FEAST YOUR EYES

It’s tough to translate how much excellence there is around here during Summer.  Portland is a GOLDMINE of opportunity for having some rousing good times!  Unfortunately, I’m still waiting for my camera replacement from Nikon, so I haven’t been able to capture it all like I should.  This blog contains the latest greatest, scraped together from what pics I could find.

The first batch is from the Oregon Brewfest, where I had the pleasure of borrowing a friend’s camera (Thanks Clint!).  Next is the most recent kickball series, shot on a disposable camera (Thanks Leah & Bobbi!).  I’ve also stumbled across a fun shot from the Helvecia Half Marathon.  ENJOY!

Followed by fabulous kickball action!  Another win!  GO MUD MUCKERS!!!

PLUS!  I found a pic online from the Helvecia Half Marathon!  Note dreamy/happy face.  I LOVE TO RUN!!!

Who knew Dad was such a killer?!

It’s Friday.  Pondering the possibilities, I’m perched at the kitchen counter in a mismatched bikini.  (Near top of the list to-do is get some sun.)  Behind me, through the open sliding-glass door, the little waterfall trickles into the pond.  Suddenly – on a subtle summer’s morning breeze – in floats a wasp.

His legs dangled indirectly towards me, sending me into instant action.  Escape!  I ducked around to hide behind the basement door.  Somehow, from somewhere, Dad appeared.

“A wasp?”  He brightened.  “I’m great at these!”  He grabbed a magazine.  I peered out from my hiding place to watch him herd the giant beast towards the open back door.  First it was near the ceiling.

“Uh oh,” he said, “Where is it?”

My throat tightened.  I looked down the basement stairs, reassuring myself that I still had an out.

“Daaaaaaad?!”

“Just a second – it’s going to be dead in one second…  There – no wait, he doesn’t want to die!  I’m going to have to remove the head.”  He promised it was safe to come out now and proceeded to clip the wasps head off with some gardening shears.  He was proud.

“You can tell he’s done this for many years,” I said to Megan, both of us impressed.  (She was also taking cover nearby.)  Pops was explaining that the body continues to move and that we should keep Peaches (Peachie Poochie) away, so she won’t get stung trying to eat it.  I wasn’t much concerned about her though.  Her tail wagged gently at the mention of her name, but she was clearly just there to watch.  What bothered me was the writhing wasp body just inside the back door…  Finally Dad got rid of it.

He went on to tell us about how back in the military, there were wasps around all the time.  It was Memphis, where they thrive.  Apparently he was somewhat of a hero among his enlisted comrades for his wasp killing skills!  In fact, they had so much time on their hands (and so many wasps), that he’d taken to making teeny tiny trophies out of the wasp bodies and severed heads.  They were scattered, left in window corners around the building.   Finally, the major noticed.

“Whaaaaaaaaa?!”  Dad’s superior moved his face in close for a detailed inspection.

“They help scare the wasps away,” Dad explained.  Silence.

“Well,” said the major, with a cock of his head, “whatever works!”

Who knew?  Learn something every day.

Fashion, Friends + a Fast, Flat Half Marathon = FABULOUS

7.2.2009 ~ forkfly launch party/fashion show: backstage chaos

7.4.2009 ~ Foot Traffic Flat Half  Marathon (as BAD-ASS BANDITS : )

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Spin…Spin…Spin…BEGIN

You know how, when you spin a globe, it’s fun to stop it with your finger and imagine yourself in whatever place you randomly touch?  That’s what it’s like to write… a fleeting thought, pulled from the mind and placed onto a page, almost as if the world did stop turning.

Lazily (though I prefer to call it energy-efficient) I’ve taken to the camera for capturing instances that warrant memory.  My computer holds thousands of files, images, 2-dimensional slices of countless good times.  Alas, with a life overflowing with adventure, technology doesn’t hold up.  I’m a SUCH camera destroyer!

Yes, it’s broken again.  Perhaps I should have listened to the little voice that said “don’t bring the camera into the ocean,” back in Maui, but…  Okay, so I’ve got no excuse.  Needless to say – that 30 bucks for camera insurance is some of the best money I’ve ever spent!

So I write.  (It’s always better with multiple tools in the box, no?)  Unfortunately, it takes a bit longer…  But lets just say I’ve found a place to put my finger down.  It hit me Thursday afternoon.

Around 3:30, I was at an outside table at a dive on upper Hawthorne.  My buddy from high school days was sitting across from me and my best pal from middle school was about to show up.  We were killing time while Violet got her first filling across the street.  (You remember Violet?  She’s my incredible 10-year old.)

She took it like a champ!  But that came a little later.  At this point I was having pangs of worry that my bubba might be suffering – sorta made me sick in my tummy to think about.  Forcing myself back into the present, I let the fear go.

Three young women walked by.  The one in front was skinny and sickly looking.  Each had at least one or two sores on their face.  Within a few moments, they all turned around and confusedly walked back in the direction from which they came.  The last one wondered out loud to her friends:

“I don’t even know why I just said that.”

It wasn’t hard to see that they were on some heavy shit (unless you haven’t seen it before).

Getting to that point,  like the leader who was so frail and gaunt (and whose friends were well on their way), is not as difficult as one might think.  And know what?  I bet she thinks she’s pretty.  Or she thinks she thinks she’s pretty.

Maybe she used to be.  But none of that matters here.  What they suffer from isn’t precisely clear.  (One could argue they hardly even feel it.)  It is more important to realize that, whether or not they survive, they are not in that struggle alone.

Each of our flaws, shared socially, can be defined in social terms; cause, effect & greater consequence.  It’s tough not to compare oneself to the images we’re bombarded with each day.  Heroin chic?!  They’re FAR closer to achieving that “look” than (I bet) you or me.  With the patterns is a message:

Females are to be waif-like and delicate.  Damsels in distress.  They are to be taken care of and supplied with beautiful things.  Kept.   They can be naughty or they can be nice, but they must be helpless – that is, without a man.

Do you believe this crap?!  In humans, it’s females who hold a power no man can provide.  We are the Gatekeepers.  And the males?  Seed-bearers, driven to spread their seed far and wide.

The spark of life appears at conception.  Two become one: new life begun.  Think of the parts!  Each of the pair carried a piece of the key.  But, his was relatively cheap.  Hers on the other hand, will only work for a particular 48 hour window during each moon cycle and will begin significantly wearing out by around the age of 35.

See a disparity?  A typical male could populate the entire planet with a single hand!  Sperm is SO easy to come by!  Pun or  not, males in our species have an abundance of the stuff, readily available for…harvest.

The investment typically made by the female (her precious egg, her body for 9 months of intense child-bearing, her milk for the first year & so on), shan’t be denied.   She clearly must be cautious when making decisions involving sex and be educated on not only the potential and risks of social warping but also perception & the drives that feed her impulses.  Awareness of such things change what it means to be alive.

Behavior modification ensues.  Success by adaptation!

LOL

There are some things you can’t recreate, but I’ll do my best to describe what just happened.  Picture it:  I’m ecstatic.  Pumped from the success of last night’s stellar fashion show and tomorrow’s big race, I bounce to the back deck where my broski and his girl are lounging in the morning sun.  It’s already hot outside and it’s not yet noon.  I start blabbing about some new so0n-to-be-ex-crush who disappointed me.  I feel a tickle on my face – a bug.  With a quick gesture – mid-sentence – I brush it off…and it immediately hit my brother not just in the face – but right on the tip of his nose, warp speed!  HA!  I must have knocked it unconscious because then it fell onto his chest before it came to and flew away.

OYE VEY!!!

Guess what just happened NEXT?!  I look over at my brother (now sitting next to me, trying to eat some cheerios at his laptop).  He goes to reach for the mouse, but his hand clips the spoon, which flys up and whacks him in the face, meanwhile spewing an array of cheerios and milk all over me, the counter, the floor…miraculously not hitting my computer.  Never a dull moment…  David After Dentist said it best:  “Is this really happening?  Is this real life?!”