Ogden Nash and writer's block

I've been haulted in my tracks. In the desire to make a more insighful and interesting blog, I've stopped all together. Perhaps it's not quite the right tack to take. I need to post things that interest me while still avoiding a laundry list of the day... for now I leave you with wet dogs... enormously interesting and amusing (to dog people)... let's get this brain in gear soon!


The Dog

The truth I do not stretch or shove
When I state that the dog is full of love.
I've also found, by actual test,
A wet dog is the lovingest.

Ogden Nash

Look ma, I'm on the internet...

I did write about showing Andrew about in the post just before this one... usually he posts a lot of rants of social commentary that I find hilarious, if you youTube just look up "AngryAussie" and you'll find him. I thought he was lots of fun in person.

You discover treasures...

This is the fortune I got in my cookie during last week's trip to Idyllwild. Usually I think it's true... however this week I found myself being a tour guide in my own city and found I was learning again. One reason I love travel is because everything is a discovery. Every building and fire escape and every odd local custom can be a new inspiration. It is easy to find treasures in other people's cities. However at home it's easy to be accustomed to treasures staring you right in the face. The fire escapes are just fire escapes and the local food is just what it always is... I love San Francisco but even in a place this diverse and interesting it is possible to get used to it. This week I met up with a new friend I met on YouTube (yea, sounds a little weird but the internet isn't a big creepy void anymore) and showed him around the city. My new friend Andrew* travels like I do, looking for anything new and eating it up (sometimes literally). Through his eyes I saw beautiful buildings that I could only describe as "well I'm pretty sure that's a church" since I'd never paid that much attention to it, I ate at a scary themed restaurant, I saw fire trucks and odd American snacks like Hostess Fruit pies (which I gather are a fictional fantasy seen in comic book ads in Australia) and I discovered how lovely and rare cream pies (like the key lime) are to the rest of the world. I try to be open to all of the little treasures hidden in plain sight, but it is nice to get a little help every now and again.
*warning if you click on the link there's a lot of cussing so if you've got kiddies, you should watch it later.

November respit

Disclaimer; I solemly swear to try and stop with the half-assed blogs... must actually put interesting things up on the internet... must be insightful... after this one;

This I took a break (as most of you know)... I've been working solidly since May with few days off in the midst. It had been making me rather amazingly cranky. So last week I ran away.
I went to Catalina with my best friend;


I caught up with some friends from high school.
I had lunch with Sarah and Rosie, where I met many of Sarah's new family members (as in new since 2001) and Lisa (who I may have met before or perhaps only online. It all gets blurry...) I failed to document "When blogs collide" in a room of ten people (four of them under the age of six) seven of us were bloggers... and I don't think any of us took a photo.
although I got this one in the coffee shop later...

I pestered my sister.

Had early Thanksgiving with my family

played some pinball... swung on some ropes...

I took a hike on the Ernie Maxwell trail and all in all had a lovely week away from responsability

Catalina

...just some quick pics;

This is CNN?

I just had a moment that needed to be shared... here's the image capture from CNN;

The #2 top story is "Joan Baez is happy". This is a headline for The Onion. Either Joan Baez' publicist bought a little screen time or Joan Baez has been so immeasurably miserable for Years that "Joan Baez is happy" beats Obama's plan for fixing the economy... Congratulations Ms.Baez I had no idea.

Election Day 2008

The day began with a knot in the pit of my stomach...

Berkeley was so covered in political posters it's shockingly festive and a big waste of paper.

I actually voted early but kept my sticker to avoid hearing everyone ask "did you vote?" "are you gonna vote?" "go vote" "vote no on this" "vote yes on that"
Dude! I did already... Ya Vote...


There is a movie theater in Oakland that always has Super-Liberal messages printed on the marquee this is what it said on election day;
I worked backstage for as long as I could, I kept returning to the computer as results came in, one state for Obama, one for McCain, electoral vote counts, hit refresh.... Obama's doing ok but I still think the Republicans own this country... finally I find that I am too much of a nervous wreak to stay any longer and head over to the election party in Oakland.  As I finally found parking John McCain began to speak on the radio... to give his... wha? 

I sat in my car rapt.  

Finally I managed to tear myself away from the radio with the thought that oh my G*d we just won... I entered my friend's house where I knew all of two people but it didn't matter.  I hugged every last stranger in the place...
A toast; To an intelligent president!  To Diplomacy! To Hope!




After dancing the electric slide in the street, we headed down to Lake Meritt, where the crowds of jubilant people were gathering. There was a lot of honking and shouting "OBAMA!"


The feeling was utter euphoria. There is No Way that the Presidency is going to live up to the hopes we all had glimmers of on election night... but after the disillusionment we've been having over Bush, racisim, the economy, our international relations, Iraq... this night was a warm relief.

The President of the United States of America

"This victory alone is not the change we seek, it is only the chance we need to make that change, and that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It can't happen without you; without a new spirit of service a new spirit of sacrafice, so let us summon a new spirit... of patriotisim, of responsability, where each of us resolves to pitch in, and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other" --president elect Barack Obama


Senator Barack Obama does not agree with all of my ideals, and he is not perfect... but he has been my candidate since March, and he is My President. I will take the good with the bad in the term to come. This feeling of having an intelligent, inspiring, diplomatic and thoughtful man win the office I wanted him to win is like nothing else. I feel so blessed today and hope that my President proves to be as good as his word.

Bowie knows my pain...

art matters

Sometimes it's easy to think that art doesn't matter. Although it's what drives me on and what I seek all around me. Although without art our lives would be lived in plain boxes with blank walls listening to talk radio. Without art there are no picture books for children, and nothing but non-fiction books for adults, there is no reaching for that which can only be reached through imagination. Without art we live lives with text-book context. No video games, no quilts, no painting... it's everywhere and somehow even I sometimes think it's not 'useful'...

 but then I see something like this;

and I think again.

(it says "a revolution without art is like wanting to change the system with money, power, violence and greed")

How Berkeley Can You Be?

Berkeley has an annual "How Berkeley Can You Be?" Parade. If it wasn't always on a day that I'm prepping for tech (and clogging up my means of hauling heavy costumes and whatnot in and out of my theater downtown ) I might enjoy it better... the other week I walked through the post-parade festival on my way to the dank dark dungeon that is my costume shop. There were people in crazy costumes, others holding out petitions to sign, belly dancers... Berkeley really is a big mish mosh of eccentricities, which I like, except that when they all pile together it's just irritating and creepy.

As it is I  just figure the parade is an excuse to get a second use out of Burning Man costumes. I didn't get a picture because they were too fast, but I did love the giant cupcake bike... and this snail was impressive.
There were a lot of art cars on display
and other people taking pictures of the art cars; this guy looks too normal to be from around here.
I suppose the furry bunny slipper bikes were pretty cool too...

at least my city has a whimsical sense of civic pride.  Ok that's it; now back to being a curmudgeon. 

Blog Action Day 2008 (Poverty)

Alternate Title (Slacker!)
I swear, yesterday I went to work in San Francisco.  Usually on the way to work I see people begging in the BART, sleeping on the sidewalks, selling Street Spirit papers from all different walks of poverty.  You do see the fakers; people who have nice bags, clean nails, fake injuries and fresh haircuts, they rely on you handing over your money while looking away.  You see the ones that are struggling to improve their lot by selling papers& looking for work, often this variety of homeless have been staying in shelters and have managed to get clean clothes.  There are also the hopeless who are like walking ghosts covered in grime, sleeping on door stoops having given up... and yet I did not see more than two homeless people yesterday, neither of whom I felt I could get a photo of without looking like a jerk... I'm heading to downtown Berkeley now... we'll see what kind of a postcard I can get down there for this year's "Poverty" theme on Blogger Action Day.  In the mean time, I'm including the link below by the vlogbrothers (specifically Young Adult Author John Green) explaining kiva.org, which is an organization that I've left a link for on the sidebar.  On one hand it's easier to give money to people in far away countries than to the poor people right here.  It's sad that we don't seem to have better programs here that give people a hand-up, but I do respect the ones that are in place for international aid.  Part of why we can give money to this organization and still have it go so far is because our dollar (weak as it is) is still strong in places of extreme poverty.  Perhaps we need to set up a donation organization for the British to help out our empoverished... anyway, link for now, possible postcard to come, and I must head out to work.