Sunday, December 07, 2003

a lot has been going on

so much so, that i haven't really had a chance to jot down a thought or two about them in the last month. just when you think things will be slowing down you notice that there's still no extra time in the day. or maybe it is that the time has become that much more appreciated and well used. i find myself thinking "i love my life" several times a day... and that thought hadn't been very prevalent for the last, oh, eighteen months. so that makes it even more appreciated.

jon jon
i heard that my favorite dog of all time has passed away. do you have a favorite pet? have you had a favorite die? i grew up with cats, not with dogs, so my love for this canine kind of caught me by surprise. but he was a great dog, and a great big one to boot. skimming just under 100 pounds, he had a presense. and an burgeoning eating disorder: he was definitely a binger and a sucker for following his nose (it always knows). jon jon lived a long life and had the good fortune and karma to have an owner that loved him deeply. his life was a good life. he will always be my favorite pooch.

auditions
tonight i did an on-the-whim audition for the vagina monologues. actual auditions were days ago; call backs today. i didn't even know they were auditioning until this morning when jenn (the b.n.e. = best neighbor ever) mentioned it over breakfast. so i got squeezed in and really have no idea how it went. they probably already had their cast picked. but it was fun to just go and do a cold read and get some more auditioning under my belt.

mardi gras
i've had the good fortune of being "invited to play" with (what i think is) the coolest krewe in the slo mardi gras: beleza sol. there was a meet-and-greet party on thursday and an actual meeting-meeting today; i am solidly stoked to be involved. the parade king and queen are in the krewe, which means our krewe is royal. what a great year to get involved! laissez les bons temps roulez.

prairie home companion
last weekend prairie home companion was broadcast live from san luis obispo. as a self-proclaimed public radio fanatic, i was excited like an eight-year-old girl on christmas morning. i love garrison kiellor: i think he is briliant and wonderful and i wish i knew him in real life. i wish i had his job. i wish i helped make his fabulous show. inga swearingen was one of the musical guests. i've mentioned her in my blog before and i am here to tell you: if you like female jazz vocalists, go buy inga's album. she is a rising star and one to watch.

i was completely overindulged and got to go to both shows. show one was the live broadcast. show two was three hours of stories and singalongs and more inga swearingen. i have finally turned into my mother. i'm pretty sure we all knew this would happen. luckily, i have a great one who just happened to be a sing-a-longing, public-radio-loving goofy punster. (that's called good karma).

dar & patty
the week before that i caught one of the last concerts for the female foursome of mary chapin carpenter, shawn colvin, dar williams and patty griffin. while i know a lot of mcc and sc fans, my favorites are dar and patty. i play a lot of their songs when i'm sitting alone, just me and my geetar. they are both amazing songwriters, but patty. man. patty can belt 'em out and the woman just rocks fair and square. and, since i wasn't that familiar with mcc and sc's music before the show, it was nice to get such a fine sampling of their music as well, plus see them interact with each other. shawn colvin is a real girl's girl and i mean that strictly in the best way. they all called mcc "chapin" and that is my currently favorite name these days. and if you know me well, you know i am a name freak.

other tidbits
playing music with bret these days. that is good as he is a very good guitar player and i pretty much suck. maybe that is selling myself short. i can get by enough to accompany myself, but you know it's bad when your playing bores yourself. so my fingers are crossed that i will improve. i love the songs that he's pulled out to play: dylan and johnny cash. great tunes. my contributions are steve earle and (hopefully) ben lee. and we are both throwing in a couple of our own. should be fun. i really want to perform. :: mercury's in retrograde (whoops; not yet. it goes retro on the 17th) — back up your computers people :: fun times with miss kb (she is the best) :: fun times with mom (also the best) :: been sick and i pledge my troth to sudafed :: and this morning i was highjacked by three girlies who swooped me up and took me to breakfast (la b.n.e., diana and the lovely miss heather visiting from santa cruz) and i ask you: what is better than a long leisurely meal and long leisurely rambly shambly meaty mirthy conversations?

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