Throwing Down the Gauntlet

... so to speak.

I am about to make a reckless end to my month of overspending. By my calculations, my average savings at year's end should be around $3G. With the vacation and the clothes shopping and this haircut and all of the products appropriate thereto, I've been widdling away at my savings all month long.

By all means and accounts I should quit while I'm ahead and cut up my credit cards and go back to my low-budget eating plan, which actually involves cooking, God forbid.

But that's not what I'm going to do. I'm going to go out and buy myself a MacBook, that's what I'm going to do.

I've been resisting and feeling guilty for even thinking about spending a cool G on a computer, when I have a functioning desk top at home for all of my computer needs. My resisitance is down, though, because J. returned from California a walking commercial for Apple.

The final straw came this morning when I had to check on the weather to plan my outfit and choose a matching umbrella, if necessary. (Just kidding. I only have one umbrella. It is red. Actually, I'm still using the one Daren R. found in the computer lab at UW-Madison in '03.) But when I turned on the computer and logged in, I found that the operating system had been changed and NOTHING was saved in my profile. Not even Mozilla!

So that's it. I am DONE sharing a computer. I need my own domain, where it looks the same each time I log in, where I don't need to ask anyone to import music under any certain cataloguing system that I was never taught, where my folders stay organized under a single method and I don't unwittingly come across any porn!

I love my boyfriend, but I've had enough. I'm getting a MacBook of my very own. It's going to be Daytopia... and when you think about it, one G for a Daytopia is not too much to ask. Right?

Absence Explained (Kinda)

Dear Blog,

I haven't forgotten about you! It has been nearly a week since my last post, I know, but that doesn't mean that I'm not thinking about you! It's only an excuse, but I want you to know that I've been unable to post because a certain someone has arrived back in town and I've been catching up with him. No worries, though - I'll be back again soon!

Hugs and Kisses,
Day

Change is in the Air

New Blog Template, New Hair Cut, Etc.

The Big Two Six

Upon further reflection of my grouchy mood, it occurred to me that there is more to the story than my return from vacation, harsh as it was. Let's face it, my life is pretty great. There is not a single thing that I do from day to day that I don't ultimately not want to do, and that really is saying alot. The real culprit of my bad mood is that, a few days ago, I turned 26.

You're probably all thinking "So what? Twenty-six isn't a big deal!" and my sane half would agree with you. The trouble is, there's this other, secret side that I do my best to ignore on a regular basis but has decided to present it's troublesome self on Monday and hasn't dissipated since.

I don't believe that my fear of growing older is all that unjustified - case in point: "mommy make-overs." Another case in point: Demi Moore.

All jokes aside: on Monday I read an article about the director of this program, who apparently received accolades for her success in managing an orchestra at 26! She later moved on to B & H and helped sign the stellar catalogue responsible for the making us one of the most powerful music publishers in the industry.

What I am saying is, what the hell have *I* done with my life until now? Furthermore, where is all of this going, anyway? My lack of plan wasn't concerning at all way back when I was 25. Life seemed so full of possibility then. To me, 26 sounds like steps further down the road, where everything should be on a certain path and I should at least know what it is I want to be doing for the rest of my life.

...Rest assured that I know exactly how absurd this all sounds. I know that 26 isn't all that old, age is (mostly) irrelevant anyway and I have all the time in the world to figure out who I am and what that means for the world. And more positive things such as.

Hence, I decided while typing that last paragraph that my goal for my 26th year of life is to LET GO and deal with whatever happens when it's meant to happen. And that means, no big questions regarding my place in the world. I'll probably find it eventually when I'm not even looking. Or not. And that will be okay, too.

Return'd

So, I'm back! I've got to say, returning from a vacation as amazing as last week's is really, really difficult. This week in particular has been hard, since J. is STILL out of town. When he returns on Saturday he will have been gone for 20 days. That's about 17 too many for me.

The worst part is that I have to wait for his return to commence watching all of my favorite TV shows! I really should have downloaded a whole bunch of stuff that I wanted to see, but I just never got around to it.

So here I am, all by my lonesome. The only real reminder I have of my trip is this sunburn in the shape of mudbath. And the scads of pictures I have, too, I guess. I'm glad that I had so much fun in the Nuevo, as I've heard Lorn call it, but it sucks to return to real life.

Eh, but I'm sure I'll eventually get into the swing of things and will quit all this bitching about having to live and work and stuff.

*Labored, Plaintive Sigh*

Balloon Fiesta Photo Essay

Dawn Patrol!

My first sight of our balloon.


Mootz, Wild Bill and Me.


Mootz patiently waiting for us to hop in the Gondola. She's sitting on the chase car.


The Balloons around us, half inflated.


Mootz and I in the Gondola, about to take off.


The view of the Balloon Grounds from 2,000 feet.


The Tri-Star from below.


That's our shadow out there!


Balloons.


More balloons.


A close-up of a balloon.


After landing, 8th graders helped us stabilize the balloon.


Chase Car Sean and Chase Car Albert pack away the balloon.


The Tri-Star comes in for a landing on Saturday.


The Tri-Star after landing on Saturday.

Vacation Guest Blog!

Hurray for long posts that I don't have to write! My mother sent this email to our relatives and so I am posting it here as reparations for not having the wherewithal to sit down to write about my trip.

***

One of the many highlights of the trip Day and I took to New Mexico was the balloon flight.

We visited Santa Fe first and stayed with friends Eileen and Arnold. One of the first things Arnie showed me was an article he'd saved about the growth of Albuquerque limiting landing spaces for the hot air balloons.

"Hmm," I thought. "That's right, they have to come down."

The next day brought news of a rare fatality in a balloon mishap and a basket of broken legs from a rough landing.

Oy.

The day after that brought news of a series of bad landings and photos of people carried off on stretchers from downed balloons. We met a family at our B&B who had planned to ride but had been canceled due to the weather. The dad talked about seeing gondolas swinging like pendulums.

Hmmmm.

Finally it was our morning. The alarm went off at 4 a.m. Day and I had watched news coverage of the balloon launches with Arnie in Santa Fe where the commentators were dressed as if they were on the sidelines of a Bears v. Packers game in January with the wind blowing off the lake -- and still looked cold. So we wore most of what we packed -- multiple shirts, heavy sweaters, hats, gloves. We were at the balloon park by 5:30 a.m. We checked in with Rainbow Ryders tent and then sat at a picnic table and watched the balloonists arrive on the field in front of us. The field is at least the size of a football field and it's marked off in a grid. The balloonists are assigned to a spot. We sat in the dark and watched a string of headlights enter through one gate and then drive in straight lines and neat corners to their assigned spots. It looked like lit-up disciplined ants.

At 6:20, we went to the rider's corral, met our fellow teammates at post #20, and watched the Dawn Patrol -- three balloons that go up first to test the wind and the conditions. We were a rather nervous bunch. I noted happily that the baskets weren't swinging wildly, in fact, not moving from side to side at all.

After the sun was up, Chase Car Sean came by to collect us and we followed him out to our quadrant where our balloon was stretched out on the ground and the basket was lying on it's side flanked by two large fans. We met our pilot "Wild Bill." Wild Bill had just a few rules for us:
- DO NOT step on the balloon
- When the balloon is full and the basket is upright, get in immediately. It won't wait.
- Stay away from the fans.

I had been worried, even more than about landing, about how to get in that basket. I couldn't quite imagine myself vaulting. Good news -- there are toe holes built in on the sides.

The basket itself held 8 passengers and it is divided into sections. The pilot and propane tanks are in the center and each side is divided into two compartments. I'm not sure if the compartments are really there to provide greater stability but they also kept us passengers from crowding to one side and tipping the gondola.

Wild Bill, Chase Car Sean and Chase Car Albert turned on the fans and started filling the balloon with cold air. While it was filling they continued to stretch out the balloon and arrange the rigging and lines inside the balloon. There isn't a steering mechanism but the pilot can control if the balloon goes up or down and the wind blows in different directions depending on altitude.

There were about 100 other balloons on the field and everyone else was inflating. Suddenly the balloon was full and the basket was upright and we all piled in. Chase Car Sean and Chase Car Albert held us down while Wild Bill waited for the signal from the controller -- and then he whooshed with the propane tank and we were off! 2000 feet straight up. Wild Bill found a spot where the air wasn't moving much and we hung over the field and watched the other balloons come up.

We drifted north first and then dropped to a lower altitude and flew south toward downtown Albuquerque, but we were never anywhere near the tall buildings. Driving around Albuquerque, so much is behind high walls, so it was fascinating from the air to see the number of homes with horses and cattle. We even saw a peacock. And the gardens... The balloon really bothered dogs; they would run in circles and bark as we flew over. So many people came out and waved.

We landed at a middle school field. Chase Car Sean and Albert were right there to apply the brakes. A group of 8th grade girls ran over and as Wild Bill gave it just enough air to keep it off the ground, they helped walk us over to the parking lot next to the field.

Putting the balloon away is tricky; they have to pull it down so it is laying in front of the basket and bleed all the air out, roll it up and then stuff it back into a bag. Just like a sleeping bag.

We all piled into the chase car and were back at the launch site at 10. I had been comfortable in my multiple layers up in the air but once we were on the ground and the sun was up, I was pealing off layers. We hiked back to the car with our arms full of clothes and went back to the B&B for a nap!

***

Next up: Balloon Fiesta Photo Essay

Wish You Were Here

Greetings from the Nuevo! My mother and I are having a great time relaxing and sight seeing in the greater New Mexico area. So far we've seen the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, the Santa Fe Plaza (did you know they have a Starbucks??), the Santa Fe Arts Museum, Bandalier National Park, Ojo Caliente Spa, Old Town Albuquerque and an Albuquerque cultural museum whose name I do not remember at this moment. It's been great visiting with my mother's old friends and L-Dogg. Pictures to come.

Because time is brief before L's recital and because battery power on this laptop is minimal I shall leave the finer points of these adventures to a later date. Fortunately my memory will be aided by the enormous amount of pictures I've taken so far.

AFK

Gah! I'm up too early. Technically I have 30 minutes left until my alarm goes off, and I went to bed too late last night, so by all accounts I should be enjoying every wink of sleep I can get. But, for whatever reason, I find it extremely easy to wake up and get out the door on days when I travel. I've inherited my mother's need to be early to the airport, I guess. Too bad this nervous sort of energy doesn't help me get to work in the morning.

But so it is. October 6th has arrived at last! The Day I've Been Waiting For. I shall suffer through the appalling slowness of the lines at LaGarbage, lots of waiting time (and possibly delays) at the airport and the a long-ish flight to the opposite corner of the country. And it shall be worth it.

By the by, mad propz to The Kitty, who endured her "Kittysportation" quite well. She rode the subway for the very first time last night, and quietly endured the walks on either side. She emerged from her carrier her bright sunshiny self, for which I am infinitely grateful. Simply because this alleviates any guilt on my part.

I do miss her though. It is strange to be here by myself -- no J and no Kitty. Although I can work on my scarf without someone attacking the balls of yarn at the same time, for once. And by that someone I mean J.

Anticipation

I'm so glad that I have a vacation coming up soon. I am so burned out with work right now that I can barely get through the day. It's a strange feeling -- I know that I am very lucky to be working in the arts at all, let alone at a really chill job where the sense of community is really great and I don't have to deal with the general public at all.

At the same time, however, I tire of filling orders for music. I am just not in mood to count the string parts, and it tugs at my sense of conscience to knowingly send people music that's in mediocre shape. If it were up to me (and if we in the arts weren't so poor) I would give everyone brand new music.

And yet, I reiterate that I love my job and I feel very fortunate that I get to go there each day and get paid to spend time there.

In any case, this vacation is looking fantastic at the moment, and not only because I get to escape from New York to a place with a big sky. The events I have planned will be incredible, from the hot air balloon ride to a day at a spa to the adobe viewing to the time spent outdoors in a pleasant climate.

I am so excited, actually, that I've come full circle and am now dreading the end to my anticipation. I know I'm going to have the best time (how could I not when I get to spend time with two of my favorite people?) but I'm going to have such a good time that I'll be really sad when it's over and done with. After all, I've had these tickets now for three months and have been planning for equally as long.

Fortunately, I do have other things lined up to look forward to this fall season... but nothing as lavish and amazing as this vacation. It remains to be seen exactly how depressed I'll be when all is said and done. I'm sure I'll keep you posted.

Wish Granted

On my way home from the grocery store this evening, I heard the distant tinkling of the ice cream truck song. Despite that I was carrying two full bags of groceries, I grabbed my cell phone and hurried to the corner, where I tuned my ears into the distance, hoping to hunt down the renegade ice cream truck from my previous post. Unfortunately, the annoying-yet-sprightly little song plays in verses, so during the lull I had to stop and wait in silence, hoping that the truck was driving toward me and not away.

As you can see, I was successful in hunting my prey. Here it is in all its glory: the ice cream truck of my personal hell. As usual, the driver was slouched in his seat, talking on his cell phone. He drove up to the corner, made half a turn and then just sat there, a perfect sitting duck for my cell-phone snapshots.

The last picture is the final one I snapped before walking away: it demonstrates clearly the f***tard nature of this particular ice cream truck. As I walked away, an SUV attempted to drive on the street where the ice cream truck had just stopped moving, and had to honk several times before the driver put the ice cream mobile into gear to move out of the way.

So there you have it. The lesson? Day never lets you down. Ask and you shall receive (within reason).

The Next Big Thing

I'm way behind the times in terms of internet apps. Pretty much the only web-savvy activities in which I partake are blogging and Facebook, and the latter isn't even all that impressive. Nor is blogging for that matter, but keep in mind that I opened my first blog in December of 2000.

It is with many cries of "I can't believe I didn't get into this earlier!!" that I link to my new Twitter page. My favorite thing to do on FB is update my status, but I feel so weird logging in at work. I'm not sure how Twitter is different in this case, but at least it's not so glaring a social app.

Warning: this is the one and only link that particular page that I have the heart to post. I'm not "out of the closet" as a blogger and my twitter ID gives away too much info.

In any case, the narcissist in me formerly invites all of my three readers to partake and "follow" me. To be honest, your joining is for my sake and not yours, but perhaps you'll enjoy twittering as much as I do, in which case I will have done you a great service.