You Talk About Just Every Band, but the Names You Drop Are Second Hand

So, the squirrels around town have been acting a little squirrely lately. I'm sure they're getting all ready for Winter, but it's not like there aren't tons of black walnuts all over town for them. For a while there, I thought I might need to wear a helmet when I ran to keep from getting knocked out by all the black walnuts falling from the trees.

Tonight I'm doing a meme from Chance at The Sapient Sutler blog. Here's how it works.

Turn on your iTunes or equivalent.

Put it on shuffle.

Write something (a sentence, a paragraph, a story, a word,) about the first 5 songs that come up.

I started photographing this one squirrel that was hanging out in my friend J.'s front yard. She seemed just as interested in me.

1.) "A Million Miles Away" by the Plimsouls. I can't hear this song without thinking about the movie Valley Girl. It's from my high school years. Sure, Fast Times at Ridgemont High is my all time favorite teen movie from when I was in high school, but Valley Girl is right up there. Even if Nicholas Cage's teeth weren't fixed yet.

She also seemed to love the camera. She would climb a little, then pose a lot. Then climb a bit more, then pose again.

2.) "Middle of the Road" by The Pretenders. I guess we're still going with the middle eighties theme. The strongest memory I have of this song, was back in 1984 at my friend Craig Wyricks' college graduation party. They cranked this song through speakers facing out the windows and we danced to it in the middle of the road...Or South Linn Street. At least until the cops came and told us to quiet down.

3.) "Rich" by the Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's. This song and this band always reminds me of Coadster. She was so into them a few years ago and listened to them in the way only junior high kids can stand - over and over and over and over. She didn't quite ruin them for me, but I still can't listen to them all that often.

I think this is it's best angle right here. Sure, she's got that walnut in her mouth, but she can still pull off the full frontal.

4.) "Come as You Are" by Nirvana. This song reminds me of my friend April. She worked with me at Great Midwestern when this song was big. She used to think the lyrics were "...Oh yes, I smell and I don't have a job..." And I can't hear them any other way now. I bet Kurt Cobain wishes he had written them that way too.

5.) "Fox on the Run", by Sweet. Hell, I can't remember if I've ever admitted to you all how much I love the band, Sweet, but I do. "Love is Like Oxygen" is probably my favorite Sweet song, but this one is a close second. It was the soundtrack of every skating or make-out party I went to in junior high. When I was 19 and just starting to work at a restaurant in Iowa City called The Mill, the other cook recited the lyrics to me out of the blue, like he was starting a conversation, "I don't want to know your name. Cuz you don't look the same. The way you did before." I played it off and tried to act all serious while responding, "Okay. You think you got a pretty face, but the rest of you is out of place. You looked alright before." He was my best friend for years after that.

And You Could Just About Find a Freak Anywhere

Here is a picture of some leftovers in the hallway on the weekend of the state pool tournament.

So, today after work was just unbridled craziness. There was a track meet and then picking the other one up from soccer and then dropping that one back at school for the solo fest and then me going to the high school to witness said solo fest and then taking both girls to their dad's. Whew. Shit.

Hey, I'm kinda tired. I think I'll finally do that meme that Q tagged me for. I'll post the rules so you can see what I was supposed to do, and then you'll know exactly how I'm breaking them.

Here are the rules:

1. link the person who tagged you. Q

2. mention the rules in your blog…

3. tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours

4. tag 6 following bloggers by linking them. leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged

Here are my quirks:

1. When I was a kid I used to play with the cans in the pantry like dolls. You know, the giant Dinty Moore Stew can was the dad, the bigger soup can was the mom, the regular Campbell soup cans were the teenagers and the Bumble Bee tuna cans were the babies. Every once in a while when I walk past a pantry, I get the urge to go in and create a little world.

2. I have the ugliest feet ever. Is that a quirk, a disfigurement or just a turn-off? I know a lot of people think they have ugly feet, but those people haven't been running since they were 10 - the first five years in those flat basketball looking shoes.

3. I have an unnatural love of eating popcorn. I'm not sure if I could ever get tired of it. What? WHAT?!

4. I play with my hair a lot. Don't worry, I have a reason. You know me, I'm lousy with excuses. It's because it's super curly and it dreads up at the drop of a hat. When I straighten it, I still play with it, because then I have to make sure my edges aren't starting to frizz.

5. I love to make up stories about people I don't know in bars. If it's a couple, I try to imagine what their relationship is like by watching their interactions. When I worked at a coffee shop/ice cream joint called Great Midwestern, me and my friend Ben used to play, "guess the customer's situation" and make up all kinds of shit about unsuspecting coffee drinkers. It's actually pretty fun. You should try it sometime if you're bored and at a bus stop or wherever.

6. Everything. Do people really only have 6 unspectacular quirks, or is it just a way to limit it and keep bloggers from blathering on and on about how adorably quirky they are? Because you know how much I love to go on and on about how adorably quirky I am.

Okay. Now you can guess which part of the rules I ignored. Oh, and do this meme if you find yourself fancying it.

Driving Beyond - Driving Me Down the Road

Here's me and my family in the late 60's with our totally groovy VW camper.

I was tagged for a meme. Like I said, I'm hit and miss with memes, but I'm going to do this one, and just not tag other people because you all know how 70's I am and how I think people should just do their own thing, man. I'm also not going to link to Booda Baby's blog, because I'm tired and too lazy and you all are smart enough to look for the link on my sidebar, right?

Here are the rules:

1. Write your own six-word memoir.
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post.
4. Tag five more blogs with links.
5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

Here is my 6 word memoir: I obsessively document all my experiences.

Which should be no surprise to any of you who read my blog. Why do I do it? I guess that would be the real question right there.

Most people seem to be either thing people - those who take comfort at home with their things and aren't quite as into going out and having adventures. Or experience people - those who are happier going out and creating fun adventures without the need to hole up and play with their items as much. I seem to be more of an experience person. I also grew up with a dad and several other relatives who were photographers. Everything we did was well documented on film.

When I was younger and we moved all the time, writing and taking photos of things was a way to keep all the places straight. I've rarely gone back to any of my old neighborhoods, so it's good that I've kept journals and taken photos

Now, I'm at that time of year where I have to think about how to use my Summer vacation time. I think we're for sure going to Chicago to see a Cubs game and possibly go with and/or meet up with friends to check out the scene. Ideally, I'd like to see the Cubs play the Cards, so both my daughters would be happy, but I know those tickets are tough to come by. I've also been kicking around the idea of a roadtrip to California. I would contact my friends from here to there for cheap places to stay and then I could finally show the girls my old San Francisco and Northern California haunts. The big issue is, how much I'm willing to go into debt for it. My question to you gentle readers, is how much are you willing to go into debt for your things or experiences? (depending on which kind of person you are)

When the Routine Bites Hard

Hi kids. It's time for round two of the meme tonight. Man, I'm glad I have it to do, because I haven't done shit to blog about in the last couple of days.

10. What are the things your friends count on you for?

I'm sure that all my friends know I would do pretty much anything for them. Aside from that, they can count on me to make them crazy mix CD's, feed them whenever they'll let me, get pissed off at any assholes who dare to give them grief (which includes creative ways to curse the assholes and imagine bad things befalling them). I've already given almost all of my friends a dork-ass theme song and I'll sing it for them on command. I'm pretty sure my friend K. counts on me to make a fool of myself and jumping to it, anytime she commands me to make my downs syndrome face in front of all of our guy friends.

This is my first real live boyfriend, Neal wearing the corpy uniform we all had to wear.

11. What is the best part of being in a committed relationship?

My first thought, being on the outside looking in, is getting laid on a regular basis. Wait. What is this, how you say...committed relationship? No, really. I've been in a few of those, but only one healthy one and that was my first boyfriend Neal. I think the best part about it for me, was having a best friend who I knew always had my back and had seen me at my very worst both looks wise and behavior wise and he still loved me and knew when to make me laugh and when to give me space.

I remember once after we had been together for 2 1/2 years, I was working two jobs. I didn't get home from my one job until after midnight and was supposed to be at my next job by 6 am. I overslept and when I woke up and realized it, I threw myself one of those, "I hate my life" fits - complete with foot stomping. I then ran to my job and when I saw Neal again later that day, I was all sheepish and asked him how scared he was of me. He said, he thought it was great since normally I seemed so perfect. He meant it too. All I could think was that he had to be either totally insane or totally in love with me. I don't think anyone else who knows me, would ever describe me as perfect.

12. What is the hardest part of being in a committed relationship?

Finding one that doesn't suck.

13. Summer or Winter? Why?

I'm a Summer girl. I grew up in Arizona. Heat, for the most part, doesn't bother me. I hate being cold. I do, however like the change of seasons, but with my ADD, I just like the beginning of the seasons. I really only want them to last a month or two. See what you can do about that, will you?

14. Have you ever been in a school-yard fight? Why and what happened?

No, thank god. I'm a runner, not a fighter. I'm also a terrible smart ass, so anywhere I've lived, it seems the toughest and most ethnic chick in my school has wanted to kick my ass. I'm not proud. I freely admit to hiding and running home from school to avoid getting soundly whupped.


15. Why blog?

Duh, because I don't have a life. Really, I started blogging as a way to make me write every day and to not feel like I was writing in a vacuum.

My family back before anyone had heard of the HIV. Of course, I'm the ragamuffin in front with one shoe on and one shoe off. Maybe I'm projecting, but I always think my mom looks so tired in this photo.

16. Did you learn about sex, and/or sex safety from your parents?

Um, my mom tried. She died in 1975, and back then there was no AIDS, so there was never any talk of safer sex. My mom did say that we should feel free to ask her anything, since her mom was so uncomfortable talking about it and so my mother had to learn from friends. Apparently, her friends didn't know shit, because once I asked my mom what a blow job was, and she honestly had no idea.

17. How do you plan to talk to your kids about sex and/or sex safety?

I've been talking to my daughters about it since Stinky was five and asked me what "gay" meant. When I worked in the clinic, I saw enough pregnant 12 year olds, to make me want to educate my girls in any way I could. We don't just talk about mechanics, we discuss power issues and emotions too. So far, they have been very open with me about boys and kissing and whenever a big group of their friends are over, getting ready to go out I say, "Don't have sex," before they leave. I'm usually answered with a big chorus of, "Gross!" It's funny every single time.

18. What are you most thankful for this year?

These two chuckleheads are what I'm most thankful for. Look at them? Who wouldn't be?...Don't answer that. I'm thankful we're all healthy and happy and functionally sane. And as I've tried to say on here as often as possible, I'm thankful for my kick-ass friends and family. I am a firm believer in appreciating the hell out of people while they're around, because you never know when they won't be.

So Soft Hard Feelings

I've been asked to do a couple memes lately, and you all know how hit-and-miss I am on doing them. I've already done the "Weird Things About Me" Meme last year that Tara tagged me for. I also feel like every post I write is a list of about a hundred weird things about me. So, as much as I love Tara, I don't have much to offer to that one. The other one I was tagged for was from Not Fainthearted. She made it up herself and it is so much better than those Myspace memes targeted at thirteen year olds. You know the kind? the ones that ask you if your crush knows you like him and if so, how many times he IM's you? Yeah, well I'm forty-muthahfucking-two years old, so if I had a crush who IM'ed me all the time, he'd probably be young enough that I'd end up going to jail for him.

Anyhoooooo. I am going to do Not Fainthearted's meme, but I'm only doing half tonight and the other half tomorrow night. I think we all know how much I like to yammer on, and it is, after all, 18 questions long. So, let's all take a nice deep breath and begin.

Here is my sister Moira and I (I'm the one kind of standing up) climbing around in Tonto National Well in Arizona as kids.

1. What were you afraid of as a child?

Um, everything? I don't think I could make a list long enough. I was terrified of bombs going off, and even a ticking clock would make me nervous. I was finally not allowed to watch the news when they showed Vietnam war footage anymore. Rattlesnakes, which in Arizona are sometimes hard to avoid. The Exorcist and Tubular Bells. Of course, my mom loved that soundtrack and could only play it when I wasn't around. Any strange noise at night. I could never sleep as a child and so my mom would let me listen to a radio all night to drown out any other sound that might freak my shit out. Now you know why I know the lyrics of almost every cheesy pop song ever written and can recite most commercials from the seventies.

2. When have you been most courageous?

Getting out of the two abusive relationships I was in. The first with my ex-husband and the second with that one asshole I dated almost five years ago. People always wonder why seemingly strong women stay in those things, but I don't think you could ever understand unless you went through it. It's not like the guy is suddenly a jerk. It's subtle things where the guy seems too good to be true and then gets kind of bad, but that behavior becomes normal and then he kicks it up again, so that becomes normal, and so on and so on... They also wear down your self-esteem, so you believe you deserve to be treated a certain way. It's kind of a double and triple whammy. I've been lucky enough that I've gotten out before things ever became too violent.

3. What sound most disturbs you?

The sound of violent retching. I spent a fun filled evening in the emergency room in the general hospital in San Francisco once with my ex-boyfriend who got sucker punched at a party and had a detached retina. There was some guy in the next room who retched for hours and I thought I was going die.

4. What is the greatest amount of physical pain you’ve been in?

Easy - 36 hours of labor with my first daughter. Why didn't anyone tell me that natural childbirth was for pot smoking hippies? I also should have known just exactly how stubborn that Coadster would end up being. That girl was going to come out when she was good and ready and put me through hell, until then. It's kind of the way she goes through life.

The girls when they were nine and ten years old respectively.

5. What’s your biggest fear for your children? (or children in general if you don’t have some of your own.)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's global warming and nuclear war and stuff, but my biggest fear is that something will happen to me before they are adults, and someone else will raise them. Of course, it all comes from being raised by my abusive (are we detecting a theme here?) aunt and uncle after my mom died. Even if someone wonderful raised them, they still wouldn't understand the girls they way I do. I would hate to think that my daughters would have to grow-up without that unconditional love.

6. What is the hardest physical challenge you’ve achieved?

The hardest physical challenge was probably in The Conservation Corps. We had to hike with eighty pounds of grip hoist cable strapped to our backs and a tool in each hand uphill and through rocky creek bed and use chainsaws that were so big and heavy that I could barely lift them when I first started, let alone run one for eight hours. Fighting wild land fires sucked too. I have this weird suffocation complex and it didn't exactly jive with all that smoke inhalation.


7. Which do you prefer: Mountains or oceans/big water?

Both. but if I had to choose, I'd say ocean. I'm a total water girl. My California boyfriend used to call me a mermaid because he couldn't keep me out of rivers, lakes or the ocean.


8. What is the one thing you do for yourself that helps you keep everything together?

Run, run and run. It is my meditation, my exercise and my happy pill. I've been doing it since my mom died and I can't imagine my life without it.

9. Ever had a close relative or friend with cancer?

Yeah. One of my best friends in the world, had sinal/nasal cancer for five years before he died at 31. He had been my roommate, our daughters were born 6 weeks apart and we saw each other almost every day for ten years. It broke my heart to see him in constant pain and it pissed me off that even after two back-to-back open brains surgeries, he was still smarter than I can ever imagine being.

Well, on that happy note, I'll continue with it tomorrow

Lives Her Life From Inside of a Room

Okay, childrenses. I'm finally putting up my building photos. They are both from last year, but I like them, so you get to see them again. Here is the bridge to cross the street by the Biology building.

And this is a photo of fire escapes on the Bo James' building. I don't think I need to remind you how much I like fire escapes, do I?

My first hibernation weekend of the year is coming along quite nicely. The girls and I went to the mall. How weird is that? Neither of the girls had other plans and we actually got to spend a couple of hours together as a family. Freaky.

On our way out, I saw my friend A. with her mom and her kids ahead of us, and I used it as a perfect opportunity to mess with her. I snuck up right behind A., and stood next to her daughter and started tugging hard on her purse. She was at the mall, so I figured she was probably at least a little annoyed anyway, and my mission was to put her over the edge, and boy howdy, did I. She swung around all ready to ream someone, until she saw it was me. I can't remember A.'s exact words, but I think she may have said, "You ass," or something to that effect. It was perfect.

A. almost made me want to break from my self-imposed Saturday evening solitude, by suggesting that I come over and split a bottle of wine with her, but I knew that once I went running and came home, I wasn't going to want to leave my house again. So, I declined and we'll have to schedule that on another weekend when I'm not in such dire need of "me" time.

I talked to my friend K. a couple of times today, and we firmed up Halloween plans. Her housemate's mom and brother were coming to visit and she had to get some cleaning done, so we decided we'd go over Halloween costume options tomorrow at the Vine when we watched football. Right now, I'm wavering between a superhero, (thanks for that suggestion, LauraB.) and Trevor suggested Aeon Flux, so I think I'll be going through my 4,000 comic books for more suggestions, or a Catholic school girl. I have everything for that costume, so it would be handy, plus there would be the added comic element of me being 42 years old. I could vary that by being an Emo Catholic school girl and have some cuts on my arm and wear black lipstick, or I could be a dead CSG and make my face nice and gruesome. As usual, I'm always happy to hear what you all think.

When I Was Three, I Thought the World Revolved Around Me. I Was Wrong.

Here is a man who is wearing an umbrella as a hat. He must be very practical and not at all worried what people think about him.

So, here it is. I have finally relented to answering some interview questions. This meme has been making the rounds all Summer and I've been avoiding it, because memes go against my self-diagnosed oppositional defiance disorder. Plus, I don't have a lot of time to follow the rules. But after I read Q's answers to his interview questions, I knew his own questions for me would be amazing. Like every other meme, I'm just doing to the part I like and not offering to think up questions to ask anyone else. It's not that I don't care, it's just that I'm that damn lazy. So, hold on to your hats, this could be a bumpy, dirty, extremely inappropriate ride. I can't wait.

1. My skills with sculpting silly putty into large red vaginas are known far and wide, but I have now turned my attention to sculpting with butter. Immortalizing you into a curdled milk masterpiece is next on my agenda, what pose do you choose for me to sculpt you in and what exactly are you wearing?

It's funny you should ask. I actually used to model for art classes when I was in college and then about two years ago, a guy who lives on one of my running routes, asked me to model for a drawing group. Since I had just turned forty, and figured it would be the last time anyone would pay me to take my clothes off, instead of paying me to keep them on, I did it. So, I'm over getting nehkkid for art, I think if I were going to be sculpted in butter, I would wear a French maids uniform and stand in some kind of finger wagging, toe tapping, scolding pose. Does that work for you?

2. The soundtrack of my life consists of two songs “Cum on Feel the Noise” and “Closer”, what songs would appear on your soundtrack?

Since I've lived many lives, I would need more songs than just two. Here's how my soundtrack would line-up:

a. Childhood, before my mom died - "The Grand Illusion" by Styx

b. After my mom died and we moved in with my crazy and abusive Aunt and Uncle moving from Arizona to Chicago - this would be a combination of two songs - "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns n Roses" and "Luka" by Suzanne Vega. So, maybe if you could put the lyrics to "Luka" with the music from "Jungle", it would match my life back then. Scary, I know.

c. My college years - "Rebel Rebel" by David Bowie.

d. My California years - "Party Girl" by U2

e. After my divorce when I was working 2 jobs to pay for my girls to be in daycare and I lived above a bar because it was all I could afford - "My Brain is Hanging Upside Down" by The Ramones.

f. The last few years - "Everything's Coming Our Way" by Santana. It sounds really optimistic at first, until you look closer at what "everything" could encompass.

3. During the night some magical gypsies exchange our brains, meaning that you are now in my body and I am in yours. This change is not permanent but we are not sure when the exchange back will take place. We know that all I am going to do is take hot steamy showers and make naughty films with Fringes. What would you do in/with mine?

First I'd take a few hours to get used to all the blood being diverted from my brain and sent to my penis instead. Then I'd spend some time adjusting myself and scratching my balls. After that, since it's too warm for snow, I'd go out and buy some crushed ice so I could spread it on the ground and pee my name into it. What else do penis bearing members do? Oh, I know - I suppose at some point during the day, I'd have to watch some porn, so I could make sure my new equipment was fully functional.

4. My personal memoirs are titled “Cold Popcorn/Hot Sex”, what is the title of your memoirs? And how awesome do you make me sound in them?

Mine would be titled "Hey! Shit. Wait. Whoops!: Portrait of a Spaz" and since I've never met you in person before, you would have a very prominent role in them. You would play the hott blogger guy that all the blogger chicks want to get with, but we all know it's impossible since you have the sexiest blogger girlfriend around. It would be all about my sad, unrequited love for both Q and Fringes and how I spend all of my days watching the naughty films you guys made when we exchanged bodies. There. Is that awesome enough?

5. Walking up to a woman and sticking my hand in their back pocket is my most effective pickup line, what is the best pickup line anyone has used on you?

Oh man, I can only pick one? Well, you're getting at least two anyway.

Once in the late eighties I was at a bar called The Foxhead and I'm sure I looked like I listened to a certain kind of music. Some guy walked up to me and said, "Hey. You know, I really like alternative music..."

I think I said something totally sarcastic like, "Oh my god! Really? Me too! We should totally have sex." I just remember he told me I was mean.

More recently, I was walking downtown, when some teenage, Emo boy asked, "Can you spare some change...And your phone number?" Really, nothing makes a girl feel more special than when a guy panhandles her first and then hits on her.

So Says I

Kids, I am just beat. I did a lot more running kids to and from soccer practice and the baseball fields than I wanted to, and way less of the melting into my couch than I had planned. Now, I just need to go to bed.

First though, I wanted to address the subject of memes. I've been tagged for a lot of memes lately, and I think it's very nice of people to think about me. The problem comes because I am very lame in general. I'm sure that's no news to you. It's not that I think I'm too punk rock to participate, I really am just that lame. I actually already did a meme like Tara's a few months ago, and my random answers to that were so boring, you will all thank me for not repeating any part of it.

Lynnster's meme asked me to list five favorite restaurants in my town. Unfortunately, I don't eat out that much, and right off the top of my head, all I could think was, "Uh, I really like BBQ." One of the best BBQ places around here is called Jim's Rib Haven, but it's in the Quad Cities. Then I heard my bed calling me and I totally lost my train of thought.

So, I want to apologize for not really doing the memes. I'm not so great under pressure. In general, people like me much better, when they keep their expectations very, very low.

Everything Will be Alright, Tonight

Here is our garden from last year.

I have agreed to do an interview from Margaret. I was hoping I'd be in a better space tonight to do this, but unfortunately, I'm still not the happiest girl in the whole USA right now. I'm not sure I'll do it justice, but I'll try really hard. I'm supposed to ask people if they want me to interview them, but again, I don't think I'm up for that. I can't imagine anyone will be too shocked that I'm not playing by the rules. Here are the five questions Margaret asked me:

1. What reality TV show would you be on if you had to be on one?

I don't think anyone would ever pick me to be on a reality show. I don't do drama. A friend once told me I should be on Survivor, but after everyone started getting all bitchy and mean, I'd probably take off and find someplace quiet to hang out by myself. They wouldn't even be able to find me to vote me off.

2. Newspapers, magazines, books, or the internets: which is your favorite media?

I would like to be able to answer this question by saying books, but the numbers don't lie and I spend WAY more time on the internet than I do reading novels these days. Hmmm.

3. If you had to give-up one of your 5 senses: which one and why?

This one is really tough. I've always thought that if I lost my sight, I would finally become completely autistic and never leave my scary little brain. I love to eat, so taste would be out. As Mr. Atrocity pointed out, not being able to hear, would mean not being able to listen to music. Being a very affectionate person, my sense of touch is also really important. I guess it just leaves my sense of smell. There are a lot of scents I'd miss, but after being in high school and detasseling corn next to a giant feedlot on the hottest day of the year, I know there are plenty of aromas I'd be happy not to have to experience.

4. If Ben & Jerry's were to name an ice cream flavor after you, what would it be?

Answering this question tonight, I'd have to say, Piss and Vinegar. I guess it'd have to be a sorbet. It would also probably be the least profitable flavor they ever tried to market.

5. If you could start a new holiday:, what, when, and how would you celebrate?

I think I'd invent a "Get out of jail free day". It would be one day out of the year that each person could pick whenever they wanted to take off work and do whatever they wanted without hurting anyone else. Once again, I'm all for people doin' their own things, man. You dig?

'Cause We're Empty as the Desert as We Move From West to East

I think tonight I'll keep with the years ending with a 6 for my "year in review post". So, let's examine 1986, why don't we? Come on, it will be fun. I lived in San Francisco for most of it. This here picture is of me and my friend Laurie. She was the one who talked me into moving to California in the first place.

1986

General: I started 1986 in Big Bear Lake, Ca. I moved to San Francisco at the end of January and stayed until the end of December, when I moved back to Iowa City. If you haven't guessed, this was smack dab in the middle of my confused/lost years.

Age: I was twenty at the beginning of 1986 and turned twenty-one in July.

Music: I worked a lot and was subject to the New Agey/ Adult Contemporary stuff that was shoved down everyone's throats in nicer restaurants. So, I heard a lot of Windham Hill and Deep Breakfast stuff as well as, Steve Winwood, Dire Straits, Sade, Sting and in the Fall, Paul Simon. At the beginning of the year, I worked at a shoe store in Berkeley, so I was forced to suffer through The Bangles, Falco, The Miami Sound Machine and The Pet Shop Boys, in very short rotation and ad nauseum. Ouch. My roommates were hippies, and at home I heard a lot of The Dead, and Bob Marley, and Joni Mitchell-girlie music. In June, my boyfriend (who turned 21 one month before me) went to see Camper Van Beethoven at a club and was totally hooked. They were probably the closest I came to theme music that year.

TV: I didn't own a television back then, but other people talked to me about their favorite shows. I had to schedule some of the high school girls at the shoe store to get off at eight so they could make it home to watch Miami Vice.

Movies: Because I was single and made tips, I had a lot of disposal income, and dispose of it, I did. Here are a few of the movies I saw that year: Blue Velvet, Peggy Sue Got Married, A Room With a View, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Hoosiers, Nine and a Half Weeks, Amadeus, The Mosquito Coast, Soul Man, and Absolute Beginners. Here are some movies I managed to avoid that year, but may or may not have caught later on video: Stand By Me, Transformers: The Movie, Under the Cherry Moon, Band of the Hand, Top Gun, Platoon, Pretty in Pink and Howard the Duck.

Books: As far as I remember, I read a lot of Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston, Margurite Duras, Jean Rhys, Henry Miller, Italo Calvino and probably overdid the Beat stuff. Because my roommate was going to the New School to study poetry, I picked up a lot of her school books.

What I Wanted to Be When I Grew-Up: That was what I was trying to figure out back then. At the time, I kept a drawing, every day and a dream journal. Maybe I thought I'd be a professional journal keeper. Too bad they didn't have blogs back then. Or maybe it's just as well. It's pretty hard for me to stomach my journals from that time. I threw most of them away when I moved to L.A. in 1988.

Winter: The Winter of 1986 sucked ass for me. I moved to San Francisco with my boyfriend and at first, I lived in his crazy mother's house and worked at that horrible shoe store. By March, I was ready to take-off and go where? I had no idea, so I actually stayed and fixed things...For a while.

Spring: In the Spring I started working at the Courtyard Cafe on 24th Street in San Francisco. I moved in with an English girl named Susan. We shared a bedroom in a house with a bunch of other Europeans all living here illegally and desperately trying to get Green Cards. We lived on 24th and Harrison, right by the projects, where even little kids were in bicycle riding gangs. I moved out after I woke up one night to Susan and some guy she had picked-up at a bar, snorting coke off a mirror right next to my bed. It was way too eighties for me.

Summer: I moved in with two girls I worked with in a flat on Randall Street, just up from Church Street, by Day Park. It was fine at first, but then the one who was dating the drummer from American Music Company kept getting snottier and snottier and finally got to the point where she was so much better than us, that she had to move into a nicer place. She was replaced by a wonderful woman who was studying accupuncture. Like I said, they were hippies. We smoked a lot of pot, ate a bunch of mushrooms and made big communal dinners with food we bought at the Noe Valley Community Store. I can't imagine a better way to turn twenty-one.

Fall: I thought I'd try my hand at getting my shit together and went to college again. I was already a California resident, so I could go to Community College for $50 a semester. Even I could afford to fuck-up for that much money. My boyfriend decided he needed to move to the Seattle area where his dad lived and I decided not to go with him this time. He lasted about a month and a half before he came back. In that time, I made up my mind to move to Iowa. He thought he might follow me, but since he'd never been off the West Coast in his life, I didn't think he'd like it. I quit the Courtyard Cafe and worked as a bartender at Macy's Department Store, instead. I finished my semester with all A's and one B, because I went to a Dead Show (the first one after Jerry Garcia's diabetic coma) the night before the final in that one class, and missed it altogether. My professor let me take it later, but dropped me a grade.

I Know This Much is True

This is a picture of the creek across the street from me.

Now, here is a list of some truths I hold to be self-evident.

1. This first one occurred to me this morning when I woke-up still sick, at 5 am, had to curl and spray Coadster's show choir hair up, it was cold and snowy out, oh, and what the hell, let's just throw in a liberal dose of PMS in the mix: A long hot bubble bath will cure about 80% of what ails you, both physical and mental.

2. This truth was given to me by a co-worker who heard it from her seven year old daughter: Another bad thing about the wind and the cold is that it really makes you feel the boogers in your nose.

3. This truth came to me while viewing Coadster's choir concert (regular, as opposed to show choir) on Thursday night: There is no better way to suck the soul out of a spiritual, than by letting Iowa high school students sing it.

4. This one I'm experiencing right now: The best way to spend certain Saturday nights in February is to plant your pale, doughy ass on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, eating Chinese take-out and watching cheesy movies. (I would have added alcohol in there, but I'm on migraine watch 2007 and have to lay off the hooch)

In Restless Dreams I Walked Alone

Yesterday Rel tagged me for a meme. I'm almost always up for a meme, because they're all about me,me,me and then I don't have to come up with something to write about on my own. Okay, here goes:

Things That Scare Me

1. suffocating - I can't even face someone I'm sleeping with, (no, it hasn't been a big problem for a while, thank you) for fear they might suck all my air.
2. Controlling and angry people.
3. Rush Limbaugh - I prefer to think of him as a thing.

People that make me laugh

1. my daughters. (sometimes even on purpose)
2. David Sedaris.
3. Rush Limbaugh. (until I cry)

Things I love

1. My family - I totally stole this answer from Rel.
2. Running - that is, if by "things I love", you mean "things I'm addicted to".
3. Words and images - yeah, I know those are two things. I never read anywhere on here that I wasn't allowed to cheat a little.

Things I hate

1. Poverty.
2. Hate.
3. Rush Limbaugh.

Things I don't understand

1. Men.
2. Why so many people Google various forms of the lyrics "Who's Gonna Drive You Home Tonight?" It was about the worst Cars song ever. Most of the searchers must speak English as a second language because they're usually actually asking the Google gods for "Who gonna home tonight?", and my personal favorite, "Who gonna drive your home tonight?" (they must be big RV'ers)
3. Hormones

Things on my desk

1. Computer- another answer stolen from Rel.
2. messiness
3. Dust, spores, and allergens

Things I'm doing right now

1. Answering a meme
2. Feeling my arms get really heavy due to the effects of my migraine meds
3. Playing with my hair, as usual.

Three things I want to do before I die

1. Wish my girls happy eighteenth birthdays, so they won't have to live with anyone else but me.

2. Own my own home.
3. Learn to paint and draw really well.

Things I can do

1. Run a chainsaw.
2. phlebotomy.
3. Run - a direct consequence from my childhood conundrum of being a smart-ass and a horrible chicken shit after pissing off so many people.

Things you want to listen to

1. Whatever the hell you want.
2. the sounds of silence.
3. Your mom - this is directed specifically at my girls.

Things you should never listen to

1. Michael Bolton.
2. The voices in my head - trust me on this one.
3. Rush Limbaugh.

Things I would like to learn

1. Yoga - Shut-up. I know.
2. How to play the guitar
3. How the other half lives.

Favorite Foods

1. Navratan curry.
2. Chicken Parmesan.
3. Scallion pancakes with peanut butter sauce.

Favorite beverage

1. Thai iced tea - almost any kind of tea, really.
2. beer.
3. Cranberry/raspberry juice.

TV shows I watched, books I read as a kid

1. Land of the Lost and any other Sid and Marty Krofft shows - Lidsville, H. R. Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos, Sigmund and the Seamonsters...
2. The Little House on the Prairie series on TV and in book form. I was Laura Ingalls Wilder crazy.
3. The Changeling. I wanted to say, A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich, because I love the title, but even though the book was good, it wasn't my absolute favorite.

People I would like to tag:

As most of you know, I don't believe in tagging people. I think people should do their own thing. So, if you want to, let me know, I'd love to read it. If not, that's cool too. I'm all seventies that way.