barry
Tonight-Mary's Randy

Early this winter a friend told us his wife had terminal lung cancer, and was expected to maybe last through spring. It was shocking and sad, it still is very sad but there is a kind of acceptance and she is planning/preparing for life without her. As far as I know she is still alive, though no one answers the phone this past week.

A friend's mom died last week too. Sad, but not unexpected.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

So tomorrow Lisa and I will be trying

Goddess Belly Dance"Meld yoga, meditation, and movement technique as you learn to connect to your goddess through belly dance. This six week course is an amazing way to connect with the indwelling feminine spirit in a friendly and fun atmosphere.

Women of all shapes and sizes should feel beautiful and sensual, and healthy and happy above all else."



Tomorrow is Introduction to Oriental Dance, with Inari

Inari (稲荷? also Oinari) is the Japanese kami of fertility, rice, agriculture, foxes, industry, and worldly success.

It should be interesting.

Historic Al Stewart

I was lamenting to a Toronto friend that I couldn't be there and see Al this week so they sent me this clip:


This has got to be at least 30 yrs old. Al still sounds this good. I have the t-shirt Al is wearing only in red ;)
If that is Peter White playing the keyboards, not the piano, he looks SO young, almost too young!
Can anyone identify the other people playing?

Friday, March 21, 2008

Barry and the glass alternative

So much of what I knew of Barry through our conversations over the years was neatly summed by Anna on a ASML post:

barry had a third alternative to the glass being either half empty or
half full:

"is anybody drinking this?"


Monday, March 17, 2008

Goodbye Bear

My friend Anna's partner, Barry, died from a stroke this past week at age 44. A friend of theirs put this slide tape thing together:

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Nerd quiz! and some CON

From this time forward, you'll hold the title:
Uber Cool Nerd God

Carry it proudly!


Quick Fun Facts:

198115 unique people have taken this test.

Based on these unique user's answers...

44.8% of test takers are gals,
53.1% are guys,
...the rest (2.1%) are confused.

17.1% of test takers get aroused by "iPhone," while
40.6% get utterly ill.

34.6% of all test takers would choose the Internet over sex, and
28.3% of married test takers prefer the Internet over sex.

Only 3.6% of test takers own a Jar Jar Binks t-shirt, though
56.0% of them don't own a lightsaber (priorities == messed up).


NerdTests.com says I'm an Uber Cool Nerd God.  What are you?  Click here!


Borrowed from Sir Brian!

I am always surprised at how much sci fi stuff I do know, despite not thinking I am interested in it. When I saw the Star Trek Experience in Vegas I was amazed at how many of the costumes I recognized.
At CONvergence, I have twice won sci fi video bingo at the Dystopia party. Of course, I don't compete for myself, I compete for an absentee and perhaps that helps. I send the winnings to said absentee. The first time I won a dystopia glow in the dark beer mug, this past July I won a whole mess of things including T-shirts, Chinese propaganda posters, postcards... I kept one t-shirt and a few duplicate posters. I also entered a Canadian trivia contest and won a Canadian comic book, an "I love Canada" temporary tattoo and a yo yo with a maple leaf on it, I sent those to the same absentee, along with other freebies and winnings (including a bamboo steamer!). I did carefully remove any candy that might melt during shipment ;-)
At soon as I find my camera again, I will try to get some pictures from CON up. Its lots of fun!
Of course, I only go because I can watch belly dancing until the wee hours, lol. One of the best things this year was getting a massage ($5 to humane society) WHILE watching belly dancing! The cow asylum party was pretty darn good too! It was still going strong when I left about 3:30am.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

The lovers, the dreamers and me...

Happy Thanksgiving!




RAINBOW CONNECTION
Kermit the Frog
(Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher)

Why are there so many
Songs about rainbows
And what's on the other side
Rainbow's are visions
They're only illusions
And rainbows have nothing to hide
So we've been told and some chose to
Believe it
But I know they're wrong wait and see

Someday we'll find it
The Rainbow Connection
The lovers, the dreamers and me

Who said that every wish
Would be heard and answered
When wished on the morning star
Somebody thought of that
And someone believed it
And look what it's done so far
What's so amazing
That keeps us star gazing
What do we think we might see

Someday we'll find it
That Rainbow Connection
The lovers the dreamers and me

Have you been half asleep
And have you heard voices
I've heard them calling my name
Are these the sweet sounds that called
The young sailors
I think they're one and the same
I've heard it too many times to ignore it
There's something that I'm supposed to be

Someday we'll find it
The Rainbow Connection
The lovers, the dreamers and me

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

AL STEWART and Laurence Juber

Al Stewart is my favorite singer/songwriter. His music has been one of the few constants, outside my family and some friends, in my life during the past 30 yrs. Hearing him is always a thrill and inspiring in a way.

An hour and a half before the concert I got excited, finally! I must be pretty shut down, normally I am bouncing off the walls for weeks before. This time people kept asking "are you really going to hear Al?"

When I had to endure years of painful physical therapy I learned to shut down the feelings to my body, but my mind was still full on. Now I guess I have begun to shut down my mind as well. Its been a very long few years and I am tired, sometimes it feels like my spirit is broken or lost.

I was very methodical and organized this time, I even brought 2 rare cds for him to sign, which I never do. I usually listen to all Al all the time before, esp if I have a long drive to get there. I drove the 410 miles listening to a book on CD called Empress Orchid!.

I needed an Al concert fix bad! and it was great!!!

The venue was a bit strange, uptight in some ways esp for a school of
folk music! The seats were fine, thanks Rob & SM! According to
Neville Judd (whom I unfortunately upset again) they did 4 songs for
practice/sound check and that was it. I heard 2 of the songs.

The concert opened with Laurence. I found him amazingly perfect but
kind of soul less for the first couple songs, then he was fantastic.
At first he explained all this stuff for guitarists like tuning and
whatever ;-) but after a bit he toned that down. Maybe the glazed
over look of the audience... ;-)

He played
Mayby I'm amazed (from his "1 Rings Wepertoire")
One Wing cd

Pass the buck -his own composition

Strawberry Fields Forever (using alternative tunings which told the
audience, also did a push for his LJ Custom Martin " in
Madagascar Rosewood with an Adirondack top.")

Mosaic animal

Pink Panther theme from the Grammy #2 winning record. His story about
his first grammy was funny. It was while he was with Wings and their
illustrious leader was sitting in a Japanese jail at the time.
Something showed up in a box, that needed to be screwed together, so
he screwed it together, and thought maybe this is what a grammy looks
like, so he called the management and asked if they won a grammy and
they told him yeah, we forgot to tell you.

Stolen glances. He referred to his marriage of 25(?) yrs several
times throughout the concert. Early he explained that 25 yrs in a
marriage in LA was really equivalent to 100 yrs elsewhere. Before this
song he was talking about a place they were staying that had a really
long bathtub. As the water was running in the tub he wondered to his
wife about it being so loud. She told him it was because he had only
seen short bathtubs, but what he heard was because he was a short
bastard. When he ask why she would say such a thing, she answered
because its true. Then he said something about the joys of marriage
;-)

While my guitar gently weeps. This was amazing.

Cobalt blue.

Then Al played alone
Flying sorcery (an aerodynamic metaphor for lost love)
On the Border

Al and Laurence together:
Al said they decided they were both professionals so they didn't to
warm up/practice, or at least Laurence was. Al was right, Laurence was right on!

Night train to Munich very fast.
Al explained about how they did Between The Wars, Laurence's "sleuth productions"
and called him "one take Laurence. He said Laurence would play
something, put it down, Al would go home and write the words, come
back and put it down, thinking that they would record it for real
later, but Laurence went with what they put down then, or something to
that effect. So half the album was made before Al realized he was
making an album...

League of Notions-long explanation of Churchill's hiccup (that's part of Jordan.)

Lindy- Al says he never gets to sing this, but with Laurence there he could.

Time Passages- some very strange but wonderful instrumentals by Laurence.
This was really good, I would like it as a ring tone on my phone. So
far I have Peter playing Merlin's time, Al singing Katherine of
Oregon, here in Angola, Lear, Immelman turn and Christine McVie
singing everywhere.

Katherine of Oregon- Al talked of being 17 and playing wipe out, so
of course they had to play wipe out. Al also said "time goes by and
you're old and its not actually a bad thing"
for the refrain Al sang "Names in my memory are clear, then they're
gone again" instead of "Names in my memory are there, then they're
gone again"

Al talked said of all his albums he has liked 8 of them, disliked 8,
and he has liked all 3 that Laurence produced. He then said one was
very rare and hard to get. To which Neville yelled from the back "I
have it for sale" and Al replied "I bet you don't" Neville had the
following for sale: 30th anniversary t shirt, tour shirts, a best of
cd, down in the cellar and beach full of shells. I happened to have
Between the Wars with me which Al confirmed was the rare one. I don't
usually get my own stuff signed but since Al and Laurence were there I
did.

House of Clocks- he started out with his talking about the temptation
to play don't fear the reaper, so of course they played a bit of that.

Soho Needless to say- the usual stuff about it being rap. Al did say
it had more words than an entire Bee Gees album and that when he
couldn't get through it, it would be time to quit. He got through
it just fine.

Marion the Chatelaine- Al had to restart, he muttered something like,
oh yeah its "my sweet lord" chords.

Somewhere in England- Al said this was one of his favorites, the story
of Violet waving off the ship. He did have her wave off the train
first but then corrected himself ;)

The Encore

Al told the story about Yoko Ono, how he was her guitarist in 1967,
mainly because he owned a tape recorder, until of course she found
another guitarist. He demonstrated what he had played for 6 hrs, and
then did an imitation of Yoko singing "the snow is falling" which
completely cracked Laurence and the audience up. He also said he lent
Yoko 100 pounds to make a film which was basically 360 naked bottoms
which she wasn't able to pay back, and later he wrote John Lennon
regarding it and John sent him a check which he really agonized over
cashing but he needed the money...
Al said Laurence has played with 3 Beatles and Al with Yoko...

Gina on the Kings Road
YOTC

The set list also had possibilities of Mr. Lear, Broadway and apple
cider listed but not played. Flying sorcery is listed as flying sauce
;-)

I really like hearing Laurence with Al, it was a real treat. Their
excitement to be playing together just seemed to leap off the stage.
At one point Al discovered that there was a balcony in the place, he
seemed kind of startled. I hope he saw the woman in the balcony with
the leather mini, and over the knee tight boots not quite what I
imagine as Gina in the Kings road but the right period.

I couldn't get a cell signal in the hall, so no one got a song, sorry
:-( If I had gotten a signal, the volunteer ushers would have
probably confiscated my phone anyway, and 2 were nearby watching.

The venue was very strange, the workers there kind of stiff and rule
bound, but okay. When I grab the set list, the guy on cleaning up the
stage wasn't sure, finally he said if its okay with Al. I told him I
was going to ask Al to sign it.... which of course he did :-)

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Just finished watching a the movie "The Young Visitors or Mr. Salteena's plan" a somewhat surreal movie based on a story written by a 9 yrs old girl in 1890 in 12 days. It is almost satire about love, relationships, materialism, strange insight for a young girl to write. When I switched the dvd off and back to TV on PBS there appeared to be the former Cat Stevens singing Sad Lisa, a song I can easily relate to having been on both sides of it:

"She hangs her head and cries in my shirt
She must be hurt very badly
Tell me what's making you sadly
Open your door, don't hide in the dark
You're lost in the dark, you can trust me
'Cause you know that's how it must be

Lisa, Lisa Sad Lisa, Lisa

Her eyes like windows tricklin' rain
Upon her pain getting deeper
Tho' my love wants to relieve her
She walks alone from wall to wall
Tho' I know she likes to be near me

Lisa, Lisa Sad Lisa, Lisa

She sits in a corner by the door
There must be more I can tell her
If she really wants me to help her
I'll do what I can to show her the way
And maybe someday I will free her
Tho' I know no one can see her"
Sad Lisa-Cat Stevens


I think of a lost friend, who helped take me from the darkness, regain my silliness, optimism, dreams, just be me again. I could just be me, that was enough, whatever me was from moment to moment, I was so comfortable in that space we shared, I could go out and take on the world again. I could bring new people, relationships into my life, be support of my gf who is dying, be creative, deal with fire inspectors, put the past behind me and once again believe that life would get better somehow, and it did.

Then when darkness began to overtake him I did everything I could, it seemed to both of us that I was helping but somehow he got lost. I know I am part of the darkness, as well as the light, nothing I can do but wait hope and try to be the person he helped me find again.

When he left the last time in July, he said he would be back and I said I would be here. He said don't you dare waste away, just continue to be you, knowing you are you is good enough for me.
Sometimes, in the stress and worry of the lingering uncertainty, I get upset, hurt and angry. I forget who he is, who I am, how we are linked, kindred spirits, that none of this is intentional, that we are lucky.

I try to keep going forward, to have faith, to not think of the lost of time. Sometimes it is so frustrating, I want to tell him so much: I got a new car, I am traveling, making swishy skirts, designing pants with strange pockets, seeing old friends, haven't broken or ripped anything all year! Anna moved back to England. I have been only in the er once this year! I am getting to know someone I really like, am considering more conventional relationships, saw Al perform, heard (and talked with) Richard Thompson.

There are also the things that are the same- its mid June and the garden is not fully planted, I still didn't finish the curtains, I have the same job (for now...), and he is still my rock, wherever he is, however lost and wobbly he may be. I know he would be here if he could. I will try to remember that.


Dorothy made: this comment,
So sad....reminds me of a female version of "Sundown, Yellow Moon...."
comment added :: {ts '2005-06-17 14:44:47'} GMT-06

Laurie made this comment,
I thought I left a comment yesterday but it isn't here. I must be skipping a step. I think I said I hope everything comes out okay and I hope you're okay. If that isn't what I said, it's what I'm feeling for you today. I hope you're okay.
comment added :: {ts '2005-06-17 16:40:11'} GMT-06

Susan made this comment,
Dorothy-"Sundown, Yellow Moon...." ??? I had to look that up. Well umm, we never had a falling out, and we had no idea it would be so long, I guess its more like "Fire and Rain" if you know the story behind it, but hopefully this one will end better.

Laurie-Thank you, I hope everything comes out okay too, and SOON!!!! I am mainly okay, 5 out of 7 nights okay this week ;-) You had asked about July...

Saturday, July 31, 2004

In the beginning

I am finally breaking down and doing my blog. Actually I started a different one a few months ago but I can't get into it, so I have started a new one.

I have been thinking a lot about relationships recently. I am 44 and I have had and continue to have an assortment of non-traditional relationships, and I have always been comfortable with that. Over the past year and a half, I have found myself as an observer of or participant in relationships I have never considered before. This is puzzling and confusing at times.