why is my baby cousin so dern cute?

we may never know for sure. ...

califonia dreaming. ...

this week has been as exhausting as i expected. i'm trying to be my dad while he's not here and he's kind of the gofer of the family--he does all the grunt work. so, i've been making breakfast and other meals; cleaning, the yucky bathroom that looked like it got hit by a serious shit storm, the dishes--these people make some serious dishes; and folding laundry.
as well, i've had personal things to keep up with. I have a paper due for class tomorrow and i'm the schedule writer for the yarn barn.
i've also been quiet busy visiting with my cousins. this part of the family can out drink a fleet of sailors. now i know where my dad gets it from.
good news is that all this crazy business has kept me from getting sad. so that's all good. i'll be home friday.

12:23am

my grandmother passed. ...

hindsight and beyond

there are lots of subtle nuances that go by unnoticed and then a life-changing event happens and you can see all those things lining up as would be premonitions and think why didn't i see this coming. ...?
over the last year i've been having many dreams of my grandma with her dyed-brown afro, in the warm sun, preparing a picnic. she is in a brown pair of polyester koulats and has chanklas on her feet. for the most part, i only see her from the waist down and am mesmerized by her smooth, tan legs. i'm guessing i'm a child in these dreams, or at least have a childlike perspective. i usually wake up from these dreams feeling cheated, because i don't get to have that grandma ever again. i don't get to resent her for sticking her nose in my business and i don't get to yell at her. i also don't get to sit next to her while she reads romance novels and i definitely don't get to sneak into her stash of fresh homemade tortillas.
last week i had a dream that she was in her hospital bed and she was not well. i was there, but i wasn't. it was very different from the dreams i'm used to having about her and i didn't feel any better about it. for some reason, every time my dad called this week i was afraid something had happened to her.
well, i got the call yesterday. she's begun throwing fits. she has ripped off her clothes and refuses to put them back on. she acts like the water forced down her throat burns. she's not eating. ...
up until a week ago she had an appetite twice as large as mine. now she maybe eats a portion of applesauce in a day. she's on heavy doses of morphine and in hospice care.
i look at the last month and think, why did i not plan for this. it seems so obvious to me now. but i could never plan for something this tragic. you just can't foresee this sort of thing.
anyway, i'm flying out in about 12 hours to be with my family and wait for her to go. it may not happen while i'm there, but it will happen soon.
and yesterday was beginning so nicely. i should have known seeing ted leo twice in one week would upset the gods. now i know better. ...

a shout out to my homies in Riga

i am nothing if not a voyeur. i think modest mouse wrote a song about me. because as a rule i am watching you watch me watch you right now... no, i am not a stalker, but i do pay close attention to the people who are looking at my blog on a regular basis. typically i see what i would expect to find: a lot of people viewing from seattle or other places where i have relations in the US. what amazes me are the number of people viewing from around the globe. it makes me curious to know what my global counterparts think of this ranty american bird. anyway, i decided to highlight an area where people are viewing in high numbers. this is an area that rarely creeps into my american consciousness and i thought maybe it should. and while i'm at it, i might as well bring you along. ...
So join me for "Latvia, This is Your Life."
Riga is the largest city in the Baltic States and the capital of Latvia. It is a one night train ride from Moscow or St. Petersburg. Latvia is a member of EU and you do not need a visa.

Riga is a beautiful European city with over than 800 years of history. It is an old town with narrow streets which offer you the spirit of the Middle Ages. There are many historical monuments and numerous cafes and restaurants where you can find both Latvian and European food. Riga has a great colorful farmer's market, beautiful parks, and good shopping. If you are lucky, you may attend an organ concert in Dome Cathedral and listen to one of the best organs in Europe.
Natural resources include peat, limestone, dolomite, hydro power, wood, and arable land.
Here's a link for more statisticsThe World Factbook
Tourism appears to be gaining steam in this area. My suggestion is pick up a translation book, commission a guide and go.
and remember: TODAY IS THE DAY WE CELEBRATE LATVIA!!!!

ted leo rx

tonight my roommate and i went to the showbox to see ted leo and the pharmacists. most people who know me for any length of time know that ted leo is destined to become my future ex-husband. it's a dream i've had since 1997 and is still alive and kicking to some extent.
anyway, the show was big fun eventhough it was at the showbox. i generally don't like going to shows at this particular venue, but i'd stand in a urinal to swoon over my dream boat.



this is the hair farmer who only had eyes for me. ...


it was a little odd. i engaged in some serious eye contact for the entirty of the pharmacists' set. at 1st i felt uncomfortable. like does he know that i know he's looking right at me. then i thought i was imagining it. until i would do something silly and get a visual response from him. i finally decided to work it in hopes of meeting these pop icons. i failed, but had fun doing it. it was an all ages show, so i felt like a bit of an old maid. but i danced and went crazy as is typical of this manic hispanic to do.
and now it's off to bed as i my dancing shoes are ready to be tucked in.
goodnight moon.

spring chick chat

today i am really hoping these may flowers will be worth all the april showers. i'm growing tired of being damp and looking forward to popsicle season.

I think for may, to celebrate all the lovely flowers, i'm going to host an inconvenient movie night with a twist of naked lady. i have not yet seen an inconvenient truth and would love company. this way afterward we can engage in meaningful dialogue while rifling through each other's unwanted clothing. because what is more sustainable than recycling fashion? i may even set up my sewing machine for impromptu mending/altering. and if there are any clothes that don't have a good home lined up by the end of the evening, i live across the street from a church with a donation center, or we can take the stuff to Treehouse. it should be a lot of fun and enriching to some extent, right??

this reminds me of the one naked lady party i've attended in my life. well, no one got naked and it was pre-puberty. so, i wasn't really a lady yet (i'm still waiting patiently for that level of maturation to take). Anyway, this girl we called smithers and i went to her neighbor's house. she was getting rid of her older cool girl clothes. smithers and i took turns picking out what we would take and after all of smithers' selections i threw a fit, shouting: "NO FAIR!!! i wanted that!" and when she eventually conceded, because she really had no other choice, i didn't want the garment anymore. i only wanted the things she wanted and if she didn't want them anymore, i didn't want them either. after not too long, my mother was requested to come take me home, because i had begun the destruction that only a self-centered, fickle youngster can engage in. ah to be a kid again. ...

anyway, i promise i will try to make this more successful than that particular event. and i'm sure all of you are happy that you were not friends with me during this period of my life.

i'll keep you apprised of details as they unfold.

at the end of the longest hangover...

...that's where i will always be.
or at least it seems that way for the moment. I had a few too many "vegan" caucasians last night and my head is reeling. but i woke up and listened to white trash, 2 heebs and a bean and it put what is as close to a hop in my step that is going to happen before noon today.
i love that i can't get my act together, but i can still manage to craft a run-on sentence.

ever the wordsmith, i am

these mitzvahs i have done

So far, this morning has been a string of good deeds for me.

i witnessed a woman having trouble getting her baby Bjorn strapped onto her. so, i marched across the room and helped her get it snapped in place.
then, i saw the wind blow a hat off a young man's head and blow it just out of his reach every time he bent over to pick it up. it was quite humorous. anyway, it crossed paths with me and i was able to stop the runaway hat.
I've also felt compelled to hold open more doors than normal.
and all this before noon.

if I'm going to keep up this good deed doing I'll need a cup of coffee. though it makes me wonder and hope that these deeds go unpunished.
maybe i shouldn't push my luck?

easter sunday funday

Hay-Zues died for our sins and rose again. which is why we hide the eggs? ...

no eggs for me. i did not even eat any for breakfast. today was just another sunday which is my only day off per week. so i usually spend it scrambling to get as much done as humanly possible.
the easiest part of my day was picking up a bookshelf that i found on craigslist. it was smaller than i thought, but $10 cheaper than buying it new at ikea. which brings me to the second errand on the list. get a bed frame--for god's sake shannon you're a grownup and grown ups don't sleep on mattresses in the middle of the floor. This part of my day was especially stressful because the all bed frames i wanted were "out of stock." when i got to the self serve area, i realized that all the beds listed in stock were actually out of stock. but as luck would have it, the one i really wanted actually WAS in stock. i was a little peeved that i wasted all of 5 minutes talking myself in the lesser of the two frames only to find the one i originally wanted. anyway, i don't know how i got that thing in the car, out of the car, and into the apartment all by myself. i can only say it was a miracle. assembling the bed, however, was no miracle. about half of the hardware that came for frame assembly would not fit in its designated hole [if you saw a pun there you are banished from this blog]. Also, I did not possess my typical building finesse. anyway, after 3 hours of losing a fair amount of blood, patience, and some taking of the lord's name in vain i have an assembled bed. i must admit i am a bit concerned about the amount of hardware i have left over. let's hope i make it through the night in one piece.
i think i am being punished for not smashing hard boiled huevos over my brothers head this year.
all-in-all i am happy. i now have a bedroom set of mathcing furniture (night stands, book shelf, and bed). i think at the end of this day i can safely say i am a grown up. if not for attempting to get my act together then at least for the amount of adult content that spewed from my lips.
anyway, i must go pick up my roommate, sasha, from work. she was nice enough to let me use her ride all day.
yay.

In lighter news...

so far today has been a little intense.
first of all, i woke up around 5:30am. luckily there was time to take a nap before class.
the 1st thing i see upon arrival to class was a memorial/display with stats on victims of domestic abuse fatalities. I have a big bleeding heart. so, things like this always put me in a mood akin to out-of-sorts, with tinges of grief. In other words i become somewhat preoccupied with grief.
then, as i was on my way to class, i ran into a friend and she told me about a fatal >shooting that happened only an hour before i had stepped foot on campus. two people are dead. at this point it is believed to be a murder suicide. however, this is pending a full investigation of the crime scene.
How awful right? what exactly makes people so crazy. i don't think i can ever fully comprehend and part of me is relieved. it seems like quite a burden to bear.
anyway. flags, if you've got them, fly them at half mast. and if not, just thank your stars no one has taken a shot at you today.