mittenmusings

BOO! Part 2!

Friday night, hubby and I attended a Halloween shindig. It was hosted by a coworker of hubby's, but a lot of her friends and family were there too. It was a GREAT mix of people. My husband works with, well, a lot of geeky science types. Usually when we socialize with them outside of work, the talk ends up being geeky science talk, rife with acronyms and multi-syllabic mumbo jumbo. Having extra folks added to the geek mix was fabulous.

The costumes were mostly super. Lots of people went with the storebought deals, or rentals. The best costume was a couple who went as Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson, complete with "wardrobe malfunction." The woman had taken a front close bra and worn it over a dress, to which she had adhered a falsie. It was classic. I noticed that most couples went as coordinated people, like an angel and devil, his'n'her pirates, etc. I thought the two of us looked great, but no one could tell what we were supposed to be!

Sigh.

I kept getting called "Cyndi" all night, I suppose because folks thought I was Cyndi Lauper. Hubby kept getting called "Father," because he sort of looked like a priest. After a while, I got cheeky and said that I was a baaaad girl and was trying to tempt him, while he was trying to save my soull. Heh heh heh. If ya can't beat 'em....

Of course, did we bring our camera? Nope. Because we are, apparently, dumbasses. But, we did have a good time. There were good eats, copious amounts of beverages, and good natured fun. We decided it was time to leave when the skull shot glasses were brought out around midnight, filled with some sort of unidentifiable elixir. It might have been scotch, but we weren't gonna stick around to find out!

Slice of Mittenlife:

Last night, at 7:00pm:

Me: Hey Gus, where are you?
(my query is met with silence)

Me: Hmmmmm.
(hauling my behind off the couch)

Hubby: He's back here!
(calling from the master bedroom)

Me: What's he doing?

I arrived at the end of the hall, where I met my husband.

Hubby: What's that on the floor? OH GOD, he ATE it!
(tasty doggie smacking ensues)

Me: Um, it looks like he ate your dress socks too.
(pointing to a moist crumpled pile of the floor)

Hubby: Rats. This is my fault. I shouldn't have left the closet door open.
(gingerly plucking the holey socks from the carpet)

Me: I bet he ate a part of your sock. Great. Now we're gonna have to wait for it to reappear.
(sighing)

Hubby: Yep.

I followed Gus into the bathroom, where he spit out something on the floor. I snatched it up quickly, so he would not eat it again.

Me: AHA!!! It is a piece of sock! And it's wet with dogspit. Hey honey, wanna touch it?

Hubby: Um. No.

Good times.

BOO!

On Friday, my husband and I are attending a Halloween party. It is being held and attended by folks from his work. This weekend, we went out looking for costumes. Of course, hubby found a costume the first place we looked. He is dressing up as Neo, from the Matrix. He looks hot in his trench coaty-dealie and dark glasses. Mmm mmm.

I thought that it would be easy to find a coordinating costume, and attend the party as Trinity. It's pretty much the same costume: trench coat, dark glasses, etc. We would be cool! We would be coordinated! I wouldn't have to shave my legs! We wouldn't have to explain to everyone all night what "we were supposed to be!"

Alas, my deep, dark fantasy of having a coordinated costume-a-rama will not come to fruition. ((deep dramatic sighs))

I am 5 feet and 1 and a half inches tall. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find a Trinity-like Halloween costume trench coaty-dealie that doesn't drag on the floor by at least 6 inches? AND, I am not about to spend 35 buck on a costume and then have to have it tailored. No no no. The only other options were cheesy "naughty" costumes like a nurse, witch or kitty. No thank you. These are people who my husband has to work with, and I don't want them talking about my hoohah or my tahtahs on Monday by the watercooler.

Hubby was worried. "What are you going to doooooooo?" he asked. I am sure that he wanted to make sure I dress up too, so at least if we are the only two to dress up, we'll be doing it together. I also have a history of eschewing the storebought costume, with varying results: laundry basket (lame), ladybug (I was the only person who didn't think it was lame), elf (don't ask).

Today, however, I got a flash of inspiration, in Target. Behold:

Dust off those Whitesnake albums, people, I am going to this party as an 80's fashion disaster. I actually found legwarmers. No one has squealed in delight over a pair of leg warmers since 1988. I think I have everything I'll need: jelly bracelets, Aqua Net for High Hair, fishnet stockings, sparkly tacky rhinestone earrings, blue eyeshadow, body glitter, and the afore-mentioned legwarmers. Instead of a bottle of wine or something like that for the hostess, I'm going to burn a 80's music mix cd for a hostess gift.

Like, it's going to be so totally AWESOME!!! Dude!!!

New Photoset at Flickr

I arrived at my New Yorker talk yesterday afternoon way, way early. Luckily, I actually had my digital camera with me, and took some lovely pictures. They are all of the University of Michigan's central campus. Here's a teaser:

Here is the link to the whole set. You can view them as a slideshow, which I highly recommend if you are on broadband.

Enjoy!

Gonna git me some learnin'

Today, after taking care of various domestic duties, I am going into Ann Arbor for The New Yorker College Tour. I am going to see Seymour Hersh, investigative journalist extraordinaire, and David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker, have a little chitchat.

I'm just guessing that the talk will go a little like this.

There are wonderful things lined up all this week as part of this tour. Tomorrow there are fiction writers chatting about their craft. That is just the perfect thing for me to attend, on the eve of my novel-writing extravaganza. And the daytalks are FREE!! Woohoo! I love taking advantage of events like this that come into town. We are pretty fortunate to live in an area that is dedicated to learning and the arts.

I may have to fuel myself up at the Crazy Wisdom Tea Room before I go. Mmmmm. I'm guessing no one will laugh at my socks 'n' Birkenstocks there.

Countdown to NaNoWriMo

I have eight days until I starts writing my 50,000 word novel in earnest. Am I excited? Sure! Am I prepared? Sorta.

You may ask, "How does one prepare to grind out a novel in 30 days?" Being the organized sort, I actually made a to-do list of pre-writing stuff. It has given me great pleasure to tick items off the list.

The very first thing to do was rip my plethora of cd's onto the hard drive of my laptop. I made the executive decision to not rip all of my cd's. I only ripped about 3/4 of my collection. Discs that I enjoy all the way through made the cut. Ones that I bought for one song, you know, the ones where that one song was the only decent cut on the whole disc? Those are not taking up valuable space on my hard drive. I had been meaning to tackle this little project for awhile, and am happy I finally did it. I just have to have good tunes to write to. It's a requirement.

I have made a writing schedule, complete with times and places where I will write. I love my workspace at home, but I get so easily distracted! There's Gus to play with, laundry to do, websites to surf, and Lifetime Movie Network to watch. I am going to work on a rotating schedule of the public library, my alma mater's library, and a couple of locally owned coffeehouses. I chose these places because they do NOT have wireless access (no surfing! no no no), but have a lot of accessible power outlets. The owner of one of the coffeeplaces told me that he has a few extra extension cords if I need them. Whatta guy! And, he makes a kickass cappuccino.

My novel is set in a place I visited and in a culture I participated in during my youth. It's going to be populated with kooky characters and pithy commentary. It is by no means going to be a serious novel, but it ain't gonna be one of those "chicklit" deals either. I took one of those plastic index card box things, and made four dividers with the headings: characters, setting, plot, and miscellaneous. Since the beginning of the month, when I get an inspirational "flash," I write down whatever my idea is and file it appropriately. The cards are populated with all sorts of thoughts, from names to memories to ice cream flavors. I am hoping that this will give me a little jumpstart in the beginning of the month, as well as a boost when I get stuck at some point in the month.

I've done other things too, mostly the guidelines listed in the book No Plot, No Problem by Chris Baty, the founder of National Novel Writing Month. Needless to say, I am really looking forward to November. I may or may not post parts of my ongoing effort on here. I haven't officially decided yet! I'm surprised how many people on the 'net are going to post their novel as they go. Yikes! I am sooooo not brave enough for that.

File under D for Duh

This morning, 7:15 am, as I sit groggily nursing my first cup of coffee:

Husband: Lisa, are you OK? You seem tired lately.

Me: (guttural sounds and coffee slurps)

Husband: Are you OK? Depressed?

Me: Not depressed. Tired.

Husband: Why?

Me: Staying up late watching baseball. Getting woken up (by you) to take out dog at 3:30am the past few nights. Not getting back to sleep very well. Have period. Have cold bug virus dealie. No sun for the past eight days. Woken up to clean up dog vomit at 6:00 am this morning.
(coffeeslurps)

Husband: Oh.

Oh, indeed.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
Name 3 things that you are wearing today.

1. Fleecy vest, warm and cozy
2. Jeans, soft, worn and faded
3. Socks and Birkenstocks, the worst fashion faux pas in humankind.

Soup
Who was the last person you hugged?

My husband, this morning before he went to work.

Salad
What do you like to order from your favorite fast food place?

I very, very rarely eat fast food; I probably only have it 6 times a year...maybe. But when I get a hankering I go to Wendy's and get the single burger meal with cheese, and Diet Pepsi. Mmmmm...

Main Course
What time of day do you usually feel most energized?

I feel most energized in the afternoon, around 1-3pm. After a burst of productivity, I feel tired and need a nap. It's all Gus's fault.

Dessert
Using the letters in your first name, write a sentence. (Example: Sweet unusual spaniels are nice.)

Licking
Insects
Seems
Atrocious

WORLD SERIES AT FENWAY!!!

Oh my goodness! Game 7 was....awesome. My wrapup:

Lowe pitched like a champ. Damon- geez- where ya been hidin' those hits, buddy? WTF...PEDRO in the 7th?? I was jumping up and down on the bed yelling "If we lose, Francona, you are gonna lose yourfucking job! Husband was appropriately scared, huddling under the comforter. I was never happier to see someone in the bullpen than I was to see Timlin warming up. And then. They won at Yankee Stadium. They danced and whooped and hollered under the watch of 55K Yanks fans (with a smattering of Soxfans, who were probably peeing themselves). Priceless.

I love my guys. Thank you thank you thank you. My dad loved you guys. Hopefully he's watching from the Great Beyond, and havin' a cold Narragansett for ya.

Random Mittenmusic

I love the AutoDJ function on Musicmatch. This is what it gave me this afternoon for an hour of random tracks from my music collection:

"Debaser," The Pixies
"God, Pt 2," U2
"Cut," The Cure
"It's Oh So Quiet," Bjork
"My Lover's Gone," Dido
"Diving to be Deeper," Sinead Lohan
"Napoleon," Ani DiFranco
"Drink Before the War," Sinead O'Connor
"Fisherman's Blues," The Waterboys
"Superheroes of BMX," Mogwai
"When Your Lover has Gone," Sonny Rollins
"All is Full of Love," Bjork

This mix is perfect for the continued bleak weather here in Michigan. We are on our sixth consecutive day of grey skys and high temps of the high 40's. Bleah.

My overall mood, however, couldn't be better.

GO SOX!!!!!!!

Magic 33

Well the streamers have been swept up, and the wrapping paper has been recycled. My 33rd birthday on Saturday was a rousing success.

There's a smidgen of birthday backstory, of course. Now, even though things were on the fiscally tight side in my home growing up, the one day that there was plenty was on my birthday. My mom always made a homemade cake from scratch, in whatever flavor I wanted. There were presents, too. I never was one for parties and such, so my birthday was a low-key affair with my immediate family.

I am an only child, so of course I think that my birthday should rightfully be a National, Monthlong holiday. Thankfully, my husband is wonderfully tolerant of me making a birthday wish list (which he alway ignores), and humming "Happy Birthday" to myself (to which he sings raunchy lyrics) for most of the month of October.

Saturday morning I was so excited and fidgety in bed. I felt quite silly to be so giddy about my birthday. I mean, c'mon...I'm in my thirties. Shouldn't the thrill be over? Hubby got up and made coffee, served it to me on the sofa and handed me my first package.

My stepdaughter MB and her sweetie sent me a package that contained three items: an international cookbook, a book entitled Travels with Barley (mmmmm a BEER book), and a handmade silk bag for my yoga mat! MB made the mat bag herself. I was really, really touched. She is so talented and crafty.

Gus the Wonderdog gave me a lovely card, signed with a Woof and a pawprint. What a smart doggie! He also slipped in a Borders Gift Card (score!). He is such a thoughful poochie, eh?

My final gift was from my husband. He had a theme for this birthday, that of "lasting quality," and the gift he gave me fell under the umbrella of that theme:

A lovely, luminous strand of Mikimoto pearls.

Now, I may be a clog wearin', tree-huggin', cargo pants lovin' kinda gal, but oh....I have a soft spot for classicly designed pieces of jewelry. Mind you, I've never mentioned wanting pearls. Um, remember that Ignored Birthday List? It had things on it like: lined jeans from LL Bean, new ice scraper for car, gardening books. Nope, no fishing for jewels there!

I asked him, "Sweetie, these are lovely...but...how did you come up with the idea to give me pearls?" He mentioned that we had been to a fair number of dressy occasions recently, and that he noticed that I had been struggling with what to wear for jewelry. "Pearls are timeless, and beautiful," he said. "They are an extension of your personal sense of style."

Oh, I am a lucky gal.

I wore said pearls all day long. They went really well with the fleece pullover and jeans I had on for most of Saturday, but somehow they looked better with my maroon silk pantsuit that I wore to dinner on Saturday evening.

*****
Yah, yah yah, Lisa, that's nice. But WHERE ARE THE PICTURES?

Well....the pictures hubby took in the morning are of me in my bathrobe with sky high Flock of Seagulls hair. The ones taken a little later in the day of me in the pearls are, um, for private viewing only. (wink) AND, guess who totally forgot to bring the camera to dinner while we were dressed in all our finery?
((innocent whistling)))

Get yer word count here!

Here is a link to a very nifty spreadsheet for keeping track of my imminent novel writing adventure.

I made one for myself earlier in the month, but this one is much, much better.

GO SOX!!!!

The Dream Stays Alive

"It's not like we are going to say, "Oh, damn, you're right! Red Sox suck, I'm going to become a Yankees fan just like you. Sign me up!" No, you see, we don't choose to become Red Sox fans; we are chosen. It's preordained. This fact should be obvious even to the mentally impaired, for if it was a simply a matter of choice, why would we choose eternal suffering?"

---Quote from: Bambino's Curse: Diary of a Red Sox Fan

Lisa's PSA of the Day

I have been keeping up with Kerry's site with regards to her difficulty getting a flu shot. It's a shame, really, because she and her sweetie should get immunized! Flu shots are in short supply up here in Michigan too. In fact, some people have been bopping across the border to Canada (45 minutes away) to try to get innoculated.

I found this wonderful article describing who should be getting flu shots. Here are the criteria:

If these criteria don't apply do you, DO NOT go get a flu shot.

Preserve these resources for those who really need them: the very young, the very old, those with compromised immune systems, and health care workers. Period. Thank you.

((gracefully stepping down from my soapbox))

Oh, I must've been very, very good...

...because today is my 33rd birthday, and I have been spoiled with good wishes, dog kisses, and lovely presents.

I'll probably post pics on Monday, complete with me wearing my very special present from my husband. Oh....he made BIG husband points this year.

Best. Walkie. EVER.

Oooooh....my Lisa and I went on an extra W-A-L-K tonight. She said I needed it. Just because I was running and running and running in the house. Sheesh.

It was Trash Day today, which is my favorite day of the week. On the way back to my house, I pulled on the leash to my Lisa's left. I'm crafty....I pull on the leash a lot and pretend to not be paying attention. And this time, it was true, I was not paying attention to my Lisa....

...because I had an ENTIRE PIECE of pepperoni pizza that I picked up off the sidewalk in my mouth. Ooooooooh it was goooooooood.

My Lisa didn't let me eat it! She is SO MEAN. She yanked it out of my mouth, and threw the pizza in the street!!! Perfectly good pizza! She said something about "nasty....who knows how old it is...festering in the sun...blah blah blah...."

Internet People, it ain't easy bein' a dog.

Love and Pizza Dreams,
--Gus the Wonderdog

Woof!

I just received a lovely comment from Pugsley and his person. Welcome to the MittenFold.

I am such a sucker for a furry face. Ear scratchies and tuner kisses to the Puginator!

Big Week in Gusville

Hi Internet People!

I have had a very busy week. On Tuesday, my Lisa and I went to the special vet for a 30 day checkup. My tummy had been bothering me again. My tummy doc said that the dry dog food we tried wasn't agreeing with me. This means I get to go back on tuna and taters! I am SO EXCITED!!!! My skin doc said that my skin is looking better. However, I have yeast infections in both my ears. They have been sooooo itchy. And my Lisa says my ears have been stinky. My Lisa has to clean my ears out now, and put drops in them. The drops have to stay in the fridge, and they are cold when they go in my ears!

I didn't poop at the vet this time! My Lisa seemed relieved, but I have no idea what the big deal was. When you gotta go, you gotta go. Or not.

I did try to hump a mini-schnauzer though. I could not help myself! And then, I HAD to bark at a Great Dane. She was lookin' at me funny. Hhhmph. But I showed her! Yes I did! The people in the waiting room were laughing. I don't know why...funny looks are serious in the dog world. Silly people.

Since the vet visit, there has been spelling in the house again. Lisa and my Alpha Male are going to give me a special B-A-T-H this weekend. My skin has been kinda yucky, and the B-A-T-H is supposed to help.

Today is the best day of all. It is Trash Day! My Lisa usually takes me on a special W-A-L-K so that I can smell the garbage and recycling. I get upset when the big truck comes to take the trash away...especially if I haven't sniffed it yet!! I want to work on a trash truck. That would be so much fun! Me and the Trash Guys could cruise around and pick up all the smellies ....((((swooon)))

I also have a special job this week. My Lisa's birthday is this weekend. My Alpha Male told me what he is getting her for her birthday. He whispered it in my stinky ear! I kissed him! I have a very important job as Secret Keeper now.

Whew!!! After all this activity this week, I am one tired poochie. I am going to take a nap now, Internet People.

Love and Tuner Kissies,
--Gus the Wonderdog

One Hour of Random Mittenmusic

This is what happens when I let Musicmatch decide what MP3's I should listen to for the next hour:

1. "Samba 1000" by Ursula 1000
2. "Thin Brown" by Tommy Guerrero
3. "Bootylicious" by Destiny's Child
4. "The Deep Arch (Blind Jazz Mix)" by Controlled Bleeding
5. "Hurt (live NIN cover)" by Tori Amos
6. "Casas Del Alma" by Poncho Sanchez
7. "Cex at Arm's Length" by Cex
8. "Ohio" by Anders Osbourne with Monk Boudreaux
9. "Ringfinger" by Nine Inch Nails
10. "Fixing Her Hair" by Ani Difranco
11. "Windows of the World" by Isaac Hayes
12. "Diggin' a Hole" by Bim Skala Bim

I guess I got the Boogie Fever for most of the next hour, with a little navelgazing thown in.

A great loss here in the Mitten (revised 10/11)

(Revision after the *****)

I am not an aviation buff by any means, but still, I was so sad to read this in my local paper this morning:

What is so very sad is that all of what was lost is fairly irreplacable.
*****
I spent a good while on Sunday wondering why I was so affected by the loss of this museum and its contents. Really, I could care less about the planes themselves, or the "stuff." I do, however, have a strong connection to things and objects, and a reverence for the memories and emotions they can conjure up.

Let me see if I can explain....

Growing up, my family was not well off. My dad was a public school teacher in rural Massachusetts. We were "eating government cheese and getting clothes from the Church" kinda not well off. Material goodies were in short supply in my formative years. What I did have, I cherished and took very, very good care of. My toys were immaculate, looking brand new even after a few seasons of play.

When I was about 11, my mom sat me down on a Saturday afternoon. "Lisa," she started solemnly, "I have something special for you." She handed me an opal ring. It was gold-banded, with five oval blue opals set in a row. There were tiny butterflies worked into the sides ofo the delicate setting. Even though I was a tomboy in my youth, I still had a soft spot for nice jewelry. I squealed: "Mom, this is cool!" My mom laughed and told me the story of the ring, my first piece of "big girl" jewelry.

"Now Lisa," she started. "This ring was your great-grandmother Viera's. She was born in October, like my mother, and like you. My mother gave me this ring when you were born, and told me to give it to you when I thought you were old enough to appreciate it." I looked between my mom and the ring, now encircling my right ring finger. I knew immediately that this ring had been a prized possession on my mother's side of the family. My great-grandmother and grandfather had been immigrants from the old country, Portugal. I was filled with thoughts of them, people I never really got to know, as I looked at my finger.

To this day, I have that ring. It still fits me perfectly, though it has never been sized by a jeweller. I wear it only on the most special of occasions: my wedding, my college graduation, my birthday. Even when I see the ring in my jewelry box, I am awash in memories and emotions recalling my mom and my family's history. When I wear it, I feel a connection with my past and my future.

If I were to lose that ring, what would hurt me is not the monetary value of it. No, no, I am aware that the dollar value of the opals and gold are minimal. What I would miss most would be the physical thread tying me to my Nana Viera and her era.

The loss of the Yankee Air Museum will mean that many will feel a disconnect with a bygone era as well. Local veterans no longer have that resource to go to when the memories of their service fade little by little. Aviation buffs will have to go elsewhere for their nostalgia fix. Small children will not be able to grasp their elders' hand and ask about times past.

I guess all I can say is that I understand.

Well, it is official:

I am totally nuts.

I am going to write a 50,000 word "novel" in the month of November. Luckily, I won't be alone. Turns out there is a crazy community of people doing the same thing. A few of them are in my area, so we are trying to get a kickoff meeting together. Meetup.com is a great tool, btw.

So, you might ask: "Lisa, this is rather ambitious of you and everything. But what, pray tell, are you going to write about?"

I would reply, "Darned good question. I have no frickin' idea."

Well, that isn't exactly true. I will be travelling on the "write what you know" path. The founder of National Novel Writing Month wrote a corresponding book, "No Plot, No Problem." I checked it out of the local library on Tuesday. It has some helpful tips about what to prepare and how to at least get a few preliminary notes down before you start. There are a few brainstorming ideas that I think will be pretty helpful.

As I embark on this, I'll probably share the prep work here. Since I'll be "writing what I know" I think it'll be in keeping with the tone of this site. The genre is staggeringly brilliant expository writing about me, me, me!!!!

Well, it's about that and pictures of Gus the Wonderdog, of course.

**Confidential to David: C'mon...you know you want to do this too...I think there's a novel or two rattling around in that head of yours!! It's only 1667 words a day, you know.

Vote for Change Concert, Part 2

The post where Lisa FINALLY talks about some music.

As I mentioned before, we were on time, and had our asses parked in our seats promptly at 6:55pm. A little after 7:00 Bruce and Michael Stipe came out and welcomed the crowd, as well as introduced the opening act. It was truly, honestly, completely weird to see those two together on the same stage. It's not as if they really travel in the same social circles.

The first act was a singer/ songwriter group called Bright Eyes. They really weren't my cup o' tea. There were some sentiments expressed in their songs that were beautiful, but there was a lot of crappy stuff too. But heck, they were a buncha pale early 20's guys...what do ya expect? They were fairly dark and angry. They did temper those qualities with a fair bit of earnestness, and they could play their instruments very well. I've provided a link to their homepage just in case anyone is interested in taking a listen.

More people filtered in during the Bright Eyes set. It was obvious that there were a lot of "Bruce-heads" there. The arena was filling up with men! Now, the concerts I generally go to (Sarah McLachlan, Norah Jones, Ani DiFranco et al) are usually a little lean on the males, except for those dragged along by their girl- or boy- friends. It was plain ol' odd to see all these multi-generational males around me.

REM came onstage about 20 minutes after Bright Eyes finished up. And they rocked. Mightily. Shame on me, I had forgotten what a great band REM is. THey did a nice mix of older stuff ("Exhuming McCarthy") and newer stuff ("Leaving New York"). The crowd was patient and polite while Stipe had his say about the state of our government, economy and foreign policy. He even talked a fair bit about the city of Detroit, particularly how much of a decline he has seen over the 20 plus years that he has been playing here. At the end of the set, the Boss came out and performed "Man on the Moon" with REM. Yes, I know it sounds rather...well, wrong. But it was awesome. I don't know how they managed to pull it off musically, but they did. The best part was when Bruce wrapped twiggy little Michael Stipe up in a big ol' manly papabear hug. It was male bonding in its finest hour.

Bruce came onto the stage, alone, at about 9:45. He played a solemn, reverent version of "The Star Spangled Banner." It wasn't nearly as frenetic as Jimi Hendrix's famous version. It was quite moving. When he finished, the lights came up to reveal the E Street Band all in their respective places. They rocked into "Born in the USA," and I was hooked.

Something that I very quickly noticed was that men were dancing. Straight white men were rockin' out hard. They were swaying and fist pumping and singing their hearts out. It was quite amazing.

Bruce and the Band did a few other songs before he introduced John Fogerty, Now, I am not a big CCR fan by any stretch of the imagination. But no one sucks when their backup band is Bruce and E Street. He played "Centerfield," "Fortunate Son," and a new song, "Deja Vu." "Fortunate Son" pretty much lit the place on fire. The interplay between Bruce and John Fogerty was fun to watch. They were totally on the same page, both musically and philosophically.

After John Fogerty left the stage, Bruce played a few more songs ("Darkness on the Edge of Town," "Johnny 99"), thereby whipping the crowd into a Bruce-worshipping frenzy. I have never seen anything like it! Michael Stipe came out to help perform "Because the Night," and again I was floored.

It was just all so good.

Then there was more Brucing to be had: amongst others, "The Rising," "Mary's Place," and "Born to Run." Oh, and I most certainly grabbed my husband's ass when Bruce got to the "strap my hands 'cross your engines" part. It just had to be done. Heh heh heh.

The evening closed with a surprise visit from the lovely Dixie Chicks. The whole crew of musicians fom the evening jammed out to Patti Smith's "People Have the Power." There was much fist pumping and dancing and singing along. The energy in Cobo was crackling. Bruce took one last opportunity to stump for Senators Kerry and Edwards. Then, there was the obligatory "Thank you, and good night, Detroit!!" I was so sad to see the concert end. I could have rocked out for a few more hours. I didn't even have an ass cramp from dancing yet!

The concert ended at 11:30 pm. We arrived back at la casa at 12:30 am. My ears were buzzing till 1:30, when I finally fell asleep. Gus woke me up with whining (gotta pee! gotta pee!) at 5:30 am. I was sooooo tired on Monday.

Vote for Change Concert, Part 1

Note: this post is kinda just setup. If you wanna wait till I get to the music stuff, skip this post and wait for Part 2.

The concert I attended on Sunday was one of the Vote for Change concerts making the rounds of various Swing States across the United States.

I think it's fairly obvious that I am a bit of a leftist. I didn't vote for Dubya. I have little buttons over there on the sidebar that proclaim a few of the causes I think are important. Sure, there are more, but I've not really ever delved into them here (nor do I intend to). However, my reason for attending the concert was twofold: of course I wanted to listen to some great music, and I wanted my concert going dollars to go to the PAC's who were supporting the tour.

The Springsteen/ REM concert that I attended was in the venerable Cobo Hall, in downtown Detroit. We really only make it into Detroit for special occasions such as this. My husband and I were chatting on the way into town about whether Cobo needed updating. There has been intermittent talk of improving it in the news.

I quickly got my answer! We entered Cobo, and found our seats. We were on time! Yes we were! I believe in wringing every single molecule of entertainment out of a concert that I can. Perhaps it is in my frugal New Englander's nature...
Anyhoo, I had to hit the ladies' room before the concert started. Now, all women know that ladies' rooms at arenas/ sports venues are, in a word, shitty. This one was especially so: there were no doors on half the stalls.

Sigh. What coulda been a nice 10 seater bathroom became a 5 seater, because none of the women wanted to drop trou and do their thing in front of other women. Well, no one except me...and a VERY pregnant woman who pushed her way into the restroom with a crazed look in her eyes.

I got back to my seat and told my husband of my adventure: "Hey honey, a whole buncha ladies just saw my coochie...I hope you don't mind." Aaaaah..the joys of being my husband, eh?

More in Part 2...

Detroit Rock City, indeed

Guess where I was last night?

Highlight of the evening? Hmm...hard to say.

It might have been The Boss quoting the movie Pulp Fiction: "No Bruuuuuuucing tonight, folks. Quit with the Brucing. There are too many talented artists here tonight. I might have to come and get medieval on yo' asses."

It could have been when Michael Stipe and Bruuuuuuce sang "Man on the Moon" together.

Or, it might have been the surprise visit by John Fogerty, whose rendition of "Fortunate Son" had a particularly apt message.

Maybe, just maybe....the whole evening was one of the most energizing, wonderful nights in my recent memory.

I have much more to say, but I am running on four hours of sleep. Forgive?

The most important meal of the day

I am not a huge breakfast eater. Usually, I just have some Organic Fiberiffic Goodness (now with tastier twigs! woohoo!), topped with fruit. I always, always have coffee too.

My husband, on the other hand, loves breakfast. He could eat eggs or a stack of pancakes or waffles or fruit-filled crepes every single day of the week. Every once in awhile on the weekend we will indulge and make omelets or French toast. Very, very occasionally we will go out to breakfast. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of breakfast places in our area where you can get good hot food and good coffee. Usually, one has to be sacrificed for the sake of the other.

Of course, there is The Bomber, and Zingerman's, etc. But still, I yearn for that perfect combination of Kickass Coffee and Good Hot Breakfast.

Today, we settled for Chocolate Croissants with regular joe for me and lattes for hubby at Gigantic Corporate Bakery. The croissants were yummy, buttery, flaky, chocolate stuffed wonders of pastry delight. The coffee was hot and fresh. The company was wonderful (blush). The people watching was minimal. Since we are in an area with a high density of colleges and college students, the only folks who roll outta bed early on Sunday and go out to breakfast are the AARP set. Hubby and I were the youngest people in the restaurant, easily, by decades.

It was a cold morning here. We had frost here last night! It wasn't a hard frost, but there were sparkly moisture crystals on my deck when I let the Pooch out for his morning constitutional. Since it was cool and dry, it was very comforting to wrap my little hands around a steaming coffee mug, and gaze at my husband's smiling mug for a spell. He rushes off to work on weekdays, and we don't get a lot of time to be dawdly and oogly. Just sitting with him quietly this morning was as much of a treat as my gazillion calorie croissant.

Perhaps, even moreso.

Am I crazy?

I think I want to participate in NaNoWriMo, aka National Novel Writing Month.

50,000 words in a month comes out to about 3.5 single spaced pages a day. The goal is quantity, not quality. I think I could handle that. Yo, I am all about non-quality.

I talked it over with hubby at dinner. "What will you write about?" he asked. "Stuff I know about," I replied. His retort was...ahem...too naughty for this medium. Married, but not dead, people.

I think I could do this. I could be a novelist by the end of November. It would, at least, give me cause to wear my black ribbed turtleneck every single freekin' day in November.

On NOT having a land line

Goodness! I never expected such a response about that little tidbit.

We got rid of our land line at the beginning of 2003. We were tired of our evenings being interrupted by telemarketers. Yes, we had caller ID, but still the phone rang incessantly. We also both had cell phones on one of those shared family plans. Our internet was dialup. DSL was not an option at the time, since we kinda live in the boonies.

We kept the same cell service, and ditched the land line. We went from dialup to cable internet. As for TV, we continued with our satellite tv. Sat tv still works without a phone line, we just have to order pay per view movies online if we want them (which we never do).

The economical breakdown was: $60 cells + $60 landline $20 dialup= $140
New breakdown: $60 cells + $45 broadband= $105

So, we save $35 a month, have faster internet access and no annoying telemarketing calls. It's almost two years later, and the ONLY time I wished we'd had a land line was during last summer's huge blackout. I don't miss it at all.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
What sound, other than the normal ringing, would you like your telephone to make?

We don't have a land line here at home. Both my husband and I have cell phones as our "regular phones." I am currently looking for a good version of "Istanbul (not Constantinople)" by They Might Be Giants for a ringtone. Doo de doo de doo doo doo doo doo...

Soup
Describe your usual disposition in meteorological terms (partly cloudy, sunny, stormy, etc.).

I would have to say I am partly sunny. I am usually in a pleasant mood, but a little reserved around new people.

Salad
What specific subject do you feel you know better than any other subjects?

Um... If I had to pick a school subject, I think it'd be Literature. If I was picking a broader "life" subject, I'd say Kindness Toward Others.

Main Course
Imagine you were given the ability to remember everything you read for one entire day. What books/magazines/newspapers would you choose to read?

I honestly don't think I would choose any. I can't think of any sort of knowledge that I would want stuck in my brain verbatim. When I read, I prefer to make my own assessment and remember it that way.

Dessert
If a popular candy maker contacted you to create their next candy bar, what would it be like?

Ooooh...I'd design a dark chocolate with dark chocolate truffle filling candy bar. I love love love dark chocoate because it is slightly sweet and slightly bitter all at the same time. (Swoon!)