Writer Snoopy

Ah, inner peace

Windows of Light. That's better. Good Ol' Steve Halpern...

Losing Things!

Losing things sucks. I temporarily lost a bag with a notebook and grammar book in it and felt frantic. Then I found it. THANK GOD. Life should really be more laid back and less...not laid back. LAID BACK...no I will not post a Snoop Dog song...

An evil nap

An evil nap seduced me and stole away my walk so after I got up, it was dark and I had to drive to the bookstore to walk around. Books that made me look at them:
Walden
It had a leaf on the cover of it. I quite enjoyed parts of it. Then I had to move on.
Good Omens
I enjoyed the beginning but I may need to return to this book when I have a better attention span.
Jitterbug Perfume
The words swam in front of me and I could not string together a sentence so I put it back on the shelf. Though it could be interesting another day.
Bad Cat
Enjoyable to flip through. Last several pages were quite funny.
All My Friends Are Still Dead
Quite a funny Grim Reaper on the last two pages.
MUSICA: to and from the bookstore - old CD Verve Unmixed 2!
Sinnerman
Slap That Bass
Brother Where Are You
Here's That Rainy Day

Something nice

from a grouchy old military guy's CD collection
Rhapsody In Blue

Montezuma...

Actually I was listening to Montezuma in the car this morning. I had no idea why they called that song Montezuma. What the heck does that have to do with anything? But then I listened to the end part where they sang Tripoli and I was like, oh, it’s another soldier song. Like “From the halls of Montezuma…” Some people have military training. Bounce a quarter off the bed; turn that corner at a sharp 90-degree angle. Some people have Ranger School; others have different experiences. Like grammar classes…

Ridiculously Perfect

It seems a bit ridiculous that for Women’s History Month, the local library is promoting this book which is about the bitter feud between Twain’s daughter Clara and "the manipulative Isabel" (his secretary.) Yes, lets celebrate women by showing them feuding over a famous male artist. Or maybe that’s perfect. How ridiculously perfect. I see there’s going to be other books. I’m curious to read them. It appears one author worked through his repulsion of short stories? For a second I thought the title of the book was This Is How You Love Her, but that’s not it, is it? Lose Her, not Love Her! By the way, wouldn’t it be horrible if there was some weird Faustian pact you subconsciously had to make with the universe so that in order to write something you had to sacrifice your relationship? That’s a rather sad mindset; it seems quite punitive also. What if there were some people who could almost be friends. But it wasn’t merely star crossed; it was even encoded in their names! The rightful caliph! Etc. etc. Oh no, look out, now you’re getting too creative with religion. That could be dangerous. The Angel Gibreel, etc. I never read that book actually. I might read Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, that’s less combative. It’s not a fast race car of a book; it’s more like a placid cup of tea. (Is it? Is it like Jane Austen? I don’t know; I haven’t read it.) Actually I might not because I am probably taking a break from books and going to walk in the woods more. But anyways. It's like...Don’t you dare write that! It’s like the dead girl in The Mysteries of Harris Burdick (and I loved that book) with the vines growing out of the pages. He had warned her about the book. Now it was too late, Don’t you dare, Robert Post’s child. There have ALWAYS been Starcutters…er, Starkadders...Okay. What about a high school musical. One girl looks at her friend across an art table; one day she doesn’t know why, but some weird music comes to her, embarrassing stuff his friends would never listen to, it’s like her mom’s country music cassette in the car. "Lipstick on your collar gives your game away, it’s strawberry red and mine’s…paank rose!" Or what if another girl comes in and is tired of how things are going and she sings “I’m gonna wash that man right out of my hair.” Which could be Rodgers and Hammerstein, or it could be Sheela Na Gig. And some other words come out of the other one's mouth, like, “I just want to dump a giant bucket of water over your head sometimes.”

Manana

Tomorrow looks a bit challenging.
Well, who knows.
Perhaps it will be okay.

Life is weird; read Peanuts

The Lake Of Grammar

I tried unsuccessfully to fling myself into it this weekend, but it was no use. So, this week I shall have to attend to that task. At least I got to go on some good walks. I caught a little bit of some radio shows. Like PHC...interesting...I have been thinking about this version of a Beatles song I heard on there once.  Nellie McKay "I'm So Tired." I think she did a good job with it. Also, I heard that Midnight In Paris won an award. That's fine. I guess I'm just picky about female characters. Is it so wrong? I think not. How would it be if no one was ever picky about such things? I'd like to know. Ah well...perhaps the lake of grammar will become more inviting soon...sigh....sigh...sigh... Would like to see The Iron Lady and J. Edgar.

Happy Trails

Happy Trails...

Over Hill Over Dale

The Cassion Song

Bad camera; interesting aesthetic effect

Grouchy Grammar School Mad Libs

One time there was a sensitive prince, with friends that were very attentive to his wishes, and there were also two ADJECTIVE princesses, and they all went to grammar school. Actually the ADJECTIVE friends had ambushed at least one princess to see if she’d ever go out with the prince, but she declined, because of their different beliefs, and maybe also because she didn’t want to deal with NOUN from her family, who already were harassing her about a whole lot of other NOUNS all the time. But no matter. All were attentive to the ADJECTIVE prince. So one day, this prince decided to not-so-clandestinely invite the other princess, who was surely more understanding of needs, to rendezvous, and the attentive friends made sure the first princess knew all about it by dropping hints and remarks. Then the two came back with smirks on their faces and first princess felt her face getting hot and tears coming to her eyes. Everyone laughed ADVERB; no one felt the least bit sorry for that ADJECTIVE princess who was so rude to him. Except, strangely enough, the prince? Who actually had a bit of compassionate look on his face! I want your tears! All hail the right and proper order of things! If the whims of the prince are not met, surely the world will spiral out of control…so, why don’t you pray or do yoga or meditate, then you will feel better about it?

BONUS: One time there were 3 ADJECTIVE princesses who used to eat lunch together. The first princess used to admire a far off beautiful older princess in the hall. She did not have the courage to approach her. But one day, this tall beautiful princess was entertaining a group of boys near where the 3 would eat lunch. When the first princess saw her, she felt hopeful. Maybe they could go over and meet the girl. The other two, however, saw this beautiful girl and showed their ADJECTIVE fangs and claws. Look at that girl, talking to all those boys, she’s such a NOUN, her NOUN is too ADJECTIVE. That GERUND NOUN. (Or GERUND PHRASE?) Rip her to shreds. After the first princess felt the dream die, she decided to spend lunch in the library. Sometimes the princesses came by and tapped on the window. No hard feelings! They’d wave. The feelings were hard. Wicked cats. Untrustworthy cats. She never met the tall, beautiful princess, either. But at least she read many ADJECTIVE books.

There was a joke

delivered to me, over the weekend. Working with a boy. Reading together, working on pronounciation. Say this (in English) say that (in English.) He said to me "Tomorrow! Tomorrow!" "Tomorrow?" "You say 'Tomorrow.'" "Tomorrow... what." "Tomorrow...you will marry!" Then he began laughing maniacally. "What?" "It's a joke!" (He continued cracking up.) "A joke? Are you trying to kill me with your jokes?" I asked. "No," he said, still laughing. He was very merry with himself. "Okay, good," I said. Joker...jester...fool...maybe it's time to watch Fool on the Hill/Horses again. Maybe some songs could help some people advance in their reading skills; maybe I'll see about that soon sometime in another classroom.

Walks

Walk 1: Had a lounging aspect. Lounging in the arboretum. Dead short grass, bare branches, trees split from the windstorm, and a tourist vehicle going by and some sounds coming from far off which changed around a lot. At first, the sounds were like a recording of "alu akbar," then something like the voice of a Kennedy (that accent!) giving a speech and mixed in were the words "ask not what your country can do for you...", then the old song "Tequila" (yes, really), then some kind of jazz sung by a black man and some trumpets. It wasn't what I expected to hear, especially not the second thing. I don't at all care for the idea of a single person who is currently running against the president to succeed. Not a bit. And I do not like the idea of this: Military given go-ahead to detain... one bit either.
Walk 2: Much more solitary. Nearer to mountains. There's a place that has a certain kind of a rock shape in the cliff; it looks like an angel. Mountains seem so interesting and different and yet the same among peoples and places and religions. They elicit peace of mind. How amazing how some mountains can pull you in. And also, kind of vaguely thinking about stars and maybe the goddess Diana, too.

How interesting

World's hottest woman bullied as a teen, I hear she had to go to high school in Northern Virginia. I wonder if that high school also had supercliques and mice massacres? C. H. hated Fairfax High. WHOA. She likes getting tuna sandwiches in Middleburg? I've done that exact same thing too! I bet she has stories about high school girls getting catty. Which reminds me, this girl I knew from another school reviewed Cat's Eye. I'm glad I'm not that friend she talks about.

little community crucible moments

English Language, you are strange. Apparently, sometimes "their" is a possessive pronoun, but sometimes "their" is a possessive adjective. Isn't that fascinating! Suppose that one time the schoolmates of these two little birds, very young, barely not chicks any more, who were different yet had odd things in common and were becoming friends, collected together to ask one of them if she would ever date her new friend? (And of course for some reason, they did this when he was not around.) She said she thought that did not seem like the best thing because they came from different belief systems. The schoolmates strongly disapproved of her answer. "That is not fair! He is a great guy! We think you are being closed minded/prejudiced!" they told her. ACK. She said "No, no, I RESPECT him!" This was a pretty good comeback. However, none of them liked it. Even the teacher seemed unimpressed. They were hoping for a different answer. Who needs RESPECT? Even if it is a really great song by Aretha Franklin? The Age of Aquarious song is "Peace will guide the planet and love will steer the stars!" afterall. That way, they get to have more fun. They will not even have to be trapped like Paolo and Francesca. Instead, they get to enjoy learning about a number of splendid things. Such as nouns, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, adjectives. Oh, goody. What is a participle, and how will you manage to remember what it is? Action verbs, being verbs, helping verbs, modifiers...

Saturday morning

Sipping raspberry tea and thinking of funny things friends have told me.
For example, a friend told me about the birth control panel sans women. YOU GUYS ARE SO FREAKING AWESOME!
#howtobeastupid&fuckedupcountry So then one of my friends was like, can you imagine a Viagra panel where only women were allowed to participate? One of them said she remembered her male health teacher lecturing the boys on how women having their period is not really all that bad. And one of them is still playing the funny sounding Sherlock Holmes game again. "Sherlock: Despite my almost complete lack of practical experience on the subject, I have a rather precise idea of the usefulness of a uterus and a vagina." And Jack the Ripper has murdered some prostitutes. Holmes says: (exasperated voice) "Fine, I have to go to the brothel."
It's all too funny. Now I must listen to the artist...
Bug A Martini
Liquid Diamonds
Talula
The cup of raspberry tea sits on a wooden round plaque with holes for pegs in the shape of a star. Below the plaque are some pages ripped out of a Celtic calendar. Ensconced in the design is a picture of a man with a flowing white beard and a bunch of guys in robes sitting on his lap. "One Family One People One World" it says.
Aw. I guess that is just like one big, wombless, happy family?

present past future

present perfect past perfect future perfect skifcha is rather funny present progressive past progressive future progressive do you know what you're doing with your life? present perfect progressive past perfect progressive future perfect progressive

Books n' such

Finished Elegance of The Hedgehog. It was read in a really scattered way, though, so it may be a candidate for future rereading. Seem unable to get through Three Men In A Boat, so may have to give up and just turn it back in.
"I don't know why I can't get through this. It does not seem funny."
"Maybe because it's all about men," said my friend.
"Maybe so," I said.
Kids-Sleigh Bells. With it's picture of defaced cheerleaders, it rather reminds me of the men & women misogynists of: high school, college, adulthood, middle age, old age, the world.
Babies, however, I don't believe to be misogynists.

litterature musique ecriture

Une cherie amie sent me a star poem that a little bit reminded me of the idea of a ballad on a topic which is about people who eviscerated each other in school perhaps in it one could say i did wake up on a morning & to be honest, it kind of felt like my insides were blown out, but it's a whole lot better now, can rearrange those internal organs and also sometimes listen to music, like maybe...Lost...Star...Whisperer... that's more dramatic! or, for something that's even more light and fun: Cactus Practice... which can be fun if ears aren't hurting like when they say "Are you saying I'm reactive but I can work with it doll face" and also i see sign language people around and at school sometimes and want to learn a little American Sign Language.

Paperwork...

New part time job with rather low pay and some anxiety inducing aspects to it is on the horizon but perhaps it's a necessary or somehow rewarding experience. It also entails a mind-boggling amount of paperwork as well as things to stuff in your head (like grammar.) Am compelled to nap after dealing with traffic and then *groan* organize paperwork...Oh well. Organizing may be something that needs to be done.

Musical words

For a typography self portrait:
"Capriccio" & "Presto" (eyebrows)
"resonance," "brillante," "bold ballad" (eyes)
and to use on other parts of face/hair?
glissando, crescendo, allegro, obligato, pianissimo, andante, adagio, grazioso, vivacissimo, accessible, prestissimo, molto, poco a poco and perhaps many others...
And maybe to listen to...Stop Hey Whats That Sound
Bachelorette
Isobel

Sometimes life tells you

You got some crazy southern people in your family, girl.
(Weird senses of humor and political e-mail forwards you don't care for.)
Well. Hah. I guess...they can be kinda funny...
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Also, there was some Valentine's thing on the radio where a lady was saying she's married and has five kids and they NEVER fight cause they share all the EXACT same values, and all that stuff. Hah!!!
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Cards. I wonder if I could write greeting cards for a living or a side job some time? Funny ones? Layout/artistic kinds of things would be sort of fun, too.
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I like this tart red cherry juice from TJs but I guess it's not to everyone's taste...
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Apparently, some think that it's got some medicinal qualities...

not HAL

This is the season one of my friends says, "I hate Val!" She has to do all this extra work & on call stuff for it. I'm like "but today is Monday the 13th and in less than 48 hours it'll be the day after Val! Are you excited?" But she's not because they have to drudge away the whole rest of the week too. Her Val is work is like hell week. "Val" also sounds funny because it sort of makes me think of something robotic, like a female version of HAL, from 2001 Space Odyssey. Though never did see that movie, actually. The world grinds on past every holiday. One time I read this in a comic--Little Kid: "How come there's a Mother's Day and a Father's Day but not a children's day?" Parent: "Every day is Children's Day!" Everyday is study grammar day. Everyday is celebrate difficult people day. On the other hand, there is this little kid I sometimes work with who is very excited about it. He's made two cards. One has a Tinkerbell picture on it for his girlfriend, and one has a Star Wars picture on it for his brother. Last time he said "My brother says my drawings are ugly." "I don't think that's true," I said. This time he said "My brother always love me." "I know," I said. And one of his nicknames is actually in this Blue Ridge Mountains song. Which is nice and peaceful...
Hmmm, they seem to always put some kind of ads before the version that's straight off the album.
Live version of Blue Ridge Mountains

Pretty cool; imaginative

Music/video:
OK Go - This Too Shall Pass
Something else to look at:
Wild Fruits by Henry Thoreau
It would be quite interesting to walk around one's neighborhood and observe the different kinds of plants more often...

Ha.

Two funny things:
1) Weird food holidays!
(beginning with Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk Day)
2) Conversation snippet which a friend sent from a "Sherlock Holmes" game--
"You are smart."
"You are also smart."
"I respect you as an adversary."
"I too respect you also."
"You won."
"You also won."
"Go on about your business."
"Let us never speak of this again."

Oh, "Howard's End"

Howard's End was a flick which made an impression on a younger person. (So old! Really, from 1992?) Younger person was fingering the characters, as kind of like...Emma Thompson - mother character, Anthony Hopkins - stepparent character, Helena Bonham Carter - kid in the middle character.
Emma Thompson character: Here are the keys, Henry. I'm leaving you. My life is with Helen now.
Anthony Hopkins character: Can we sit down for a minute.
Emma Thompson character: Yes, well, we'll have to sit on the ground, then.

Ugh

It's really an "ugh" sort of day. High! Low! High! Low!
However, it's not going to be tragic.
A walk near some woods will make things better.
MAKE things better.
Also there is going to be grammar and cats again.
Grammar has been dreaded, but, it will be liked.
If it's a doorway to another thing, it's great.
GO, GRAMMAR.
Actually...GO, WALK! That's the truth!

Songs on the way home...

And all mixed up...
Your Protector
He Doesn't Know Why
White Winter Hymnal
Ragged Wood

Oh music

T.S. Eliot was the Wasteland poet who also wrote Cats which became a musical among other things. And he was also apparently also prejudiced against Jewish people and ditched his crazy ex-wife. He sounds like a jerk. I kinda wonder what the deal was about the crazy wife. Crazy crazy crazy crazy crazy.
This is the best thing again today:
Cut Chemist - The Garden with anime
Capoeira me mandou dizer que já chegou
Chegou para lutar
Berimbau me confirmou vai ter briga de amor
Tristeza, camará
--Berimbau

Life on earth

is strange but not all bad. Thank you, strange life and it's people. There is a castle on a cloud... Went somewhere else to do laundry and pet cats tonight. Those cats had a zillion moods. But at least at the end they were all peaceful. I wonder where life will go next because lately, it seems like there's some kind of interesting repeat cycle thing going on...

Work...

Sometimes, do not understand...why the life does not get easier? Love insights. They are great. But then they can...get too distracting? And then...economic circumstances force a person to focus and not be so flighty. The great insights are...a strength? Day to day stuff is what gets way flippin' nerve-wracking. And so, sometimes think that people should pray and meditate all their free time. Or, at least for a portion of it. To focus. And face a task. A daunting task. Convinced (because of horrid sensitivity to bad experiences in the past) that you can't do something but then, you're pushed to, because you have to make money.
Hoping and praying to not be slain by the grammar beast.
ADD with grammar...it exists.

Pretty good year...

Thats a song I might should play. It's not even a favorite but it came to mind for some reason. Um...went through some old notebooks. Some days were not the good old days. I was looking for nice recollections. But, I found stuff like: "I got into a fight with x and it's the first one where I didn't cry. Good for me." Lord, I know I would not wish that time back! Sometimes I only half believe in that time?
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*****There's just this thing that happened recently. It's like I have this story in my head from another time. It's about two people and they would walk and interact in a lovely way. And then somehow that ended. If they fell into a dark hole, then I really wish I could pull them out. I do. Because why? Because, I liked them. They were nice. (Before they were not as nice.) They were very, very nice.*****
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Life goes on, life goes on, life goes on, life goes on & that is good!
I think I'd post a sunny picture with this but I better try to sleep.
~~~~~
There's not enough space to put all the the things that can be expressed in something like a post. It's not possible to represent a life. A whole blog written for years could be like just one shaving curl on a multi-tiered cake of a life, maybe.

Methuselah

Sounds rather fascinating...
Methuselah Tree

Crazy

No need to panic, it's art
And sounds kinda messed up.

CATS

Whiskered animals with tails...are not tragic...tragic is people who wall out others, and the whiskered animals don't do that. Good for them. It's tough to cry over the tragic people. And so, as a life-wish, it may be better to simply celebrate the cats. Ah, humans...
A wise cat might contemplate them with peace in his heart.
Ah, humans...

Sunday, Sunday...

Superbowl for some, but "Song of Lunch" (Sunday am) for others! Sadly, sometimes literature disappoints. Someone watching along deemed it "excruciating" and had to leave the room. Well, the main character did seem a bit gloomier. Last time all the restaurant and food/drink details distracted. So, some people find melancholic poetry unbearable, others are less apt to tolerate horror movie trailers. What drives one person from the room is not the same as what makes another flee. Different strokes. I like how this post highlights the parts about T.S. Eliot and the unpatriotic tablecloth. How interesting, putting a poem on television. Now I wonder how long it will take before they will televise something like hash tags? Failure in relationships, friendships, etc. is an interesting theme, and some people can make art out of it. #sometimeselectiveamnesiahappensforareason How does one go about choosing a topic? Suppose you once found yourself trying to convince someone not to stomp off because of angry feelings at an old friend. The advisee did it anyway, and the friend tragically called out, "wait!" #soapoperaticmoments No matter if the advice was ignored, since the two seemed fine talking in the hall the next day #boyscanbefriendsinthehall #isn'tthatawesome #that'sokayIstillikeeatinglunchinthelibrary Or, like, what if weird dreams made you hallucinate an alternate version of reality #howamusing that didn't exist exactly that way #wellthat'sarelief according to another version? #whateverversionofrealityseemssane So the point of viewing Song Of Lunch is not to endure it because it is "excruciating" but to appreciate the use of language and who knows, maybe, hopefully, not end up like either of those characters? #yaypoetryiskindaliketherapy! Or at least think about how to write about food.

Languishing Library Books

When shall they be read?
Three Men In A Boat
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
It remains to be seen

Do Not Taunt Happy Fun Ball

Things that were (maybe not always tasteful, but?) amusing recently...
Sarah Maple's Signs
Upstairs
Sinatra Group - Phil Hartman and "Sinbad O'Connor"
~~~~
And, found on two pages of a book called "Designing With Type"
Page 117:

one must assume
the feminine role deliberately
which means converting a form of
subordination into an affirmation

If you like
I'll rage and roar on raw meat-
And then, like the sky, changing my hue-
If you like
I'll be unimpeachably tender,
Not a man, but a cloud in trousers

Page 116:
Hysteria - T.S. Eliot

The Song of Lunch

I feel a bit charmed by this. The Song Of Lunch. "Masterpiece Contemporary." I like the title. I like the actors. I like the attention paid to detail (not something I seem to naturally excel at). Such as, names written in the restaurant reservation book. Ha. I stared at one of those for so many hours of life, for years...so long...such a banal object, but full of names, handwritings, a record...I thought it would be good as something to drone on in the background while forced to work on something else, but maybe I'll have to watch it again on purpose...it's on again midnight Saturday (which is Sunday am.) Based on poem by...hey, based on a poem!
The typing (that is, the typing that's supposed to have been done) hasn't. Counters and floors have been cleaned. Brownies are baking.

To watch soon

The Invisible War Some quotes from that article, such as "'It says a lot that this goes on at the premier Marine base, within a mile of the U.S. Capitol,” Dick said. 'These are the people who guard the president; this should have been taken care of right away'...The victims so deeply believed that the military was going to be a protective family..." practically beg for a gloss that goes something like, "protective family, my ass..."

Intriguing Bio!

Taught herself to play on a crappy keyboard after she grew up, first in family to go to university, and now a successful musician? About Catherine AD
Tho maybe the eye-straining font on that page could use some tweaking.
This One To Watch article shows her with a hair ornament that looks like...A Viking Ship?