Seaweed Chronicles

Another good time at band camp . . .

We had yet another great day doing band stuff yesterday.  A drummer's workshop with our instructor, a member of one of the top three bands in the US.  Pictures over here at Flickr.

By the way, our band is always seeking new members.  Instruction available for newcomers (pipers and drummers) of all ages.  Fun times are guaranteed. 

Cause

I don't ask often, but this is one close to my heart and home. Please sign up and show your support?

DAMMAD.   

Dream Genie . . .

Last night's dream, and I woke up at 5:45 AM right where this narrative ends.

I was at a picnic or some other type gathering.  Mix of friends and family in a wooded area with picnic tables.  It was getting dark. Probably 150 people there.  All of a sudden I spotted something moving down a hill towards us and I ran towards it.  It was a peacock and I was excited because a) I recognized my power animal* and wondered why it was there and b) I captured a picture of it on my cellphone camera. 
 
While I was trying to get another picture, the last of the daylight left and my camera wouldn't take another picture - too dark.  I was very frustrated.
 
I remained physically close to the peacock during this time, and at some point, it rolled over on its back and it became a very young leopard.  It was actually a snow leopard as I saw it.  I felt like this was a pet, or I was somehow in charge of its well-being and safety. 
 
The snow leopard and I played for a while, same as I play with my cat, Max, in the kitchen.  He's on his back and his big paws are swatting at my hands while I rub his belly.
 
Next I remember, I was talking to an Asian-looking child who was looking for the New City. His words. I remember thinking Nostradamus mentioned "New City" towards the ending of his quattrains, and that there is disagreement over whether it means New York or not.   It was now daylight out, and I I looked around to orient (no pun) myself and pointed backwards over my left shoulder to a hilly, wooded peninsula where I knew there were hills, trees, creeks, etc.  This same area of land has appeared in my dreams before, and has definitely represented a challenge - crossing streams, climbing up tree branches, etc.  It's like an obstacle course. I think it's been in at least a half dozen dreams.  In this case, I just pointed the Asian kid towards it and told him that's where he would have to go. 
 
When I woke up, I had the distinct impression that I had been dreaming of the Dalai Lama's next incarnation and I KNOW THAT SOUNDS BIZARRE.  But the peacock represented India, where the current DL lives (and the peacock is the national bird of India), and the snow leopard is the  Tibetan symbol, and the kid seemed to need protection and guidance (OK, that could represent my own son right now). 
 
The peacock and leopard were definitely in color.  And the kid had on some red robes with gold trim. He was about 4 or 5 years old, max.   My communication with him wasn't spoken, it was telepathic although that wasn't a highlight of the exchange. It just was the way it was. Like it was normal for us to speak that way, by thought.
 
So that's about the oddest dream I've had in a long time.  Maybe since the aquatic donkey and Twin Towers one. (Ralph? Did you say that was just because I have a vivid imagination?)

Sweet Dreams, all!

Perfect Day

Once upon a time, many years ago* yesterday, around 3:00 in the afternoon, my poor Mother was exhausted and I was crying, making the first of a whole lotta noise I'll make in this lifetime.  I imagine my Father was scared to death.  I would have been.  

At the precise anniversary yesterday, I was making even more noise, but smiling through it.  I was playing my drum while our band performed at the Somerset County AOH Picnic.  It was an awesome birthday party if you ask me. Pictures, here.  Credit to Paul West for the cover photo; Sparky and I took the rest. 

*49, or as I prefer to say, thirty-nineteen. This is a good thing as I get happier every year.  Life is good!

Letter to Steph, 13

Dear Steph,

Hi from Point Pleasant Beach, NJ!  This is where your pig made it to.  I got him today (at least I think he's a him) and I will take good care of him.  Promise.  Here's how he looks on my desk - he looks happy, don't you think?

OK, maybe he still looks a little stressed here. He had just arrived and it was a long trip in a dark box with a dozen or so other pigs, through the mail to the office where I work.  One of my co-workers put in the group adoption order a few weeks ago, and today was the ceremony where all of us new pig parents came and selected the pig we wanted to take care of.  I wasn't the first parent to arrive, but I still had a good number to choose from, all sitting there on the filing cabinet together. Most had lots of colors.  One was all pink.  One had an ocean scene painted on her.  One had zebra stripes!  On a pig!  (J the fashionista picked that one. She has very good taste.)  But your pig, Steph?  He had freckles and that made me love him right away.  I named him Patrick.  

So, is "Steph" short for Stephanie?  I assume it is.  But "Steph" was all that was written on the adoption paperwork.  Oh, and your age.  Thirteen. You are "Steph, 13."  I know those two facts about you.  And two more.

1) You have cancer.

2) You painted Patrick while you were going through chemo. 

That's it . . . the sum total of my knowledge of you.  Steph, 13, cancer, chemo. 

Other than knowledge, I can assume a few things more.  That cancer sucks and you don't feel good (at best) or you are in pain (worse).   You have spent too much time away from home, away from your family, away from school, away from your friends.  You can't participate in sports or drama or ride your bike or walk the dog sometimes.  You might not have hair, and your body may be swollen.  Or emaciated.  Or black and blue. Sometimes you don't even feel like texting on the phone or updating facebook.  You're tired, scared, and your parents are even more scared. 

Beyond knowledge and assumptions, there are only wonderings, worries.  Will you be OK?  Will the chemo you had make a difference?  Do you need more? What are you like and where do you live and what kind of cancer is this and do you have brothers, sisters, cousins, pets, parents? What's your favorite subject? Do you play a sport? A musical instrument? What color is your hair? Skin? Do you have an accent?  Do YOU have freckles? Do you read a lot or talk a lot? What is your favorite color?  What's on your iPod, if you have one?  Is this cancer thing just a horrible temporary event in your life or will it /I don't want to write it but if I do write it, it won't happen, won't happen, won't happen/ END your life?  What else would you do if you could live another hundred years?  Twenty years? One?  One week?   

Did you maybe not make it this far?

There's so much you could teach me, Steph, 13.   I know you are much more than a kid who painted a pig while she was going through chemo.  I don't think I'll ever have the pleasure to know you, but I will be thinking of you and praying for you.

And I'll take good care of Patrick.

I Promise.

Paradise Lost: A Review

Someone posted a hysterical review of Paradise Lost on  Amazon - it's the second one shown on the page.

Makes me actually want to re-read the book! Well, no, that's not quite true.  But I will  read some of the guy's other reviews.  

You pushed my last button, Philadelphia Eagles.

The Eagles hired Michael Vicks, animal torturer.  Philadelphia A*s holes should be their new name.  Please take the time to protest.

And I put "Philadelphia Eagles" in the post title so it would be easily found on Google searches. So far, it's working . . . . 15 hits in three minutes. 

My Blacklist, Day 1

I think the State of Embarrassment New Jersey could solve its budget woes if we invested in about 20 more State Troopers and assigned them full-time to the 195 corridor at rush hours, AM and PM.  I can't believe the stuff I see going on every day, and the fact that a speeding ticket for doing 80 in a 65 can set you back about $200, well, this should be a no-brainer.  But no brains is what NJ's got lots of.

Instead, I decided to take note of (safely, via voice recorder) commercial vehicles I see making idiot maneuvers, and post their identites.  And boycott them if possible.  Some of them are probably businesses I'd never use anyway, and some I can't avoid, but you get the idea. 

Today's offenders were all speeders and, hey, I don't stick to the limit all the time either. But these were stand-outs, going significantly above the limit and whatever the rest of us were doing:

Service Port Refrigeration based in the Philly area.  One of their crew must live in my area because I saw this van on the way into work at 7-something and again on the way home at 5:00 or so.  Each time he was doing at least 80 mph. 

South Jersey TV Service. Based in Howell, with a 800-244-3094 phone number.  No website I could find.  But I did see them listed on Complaint.com.  Estimated speed was 85-90 mph.

Rite Aid, truck 4882L.  Eighteen-wheeler, passed me doing approximately 80 in a 55.  Truck that size should not be speeding in this state AT ALL.

Speaking of trucks that size, AllChem.  Eighteen-wheel tanker truck full of - let me guess - CHEMICALS? OK, maybe it was empty.  But hello?  That size, also doing about 75 or 80 in a 55? 

Finally, ForeverLawn.  Forever Stupid for putting someone that drives like that behind the wheel of your corporate truck. 

Low-calorie Food for Thought:

There are moments of existence when time and space are more profound, and the awareness of existence is immensely heightened." Charles Baudelaire, French poet

Nada News

It's too hot to think tonight.  Here are bullets, instead:

- Day Eight with MINI (who still holds the formal name HR Dubblestuff but has been nicknamed Chessie for a few reasons).  We crossed 1000 on the odometer at around 4:30 PM.  I did tell you I drive a lot, yes?

- I'm getting in excess of the advertised 38 mpg combined town/highway.  I expect to be around 43-44 mpg by the time I even out.

- This past weekend we had no band events, first time in six weeks. I got a ton of stuff done.  That would include about three years worth of someone's (not to be mentioned) tax returns, all resulting in refunds, totalling enough to pay for our Scotland trip next summer.  Also got the housecleaning, laundry, oil changes done, and organizing 3 years worth of digital pix on the PC and moving them off to external hard drive.  Oh yeah, also a trip to Staples to purchase an external hard drive, discs, sleeves, ink, sumthin else I forgot.  Made a turkey meatloaf and a quiche to grab from during the week. 

 - GREAT quiche recipe:  4 eggs, 1 and a half cups heavy cream. Whip it up.  Add about 8 oz Swiss cheese cubed in 1/2 inch pieces.  Add what-have-you (leftover ham, bacon bits, crab, thawed frozen broccoli or spinach).  Salt & pepper to taste. Pour into pie pan over one Pillsbury pie crust.  Bake at 350 for an hour or so.  EAT.

- We saw the latest Harry Potter flick yesterday.  Hmmmm.  Not my favorite, but good.  Serious.  Scary.  Dark.  Very much like what happens to Muggle teens (not to be mentioned) when they realize that their 'rents won't be covering their lazy arses much longer.  Yeah. UH OH.

- Can anyone explain why the price of gasoline has jumped about 50 cents a gallon in the last two weeks?  Last I heard, the price per barrel had dropped.  

- I learned this morning that I passed a work-related exam I had been studying 20 weeks for.  I have a 3-week break before the next set of classes begins.  That exam will be in December or so, then there are two more, then I get to put a few new letters after my name.  And I'll get an expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas.  Um, . . . I'd rather go to North Dakota or something. 

- I'm suspicious. You know those Kohl's postcards you get with "Save 10, 20 or 30% OFF!" and you have to peel off the sticker to see what deal you get?  We usually get 10%.  I think maybe once we got 20%.  The card we got today is good for 30% this coming week.  I think it's a ploy just to get us and everyone else into the store to move out the summer stock.  Anyone else get 30% or are we really that lucky this time?

I AM lucky, in fact. I have more than I need, as much as I want, and can't be thankful enough.   Hope you have a great week.