phoenix fall out

friday night (8/31/07) was my last night in AZ, which always fills me with mixed emotions. For there are things I do appreciate about the valley. I appreciate seeing people of color and hearing spanish spoken without having to drive or take a bus to the south end of town. i appreciate that even the sub par mexican food is still pretty damn good. AZ has a couple vegetarian restaurants that seattle could never hold a candle to. Then there are my friends and family. However, there is also the blinding heat and the blatant bigots, a-holes, insert derogatory term here. On the other hand, I have my food, friends, and timid bigots in seattle. so much push and pull going on. this is even further exacerbated by the turmoil of my living situation, granted this is on the up and up, and the fact that my lover is far away. Regardless, I am homeward bound and absolutely needed to spend time with the folks I care about most before I go home.
During the day, I went bowling with my auntie and my mommy. we were terrible! which i think makes it more fun. i can't imagine being competitive at that recreation. The highlight of the afternoon was during one of my aunt's frames. her foot must have crossed the line or something, either way she lost her balance while on one foot. So, she hopped trying to regain her balance and landed in the left gutter. Then, she hopped again, still on one leg. I'm not sure if she landed on one leg or two, but she landed in the lane to the left of us and totally wiped out. I laughed so hard and am currently having a hard time typing this tale without wetting myself. She was mortified. She puts so much work into looking well kept and pulled together at all times, which is what i think made this even more hilarious. She rather reminds my of Hyacinth Bouquet on Keeping Up Appearances. (if you have never watched this show, you should.)
That night the photo lezbo, hippie hair, and i were supposed to go sing karaoke at some skeezey bar on the west side of town. When we arrived, we decided it was too skeezey even for us! so we went to the divey, faux Irish bar around the corner instead: o'brien's. this place wasn't anything special. what made the night was the drunk friend that was brought along. at one point i was trying to figure out photo lezbo's iphone and drunky magoo says, he goes: "turn the camera on, because i'm ready to make love to your face." it was a little more than i could keep to myself.
needless to say, the day was spent laughing my ass off.
in short, it was a fun trip, but i am so happy to be home.

happy days

Once upon a time:







a man and a woman.















decided they couldn't imagine making anyone else's life miserable but each other's. they vowed to care and to hold in sickness and in health and tied the knot.




That was 26 years ago to the day. Which makes today my parent's 26th wedding anniversary!
26 years ago on this day: my mom had a melt down, my dad came through at the last possible second, and i had a poopy diaper.
they were married in las vegas and not much has changed since that day except that they have two more rug rats than they did 26 years prior. Here are the three of us caught in the act of being us.

















i think we've got a good thing going here and i'm glad that i got to be around to celebrate it!
Happy Days to my parents and to us, their bratty babies!


here's to a marriage that never jumps the shark!

the golden state: a play in three acts

This past weekend I was in California to visit family. For the most part, I did just that. However, one of the days I was there I tore away from sitting on the sofa while grandpa grumpy pants blasted Fox News. While away, I hung out with friends formerly from the valley of the sun and now just from the valley.

LIST OF CHARACTERS:
Hollywood PA, A young woman trying to make it in Hollywood as a personal assistant.
Disappearer, formerly the guitarist for the band, the myth and the legend: The Ponies. Currently, a library hand, hanging onto his glory days and reading far too many books.
me as myself.
ACTION:
Act I (This scene was devoted to setting up the characters and the plot. What had the three been up to? What secrets are they hiding.)
The evening began in Glendale at la casa de san marchi. The three had pizza, ate salad, watched a Ponies Documentary, and ate many roasted peas. Hollywood PA discussed her stint as a barista. Disappearer described the rise and fall of the Ponies empire. Me as myself talked about all the things you people are probably tired of hearing about. It was all very nice, I'm sure. When the three had said all there was to say, they decided to venture out of the casa.
Act II (getting some sugar)
The three climbed aboard their chariot, Sportacus, and set out on a journey far away from the place they had spent the last few hours of their existence together. Their destination: east Hollywood AKA the other side of Melrose. This area happened to be the bike district and me as myself was very tempted to go into one of the many shops and fondle all the beautiful bikes that would inevitably be too big. However, tonight was not the night for bi-wheeled pipe dreams. Besides, there were more important things at hand. The current mission was getting ice cream and i wasn't going to let a mission fail, not on my watch. The frozen lactose location: Scoops, tucked away in a cute area off of Melrose - filled with bike-shop co-ops and city college kids.
This place is the SHIT! Everyday they churn up unorthodox flavors of ice cream and keep the masses quite happy. The three were among the masses this very evening; partaking in hand-scoopes delicacies such as peanut butter, pistachio & orange water, and a madara concoction. Best ice cream ever thought of. Lessons learned: ice cream is heaven sent and Los Feliz is not pronounced (Fay-Lease), but instead (Fee-Lis)--these are among life's most important lessons. This part of the evening was magical, but it couldn't last forever no matter how hard the three protagonists tried. It was time to climb aboard Sportacus again and see where the evening would take them.
Act III (Hollywood ending)
The mood was that the evening was nearing an end. The protagonists drove around Fairfax, viewed the never-ending line at Pinks, and drove aimlessly around the vicinity of .
Just then, the phone rang (like it did about 300 times before that). But this time was different. This time it was the disappearer's Bakersfield friends calling us to tell us about . This was an interesting party, to say the least. Outside the party house was a group of wily, down-to-earth kids from Bakersfield. They were a riot! On the inside was a contingent of bitchy Armenian girls who were clearly uninterested in us. In the end, they killed the mood of the evening. The momentum of the protagonists was lost and they were forced to disband. Even though the end of the night was a bit sour, each one walked away knowing a little bit more about themselves. What they found out is that each one of them is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal.
(We see me as myself walking across the football field as she thrusts her fist into the air in a silent cheer and freezes there.)

why is my baby cousin so dern cute?

we may never know for sure. ...