bread pudding!

Last Thursday evening, I ventured downtown for a game of chemistry nerd trivia. Seriously! I belong to ACS and, roughly once monthly, the local section gets together, mostly to quaff a few beers and talk trash, but also for some shared science.
This time, the science was in the form of multiple-choice questions instead of a lecture by a guest speaker. Yeah!
Not that the lectures aren't fun! Au contraire, mon frer! Even for those few times I know nothing about the specific topic, I can almost always walk away with new knowledge under my belt.
If I had a belt.
Which I don't.
But I digress.
The reason the trivia usually draws a bigger crowd and is more "fun" is this: PRIZES! Woohoo! Not just for the top two scorers, nosirree bob! The bottom two scorers also are rewarded for their efforts!
I did not receive a prize on this occassion, scoring 11 out of 25. The top two were at 19 and 16. The bottom marks were at 5 and 7. I would have had another two points if I had done as I advise my students and gone with my "gut" - ah, yes, do as I say, not as I do, y'all!
Two of the questions I answered correctly were with thanks to the bfe, either directly or indirectly. Yes, knowing a physicist who rambles on a bit can be helpful, as you do tend to pick up a trinket or two of knowledge along the way. Double magic elements are, perhaps not so surprisingly, one of those jewels the magician had tossed into my brain's path; as it was bright and shiny, the magpie in my mind had glommed onto it and tucked it away to admire at its leisure. When the question arose, the magpie dug out the treasure, granting me a correct answer to add to my score. Sah-weet! A direct nod to the bfe!
The other question I attribute to his friendship, but indirectly. How so? Well, one evening while my students were taking a test, I had no reading material with me. ACK! What to do for the next seventy minutes??? Well, there IS a Periodic Table in the room... Oh, oh, I know! Let's make names using the symbols of the elements!

And, so, that is how I passed the time, starting with my name first, of course. Fluorine-Gold-Sulfur-Titanium-Sodium. Woohoo! Christina - hmm... no direct way, but if I added NOT lines (to reverse the letters), I had Carbon-Hydrogen-NOT Iridium-Titanium-Sodium. Okay! Sandra became NOT Arsenic-Neodimium-NOT Argon. Hmmm, not sure how many NOTs should be allowed in this game. Let's substitute Radium instead of that second NOT. Okay, okay, let's try Jeff: where are the elements with a "J"? Drats, where ARE the elements with a "J"????? Well, dagnabbit. There are ZERO elements with a chemical symbol containing that letter of the alphabet.
And so, at chemistry nerd trivia, when the question arose about missing letters of the alphabet on the Periodic Table, I knew that answer immediately.
No prizes for me there, though.
So off I wandered to the expensive steak house in the next block on Bay. I had heard they had a mighty tasty bread pudding there, so I would treat myself to a comfort-food dessert at a nice place with a red piano in the lounge. The young woman at the entrance even checked with the kitchen to be sure they were not yet out of their apparently famous dish. Very nice touch!
There were no tables available in the main dining room, which meant I would sit in the lounge. Yeah! And get spoiled rotten by the waitstaff there. Yeah! All whilst being regaled by lovely music played live, and lively, on the red piano. Yeah!
An hour and a half later, I issued forth from that lounge, full of delicious bread pudding and decaf coffee. I also had a bag in hand. Leftovers??? Not hardly! I ate that whole lovely, moist, raisin-dotted treat all by myself, thank you! But I did have the forethought to order one to go for the next morning, one to share with the peace guy.

all she wants to do is dance, dance, dance

Just north of Darien, on I-95, is this billboard.
I choose to believe that it was meant especially for me.
I have enjoyed its message for several years now as I bounce back from southern visits.
The bright orange-red beckons to me - to me - with its friendly push: "Looking for a sign?"
Well, maybe I am.
"You were born to dance."
Indeed I was.
I got the music - sweet, sweet music - in me.
I just need to turn up the volume.

wishing stars

...for impossible things...
still...

sometimes

Sometimes, the air is just too heavy.
This has been one of those times.
Caught in the vortex between the death of a dear friend and the death of my father, four years ago.

Sigh.

I so desperately need to sit and be held, to feel the warmth of a sympathetic shoulder and chest against my back, to feel the warmth of loving arms drawing me close.

sigh

Maybe I should plan on entering the Poetry Slam on Friday.
Even though I won't be held, I will get to loose some of this heavy air.
My heavy air merging and dissipating into the musings of others.
Maybe.

flashback from fb

One of the things I do on facebook these days is delete the "memories" that pop up.

This time, though, I found the three, separate, "memories" of posts from this day in 2013 painted too good a picture of my life then for me to simply delete them.

Instead, I have come back in time to post them here.

-------------

Black Maria Film festival last Friday - thanks SCAD! Thanks to Jim Reed for encouraging me to go!

Yesterday, Brunch for Sarah Morgan's baby shower for family down at Tybee (Thanks Nancy! So good to see Jean Marie, Susan, and Jean there, too!), then "Hands of the Spirit" at Muse Arts Warehouse - both very uplifting!  Lunch at Kayak Kafe, featuring their $2 brownie and an Arnold Palmer drink (lemonade and iced tea) - and it was my first time there, so that counts toward my New Year's Resolution.  Sah-weet!  Afterward, I was "Singing In The Rain" at the Lucas - and the poster is MINE!  Woohoo!  Nice to see JinHi and Mark Rand there, too!  Then down to Tybee for a look at the beach in the half-moon light - ahhhh!

-------------

So, whatever happened to that poster I won at "Singing In The Rain"?

I gave it to Joe Buttner, for his apartment's bare walls.

In trade, he gave me a memorable adventure!

(smile!)

hopeful 4 a cure

This film resonated with me. I'm not usually a fan of horror movies, or zombie flicks, or scenes featuring repeated close-ups of decaying flesh. I don't mind shooting at zombies - oh, no, THAT is rather enjoyable and a great release of energy! I just don't want to watch them, on a large screen, for more than about 15 minutes.
That is decidely not the case here. I have seen "Warm Bodies" for my third time today. Yes, you read that correctly: my THIRD time. Thrice, I have paid good money to sit in a cinema and watch a movie about zombies. Odd, right? None the less, it IS a really good movie and it DOES have a lot to say about longing and loneliness and love.
Trust me, I tried to resist it, but the taglines kept tugging at my subconscious. "Cold body. Warm heart." "He's still dead, but he's getting warmer." "There's nothing hotter than a girl with brains." (Actually, I don't recall seeing that last one, but it's listed and sounded cool, so I reprinted it here.)
"Cold body. Warm Heart." Oh, really? Just how does THAT work in the land of zombies? Sounds like he might be a bit conflicted about his status. And who says he has a warm heart?
"He's still dead, but he's getting warmer." So, he's coming back to life, is that what is happening here? Apparently so. It's a surprise to the character, too, to realize while walking in the rain that the rain feels cold - but how could that be? He's dead, right? Right?
Apparently, he's just a little unwell, waiting for a change, waiting for a cure that he didn't even know existed.
I can totally relate.
He uses music - actual albums and a turntable from who knows where - to link him to the world he can't quite recall. He doesn't even remember his name, just the shadow of it. He doesn't recall how he ended up roaming the airport with all the other zombies, all the others in the same - or even worse - condition in this sad, new world. But he's set up camp in one of the airplanes, nesting there with all the items that have caught his eye during his rounds. He listens to Dylan and Springsteen and Waite and Orbison, songs of longing and loneliness and love.
He's even managed to find a zombie to call a friend. Someone to grunt at and have almost-conversations. Someone to look at and see himself reflected in their eyes. Someone to remind him that he was once human.
He knows he's in limbo, waiting, waiting.
I totally get that.
Limbo is a difficult place, neither here nor there, just... in between.
I miss touch. I miss kisses. I miss cuddling up with someone special.
Limbo.
For a while last summer, I was definitely getting warmer.
Then the holidays came and the warmth left and the cold returned.
R reminded me that the warmth is still inside me, waiting to be released.
I just hope I will get warm again soon.
I just hope that I will.
I just hope.

over 10,000 served! wow!

When I logged in to my blog, I found I'd had 10,011 views of my posts. That's incredible.
True, many of the views are drawn in by my titles, expecting something more lurid than they'll find here.
Those views still get counted.
True, many views are from spam sites, whether driven by bots or people. They're looking to plant their flags on my beach, that's all.
Those views, also, still get counted.
Sometimes, my family, whether by blood or by choice, find their way to my beach, to take a little stroll along the waters of my mind.
I enjoy those visits very much, even if a note is not tacked to a piece of driftwood for me.
Those views definitely get counted.

But I still say that this blog is written mostly for me. This particular beach, available to me any time of day or night, gives solace to my soul and entertainment of my thoughts. This beach is here for me to jump and shout, to rant and rave, to praise and be thankful. I carved out this bit of ether and called it mine: I did that.
I do hope visitors have enjoyed the view.
Believe me, more treasures will dot these shores. A bit of flotsam, too, maybe even some jetsam!