Hotter than a Pepper Sprout ...

The last week or so has been miserably hot. Cook breakfast on the sidewalk kind of hot. Still hot at 4 a.m. hot. Tropical hot. I usually like tropical hot – but only when I’m actually someplace tropical where I can dig my toes in the sand from a beach chair and watch a cute cabana boy bring me pina coladas one after the other. Due to the intense heat I find myself constantly indoors and doing the bare minimum of everything. So laundry is piling up, rugs need vacuuming and bathrooms need scrubbing and I just find it hard to care about all that in the blazing inferno I fondly call home. Tomorrow’s temps are supposed to drop into the mid-90’s. Ahhhh. The power company has been urging us to conserve and so my thermostat at home is set to 80. Apparently only residential customers need concern themselves with conservation though -- I have a heater on under my desk to counteract the arctic blast that passes for air conditioning here in the office. Gotta’ love life’s little ironies or they’ll make you nuts. Too bad I can’t stick some of the air conditioning here in my purse to take home with me later like I would a box of paper clips.

Money is most on my mind frequently these days. I notice that I and most everyone I know seems to be living pretty much check to check. I can’t help but wonder what’s happening to the economy? I know I had more money to spend when I made less money and that just seems …. I dunno’….. ludicrous. I know I have to work harder than ever to live within my means and yet maintain an acceptable quality of life. I’ve had to learn to pinch a nickel until the buffalo farts – a skill I wish I’d always had. I guess it’s true what they say about the middle class disappearing. Everyone I know is either broke or not broke – not much in between – with the possible exception of those who are living on credit and have overextended themselves. They are the only remaining middle class as I see it and they are, at best, a poor imitation of affluence. The economic equivalent of smoke and mirrors. Living overextended would be comparable to being near the end of a Monopoly game having all of your properties mortgaged and praying you don’t land on that hotel on Atlantic. Wake up folks! Here comes Park Place! I worry about money because I worry about retirement and I’m afraid Elvis may have already left the building. Sigh. Cat food probably doesn’t taste much different than canned tuna anyway and I can always keep my fingers crossed for an unforeseen early death and a good looking corpse right? Actually if I could just get killed in an airline crash while traveling for work ….. oh never mind.

I’m still on my mission to relocate to mid-town and have been browsing the newspaper and the internet. As September gets closer I get more excited about the possibilities. I’m really looking forward to some new scenery. In the meantime, I’m trying to keep my summer focus and am working hard on developing some serious enthusiasm for this weekend’s upcoming rehearsal which promises to be an Africa-hot-ass-kicker. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. I’m trying to use the Season 1.0 break to recharge my batteries but this heat is making that nearly impossible Breaks are always welcome but they’re definitely a slippery slope …….. especially in Africa.

My Own Private Hell ... in 24 hours

Some say hell is a different experience for everyone. Some even conjecture that hell is a place each individual makes for themselves. I don’t what the truth is but I know that I visited my own private little piece of hell last night selling paper at a fundraiser bingo. I think I repented my entire existence between the hours of 8:00 and 8:45 last night as I lamely circled the players in a weak attempt to sell additional games. It was like something out of a Stephen King book the way the room got smaller each time I circled it. By the fourth rotation people were giggling at me. By the sixth it wasn’t so humorous to them anymore and somewhere around the ninth or tenth I became downright annoying. So I opted to start parking myself for a few minutes in between rotations alas to no avail. At 8:45, having pissed off nearly everyone, including myself, I cashed out having sold a grand total of 4 games and took my tired butt home. At the end of last evening I was told that Wednesday nights are always slow and that tonight and the weekend will be a lot better. Oh God, please let that be true because I’ve sentenced myself to doing it again tonight and both weekend days.

I spent lunchtime alone (because seriously I would not wish me on my worst enemy today) and I went to Jack in the Box (because I no longer trust Carl’s Jr to give me the food I ordered). I know everyone bags on Jack but he has SUPER salads and ciabatta sandwiches. Afterwards I went next door to fuel up. It’s hot today but while I was pumping the gas I was kind of taking the time to absorb some lunchtime “atmosphere” – ya’ know, grab some calming influence -- appreciate the warmth of the sun, the colors of the flowers, the leaves of the trees when in pulls a behemoth SUV the size of a 747 bumping rap music loud enough to break the sound barrier. It’s not the music I object to. I like rap. It’s the arrogance of the individual playing the music that bugs me. Yo partner, I appreciate you spend a lot of scrilla every month on your ride and that your rims cost you a grip and yet you could still afford to bounce up in Tower Records and buy a CD but HEY! I’m appreciating flowers here and I don’t need E40 as a soundtrack for that. Who died and made YOU the world’s DJ.

And the best part is that I’m doing Bingo again tonight.

I’m sure glad tomorrow is Friday.

Playing Catch Up

The week between the LA swing and last weekend was a whirlwind without time for even a breath. Between the regular 9-5 gig, working bingos to pay off tour fees and family responsibilities there was no time to recuperate before the Sacramento and Sunnyvale shows.

River City Regiment hosted the Friday night show and so senior corps were slated to go on last for a change … Whee! It was fabulous to perform under the lights! The show went okay. Not too surprising considering that, as working adults, Fridays are hard for us. Most of us didn’t arrive at the show site until 7pm leaving absolutely no rehearsal time and barely enough time for even a productive warm up before we headed for the field. My family came to the show to watch and that gave me an extra adrenalin shot and I had a good time in the performance.

The Sunnyvale show on Sunday was California State Championships and was hosted by the Vanguard Cadets. We were back at the mercy of DCI’s perspective and lack of understanding that working adults who already have seriously reduced rehearsal schedules should probably be given the opportunity to have a serious rehearsal block on a Sunday afternoon and not be required to go on FIRST … a broken record. After a 4-hour rehearsal block from 10-2 we went out there and hit our first home run of the season. It was clear at the first applause break that we had the audience with us and I think that boost made the difference. It was the first show this season where things sort of locked into place and it felt really good. It was a personal best for me as well as the corps. Now I feel ready for August’s stealth mode and DCA prep.

On the non-drum corps home front some of the family has just returned from a long drive to Arkansas and back for a family reunion over the 4th of July weekend. Everyone is home safe now. 2 of the 3 adults in our house are looking for jobs. I still need my own car. It’s tough right now just keeping the utilities on …. In the face of all of this I find myself wondering repeatedly how I can justify spending money trying to go to Rochester ????????

LA Highlights

Having sufficiently recovered enough from the LA swing to jot down a few weekend highlights …

The weekend started for me on Friday at 9:00 when I headed down highway 5 to LA. Made just two quick stops and ended up hitting the LA border about 2:30 only to sit in traffic between there and Torrance for two hours. Ugh! Found the LMS LA site about 4:30 and the first corner I turned ran straight into the Kingmen’s drumline rehearsal … had to watch that for about 15 minutes before checking in at 5:00. After that things happened pretty fast. The show started at 7:00. My job was “backstage runner 2” which meant me and my good friend Al were responsible for getting the acts to the stage on time. We lost the “Lost Disciples” and had a moment or two of panic before finding them on the opposite side of the stage from where they were supposed to be. All worked out in the end. I was up close and personal when Kingsmen took the stage. They were everything I hoped they would be. Dream sounded great and did a good job of blowing everyone’s hair back. Last on was Renegades and, as usual, loud was good. It all went by so fast. I met many DCPers and it was great to put faces with screen names. Afterwards a band of us headed to the local watering hole. I had dinner with Mac and Joellen Mccentire, fellow Gades Al and Christine and guest star Cozy Baker … what a kick Cozy is and what great stories he has. Ask him about the American Flag sometime and watch what happens. Opting to not annihilate myself before what I knew was going to be an intense Saturday rehearsal, I checked out of the party early and went back to the hotel and tucked myself in.

Saturday’s performance was a loooong drive away so Saturday’s rehearsal block was super short and fast paced. A handful of us wore “I heart Emily” shirts to show support for our girl Em who is standing by us through some very tough times and we love her for it. The rehearsal was chock full of new work that, in the end, the staff intelligently decided NOT to include in Saturday’s performance – whew, good to let go of THAT stress. Although it was full of bugs, glitches and tempo issues, it turned out to be a high energy performance and by all accounts went pretty well. I think the best of any we’ve done to date. Stayed and watched most of the remaining show with friends Alton and Nancy-Boy Pookie Bill (we also heart Bill). I really liked Academy … although the skirts are a bit overused… maybe. Good show clearly within the grasp of the members to really knock this one out of the park at finals. Also watched the somewhat controversial Jester. From the outside looking in I say let the kids take the field in competition. In this day and age of disappearing corps I applaud their efforts.

Saturday night found Alton, Andy and myself headed back to Torrance and searching for a Taco Bell we'd seen earlier in the day. En route we found an SUV that attempted to make a liquor store into a drive through establishment with poor results. We actually made 3 u-turns in an attempt for Alton to get a picture of that only to finally have the tow truck pull the vehicle out of the liquor store entrance at the exact moment we'd manuveured into position for the picture. Ah well. Another lost opportunity. Finally finding the Taco Bell we got our stuff and headed back to the hotel room where we discovered we had all the wrong food, I'd eaten Andy's burrito, one of us had over-indulged in recreational items and it was quite simply time for sleep.

Sunday morning I lost my car. I really did. I exited the hotel, walked to where I parked it the night before and was stunned when I didn't see it there. I remembered parking it in front of a hedge row there the night before. WTF? Was it stolen, towed, what? For a solid five minutes I paced the parking lot, Alton beside me, trying to figure out what happened and running a million scenarios through my head. I pressed the "panic" button on my keys .... nothing. Thank God Alton was there because he kept me from truly freaking out. I looked back at the hotel and started running through the events of the previous evening. It was the point at which I remembered giving Joellen a lift back to the hotel that I remembered we had entered through the main entrance ... and then realized I was now standing in the back parking lot of the hotel. Doh! A quick trip to the other side, a press of the panic button and ...... honk, honk, honk ... there it was! Another crisis averted.

Sunday’s rehearsal block was identical to Saturday’s but far more productive in terms of getting the new stuff to work in the drill. So it was included in Sunday’s performance and I think the increase in our numbers and the righting of the pecking order is evidence of that working out really well. Hung out in the parking lot with my bud Alton and some fellow Gades afterwards drinking and yakking for awhile then watched a little bit of Anaheim’s warm up before going back inside to watch the rest of Sunday’s show. All pretty similar to Saturday’s but with the addition of Anaheim’s Alumni corps. It was great to hear Folksong Suite on the field again and see a colorguard that understands uniform great technique and snap. I’m looking forward to their performance next year at DCI. Finally hooked up with my friend Andy and headed out to the valley to stay at his family’s house and delay the long drive back to Sac until Monday morning.

All in all a really good drum corps weekend. I saw friends I hadn’t seen in a long while … Mike Braga (Tansea), who I hadn’t seen in 32 years, came and gave me a big hug :)... also saw friends and fellow SCV alums Maureen and Chris and watched them perform as part of Anaheim’s alum. Met Ron Housley (DCP’s ffernbus) for the first time along with numerous other DCPers. Really impressed with Ms. Julian who wrapped her mind around this show in few brief weekends and looks like she’s been doing it forever. Go Sara! I got sunburned, got a little tipsy, worked really hard and finally had a decent personal best of this really difficult Renegades show. Hooray for me!

Back to the grind as of yesterday but with another show on the horizon this Friday. No time to let down now, right?

Love You Stubert

Occasionally our commitment to someone or something important in our life is severely tested. These occasions are always stressful. They are forks in the road, water shed moments, life changing events, take your pick. Without fail they send you down a road of self-discovery, bring to light exactly what you're made of spiritually, emotionally and morally and rigorously test your belief system ... not the beliefs you profess to your friends that you have ... but the real ones you use in your day-to-day decisions. It also tests your beliefs about the people you surround yourself with ... friends, associates, acquaintances. Sometimes what you find out on these jaunts is heartbreakingly disappointing. Sometime it's a kick-in-the-pants pleasure.

Update: 7/7/06
Some dearly held relationships and people in my life were recently put to the test. At first it seemed all would be well and I wrote what's above. At that time I was proud of how we all withstood something which I felt would surely tear us apart. But the final result, while it didn't ultimately tear us apart did result in the loss of three key and well-loved people and many hard feelings. Nearly two weeks later now we have put the most painful parts of it behind us. While many have come through with shining colors there were two who ... well didn't fare so well ... although their loss is serious, they are not the people I thought they were. I can't help but be disappointed in them both and wonder if we're not better off without them. Worse still they brought on the loss of a third ... a victim really whose talents, humor and dry wit will be sorely missed ... whose dedication to our cause and love for our craft are undeniable and beyond question ... the loss of Stu as a Reneguard member is very sad indeed. Almost miraculously he has found a home this season with Empire and I'm very happy for him. I hope it's everything he wants it to be and more. Good luck Stubert! You have my love, my best wishes and support and always my friendship. Renegades won't be the same without you.

XOXOXOXOXO

Deep Breath and ..... exhale

So I saw this article on the net and was struck by the definite correlation for me between what I read and how I feel about being a Renegade. I've always said it was mostly about the personal challenge, pushing yourself and seeing what you're really made of. See if this rings true for you too;

All is right with the world again. Sleep is a wonderful healer. I finally saw "The DaVinci Code" last night and really enjoyed it. I dunno'. Maybe because I'm a reasonably spiritual person who doesn't believe in organized religion, doesn't believe in divinity or creation but DOES believe that Christ existed, believes he was probably a charismatic, caring and loving individual that ultimately had a huge impact on humanity and the future of mankind. So the theories put forth in the movie worked for me. I still have a lot of theories of my own however ... time travel still being my first choice ... I'll expand on that some other time.

Having an hour to kill between the time we bought the movie tickets and the time the movie started we spent time exploring downtown Davis and found a nice little mexican restaurant called "Mariachis" where we got our salsa on. There's a lot of little tucked away restaurants and bars in downtown Davis yet to be explored. So many bars, so little time. Davis is a great walking-around town though. They've done an ab-fab job of keeping their downtown lively by limiting the crushing competition that would be created by allowing the big conglomerates like Walmart and Target into the community. It's a little inconvenient if you suddenly find yourself needing a pair of pantyhose in the middle of the night but it's a worthwhile trade to have a thriving, active and financially healthy downtown.

Having sung the praises of Davis it's difficult to explain why I'm so gung-ho about moving to Sac's mid-town ... but I am ... and I plan to go exploring there for a place to live as soon as time allows. With the summer schedule I have that should be like SEPTEMBER. The sooner the better though and I plan to jump on it at the first reasonable opportunity. I think it's the trees, or the smell, the weather, I dunno', but something about mid-town is comforting to me ... maybe because it's reminescent of more idyllic times in my life ... I think that's the draw.

So, the world is smooth again and my rough edges are temporarily soothed. I think the prospect of the upcoming long weekend is partially responsible. Even though, to quote my Mom, "I'll be as busy as a cat covering s**t on a tin roof", the weekend should be a good break. Hey, at least I won't be working!!!!! I may or may not judge, I may or may not march a parade, I do have a couple of performances and a long rehearsal day but it's all fun and games in it's own way and I'm looking forward to it.

Happy 4th ... see you on the other side.

Sometimes the world feels like sandpaper

... and everything rubs you the wrong way til you're raw. It is days like today that I really do wish I had winged monkeys.

I am completely irrationally irritated today to the point of being ready for a rubber room. Everything is the absolute END of the world today and I KNOW that’s crazy and I’ve had worse days and I need to do a better job of keeping my perspective, blah, blah, blah. People are dying in Africa and I have no right to complain … look where I live. Ok intellectually I get it ….even so ... I’m uncompromisingly, and unhappily, pissy today.

I went to bed irritated last night and it was still there when I woke up this morning. It’s sticking with me like a crack habit. It started when I got home yesterday and couldn’t figure out how to reconnect my computer and it just rolled downhill like a snowball outta’ hell from there. I just wanted to spend a few hours kicking back with my Sims and had to suffer through 30 minutes of sheer frustration to reconnect everything properly. Ack! And it was hot … I mean hot … really hot … all of last night. I woke up at 2:00 and couldn’t get back to sleep until 5:00 so I’m burnt to a crisp today. Add to that the joy of a broken email system at work which pretty much set the pace for the morning. I spent 45 minutes on the phone with a truly intellectually challenged customer service rep for Sprint. Sometimes it frightens me how stupid adult people can be and I wonder how they get through their day to day life. More terrifying is … they get to vote …. and reproduce. While I was on the phone with the Sprint-idiot (as I now affectionately think of her) I received 3 phone messages – one was from the City of Davis telling me to get my trash can out of the gutter or I’ll be fined. What? When I get home I’ll figure out what the hell they’re talking about. The other 2 I simply saved for a time when I’m a little more sane. Thinking I’d get a grip on myself with some lunch, I headed over to the drive thru at Carl’s Jr. and hokey-smoke Bullwinkle got all the wrong food ............ and a cherry coke. Yuck and hurl! I absolutely despise cherry coke. Of course I discovered none of this until I was back at my desk food in hand. Lunchtime joy brought to me by a girl I’ve actually called to complain to the manager about on two previous occasions. Why does this chick still have a job? If I did my job like she does hers, I’d have been fired long ago. Today my focus at work is on a task I utterly abhor but its 1:09 and the day is half over now. If I didn’t have so much to do I would feign an ache or pain of some kind and go home and pull the covers over my head ... but I can’t. So I’m here. And actually feel a bit better for having emotionally-shot-my-wad in my blog. Whew! I will give fair warning to everyone at home as soon as I hit the front door that I’m a lousy person today ….. please don’t feed the bears.

Why is there no OTC pill for this?

No! YOU'RE a towel!!!!!!

Happy Anniversary John & Dori Roy

I’m slamming water today. I am so dehydrated. It was an all-Rene weekend and it was both physically and emotionally draining! This morning I look like a piece of overcooked bacon and have a blue bruise on my nose where I tried to catch a flag toss with my face. Someone asked me if I went to the tanning booth … sigh. Having an all drum corps weekend is a little like traveling to a distant planet no one has ever heard of. It’s always a shocking surprise to me to return to earth on Monday morning where other people planted flowers, ate BBQ ribs and relaxed by the pool for the past two days. These summer routines are a fond and distant memory to me. How do you explain to someone that you chose to spend your weekend running around a football field at 180bpm, fighting sunburn and dehydration? People keep asking me “how was your weekend?” and I get this blank look because I don’t quite know what to say. If only there was way to explain this whacky activity and the hold that it gets on people. But there’s just not … so I finally just say “good, how was yours?”

Today would have been my parent’s 52nd wedding anniversary so they’re on my mind. They’d been married for 48 years when my mom passed away but me, my Dad and my boys celebrated their 50th anniversary anyway by having dinner at in a booth at Denny’s. I know that sounds weird but it was always my Mom’s big joke that her family was soooo small that she could hold her 50th wedding anniversary party in a booth at Denny’s – so we did – and we had a good laugh over it. We went right after the Moonlight Classic in Stockton in 2004. My Dad was able to attend the show and it turned out to be the only time he ever saw me do my senior corps thing. He and my Mom were always supportive of my drum corps geekiness so it’s no big surprise that he was really proud of me and had a good time at the show. As always, he was most impressed with the talent of the jr. corps hornlines. My Dad is a big Bonnie Ott fan. He passed away just before the 2005 season shows started.

I had the worst show of my entire life yesterday – so now I know what THAT'S like and I can cross that off my list of scary shit I’m afraid of -- it was on my list directly under being burned alive so you can see how yesterday was a pretty big deal to me. New on my list of scary shit though is “what if this is the best I can do?” It’s in the number three spot with a bullet but I refuse to dwell on that right now and I’m going to go get some more water ……

Weekend wrap up … sock buns, don’t ask don’t tell … Jesus Christ in scuba gear … Mommy, why is that man wearing those funny shoes … to strip or not to strip that is the question … you can wear gloves but you have to be nude … equipment Nazis with dymo labelers (where the hell is your tazer when you need it most) … NO shade for you …

And the award goes to ...
Worst Moment Runner-Up – Cracking myself in the nose with the flag
Worst Moment(not in a performance) – a practice field next to a huge public swimming pool
Best Moment Runner Up – Hearing Jim Jackson playing horn parts from the 1975 SCV show and feeling the need to travel from the backside line to the front side line just to give him a hug.
Best Overall -- Thank God I have great friends.

And that’s all I have to say about that .....

Random Weekend Tidbits

Tough rehearsal this past weekend. Our first show is upon us and we’re still fraying at the edges. Funniest thing I heard this weekend though was our staff trying to make us feel better by telling us we don’t want to peak too early anyway. Hahahahahaha. According to numerous accounts, things actually began to take shape by the end of the weekend. After watching the video I must say it looks better than it feels. I have to keep reminding myself that we’ve really only had about four “real” camps to pull together an almost complete show. When you look at it like that we’re doing phenomenally well. It’s also therapeutic to remember that we don’t really have to be ready to kick butt until August – which is many camps away as yet.

I stayed this weekend at the south bay haven that is Rhonda’s Los Gatos home. Rhonda (aka “Rio”) is an outstanding hostess with a beautiful home only ten minutes from the rehearsal field and she’s an absolute gem to share it with this rowdy, loud and smelly crew. Thanks Rhonda, I sincerely appreciate it! Even with no fewer than twelve of the ReneCrew in residence we were all truly comfortable and well taken care of with a great breakfast thrown in by Chef Cabanban. Let’s rehearse down south more often!!!

There was a corps party at Gilman's on Saturday night but this girl was far too tired to make it and was in bed by 11:00.

The ‘Gades previously scheduled appearance at BD Family Day on Sunday was cancelled a couple of weeks ago because we quite simply needed some additional time to pull it together – especially given the snare scare. A few of us managed to make it to DVC as spectators though to watch BD A, B and C show off their chops. Too much is yet to be finished to get a real feel for how good BD’s A Corps is going to be this year but the new unis and drums are exceptionally nice and, from what I saw on Sunday, the corps is strong and sounds good. West is best. Bring it back to Cali!

There was much random mention made this weekend of towels (NO! YOU’RE a towel) and of “socks” -- for hair buns as well as for use with a pickle. Don’t ask, I’m not telling, just remember your socks … for multiple reasons. Guard unis are yet to be seen and yet another pair of guard shoes needs to be purchased. Lots of things to do and organize this week in prep for the hectic show weekend ahead. The schedule for this work week is just about as frantic as the upcoming weekend – besides real work there’s a sectional tonight and tomorrow with another long one scheduled for Friday night. I have to say my thoughts are NOT on my 9-5 gig this week. Instead I find myself thinking about the dreaded “blue flagwork” all the time. Thanks to everyone who was so willing to help me wrap my mind around this but a special shout out goes to Debada for “slap-a-bitch, throw up, up and down, be pretty, poke!” Some crazy-shyt that really works.

WalMart Weirdness

I exited Walmart a few days ago to find the parking lot where I left my car swathed in vivid yellow crime scene tape. ????? I’m sure my face was a comical mix of both panic and confusion. Panic because I don’t like meeting policeman … for any reason … ever … even at a cocktail party … and confusion because, frankly, I was confused. I stood there stupidly waiting for my fight or flight instincts to cool down and worked hard to discern just what the hell happened in the 30 minutes I was in Walmart and how I was going to get out of there discretely.

The condensed version is that a lone policeman, investigating a robbery, made like Baretta by leaping onto the hood of a moving car, firing 8 shots through the windshield and killing the robbery suspect driving the car before falling off the car and breaking his leg …. right in front of my car … all this happened while I was inside pondering which Capri pants to buy?!?!?!?!

It took over an hour to get out of the parking lot passing no less than 30 police cars and twice as many policemen. I think the hair on the back of my neck finally relaxed like two days later.

No one at work believed my excuse for being back late from lunch. Trust me; it was really satisfying to show them THIS; yet another entry for the part of my scrapbook titled Things I Thought Would Never Happen to Me.

Thought for today ...

vegetables are pronounced vejetables and vegetarian is pronounced vejetarian … so why isn’t vegan pronounced vejan?

Drummers Wanted !!!!!

The San Francisco Renegades Drum and Bugle Corps, 4-time DCA finalists, are looking for talented battery and pit people. This is a unique opportunity to join a kick azz drumline with tour fee and housing assistance. Don't miss this opportunity to see what the view is like from the 50 ... in sunglasses !!!

See the links below for more information. Send me a message with questions. Tote that barge and lift that bale. Move heaven and earth. Do whatever you have to but get the information on this. Come see what it's like to be a rockstar.

Lee Rudnicki's Blog7
San Francisco Renegades


7

See you at camp!!!

Widowmaker ???

An accent wall is being painted in my office today. It’s purple … well a variation on purple anyway … it looks nice and I rather like it. The color is called “widowmaker”. Hmmmmm. How is that a name for a color? Really. What happened to “grape”, “eggplant”, “wine” and, oh I dunno’ … “purple”. Widowmaker? That one was never in my Crayola Big Box. Should I be concerned about an office painted in widowmaker? I haven’t decided.

I’m having one of those days again where I’m feeling like I missed out on important information provided in a film or a pamphlet that MUST have been handed out at school on some day I was playing hooky and as a result I’m ill equipped for life. Like I was born holding a curling iron and a can of Spaghettios and launched into the world left to my own devices and utterly befuddled trying to figure out how to make the two things work together. Sigh.

The man painting my accent wall keeps secretly farting. Well, at least he THINKS it’s a secret. Little does he know that I’m onto him. I am going to lunch where I hope the odors I’m surrounded with will be a bit more enticing than those in my office.

Treasure Island this weekend. Rain in the forecast. Well, otherwise it wouldn’t be Renegades.

Intensity to the 7th Power

I’m tired and sunburned, covered in bruises and blisters, have a sprung thumb, damaged right index finger and a bruised cheekbone … yep, it’s drum corps season! Woohoo!

I had a looong drive on Saturday morning down to Hollister. Basically you go all the way to Gilroy than hang a left for about 30 minutes. It’s far!!!! Anyhoo, took a 3 hour drive down there to judge a parade early Saturday morning before heading back up the Peninsula to Renegades camp. I arrived in Hollister about 9:00, saw a few friends, did a little recruiting, caught up on the circuit gossip and drama and then judged about a dozen colorguards between 10:00 and 11:00. Some pleasant surprises in that bunch got me in the mood for an intense rehearsal weekend with the Reneguard. I left Hollister about 11:30 and arrived at Treasure Island about 2 hours later.
Did the infamous drum corps parking lot clothing change and morphed into a Renegade. Had a hard time catching up on everything they had learned Friday night and Saturday morning but had my mind wrapped around it pretty well before the end of the weekend. Definitely looking out for a Sacramento sectional to happen this week to solidify everything I learned this weekend … gotta’ get the muscle memory working for me!

Usually on Mondays following camp I’m drained both emotionally and physically … this time not so much. Sure, I’m bone tired but I’m also exhilarated. This is the very best Renegades colorguard, period, ever, end of story. The talent in the guard this year is amazing and serious chops abound! I’m very happy (and feel very lucky) to be a part of this guard. This is the best colorguard I’ve ever been in, bar none. We still have a few open spots but I expect that with all of us putting forth some continued recruiting effort that’s going to be fixed shortly. I really like the music for this year’s show … at least what I’ve heard of it so far. I’m not a musician but even I can appreciate the difficulty of the book and the extreme talent it takes to play it. I was very impressed with the few horn run throughs I saw. Their drill looks like its challenging. I haven’t seen much of the drum show yet. They were sort of in stealth mode this weekend working with Murray Gusseck. Good things are bound to come out of that. For the first time in my Renegades experience I’m looking forward to Family Day on June 11.

When I dragged in from camp Sunday evening my hubby had pizza waiting for me. All I had to do was make myself comfortable and rest up for Monday. Thanks B! Love you much. You really GET me!

This weekend was so intense!!!

Yo' Mama is so stupid ....

... she believed the old guy was really giving out free breast exams door to door.
Sheesh!

Signs of old age ..... !?!?!?!

My 26 year old son and I commute together about 3 times a week using his car. Even though we go to my stop first, I usually drive ... and, cuz he's not a morning person, he's usually comatose and incommunicado. TODAY as we went out to the car he announced he would not only be awake but would be driving from now on because I "terrify" him. WTF? One of the most terrifying experiences of my life was climbing into the passenger seat of his car when he was 16. Can we have a little give and take here?

Okay I confess, I need glasses. It was like magic ... I woke up on my 45th birthday and had presbyopia. Just like that! I've always needed glasses -- I've been near sighted pretty much all my life but it wasn't recognized til I was 12 so I learned to work with it over the years and haven't actually owned a pair of glasses in about five years. I have to say though the combination of near sightedness and presbyopia actually is a pretty bad combination.
For example, a few weeks ago I nearly drove my husband and myself into a ditch. Hey! It was dark! A couple of weeks ago I nearly creamed four people in a crosswalk in downtown Davis ... in the dark ... and last night I didn't see the four policemen standing in a gutter in downtown Davis ... in the dark ... and nearly took one of them out whose butt was sticking too far out into the street. The world looks one dimensional to me when it's dark. I guess it's time to give up and get the bifocals. Blech! My son says I drive like Mr. Magoo and unfortunately he's right. Guess I should get 'em before I try to shake hands with a grizzly bear Mr. Magoo style. Funny thing though -- the gating factor that finally made me decide to go ahead and get the dang bifocals -- I couldn't see my drill sets at camp last week.

Heh!

See you on the 50 wearing glasses

;)

Looking for a good time ???

Come to the Loud Music Symposium 7 on April 30th at 7pm at the Heritage Theatre in Campbell. Hosted by the San Francisco Renegades and Leigh High School.

Tickets available here



Artists scheduled to perform at the Loud Music Symposium 7 include Maximum Indifference, Eddie The Rat,
The Trip Device, snare drum sensation Earl Brown, South Bay Trombone Choir, the San Francisco Reneguard, and of course THE SAN FRANCISCO RENEGADES DRUM AND BUGLE CORPS.

Earplugs will be provided :o

See the LMS7 flyer at the San Francisco Renegades website.

Drum Corps Dreams

I periodically have drum corps dreams. Apparently this a sort of shared experience as many other drum corps graduates have 'em too and, interestingly enough, their accounts are all pretty similar to mine. The dreams pretty much came to a halt (no pun intended) when I started doing senior corps. This also seems to be a shared experience. Wacky huh? But I had a very bizarre drum corps dream last night and wanted to record it (via my blog) for posterity ... so I'll start at the beginning (which unless you're Quentin Tarentino is the best place to start).

So I'm driving down a wide and sunny boulevard in my flawless butter-yellow 1950s truck (which I don't really have) and I'm driving super fast. I look into my rear view mirror and see I'm involved in a high speed car chase with the cops (I don't know why). I swing around a few corners and lose the police (right, cuz that always happens). I jump out of the truck and pull out my matching flawless butter-yellow 10-speed (which I also don't really have) from the back of the truck, jump on it and take off. I race into an under-privileged (for lack of a nicer word) neighborhood with a lot of really vividly green and expansive grass where I stow the bike in the open garage of someone's duplex and then run to wherever I was headed in the first place (still don't know where that is/was). I find my way back to the garage when I'm done. I head towards the bike and spy the garage's owner just inside the door. He looks me in the eye and closes the garage door with me still outside. I ring the doorbell and when the man answers I throw myself on my knees sobbing and begging for my butter-yellow bike because it's a birthday gift for my son (and I know I'm lying about this in the dream and it's just a ploy to get my bike back). The man only speaks Spanish and keeps shaking his head. His wife and kids are now watching and looking at me like I'm pathetic. I say the words "puerto" and "grande" and "abierto". I don't think those are exactly right but the intent is "open" the "big" "door". While I'm negotiating for my bike I look into the distance over a grassy knoll and see two columns of people -- about 20 in all -- spinning rifles -- some of the rifles are striped. I meander (all the hurry is gone) over to the rifle lines and then notice the two columns of flags standing with them. The flag lines are in full uniform --really similar to the 1972 Kingsmen uniforms only with longer skirts and the tops are dark seafoam green instead of blue. All of them are females, all are well over 6' tall and thin and all of them have faces identical to the faces of the Wicked Witch of the West's castle guards. Their highly polished antique gold flag poles are really tall with ornate finials and the silks are olive drab and super heavy -- like drapery silk. Their equipment work is really old school angles and planes but off center and awkward. I spin with them for awhile, learn their work and I do fine. Like I've always known the work. We have a "break", they all circle tightly around me. They're so tall they have to bend at the waist to get low enough to talk to me. I'm intimidated and yet I feel protected ... like they're friendly bears or something ... and we talk for awhile. Then they offer me a job as their tech and the dream ends. Just like that.

WTF?

The colors are specific and really rich in the dream. I need an interpreter.

Anyhoo, back to your regularly scheduled chaos.

Peace.

Home to Treasure Island

I went to Renegades camp this past weekend and all I can say is WOOHOO! There are several new people and even though there are fewer returning members than I thought there would be (and some who I will really miss) it seems like a really positive and skilled group of folks. I’ll admit to having been worried about all the staff changes and I will always miss Julie, Kathy and Shirlee I think they did wonderful things for the guard … and for me … things I’ll never forget … but happily the new staff seems like a good fit for Renegades and I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can all do together. For the first time in my Renegades experience there isn’t someone in the guard that’s never done guard before. This could mean good things for us this season. We were all throwing triples on rifle and doubles on flag our first day together! I wasn’t able to go to camp on Saturday (judging) but was there all day Sunday. We worked in the pouring rain at “home” on TI and pushed through to learn the entire opener … drill and equipment. This was a first for me as a Renegade. Usually we struggle to put existing equipment work on top of drill. Learning both at once made so much sense and made the whole thing flow easier. I had far less trouble pulling myself together than I usually do and I think it’s a direct result of not having to coordinate the top half with the bottom half. Plus I remember it all … which never happens for me until later. I’m really feeling positive about the season. Let’s go kick some ass!

FEWNU!

In other news I ran across this tidbit about Lewis the Cat and was intrigued. The only thing that could make Lewis any cooler in my book is if he was 7-toed instead of 6. Go Lewis! Show 'em who's boss! Check it out here

In case of fire ... forget the glass ... BREAK into a run

That's what I did. I put on some pants and got the hell out leaving everything behind. I always knew I wasn't a material girl.

When we stayed in Reno a few weekends ago the school whose contest I was judging put us up at the Western Village Inn and Casino. Sounds cheesy but it was actually more than okay without being great and, overall, they took good care of us. After judging on Saturday I was whipped. We had all these big plans for going to dinner and gambling. B took one look at me over the dinner table and told me we were going to call it a night. Thank God! I got to the room and fell out before my head even hit the pillow ... him too I think. In the wee hours of the morning I heard what I thought was a police siren right outside our window. I woke up for a moment and I remember thinking "tsk, tsk, someone is in trouble" and fell back asleep. Some time later I woke again this time to loud banging on a door farther down the hallway and someone shouting "Kelly, Kelly" and I assumed the police were looking for someone named Kelly. Hoping it wasn't some girl getting the crap kicked out of her, or worse, I went back to sleep. Next I woke with a start to someone banging loudly on MY door. I jumped up and ran to the door but before I could get there someone had opened it and standing in the doorway was a fireman in full yellow, rubber, outfit and mask shouting "SECURITY (oh, registers my brain, not Kelly, seCURIty), FIRE, GET OUT OF THE BUILDING". Once the door was open you could smell and see smoke. Needless to say it took about 1 minute for us to throw on some clothes and get the hell out. It was 5 a.m. and we, along with everyone else who was evacuated, decided to have breakfast in the cafe. About 30 minutes into our meal the firemen came through telling everyone we could all go back to our rooms now. Just like that it was over. Apparently there was a fire in a room just down the hall from us and they controlled it right away. Whew! Adding this to our Greyhound adventure made for an interesting weekend. It's definitely one for the mental scrapbook. I'll put it in the section called "Things I Never Thought Would Happen To Me" -- which as it turns out, is the biggest section in my mental scrapbook.

Greyhound gets an F but Western Regionals gets an A+

The last couple of weeks have been a real whirlwind of activity.

Yesterday I hung out with some fellow Gades at the WGI Western Regional Finals. I just showed up for the last 12 guards ... WOW is all I can say. It reminded me of why I love this stuff. Yesterday was the first time I was really struck by the incongruity of it all though. Gorgeous dance movement, layering of complexities one on the other, just overwhelmingly beautiful stuff going on ... with sabres and rifles . It's more than a bit of a contrast at the world guard level.

I had my first Greyhound experience a couple of weeks ago. I had to go to Reno to judge two shows. It was storming hard with chain requirements as low as Placerville and we elected not to drive. As many weeks of my life as I've spent living on a bus I had never taken Greyhound and I thought it might be kind of an adventure. I bought our tickets online and we showed up an hour ahead of time, just like the website advised. God only knows what I expected Greyhound to be like. I guess I had some romanticized 1950's version of bus travel in my head. Suffice it to say my vision wasn't anything like reality. Immediately I was struck with the realization that I really do live in a third world country. We hide it really well, but there it was! If you want to look at a true cross section of America go to the Greyhound station. Everything is represented -- there were old ladies with 2-carat diamond studs in their ears on their way to Reno to play their social security checks away on the nickel slots to homeless folks just working hard to stay warm and out of the weather. About 30 of us proceeded to wait in line for the Reno bus. The very late Reno bus. For 2 hours we waited. Standing. Finally the bus arrives ... with about 12 open seats. Yeah, about 12. Did you know Greyhound oversells every trip! Yeah, neither did I. If there's room you get on, if there's not you wait for the next one ... which might be the next day ... and there are no refunds. Lucky, lucky, lucky us! We were the last people to get on and leaving about 20 angry people standing in the bus station we found two seats -- of course not together! What were we thinking! B sat with the only person on the bus who wanted to keep their reading light on the entire trip and I sat next to an older lady who smelled like cabbage and who, leaning her head on the window, recited the "Hail Mary", in Spanish, the entire trip. Only lifting her head occasionally to steal sideways glances at me and clutch her purse even more tightly to her chest and praying all the harder. I've never been that uncomfortable on a bus. Given my background, that's saying a lot! Next time I'll take my chances driving. Date u beddy much!

I've been a lucky girl and have gotten the opportunity to do a LOT of judging this season. The most intense (and most satisfying) was the weekend of 3/18 when I did a Friday night in Fresno, a Saturday morning in Modesto and then Saturday night in Dublin. Talk about tired! My tongue felt like a big wet Mediterranean sea sponge and was abjectly refusing to accept any of the signals my tired brain was sending it -- it just stopped working! On top of that, by the end of the evening I was so tired that anything done by any guard with any degree of excellence kept making me tear up. Truthfully I got so verklempt when SCV hit the floor that for about a full 30 seconds I couldn't say anything into the tape. That wasn't fatigue though. That was pure emotion. It was the realization of a childhood dream to be in the box when SCV performed and, yeah ok, it really choked me up. One of those moments in life I'll never forget. And somehow how through all that I managed to do a job I'm proud of.

My oldest son's new girlfriend and her 3-year old twin daughters are down from Oregon this week. This was the first time we've met and I was nervous. I have to say I'm a bit smitten. She's cute, she's perky, she's focused and my son's affection for her is obvious. Her twin girls are just adorable, smart and funny and I can't wait to be their friend.

My youngest boy has just moved temporarily to Tahoe with his girl. They have seasonal work up there at a ski resort. I don't worry. They seem happy. As long as they're together, they're okay. Hopefully I'll see them sometime this week.

That's all the news that IS the news!

(for now)

I didn't think it would happen ...

... but it has! I followed this story when it first came out and then it disappeared (as these types of stories often do). I caught it again today and I'm so glad. If you've seen the video of the shooting, then my attitude needs no further explanation. If you haven't, do.

Justice for Elio?

A Potpourri of Weird Stuff ...

Driving long distances has become a major part of my life lately what with judging gigs in places no one ever goes. It doesn’t help that we’re temporarily down to one vehicle in the family (thus making me a bit of a chauffeur). Being on the road more naturally results in an increase in weird driving experiences – I can live with that -- but this is the penultimate weird driving experience in my recent memory.

I’m driving home Saturday night around 11:00, going about 75, and I’m pretty much the only thing on the freeway. I see headlights of something big moving up on me really, really, really fast. No serious worry though … the fast lane on my left and is totally empty and so are the two slower lanes to my right. I’m thinking the really big and fast moving thing is going to change lanes and pass me in any one of these other lanes. Ahhhh but that’s what a reasonable person would do. What is now recognizable as a behemoth SUV, clearly being driven by an A-type personality, pulls up on me at about 100 mph (no joke) and hits the brakes about two feet off my rear bumper then lays on the horn for at least a 10-count … ok, freaking me out and stunning me into stupid for a few seconds … then it jerks around me into the fast lane and as it passes me the passenger inside puts his hand out the window and … yeah, there it is … flips me the bird!?!?!?!?!

I’m still puzzled …

In other “weird news” I had to replace my cell phone (yes, again). Me and B were disembarking from the car and heading into a restaurant for dinner a week or so ago when I purposely tossed my phone into the cup holder in the center console of the car for safe keeping. I do this all the time. When we came out of the restaurant about two hours later I saw that the cup holder wasn’t empty as usual … this time there was an almost full cup of cream and sugar coffee sitting there … in the dark … like a spider …. and my phone was soaking in it.

B did everything he could to revive the poor little phone over the next few days but it was a goner. This time I’ve bought the cheapest ever phone and so I’ll probably have it for years.

As the weekend approaches I find myself more and more concerned about the weather driving up to Reno. I’m investigating taking the train ……….. might be an adventure in the works.

On the Renegades front … guard rehearsals have been cancelled until 4/1 … for me this is a concern because by my calculations there would be a show about 6 weeks after that and I’m not sold on the concept that I am capable of learning an entire show and making it presentable in 6 weeks. Oh My! I guess I’ll just strap on the seatbelt and see how bumpy the ride gets. By all accounts the horn and drum lines are doing fabulous. I would really hate it if the guard is the stumbling block this year. It would be 2002 all over again. Even though we pulled it out at the end it was a very hard year for the guard. I’m simultaneously dreading and looking forward to the magic that will certainly come in preparation for Family Day.

Weekend Update

The weekend was good.

Saturday morning I slept in (whew) before heading out to do the Fairfield Show. Thankfully they do percussion in the morning and guards in the afternoon. Nice show. Good guards! Great hosts. Good venue. Ahhhh. The scores for the open guards were really close. Sac State's percussion/guard did an exhibition and I was surprised to see so many RCR folks on the floor. A good day all around. No complaints even though it entailed a fair amount of driving (which is getting routine now) for this season.


Sunday we took Teddy with us and headed for Walmart to restock supplies then took the rest of the day to do exactly what each of us wanted to do ... which for me meant watching the Academy Awards (more on that later) and computer gaming all afternoon. Unfortunately the computer gaming part of the afternoon morphed into a 2 am bed time and, yeah, I'm paying for it today but it's not life threatening and it was worth it.

Back to reality today ... sigh ... but with a Reno weekend on the horizon to look forward to.

Just the teensiest bit worried about having to drive in the snow tho.

Impending Rut Roh ... <$1 to Astro>

I'm concerned. This seems a bit "1984" to me.

Personally, I think a school's involvement in what a kid does on their own time falls in the land of Nunya … as in nunya business. I'm not saying what these particular kids are doing is right ... I'm saying it's not within the school's jurisdiction to punish them. At most it's the school's job to bring it to the attention of all the parents involved and then back off and allow parents to actually parent and, where applicable, get the law involved.

I worry for the average kid. Do you realize how many times each of would have been suspended (or flat out expelled) if our schools had made it their business to know what we were up to on our own time? What we were thinking? Or feeling? I dunno'. I don't think we turned out so bad and we didn't need them to tell us (or our parents) where to draw the line. This trend feels like a big rut roh to me. I guess my fear is that our society's growing paranoia is resulting in a continual and wholesale letting go of our personal freedoms ... and just as bad ... we've stopped questioning authority. See what you think of THIS


For me the words of Daffy Duck sum it up best … NOT THIS LITTLE BLACK DUCK.

D'oh !

Simpson vs. the Constitution

It should come as no big surprise that "we the people" have a more ready kowledge of Homer and his clan, or the other things we see on TV, than we have about our constitutional rights or the workings of our government. If you put it on prime time TV, on coffee mugs, bumper stickers and T-shirts, the average Joes of the world would be as familiar with the five guarantees of the first amendment as they are with the words to the Gilligans' Island theme song. Oh ... but then the average Joe would also recognize when he's being screwed by 911 hysteria and might recognize the smoke and mirrors show that is Homeland Security ... and that might not work out so smooth for the folks in charge. Hmmmm? They better be careful before they antagonize the average American into educating themselves about what's really going on.

If the government was truly concerned about Americans understanding their first amendment rights, they would have put a Superbowl commercial together with some sexy chick cooing "freedom of religion, speech and press, right to assembly and petition" and trust me, a lot more of "we the people" would have been able to quote their first amendment guarantees without a problem.

Sheesh!

.

Blast from the Past

1975 Santa Clara Vanguard -- Dance of the Buffoons


Check out the chick down front second from the left -- heh!

Random Weekend Wackiness ... and the Olympics?

Another weekend gone! Everyone says time flies when you’re having fun … bullshit! Time flies faster and faster the older you get. I am stunned … ok, and scared.

I had every intention of watching the Olympics this year. I really did. I love the Olympics … the whole thrill of victory/agony of defeat thing is riveting. This year it just never happened for me. I caught a few skaters and a little bit of this and that but was really not in touch with the Olympics at all. I did make the gargantuan mistake of watching the opening ceremonies … egads … I think the impression that left on me is what eventually made me forget to watch the Olympics. The whole cow thing was just awful. What do cows have to with the winter Olympics? And cows on wheels? Actually, what do cows on wheels have to do with anything, anywhere? What? Who said that? Ever since I started judging colorguard I can’t look at theatrical events without analyzing them … and the opening ceremonies were kaka on a stick. Yeah, I said it. Yuck! Hopefully someone got fired.

So Friday night I journeyed to San Mateo. Repeat journeyed to San Mateo. It took me 3 hours to get there from Sacramento because of the absolutely, positively, out of control, utterly ridiculous, traffic that is now the standard in the bay area. Good grief! I’m glad I don’t live down there anymore. Somewhere between the bridge and Richmond there was a big smash up about four cars in front of me. We were all going like 70 at the time and then just suddenly stopped … dead … in the middle of the freeway … with the lanes on either side still going 70. Ok … talking about it makes the tiny hairs on the back of my neck stand up right now. I have felt closer to death but this was a scary moment. Anyway, it was a biggie but both drivers were out and walking around when I drove by them like 60 seconds afterward. Seriously, I wanted to just get out of there before someone crushed us all. Of course the only means of escape was the carpool lane … which I used and tried to get out of right away but the incredibly stupid and unconscious biatch next to me (yes, I’m bitter) just couldn’t stand to have one more car in front of her and so I got stuck there for what felt like an hour hoping a CHP didn’t see me. 99.9% of the time I'm calmer under pressure than I am at any other time ... ok, that day fell into .1% of the time when I'm NOT calm under pressure! Yeah … I was pissed … I flipped her the bird when I finally nosed in front of her. I hope she hasn’t reproduced … or voted. Anyhoo, the purpose of my journey was to judge a show and do a clinic. Both things went far better than expected and left me a little exhilarated. No worries, the ginormous drive home sucked the exhilaration (and life) out of me with quickness.

Saturday was another judging gig … Antioch … which I think may be Vulcan for far away land hella’ inconvenient to get to via any freeway … but what do I know. The show was good. I think the overall quality of the performances in NCBA is picking up significantly. The excellence of the top 5 or so guards was on par with any other guard I’ve ever seen – in person or on tape.

It was kind of a chancy afternoon. I took the B with me for the first time and I was afraid that he’d be bored cuz it was a looong show ... but he did just great. I think it helped a lot that he had one of the four best seats in the house and I think he was a little intrigued by what I was doing … and now there’s the added bonus of him understanding what I’m doing all these weekends. I saw several friends there too. In fact, two of them trialed Sunday. I’m excited for them. I think they’ll be wonderful judges.

Sunday was supposed to be a day of recuperation but we both got a blast of energy and ended up dismantling and reassembling our bedroom … and shopping for stuff we suddenly felt the urge to have to complete the project.We went to Walmart … (cuz ya’ know, if they don’t sell it at Walmart, you don’t need it) … it was raining super hard but neither of us had the sense to take a jacket. Doh! Everybody in the world was there. Seriously. And the truly bizarre aspect about the entire afternoon that I’ll always remember … I’ve NEVER seen so many people that looked inbred all in one place at the same time ... wacky. Independently we both noticed it .. and then laughed about it … a lot.

Overall the weekend was good. The shows went great. The bedroom is fabulous. I'm still recuperating and I’m looking forward to the next weekend already ... and it’s only Monday.

rut roh.

Signed: Golden Brown Jojo Dazzle

After a really harsh work week, this made me laugh til I cried.

Once you're on the site, click on "pimp name"

What's Yours

Checking in ...

Whoever said you should never go grocery shopping when you're hungry wasn't lying. We did that on Saturday night and went way overboard. I don't whose freezer we thought we were gonna' put all these snacks in. Creative space planning allowed us to finally squeeze 'em all into ours and we're set for like the next two weeks! Maybe more.

As I look at my desk this morning, the President's Day weekend already seems like it happened two weeks ago. I am officially overwhelmed with projects -- but hey, you can eat a whole elephant if you do it one bite at a time, right?

The weekend went whizzing by. I had a judging gig on Saturday morning but it was local, and early, so it didn't kill the whole day. We managed to squeeze in some shopping, eating out and a movie over the long weekend. If you're one of those who can't drive by an accident without slowing down to look, Final Destination 3 is the movie for you. Some of it is actually pretty shocking (especially the scenes where people get smashed -- and I mean like bugs). It's amazing how real things look in movies these days. Definitely nightmare producing -- I wouldn't take kids under the mental age of 12.

We had the house to ourselves all weekend so we nested in the front room pull out. I don't know why but it always feels like a vacation when we do that. Like camping or something???? The oldest "kiddo" took a powder to Oregon to see a girl. Upon returning he's announced he's moving to Oregon at the end of the semester. Ok. I've always feared my kids living far away and now it's here. I expected to be really, really upset but truthfully, all I am is happy for him. It's hard not to be when you see him talk about her. Sigh. I hope it's everything they want it to be.

This coming weekend is Renegades camp and I'm having mixed feelings. With all of the staff changes and so many people choosing not to perform this year it feels like I'll be walking into a new corps. This has its good and bad points. Truthfully I'm not looking forward to having to prove myself all over again and that's where the mixed feelings come into play.I've spent the last four seasons building up staff confidence in my abilities and have gotten some pretty cherry opportunities primarily due to their belief in me and my commitment to getting it right no matter what -- and now I have a new staff who has no idea what I'm about. I'm not a quick learner. I don't look good early season and and I'm getting a late start. Sigh. This will be my first camp but their third (maybe fourth). I haven't been able to attend previous camps due to judging commitments. Obviously I plan to do my best when I get there ... we'll just have to see where that takes me. I'm not ready to actually retire but my "spot" will have to be seriously challenging for me to want to make the necessary sacrifices to participate. I'm absolutely not a diva but challenging to me means having a weapon in my hand ... so we'll see. Cross your fingers for me!

Black and White

I like Ice Cube's rap. I do. Death Certificate is one of my personal favs in terms of albums. Because I like Ice Cube, I'm kinda' holding my breath to see what happens with his new show "Black and White". It's either going to be an eye opening, emotional, enlightening journey for both the people involved and the people watching it or it's going to bring on the Apocalypse.
I'd wager that nobody involved ever looks at the world the same way again regardless of the success or failure of the show. I've only seen a few promos and I'll admit it looks a little gimmicky and superficial on its' surface, but at this point I'm trusting Ice Cube's creativity and hoping the potential of what this show could be is actually realized. I'd hate to see it be a racial version of "Wife Swap". This could actually be a learning experience for all of us. Personally, I hope it is.

Top Dog

This is the "best in show" winner from the Westminster dog show that was televised the other day. Yeah, yeah, I know. Why was I watching a dog show. I dunno'. It caught my interest. This dog was actually charming. I have to admit, he looked really good ... errrr, for a dog that is. I don't care for pit bull terriers and admittedly that's mostly the media hype around pit bull attacks over the last ten years or so but putting it in perspective ... I give a wide berth and a healthy amount of respect to pits and big dogs in general. This dog though was really cool and I think he was the right choice to win, but he wasn't my personal favorite.

I like THIS little dude. He was my favorite !!! He was just cute and full of spunk and personality and he made me want to go out and get one just like him and bring him home as soon as I saw him.

Hey! Who knew that I could get so engrossed in a dog show ... but I did!

.

Past Lives - Who Were You?

In a Past Life...

You Were: A Greasy Warrior. Where You Lived: Korea. How You Died: The Plague.

Who Were You In a Past Life?

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Etcetera on Tuesday Afternoon

It's Valentine's Day and since I forgot my wallet and don't have the car today (which has left me very hungry by the way), I won't be able to do much for my valentine today. Another unobserved holiday in my chain of recently unobserved holidays. Damn it!

The weekend did not go as planned and, yeah, I was majorly disappointed. I had spent a lot of time thinking about the weekend and, well, you know what they say about the best laid plans. Saturday turned into a drive-a-thon ... again ... and Sunday, the planned day of play, ended up as another vegging out day and I've had enough of those now (who knew you could have too many of those). The weather is nice and I'm feeling the need to get up and OUT. There's a 3-day weekend coming up so we'll see what gives then.

Part of the drive-a-thon on Saturday was a journey down to Ceres (another of God's unforsaken countries in the Central Valley) for a judging gig. Good stuff once I got there. Beyer, Riverbank and Fever were fun to watch but my fav of the day was Cardoza Middle School -- what a genuine and pleasant surprise they were and such fun to watch. Cool costuming, cool and aggressive show, good training, intelligent vocabulary. I was seriously impressed with the level of training and the developing skills of these junior high kids. Kudos!

The rest of the drive-a-thon was devoted to seeing family -- which was fun and I'm really glad we went -- but getting home was a true test of human endurance (and shhhh, I totally failed ;) Soooooo verrrryyyy tiiiiirrrrred.

I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm hungry ... and I want to go home ... I'm now officially clock-watching (which I hate doing). Three more hours til lift off !

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Wicked, The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

I've just finished this book. The last hundred pages were worth the entire journey. "Wicked" makes the "Wizard of Oz" look like a media spin on events. It's the story behind the story. Every woman who's lived through a less than storybook puberty will identify with Elphaba as will any woman who was once an idealistic young girl or a victim of opinion.

Truly loved it.

Thought for today ...

"People who claim that they are evil are usually no worse than the rest of us ... it's people who claim that they're good, or anyway better than the rest of us, that you have to be wary of."

- Boq -

TGIF !!!

I'm so excited about this weekend. I've been looking forward to it for a loooong time now. I have a judging gig in Modesto on Saturday but after that .... it's the weekend in full swing. If the weather is nice enough we'll venture out, maybe do Pier 39, but if it's the least bit cold, we're making like Puxatawny Phil after he sees his shadow.

My Mom was right ...

... she always told me "never try to swallow anything bigger than your head and never try to sit on anything smaller than your ass".

She was right. Look what happened to this snake that swallowed an alligator

Thinking of my parents today ...

When I think of my parents as they were in my adult years, I especially like to think of them the way they were in 1993 and the few years immediately following that. Right about the time they moved into the Casa De Vallejo. They were both relatively healthy and fit and full of “piss and vinegar” (as my Dad would say) and they ran that place. Everyone there loved them. My mom organized bingo and ice cream socials and she and my Dad spent countless hours on their newest hobby, law, with the dual purpose of fighting the IRS and teaching others how to defend themselves in various court cases. We had a set of Black's around here for awhile as a result of that. Seriously, they were the belles of the ball with good health, attitude to spare and an income that supported their very modest needs.

My parents got married in 1954, just three days after my mother graduated from high school, and were inseparable ever after. Through whatever (and there were many moments of whatever, some that I witnessed) they knew what it was to be married and they lived it everyday like they meant it. My mom’s favorite joke about that was to repeat what my Dad told her the day they got married “there are many levels of poverty sweetheart and we’re gonna’ experience every one of ‘em”. My parents were always each other’s best friend and sworn defender. I will always remember that about them the most.

Not so idle chatter ...

To me going to court is like going to church or to the movies … you don’t go there to talk. Right? In fact if you do talk you can actually get arrested on a misdemeanor charge. Wow what fun! So I’m sitting in court with nothing to do and nothing being said that I need to hear and there’s these two blue haired ladies talking … and talking … and talking. Outta’ control, back-of-the-classroom, teenage girl giggling and whispering. I’m not annoyed, just mildly amused that they’re getting away with it without getting tossed by the bailiff (see polar bear -- point made). About a half hour goes by and these two are still at it. They’ve added musical chairs to their repertoire and they’ve changed seats for the fifth time when they finally wind up sitting directly in front of me. Naturally I watch them. I'm a people watcher when I'm bored. I figure out who they are there for and come to realize they’re part of a group of about eight people all here for the same defendant. So now the musical chairs make sense. I’m watching them and randomly notice they’re not speaking English. Eh, no biggie, neither are the people from an eastern block country sitting behind me. Then an interesting case comes up and I stop paying attention to the blue haired ladies and am totally engrossed in the unfolding courtroom drama when the back of my brain starts to tickle me and I realize that the little blue haired ladies whispered speech pattern of "yizzy-yizzy-yizzy" is really familiar to me … no, no, wait … I understand them! It takes my brain about a full 15 seconds to absorb why … it’s carny talk! I feel stunned (and a lot stupid). By way of explanation carny talk is a sort of pig latin using the sound of iz at every syllable -- for example, cat is c-iz-at. It used to be used by carnival and circus people and lately it’s been popping up in the hip hop culture. I’ve never, never, never, heard anyone outside of my fraternal family speak carny talk conversationally and I haven’t heard it spoken at all in at least five years. At this point, it’s worth mentioning that I was (sarcasm on) raised by pirates (sarcasm off). We routinely did things no one else did and carny talk was one of those things. I grew up with it and I know I’m the 3rd generation in my family to use it comfortably. So now I’m scrutinizing these ladies and everyone with them to discern whether or not I’m related to any of them or at the very least know any of them. Final conclusion … nope! No way. Right about then my case gets called, the blue haired, carny talking ladies exit my focus completely and I forget about them until the next day … at which point I get on the internet and discover there’s an entire subculture of thousands of people out there still speaking this stuff. Shock and amazement. Another epiphany.

IzI gizuess izif yizou lizive lizong izenizough yizou rizeallizy dizo sizee izeverizythizing.

In other news ... at 2 a.m. on Thursday morning Mo the cat suddenly sprouted an enormous set of shiny stainless steel balls when he encountered Ted the dog blocking the bedroom doorway. Mo deftly delivered a stunning 3-combination to the tip of Ted's nose causing Ted to beat a hasty retreat. Mo, now in full adrenal-charged,ninja mode wasn't having it. He continued the assault causing Ted to launch a counter attack in which he placed both paws on Mo's body, bit Mo's mid-section and then flung Mo, like a wet dishrag, into the closet doors with a loud BANG! Much fur and hissing later ... the cold war is over and full attack mode is ON.

Happy Anniversay B

after all the stops and starts
we keep coming back
to these two hearts
two angels who’ve been
rescued from the fall
after all that we’ve been through
it all comes down to me and you
I guess it’s meant to be
forever you and me
after all

Love Da' Bunz

Capitol Offense

I am outraged (and scared to death) that Cindy Sheehan can be arrested for wearing a T shirt bearing an anti-war sentiment. I don’t care if she was in the Capitol Building. I don’t care if Bush saw it. I don’t care if it said FUCK BUSH on it. I don’t care WHAT excuse they dream up about homeland security or whatever --there is no excuse for her arrest. This is an outright violation of her civil right to free speech. If they can violate her rights, they can violate mine. I wish everyone would wake up and realize that and start being antagonized when people’s civil rights are stomped all over. Make some noise. Send an email to your congressmen, senator, the president and be a pain in the ass! We, as a people, must be ready to defend anyone’s right to express their viewpoint, no matter how repugnant it might be. Whether that’s Cindy Sheehan or the Klan doesn’t matter. We must take our morals and beliefs out of the mix! To put it simply -- people died to ensure our freedom to express ourselves.

Thought for today ...

For my Boys ... C & K

I hope you never, ever, lose your sense of wonder
get your fill to eat but always have that hunger
may you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
promise me that you'll give fate a fighting chance
and if you get the choice to sit it out, or dance
I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
never settle for the path of least resistance
living might mean taking chances, but they're worth taking
loving might be a mistake but it's worth making

Don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter
when you come close to selling out, reconsider
give the heavens above more than just a passing glance
and whe you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance

Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along
tell me who wants to look back on their year and wonder
I hope you dance

Rainy Days and Mondays

Ack Monday! And it's raining. I had a 3-day weekend so it's particularly hard to come back today but ... here I am.

Friday found me in court all morning. More on that later. Fresno Friday (as I've come to think of my Fresno judging gigs) went pretty well. Still striving for that slam dunk though in terms of numbers. The company on the journey down there was great. Fun conversation with three funny and intelligent women (the rest of the judging panel for that day). Saturday was a day dedicated to driving in circles and household chores ... eek!

Sunday afternoon I finally vegged and watched cable. I saw "The Making of Dances with Wolves" followed by the director's cut of "Dances With Wolves" -- about 4 hours of heaven for me. I already loved that film for so many reasons and now I love it more. I got two things out of this viewing -- first, props to the editor for the original screen version. While I loved seeing the director's cut, I know that movie so well that I instantly identified every second of added film and I have to say ... the movie didn't need 'em -- and second -- I couldn't help but draw comparisons between film making and choreographing a winterguard show. It's not as ridiculous as it first sounds. So many of the same elements are involved; set design, costuming, and casting, and both are deeply personal and creative processes focused ultimately on reaching the audience on a gut level and giving them something from the performance to take away for themselves. The sense of family and the sense of pride the creators obviously had for their project was very familiar and struck a chord in me.

The SAG awards had some great surprises this weekend. I'm impressed that "Crash" did so well. I saw it a few months ago. Watching it the first time, I'll admit to being a little confused. It's not a film to see for it's entertainment value and I had to see it twice to truly understand and appreciate it's message. It says some really interesting things that as a society we're not comfortable articulating but can certainly relate to.

Evil Spawn ...

Check out this link to random chaos ...

Evil DCP

Thought for today ...

"sometimes we put up walls, not to keep people out
but to see who cares enough to knock them down"

- Anonymous -

When Animals Attack ... or not

My dog Ted (shown here in disguise and at the scene of the crime) and my cat Mo are deeply embroiled in a cold war as a direct result of last week's dog-nose-inserted-in-cat's-keester debaucle. Mo has backed down to orange alert, but with ninja-like reflexes at the ready, Mo remains strongly committed to stealth mode.

Can you say RETRO?

I’ve been on this HGTV kick of late and it’s resulted in a fair amount of wallet-thinning, nest building, home improvement all over the house. Last weekend I discovered I simply couldn’t look at the truly awful white, paint grade kitchen cupboards I have for one more second. Side note, everything in the kitchen is white, so white in fact that when you’re in there you don’t know if you’re supposed to cook or get your tonsils removed. So I got this bright idea that I’d “warm up” the kitchen with color. Doesn’t that sound like something straight from HGTV? First I spent a couple of hours at the store sweating (really) over what color to choose … and then I spent twice as much time trying to find someone to mix it for me. I despise Home Depot. Finding help at Home Depot is a little like trying to find a Baskin Robbins in darkest, untamed Africa. Anyway, when I finally got home I went straight to work and spent several tedious hours faux-painting chocolate brown Xs over ivory paint on all the cupboard doors. I was going for something that looks like the pattern on the trunk of a palm tree and from that aspect the doors turned out great. I followed that up by installing new brushed copper knobs on everything – twenty six of ‘em. I had just stepped back and was relishing a real feeling of accomplishment and enjoying my newly created “warmth” when my oldest (soon to be disinherited) son walked up behind me and announced “Hey, it looks like 1970s contact paper”. Ack! He’s right! While everyone else is remodeling their kitchens out of the 70’s mine has found a way to go retro. Screw it! It turned out just like I thought it would and I like it. What else could you expect from a 70’s chick but a 70’s kitchen? That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

On the adjudication front … this past Saturday night I finally had the opportunity to judge my first CCGC show. Something I've had the itch to do since 1976 and have finally scratched. Looking back at my recaps from Saturday I’m happy with my ordinals but should have had a bigger spread between vocabulary and excellence for the younger guards. I’m a little baffled that it didn’t come out that way as that’s totally what I had intended to do going in … but those numbers are slippery little devils and it’s really easy to get stuck without one (and actually I think that’s exactly what happened to the Reneguard at DCA this past year – but I digress). Seriously, some of my colorguard cronies think the tape recorder is the most intimidating part of judging … not so folks … it’s the numbers management and the accountability for your numbers. If you think about it only a handful of people hear your tape as compared to the entire circuit (or more) seeing your numbers. An interesting wrinkle (and kinda' awkward moment) occurred when I realized that two of my new Rene-instructor’s high school guards were competing. No pressure right? Ack! My next gig is this Friday in Fresno – a 3 hour drive. No matter. I’d drive to Alaska for the continued opportunity to do this.

And in other good news … I just found out this morning that I’ve unofficially been given an assignment in Reno for NCBA. Woohoo! This is cause for celebration as I was really hoping to get this particular gig because it’s a double header. Two shows in one weekend is always a good thing.

Thought for today ...

Tis very strange Men should be so fond
of being thought wickeder than they are

- Daniel Dafoe -

Fanmail from some flounder?

Thursday finds me totally out of my blue funk. Mail saved my life. Truly. Long story short, suffice it to say that thanks to my mailbox my outlook is much improved and I feel ready to kick ass and take names ... and probably will. I do wish someone could explain why it takes USPS six days to deliver, one tiny and very important, letter to me ... a mere 25 miles from its point of origin. No matter. It made me very, very happy once I had it in my hand.

The weekend seemed exceedingly long and tedious but had a couple of real bright spots. Sunday's presentation -- by all accounts -- went really well so hooray for our side. A committee is being established for next year and will meet sometime in April. It's a pebble dropped in a pond -- we'll see where the ripples take us.

Last night I spent the evening with my kids. It's great when your grown children spend time with you like friends. We went to the local watering hole and shot some pool, drank some beer, reminesced and laughed so much we annoyed people. So what. It was exactly what I needed. It's funny how things turn out. When my boys hit puberty, there were people who used to tell me that a single woman couldn't raise men. My quick reply was always "maybe but I'm raising genuine, socially-conscious, contributing members of society". People laughed. That's okay cuz I got the last laugh. My kids are great people.

For the last two evenings I've been trying to take some decent photos of my dog. Maybe it's just my dog, I dunno' but everytime I point the camera at him he runs as if I'm pointing a gun at him. Historically he has run from anything that looks remotely like a gun -- we don't know how he knows about guns but trust me he does. His name is Teddy and my husband and I adopted him when he was about three. We theorize that Teddy had some kind of top secret life before we met him. Drug sniffing for US Customs, earthquake Search & Rescue, Prison guard dog, Police K-9, international spy ... something, definitely something. He has the demeanor of a proper English butler, he's smarter and more polite than most people's children and damn near human in a variety of ways, but his fear of guns (and evidently now cameras) is making it nearly impossible to get a decent photo of him. I had to get my son to hold him still to get any pictures at all. That resulted in a really brief but hilarious episode last night. Ted tried to get away from the camera by running away from and out the patio door (which was open about 4 inches at the time). Bad news for Mo the cat as that's exactly what Mo the cat was trying to do too. Understand Ted is pretty cool with Mo, but Mo ... well, let's just say he has attitude to spare about Ted. So all 80 pounds of Ted at a dead run head for the door where he surprises Mo (paused with head outside, tail inside) by inadvertently sticking his big wet and uninvited dog nose where no dog nose has been before. Mo, responded instantly by defying all the natural laws of physics and jettisoning himself straight into the air about four feet then sideways at a 90 degree angle ... a hissing, spitting, black ball of fur right out of a Hanna Barbara cartoon ... which terrified Ted ... and I'm lucky my patio door is still in intact. Mo promptly went into hiding and was nowhere to be found until he skulked out into the living room this morning where he instantly made it evident that he is in full blown stealth mode, focusing all energy on eyeballing Teddy and in clear anticipation of the next "attack" -- and Teddy -- with a brain roughly the size of a walnut -- is totally oblivious. Thinking about it now it still makes me laugh.

Thought for the Day ...

The idea is not to hide from life: It is to live life, but without making the same mistakes we did before.

- Harold Klemp -

To paraphrase Winnie the Pooh ...

I am having a "no-good, very bad day" ... all week. I quite naively thought my life turned upside down last week. Little did I know what was in store for me. I've been rattled to my core and left feeling like a hollowed out shell of my real self. Funny how devastating news does that. Can't eat. Can't sleep. Don't wanna' work. Just wanna' pull the covers over my head.

The longer I live the more I'm convinced there is no great meaning to life. Life is just a series of frustrating obstacles to overcome dotted (thankfully) with stretches of happiness and moments of sheer joy. How it goes has everything to do with how you set yourself up in the beginning. Everyday can be a breeze or a struggle. Well, mine was a breeze for a long time and I didn't realize it. Lately there's been a lot of struggle. The upside is that I've learned to appreciate good things, good people and good times more than ever. I've learned that for me a clean house, a full refrigerator and money left over at the end of the week can feel like as much of an accomplishment as finding a cure for cancer.

There's a song with a line in it that resonates strongly with me "it's like I'm living someone else's life - like I stepped outside when everything was going right". That's exactly how I feel right now.

In 1992 someone gave me a postcard with the saying "When one door closes another one opens, but damn those hallways are a bitch". In my opinion whoever coined that particular phrase is a f*#king genius.

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