Alma Oscura y Hermosa

I'm so excited about the new Tim Burton film, Corpse Bride. He is one of my favorite directors, and I think he did a visually stunning job on his version of Charlie and the Choclate Factory. (Although Gene Wilder will always be my favorite Willy)
The squirrel scene was particularly inspiring. For those of you who doubt the power of the skwerl, just reference that scene before f-ing with the tree rats. Small can be scary.

Hoedown

There's a retro prom coming up, which I am looking forward to. There is also a lot of athens gossip "controversy" over the show at the Orange Twin Compound (?) that same evening.
Has the summer really been so uneventful that people are debating whether or not it's "right" to have two events on the same night? Who cares? That just means more things to choose from.
I'll say for myself, I don't want to go sit in the muggy summer heat at a hippy commune when I can be dancing in the air conditioned 40Watt.
I suppose my blog is just as uninspired and cantankerous as the sweaty restless hipsters since it's bitching about the same subject.
Maybe with all of the students gone it leaves many townies without targets to focus their frustration and tensions on, thus creating inner circle drama.
Oh wait, there's plenty of that during the school year, too.

Slip Slidin Away

WARNING: this blog entry can be categorized under cheesy and sentimental
I am old and wistful today. For some reason I am feeling 24 - which today is strangely old and remote and very far away from me. Gone for only 2 months and so much changes - my sister moves away and is a college grad, my best friends are gone or headed for new adventures, and diamond rings are popping up on the second left hand finger of many of my female friends. When did we grow up? I have been running so long that I forgot to stop and look around - and it's quite amazing how fast 6 years in Athens have flown by. You would be quite interested to meet the 18 year old I was when I first moved into the dorm. But that's another story.
I still remember my mother dancing with the back door open while it rained and Paul Simon was singing on the TV. My sister and my Dad both smiled at me and we shared a wave of intense joy without speaking or touching while she sang and we reveled in the thunder. I was 6 years old and sweating out the summer in San Antonio.
Now I look at my apartment where I live with 2 cats and a mess of grad school papers and realized that I must have blinked too long because I suddenly have breasts, birth control and bills to pay. I'm responsible for myself - and I have the good grades and banged up, dirty car to prove it.
This is such a strong reminder that life really is such a gift - the good and the bad. It's a sensory overload that flies by before you really learn how to cope and see it appreciate it for what it is.
I try to remind myself of such things before I get lost in the paper work and the "stress" of the upcoming year. Before I start bitching about deadlines and money and forget how precious the wonderful people are around me. Before I turn around and find my children looking into my eyes and hoping that I'm teaching them the right things.
Before I die.

Just Plain Nasty

Check out www.awfulplasticsurgery.com and www.ebaumsworld.com/celeb to see some real photos of celebrities - sans makeup, photoshop and airbrush. It's like a wax museum come alive!
PS Don't ever get plastic surgery unless you are a burn victim

Proud to be A Screaming Eagle

Americana gets more vomitous every year. I'm so damn sick of people who think being nationalistic means buying a Wal Mart flag and cursing out the terrorists. They watch Fox News and consider themselves informed and up to date. Rant rant rant. I could go on for days. . .
It's really sad when rednecks try to stylize their expressions of passion for God and country. It can only get ugly.

Leave a Message

It is so nice to come home and have messages on your answering machine. I was only gone a day and a half, but I had 6 messages (okay 4 new ones) blinking red at me when I walked back in the door and it was great. I like playing them while I pee and run around the house throwing shit around and settling down. Thanks to Christa for an especially long and amusing message which I enjoyed very much.
I just got a new cell phone thanks to my boyfriend, and I keep thinking I hear it ring even when it's turned off. Is that a normal symptom of a cell phone user, or just my delerium from lack of sleep and driving for the majority of two days straight?
A little quiz now, who sang this song and what is the title?
"Hello? How are you? Have you been alright? Through all those lonely lonely lonely lonely nights. That's what I'd say. I'd tell you everything. If you'd pick up that telephone. Yeah yeah yeah. Hey. How you feeling? Are you still the same? Don't you realize the things we did we did were all for real, not a dream? I just can't believe, they've all faded out of view."
Alright, my bed is beckoning me to sleep. Over and out.

Library Lady

I've got a job in the video section at the UGA library, THANK YOU PAUL!!, and I'm pretty stoked about it. Everyone there is really chill and nice and laid back - which always makes for a nice working evironment.
I got to hang out with Melissa and her gorgeous baby Jackson today - we all get to hang out a lot now that we're in the same apts. I get to babysit him tomorrow night which is always fun as he is super fun and kissable.
My sister left for Italy yesterday, btw. I miss her already.

Fuzzy Photos

I posted some of my Spain pics on my buzznet site - feel free to make inappropriate comments.
I was hoping to maintain my golden tan from Cadiz but the weekly forecast is wet, wild and sticky. And no, I am not talking about renting porn. It's supposed to storm everyday until Saturday - so I will hanging out with my cats basically.
This weekend is going to be great because I'm going to Nashville on Saturday to see Josiah, I mean, Astra play.

Back in Athens

Suddenly things are moving much slower....and everthing is hazy and sticky hot. The people walk without rushing, the fireflies light up the muggy black nights, and you have to drive to the grocery store.
And no one speaks Spanish :(
I'm starting to unwind and relax - which feels wonderful. The bad thing is that I'm getting sick. Good news though - I think I scored a job at the UGA library video section for the summer.

One More Day in Spain...

I´m back in Madrid and I leave the airport on a plane tomorrow at 10:15am. I will land at the Atlanta airport at 7:20pm, which is 1:20am Spanish time. Meaning that I will have flown for approximately 15 hours.....errggggg.
I´m going to smell like shit. I always smell terrible after 8 hour flights, I can´t even imagine what I will reek of tomorrow evening. My poor boyfriend and sister are going to have to ride back in the car with me, too.
Back to Athens, back to hipsters and townies and frat boys, fried chicken and fried tofu, coked out 20 somethings, 100+ local bands, 80s dance parties and retro everything, trees and highways, feta cheese and zines, enough alcohol to kill a rhino, and some really great people in between. like my friends.
see you in t minus 31 hours....

Spanish television is something of its own. The Hangin with Mr. Cooper reruns dubbed over in Spanish are the most poignant, I think. The late night shitty porn is even worse. They also have lots of funny commercials and lots of daytime TV shows where people argue and yell at each other.
The food is what I´m going to miss the most - it´s SO good. Fried fresh fish, puffed pastries drizzled in choclate, papas aliñadas, tinto de verano.....don´t be surprised if I look a little rounder when I get back. It was totally worth every bite, too.

Say No to Conservatism

I am very pleased to announce that gay couples in Spain can marry and adopt children together as of last week!! Many other European countries are following suit, despite the protests of traditional catholics.
Now, I ask, what the fuck is America´s problem?
I may not be gay, but I love gay people and I stand behind them in their fight for equal rights as couples and as people. For such a small straight girl, there sure is a lot of gay pride in my heart.

Tantalizing Temptations

I have been invited by Finnish friends that I met here to stay in Finland and also TUNISIA. I would really like to visit both this summer - but tickets cost a shit ton of money. Even with my Delta Daddy Discount I think it comes out to an estimated "way too much money if you want to pay your bills and eat something other than Ramen." I was considering just changing my flight back and coming home a week later, but then who would watch my cats? Ah well. I must do my duty and come down from Euro dream land back to reality.