Friday night my brother, sister-in-law and I went to a Christmas bash for charity at the really fantastic Club Motor, which featured live music, burlesque, circus freaks (who claim they don't want to be called circus freaks, even though they were billed as such), and a raffle. We won two prizes, and gave one away. Not because I didn't want to keep it, mind you, it was really fantastic, but I'm just not really in a purse-owning place right now.
Saturday night, it snowed, and never turned to rain as it generally does out here. As of Monday night, it is still snowy and icy, and shows no sign of a thaw in the near future. Weird. The chickens' water freezes over every night...
Monday, December 15, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Foxy pink gorillas
I've spent the past week eating, drinking, and hanging with my friends and family-- in short, there was nothing interesting to post about.
Until now.
Last night I went out with a couple of people on an impromptu investigation of the free Tuesday night burlesque show at Sea Monster. The place is tiny, and features about three tables, six bar stools, and a live band, in addition to the 9PM and 11PM burlesque shows. We were pleasantly surprised to find the band was good, and the burlesque was fun. The highlight of the show was the performer "The Shanghai Pearl," who has a twisted sense of humor, and great theatrical presence. In her last act, she came onstage dressed as a pink gorilla-- not a sexy gorilla in any way, just a full body pink fluffy gorilla costume with mask and french maid outfit, which she removed to much applause. She then continued to dance around the stage in her gorilla costume for most of the number, before finally reaching the obligatory disrobing during the final seconds of the act. This was a highly entertaining way to spend a cheap Tuesday evening. It's a tiny bar, and it seemed like the performers used it as a practice venue, so if you decide to head on down, you'll enjoy it more if you have no expectations.
Until now.
Last night I went out with a couple of people on an impromptu investigation of the free Tuesday night burlesque show at Sea Monster. The place is tiny, and features about three tables, six bar stools, and a live band, in addition to the 9PM and 11PM burlesque shows. We were pleasantly surprised to find the band was good, and the burlesque was fun. The highlight of the show was the performer "The Shanghai Pearl," who has a twisted sense of humor, and great theatrical presence. In her last act, she came onstage dressed as a pink gorilla-- not a sexy gorilla in any way, just a full body pink fluffy gorilla costume with mask and french maid outfit, which she removed to much applause. She then continued to dance around the stage in her gorilla costume for most of the number, before finally reaching the obligatory disrobing during the final seconds of the act. This was a highly entertaining way to spend a cheap Tuesday evening. It's a tiny bar, and it seemed like the performers used it as a practice venue, so if you decide to head on down, you'll enjoy it more if you have no expectations.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Hometown Tourism
On Monday we wandered around downtown, window-shopping and playing tourist. We stopped by that zany fun house, the downtown branch of the Seattle Public Library, because I had never bothered to check out the new building while I actually lived here. It was a treat. In the afternoon, we drove to Tacoma to drop my cousin off at the Amtrak station, and we had enough spare time on the way down to stop by Weyerhaeuser's Bonsai tree collection, which is both fun to look at and free. We also dropped a buncha cash at the shooting range in Tacoma, where we tried out a .357 something or other handgun that was wrist-achingly heavy. At least it didn't eject the spent shells directly into my forehead, like the 9mm did.
Since then it has been all about chillin' with the cats and chickens, who seem willing to eat almost any table scraps except onions. We have a lot in common, the chickens, my brother and I, but you can tell us apart because my brother and I will eat the onions.
Since then it has been all about chillin' with the cats and chickens, who seem willing to eat almost any table scraps except onions. We have a lot in common, the chickens, my brother and I, but you can tell us apart because my brother and I will eat the onions.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Feeling Taciturn
I don't have much to say on the blog right now, because I'm getting the chance to say it all in person! As many of you know by now, I made a brother-instigated surprise trip back home to Seattle for Thanksgiving. (More thank yous to him than I can possibly express. This was a fantastic idea.) This is the real reason I wanted to be in Alabama by Thanksgiving-- I was planning to fly out of Huntsville the day before Tofurkeyday.
On Wednesday, my stepmom and co-conspirator dropped me off at the airport for an uneventful flight home. On Thursday, I got to surprise my mom at her home for breakfast, and one of my oldest friends at a Thanksgiving dinner. On Friday I got to surprise one of my other oldest friends at her mom's house for leftovers. Saturday and Sunday were all about chilling with my brother's cats, chickens, and various people I love, until the one last surprise for my brother, which is that I got our cousin to come up and meet me here for a few days. The master surpriser got the tables turned on him, mwah ha ha! It was fun to see how differently everyone reacted.
Now that the surprise traps have all been sprung, I can blog again. I am here in Seattle until Christmas day, so there will be plenty of time to hang with everyone. Hey GS people, I am crashing your beer hour on Friday, so show up early, before I drink all of the Fat Tire.
I hope your Thanksgivings were all as good as mine was. I am sure feeling thankful about now.
On Wednesday, my stepmom and co-conspirator dropped me off at the airport for an uneventful flight home. On Thursday, I got to surprise my mom at her home for breakfast, and one of my oldest friends at a Thanksgiving dinner. On Friday I got to surprise one of my other oldest friends at her mom's house for leftovers. Saturday and Sunday were all about chilling with my brother's cats, chickens, and various people I love, until the one last surprise for my brother, which is that I got our cousin to come up and meet me here for a few days. The master surpriser got the tables turned on him, mwah ha ha! It was fun to see how differently everyone reacted.
Now that the surprise traps have all been sprung, I can blog again. I am here in Seattle until Christmas day, so there will be plenty of time to hang with everyone. Hey GS people, I am crashing your beer hour on Friday, so show up early, before I drink all of the Fat Tire.
I hope your Thanksgivings were all as good as mine was. I am sure feeling thankful about now.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Thanksgiving is already over
On Sunday evening, my uthah muthah and I drove to her friend's house out in the country, where the puppies are staying while looking for homes. We got plenty of animal time with the five puppies (one already found a home), two dogs, five cats, four horses, eight goats and numerous chickens.
On Monday we took a trip to Unclaimed Baggage in Scottsboro, AL, a store where the contents of unclaimed airline baggage is sold. It is basically a giant thrift store, except that everything in it is really nice, because the previous owners weren't actually intending to get rid of this stuff. They pretty much have every imaginable thing for sale there, from VHS tapes to wedding dresses to handmade silk rugs from the middle east to cell phone chargers. It's amazing how much stuff never gets reunited with its owner. I try to never have to check bags, but now I will be even more militant with my packing. The store has become a huge tourist destination, with busloads of consumers arriving daily. This was pretty much the worst place in the world for a person who has been living minimally for six months to go. I have been wearing the same approximately three outfits this entire time, and a bit of boredom has set in. I went nuts trying on clothes and flipping through CDs, DVDs and books. In the end, I managed to reign it in and just buy a couple of things, one that I actually needed, and some that I kind of sort of needed. (How am I going to pass on a really cute performance thermal undershirt for $6? I need that, right?) I tell ya though, if I lived near that place, I would have a lot of random stuff, and great Halloween costumes, as well as seventeen pairs of glasses. They had a whole wall of glasses ranging in price from $3 to $25, and there were several pairs I really liked. If any of you are in the area and need to get new glasses soon, consider picking up some frames here, and changing out the lenses. Cheap!
On the way back to the puppy boarding house, we got a flat tire, and were assisted by a kind young man who would not have been able to sleep at night if he had let us change the tire ourselves. Okay, those were my stepmom's words, not his, but he was still very much a southern gentleman.
I volunteered to stay with the animals that night, while my stepmom went home to take care of some business and her friend went to a gathering in Nashville with some friends. I was alone with the animals for less than an hour when I discovered one of the puppies had gotten into some heart medication belonging to one of the older dogs. She had somehow chewed the bottle open and an unknown quantity of pills had been eaten by an unknown number of puppies. Yipes! Panic! I monitored them for a while as I researched the medication online. Shortly, one of them began vomiting fairly often, and my research suggested the possibility of her heart stopping. Yipes again! I made a few panicky phone calls, and the puppies' foster mother calmed me down and said it would all be okay. The vet, on the other hand, said to bring her in right away, but that there was really nothing they could do for her. Helpful... Anywho, she lived through the night, which was promising, although she was still pretty lethargic and a bit vomity the next morning. Blurg, at least all of the other animals were fine. 1/~50 isn't a terrible failure rate...
On Tuesday, my stepmom picked me up and we drove up to Nashville to join the party. It was a gathering of Christian truckers, who were having an early Thanksgiving in a timeshare. There was a sermon and communion before the meal. Once again, I felt like an infiltrator. This time, I avoided caffeine, spread out the desserts, and managed not to attack, although things were much less ugly than at the Republican women's luncheon, so it was easier. It was difficult to keep my inner smartass in check, though, but I managed it by hardly talking the whole day, and emailing a bit of smartassery to a friend. I ate a metric ton of delicious homemade cooking, including homemade pie and cake for dessert. Yum! We were joined by a Shoney's waitress the others had met a day or two prior, who writes and performs and sells CDs of poetry. She showed up in her work uniform-- she had to work later in the day-- and gave us a show. Then it was back to Athens for a bit of down time.
On Monday we took a trip to Unclaimed Baggage in Scottsboro, AL, a store where the contents of unclaimed airline baggage is sold. It is basically a giant thrift store, except that everything in it is really nice, because the previous owners weren't actually intending to get rid of this stuff. They pretty much have every imaginable thing for sale there, from VHS tapes to wedding dresses to handmade silk rugs from the middle east to cell phone chargers. It's amazing how much stuff never gets reunited with its owner. I try to never have to check bags, but now I will be even more militant with my packing. The store has become a huge tourist destination, with busloads of consumers arriving daily. This was pretty much the worst place in the world for a person who has been living minimally for six months to go. I have been wearing the same approximately three outfits this entire time, and a bit of boredom has set in. I went nuts trying on clothes and flipping through CDs, DVDs and books. In the end, I managed to reign it in and just buy a couple of things, one that I actually needed, and some that I kind of sort of needed. (How am I going to pass on a really cute performance thermal undershirt for $6? I need that, right?) I tell ya though, if I lived near that place, I would have a lot of random stuff, and great Halloween costumes, as well as seventeen pairs of glasses. They had a whole wall of glasses ranging in price from $3 to $25, and there were several pairs I really liked. If any of you are in the area and need to get new glasses soon, consider picking up some frames here, and changing out the lenses. Cheap!
On the way back to the puppy boarding house, we got a flat tire, and were assisted by a kind young man who would not have been able to sleep at night if he had let us change the tire ourselves. Okay, those were my stepmom's words, not his, but he was still very much a southern gentleman.
I volunteered to stay with the animals that night, while my stepmom went home to take care of some business and her friend went to a gathering in Nashville with some friends. I was alone with the animals for less than an hour when I discovered one of the puppies had gotten into some heart medication belonging to one of the older dogs. She had somehow chewed the bottle open and an unknown quantity of pills had been eaten by an unknown number of puppies. Yipes! Panic! I monitored them for a while as I researched the medication online. Shortly, one of them began vomiting fairly often, and my research suggested the possibility of her heart stopping. Yipes again! I made a few panicky phone calls, and the puppies' foster mother calmed me down and said it would all be okay. The vet, on the other hand, said to bring her in right away, but that there was really nothing they could do for her. Helpful... Anywho, she lived through the night, which was promising, although she was still pretty lethargic and a bit vomity the next morning. Blurg, at least all of the other animals were fine. 1/~50 isn't a terrible failure rate...
On Tuesday, my stepmom picked me up and we drove up to Nashville to join the party. It was a gathering of Christian truckers, who were having an early Thanksgiving in a timeshare. There was a sermon and communion before the meal. Once again, I felt like an infiltrator. This time, I avoided caffeine, spread out the desserts, and managed not to attack, although things were much less ugly than at the Republican women's luncheon, so it was easier. It was difficult to keep my inner smartass in check, though, but I managed it by hardly talking the whole day, and emailing a bit of smartassery to a friend. I ate a metric ton of delicious homemade cooking, including homemade pie and cake for dessert. Yum! We were joined by a Shoney's waitress the others had met a day or two prior, who writes and performs and sells CDs of poetry. She showed up in her work uniform-- she had to work later in the day-- and gave us a show. Then it was back to Athens for a bit of down time.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Two hundred days and counting
Thursday was day two hundred on the road. My statistics for this one hundred days are less impressive than my first one hundred, in terms of biking and sleeping outdoors, but I've heard that I don't need to work anymore to impress you guys. Perhaps next spring and summer I will be hardcore once again, but I am quite happy with giving myself a break from the hard life. I celebrated my latest milestone with a ride out to a nearby state park, which was both lovely and quite peaceful, it being November and all.
Friday we went down to the Civil Rights Museum and 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, where we and all of the other predominately white tourists were assisted by the entirely black staff.
Saturday we went to the Ave Maria Grotto to see all of the miniature shrines and whatnot created by Brother Joseph Zoettl over the course of about forty years in the early twentieth century. He made use of a lot of material that was either found or given to him over the years, and his work was so precious and detailed, my stepmom and I were all sewed up in horse pies.
So for all of my statistics loving pals: My total miles travelled on my bicycle in the first two hundred days of my journey has been 5477.1, but the miles that were actually loaded touring miles were 5124.7. The breakdown for days 101-200:
-2633.6 total miles ridden during 50 days of riding, for an average of 52.7 miles per day.
-2435.4 miles ridden loaded toward a new goal during 44 days of riding, for an average of 55.4 miles per day. The rest were unloaded miles ridden while sightseeing.
-8 consecutive nights sleeping outside
-37 total nights sleeping outside
-33 consecutive nights sleeping indoors
-30 nights I paid for lodging
-$795 spent on lodging
Friday we went down to the Civil Rights Museum and 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, where we and all of the other predominately white tourists were assisted by the entirely black staff.
Saturday we went to the Ave Maria Grotto to see all of the miniature shrines and whatnot created by Brother Joseph Zoettl over the course of about forty years in the early twentieth century. He made use of a lot of material that was either found or given to him over the years, and his work was so precious and detailed, my stepmom and I were all sewed up in horse pies.
So for all of my statistics loving pals: My total miles travelled on my bicycle in the first two hundred days of my journey has been 5477.1, but the miles that were actually loaded touring miles were 5124.7. The breakdown for days 101-200:
-2633.6 total miles ridden during 50 days of riding, for an average of 52.7 miles per day.
-2435.4 miles ridden loaded toward a new goal during 44 days of riding, for an average of 55.4 miles per day. The rest were unloaded miles ridden while sightseeing.
-8 consecutive nights sleeping outside
-37 total nights sleeping outside
-33 consecutive nights sleeping indoors
-30 nights I paid for lodging
-$795 spent on lodging
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Caffeine and Republicans
Since my dad and other mother picked me up from Virginia, I have been lounging at their place in Athens, Alabama (near Huntsville), making cookies, eating, biking, watching movies and taking walks with my stepmom and her good friend. The walk this morning was the best ever, filled with puppies and ice. If you are a puppy freak like me, check out my youtube, because I actually uploaded FIVE videos of the puppies... And have no fear, the puppies have been moved to a safe place, and homes are being sought as I type.
Later, I accompanied my stepmom to a luncheon for the Republican Women of Madison, where she was touting her new book. I was sadly, grossly, pathetically, woefully underdressed, but the southern belles were gracious. Things went pretty smoothly, but I was feeling so out of place I ended up downing four cookies and five glasses of iced tea. After the luncheon, four or five women were still hanging around, kvetching about the president elect, and it was interesting to see how the same fears the liberals had about the Bush administration heading towards becoming a nazi-like fascist regime have now become the conservative's fears about the Obama administration. It seems like whenever anyone in this country disagrees with anyone else, the go-to insult is "Nazi." It's the new n-word. To quote Jon Stewart on the Daily Show, "you have to try really hard to be that evil!" It's a facile and generally completely inaccurate comparison that we make way, way too easily. Anywho, I managed to just sit back and listen for a while, but then things started to get too ugly, and all of the sugar and caffeine kicked in, so I took on the whole room. Fortunately my stepmom, who has totally missed her calling as a conflict negotiator, jumped in and brought the energy level of the room down before I started throwing punches.
Later, I accompanied my stepmom to a luncheon for the Republican Women of Madison, where she was touting her new book. I was sadly, grossly, pathetically, woefully underdressed, but the southern belles were gracious. Things went pretty smoothly, but I was feeling so out of place I ended up downing four cookies and five glasses of iced tea. After the luncheon, four or five women were still hanging around, kvetching about the president elect, and it was interesting to see how the same fears the liberals had about the Bush administration heading towards becoming a nazi-like fascist regime have now become the conservative's fears about the Obama administration. It seems like whenever anyone in this country disagrees with anyone else, the go-to insult is "Nazi." It's the new n-word. To quote Jon Stewart on the Daily Show, "you have to try really hard to be that evil!" It's a facile and generally completely inaccurate comparison that we make way, way too easily. Anywho, I managed to just sit back and listen for a while, but then things started to get too ugly, and all of the sugar and caffeine kicked in, so I took on the whole room. Fortunately my stepmom, who has totally missed her calling as a conflict negotiator, jumped in and brought the energy level of the room down before I started throwing punches.
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