elvis has now left the building.
thank the lord.

out out damn elvis.

walked downtown to see gillian welch last night on my own
big shot of the maker's mark and then a vodka tonic to send me on my way.

incredible show. if you haven't listened to her new album Time (The Relevator) you really must.

up to my neck in spec writing. good to be busy.
got prequalified for a loan for a house. scary. starting to look.
also have my eye on this little wooden boat. please god.

oh... there are some new pictures of portland up. Check out Bert, the world's most adorable and funny looking little cat. Everyone who sees him is overwhelmed with laughter. Pretty absurd looking little lion. Also some great Calvin shots. enjoy.

big effort to make cube space more livable.
decorated with some plants and postcards.
my taste in art is questionable to others. Manual Ocampo, Michael Luchero, petrified squirrels playing the sax and lots of alien visitation stuff from the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. Dig outsider and crazy people art. mmmmm. hopefully it will elevate my waning enthusiasm to be at my desk all day.

crap-a-doodle kind of monday.
foul mood all day. missed calvin. missed denis. missed portland. missed laying in the sun and chatting.
got my oil changed at lunch and came back in a more decisive and determined mood. worked on my exam review spec while wondering what the heck is going on...then decided that it was as i made it. which is a good thing for me to decide. came home and worked on the pad a bit then went to lin, john, and summer's house for dinner. lots of kittens and good company. then home to get my financial stuffs gathered up for meeting with realtor on the morrow.

damn.

lin and john have a cute wooden boat in their garage that might be for sale. cheap. ay yi yi. it is really nice.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Week of August 23, 2001

I sought out prophecies from a Siberian shaman and a Yaqui bruja and the reincarnated wizard from Atlantis who hangs out in front of the local post office. Amazingly, they all foresaw the same upcoming events: an earthquake in Turkey, Calvin Klein's arrival in Tajikistan, a new nickname for George W. Bush ("Taliban of the Environment"), and last but not least, revolution in Taurus's love life. All of the sages I consulted are given to hyperbole, of course, so I'm not sure you should start planning quite yet for candlelight dinners with long-stemmed roses and Molotov cocktails. But just in case they're right, why not spruce up your approach to evoking passion in members of your favorite gender?

oh. forgot to mention a grand river sailing on mike marble's sweet wooden boat "kestrel". oh my it is a lovely boat. also went and saw sexy beast with denis. if you liked the limey you should see it. you should see it anyway. it's a good flick.

just spent the weekend in portland with denis, kate, calvin, linda, the marbles, tia, abby and ilene. ran around to a boat launch, a sausage feed (no jokes please), had a nice slumber party with linda, went garage saling and bought a funky ceramic planter. oh. long drive. lots of traffic. playing leap frog with people from vancouver to federal way. home to the kitties. rush rush rush crash.

haven't felt like writing.
been kind of sick. flu like symptoms.
hopefully gone through most of it now.
because i was just out drinking. and one shouldn't be doing that with a flu.
goodbye party for dalto, getting hitched party for josh and molly
one mojito two mojito three mojito four.
spinny.

work=blah.
life=out of control. but in a decent "hello!" fashion.

dig?

it is just barely friday.
having trouble sleeping.
jetlagged.

been up for an hour working.
i am we todd it.

home from baltimore and prince george's county (upper marlboro... not to be confused with lower marlboro...which i didn't see). i drove on i-95, i-295, i-83, croom road and other roads that gave me fits of dislocation. had the loveliest time with denis, kate, calvin, alisa, jessica, caleb and sarah... also the baby co-op crowd (always endlessly fascinating). saw the garden.

i was delivering ClassTools training to 20 high school teachers. it went very well. they liked it and had some very good ideas on how to make it better. my head is going to explode because i have so much work i need to do. ox. heavy load.

we drank a case of beer last night and sat on the stoop.hot muggy night, sounds of the city, sweet guitar music. it was like a dream.

calvin is the best. no doubt about it. hanging out with him turns my world happy.

i reeeeeeeaallly like visiting balmore.

last night.
late night drinks with hollym after some laundry and cleaning.
then slept on top of my covers it was so warm.

up at 5 am today. puttering around.
heading to pt. townsend to see kiwi and brandon with molly and martha this evening
then back for another late night.

looking foward to seeing brandito and kiwi.

thursday. deliciously my plans for the evening have cancelled
and i am hanging out and doing laundry. listening to the 6ths hyacinth album.
mmmm. can it get any better. yes it can. can't even wait.

duck is chilling on her cat deck outside the kitchen window. the neighbors all know her and chat with her as they go by. like small monkeys teasing my lioness. endless hours of fascination.

you you you you you you
kathryn whalen i believe. yum.

speaking of sarahs, as i just was, my little seester left for michigan today. my mom and she are taking the train to chicago and then driving out to ann arbor. i am already missing her on my side of the world. i am about to have that feeling threefold with matt gone and maria following. feeling left out. not really. i hold the northwest above all others in my heart. i dig the rain. i like the grey. home.

sailing with gpa + maria on sunday

little of interest going on.
small out of state travel from sunday to next wednesday.

busy weekend.
lin and john's wedding.
hanging with mom, maria, sarah.
canterbury with katja and michelle
long phone chats with linda
party at mels
nonstop party. slow down world. please.

nice dinner last night with eleven. matt's in the market. one of my favorite restaurants. good wine. great ribs and fish. yum.
eleven and i went to evergreen together, we have been friends since 1988. it was delightful to get her to myself for the evening.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Week of August 2, 2001

August is Home Improvement Month for you Tauruses. How should you celebrate? To begin, why don't you throw out all the furniture and décor that no longer reflect the style of who you are now? Next, ask each member of your household to stuff a suggestion box with uncensored notions about how to ratchet up the levels of domestic bliss. Third, create your own personal Stonehenge in the backyard or a goofy holy shrine in the living room. Fourth, vow to live without any TV whatsoever for four weeks and brainstorm about alternative ways to feed your imagination. Fifth, invite some farfetched guests over who will inject ripe surprises into the spirit of your hearth.

red 8
orange 4
magenta 6
yellow 9
logical tan 7
environmental tan 5
sensitive tan 6
abstract tan 6
green 11
blue 9
violet 7
lavender 3
crystal 1
indigo 5
red overlay 2
my aura supposedly.

Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy so good for an achey head.
The Malpais. It was a maze. Ye'd run you upon a little promontory and ye'd be balked about by the steep crevasses, you wouldnt dare to jump them. Sharp black glass the edges and sharp the flinky rocks below. We led the horses with every care and still they were bleedin about their hooves. Our boots was cut to pieces. Clamberin over those old caved and rimpled plates you could see well enough how things had gone in that place, rocks melted and set up all wrinkled like a pudding, the earth stove through to the molten core of her. Where for aught in the void and truth there's no up nor down to it and there's men in this company besides myself seen little cloven hoofprintes in the stone clever as a little doe in her going but what little doe ever trod on melted rock? I'd not go behid scripture but it may be that there has been sinners so notorious evilthat the firses coughed em up again and I could well see in the long ago how it was little devils with their pitchforks had traverwsed that fiery vomit for to salvage back those souls tht had by misadventure been spewed up from their damnation onto the outershelves of the world. Aye It's a notion, no more. But someplace in the scheme of things this world must touch the other. And somethin put them little hooflet markings in the lava flow for I seen them there myself.

sick day. this sneakyfaker is laid up and recovering. kind of funny. i have been made a martyr by hr. it is cracking me up. i sent out a company wide email about a party and going out to get drunk. then came the "it is not company policy to send out group mail for blah blah blah". I understand. it's her job. but it did sure make me popular with my workmates. big crowd out drinking. apex and xpex alike. it was very nice.