flyin by the seat of my pantz...

The Campfire Gurlz... Reverand J Ice, DJ Lordesaurs Rex, myself, Kymmie Blu Funkmaster...

ha! three girls in a corolla headed for zenfest.

i'm going to something called the zenfest out near kc this weekend. camping, poi, belly dancing, meditation, chanting, tai chi, drumming... and gawd knows what else.

i don't camp a lot... like it, but it used to be too much work. camping when i was married was an exercise in extreme OCD. every meal planned and bagged in a ziploc. days ahead there was laundry and checklists and packing... due to my excellent diligence, we were prepared for every possible, conceivable activity and disaster. this was all me. he gathered the dog and his stuff, usually an hour after we should have been on the road. it was all very serious.

fast forward three years. i got an email invite today. sure i'll go. i've got my kickin backpack, a tent, a sleeping bag, a flashlight, a frying pan and my toothbrush. i don't know where we are going. i don't know how much it costs. i was assigned to get breakfast, cranberry for the vodka and the directions. i've thrown some clothes in the backpack--first thing in was the swimsuit. things are a lot more loosey goosey these days.

i'm crazy psyched and can't wait to go. i have know idea what to expect, but these girls are fun and there is a workshop in a meditation garden on spinning fire. how bad could it be?

thought stream....

someone is raising a red flag about the alcohol in the latest harry potter. i saw the movie and i read the book; i barely noticed the butterbeer and mead...

i see the point brought up in this story in the NYT, but it leaves me a little exasperated. MUST we nit pick and find the negative in everything? are we so politically correct that we cannot merely enjoy a good story? do we believe so little in our abilities to be good parents as to turn blame onto everything else?

this saddens me. i don't know why i didn't expect it. but really, who wants to always expect the worst and accept whatever.

that brings me to something else. quality. in our economy, it seems that quality has suffered the greatest.

for instance the baltimore sun cut its copy desk from 3 to 4 dozen copy editors to six. (when i heard this i let out a very loud and guttural noise... merely writing about it makes me furious.)

since a lot of actual content is online now, there is some misconception that content needn't be treated with the same standards as print. what? WRONG! if most of your content is moving to the web and more readers (read young) are reading on the web--your priorities are backasswards, as my mother would say.

and lastly, i saw 500 days of summer with some awesome peeps. i'd wanted to see it, but was a little hesitant... very glad i was with folks who make me laugh.

the movie itself was absolutely awesome. i'm a huge fan of zoe deschanel, not just as an actress, but more so for her music, (you may recall that i've posted one of She & Him's videos a couple times. ) as for joseph gordon-levitt, he has gone from 3rd rock guru to first rate actor, imho. i'd like to see it again... in some ways it is like fight club... you want to go back and see the hints again, even though you know how it's going to end.

i can't imagine one person who couldn't relate to this movie in some way. the little musical sequence is sheer genius and utterly delightful. i'm not a buyer of dvds, but i was mentally putting in my order for this one halfway through.

in the last half, however, i felt a little too much like the character, tom. there were parts of it that felt a lot like getting mad kitty scratches all over my body and then being submerged in salt water. i don't recommend this for anyone who has recently had their heart broken and isn't to the anger stage or already callused. but, i'm glad that it didn't have a tidy, happy ending. this felt more honest.

however, all you folks blissfully in relationships or happily married should see it. you'll take the hand of your SO and give it a little extra appreciative squeeze. i guarantee it.

bug in my vcr

i'm about to have a little rant.

i've always liked the indy 500 in a weird and strangely compulsive way. no, i'm not a nascar car girl; i like open wheel.

not so many years ago, i discovered that what i really liked was formula one. but, i didn't have cable, so i never got to see it. (everyone knows this--communal groan.)

anyway, i met this guy and he just fed my craving for formula one--got me seriously hooked. oh yeah, he'd tape it and i'd go over and watch it with him. real convenient. then the guy changes his mind, takes off and leaves me jonesing for my race. bad enough to loose a spiffy guy, but the races too? too much.

however, i've been in luck since they're running four races on the network. bless them.

till today. i had a prior commitment that ran through my race. i had to figure out my vcr (cue dramatic music).

i futzed and pressed buttons and programmed the irate little bugger. i thought i had it all set up, but when i got home i found out how very wrong i was.

bloody hell. major upset in the race and i missed it. for pete's sake, hamilton won. hamilton was his guy, too. makes it all that much worse. grrrr.

i'm going to be forced to take drastic action and call the dreaded cable company.

the lesson? never go out with guys who wear hats.

Juniper arrives to greet her guests!

Juniper arrives to greet her guests!, originally uploaded by MisfitHue.

One of my best friends asked me to shoot her daughter's birthday party... a tea party!

The day was lovely, full of princesses and glittery fairies. Everyone had a lovely time, including the adults who came in their tea party finery!

Happy birthday, JuniBug!

(click the photo to see the rest of the princesses, fairies, and one dapper young man.)

airy pauter...

went to see harry tonight. i thoroughly enjoyed it. this is not a major critique, so don't expect it.

i love the fantasy of hogwarts. the extreme joy, the pain, the sadness--it's all very real life wrapped in the lovely glow of fantasy. honestly, these stories, these characters are some of my favourites in literature and film.

as harry and dumbledore began their last little adventure tonight, the memory of my reading of the book came back full force. i read the half-blood prince in a 24 hour period. i've only done that with one other book, stephen king's IT when i was in my late teens. anyway, i had been sick and thought reading would help pass the time.

i remember reading the chapters of this last adventure. i had a nice little fever of around 101 and i was sitting at my dining room table around 2 o'clock in the afternoon. the light in my dining room was very bright and it wasn't really like me to sit at a table and read, but well, i'd been reading in bed all night and morning.

as i read the last part of that chapter... read the death of dumbledore, i lost it. i sat there and wept watching tear drops soak into the pages.

this silly little series has touched something in me, as it has millions of others. every day i look at the last book in the series that sits on my end table. i wonder if i will ever actually read it. i was there at midnight the day it was released. i grasped my copy and held it close. but, i just can't finish the story.

i want to hang on to that lovely glow.

cyst boom bah...

since i was diagnosed with PCOS a couple years ago, i've blogged a bit about the changes and discoveries in the temple i call Kym.

a few months ago my doc discovered a cyst in my uterus. the plan was that hopefully it would just go away and when we tested in a couple months it'd be all gone. according to my new friend the ultrasound tech dude, it didn't go away. now, i have to wait until mid-august to get the official results and map out the game plan to fish it out and find out if it's wearing a white hat or a black hat.

the wincing, squinty pained look on my face? yeah, that's mounting fear. not excited about surgery or the reason for that matter. it's been such a hard year and i've cried more than my share for a life time in just the first seven months. i'm just scrounging around for another good laugh. i know there's one left in the bottom of my backpack... now where is it?

we now return you to your regularly scheduled good attitude.

photography class

IMG_7120, originally uploaded by MisfitHue.

this was week two of my six week photography class. it's an intermediate level, and i'm so thrilled with it, i could just shout from the rooftops. i'll start by telling you. :)

the teacher is a woman with a lot of character and a broad reaching history. she's not a bubbly sort by any means, but i think she has a kind heart. you should the way her eyes light up when she talks about aperture! her enthusiasm is infectious.

i've made some quick friends in the class and am pleased to be among so many talented people who challenge me, but aren't so far beyond me that i feel insecure.

in just two classes, i've been able to grasp some key concepts that i've been struggling with for months. that alone makes the class worth every single cent.

and that leads me to this photo. if you click on it, it will take you to my flickr where you can see the rest of this set of pics. i went to laumeier sculpture park, a local favourite with photographers.

my assignment was to experiment with composition. i had so much fun rolling around in the grass and climbing around to get shots from different angles. it really helped me bond with my camera... which has been a real struggle.

i'm giddy with enthusiasm!

clouds

IMG_6537, originally uploaded by MisfitHue.

we had the most beautiful skies on friday and sunday. i took this on sunday when i was taking a break from work.

clouds have so much character, and the way they reflect light... amazing colors!

sunday was a great day to lay in the grass and watch in wonder. i watched through my view finder and this is what i saw.

better than i hoped...

my friend, Andrea brought me a couple dresses to try on this evening before class. the one that i absolutely fell in love with is very similar to this one, only purple with pink accents.

i had asked Andrea for a dress, but i knew that it was tricky with my measurements, and she wasn't sure she had anything. in my last post, you saw the one that i thought she would bring--a two piece costume.

to my absolute delight she brought a dress and it fit so very well... only minor alterations will be needed. i like the dress so much better than the two piece. not to put too fine a point on it, i like my curves much better in a dress.

it isn't mine yet because, well, these things cost a fortune. but she is holding it and as soon as i can, i want to dance in it!

it's so elegant! it is exactly the kind of costume i had hoped for and if you could see me doing my little happy dance right this moment, you'd be laughing with me.

a little project...

i agreed to help a friend and color correct more than a hundred photos for her online catalog. for this, i requested a discount on one of her costumes.

it took me all weekend to master what i was trying to do, and in the end, i'm very glad that i convinced her to let me do it. i made some significant learnings!

she said she had a purple costume in mind, and i think this might be it.

ohhhh, sooo excited!

passing of a hero...

Frank McCourt passed today of cancer at the age of 78.

Angela's Ashes is one of those works that influenced who I am today. The feelings generated during that reading were nearly tangible. It was Mr. McCourt's descriptions that led me to minor in history and split my time between English and Irish history. (btw, literature and history compliment each other beautifully.)

I harboured a secret hope to one day meet Mr. McCourt--to attend one of his lectures. Through his craft, he found great success. But, I believe it was his teaching that allowed him to leave his deepest influence. Oh, to have been his student!

Thank you for the laughter and wonderful stories, Mr. McCourt.

Croc be gone...

i don't care for Crocs. nope... don't believe that they were created as the answer to everything even if Croslite was developed in Canada.

today, i read an article in the Washington Post about the fall of the Croc empire, and i must admit, i was not crushed. it's a real shame and unfortunate for workers who lost their jobs, but as for missing them at every turn? not likely.

there are some "looks" that even a girl who sported a mohawk cannot abide. particularly, they aren't appealing with a skirt, any skirt--long, short, shredded. i don't care, don't go there.

they are dangerous little things, too. i've seen so many people tumble and trip as they walked out of their Crocs. it's possible that my four inch heels are safer.

however, one of my best friends had her toes operated on, and she only recently graduated back to real shoes. that is an ideal purpose for Crocs. i also think that they may be quite useful to medical personal.

on another note... i learned that sponge bob is ten years old this year. that means very little to me, but the girl who told me is nineteen and she followed up that fact by saying that it made her feel old.

pooh corner

i've always loved Pooh. i'm definitely a huge bit of a Tigger, but i've got a good-sized helping of Eeyore and Roo, too.

i need a hug tonight, so i'm spreading the honey pot. i hope you enjoy this as much as i do...

endangered african penguins...

readers who know me, know of my affinity for penguins. as much as i love the st. louis penguin and puffin coast, i hate to see them in zoos. but, i truly enjoy visiting them because they are marvelous creatures. it's a catch-22 for me.

wildlife suffers so much do to our lifestyle and disregard. i see things like this and i feel a horrible guilt that i could be doing so much more to help. however, i am grateful for information like this because it does help keep us aware, lest we forget our footprint.

Endangered African Penguins

The 500lb Gorilla

This is just the sort of thing that makes a person incredibly proud to work for their company. If a disgruntled employee did do this, I'm not surprised.

http://consumerist.com/5313215/academic-publisher-pays-professors-for-shill-amazon-reviews

sands through the hourglass...

i have been fighting in quicksand for months, and as i understand it, struggling makes you sink faster. it's clearly time to stop.

plus, i got a major dose of humiliation; i have made some extremely regrettable choices.

time to do what i should have weeks ago--go back to my own sandbox and relearn how to play nice. i've done some electronic cleaning to start--deleted all the emails that i saved too long and much of this blog for the last six months. damage has already been done and can't be taken back, but it certainly doesn't have to hang around like rotting fruit.

someone recently told me that things were going to get darker for me, but i didn't believe her... damn optimism!

i'm looking forward to a lot of reality tv and burying my head in work. absolutely nothing pulls you out of quicksand like big brother and overtime.

a pretty good little film...

i went to see a movie tonight that i knew nothing about, Away We Go.

the only reason i went was because more than a few of my friends suggested it--"seriously". i wasn't sure what that meant, but it made me curious. i never did get around to looking it up, so i walked in utterly clueless.

it was a good movie. i liked the way it reflected how we are all our own special form of quirky or broken. the beauty of it for me was the way it showed people fitting together. the main characters... two lovely people finding their way... it felt very real life. i saw two people who appreciated each other and accepted each other.... i think that is a valuable message that gets over shadowed by unrealistic expectations in the real world.

i usually cry at movies, and after the first five minutes, i expected to at this one. maybe i'm just numb these days; i don't know. it did feel a little too real to me--not the pregnant part. :)

regardless.... i know that i'm late to the party... i liked it and think if you haven't seen, perhaps you should consider it... there's a great scene with an airplane reflection in a building that will make you giggle and think of dolphins.

mantras lead to...

i've been meditating and chanting mantras a lot this past month; it's been very helpful. in fact, i've chanted so much my voice is hoarse and my mala string is loose. :)

as a little boost, i've started gathering chanting melodies... it's nice to lift the mantras in a song of sorts... very pleasing. (i'm not very good, but it sounds nice to me, and wagner seems to enjoy it.)

i ran across Faye Wong doing the Maitreya Heart Mantra. i think it's beautiful, but she is a pop star and i really enjoy her voice... this is Bu Liu... i'm also very fond of the creative for this video.

personality...

IMG_5697, originally uploaded by MisfitHue.

talk about personality! this little dude was bursting with it. he may have only been the size of a dime, but he sure was a ham for the camera. :)

crows...

crows, originally uploaded by MisfitHue.

i'm fascinated with crows. socially they are fascinating and they tend to have vibrant personalities. there was a whole community gathering of maybe 8 or 9 in d and craig's backyard. each and every crow took a turn on this bench... it was apparently a preferred spot.

bored and chatty

so, here i am sitting in the airport just singing silly little love songs in my head and chatting with my new friend, betty. she's going to atlanta to see her son. :)

we were supposed to fly out at 10:20, but the plane was struck by lightening on its way in to st louis. so, then we were supposed to leave at noon. ummm. not happening... hearing the call of burger king...

old made new...

so... getting ready for my wee bit of a trip and cleaning the digs cause nothing makes me happier than coming home to a clean home zone.

usually i conduct this ritual with npr... slipping deep into meditation with fresh air and talk of the nation. however, today i decided to shake it up and listen to the radio--such brazen reckless behaviour!

lots of good music... it's like someone is tapping right into my lil brain and serving up ozzy and nickelback and pfloyd and tpetty and some good old van halen... gotta admit i've never scrubbed a tub with eddie, but it was kinda hot. ahem. any way, it's been nice... till the hendrix blitz. *sigh*

to my point, yes, yes. the first time i heard the seether version of careless whisper, i wasn't impressed and it seemed sacrilege. some things should be left alone--sort of like the first sabrina movie being a mile better than the remake.

however, time and familiarity have bred a real affinity for this seether cover. there is something about the screaming edge that seems to suit the melody, and the rawness of it suits my sensibilities of late. it feels like a wild animal that is tame at its heart. i'm glad seether covered it... says quite a bit about old george, and i doubt many will mention that.

for what it's worth...