Giant Drunk Music Orgy

Whew!

I just sang a beatles medley at Clines winery.  We (the beatles ensemble) got there at 1:15, scheduled for 2:00, and didn't go on until 4.  it was hot.  but okay because they gave us food and we wore these REALLY cool colored glasses.  plus it was nice to have time to visit with my Beatles buddies, who are each fascinating in their own right but we don't get time to talk during rehearsal.  The theme of the fundraiser was the sixties, and it was basically a room full of drunk horny adults.  But they spent 6000 dollars on us, so i suppose it was worth it.  Lauren and I also sang with the madrigals because they were singing "Wakati Wa Amani," which we learned last year.  I'm shocked to find they have no tenors! that was upsetting, but i tried to project my harmony as best i could.

i wish i was in it

i do

i just can't handle it... is that selfish of me?

Being Bored and Overly Nostalgic

I haven't written a blog in a while, so i decided to go through my photos and choose one inspiring.  This is of our Jersey Boys and Dreamgirls crew.  We sang together last year... it was magical.  Always is with Cat.  And those suspenders were FREAKIN AWESOME!!!  

Hm.  I won't say last year was relaxed.  That would be a vast understatement.  But, somehow, being absurdly busy was enjoyable.  "Dancing through life" right?  haha, i love how i can equate anything in my life to a musical.  Sigh... good times.  

The Good Things In Life

i just ate seven and a half mothers lemon cookies and a cold blueberry pancake slathered in nutella.  i feel better about the world.

God Bless Heather Keola

God Bless Heather Keola

God Bless Heather Keola

God Bless Heather Keola

God Bless Heather Keola

God Bless Heather Keola

God Bless Heather Keola

God Bless Heather Keola

God Bless Heather Keola

God Bless Heather Keola

God Bless Heather Keola

God Bless Heather Keola

God Bless Heather Keola

Right all

today was my first day of sophomore year

in general it was good (thanks sooo much for suggesting newspaper nathan, manchester is super-duper and it's looking like something i'll really enjoy)

even though i've cried twice today

heather, mrs dillon, and the little voice in my head which is my mother is what saved me. especially heather.  god bless heather keola

i have lots of homework that i shouldn't have to do right now, but i have to do right now.  and now i have to do it.

more on this later, when i retain my sanity.

Restless

This place... home... it's so suffocating...

why am i on the computer?

i have to go somewhere.

anywhere.

Now.

yay!!!

it's 10:12 in the morning and i have officially finished all my AP Bio reading.  that's right.  Exactly 145 pages of dull textbook: DONE.  plus, this morning i discovered that for the most part my sniffle has gone away!!! (yesterday i woke up hardly able to breathe and with my nose acting like it was the height of hay-fever season).  it must have been a little cold... whatever it was it's gone now.  and, to make things even better, mum called and was like "hey, do you want to go to the Cheese Factory today, just for fun?"  and i was like "when do i not want to go to the cheese factory?!?"  then, running down the hall i did my honorary cheese factory dance/chant.  that's right.  i have a cheese chant.

and i haven't even told you the best part: Nathan's coming over today.

fricken spectacular.

*chorus of angels sing*

Young At Heart

My Quiet Place

My Quiet Place

Where is it?

Why is it?

Is it just one Tiny Spot-

A Sanctuary for My Soul-

(which at times grows fatigued-

distressed-disturbed

By a sometimes Cruel World)

Is it in a Redwood grove-

Perhaps-

Carpeted with ferns and Leaves

Soft and Hushed-

Private from the Eyes

of All but GOD?

In a tall, tall Grove.

Standing Tiny and Dwarfed

By the Huge and Silent

Red-barked Trees

Hundreds - maybe Thousands

of Years Old

As Man reckons Time.

From High above.

From the Blue of Heaven

Come Rays of Light

Triangles of Light

Diagonally slanted

Toward the Dark Hushed 

EARTH

Below-

Yes - My Quiet Place

Could be There -

In God's own Temple.

In ALL OUTDOORS

I worship HIM

And count my many blessings -

Many Years Have I 

As Men and Women Count Time

But only a Flash of Years -

As the Gods count Time.

They alone know the Heavens

The Age of Stars

The Distances between

Tiny Gleams of LIght

In the Black of Firmament

Time and Space that has

No Limits.

They existed Before

And will exist After

Forever --

Yes - Friend - Amigo.

There is Peace

In such Facets of Nature

And One rests there

Becoming United with

The Trees - and the Sun

And the STARS.

Slowly - Slowly -

Gradually - Gradually -

The Outside Noises Cease

The Inner Noises Cease -

And One has found

His Quiet Place

Her Quiet Place

Again. 

And Now.

This is my favorite poem by my biological grandfather, Milt Forrest.  Today I visited my uncles and cousins (on my mom's side) and was not only thrilled with their company, but my Uncle Dave also gave me a book which he made about Milt.  It's filled with his poetry and art, and the story of his life and how it relates to ours (the grandchildren).  He died in 1991, two years before I was born, so unlike my sister and cousins i don't even have a vague memory of him. Apparently he lived in a trailer park on E. Cotati (where you are Nathan!) for the later years of his life.  *Flips through book*  His world was so different than mine... or was it?  No.... he lived in the same world I do, I just entered at a different time.  But as he wrote, there are things which existed Before and will exist After.  Seeing pictures of him as a boy and a young man juxtaposed with those of him in his last years, knowing that his colorful spirit is gone, i mourn this man i never knew but who had an influence on who i am and what the world is around me.... 

It was neat to see my family, hear quirky family stories and discuss where life is taking them.  All my cousins are so old! 18, 22, 24 (almost 25...)  *sigh*  i still feel like we should be in my uncle jamie's basement room playing video games and playing with all his little gadgets. We used to sit at the "kids table" at christmas, pick blackberries up on the hill, trip over Mary the dog (who would always lie in the most inconvenient places); Mia used to tickle me and I would laugh....  But the house on Mirabel is sold now, and life has thrown different challenges to the each of us, pulling us inexorably down different paths.  But in my heart the five of us will always be there....

We were all so young.

Like Milt Forrest was at the beginning of the book.

Now they're all growing up.

I'm growing up too.

Why Did The Chicken Cross the Road

My friend Hannah sent me this.

It made me laugh.

So i'm sharing it with all of you (with a few of my own added on... :)

Woot!

***

Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?

BARAK OBAMA:

The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a CHANGE! The chicken wanted CHANGE!

JOHN MC CAIN:

My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialouge with all the chickens on the other side of the road.

HILLARY CLINTON:

When I was FIrst Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road.  This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure -- right from Day One! -- that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me.....

DR. PHIL:

The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on "This" side of the road before it goes after the problem on the  "Other Side" of the road.  What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his "Current"  problems before adding "New" problems.

OPRAH:

Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad.  So instead of having the chicken learn form his mistakes and take falls, which is part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

GEORGE W. BUSH:

We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road.  We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road or not.  The chicken is either against us, or for us.  There is no middle ground here.

COLIN POWELL:

Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road....

ANDERSON COOPER - CNN:

We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.

JOHN KERRY:

Although I voted to let the chicken to cross the road, I am now against it!  It was the wrong road to cross, and I was mislead about the chicken's intentions, I am not for it and will remain against it.

NANCY GRACE:

That chicken crossed the road because he's GUILTY!  You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks!

PAT BUCHANAN:

To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.

MARTHA STEWART:

No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going.  I had a standing order at the farmers market to sell my eggs when the price dropped a certain level.  No little bird gave me any insider information. 

DR SEUSS:

Did the chicken cross the road?  Did he cross it with a toad?  Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed i've not been told.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY:

To die in the rain.  Alone.

JERRY FALWELL:

Because the chicken was gay!  Can't you people see the plain truth?  That's why they call it the "other side".  Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay.  And if you eat that chicken, you'll become gay too.  I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media white washes with seemingly harmless phrases like "the other side." That chicken should not be crossing the road.  It's as plain and simple as that.

GRANDPA: 

In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road.  Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

BARBRA WALTERS:

Isn't that interesting?  In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced as serious case of molting and went on to accomplish its life long dream of crossing the road.

AL SHARPTON:

Why are all the chickens white?  We need some black chickens!

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR:

...I dream of a better tomorrow where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned...

ARISTOTLE:

It is the nature of chickens to cross the road

JOHN LENNON:

Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.

BILL GATES:

I have just released CHICKEN2008, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your check book.  Internet Explorer is an internal part of the CHICKEN.  This new platform is much more stable and will never cra...#)U%)(#Q%*.......

reboot.

ALBERT EINSTEIN:

Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?

BILL CLINTON:

I did not cross the road with THAT chicken.  What is your definition of chicken?

AL GORE:

I invented the chicken!

COLONEL SANDERS:

Did I miss one?

DICK CHENEY:

Where's my gun!

The Benefit of Juxtaposition

The following is an excerpt from a letter to my friend Shane I wrote this weekend after the family reunion.  Which was fun-ish, thanks for asking. (and the title kinda makes sense -- after a bit of arguing with myself i decided it sounds cool so i'm keeping it.)

***

My Dad is the youngest of four siblings, and being his youngest child means that all my cousins are older, and I never see them.  I had a nice bantering conversation with my 24-year-old cousin Ryan (he's hilarious, just like his father my Uncle Bob) and I even chatted with Jennifer!  Jennifer is Bob's 23-year-old daughter -- the last time I saw or spoke to her was at my Aunt Laura's old house (where she lived before she divorced).  I vividly remember getting upset because the "big girls" (Jennifer and my sister) went off to play basketball and get into other mischief, and wouldn't let me play.  I was about 4 at the time.  Maybe 5.  The pretty, cultured female stranger I met yesterday is much different than the haughty teenager I can't quite picture.

How could she have changed so much without my knowing?  Have I changed that much?  Have my parents, my sister?  I still feel like a fifth grader, yet so different than who I was even a few months ago, every moment molding me slightly into a new form.  Ginny (my sister) seems different now than I always picture her in my head -- could this be because she goes off to college and i don't see her for months at a time, and barely even then?  Did it seem like this when she lived at home?  Now that I think about it, all my memories show her in different stages of development.  Almost like those picture books which you have to flip through really fast; each memory is a slightly different picture, and when you look at them all together they show the current of change -- but if the first and last photo's are juxtaposed, they may look nothing alike.  Does the changing ever stop?  Which leads me to my parents.  I always feel I'm learning new things about them, but they're never changing;  I just wasn't aware before of this piece of what makes them them. Do they not feel different to me because I've always been with them through the transitions (as if I've always seen the pictures moving together and have never been able to pick out a distinctly different individual picture), so that the changes are too subtle to identify?  Or did they, at some point (going back into the clay analogy) harden into a permanent form?  At one point does one decide "this is who i am?"  Is there any definite self in life?  Are the pictures ever the same, continually?  Do people ever really stop changing?

There's Hope

"There's Hope" by Indie Arie

*sings*

This song is spectacular.  That's really all i have to say for now.