Garden Rubble

Morning all,
A miracle has occured. The heat: the oppressive, overwhelming, break my brain HEAT seems to have given us a reprieve. Likely short lived, but aren't we all really. In recent news, since the temp has dropped under 100 degrees, Matt and I ripped out the summer garden after a dinner at Sweet Tomatoes last evening and have plans to amend the soil and get ready for the fall planing of spinach, beets, radishes, carrots, pumpkins, lettuce and whatever else I can ponder for the space after I rip out the rest of the basil and peppers.

I am hoping that with the cooler weather I will also be able to make better use of my kindle which for now has not been getting the reading love and attention that it deserves. I also still have a few "real" books that are not available in digital yet that I need to get off the shelf and into my head. Most notably, "Little, Big" which has come highly recommended and just aches for Fall reading with fae nature abounding.

This summer has seemed to be a time of lighter reading. Short stories, Sookie Stackhouse, graphic novels in bite sized formats. Thinking about graphic novels I am looking forward to the release of Dark Rain: A New Orleans Story by Mat Johnson. I really enjoyed his tale Incognegro inspired by the life of Walter White and by the birth of Johnson's twin girls, one with traditionally dark skin and the other pale enough to be presumed caucasian. A serious graphic novel, but well worth the read.

Personal Space

After reading a number of things online I have been musing on the idea of "personal space." What exacting makes up this ephemeral idea? We usually know when it has been violated. Not always as it is happening, but afterward, it can be very hard to deny. It is not solely a physical dimension or is it something that sits entirely within oneself. It is an amalgam of the two and something else, something that is not entirely definable as one or the other as well. The spaces that are on my mind:

Where and how I live?
Impact of babies?
Impact of pets?
Job spaces?
Weight and body image spaces?
Consumer spending and financial spaces?
Social value spaces (internal)?
Social value spaces (external)?

Art as life

Life is butting it head at me. It is right there foaming and everything and honestly, all I really want to do in retaliation is read, cook, stitch, and listen to music. All of this while letting it snarl. Not in a head in sand sort of way, just in a "hum..ok..I see you..your point?" sort of fashion.

Responce and Responcibility

There is a question that is itching at me today. The question has not been courteous enough to shape itself into something coherent, but I will try to mine it out.

How do you relax and enjoy life while also trying to road map a future?
Why is housecleaning so tiring to do and so terrifying to ignore?
Why is work so exhilarating when you are engrossed in a project and so draining when you are not?
Why do I have so many things and yet no place to put them?
How many of these questions will be answered by home ownership, either in the since that I will find a place for everything I keep or in the since that the stress getting to that point will be over?

Find out the answers to these questions and more on the next episode of SOAP!

Creeping

"...'but I'm a creep. I'm a weirdo. What the hell am I doing here?....

Sitting on the balcony. Sitting on the balcony with the plants and the water running below. None of it blocked the noise of the highway. Pockets of nature utterly failing to provide but the smallest distraction from the sea of asphalt. No...Not asphalt...just concrete. Asphalt at least brings to mind the idea of the open road, images of adventure into the American highway, blacktop playgrounds and outdoor basketball courts. Concrete only evokes consumerism and commutes. How I have come to loathe the commute. Locked in a steal bubble of futility sitting so close to others but with no sense of community. Instead it is a civil war. Daily. No one has friends while in traffic. Alliances are fleeting at best, and rivals are everywhere. There are other vehicles, not people. None of them are friends. There are those you tolerate and those that not only can you not tolerate, but whose presence actually fills you with hate. Pure stark hate. Our cars have become like little homes. An extension of our influence on the outside world. We even talk freely about "road karma" with little thought about how that concept applies for use when we are not behind the wheel.

...I don't belong here. She's running out the door. Whatever makes you happy. Whatever you want. You're so fucking special. I wish I was special. I don't belong here...

Purchase and Purge

This post is being made on a New Samsung NC10 netbook. With this little acquisition there are now 3.5 computers per person in my household. Along with a random portable DVD player. It does seem excessive. So what has been pushing at the edges of my mind is the temptation to purchase is so strong and is nearly always followed by a strong cleaning/purge rush. It is that equalibrium that has been hit where every new aquisition requires the removal of another item. However, there are so many emotional attachments to the old things and the infamous "..but what if I need it later?" argument that seems into your brain evertime you think about getting rid of that pair of red platform shoes you bought in Jr. High. Then the "well maybe I can sell this stuff" argument hits. With no yard, the neighborhood sale is nearly impossible and it sems that ebay is not getting the traffic it once was.

Tricky. Am loving the netbook though ;)

A bird, a pig, and a paranoid schizophrenic walk into a doctor's office...

Sounds like the start to either a very bad or a very dirty joke but it seems to be what has been happening in the news as of late. Avian Flu, Swine Flu, everyday folks developing OCD level hand washing tendencies, avoiding being breathed on, etc. It may sound like I am mocking. I'm not. I am as scared as everyone else. I am right there with them at the sink looking for more soap and trying not to touch my neighbor, and all of these precautions may save us, may save lives, so for the sake of well, everyone, do not throw these cautions to the wind. But also try not to let it keep you up at night. Losing sleep can only make you more vulnerable.