The Parks

I went to a wetlands park, but was disappointed by the pervasive sights and sounds of traffic.
I went to a beach, but didn't care for the oil derricks on all sides.
I went to a canyon park which had free parking, except it was impossible to find a spot.
But then, after dark, I went to where a gigantic orange balloon rose like a harvest moon over an old air force base runway.
Great Park.
Redeemed!
"Do you know why this is so cool?" I said. "I am a person who has conflicting feelings about military bases and coming from a military background. This place...is like therapy!"

Cute site

But needs an up to date flash player
http://www.superchargedfood.com

Health is nice

Oh today was a good day when I woke up.
I felt like a combination of the positive parts of some songs was playing in the back of my mind...
(Destiny's Child: "I'm a Survivor" and something that the character Tony sings in West Sing Story: "could it be, yes it could, something's coming, something good...")
On other mornings, I didn't feel well, and it was awful.
I have woken up to hear someone far off, screaming, but it was in my head, or something.
I have spent portions of my life actually cringing when I heard children on a playground because I was afraid something bad was happening. Then I looked and it was just kids playing.
As far as I know, I have not eaten any processed wheat or sugar in 2 weeks.
And so far, I have really enjoyed my food today.

I like this woman

Sarah Jones, who I just heard on The Moth Radio Hour.
Sarah Jones "Your Revolution."

Other Winter days

Dreams last night of being in a different part of the country, or maybe even continent. But, could have been up around Seattle, maybe even Canada. Fewer people and more hills. Persons were riding bicycles in a country of long grasses and grey skies. And then going to a stranger's house, and trying to find out if hers was beneath another's, and intending to find out by placing one map on top of another.
Not really accustomed to this sunshine all the time.
Already missing the change of seasons. The leaves and apple picking and smoky autumns. I remembered watching some videos in colder seasons.
Police Me, Starling, Fast Horse, Lady in Blue.
And getting library books, and driving to spacious parks that were either free or much cheaper to get into, and they showed the change of the seasons.
I remember pizza and wine, which are things I am not eating right now.
Pizza box, Tonight, Cool Last Night.
It might be nice to live in a place that has seasons, but have a home in a milder climate to sit out the worst of the summers and winters.
But not sit out the good winter days!
~~~~~
And for some reason, and not necessarily much to do with winter, I kind of vaguely seem to remember how I looked at the world as a kindergartener.

On another coast...

But on the internet, I can still read stuff like this...
http://dcist.com/2010/08/welcome_to_dc_tea_party.php
Yes it is more amusing from afar.

Perseverance

Good grief, it was ridiculously hard to find this movie.
I typed all sorts of things into google and Netflix.
I looked up lists about movies on women and sports.
I thought back...how did I come across this ever so many years ago? I think it was when I got into watching movies about runners and found it on Amazon. (That didn't work the first time either, but I kept searching.)
Voila. I finally found it and now it's in the Netflix queue.
The Long Run.

This one

So, this song, "Happy Phantom." It seems to be hanging around alot lately.
Maybe it's partly because there are many friendly-looking plastic skulls in the apartment.
There's one wearing a pirate hat sitting over me now.
Hah.

Recovery time again

Cultured coconut milk with stevia.
Nori wrapped around avocado, cucumber and herb salad.
Mary's Gone Crackers.
Am I ever gonna give up wheat and sugar permanently?
It seems so, 'til after I forget...

Another re-watch

Ms. Smith rocks the hag in flannel look.
Smells Like Teen Spirit (Patti Smith)
More fun than revising resumes on a Saturday night.

Celebrity

Being in this area reminds you that there is this thing called celebrity. I forget exactly how that "degrees of separation" theory works, but if it has anything to do with "know a person who's met a person," I can think of THREE famous people I've kind of ALMOST been in touch with lately:
1) Sr. Petreus, cause I recently saw my Dad and he was checking his e-mail and they use the same W.P. classmate prayer list, 2) Kanye West, cause one of bellisimo friend's aunts recently had to deal with him over the phone when he kept changing his flights for some reason, and 3) Johnny Depp! Because another aunt works at Disney and rode up in an elevator with him. While he was in full Pirates of Carribean mode. And in character. So that was actually probably a while ago, but how could I not include that? Writers are not often afforded the same degree of celebrity as actors and politicians, but perhaps authors who get their books banned could be on their way...

Still, no matter how much of a celebrity one might be, even meeting him or her is nothing compared to how I can feel about reuniting with a certain food or taste. Right now, for example, I have a strange desire for the Fruit and Nut salad dressing I could get at Aladdin's, which was a really great chain that they don't have out here. It's not a terribly strong craving, but I still want some. And that was not even my favorite dressing there. Weird. I do think it's fun when you read or see a show about a place, and get to visit it. That's like getting in touch with celebrity. I almost had that kind of experience when I tried the fried potato salad at Cafe on the Route. Not terribly healthy for everyday consumption, but still, YUM.

Rite-Aids here have icecream and serve it in square-shaped scoops. Another idiosyncracy.

Comida

Put out some beans, tortillas and other stuff. Bellisimo friend sat down to eat and said, "You know what, for some reason I'm thinking of an old cartoon..." Something about a sombrero-wearing Mexican guy who sits down, the plate explodes in his face, and then he says (in English with a heavy accent) "my wife--she eees a good cook!" I tried to look for a clip like that on the net but only found this: Ask a Mexican. The tortilla (the ones eaten today were made of corn) link was added as an afterthought.

Waking up...

Something about waking up today: I was half in a dream, and a little white ball came to the top of one of those round air-filled lotto machines.
I live in a place. It's got a lot of sunshine. I have a friend on the other coast who filmed yesterday's hurricane/monsoon storm in Virginia.
The video was compelling.
I didn't experience that one as it happened.
A drive thru was closed yesterday. There was a deputy in the parking lot talking to a woman and all the women inside did their best to ignore us and I wanted to just go on, but driver had to ask a question: "Did something bad happen?" Yes. What it was, who knows, but they were closing up early.
This place is so cute and charming but there is a lot of stuff going on. When I first walked the streets, so cute, "old town," I still felt a little suspicious. And I am not used to palm trees, and the weather.
Other things: Street fair every Friday. People walk their pets: not just dogs, but a boar and a macaw. A magician's act in the park: light a frying pan on fire and pull out a chinchilla. Kids love it.
I think there is a memorial service celebrating my FB friend that died, today, in Virginia.
That's a strange place and this one is, too.
~~~~~
Snow Cherries From France.
~~~~~
(Just remembering, once I read a negative (and I thought, really silly) review of the artist's American Doll Posse album, and it was kind of funny. The reviewer kind of scornfully called her something like a "favorite aunt." The reason that's funny is, sometimes, she actually does alternately remind me of two of my aunts. And this is not so funny but it comes to mind: one of them got stabbed by a stranger and the other one had a gun put to her head in a hold up. And I know those things happened. But, of course, they are not the first things that come to mind when I think of them!)

Yellow tomatoes

I met my neighbor and she gave me some of those little oblong tomatoes and told me who else lives in the building. Pretty nice...
Earlier I developed a desire to visit Pie Town.
Found an interesting rendition of Suzanne.
Yeee-ha, T. Amos in spectacles!
And I listened to The Story.
Now I'm pretty interested in Annabeth Barnes.
So just watched the Racing Dreams trailer.

Things about Homer

"Are U Ready?"
A tasty BBQ place in Missouri is advertised by those words on a sign alongside Rt. 44. The interior is decorated with religious art and airplanes fashioned out of old soda pop cans. The owner had a Saudi Arabian son-in-law once. "Ah love 'im." He also has a Jewish doctor who keeps a kosher household. He has preached the word of Jesus to both and probably to most if not all of his patrons. He has served BBQ to people from all over the world, including various government officials, a guy from National Geographic, a large (something like 50 youths) gospel choir, and a haughty French official, who came in with some friends and became offended when, after asking for a Jack Daniels, was told that he wouldn't be served "that slop." The friends thought it was funny but he refused to order. Homer brought him some taters anyway.
He has a grandson from the Phillipines who told him that the reason why the page used to go blank when he tried to read it was because he got brain damage when he began drinking alcohol at an extremely young age.
That was before he found the Lord.
He invited us to Bible study and offered to buy me and the bellisimo friend a marriage license. Quote from J's FB note: "I expected at some point he might ask if we we had accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord, (MY EDIT: "personal Lord and Savior!") but Homer is sharper than that, and zeroed in on a more significant point. Probably noting we didn't have rings on our fingers, he asked 'Y'all are married, right?'"
Ah, Homer. Introducing me to a new/old slang term, either it was "shackjob" or "shackmoll," I can't remember which. (Kindly was mentioned without being directed at me, of course!) I could do without the lecture, but otherwise he was a real nice guy. And we even got a free dessert.
Another account about Homer can be found in someone's older blog entry here.