Friday Foto: OPA!

This act consists of some talented fire poi handling, fire swallowing, and awesomeness in general. I always try to see these guys, The Imperial Opa, when I get a chance. It's been amazing to see the acts and characters develop over this past year. OPA!!!!

Click Photo to go to the flickr page.

Hmm. Thursday.

Lately I've been having some trouble organizing my thoughts. I feel like to just throw something together it wouldn't be my best work or true thoughts. Frustrating, because I want to be sharing from my heart, but I feel like this:

If you've seen that movie (Disney's The Sword In the Stone) it's the scene where Merlin is attempting to pack his entire house and livelihood into the little carpet bag at his feet in this screen capture. And halfway through things get a little messy.

My friend Esther wrote a sweet blog entry on making time for the things you care about. It's nice, and I think I might either check out the book or stop wasting a few minutes here and there on things that I really don't care about. Something decent to think about on Thursdays.

It's coming down to my last few days with my little pup (she is moving to my old roommate S's new place. we adopted her together when we first moved to Atlanta and S was hoping to keep hanging with her. With my sporadic and often spontaneous schedule it is probably best, and pup will have less alone-time this way.) and I thought i'd share a photo of her:

And my favorite worst-best stories. :)

Worst: One night I was home relaxing kept smelling poop. Fresh poop. I cooked dinner and handled several phone calls in this manner, and kept on trying to figure out where the smell was coming from. In the midst of a phone conversation I realized that pup had sharted on me (look it up if you're not sure what that means) and basically flipped out while on the phone w/ my buddy D. D quickly and awkwardly ended the phone conversation and I did some laundry. Oh Bailey.

Best: If you've seen me recently or kept up with me on facebook you've probably already heard the story. Bailey likes to chew on her little gorilla toy (or is it a bear), and I was taking some pictures of her whilst on the phone w/ my mum, because the light was perfect - it was right at sunset. I realized after a few shots that she was falling asleep with her jaws still stuck in the toy. My laughing, talking on the phone, and constant shutter clicks were enough to make her try to open her eyes and stay awake, but not enough to keep her awake and she fell asleep. It was too cute.

Anyway, I will miss my little pup and her waking me up in the morning, and keeping me company when I'm home alone, but I know she's going to be with some awesome peeps who will take good care of her. :)

x0

A Little Love on Monday

I forgot today is a federal holiday. No wonder there wasn't too much traffic ! :) Does this mean I don't have to be here? * looks around * Well it is Columbus Day, and oddly enough he did spend some time in a ship on the open seas. So perhaps this week's poem is fitting.

Permit Me Voyage

by James Agee

From the Third Voyage of Hart Crane

Take these who will as may be: I
Am careless now of what they fail:
My heart and mind discharted lie
And surely as the nerved nail

Appoints all quarters on the north
So now it designates him forth
My sovereign God my princely soul
Whereon my flesh is priestly stole:

Whence forth shall my heart and mind
To God through soul entirely bow,
Therein such strong increase to find
In truth as is my fate to know:

Small though that be great God I know
I know in this gigantic day
What God is ruined and I know
How labors with Godhead this day:

How from the porches of our sky
The crested glory is declined:
And hear with what translated cry
The stridden soul is overshined:

And how this world of wildness through
True poets shall walk who herald you:
Of whom God grant me of your grace
To be, that shall preserve this race.

Permit me voyage, Love, into your hands.

Pix n Bikez

It's Friday and you know what that means... :D

Original here.

I love this photo. I have never been to Burning Man but I can only imagine the creative zany and possibly ridiculously awesome bikes that people build and bring to this event. Sometimes I go to flickr just to look at this photo. I have it saved in my favorites. Wish I could have seen these live and in 3D :)

have a great weekend! x0

Smörgåsbord

This was supposed to be a pretty meaningful and depth-filled entry, but my brain is just too scattered! (perhaps due to the heavy fat/starchy diet I've been consuming of late, and also the reduction in sleep, water, and veggies, all very bad things to do to one's body, in addition to a practically complete removal of any type of exercise from my schedule)

And yes I will be changing that lifestyle very soon. But have been very busy lately and cannot resist the mac and cheese they serve at the student center...

So this week's thoughts will be a collection of random things that have gone through my brain in the past few days.

on Men: do we (ladies) like to be with a rebel so we can know that we are the ones that tamed him? And if this is true, can it be justified by attributing it to subconscious behaviors? Or are we more drawn by the fact that he wanted to leave his rebel ways to be with us? It used to be Prince Charming who won the heart of the princess... Or perhaps that was just what his administration wanted the history books to say. Is the opposite true?

on Hipsters and scenesters: they always have the coolest sunglasses. I don't know if I could be called a true hipster for various reasons, but I do appreciate some of the fashion stylings brought to the alternative mainstream by hipster fashionistas. This includes urban outfitters. Sometimes due to the volume of hipsters the styles can seem monotonous but this is because you are zoomed out to the 10,000 ft above sea level altitude. you need to come down to the 10 or maybe 7 foot level so you can appreciate homemade embellished (bedazzled) sweaters and tattoo-style t-shirts with inked angel wings. and chucks. i also appreciate the indie-green attitude that is added to lifestyles. recycled art, community unity building through art walks and festivals, and indie-rock Haiti benefit concerts.

on Friendships: there is a line between an enabling friendship and sacrificing for a friend vs being a stand-in mother. i think the change must begin with you, and not forced on you by someone who is trying to help... But if you do wish to change and make steps toward that, a true friend will be there to pick you up when you fall and keep urging you to make and reach your goals.

on Fall: My favorite season. I miss having 4 seasons around for this one. :) loved raking leaves w/ my family on a sunny sunday afternoon, love the cooling weather after a hot summer, and love the idea of getting back in the grind after a little relaxed time at work/school. something I CAN still enjoy south of the mason-dixon line, however, is the myriad of pumpkin-flavored cookies, muffins, coffee, beers, breads, etc. that become available right about now. WIN!

on Angry Birds: ...just...need...to...beat...this...one...more...levelllll....

also one more thing: my sister passed the bar! (yay for her!)

Random stuff for you to check out:

Pandora: Ratatat Radio

YouTube: Explosions in the Sky "Waking up after coma"

She is here tonight. But i waited too long and it sold out. So we will commence instead. :)

Monday Poem

The Other Side of the Clouds

Under

Over

like the drip drop cleared

and now you can breathe

but the heavy lingers

lingers

drifting through with clammy

fingers

fingers

Backwards

Forwards

like the sun you've known

that you know is there

but the truth still lingers

lingers

Heavy

Over

Feather

Soldiers

mm, but

nothing can redeem

the time running down

in rivers

through the falling leaves

close

eyes

closed

just

....keep

..........running

Friday Foto

We all love Friday. Most of us, at least, I would say, ... I can only speak for myself on this point, but sometimes all I want to see is a darned good photo. Especially if the week has been difficult. With the rise of digital media and increased accessibility to higher end cameras for the common consumer (read: non professionals, incl. myself) I've realized that there is a difference between a well-taken photo, and a photo taken by a nice camera. What I will try to stick to is the former and not the latter :) Sometimes they will be mine and sometimes not. I'll list the source so if you are interested you can look at other works of theirs. if you do fall into the common consumer category I would challenge you to cease with the persistent photo-documentation of your life, if you have been so inclined, and take a moment before you snap a photo to figure out a better way to take it.

If you are still learning, as I am, you might be interested in this.

And now on to the Freakin Dope Friday Foto.

i was taken by this one.

Original here.