Plans are funny little things...

So, for tonight I had this plan to go to the local bar / bowling alley (for those of you who have read my One and Only Smell post) there's another bar in town now where you can light up - and it has good ventilation.

So, I'm getting ready for my night out, the kids' mom is coming over to manage things, and i'm going to go see the Silent Sevens, have a beer or two, do some skank dancin', and generally have a good time.

I planned to meet my friend Steve and hang out for a couple of hours before the show - so, just before I'm ready to leave the phone rings, and it's Steve asking me if I think we can play for 20 minutes during the Sevens' set break - the scheduled opening band didn't show, and so...

After not having practiced with Steve for more than six months, having less than 2 hours to prepare, and spending much of that time fighting with my old Les Paul, which is having some intonation issues - we showed up and did it.

The two of us - me on a borrowed guitar and piano, and Steve on the band's drums, we played for exactly an hour - I had to do all the talking, because the drummer wasn't mic'd - and we just made it up as we went along - they didn't throw any food or beer bottles at us, and I got a 1$ tip from some drunk guy in the audience who perservered through the crowd, almost wiping out a table, to throw the money on the piano I was playing at the time.

I'm too tired to worry about the pictures - I don't think they turned out well, and I don't really care - I had a completely unplanned BLAST tonight - and just thought I'd tell you all.

Goodnight.

Namaste
-b

Llama Rama

"Eat the casserole, Tina, you fat lard!!"
-Napolean Dynamite

The llama is a holy, silly beast. It frolics and plays, and is generally a not-too-intelligent nuisance that's so damned cute you just can't get enough of one. If you want to know more than you ever want to know about llamas, check the Wiki entry. There are a couple of rock bands, The Llamas and The Llama Farmers (maybe more) - Wikipedia will probably mention them...


Emperor Kuzco in llama form Emperor's New Groove

Here are a couple of things llama that may interest, entertain, and (not likely, but possiblly) educatie, and even convert you to the impact and mildly twisted love of the llama:

The Llama Song by Tommy Topio
Naked Dancing Llama - advice and more!

Goofy Llamas - bastardized art and altered movie posters.

If you use Winamp - the (IMO) best MP3 player around, you may recognize the logo and Winamp's tagline:

"Winamp, it really whips the llama's ass!"



And finally (I could not find a recording or video of this, so sad) - if anyone can find this, please let me know - it's a rare Sesame Street clip that I would LOVE to acquire:

The Me and My Llama Song
(Sesame Street)

Me And My llama
Me and my llama
Goin' to the dentist today
Seems a little crazy
Guess you're just too lazy
You gotta get your teeth cleaned today

Me and my llama
Jumped out of our pajamas
And ran off to the dentist today
Me and my llama
Me and my llama
We're goin 'to the dentist ooo-eee
Yes, it's just my llama and me

Tell me if you feel afraid
Remember just to whisper softly into my ear
I won't leave and go away
You know I'm gonna be right here
Open up wide now
Let him look inside now
'Cause after this we'll go on our way
I won't let him hurt you
I'll be right there beside you
And I can tell that you'll be okay

Me and my llama
Jumped out of our pajamas
And ran off to the dentist today

Me and my llama
Me and my llama
We're goin' to the dentist oooo-eee
Yes, it's just my llama and me

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da....
'Cause after this we'll go on out and play...

Me and my llama
Me and my llama
The sun is bright and now we are free
Yes, it's just my llama and me

Burst

With a burst of speed
from my reeling brain
to the keyes, I push
my need to free
the feelings I get,
when I think of we;
wet, blessed, at rest
and nested against
each other's happy heat.

Words connect and press
through paths that flash
alive behind my eyes;
thoughts masked in hues
of blues, violet, white
yellows, greens, and red,
burst into views of you;
formless, definitive, true;
qualities expressed as neon,
pulsating life; radiant sun,
moon, stars, shining water;
particulate thought wrapped
into geschtaldt harmony.

I want to feel you burst
into my senses; arms, mouth
life, sleep, dreams, home;
the juice of a fuit unknown,
unborne by any tree, but grown
by the power of true love's nurture,
drawn from the well of blissful future
lit from within by spirit nature;
radiating scent; ardor, tempered
and focussed by empathy and humor.

I wish to cover me, inside and through
the pores of my soul, with your words;
and the drops of you that taste of
honey and salt, breathe you; verbs
of warm wine and lilac, your face
swimming in the tears held
in my eyes when I open them,
to look upon forever; a moment,
all years, such lessons embraced;
when age has taken what it will,
and left us to raise our hands in wonder
at how we once were, who we truly are;
childlike in our cares, divine with each other;
and find joy to consider how, drop by drop,
these choices, memories, hopes, and the fire
of our lives have burst, and run together.

Online Dating - does it work? (RFC)

My friend Chris & I were discussing online relationships the other day.

Chris posited that, because of the large number of peoaple available to meet online, and the various ways of sorting ou and scrutinizing potential partners; dating sites, topical or 'common interest' sites, background checks, etc., the success rate of marriages / long-term relationships based on internet communication would be significantly higher.

We agreed that we have had mixed results with both friendships and romance found on the internet, and so I thought I'd do some searching, and ask for some input.

Mary. Madden and Amanda. Lenhart - PEW wrote:
Americans who are seeking romance use the internet to help them in their search, but there is still widespread public concern about the safety of online dating.

PEW Internet & American Life Project - Online Dating[/size]

More information concerning online pursuits from the PEW organization, including surveys and memes, can be found here.

So, this is a Request For Comments, data, stories, articles, anything that might help clarify the ideas concerning the validity, effectiveness, and potential impact of online dating.

Virgin River Hike

My friends Chris, Toni, and I took a short hike today near the Virgin River. Here is a slide show.

I'm not in the pictures because I took them...



*edit* A note on the greening of southern UT

The lack of green really makes it difficult for me to stay here - I grew up in Michigan, have lived here for 2 years, and cannot get over 'green withdrawal.' The only reason this place is accessible to the mass growth it has experienced is the terraforming - turn off the water, and the place would shrivel up and revert to desert in a month.

Much of the green I shot on the walk today had a lot to do with seepage from septic leech fields in the houses that have been (and are very quickly being) built along the eastern edge of the river valley.

The Beauty Of a Woman

The Beauty of a woman is held
like her morning coffee,
in the poise and bend of wrist
and curled fingertips,

the strand of hair that falls and

bisects a cheekbone, unnoticed;

breathed in as the pause

and stretch to reach a lone rose

deep in a side street hedge;

in the flash of calf or glimpse

of thigh as she stops to right

her stockings, or stoops to smile

into the eyes of a child.

The beauty of a woman's heart

shines out; a flash from eyes

that light the way of change;

a wedding smile, a funeral hug,

a second's pause to touch a hand,

to kiss a brow, to run fingers

at the nape of troubled hair, or

to fix a fallen flower.

The beauty of a woman is carried

on shoulders, within encircled arms,

across hips that know pain and give

in blood and scream to bring forth life;

breasts and lips to nurture, to sing health

into the need to grow, to know;

her song, sweet milk of the soul,

her milk, sweet song of the flesh,

love and groomed instinct, Mother;

and the memories of lusty bliss,

and the spark of being

that comes, of the knowledge that loss

of such tender, fragile life is always close;

carried in bones' marrow, the nest, the place

of quiet, the hearth of love-light, glowing,

the promised heat of summer's return

held, ever against winter's bleak night.

The beauty of a woman

is curved and soft, firm and warm

in word and walk, in touch and slow breath

where in her silence she nurtures thought

of peace and the need to wait, and watch,

to be the turning and bloom of life into more;

transcendent of form, enlightened essence of

eons of continuance, creation;

where the limits of her strength,

the depths of her well of love,

the powers of her knowledge of life itself,

by her grace are ever undefined.

The beauty of a woman is known,

no claim can ever be

layed down upon her body,

no lien staked into her heart;

not age nor grief can corrupt

her sacred power, nor drain her of herself;

for she knows life, cycle, season;

her form the vessel which creates,

her soul the bridge connecting

existence and being;

her essence, an aphorism

through her, we touch eternity.