Summer Soltice

If you read this blog enough, you know I love Ani Difranco. I almost always have the lyrics and song posted on the side blog and my Sansa will always have at least three of her albums on it. It's been this way for almost 10 years. (damn you Matt!)

Guess you can say I'm just like every other chick out there. And so what if I am? We have damn good taste in music. So it should come as no surprise that I caught her Summer Solstice show at Library Square last Friday and I hate to admit it, I'm a bit disappointed.

The lines were chaotically long and she was late. So late that her set was short.

But I'm not disappointed for those reasons. As nice as it was to see her live, nothing comes close to having her words and her pickin' in my head, all to myself, while I am boarding or cycling or doing whatever activitating I'm doing...it's her brand of motivation that I'm after. It's her way of making the female feel empowered by the use of her tongue. It's the way she can phrase something in a song that I can only hear when it's just me and her in the intimate space between my ears.

I was disappointed but only because I had to share her with the rest of the inter- mountain west.

So back to life and back to the headphones...where its just me and Ms. Difranco

record me

so you all know i did the radio thing on wednesday. i may not have said much because my co-bloggers are just so brilliant (and deserved all the air time) but when i did speak i was calm and didn't sound nervous. i was very nervous.

anyways. i just went back and hear the interview again and i've decided that i like my radio voice. this is a big deal to me because i don't like my voice when i hear it on the answer phone.

i'm thinking i might have to follow julie's example and do some recordings of books for the nephews (yes, they are all boys), practice my special talent of voices and sounds, and then maybe do something on an actual radio station-again.

thanks to all that listened. your positive feedback was much appreciated.

anecdote: when i was in the 5th or 6th grade i was asked by a substitute teacher about career ambitions. i said that i would like to be an announcer on the radio.

his reply: well, you have to have have a good voice for that.

now i realize that he might have been stating the obvious but it really did hurt my feelings ( it must have- i can still remember the room and tone of his voice) shortly thereafter, i decided that i would be a record producer instead-as you can see...that worked out.

new love

i knew she was out of place in the line up of furniture, rugs and building materials that are typical of a salvage and freight recovery store, but when i saw her my palms got sweaty and my heart started to race.

i just knew something was wrong. i mean,
what's a nice girl like her doing in place like that? didn't they know she didn't belong there?

she's pretty enough all on her own with her beautiful black lines, fully enclosed chain guard and chrome handlebars but the the leather brooks saddle was a dead giveaway that i had indeed found a jewel in a mine of chaos.

so what did i do? i left thinking that it was way
too much money to spend on another bike- until i got home and realized that she was one high priced lady and really hard to come by in the states.

you should have seen me holding my breath and rushing back to the store to take her home. there was just a little anxiety happening on that five mile drive because i was sure that she had gone home with some other person and all my traffic violations were in vain.

but to my surprise she was right where i left her- waiting behind the patio furniture. her price tag was too high for the other competition and the better woman won.

so...here i am. it's monday and we've spent the entire weekend together visiting neighbors and friends, riding into the city to eat and cruising liberty park. it seems we are a good match too. she likes all the attention from the public and i get to pedal around the city in style.

new love, even if fleeting, is a wonderful thing.

rights for all?

From the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

except if you are _____________________.

i just don't have anymore to say. i'm tired. i'm frustrated and i just don't have anything left.

Little Red Riding Hood 08-Update

80 miles is a long way to ride. Yes indeed.

And my lazy self wouldn't be bothered to ride more than 12 miles a day, a few days a week in preparation for the Little Red Riding Hood Cycling event- and this is NOT the way to properly prepare tender parts for six hours in the saddle. Seriously, it's like having a stick up your crotch for a really long time. Everything hurts, specifically my legs but dammit! it was worth it- even with the 40 degree temps, crosswinds and rain, the Cache Valley in the spring is a sight to behold. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with silly romantic ideas of snowcapped mountains, rural farmhouses and two lane country roads and yeah... I'm a sucker.

And then there's the women! So many beautiful women in all their various shapes and sizes, old women, young girls, even moms with babies, all determined to do their best. It's certainly an experience I'll not soon forget. How can it not be great to see average women comfortable in spandex and in their bodies, in the great outdoors? Never happens. I consider myself fortunate to be around that kind of confidence.

However wonderful this event was, it was not always about fun. I find it disgustingly satisfying to push myself beyond what I think, or know, I can do and finish because I have no other option- the bathroom is at the finish line. (or maybe I finished because I refuse to let a women 20 years my senior kick my butt? Haven't quite worked that one out yet. camaraderie or competitiveness? hmmm...)

But now that it's over and I've had time to think, I'm convinced the real reason I did the ride is for the food orgy-it's phenomenal! At my chubby fingertips was all manner of junk food, subway sandwiches and fruit. A menu to extensive too list here and all I had to do was give the Bonneville Bicycle and Touring Club 50 dollars and pedal an obscene distance. It was a simple concept and one of the few times I could fully justify gorging on Oreo cookies and Red Vines because- hey, I was going to burn several thousand calories in a few hours time. I love a rational argument.

Ladies, let us not forget that there was a time in our history as women, when it was considered taboo and unacceptable behavior for a lady to participate in sporting events. Now, we have the privilege of getting just as sweaty and smelly as we want.

May you take that gift from our feminist foremothers and find an activity that gets your heart rate up, makes your body ache and makes you feel like a queen.

Now, go out and do it!

Bicycling has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride on a wheel. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance."

-Susan B. Anthony, suffragist, 1896

bad day.

monday i ordered toner for my ancient copier and it just got off the plane today and into my hands. i followed the instructions, shook the tube, up-down and side-to-side and then i looked at the little tab and said "this is going to be messy", quickly dismissed my thoughts and pulled the tab. because that's what the directions said to do.

last i remember was a plume of black smoke heading for straight for my face and then....blackout. when i took off my glasses to survey the damage, nothing but black all over the walls, copier, tables; the entire kitchen was a mess and i worried how i was ever going to clean it up.

of course, i wanted to cry because i'm all alone and completely covered from head to toe in black soot. i looked like i just came out of a coal mine. my new, polysester, fly collar shirt from the D.I- completely trashed.

so i head to the bathroom to clean up and the thought occurred to my pathetic self that instead of just telling my co-workers about my afternoon, a proper viewing is in order because everyone can use a good laugh at 3:30 in the afternoon.

here's me taking on for the team. have a good laugh. on me.




hey, i get some new clothes, compliments of tsc out of this.