Happy Halloween

Halloween has ALWAYS been my favorite holiday. Whether it was the dressing up, or the taboo candy grubbing, I don't know. Somewhere in my mid 20s or 30s, I lost the urge. I went to parties here and there, but once there was no candy involved, and no mama to make me a cool costume, I guess it lost its flair. Last year, I decided I wanted that MOJO back, so I had my first party in 20 years.  The last party I had was 1989, I lived in these dive-y apartments on Powerline in Ft. Lauderdale. We had a pool, I had a blender, my sister brought pina colada and strawberry daiquiri mix and my own father brought the rum. A few friends came over, my roommate and her boyfriend, the neighbors, some random assholes from across the street....We had a blast - I was pretty screaming drunk, but I remember it WAS a fun time...(and no, my car disappearing a few months later had NOTHING to do with this!).

So, it had been a while since I "hosted" a party. I thought, "high time," (not like THAT, you dope), I put the word out, and I'll be damned if a butt load of people showed up, including TWO babies!  It was great! At one point, there were people DANCING in my living room - now that is cool, right?

I have decided to take fate into my hands and do it again tomorrow night.  So far, about 10 or 11 have RSVP'd, so who knows?  I guess I better start thinking about a costume...and some food!  I do have the soundtrack:

a good song for Halloween

another one

another one for you die hard fans

Hope you all have a spooktacular weekend!!

random chance

By some odd chance, a friend posted a video on her Facebook today...and it was the FIRST video I ever saw, back in 1980...on Teletunes, which came BEFORE MTV in Denver, on KBDI, Broomfield Public Access...(MTV later bought Teletunes which I always thought was odd, but now that CORPORATIONS OWN America, I see the logic), and it was all helter skelter and psycho schizoid, new wave, alternative music choices from there....Depeche Mode, Yaz, Soft Cell, Split Enz, New Order, Fiction Factory, Love and Rockets, Tin Tin, Bauhaus, Blancmange, Erasure, Ministry, OMD, Shriekback, Tones on Tail, Icehouse, Japan, Spandau Ballet...god the list goes on....

So what misplaced 4 minute dirge from days gone by do I blame my current music tastes on? Easy:  Classix Nouveaux Guilty - click here to see the video!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCLqj0X2AFk

ok, my Pandora is rockin' a little old school now.  So, what framed YOUR music choices of today?

Walk a mile (or 3.2 to be exact) in MY shoes

Every year, I make it my mission to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. The organization came into existence a year or two before I was diagnosed in 1974, I think, and the walkathons and fundraising began shortly thereafter. I've walked, biked, skied and roller skated more miles, over the last 30-odd years, so that for me to "expect" my name to be included on the "registered walkers" list (not that I am in the general habit of expecting anything), is NOT too much to ask! I register on line months in advance....I do a fancy letter, and I do email campaigns, and I raise a good chunk of money - this year, more than ever before, perhaps in part to my little video

In fact, as an individual, I raise more than many family groups here in Tucson....and they have cute little kids to use as bait. Of course, some raise tons more money, but I guess if you are a lawyer or stockbroker, you have lots of contacts to strongarm ask, and the, there are the corporate teams who have companies who will match their gifts - they always raise a good chunk. Me, I just ask friends and family, most who have supported my cause over the years, and while I don't raise TONS of money, as I said, I do raise more than the average individual walker.

And yet, when I go to check in on the morning of the walk for four years in a row, my NAME was not even on the list as being registerd to walk! What the hell is that? I don't want the plaque they give everyone who raises over $1,000...I have several - I don't need a physical token of appreciation, but I'd just like to have my name on the friggin' list....One year, I WAS on the list, and it showed how much I had raised. The girl checking me in, looks up, her eyes huge, and she said, "Wow, you have raised more than anyone I have checked in today," and then she said, THANK YOU. And THAT, my friends, that was what I was waiting for. Someone to say THANK YOU. Sure, I am raising money to find a cure for a disease I have, so it may seem a little self-serving, but it isn't really. 

See, I could easily make my personal donation of $50 or $100 and feel pretty good, and be done with it.  However, I have the "ability" to USE myself, and raise tens times more...People give to people, not causes, and my friends and family support the JDRF because of ME (or another diabetic they know). It isn't like I make a personal donation of $1,500, but the fact that my begging and pleading with my friends and family result in this chunk of money, that might not otherwise have been raised, and for someone to say, THANK YOU, to me, for doing it, makes it mean so much more.

So, I am walking, again (since they haven't managed to find a cure YET), on November 6th....and we will see, won't we?  Will my name be on the list, or will I have to walk in a snarly mood?

If you are a reader of my blog, and you are one of the people who donated, THANK YOU - I love you, and your support of my cause means more to me than just the monetary value!  If you haven't seen my little video, please check it out...You don't have to donate...just watch it and maybe share it.....like the most awesome blogger in the world, The King of New York Hacks (thanks King!!). If you found my blog thanks to the King's lovely post, welcome...I hope my ranting, raving and griping and moaning don't scare you off.....

And if JDRF can figure out a way to get my name on the LIST, I will even be a happy girl for a few hours!!!  I don't know if I will be able to stand being happy.....but let's not put the cart before the horse....

we're walking, we're walking

I've said it before, but it is worth repeating when it isn't 109 degrees outside.  The desert is really quite a lovely place to live...and while I don't mean it would be a nice place for a summer home (which it isn't, unless you like the heat, and I do, so in my case, I guess it IS a nice place for a summer home), and you sure can't mind the scorpions, the rattlesnakes or the tarantulas (actually The UnMom might actually like the free spider access - getting them in your banana basket it totally up to you, however)! And the snowbirds here rival those in Ft. Lauderdale (although we don't have nearly as many Canadians, not that there is anything wrong with being Canadian, but can you imagine our poor local police trying to profile illegal Canadians?)

Last night, I actually had my camera with me on my 4 mile walk in the canyon.  I have no frickin' idea why these are sideways!  I went through and right side upped them ALL.....what the hell?  but you get the idea.....

what I love most about the saguaro is that is looks like it flipping the world off!!

even arthritic fingers need to give the finger every once in a while

can you see the old man in the rock?

 

It is the small things

The little things in life make me happy:  

~ An extra cherry in my amaretto sour without asking for it and feeling like a 4 year old. 

~ Actually getting NO onions on my burrito when I order "a bean burrito, no onions, please."

~ A free drink coupon from Starbucks after for buying 20 drinks

~ Getting to pick airplane seat from the GOOD seats up front.

~ Waking up before my alarm and feeling good about it.

~ Getting a bear claw, but only being charged for a donut.

~That last $10 donation putting me over the top on my fundraising for JDRF. (Click the link to hear the cheers and yahoos...it is quite gratifying!)

~ My car turning over to 123,456 while I am not in the middle of the construction zone, (though I HAD been up until 123455.5) and staying this way in my garage ALL night, so i can be excited about it again tomorrow

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and to hear me actually get all verklempt about it, watch the little video...

what are YOU doing??

I am watching the extraction of those trapped miners in Chile, and it is the most amazing wonderful thing I have seen in months and months, maybe years.  If you are not watching this, you should be.  Turn off the politics; turn off the "gnus," turn off your cell phone, take the kids Wii away and WATCH THIS NOW........

Seeing the face of the woman as her husband came out was simply a moment of joy that is so rarely seen, and you really don't want to say you MISSED this because you had something "else" to do...Really?  what ELSE do you have to do?

I am crying, but for the first time in I don't know how long, it is a GOOD cry....

CLICK HERE for a live feed

politics ain't the only thing sucking around here.....

So, my profession, my avocation and my vocation, indeed, my very PASSION has always been theatre...I have two degrees from high fallutin' universities; I have a credible and almost distinguished resume - and am proud of the work I have done all over the country.  However, after a blistering, morale shattering experience last year with a show I directed downtown, I have found myself not even wanting to go see shows, let alone direct anything, and I haven't even auditioned for a show!   I saw a few great shows in NYC last winter, but the few things I have seen locally have all been SO BAD, that I kicked myself for even going!  I thought, I need to snap out of this...I LOVE theatre, so I dragged myself to the theatre last night - it was an "Old Time Radio" style thing.  

I took a friend who had moved to town recently, and we dragged her husband along too.  The group has been doing this radio thing for well over a year, so my expectations were perhaps a bit high, I suppose, but oh MY god, it was just SO sad.....unrehearsed, horrible useless sound effects, weak acting, and an ineffective director sitting in the front row supposedly "cueing" things, when neither actors or sound techs ever looked up from the script!  AND a really really poor script on top of it.....The did a McGee and Molly (?) style thing, but not one of the actors catured the twang and zip of "doll" "sis" "lissen here" "sayyyy..."  it was just so FLAT....

I went to "Old Time Radio" drama, wanting to close my eyes and imagine being cozied up to the wireless, but frankly I was scared to close my eyes for fear I would fall asleep - my FRIEND and her husband did, and the only reason I didn't was because I dug a hole in my arm with my finger nail.  An acquaintance was the playwright...and two guys I have directed in other projects were in it....and they were just horrible!!!!  I ducked out a side door quickly at the end

Sigh...and THAT is the state of the arts in Tucson......