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wSpring Tide |
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The tandem pull of the sun and the moon
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wMonday, August 27, 2001 |
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Great weekend... went to see my friends up in the Bay Area. We had a massive sushi feast at our fav sushi restaurant near Lake Merrit in Oakland. Ah... sushi satori :)
Used to be when I lived up in the Bay Area, we'd all get together at least once a month for a sushi feast. We were/are all show buddies as well, attending grateful dead shows together from '91 to '95. I miss these folks... breathing the cool air , seeing The City beyond the bay, the Golden Gate in the distance, reminded me of how much I loved my life up in the Bay Area and how much I love these friends.
After the feast, some of us retired to Susan's house in the Berkeley hills for margaritas and some music. It was good to play with Michael. His ear seems to have improved and he's much better at listening to what's going on in the music. We played some blues and some dead tunes, as well as some open-ended jamming. It was a satisfying conversation. Michael makes a great margarita too.
It was really great to catch up with Susan... I spent the night and we enjoyed coffee and the East Bay sunshine. Got to see her latest paintings, which look promising. More jamming with Michael after breakfast in the english style garden in the front of the house. He showed me his new find for live show trading -- a website called GD Live (I think), where tapers are making available whole shows of prime digital quality. He's going to burn me some CD's of some great stuff... Boston Gardens '77 is one of the shows I'll be getting, plus some 80s stuff including the last three St. Stephens played in '83. I'm also looking forward to getting some live Garcia-Grisman from '91. I gave him cash for 50 blank cdrs, so I'll be getting about 16 shows or so. I've sent him a list of what I have on cd, and leaving it up to him, otherwise. Hopefully, I'll get a lot of 80s stuff, which is where my collection of high quality shows is lacking.
I had to leave finally about 3pm. A two hour drive from Berkeley and I was home. I love Santa Cruz, but my life was good when I lived in the Bay Area. I think I'd forgotten that.
posted by
Just Mary at 12:11 PM
4 comments
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wMonday, August 20, 2001 |
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bah. I start to write but find I have nothing to say. I think I'm in a funk. Summertime has come and gone (my o my*) and I feel like my personal to-do list is still huge. Actually, I know its still huge.
Ok ok, so I have gotten a lot done, but I think I'm still in that zone of giving myself too much to do. That way, when I don't get it done, I have that nice big "you suck, Mary" stick to beat myself over the head with. (sigh).
Lets hope for a cheerier outlook tomorrow as today looks partly cloudy, with a chance of afternoon showers.
*gratuitous grateful dead quote
posted by
Just Mary at 8:53 AM
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wMonday, August 13, 2001 |
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Blogger can bite me. Another post lost. 3rd in like, 2 weeks. You'd think I'd learn to save 'em to a file before relying on Blogger to actually post what I write. Someday I'll get off my butt and just hand code the damn thing.
Made a couple of changes... books are now in hyperlink text rather than graphics. The graphics didn't really display the titles or authors well, and while the splash of color was nice, "content is king," right? Unless your content should be a peasant, as is the case with mine. heh.
Oooh, can't resist an opportunity to be self-deprecating.
George Bush can bite me too. For a variety of reasons. Most recently for his decision on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Basically, current cell lines created can continue to be used in funded projects, but no new cell lines can be created. And where did these cell lines originate from? From the thousands of embroyos created each year as a byproduct of in-vitro fertilization -- the thousands that will be destroyed regardless of whether or not new embryonic stem cell projects are funded.
Way to go, USA. In the quest for infertile couples to conceive, we'll keep right on destroying embryos, but we won't fund research using 'em. What brilliance! What forward thinking!
What utter total bullshit.
posted by
Just Mary at 6:03 AM
5 comments
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wThursday, August 09, 2001 |
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At the risk of turning Spring Tide into "another day, another death", I have to mention this man today. 6 years ago today he fell asleep at a rehab center and didn't wake up again. The world has been a little colder since he left.
Among some of my friends, the days between August 1st and August 9th have become almost like holy days. We refer to it as The Days Between (a powerful song he co-wrote with Robert Hunter) -- the time between the date of his birthday and his death. All this week I've been listening to his music, side projects as well as his main body of work as part of the Grateful Dead. Listening and remembering.
Being a deadhead makes you makes you a target for giggles in some circles. That's ok. I can laugh at myself, too. I used to wear patchouli. I admit it. I have a trunk full of tiedyes and various hippie-esque acoutrements. For 17 years, seeing this man and hearing his music live in various incarnations was a big part of my life. For a long time, I saw him 20-50 times a year. When he wasn't touring with the Dead, he was playing in a club somewhere in the Bay Area with one of his side projects. I was privilaged to hear him live several hundred times in his side projects as well as part of the Dead. I know this doesn't make sense to a lot of people... but this wasn't a concert "act", creating a show played in support of a new album release -- a pre-determined set list played the same way night after night. Each night was pregnant with possibility... where would it go that night? What would they play?
There are a lot of wonderful musicians out there, many incredible guitarists that give me a great deal of pleasure. But I still haven't found one who affects my head and my heart the way he did. And I've looked... believe me I've looked.
posted by
Just Mary at 12:45 PM
2 comments
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wWednesday, August 08, 2001 |
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Happy birthday, mom! You'd be 64 today. I can't believe its been almost 2 years since you decided to head off and join Dad. Dammit, it was too soon. But I know how much you missed him after he died.
I just watched What Dreams May Come the other night. I'd like to think that life after death is something like that. It would mean, of course, that you'd be back with your beloved cats, Harry and Gilhooley, who's deaths broke your heart just a little bit more after losing Dad. You'd be with dad as well, of course.
I thought about you two a lot as I watched it (hi Dad!). Actually, as you probably know, I think about you a lot in general. I no longer find myself picking up the phone to tell you about the cute thing Annie Laurie, your beloved cat did. (I'm sure if you ever check in on us, you are astounded at the life she leads now. She's quite the adventure girl, always wanting to be outside. ) But so often I see things in the store or movies and think about how much you would have liked them. And I miss talking to you. So much.
I still wonder if you knew how important you were to me. I am really glad that I called you that day you left us.. you were so down. But at least I had the grace to tell you I loved you, even if I forgot it was the anniversary of Dad's death. I hope you felt that through your sadness. And I'm sorry I didn't remember. I was so caught up in my own life.
Everyone is still floored by the fact you left on that day. Dad came into the world six years before you, and you joined him in the next world 6 years after. You were so astounded by how much you felt him around you that week before you died. Remember that dream you told me about where he was there with you in the house and I was there too, only I was wearing a black witches outfit, sort of like a halloween costume? Did you know I flew back for your funeral on halloween? Ok, so I still can't figure out the part where I was only 3 feet tall, but still...
Anyway, I hope you are at peace and happy. I truly hope you are with Dad. I miss him too, but you knew that. Mostly I wanted to say, I love you and miss you. And thank you for being my mom.
All my love,
Mary Frances
posted by
Just Mary at 11:08 AM
2 comments
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wMonday, August 06, 2001 |
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Big thanks to Alex for taking Spring Tide on. I'm jazzed about the improved discussion system. And Alex was a big sweetie for doing the administrivia portion of it.
As for "adding class"... heh. I'll try to keep the grunting n spitting to a minimum.
posted by
Just Mary at 3:38 AM
11 comments
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wWednesday, August 01, 2001 |
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The landlords didn't show today. Actually, one of them did, the husband, but he's not the one in the family with the big stick. I'm so freaking annoyed. After I asked him if his wife was coming, he says no and asks me if the books were out and if he could take a look. So I let him in and showed him the empty bookcase.
He looks, then looks at one of my dressers.
"What's this?"
"Its my dresser"
"Are there books in it?"
"no."
He didn't say anything but you could see the gears grinding...
I said "S___ told me to empty that bookcase"
"She couldn't have meant just that bookcase"
"That's what she told me"
He looks in my main living room/office.
I say "Those are all text books and computer books I need to be able to reference, along with my music books"
"I thought she wanted all your books out of here"
I say "well, these are books I need on a regular basis. I can't function without them."
"Well, I'll have to talk to her..."
ARRRRRRGHHH!
Did I mention I'm annoyed? He told me last weekend she was coming today to inspect the house. He generally doesn't care if there's a spec of dirt on the counter or disarray in the house. She's the one who's really anal and controlling. That's the reason I cleaned my house from top to bottom, instead of working and earning money to pay their overpriced rent on a 2 bit shack.
Sigh.
posted by
Just Mary at 5:28 PM
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Found an absolutely awesome site the other night I want to share with folks. The Virology Time Machine! Simply a delightful site.
In other news, this blog is going to become a No Such affiliate soon. Major thanks to Alex for agreeing to take Spring Tide into the fold. I'll post the correct url as soon as I have confirmation. I won't be doing any fancy referrer stuff, so once I post that url I hope folks will make a note.
posted by
Just Mary at 6:41 AM
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Happy birthday big guy. Miss you still.
My sleep schedule is way way way messed up right now. So its 4am and I'm awake and preparing to do the last round of cleaning of the house. Why housecleaning at 4am you ask?
My landlords are coming tomorrow to "inspect" my dwelling. The fact they've chosen 8/1 as their date makes me nervous. I suspect that either a rent increase is coming or an eviction. The reason for the inspection, however, is that they've decided the books in my house are a problem. You see, the foundation on the south end of my house is sinking. This is the 8x10 "room" where my bed, a few dressers and a 9 foot high bookcase with 5 shelves of paper backs resides. And they've decided that it must be the books hurting the foundation. So they are coming by to look in my house and make sure that I've been a good lil girl and moved all the books out of that room and into storage.
Gimme a friggen break. First of all, every winter when it rains, the ground under that end of the house becomes saturated. We have a pump system in the yard to pull the water out of the ground where I live, but every winter when it rains, I have to splash through standing water to get to the street. In the winter of '98, the famous El Nino winter, the water was up to my ankles as the pumps couldn't keep up with the demand. And I had this permanent spot of soaked carpet in the hallway to that room, a foot in diameter, where the water wicked up into the floorboards. I told them about it back then and they treated me like I was being hysterical. But now they've decided that since the foundation is sinking on that end of the house, that my books must be the problem. The fact they are all paperbacks and weigh less than my dresser doesn't seem to register on their brains.
So, I've packed up all my books from that room and put them in my storage unit, or have them in boxes in the "kitchen" ready to go into the unit which is on the property. I still have a significant number of books in the unit, but I'll be damned if I'm going to live without books. Mostly its the books I'm currently reading, plus my textbooks (which I'm sure weigh more than all my paperbacks), my 1912 set of "The Modern Reader's Shakespeare," plus all my ocean related nonfiction -- field guides etc. Five shelves of books spread out in 2 locations. But I just know I'm going to get shit for it. But I'm sure as hell not going to pay to live in a place where I can't keep the books I need to access. Its bad enough that I have to eliminate one entire bookcase.
Some might ask "well why don't you move?" "why are you putting up with this BS?"
There's a 0.2% rental vacancy in the town I live in. (95% of those units available won't rent to pet owners. One cat would be hard enough, but with 3 it's even more difficult. It took me 5 weeks to find this place back in 97. When I found it, there were 3 women living in the main house, "psychic therapists" who "liked my aura" who were making the tenant decision for my dwelling. In other words, random luck helped me find it.
So, I put up with the lying cheating skinflint landlords treating the main house tenants (the touchy-feey women moved out) and myself like we're a pack of children. I comply with ridiculous demands, smile and hope for the best. Because not only would I have trouble finding a new place, but shelling out roughly $2-3K for first, last and security deposit just isn't in my budget, if I did find a new place.
Sigh.
posted by
Just Mary at 4:09 AM
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