I'm as giddy as a preteen about my new purse!

It's my first new purse in many a moon! I'll be getting it soon!


*Hangs head in shame*
I apologize for my overt materialistic outburst. It won't happen again.


NOW THAT I HAVE MY PURSE!!!

Hehe, just kidding, I'm not like that.

David Bowie Ashes to Ashes

This video is still intrigues and disturbs me after all these years. What does it for me is the walk on the beach...

Vintage Ad for a Different and Useful Gift

You dirty people, IT'S A GUM MASSAGER!!! FOR GUMS!!!

;)

Music 25 Years Ago and Now

1983 Grammy Awards
Album of the Year Thriller, Michael Jackson (Epic/CBS)
Song of the Year “Every Breath You Take,” Sting, songwriter
Best New Artist Culture Club
Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male Thriller, Michael Jackson
Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female “Flashdance: What a Feeling,” Irene Cara
Best Pop Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocal “Every Breath You Take,” Police
Best New Rhythm and Blues Song “Billie Jean,” Michael Jackson, songwriter
Best Rock Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocal Synchronicity, Police
Best Rhythm and Blues Instrumental Performance “Rockit,” Herbie Hancock
Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male “Beat It,” Michael Jackson
Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female “Love Is a Battlefield,” Pat Benatar
Best Video, Short Form “Girls on Film/Hungry Like the Wolf,” Duran Duran
Best Comedy Recording Eddie Murphy, Comedian, Eddie Murphy

Billboard Top 5
1. The Police - Every Breath You Take
2. Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
3. Irene Cara - Flashdance
4. Men At Work - Down Under
5. Michael Jackson - Beat It



2008 Grammy Awards
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
River: The Joni Letters, Herbie Hancock
RECORD OF THE YEAR
''Rehab,'' Amy Winehouse
SONG OF THE YEAR
''Rehab,'' Amy Winehouse, songwriter (Amy Winehouse)
NEW ARTIST
Amy Winehouse
MALE POP VOCAL PERFORMANCE
''What Goes Around...Comes Around,'' Justin Timberlake
FEMALE POP VOCAL PERFORMANCE
''Rehab,'' Amy Winehouse
POP PERFORMANCE BY A DUO OR GROUP WITH VOCAL
''Makes Me Wonder,'' Maroon 5
R&B SONG
''No One,'' Alicia Keys
ROCK PERFORMANCE BY A DUO OR GROUP WITH VOCAL
''Icky Thump,'' the White Stripes
COUNTRY PERFORMANCE BY A DUO OR GROUP WITH VOCALS
''How Long,'' the Eagles
COUNTRY SONG
''Before He Cheats,'' Carrie Underwood

Billboard Top 5

1. T.I. Feat. Rihanna - Life Your Life

2. Beyonce - Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)

3. Beyonce - If I Were A Boy

4. T.I. - Whatever You Like

5. Katy Perry - Hot N Cold


I remember (and enjoy) most of what was popular in 1983, when I was 11. Now, today at 36, I hardly know any of the popular stuff. Is that a bad thing? I've been listening to "Top 40" radio lately to try to understand what is the going thing these days (dear god, I sound like an old lady who throws rocks at kids to get off my lawn). I guess it's really all the same. But in 1983, videos still rocked!!!

Holiday Greetings

Thou Shalt Not Foist the Manifestation Of Wordplay Upon Hapless Creatures!!

Taco Cat thinks, "What fresh hell is this ?!!?"

Rest in Peace, Edna Parker

She was 115, and the oldest person in the world. She died today. I can't imagine living that long! Her husband died in 1939. Parker outlived her two sons, Clifford and Earl Jr. She also had five grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and 13 great-great-grandchildren. She looks so sweet in this photo.

Happy Thanksgiving! How about some Tofurky?

Nah, me either.

A quote I found from a pseudo-journalist

I am a serious journalist who writes about serious topics.

Which is why I use this format.

You may wonder why I use this format. Lots of people wonder.

But they don't know what I do.

They don't know.

Why do you write like that. That's what they want to ask me.

Then they want to ask why I didn't use quotation marks.

For a quote, you know.

A "quote," as in when someone speaks.

And I try to explain.

I try to explain to them that this is edgy writing, writing that grips the heart and seizes the eye and makes your soul soar with prosaity that practically screams Pulitzer, even though the only award I've ever won was that Godfrey P. Snogbiter Literary Plaque, which my undergraduate literary magazine put out once a year. And I'd been the editor of it the previous year, to boot. And I try to explain that not using quotes puts me in the literary company of titans like Cormac McCarthy and makes me seem like I know things you don't.

Like I can break rules that you can't.

And, you see, I can.

See, I'm doing the short sentences again. You like that? See how it breaks up the rhythm of my writing?

Goddamn, I impress myself.

Sometimes, I really do.

Like this time.

Right now, I'm trying to decide which line to end on.

Maybe this one.

Or maybe this one.

Or maybe, just maybe, this one.

Four Songs

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields.
Lundy, Fastnet, Irish Sea
I read the news today oh boy
Please could you stop the noise, I'm trying to get some rest

Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
I got a message I can't read,
About a lucky man who made the grade
From all the unborn chicken voices in my head

Strawberry Fields forever.
Another message I can't read
And though the news was rather sad
What's that?
What's that?

Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.
Being the first in the Irish Sea,
Well I just had to laugh
When I am king, you will be first against the wall

It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out.
I got a message I can't read,
I saw the photograph
with your opinion which is of no consequence at all

It doesn't matter much to me.
Another message I can't read
He blew his mind out in a car
What's that? (I may be paranoid, but no android)

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields.
I'm on your side
He didn't notice that the lights had changed
What's this? (I may be paranoid, but no android)

Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Nowhere to hide
A crowd of people stood and stared
Ambition makes you look pretty ugly

Strawberry Fields forever.
Trapdoors that open
They'd seen his face before
Kicking, squealing, gucci little piggy

No one I think is in my tree, I mean it must be high or low.
I spiral down
Nobody was really sure
If he was from the House of Lords.
You don't remember

That is you can't you know tune in but it's all right.
You're living in a fantasy world,
I saw a film today oh boy
You don't remember

That is I think it's not too bad.
You're living in a fantasy world.
The English Army had just won the war
Why don't you remember my name?

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields.
I'm lost at sea,
A crowd of people turned away
Off with his head, man

Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Don't bother me
but I just had to look
Off with his head, man

Strawberry Fields forever.
I've lost my way,
Having read the book
Why don't you remember my name? I guess he does...

Always no sometimes think it's me, but you know I know when it's a dream.
I've lost my way
I'd love to turn you on
Rain down, rain down

I think a No, I mean a Yes but it's all wrong.
You're living in a fantasy world,
Woke up, got out of bed,
Come on rain down on me

That is I think I disagree.
You're living in a fantasy world,
Dragged a comb across my head
From a great height

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields.
You're living in a fantasy world...
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup,
From a great height... height...

Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
The most beautiful world
And looking up I noticed I was late.
Rain down, rain down

Strawberry Fields forever.
Lundy, Fastnet, Irish Sea
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Come on rain down on me

Strawberry Fields forever.
I got a message I can't read
Made the bus in seconds flat
From a great height

Strawberry Fields forever.
Another message I can't read
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke,
From a great height... height...

and Somebody spoke and I went into a dream
Rain down, rain down
I read the news today oh boy
Come on rain down on me

Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
That's it sir
And though the holes were rather small
You're leaving

They had to count them all
The crackle of pigskin
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.
The dust and the screaming

I'd love to turn you on
The yuppies networking
The panic, the vomit The panic, the vomit
God loves his children, God loves his children, yeah!


*This is a mix of four songs that I love: Strawberry Fields Forever and A Day in the Life by the Beatles and In Limbo and Paranoid Android by Radiohead. It might not make any sense, but I thought it would be an interesting thing to do.

The Voyager Golden Record

This intrigues me and I wonder how it would be perceived if it were to be intercepted by some extraterrestrial life form. I found out about it accidentally on the NASA web site since Ava wanted to learn about all the planets. I like to listen to all that is on it, and I think it is a nice compendium of life here on Earth.



www.goldenrecord.org

The Voyager message is carried by a phonograph record-a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University, et. al. Dr. Sagan and his associates assembled 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind and thunder, birds, whales, and other animals. To this they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, and spoken greetings from Earth-people in fifty-five languages, and printed messages from President Carter and U.N. Secretary General Waldheim. Each record is encased in a protective aluminum jacket, together with a cartridge and a needle. Instructions, in symbolic language, explain the origin of the spacecraft and indicate how the record is to be played. The 115 images are encoded in analog form. The remainder of the record is in audio, designed to be played at 16-2/3 revolutions per minute. It contains the spoken greetings, beginning with Akkadian, which was spoken in Sumer about six thousand years ago, and ending with Wu, a modern Chinese dialect. Following the section on the sounds of Earth, there is an eclectic 90-minute selection of music, including both Eastern and Western classics and a variety of ethnic music. Once the Voyager spacecraft leave the solar system (by 1990, both will be beyond the orbit of Pluto), they will find themselves in empty space. It will be forty thousand years before they make a close approach to any other planetary system. As Carl Sagan has noted, “The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced spacefaring civilizations in interstellar space. But the launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about life on this planet.”

Photos from where I grew up...because nostalgia is taking over

I grew up in St. Charles Parish in Southeast Louisiana. I miss Louisiana so much.


Here is an aerial view of the area. The Mississippi River cuts through it, and it colors life in the area in every way. I lived on the East Bank where it was more developed.









This is where I went to school from 1977 to 1983, St. Charles Borromeo in Destrehan, Louisiana. I don't know why, but the statue makes me feel very uneasy. I have had many dreams about this church and school.



I met my husband in 1989, and his aunt and uncle were running Ormond Plantation at this time. This is also in Destrehan, LA on Brown's Curve along the levee of the Mississippi.


View Larger Map

And to top it all off, I found a pic of the house where I lived for 25 years...and here it is now. The trees have grown so much and the house looks even tinier. I haven't been there since 2000. Now I have it to look at without having to go there in person. Why do I feel the need o see it? It somehow validates my life and reminds me that I do have some roots after all.

Sage Advice

Even if this is an internet cliche, I still think it is funny.

Warning: Pie Chart Post

How's your Engrish?

This is from a great site www.engrish.com

My Choice for 2008 - The Absorbent Party

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS
and
GARY THE SNAIL

...Because a vote for Spongebob and Gary is a vote for a sponge and a snail!