in case you needed one MORE reason to shop at your local bookstore...

my neighborhood

baby neighb

I just got in after a day o' fun with my dear friend A., a girl who just so happens to live two doors away! How convenient to find your neighbor funny, smart, and quite companionable!

Before I got a chance to hang out with A., we exchanged many messages posted to each other's doors. With each note we upped the ante a bit, always saying in one way or another that we should hang out soon. At last we got a chance to have a date, and ever since then we've been going strong. I'm very grateful to have her around!

Though more artistically talented than I, we share a knack for creating little homemade gifts and greetings. Imagine the happy snippets of delight I experience when I find a felt flower accompanied by a little note that says, "Happy spring!" or a little greeting card on my windshield when I walk out to my car to drive around and do errands.

Here are but two photos of greetings A. (or "Baby Neighb," as I and only I am allowed to call her--my rule) has left for me to discover.

For Halloween this year, she made little cupcakes; for Thanksgiving, a hand turkey with google eyes. It's my (well-researched) belief that engaging in little creative activities now and then keeps up your spirits, lets you relax, and causes you to feel more at ease with your life. Listen to me, guys: I have a Master's degree in this.

Dancer vs. Politician

I love this band. The members are charming and extraordinarily attractive (I dare you not to have a crush on lead singer/composer/founder Sanni Baumgartner), and the music really resonates with me despite my not knowing a lick of German. (A number of the songs on the new album, A City Half-Lost, are in German; the rest are in good ol' English.)

I've seen this video a number of times, but I can't get enough of it. It's lush and beautiful--the setting is so very Georgia summer, if you will. The music is pretty yet unpolished in the video, which is a part of a series I'd like to know more about.

Take a look:

Dancer Vs Politician: Justin Fairborn
by eikonproductions

that time R.E.M. played a private show for me and I didn't show up

I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! My dear Brandi posted a couple of Blogotheque videos on her awesome blog, and in my monthly review of her writing, I stumbled across this one of R.E.M. playing in Athens.

Playing behind my house.
Literally behind my house. Maybe fifty feet from my porch. WHY DID I NOT KNOW THIS WAS HAPPENING? True the shows aren't publicized. True Michael Stipe doesn't know we're friends (even though we are, of course). Oh I'm sad. But also excited. I mean, R.E.M. played a show next to my house.

See it here. Now if Sweet and Sarah Beth could cry with me for a minute, I'd feel better.

Athens Banner Herald's readers' choice awards 2008

The awards are now posted on the newspaper's website. For the most part, the winners are predictable and boring. No big surprises there.

I was really sad to see this:

Bookstore
1st place - Barnes & Noble
2nd place - Borders

People! This is terrible! In the town we all love so much and believe is cool, independent, and creative, our favorite bookstores are national chains? (Not that there's much of a choice--that is, until I am able to open my store.)

The end.

VOTING!

With the HUGE issues looming out there (money, health--you know), some very important concerns are getting lost in the shuffle. Click on the following link to see how the presidential candidates plan on supporting the arts and art education--if they're supportive at all.

http://www.artsactionfund.org/artsvote/default.asp

Deadline to register to vote is OCTOBER 6! That's tomorrow! Hurry it up, kids!

kwotable kidz III

Here are a couple from the little girl I babysit:

• E., 3, wanted me to play with her. "What should we play?" I asked. She thought for a few moments, and then her face lit up. "You be the prince, and I'll be the princess putting on lipstick!"

• E. also loves to look through my photos on my iPod Touch (fancy fancy). A few days ago, I uploaded all my photos from Panama & Costa Rica, and she looked through them one by one. When she got to this picture of my friend Sweet, she had a sharp intake of breathy surprise and said in awe, "Look at she! Look at she! She's proud....Proud of me."

Sweet does look sort of proud in this picture, though I doubt she was thinking of a three-year-old girl in Athens, GA.

And a couple quotes from a HILARIOUS little girl at AAHS...

• While at AAHS for storytelling last week, our resident comedienne, who's about 5 1/2, was on a roll. When Miss Rachel was leaving for the night, Miss Comedienne yelled out to her, "Bye! Bye, Miss Rachel! I'll be glad if you get everything you want! Be safe! Be safe!"

• A few minutes later, Diane and I were asking the kids about different foods in a picture of a picnic. The same little girl wanted to name all the foods she saw, so she began a list: "I see chicken, potato chips, hot dogs, possibilities, ice cream..." Wait...what? "Possibilities"? (Said as she was pointing to a stack of tomato soup cans.)
  

I'm not here.

At long last, someone from Charter came today. At 6 PM, an hour later than promised. But that's a story for another time.

Turns out a Charter agent had driven out here last Thursday morning and physically disconnected my internet connection. Pair that with this event, and I feel like a ghost: I got a hot pink slip in my mailbox today informing me that my house was vacant and no mail should be delivered.

What's going on? Is this a prank? Is the Charter disconnection connected to the USPS note? Did I perish a week ago yet continue to think I live? Is there a Janet living in a parallel universe who just moved out of her house?!

WHOA! Then I got this message from blogger just now!

Conflicting edits

There was more than one attempt to edit this resource at the same time. This may have been because you double clicked on a link or a button or because someone else is also editing this blog or post.

perfectionistic boss lady who doesn't want to work

Here's the deal: I'm the treasurer of my condo community and, while I value the experience (especially as it relates to my future bookstore business), I'm tired of it! I've been tired of it since the week after I said I'd be the secretary.

When I moved in here, I was thrilled at the notion that I wouldn't have to cut my own lawn or paint my own house when either needed upkeep. My monthly condo dues would pay for that! The condo board would just handle any issues that came up.

Except I wasn't expecting to be on the condo board. For much of my time living here, I've been the only [frequently] active member of the board. I resent the time these duties take away from my schedule, but I'm too much of a perfectionist to let someone else take over. Oh wait--no one would take over.

In all, the official duties as treasurer aren't so bad, as long as things are working smoothly and no major snafus come up. Too bad so sad that MANY a snafu has risen (GROSS phrase) and being on the board is not so peachy keen, and not so easy.

I just wanted to vent. Someday I will have my own house and will pay for someone to cut the lawn. I will not worry about someone else's trash on our common property. I will not have to get approval from my neighbors if I want to alter the appearance of my house. It will be grand.

Until then, I plow on...

accidental drunk

From an email I composed 12/6/2006:

Ah, the lovely prospect of a tall glass of 100% good-for-the-soul-and-bladder cranberry juice on a Monday afternoon when you've slept little and worked all afternoon with whiny tutees, as we are wont to call the oft-bratty children Janet tutors at the elementary school. Craving a glass of orange juice but knowing there is none in her fridge, Janet is thrilled when she encounters a jug of cranberry juice at her fingertips. "Ah," thinks she, "someone brought this as a mixer for last night's shindig." She pours a tall--and I mean tall--glass for herself and chugs it down. Before the cranberries can register, she pours another half-glass and chugs that.

"Ah, what a lush am I!" Janet muses. "I so rarely drink cranberry juice now, and the only time I consume it is about once every month or two at the Flicker Bar when it's mixed with a little touch o' vodka. I'm so conditioned that I am now convinced that this here cranberry juice tastes like alcohol. How embarrassing!"

Then, in a hazy flash (ah, can a flash be hazy? trust me, it can), it occurs to her: BONNIE. Bonnie is the culprit. Or at least Bonnie's mixed drink. She remembers her dear advisor having walked in the house the night before announcing something to the effect of, "This looks innocent enough, but really this juice has..." (The ellipses is meant to include all the sorts of alcohol Bonnie stashed in the innocent-looking juice jug.)

So, folks, that is the story of how a very tired Janet accidentally did shots of alky juice at 6:15 on a Monday night and got drunk in a jiffy.

Thanks, Bonnie.

Love,

Janet

Program Me In

You have to see this new Je Suis France video. My friend Jeremy Wheatley has been hiding away writing songs for a long time, but only recently has he started playing the gee-tar and singing for his adoring fans.

He's in an awesome band called Je Suis France, and he's the star of the new video. I LOVE this video. The song is really cool, too.

THE END.

Zingo in ATHENS!!!

A couple weeks ago, I called Zingo for the first time. I'd first heard about it in Paste and was eager to try it. Here's the deal: you go out, have as many (or as few) drinks as you'd like, and make the smart choice of not driving home with alcohol in your system. You call Zingo. Someone arrives on a collapsible scooter within a certain amount of time (times vary according to which city you're in). The person grabs your keys, puts the collapsible scooter in your trunk, and drives you home in YOUR car. Then he/she gets out, hands you the keys, and removes the scooter. Driver makes his or her way to the next pickup, and you go in, knowing your car is safe at home and that you won't have to worry about being arrested or, as a less drastic option, about having to figure out how you're going to get her car the next day.

Joy!

Last-last Saturday night in Atlanta, Amy, her beau, and I waited at a bar for awhile until our driver showed up. He drove us home safely and quickly. It was over $40 because the bar was several miles from Amy's. (In Atlanta, the service is $30 flat, plus $2/mile and tip.) The article I've linked to at the end of this post shows it's cheaper for us Athenians! ;)

I asked our driver if there was a Zingo in Athens yet, and he said that, last he'd heard, it wasn't in my lovely town yet.

Imagine my joy when I stumbled upon this!

another MTM Show celebrity spoken to!

(A note before you begin: I tried and tried to fix the font size in here but can't seem to get the swing of it. Sorry!)

I went to see Cloris Leachman at the UGA Fine Arts Building. She was giving a lecture (more of a question & answer session, really) as a follow-up to her one-woman career retrospective show (that I didn't get to see...). If you have ever met me or seen my walls, you know that I am a ridiculously huge fan of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. I first saw Cloris on MTM--she plays the ever-on-the-go, perfectionistic neighbor/landlady who's friends with Mary and always at odds with Rhoda (Valerie Harper, an actress I *almost* saw years ago but who was unable to perform in the play I attended--boo!). She is brilliant. Most recently I've seen her as the loving, half-drunk, serious-when-she's-gotta-be mother of Tea Leoni in Spanglish--but she's done lots of work before Mary, lots of work in between Mary and Spanglish, and is still really active.

Jim & I went to see her today. The theatre wasn't the fancy one I remembered--we must have been in a different studio or something. Harsh overhead fluorescent lights, a smattering of fans and actors-in-training, and a microphone that didn't work. With the heat (or AC?) blasting continuously the entire time, I missed out on about 1/2 of what was said. Despite the frustration that accompanied that, I was thrilled to see her in person. She looks amazing at almost 82 years old--in good shape, able to walk swiftly up and down stairs, and really quick witted and extremely silly.

I wish I'd taken a photo of when she started scooching her chair closer and closer and closer to the host, prompting lots of laughter from the crows. I did get a few good shots, though. Here's one of her in a girlish pose, feet hung over the side of the chair.

When Jim & I went to leave, I had a feeling she was going to call us out. She did. We started walking quietly toward the exit and she said, "Excuse me," to the crowd. Looking towards us, she asked, "Where are you going?!' I told her I was going to work; she asked me what I did. Then she looked at Jim and pointed. "What about you?"

"Oh, I have to go to the doctor," he explained. She, like any woman over 60 (or perhaps any woman of any age?) was charmed by Jim and expressed genuine concern for his back problem. After their quick talk, she snapped back into stage-Cloris and said, "All right. You can go."

I love her.

The end.

something my sister heard

My sister has a knack for overhearing really funny things. My father and mother share this gift. Come to think of it, relatives on both sides of the family do--my mom's side of the family tends to remember funny quotes from strangers' conversations by heart, whereas my father keeps little scraps of paper on which he'll write humorous tidbits. Ever the absent minded professor, he'd forget the specificity of the instance and only remember a general sense of hilarity.

Julie (my sis) has been sending me emails containing funny names she and her friends come across at work, in the newspaper, and on TV. The names are RIDICULOUS. The very best ones tend to be her friends' students at school or my people my sister has heard of through work, so that means I cannot share them. Confidentiality and all that. (I suppose very vague rules may've been breached, but posting them on the internet would be a little obvious.)

Here's an excerpt from an email she just sent. It made me laugh and made me overjoyed yet again that she'll be here next week for MY BIRTHDAY!

I overheard a strange conversation the other day at the grocery store. It was so strange that I didn't even remember it for several days.

Kid: I have a headache!"

Mother: "Well, duh! You had your head stuck in a hole in the wall!"

I just can't get enough

Will I never stop being utterly in love with this band's music? Even seeing clips of songs I love the most moves me to tears, just as hearing (and seeing) performances of certain songs ("Secret Meeting," "Lit Up," "Mr. November," "About Today," "Fake Empire," "Apartment Story," the list goes on) in concert makes my eyes swim with emotion.



It's now old news to fans: both they and Modest Mouse are opening for R.E.M. on the early summer tour. I seriously doubt there's any chance I'll get tickets, despite my being a huge fan of two bands and a pretty good fan of the third (MM). Dammit, Michael Stipe, I can throw a football and hit your house.* And Mike Mills, you should just give me a ticket since I am the reason you were so entertained a certain night at Go Bar when Jim emerged from the bathroom wearing my tight-fitting pink shorts.

*assuming I could throw like one of those football folks I saw perform in that Superbowl spectacle (footnote added, Chris--thank you very much)

comings and goings

I knew when I got a job with the school district's Homeless Education Program that the kids I got to know through weekly storytelling and daily tutoring might come and go at the drop of a hat. My boss Tamara (quoted extensively in this year-old Athens Banner-Herald article that remains relevant) warned that getting close to children and then having them leave with no chance to say goodbye was commonplace.

In the last ten months of my employment, I've walked into shelters and had staff tell me, "Oh, So-and-So's not here anymore, so she and her kids won't be meeting with you, but there's a new family that'll be here..." I tend to nod my head when, in more cases than not, I want to say, "Wait, what? They're gone? When did they leave? Where did they go? Is everyone safe? Is their moving out a positive thing, or were they kicked out? What happened?" This information is not my business, however, and I know it. So I nod and think of how I'll probably never see Jane and Joe and Jim ever again. (Granted, the names tend to be a bit more inventive than that--extremely exotic, sometimes beautiful, and sometimes baffling--but I can't reveal them here. Confidentiality and all.)

Today I found out that a family I've known for quite a long time is leaving: I'll never see them again, barring any accidental run-ins (during which I'm not supposed to acknowledge knowing them--there goes the confidentiality again). No goodbye.

Got to another place tonight and was told by a young child that a few other kids are now gone from that shelter, as they moved out. I've known those kids for many months, too.

The families that are moving on are going to be successful. I have much hope for them. After months of struggle with a couple of kids from each of the families (as well as really good times, too), I had some big breakthroughs in the last ten days or so--hugs, smiles, and "I love yous" from heretofore pouty, somewhat violent children. Perhaps that's my closure.

Tamara said it'd be hard to get used to the fact that the kids are in your life one day (or one year, even) and out the next, without a trace. Still, I hadn't felt that sadness today.

That's all.

YES WE CAN! Rock the vote on Tuesday.

Rest in peace, Cayle Bywater

It's with a heavy heart I tell those of you who haven't heard yet of the news that Cayle Bywater's body was found in a Memorial Park lake in Athens this afternoon.

A quick Google.com search will let you find any and all recent, relevant articles.

letter to the press

I can't stop thinking about the missing girl. It has occupied my thoughts for days. Today I found out that the last person to see her is a casual friend of mine. That must be such a strange position to be in.

Here's the letter I've been sending to news outfits. Feel free to use it as a template or a starting point for your own. It's far from polished, as I whipped it up in about 50 seconds. Links to the places you can email letters to can be found in my previous post.

Take care and be safe.

To whom it may concern:

I find it surprising and disheartening that Cayle Bywater, a 29-year-old graduate student in Athens, Georgia who has been missing since December 31st, is not getting more prominent coverage in your paper. In order to ensure her safety and increase the chances of her safe recovery, this story needs to get out to as many people as possible as quickly as possible. Please do a feature on Cayle, including her photograph(s), so that people will be able to recognize her as a missing person if they come across her.

All press releases, photographs, and information you need for getting contact info for her family and the Athens Clarke-County Police can be found at http://findcayle.blogspot.com/

Thanks so much for your time.

Sincerely,
a concerned Athens resident