Cherry blossom of the day :

“One who shows signs of mental aberration is, inevitably, perhaps, but cruelly, shut off from familiar, thoughtless intercourse, partly excommunicated; his isolation is unwittingly proclaimed to him on every countenance by curiosity, indifference, aversion, or pity, and in so far as he is human enough to need free and equal communication and feel the lack of it, he suffers pain and loss of a kind and degree which others can only faintly imagine, and for the most part ignore.” -  Charles Horton Cooley

I ♥ mint green !

We [ me, myself, my imaginary friends, fairy princess up there and I] are slowly and unwillingly returning to boot camp mode, as I prepare to enjoy my last few days of freedom [ 2 more precisely ] before I start cramming for French, writing essays and admission letters, running and so on. Today I tried to capture a short video of the rain and posted it on you tube, however, my effort were pretty much in vain, because when you post things on you tube the quality goes down along with the size of the video, so you can barely see the drops of rain. Still I'll post the video anyway, in case someone is curious or likes to hear the sound of rain drops hitting the pavement. [ Zennnnnnnnn............... ]

The white car in front of my house is not mine, just for the record and there are a lot of trees because I live near a park .Oh !!!!! WAIT!!! Just saw, you can see it in high quality on You Tube!! YEY!!! And it's clear !!! So click on the video and it'll take you to the page on YT, where right beneath the Views, there's the "Watch in high quality", click on that and c'est fini !!:)

Yesterday the rain got pretty aggressive and I got pretty scared. Mainly because the lightning was very powerful and went in flashes for a very long time. I could hardly fall asleep despite having taken  2 sleeping pills and going to bed rather early. Hopefully, it won't be as noisy and reminiscent of a night at studio 54, for I desperately need to be in a decent state tomorrow as to resume my French preparation. And speaking of, I briefly talked to my French teacher today around 5 pm. She's still in Thailand and going to some island tomorrow. I can't remember the name right now to save my life, but what did stick with me was the fact that a movie in which Leonardo Di' Caprio stared was filmed there....aaa... " The Island" perhaps ? ... Not a huge fan of Leonardo after "The Titanic" [ I do cry... every single time ! ], although I have to admit he did star in a couple of very good movies, which I adored : "The departed" and " Blood Diamond". Gotta admit, the boy has a certain something when it comes to picking out movie roles.

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Ok, maybe I even liked him in "Romeo and Juliet", but that because of the hair and the pool scene. Nothing more !

Moving on, I have opened all my bookmarks under the UNIVERSITY group and gathered all the prospectous-es in order to finish writing down dates, deadlines, prices and courses by tomorrow, in hopes on finally deciding on a set group of Uni's and proffessions. Also, I made some time and booked the tickets for tomorrow's Batman. Me and my friend decide to go at 19:40. She also decided to bring her boyfriend along. So I deicided to bring my possy of imaginary friends in order to balance things out. Spiderman included! Take that, superhero fans! [ I am fully aware that I stopped making sense soem time ago... indulge me ]. And on that note, I am going to end this informative post.

Please look forward to a thinking topic, a picture post and enjoy the lovely music that I will upload from now on with the help of my newly installed BOX.

Voyez-vous bientôt ! [ according to Yahoo! Babel Fish = See you soon! ]

After three blackouts and about half an hour of continuous thunder I realised that I probably wouldn't be in a storm like this again so I thought it would be a good idea to try and get some on video.

Yep, clever, clever me... like some lunatic local news cameraman desperate for a big break. I almost wound up struck by lightning. Very, very close.

At least the room was cheap.

As, apparently, is the owner. :P

But that seemed to be a perfect ending to this day. It has been quite… full. Since five o’clock this afternoon, I have walked through a ghost town, traveled to Colorado, put my feet in a lake (the first water I’ve been in for months), hiked up a hill while following the stations of the cross, eaten fantastic Mexican food in the oldest town in Colorado, and drove through the mountains while lightning illuminated the sky.

And that’s only a brief glimpse at some of this day.

It was a good day.

I woke up knowing that things needed to change. The woman I was staying with in Taos was a nice person, and I felt safe with her, but she was definitely a Debbie Downer. I have to give her slack, though, for her life seemed pretty horrific. From what I could piece together, her daughter was killed right in front of her, as was her dog, Ocito, who had been her companion for the last few years. She had traveled to South Africa, started her own charity, and had recently lost one of her best friends over there, to AIDS. So those are just a few examples of the weight she carried on her shoulders, so I can certainly understand that, but after being woken up by her in the middle of the night, as she cried, and I comforted, I realized that this might not be the ideal situation for me to get myself balanced.

Yesterday, I woke up, happy for a decent sleep (and my life) and headed over to the Taos Pueblo. Since Magellan told me to, I illegally drove through the Pueblo land, but luckily I didn’t get in trouble for it. Instead, I got to see how these people live, tucked away on their reservation, without water or electricity, and lots of dogs and horses walking around freely. Mostly, though, the drive was filled with empty desert land, beautiful in its simplicity and loneliness.

The Pueblo itself was gorgeous, even though I felt as though I were trespassing. A couple dozen people of the Pueblo have little shops, and they don’t mind the tourists, but the rest of the people who live there must be pissed! I know I would be. The entire purpose of living on the Pueblo is to maintain tradition and distance, and then suddenly you start charging people 10 dollars to witness this incredible life choice, and I don’t know… it would piss me off.

The Pueblo people really liked me, however. Especially… the men. Cheyenne, when I got home that night, said “yeah – they like the big, beautiful women.” I was initially going to be affronted by this comment, but then realized I was talking to a 5 foot one, 90-pound individual. She would probably be offended if I called her… squirt. So I let it go, and accepted the truth of it, because during my couple days in Taos, I think I had the potential for about five marriage proposals if I had just smiled one more time, or stayed a moment longer. It was nice, to feel so beautiful and mooned after, but it was… odd, since the culture I come from isn’t that way.

The winner for best ‘mooning after’ was definitely Joseph, however, He was a Pueblo man, who lost an arm a dozen years back while… carving a buffalo, or something. For some reason, it was as though I walked into his Pueblo and changed his life, because he lit up and hugged me for about… five minutes too long. After talking to me for a while, he also decided to bless me and my journey, so he lit a sage smudge stick and covered me in smoke and whispers. Wait, I made that sound too mysterious and sexy. It was definitely mysterious, and it was a beautiful Pueblo tradition he was allowing me to be a part of, but sexy it was not. Just to clarify. However, after this he asked me if he could take me to the mountain that night, and play his drum and sing to me the native music of the Pueblo people.

I mean, how could I turn that down.

But I did. I wasn’t about to put myself into another situation like that, however more innocent and authentic he seemed than Scott in Roswell. So I might have missed out on the most life-changing drum-filled spiritual experience of my life, but I had to let it pass.

I felt a bit of a stronger affinity to Cesar, who was a young man who worked in one of the stores in town. I didn’t notice him much at first, since I was enamored by all the beautiful jewelry, but eventually I needed to ask for his assistance, and we talked for quite some time while I was being wishy-washy about which pieces of jewelry I wanted.

In the end, I spent farrrrr more than I expected to, but not really since I had been waiting since Georgia to get to the Southwest and purchase the jewelry I wanted. I had wanted some inlaid jewelry (I expected it to be Zuni at the time, but the pieces I bought were Navajo, I believe), and I wanted some of the… green stuff. I think it’s just green turquoise, but I’m not completely sure. You think I would have learned the stones by now, but alas. I have not.

However, Cesar was extremely kind, and I didn’t think about him ‘that way’ until I was leaving and he said “see you tomorrow.” I turned around, and he said “Please?” I told him I wasn’t sure what I was doing, and I didn’t end up going back, even though I happened to drive by the shop today and was tempted. He was a good person, with intelligence and drive. He wasn’t what he initially presented himself as, and I liked that about him. He had definitely grown on me. But the last thing I want is to suddenly be stuck in Pueblo town.

Another fascinating individual I met was… well, Aspen something was his Native name, and I forget his real name… so I’m basically useless. But anyways, he was a 14-year-old boy from the Pueblo, who was selling the family wares that day with his grandma. They were such sweet people, and I bought a piece of inlaid work in the shape of a turtle, which his father, a master silversmith, had made. The boy, however, was fascinating, because at 14 he was one of the smartest, well-spoken individuals I have ever met, which is not just rare for the world, but extremely rare for this area of New Mexico. He painted cards, and was working on the Micaceous clay pottery, and was studying Law, and was basically a fascinating young man. I wanted to kidnap him and show him the world, and see what he had to say about it all.

Today was a tough one. I woke up, really unsure about what to do. All I knew was that I had to keep moving, and that the air had very quickly gotten stagnant while staying with Cheyenne, as interesting and kind as she was. So I packed up, and left Taos around noon.

The funny thing is, I left Taos again around five.
Haha.

The reason for this is that I drove the Enchanted Circle, an 80-mile loop around the Carson National Park area, which is wonderfully scenic, and drives through quaint little mountain resort towns. I especially liked Red River - it would be an ideal place to have a family vacation. There was even a ghost town, Elizabethtown, along the way, which used to be a thriving gold rush town, and is now essentially a shadow. Of course, I loved that… being surrounded by the history, with only remains acting as proof that anything was ever there. The woman working at the “museum” was really kind and gracious to me, and it was strange to be in the middle of nowhere, looking at old stuff. Really surreal experience, though, even if I’m not bothering to describe it very well. As I was driving out of the “town,” four horses were walking alongside my car.

That was fun.

And since the time between this morning and this evening, everything has changed. This must be the most life-filled day I've ever lived.

The most life-filled day I've ever lived. :)

One of the most vivid memories and the most often told stories of my childhood are the ones with me on the baseball field.  Those memories and stories don't involve the successes and the failures, but only of the games never played.

I grew up in a humid part of the country and every afternoon brought the possibility of a sudden storm (not as bad as Florida).   All of our games were played at 4:30 pm.

For me, the pacing began at about 12 pm, this is when I put on the uniform and started throwing the ball in the air in the front yard, it advanced to the tennis ball off of the roof or against the garage door (if the AMC Hornet wasn't in the driveway).

The good days ended with an actual game (the better days were the ones that ended in a victory), but the bad days were the ones that involved a rain storm.   I began pressuring my mom to go to the field at about 3pm, even if it were raining, but normally one of the assistant coaches would come and get me.   I would go out on the field as soon as I got there.  The hope, I guess, was to prove that it wasn't raining too hard to play.

This trick NEVER worked.  But it didn't keep me from trying.   Usually, the whole scene ended with me looking at the tail lights of every other car and me standing on the field soaked.

"IT'S BARELY RAINING...WE CAN STILL PLAY!"

Tonight, now that I have signed up for the 1/2 marathon, I am in full training mode.  I ran 4 miles Thursday, 4 miles on Friday, 2 miles (with my son) on Saturday, 6 miles on Sunday and 4 miles on Monday.  Yesterday was my rest day.  We had football practice and I ran as the receiver as all of the kids lined up and practiced throwing.

Tonight was five mile night.  

Torrential downpour!

There I was pacing between the front porch and my computer screen checking out the radar.

I would have toughed it out if it was just rain, but there was thunder and lightning too.   I didn't have a leg to stand on while trying to convince my wife I should still go running.  Last week, a runner was killed after being struck by lightning and today a mail carrier was hit by lightning.

I am still watching the radar and looking for a dry hour.

"THERE ISN'T TOO MUCH LIGHTNING!"

But I went upstairs to close windows, and she's decided to be on the bottom step.  So I'm in the crook of the staircase, typing on my laptop, humming old Beatles' tunes.....

Fonte: Il blog che non c'è

and once sky gets angry enough a bolt of violence lashes out of the black clouds

and then the angry rain

stealing a little light out of the day

a fullness of the air as the air thickens before the storm

we stumble furtively in the darkness of our minds

a darkness of our own making or a darkness of nature's design

we know not which

for nature there is alway slight in every dark.

dark clouds presage lightning

the moon and stars illuminate the night

fireflies and the glowing fish of the deepest depths

but to seem some lights, it has to get awfully dark first....

and comes the rain like thunderous applause

relieving the strain on the fabric of a brutal reality

And once again the world is rain

Rain in tropical abundance

the full fury of an ordinary storm--no hurricane this

but damp enough for my tastes

darkness at noon and all that

I can clearly see the neon sign across the street although we are hours from sunset

it's beckoning glowing letting me know that I store I'll never enter is nonetheless "OPEN"

Por Fillipe Vivas

Forget the GM Volt and the Tesla Roadster. We want this, the Lightning GT.  The brochures say this electric car will do 0-60mph in 4 secs flat. And it has the equivalent of 700 horsepower, which is about 600 more than your Toyota Prius. Some reports say it will do 200 miles on a 10 second charge, which sounds pretty much impossible. But who cares... It's British and it looks like an Aston Martin. Now for the bad news. If you want one, you'll have to put down a $30,000 deposit. We love electric cars.

Unveiled at the British Motor Show at London, this is a fully electric sports car. Its called the Lightning. There will be Tesco recharging stations in the UK which they say you will be able to top-off (fill up) under 10 minutes.
For 120,000 Pounds or $240,000, you might as well just pay for gas on a regular car

Anyway, I was doing some reading outside on my balcony (economics notes, actually) and it there was a thunderstorm outside. It's funny, because I couldn't actually hear the loud drumming of the thunder. So I saw a pretty great lightshow instead. It kind of sucks, because I was sitting outside... yet it still looked muffled. I mean, there was no glass interference, but you need both light and sound. To correct this, I pumped out some mad Wagner. I'm surprised Ride of the Valkyries didn't come it. The song would've been too cliche yes, but I needed those drums out. Even so, it was an amazing experience. I just wish I could've brought my speakers outside or something. Maybe it would've been a bit too loud for 10pm.

Having sound and sight is pretty awesome, but my best experiences in thunderstorms have been actually IN them. I love the feeling of rain pelting me while thunder crashes all around and distinct lightning bolts streak through the sky beyond 45 degrees from the last bolt. Completely drenched, I danced around in a small park (while steering clear from tall trees). It was possibly the most natural and exhilarating experiences I have ever felt.

John McCain, meanwhile, sat back and waited for Obama to fuck up, taking in a baseball game and some golf.

Unfortunately for McCain, Obama knows that the only thing he has to do to prove that he is worthy is to not fuck up.  In Afghanistan, Obama shook some hands and nodded his head a lot and ate some food.   His adoring press did the rest.  All of the world’s media was focused on the trip, even though few specific details were given.  And suddenly, Obama has been given credit for renewing focus on Afghanistan, where it should be, with the fledgling democracy long since forgotten by the George W. Bush administration.

In Iraq, Obama shook some hands, flew in some choppers and did his best to not fall asleep.  Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki did the rest.  In a bitch slap to John McCain and the White House, al-Maliki pretty much endorsed Obama, as far is the press is concerned, by agreeing with the candidate on his 16 month timetable for withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.  Ouch.

John McCain, meanwhile, said a bunch of stuff that nobody heard because they were too busy gushing over Barack Obama’s successful tour.  That’s bad for McCain, who had better hope that Obama gets struck by lightning before things get really bad.

Cum In My Undies

Here is their site LightningCarCompany.co.uk

Last night it stormed. Not your usual rainstorm that produces a rhythmic pitter patter that is sleep inducing, but rather the Crash-Boom, shake the whole house kind of rainstorm. The first one of my children to become disturbed  by the rainstorm was Aidan, my 4 year old. He trotted down the hallway at 1:00 am sputtering sleepy garbled phrases about the lightning. I cuddled with him in our bed and then carried him down the hallway back to his bedroom at 1:30. At 1:45 (RIGHT as I was falling asleep), my 3 year old daughter, Madeline, cried when the thunder shook the floors.  She crawled in bed with us and  promptly fell asleep in my arms. I faithfully carried her back to bed at 2:00 a.m. I nestled under the covers, convinced that I had tucked them into their beds for the last time, when I heard Madeline cry again. I walked BACK down the hallway and laid with her for a few minutes until it thundered again and I realized that she would not be sleeping in her bed tonight!  So up she went, back into our beds and I tucked her in next to my husband and looked at the clock--- 2:40. I laid down with her and briefly fell asleep. Then Ethan started to cry. I looked out the window, cursed the rain, and trotted BACK down the hallway to comfort him. After 15 minutes, he was asleep in his bed and I returned to our bedroom only to realize that I no longer had a spot! I nudged my daughter over and curled up next to her...3:20. I fell asleep. This morning wasn't my best morning...as you can imagine. Nap time can't come soon enough.

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Ever since all those rich black guys in Illinois financed his trip to congress, and ever since Obama built a huge following of rich contributors to move into the senate, and ever since he delivered that speech at the ’04 convention that everyone said was so great, and ever since he said he’d call the President of Canada even though there is no President of Canada, and ever since I realized Dennis Kucinich had absolutely no chance, and ever since I realized that Al Gore wouldn’t run again, and ever since Bill Richardson seemed to have way too many hangovers to really make an impact, and ever since John Edwards dropped out of the race, and ever since he took out a fellow Democrat with far more experience and a much more detailed plan for making America a good place to live for a lot more of us, I’ve been in love with him.

So, do I love Barack because he’s not John McCain?  Why?  Well, John McCain may be better equipped to handle taking over the Presidency in a time of war, but he’s also better equipped to take over seven cards on bingo night.  Conventional public wisdom tells us that the Republican is likely to be tougher on terrorism, but even Michael Bloomberg admits that the chances of being struck by lightning are far greater than being harmed in a terrorist attack.  So what’s John McCain going to do to protect me from lightning?  Absolutely nothing.  John McCain is a man with no plan.  Sure, Barack may not have a plan either, but at least he gives kick ass speeches.

Still, I am undecided on who it is that I will vote for in the upcoming election.  I’ll just wait it out and follow the polls and see if it’s even going to be close.  I’m hoping that on Election Day I can just sleep all day until it’s time to go bowling.  And even though Barack Obama is a terrible bowler, I urge you to vote for him.

As a note... the storm came later... really nice, heavy thunderstorm!

It happened on Catalina Highway outside of Tucson just under a tenth of a mile north of milepost 4.

A nice storm had just begun to unleash rain, lightning and thunder in the early evening.  Typical of the Monsoon, partly sunny skies had finally surrendered to dark clouds in what seemed like an instant.

Just moments before the rockslide, the sky turned a vibrant orange, casting the same hue upon the mountains surrounding this stretch of road.

I've decided to make a story out of the video I shot last night, showing the simple chain of events as they unfolded.

There's nothing terribly special about this rockslide.  They're common in the Catalinas.  And this one is small, just managing to stay off of the nearby traffic lane.

To my knowledge, capturing a naturally occurring slide event on video is not common here. And as you'll see in the video, I almost missed it...

[wpvideo K6emhkNd]

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we eat sleep and breathe the toxic debris of 40 generations. and when the time comes we've got 40 generators to make up for what the lightning takes away. striking us down in our humble homes to avenge the brothers and sisters we stole from it-- the trees and salmon, the hope and innocence. 

we drive on. 

and we think we're electric. we think we're powerful ghosts, untouchable and innocent. so we cover our eyes, tie our hands to our wallets and stuff them deep into polyester pockets. 

and we go to work. rats on endless wheels, we pay up front and stab each other in the back. we sit down and stand corrected and kneel, giving the sign of the cross and forgetting what it means to have faith in anything. 

we fall asleep.

it's too late. we don't wake up.

Personally, I think rather than not carrying a cell phone or ipod, let's just not sunbathe or go bike riding during thunderstorms. I seem to recall being taught things like that as a kid.

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