February 23rd

I'm glad today is a Wednesday. It's easy to allow it to swallow you up. No one bats an eye at it or wants to schedule something over it. It's unobtrusive and mild and sinks down deep into the center of the week like the middle of an air mattress. For that I am grateful. Cause I plan to sleep. All day.

And probably eat a lot of cookies.

But mostly sleep.

the burg

Greg and I recently moved to Warrensburg, Missouri - a place entirely different from anywhere we've ever lived before. We bought a house tucked away from civilization, but not too far out of arms reach.

It's a college town, so the corporate creature comforts can still be found in Wal-Mart, Lowes, Papa Johns and Radio Shack (no Starbucks yet), but there are still plenty of home-grown businesses I look forward to exploring, particularly the famous but controversial Perry Fosters.

It's cold here. That feels strange to say considering we just came from Nebraska, but I'm starting to suspect that the semi-warm weather Missourians enjoy once or twice each week of the winter is nothing more than a sick psychological trick. 23 inches of snow melting to 5 inches in just a couple of days and then freezing into a block of ice the next is enough to make even the most sane among us go bananas. But what I hate most about the winter is how it seems to creep into my bones and freeze me from the inside out. Not blankets, furry pets, heating pads or hot showers can melt it away. It's something only the sun can rid me of. I find myself wandering into our pictures from Hawaii last winter, longing for a sunburn.

goodbye july

Finally, July is over. I've gotta say ... I don't think I've ever had a more crazy few weeks in my life. The last 3 weeks of June were spent in Kansas City for Maywood rehearsals, but that was nothing compared to July. Concert July 4th, concert July 10th, concert July 24th, recording July 26th & 27th @ Awestruck and all of the fun stuff in between like making t-shirts, submitting for Rock the Light, designing the album cover and website art, meeting my new nephew, hanging out with friends both old and new, the ups and downs of trying to buy this house (still don't know we're getting it yet) and singing at a wedding with Joel. We had to learn this song. I thought it was kinda sweet.



Greg and I have one last stop on this summer adventure - Indianapolis for our yearly, mini vacation to Gen Con with all of our WoW friends. Hillary and Brent will be there along with Tom and other buddies from the game that we'd just as soon refer to by the names of their avatars rather than their own. I go by Joliet, one of many names on reserve for future children. Speaking of kids, Rhett and Julia also had a baby this month and are unable to come to Gen Con this year, but Hillary and I are planning a small detour to Chicago to meet Mr. Hugh on Friday. I can't wait. :)

I know the summer has practically flown by and usually I'm complaining that I hardly got to savor a drop of it, but I am seriously ready to put it all behind me this time. I love the fall and the INSTANT I started to remember the chill in the air, the colors of the leaves, cute little jackets, Halloween and Thanksgiving my heart began to race with excitement. And for the first time ever, I felt a legitimate twinge to have kids of my own. Maybe I can just barrow one to dress up and take from door to door. Do families still do that?

Hope your summer has been as fulfilling as mine. I suppose it's not over yet, eh? What else will get thrown at us, I wonder.

the hobbit

So Maywood is finally scheduling vocal sessions for the debut album "_____." Erm ... whatever it's going to be called. I'm very keen on calling it "See? I told you I'm in a band!" or "mythological album of legend discovered!" with a unicorn of the front cover. The silliest the guys would consider was "greatest hits." Much to my infinite boredom, though, we are back to plucking out some vague line spoken only once in the bowels of one of the songs to use as the title. It must be pregnant with meaning and symbolism, of course. Why can't we just speak plainly? "Hope you like it, Lord" is kinda what I'm going for. Ah well.

Anyway, we've finally started vocal sessions. Today, Scott is laying down his lead vox for Here By My Side, Stereo Love and We Were Made. We've set aside 4 hours to do this and I hope it's adequate. We're running out of time and our sound engineer is a busy man. We've sent Joel with him for "moral support," but actually, we're all just hoping Scott will get done early so Joel can finish out the time slot. This sneaky endeavor reminds me of a chapter in the hobbit when Gandalf slowly introduces the dwarfs to Beorn. There are 13 dwarfs, I think, and had they all traipsed up to Beorn's doorstep at once, he would have turned them away immediately. Instead, Gandalf tells them to come up 2 at a time, waiting 5 minutes between each pair. In the meantime, Gandalf regales the adventurous tale of their journey to distract Beorn from noticing that the party has slowly grown to 13. Clever.

Ok, so sending an extra singer so that Larry doesn't run out of work doesn't seem quite so sneaky after all, but I'm still going to consider myself mildly clever for the rest of the day.

blogging

Ok, I'll do this, I guess. But I refuse to copy + paste all of the posts I make far and wide across the internet into this blog. If you find this in a google search or something, just know that you're getting stuff that I'm not offering anywhere else. Not that what I have to type is particularly worthy of your review or comments, but you know ... if you're a blog pirate and you dock here for a minute or two, you'll know that it's genuine.

Also, this site is not fire-walled at work, so I can idly post whenever I ... am idle.

earth day dress

made from a recycled school map without a pattern and without dignity

pleats on the sides to give it a circular, globe-like effect in the skirt

yes, i sat on africa all day

that's right - antarctica along the southern hemline!

i hate buttons, so i used snaps instead

happy earth day

forlorn

I hate it when company leaves. I know I'll see them again, but that doesn't make a difference. It's different from when I am the company, leaving. I usually have a feeling of relief and completion, but when I'm hosting a guest I never want them to go. That's not to say that I want to cook for them, clean up after them and entertain them the entire time there are here. In fact, I would be just as happy with the knowledge that they are somewhere near without actually interacting at all. Like in my basement playing PS3 or at the piano writing a song or on the deck reading a book. What is that? A desire to be surrounded by loved ones regardless of the circumstances or the quality of the company? I mean, it's all quality to me. Even if we're bored, arguing or grieving I still want them near. Is there a word for that?

Once they are gone, though, I'm fine. It's like the happy hostess inside of me miserably hangs her hat and retires to her room for another three months, leaving the self sufficient independent side of me free to run the business in her stead. I have to fully let go of Happy Hostess in order to function with Self Sufficient Independent for long periods of barren, empty time. Only when she comes back out of her room do I ever realize just how lonely I was without her.

Without them.

/hang hat