wait for it...!

Sally is driving home from one of her business trips in Northern Arizona when she saw an elderly Navajo woman walking on the side of the road. As the trip was a long and quiet one, she stopped the car and asked the Navajo woman if she would like a ride.With a silent nod of thanks, the woman got into the car. Resuming the journey, Sally tried in vain to make a bit of small talk with the Navajo woman. The old woman just sat silently, looking intently at everything she saw, studying every little detail, until she noticed a brown bag on the seat next to Sally."What's in the bag?" asked the old woman.Sally looked down at the brown bag and said, "It's a bottle of wine. I got it for my husband."The Navajo woman was silent for another moment or two. Then speaking with the quiet wisdom of an elder, she said…
"Good trade."

danica, who??

ok. the indy 500. here we go.

the only reason that danica patrick is getting all this attention is because she is a woman, and women in racing is a rare occurance. have you heard anything about roger yasukawa, or tony kanaan at all? no, nothing. it's a man's sport, and YES, i consider it a sport - these guys are in top physical condition because, believe it or not, it takes a lot out of you to drive in the heat, with a fire-proof driving suit on, plus a full-faced helmet, for 3 plus hours. endurance running is considered a sport, is it not? very similar, i think. and there's more to it, especially in Formula 1, where the circuits are mostly street courses (through monte carlo for one) and designed tracks that sometimes take the driver through the woods (at spa, in belgium for instance.) there's the physics of drafting, as joey rightly pointed out, and the fuel/tire strategy as well as driver ability - the when to pass - inside, outside, which lap - all of these things, if you're into it, make for an interesting 2 hours. if not, that's ok - i've been known to watch a little baseball or basketball - even...hockey on occassion. and i did mention golf as the ultimate (to me) anti-sport (on another blog) guys in loud, clashing colored clothing, walking around (slowly, i might add) hitting a tiny ball every so often - i dunno, seems a tad more...sedate than driving 140 miles an hour with 20 or so other people doing the same right next to you. maybe it's just me though.

ok. enough. here's a little bit about danica, just because...
she started off in the toyota atlantic series, where she grabbed pole position for the race at portland - something no other woman had done. she also finished EVERY lap during the season - no easy feat there - male OR female. she finished 3rd overall for the season.
i'm not a huge IRL fan, but i will tune in (mind you not for the whole race - that shit's looong) to see if she makes it past lap 50.

alright, i'm out

late edit - after leading for a while, fuel conservation caused
her to slip back, to finish in (a very respectable) fourth place

sometimes insomnia isn't such a bad thing

being awake when others are sleeping has its rewards...
early this AM (around 4 to be precise) i happened upon
a box in a box
since i'm trying to be more organized, i figured i'd go through both
and hopefully purge some more of my cluttered past
the first box was indeed filled with purge-able flotsam & jetsom
that neither impacted, nor altered my present course, so
into the round file it all went...
oh, but the second box... what treasure - what i thought was just
junky old photos, turned out to be
MY WEDDING pictures!
the (very) short-lived union between the lopez-baron clan and me
(since no one from my family would come, having tossed me out when
the word 'pregnant' popped up...)
taken by the ex's uncle raymond - i'm not sure what the spanish equivalent
of oy vey is, but you get the idea... not the sharpest eye
here is a link to them:

wedding-1977

man, was i young! and that hair... well, things sure have changed since

kingdom of heaven

so i went to see Kingdom of Heaven today
even AFTER reading all the negative reviews because
1) orlando bloom looks good with facial hair (REALLY good)
2) ridley scott, though extraordinarily predictable,
makes big movies look beautiful
3) i love going to this particular theater because it has,
not only balcony boxes, and a curtain, but a man that
sits in one of said balconies in front of a giant Wurlitzer organ
and PLAYS that shit! LOUD. it's an awesome sight to behold
4) tickets are matinee prices until 3pm, so yay for 6 bucks!
5) bagel train. for those in the know (and i KNOW) they have
THE best (no contest) bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches
that i have ever had - AND they make them all day...
and last, but certainly not least
6) good movie-going company

ok, so the movie wasn't that good
the plot was predictable and
hard to follow all at once, i cared about
none of the characters (not even orlando bloom's, really)
and it had a terrible ending
oh well, i can think of worse ways to spend a few hours
and a few dollars, so you'll hear no bitching from me

on the other hand,
tomorrow is monday and that bites
but i guess if every day was sunday
then sunday wouldn't be so sweet

tom waits=my kind of poetry

Emotional Weather Report


late night and early morning low clouds
with a chance of fog
chance of showers into the afternoon
with variable high cloudiness and gusty winds, gusty winds
at times around the corner of Sunset and Alvorado
things are tough all over
when the thunder storms start increasing over the southeast
and south central portions of my apartment, I get upset
and a line of thunderstorms was
developing in the early morning
ahead of a slow moving cold front
cold blooded with tornado watches issued shortly
before noon Sunday, for the areas including the western region
of my mental health and the northern portions of my
ability to deal rationally with my disconcerted precarious
emotional situation. it's cold out there,
colder than a ticket takers smile at the Ivar Theatre
on a Saturday night
flash flood watches covered the southern portion of my disposition
there was no severe weather well into the afternoon,
except for a lone gust of wind in the bedroom
in a high pressure zone, covering the eastern portion
of a small suburban community with a 103
and millibar high pressure zone
and a weak pressure ridge extending from my eyes
down to my cheeks cause since you left me baby
and put the vice grips on my mental health, well
the extended outlook for an indefinite period of time
until you come back to me baby is:
high tonight, low tomorrow,
and precipitation is expected

the fellini of nightmare scenes

falling asleep around 4
and being jolted out of bed at 6:15
by the weirdest (and scariest yet)
montage of nightmares is NOT
the way to start the day

my brain is slowly turning into oatmeal, people
i must remedy this situation ASAP

so, to that end, i think i shall take some courses
at the New School...
an impromptu speaking course so i can learn the art
of thinking on my feet and speaking in front of a group...
(MAYbe - it gives me the shivers just thinking about it!)
and perhaps a course on nabokov - why not?
and then there's a poetry workshop given by a
professor geoffrey nutter - how can i pass THAT one up, i ask you?!

sebastião salgado's genesis project

i think he is one of THE most extraordinary photographers out there.
this is part of his mission statement for his ongoing Genesis Project.
i am including a link to some of his photos...
click


"The modern notion that humanity and nature are somehow separate is absurd. Our relationship with nature - with ourselves - has broken down. As the most developed species, humanity may have a special, often dominant, relationship with nature, but it is no less part of nature. Indeed, we cannot survive outside it. And yet accelerated urbanisation over the past century has distanced humanity from the very animal and plant sources of life itself. We are living in disharmony with the elements that comprise the universe, as if we too were not similarly formed, as if we were purely rational beings. We are disregarding the spiritual and instinctive qualities that until now have ensured our survival. We assume grave risks when we distance ourselves from our natural roots, roots which in the past always made us feel part of the whole.

I conceive this project as a potential path towards humanity's rediscovery of itself in nature. I have named it Genesis because, as far as possible, I want to return to the beginnings of our planet: to the air, water and fire that gave birth to life; to the animal species that have resisted domestication and are still "wild"; to the remote tribes whose "primitive" way of life is largely untouched; and to surviving examples of the earliest forms of human settlement and organisation. This voyage represents a form of planetary anthropology. Yet it is also designed to propose that this uncontaminated world must be preserved and, where possible, be expanded so that development is not automatically commensurate with destruction.

My photographs will be divided in four chapters.
But since this will be a journey of exploration and discovery, I have a better idea of where I will look than what I will find."

Rich's fabulous questions and my mediocre answers

1) Where is home for you?

hmm, it’s funny (but not surprising) that you would ask that of me.
i used to think that the physicality of the place i lived in was home.
you know, where you put your stuff and where things were familiar, but all that changed not too long ago, and i’m only now discovering that as long as i have
my children around me (not on TOP of me, mind you!!) i am home.
the address ain’t no thing. the other bits – the familiarity, the routine, the... stuff, i guess, doesn’t nearly matter so much. you yourself make the difference, after all. (you knew the answer all along, dorothy, now click your heels
and repeat after me - there's no place like home, there's...)

ALSO, it doesn’t hurt to have your whole music collection in one place! (finally)

2) Who are the writers that you absolutely positively cannot stop reading?

i’ve been reading SO much lately, it’s hard to pick, but i keep coming back to:
Christopher Moore (he makes me laugh – especially in Lamb,
the Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal)
Kent Haruf, whose simple (seeming) austere novels
(they all take place in a small town in colorado) are just poetry to read.
Isabelle Allende, whose stories are not only captivating, but magical as well and
Edward Rivera, Piri Thomas, Victor Hernandez Cruz, and Cristina Garcia and
also most of the writers in Boricuas;
an anthology of Puerto Rican writers edited by Roberto Santiago.

3) Tell us about God – does he exist? If so, how do you know? If not, why not? And does He watch Def Poetry?

why you gotta axe me the hard ones, yo? jeez... or, erm, sheesh (!)

OK. God. right.
no, i don’t think i believe in god, per se – i’ve never been a big fan
of organized religion – the bible was a good story, but jesus never saw it –
or filled any of the missing pieces in for that matter... a buncha guys got together
and wrote stuff down that people take WAAAAY too literally these days.
anyway, if there was a god, and he was anything like what was written about him,
i don’t think that he would be able to stand by and let things turn to shit like they have. maybe that’s too simplistic a thought, but then again, maybe that’s what’s needed.
too many people are getting hurt, through no fault of their own, i might add
and they could use a little god-like intervention right about now.
also, to knock some people down off their high-horses - you know the ones i mean...
(who take his name in vain to boot – if ya believe, that is)
i’d like the world to be less dangerous - again, maybe too simplistic,
but i think we should all step lightly on this earth, and try and leave our
mark in a less...invasive way...
but i guess over the years, i’ve come to believe in myself, and the old adage
that if you try and live right, and be the best person you can, good
things will happen in your wake – touching all the people you touch.
oh, and the def poetry thing – if He does exist, sorry for being
sceptical first of all (no harm, no foul, right?) second, he must have a perverse
sense of humor - think duck-billed platypus and tammy fay baker, plus
if he watched past the 3rd season, he may be kind of a masochist –
dontcha think?? just kidding?!

4) Describe your greatest fear as a house.

okaaay. odd question, but i’m game –
i suppose it would have to be being empty –
devoid of all life, love, noise, music.
nothing scarier (and sadder) than an empty, echo-y house.

5) If love is a dog, which trick does he do best?

pfffffft – that’s an easy one (in my case, anyway):
roll over, and play dead, of course!!