when i grow up, i wanna . . .

i know, the frequency of blog posts is mind boggling.

i have just found/decided on a new career path. i just found out about this and am totally excited. apparently there is such a thing as elk calling (i realized there must be for hunting). not only to people learn and practice elk calling but there are competitions. as you may have realized from these bits about my life, i am absolutely in love with the ridiculous, inane, and useless. this one is prime! okay, so now i can learn to do it and compete. but did you know there are people who do this professionally? i mean really - isn't that awesome? i am sure that i could be a champion elk caller. this is way better than the whole International Air Guitar Championships (this really exists). at least i can make a living calling elks for fake.

am totally ditching this teaching thing and going into training.

when the chicken does the choking

i like moby alot and still buy his records. i know he's kinda lost some of his cool as he's gained mainstream success and he shifted from club music to . . . i kinda dont even know how to describe it. i listen to his old stuff and the new and they're like from totally different people. also i guess am one of the few to kinda like the punk/metal of animal rights. oh yeah, and it could be his somewhat preachiness on religion and veganism. however, i did enjoy this video. you gotta love it when the chicken does the pimpin'. plus this song is totally danceable if not cutting edge or listenable in 10 years (okay 6 months).



- also, was i the only disturbed by how svelte (and fast) the colonel was?

- it may be a wig, but wasn't that 'fro lovely? sigh . . .

the desert , SW of Al Ain - UAE

i post in effort to not forget and as i said i would. so this is an oldie but not as bad as the really old stuff.

while on xmas holiday in the UAE, on a weekend day jerry, linda, and i packed in the truck to take a drive out in the desert. it was one of those almost perfect desert winter days. i say almost cause although the temps were perfect and it was a clear sunshiny day, the wind picked up and you wouldnt believe the amount of sand that can blown into your mouth! poor jerry, linda and i like to read signs out loud and make truly random comments about stuff. we kinda fed off and kept each other going. i laugh about it but i wonder if jerry wanted to muzzle us.

we saw some truly beautiful desert landscapes. sometimes i forget how lovely it can be. then we drove to a camel racetrack where they were training some camels. i took hundreds of pics cause i can't help myself. being so ultra aware of my surroundings, i was gazing in the distance and was close to being overrun by a camel. afterwards we stopped in a park of a nearby village and picknicked to the cacophony of friday prayer. two of the mosques had some good music going on.

Below are camels being trained at the track















camel herd - nearby are the tents of the herders















Jerry, breaking the law (beavis reference) hopping fences to get some great pics














Jerry enjoying a nap at the park where we had our picnic. can't even tell you how much i missed this when i got back to post blizzard bucharest

dreams abandoned

sounds serious eh?

tonite, i went to the Antheneum for a concert which included some classical music stuff, a famous russian pianist, and Stravinsky (guess which one i liked best). the music was pretty good though the pianist did 2 (WTF? this aint no rock concert!) encores.

classical concerts are like great meditative times for me. i kinda just listen to the music and my mind wanders across a spectrum of things e.g. buying shoes, drawing, doing my hair, writing some stuff, the books am currently reading, the music, etc. i wish i had remembered my journal cause am sure the was some brilliance amid the chaff.

but the best and worst part about the show was the triangulist(?). at some point, i had forgotten until i saw this dude, i wanted to be a triangle player. i thought that i could definitely rock it and let's face it, the triangle player is the highlight of any performance. kinda like lead guitarist in a rock band. sadly, fate and my short attention span cut my dream down before it had a chance to flower. its all very heart breaking. but i still wonder if this is a full time job for this dude? do the violinists make fun of him? is there a back up for when he gets sick? i think i could be his understudy. is there a training program for triangle players?

the ceiling of the antheneum. its totally rococo and there's also i diaroma of romanian history circling the dome.











your's truly in front of the antheneum last year

feeding the lizard brain

recently, an english only bookstore opened up in bucharest. yay! i went there yesterday and it was lovely. lots of books on lots of diff subjects and they would be willing to order stuff in. the really great thing about it is the lack of stephen king and wilbur smith. there are actually good books not necessarily the most popular from scary lists generated by zombies.

i totally love reading books digitally but alas, my poor little brain has issues with anything requiring thought in that format, precluding me from enjoying lots of books. but the drought it over and i have real books again. i looooooove pulp and genre fiction but sometimes i want more. not to mention, the pleasure of turning a page. though, am so near sighted that that can be difficult to do when reading in bed.

Siniai, Romania

(an old one) **just realized that i have misplaced loads of pics/memory card. will fix when i find**

yep been there a few times and eons later am writing about it.

my not so good memory remembers this --> the city was founded back in the day (not back back in the day, but like maybe a few centuries ago. i can't recall exactly) some famous person (don't remember who) went to the holy land and came back full of the holy spirit (thats how they described it . . . i lie) and decided to found a monastery on a mountain in Romania. and they named it after Mount Sinai and the town of Sinaia grew around it. today, its a ski resort and unbelievably picturesque. The monastery is lovely except the first time i went there last winter, someone didnt like me and i fell and busted bottom in the courtyard (ground was a bit icy).



















Above is the new church, below the old one. there were earthquakes and increased numbers or something which necessitated a new one being built



















Kelly in the monastery compound














door from the old church. although the doctor says my eyes are healthy, i still cannot take a non-wonky picture



















then in the late 1800's, romania decided to unite the 3 principalities and they wanted a king. they didnt like the contenders at home and invited some austrian dude (nice work if you can get it) to come and be their king. his name was Karl and he became Carol the I (see i remember somethings) who built this totally cute germanesque castle. fairytale on the outside and decorated to the hilt (point of nausea) on the inside. true craftsmanship that is just piled on.

his heir's wife totally hated his overdone castle and refused to live in it. so next door to Peles castle is a beautiful house - Pelisior. Its all Art Nouveau and lovely. queen Marie did a fantastic job decorating it. sadly no pics inside.

a bit disappointing but ultimately nice day @Snagov

(A New One)

today, i was all fired up. i was gonna visit the grave of that totally awesome dude - Dracula aka Vlad the Impaler and a totally pretty monastery. Snagov Monastery is set on an island in the middle of a lake. It was a gorgeous and sunny winter day - feeling like spring really. i made my lunch for the picnic and set out to try and find my way to this place. eileen and i took a maxi-taxi (cross between a bus and a taxi) to the place and walked the rest of the distance to the complex that has access. being me, i forgot a few things.

1. didn't realize that the only way to the monastery was by boat. thought maybe there was a bridge or something

2. didn't realize that the lake would be frozen over.

sadly, didn't get to visit with dracula, but hey there's always spring. however, the day was so beautiful. we hung out on the dock and enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather. enjoy the pics.


below is the view of a maxi taxi ride.















Eileen and I at the lake. i was too scared to go out on the ice. the past couple of days have been warm. my luck, i would have fallen through the ice.















self-explanatory




















i was adopted by one of the stray dogs that live in the complex and surrounding woods.















Snagov is only 25 miles (40K) outside of Bucharest. Though they have recently banned horse and carts, theyre still around

ridiculous, yet also kinda punk

ridiculous because: Tom Jones (yes that short welsh dude who has panties thrown at him alot) has had his chest hair (!) insured by Lloyd's of London for 7 million dollars. thats right 7 mill. i wonder what has to happen to his chest hair for him to get the payout. attack by a rabid fan with Nair? going gray? turning green from a combination of dye, tanning stuff, and pool chemicals? an allergic reaction to chest hair plumping product that makes it fall out? what would be considered an act of god, therefore relieving the insurers from having to pay?

kinda punk because: he convinced these people to insure his chest hair. CHEST HAIR! that took some smooth talking and in a way deconstructing the myth of celebrity and rockstardom by exemplifying the utter ridiculousness of their lives, as well as the skewed vision of what is important and their worth. um . . . i kid.

also: who convinced him this would be a good idea? do the really old ladies who still love him really care about his chest hair? would they really stop seeing his shows if he lost all the hair tomorrow? why does he still take his shirt off? were the guys who drew up this policy high? how were they convinced they would make their money back? what is the insurance premium on this policy?

Ziggy: Sexy Kitty

okay not really since we went to the vet yesterday and got the sexy taken right out of her. she was kinda pathetic yesterday, dragging and falling all over the place as the drugs took a looooong time to wear off.

today we had to go to the vet for antibiotics (these people are high maintenance, i have to go again tomorrow). yesterday the vet told me to bring an old t-shirt, and he would make a shirt for ziggy to prevent her from licking and dissolving the stitches. so i did and he made ziggy the most rockingest outfit ever. she's so funny in it cause she cant move properly (she isnt the most graceful kitty at the best of times). she kinda gets to where she wants to go and flops over. she's fallen on her head a few times trying to get off her chair (am a bit worried cause she is pretty much brilliant - i lie - and dont want that dimmed). right now shes just sleeping it off in my arms. she cant make the jump to the desk anymore so she cried at me to pick her up . sensitive soul that i am, i find her new look and stumbles source of great amusement.

washington square serenade

i know sometimes (okay, often) i listen to music a little outside the expected and certainly my demographic (as a marketing tool anyway).

but . . . been listening to steve earle's Washington Square Serenade and its freaking awesome. i guess the 7 marriages, drug abuse, jail time have been really beneficial. i mean it must have sucked at the time, but hey he's writing great music now. one must sacrifice for the muse. am just saying that i appreciate the lengths steve earle's gone to to bring me quality music. you may too.

whispers in my ear

okay that kinda absolutely means nothing. just wanted something hokey.

today was the last day of school for a while. we are on holiday. Yay!!! see the addiction to teaching jobs. this week will be hanging in romania (thought of going to florence or vienna but decided to stay home) visiting some sights, relaxing, and catching up on stuff (not holding my breath on that one) like super late posts and other goodness.

today was ziggy's day to get fixed. just when i was about to go, it started snowing furiously. this sucked on two levels. 1). i ordered a taxi, i waited outside, it never came - leaving me turning into a snowman and ziggy cursing me for bringing her outside to be tortured.

2). i hope this crappy weather continues not. i've got plans to visit dracula's grave among other things.

kinda makes me wonder if the fates are trying to tell me something. am a bit worried that the vets are crackheads.

high brow/low brow

i was thinking (a truly rare occurance and my brain hurt afterward) about music, specifically electronica. i was, at the time, listening to a most amazing song by Underworld. almost 10 years worth of listening hasnt dimmed the power or beauty of the song. and, i keep finding new things in it.

maybe electronica is my generation's classical music (as used in the vernacular as a big umbrella containing music of disparate styles and times). while i like classical music, i like electronica better and i think that i listen to it in the same way. something we forget is that any form of expression has its hacks, copycats, the sublime, and the ageless. generally, people think electronica to be the crap used in movies, tv commercials, and to torture ears at the gym. But it also has its composers and artists, only using instruments and sounds different from the norm. Not to mention, it also is an umbrella containing music of different sensibilities, purposes, cultural traditions, and sources. It can be beautiful, it can be sublime, it can be wonderfully emotive.

i had a dream

as this is me, dont expect anything amazing.

i dont remember all the details but the dream included:
- ziggy being kidnaped and impregnated by scientologists (this involves the fear from the previous post) and i dont know with what but i was really worried

- tim gunn - the sharply dressed man from my not so hidden and totally guilty pleasure of project runway

- a jelly like substance coming from my nose which seemed to expand lots upon exit (have a bit of a cold and may have had difficulty breathing last night)

high drama at the circle M

for you plebs out there, the title is a reference to one of the greatest movies ever made. that's right Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

anywho. my friend ceceilia came over today to teach me how to make sarmale - stuffed grape or cabbage leaves. its freaking tasty! and there is totally a veggie version.

our little friend Ziggy cried and cried to go on the balcony. i opened the door so she could go and talk to the birds. sadly, my memory is not so good.

Cecelia and i went to go get ingredients, came back, and began the cooking. i'm happily rolling grape leaves, when i realize that i hadnt heard ziggy in a while. she is a crazily vocal cat, especially lately.

i go to the balcony, calling her name. she doesnt come but i hear a far away meow. two girls walking beneath my balcony call up and tell me that she is hiding under the building.

i go downstairs to retrieve my wayward kitty. am guessing she was frightened but she didnt come out when i called her name. i had to crawl under, pants falling down, becoming extremely crack-a-licious (hope the passerby enjoyed the view) to get her.

the lady that i always talk to cause she is always (in the morning when i leave and in the evenings when i return from work) walking her 3-legged dog, cursed me out about letting her on the balcony.

my real worry - ziggy has been in heat (the vet said she was too young to be fixed was gonna fix her last weekend, then she went in heat) i got medication to stop it and gave the whole course. i seriously seriously hope it worked and ziggy hasnt been lifting her tail for the whole neighborhood