Today is another day. I woke up early this morning and had a bright energy for doing some things that need to be done.
I've been having trouble finding moments to breathe lately. My job keeps me occupied for more than 10 of my daily hours (though part of that is lunch, but I'm still away from home due to work) and that leaves me with 2 to 2-1/2 hours to myself in the evening in which to get everything else done. Sadly, I'm a person who needs 10 hours of sleep a night to function well, so that seriously cuts into my spare time. I've become great friends with the veterinarian at my work, and I'm really enjoying the company of both she, her wife, and their little boy. It's a welcome friendship because we're working through a lot of clique issues in my office and at the moment, there's the clique, and then there's me. I'm quite excluded, and it wears me down sometimes. Other times I deal quite well, though. Strangely enough, one of my greatest sources of comfort in this world is 16,000 miles away, but thanks to the wonders of internet phones, I can talk to him and see him for free. Yay, Skype.
Acoustalyn is going well; we have some challenges, but we're growing and improving bit by bit. We're having more shows, and more opportunities.
I'm doing my laundry at the moment so I'm off to get that in a few. Today I meet up with the owner of Northwest Rescue to transfer a little grey FIV+ kitty that I rescued. He's a dear... anyone interested in adopting a very handsome and friendly kitty?
My friend Tiffany lost her dear Lab a few weeks ago; she's been devastated. But the Universe moves on, as always, and here's a webcam of her new puppy. Which one? She hasn't chosen yet. But it'll be the dark blue ribbon, the light blue ribbon, or the gold ribbon.
www.justin.tv/texaswhitelabs
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Monday, December 1, 2008
Clearing away the cobwebs and sorrow (til there's none)
Well all, it's been a while since I've updated what's going on in the innerworkings of Kim-dom.
Yesterday Curtis and I took about 10 boxes of stuff to storage. It's annoying, but it needed to be done, from my point of view. Curtis' hopes, when we moved this last time, was to use this time for down-sizing and for getting rid of things we don't need. I've given away a lot of things that I don't use anymore, and a lot of clothes that I don't wear. But now I'm down to only having things that I'm either too fat to wear right now, or I don't have room for. But what's left are still things that I love, and I'm not getting rid of anymore. So back it goes into storage. My apartment is now (almost) completely devoid of boxes, and it's soon going to actually be clean. I'm going to feel 100% better when my nest is complete.
On top of that, I have some rather exciting news in that I'm now singing for an acoustic group. Our name is Acoustalyn, and we're two guitars, and sometimes a mandolin or violin thrown in. It's a folk-type flavor, and I'm really loving it. I'm a singer, and I'm pretty much only a singer. I don't know anything about the music business, and I'm not very driven to move ahead. Our organizer, Richard (who is also our songwriter) has a good business head with history in the music business, and he's always trying to push us harder to move forward. I need that, for sure. Lauren is the other guitarist. She's somewhat quiet, but I find that she's the voice of objectivity and reason when the three of us are trying to decide on things like which album cover we like, and whether Richard and I should both sing on a song or just one of us. I dig them both. It's a great union. We're recording our demo on December 13th and we already have some gigs lined up around the city. And that's just cool.
Curtis and I spent Thanksgiving day with Steven and Michele at their annual Misfit Thanksgiving (for folks who don't have anyone to celebrate the holiday with, or who don't get to go home for it.) That was WONDERFUL and we met some great new people. Then this past Saturday I had the good fortune to spend about 5 hours with my dear Ken and be part of his Thanksgiving preparations in Melbourne, AU. This hadn't occurred to me, but Thanksgiving is a very American holiday, so they don't do it over there. Ken wanted to introduce his friends to one of his own traditions, so he cooked them a Thanksgiving meal. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I was able to be on a webcam with him for 5 hours and chit chatting as if we were across the table at iHop together. He was chopping his vegetables and mixing up ingredients and we both talked about life. There were even several lags in the conversation.... those comfortable sort of lags that one only has with close friends; the ones where no one might say anything for 5 minutes but that's just okay.
It was nice to get to spend some time with him; I try to do so every weekend, but I don't often get THAT much time. And I will likely have to do without him for the next few weeks while he grows acclimated to the gift of time with his new friend Jaret. In my experience, Ken has a rather jaded history with love. It's not that he has anything against it, it's simply that relationships have been fleeting for him. They've either started out like gangbusters and quickly faded, or they've just not been that interesting to begin with. Ken has so much to offer. I have never quite understood how he could have that much trouble with love, but the truth is, most of the relationships I've personally witnessed of his have been rather lukewarm. And then enters Jaret. I got the pleasure of meeting Jaret on the webcam the other night, and quite honestly, I'm completely smitten with him. He's sweet, he's handsome, he's intelligent, and ... well, I've just never seen anyone yet who I thought would be better for Ken. Jaret's chivalrous... and he's sensitive. He's not the type to play games or to lay blame to make himself feel better. Though I only talked to him for about an hour, it is already compellingly apparent that he's the type that if you were to lash out at him, he'd probably say "I'm sorry that I've hurt you enough to make you want to lash out at me." I may be exaggerating, but I truly get an awesome feeling about him. I've begged Ken for a picture of the two of them together, because the idea of Ken having someone like that in his life just makes me smile. Yay, Jaret.
Moving on... the Cat Hospital is awesome. I learn new things every day. I very much enjoy my boss, and I very much enjoy her partner and the other people that I work with. I learn more and more every day, and I wonder how many amazing things I'll learn before the year is through.
Curtis is working downtown at a bar called Annie's West, and though he's mostly only bartending for Happy Hour, he's getting lots of experience behind the bar. He barbacks and does the door sometimes in the evening, too... he's such a renaissance man. :)
Yesterday Curtis and I took about 10 boxes of stuff to storage. It's annoying, but it needed to be done, from my point of view. Curtis' hopes, when we moved this last time, was to use this time for down-sizing and for getting rid of things we don't need. I've given away a lot of things that I don't use anymore, and a lot of clothes that I don't wear. But now I'm down to only having things that I'm either too fat to wear right now, or I don't have room for. But what's left are still things that I love, and I'm not getting rid of anymore. So back it goes into storage. My apartment is now (almost) completely devoid of boxes, and it's soon going to actually be clean. I'm going to feel 100% better when my nest is complete.
On top of that, I have some rather exciting news in that I'm now singing for an acoustic group. Our name is Acoustalyn, and we're two guitars, and sometimes a mandolin or violin thrown in. It's a folk-type flavor, and I'm really loving it. I'm a singer, and I'm pretty much only a singer. I don't know anything about the music business, and I'm not very driven to move ahead. Our organizer, Richard (who is also our songwriter) has a good business head with history in the music business, and he's always trying to push us harder to move forward. I need that, for sure. Lauren is the other guitarist. She's somewhat quiet, but I find that she's the voice of objectivity and reason when the three of us are trying to decide on things like which album cover we like, and whether Richard and I should both sing on a song or just one of us. I dig them both. It's a great union. We're recording our demo on December 13th and we already have some gigs lined up around the city. And that's just cool.
Curtis and I spent Thanksgiving day with Steven and Michele at their annual Misfit Thanksgiving (for folks who don't have anyone to celebrate the holiday with, or who don't get to go home for it.) That was WONDERFUL and we met some great new people. Then this past Saturday I had the good fortune to spend about 5 hours with my dear Ken and be part of his Thanksgiving preparations in Melbourne, AU. This hadn't occurred to me, but Thanksgiving is a very American holiday, so they don't do it over there. Ken wanted to introduce his friends to one of his own traditions, so he cooked them a Thanksgiving meal. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I was able to be on a webcam with him for 5 hours and chit chatting as if we were across the table at iHop together. He was chopping his vegetables and mixing up ingredients and we both talked about life. There were even several lags in the conversation.... those comfortable sort of lags that one only has with close friends; the ones where no one might say anything for 5 minutes but that's just okay.
It was nice to get to spend some time with him; I try to do so every weekend, but I don't often get THAT much time. And I will likely have to do without him for the next few weeks while he grows acclimated to the gift of time with his new friend Jaret. In my experience, Ken has a rather jaded history with love. It's not that he has anything against it, it's simply that relationships have been fleeting for him. They've either started out like gangbusters and quickly faded, or they've just not been that interesting to begin with. Ken has so much to offer. I have never quite understood how he could have that much trouble with love, but the truth is, most of the relationships I've personally witnessed of his have been rather lukewarm. And then enters Jaret. I got the pleasure of meeting Jaret on the webcam the other night, and quite honestly, I'm completely smitten with him. He's sweet, he's handsome, he's intelligent, and ... well, I've just never seen anyone yet who I thought would be better for Ken. Jaret's chivalrous... and he's sensitive. He's not the type to play games or to lay blame to make himself feel better. Though I only talked to him for about an hour, it is already compellingly apparent that he's the type that if you were to lash out at him, he'd probably say "I'm sorry that I've hurt you enough to make you want to lash out at me." I may be exaggerating, but I truly get an awesome feeling about him. I've begged Ken for a picture of the two of them together, because the idea of Ken having someone like that in his life just makes me smile. Yay, Jaret.
Moving on... the Cat Hospital is awesome. I learn new things every day. I very much enjoy my boss, and I very much enjoy her partner and the other people that I work with. I learn more and more every day, and I wonder how many amazing things I'll learn before the year is through.
Curtis is working downtown at a bar called Annie's West, and though he's mostly only bartending for Happy Hour, he's getting lots of experience behind the bar. He barbacks and does the door sometimes in the evening, too... he's such a renaissance man. :)
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Runner the Rooster
The strangest thing happened to me today at work. I was covering reception for my co-worker who had to take lunch, when in came a customer. He told me that he had found a very friendly rooster and was now keeping it as a pet. (Huh?)
The back story is this: about 2 months ago, a shop closed nearby. It was a Mexican family who owned some sort of Automotive shop, as I understand it. They had pet roosters, hens, and peacocks. When their shop closed, they opened their gates, let all the animals out, and packed up and left. All of the animals were left roaming the streets, abandoned.
This gentleman- Craig was his name- was at a nearby shop buying some fish food when his son said “Hey Dad! There’s a rooster in the yard!” Craig said, “remember that movie ‘Rocky’ that we watched the other day with Sylvester Stallone? Remember how he was chasing chickens to build up his strength?” The son thought about it and ran outside and started after the chicken. It took him an hour, but this 8-year-old kid caught the chicken. They named him Runner, and took him home. He has turned out to be the nicest chicken in the world!! He loves the family, he loves to be petted, and he even sleeps with the son IN HIS BED at night with him. You’re thinking exactly what I’m thinking, I’m sure… so I’ll tell you now that I immediately asked him. “OK, so ….. what about potty-training?” Craig said “you’re not going to believe this, but Runner actually sleeps with my son in his bed, and then when he has to get up to go to the bathroom, he wakes my son up and my son takes him outside. He does his business and they come right back in and snuggle back down in bed and go to bed.” Wow. The son and Runner have developed quite a relationship and they love each other dearly. The son even carries Runner around like a football under his arm as his primary means of carrying him, and Runner is just fine with that.
The reason Craig came in in the first place, though, is that Runner crows every morning at sunrise. Usually it’s around 5:30am. Craig’s neighbors love what they did in rescuing the rooster, but Runner’s crowing is getting on their nerves. He came to ask if one could de-crow a rooster. I said that I didn’t know, but I did a google search and apparently you can. Now it’s definitely not without it’s drawbacks, and I think it would be a tough choice to make, but this rooster LOVES this little boy. So I think that a life of enjoyment might be worth the de-crowing, depending on how difficult a procedure it is.
Anyway, here’s Runner. I met him, and I pet him for quite a while, and I feel very honored to know this young rooster.
The back story is this: about 2 months ago, a shop closed nearby. It was a Mexican family who owned some sort of Automotive shop, as I understand it. They had pet roosters, hens, and peacocks. When their shop closed, they opened their gates, let all the animals out, and packed up and left. All of the animals were left roaming the streets, abandoned.
This gentleman- Craig was his name- was at a nearby shop buying some fish food when his son said “Hey Dad! There’s a rooster in the yard!” Craig said, “remember that movie ‘Rocky’ that we watched the other day with Sylvester Stallone? Remember how he was chasing chickens to build up his strength?” The son thought about it and ran outside and started after the chicken. It took him an hour, but this 8-year-old kid caught the chicken. They named him Runner, and took him home. He has turned out to be the nicest chicken in the world!! He loves the family, he loves to be petted, and he even sleeps with the son IN HIS BED at night with him. You’re thinking exactly what I’m thinking, I’m sure… so I’ll tell you now that I immediately asked him. “OK, so ….. what about potty-training?” Craig said “you’re not going to believe this, but Runner actually sleeps with my son in his bed, and then when he has to get up to go to the bathroom, he wakes my son up and my son takes him outside. He does his business and they come right back in and snuggle back down in bed and go to bed.” Wow. The son and Runner have developed quite a relationship and they love each other dearly. The son even carries Runner around like a football under his arm as his primary means of carrying him, and Runner is just fine with that.
The reason Craig came in in the first place, though, is that Runner crows every morning at sunrise. Usually it’s around 5:30am. Craig’s neighbors love what they did in rescuing the rooster, but Runner’s crowing is getting on their nerves. He came to ask if one could de-crow a rooster. I said that I didn’t know, but I did a google search and apparently you can. Now it’s definitely not without it’s drawbacks, and I think it would be a tough choice to make, but this rooster LOVES this little boy. So I think that a life of enjoyment might be worth the de-crowing, depending on how difficult a procedure it is.
Anyway, here’s Runner. I met him, and I pet him for quite a while, and I feel very honored to know this young rooster.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Please have patience.
Friends, please have patience with me. I have recently forgotten what it's like to have enough time to breathe. I'm still figuring out how to get anything done, ever, with this much going on in life. I Have things to update you on and I will do so soon.
Thanks for your patience. And thanks, Ken, for always making me smile.
xoxox
Thanks for your patience. And thanks, Ken, for always making me smile.
xoxox
Monday, November 3, 2008
Violet & Mollywobbles Dancing
I have spoken repeatedly about the beautiful and budding new relationship between my Violet and my Mollywobbles. Here's a video that you may enjoy, narrated by the fabulous and talented Bruce Dow.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Plymouth - Kitten Moments
I found some old footage of Plymouth tonight, and assembled it into a coherent and fun few moments. This is him around 7 weeks old, in May of 2008.
Friends and Life
I have the good fortune in my life to have two best friends.
The first, Erin, just got married in Seattle. She looked spectacular, and she glowed from every pore. She's a natural beauty anyway, but I've never seen her look so amazing. I'm so thankful
to have been able to attend. Clinton is a wonderful guy and I think they'll be very happy together. They're currently living in Pittsburgh, PA with their two sassy cats and their one adorable dog. I'm thankful that I'm able to see them when I head back home to visit. They are the ones who took care of Violet this summer while we were in Canada, and she loves them to death.
My other best friends just happens to have moved to Australia. I met Ken when I first stopped by Wagville with Mollywobbles, and through some initially rocky times, we became best friends. We did a million things together; we travelled to Pennsylvania more than once, he shared Christmas with us in Franklin, and Applefest. We drove to Texas.
We took a road trip to Vegas. We saw a building implode. None of those things was particularly more special than the other (except maybe Christmas and Applefest in Franklin) but it's always a good time when we're together. And now he's gone. It's very strange to have him so far away. I am glad that he went, as the trip and the lack of support system are something that he very much needed. But it still seems awfully weird to be without him. Tonight I was on Skype with him for a very long time (which, for those of you who don't know, is a free internet-based phone system) and we both had our webcams on. I talked to him for the longest time, and then his roommate came on camera to meet me. I said Hello to him, and he said hello back, but with an Australian accent. How weird. For a moment in time, I was talking to just Ken. I guess in the back of my head I think he's in Kansas or something, but nearby. It took hearing the roommate say 'ello for it to sink in. Ken's in Australia. He's probably not coming back, at least not for a very long time. He may not ever come back, and that may be the best thing for him. But oh how I miss him. Sometimes I wonder what in the hell it is about the world that I have to have money to go see my best friend!!! What a screwed up system when I can't afford to go see someone I love.
to have been able to attend. Clinton is a wonderful guy and I think they'll be very happy together. They're currently living in Pittsburgh, PA with their two sassy cats and their one adorable dog. I'm thankful that I'm able to see them when I head back home to visit. They are the ones who took care of Violet this summer while we were in Canada, and she loves them to death.My other best friends just happens to have moved to Australia. I met Ken when I first stopped by Wagville with Mollywobbles, and through some initially rocky times, we became best friends. We did a million things together; we travelled to Pennsylvania more than once, he shared Christmas with us in Franklin, and Applefest. We drove to Texas.
We took a road trip to Vegas. We saw a building implode. None of those things was particularly more special than the other (except maybe Christmas and Applefest in Franklin) but it's always a good time when we're together. And now he's gone. It's very strange to have him so far away. I am glad that he went, as the trip and the lack of support system are something that he very much needed. But it still seems awfully weird to be without him. Tonight I was on Skype with him for a very long time (which, for those of you who don't know, is a free internet-based phone system) and we both had our webcams on. I talked to him for the longest time, and then his roommate came on camera to meet me. I said Hello to him, and he said hello back, but with an Australian accent. How weird. For a moment in time, I was talking to just Ken. I guess in the back of my head I think he's in Kansas or something, but nearby. It took hearing the roommate say 'ello for it to sink in. Ken's in Australia. He's probably not coming back, at least not for a very long time. He may not ever come back, and that may be the best thing for him. But oh how I miss him. Sometimes I wonder what in the hell it is about the world that I have to have money to go see my best friend!!! What a screwed up system when I can't afford to go see someone I love. Regardless, I'm lucky to have two wonderful best friends. Throw the world's greatest husband into the mix and I might just be one of the luckiest people alive. There's nothing like a good friend. I'm finding that out more and more.
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