she's just saying...

C'mon

No one else willing to take a shot at a six-word memoir? How can I post the top 10 submissions if you don't submit anything?  Or I could get my brother to write more -- that's a threat...

Beck blast

Cortney Maddock/rgj - See? I do give credit.

Another great show by Beck last night.

This show was the complete opposite of the concert he gave here two years ago. No sets, no puppets, no video, no utensil drumming; just wall-to-wall Beck songs - sort of the "Best Of" (in a good way). Starting off with "Loser," they played "Hell Yes," "Where it's At," "Guero," "Lost Cause," a bunch from "Modern Guilt," and many others. It was a high-energy, positive, tight wash of pure Beck.

I love going down to get as close to the stage as possible -- jammed in among all the other happy dancing people, smelling fresh grass (both kinds), altoids, teenage perfume, warm bodies (all clean: it is Bend, after all). It's a rush - a completely different experience vs. sitting back in the beer garden.

I was definitely in a different place, too, versus two years ago, but it was all okay. Perfect weather, great venue, fun company, plenty of wine, friendly crowd: overall a stellar night. I even biked there and back and didn't fall over! (a first)

Six words to describe your life

The book Not Quite What I was Planning: Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure, by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser, is a cogent little compilation based on the story that Hemingway once bet ten dollars that he could sum up his life in six words. His words were: For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.

(I don't really understand this actually: was he referring to his own shoes? He had kids, so it couldn't be theirs, so what gives? Anyway, I digress [my memoir in just three words right there.])

So, this is a wildly popular meme and since I'm always up for talking about myself a challenge, here we go. How I'd sum up my life varies wildly depending on how I feel at any particular moment. Maybe that's one:

Can't describe it: it keeps changing.

A few more:

PA, VT, AK, MA, CA, OR.

Getting old but feel fourteen inside.

I'm on a roll:

So much love, yet still single.

I hope I'm reborn a kitten.

And from the Dalai Lama's thoughts on the meaning of life:

Be happy: help others be happy.

 

Alright, all my froggers (friend/bloggers). I won't call out your names in front of the whole class, but start writing. Either here or take the ball and go home to your own blog with it. It's kind of addicting.

[Read more submissions to the next book project here.]

WORMS (the good kind)

I received my worm allocation today from Laurie, the Wonder Worman.

Everybody into the pool!

My pretties.

I was expecting the big fat bait kind, but these are much smaller (they're just babies) and a whole lot more lively. Laurie has a whole operation going in her garage and can't keep up with the demand. Cool, huh?

Dead jay walking

Pretty much ever since I built this house (with my own two hands!), a nasty street gang of stellar's jays have hung out in the junipers, divebombing my cats and hurling racial and species slurs at the dog in bird-slang. They bully the other birds and throw juniper berries on us when we're on the deck. They're loud, rude and obnoxious, but they do add local color. (Blue, in particular.)

Today I saw one of the bro-jays lurking around my pondette a bit suspiciously, and this evening I couldn't see any of my tadpoles. I'm not accusing anyone of anything, but if any of those jays have frog breath, they're so busted.

Anyone have a slingshot?

Big news, big changes

I've been working my consulting gig since the Big Globe swallowed us and spit us out, but we can't live balancing on that tenuous tightrope. So, back to the corporate world I go.

The big news tonight is that I accepted a new job as VP of Marketing for our local cultural gem starting in early Sept. I predict the quantity of blog posting here will drop precipitously.

Whoa! We interrupt this news update to say that those Jamaican relay runners are very FIT! Those green shorts make it all very clear.

Whew. 

Oh yeah, so work, it's gonna begin again. Good times.

Ravelympics

As mentioned before, Ravelry.com is the worst time-sucking black hole social networking site for knitters. It's an addictive other world, complete with exclusivity (there's a wait list), inside slang, mascots (Bob the Boston Terrier), weird freaky group scenes (Knitters who love "Dexter"?) and a spider's web of links, projects, yarns, designers, patterns, heated discussion forums, stashes, queues, faves and so forth. It's non-profit, run on a shoestring, totally hip and very addictive. Did I mention I'm an addict?

Anyway, in a typical weird/goofy/knitting humor way, they're running the Ravelympics with knitting events and awards AND I WON ONE. (Of course, everyone who completes a project during the  Olympics timeframe wins an award, but so what). So that's what the strange dog thing is in the sidebar over there. And this is what I knit to win it.
that's not a gang sign - I'm hand modeling

Pretty basic, but I started and finished in a week (no surprise given I had a huge work project due).

Sami is knitting an itsy-bitsy bikini as her entry. Can't wait to see that - water disaster in the making, for sure.

So that's my addition to Kathi's 13 more ways to beat Shawn Johnson list. I can knit a mitt. What can you do?

Quickie

Major report due to the client tomorrow - guess who's been procrastinating? Well, at least I got the waterworks completed. There's something to be said for professional-grade procrastination - a lot gets accomplished. Just not the right lot.

Add to the catastrophe list from Sunday: a leak in the pond. Must save tadpoles!

Baby kitties, baby frogs, (big) baby dog, baby mosquitoes; we're all just a big bunch of babies around here.

Top Ten advertising edition

Since I've worked in the ad business for 20somethingorso years, certain key lines of dialogue from TV spots tend to stick in my brain and pop out of my mouth at random moments. Since most of them get a blank stare in return, I'm putting them down here for your future reference. Some I've worked on, some I haven't.

Not mine, but favorites:

1. Dunkin Donuts with Fred the Baker: "It's time to make the donuts..." Useful in many situations.

2. Whiskas: "Kitty cats, read my beak." I could watch this over and over, and do.

3. Vicks 44: "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV." I said this to my doctor once (who's maybe 12) and got the blank stare plus the humor the patient look. It lost something in the explanation.

4. My latest favorite: the eTrade Mobile Baby: "Bad girl!" I love how his eyes widen at this.

Spots I've worked on:

5. Knudsen Cottage Cheese:  "Don't be wiggy!" We had no idea what this meant, but we liked it.

6. Butchers Blend, with "stew-like goodness!" There were legal reasons we couldn't say "stew," but "stew-like," no problem.

7. Reach Toothbrush: "Bad news at the dentist!" (He says we aren't getting our back teeth clean enough.) Tragedy strikes the family.

8. Knorr Soups: Frank Langella saying "Leeeek sooooup," getting all the housewives hot.

9. More recently: Edge Wireless: "It's for you!" with endless variations of intonation.

10. And my finest hour: working on the Ren & Stimpy Talking & Farting Dolls and coming up with the phrase "rude underleg noise" (can't say fart on TV). Thank you.

 

Discus fever

I take it back!! They're showing the women discus throwers. Yikes. They're scary.

Today's donation

Today's Olympics donation goes to Amnesty International for their continuing fight for human rights and against repression, torture and wrongful imprisonment.

Meanwhile, the Olympics is on just about 24/7 here. My eyes glaze over during the unending swimming, beach volleyball and gymnastics events. Interesting that those have been basically the only sports NBC covers during prime time. Could it be due to the skimpy uniforms? Nah - how cynical! But why should they give us coverage of the fencing, the mountain biking, the shot put, the skeet shooting? Not so sexy. Low ratings. Now if they had skeet shooting in bikinis, that'd be the ticket!

Who wouldn't want to watch this?

Wanna go?

Anyone want to go with me to the Beck concert here next Sunday? Email me at melissahoch at g mail dot com and let me know. His 2006 appearance (above) was the best concert I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot. Can't wait.

Don't go chasing waterfalls

Done. Really. Now we just sit back, swat mosquitoes and watch the tadpoles grow.

Most common question to date from visitors: "Was that rock already there?"   I. Am. Not. Kidding.

Terrible news from a friend

I just heard that a member of our knitting group has had a tragedy in the family. She's asked for knitted items for her cousin's family recovering in the burn unit. Please send her your best wishes and caring thoughts. Another reminder that life is random and precarious, so hug the next kids you see, yours or not.

To my lovely lurkers

Alright, you people. What's it going to take to get you to comment on this blog? Other than that Chatty Kathi, my bro, Amber and the occasional work/knitting bud, I never hear nothing from nobody. Are you all mute? (What's the computer equivalent of mute - keyboard-challenged?)

Sorry, just had to go off there. I do appreciate your readership, however silent. Seriously though, I'm getting a complex. Actually, yet another complex. And I already have plenty, what with only dating younger men who won't commit. But that's another post.

c'mon get happy

I'm all about UPBEAT! on this blog, and last night's post didn't measure up.  So here is a list of

Things making me happy this morning:

1. Not working
2. The perfect weather for not working
3. Getting kitty hickies from my latest kitten
4. The consulting work I'm doing (& getting paid for)
5. Henry's summer of camp, bikes & squirt guns
6. Blueberries are on sale at Costco
7. My knitting group drinks wine meets here tomorrow
8. My friend Mary & her crazy puppy who stay here weekends
9. The tadpoles growing in my pond-ette
10. Dressing like I was 12 all day (shorts/tank top/flipflops)

The absence of pain

Soaking in my hot tub tonight, I was thinking about all the times I had been there before, deeply in love and deeply in pain. I was struck with a realization. Sometimes, just a little, I miss the pain of breaking up.

I know that might disturb and perplex a few. You'll have to trust me when I say I'm not a masochist. I have a healthy sense of self-preservation and regard and (now and then) know what's best for me. Things are fine, everything's going alright, life is nice. I enjoy the simple pleasures of family, home and friends and spending time with myself: I enjoy my company. And I'm proud of myself for getting out of that destructive cycle of "make up to break up" (yes, I grew up in the 70's). But still . . .

Tonight I realized that that intense emotional state, be it love or pain, has left a sort of dullness now that it's gone.

Maybe this is what it's like to recover from addiction. Both the highs AND lows were somehow meaningful - the pleasure/pain receptors were firing and all that. Of course I don't wish for it to come back, and god forbid I ever go through that pain again. But I was feeling something deeply, and I guess I miss that intensity.

I may read this in disbelief tomorrow. But tonight, I just don't feel much of anything, and it's not just the wine.

Mowing

Dad and Henry, North Carolina 2003

I felt a little like my dad yesterday afternoon. Got all sweaty mowing the lawn, came inside, opened a beer and watched the ballgame.  Except I started knitting.

The Knit-Up has started a knit-along on fingerless mitts. These are very hot right now in the knitting world. I can't tell whether it's because they're so easy and gratifying to knit or whether people actually want to wear them, but they're fun. (Like socks, without the heel stuff.) They also make perfect little gifts, say, for 20-something nieces. (They don't read my blog so this won't spoil the surprise.)

I'm starting out easy on Noro mitts, then moving on to Fetching. a free pattern on Knitty.com. If you haven't been to Knitty (and you're a knitter), you're missing out. It's a young, hip, on-line knitting magazine with tons of free patterns and great writing. Check it out. Even if you don't knit.

The Donation Olympics

As the Olympics medals count begins, I'm going to run a donation count, sending money to various organizations that support international human rights, ending hunger, the environment, the Tibet and Darfur struggles, The Sichuan earthquake victims and the Special Olympics.

Today's Olympics donation is to savedarfur.org.

The opening ceremony,which I normally find tacky and trite, was a mind-blowing mix of conceptual art, military-like choreography, film special effects, historical opera and patriotic pageant. I must admit that the spectacle of the 2000 precision drummers was a little scary. Hordes of mechanistic marching soldiers came to mind, but maybe that was just me.

Meanwhile, Henry has found the 100% 24/7 Olympics channel, so we're plugged in day and night. We just watched a badminton match. Now women's weightlifting. It's going to be a long month.

(image courtesy of www.brownielocks.com)

Here's a solution

Now I can watch and feel virtuous at the same time! Letter from International Campaign for Tibet:

Dear Melissa,

I recently wrote to you about an exciting opportunity we've been given to help the people of Tibet: a generous ICT donor has agreed to match all contributions that we receive — dollar for dollar — up to a total of $100,000!

Starting tomorrow, world attention will be focused on the Beijing Olympics.  Despite the official story most of us will see on television, we know there is an additional truth that cannot be ignored — that tensions in China are at an all-time high and Tibetans are paying the price. Please send a generous gift today, so we can make the most of this remarkable opportunity to help.

Make a gift today — and it will have double the impact for the people of Tibet.

Since March and April — when entire towns across Tibet rose up in protest against almost a half century's worth of Chinese oppression — the crackdown by Chinese authorities has been brutal. But even before the protests, Tibetans were suffering injustices every day that Westerners would consider appalling:

	The Chinese government detains and often imprisons Tibetans for "splittest" activities like owning a Tibetan flag or offering a prayer for the health of the Dalai Lama.
	The Chinese have a clear history of torturing Tibetan political prisoners they have detained without charge.
	Tibetan monks and nuns are sometimes forced by Chinese authorities to sign statements denouncing their beloved spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
	Chinese border guards have shot at and even killed unarmed Tibetans — including children — as they flee across the border to the freedom of Nepal and India.

The International Campaign for Tibet needs every dollar of this match to help Tibetans — and this is your opportunity to make your gift go twice as far. Please don't delay. Make a generous gift today.

Thank you for standing in defense of human rights and democratic freedoms for Tibetans.

Sincerely, John Ackerly President International Campaign for Tibet