Pandora's Blogbox

Our first green smoothies!!

2010-04-15T05:03:00.001-07:00

Yay!!! We finally bit the bullet and sprang for a Vitamix 5200. BEST. INVESTMENT. EVER. Here's a pic of our very first green smoothies

We used a bunch of kale, 2 pears, some green cabbage and some cauliflower, half of an avocado and water & ice. I have never felt soooooo good, so instantly from eating something. And that feeling lasted for a couple of hours :) I am so happy about this. I went to Mom's yesterday (yesterday morning was our first smoothies) and stocked up like never before on fruits and veggies. We tried a different one for dinner, this one wasn't as tasty but it still worked. We had that and some veggie sushi rolls for dinner- very satisfying.
Later on I finally unpacked the rest of the materials that came with the Vitamix. I put together the (AWESOME) recipe book- you should have seen my face as I read myself to sleep with it. One incredibly easy and awesome and magnificent recipe after another. The possibilities are endless. LIFE IS GOOD!! Woot!!

And here comes another.

2010-03-26T09:52:00.000-07:00

Here it comes again. Another christian holiday full of factory farmed meats and dairy.

At least I'll be announcing our plans for Thanksgiving when we see them for Easter. We're going to the Farm Sanctuary in Maryland, and they are welcomed to join us. And so are you! :)

Unintended absence

2010-03-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

Not much to report. Blogging for the heck of it at the moment. Not motivated at work- another year without a raise, or a bonus. I won't go into the reasons at the moment, suffice it to say I work for UnitedHealth Care and they care as much about their employees as they care about all the people they drop for pre-existing conditions. Record profits don't trickle down to the people that helped the company succeed.

I had worked from home for about 2 weeks during our bathroom renovation, and I loved it. I was much more motivated to work, despite the huge morale hit from the annual review. There's no flipping reason for me to be in the office 4 out of ever 6 weeks, however I won't be holding my breath for the answer that my boss is (supposedly) seeking from his boss about me working from home on any kind of regular basis.

But yay our bathroom is all new and wonderful! I really do love it. The transformation is fairly STELLAR.

I just got back into running, with the goal of running Cakes for a Cause's 5K in April. We'll see. Immediately back I'm running faster and with higher gait (as in I'm lifting my legs up more, not sure how to properly phrase that...) than I ever did before. Losing 20+ pounds really helps! Gee, whodda thunkit, LOL

Speaking of losing poundage, I've pretty much ended my relationship with Weight Watchers. I got sick and tired of cheese this and meat that. Plus the leader sucked butt however there were no other early morning options available except Sat- which I tried but there were about 10,000 members at that one and ya know who wants to commit to getting up that flipping early on a Saturday?? If Gayle ever moves back to town and does meetings there again I'm going back no matter what tho. She is the BEST.

It's been a rough winter, we're all lacking vitamin D and craving going coatless. If I must be forced to work from the office then I look forward to walking to work again. I miss all the wildlife and the peace.

Saw Ani DiFranco in concert this week thanks to a friend. MAN, I do not know how I managed to not see her in concert the past 18 years. Sometimes I am slow on the uptake haha!

Also, got my tix for 2 DMB shows this summer, one is for the VIP package, and although that's no guarantee that we'll get to meet the band, there is always hope. I know of no other way to even have a chance so I decided to lay out the dough and cross my fingers.

Saw Thievery Corporation too, thanks to the same friend who took me to Ani. I have promised myself to never miss them when they come around again. Easily one of my all time favorite bands now.

Some friends of mine have had their marriages fall apart. It's sad to see. Although ya know, it beats watching them stay with assholes and bitches, or watching them cheat because they're too spineless to shit or get off the pot. Divorce is a part of marriage like death is a part of life it seems sometimes. I don't mind the idea of dying- but the idea of my marriage ending? Fuck. That. I would lose my friggin marbles.

Some other friends of mine have been sharing how their futures are secure thanks to known inheritances. And I don't mean one or 2 friends, I mean a big handful, and you have to admit it's kinda weird to have so many friends who not only know they're coming into lots of money, but that all decide to tell you at the same general time, isn't it? I've had plenty of friends from college who are in the same position. At times it makes me feel.... like 'damn', ya know? My college was not paid for, nor my down payment on my first house, nor any of my cars, etc. I have no inheritance coming, in fact the one I was supposed to get got snatched up but I will reframe from the details here. We will be relying on ourselves for our retirement, and ourselves only. Having decided to not breed, we won't be relying on any offspring to help us out either (which is what my one aunt recommended and I just thought that was the most selfish thing I'd ever heard at that point). Anyway, I try not to think about it, because all it does is make me doubt, make me feel a little worthless, and I even get to thinking things like all of these people who have their futures financially secured already will not want to hang out with us x amount of years from now because we just won't rank. How pathetic is that to think?? SO yeah. I am much more blissful when not confronted with these thoughts. I just hope that another 15 years will pass before any more friends decide to tell us how they have shitloads of money coming to them and that they actually do not have to worry about their retirement.

Thank goodness it is Friday. Got one hell of a busy weekend ahead of me. Dinner, poker (thank goodnes! I'm going into withdrawal), 2 tattoos, a birthday celebration, a tattoo consultation (for my own ink), a brunch gig to go to that Mike's playing. Busy busy busy. But it beats working for Satan.

As far as eating and dealing? Nothing really very new to report. I love eating dairy free. I love not touching meat that has been to a slaughterhouse. And I have recently started to understand and accept the inherant superiority of those of us who know better. I think it's weak of people to say they 'don't want to know'- they don't want to know that they're eating shit (literally), they're contributing more to environmental destruction than they could possibly realize, they're causing untold amounts of cruelty, they're supporting an industry that abuses its workers, they're buying into the dairy is good for you lie when the complete opposite is true thus harming their own health, and on and on. Now when I read or hear about or see a vegan or an eater such as myself that does not have a label acting superior or self righteous, I don't cringe. I understand. Hey, at least I've given up on telling you all (as in, the world- in person) what you do not want to hear.

365 Days of Resolutions Blog

2010-01-08T11:52:00.000-08:00

Today I started a new blog, inspired by my cousin Tianna. It's http://pandoras365daysofresolutions.blogspot.com Stop by and help me out- I only have about 259 listed! Holy cats 365 is a lot! LOL

What the Bleep Do We Know ..and animal suffering

2010-01-05T07:52:00.000-08:00

"What the Bleep Do We Know" is a facinating movie that everyone should see. It talks about how thoughts directly affect reality, using quantum physics.

This film, both times I've watched it, made me think of the unneccessary and very real, very common abuse and torture of factory farmed animals and how the mental and physical anguish they suffer affects their body physically, on the cellular level on up.

My main issue has always been the fact that 90% of the animals we (again, and for the last time, not ME, but we as a society) eat have been literally butchered alive- they suffer being skinned alive, hung by hooks alive, scalding alive, literally dissasembled alive. 90% is not an exaggeration. OK so there's that, right? Then there's the fact that the lives they live are horrendous- 6 chickens to a cage, no room to move or stretch, pigs in holding cells their entire lives, cows packed into holding areas in fields, knee deep in their own shit. All of these animals are breathing toxic air from their own extrement, none of these animals can move anywhere near like they should be able to, none can properly nurse their offspring, and all but the cows are stuck never seeing the light of day. And most of these animals live among the dead and rotting corpses of their brothers and sisters. It is well documented (well, all of this is well documented) but pigs especially show overt signs of mental disorders due to these conditions. All this said and it's just the tip of the iceburg of the everyday horrors that we demand everytime we hit the dollar menu, etc.

My point is this- if you can take a bottle of water and write on it something simple like "I love you" or "Thank you" Or "you make me sick I want to kill you" and have drastically different outcomes of how that water- all from the same source- forms completely different crystals (or none at all in the negative cases), then what do you think happens on the cellular level of these suffering animals? And what makes us think it's healthy to eat all of that pain, suffering and cruelty?

More vegan than vegetarian. Labels suck.

2009-12-29T07:07:00.000-08:00

I've been having some very good (and some not so very good but at least not bad) discussions lately that are encouraging me to spell out to the world just where I stand.

Do I feel that an animal should die because humans want to consume it? Yes. Do I feel that any animal should be fed an unnatural diet, live in it's own piss and shit, with barely enough room for it's body, no room to turn around or stretch for it's entire life, never seeing the light of day, treated worse than any human prisoner, and finally literally tortured to death because humans want to consume it (and because the USDA is the greediest organization ever?). NO.

This is why I am NOT a vegetarian.

I don't qualify as vegan either. Though the veal industry is the worse offender in my eyes of animal cruelty which is why you won't see me eating dairy. (plus the unexpected health benefits of quitting dairy are pretty damn stellar, but that's just a plus).

I read labels to avoid any dairy, and any conventional egg ingredients. I eat meat that people I know have hunted, and I eat bison from NorthStar Bison since they are raised to live normal bison lives on huge swaths of land and then killed quick and mercifully.

I can't look at leather or wool the same way ever again.

I am admittedly hypocritical in a few ways - I will eat eggs from a particular local farm. Sure the hens have great lives and are not forced in anyway to overproduce and tax their bodies to death. They get lots of room and outside time. The hypocritical part is that I know that to get an egg laying hen, baby male chicks end up dieing and not in a humane way. Macular degeneration runs in my family and I'm bound to get it, and there's a TON of lutein in eggs, plus they're super healthy otherwise and I fraking love them. With that said, I've gone from eating one a day to one a week, and I take lutein supplements (wish I remembered to do that more often!).

Also, I'll eat fried potatoes that are fried in the same oil as meat. While I think it's a stretch to call it hypocritical, it still is in a way. But, if I were to get that anal retentive I'd go crazy.

I'll eat fish. Not factory farmed due to the waste, nastiness that you end up eating in the meat and pollution factors. Fish that's caught in the wild has it's own issues- there's a TON of by product from catching various seafoods- but it's the lesser of 2 evils as at least the byproduct (read: gobs of sea animals caught and killed that were not being fished for) gets tossed back into the ocean to feed other fish and bottom dwellers. This may change for me one day, but not today. Like eggs, I don't eat as much fish as I used too either.

Also, I'll drink Guinness. This comes back to fish since they use ingless (is that right?) aka fish bladders to filter out the yeast after fermentation. Nothing in the world comes close to Guinness for me. Sure this may change too someday. I could give up Ranch dressing (which I used to eat almost daily) but I just don't have the want, urge or guilt enough to give up Guinness.

I'll eat honey. Tho I've never eaten it on a regular basis- a little jar of it lasts us almost 2 years usually. I didn't know before how the queens were de-winged, and didn't realize that as we take honey it messes with the worker bee's heads. I do support bee keepers tho since the honey bee population is threatened.

So you see, I'm not vegan or vegetarian. What the hell am I then? Not eating factory farmed meat, conventional eggs or any dairy makes me a vegan in 99% of the eyes of the restaurant industry. As well as most passerbys, even some friends and some family. Out in the real world it's a hell of a lot easier to just say I'm vegan than to explained my choices of eating that just has no label.

I feel very comfortable in my choices and never have I been asked "why do you eat that bison, don't you know it's murder!" and gotten so defensive as to instead of reply with an answer to clarify my reasons say "I'll give up bison when you give up dairy." There is no worked up defense in me for my choices because I am at peace with them. I will answer your questions and I will tell you what I have learned and I will be open to hear what you have to say. But I promise I will never not answer a question about my eating habits because I feel bad about them.

OK with all this said I must say that anything anyone does to lessen animal cruelty is A-OKAY in my book. Hell yes. Baby steps is what usually gets any big job done. Most people have no idea of the horrors that happen to get the food to their plates, ya know? Hell I didn't know these horrors less than a year ago! And so any steps in the right direction are awesomesauce and I love you for taking the steps that you do take.

I reeeeeeeallly love the Farm Sanctuary <3

2009-12-17T06:49:00.000-08:00

http://www.farmsanctuary.org/about/milestones/

The successful activist

2009-12-16T09:24:00.000-08:00

Today I re-read a blog post by "E's Gone Vegan". I wish I would have re-read this a couple weeks ago in the height of my stressing out. Esp the comments.

It's good to know that successful activists (or just successful vegans in general) have felt the raging anger I have, and have learned to contain it and live happy. I am feeling much better these past few weeks and I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I've surrounded myself with friends who understand. They may not feel the same way, actually most of them do not want to know the truths because they know it sucks so they haven't had the chance to feel the same way... but they get it and they don't crack jokes on my (well, our) expense or get all defensive just at the mere mention of animal suffering. There has even been some discussion about it all that's been instigated by them, not us. The time I've spent with friends in the past few weeks has been rejuvinating. It's lead me back to feel what I have always known to be true, and that is the best thing I can do is be the change I want to see in this world.

OK. here's the blog posting I mentioned. E's Gone Vegan: The successful activist isn't even active?

Jehovah Jireh Farm in MD

2009-12-09T12:17:00.000-08:00

YAY!!! I have found a local farm- http://jehovahjirehfarm.com - that raises briolers, hens for egg laying, turkeys and lamb. They raise most of their hens from chicks and do not clip their beaks. They slaughter on site their broilers and turkeys, all of whom are raised from chicks by them. They have to, by law, take their sheep to a USDA facility, but they go to a small processing facility where they know and trust the butcher. They sell their eggs at My Organic Market, and I am SOOO happy!! Yay!!!

just popping in to say

2009-12-07T12:23:00.000-08:00

that over the weekend I heard something that I thought was pretty funny- we had friends over for most of the weekend. At one point one of them had the audacity to bring in a huge glass of cow milk and drink it at our table. I went into autopilot so as not to gag and say anything, but thankfully DH spoke up and asked that this person respectfully not do this again. OK so with that, here's the funny part. Somehow we got to talking about breaking bones. Now, *knock on wood*, I have never had a broken bone in my entire life. Nor was I ever a kid who drank milk. Or an adult- it got me sick (more on that later). The only people who said in this conversation "ohh my god I've broken so many bones in my life, I can't even tell you" were the guy gulping the huuuge glass of milk, and his wife, who also is a big dairy fan.

You see, both clinical and population studies show that milk-drinkers tend to have more bone breaks than people who consume milk infrequently or not at all.

I had to laugh. It was either that or throw up. LOL

It's been a tough week

2009-12-03T05:02:00.000-08:00

Oh, hello!
First of all I want to share an article that I just read which was highlighted in Digging Thru the Dirt blog-

http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/1905606,CST-EDT-edit26.article
It's titled : When Giving Thanks, Remember the Animals Check it out, I think it's very well written and I give 100 kudos to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Another awesome thing I've learned from Digging Thru The Dirt blog is that there's an animal sanctuary just over half hour away from my home! Yay! It's called Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary I emailed them yesterday to see about visiting hours since I haven't seen any of that sort of info on the website (it could be there, sure, but I don't see it. Do you? If so lemme know!). I am stoked- because I REALLY need to focus my energy into something productive.

...and that's because I am not handling well how so many people, even people I know well and who I KNOW are smart and compassionate, choose willful ignorance. IT. MAKES. ME. INSANE. It's stressing me out big time. That and I keep having flashbacks of images I've seen of the torturous conditions that are the norm on factory farms. So I am hoping that when I visit this place some sort of path will open up. I have never worked on a farm. The closest I ever even came to a farm was when I took horse riding lessons as a young girl. That and I lived right next to one in Burkittsville, MD for about a year (the corn was about 15' from our house, lol). So it might end up that it's just a great place to visit and to donate money to, and not volunteer at... but I am hoping I feel compelled to commit some time to volunteering. I worry- I am fantastic at starting things, and fall short oftentimes on seeing things thru. It's the Aries rising in me, I'm sure of it. :)

Well that was easier than I expected :)

2009-11-27T05:31:00.000-08:00

We survived Thanksgiving with hardly a tear this year. (yes, there were tears, but it was what I read that morning from the HSUS about a recent saving of 90 some abused horses).

My step sister and her mom made all the food, and served it buffet style, which is what they usually do, only this time it was all hidden away in the kitchen. SO, we hardly saw any of the food. We all sat around in different places socializing, so I didn't even have to see several plates of it before me. Plus, she made a sort of Chinese concoction of lots of veggies and rice especially for us. :) Which, btw, was REALLY tasty. It made up for the fact that all of the straight up veggies - sliced carrots, green beans, corn, and something else I can't remember- were SWIMMING, drowning, in butter. No kidding. No exaggeration. Why anyone feels the need to ruin veggies like that is beyond my comprehension. I didn't even like eating them that way before I educated myself on the horrors of dairy. BUT back to the positive- yes it was a VERY nice day. And the rain didn't start till we drove back into town- which is great since we've been irresponsibly delaying on getting our mostly bald tires replaced! do'h!

Ironically, that morning while goofing off, surfing the interwebs, I came across this article http://www.naturalnews.com/002695.html (please forgive me I still have not figured out what I'm not doing right to get links to be hyper). I found it when typing dairy diabetes into google- just to refresh my memory of what I'd learned about the undisputed link. You see my Dad has diabetes, so I wanted to be ready for any uncool defensive on their part conversations. This article is very informative (although it feels a bit high and mighty)(which is fine by me but I can't imagine convincing many dairy eaters anything from it). There's a very good explanation of how dairy causes cancers. I was surprised, but I guess not totally. Anywayz, my brother in law made the only comment of the variety I was dreading- thankfully it was not argumentative so I was like "shew!". LOL Anywayz he said "Now they're saying that dairy causes cancer, can you believe that? That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!!" I was all like ":-o " So I said how coincidental, that I was just educating myself this morning on exactly how it causes cancer. My step sister chimed in saying "well years ago they said Noxema can give you cancer, so you know!" And that was that.

I am grateful for a safe 3+ hours of driving yesterday on iffy tires, for the rain not starting till 5 min before we were home, for my Grandfather coming to my step sisters with us, for my family respecting our food choices, for the meal to not have been served up traditional style, for me being in a mellow mood and not feeling preachy and high and mighty (which I never like feeling anyway but sometimes it happens when you learn so much so quickly), for Marisa from KindGreenPlanet.org and all of her wonderful words of support and sincerity and her endless energy, for my friends Lauren and Steve, for having a family to visit with in the first place, for my furkids being healthy, for blogs so I can get all this off my chest and not internalize it so much, and most of all for my Husband. He is a very very good man, and truely my favoritest person in the whole universe.

Baby steps....

2009-11-25T05:48:00.000-08:00

I've always preached and tried my best to live by the phrase "Baby steps..." (said, quite specifically, in the words of the bear security guard in the movie "Muppets From Space"). So I'm grateful to Lauren for simply suggesting to adopt a turkey from Farm Sanctuary to start a new tradition. You know sometimes how you can't see the obvious? Well she showed me the obvious. You see I was thinking how much I'd LOVE to start our own tradition for Thanksgiving, but the idea of it all stressed me out- our house is small, I have only cooked for more than 4 people maybe 3x in my life, etc so hosting it wouldn't work too well. And avoiding family so as to avoid being subjected to the ignorance and cruelty would cause a rift that's too stressful for me to deal with at this time. Sooo Lauren's suggestion was the perfect baby step. And so today we sponsored Mello :)

http://www.adoptaturkey.org/aat/adopt/sponsor.html

I had read on Farm Sanctuary's website about it before, but it was the obvious that I couldn't see. I was too wrapped up in the stress of anticipation and dread. Which of course I know is not very productive. But sometimes it's like that.

I learned today that there are cabins (B&B Style, nice!) that you can go stay in to visit the Farm Sanctuary up in NY. I TOTALLY want to do this, and hopefully we can do this next year.
http://www.farmsanctuary.org/farm/newyork/bandb.html

Thanksgiving Dread

2009-11-24T07:07:00.000-08:00

I'm totally dreading thanksgiving this year.

I usually loathe the whole idea anyway. The history of it sickens me- it's like we're celebrating the brutal rape and destruction of the Native American culture.

But this year I just don't see how I'm going to be able to stand being in the same room with all the disgusting, cruelty filled crap that passes for food and all the willfully ignorant people pigging out on it all. *Ugh* *Gag* I've gone thru holidays in the past where I ate no meat, but never before have I suffered thru a holiday with all the knowledge of factory farming that I have now.

The American Pychiatric Association says that whitnessing the torture and/or killing of an animal qualifies as a traumatic event. Having experienced the reactions to what I've been learning over the past couple of months I have to whole heartedly agree with them. I have seen the gruesome brutality that is the norm in factory farming. I do not want to trigger my emotions of the trauma while faking my way thru what is already an extremely disturbing holiday.

Honestly I don't know how I'm going to get thru Thursday. Probably by one breath at a time. Thank the gods for my husband who I know will help me, help us actually as we both feel the same way, thru the day.

How do you get thru this holiday? If you've succeeded in getting out of it all, how did you manage that and what do you do?

No dairy = no arthritis? SWEET.

2009-11-19T05:38:00.001-08:00

Ever since I've stopped eating dairy, my pinky- which was useless with arthritis, couldn't even straighten it w/o lots of pain- is mobile and strong. Well maybe not like, She-Ra strong, rather it's just like the rest of my fingers- all useful and flexible and such. Whereas before I had often wished I could have it cleanly severed off as it was painful and completely useless. Not to mention funny looking all crooked and such.

PRETTY FLIPPING SWEET, YES?? YES!

Pissed as hell

2009-11-18T11:27:00.000-08:00

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28722.html

update

2009-11-18T09:09:00.000-08:00

So many things I want to blog about, so little time these days.

OK for starters I did find that there's a label for eggs that you CAN trust that these chickens were not tortured. "Animal Welfare Approved". You can trust it to mean that they did not have their beaks seared off or confined in such quarters that their talons grew around cage wires. What's messed up is that, for cows, with this label castration and horn ripping out without pain relief is not required. Pathetic.

We found what I thought to be a buttery spread that was mostly soy free and vegan- Melt. Well poo on me I didn't read the ingrediants closely enough. Nor did my husband, which leads us both to believe we were in denial that there's not a buttery type of vegan spread that's not soy based. Butter stuff is listed at the end of the ingredients, right before soy lecithen. THANKS A LOT TURDS. Next up I'm going to experiment and make my own damn bread spread. I looove me some bread. And buttery spread. But not butter.

Also, I find that I feel the urge to enlighten everyone. AKA preach. But you know what, it sickens me to know that most people choose willful ignorance over the truth, because the truth a) REALLY REALLY hurts and b) is sooo "inconvenient". The one characteristic I hate 2nd only to lying is willful ignorance. And top this off with I know how much blatant visuals of regular cruelty ignited my ass to change my ways. So if I alienate 10 people who choose to remain stupid and enlighten 1 who chooses to change their ways, then to me it's worth it. People annoy the crap out of me anyway. It's no wonder I want to champion for animal rights and leave human concerns to the rest of the 8billion or whatever humans on earth.

OK. well as I say I'm busy. Wanted to pop in to keep this active... as I am completely consumed with it all and the blog hasn't been reflecting this....

Peas!!!

labeling

2009-11-13T05:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I found out a very disappointing fact. Here's the link
http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/confinement_farm/facts/meat_dairy_labels.html

It's a wonderfully helpful link indeed. What upset me was that Certified Humane is not what I had read it to be a few weeks ago. I had read that it was the only label you could trust when buying eggs to know that surgical mutilations without any pain relief was not permitted. Well, apparently I read wrong. Or I read correctly and it was wrong. I am vastly dissappointed.

SO I set out to search the web for a local farm that I can trust doesn't torture their egg laying chicks by searing off part of their beaks. So far, no luck. Gah! If only we had enough land to raise our own darn chickens to lay eggs. One day we will. And those few chickens will live the good life. They deserve it.

Slaughterhouse timese three, and Moms.

2009-11-11T05:51:00.001-08:00

Does this posting look familiar to you? If so, that's cool that means you like me, you reeealllly like me LOL Sorry for the double post, it just fits both blogs so well, what can I do, ya know? :)

So I ordered ONE copy and the order went thru THREE Times, got them all, individually wrapped, in the mail today. I dread having to call them to deal with this. I hope they don't think I should pay return shipping for THEIR mistake. Grrrr!!! Hey, anyone want to buy one of the 2 extra?? :)

I had a lovely trip to Moms tonight (Moms is a grocery store where EVERYTHING is organic- it's called "My Organic Market", and picked up a few items that I have never tried before, like Hemp milk (WOOHOOO!), Melt, tempeh and satien. Also picked up a stainless steel water bottle (that does suck to drink out of but hey). And some potatoes, since I am spending WAY too much on my work day potato bfast at the cafeteria. Had some this morning, with onions, spiced with cumin and mustard powder & S&P. YUMMMM.

Giving some props

2009-11-10T07:35:00.000-08:00

There's a LOT of good information out there. Much in the form of blogs. Like Digging Thru the Dirt
http://diggingthroughthedirt.blogspot.com/

Also like the HSUS- Wayne Pacelle is very active and informative. I've been getting his daily emails and have learned so much.
http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/

Wayne turned me on to another book I must read- "Eating Animals" Here check out the website: http://eatinganimals.com/

That is all for the moment folks. :-* Peas!

No Impact Man

2009-11-09T15:50:00.000-08:00

This year really has been what I envisioned the year leading up to 37 would be. And I'm so incredibly thankful. I never imagined specifics, instead I sensed a very fulfilling and all encompassing life change. A shift in perspective and actions.

So yeah, I'm reading another good book. "No Impact Man" by Colin Beavan. Surely you've heard of him, no? It's far better written than I could have imagined.

Vegan Food Pyramid

2009-11-09T09:16:00.001-08:00

Just came acroos this in a veggie forum I just found today. It's nifty, no? :)

Cruelty Free eating

2009-11-09T06:00:00.001-08:00

It's on my mind a LOT these days. My mind, my actions, my choices. I want to talk a lot about it. I can talk freely to my husband who is in the same boat making the same choices and of the same mind set. I can also talk openly to my friends TeamAction. And that's about it. I need more of an outlet. SO I think I may use this blog to ramble on about it whenever I feel the urge. I need the therapy to get things off my chest, especially something like this that is front and center for so long in my mind.
Everyday I read something new about agri-business. From the unimaginable abuse of the animals millions eat daily without a thought, to the crap that is actually IN most of the resulting meat, it's one big nightmare.

I gave up conventionally produced meat for a few years in my early 20's, and really all I knew then was that if baby cows were treated so horribly for veal then the rest of the whole scene cannot be good. SO I wanted my animals to frolic freely. It was tough giving up these meats at first but it eventually got easier. I did not give up dairy, as I was completely unaware of the connection. Thank heavens for the internet these days; if I had such easy access to the mounds of information available now back then, I'd be a different person.

This time around though, it feels effortless. I experience zero temptation to eat the flesh of animals that I know have lived lives of fear from birth to horrible death, most likely tortured during the way at least once. I have seen images that wiped clean the desire and that have changed my entire way of thinking.

I feel I'm still in process of melding myself into a compassionate eater. I read about agri-business every day, look over blogs about vegan eating and about animal cruelty, read daily updates from HSUS, view "Meet Your Meat" about once every 2 weeks (the last time w the sound off). I know that my every eating choice is helping to make a difference. I also know that I want to do more. I'm trying to figure out what exactly I could do that would suit me best to help bring more compassion to the world. I feel it's urgent yet I'm not rushing myself. I tend to drop things quickly if I rush in too fiercely.

Ending animal cruelty in agribusiness is something I feel very strongly about. I feel as strongly about it as I do about politics. At least I know that my choices in eating have a bigger effect on the world than my votes ever do.

Just because it's been a while....

2009-10-23T10:22:00.000-07:00

I'm so in love with my 365 blog that I tend to neglect this one. That makes me sad. Noone likes neglect.

So here's some stuff.

1. What was the last thing you put in your mouth?
shredded carrots

2. Where was your profile picture taken?
Aruba

3. Can you play Guitar Hero?
I can, I try to avoid it though LOL

4. Name someone who made you laugh today.
Mike

5. How late did you stay up last night and why?
Past 11, which is REALLY late for me. NOt sure why.

6. If you could move somewhere else, where would it be ?
the coast of Maine b/c I love it.

7. Ever been kissed under fireworks?
yez

8. Which of your FB friends lives closest to you?
my husband

9. Do you believe ex's can be friends?
yez but not too often

10. How do you feel about Dr Pepper?
I'll pass

11. When was the last time you cried really hard?
not sure

12. Who took your profile picture?
Mike

13. Who was the last person you took a picture of?
Mike

14. Was today better than yesterday?
I'm less foggy-headed so, I'll say yes. OH and it's Friday. TOTAL WIN.

15. Can you live a day without TV?
I could go a Saturday. Otherwise, I get all out of whack when Rachel Maddow takes a day off.

16. Are you upset about anything?
Why, what have you heard?

17. Do you think relationships are ever really worth it?
Of course (I can say that since I pretty much weeded out the not-worth-its)

18. Are you a bad influence?
nope

19. Night out or night in?
I like to be home. My home.

20. What items could you not go without during the day?
water, cell phone, clothes

21. Who was the last person you visited in the hospital?
my grandpa

22. What does the last text message in your inbox say?
"That's a lot, I'll see what I can do"

23. How do you feel about your life right now?
grateful and in love

24. Do you hate anyone?
hate is such a strong word....

25. If we were to look in your facebook inbox, what would we find?
private convos with friends

26. Say you were given a drug test right now, would you pass?
pass gas

27. Has anyone ever called you perfect before?
mebbe....

28. What song is stuck in your head?
"Buddy Holly" by Weezer

29 . Someone knocks on your window at 2:00 a.m., who do you want it to be?
What an odd question...Publisher's Clearing House?

30. Wanna have grandkids by the time you're 50?
nope

31. Name something you are doing tomorrow?
I'm really torn about what to do. OH but I know at night I'll be playing poker

32. Do you think too much or too little?
Hmmmmmmmmm too much

33. Do you smile a lot?
I try :)

And another! yay!

1. I've come to realize that my size... is just fine.

2. I've come to realize that my job... is just that.

3. I've come to realize that when I'm driving...I wish other people were doing a better job of it.

4. I've come to realize that I need... to see my bff more often.

5. I've come to realize that I have lost...a lot of sanity focusing on irrelevent stuff in life.

6. I've come to realize that I hate... willful ignorance.

7. I've come to realize that if I'm drunk .... I walk or call a cab.

8. I've come to realize that money... can buy happiness

9. I've come to realize that certain people.... will let you down.

10. I've come to realize that I'll always... miss my Mom.

11. I've come to realize that my sibling... doesn't exist and I'm glad for it.

12. I've come to realize that my mom... was an even better mom than I had always given her credit for.

13. I've come to realize that my cell phone... is great to text on.

14. I've come to realize that when I woke up this morning.... I was very happy it was Friday

15. I've come to realize that my first love... is nothing compared to the love of my life.

16. I've come to realize that right now I am thinking...how much I look forward to quitting time.

17. I've come to realize that my dad.... is one of my favorite people of all time.

18. I've come to realize that when I get on Facebook.... I can see what all of my peeps are up to and I think that's really cool.

19. I've come to realize that today..... is very good.

20. I've come to realize that my best friend......is my husband. Also my best girlfriend is Aim.

21. I've come to realize that my spouse.... means the world to me.

22. I've come to realize that I really want to... go to Amsterdam

23. I've come to realize that the person who is most likely to respond to this is....probably noone-- I don't think this blog gets read....

24. I've come to realize that life... is all mine.

25. I've come to realize that this weekend.... is the last Saturday Mike has to work. YAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!

26.I've come to realize that my children... were born in previous lives. LOL

27. I’ve come to realize that when life gives you lemons… you should eat one to avoid scurvy.

Dog days of August

2009-08-28T14:32:00.001-07:00

August is coming to a close, and it hasn't been nearly as brutally hot and humid and craptastic as several previous Augusts. YAY!

I applied for a job at a tattoo shop, and it's actually promising. I'm just waiting to hear back. I've been 'pre-qualified'... who ever would have thought a tattoo shop (which is new, not opened yet, in Annapolis) would go thru such formalities? But I tell you what, I like that they're doing this. I like it a lot. Professionalism is key, ego and 'old school ways or bust' is inefficient, outdated, and not friendly to the average consumer.

Feeling kind of brain dead this Friday early evening. Busted butt at work all week in an effort to up my numbers. I'm sick of not being on projects. I work for the devil and the devil does things in most frustrating ways.

Found out our friends in Aruba have come across some trying circumstances. I wish them well. I miss them like crazy. It's funny, it's been nearly a year come 2 weeks from now, but it feels like only about a month since we've seen them.

One of my longtime bestest friends turns 40 today. I've known him since before his kids were born- and the oldest is about to drive (if he isn't on learner's already, might be). The big FOUR OH doesn't bother me, but it wasn't until this friend's birthday that I'm like "Woah. The time I have left to be 'young and agile' is actually limited." Yeah well all I have to do is keep working out and eating wisely daily and I should not find myself some feeble old chick at age 55 or 60. I remind myself of this daily.

Well folks that's it for now.

:)

I sometimes wish this blog was more like Mark's

2009-07-30T06:05:00.000-07:00

He's witty, fun to read, and gets his point across well, and without bitching. And he's just as opinionated as I am. Me? I come here to bitch. No wonder noone's following it LOL

Anyway.

I woke up all angry this morning. I hate when that happens. I'm trying more and more lately to figure out why this happens. What triggers it each time.

This time, I think... I think it's a bunch of little things from yesterday. That and my unending streak of mostly bad nights of sleep. That never helps anything. But yesterday, the little things- ALL of them had to do with the stupidity of people. Which is just like saying People. LOL. OK that's mean and not true. But you get my drift.

Politics and cigarette smoking, to sum it up.

To break it down-
Talking with my grandpa on the phone yesterday, for like half an hour, at one point talking about the economy for a second, he started to curse out Obama. This kills me. My Pop is a man who for all of his life until this past election was such a stubborn Democrat that he'd vote Democrat no matter WHO was running. We could have Mickey Mouse as the Democrat candidate and by gosh my Pop would vote for him. Sing his praises. But Obama? Oh my word. No way, jose. The hatred with which he speaks of Obama REALLY upsets me. OK, actually, it pisses me off to no end.

Because people who hate Obama and who hate what Obama is trying to do for our country, are COMPLETELY CLUELESS, scared, and listen to BS like Fox News. And that just gets my goat. Willful ignorance is to me what waking up my dog Marley feels when he's sleeping peacefully. There is just NOTHING funny about it.

Which brings me to something else that REALLY upsets me. I found out recently that
the one study that the GOP (in exile) keeps refering to when they feed us their bs about how reforming health care is a bad idea is brought to them by the Lewin Group- which is owned by Ingenix, which is owned by UnitedHealth Group - which is the big, evil, money grubbing, selfish, 400billion dollar lawsuit losing last January due to screwing patients over, employer of mine! Ahhh!!! I feel totally sick over this. I feel like I've sold out, I'm working for the antichrist. But in this economy, what am I supposed to do?

And finally cigarette smoking. I was invited last night to go to a friend's house to join her and some other girlfriends of mine (plus one cool chica who I met for the 1st time last night) for their weekly yoga/dinner/drinks night. It was great! That is, until dinner was wrapping up. Then, it was time to chill on the deck and sip drinks and chit chat. All good right? Wrong. I was the only non smoker there. I can't freaking take 2nd hand smoke. It got me to thinking about my circle(s) of friends, and how unbelievable it is that SOOOO many of them smoke. And these are all otherwise intelligent people! There's a scientific director of genetic cancer research for NIH, an owner of a very large and old business, a dental hygenist, a programmer, a teacher; all of my friends hold good jobs and live good lives. EXCEPT they're stupid enough to keep smoking.

Last night I left early, due to the smoke. It was either stand 15 feet away from the group and try to hold conversation that way, and feel awkward, or leave. I've avoided social gatherings due to the huge amount of smokers who I knew would be present- smoking inside the house and out. And just because we're outside doesn't mean that I am not breathing the filth. Or going home smelling like death.

Anyway, it enrages me. I just had a coworker die last week due to lung cancer. My mom and her mom died of lung cancer. Her old boyfriend of 9 years died last Feb of lung cancer. When will these people learn? It sucks.

So, these little things added up and made me wake up with a huge crease in my eyebrows and an anger chip on my shoulder. It's embarrassing that so many people of my generation still smoke. It's embarassing that any of them are against Obama's plans for our country. (yeah, I didn't mention that did I?)

And don't get me started on those completely retarded "birthers" or the rising of bigoted hatred from the minority of the white community (that seems like an oxymoron, doesn't it? "white community")- the minority of whites who hate so vehemenantly, like Rush 'the turd' Limbaugh, or the fact that we still have "Don't ask, don't tell" going on.... did you know we lost 89 Arabic speakers in our military due to this bigoted hate filled policy? That, my friends, only helps to increase our national insecurity.

OK. That is all for today, folks.

My Dad Rocks my socks

2009-07-16T09:03:00.000-07:00

Dad called yesterday, just to talk. He misses me and wanted to catch up on stuff. Without talking about what was upsetting me yesterday at all, he managed to make me feel 100% better.

I love my Dad. He is the Greatest of All Time. :) <3

just a pms based rant

2009-07-15T07:47:00.000-07:00

I found out last night that my cousin's wife is expecting- only I found out via pics on my aunt's facebook page. The rest of the family found out months ago.

This is just another example of why I never have felt completely like part of the family. I have always had a sense of detachment. Could it be a result of my parent's divorce when I was just a baby, and how my mom got the shaft in it and could not shake the anger as a result until I was probably 20 years old? Maybe. Who knows. But it sucks.

I moved away from the bmore area to go to college- it's only an hour away- but I have not moved back really. Our first house was close to my dad but did I see him, or anyone? Not really. Missing our friends and human contact in general, we sold that place and moved back to our friends. I'm an only child, so I'm used to creating my own world. SO maybe I did this to myself?

Who knows.

I just know that it really hurt finding this out online, MONTHS after the family did. I don't feel any blame going out from me, it's more that I feel like hot damn, I'm sick of feeling jilted in one way or another from my family. I tried moving close to them- and it didn't make a hill of beans of a difference. I wish I could drop the feeling of both wanting to belong and not belonging. I'm all on the permimeter.

Should have just stayed in Maine when I moved there.

OK. Rant over.

Funny the way it is....

2009-06-25T12:36:00.000-07:00

Going to see Kathy Griffin tonight at Merriweather, YAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tori Amos and Dave Matthews Band both released new cds in the past month. And they are both FAN FREAKING TASTIC. No kidding. So, we have 11th row tix to see Tori at DAR Constitution Hall on Aug 1st and 20th row front and center to see DMB at Hershey next month!!!! *JOY*

We had a little "staycation" for our wedding anniversary this week. I cannot deny that I am saddened that yet again we missed out on climbing Mt. Dorr on our anniversary. On top of that we've no plans for our next vacation. I LIVE for vacation. We are a couple of CFBC DINKS who live for after work times and vacation especially. The economy is to blame, on a grand scale. A certain person on a smaller scale, and then the fact that we've spent 6 grand on our pets in the past year and some odd months doesn't make things any easier. Anyway, enough of my bitching. Our staycation was enjoyable indeed. Though we did learn that staycations are WAY more fattening than vacations haha! Neither of us have ever 'vacationed at home' (gosh it seems so foreign, so NOT RIGHT, LOL) so this was a lesson. We did get some serious quality time with the furkids, and that was most excellent. :)

The whole widening of the highway behind our house project is getting under our skin. We missed last week's public meeting on it thanks to me being way sick, and so I'm patiently waiting for a reply from the project manager. I hope he replies. It makes me sick to think that we're stuck where we are for an indefinite amount of time because the government moves SO DAMN SLOW. Le sigh.

Well how about that. I dont post here for nearly a month and all I'm doing it seems is venting. Ah well. Such is life.

I need to tattoo. June has been VERY slow for tattooing for me. I have 2 ideas for myself that I could do on myself- if only I was less indecisive! :)

Anyone want a Modigliani tattoo?

2009-05-28T07:28:00.001-07:00

I REALLY want to tattoo one. It has to be a nude. Free of charge (although tips are always appreciated) since it's something I just REALLY want to do.

Lemme know.

pandorasink@yahoo.com

just popping in...

2009-05-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

I had a great tattooing session yesterday afternoon, after a very long and very enjoyable family visit. I'm really exhausted right now, and very grateful that both the tattoo appointment that I had scheduled to do, and my hair appointment I had scheduled to go to, both got postponed from tonight. I look forward to doing noooooothiiiiing, haha :)

This weekend will be filled with more visitors and more festive times, so I'm already looking forward to next Monday when all visitors will be gone and we can relax. LOL When it rains festive times in the Land of TeamFun, it pours. We're blessed. And tired. hehee

No update on Misha. She's got an appt for more xrays next week, so we'll know then if it's arthritis or cancer. Mike spoke with the neighbor and we found out that he had not put out rat poisoning in over a year, so her platelets are most likely just naturally low. Still, she gets one more blood draw next week when she goes in for xrays.

Till next time-

Hibernation

2009-05-05T06:07:00.001-07:00

I feel like i've been kinda hermity lately. I'm content with it. Though not productive in any outwardly sense I am feeling I am making progress underneath the surface.

Misha

2009-05-01T08:33:00.001-07:00

Our oldest dog Misha has some issues going on. About a grand worth so far...! She's got very low platelet counts. And something is up with her leg. We are hoping it's not bone cancer; and if it is, it has not spread yet to her lungs. It's probably a degenerative leasion from an old injury. Let's hope it's that and not the big C. Meanwhile, they don't know what is causing her super low platelet count. Her and Marley got out of the yard the other day while we were not home (back in, too, and noone knows how).... our neighbor has rat poisoning by his side entrance. Why? Because he's a disgusting pack rat. Because otherwise our neighborhood is gorgeous. Anywayz.... since they ruled out tick borne diseases it could be that she got into this poison. So she had a vitamin K shot as a precaution, and we're waiting for the vet to find a pharmacy that will make Vit K capsules for her.

Meanwhile I have some health concerns but theses issues are working themselves out. No details here, though. heh.

YAY It's Friday!!! Yay it's Beltaine!! Happy Beltaine! I wish Mother Nature would have gotten the memo that it is NO LONGER APRIL. Hello??? Can we get a dry day? We would love to have a bonfire to celebrate the Sabbat... today, ideally but any day this weekend. But noooooooo... it's gonna raaaaaaain alllll weekend. *sigh*

Still. It's all good. That's why the goddess invented the tattoo machine LOL :)

all home and hearthy

2009-04-29T17:57:00.000-07:00

I just realized the correlation between this groovy way I feel and the cosmic order of things. Beltane is Friday. Spring has been feisty. I love how I can feel it in my veins. Tonight I am feeling some sort of peace that I have not felt in a while. Like an acceptance of being.

I'd go on, but, I've got a book to read. Just checking in with the world at large. :)

and it worked

2009-04-25T06:39:00.000-07:00

yesterday's post was a sort of test. Getting it all out, cathartic cleansing, will lead to things evening themselves out, resulting in unexpected outcomes. I was right. I thought long about how I felt, and how to resolve my feelings and thus how to act to attract positivity. It worked.

Yay, Friday.

2009-04-24T04:42:00.000-07:00

TGIF.
I just ordered a bunch of photos of my tattoos and artwork. This is mainly because I want to put them together to present to places to hopefully get hired on.

I was asked sarcastically last night by a friend's husband if I could actually draw. As in, could I actually pick up a pencil and draw something original. He was drinking, they both were, it was a phone conversation. We're going to spend the weekend with these guys (they are a couple of hours away), and once he said that, and repeated it even, I did not want to go any longer. I'm not in the mood to deal with this kind of attitude. This funk I've been in has heavily affected my creative drive. See, I really do like taking a design someone picks out and replicating it on their skin. I know that people want custom work. I'm so new at tattooing, that I am VERY happy to take already existing designs and ink them up. Call me a flash monkey if you will, I don't care. I have tried a few custom designs and thus far all I experience is complete aggravation. And not at the process, but at the people. People are Fickle and flaky. But where was I? Oh yes this funk. So, Mike has a few things he wants inked and I just have to draw (and probably re-draw a few times to tweak it to his exact desires) these things up. As my depression has worsened, the heavier and heavier my pencils seem to get. I just have no drive to do it. No passion. No desire to screw around with the aggravation.

Last week I said Yes to drawing up a custom dragon for a friend's fiance who was in town only for a week. We discussed what he wanted in great detail for a good half hour or so. I had a VERY busy week, worked 6 days and had a tattoo appt one night after work. Still I drew it up, exactly what he wanted. His reply was that no, it was not at all what he said he wanted (I call bullshit) and so he told me again what he wanted (of course this time all different), I draw it up again and nope, not it. On top of all this, the size he wanted goes from about 5 inches to about 2. I REFUSE to do some stupid tiny tattoo on some big muscular guy. NO Freaking way. It will look so incredibly stupid. But anyway yeah. Amongst all this he thru an insult in, critizing my first design.

So, yeah. That sucked. Anyway, this funk/depression I'm caught in, I've been to my Dr this week to address it. So, sooner than later it will/should be less and less of an issue, and my pencils will become lighter and lighter. Meanwhile though, I do not see any justification for spending my days off dealing with someone who is going to give me shit for something I am and have LONG BEEN now, beating myself up over and trying hard to change. He is NOT any person to whom I feel like explaining my depression.

Well this has been cathartic.

The funk

2009-04-21T08:07:00.001-07:00

I'm in a funk. It is annoying.

Portland, Maine

2009-04-10T20:05:00.001-07:00

Anyone out there know anyone who lives in Portland, Maine?

Work is annoying LOL I'd much rather blog and stuff

2009-04-08T05:38:00.000-07:00

My Dad turned 60 this past Sunday, and his retirement luncheon is tomorrow. I'm proud of him, he's come a long way. He's the kind of guy who helps out a lot of people and who tries his best everyday to be the best person he can be, despite his Aries temperment (haha). :)

I recently rearranged my tattoo area, and I love it. Much roomier and inviting. OH and I got a new shader machine, which is JUST AWESOME. I mean it. JUST. AWESOME. Runs like a dream and it's gorgeous. Not as in all carved up with fancy designs, just a nice brass solid machine. Business has slowed down noticably but that's okay. I do have some new business coming in- a guy who found my card at a coffee shop where I pinned a few up on the board. Yay! He wants a fair amount of work done, too. And he's nice and plays in a Gaelic band with his family. (AWESOME.)

I started a new blog, did I mention that here? It's http://pandoras365.blogspot.com/ So far I have inspired 4 friends to start their own 365, and I hope you will too, and let me know! I love it! Love to peek into my friends' daily lives. It's very festive.

Easter's coming up. I HATE Easter. I hate having to celebrate xtian holidays. I am not Christian, not in the least. My grandpa gave me a crystal cross on a chain for my bday, and as a piece of jewlery it's actually pretty. But it's a cross. So I have to wear it for him whenever I see him. I tell you, the hypocrisy burns my chest where it rests. He's the only person in the world that I insist on keeping my true beliefs completely hidden from. He's 86 or 87, what good will it do him or me or anyone else to stress him out like that, ya know? He'd never understand. We have actually broached the subject (with me being truthful yet very vague) a few times, and you can just tell he'd rather now know LOL. While we've made serious progress, Wicca still means horrible things to certain people. They just don't have a clue. Fear keeps people ignorant and ingorance keeps people in fear.

So, go check out my 365 blog, and start one yourself and tell me about it so I can follow it. Also, you'll get to see a pic of the tattoo I did on Mike of a Ralph Steadman sketch of Hunter S. Thompson. It's my absolute favorte tattoo I've done so far.

OK.

April 1

2009-04-01T09:18:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, where have I been?

Today I started a new blog. Because, ya know, I am not busy enough! LOL It's for fun.. my own Project 365. www.pandoras365.blogspot.com

Oddly, I'm not feeling as wordy as I thought I was. I am feeling much better but check back with me sometime around the 14th to see how it goes again.

I am not really sure what tattoo pics I've posted recently... so here's a link to my tattoo website, which, still really sucks as for layout. I think today I'll post a bunch of artwork up. Which, ya know, shame on me for taking THIS long to think of doing that! LOL www.PandorasInk.com

Oh, Mike and I are going to go see Leonard Cohen May 11 at Merriweather. SO STOKED!!!

Ciao Babies!!

thoughts

2009-03-22T06:40:00.001-07:00

I'm in a bit of a funk. For starters I am 99% certain I have PPMD. So that doesn't help. But I've not had many tattoo appts in the past week and that's depressing. That leads to these stupid spiral thoughts of how I'll never improve and I'll never be able to follow my bliss as full time employment.

I went against the (tattoo world's) socially accepted norm by going for formal training. That lowers my odds of working for a shop. But you are thinking 'hey Geri you didn't want to work for a shop, you want to do it your way, right?' Well you're right. Although I am finding myself wishing there was a cool person without a big fucking ego who tattoos full time who would be able to see my dedication and love of tattooing and would teach me the nuances of tattooing. But that is NOT to be found in this town, my friend. All of the shops in this town SUCK* except for American tattoo and they are so hurting for business that I can't fathom why they'd want to spend time on me, and even if they agreed to it, if their books are so empty, when would they be able to?

I wish I had a friend who was as in love with tattooing as I am who I could spend time with making our way forward together. Trying things out, like technique, machine tuning, art... But there's not.

I am getting to think lately that we'll have to relocate for me to really further learn this craft. We've long ago outgrown this tiny house, and to make matters worse the sound wall that was supposed to be built in 2011 which would allow us to sell this house easier, well, that's in limbo and probably will never happen. Which means we will more than likely loose tens of thousands in equity and get back to where we started. Which gives us less leverage for relocation. Less leverage though does not mean make it impossible.

So anyway, my thoughts are all over the place. I'm fighting feelings of doubt and depression. And you know what doesn't help? The 2 tattoos I have that I can see all the time have been depressing me so much. This phoenix is still healing and the ink loss is colossal. I'm getting it fixed May 9th but my god that's a light year away. The Pat Fish variation is all my fault for deciding to go with a variation that I promised myself I would not go with. That's just me being retarded. But HEY, both of these are extreme learning experiences. These are things I can pass on to my clients. I just keep reminding myself of this. At this point it's all I can do.

Well thanks for listening. I hate being in these ruts.

*SUCK- let me explain. Time Bomb is run by a male chauvinist, and the place has irregular hours. I won't even go near there. Classic Electric has talented artists, but the OVERWHELMING EGO that oozes freely from every pore of that place makes me throw up. That and the 'music' they play there- Loud. Always.- makes me want to shoot myself. Snakeman is the biggest slime ball in this county, and he owns 2 shops, the nicer of which is on Market Street- Gus's- but most of the work I have seen come out of there is sub par. But the artists there are very nice people. Or at least work that I don't want to learn from. Alfie is awesome but he is a one man shop and has no interest in having a lackey around- no matter who it is. I've already asked. Skin Deep In Ink is a crowded little place. I have seen great work come out of there but I have heard conflicting reports.

There is a shop- in Portland Maine- that is right up my alley. I am strongly considering going there for some ink by a particular woman on our way home from our June trip. With any luck, and some magic work, we'll connect and that'd be a fine reason to relocate somewhere Mike and I have long, strongly considered moving to.

Hey it's been a while.

2009-03-15T10:08:00.001-07:00

First, here's a good link.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/03/14/INHQ16CJB0.DTL

I met Kat von D yesterday and it was so awesome. She's a geniunely nice person, she's a role model for being a good, geniune, peaceful person. You know, you can get super strong impressions from strangers from time to time, or at least I can, and they're 99% of the time right. I think I'm pretty dead on with Kat. Oh and she loved my coat, the coat I call "My superhero coat" because it's like I'm Geri version of Clark Kent when I put it on, hehee. So yeah, that was awesome.

The last 2 weeks I've been tattooing my butt off. And it is such a blissful way for me to spend my days. I've been very very happy.

Well that is all. Just checking in. Oh I just created a flicker account... Here's the page.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36375441@N04/

OK. Off to play darts with Mike. :-*

Can we stop with the hating on Valentine's Day?

2009-02-12T10:48:00.001-08:00

Instead, let's embrace the idea that the ancient pagans had, because you know they're right. It's the official beginning of spring- that and Imbolc (Feb 2). A time for cleansing and purification, for beginning of mating and pairing up. Sweep out your doorways, dust off your romance! Lately I tire very much of those people going around crying about how Valentine's day is a bunch of crap. I dare all of the haters to loosen up!

Here's a little history.

Every February, across several countries, candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. But who is this mysterious saint and why do we celebrate this holiday? The history of Valentine's Day — and its patron saint — is shrouded in mystery. But we do know that February has long been a month of romance. St. Valentine's Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. So, who was Saint Valentine and how did he become associated with this ancient rite? Today, the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred.

One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men — his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons where they were often beaten and tortured.

According to one legend, Valentine actually sent the first 'valentine' greeting himself. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl — who may have been his jailor's daughter — who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed 'From your Valentine,' an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories certainly emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic, and, most importantly, romantic figure. It's no surprise that by the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England and France.

While some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine's death or burial — which probably occurred around 270 A.D — others claim that the Christian church may have decided to celebrate Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to 'christianize' celebrations of the pagan Lupercalia festival. In ancient Rome, February was the official beginning of spring and was considered a time for purification. Houses were ritually cleansed by sweeping them out and then sprinkling salt and a type of wheat called spelt throughout their interiors. Lupercalia, which began at the ides of February, February 15, was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at the sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would then sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification.

The boys then sliced the goat's hide into strips, dipped them in the sacrificial blood and took to the streets, gently slapping both women and fields of crops with the goathide strips. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed being touched with the hides because it was believed the strips would make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city's bachelors would then each choose a name out of the urn and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage. Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine's Day around 498 A.D. The Roman 'lottery' system for romantic pairing was deemed un-Christian and outlawed. Later, during the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds' mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of February — Valentine's Day — should be a day for romance. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. The greeting, which was written in 1415, is part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England. Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.

In Great Britain, Valentine's Day began to be popularly celebrated around the seventeenth century. By the middle of the eighteenth century, it was common for friends and lovers in all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes. By the end of the century, printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of one's feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine's Day greetings. Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began to sell the first mass-produced valentines in America.

According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. (An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.)

Approximately 85 percent of all valentines are purchased by women. In addition to the United States, Valentine's Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia.

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages (written Valentine's didn't begin to appear until after 1400), and the oldest known Valentine card is on display at the British Museum. The first commercial Valentine's Day greeting cards produced in the U.S. were created in the 1840s by Esther A. Howland. Howland, known as the Mother of the Valentine, made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as "scrap".

Hello my friends

2009-02-11T06:47:00.000-08:00

It's been so long.
SO, where to begin. First of all, my beautiful phoenix tattoo now looks like absolute crap. As careful as I was to not let any of the scabs rip off before they're natural time, I still have TONS of ink loss. AND, TONS of scarring. About 1/3 of the tattoo is ruined- the head, the body and one wing. I am really not sure what to do now. I wish I could fix it myself.... I mean I could, but, since it's on my left arm, I'll need someone to hold and stretch my skin... and not move while they do so. And be patient.

Meanwhile, in other much more festive news, I've finally done some tattoos. The first one is from a pencil drawing of a psychedelic eye on my friend Ivan's forearm. I only have a craptastic cell phone pic for now, yes I was too stupid to go searching for my real camera before I bandaged him up. But I'll get a real pic soon. Here's the original drawing:

and here's the crappy pic of the finished tattoo (for now):

Then last Saturday Mr. Wise came over for one tattoo and ended up instead getting the outline to a koi he's always wanted done:

We'll finish up the coloring in a couple weeks after this heals.

Then this past Monday I fixed up a basic outline that was done by someone who had never tattooed before. Here's the before pic, what I had to work with:

And here it is after I got done with it:

We ran into Bryant yesterday and checked it out again, it looks great. Mike pointed out that there is a ton of detail you cannot see in the pic I took, and that I need a new digital camera. Well sure I do; the display screen is cracked even. But ya know? nearly 5 grand for the class, and well over a grand in supplies and I just bought a new printer/scanner/copier.... I'm sooo in debt getting into this, I just can't spend anymore. But really? A good camera is pretty essential, otherwise noone will be able to tell what I'm really doing. Sucks ya know? Too much debt. And noone has paid for their tattoos yet. And that's my bad, my mistake, a whole other blog for now.... Although I will say that I'm meeting with a woman who I met at Weight Watchers tonight to set up an appointment for her first tattoo ever. That will be a full price paid tattoo. And when I ran into Bryant yesterday he said he was so thrilled with his tattoo that he wanted me to do a sleeve on his other arm and that he'd be happy to pay full price for it. :) So stay tuned. :)

Other then that, i had a bday last Friday. It was cool. Mike was sick thru it all. I had been fighting a cold since before he got sick, now that he's feeling better I officially have this cold. I tell you, I have not been so sick so often until the past year or so, ever in my life. It sucks.

OK. that's all for now. Get back to work! LOL :)

And now, I know.

2009-01-29T10:00:00.000-08:00

It makes me feel warm and fuzzy to get comments like "*ahem* you have not posted anything since last weekend *ahem*" LOL

OK. So, here's what I've learned. I am much better at giving and receiving tattoos than I am at letting very large ones heal on my own body. And that's kind of embarrassing.

I've been so consumed with this thing, so wanting it to heal JUST RIGHT.... that I over moisturized it. Last night I found myself on the bathroom floor, kneeling down, head between my legs, unable to move, nearly passed out from lightheadedness and why? Because I was freaking out- obsessing over it thinking it was getting infected and that I was too stupid to know (forget about the fact that Mike checks it out daily, several times), and that it would either be ruined as a result or my arm would have to be amputated, and that I was a huge failure as a tattoo artist. Can we say 'get myself all worked up' much?

So, I make my way finally to the bedroom and lay down, barely able to inform Mike of my situation. All weak, shaking, terrified. Pathetic! LOL. Due to being all worked up, I lay awake until 1:15am when I finally take some nyquil. Antihistamines, advil-type stuff and sleep inducing goop all in one. Thank you, Nyquil. You are wonderful. I drift to sleep thinking if it's not improved in the morning that I'd either go straight to a Dr. or at the very least, the nursing department here at work (since the walk in clinic is literally right next door to the building I work in, if they said go see a Dr. I'd just walk there). So I get up, my arm is not as freakish. A big relief. While at work today I decide to google overmoisturize tattoo. Ya know, it's like noone talks about it. At least, I've never heard it mentioned before.

Too much goop (moisturizer, A&D, whatever) suffocates the tattoo and liquefies any repairing tissue that may have formed. THAT is what was freaking me out- gooey scabs! To top it off, these gooey scabs formed super hard big scabs while I slept all week. I saw no other signs of infection. I mean, there's some slightly red shading around 2 areas of the whole thing, but, that is completely normal from what I have experienced in all my other tattoos healing up. So I was pretty confused and full of panic. What I've realized is that I was not only using too much goop, but too many kinds. I started experimenting with something that a friend gave me that's from Greece that boasts wonderful healing properties for tattoos. OK stupid to do on a tattoo of this size. I was just in a fit wanting it to heal up gorgeous. After a few days of that, I switched to Curel as per Pat Fish. Been using that pretty much exclusively, except yesterday started using A&D again in some places.

So what to do now? Let it dry heal, with maaaybe some ointment once or max twice a day. Keep a super close eye on the scabs, making sure that none of them get ripped off prematurely (as that'd pull the ink right out leaving the tattoo blotchy).

SO. Fun stuff. I'm feeling pretty stupid BUT.... I certainly am learning a LOT. I've never had a tattoo anywhere even REMOTELY this big. So, it's new to me for certain. Mike had a big one recently done, a huge dragon on his thigh that I drew up. But, wearing pants all day, he didn't have much change to obsess over it, over moisturize it, and the friction of his pants probably helped the scabbing/healing to top it off.

Other than dealing (not so well, mostly) with my tattoo healing, this week has been full of resting, keeping my arm above my heart, typing with one hand, LOL... OH right that's all about the tatt. I've also been readying my room, setting up for tattooing. I am now officially OUT OF ROOM for all my stuff, even after getting rid of a bunch. We've got a garage packed with stuff waiting for people to pick up. I mean we're giving away GOOD furniture, come get it, peoplez! LOL!! I have my massage table all set up, my station ready to go, supplies stored neatly and cleanly away. I need to get a chair reupholstered, replace the futon or recover it at least, and find a place for my alter wares. OH and I need to get my hands on a light table. That reminds me, my bday is coming up. I think I'll email my Dad since he wants to know what I want. Perfect! :-)

I would be tattooing by now if it weren't for my screwing up my healing time with obsessing. LOL But, no worries. I've got an appt for next Thursday, and a consultation with another person being schedule for Mon or Tues. Plus, all sorts of inquiries. So, life is good. Esp on the big tattoo healing side (until the itching comes... oye! LOL)

Sunday, finally caught up on sleep :)

2009-01-25T08:04:00.000-08:00

Drove home after my arm tattoo (sleeve) was finished up. Got in around 2am. Finally slept 100 hours last night, hah, and feel rejuvinated. My arm is swollen, pounding and on fire, but, it really is healing nicely. So that's good. :)

I have a website, PandorasInk.com. I am not a web page person, and the hosting company I'm using, lunar pages, has page mason to use to help design the site. Well so far I've only got one page kicking, can't figure out how to make it multipage, nor can I figure out how to make it so AOL users (who the hell uses AOL anymore? Gaah!) can view the text. It's frustrating, LOL. But meanwhile I have so many other things to do. I've a huge list of supplies to get, and I have to totally rearrange my room. SO, if people can't see my page yet it's okay for now, LOL. I have 3 clients who know what they want. They will all be free, for now. Ya know, word of mouth. Get my ink work out into this community and hand them business cards to hand out.

Meanwhile, I'm working on verifying what I heard about me not having to be licensed here in MD. My source is reliable but this is serious stuff so I want to double check it with Big Brother. The web info I found verifies it, but tomorrow I will call directly and get it in writing.

Meanwhile I'm catching up on sleep (my GOD I needed it so bad), and healing. I never got a tattoo this HUGE. It's healing well but holy crap it hurts. I'm also making lists of what exactly I need to do to set up shop. Going to rearrange the guest bedroom, get a lot of furniture out, organize big time, set up the massage chair and such. I should be ready to rock by Saturday at the latest. My intention is to set things up in that room and the house (like hands free faucet in the bathroom, for instance) as if I am being regulated and inspected. It is the only way to go. I can't help the fact, for now, that people will have to walk thru living quarters to get to the shop area (that is animal free). But I can at least have the dogs outside and such.

Not sure how much I can do today with my arm swollen up like a hot Italian huge sausage and on fire like a, well, like a phoenix hahaha. But I'll do as much as I can. Unless my day is packed with unavoidable mundane shit, or I'm sick as a dog and can't move, I will do at least one thing every single day for my tattoo skillz or business set up. Thanks, Lisa Fasulo, for that inspiration. :)

OK.

oh man, school's almost done!!! aaahh!!! I'm all emotional.

2009-01-23T04:43:00.000-08:00

OK. SO. Wow. My last freaking day. It almost makes me tear up. Although I am PMSing so that probably has a lot to do with it, hah! Speaking of, I almost totally went off on Lisa's partner's daughter at the very end of the day at the shop last night. Was never introduced to her, and she's been there all week, so I don't know her name. I refer to her as Bristol Pailn. :lmao Because she's 19, in the Navy, freshly pregnant, and is a Bush fan. Her dad is a racist Bush fan, too. (Fun times :um) Anywayz, yeah. She's been starring at me ALL FREAKING WEEK and I was finally able to just ignore it. Last night there were 9 of us standing around at the shop, Jane and Matt in conversation make a few comments about pennies. Bristol Palin says "they're talking about getting rid of pennies". I chime in saying they've been talking about that for years. Bristol says Obama was just talking about that this morning and then suddenly turns fucking psycho and for the FIRST TIME, ALL WEEK, looks me straight in the eye, bobs her head all around, raises her hand (like, 'talk to the hand') and says all loud and angry "OH, but Obama's going to "Change the World". This from a pregnant teenager who likes George Bush.

Now you see, I'm not a big fan of such a situation. :lol That, on top of PMS.... :um Well let's just say it could have gotten ugly. I was so taken back. I just said "Geeze, don't be such a narrowminded, angry Republican." There was enough going on in this small circle of 9 people that noone seemed to hear me. A smart little voice in my head said "Geri, just leave. JUST. LEAVE." So I did. I mean, there's no arguing with stupid.

Why did I just put that all into my blog? Because it's my blog, and I can. And I've been dealing with Lisa's partner, Jeff, fairly well the past 2 weeks, knowing that he's a war happy republican (hell he's got a bumper sticker that says "Give war a chance") (gag), and hearing that he doesn't like black people. Lisa, on the other hand, is FAR more intelligent than to let anything, I mean ANYTHING, but positivity radiate from her. And it's sincere, genuine. She's one of a kind. I love her to pieces. Does she agree with Jeff on politics and such? I don't know, because she's smart enough to avoid all that crap. We had a brief conversation early last week and I would venture a guess that she is far more middle of the road, a nice blend of conservative and liberal. Which is ideal

SO, back to tattooing bliss reporting :)

Yesterday I didn't post much because man, long day of tattooing, then a couple hours of getting tattooed followed by dragging Matt out with us to Dunzys for a drink or 2 and late dinner.... the 4 of us just hit the hay soon as we walked in the door. Four of us you say? Yeah man, dig this- one of Lisa's very very first students, long before she even got this gorgeous studio she now holds school in, visited for an overnight. Her name is Jane and she's on the Jersey shore. I have her business card, I'll link to her stuff soon. She is SUCH a cool chick!!! She works at 2 shops, and her work is amazingly tight and fresh. She brought her portfolio to share. She was SOO helpful; she hung out at the shop all day yesterday and gave us all pointers and was super impressed with our work. Both Wed night and last night she had dinner with us a Dunzy's and we talked shop with her 99% of the time. She was soooo sharing of anything we asked, from the technicals to the human side of it all to anything in between. MAN what a blessing!!!! I mean right?? :)

So, Wed I did 2 tatts. One was this crazy skull thing on this guy's left pectoral. One big skull with 4 little ones, with flames, black and grey. I suggested the eyes be red and then added yellow pupils, telling him we could just go over that in red if he didn't like it. He loved it! Yay! I was very happy with how it turned out:

The other one was this boring tribal piece. But, the dude had drawn it up himself, as he drew all the other tribal on his arm and he drew it to match. Plus he has it all filled in with color instead of black, so at least there was that. OH and he had me write in his daughter's name. Lisa was going to do it but she was all super busy, so I was like, well let me give it a try (in pen) and see if you like it. I wrote it out and he said "That's it! Go for it!" :) So that was a cool festive little thing. :) Here's the tatt:

Yesterday I only did one tattoo. :( It took me almost 4 hours. It took me an hour just to prep this guy though, between the stenciling of the drawing he brought in, to the hair cut and shave I did on his skull (I am not kidding. I had to clear out a huge section of inch long hair! I mean what do people THINK when they pull that? :lol), and drawing in parts of the drawing that were just not there. It was fun tattooing a skull, I mean literally tattooing on someone's head. This is the same guy who I thought was returning on Wed but instead came in yesterday, he's the guy who I tattooed a vampire chick on his thigh last week in black and grey. Here's what I did yesterday, it measures about a foot long (from my fingertips to my elbow bottom):

Cross your fingers and ask the Universe to pllleeeease have Matt be able to finish the phoenix. :) I want to revisit the school... but not till June on our trip up to New England. Otherwise it's a return visit for him to finish- 13 hours of driving in a weekend... oye. kwim? Lisa's supposed to tattoo me today, too, but the priority is for the phoenix to get done. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE a tatt from Lisa. Her specialty is animals and that's what I want. If I could have tatts from both of them, I could have show and tell for people, and I LOVE to talk about this school, about Lisa, Matt, and how motivating it all is. Lisa raged against the outdated norm, followed her own bliss, and if she's not inspiring, well, noone is. :)

OK.
Last day, coming up. I'm so sad, so excited, so happy. And teary! :lol Damn PMS.

Inauguration Day Tattooing Bliss!

2009-01-21T03:50:00.000-08:00

Quarter till 5 my eyes just open and viola. I'm up. Oye. It's gonna be a LOOOONG. DAY. I have 2 clients coming in today that I tattooed last week. I'm stoked because the first one is John and OH I have a such a cute little crush on him HEH. (nice Jewish Irish boy from NYC/Jersey area with that cute little accent). #2 is dude who I did the black and grey vampire type chick on. He's got a huge (from the way he described it) back piece he wants done. THEN, after that, the Pain Begins- my arm sleeve gets started. I'm gonna sleep like the dead tonight

SO, yesterday I did 2 tatts. What was cool was I was able to guess how long they'd take. Well, both I figured 2 hours. The first one, the lizard, took 1 hour 45 min. The 2nd one, butterfly wings on both feet, took just over 2 hours. It's nice to be able to figure how long something will take me. Before I just had no freaking clue. I suppose it's true with everything in life you do, once you do it enough you can figure how long it should take.

I loved both tatts yesterday. From the choice, the colors we picked out and the locations.

The first one was the lizard:

The tail goes over his shoulder and down something like 3 or 4 inches. I am perfectly happy with this tattoo- it might be my favorite one yet, besides that HD I did on Gary's left wrist. I tell ya, I don't know what it is about that one. I just love it. Anywayz, Lizard guy was a total sweetheart. Hot damn I love tattooing. It's the perfect blend of art and people.

The 2nd one was also very cool. I'm typically not a fan of tattoos on feet. Not sure why...? I'm starting to change my mind on that I think. Chica was totally cool, and had a great sense of humor and was cracking me up the whole time. While I was really really happy with how it came out, later when I saw it online there's a major flaw I noticed. Nothing crazy, it's just they do not match up perfectly with the black shading... see how the right foot (our left as we look at it) is lacking some of the thick black on the inner bottom wing and even is a bit thinner up top? Noone noticed this. 7 people looked at it when it was done and not one of us saw it. I must improve on this. But, otherwise it's groovy. And that's a simple touch up, say, if she were to come back to me (or to the school) it'd take 15 min start to finish (what with setting up for it and all).

Again, it's a bummer that pics are taken right smack after the tatts are done... since this butterfly will have gorgeous brilliant colors once it starts to heal. For now it's all blended with blood and plasma. But, of course, this is just a part of it all. You can't have people come back in a few days just to get a better picture

At the end of the day, Matt took the phoenix pic I like for my arm sleeve and hand drew it on my arm.

I am totally stoked for this, and was reaaaally bummed he could not start it last night as planned. I thought a phoenix tattoo the day Bush leaves office and Obama and family take control would just be PERFECT. That on top of all the other reasons I want this was just too awesome. But Matt had an unexpected family thing, so it's all good. Family First. Amen, my peeps. Amen.

OH, here's the pic I gave him for the phoenix I like:

Last night I ordered business cards. Shannan and Alyssa, don't be pissed! HEH. I really wanted some RIGHT AWAY and I will take Alyssa up on her offer to make them for me once I have a tattoo that really WOWS me enough to put on a business card. I'm going to hand them out like government cheese, hah, so I'm sure they'll go fast enough. :) For now, it has the Modigliani Seated Nude that I did in oil pastels (my favorite painting EVER). On the back it has appt time info and such.

And oh, some of you might notice that I'm using my maiden name.... I had always seriously thought that should I ever make a living off of my art (be it writing or some form of studio art), that I'd use my maiden name. Because that is where I come from, it is my heritage and my family and who I am at the core. As I was filling out the information to create these cards, I found that I could not decide! SO in the end, I decided that Slitzer is not only far easier to say, it's easier to remember how to spell so that people can Google me. Know what I mean? I am explaining myself because I don't want anyone out there to ever think it's some sort of slight on Mike (is that the right word? Slight? Ya know, like slap on the face sort of thing). It's TOTALLY not. It's something I've always thought I'd do way before I even met Mike and in the end it makes sense due to pronunciation and spelling. I love my babydoll with ALL of my heart. But you all should know this by now, heh. :)

OK.
Let's Party!

Totally scary stuff

2009-01-20T05:28:00.000-08:00

HOLY SHIT.

I can't believe I didn't post this last night when I found out. Maryland does not regulate tattooing.. AT. ALL. It is "Buyer Beware". How fucked up is that? In 1989 or 1990 they deregulated it. SO. I could tattoo off of my toilet with used needles and tubes and so long as the dept of health doesn't get SEVERAL complaints about me, I'm fine. How fucking scary is this??????? If I want to run my own tattoo shop, all I need is a business license.

SO. For me that is good news personally. But horrible horrible shit generally speaking. The school I'm learning at is exTREMEly clean. I'm telling you, the habits of being sterile and maintaining sterility in your shop are EASY. It's just practice so that it, like anything else, becomes 2nd nature. But it's so easy! And it's so funny- now I am hyper aware of everything I do. I dropped a paper towel the other day here at the house and thought "gotta throw that away". But it was a clean paper towel that I was just going to clean up some coffee I'd spilled.

Anyway. Pretty fucking scary, no? West bygod Virginia has super strict regulations. The freaking toothless redneck republican hillbillies have more sense than MD does. Scary.

SO. I may just totally redo my room at home as a shop area. And just work from there for the time being. It's always been animal free as I keep the door shut 24/7. I just need to clear out most of what's in there and set up. Yes I'm getting an autoclave (that's at LEAST $700 but an excellent investment, obviously). The disposable tubes I might do instead... they have a few at the shop, so I need to use them before I buy a shit load. I'm going to buy some though to have on hand for like, traveling or for those who would prefer that I use them instead.

Also, I'll do what Lisa does here and send in spore tests. Or rather I could ask my girlfriend Amy run my spore tests. She is the Director of a cancer research lab so I bet she could do that test for me monthly (it verifies your autoclave is running properly, killing everything).

Sleepy bliss Monday haha

2009-01-19T17:07:00.000-08:00

Gary came back into the shop today and the Buddha looks Awesome. The beads really stand out (they're green), and all the colors just pop. It's such a festive tattoo :lol

This morning we learned all about how to tune tattoo machines. It was really awesome, great information. I was bummed though... because Matt was going to tune my 2 machines while he taught us but the fucking things take metric allen wrenches and I only have one that came with the kit which is only good for the three (yes, three!) parts of the tubes. :gaah But, all I need to do is find a hardware store and pick up a set, and I can tune them while I'm here and have Matt double check it all. :) Which I totally forgot about... after school we hit the grocery store and the liquor store (haha) and that was it.

Anywayz, I did 4 tattoos today, all simple. A Capricorn sign with a name below it on a girl's upper back which turned out well and the name I was happy with.... finally I am happy with a name I inked. The Chinese symbol for love on a girls shoulder, a cover up of a name that was a tribal design on a guy's shoulder and a skull on Gary's other wrist, hehehe. It's so cool- he's got the HD on one wrist I did and this skull on the other. :) I think he won't forget me. :) heh.

I'm pooped out.

OH!! OH OHOH!!!!! I'm (95% sure) going to get a sleeve on my left arm of a phoenix. Matt's going to do it, starting after class tomorrow. And I am set for Lisa to do a tiger stripe thing on my upper back, much in the way that the leopard spots are situated on Pixie's neck, see here: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=226538006&albumID=114770&imageID=1773238

I'll have to pay for the phoenix but not the tiger stripes one.

OK. Too spacey to write. Going to shower now. Need to place a big order for supplies, since Mike has like 50 people lined up for tattoos. With all the cost involved I will have to be charging most people soon after I get home. There are some people who will get free tatts, and some who will ALWAYS get free tatts. If I charge you, and you're a friend, it will not be full price and I am open to bartering. :)

Just sharing a thought

2009-01-18T13:43:00.000-08:00

A woman was getting her first tattoo yesterday, in the station next to mine, so she was facing me as she was getting inked. Here's what I picked up- her mother had recently died, and her mother was very against tattoos. What she was getting was her kids names on her arm, encircled by a rose and stem.

This tattoo meant a LOT to her in many ways. And she almost hesitated, partially because she was worried what her mom, who like I said is recently deceased, would feel. In fact, this was the 3rd appointment she made to get this tattoo, she cancelled the other 2 in hesitation. She was holding back tears, but not of pain.

Getting a tattoo can sometimes be a very emotional, multilevel experience. To be able to share that is something I will treasure and treat with all the dignity, grace and empathy that I can. It's a small part of tattooing, but to me it's HUGE.

Buddha belly bliss

2009-01-17T21:50:00.000-08:00

Introducing Matt Tyszka. He's the assistant teacher, a really nice guy, funny. He was about to finish his masters in art education, 3 classes left, when Lisa approached him for the job a year ago. He's REALLY good at what he does, both tattooing and teaching.

Anywayz, here's what I watched for 6 hours yesterday.
Here's Matt in action tattooing Gary

the outline finished:

The finished product:

I am super happy I watched the whole time. Learned a LOT. Matt's a great teacher and Gary is the perfect client. :)

Bliss overflow. End of school week one.

2009-01-16T22:19:00.000-08:00

So, today I got to do my first black and grey piece. I am happy with how it came out, although these types of pieces are hard to tell at first, as blood mixes with the ink making it look red, and distorting the shading, and the white highlights are hard to see. Luckily for me, this guy is coming back next Wed for a tattoo, a big back piece, and he wants me to do it, which is cool... but I'll get to see what this one looks like in a week! How sweet is that?? Here it is right after it was done and before we applied A&D, which is the point when all of the student tatt pics are taken. This guy's tatts are all black and grey (or at least most of them) and the one he wants next week is too, which is groovy- I hope I get to do it. On Monday we are going to learn all about fine tuning machines. Speaking of machines we got ours today. I can't wait to take it apart.

I'm going into the shop tomorrow; Matt invited us to come by if we wanted. Personally, I feel like I can't get enough, so I'm totally there. Matt has an appointment at 1pm for this guy Gary, the Teddybear I did the Harley "HD" wrist tattoo on. So I'll check that out, getting to watch, learn and hang out with some very excellent people. I mean right? Priceless. I'm so happy. :) Matt's totally awesome, his work is fantastic and he's a great teacher. And a totally nice guy.

The first tattoo I did today was a big couple of flowers on this girl's leg. This girl, Ashley, gave me full artistic go ahead with the coloring of the flowers. The shop was hopping, so I dove under radar quietly to experiment, heh. As I was working, I thought to myself, "Man, I really like this effect I'm getting", not thinking of what it might resemble or be called. Lisa comes by and said "Ohh, nice, I really like the watercolor effect." Well sweet! I love to do it! :) I used a magnum for the flower colors- deep maroon, pink, orange, and then a 5 round shader for the yellow highlights. I am THA-RILLED with this piece. On the flip side, I can point out several flaws, mostly with the outline. :( But then, she had us stencil in her daughter's name above it, and oh my goodness. I am just NOT good with names, and in my opinion it looked like crap. But, she was happy with it. Oh well. I'm going to take on more names so I can get them right.

OK

It's after 2am and I can't get to sleep. It's like I just don't want to but I do want to because I want to get up and get in some stretching, maybe a trip to the gym and some chill time before going to the shop. At this rate I it's a close call to fit it all in! Of course it doesn't help that the bar next door is crazy loud still. :(

update- I'm up at 6:30am. Perhaps I'll just give into my body's whacky business and have myself a lazy weekend, making being at the shop as much as I can my only worry. One of Lisa's clients, this really nice guy named Bob, got me a free week pass at Gold's here a couple days ago and I've yet to use it. He did that because I had asked about a gym before I even arrived. Now I feel like I'd let him down if I don't make it there, ya know? Oh well. Cross your fingers that I get back to sleep soon. :)

Inky Bliss happiness

2009-01-15T16:27:00.000-08:00

Three tattoos today. The first was a tribal. Oh god, ok like it's only been 2 days, but man, I'm worthless for tattoos before noon. LOL It's "okay" only because he liked it and all that shit. But. It sucks! Ok so moving on. My 2nd of the day was an Awesome little Arizona desert design and I was ready to dive in to give it detail out the wazoo, right? Well half way in she's like "I have to leave soon". OH mygod. I'm not feeling wordy or I'd type out all the thoughts I had. So, what I did was bust out detail on the skull and then left the cactus, mesas and sun for just simple color. I was disappointed, because really I did not even have the time to really do up the skull/horns/feathers like I was envisioning. BUT, it really did turn out great and she was super stoked. She kept commenting on 2 things in particular, one that it was sooo much better then the other student tattoo she got prior, and two was that she was impressed with the wide variety of colors I busted out to do this. It was only like 11 colors. I was grateful that she appreciated it all. And she was friendly. And the placement of the tattoo covers a handful of very painful spots and she took it better than most. And she didn't move. It was all good. :) I got to squeeze in a 3rd tattoo, and it's only because Jeff and Lisa called up their good friend and loyal client Gary and he came right over. Him and his wife did. They're both very cool. Gary is like a sweet unassuming teddy bear. I did an "HD" with a diamond between the letters (for Harley Davidson) (yez he rides a Harley) :) I got to use a magnum for the first time on it, and I got to pick the color (I suggested he add some color instead of all black) and so of COURSE I picked orange haha. I was a nice student, heh, and asked first (after he said "whatever color you want is fine) what colors Harley Davidson used. He luckily said Black and Orange. SO YAY!!!!!

So, go check it out, my peeps! http://www.tattoosbylisa.net/schoolthisweek.html

You're tracking a life changing time here. Thanks for being a part of it. :)

I dig the Bliss. Day 3

2009-01-14T19:33:00.000-08:00

Today I got to go first in picking out what tattoo to do. 10 am a bunch of people showed up for us newbies to draw permanent stuff on their bodies. Flash, at that! Well, lucky us, right? Anyway... my choices are this cute colorful, not realistic turtle, this little bolt that looks like it's going thru part of the skin and under it the words 'Born nuts' and this kinda large (like 7" maybe top to bottom?) colorful one with this topless chick standing on an 8 ball with flames and three playing cards behind her. So, do I go for the adorable colorful, yet easy turtle thing? Or do I go for the complicated (as in tons of straight lines, tons of fine lines, one great big circle) skanky chick on the 8 ball? "Dive in, Geri, and go for the challange!!" SO yep, I go for the skanky 8 ball chick. Oh. my. word. It took me almost 3 hours.

Dude would not sit still.
Dude had wrinkles on his hand area that were deep crevices like bad stretch marks.
Dude had scar tissue I was tattooing over.
I messed up the chick's arm. Her other arm looks too long and skinny but that was indeed the flash.

Well, in the end, the guy loved it. Said it was beautiful. Honestly, as much as I think it sucked (as in I screwed it up), it did look better than a lot of the tatts I saw on him, heh. So, I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I'm glad I went for it though. It really was a challange, especially this morning.

Why this morning? heh. Well, because you see, as I've mentioned, I'm cutting WAY back on my drinking. So last night though I had 1 or 2 more drinks than the most I usually have (which is 2). Woke up feeling hung over! It sucked!

So I survived messing up my stencil by getting it wet with rubbing alcohol, a design with a ton of straight lines, circles, 7 different colors plus black, a client with deep wrinkles, scar tissue and moved a lot all on a hangover (which by that time was not bad really, but you know how you just feel run down even after you feel better? yeah.) And he loved it. His wife loved it. All was good.

Off to lunch, I went back to the house for some chili I made last night, which I hardly could keep from wolfing down in record time because I could not WAIT to get back to do another!!! I get back and my next tatt, was a shamrock on fire with the words "Easy Money $" below it. The guy, John, was a total doll. Just adorable. And he sat still mostly. And he was great to chat with. And the outline style was new school which is great fun to do, and he gave me some artistic go ahead so I added more depth using color. The font was that.... heck I don't know what it's called. It's just L.A. Ghetto to me, haha, but it's popular in tatts. I can't usually read it though, LOL. I thought that kind of stuff (that crazy font) would be really hard but it totally wasn't. All you need is a good stencil. Heh.

John's friend, Terry, got a tattoo from Tara. OH. mygod. This girl is a born natural. I knew right away, when she first started her first tattoo yesterday, just watching her- she naturally takes her time, she gets a great grip on the person... she just does the right things naturally.. and her work is omg fantastic. She did a chameleon on Terry that I swear man is better than MANY MANY works from tattooists that have years under their belts. This girl puts them to shame. Right as I type the finished work of the chameleon is not yet up on the site ( http://www.tattoosbylisa.net/schoolthisweek.html ) but it was finished tonight, the finished pic will be posted in the morning. You just have got to check it out. You'll agree she rocks. And if you disagree? Well. Um. Yeah. You're wrong. LOL hehehe

Anyway though, this guy Terry. Oh my freaking lanta. Never ever in my LIFE have I heard a guy whine so much. For over 4 hours he sat for this tattoo, and everyone in the shop agreed that it was WELL worth the time and pain (near and on the elbow, a hella painful spot for a tattoo). But I mean this guy moaned- literally MOANED- like he was having a bowel movement after being constipated for 2 straight weeks. I heard him say "You mean you're not DONE in that spot yet???" and other such nonsense at least 20 times. I am not exaggerating. Near the end, Jen fixed up a spider web on someone else's elbow, and they barely winced. Ya know? I am juuust saying. The funnier thing is, this guy John comes to this school like all the time to get ink. AND he will go straight to Lisa for BIG tattoos. So it's not like he has not sat for long periods of time before for ink..... but each time he complains like a constipated republican.

haha that was funny. LOL

Tara and I can not WAIT to get back to the shop tomorrow and do more tattoos. We both feel like this is it. Neither of us are looking forward to going back to our day jobs. She's pressured to finish grad school in a subject she's just not interested in, while keeping her day job of course, and well I just have to get things lined up to make the transition and that will just take some time. Her and I went next door to Dunzy's for grub... yeah we have food here at the house but we both felt, without saying, that today was definitely a day to not cook for ourselves. It was a historical day in both of our lives. We have the fever! Jen did not come with us. From Hawaii, she is NOT digging this zero degree stuff. And our driveway (which is what leads directly up to the house) is NOTHING but ice. And her poor ears have not recovered from the very LONG trip here.

Meanwhile the weekend fast approaches. I can't believe I don't want it to! hah, that does not happen too often in one's life LOL. I was pretty stoked on going to Burlington VT, but, it seems that plans are brewing for festiveness that includes Matt, Tara, and the guys from the shop. And I am not so sure that I would be too smart to miss out on them. I mean we're bonding here, ya know? I just miss VT horribly. And have never spent time in Burlington. We shall see when the time comes.

Oh. One funny thing- I drop paper towels like nobody's business. LOL. I mean they just fall from my hands. For those unfamiliar, when working a tattoo the artist usually keeps in their non-inking hand a paper towel with some green soap, so as to wipe away the excess ink and such so we can see what we're doing as we go along. Well I just keep dropping them. Like *poof* ...*drop*. After about 1o times it became really damn funny to me. I think it's my "trademark" HAH... at least for now. :P

OK.
Sweet Dreams!!

Bliss following :) day 2

2009-01-13T17:07:00.000-08:00

Today I did my first legit tattoo. Check it out! http://www.tattoosbylisa.net/schoolthisweek.html
That was on John- who has over 400 tattoos. He gets ink from students every month. He had me pick out the tatt I was to do on him. I mean, when will I ever ever EVER get that happen again? hehee!! I only had a few flash mags to pick from, and it was not my first or 2nd or 3rd choice. But being my first tattoo I had to do something more basic than what I had wanted to do. But I'm totally fine with that of course. I was far more nervous than I had expected to be. It's nothing like tattooing my beloved Jack or my sweet Mr. Wise, that's for sure! LOL :) Much more nerve wrecking.

Tomorrow it's nothing but tattooing different people. All day. Then the day after that and the day after that etc. Next week we talk about machine tuning and business running as well as tattooing people all day every day.

Well, I'm kinda feeling not as wordy as I have been. hah. It's going to snow tonight. I'm at the 12306 zip code if you're so inclined to check out upstate NY weather.

OK.

Until tomorrow....

Geri follows her bliss, day one.

2009-01-12T19:25:00.000-08:00

I just don’t know where to begin.

OK. I’m just going to be random here. That’s my best plan for getting things written out, as I’m pretty darn tired and it’s been a great experience already.

Let’s see. First there’s my roommates, the other 2 girls in this class. Tara from NYC. 25, awesome, she looks like a pinup girl, loves Betty Paige and flower tattoos. Totally cool. Then Jen, 23, married, from Hawaii. Never saw snow before. And as we speak, the snowbanks on the driveway at the student house (which is pretty sweet) are taller than my Cherokee. So can you imagine? Teehee She’s got zero tattoos. She’s very artistic and does mad crazy stencil work. She’s got a great sense of humor. Tara and Jen both rock socks and I consider it a HUUGE blessing to find myself not only in a class as small as 3 total, but they’re chicas and they’re actually truly sincerely COOL.

OK then there’s the tattoo shop. Here’s a link by the way, check back because starting tomorrow she’ll have pics of us all. http://www.tattoosbylisa.net/ The shop is gorgeous. Warm, inviting, bright, clean, comfortable, not intimidating, sterile. Lisa is amazing. Her work is fanFREAKINGtastic. I totally actually forgot just how fucking good she is (from checking out her work online previously). Her tatts have been featured multiple times in tatt mags, and she has tons of awards and trophies. Anywayz, at this point in time she figures she’s taught about 100 students over the years (there’s about 10 classes a year, average of 3 to 5 max students a class), and she keeps in touch with nearly ALL of them. She was asked today by the guy she tattooed what percentage she reckons have actively persued and been successful in a carreer as tattoists… she figures about 95%. That’s great! Also, she says only 2 people she has taught have gone on from the class straight to an apprenticeship. One guy already had it set up and it was a good friend of his, so it was not an apprenticeship he had to pay for. The other person was very young, 18 I think, and just felt he needed more life experience in general before he did it on his own. Lisa said that she’d be very shocked (I don’t think she used the word ‘shocked’ but I’m tired and fuzzy memory) if, at the end of these 2 weeks, we’d feel we’d need an apprenticeship.

We’ll start tattooing real people on Wed. In fact, between the three of us girls tonight in conversation, we can’t remember if it’s Wed or tomorrow. We know we’re tattooing grapefruits tomorrow though. But come Wed we’ll be tattooing non-stop. There are 100’s of people on the waiting list to get ink from the students. I mean, say what?? Can you believe it? It used to be free but now it’s $5. I mean ya know ink costs big freaking money so I guess I can see why it’s appealing. Esp since Lisa is a very warm, trustworthy, VERY fucking talented person, and they fix up any student tatts that might need it. So hey, it’s no worse than dental school ya know?

Random mentions:
My bedroom faces the street. Kinda funny since our house in Frederick sits next to the highway. Will I never escape the sounds of cars going past? LOL

The house has radiator heat. I LOVE RADIATOR HEAT. I’m not joking.

The washing machine is broken. I can’t tell you how fucking lame that is. Ink gets everywhere.

The bar/resto next door is excellent. Good food, good clean Guinness, friendly people and staff. And it’s literally right smack next door.

I bought Guinness tonight- AT the grocery store. HAH! WOOT!

We went on an adventure into downtown Schenectady this morning as it was the only coffee shop (Ambition) that was not a starbucks or dunkin doughnuts that I found nearby on google. The coffee was FANTASTIC. I got a skim cappuccino large with 2 extra shots.

My bed is a twin bed. But ya know, between all the pillows I have at home, and my cat Chat who hogs up a ton of space, I don’t really notice that I’m not in a king sized bed hahaha. LOL

OH, and I also picked up some Patriots stuff – At the Grocery Store!!! I LOOOOOVED seeing it. I must have looked like a fiend, going thru all the Giants, Red Sox, Patriots paraphernalia haha. I was super stoked.

OH. And the best thing- at my workstation, the first thing I noticed was an EXCELLENT omen- mine was the only one that came with a RUBBER DUCKY!!! It's got tattoos and a pierced devil horn! hahaha! Rubber duckies are the shiznittle man. I was stoked.

OK. That’s all for now my freakish beloved peeps.

Sleep well.

Geri

I have pics, but the internet connection is super lame here. We're hooked into the bar next door. It drops a lot. Meh. so yeah I can't download them yet. Will do asap.

It just hit me.

2009-01-10T08:33:00.000-08:00

I am SO. STOKED. I can't believe what's in front of me.

So I am spending the morning packing up well for a 2 week retreat, right? One of the things to do is get my tattoo kit cleaned up and ready to go. Well, for whatever reason, I had this blockage with this kit- it's got all sorts of compartments and ...thingies... stuff, ya know? for organizing. I wanted to keep certain things in there that didn't come with it, and the baggies that held things were all total crap, falling apart and such.

Why I did not have the simple vision to follow my bliss, take control of that kit and make it mine before now is beeeyyyyyoooooooond me. What, are the useless, clunky misc. organizational parts of kits police going to come arrest me? I mean really.

So, I get it all together, I'm all flowers and butterflies about it, and so I go to put it near my other luggage I'm getting together.

And that's when it hit me. I am going to dive into something that my passion for has been growing stronger every day, in a very personal way, that is extremely multidimensional to me. I'm going straight into the fire. I am SOOOOOOO HAPPY ABOUT THIS!!!! Joy!!! Bliss!!!

Since I put the deposit down, like 10 days ago or so, I have been thinking more of how I'll not see my family for 2 straight weeks. We are far too close for that time apart to have instant appeal. Our home, and our life, is far too much a sacred place together (despite the mess, haha). So, I've been focusing on what Geri will do with her free time to better herself in various ways. Yoga, artwork, reading, studying, catching up on paperwork stuff of life, getting a good daily work out, eating very healthy, meditation, even inch back into ritual. Mike's been doing the same too (only ya know, those things that put the wind in his sails).

The magnitude of what I'm going to be doing and learning in the next 2 weeks really just hit me. And I just had to share this. omgomgomg. WOOT!!!

The Future

2009-01-09T07:20:00.000-08:00

Hmm. Speaking of "The Future", I'm heading to Albany, NY on Sunday for tattoo school. "The Future" is one of my favorite Leonard Cohen albums. Speaking of, Mike and I have not been able to find a single one of our Leonard Cohen cd's and I have been JONESING for WEEKS now to hear him. Argh!

I've got all sorts of emotions going on. Finally I was able to spill some of it out to Mike over the last 2 nights. I'm scared that I will SUCK as a tattooist. I'll suck so bad I'll get a bad reputation. People will point and say "there goes the girl who can't ink a straight line" or "that's Geri, she totally screwed up my friend's tattoo". I'm also afraid that my creative spark is a farce, that I won't ever get it back. I'm afraid that I have whatever issue it is my step dad (the artist, musician) has- that is, he's been a reproductionist with his art; very few originals. But what he does paint is really fantastic. I'm afraid that going to get formal training will make me an outcast and no shop in town will want me. That's not too bad I suppose; in that I mean I can overcome that it will just take time, persistance, and maybe relocation. What would be super ideal is I own my own shop. I'd bring in the best artists I could get, and I'd learn from them. I'd have a very chill shop, no stupid loud music. I'd raise the bar for tattoo shop environment. I'd challange the norm.

But anyway.

Yeah, to sit and dream is one thing. To do the work to make it all happen is another and I'm just a-scared that I will fall on my face time after time after time and will suck as a tattooist. I should probably get a helmet. Or like that face mask hockey goalies wear.

And what's up with this PMS cramp thing I'm suffering? Well this is TMI for most of you. Aunt Flo hung out twice in one month, super cramps and all. And now just a few days after her last unwelcomed visit I have these horrid PMSy cramps. ARRGH!

We have a meeting suddenly here at work at 11am today. It's MANDATORY. I hope I don't get laid off. But then again that'd force me to catapult my life changes. So it would not suck completely, just a whole lot.

Work sucks today I'm sooooo not into it. I need more coffee. I'm switching coffee for alcohol. Not giving up the drink completely, I'm not into radical crap like that. But I am cutting waaay back and I am really liking the difference A LOT so far. :) But yeah. need coffee. See ya.

Following my bliss.

2009-01-01T18:00:00.001-08:00

cross posted from myspace.

In the past year, well, since early April 08, I've gotten tattooed by different artists, checking out different shops, joined online tattoo forums, walked in with my art portfolios to a few different shops asking for opinions and advice, talked a lot with friends who have spent HOURS and HOURS getting inked.... Here's the main thing I am taking from it all: There's not a single goddamn tattooist out there who will tell you to do it the way they did. The whole attitude is "Do what I say, not what I did."

So, I'm going to tattoo school. Yes I've researched them. You know what pisses me off? The tattoo artists I've mentioned these schools to are all like "Ohhhh they give you a piece of paper saying you can tattoo just because you've done like 20 tattoos in 2 weeks". Well you know what, you stupid fucks? I'm not that fucking clueless. Give me a fucking break. I'm going to tattoo school to dive into the fundamentals. And I will see what happens after that. I'm going to do it my way, just like they all did it their own way- and all of them did it differently.

So yeah, I'm stoked. In less than a week and a half I'll be in Albany, NY, in a class of three people, with three teachers. Stoked. Totally. Stoked.

just some stuff.

2008-12-12T11:46:00.000-08:00

So, thanks to the laws of wrist formation, we could not get my tattoo design to work on my tiny little 6" wrist. It came out much different. Some moments I am utterly in love with it, other moments I feel regret- the knot's too big, it's off center (I totally choose placement), I should have done something different with the knot rather than having it shaded black in the background. etc. But it is still healing now, so I try not to feel one way or the other about it until it's done healing. When I love it though, I REALLY love it.

I'm totally PMSing and that sucks.

My friend just pointed out this super hysterical blog-
http://fuckyoupenguin.blogspot.com/ Check it out you'll love it.

SO, are you ready for giftmas? I can't seem to stop spending. I've been putting away money every single paycheck to make this Yule not such a financial burden. So okay good in theory, right? Well what do I do? Spend ALL of that my first day shopping, and probably twice what I saved all total. It's a sickness. And now I'm almost done but still have a few more things to get and I'm sick of spending money. Damnit, giftmas!!

Holy crap is it quitting time yet?

Man all I want to do is eat and sleep. Damnit, PMS!! Trust me I'm backspacing constantly 'cause I just want to bitch too.

I love Guinness. Just sayin'. And now our favorite daytime bar has it back in stock, and on tap!!! Yes, they're starting off the New Year right! :) WOOOO.

So the tattoo artist wants me to bring in some grapefruits that I've tattooed. I have been feeling mentally shitty all week though so have not gotten around to it yet. I'll probably do that next Tues or Wed night, then take them in for him to check out- better timing 'cause the tattoo will be more healed up and he can get a better feel for the touching up that will need to be done. See I should be all super stoked about it. And I was at first. I dunno. I feel very alone. Anyway he's trying to get back into corporate America, after like 9 years of tattooing, so any moment now he could be up and gone. How can he possibly apprentice me if he's working an office job in Virginia?

I know I know I should not worry about that, and should just get my butt up there with some inked up grapefruits. It's what I want right? I'm just not in a good frame of mind lately.

Every time I go into my grocery store, my eyes burn. And burn. Until I leave. Kinda scary, no?

Well I hope this blog goes thru. I got access denied the last time I tried accessing this website here at work. Watch I'll go to save and it will throw me out and alert the powers that be. Big brother bs.

Our Yule party scheduled for next week is looking like another rainout. Which is probably a good thing if my head doesn't clear up by then. 'cause a few days after that we leave for chicago. 12 hours of driving each way with the dogs. Inlaws. 70,000 kids. Going to be tough to stay on track with Weight Watchers in the midst of all the hectic times, crazy amounts of time on the road, and stress. Meh. I've been doing a great job of not thinking about it so why start now?

OK. Happy Friday.

Just imposters in this country

2008-11-26T09:59:00.000-08:00

It's the day before Thanksgiving and I could rant about the hypocrisy of it all.... but, not yet.

Instead I feel like rambling. Let's see. Oh, I spent hours customizing my next tattoo, for which I've got an appointment for this Saturday at noon. STOKED!!!! I found a great artist at a wonderful shop (that I'm familiar with from years ago). SO, my goal is to cozy up to them and get as much ink as possible from them in the coming months, so come spring time or so, they'll take me on as an apprentice. This past Monday I spent an hour chatting up one of the artists, showing him my portfolios. He was impressed (yay!!!) and said I had strong, solid lines and was impressed at my attention to detail. (wooo!)

Here's the tattoo drawing. I got the idea from Pat Fish, one of my favorite artists out there (she's WAY out there, in Santa Barbara, CA, actually). I took her base design and changed the faces, the antlers (which I need to shade a bit, actually), and the knot in the middle. What I included here is Lugh's Knot. This tattoo kills 2 birds with one stone, as I've always wanted deer inked on me someway, and some sort of homage to Lugh, my favorite mythical diety. Lugh is the bomb. It's going to wrap around my left wrist, with the forward paws overlapping and noses nearly touching. I AM SO STOKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It takes me FOR EV ER to come to final decisions on my tattoos, which is why I have so few, and once I decide I get SOO EXCITED! :)

You know, I'm so giddy over my coming tattoo and all, that I won't really rant about the evils of our country's past. Ya know, the hypocritical christians ripping this country away from the natives, raping and killing and cheating them out of what was rightfully theirs. Escaping 'religious persecution' so they could come kill all the Indians, and then later hang and burn people for having different beliefs. Or for even supposedly having different beliefs. Yeah I won't get started on how much I hate Thanksgiving, or rather, all the people who live in ignorance.

Anyway, users are crying out for help. And I suppose I should not ignore them forever today. lol....

Keeping Vigil for the Solstice Sun

2008-11-16T14:09:00.000-08:00

The celebration of Yule is starting early here at Casa de TeamFun. I wanted to share this article I recently found with you all as a result. :)

article

by Catherine Harper

There are many stories told at Yule, and perhaps this is inevitable, for winter and darkness breed the weaving of stories. In our house, we have celebrated Yule as Longest Night, and the story of our gathering has become that long, dark night, the fires we keep burning throughout it and the food and revelry that sustain our bodies and spirits. While for myself I have mostly given up on keeping vigil the whole night through, and most of us get at least some sleep, it is still a weary band of revelers who gather in the morning to watch the dark sky turn first grey and then silver and then pink with dawn.

It is not a bad tradition, not at all. But I'm wondering this year if the revels of the night don't dull us a little -- wear us out and weary us so that we hardly see the dawn. I am thinking that while we celebrate Yule mostly in the darkness of the Sun's absence, it is a holiday that celebrates not the darkness, nor even truly the light that we make against darkness, but the night that is finite -- as the season is finite -- and that will end with the rising of the Sun.

The first story I remember knowing about this longest night and its morning is one that until recently I assumed everyone knew. I am not sure exactly where I heard it first -- I seem to remember hearing it at a Society for Creative Anachronism gathering and at a Yule party held at the house that many of us rented together. If I heard it seldom later, I assumed that it was because it had been told too often.

Once upon a time, on the longest night of the year, a young man was sent out of the great hall that was brightly lit and filled with food and song. He was given a horn filled with burning coals in a layer of ash, and set to climb to the top of the highest hill, where the people have piled up a large quantity of dry wood. He was to light this wood and make a bonfire, which would call back the Sun from the darkness in which she was sleeping.

And so the tale went. The young man made his long cold walk, and along his way he met three people on the road, each of them without shelter that night, and desperately poor. In each case he stopped, a little reluctantly, and gave them a coal from his supply, and then hurried on. But when he reached the top of the hill he found that the coals he had left had burnt out, and that he had failed in his task. But it was not the way of the world that his act of mercy should condemn all to live forever in darkness, so the fire lit itself, and the Sun was called back.

Over the years, I wondered a lot about this story. Sometimes I told it to children, but its shape didn't always please me. It seemed too naive a conceit that he believed that by not lighting his single fire he would plunge the world forever into darkness. And I didn't want him to be quite that naive, for he was chosen for this task because he was the most promising of the youths and I did not want to condescend so to the ancestors. Nor did I want to have them live, even in story, in a world where the gods are such accountants or where miracles are so convenient. It is perhaps a fairytale, and yet the brilliance of the bonfire seemed to pass over the glory of the dawn. There is mercy and magic in this world without cheap theatrics. And so the story changed in my telling, bit by bit.

The young man, realizing that his coals were dead, turned out the charcoal and ashes from his horn on the ground, searching among them for a spark from which he could kindle a blaze, but in vain. The ash was grey, the charcoal black, and there was only a memory of warmth with them, which passed swiftly in the chill night air.

And yet then, I wondered, what was the point? He gave his coals away, and didn't light the fire. He sat by the fire all through the night, too proud and too ashamed to go back to his people and admit his failure. And the Sun came up anyway. Was I saying the ritual didn't matter? That his acts were of no importance? That wasn't the story I wanted to tell. What he did was intensely important, for all that the world didn't grant him a simple, easy-to-understand reward or accolade.

But there is magic and reward aplenty in the world, for those who can find them. I wondered how it would be to sit shivering beside a pile of wood through the last hours of a winter's night, unable to light it. Even though the Sun would rise, long before then his people would see the hill, still dark, and know he had failed. I thought of him beginning to curse the people he had helped, blaming them for their own need and his humiliation. And in that, I found my end to the story.

But then, away from the cold of midwinter, he felt in himself a small flame. Not kindled by their hands, but by his. This was not the end he sought, sitting alone on a hill in the dark. But this was the path he had chosen, chosen when he had stopped to help those that were in need. He had thought his help would be easy to give, and would cost him nothing more than a minute or two that he could quickly regain with his long legs. But if he had known the cost, would he have chosen otherwise?

Would it have been better to make another choice?

Far off in the East, the stars were fading, the sky barely, almost imperceptibly lightening. He sat there on the hilltop, watching the sky brighten into dawn. There is, he knew then, mercy in the world. And it came to him that he was part of it.

He was chosen because he was the swiftest, but he walked back slowly that winter morning. He came back a humbler man, and a wiser one, wondering how he would tell this strange story, for he had failed, and yet that failure had become a gift to him.

At Yule, we gather and make light for ourselves and celebrate with feast and song, for this is the longest, darkest night, and we are still alive and have the courage to sing against the dark. It is easy to gloss over the long dark of winter these days, and yet even for those of us who love the night I think it is important to acknowledge the power the night and winter hold.

Do you think that as a pagan, with a chest full of candles, you are well-prepared for darkness? Try going a few days without artificial light. Candles are wonderful to eat and converse by, but even fairly bright oil lamps leave a lot to be desired when it comes to reading, washing dishes, finding one's glasses or other more detailed work. We have sometimes lost power for several days, always in the winter. Even though we are well-equipped with lamps and our wood-burning stove and oven, after a few days I find myself wishing the Sun would set later and spare us a little longer from the oppression of darkness. And yet we do not feel winter in our bones the way many of our ancestors must have.

But even if the tangible cold and darkness of winter are mostly metaphors for us, in each of our lives there are winters, and long nights, and periods of darkness. Yule is about surviving. Sometimes it is about singing against the dark, sometimes it is about the light that we make for ourselves. Sometimes it's about clenching your teeth and sitting the long night with your failures. But more than anything, Yule is about seasons and turnings and changes. If we survive the night -- and most of us do, most of the time, even if none of us will forever -- there will always be dawn, and a new day.

Friday night

2008-11-14T15:10:00.000-08:00

It's a rainy couple of days. Mike's starting a fire in the fireplace. We're chilling out, reading books, listening to some good techno, petting the furkids.

Work's been busy, thankfully. It's a lot less stressful when it's busy. I had a realization after I got home today about the last person I helped this week. She was one of those who insist on being on the phone with you the whole time, and she was a know it all. She was nice, but sooo annoying. I realized that if she had not been such a whining know-it-all, constantly asking me questions about everything, that I would have given her better treatment, and probably end up saving her hours of her time next week. So, remember this people, the next time you have to call tech support. We need our space, and we like it when you have enough confidence in our abilities to shut up and let us do our job. Speaking of my job, I'd like to say to the universe that I hate it, HATE it, when I have to work on pc issues after hours. I'm just saying.

I just finished a book that I started my last few days in Aruba. "The Alienist". It was okay. Dragged for a while at first. But it was based on a lot of fact, and I like novels like that. One such novel that I reeeaaallly love is called "Pirate Hunter". Who knew Captain Kid was not a pirate? Highly recommended, there was a lot of research put into that book and it shows. Just picked up "The Black Swan", written in the early 1950s by Thomas Mann. Short book (unlike the Alienist, whew!)

Wish us luck as tomorrow we're going to go out in search of our Yule tree. Yay!! Everyone starts after Thanksgiving, but no way do we want to wait that long. We kinda 'missed' Samhain this year. I was sick and just never caught the vibe. First time in my life that happened. So I'm all kinds of amped up over Yule. It falls on the weekend, too, so the party will be very, very traditional. We'll all stay up the whole night keeping the fire going, and welcome back the light. There will be food galore. I can't wait! :)

OK. That's it for now.

Obama rocks my socks, bitches!

2008-11-09T11:43:00.000-08:00

I feel like a born again Obama fan these days. I'm so glad I bought the ticket and am taking the ride.

Obama reviews Bush orders on stem cells, drilling

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 12 mins ago

Obama, FOR THE WIN!!! YAY!!!!!

2008-11-05T10:25:00.000-08:00

Well how about them apples? I can't describe the feeling I have today. I totally bought the ticket and took the ride and supported Obama. And now, oh my god. It truely is a wonderful thing that happened last night. I want to high five everyone who I pass in the halls. I want to be like "WHOOHOO!!!" I can't freaking WAIT for Bush to get the hell out of the White House.

Perhaps this is the beginning of the end of far right religious nutballs, of the huge wave of racial hatred by ignorant white nitwits, and the beginning of equality for all. Spread the wealth, Obama. I'm not afraid. I WANT my fellow countrymen and women to all have health care, and decent education. HELL YES WE CAN.

the Election

2008-11-03T08:25:00.000-08:00

As much as I know better than to read any news articles today speculating on the outcome tomorrow.... well I am human and I am curious. And I am nervous.

I see reports everywhere on how McCain is narrowing Obama's lead. I see how the wealthy and the ignorant are rearing their clueless heads.

Nauseated. If McCain and his proud and willfully ignorant ditzbag VP win tomorrow, all hope will be lost.

And I might join in with the rioting in the streets. After all there will be nothing to lose.

Sickness, election, job is lame and whatever else comes to mind...

2008-10-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

I have not had a full night of sleep in a week. Nyquil is not really working anymore. I am living in the twilight zone at work. It's kinda fun. Welllll no, not fun, just different. And different, here in crappy green cube partition/grey concrete walls/brown carpeting/no windows world, is always welcome.

Remember how I was saying my job is lame? It's still lame. LOL. I've spent the last half hour dealing with a woman whose email account is FOUR TIMES its maximum size. And she wonders why she can't send, receive or delete mail. SO I have to hold her baby hand and walk her thru basic email maintenance. What nearly drove me over the edge is that she was about to 'archive' 10 GIGS worth of back and forth emails having to do with the upcoming election. Is that work critical??? Will those emails be summoned in a potential future audit??? WILL IT????

No.

Speaking of election. I'm stoked to see Obama's 30 minute infomercial tonight. I was very leary of his unprecedented fund raising power at first. But now I'm rolling with it. I have, in effect, taken my hero's advice- I have bought the ticket and am taking the ride. Hell if Hillary was our candidate (*sigh* I wish she were), and had all this moola I'd be hella-stoked. And McCain is a sore loser about it. I wish he'd get the hell out of the way already. But I suppose I can wait another what, 7 days? Do I have a choice?

What scares me most is the racists narrowminded nutbags. And perhaps the Evangelicals. Well they ALWAYS scare me. They have no problem killing in war for oil but can't tolerate abortion from rape or incest. But wait let me stay above a certain level here. Where was I? Oh yes, nutbags. When Obama gets elected there will be high anxiety. Ingorance is rampant in this country, and although he is only half black- hell he's part Irish!!- there will be plenty of douchebags wanting him dead thanks to his skin color. Hell there might be plenty of joe the plumbers who are too damn stupid to realize his economic plans actually BENEFIT him. I fear for Obama's life. And for our country's general safety and sanity should an attempt be made on it.

Willfull ignorance. That's the biggest hurdle to humankind. Pride. Blind faith in a book written by greedy men. Greed. They all come 2nd to Willfull Ignorance. The current administration has really played up fear to the willfull ignorant.

But in the simple yet very sage words of my Dad, "You're dealing with people, and people are going to let you down." Gosh such honest, straight up words of simple fact. I have to remind myself of that when I get bent out of shape over people who think global warming is a myth. Who think that our country is safer thanks to the W. Who forget history and fear we may turn 'socialist'. Who think that Obama is Muslim. Who 'are just not ready for a black man in office'. Who want to 'drill baby, drill' instead of boosting alternative, renewable energy resources. People suck and as much as I remember and harp on this, I often forget this very fact.

OK. Enough of this. Let's get on with happy thoughts.

We bought the jerks new dog beds, they arrived yesterday. Misha, who just turned 8 last week, suffers aches and pains from time to time. She has an orthopedic bed (well, 2), but we think she'll really benefit from this new one. Take a look.

Hard to tell she's a 70lb Doberman isn't it? hahaa

My job is lame

2008-10-21T14:20:00.001-07:00

I'm starting this blog with no real direction. Only Mark will read it though, hehe.

I'm sitting here watching this install of this LaserJet 3050 take it's sweet time, threatening to fail again. It's on this woman's pc who works from home, she lives in North Carolina. These 3050s are the bain of our (remote support group) existance.

My job is lame. Super lame. This is lame. Watching a printer install fail for the 2nd time. Knowing that it might fail a 3rd time. This translates into bad efficiency ratings for me, because The Man here tracks everything by numbers. Who cares that my customer service rating is darn near perfect every month? That won't get me a raise. I work for the crappiest health care company on the planet, just ask Michael Moore. They want their share holders to be happy. That's about it.

Anyway, so my job is lame. I never did like my career, though I've been in it for 11+ years (well besides the couple years I tried to get into other career paths). So perhaps you've heard I've got tattoo artist as a goal. Tonight I'm going to spend as much time tracing as I can. Figure that would be nice to have in my art portfolio. Can't be a good tattoo artist if you can't trace! But I may never get home tonight to do so. Because of this 3050. I hate these things.

Oh good. it failed again. She'll just have to wait until tomorrow for us to attempt this futility for the third time. Geri's gotta go work on her chances of getting out of this career. :)

But wait, here's a few pics from our trip to the MD Ren Fest last Saturday:

Here we have Chicks on Stilts.

Mike and I:

Kevin, on stage in an interactive comedy show, LOL:

And the group we hung out with all day, tailgating afterwards, waiting for the huge crowd to filter out of the parking lot:

Thank you, and goodnight.

TeamFun goes to Aruba, week 2

2008-10-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

Sun. Sept. 21- We headed to the Ostrich farm for their Brunch that Giselle recommended. It's a good deal, however we asked no questions about it, and were disappointed to learn there's no ostrich served. So we ordered some sashimi.

After we ate we hung out a bit with Giselle and Glenn again, and Glenn was so sweet, he took us out to the farm so I coul dsit on an ostrich! LOL I was soooo looking forward to it, so we got to do it without taking the tour! :) Yay!

After brunch we headed to Champions to catch the New England game. On the way there I was totally click happy in the passenger seat. Here's a few:

So, right, back to the story. The game was so pathetic we left at halftime. OMG there was this commercial that would play on every commercial break, and it was the only one that played, and it drove all of us nuts! So much so that I HAD to take a picture of it, LOL!

As we were leaving we came across the biggest iguana we saw all week:

We headed to the open market, and there we picked up the painting we saw last week and decided we definitely wanted. Got a good price on it. Headed back to the room to drop off our booty and headed back downtown for a light dinner at the Paddock. I have really missed this place since coming home. :(

I have emailed them asking for their recipe for their fish soup, but I don't expect it. I'm sure they'll get a good laugh over the request LOL.

Afterward we walked around downtown. It's a bit surreal walking around Oranjestad on Sundays. It's so quiet.

As the sun was about to set, we scouted out a place to watch it, even though it was cloudy. Found a sweet spot out on some rocks at the water.

I love this spot, it reminds me of Maine.. a bit of Maine in Aruba :)

Afterward we headed back to the Paddock for a double espresso and split a pistachio gellato from a place near the Paddock. :)

Fat and blissfully happy, we headed back to the room to watch a game and chillout. My knee was super swollen and all my arthritis was kicking- I think it was the 16,000 Balashis I drank on Friday. Got some reading done too, a great book I picked up at the ABC's member swap library- "The Wheel of Darkness".

Monday 9/22 - This is a very special day for me. For us. I love to celebrate the anniversary of when Mike proposed. Tradition is we go out to a great dinner. Well other fun got in the way so we didn't get our nice meal until Wed- The Old Man and the Sea resto- but hey, we caught the sunrise :) Yay!! The picture at the top of ths particular blog is from that morning. We have SO many gorgeous pics from that sunrise that I made an album soley for it on webshots, so you can see them all here: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/567945978HENjRd?vhost=good-times However I have uploaded an Awesome video of it here, but the formatting is a pain so it's at the very bottom of this blog. Here's a pic to tide you over

We rode out to the lighthouse area to catch this sunrise. We did some off roading for a few hours afterward, then headed back to the hotel to get breakfast, which we ate at Tortuga resto (I had eggs Benedict, Mike got a waffle, everything was superbly delish!), and we packed up a cooler
complete with tequila and oj, and headed back out to go 4wheeling on the North side for the rest of the day.
We had a blast.... but the Jeep was making very unusual and alarming noises after a while so we cut it a little short (only by an hour or so). We took another 16 thousand pics.

Oh and we stopped by the Alta Vista chapel, where we met a nice couple (Cubs Fans)(teehee).
We recommended the Savannah lodge bar at the Ostrich farm, found out they went, asked for Giselle and had a fantastic time. :) Yay!

On our travels we came across this firepit setup, like in the middle of 'nowhere'. I had the feeling it was set up for an earth based type of celebration ritual but that's just my gut feeling. Who knows. It was cool though.

And then this place, do you think anyone ever lived here?

Check this out, can you see the swimmer? What a perfect swimming spot to call your own. Bet there's some awesome snorkeling there, too.

Nice view while offroading, yes? Oh my, let me tell you, these pictures do no justice for just how much you need 4wheel drive and lots of clearance. Can't imagine going back to Aruba and NOT getting a Wrangler again.

Hey, see the goats?

We came across this place, got lots of good pics while we hung around at this spot.

Take for instance this cool shot. I like the rocks at this beach, reminds me of Jasper Beach in downeast Maine. (I feel like that tootsie roll commercial, "whatever it is I think I see, becomes Maine to me!" haha....

Alright I think I'll ease up on the offroading pics for now, especially since we spent a whole other day doing this, so there's more to come anyway LOL. Making our way back, we accidentally found Veradero again! LOL Here's a pic, this time it was daytime. And, we were able to determine that it is near the old airport (well, old and new are next to each other...) Oh and check this out, we drove past Joe, the guy we bought the painting from, near Veradero (we were driving around, checking out the neighborhoods, and life and such). He had his family with him or we'd have gotten a beer (or 2 or 3) together. Nice guy. :)

We had dinner that night at Jamaica Me Crazy, the jerk chicken and red beans & rice. SOOOO GOOOD!! I wish we had something like this at home. By the time we got there, I was feeling PRETTY good. LOL can you tell by this pic of Danny and I? I had to post the funny one of Danny, making silly pose. And we had a nice long conversation with the woman who works there, but darn it we can't remember her name for the life of us! BOOO. We bought her a drink, she was delighted! teeheee...

We went back to hotel to shower and clean up, then back out to meet Danny at Mombas, I think that's what it's called. It is a nightclub right downtown. Totally NOT our scene, the music was stupid loud, there was not even a crowd to warrant the volume level in anyway. But we met some of Danny's friends and had great (sreaming) conversations LOL. he has some very interesting and intelligent friends with wide variety of interests. Hotdamn did I mention I love the people of Aruba? LOL :) We then headed to the casino, where for the first time ever, Mike won pretty big at blackjack, in like half hour's time. Not big big, but big for us. LOL.
Called it kind of an early night. A day four wheeling in the desert with the top down will really take it out of ya!

Tuesday Sept 23. Beach Day!!! Carbo even joined us today. Here he is, watching the far off (at that point) approaching storm.

It was an AWESOME DAY. For many reasons, one unexpected completely. But I'll get to that. There was a storm that approached from the horizon. See the tradewinds reliably blow from like northeast to southwest-ish. This day they were opposite, and we could see the storm approaching. We guessed 5 minutes until pourdown at one point, so we stashed our belongings under the palapa and headed to the bar for lunch (perfect timing, it was noon, and happy hour #1 of the day is noon to 1). We were right. 5 min later it POURED, lightening like crazy, insane winds. 40 minutes later it was completely dry and sunny. LOVE IT. The waves all day were NUTS! We went in for about 10 minutes, I was okay but suddenly felt panicky and high-tailed it out, LOL. I have been reading too many books based on tragedy at sea with drownings and near drownings and such. Wonderful to hear those waves crashing though. Check out the video of the kid surf boarding, this was the best one, we saw that group of kids probably 3 different days.
While we were at lunch barely under cover at the pool bar (it's not 'in' the pool, right next to it rather) as the stormed passed, this guy Ed struck up a conversation with me. He's a tattoo shop owner from NH- Ed's Heritage Tattoo. He gave me all sorts of excellent advice for persuing my goal of becoming a tattoo artist. He gave me frank, upfront, no bs advice. It was SUCH a blessing. I've acted on his advice already and I am very happy about it all. I mean I've gotten lots of advice before, but you know what the big difference is? Everyone else said "Do XYandZ, even though I didn't." What kind of advice is that, ya know? Anyway. It was a huge blessing.

That night Ludo and Giselle treated us to dinner. They wanted to know what we wanted to eat, we said "Local!!" and so they took us to their favorite Chinese resto. Which is funny. But Ludo explained that they cook with a more Indonesian flair and, as they cook for mostly Dutch people, it's also got a heavy Dutch flair. Ludo ordered for us all. It was all DELISH.

One thing that stands out in particular was the peanut sauce for the chicken on a stick.... oh. my. WORD. Never have tasted a better peanut sauce.

Afterward we went to Pink Flamingo. Lang was working again. As usual, Giselle and I sat at the bar and kabitzed and went thru Old Par after Old Par (a whiskey brewed on the island), while Mike and Ludo and others drank beers and played pool. Lang is a great guy, he even asked about us the next time they were in, even though Lang speaks not a word of English! teehee! While we were there, a friend of Giselle's popped in, Peter Paul. He's a family Dr. on the island. He invited us to his house on Thursday for a cookout. He's got a house on his own private beach in Savaneta.

Wed. Sept 24th- Sunshiney beach day, Yay!!!!
Here's us, doing our Beach and Balashi thing, lol...

And here's a video I took to take me back to that day whenever I need to retreat.

That night we headed to Old Man and the Sea for dinner. I told them when I made the reservation that it was our anniversary. We had reservations originally for Monday, which IS an anniversary we celebrate with verve every year. When they found it what exactly it was we were celebrating we got lots of 'aawweees and ohhhh isn't that sweeeeeet' comments, LOL. Yes, yes it is. We love it. I love celebrating our marriage. :) Anywayz, the restaurant. OH. MY. GOODNESS. From the moment you walk in, you feel pampered.
We got there early, as we expected the place to be nice and wanted to soak in the atmosphere. We figured we'd be sitting at a bar, but they have this wooonnnderful lounge area.

I personally could have just sat there all night and drank champagne and been blissfully happy.

There is a ton of privacy between the 2 seaters on the water, thanks to wonderful, perfectly placed foilage. The tiki torches they lite did a wonderful job getting rid of the bugs. The view spectacular, the service was slow, but they worked as a true team and the one waiter did say that evening was the busyiest they have had since they opened. We didn't care, I told him to just keep the champagne coming... LOL we went thru 2 bottles.
Check this out, the nicest table for 4 I have ever seen in my life:

Here's a pic of us finishing up our 2nd bottle LOL
Three cheers for timer delay ;-)
OK Honestly I could post ALL the pics from this restaurant but I'll stop there, haha. We had this shrimp bruchetta type appetizer, a bowl of fish soup (it's better at the Paddock haha), and we both got grouper. I got the macadamia encrusted and Mike got....... yep I still can't remember. Both were good. We ordered desert, too, a rarity. It was a type of flan and it was out of this world.

Thurs Sept 25. We went four wheeling allll day, up until our plans to meet at Peter Paul's house in Savaneta for the cookout at 4pm. We went to the Natural pool and I'm so glad I did. Yeah it was crowded but it really is pretty awesome. Oh and perhaps you've heard that you NEED a 4 wheel drive vehicle to get there? That is no exaggeration. It was hairy at a few places.

We struck up a conversation with a tour guide there, he was giving us lots of pointers, we shared many laughs, and when done I said "Masha Danke, Dushi" and he did a double take and smiled and said "Where'd you learn that?!" I said Giselle and that's when he told us he was her neighbor. Small word, small island!

Here's a cool pic of the landscape scenery down by the natural pool.

When we left, we just drove all around, trying to find an alternate way from where we came from to get to the natural pool. Our next stop we wanted to be Boca Prins, and hence the bar there ;-) Well. We drove all over. And it was HOT. And we came upon a few dead ends. We were totally stoked when we came across this:

Only it ended in a road block saying road closed due to construction!! There was no signs of anything going on. :( boooo

I don't remember where or how but someway we found our way out, YAY! I could see the Balashi plant in the distance, so we knew we'd not have a problem finding our way to Peter Paul's house, too. We were so thristy and drained. Lo and behold,

Mike said "What is this place?" To which I answered: "Don't know, but they're open and I bet they have Balashi!" I was right YAY! Not only that, but a little shop with original (extremely well priced and very nice) artwork, even the tshirts! And the artists were the family who lived there and ran the place, the grandmother, who we met, and her daughter who we spoke with at length about politics here and on the island, life in general, and get this- she loves Maine!! What are the odds? She says her heart is there (Oh I was wearing an Acadia hat, which prompted her to ask about it). I can't remember her name!! It's driving me nuts. The grandma is Dora. Here's Dora with her daughter and the oldest son:

They were SUCH warm people. If we didn't have plans we would have stayed there another hour. She has fresh coconuts you can drink with a straw there, so stop by! LOL Oh and she offered us some of her home made brocolli soup, we just had a tasting of it since we were heading to a cookout. MAN it was good. She showed us the herb she grows and cooks with a lot, it was soft, smelled kinda like basil only different, and was a brighter green. Can't remember the name of it.

So off to Peter Pauls. We went to Zeerovers since he lives a few houses up from it, and that's where we were to meet Giselle and Ludo. We were feeling really chill, but not as chill as the puppy there.... haha...

Peter Paul's place was the BOMB. Here's some pics of the patio, and the beach, and pier.

Mike and PeterPaul totally bonded over garlic and fish filets, LOL. They did the cooking. Here's the fire on the beach our fish was cooked on.

We all went swimming for an hour or so, watched the sunset,
had a good meal and then some drinks and lots of laughs. We could not believe our luck at meeting not only such super cool people, but a Dr. with a fat pad who wanted us to join him and friends for a cookout. OMG are you kidding me??? Sooo Sweeeeeet....

So afterwards the four of us hit Lang's place, the Flamingo. LOL :) I finally got a pic of Lang! Yay!!

Friday was a beach day. It was, by far without a doubt, the hottest day of our vacation. Water was perfect. Giselle joined us for our beach day. :) We had pizza bob's for lunch (had to, we love it!!) LOL We packed after the beach, cleaned up and met Giselle and Ludo at Zeerovers for one last hangout. I tried the souce (sp?)- it is a pork ceviche, a very typical Caribbean food, so they told me. I saw tables of people eating it. OH MY it was SOOO nasty! I could not finish even half of it. Unfortunately, I was feeling extremely rundown. I could not hang. Everyone wanted to go to Lang's place, but I mean I was not even on fumes, I was completely empty. :( So we said farewell. It sucks!!!

The next morning all went well in our car return and airport stuff. A delay at our stopover in Miami, where I met up with an old coworker who Mike and I befriended, Bill. Had not seen him in like 3 years. He was boarding the same plane, how cool!

OH didn't tell about the Jeep ordeal. We called Ricky the morning after our 1st Jeep started making crazy noises. He brought a replacement Jeep up. So from the time I called to the time he left the ABC parking lot, leaving us with an even better Jeep, was about an hour. Top notch service!!

Well, that's it folks. I hope you felt like you just had a mini vacation. I wanted to get all I could in, so that I can take myself back in the middle of any given stressful, or boring, workday. :)

Next year, we have our sights on Ireland........

TeamFun goes to Aruba 2008

2008-10-05T08:36:00.000-07:00

Last October we started saving for our first 2 week vacation ever. We set our sights on Aruba in September... kids are in school- so not there- and Aruba's out of the hurricane belt. Cheap airfare, cheaper room rates. Perfect! Bought the plane tix in Feb and in March rented 2 weeks at a timeshare (Aruba Beach Club, aka ABC http://www.arubabeachclub.net/) right on the beach next door to where we stayed our last visit. Manchebo beach, the most beautiful beach I've ever been to (and I've been to a lot!). By June we had secured a Wrangler for our stay.

We left Sat Sept 13. USAir, no problems and no charge for baggage. First in line thru immigrations at the airport, too. Whoohoo! On the drive to the timeshare, everything was familiar. It was a great feeling. Dropped the bags off did a little bit of unpacking, then off to the grocery store to stock up on beer, coffee, Dutch cheeses, fruit, salad fixings and more beer. We'd already scored big at Duty Free on our stop over in Charlotte. ;-)

Mike woke us up super early (6am) on Sun 14th. Made coffee... but uh oh.... coffee pot broken! Gah! Called housekeeping, left message, then front desk, no housekeeping in. Went over to Dushi Bagels, this little bagel and coffee shop just behind the ABC, got 2 large coffees, and my goodness it was sooo aweful!! I imagine it was sewage, not coffee. Back at the room cooked up some breakfast, then finally around 9am we gave up the wait and hit the beach, cooler full of Balashi & kiwi.

Speaking of Balashi, http://www.balashi.com let me just say we LOVE THIS STUFF. It's brewed on the island, right next to the world's biggest desalination plant. So in essense, you're drinking the Caribbean when you drink Balashi! LOL! In fact, in the native language, Papiamento, Balashi means 'our water'. Cool huh? (and Papiamento translates to 'talk much', hehe). This pic of me holding a bottle was taken on the north side of the island, but where was I... Right okay first day at the beach. I wrote out a zillion post cards and we went swimming about 100 times. The water was much warmer than it was on our last visit, which was over 06/07 New Years. It was absolutely spectacular. Even Carbo enjoyed himself.

We had Palapa 27 all but one beach day. We were very fond of that particular spot. That day we left the beach around noonish in search of football. We first tried the Alhambra casino, which sits behind the ABC. It's a craptastic casino, there's like zero ventilation. But they only had the Giants game. We ended up at the Hyatt in the 'high rise area'. We much prefer the 'low rise area' where we stay, the beaches are far superior, there are waaaaaay less people, and you can get a palapa at any time with no hassle (or fee). Of course the grounds at the Hyatt were gorgeous and extravagant, as was the darn bar bill!!! We met a couple from Chicago celebrating their 1st wedding anniversary and had a good time hanging with them watching the Giants. We didn't find New England or the Bears and we didn't stay for more than the first game. That day Zambrano pitched the Cub's first no hitter in 36 years, yay! Left there and headed to Jamaica Me Crazy in search of a friend we made last time, but they were closed, so we hit the open market that happens on Sat and Sun. Mike got me this gorgeous, wonderful, awesome white dress, that was such a perfect fit I cried when I put it on (I had lost 23lbs since Feb, so I was extra stoked). We found a painting also from a local artist that we really liked, but decided to hold off until the next weekend to make sure we wanted it (and we did, and we got it, LOL). Joe (the guy selling the artwork) said that the artist lives in San Nicholas. I had just read "An Island Away" which is a novel that takes place on Aruba, mostly in San Nicholas, so off we went that night to check it out. There's a bar there that's a sort of legendary tourist spot, Charlies Bar. Well that was closed too. D*&n Sundays! LOL Prostitution is legal on Aruba, but really it's only 'tolerated' in San Nicholas, so you can imagine us driving around after dark getting lost in this town, haha. Got a cool shot of Charlies Bar and the moon though. Mike was a bit nervous driving around San Nicholas at night, but I had some nerve in me after reading the book. I did not feel threatened. Of course even so, I'm glad our Jeep didn't break down or anything, hahaa!
On the way back, driving around kinda lost but at least knowing we were heading in the right direction (aka: ocean is on our left, LOL), we ended up at a bar that was so local, the employees spoke only a couple of English words. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is just crazy for the island, as most natives speak three languages, and a good many speak 4, 5, and 6 languages! The place was called Vadero (or Veradero?), and it was a marina bar. We met a woman named Deta who was really cool, we had great conversation with her, she translated for us, and the food was excellent. We split a conch entree, in this wonderful sauce. We tipped too much, since they gave us Florins as change for our American dollars, and we were not yet used to the exchange rate. haha, oh well. At least we made the mistake in thier favor, they were good people.
We stopped at Pinchos bar/restaurant on the way back. It's on a pier off of a beach. Nice nice place, but we just stopped for a couple drinks. The owner approached us, since we asked for 1800- which they didn't have- turns out she's looking to increase her tequila selection and so she asked us all about our tequila tastes. Seems that she's leaning more toward Patron. Oh well what can you do.
Monday Sept 15, it was a wonderful day. We spent the whole day, like 9am till 4pm, on the beach. We had lunch at Tortuga's, the pool bar at ABC. We got pan fried grouper atop cesear salad, with home made dressing. People, I exaggerate not one bit when I say this was the best ceasar salad I have ever had, and the most impressive dressing EVER. And WHO KNEW grouper was so freakin' awesome??! Here are some more pics from that wonderful day.....

Like here's our typical breakfast spot, on our balcony (we had a gas stove top to cook on) Here's me sporting the gorgeous new wrap Mike got for me at the open market. Let me tell you, I was sorta bummed that I did not lose all the weight I wanted to for this trip, but I was very content with my body and that really makes everything better. Thank the Goddess for Weight Watchers!!! Yay!!!!

So at 4pm that day we left the beach to clean up and then walk the 1.3 (or so, hah!) miles up the beach to the Amsterdam Manor Beach bar, as every Monday there's a Bulletin Board happy hour party there. See, I am a member of aruba-bb.com, where all involved are smitten to the extreme with the island, and that's almost all we talk about. It's been an extremely valuable resource in our planning. One example is the advice for the Jeep rental place. The price wa excellent, ya know? So I asked about the whole ordeal. True to word, Ricky at More For Less rentals was top notch. More on that later. Here's a sweet sunset pic from that happy hour. Oh and by the way it was a fantastic walk up the beach and back. Here's one of my favorite pics of Mike ever, taken on that walk back.

In fact on the way back, we passed by a small but festive and somewhat formal wedding happening at the Bucuti resort and shouted out to the bride and groom. Smiles galore. We met a very cool couple at that party, Tom and forgive me but I can't think of her name. They're from Ohio. I swear we could have kibitzed the night away with them. No pics of them, opps our bad. Once back we headed to a place for dinner that we obsessed about ever since we left last time, and you're gonna think we're crazy but here goes. Pizza Bob's. Yeah I said it. It's in walking distance, and the pizza is right up there with what I have had all over Italy, and NY and NJ. Oddly the owner is from Chicago, so even though he makes much more of a NY style pizza, he insists on cutting a circular pie into squares. Like, that is the most a$$backwards thing in the world LOL. But don't get me started, retarted. Here's some Pizza Bob's love pics: Oh, another thing we did that day was make reservations at Spa del Sol at Manchebo for a couples massage and body mud wraps for the next day. Total heavenly wonderfulness it was.
A cool bit of trivia about that spa, well sorta, is that yes it's an open air spa on the beach, but all the area in front of it all the way to the water is totally cleared. That's because it is a sea turtle nesting ground. So yeah, you can catch hatch lings fighting for their lives after hatching making their way to the sea. As an added bennie you have total peace while you're enjoying your treatment. Before our massages, we hung out in the hot tub. I know you're probably thinking 'hot tub??' ...the temp was set at something like 95, and the way it is situated, as you sit, all you see is a bit of sand and then the Caribbean. Just spectacular. Then we hit their steam room, which had eucalyptus kicking. And it was high quality, pure stuff. I could have stayed in that room for hours, ya know? So that spa visit was on Tuesday, after a morning at the beach. It was wonderful. Unfortunately, we cleaned up to head out to Blossoms for Sushi, I located in the highrise area. What a crap hotel. And mein Gott! That was the WORST sushi meal EVER on earth, and it was grossly overpriced. Again another odd one out, because it's hard to find food that horrible in Aruba, LOL!
On the way back we stopped at Ling and Sons grocery store, great place. Picked up a ton more beer, and some marinated grouper filets to cook up at the time share the next day or so. We got more SPF too, as we both had a bit of a burn here and there.
SOOO the next day, Wed, we started the day with a good 45min swim in the sea. We then headed to our favorite place on the island, and again you're gonna think we're nuts. The Ostrich farm!! Yay!!!!! Ostrich are cool beans. But they also have the COOLEST SHOP on the island. The owners are from South Africa, and every single thing in there is hand made art from Zimbabwe. We spent tons there last trip, and kept up the tradition this trip. The bar restaurant there is just perfect. And that's an understatement. Here's a pic from the bar area: It's inviting, and has a great breeze and view of the ocean from up high.
And here, Ladies and Gentlemen, is where our trip took the unexpected turn for the supremely awesome and blessed. First of all, we got there early in order to eat lunch (yay, eating ostrich), and then take the tour. Wanted so bad to sit on an ostrich again, it's an experience you cannot describe, as they hug you with their wings. They are supremely strong creatures and very, very soft. We ate Ostrich sashimi (yes you read that right, here's a pic) We sat down next to- get this- the same guy, Glenn, who was our tour guide on our last trip! Great guy. He's a... or was a.. biochemical engineer, traveled the world for business, worked 80 hour work weeks, and a few years back said 'you know what, this sucks." He made a plan, sold most everything he owned, and moved his happy butt to Aruba. And has not regretted it for a second. So to top this off, the bartender, Giselle, was a very engageing and warm woman. So, what, four and a half hours later we're still at the bar, we've not taken the tour, we've drank a case of Balashi between us plus several espressos, LOL, and left the place with contact info from Giselle. Turns out her husband is the chief dispatch officer for the Aruba police, and because of their schedules they only have Fridays off together. They start at about 10am on Friday and bar hop around the island to all the local places (of course), and she had invited us to join them! Claiming that we were totally her kind of people. YAY!!!!! Giselle grew up in Aruba. Her mother is a Curacao Indian (for those who don't know, the Dutch islands are known as the ABC islands, consisting of Aruba, Bonair and Curacao). Her father is from Holland, and was a cop, who moved to Curacao to work, where he met her mother, and they moved to Aruba. Giselle's husband, Ludo, grew up in Holland, moved to Aruba where he met Giselle. Had we not met Giselle and hit it off so well, our vacation would have been a completely, totally different experience. But more on that later ;-)

Leaving the Savanna Lodge (the Ostrich farm's bar), we ventured off for some off roading, which is easy to find since half the island is Arikok National park that cannot be explored without 4WD. It was excellent. And check it out I totally struck gold with blue sea glass (not easy to find). We experienced many many bliss attacks this trip, and here's a good pic of one of them. Then back to the room to clean up, as we had plans to meet more aruba-bb people at another beach/pier bar. Bernard showed us his room, very nice (hah, he got a fancy room due to so many previous trips there and all the money he has spent at the onsite casino). Then we went to the casino where Mike made a desposit at the blackjack table. I was sooo ready to call it a night, I felt sick from exhaustion. Nice casino though, excellent ventilation and nice staff. Finally back at the room, me feeling like crap, I popped some vitamins, and Mike went for some Pizza Bob's carryout. It was amazing how much better I felt after a couple slices! LOL

The next morning, it had rained overnight, and it didn't look promising for the day. So, I went to the gym (yeah, can you believe it??) and then we got cleaned up and headed out, figuring we'd spend the day in downtown Oranjestad, and see where the day took us. Of course as we were walking to our Jeep from the room the sun came out, hahaha, but we were content with our plans. We stumbled upon this cool coffee shop. Turns out it's connected to where they roast the beans. GOOD coffee. We even splurged on a sweet, which is rare.

From there we went downtown and parked by the, not sure how to call them, they're like an open market on the main street by the water, so if you're on a cruise ship that's the first thing you see. Thank the heavens there were no cruise ships in town that day. Don't get me started on the abject disgusting depravity of the cruise ship mentality. Yeah so anyway, we did a bit of shopping, Mike found the perfect necklace for Marcy, who was staying at our place the whole time caring for our furbrats :). We stopped at the Paddock, this totally Dutch bar.
It is right on the water, and every single employee is a Holland transplant. Ladies and Gentlemen, I LOVE THE DUTCH. They are really awesome people. Even despite their taste in silly 80's fab techno music hahaaa ;-) Yeah so even if you still didn't catch on that the place was a Dutch bar, there's a gigantic wooden shoe on the wall outside that should clue you in hahaa

And you have GOT to love thier sense of humor, take for instance the clock on the wall:

Priceless. (and as an aside, every single local we spoke with, and we spoke with a very many of them, desperately don't want McCain and totally hate Bush. But who doesn't?)

Anyway where was I. OH MY GOODNESS this restaurant had the best Caribbean fish soup I tried on this trip.

I absolutely MUST know how to make this soup. It is insanely good. Oh and what's that bread thing next to it you ask? Unbelievably fresh french bread with toasted fresh Gouda cheese melted atop with pesto. HEAVEN. HEV. AN.

So after that we wandered around some more and decided to pop back into Iguana Joe's again to see if our 'old friend' Alberto was working. He served us last year and he's a totally great guy. Makes awesome drinks. Well, Voila!!

And here is where I had my only froo froo drinks (I think) the whole trip. Because I mean, they are powerful and delish w/o gobs of sugar. And served in half a caraf!! LOL

See the green stuff? Cactus Culada. It's no longer on the menu but was my favorite thing last time. So he made us some, what a sweetie. Would have ordered a whole one but hahah well, we were feeling pretty good already. ;-)

From there we watched the sunset at a random peaceful spot just off the road, and headed to Jamaica Me Krazy to see if our old friend was around. He was! Yay! :) Oh my word I remember demonstrating to him my total dork reaction to meeting Stephen and Damian Marley, LOL. Danny's a total sweetheart. He's a DJ and his dad is the Jamaican consolate to Aruba. Danny gets to meet all the famous musicians who come to the island, there are pics all over the restaurant. We got some beans and rice (cause it's so good and we didnt have room for their insanely good jerk chicken) and we discovered probably the best hot sauce on the planet:
But alas, it was not for sale, and Danny even checked to see if they had any unopened bottles, they didn't.

So we headed back to the hotel eventually and went swimming in the sea at night, which really freaked Mike out. I had asked the 'security' guy if there were ever any shark attacks, he said in all the 17 years he's been there he's never heard of one. Then we laid out, listening to the waves, watching the stars, and totally fell asleep. GOSH it was relaxing.

....but not the bestest idea as the next day was a planned day of drinking and touring all the local spots with Giselle and Ludo! LOL They came by at 10am. Ludo offered to drive and so we handed him the Jeep keys. I mean how great is this- drinking and driving is legal on the island, so we drove around with a cooler packed full of beer. (for the record, traffic fatalities generally involve clueless dumb cruise ship people wandering aimlessly into the streets). Ludo is a very highly respected police officer (we soon observed) and so if anything were to happen, we were in the best hands. I'm about to go picture posting crazy, LOL. First of all, meet Ludo and Giselle. Giselle is GORGEOUS, inside and out. She's a warm, funny, generous person, full of the joy of life. In all the time we spent with them, her and I spoke much of how to handle life. Many times I was reminded of the Four Agreements. She's been thru a LOT... she was a triathelete, and model. Then she had a horrible accident and was told she'd never walk again. She's too stubborn accept that, and long story short, she walks just fine! In heels even! :) She, like Ludo, speaks 6 languages, and she is a joy to listen to as she talks, in any language. Her smile is contagious and brightens up any room. Ludo is a funny, funny guy, with a competative pool playing side haha. He's not quite as easy going as Giselle but he's warm and caring and perfectly lovable none the less. Anywayz, here they are:
This pic was taken at Cheto's, our first stop, and their favorite place to grab a beer after work. Of course they knew everyone. :)

Once we left Cheto's we headed to a local small grocery store, stocking up on Balashi (for us) and Heineken for them. Ludo looks down nose at Balashi hahaa. I guess it'd be like us drinking Miller at home. Anywayz, it's great to only pay like $1.25 per bottle at these places rather than the $5 tourist places have no problem charging! :) And the people are so sweet, even if they don't speak your language. And noone gives you any attitude if you only speak English (you know, like the cursed French side of St. Maarten. Heck even Ludo and Giselle were like "St. Maarten is wonderful, except for the people on the French side!")(See??? told you all so. ;-)

We passed by a cemetary I had to get a few shots of.

From what I recall, and yes 13 hours of drinking things did get vague, the next stop was Young Fellow. Really chill place. Again, everyone was friendly as all get out. Relaxed, and smiling and welcoming. GOD I love this Island.

From there, after checking out some neighborhoods and finding out the inside scoop on all sorts of aspects of life, we headed to... drum roll please.... San Nicholas! LOL hahaaa! Giselle and Ludo found this Dominican restaurant that opened up maybe a week or maybe 2 before we went there that day. We left Ludo and Giselle order for us, telling them only that, the whole time, we wanted to eat local, and that we just won't eat veal. We had goat soup that was SOOO good, and a sort of pork stew with rice.

The ladies who run it were so nice, and there was a juke box and Mike and I did our part in representing White America that Can't Dance But Will At Least Give It A Shot. hahahaa!!!

From there we headed to Charlies Bar, which hahah was open this time. This place is FULL of stuff. Chastski from all over (I'm sure I didn't spell that right...LOL). We got to meet the 5th generation Charlie. Unfortunately the last Charlie died I think they said 3 years ago or so. Here's some picks.... the first one you can see Charlie the 5th held up in the background, teehee. The 2nd one- look closely, haha. They were hanging up on the ceiling. The third one we just think is a cool shot looking out the door while sitting at the bar. It's a cute little divi divi tree.

Here's a pick of the main bar in the novel I read, Minchis (which apparently has more truth than the average novel, lol). I can't tell you how thrilled I was to see it, hahaa, a hooker bar. I almost wanted to go in... and maybe if it wasn't a Friday after work when all is crazy, I'd convince us all to go in. Only because that was a GREAT novel, ya know? :)

From there we headed to a roadside bar that seemed to be very popular with the guys who work at Valero, the oil refinery in San Nicholas. We were slinging them back with the workers at Friday Happy hour, I mean how many people do THAT on vacation? LOL We loved it. I didn't catch the name of the bar though, but here's a few festive pics.

Next stop turned out to be our absolute favorite town on the island- Savaneta. We went to a place called Zeerovers, which literally translated in Dutch means sea robbers, or pirates! Around 5 or 6 every night, the fisherman come in for the day with their bounty. We were there that Fri when they came in, and oh my heavens guess what the main catch was that day?!! WAHOO!!! My absolute favorite fish in the world, and soo hard to get here. You can get it in Ocean City, in like, August. That's it. And it's pricey!! But we got 5 or 6 HUGE filets, fresh off the boat, for 15 florins. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???WHOOHOOO!! That is like what, like $8 or something? We were eating wahoo for breakfast in the timeshare my friends. TOTAL. BLISS. Zeerovers was one of our favoritest places on the island also. All you could order there was beer, and play pool, and catch beautiful sunsets LOL. Apparently there's a guy there sometimes when the fisherman come in that will fry up a filet for you if you want, but other then that there's only souce (sp?), which is a typical Caribbean food, it's pork ceveche and that stuff is NNNNNNASTY. I tried it, cause ya know, 'when in Rome', but oh god. Never again! LOL Here's some pics. Ok here's a lot of pics, LOL Check out how relaxed and friendly all the people look. It's so awesome. Oh, and Ludo has a pic of me holding up a wahoo with one of the fisherman. My mom would have been thrilled.

Oh and I forgot to mention, in our travels this day, we stopped by Giselle's favorite hideaway spot. Here are some pics, we loved it, perfectly peaceful. :)

So, we ended the night back at our hotel room on the balcony, Mike and Ludo made a Pizza Bob's run (Nothing like good pizza late at night after a drinking marathon, hahaha, no matter where in the world you are)

We woke up the next morning still drunk, of course! hahaa.... But guess what was the coolest thing about this day, Sat Sept 20...? WE DID NOT HAVE TO GO HOME!!!!! Wooooooooooo!!!! My friends, please, if you have not ever taken a 2 week vacation, please do yourself a favor. Doesn't mean you have to leave the country. Heck we felt like our vacation was just beginning on the first first Thursday we were there. A 2 week vacation is like the perfect medicine. Anywayz, Saturday we spent all day at Palapa 27. Of course, for breakfast, we panned fried some of that freshly caught wahoo courtesy of Posiden
There was an iguana hanging out while we ate our breakfast on our balcony.

Here's a cool view from our balcony. We only got in that pool once, and it was late at night with noone else around. That water is like bathwater. Only better. LOL
We were true to eating at least one piece of fruit a day...... for most days, hahaha. The kiwi was goooooooood....

Here's a good shot of the Tortuga, they have fantastic breakfast, LOL. And what's cool is while on the beach, you don't hear any of the noise of the restuarant while you're vegging under your palapas. :)
Also, that was the only day we used any of our snorkel stuff. We dragged all sorts of snorkel gear and really just didn't use it. We even had brand new snorkel vests, that are still brand new. HEH.

So the local kids skim board a lot, and they were a alot of fun to watch. Some were really damn good. I had to take a few pics, and check this one out, I think it's super artsy fartsy.

Here's a typical view as we vegged under our palapa

We stayed at the beach that day till past sunset. It was so blissfully relaxing. Check out the sunset.

That night we had a fantastic meal at Old Conucu House. Loved that place. Slow service but who the heck cares, it's so relaxing.
Here's the soup we ordered. I got this insanely good red bean & pigtail soup. Delightfully good. Mike got the goat soup, and it was just okay. Kinda like an uneventful veggie soup.

The entrees.. We got the wahoo. Cooked to perfection. Total bliss.
We now know what ruban style is haha- like a slice of pancake thing, but much thinker. Tastes great, just heavy. And then I think it was like a cornbread thing. As far as we remember anyway. A bit too heavy ya know, but a unique combination. :)
The meal was very relaxing and cozy. Hey they even brought out two well appointed plates since they knew we were splitting the entree. How thoughtful! We loved it there.
We had every intention and desire to go to the Havanna club that night to see our friend Danny spin. He even gave us free tickets. But what did we do? Went back to our room to kill some time, and passed out, full of big warm fuzzy bliss.

Okay I think I'm burned on this. Been composing this since 11am hahaaa... well and making chili, laundry and watching football, hahaha.

Stay tuned. I notice there are some typos and some pics that didn't make it. Sometime this week, soon, I'll write about the 2nd week and hopefully all the pics will load. :)

Oh, and here's a view of part of the restaurant (Old Conucu) from our table.