Eeee

I read Eeeee Eee Eeee by Tao Lin last night - it was highly enjoyable.  I'm not sure how best to describe it so I'll just quote the back:

"Confused yet intelligent animals attempt to interact with confused yet intelligent humans, resulting in the death of Elijah Wood, Salman Rushdie, and Wong Kar-Wai; the destruction of a Domino's Pizza delivery car in Orlando; and a vegan dinner at a sushi restaurant in Manhattan attended by a dolphin, a bear, a moose, an alien, three humans, and the President of the United States of America, who lectures on the arbitrary nature of consciousness, truth, and the universe before getting drunk and playing poker."

How can you go wrong with a plot like that?

weakness and foreigh travel report

So, yeah, I suck at the whole Buy Nothing thing.  Didn’t last 3 weeks.  I did plan on some spending on our trip to Puerto Vallarta, but before we left, I swung by the fabric store to look for material for a beach cover-up…and walked out with a stack of fabric and patterns.  There were two patterns I really wanted but were out of stock, so of course, I had to stop by the other location of this particular store and look there…no patterns, but another pile of fabric!  Damn! 

Last night, I had a committee meeting at My Closet…remember my total lack of will power in that store?  It struck again.  3 pairs of shoes, a skirt and t-shirt.  Great.  At least it’s for a good cause, right? :P  Since I had already blown it, I also stopped by the Goodwill and dug for t-shirts to play with…  sigh.  I totally suck at this. 

 

Our vacation was fantastic, btw.  Fantastic, but far too short.  I missed the dog, but pretty much nothing else about home.  I felt great the whole time – I’ve been having super-sensitive skin issues and some digestive problems, and both cleared up on this trip.  Huh, think they’re stress related?  Uh, yeah. 

So, what did we do on vacation, you ask?  Nothing, and it was everything I thought it could be…  Well, OK, not “nothing”, but it was entirely relaxing.  I reunited with my favorite beach drink, the Miami Vice, a half-strawberry daiquiri-half piña colada concoction.  Divine sugary goodness.  We swam in the pool, jumped waves in the ocean, rode Wave Runners, jogged on the beach, napped, and ate and drank to our hearts’ content.  One night we hustled another couple at pool  and we spent another evening watching a slightly creepy mime do his thing.  On the last morning, I caught some movement in the sand out of the corner of my eye – it was a group of baby turtles crawling out of the sand and trying to make their way to the water.  Very cool.  An entirely satisfactory vacation, all in all. 

 

My return to real life hasn’t been quite so pleasant, but what do you do, huh? :P

the surreal world

What a strange weekend, at least in terms of being in different places with different people.  Friday night, the DH and I trekked across town (in mind-blowingly slow traffic) to see the John Butler Trio (amazing) and G Love and the Special Sauce (whoo-hoo!).  We ended up bumping into a couple we know from both the belly dance and local music scenes.  Normal enough, right?  Well, then I spied a girl I went to camp with in 7^th grade!  I didn’t get a chance to talk to her, but it was weird nonetheless just seeing her. 

On Saturday, we drove across the state to my hometown for my 10 year high school reunion.  Talk about surreal.  Being in a room with a dozen or so people that you know really well, but are also complete strangers, is the ultimate in weird situations.  Being drunk helped.

Then I found myself about 12 hours later back in the studio with some Divas, dancing around, discussing costumes and zombies, and it was completely normal…  Ah, what my life has become! J

 

 

Stop the Insanity!

I think it’s time for another Buy Nothing month.  I’ve been throwing money at Amazon and the local thrift stores like it’s going out of style and my wallet is starting to feel the pinch.  Not that I don’t absolutely LOVE and NEED every single thing I’ve purchased, of course, but its gotten just a tad beyond excessive.  I’ve only worn a new outfit to work every day for the past  few weeks.  A month to sober up my spending won’t hurt at all.   

 

To be fair, I’ve also offloaded a bunch of stuff – 4 boxes of clothes went to My Closet, 3 boxes of household goods and an old computer to the Good Will…  I’m sure I can find more stuff to give away, so that will be my goal this month – use it or lose it. 

 

So, starting today, no unplanned purchases for the month of August.  I’m giving myself the “planned” spending caveat because I need to register for a workshop next week, plus we are going to Mexico on the 11^th, and there will probably be a little bit of shopping on that trip.  The general goal here is to resist the impulse to buy random things at will – that means not going to the Good Will, leaving My Closet empty-handed, not surfing over to Amazon (or at least not clicking “Buy Now!”)…  I can do it.  Really.  I have willpower!  (OK, I’m not convinced – are you?)

 

Happy August, everyone!