My kitchen is mocking me

Remember Stephing King's Christine? That car, no matter how anyone tried to destroy it -- it repaired itself again, and again and again -- infinity.

My kitchen is like the reverse of that -- no matter how perfectly I put her back together, she just gets wrecked again and again, plus infinity.

I hate that.

9 is fine -- I heart Rich

The #1 song on the day we wed was The Boy is Mine by Brandy and Monica -- awwww. Okay, so maybe that song is two girls fighting over a guy, but still -- "The Boy is Mine" is not a bad title for a wedding day.

This year was pretty mellow, which is saying a lot given the "passionate" nature of our personalities. We are not "same as it ever was" , nor are we each other's "everything".

I was thinking about what to get Rich for today and I thought for a moment about getting the Michael Buble CD with the everything song, but two things -- it's a guy singing to a girl and, "you're every line, you're every word, you're everything," is not something I can convey with sincerity. The rest of the song works, but when he coos the refrain, what I think about is how I've come to rely on Rich's addiction to workahol and how sometimes he strays from that path and is part of my world in the morning -- it's not a pleasant surprise. No, it's irritating. I don't care why he's still here, I want to know when he's going to leave.

He can come home early in the afternoon -- that's usually pretty cool, but don't mess with my mornings. I have things I do which set the pace for my whole day and when he's looming around it screws the whole thing up. In fact, I've learned to not even attempt my stuff when he is around because it quickly becomes an exercise in irritation -- if he's home I call my girl Tawny or my sister Robyn, "what are you doing? Yeah, he's here...I don't know, I hope he leaves soon -- he's driving me nuts..."

When I think of someone being someone's everything, I think a person would be excited to hear the sound of tires on gravel signaling the arrival of their heart's desire instead of the tire/gravel combo signaling departure and generating relief.

When we are retired it will be different because we play well together, but right now we are not retired. Unexpected togetherness isn't an opportunity for play -- for some people, sure, but again, for us? Not really.

So where is the romance in this anniversary ode? It's in the boxy cut t-shirts over that one pair of jeans I love, just thinking about the way he moves and how it all comes together with that particular casual look -- warm, fuzzy, butterflies, pitter pats -- the works. It's also in the cup of coffee he left for me today. We ran out of coffee yesterday and didn't remember to pick any up -- it was just as I was sadly recalling this fact that I saw the 16 ounces of gas station gold sitting in front of the coffee pot. He does love me.

Tonight we are going to a French restaurant of our favorite restaurateur and if Joe does French food with attention to the finer details of flavor, like he does with steak and sea food or northern Italian cuisine -- we are in for a treat. Flavorful sauces await -- I'm salivating.

As for a gift, I was thinking about a cool piece of pottery because 9 year is pottery and who doesn't like a cool bit of pottery? But then again, I may just go to the mall and get him another pair of those jeans.

The boy is mine.

It's how I get things done

I wanted to document that I got my hair colored again -- still red, but darker because I can't handle the root maintenance. You can't really tell because of the bad lighting situation -- Winnie was unwilling to wait for a shot to be set up -- I took what I could get.

What I got was a great shot of my "meth neck". You see everywhere now (Oprah, 20/20), how meth is getting big among the suburban set -- they show pics of how your skin and teeth take the beat from all that meth. Whenever my neck breaks out I think people are looking at me and wondering how often I'm hitting the meth pipe, "Ahhhhh, now I see."

The Whisper Leaf

Lizzie used a thin flower stalk to tie one leaf inside of another. She brought the bundle to me and said, "If you whisper your secrets into the leaf it will get fatter -- if it gets too fat, it will burst open and yell out your secrets."

"What's it called?" I asked.

"The whisper leaf," she said.

"So if you tell it too many things, it will burst?"

"Yeah, or if you tell someone your secret, the leaf will open and your secret will be free."

T-rex

"Yay! -- ish."

Lizzie, on finding out a favorite baby sitter is coming, then realizing she still wants to be with mom and dad today.

Halloween 1997

I came across this image while looking for a picture for my "my space" profile -- I belong so I can read friends' and family stuff, but my profile has been empty so they haven't had a very exciting icon for their "friends" menu.

Well, looky what they get now-- dork central. That's Rich and Jeffrey. Rich is half bald, so that's a wig -- all Jeffrey had to do was don flannel and pick up some drum sticks -- insta Garth.

He had to lose the locks as part of becoming a fire man, but don't let the spiked hair and noble profession fool you should you ever run into this guy -- Garth still lives in there.

Beastie Boys live up in there

Whenever someone asks, "What's the time?" They holler in my head, "It's time to get ILL!!"

Child of Vision

I did not think he could be more endearing than he came off in the documentary, but encountering Mark Borchardt in person -- I just wanted to pinch his cheeks, put him under my wing and keep him there for a while --he did not disappoint.

I, however, was so excited that I turned into a bit of an ass -- hyper enough to talk over him and say irrelevant things and at one point I even shouted out "Coven!".

Now, I have encountered some major movie and rock stars during my days in the food service and hotel business -- not to mention the many from the WWF (old school people too) and many, many NBA players.

Basketball fans would hate me because I don't follow basketball -- I worked room service for a hotel that had a contract w/the NBA, so when they played Milwaukee I often brought trays of food to their rooms and I knew not whom the tall guy -- sometimes in just a towel -- was. I did, however, learn that a lot of the players are not from America and had such heavy accents that I often gave up trying to understand what they were ordering and brought the closest thing to what it sounded like they were saying. Nothing ever got sent back -- I'm not convinced it was because I always guessed it right.

Digression and Harry Connick Jr. aside -- while spotting a famous person is cool, it's usually not something I get all hopped up about.

Rich spotted him first on our way in to the rock show, we kept refering to him as Mike and got so far into his space that we edged his buddy Dan out. We all ended up in the same beverage line and I said to Rich, "buy their drinks! buy their drinks!" And then I remembered we had the camera phone -- "We have the picture phone! Let's ask him for a picture. Do you think he'll let us take a picture? Oh, we have to get a picture."

He introduced himself and his two friends and was very gracious about letting us know he was "Mark" without making us feel bad for calling him "Mike". He was so genuine with his answers about what he's up to now. His friends were great too -- I forgot the girls' name (I'm a face person), but she hung in there for the three or four tries it took to get the picture (Rich's reminder alarm kept interrupting the process).

I'm happy to report he was drinking water and continues to write stories and work on movies -- being in them as well as making them. I wish he would publish a book already because if he writes anything like he speaks -- I can't wait.

Have you seen American Movie? This guy was the quintessential underdog battling poverty and alcoholism -- he had a dream and was getting the message that dreamers get -- "you're a fool". Lucky for us, he has the "it" factor -- he believes in himself and he's kept going. Perhaps his dreams aren't coming together as he planned, but whose do? He's in the industry and not settling for a life he does not want -- I love that.

You have to love being close enough to feel the heat from the pyrotechnics

These guys were playing to at least three generations and I have to say, driving to the show I had my doubts about weather or not I would thoroughly enjoy the show. My reasons were thus -- egotistical old guy singing angsty songs --would I believe him? Would I care?

Doubts flew out the window before they even started -- it was a great crowd which created a great atmosphere -- then the lights went down and the anticipatory hum started and I was all in.

The angst classics were peppered in with the, still relavant, anti-war stuff. Everyone on stage seemed to really be enjoying putting on a show and there was no hint of pathetic old guy rocker -- he was all rock star, doing his rock star thing.

Great night, great show.

"so ya, thought cha, might like to, go to the show..."

And then there were camera phones.


I'm not going to take a lot of time for blogging today -- I'm too busy in the afterglow of my incredible day yesterday -- the time for reflection will, too soon, be upon us.

Today -- I bask and take in, tomorrow I share -- with pictures.

Quickly though, the last Pink Floyd event I attended was yeeeears ago when I went to a David Gilmore show with a very dear friend and was thinking of him and wishing he could see the Roger Waters deal with me -- lo, whom did I see before the show? My John Boy! (I waved back to him, out there on the lawn, from my third row seat).

I ran into another dear old friend -- that was a sad encounter and in sharp contrast to the glow of the day, but a marker for gratitude none the less (just pray for broken people -- they need it).

The super highlight was getting to meet the star of my favorite documentary of all time -- I'm so glad this guy lives, breathes, creates and does interviews. My friend Brian is the most quotable person I know -- this other guy is the most quotable person I would love to know, but am happy enough to know that he is -- his outlook is stellar and his wordings feel like personal gifts (dude is profound, yet practical and hilarious). And yeah, we had the camera phone for that one too.