voicemail #2

your favorite vacation?

"my favorite vacation...as a kid growing up, my parents went sailing...i got to take my best friend...[we were] sitting in the [boat] and um we woke up one night because we heard the fish outside like, flopping in the water. and we grabbed a net and grabbed the fish hook but we didn't have any bait, we just had the hook and caught fish. caught like ten of them and when we woke up in the morning, my parents had already gone out to sea and they had dumped the fish back overboard because they found them in buckets on the boat and they were too small to cook and clean. so, we caught fish that night in the middle of the night and um, were quiet and were laughing and the fish were jumping in the air and it was extraordinary."

this computer is sucking my life away

i need to close my eyes. this computer is sucking my life away.

i wish i could bring all of my craft supplies to work and make things all day...maybe i'll create an on-the-go kit because this computer is sucking my life away.

ok. i want to write more, but only when i have something substantial to say.

so, i am going to put this computer to sleep until 10:00. then i'll check my email and update you with how i am feeling...you know...whether or not this computer has totally sucked my life away.

voicemail #1

sometimes on my voicemail, i ask questions for people to answer when they call. this past couple of weeks i've asked "what is your favorite place in your city?"

"well, i really like the bankone fountain downtown...it's actually part of an entire plaza which is really quite lovely. during the day, you can go down and eat your lunch down there and the fountain, um, well, it's on a timer i think to do certain heights and it kind of looks like it's dancing. and then if you look up, the bankone building kind of arcs so if you look up, it looks like it's bending over you which is very cool. and to your right of that, there's actually a mural that is, what do you call it, the tiles, a mosaic i think. but anyway, um, it's just a charming place to be, an oasis in the middle of the city and i quite enjoy it."

this is a conversation i once had with a man at my old job.

cast of characters:

girl: me (i am at my old job, working on some display)

older gentleman: a man (who looks a bit like a grad school prof who looks as if he's spent a couple days and nights outside. he is holding some red berries and his lips are stained with red as he walks toward the girl)

gentleman- (holding berries in hand) should i eat these?

girl- um, i don't know. they're probably poisonous. you probably shouldn't eat them.

gentleman- i'm going to eat them.

(gentleman exits. girl watches him walk out of the store, across parking lot and through the berry bushes.)

weekend

we went to the intonation music festival this weekend. for two whole days. b and i went and it was HOT. i thought it possible that we might melt. we sprayed each other with water guns. we layed down on our mat and relaxed in the shade. and since it hasn't rained in months, it was dir-tay. we were grody. i looked at b's feet and i said, "wow, check out your flip-flop tan." and he said, "oh that's dirt, not tan."

my sister, part deux

today is my sister's birthday. it is my first real memory.

sometimes you think you remember things just because you saw them in pictures or because someone told you so many times you adopt the memory as your own. this one all mine.

i was at my grandparents' house that day; my mom and dad at the hospital, busy, laboring. i was at my grandparents' house on 618 saratoga drive. those are the numbers in my birthday. but this day was 7/12 and we got a phone call in the morning. i was allowed to answer it.

"it's a rhiannon..."

i believe my dad came to pick me up and we went to my aunt's apartment. we picked flowers, pansies or violets. for mom. we went to the hospital. we rode in an elevator. i couldn't wait. my mom came around the corner and met us. she was wearing her blue robe. with flowers that matched mine. we visited rhiannon, looked at her through the glass. she cried a lot.

"that one. that's her."

later we came home and we all got into our pajamas. it was the middle of the day. and we loved her.

i remember that.

oh my goodness, inspiration!

well, this weekend i saw a movie with my friend katie (we always happen to see great movies together) and it was so pleasing to me that i might need to write about it in order to think about it.

i think that if something moves you (this film made me want to make something), you should say it out loud. and by out loud, i mean on a blog. my blog. right now.

the movie was "me and you and everyone we know" by miranda july (who is a performance artist i've only read about) and it was really something. i was so impressed by the simplicity. color and texture. and it is so wonderful to see children presented as whole people with stories of their own. and the adults just like the children - living entire lifetimes in one single moment.

and i laughed. which is super-important to me.

clearly i'm no film critic. i liked it. and that's what's important, right?

as i rode my bike home, i felt like the world was playing a movie around me/for me.

maybe more later.

they are still crying.

in my imagination, they've been crying since friday. but i'm sure they took a break for the big holiday weekend.

meanwhile, my boyfriend is in the country and in less that 5 hours, i will see him! i would endure hours of screaming children for him.

well...maybe just one more hour.

i know there are real problems in this world, but...

listening to children scream and wail as they are dropped off for their first day of daycare is not fun. there is one baby who has been crying for about 2 hours and it's starting to get to me. she might lose her voice. a baby (even just potentially) losing her voice is sad. now two of them are crying.

in other news, i will never dance with a clown again...i should probably never say never, but...my last day at one of my jobs was yesterday, an event that took place with absolutely no fanfare whatsoever. i guess that's how your higher-ups treat you after you've worked for them for two years. not that i need fanfare or anything...maybe just some confetti...and an ice-cream cake.

more news...four full days til my boyfriend gets back and not a moment too soon...