One Week and Counting...

Joy to the world, my vacation has almost come!!! Yes, next Friday I shall be Las Vegas-bound and I can't wait, I'm so irritable and ickified by the bad moods and bad vibes around me, I need to get clear for awhile and do what I told Veronica I needed: a chakaboogaburningsageeaglefeather cleansing of some sort, anything to start 2009 off to a good start...being with my family will help, they make me smile and feel good, except when Charlie the Dad won't stop talking during TV shows or movies Joyce the Mom and I are trying to watch. Or watching me like a hawk whenever I do something in his kitchen ("I'm just curious what you are up to and I like to watch you work") - you know you do it Chuck just to annoy me!!!

So I'm off in a few to have a pot of mussels, some wine, and CHILL and try to regain the happiness and seasonal glee I enjoyed earlier in the week...because right now I'm all hyped up and annoyed at all the CRAP people around me. You know who you are - your ears are burning red hot right now...

And P.S. - I was just venting to someone (Vron) about how annoying people with Blackberries are. I'm a bit of a Luddite and so I think most of the info/ communcication type gadgets in the world are totally unneccessary. I'd probably still write letters if my handwriting weren't so chickenscratchish. I don't even really like having a cell phone. Then I read this funny haha article on MSNBC and the writer said EXACTLY what I was thinking. And the article is named, appropriately Gadgets That Make You Look Like A Jerk:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28039226/?pg=2#Tech_JerkGadgets

"Most people get a BlackBerry (or "CrackBerry") for work so they no longer have to talk to their loved ones. They're like the work version of the iPhone, and that's what makes them tough to deal with.Look, we don't come to your office and pretend it's the bar. It's awesome that you can take your important work with you everywhere, but the converse is that you're taking us with you to your office against our will. And ya know ... we're not paid for that.If you must check e-mail while you're out with your friends, for the love of God, buy a round, make your apologies and sod off to the corner. Don't make friends feel guilty for putting social lives ahead of an 80-hour work week. Oh and what is it you do anyway? Ruin mortgage lending for the rest of us? Get over yourself."

Also, please stop walking down the street while reading your unimportant emails or while trying to text. I'm really tired of you bumping into me simply because you can't take your eyes off of the screen because THAT'S JUST HOW IMPORTANT YOU ARE!!!

Me and my Mervy Little Buddy

La Luna + Venus + Jupiter = Smiley Face!!!

Got this photo from http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread416108/pg1 - I just thought it was cute!!

"December 1st, 2008 – Venus, Jupiter and Moon form “smiley face” In the last week in November and the first week of December 2008, the two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, will be close together in the evening sky, forming a spectacular double. The two are closest together on Monday December 1st, with Venus lying about 2 degrees to the South (left) of Jupiter. On the same night the Crescent Moon will appear just beneath them, forming a “Smiley Face”."

So look up tonight - not down at your feet like usual!

Well, I get to cross something off the list - I've sung at Carnegie Hall! Now, how many of you out there can say that? Granted, I wasn't on the stage, just in my seat but still !!! By now you surely must have figured out that I was actually watching Pete Seeger & Grandson Tao & Arlo Guthrie & Family (three generations on stage - that's pretty cool, no?) but they get everyone to sing along and though I'm still froggy-throated and had a fear of a full-on coughing fit in the middle of the evening, Pete asked everyone to sing Amazing Grace and so how could I not? But one of the sweetest moments came from Arlo's daughter Sarah Lee, who sang an a cappella version of Woody Guthrie's Birds and Ships and so now I'm obsessed with that song - although the only recorded version has Natlaie Merchant and I'm not too fond of her, but it will have to do:

The birds are singing
In your eyes today
Sweet flowers blossom in your smile
The wind and sun
Are in the words you say
Where might your lonesome lover be?
Birds may be singing
In my eyes this day
Sweet flowers blossom when I smile
But my soul is stormy
And my heart blows wild
My sweetheart rides a ship on the sea
Though my soul is stormy
And my heart blows wild
Where might my lonesome lover be?

Another beautiful song she sung was written by her husband - also on stage singing and on guitar - called When the Lilacs are In Bloom - you can listen to that here should your interest be piqued: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqHkX2lutUA

In short: a lovely evening, lovely people singing lovely songs and at the end of it, I felt - lovely :-)