Mood swings, indeed

She doesn't get in a bad mood she gets in foul, cloying, sludgey, sticky ooze of a mood. It's like a cloud of gray slips over her and every word, gesture, off-hand comment is made toxic. All the world is sneering at her flaws of which every one is exposed and raw. She feels naked, submerged in the foulness of life and nothing is redeeming. This is her mood.

End-of-life story

Funeral planning - macabre, yes but not as sad as a funeral that would sicken the deceased. So I'm being proactive. Here's info in the unfortunate case of my untimely death:

Humanist Celebrants conduct Humanist, nonreligious, and interreligious weddings, commitment/same-sex unions, memorials, baby namings, and other life cycle ceremonies. Below is a list of practitioners.
http://www.humanist-society.org/celebrants/celebrant.html#Texas

I am an organ donor as stated on my drivers license.

Here's something you should say about me: She was funny and artistic, astonishingly well read, and had a vivid and charming imagination. She loved nature and wild animals and her pets.

Plato: "Formerly you shone among the living like the star of dawn. Now, dead, you shine like the evening star among the departed."

Jackson Brown's "These Days" is one of my favorites.

I'd like my great love with Jared to be acknowledged as my greatest accomplishment. but I'd also like to list here some of my adventures:
soloed in a cessna
played steel drum
krav maga
saw machu picchu
lived in Mexico
forged spiritual path
helped a million memoirists ;)
learned massage
did ballet
Scuba dived

Carnival Conquest Cruise, Oct. 21-28

Embarkation was very easy - even though I had left the Fun Pass in the taxi! I couldn't have bypassed the photos in the embarkation area - it was too tight and there were too many people. This was annoying to me since I do photography and I knew I wouldn't be buying the photo!

We has an inside stateroom on the Upper (6th) deck. For the price $549pp it was amazing! The comforter, pillows, and sheets were lovely and soft. The room was plenty big and the bathroom was actually surprisingly big.


There was only ONE outlet (and I had ignored the suggestion to bring a power strip!) I found no outlet in the bathroom at all.

There was plenty of closet space and all six bags fit under the bed easily.

We ate at the more formal dining room (Monet) every night of the cruise. The quality of the food was very good. Keep in mind that you're eating mass-produced foods so there are going to be sub-par qualities and above-par qualities. For instance: nothing was crispy, ever and the creme brulee was hot throughout. The meat was where the real value was! I took a galley tour and spotted their guide to cooking meat. What they show as medium-rare is what I would call medium so ORDER YOUR STEAK RARE is you like you meat not brown throughout. The waiters were so very comfortable with my sending back over cooked meat - what a joy not to feel like a jerk!

The ship employees are almost exclusively international. We noticed lots of Croatians and Phillipinos but I heard there were folks from over 50 countries! Accents were not a problem ever.

We toured the galley which was an anti-climax but worth doing.


I love the Lido deck! The music was tolerable and NO KIDS! We camped on the deck chairs Monday and Tuesday, hopped from pool to tub to pizza to chair again. This was the best part of the cruise.

We enjoyed tea-time greatly. The chicken salad and salmon sandwiches were delicate and lovely and the sweets were great as well. The tea selection was limited to six or eight teas - I had Earl Grey and Darjeeling and my DH had Orange herbal.

The coffee on board is awful but the iced tea is so bad it make the coffee look good! Bring tea bags if you require palatable iced tea. There are coffee bars on the Promenade and the Lido decks with Starbucks type and priced coffee.

We attended the Mardi Gras party on Tuesday. This is every Tuesday and I highly suggest it. It is NOT COOL in any way but has the distinct feeling of summer camp with booze and this is a good quality indeed! Drink heavily and quickly.

Jamaica was lovely! We were dropped off at the first shopping area which held out attention for about 3 minutes. We decided to walk to the Doctors Cave beach (Sunset Beach was closed according to the lady at the debarkation area).

Doctors Cave was a beautiful beach (an ex-pat said it was the prettiest in all of Jamaica...well....it was nice to hear!)
There were only tourists there - no locals.
We lunched at the pork pit (only locals).
We walked all over with no trouble. We left out wedding rings and passports on the ship to be careful but it was a non-issue. I was offered a lot of drugs and even got to look at a photo album of a marijuana plantation! Upon returning to the ship through security my husbands genitals were extensively patted down (over his shorts) to look for drugs.

Grand Cayman was wonderful also. We visit the sting rays which is a must do! They are like cats or golden retrievers who want a tasty treat.

Cozumel was amazing as usual. The snorkeling was sadly much worse than last time I was there 8 years ago. the water was still sparkling in ten colors of blue and the fish are beautiful! We saw an octopus and a sea turtle as well.

Over all the cruise exceeded my expectations. I was truly able to relax.

Alternative Universities

Try checking out more alternative universities such as the ones in Colleges That Change Lives.

Check out the book Delaying The Real World by Colleen Kinder
Transitions Abroad is a top source for anything international/travel related.

If you like performing community service and traveling, check out Up with People. It's not at all religious or conservative like it used to be in the past. AFS may have programs for older people.

Semester at Sea and The ScholarShip let you gain a semester's credit of university on a world cruise.
If you're willing to spend 3 years overseas, and you're interested in business and social enterprise, apply for the KaosPilots.

Best Swimming Holes in Texas

Rumor has it that the best swimmin' hole is just 30 miles west of Austin in Spicewood. I'm vowed to check it out in the spring. Directions: Hwy 71 west for 34 miles. Seven miles past the Pedernales turn right at the "Spicewood" sign onto Spur 191. Turn right onto County Rd 404, over the low-water crossing and see it on your left.
830-693-4181

Other places to check:
Devil's Waterhole in Burnet
From Burnet head west on Hwy 29 for nine miles toward Inks Lake State Park, Left on Park Road 4 for 3 miles. 512-793-2223

Colorado River at Colorado Bend State Park between Lampasas and San Saba
From the intersection of 281 and 183 in Lampasas take FM 580 west for 24 miles to Bend. Follow the signs. 325-628-3240

Rotary Club

I found out that my paternal grandfather refused to vow that he believed in god when joining the Rotary Club. They excepted him from this requirement. Wowza, I have a new respect!

Blanton's B-Scene

Tasty crudite and sweets are included.

The DJ spins while I tour the museum.

Wimberley's culinary coming-of-age

Wimberley has long been a popular central Texas tourist destination, offering a slow pace, cowboy-hippie culture, quaint country charm, lovely folk art, plenty of shopping, and Market Days, the second largest flea market in Texas. Tourists thirst for a visit to the Blanco River, eager to alternate days of tubing or sunbathing on sleepy banks with cooking classes and shopping. In the last 10 years the cuisine of Wimberley has grown into its britches, appealing to Austin foodies who long to experience the local fare. The Wimberley culinary tourist trend was greatly influenced by its inclusion in the list of top 10 small towns in America by Travel Holiday Magazine. The high regard for Wimberley did not escape the notice of local entrepreneurs and an array of lovely restaurants began to spring up to meet the needs of weekend visitors. Visitors soon began to encourage Wimberley cooks and authors to publish books aimed at local cooking and life and arranged for experts such as Terri Burney-Bisett and Mark Malowski to set up cooking classes to teach and promote hill country cuisine. USA Today named The Blair House Bed and Breakfast one of the top 10 cooking schools in the nation and Austin American Statesman food critic Dale Rice calls the Cypress Creek Cafe’s chicken fried sirloin “the epitome of classic fare”. The result of this explosion of quality eateries is that culinary vacations are now among the most sought-after and savored Texas vacations.

Pioneer Town-Wimberley

Raymond L. Czichos had a house on about 6 acres and people wanted to rent the rooms so he moved his family into the work house . He built the first 4 cabins in 1946. As he got the money he re-invested it in more cabins and land, eventually accruing 160 acres total. Pioneer town was built from 1946-1958. The cafe was the first part of the "town". Wimberley was 1.5 miles away and had only one little restaurant which closed at five. His guests wanted a place to eat and socialize so he put in the cafe and had his daughters do skits and sell ice cream and trinkets. The ice cream parlor went in next and after that the opera house.
The 1700's replica steam train, horseback riding, diving board and slide, and fort were shut down due to insurance costs in the last 1990's. According to manta.com the business has an estimated annual sales of $220,000. I didn't find any site offering 7A Resort for sale.

a nice quote for a Friday

"As I argued briefly in Letter to a Christian Nation, I think that 'atheist' is a term that we do not need, in the same way that we don't need a word for someone who rejects astrology. We simply do not call people 'non-astrologers.'" he said. "All we need are words like 'reason' and 'evidence' and 'common sense' and 'bullshit' to put astrologers in their place, and so it could be with religion."
-Sam Harris

I got a piece up on LOLtheist.com. Yipee!

www.loltheist.com

New CDs

Les Paul with Mary Ford “Best of the Capitol Masters”

Dwight Yoakum “A Long Way Home”

Nick Drake “Way To Blue”

Pearlescent spray

After my visit to the Genius Bar and the food court I dropped by trade secret to browse. I found a lovely product called BROCATO SHIMMER PEARLESCENT SPRAY and sprayed it on d’ecollet’e and arms.

Then I went to Krav Maga and sweat pearlescent rivulets and dripped pearlescent snowflakes on the floor.

Walking Pneumonia

I have sumptin’ nasty in my lungs. A nasty, nasty guest. ere’s a picture of some lungs that look like mine feel:

I feel it’s relatively accurate as the doctor said my fluid’s in the lower right lobe and that I have hot ribs. Also, they wouldn’t let me have the x-rays so I’m doin’ my best here.

My lungs sound like Rice Krispies. Only when it’s quiet though.

I don't live in L.A.

Do you ever take a deep breath of fresh air and remember that you don’t live in L.A?

It’s so lovely and fresh to remember what you have.

I was just thinking about eggs and wondering why hens lay unfertilized eggs (seems like a waste of nutrients!). Anyway, I was thinking how no one around me would say, “because God knew we needed food”. In my adolescence almost everyone who would have been a resource for questions like that would have given just such an answer. If I’d said “well, but, I mean, are there any other reasons?” I would get the evil “are you thinking about evolution, young lady” look.

I don’t mean to sound angry (though I am resentful of lost education) but just need to say count your blessings!

If you’ve never experienced this you’re lucky and if you’ve come out of it with your brain in tact and you sense of wonder and curiosity not snuffed out you should really pat yourself on the back.

nightmare

I’m walking in a channel of filthy water maybe 15 feet wide. The sides are lines with vendors of nasty looking things like water-logged veggies, diseased looking stuff, or they’re prostitutes. I’m looking for J.J. who has the nickname raspberry(?). I get out of the channel and sneak through a door where I find doctors performing tests on a woman. I realize that, here, there are no regulations on this sort of thing and I sense that she’s being tortured.

Favorite Podcasts

Austin Atheist Community: http://www.nonprophetsradio.com/audio/index.php

Stanford on Itunes: http://itunes.stanford.edu/

Grammar Girl: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/default.aspx

I'm linked to!

Someone linked to me so I linked to him and we’re havin’ a big-o lincoln party.

Here's what he linked to:
Kristy's Magical Discovery

Contributed by Kristy Bordine, League staff member and avid reader:

I have single-handedly solved Austin's mass-transit problem! The Edward's Aquifer is full of streams, and I personally am more than willing to travel by underground inner tube, Schlitterbahn-style. We'd have to put some snack machines in, of course. --from the newsletter of Writers'League of Texas

Flint knap advice from stranger on MySpace

I’m trying to find material for klint knapping and having no luck. Any hints on how to tell if churt is flint-bearing or not? -Kristy

Abe from Myspace:

I’ve been having a little trouble finding good materials as well, you can look in rocky creek bottoms for rocks that have a glossy look to them and chip off a piece with a hammer stone or billet and see if it’s flint, but flint needs to be tempered at about 300-450 degrees fore 12 or 24 hrs. a good material is glass, from a bottle with a flat thick bottom, that’s what I’ve been using.

Things to do

I want to go to the Knap-in in Llano on the weekend of the 28th of September.

Texas Outdoors Women http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/learning/bow/schedule.phtml

I want to kill, skin, eat, and tan an animal.

Learn to forage wild foods in Texas.

www.terrainassociation.com

Books so far this year

9-15-07

I'm a fool for post-apocalyptic stories. I love to hear how the few remaining survivors fare (or pillage) in the empty world. The World Without Us doesn't leave any human survivors, but details how the Earth would look and change without humans. Cool.

8-31-07

I’m cuddling up with Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, which won the Pulitzer for fiction in 1921. It’s forcing me to read slowly, which I love, but kinda drives me crazy.

8-16-07

This week is devoted unapologetically to Harry Potter.

8-2-07

This week I found myself descending into escapism and nerdism. I read Larry Niven’s The Integral Tree and Arthur C. Clark’s The Song of Distant Earth

7-5-07

I just finished Year of Wonders by Gwendolyn Brooks. I think I have a new love for Historical Fiction.

6-8-07

I’m reading A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler. It’s a collection of short stories, and I love short stories.

5-23-07

I’m reading Ironweed by William J. Kennedy. I like it OK but not tons.

5-17-07

I’m reading Violet Crown Award-winner Amanda Eyre Ward’s Sleep Toward Heaven.

5-11-07

I’m reading Pulitzer Prize-winner Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. I think those Pulitzer people have pretty good taste.

5-2-07

I’m reading Nine Years with the Indians, by Herman Lehmann, right now!

4-25-07

I just read The Optimists Daughter by Eudora Welty. It was sparse and beautiful. I highly recommend it!

4-19-07

I’m reading WLT member Amanda Eyre Ward’s Sleep Toward Heaven. So sad. So good.

3-29-07

I’m reading How to Read like a Writer by Francine Prose. It’s fantastic and will be available in the library when I finish it.

Exhausting Dreams

I’m more tired from dreaming than from life.

Last night there were three concentric circles in the floor. They moved in opposite directions (alternating, of course). Each circle was an entrance to another world/dimension/place and you had to pretty deftly skip over the ones you didn’t want to visit.

Last night I was a young, gay, black man-maybe 15 years old. I was trying to have a sexual encounter with another such man but when he went for it I had a vagina.It was very disconcerting and really illustrated the emotional difficulties of persons with gender identification problems.

Current T.V.

Big Love

Lost

House

Battlestar Galactica

Family Guy

Rome

Arrested Development

Criminal Minds

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

30 Rock

nuance

Gray areas make me giddy.

Saying “I’m not sure” feels like I’m having my itchy back scratched.

“Maybe”, “who knows”, “maybe we’ll know one day”, “that’s worth thinking about”, “I wonder”, “I disagree-convince me”, pure ecstasy!

Goodbye extremism. Adios polemic. Hello gray.