Oh, wow, is it Thursday already? I'm at work, no porn for you.

Buster got as many presents this year as I did, including a container of catnip that looks so much like buds of weed I got nervous when I had to have my bag unpacked thanks to an iron incense burner flaming up on the x-ray. The handcuffs come out - "no, really, it's catnip, I promise!". Dogs sniffing around - thank God they are looking for bombs and not dope.

Christmas Eve is the day to fly - I allowed 3 hours to get through it all and had 2 hours to kill. The plane was full but by and large the airport was deserted. Found a good book for the plane. I am all into the series of "Best (blah blah blah) of 2005" - I got Magazine Writing for the plane, and just picked up Science Writing. They have Spiritual Writing and Travel and Food and all kinds of good stuff. Nice short bursts of well-written and informative tidbits.

There is a seriously Buster moment in The Chronicles of Narnia. When you see it, and the scene comes when Aslan does his thing to the evil queen, imagine me lying in bed and opening my eyes to the same view on a slightly smaller but no less frightening scale. Loved the movie, by the way, more than I thought I would, and at the risk of even more firmly establishing myself in the group as a pervert, the Centaurs are HOT!!

The new phrase of the season is as follows:

"Happy Christmahannukwanzaakah!

We figure it covers all the bases and won't insult anyone for being politically incorrect.

SANTA'S CUMMIN!

Sci Fi Channel sucks me in to the weirdest stuff.I just got through 3 nights of watching a preposterous miniseries about the Bermuda Triangle. It was kinda cool, cause we haven't heard much about the goings-on in the Triangle lately; I imagine this will start a new trend and it will once again be chic.

Have you noticed that otherworldly things have their times in the sun, like bell-bottoms and ponchos? For a while alien abduction was all the rage (best movies are "Communion" and "Fire in the Sky", with a kudos to the Barney and Betty Hill movie way back when with James Earl Jones and Estelle Parsons, a pioneer of the genre). The Triangle was hip so long ago I don't remember any movies. I know there were some bad made-for-tv things rather like what I just watched. Voodoo and Santaria had a moment ("The Believers" and "Serpent and the Rainbow"). Sometimes a movie starts a trend ("Altered States" and the sudden opening of isolation tank spas, all gone now). Crop circles have died down a bit; "Signs" was a little late. Some things, like ghosts, will always be popular, but I kind of put them outside of the natural-supernatural new-age hippie-dippie stuff I am thinking about. Remember Pyramid Power? I'd be hard-pressed to find a pyramid outside the Whole Living Expo, and they are throwbacks even there. Okay, so we need to make a movie about the famous "vortexes" in Sedona. Haven't seen one of those yet and it seems like vortexes would be ripe for the picking. They are so vague you could do anything. Louis L'Amour wrote a book about the Anasazi that was pretty cool - getting some Native American lore into the spotlight would be interesting.

Anyway, my Christmas sale was good; Buster got a couple leftover cat toys. Ramping up for the Christmas blitz (Happy Christmahannukwanzaakah!). Oh, and I did like the Johnny Cash movie. Also, if you are going to see Harry Potter make sure you do it at the movies - it is so dark it might be hard to see on the teevee.

BERMUDA TRIANGLES

SHAMELSS SELF-PROMO
Hey - I am participating in a wonderful Christmas craft sale with 25 other very talented folks who make enticing things. I always buy a few things for myself, as well as a giftie or two...
FOGBELT STUDIO HOLIDAY ARTS AND CRAFTS SALE
2528 25th Avenue (between Ulloa and Vicente
Friday 12/2 noon - 8 pm
Saturday 12/3 10 am to 6 pm
Sunday 12/4 noon - 6 pm
I'll be there on Sunday around 1. My wares are microwave mitts (very handy), bookmarks, and cat toys.

Oh, and because I seem to be spending a fair amount of time seeing doctors for various routine testing, here is this week's really wierd title:
LEAD A DISSOLUTE IN HOPITAL - Nures and Woman Doctor (sic on all the bad spelling)

Okay, finally got last week's blog to publish.
Just got 3 Johnny Cash records from Amazon. I realized that with Walk the Line coming out and all that there was a severe shortage of Man in Black albums in my collection. There was a special on the two prison records, and I added his last one that has the strange covers of Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode. But I am treading on Bee's Musical Feet here so I will wait till next time and talk about the movie instead.

I did see Good Night, and Good Luck. What a nice change of pace to see a movie that is just smart, well-shot, well-acted, no gluts of either estrogen or testosterone. I have always liked David Strathairn although I don't know how to actually pronounce his name. It could be an interesting race for the Best Actor Oscar this year.

Anyway, I wonder what kind of hit record would have come out of a Johnny Cash show here:

BIG TIT PRISON

Oops, missed my deadline again. I'm having a little case of anti-computer-itis cause I have a "new" (to me) computer at work that has viruses that I can't get out because it shuts down whenever I am almost done dowloading the tools. Actually the thing that it does is a symptom of a virus that it doesn't seem to have upon a Symantec scan for that particular one. I have dial-up at work, which compounds the problem, and I get a warning window about my registry about every two minutes, which is a lie since I cleaned my registry about 6 times. I can't get through a Spybot or Adaware download, either. I finally got through a virus definition download which is how I now know I have viruses. Sigh.

Been to the movies more in the last month than in the last 2 years. Saw In Her Shoes, Capote, Domino, and Jarhead. Going to see History of Violence tomorrow probably and Walk the Line immediately upon release.
This was not the Jarhead I saw, although there may be equal numbers of hot guys in both.
JARHEAD

Here are the Buster reports I got while I was on vacation:
1. "Hey girl,

alls well with the critters. Buster and I played in
the sun( the tunnel) he's a good kitty. the only
thing is that every time i go to your place he's made
a bigger mess other than that he's a good kitty. have
fun

love abel"

2. "I stopped by to see Buster yesterday running amok. He was in the garage, so when I left I made sure he was in the apt. He had found one of your knitting projects (red yarn) and wound it around the chair. It was quite a task untangling it and putting it out of reach. I played with him for a while but he was also pretty entertained by himself. Perhaps he was showing off. I made the mistake of wearing a skirt with bare legs and an ankle bracelet. Next time I'm wearing long pants and bringing work gloves." (Melanie)

3. "Well today the adventure got a little crazy..
was playing with buster and you know how hard it is to
shut the door before you can get out ..it started in
the back room up stairs then every room 'till we
reached your door. door won't shut. then put him back
started racing to the door buster flies out of
no-where smash crash...We broke your nice friut bowl
by the door..bad boy hidd, i cleaned up felt bad,but
figured you'd uderstand and perhaps maybe you could
steel one from your sis's house like it. no injuries,
but then I rememdered as i cleaned the litter
box(guilt is motivating),and putting it out i locked
myself out. Great< huh? had to go to mike's work and blah blahyouknow. anyways, Sorry !!! buster has forgotten it already..to be a cat...would have been a great trade for today" (Abel)

Buster is happy I'm home but not as happy as Abel...

BAD KITTY

Ahhhhhhhh..... vacation at last! I am in Laguna Beach, living with my sister for a week. The first few days were marked by some amazing storm activity. One night my sister and I went out on to the balcony to watch the lightning streaking around - big flashes, big, long booms. It was fun and reminded me of summers in Ohio when we would watch the storms for entertainment.

I have been getting very amusing Buster reports from his beleaguered caretakers - he has been quite the scoundrel and I fear I will be coming home to a post-hurricane home scenario. Apparently my house is messier every day, and he has found a ball of yarn or two. Good kitty.

THUNDERLAND IN WONDERLAND

Ack - I am such a slacker. Last night I was so preoccupied trying to learn Photoshop in an hour that I forgot about my blog. Sorry! I'm at work, so no porn available.

I got roped into designing a logo for my artist group, Tangerine Arts. They forgot to give me a deadline until it was about a week away. Hate that. Anyway, I pumped out 2 versions, got them semi-cleaned up in Photoshop, and sent them out for approval. I know Photoshop is nothing for most of y'all but I find it baffling. Of course, I have no book, except for version 7, and I have version 6. And that book is very very thick. I guess when I come back from vacation next week I'll see about half.comming a version 6 bible of some sort.

The logo is for our impending website, which I will link for you when it is live. I have had many technical difficulties around getting materials ready for this. Fortunately, I am not actually webmistressing (thank GAWD).

One of my main beefs in life is the necessity of the artist resume. I was forced to make one for this. I am an art idealist - I want the art to be judged/appreciated/hated/loved on its own merits, and the idea of someone's opinion of my art being skewed by how much education I have, or how many shows I have been in, is repellent. I have a similar beef with the artist statement, but I have kind of learned to deal, especially since Jeff Koontz made the artist statement an art form unto itself.

Okay, rant complete.

Congratulations to Josh and Christie!

Not much to report. The situation reported previously is a bit inhibiting as far as having a lovely social life.

My kitten Buster is quite the little music critic. I was singing to him the other day and he very solemnly slapped me on the nose as hard as he could. Guess "We Are the Champions" isn't his fave.

The other day I came home to a message on my machine, which was one of those clattery things that happens when someone calls you from their purse. Then I heard a series of mews and realized he had stepped on the memo button on my machine and left me a message.

My biggest news is that I bought my first-ever tv-show DVD. I knew I would buy this one when I was watching the first episode. I figure watching 24 hours of LOST will get me through my Rockstar INXS withdrawals after next week (my fave made the top 3! I'm sure you all care).

DARK SHELL LUST IN THE CAGE EPISODE #1 - When The Paradise Is Lost

Arnold has got to go. What an ass he is. You know, when this whole gay marriage thing got going he said he didn't care one way or the other. Now he is breaking a million hearts. Can we make sure to NOT vote for him just because he is an action hero movie star next time? Yeesh.

Maybe he wouldn't veto a bill for a
BI WEDDING


is she wearing glasses???

Have you ever had a physical condition that makes you really feel like a disgusting example of a human? I've got one of those right now. A gift from my poor baby kitty.

Ringworm is a mis-named condition, having nothing to do with worms. It is more closely related to athlete's foot or jock itch, you know, a fungus. I don't know if having a fungus is really any better than having worms - they both sound nasty.

Buster is barely even affected by this - his neck and feet itch him for about 5 seconds a day, and his fur is patchy in places. He gets to take chicken-flavored medicine, and eat wet cat food (which I was hoping to avoid ever feeding him). I, on the other hand, get to walk around with big red itchy spots and be coated non-stop with jock itch cream. Lovely.

WORMS

I have spent most of my day here at work reading the Rockstar:INXS message boards (no mean feat when you have dial-up), which means it's freakin' slow here. The venomous wrath and hatred expressed on those boards is hilarious - almost rivals the boards I've read about politics. We're talking about several relatively talented people auditioning to be the lead singer of a band that has been off the radar for quite some time and you'd think it was a life-and-death decision:
JD SUCKS!!!
NO HE DOESN"T - MARTY SUX!!!
YOU ALL SUCK!!! MIG IS THE ONE!!!!
Third grade stuff.
Then someone starts an intelligent thread and it's great for a while, but ultimately descends to juvenile vitriol, but in lower case letters with a better vocaulary:
Stop bashing me! I have a right to express the opinion that JD is a revolting jerk and lacks talent.
Do you know JD personally? I have a friend who knows both JD and Marty, and the fact is that Marty ultimately has the least talent and most horrible personality.
I'm sorry to disagree, and we all have a right to our opinion, but you are both insane. Only MiG has the talent and agreeable personality to front INXS.
I think it would be an excellent thesis topic for anthro or psych majors to study the behavior of anonymous communication.
Porn to follow...

Oy - I am suffering from kitten-induced sleep deprivation and too long of hours so forgot my post. Sorry!

Anyway, my art group is looking for a webdesign person to do a fairly simple website for us. We would need a home page and several individual artist pages that would link from home. No animation or fancy-schmancy stuff. We would also need to be able to have it maintained, either by the web person or by us using templates (none of us know a lick of HTML). Cost is somewhat an issue, of course, and we need a secure, non-fly-by-night server location. More details will be worked out later but I wanted to give an overview.

If you or anyone you know might be interested in this please email me at matadecoco2001@hotmail.com.

Keep your fingers crossed for me - I may be heading back to porn world. Not as hard-core as before but probably more fun.

So, the best part of the Sonoma Fair was this. He was in the Humane Society display truck, and was still there the second week so I had to get him.

There were gorgeous gorgeous cows, bulls, sheep and goats. The food was amazing, very well done for that kind of venue, and the children's art exhibit was phenomenal. I wanted to buy a bunch of stuff but of course kid's art is rarely for sale.

KITTENS

Sorry for the late post and no title (I'm at work). I was fiddling around till the wee hours working on a geocities web site for myself and forgot my blog.

The fair has been fun - two more days and so next week I'll give you a full report. The food! I've never eaten so much meat in one day..... And the cows! such lovely creatures.

This week my boss has coralled me into working a booth at the Sonoma County Fair. I don't know, when I go to the fair, buying a sewing machine isn't at the top of my list of activities, but I guess my company does well. WhenI go to the fair, my thoughts are on various disgusting and decadent food items, like corn dogs and fudge; on rides that promise to end your life; on funky exhibits of foodstuffs and barn animals; on finding boys to flirt with. Except for maybe the food part, I won't get to do any of these things. Whaa...
Even if I run into this boy, I tink I'll pass. How did he get into porn? Yokel.

COUNTY FAIR GAME

I have gotten all nostalgic for shooting pictures on (gasp) film. I have a funky little camera made my Lomo that I love,

so I dragged that out of exile, as well as my Ricoh Shotmaster and my Lomo Action Sampler
(4 shots per frame, in sequence). I have also gotten in an ebay frenzy and got a really cute vintage 35mm camera made by Argus (a beige version of this camera was in a Harry Potter movie):



I also just won a Fujica ST701 SLR to replace my much-loved Fujica from whenI was a pup. Somebody stole it and it made me not want to take pictures for a long time. On top of that, my Dad is sending me his old Pentax SLR, which is a thrill beyond thrills. I found out yesterday that Dad is slipping and is on his way to The Home, so I think my stepmom will be the one sending it when all this upheaval has settled down. I'm not going to mention it for a while - priorities do not involve sending me an old camera right now.

So, all I have to do is remember to actually CARRY one of these millions of cameras and I'll be in good shape. I keep missing really good pics - saw a shot of a sailboat floating in front of pink sunset-tinged fog in the bay on my way home - spectacular. I would have had to get offa the bridge to take a picture, though, so I guess that will have to stay a mental snapshot.

I have a digital camera for this kinda stuff:

CAMERA SUTRA

My head is all over the map these days. I'm really tired, that deep tired that happens when you work all the time and don't take vacations. Weekends don't do the trick anymore - by the time I get myself to the point of realizing I have a couple days off, they're already over. Trying to plan a vacation with the man, but since he never called me back about it I may be on my own. I'll get outta here before the summer is over, though, even if I have to count Indian Summer.

So, the thing that kept me sane this week is, of all things, a reality show. I don't like them, never have; watched one season and a few extra episodes of Survivor, because of Rupert, and a couple of episodes of other ones, like Amazing Race and Fear Factor. Avoid all the bachelor/bachelorette/marry my dad/Joe Geek types like the plague. I watch a few of the documentary-ish ones, but those are different. I decided to watch Rock Star INXS. The premise is that 15 hand-picked folks are auditioning to replace whats-his-name who died of auto-erotic strangulation. I was happy from the get-go that hottie Dave Navarro is on it as the sort of intermediary guy; at least I'd have someting to gaze upon if all else failed. Maybe it is my current fragile state, or PMS, but I thoroughly enjoyed the show. I consider myself "hooked", and am already rooting for 3 contestants. Who'd a thunk it?

They don't have one of these, though. Their loss...

ROCK'N'ROLL MIDGET

The other night I was at work pretty late - didn't get out till 10 pm cause I was working on something I needed for the Embroidery Club meeting the next morning. It was kinda worth it, cause on the way home I got to see one of the most magnificant moons ever, really huge for that late, and that lovely cream-color that makes it so mystical. Then, I saw a red flash, and when I looked over I saw fireworks coming from the ball park. I got my own full moon and fireworks show all at once, while driving over that beautiful bridge I get to cross twice a day (I have a truly beautiful commute that I never get tired of: along the beach, past the Legion of Honor, through Seacliff, through the Presidio, onto the bridge, through the Rainbow tunnel and into Marin - micro-climates galore). Who needs the 4th of July crowds? So what if I was going 30 in a 45 and everybody was passing me? Those folks need to slow down and catch the beautiful sights they are missing. You all have a glorious 4th, now.
PORN ON THE 4TH OF JULY