Welcome newcomers! Please introduce yourself
Come on in!
Coffee & Tea under the window, platters of treats on every table
Plenty of party clothes, makeup and “supplies” for everyone
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Newspapers are in their regular spot next to the door
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Please recommend (and unrecommend the Cafe/Lounge from yesterday)
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May the 4’s be with you
Whew! I didn’t think I had a thing to wear! It sure is nice to share a closet with friends.
Katiebird – I wanted to let you know the affect of your sig line.
Just reading it over the past months as I slip into the cafe, when I enjoyed the photofair, and when you have commented in other diaries, without conscious intent, it has entered my mind and stayed.
I became aware of this a few weeks ago when, after reading some news of the day, I felt awash in despair. A thought popped clearly in my mind, perhaps a little bird spoke. š I heard, “Just for today do something…”
It has been very helpful.
Thank you. And Happy New Year!
tampopo,
Thank you very much for sharing that news. I know that it’s been a very powerful concept in my life these last 6 months or so.
(It’s still very much a struggle)
I am looking forward to the New Year and seeing the effects of this philosophy on an entire year. Particularly the political effects. This is going to be such an important year.
Maybe our last chance.
I’m really happy to hear that you’ve taken “Just for Today” to heart.
with a fire in the chiminea and the lake to look upon. Perhaps my daughter will have some friends over.
Sounds really nice to me. I don’t like parties and new years eve parties always seem the worst because so many people are just focused on getting drunk.
My chemistry has been fucked up sideways the past couple of months due to some cycling in my autoimmune disease. This caused me to experience a 72-hour hangover after having 2 beers on Christmas Eve, thus I will not be opening the bottle of Moet in my fridge tonight. But I’m hoping to spot katiebird’s fuzzy-tipsy sig icon, which I find delightfully amusing.
I like it too — but I’m a little disappointed the katiebird hasn’t made it past tipsy to my drunk one
.
Personally, I don’t care about champagne anyway; I’ve never liked the way it tastes.
Ah, well — the weekends young yet. Even birds have to pace themselves.
Since Indy is 2 hours ahead and you are 1, you can imagine me at 10 and 11 raising a glass of wine to you two (and all the other good folks at Boo in whatever time zone) and then you can imagine me telling Jim I’m sleepy and I want to go home to bed.
We’re behind you, not ahead of you.
I just assume everyone is ahead of me, being a social schlub.
Your Random 10 from yesterday has been frontpaged…
Yes, it was frightening. Good thing I didn’t know that would happen, else I’d have cheated and skipped songs seeking to increase my coolness factor. Now I look like the dork I really am, and since I value honesty far more than coolness, that’s fitting. š
You can publish one of mine if you feel a need for revenge. š
I just thought you should get the credit for bringing Random 10 to the cafe…too bad the links aren’t working right.
Plus you are totally cool for having Berlin in your collection, so who are you kidding?
You would probably not say such things if you could see me sitting here using a bread stick as a fake-mic while singing along to Blue Oyster Cult’s Don’t Fear The Reaper. š
Everytime I hear this song, I now think of that Saturday Night Live skit with Christoper Walken as a producer and Will Farrell as the cow-bell player.
More cowbell!
A true dork wouldn’t know what to take off or put on her playlist in order to ratchet up the coolness factor. You are a cool kid in dork’s clothing.
You are a cool kid in dork’s clothing.
Get out of my closet!
My closet is filled with Jim’s button-down collar shirts and khaki pants from Lands End. Your closet is bound to be more fun.
Actually my closet is a very friendly place to play dress-up. For one thing, ever since I got sick my weight fluctuates about 50 pounds, so there’s a wide variety of clothing sizes in there (although they’re all for short people, as I’m 5’4″). For another, I am variably gendered so there’s a lot of looks possible, everything from stone butch to high femme.
Perfecto — I’m 5-2 1/2. Except that I hate dressing up so I would ignore all the femmie stuff and my wardrobe (what little there is of it because I hate to shop and I don’t care what I wear which is why the closet if full of Jim’s clothes in the first place) is already pretty butch.
My theory on what constitutes ‘feminine’ clothing or dressing is this: If your a woman and your wearing clothing then it’s feminine and not some artificially and socially constructed idea of what is ‘supposed’ to be feminine..which is usually what men seem to think is feminine.
to focus on the renewal that the year will bring of all living and wonder and beauty instead of trying to focus on the keys and pick ours out of the pile.
It was still gray and gloomy but the rain stopped for a bit and I decided the way to take pictures was to lower my view and I got some nice pictures that way. Here’s one.
That’s actually a pretty good metaphor for life; just lower your view a little bit and see what’s all around you instead of focusing off into the distance all the time. You’re so deep this morning.
I’m my usual shallow self; clearly, you are the wise one.
Now, if we could only see all the activity and life going on under those leaves…..another whole world.
Always looking for the beauty in small things.
No big party.
The asklets are here (the teenager still in bed – how do they do it?). Curly comes over a little later. The champagne is chilled.
Don’t have anything planned for ushering in the new year. Just hanging out with the cat…
and the boy…
and thinking about going to the shelter today to look at (God help me, what am I thinking?) a mutt to complete nature’s food chain in my house.
That is freakin’ awesome…
As for here, the spouse and I will be heading out in about 6 hours to check into our overnight domicile — we’ll catch a nap for a couple of hours, then shower and head out for dinner and the comedy show (Christopher Titus). We’re riding light rail (one reason we booked a room), so we don’t have to worry about drunk driving (either the spouse or the other idiots on the road). Then tomorrow we’ll get up about 9 or so and stop at IHOP on the way back here. Monday I’ll probably do something special breakfast-wise so we can watch the Rose Parade (the Parade is “never on Sunday”, so it’s postponed till Monday).
Normally, New Year’s Eve is on a weekday, so we never plan anything because by the time the spouse is home from work, he’s too tired to go out and do anything. Next year, I might consider a San Francisco overnight, since NYE will be a Sunday (his usual days off are Saturday/Sunday). And he’s getting closer to getting the prized possession of Christmas/New Year’s week vacations… š
The combination of the light, the cat’s coloring, the intensity of the cat’s stare make it very compelling.
:: chants ‘dog, dog, dog’ ::
Yes, but will you mind if I totally steal your dog’s name? I just love Sniff!
I think they are far enough apart that we won’t have to worry about them getting confused about which one is being called š
THat was his Christmas present a year ago and I love that he wears it with pride. Hopefully it makes people think rather than want to hit him.
New dog? (pricks up her ears) sounds like a GREAT idea. And mutts are the best.
We’ve rented two movies for this evening – both of the Shreks.
Love the Shreks. Shrek two is one of the only sequels that is as good as or better than the first.
I haven’t see Shrek 2, but I am forever quoting the “You’re a monster” line from the Gingerbread Man in the first movie.
Hi everyone –
I’ve been a pretty terrible host this morning (although I have been lurking).
But now I’m going to be really bad. I’ve been sorting and packaging those wedding photographs and I’m going out to deliver & mail them.
And visit my mom for a bit.
I’ll be back later this afternoon. I hope I’ll be back for everyone leaves for the parties.
xxoo
Hi all! I was out enjoying the blue sky this morning. If I had ANY skill at taking pictures I would have taken a picture to show you — but you’ll just have to imagine it. I’m glad I went out because it’s clouding over (once again).
I’m home for the afternoon until I head out to my annual “early new year’s eve celebration” with friends. We’ve been doing this for the past few years. If its a weeknight we usually go to a rush hour show and then out to dinner. But since its a weekend, one of my friends is having early dinner for us. That way we can all be safely home before 10:00 and hopefully miss all the drunks on the road.
to hold a camera up at the sky and press a button. I had never pictured you as a slacker.
More steps involved. (1) go to camera store (2) buy digital camera (3) read instructions (4) point camera to sky (4) figure out how to post it. I could probably handly 4 and 5 but not 1, 2 and 3 — at least not today. This IS my week off — time to be a slacker! I could take a picture on my canon elf — nondigital — and you could wait for the film to be developed … but trust me, it won’t be worth the wait. I’m not a very visual person. My pictures are pedestrian (at best).
less involved — call friend who has digital camera, have friend point it at the sky, upload it, and send you the link. Post link in cafe.
Sorry. I’m sure I’m just suffering from sun-deprivation. It did appear for 30 seconds today, though.
this is why you’re more creative than me. But its too late — I’m looking out the window see only cloud cover now.
I should also clear up another of your misconceptions. I am in fact deep down in my most inner of souls — a COMPLETE SLACKER. At work often joke about winning the lottery and what we would do. I always come up with a great plan — but truth be told if it were completely up to me with no feelings of guilt I would probably do nothing. I’d just sit at home, read, eat chocolate and one day they’d have to haul my 500 pound body out of the house with a forklift to bury it. Good thing I was raised with Catholic guilt. That way I can give the outward impression of being an overachiever — but I lust in my heart for slacker status.
and if I weren’t such a slacker I would have hit spell check!
I can’t imagine anything that would take more dedication and effort that doing nothing — why just the exertion needed to fight off the boredom would be stupendous.
I didn’t say I would do nothing. I would read books and eat chocolate! (Don’t worry your little head about me — my odds of winning the lottery are next to nothing since I seldom buy a ticket so my chocolate/reading days are only fantasy. )
I’m not worrying; I’m giving you a hard time š
Jim and I do the lottery wishful thinking all the time. The very first thing on my list is always quitting work. I’m completely freaked out by those people who win the lottery and say they are going to keep working.
Walking next door to the neighbors/friends for New Year’s Eve. Good food and wine with good friends. Only an acre to stumble across if I drink too much!
Snow on the mountain but 1500 ft lower we are working on 40 days and nights of rain! Winds are keeping phone lines and internet down…both a good and bad thing I think.
No internet = finally finished Direct Actions! Excellent book Boston Joe…stayed up until 1:30 am to finish.
Have a great and safe New Years!
Enjoy the new year. Rain or not, being at Lassen sounds great. Now if only you had a ‘sparks’ to get to the neighbors š
Listening to the wind rage through the forest, watching the normally placid stream rage with storm run off…listening to the rain on the metal shed roof…
Currently have hail and thunder storm!
Pictures shortly – making the spouse download the stream photos!
where are you getting the no internet internet?
I love storms, even though we regularly lose our electricity.
We are 30 miles from the nearest town (pop 3,000) so when the wind whips through the phone lines get weird. So for now I have dial-up….how long it will last who knows.
Ah nosy me was trying to figure out how the “no internet” upthread was overcome. Of course, I’m on dial-up all the time so what you are experiencing I call “normal” — though two weeks ago the phone company had a ‘major cable failure’ and things have been much improved since. I’m being cautiously optimistic that whatever they did to fix the problem accidentally improved the line quality.
I just mostly give up my addiction to the internet when I’m here in the winter. The rain and hail have changed to snow…watching the weather monitor and barometric pressure just plummeted!
I love geeky weather toys…barometer just fell from 25+ to 24.4
Someday I want a full weather geeky set up…maybe when I retire…photos will be back at the edge comment momentarily!
Comcast HSI (High Speed Internet) was down for a few hours. I was napping and the spouse thought it was his fault he couldn’t get on, so he went to his usual method of rebooting the computer when I’m logged on…taking out the battery and putting it back in. He is such a tech klutz… shrug Good thing I didn’t have anything important open or unsaved…I know better. š
When I came out I saw the blinking green light on the cable modem and knew what the problem was. Called Comcast, and they had the “There is a problem in your area…” message so I knew it wasn’t just us — could reassure the spouse that he didn’t break anything, and told him to come tell me if he was having computer problems if I was home.
Anyway, need to go pack for tonight — wanted to wish everyone an early Happy New Year; will be back online sometime tomorrow… š
Normal December Hat Creek
December 31, 2005
The tree in the middle of the bottom picture is the same tree as the solitary on the right side of the top picture.
You got some serious water there. I bet the sound of the river flowing in the bottom picture is just wonderful.
Is there a lot of snow on the summits of Lassen and Brokeoff?
There was great snow Thanksgiving and this storm is dropping snow to 5500-6000 ft. Yesterday it was snowing on all the foothills…
Hmm….I think I’ll talk the spouse in to a drive to the snow so I can take pictures! ;^D
Well, wouldn’t that just be a fine idea — as long as it isn’t too dangerous out.
Well I’m hoping to hang around here more today than I have been and do my NYE partying here in the Cafe. Seems I’ve spent the week since Christmas having to rest a lot.
And I’m hoping the power doesn’t go out here as we’ve got a big storm brewing, the rain isn’t so bad but lots of wind which tends to knock out electricity for awhile. So if I disappear again it’s either me resting again or no internet connection for awhile.
As for party clothes I’ll be wearing one of the t-shirts my sister gave me in my hopes for what the NY will bring…the one with the 7 different Peace Signs on it..as envisioned by Van Gogh, Picasso, Warhol etc.
Continuing the clothing discussion from up above — I really don’t think of my clothes as being feminine, masculine or even androgynous — I just think of them as what I like to wear which is always things that are very comfortable. Though I will admit that one item of clothing that I physically love to look at are well-made all leather hiking boots (and I love to own them to).
This is my current love object (though mine are much more scuffed up).
Nice…in another one of those karmic jokes I believe I have had to wear only hightop tennis shoes for the last 25 years or so…and I mean only-due to my foot problems and the orthopedic make inserts I have to put into them…I say karmic joke because when much much younger I absolutely adored shoes/boots of all kinds and now I’m stuck with these fucken high top tennis shoes. And pretty hard to even play at dress up with high tops. Also another source of discrimination. You can’t be someones bridesmaid or get into fancy dining places etc wearing tennis shoes or for that matter get jobs if you’re supposed to dress a certain way.
Six years ago I broke my leg in two places (though neither was a really bad break) and since then I’ve found I can’t wear heels, which actually pleased me because I hate heels. Now I don’t own any — business casual saved my butt. When my foot was so swollen I couldn’t even wear tennis shoes, I wore some really comfy sort-of-clog shoes by a company called Josef Seibel . They were kind of expensive but I’m still wearing them.
I really don’t think of my clothes as being feminine, masculine or even androgynous — I just think of them as what I like to wear which is always things that are very comfortable.
On a level removed from cultural consumption, this is an apt description of my feelings about my wardrobe as well.
It’s a little bit of a different negotiation for many queer people, I suspect, because everyone else is always so incredibly anxious about our gender. By which I mean, if a straight woman who normally wears jeans wears a dress to a dressy social function, people will probably comment about it, but in different ways & to different degrees than if she were a queer woman. The interpretations are often different no matter what we wear.
I’m thinking of my mom. Her brand of homophobia was very run-of-the-mill, white middle class Boomer generation homophobia. My generation related to gender expression very differently, on average, while growing up (ie far more girls played sports and all that stuff). But once my mom found out I was queer, she saw everything through that lens. So even though all the girls I was friendly with as a kid all pretty much dressed the same ways — jeans, t-shirts, soccer shorts, etc — my mom perceived it as a “dykey” look on me, but not on my straight friends.
Lots of queer people have these experiences, so that gives many of us a more anxious relationship with our own gender expressions. Keeping an awareness of which category a certain article of clothing is perceived to be in by the larger culture, therefore, can sometimes be a matter of safety for us.
I think this kind examining ‘reality’ for its theoretical implications happens whenever highly integral aspects of oneself act to separate one from societal norms. When I found myself the only Jew on my college campus, it had all kinds of strange effects both on me and how people perceived me, so much so that I tended to examine everything I did in terms on what kind of statement it might make and whether or not people would take it as an indication of how Jews thought and behaved, even when I knew that there was absolutely no connection.
The same kind of thing happened when I was the only non-clerical woman working in a large department of a very large company.
I agree, mostly.
The primary difference from my pov being that, on average, someone Jewish has a family at home who is also Jewish, and some articulated sense of cultural identity as a Jewish person to reach for (through art and books, etc.), which is the sort of thing that serves to inform you that there’s no connection between little things that you do and your categorization as a Jewish person. However the behaviors and/or categories might be perceived by others notwithstanding, speaking strictly in terms of how we understand ourselves, I mean. Until very recently in cultural terms, queer people didn’t have anything remotely like that, so most of us have had to figure these things out almost from scratch. Hence a greater anxiety on the personal identity level in general — to which, of course, queer people experience in varying degrees and react in vastly different ways.
It’s hard on the identity to “be” any sort of minority (let alone when they start to add up and overlap, like Jewish & female, or queer & disabled), but I think it’s all a fascinating field of inquiry. I’m always picking it apart. And I personally find it incredibly exciting, as well as an awesome responsibility, to be a part of the generation which is articulating a queer cultural identity for queer people in future generations.
Damn, I can’t wait for you to be closer so that we can have some huge talk fests. I find trying to do “conversations” like this incredibly frustrating. It’s really hard to keep the flow going and even worse, I can’t interrupt!
One thing about being Jewish (combined with having immigrant grandparents, I think) is that, in fact, little things about my background did make me different but I wasn’t really aware of them until I got in an isolated enviornment (and being too far to go home, I didn’t have much sense of community plus I was not feeling very close to my family at that point either). And so it was sometimes hard to figure out causation — for example, I was much more political and to the left than almost everyone on campus which most people took to be part of my being Jewish. I can’t honestly say if I thought that was true or not.
Well this is pretty disjointed. Sorry.
Damn, I can’t wait for you to be closer so that we can have some huge talk fests. I find trying to do “conversations” like this incredibly frustrating. It’s really hard to keep the flow going and even worse, I can’t interrupt!
Me too. You’re gonna crack up, I am; while talking about you to my roommate earlier today, I just said, “I can’t wait until Andi & I can sit down in 3D and have coffee or something. Then we can interrupt each other to explain things and ask other things and we will be able to get so much further with some of the theory & analytic stuff we both like.” Which caused her to roll her eyes and smile simultaneously; smile because she knows I really like you, and roll her eyes because she thinks the interrupting thing is abrasive and rude and she doesn’t quite buy my explanation that it’s just a personality difference, lol.
Interrupting rude? Hell, in my family conversation = interrupt.
Speaking of family, gotta get dressed to go to my sister’s.
Have a great new years.
And I will be the one sitting at the next table staring vacantly into space and slurping my latte. Hopefully not drooling, but who knows?
Am I early or late for the party?
Nice to see you here…are you doing anything special for New Years?
We were going out for dinner, but the snow has made that unlikely. Hmm, what’s in the fridge?
Thank goodness Mrs.boran2 made it back from her haircut, the snow is getting deeper. Do you have any plans?
everybody is getting ready and when they saw you walk in the door, they hid the booze.
I do have that effect on people.
And which one of you is wearing JLo Glow?
Ladies, please! Open a window.
Yes, I know it’s cold out, I don’t care. Hand me that boa. I’m secure.
On the news it looks like Marin County CA has some pretty horrible flooding. Do any of our California frogs know any details about where the bad spots are?
My mom was fine. Very tired. Hooked up to weird machines designed to exercise her leg while she’s still bedridden.
I delivered the wedding photos that I took to her & my brother. (2 down 13 to go!)
Happy New Year!!
Is this a good time to start the evening party? So the RL partiers can join us stay-at-homes for a little while before they leave?
Yes it is pretty dangerous situation in parts of CA. I happen to live in the Bakersfield area where we’ve had some rain and the wind here has been on rampage and I keep thinking it’s going to knock out the electricity here any time….so I don’t know how long I’ll be around to party.
One reason for the danger is the fact that due to warmer weather the snow can be melting and then add to that a heavy rainstorm making a double whammy for water rising and flooding. And as always the mudslides are as dangerous if not more so than the flooding.
I just checked the local news ktvu.com and the usual culprits are flooding.
Guerneville in Sonoma County on the Russian River almost always floods – downtown and residences are too close to the flood stage. The Sonoma Marin County line flooded and is normal in heavy rains. Downtown San Anselmo…close to Mt.Tamalpais…and run off from Mt. Tam…gets pretty storm flows…not normal for them to flood though.
The freeway south of San Rafael at Corte Madera floods when the rain / storm surge collide. Looks like the next potential issue would be mudslides in the Mt. Tam and Sausalito areas.
Downtown Napa sits at the edge of the Napa River….floods every 3-5 years….
Forecast is that the next rain will be north of Marin.
I’ll check more…and get back to you all.
Thanks SallyCat!
We lived just north of San Rafael (and had a SR mailing address). And used to have family all over Mill Valley, including cousins at the base of Mt. Tam.
Now, the only cousin left in Marin is one cousin near Pt. Reyes. So, I’m not too worried about family. But, I can’t help being worried about the situation, just because I still consider it home.
See you later, I’m off to my “early” party. I’m sure I’ll be back to join you well before midnight (any American time zone). Have fun!
We want to know what BooMan the pupdog will be doing for New Year’s Eve. And what will he be wearing?
katiebird has some extra hair bow that would make a stunning tail decoration. And I never go anywhere without a jar of fur-glitter.
Have you made a resolution to finally come clean about MilkBoneGate? I believe it is a conspiracy.
Celebrate a Marmotdude New Year! at the new cafe.
Happy New Year to everyone. I just had the best new year present I believe I’ve ever had. My daughter, her husband, and my grandson drove over 5 hours to come to where I live to spend the day with me. I hardly ever get to see them and my daughter decided today would be my day. I’m so happy right now I’m about to bust. I don’t think the day could have gone better. They’re on their way home back on the coast and I’m just worried with it being New Years Eve about drunk drivers. My daughter is starting to get pissed at me because they’ve been gone for about 2 hours and I’ve already called three time to see how they are. I’ve had a great day and it will be a glorious day when I get a call from them that they are home.
Anyway, I just hope everyone’s New Year is just half as good as mine has been. And everyone in the Boo Pond drink one for me tonight. Be Careful.
{{Family Man}} What a wonderful surprise! I’m so glad you had a grand day with your family. And I’m glad they left early enough to avoid the holiday danger.
Thanks katiebird and I hope you have a wonderful New Years. I don’t know if ya’ll do it the day after, but here we will be eating black eyed peas.
What ever ya’ll do I hope it’s a happy one. I’m off now to show pictures my daughter bought me to relatives.
Have a good one and be safe.
We’re Celebrating a Marmotdude New Year! at the new cafe.
It’s over here