Tomorrow night I depart for a long-awaited vacation and visit to my sister in Chicago. I'll be there a little over a week and will probably not be updating this blog while I'm there. I'll get to see my niece and brother-in-law and will finally get to travel after staying in California for so long! I think the last time I traveled out of state was to Las Vegas and I can't rightly say that that was a relaxing vacation. It was more a drunken rampage with a rowdy bunch of girls. I'm very much looking forward to sightseeing, eating new places, and seeing my family. :D
Today, the man-friend and I had a mini date to the Discovery Science Center especially to see their bubblefest! They had a famed bubble scientist (it makes me giggle every time I say it) named Fan Yang who has a ton of Guiness World Records for things like Most People in a Bubble, Largest Animal in a Bubble, a Great Wall of China Bubble, and so on. It was pretty entertaining and well worth the extra 3 bucks.
Mostly, it was entertaining because it was very much like a bubble infested rave, sans the drugs and plus a bunch of raucous kids. All in all, it was wonderful. It's too bad they don't let you take photos during the show, but here's one from the cloud area.
Had an interesting weekend. Friday was ladies night and I made a sample of a pop up card heart. I'll be working on perfecting the pop up. Saturday was just lovely; spent with the man-friend, going on walks and to a friends art show.
After having been extremely dry in the creative writing department, I am just bursting with ideas and words. I am working on turning "Piss and Vinegar" into an absurd, nearly silent play/dance to be performed at CraftWarrior's next party, The Strange Cabaret.
I'm starting work on a series of short stories, poems, thoughts, and maybe even skits all about walking. I've also got ideas for children's books that I'll collaborate on with a fellow friend/artist.
Hopefully I'll have lots more to show you in due time.
The day it bellied up in the sky’s reflection Is a day we wouldn’t forget. Not for a long time coming. Its thick mass of strange flesh rained ripples Through the clean glass lake, Turned ripples to waves and washed itself over us.
Our monster swam for years, Decades and centuries. Before letting us catch sight of its milky white belly. Something we couldn’t forget. Your massive mouth hanging slack, The rot of years stinking rank, Behind rows of black flat teeth, We breathed every sick stench of you in.
You left and we left. Things changed and The lament we all cried Was about the day you died. How we felt it, In a spot deep in the back How we felt The way you felt, Belly up in that clean glass lake.
When the monster left We were left behind, Lamenting the day you died.
Woke up with the room pulsing deep in my head.The slight spin of the ceiling and leftover remnants of liquor still clinging to my lips only reminds me of the way last night spiraled.
I look for water.The room is still dark.But in these hotel rooms, you never know, night or day.Those curtains are made to keep out any hope of sunshine.Welcome to your dim lightless hole, we hope you enjoy your stay.
Water.My hand picks up a bottle.Lightweight, empty.I chuck it to the floor.Sitting up, I see the bodies.My friends.Two curled up together, one beside me, the last sprawled across her own bed arms splayed in a drunken heap.
It’s still dark out.I think.Those damn curtains, makes it hard to tell.I slip off the bed and trek through the sea of bodies, clothes, and shoes.The bathroom door slides with a swift satisfying smoooooth hhsssssssssssss.
The light switch, here, somewhere.Here.White light cuts quick the darkness and my eyes clamp shut.I let the door slide shut again.
Slowly, I adjust.Head throbbing still, just pulsing slight in the deepest parts of my brain.Hands in front of me, I steady myself on the cluttered white counter.Five girls crammed into one minimized hotel room.Five girls’ worth of colored pots of this and that shit.
I turn the faucet and reach for the ever faithful glass hotels always seem to have ready in each bathroom.Brimming with cold metallic water, I drink.With each gulp I notice giggling and hushed whispers.The door hisses smooth.
A girl twitters, skips a beat and slinks in.Gold jumpsuit cut short, booty short.Next a boy: tall, shirtless, and smiling with a secret.After him, another boy, this one shorter and less memorable in general.
They saunter around me touching with feather light hands, my hair, my face, the pads of my fingertips.They giggle.The girl, her butt wriggling in her short shorts, the gold just twisting and shining in that white bathroom light.They laugh and tease my hair, blow kisses by my cheeks; so close their hands cup my face, their breath blows cool.
Now they break away.The short one standing in the bathtub, laughing head bent over.We should pee, the girl suggests, eyeing me.A round of sniggers.
They surround the toilet.The shirtless man, with his penis tucked between his legs, winks and turns his back on the toilet bowl.He steadies himself; turning to be sure he’s aiming proper.The short one plunks himself atop the tank lid and holds his sturdy dick ready.
The girl, with her legs locked straight curves at the waist and lets her gold jumpsuit glide off.Breasts bloom from the gold, a pair of lush tits split by the dark line of her cleavage.She laughs.We watch as her breasts laugh with her.
And then showers.They pee; the short one holding his squat strapping dick, the topless one facing the wall and trying to aim.The girl, her breasts, letting loose her body temperature piss.
Ohhhh, I shudder.Piss, pee, goddamn urine.My head still pounding.Their laughter still cackling.Why, I trill, why all at once.Why, I quaver, why like a trio of raving lunatics, why in such awkward positions.Why, why, I tremble, is it so damn yellow.
They blush.They laugh.
The door slides open, hissssss.Big hair, blonde, twisted in two spiraling columns climbing high.I know you.
Big blonde hair, doesn’t notice the three ranting pissers.Tall blonde columns of highlighted hair, turn to me, he says I should judge a contest.
Eddie, those two blonde spires repeat, Eddie says I should.When my hair is this twirled magnificence, the blonde spikes say, Eddie says I should judge a contest.
The girl has her breasts tucked away, nipples burning hard behind the gold jumpsuit.The short man brushes my hair.I hear laughter, little chirps, little chimes.The shirtless man brushes his bare chest against my arm.
Big blonde hair, breasts, piss and vinegar.Laughing.Laughing, the door slides a smooooth satisfying hssssss.
I have finished (so much faster than my F book) my G book. I chose The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff.
I thoroughly LOVED this book. The beginning line alone, "The day I returned to Templeton steeped in disgrace, the fifty-foot corpse of a monster surfaced in Lake Glimmerglass.", is intriguing. In one sentence, the author has already created an outline of imagery that is just the right amount of vague to capture the reader.
Her characters are lovable, in the sense that they are full of contradictions, doubt, and flaws. The main character, Willie, is a strong, smart, and driven woman, that still trembles from self-doubt and fear. Her mother, Vi, is strong as well and veiled in mysteries that unravel through the novel.
The story line flips through time as Willie searches through archives, letters, and books searching for her long lost father. The book was especially wonderful simply because of the choice in storytelling. It could have been told from one perspective in one era in one flat boring line. However, Groff takes the reader through history to experience individual feelings and thoughts. With this jumping from past to present, there could have been a great rift in storyline creating problems with flow, but Groff travels seamlessly through time pulling the reader through a multi-layered complex story involving a 50 foot monster, estranged fathers, and plots of murder.
If you can't already tell, I had a terrific time reading The Monsters of Templeton. There were so many different genres in this that I feel I could recommend it to a wide range of readers. If you're reading this and you've gotten this far, I recommend it to you!
This here post is a plug for a friend of mine. He just opened his own shop in Long Beach and needs some business! It's called The Soda Station and is located at 438 E. 1st St.
It is a soda (the kind with real sugar and made with more love than the ones we're used to) and vintage shirt, shoe and purse store. It's a teeny tiny spot, but it works. He's got a wide selection of shirts (mostly for men), but I found a few good threads for myself.
This is Michael, the happy owner, holding only the coolest shirt ever (yes, that's none other than MJ AND he's on a bicycle)! I wish I could have it, but it was already on hold for someone else.
A picture of the threads my man-friend and I picked up. The Sailor Moon shirt was such a steal. And that brown satchel is a Dooney and Burke (only 8 bucks!!) that I use as a laptop bag now.
I had a great time checking out his inventory and am definitely heading back for more. It's more personal and more genuine than any thrift or vintage store I've been to and with better prices! Please support this new local business and buy a shirt or soda pop!
