Happy New Year!

Here's hoping 2007 will be a year of joy, fullfillment and dreams realized for all my friends here on blogger.

pictures

My nephew Shawon. He turned 20 this year!

Me with my godson Luke, taken back in 1997.

All-In-One

It's finally here and all set up. My brand new Epson CX5000. Printer, copier, scanner. I've wanted one for so long. Now the fun can begin. I'm going to hunt down some pictures and start scanning them. Watch this space.

Day Off

I have Wednesdays off. I'm sitting here listening to the new Loreena Mckennitt CD called An Ancient Muse. It sounds heavenly just like all the other CDs of her I own. She just takes her listeners to another time. I've really had a fantastic year as far as music goes. Most of all because of the brilliant CD Endless Wire that The Who put out at the end of October. I still don't go through a day without listening to that. It's like I've always said patience pays off and Who fans need a whole lot of it at times. Being able to hear those new songs live this last Friday was a dream come true. I still haven't been able to come back down from the events on that day. Still walking a few inches above the ground.
The list of newly aquired music is quite an extensive one. Rachel Fuller, Mikey Cuthbert, Casbah Club, Foy Vance, Martha Wainwright, Flaming Lips, Eels, Indian, The Grip Weeds, Backbone Shiver and on and on and on. My ipod is filled to the brim.
So now I'm looking forward to seeing what the new year brings.

To the music critics of my town

Let's see you get up and put on a show like Roger Daltrey did last night when you've got bronchitis. Oh and I'd like to hear you pull off the scream at the end of Won't Get Fooled Again like Roger did last night.

I more than got my money's worth last night. From all the cheering and clapping and whistling going on I'd say the crowd last night were far from disappointed.

I hope you get well Roger. Enjoy your rest. You've earned it.

I'm back.......

Now what to blog about? Oh yeah new Who album after a 24 year wait. Listened to it. Loved it. Listened again. Loved it even more. I'm psyched about going to see them in December. It'll be a first for me seeing them this late in the year. Before it was always in the summer. Doesn't matter though. I'd strap a couple of tennis rackets to my feet and tramp through a blizzard for Roger and Pete.

I'd like to be able to catch a Barnes&Noble appearance by Rachel Fuller as well. I think she mentioned Minneapolis as being one of her stops. It depends on which store it will be at.

Listening To Music

Hanging out and enjoying my tunes. Check out www.pandora.com you'll be pleasantly surprised at the list of artists you'll discover.

Lost Ones

I dreamed of those lost to me last night
Once again I looked upon their faces
We moved through dreamland's strange places
There was something I had to say
Reaching out I tried to keep them close
Waking I tried to remember our pose
But morning intruded and now it's gone
I just know that for a time while I slept
Those I miss were with me once again

Lights out

I somehow deleted my post and my blog yesterday. D'oh!




But now it's back.

Batteries

My watch stopped last night. So this morning I left early to get the battery replaced before going to work. I've had this watch for over five years. Perfect working condition. No problems with the battery since I got it, before yesterday.
So I go to Target and ask the girl behind the counter if she would replace the battery. She tells me: "We only do that for the watches that are currently in the store now. Because if I accidently break your watch I'd have to replace it with one of the same price value." She then tells me Marshall Fields can probably do it. So I go downstairs and make my way through their maze of make-up counters to the jewelry department. They direct me over to where they do the watch repairs and a nice man says yes they can do it. Great. Get my wallet out to pay. Guess what? "I'm sorry we don't have this particular battery in right now." I have to come back in a few days. So I go back upstairs and run over to Target to buy a cheap watch I can use until mine can be repaired. I then went to Borders to get have a nice chocolate mocha with whipped cream and then headed off to work. To relax!

A Repost

Dedicated to The Daily Mail and all other sleazy tabloids:

The Pit
Now the laughing gleeful consumers of the mire
Will slither and dance over the remains of the shattered
Taking substance from the droppings of a tabloid empire
Slurping the blood dropped into their gaping, salivating jaws
They reach up and greedily grasp for more tearing the walls
Crying out for victims who must be punished for their flaws
Their hunger is never satisfied and they will never see
That the joke is on them the morsels only illusions they create
To wile away the useless hours of a life they foolishly embrace
Climbing so far then sliding back down once again to helplessly wait

Inner European

Let's try this again.

Your Inner European is Dutch!

Open minded and tolerant. You're up for just about anything.

Who's Your Inner European?

Life Path

Your Life Path Number is 1

Your purpose in life is to lead others. You have great drive and determination. Nothing is going to stand in your way.You seek out challenges and the spotlight. You'll take all the work - and all the glory.Status and success are important to you. You demand the best from everyone and everything. In love, you tend to take a protective role. You enjoy being the provider in relationships. You expect others to be like you, and as a result, you are often disappointed.A little selfish and vain, you always put yourself first.Remember, everyone already knows you're great - you don't need to remind them!

What Is Your Life Path Number?

Knit One Purl Two

One of the clearest memories I have of growing up is always seeing someone holding a pile of knitting on their lap. My mother. My grandmother. My Aunts. Visits to relatives always involved conversations over the clicking of knitting needles. Bags of yarn and half finished sweaters, afghans, mittons, scarfs, ponchos were always at someones feet. More than half the clothes we kids wore were handmade. The back of sofas were adorned with beautiful afghan blankets one could throw over themselves and lay down for a quick nap. We were prepared for the cold weather with various sweaters and scarfs given for presents. My grandmother would enter her projects in the State Fair and got free admittance tickets in return.
I tried taking up knitting when I was in my teens. I wasn't patient enough. I made a ton of mistakes and got frustrated. I decided to stick to reading as my hobby. However I did finish a couple of latch hook projects when I got a kit for my birthday.
Maybe one of these days I'll attempt it again or at least find another hand made afghan to throw over the back of my sofa.

Heard this one?

I told this to a friend the other day and got a blank stare.

April showers bring may flowers
What do may flowers bring?

Pilgrims


Please tell me I'm not the only one who gets that.......?

Books

On my current reading list:

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
The Warrior Queens: The Legends and the Lives of the Women Who Have Led Their Nations in War by Antonia Fraser
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind
Homesick by Sela Ward
Cousin Bette by Honore de Balzac
Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes
The Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland
The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl
The Constant Nymph by Margaret Kennedy
Wideacre by Philippa Gregory

Now reading: A Room With a View by E.M. Forster

Three Days Off

I get the next three days off. Got up later this morning. There's somebody playing Nancy Sinatra records rather loudly. Well at least it's not some loud rap. Actually I'm rather enjoying listening to this. I still have to call up work to find out my schedule for next week. It wasn't up yet yesterday. I'm planning on taking some pictures at the mega-mall on Sunday for my nephew for a school project he has.
Gotta check on the laundry now.

Working

My first week at my new job went well. I think I'm going to like it there. I'm still getting used to the register and trying to remember what stuff is in what aisles but I'm getting the hang of it.
The best part is they let you bring in your own CDs to play over the sound system. As long as it's not like thrash-metal or polka something. I'm going to start burning some discs to bring in.

Oh No

Oh no there's snow
Again what a pain
Where once it was dry
I could just cry
Thought we were through
But what can you do
Where today is all white
Will soon be a sight
Of leaves and grass
You snowplows can kiss my ***

Rachel Made Me Do It

I wonder what mischief I can get up to now. Hehe

Arminta

I recently added a band to my friends on Myspace. If you're into celtic music you might want to check them out. They were called Blaq Lily but now they call themselves Arminta or Arminta and Blaq Lily.



http://www.myspace.com/blaqlily

http://www.arminta.net/

Too Much Stuff

I'm trying to organize my bedroom. I no sooner clean out one area when there's ten times more stuff to find room for. The trouble is there is just too much that I can't part with. Books I haven't read yet. Magazines I want to keep. Videos and tapes to organize.
I worked on it last night but I got tired so I left it and just crawled into bed and went to sleep. Now I have a nice big pile of magazines and catalogues in the middle of my floor to deal with.
I will get to it. Sometime. I will. Really.

Michelle Withdraws

With everyone buzzing about the Gretzky scandal this is probably the second biggest story to come out of this year's winter olympics. This is the story that breaks my heart. Michelle Kwan is more than deserving of a gold medal IMO but fate has decided it's not going to happen. Watching the ladies figureskating competition just won't be the same this year.


http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/13855568.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Pictures

Me and Ranger the greyhound.

With brother and sister.

My niece and nephews

Racine

I got back yesterday from a weekend with my family. We did our festivus get-together and everyone had a terrific time. Lots of fabulous food (thanks to my sister-in-law who is an outstanding cook) rambunctious kids, a large-screen HD TV and a greyhound dog. Got a lot of pictures and I'll put a few up later.

My Song

I wish I could sing
able to burst out in tune
my song could touch every heart
it would make you all dance
it might make you cry
you'd forget all your woes
my song would be begged for
over and over
I'd share it gladly
we'd sing it out endlessly
and never stop to bicker again
the song would lift us all
But alas, I can't sing
my dream is not to be
I couldn't hold a tune
never found it that easy
so I sit and listen
to the voice of others
who live the dream
and let them lift me.

Long weekend

I'm going to have very little time for being online this weekend. I'm working double shifts so either early in the morning or a few hours in the evening is all I'll have time for. I'm not complaining I like my job and I'm good at it. After I've saved up enough I'm thinking about getting a new printer. One with a scanner. I've always wanted one.

Miscommunication

My heart goes out to those families of the miners found dead in West Virginia. Not only do they have to go through the anguish of losing their loved ones but it is made even worse because for a while they were given false hope that a miracle had occured. I can't even imagine their hurt and anger. All the papers that had the misinformed headlines that are adding insult to injury. There are going to be lawsuits. I hope some lessons are learned by the media after all this is done. I hope they can bring themselves to acknowledge their mistake and not try to pass it off on someone else.