Simple Pleasures

it's the little things in life . . .

"The United States Postal Service issued a new set of commemorative stamps depicting classic motorcycles. Unfortunately, the USPS forgot to spell-check the final version of the collector's items, because they misspelled a keyword, marking the stamps "motorcyle." Upon hearing this, RELEVANT copyeditor Tia Stauffer went postal ...9/1/06 | 2:48 PM"

that make me happy.

I <3 slices . . .

fight song

I'm going all Grey's A & titling my blog entries with song titles . . . or we'll see how that works anyway . . .

UGA beat Western Kentucky today . . . *gasp*, "really???" . . . shocker. but "yay" none the less.

Pat has a new layout on his blog, so I got curious as to new templates, thus the new look of this one. (darn you!) but now all of my links are gone, so I'll have to redo them. they needed updating anyway.

I have some new projects I'm working out, and I'll soon be sharing the plans here. just a few more details to work out first.

growl growl, grumble grumble

tomorrow is the first game of the fall football season . . . . this I am very happy about.

tomorrow means that all of the obnoxious neanderthals, jerks, and drunks will come climbing out of the woodwork, trashing everything everywhere they go . . . this I am not happy about.

go dawgs.

I started reading Searching For God Knows What by Donald Miller, and something occured to me. What if "favor" has nothing to do with what we do on the checklists of our religion? What if has more to do with how we live. And not live in the I tithe, I smile at people, I give to charities around the holidays, etc., etc., but actually live. Going out and doing things, dreaming and then acting on the dream, writing, playing sports with strangers at the park. Because God created us for fellowship with Him, right? A relationship is alot more fun when the other person has a life.

Pirates II

So first they set a record friday as the highest grossing movie on its first day of release, and THEN by having the best opening weekend. Having seen this movie TWICE in twenty-four hours . . . it's awesome. If you can see it in DLP, then do that as well. Also, a second viewing is as enjoyable as the first, if not more so. I enjoyed it more the second time (even though I loved it the first). No spoilers here . . . just go watch it!

Oh, AND I loved that it proved again that . . . .

a. Hollywood is too full of itself: people want to see really good movies, and they'll pay to see them on a big screen. A drop in revenue means that someone's not doing their job, NOT that people are downloading illegally.

b. Critics are irrelevant and out of touch.

three movies to go see . . .

Superman Returns. yes, I loved it! (even with the interesting choice of story lines from the comic book.)

The Devil Wears Prada. I haven’t read the book, but I know that they definitely took some liberties when adapting it to the screenplay. this was to make them nicer or something. anyway, even if you just see it for the clothes, it's great. HOWEVER . . . the characters are great. loved this movie as well!

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. this doesn't need any recommendations. if you saw the first one, then you're probably just as excited as I am. if you aren't . . . then really . . . LIGHTEN UP!!! in the meantime, go find the Black Pearl cereal . . . seriously . . .

coffee cure

I caught this in slices over at RELEVANT :

"A new study has found that drinking coffee can reduce the risk of liver damage. According to the research, “drinking coffee cuts the risk of cirrhosis of the liver from alcohol—by 22 percent per cup each day” …6/13/06 | 5:39 PM"

interesting . . .

family

I went to Atlanta this afternoon with my father to visit my grandmother. She has rapidly progressing Alzheimer’s, and just a few months ago my grandfather made the decision to put her into a care home. He did his best to care for her for as long as he could, but things got to be more the he and the rest of the local family could handle. It's hard seeing her slip away like this. This was the woman who ran Dekalb for years, helped to lead political campaigns, chaired committees, and mothered four sons and a daughter. She was an incredible grandmother as well. Dad just sat there with her, talking to her when she had some good moments, and helping with what he could. When the other ladies in the common room of the home got too boisterous, she sent us on our way.

The best part of the trip though was the ride with my father. The conversations we've had while driving to and from Atlanta are some of my favorite memories. Today's certainly made the trip a little easier.

Downtown life

There's a distinct difference between day life and nightlife in Downtown Athens, and anyone who's seen both knows it. In the day life we get Walter. If you don't know Walter by name, you probably know him as the old guy in the wheelchair. And if you know him by that, then you've probably been chased by him in said wheelchair (or at least yelled at). This guy is like a Twinkie (I'd say cockroach, but that would be offensive) in that it seems like he'll be around forever. Heck, he's been harassing Athens folk for cash and meds since before I was born! My dad has stories from his ER days of Walter's antics. Don't feel too bad for the old guy (Walter, not my dad) though, he gets a nice fat check from the government every month, and someone obviously does his laundry.

If he harasses you too much, just call the cops. They know who you're talking about.

thanks, I needed that

what IS it about a new hair(style) that make you want to go clean out your wardrobe, tackle that remodeling project, and reorganize your life. Maybe it's just a woman thing, or even just a me thing, but I needed it.

why?

because lately I've been in that post-graduation, pre-real job interim funk that happens. It's the "I need a real job to fund my Art and music, but first I have to find one." It'll happen, but right now the schedule is killing my drive (30hours hours days a week - ick).

so today I went to get my hair done, and it looks a-maaaaaazing. AND, it was just the "ok, now lets get everything else in shape" that I needed. so until I hear back about the jobs that I've applied for, I'll be organizing, cleaning out, getting the yard sale ready, making jewelry, writing songs, and wearing out my DVD player (thanks to Netflix!!!)

silly "chicks"

out of three women, not one of them has heard "think before you speak"? I'm talking about the Dixie Chicks. one of them ran their mouth and "accidentally" dissed The View. Ms. Walters was quite proud of how her ladies handled it though, and one of the "chicks" apologized the next day.

now, I don't really care what they think about the president, but this whole "we're done with country, we're rock now." yeah, riiiiiight. I've heard the new single several times, and it's as country as all of the other albums.

silly "chicks"

grad school angst

I have been considering going to grad school. There is even room for me in the program which I'd like to study in starting in the fall of 2007. But here's the thing: I don't know that I want to spend three more years in school (not to mention the money I'll need) on this. I could be continuing on my own work, my music, travel, even living somewhere else. There are so many other possibilities. The angst came last night with a call from my grandfather. He really wants me to get my Master's (or specifically, my MFA) and wants to see a course of study plan, "business plan" for financing the three years, etc. This will all have to wait until the fall, when the professor who will be overseeing my possible degree will be back from Japan. I keep trying to explain that AND that I haven’t made my final decision yet.

biding my time

or "trying to please my true love"

or "thoughts on marriage" from an unmarried single.

For as long as I can remember, I've heard that the first year is the hardest for newlyweds. The reasons varied a bit from couple to couple, but usually involved the adjustments to cohabitation, finances, lifestyle, etc. I lived with a pastor's family for a few months in Nashville, and the couple handled allot of pre-marital counseling for the church. Pre-marital counseling is a very good idea. There are things that couples don't think about during the engagement that can become big issues later on. Also, statistically couples who live together before they get married are more likely to get divorced later on. Often because there are subconscious precedents laid down before they committed to marriage.

I don't want to seriously date anyone who I wouldn't consider marrying. I did it once, and it was a mess. So have I dated much? No. Does that bother me? No. Why? Because the right man for me (one approved by my First love - God) won't be bothered by it either. So I'm biding my time, trying not to waste it on hollow romances. Is my track record flawless? Not really, but whose is?

The idea of a big ceremony scares the crap out of me. Seriously. I can't watch the wedding scenes without going into a near panic. However, after discussing this with my mother and a couple of close friends, the speculation is that the guy I'll end up marrying will want a big ceremony. Greeaaat. I will however be insisting on including power tools in the registry. I doubt he'll have a problem with that.

The actual marriage (one day) is something that doesn't scare me. I know that there will be rough points, as there are in all relationships. There's no such thing as a perfect man or a perfect woman, but if there was that wouldn't be much fun. What "they" say is that well it's the right time and the right person, you'll know. And the right time doesn't always seem like the right time; in fact it can seem like the worst time to be meeting your "match". That's what I've heard.

Oh, and if by chance you've had some dream or word or vision about who I'm supposed to marry, DON'T TELL ME!!! I really don't want to know yet.

who are we really helping?

That's the question that repeats itself over and over again in my mind every time I think about missions trips. I've been on a few. They were all very different, but also usually involved a building or work project, a meal project, and street ministry. Most trips last about a week - not a whole lot of time in the grand scheme of things, right? Most of the time it was the team who was the most affected by the trip. But then again, that's looking at it from a limited time table. Some things take years to develop.

I've been volunteering again at my church helping the wednesday night children's ministry teachers. There are quite a few kids from a nearby trailer park who come to the program. If I hadn't grown up in this particular church, I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the kids. Why? Because not only is this church highly diverse, it also has been working with the kids from the surrounding area for years. The girls that I've been blessed to teach don't isolate themselves, but interact with each other. Not that they don't disagree with who gets most of the purple beads, but that's a minor issue. They really just want the necklace to be long enough, right? :)

Missions work can teach you that YOU are the problem. Until you are actually contributing to change, your long-winded speech is just hollow words. Personally, I think that if everyone got involved, then we'd have other things to talk about. Like what to do with all of the extra time and money we'd have for the community programs (even after the new facilities and equipment were paid for). That would be a good problem to have.

crashing

it's that time again. I am done with school and my brain and body had a staff meeting and decided that the proper course of action was to make me very, very sleepy for an indeterminate period of time.

see you in another week or so . . .

pushing through

Starting with the most recent events . . .

If you've been reading any of the recent posts, you know that I've been trying to beat a nasty little cold virus over the last week. I have a project due tomorrow, and being sick cut into my work time considerably. So this weekend I'm feeling better and make up for lost hours, although not completely out of the cold. Enter mega-migraine. My once EMT father proposed that could have been triggered by sudden drop in pain relievers that I'd been taking for the cold symptoms. That makes sense. I'd be asleep right now, but the caffeine from the med cocktail taken for the migraine has me up and wired (side note: caffeine has been found to boost the effects of pain relievers). So I worked some more on the project. I have no idea if I'll be able to finish with the original plan before tomorrow, but doing what I could tonight has actually made me feel better. Something about my wiring and the fact that doing something creative tends to make me feel better. The "ice pick in my skull" is still there, but less forceful. Oh, and I'd be doing more on the project right now, but it's in the drying stage, so I can't.

How do I start what I'm going to say next? For a little over two years now, I've come to find that I had been suffering from depression. Mild, but depression none the less. I knew something wasn't right, but I wasn't sure what. I figured whatever it was, it was just something to get over. I wasn't having trouble getting out of bed, my friends and family thought things were fine, but I wasn't. Then over the last few months I started coming across article after article about people going through alarmingly similar symptoms. I wasn't looking for these, but it got to the point were I couldn't escape them. So, I sought counsel, did some research, and started on a very mild medication. It was like a light coming on. The anxiety dissipated, the depression lifted, and I had the drive to do the things that I loved again. Oh, and I also survived the final weeks before my Exit. Not that it was all a piece of cake. I still had to face what drove me there in the first place, and the choices that I had made over the last two years. There are things that I wish I hadn't done, but I did, and that can't be changed.

So the important thing is to push through, because it won't be easy, but it will get better.

I would answer my phone, BUT

doing that would require speaking, which makes me feel kinda like I'm choking. ick.

That's how I felt yesterday (all day) and most of this week. Mom was all concerned that I didn't answer when she called. It's this annoying cold. Which, by the way, is going away, but not as quickly as I'd like.

like I had hoped, but better

part of the preparation for the Exit Show/graduation meant putting some things in my life on hold. friends, music, non-research reading, etc. have all been on the back burner until my daily life was focused on more than pending projects. I hoped that I'd be able to pick back up at least somewhere close to where I was before. a little behind or in need of some work and tlc, but there none the less. well, here I am and it's even better than I had hoped. the music is back - I even picked up my guitar more than twice this weekend. still learning, but this time feeling my way along like I do with the piano, which I've played since I was five. I still plan on learning the technical chord positions, but playing by ear is actually working out pretty well. at least I'm not running over to the keyboard to flesh out a verse. as for relationships, the real friends are still around, picking up where we left off, the ones who maybe weren't so great have drifted off, and people who I haven't spoken to in years are popping up all over the place.

oh yeah, and I'm going through books like crazy.

life can feel like hell, but it's also wonderful, it's comedy, and it's beautiful too.

I didn't get much sleep last night. Too much coffee, too much still running through my head, and a very LOUD thunderstorm. Which freaked out the dog. Come to think of it though, I didn't see my cat until sometime this morning. It was a very good storm though - cool lightning, good thunder, and rain that drowned out everything else . . . obviously very loud overall. I love storms.

So here I am, at work, a little sleepy and a little bored. Good times, right? Yeah.

My friend Mat released his new album Tuesday, and I love it. There's some old stuff, some new stuff, and the photos that make you laugh because you actually know the person in person. I can't help it, and I do the same thing with Steve's albums. When you know the goofier side to them, it takes alot of effort to keep a straight face looking at cover shots. Make no mistake though - I couldn't be prouder of any of them. When you work that hard and that long for what you dream of doing . . . it's just the best. And on the other side, it breaks my heart when friends just give up and settle.

There is wedding stuff everywhere you (ok, I) turn right now. Makes sense, as it's a little over a month until June, and planning is in full gear. I'm just really thankful that I don't have to think about any of that for myself right now. However, the television special on the history and making of wedding cakes was really cool. It was on this morning (possibly for the umpteenth time) and made for interesting viewing while I was getting ready for work. Apparently some French chef was absolutely appalled that the English were pilling sticky buns on the floor and have the bride and groom kiss over the mound of rolls. So he went home and concocted a tiered cake. One even did it out of cream puffs (of course they used a different term for the puffs, being the French). There was also a former ballet dancer (male) who does these incredible sugar flowers that look identical to the real things. There's lots of color layering involved and such. It was all very cool from a sculptural standpoint, but it's still just a cake.

I read Blue Like Jazz (Donald Miller) recently. It's a good read, and very funny at times - more or less so depending on your church background. He recounted several points in his life when he realized "I am the problem" - not nessescarily the world. It's the kind of thiing I think about when I read or hear a debate on politics, issues, etc. It makes me wonder if the energy being put into the camera, blog, or air is the only energy being put towards the "problem". Hmm. The term "losers" comes to mind. I know of some community programs that could use some more volunteers. That seems like a better use of time and energy. Just a thought.

One week later . . .

My Exit Show was a huge success. Even with the Sculpture & Fabric Open House going on downstairs, I had a fantastic turnout on my own. So my friends and colleuges attended, and the feedback has been great. One person even commented that it looked like an MFA show rather than a BFA show. Cool.

Now I'm working on getting everything back in order. I probably would have started on Monday, if there hadn't been a portfolio due on Wednesday.

It's exciting to get everything clean and tidy again after the house looked like a fabric bomb had gone off or something. And with the back yard looking more and more like a rainforest every day, there's a lovely view out of the studio window.

So what else is new? I have a bracelet in Southworks, a juried show that opens in May. Graduation is in May (exciting). You will not find me at the cerimony though. No, I plan on sitting somewhere cool that day. What's the point of sitting through all of that heat when you don't even get to hear your name called? Grad school might be starting for me next fall (2007), unless something else comes up over the next year.