Sit. Stay. Good blog.

The next big movie to be excited about. No lie.

I’ve been neglecting my blog lately, for a couple of good reasons. First, I was out of town most of last week on what Mr. Awesome and I are referring to as the Great Minnesota Road Trip of 2008. We visited St. Peter, Minneapolis and Duluth on our trip to the Great White North, and had a fantastic time.

We ate some delicious sushi:

We did a whole lotta shopping:

We spotted Elvis – several of them, in fact:

We went to the Gustavus Adolphus College campus (go, Gusties!) to see Ben Folds rock out:

We went to Duluth and watched Ben and his band rock out again, and afterwords got this fabulous shot:

We ate breakfast at a revolving restaurant, overlooking beautiful Duluth:

We returned with lots of pictures and two really terrible colds.

The terrible cold is the second reason I haven’t blogged lately. I’ve been trying to recover, but it’s not easy. NyQuil helps.

We’re already planning our second road trip – Virginia and North Carolina at the end of May. Thanks to a Prius and really good hotel deals from Hotwire, road trips are becoming the popular thing for us.

Late in November
The morning sun shows the trees
In white against white.
There is a certainty that
Tomorrow will be the same.

For months thereafter
The days hang onto each other
Like timid sisters.
Nothing is changed but bed sheets
Where I lie white against white.

I move out of the solitude,
Attaching myself
To some sight or sound,
Wrapping myself in it
Like a cocoon inside a leaf.

Then one day in April
The branches of trees claw
At the passing clouds,
And the spaces between
Are filled like lungs in the thaw.

The days move quickly,
Bicycles coasting downhill,
And I wonder if
I am standing still
And the landscape is moving forward.

In the transition I emerge
As if from a cocoon, renewed;
Perhaps nude, I continue
Though no more beautiful
And knowing no more than before.

There’s poetry inside of me.
It struggles – trying to break free
To make it’s home upon this page.
To poetry, my brain’s a cage!

The pressure from inside’s intense.
The words pace round and don’t make sense.
They charge the bars and fling and fall -
And don’t get anywhere at all.

I ‘spose I’ve not the poet’s heart
Or else I’d know the way to start
Nor poet’s ear, nor poet’s eye
Nor poet’s mind, for though I try

The words stay balled up in a heap;
They ruin lunch, invade my sleep.
They pace and charge – it just gets worse.
Oh! Look at me! I penned a verse!

“Not only do I want an elite president, I want someone who’s embarrassingly superior to me.”

A couple of weeks ago, I made this:

Over the weekend, I completed what I consider a follow-up:

I based this one on a t-shirt design from Threadless.  There’s a wealth of inspiration at Threadless – so much so that I’m having trouble deciding what to do next. I’ve got some ideas, though…

I aslo made a Bon Voyage towel for my mom last week. It turned out really well:

I also found time this weekend to finish The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, a book that a friend recommended to me a couple of weeks ago. Despite being almost a thousand pages long, I breezed right though it and had a hard time putting it down. It was very enjoyable, and I was a little saddened to finish it – finishing a book is always a bit sad; saying goodbye to friends I’ve spent days or weeks with brings out the melancholy in me. I’m a sucker for historical fiction and am looking forward to reading his sequel, World Without End, as soon as it’s available in paperback.

For now, I’m reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera. I wanted something different from the Dark Age historical drama I just finished, so  a Latin American romance fits that description nicely.

Hmm… what else? We ate lunch at Kim Long yesterday – their Vietnamese sandwiches are delicious and cheap. I can’t resist ordering Pho Ga at any Vietnamese restaurant, and Kim Long’s is pretty good. The sandwich dipped in the broth is terrific, too. After that we shopped for some groceries in their market, then headed to Mr. Awesome’s parents’ house to play with some kittens that were born under their porch. There are three of them and oh my goodness are they adorable. There are two smoky gray ones and one dark calico. If you or anyone you know wants a kitten – a really cute, playful, lovable kitten – let me know.

First I’ve got to tell you
there’s only one radio station around here
anybody ever listens to
because it’s the one with the farm news
and the local news and the Trading Post
and comes on at five so folks have music to milk cows by.

Everybody listens to it while they’re going down the road.
It’s nice because
everybody’s head bounces to the same tempo.

I was coming home one day up the river road
and saw Jimmy coming toward me in the pickup
headed for the sawmill or the feed store.

I was going to toot and wave, I always do,
mostly everybody does. Then I saw him
in the cab in that instant
as we passed each other
his arms stretched straight against the wheel,
his head thrown back, eyes almost closed,
his mouth     wide     with     song.

I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, laugh and through?
Well done! And now you wish perhaps
To learn of these familiar traps?

Beware of heard, a dreadful word,
That looks like beard and sounds like bird,
And dead: it’s said like bed, not bead,
For Goodness’ sake, don’t call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat,
They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.

A moth is not a moth in mother
Nor both in bother, broth in brother,
And here is not a match for there,
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,
And then there’s does and rose and lose-
Just look them up: and goose and choose,

And cork and front and word and ward
And font and front and word and sword.
And do and go and thwart and cart-
Come, come, I’ve hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man Alive,
I’d mastered it when I was five!

I’ll tell you
I’ve lived with some gorgeous women
and I was so bewitched by those
beautiful creatures that
my eyebrows twitched.

but I’d rather drive to New York
backwards
than to live with any of them
again.

the next classic stupidity
will be the history
of those fellows
who inherit my female
legacies.

in their case
as in mine
they will find
that madness
is caused by not
being often enough
alone.

*breathe in*   *breathe out*   *breathe in*   *breathe out*

Do you feel that? That, my friends, is contentment. Why? Because it’s a lovely day out there – the birdies are chirping, the sun is trying it’s hardest to burn off the haze of  cloud… Ah, yes… today is a good day.

Alright, so as great as our anniversary was on Wednesday, Saturday was even better. It started with me and Mr. Awesome going our seperate ways. While Mr. Awesome headed to the nephew’s little league game, I drove out to Lenexa for a bridal shower. Despite the awful traffic due to a wreck (what? a wreck in Johnson County, you say? How could that be?) I made it to the shower in time for some great food and company. My gift for the bride-to-be was a set of – what else? – embroidered tea towels:

I just love how these turned out! The future bride got all sorts of terrific gifts, and I had a really good time. I had to leave before the shower was over, though… I had somewhere to be at 5 o’clock…

Mr. Awesome and I met back up (the nephew’s team won – yay!) at home, let out the dog, and headed down to the UMKC campus, where preperations for the Ben Folds concert were well underway. Did I mention that part? Yeah, Ben Folds was on the UMKC campus on Saturday night. The concert was free to UMKC and Rockhurst students, and Mr. Awesome and I volunteered to help out in exchange for being able to see the show.

Anywho, we find the person we’re supposed to talk to (she was absolutely terrific and we can’t thank her enough for letting us assist) and we are promptly presented with t-shirts (wooo! free t-shirt) and directed towards Ben’s bus where burgers and hot dogs were being served on the lawn in front:

The ol’ camera phone didn’t do too bad – I left the digital camera in car.

So we eat, then go to wash up, and see this sign on a door:

I love finding stuff like this – it’s like a glimpse into some secret concert world, where April 6th is reserved for “fun, festivity and frivolity in Nashville.” Good times. Speaking of secret concert worlds, apparently Ben’s rider required that he be provided with lots of soy and organic food and, among other things, exactly one box of Raisin Bran. I’m guessing, since he’s on the road constantly for weeks at a time, he uses his rider to do grocery shopping. I’m cool with that.

Mr. Awesome and I assemble with the rest of the troops for our “security meeting.” This pretty much involves Ben’s stage manager (a very nice but very efficient and no-nonsense guy with a vaguely English or Australian accent and at least three cell phones strapped to his belt) telling us that, under no circumstances, does anyone get anywhere backstage without a pass. I get the feeling that Jesus himself could appear and he would get nowhere without a pass. I also get the feeling that the last thing on Earth you want to do is piss this guy off.

After he’s through, position assignments are made. Most people are stationed taking tickets, but Mr. Awesome and I luck out by being positioned in the auditorium and told to look out for disruptive behavior. We then hang out for about an hour while sound and light checks are performed. Here’s the stage before the crowd showed up:

First to take the stage is a group that isn’t touring with Ben, but that UMKC wanted to perform. They are Black Violin and guess what? It’s black guys playing violins. They are really loud, and, while good, they aren’t exactly the same genre as Ben Folds. Personally, I thought they were kind of distracting. They performed for about 40 minutes or so, after which Eef Barzelay took the stage.

We really liked Eef’s performance in Springfield. He was definitely different, but sort of mesmerizing, so I was looking forward to his performance at UMKC. Unfortunately for Eef, the crowd was pretty restless after listening to hip-hop violin fusion music and didn’t give Eef the respect he deserved. The crowd was loud, and rude, talking way too much. Eef’s performance is just him and an electric guitar, so there’s not much he can do to get the attention of a bunch of assholes. He cut his set short, leaving me disappointed in UMKC and Rockhurst students.

My disappointment turned (back) into pride, however, after Ben Folds took the stage. The crowd was energetic and supportive, and way more people than I expected knew words to songs I didn’t expect them to know. I have a terrible memory, so thankfully someone else kept a set list:

• Errant Dog – new song
• Gone
• Annie Waits – Mr. Awesome’s favorite
• Landed
• I Suppose I Said the Wrong Thing (Rock This Bitch)
• Free Coffee – new song
• Still Fighting It
• Effington – new song
• You to Thank
• Hiroshima – new song
• Kate – My favorite
• Philosophy (w/ misirlou)
• Lullaby (Band Leaves, Just Ben Right Now)
• Last Polka
• Kylie from Connecticut (Band Returns For End of Song)
• Bitches Ain’t Shit
• Narcolepsy
• Army
• Rockin’ the Suburbs
• Zak and Sara
• Underground
• One Angry Dwarf – Encore

There was a guy in the audience named Justin who was seeing his 50th show, so Ben played The Last Polka and a hyper-fast version of One Angry Dwarf for him, after which, he smashed his piano stool against the piano. It was the coolest thing ever. Personally, I was psyched (yeah, I said psyched) to hear Army live. It’s one of my favorites and made me a supremely happy camper. We were probably 20 feet from the piano and had a fantastic view. It was incredible and we had a great time.

After the show, we headed over to the merchandise table to pick up a DVD we didn’t have. While there, poor Eef Barzelay was sitting, looking glum, waiting for someone to buy his CDs. I overheard him say, “Man, this is the worst I’ve ever done at one of these things.” Well, damn. Once again I was reminded of how awful the crowd was while he was performing. We turned around and asked Eef which CD he recommended (we already have his newest one) and apologized to him on behalf of decent people everywhere for the ridiculous behavior of the audience. He seemed to cheer up a bit, and my friends, I think we saved a life that night. The CD we got was by his former band, Clem Snide, called Soft Spot. Fan-freaking-tastic mellow, chill out music. We bought another Clem Snide CD over the weekend just for kicks.

The evening drawing to a close, we headed outside for the walk to our car. But wait… what is that small crowd doing by Ben’s bus? Why, chatting with the band, of course. We ditched the car idea and decided to wait until Ben came outside. A few short minutes later, we were getting autographs. Then the stage manager guy asked who wanted pictures. Pictures? With Ben. Holy shit. We only had a camera phone… with no flash… and it’s dark out here… but wait! The digital camera is in the car, and Mr. Awesome is like Jerry Seinfeld when it comes to sprinting – he is fast, people. He books it to the car and pulls up just in time for us to get this freaking amazing shot:

Yes – we look psycho-excited. Yes, Ben looks like he’s been drugged and kidnapped.  Yes, our shirts have Ben’s face on them. Maybe next time, he’ll wear a shirt with our faces on it just for fun.

And people, there will be a next time. Minnesota, here we come…