Monday, December 31, 2007

Is there such a thing as a waterproof laptop computer?

I ask this question because all my best ideas come in the shower. I'm brilliant in the shower! I am. However by the time I get out, toweled off, dressed and painted (I gots to have my mascara on folks) - the light of creativity has dimmed. By the time I'm in front of my computer there's hardly even a spark left most days.

*sigh*

I can get some of it back if I really focus, but it never is quite as easy to come up with new ideas or entertainig ways of telling a story as it is during my morning shower.

Aack!!!

While in Florida I was supposed to get some storytelling work done. HA-HA-HA! Or is that HO-HO-HO? Whatever. I did manage to do one rewrite and work some on a lesson plan for spring break camp at the Dallas Museum of Art. That was just a drop in the bucket folks - a wee, teeny, tiny wittle drop.

Sheesh.

I made out my to do list and now I believe a stiff drink may be in order. Thank goodness it's New Years Eve right? Creativity is quirky folks. I may just hit the ground running and clear the high bar or...Aaackkk! I won't consider the alternative.

BACK in Texas!

I'm back home in Texas! I really, reeaallly love this place. My adrenalin starts pumping and the world gets brighter the minute I cross the state line. There is so much I adore about this state, especially in the DFW area.

Here is just one great thing about living in Plano, Texas -

Today on the way to the post office and the grocery store, I saw a Hindu grandmother of Indian descent. She was walking along the sidewalk with her back held straight and certain. Her long hair was braided in a single loose plait, she had a Hindu dot in the center of her forehead, and wore a brightly printed orange sari. To compliment the whole look, as well as accommodate the chilly weather, she wore a big black, marshmellowy parka and sensible Nikes on her feet! At the post office I heard several different languages being spoken by the people in line and enjoyed the melody of lilting English spoken with accents I couldn't place. At the grocery store I checked out the large collection of odd-looking Asian vegetables, wondering for the hundredth time how they were prepared and what they tasted like. As I was waiting to check out, there was a woman in line ahead of me dressed "Dallas Chic" all in black with lots of jewelry, and a bizzzzaro hairdo in three shades of orange that was styled like the dos' you see in vogue. Her face was tucked and pulled up to the heavens and her boobs...well let's just say she'll never drown as long has she has those buoyant balloons.

Yep, I'm back in Plano folks. For people watchers like myself, this is heaven on earth.

We have a large multi-ethnic population. Plano's places to worship is encyclopedic in it's vastness. There's Christian churches of all denominations with several that hold services in say...the Chinese language for example. We have gold-domed mosques, synagogues and Hindu temples. We have it all folks. I once read in the paper that more than 60% of Plano's population are first generation immigrants whose native language is not English. These immigrants left their country of origin to come to the "land of opportunity". They remind me that this truly is a wonderful country and there is an optimism in the air here that is excelerating. Though imperfect it may be, the USA is a still a great place to live. These people are so happy to be here, some had to really sacrifice a lot to move to our fine country. Me, I was privileged to be born here, so I better by golly make the most of it.

For a storyteller (ME) who tells world folktales, access to people from so many places and walks of life is very stimulating and exciting! Last month, I told folktales at the museum that I needed to relate to paintings of Indian Hindu/Muslim miniature art. I was able to get valuable cultural insight from two friends, one who was from North India and the other from Bombay. I can easily visit ethnic shops, try different foods and watch DVD documentaries from local libraries for research. It's all here.

Yep, I dig this place man.

Friday, December 21, 2007

We sure are cute for two ugly people...

The Juno soundtrack ROCKS! Jeff downloaded it for me and every song is a winner! Jeff and I are going to perform a tandem story in February for our storytelling friends, and we plan to sing one of the songs as an opener. (And as an advertisement for the movie!) How fun!

If you can in any way possible see this movie, please do. It is so unique, yet real.

I am fan!

Diablo, you are a little freaky & weird girl, but lordy you wrote a great script. KUDOS! Kimya Dawson, whatever you are doing keep doing it!

nuf said...

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Miss Lily says "Ho-ho-ho!"


Here's my daughter. I finally got her to pose for a Christmas picture. She's 17, so I figure I might not get her to do this for me many more times in the future.


She even got out her lucky white buffalo, "Lord Tennyson" and put antlers on him.

Soooo...today I did the couch potato workout

Have you heard of it? It's tough, but I stayed the course because I knew it was good for me. My plan also included a mandatory afternoon nap - got that in too!

Tomorrow, I pack for our trip to Florida for Christmas with Jeff's mom, clean house, take Lily to the dentist and shop for traveling vittles. Once we get to Florida it'll be non-stop for days with early morning risings. It's early to bed, early to rise at my mom-in-laws house. So not my thing. Me? I'm a natural born night owl. hoot-hoot. Been that way since birth.

Today, I langorously took the opportunity to watch my favorite kind of documentary. I like those obscure foreign ones that no one has heard about, the kind where you have to read the subtitles. I have an inner bespectacled cultural anthropologist romping about, a little Margaret Mead if you will, who begs to be fed now and then. People are FASCINATING creatures.

So what did I watch? "Old Believers" by Jana Sc???? Okay it's one of those really long Slovakian names that I can't pronounce, or spell.

Here's a link to the film http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=6982247

It was fabulous. "Piemule" was my personal fav documentary out of the 3 on the DVD. Jana's images of the people and her choice of filming it in sepia tone was genius! There are a 1,000 still moments where the people are absolute poetry to watch, frame by frame. Their faces so etched by life, by circumstance - there is nothing more wonderful, more intriguing than an interesting face and a story.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Oh LoRdY LOrDy I finished the stordy!

It's a bad sign when the writer, me, becomes tired of a story before I finish writing it. Imagine what my poor readers are going through.

*sigh*

It Diablo Cody's fault! That's right you heard me. That screenwriting wonderwoman is to blame. Her first screen play (for the movie Juno) just this week received multiple nominations for Golden Globe awards. She was a blogger writing wit filled posts in relative obscurity once upon a time. She was discovered by Hollywood and well...her feet haven't touched the ground in some while. She's the hottest writing sensation out there in La La Land.

She told the director of Juno, Jason Reitman that he needed to post directly to his blog. She told him, "real blogging is done directly into the website... Go Bareback!" Apparently that's what true, honest-to-god bloggers do.

I thought she was talking to me too. Well, not reeeeaalllly okay, but I do want to write more as I speak in real life and going "bareback" should encourage that. Right? Right?

Maybe it just encourages bad writing.

Stopping By Woods: A Winter Remembrance (the final chapter)


I felt a wee bit guilty leaving Minnesota again. What kind of Norwegian was I? The years of easy living in warm places had softened me up, thinned my blood.

We moved to the panhandle of Northern Florida, to an area often referred to by those in the know as the “Redneck Riviera” y’all. To the less fortunate, gullible souls reeled in by slick advertising paid for by the condominium developers, the area is romantically referred to as “the Emerald Coast”. Sounds a lot better doesn’t it? During certain times of the year the beach is indeed incredibly gorgeous - picturesque even. But during July & August, the waters become soupy with stinky, slimy seaweed that coats the white sand with its insect infested greenery. It’s nasty & putrid to swim in, but it can be entertaining if you’re up for looking like a swamp creature when you arise from its oozing depths.

We stayed for thirteen years. My daughter earned the title of G.R.I.T.S. That stands for “Girl Raised In The South”. She got to develop a close and loving relationship with her paternal grandparents and we never found ourselves shoveling snow during a blizzard again. We did do some major hurricane clean-ups, but there lies another story.

Then Texas beckoned and we moved to Plano just north of Dallas two years ago. Inexplicably, it was here last winter that I again heard the siren call of Robert Frost’s poem, “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening”. I didn’t realize it right away though.

The challenge was to create a piece of art inspired by the phrase “winter’s chill”. That’s right. The Plano Art Association had these monthly art challenges and January’s theme beckoned me to try and come up with something worthy of winning the top prize, a gift certificate to the local art store.

I took my digital camera out to the park near my home and photographed several trees standing naked to the world. I then printed out black & white copies to use for the collage I was planning on creating. (I love doing collages – I’m a multi-media enthusiast!) Over the course of a few days, I did indeed create a picture, but something missing. I wanted to catch the feeling, the sensation of being chilled by a wintery day. I also wanted to express my appreciation of the raw beauty that a snowy winter is capable of. From my lifetime, I reviewed my experiences of living in Minnesota, South Carolina, California, Alabama, Texas and out of the ether of my thoughts came a poem floating on a current of cold winter air.

As if I’d intended to do it all along, l wrote the verses from the poem in various places throughout the painting. It was now complete. I went to the meeting, entered my piece into the competition and WON! (Photo of painting is at the top of this post.)
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Story intermission

I feel the need to interject that this story is not flowing the way I had intended in the beginning. That's how it is sometimes. It is not representational of my typical stories that I tell for performances. Odd...I guess I needed to go down this path for some reason.

I've had many interruptions while writing it too. I've had the Lantern Light Festival in Plano where my guild told holiday tales and I've needed to spend quite a bit of time working on stories for the Dallas Museum of Art. I also attended my very first venders fair where I set up a table and tried to entice passing librarians from north Texas to stop by and learn about what I do. It was an interesting experience. I think the best part was meeting all the other artists there. I talked to clowns, other storytellers, a guy walking a beaver on a leash (you heard me), another guy who pretends he's Shakespeare (he did look like him - poor fellow), and filmed an alarmingly bad 3 minute video where I talked about storytelling.

So, I'm back to it now. Shoot, maybe I'll surprise myself and finish this bugger. One can only hope.

I return to my homeland...

My Alabama born & raised husband must really love me, because he let me talk him into moving to Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1988. Jeff and I were both 24 years old, had already been married nearly four years. We had been renting a three-bedroom house in Montgomery Alabama that was owned by Jeff’s parents. There was a settled quality to our lives that was rare for our age and far too predictable. Our life in Montgomery stretched before us into the future in a monotonous ribbon of sameness that for me felt intolerable. Though I had lived in Montgomery, Alabama for six years by that time, I had never adapted to the place. I found the hot, humid weather insufferable, the culture oftentimes baffling. I missed cool summers, snowy winters and lefsa. I missed Minnesota; I missed “home.” Something had to give.

And give it did.

Jeff and I moved to the Twin Cities, got good jobs and in one year managed to buy our first home. Less than a year later we had our daughter Lily, an incredibly sweet natured and good child. Well okay, she had her share of spunkiness, but that just made her more interesting.

Then the cold started getting to us. One Christmas day, we found ourselves frigidly barreling down the highway to my cousin Shirley’s house in sub-zero temperatures. Lily was so wrapped up in multiple layers of clothing and blankets that she was hardly recognizable as a human being. She looked more like a pile of dirty laundry stuffed into the carseat. It was so cold in our car that the heater gave no relief, and I had to keep scraping the ice off the inside of the front windshield that was continually frosting over with the frozen moisture of our breaths. Jeff had the gall to say, “Try not breathe so much will you.” As we say up north, Uffdah!

Yeah, yeah, “the woods are lovely dark and deep” on snowy evenings as Robert Frost put so eloquently, but they can be freakin’ frigid as #%&* too. You can tell Mr. Robert Frost I said that.

Wimps that we were, we accepted a bribe from Jeff’s parents, if we would move back to the south with their only grandchild, we could live rent-free in their Florida beach house. Hot diggity dog! What a deal. Our stay Minnesota had lasted four years.