If I stay awake long enough...

...I get into the old photos.



This is one of my favorite pictures of me and my mother. I know I've posted it before. But I forget about it and then I find it again. It's just... so... how it used to be. We were on our own paths, but walking together. And I still feel like we're walking together. So it makes me happy to see that photograph.


And this one too:




These days, I have moments like this. But I'm not sad, and I don't cry. I just sit, a bit puzzled-- bewildered by my reality. And it's okay.

Oil Spoils

So, Wednesday afternoon-- since I'm on vacation-- I was free and decided to go with Donnie and Elease to protest America's dependence on oil and to protest Oil companies contributing money to congress. We stood at a Sherman Oaks gas station at the corner of Van Nuys and Ventura.

A small but determined bunch (it was 100 degrees out):




D & E & Signs:




The police did show up. But they just told us not to block the sidewalk.




Shadows of Activism:




Nobody actually oinked. But we did get a few middle fingers.





The saddest part was when we were walking back to the car, we were still carrying our signs and some chick in a VW bug pulled up, rolled down her window, flicked us off and shouted "fuck you! Get a fucking job, hippies!"

Let's ignore the fact that there seems to be a trend of people shouting at me from their cars and accusing me of being a hippie. Let's also put aside for the moment the fact that we all have jobs. Why couldn't this bitch see that were demonstrating to support an idea that nobody can really argue: America is dependent on oil. Our government chooses not to provide the masses with alternative automotive technology or fuel sources. This is due in no small part to all the money it gets from the oil companies to insure that we all keep pumping that shit into our cars.

Anyways... that lady had some serious displaced agression and misguided anger.

But all in all, it was a good afternoon and peaceful protest.

What does Thursday hold? I'll wake up in a few hours and find out.

Vacation Wednesday

What is fun is taking time off and not processing grief.
What is fun is eating watermelon for lunch.
What is fun is itunes shuffling through songs I forgot I had.
What is fun is getting to write like this from my own computer in my own apartment.

I'll be dagnabbed sonofbitch it's gonna be a good July. I am absolutely insisting on it.

I kiss you!

- Monkey

I'm on vacation

I'm on vacation and nothing bad had to happen for me to take time off, which is good 'cause I only have one parent left. (Dad: if that cold doesn't get better, go to the doctor OK???)

I'm on vacation and I set up internet all by myself today! So now I can sit here and listen to music and post pictures from my recent adventures.



Deflation of an aerobed in Mexico:





Phil's Karaoke Birthday: I would like to say that the funky exposure is my artistic way of illustrating how drunk everyone was. But really, my camera's shutter is just lame and slow.





San Diego. Yes that's a cigar. Yes I smoked it. But only 'cause it was chocolate flavored...





And finally, a photo of a slide projected on my dad's kitchen wall. My mother 28 years ago pregnant w/ me (obviously this is why she is smiling):

Meanwhile, somewhere in Southern California...

Me: Yeah, a bunch of people in my apt. complex have wifi but they all require passwords.
You: You must live around a bunch of assholes.
Me: Yeah.
You: I just steal mine from the abortion clinic next door. They have unprotected internet.
Me: The abortion clinic has unprotected internet???


There are certain people I can always count on to get me to crack a smile-- even when I'm blue as the deep sea.

Have a wonderful weekend. And if you happen to be going to Belize, have a safe trip!

anniversary

I was just reminded that today would have been my parents' 32nd wedding anniversary.

It's such a damn shame about life sometimes.

So this post really goes out to my dad for keepin' on keepin' on.

Love,

Melinda

(pictured above, me on my way into a tree pose on a Mexican beach last Sunday. I have my mother to thank for putting me in children's yoga and creative movement classes when I was little.)

crossing boarders

Weekend First list:

First Trip to Mexico - (check!)
First head-under-water for-real swimming in the Pacific Ocean - (check!)
First two-night/two-day-long beach party with constant bass beat background - (check!)
First 3.5 hour wait in Tijuana to enter the United States - (check!)

My weekend was full of fantastic things including fun friends, tacos, lots of bottled water, no showering, fire dancers, electronica/techno, sun, sand everywhere, my new swimming suit, a few games of pool, sunscreen, sarongs, dancing, dancing, photographs, costumed people, a free breakfast burrito at 6:45 AM on Saturday, sand-dollars, Advil cold/sinus multisymptom, vitamin C, cough drops, kleenex, flip flops, my little blue camping tent, straw cowboy hat, sunglasses, tiny lanterns from the $1 section at Target, many layers of clothing at nightime, big Pacific ocean waves, sand sculptures, napping in a portable hammock, tiki torches, a never ending game of Uno, good vibes.

I'm back and I survived and I'm not scared of Mexico anymore.

: )

Another irrational fear has been squashed.

Have a nice day.

Decade Look-back

Pictured is the movie theater I worked at when I was 18.

It was my first job with a real paycheck (read: first real taxable income). It was also my first job "in the movies".

Recently, I went home to find that "Over The Hedge" was playing there. I had a fun moment of thinking about how on that very day my name was scrolling up in the end credits of a movie playing on a screen in a theater from whose floor I swept up popcorn exactly ten years ago.

I do not miss the neon-colored plastic aprons and bowties...