TMi

exhausted, wired, dancing in a hotel room alone This is a long post. And certainly chock full of mistakes. Deal with it.  💙     I did a "wild" thing this month. I crossed the busiest international border in the world and took two flights during a global software hiccough to go to the Voices Against Cancer 605 Pop-Culture Con in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  Some of the cast of the Ahsoka live-action Star Wars series were slated to appear there. George Takei would be there... It's an event to raise funds for kids with cancer...    Of all the people attending this event, however, the draw for me was Lars Mikkelsen- actor, Timothy Zahn- author, and Marc Thompson- voice animator. These three people have made and brought to life a particular Star Wars character that I have been in love with since I was roughly eleven years old. You may have heard of someone called Thrawn, perhaps? Eh, perhaps not. He's still lesser known than my other hard crush- Darth Vad...

It's the time of year to do it, but looking back is so, so difficult for me.  I don't want to reread my blog entries or my e-journal. It hurts me to see how my life has gone. My life is just going away from me...  Along with my e-journaling, I keep a physical day planner. An object in the real world I use to prove to / remind myself that I do things during the course of a day and that I am not just this lump that is taking up space- except I am this lump that is taking up space- So anyway, I have this day planner i can flip through; if I can endure it: very early in the year I was already wondering why I bothered keeping an account when every day is so much the same small potatoes as every day my eyes skitter over the dubious penmanship that improves or degrades depending on how I am doing physically and emotionally FML repeats on many pages I recorded numerous nights when I did not sleep well enough to function I listed the many days when I took antibiotics I ...

things about me, literally feathers bullet casings bones books charms rocks gems herbs oils dolls figurines keys locks twine coins am i witchy then am i queer then am i unseely then am i clemfellow then or what or what what place do i have   which one of your boxes am i put into a nd then dismissed

Into June, into insomnia.  Along with a host of other symptoms that indicate a bacterial infection, I am doing juuust "splendidly." I have been a year and a half of my life under trash clouds threatening refuse deluges knowing- more or less- that it's because of bacterial infection. As I told one of my brothers recently in a chat, knowing is not half the battle, in this case.  This brother has also dealt with a testy bacterial infection. His version happened to be tick-borne Lyme. Coincidentally, he's anxious about recent reinfection and is waiting on test results himself.   Go Team Antibiotic!  Let's say, just staying upright and communicating coherently is more like half the battle here for me. I might seem sharp enough, but I'm struggling through like I've had half a tequila bottle. Chewing the glass and all.   So I fasted and trucked myself off to have seven vials of blood drawn- by seven dwarves and sent to seven underground labs... no wait. no. T...

Happy Halloween, biz-nich-izzles! Photo by  Karolina Grabowska  from  Pexels It's May. It's spring!  It's time to celebrate Lemuralia! Wut?  Is that a kind of lemur party? Well, no, not quite.  Before the Catholic Christians messed around with the dates- as they always seemed to do- the month of May was the time when some ancient Europeans would turn their thoughts to lemures  or the dead- the scary, unhappy dead. And how to make sure they weren't a bother to the living.  Romans, in particular, held observance for lemures on May 9th, 11th, and 13th.  May 11th just happens to be my birthday and it's an "unlucky" day according to the Romans. Which would explain so much about me? They warn against people getting married in May, but what of those born in the month? Are we screwed? For me, yes. I've been sufficiently, quietly screwed right over in so many ways through the years. Given the list of things that are wrong with my existence, I'...

I was invited to a cook out on Wednesday- yesterday at a little ranch up the road.  I social distanced in the shade of actual trees with other humans, sheep, goats, horses, a mismatched pack of dogs, chickens, turkeys, peacocks...  I really wasn't expecting this kind of place just off the main road, but there it was.   A lively young woman told this story in rapid, giddy Spanish that struck me square in the Absurd. The story was about this cup of coffee that just would not taste right. The woman had made her coffee and was dressing it up with her usual amount of sugar.  She drank some, but it tasted wrong; still bitter. So she added more sugar. Tried it again.  The coffee was still not to her liking, so she kept trying to make it taste better. She only gave up when another family member came and explained the reason for the coffee's bad taste. She had not been adding sugar after all!  It had been powdered snake!  She had drunk at least...

Before I came down with a cold for my birthday, I took a day trip- no, this was  definitely a road trip- out to Mexicali. Why? I hadn't been there! And I had a chance to go. Simple enough.  What I knew about this city was hearsay: the only thing you can do in Mexicali is be hot, drink beer to not be so hot, but end up just being drunk and hot. And eat famously good Chinese food. Stopping at a Starbucks in the city to use the toilet and the wifi,  (my dudes, that is all Starbucks actually exist for in this dimention)  I did notice a distinct spike in the number Chinese/Chinese-Mexican people in the coffee shop. There had better be amazing Chinese food around here then, right? And did I even try any comida china? HA! Of course not! Why, would I EVER do that?!  I opted for a vegan place . (It was Asian fusion food, ok?!) The atmosphere was a little weird because they were in the middle of moving locations, but the food w...

A simple bus ride north of the capital city can be a dangerous thing in Mexico. Not because of bandits, but bad drivers. On the way to our destination, we witnessed a flipped car and a person pinned beneath it- perhaps dead. How did the car flip? We could barely guess. Probable death notwithstanding, we arrived at  Teotihuacan  without problem. It is still a working archeological dig site. Real Indiana Joneses in sombreros sift dirt under tarp shades as the tourists mill around trying to avoid the aggressive trinket sellers. The whole site echos with the sounds of the flute doodlings and jaguar calls to entice people to buy. Bright red summer tanagers eyed us like little guards on duty, and seemed to give us their leave to come and go. Ants, not aliens may have build everything. A puppy certainly rules the city now. No sprained foot, no burning sunshine was going to keep me from BEING there. The light is relentless even on a hazy day and I did not complain a...

Sunday I went to a Martinez etc, etc, family reunion. This would be The Human's mother's side of the family. Turns out if was much more than a reunion is was a triple  birthday party and a meeting of people that completely warped my brain. Let me share the brain warp. You ready? My Human has family WHO LIVED IN WEBSTER MASSACHUSETTS and  are still in the area. One of them even went to BARTLETT! HWTF! Here we all at in Tijuana relating about Nelson Street by the ball field and what they did to Cranston Print. HFTW?! And then it was explained that, for some reason (those pesky Norns), Webster ended up being the midway point between the south of Norway and Obregon (Mexico); were an aunt met and a Norwegian man, with whom she eventually married. He proposed to her on the bridge spanning the French River at the Webster-Dudley border. I am not making this stuff up! I met them, and they all told the same story.. The world didn't get smaller. It got weirder. Because for ...

The dragon did not have his day.. and I am ever wondering why they did not read the book. It was a SHORT one. The decision to see the second part of the Hobbit (guh) trilogy was random. I was out with My Human on a little adventure to see dance and theatre at CEART  in Tijuana. When we had had enough of salsa, we walked back to the taxis and stopped in at the shopping mall. We were just in time to see the 3D subtitled version of the Desolation of Smaug (The desolation happened in the last movie. WTQ, people). We followed our whim an bought tickets - less than $10 for 2 tickets for a 3D movie. (You 1st Worlders can all be jealous now!) I was not impressed the with 3D.  I was not impressed with many of the changes that the film team chose. They appeared nervous about straying away from the book. They can't even make up new dialogue so many, many of the scenes were awkward / stiff for no reason. To me, they have rehashed Tolkien's stuff ad nauseam that I am becoming convin...

Let me just start with this. Girls then. Girls now. Blurry game of catch. (Art pic) Another art pic. Can I haz gallery show? Colour bearers stalled. The useful hats of then; the useless hats of now. A looker. Or three.  I got a cheer from the superficial squad! Gooo ME! Tumblers and - snipers?! Best parade float winner right here. Suck it Tournament of Roses. Volleyball players AND cheerleaders?! Yep, still digging the costumes. Erm. Theresa? There are no camels in any of these pics. Where you following the advice of Indiana Jones ? Yes. Yes, I was... Be of good cheer, Gentle Viewer, and have patience. The camels are part of the VIDEO. {Crap- I built that up. Now, I have to edit a decent video.}

I have to say, I was disappointed with the Day Of the Dead in northern Mexico. They have the chance to celebrate THREE DAYS of DEAD and.. they just haven't got the sense to do it. So the occasion turned out to be more like a completely lame St. Valentines Day: Buy last minute flowers and candy, put them on a grave.. go home and drink. (I am guessing that last part, but prolly so true) Some places had altars up for a whole week,which, yes, was very cool, but on the whole, it was a lame experience. https://ferrebeekeeper.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/the-flower-of-the-dead/   << if  you would like some further reading (and I KNOW you DO) this is a nice write up about the flowers and their link to the holiday. I love that there are bright orange flowers dedicated to the dead- that aren't anything to do with lilies, tiger or otherwise. 

Light the Night. Saturday. Cage Parade. Friday.