the wonderful wonder wheel 

the 'self proclaimed' 'real' king of the polar bears... 

punch drunk on the way home from coney island... 

redbones

playing with our new digital camera...my sugar sweet fiance, at our favorite place to eat large quantities of barbeque and drink wonderfully large amounts of mojitos. 

mermaids, carnys, and freaks...oh my!

what we must do is live our lives to the absolute fullest. that is what we must do. so i propose a trip. out of this miserable bostontown and into 'the real city', full of endless possibilities, both good and bad, great and tragic...to a party of the greatest possible proportions. full of freaks and ferris wheels, cotton candy and skee ball, bright beaches and carousels, tiny wine bottles and boardwalk beauties.
come one come all to the mermaid parade, at coney island, brooklyn, ny....june 25th.
it would be an absolute shame if you missed it.

Jason Irving Doeg, 1982-2005

'Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.'
-edna st. vincent millay-

we miss you j.

pamelia kurstin is f*cking hot

no post in quite some time, i just noticed. ernie and i are deep into wedding planning blitz mode. ("second times a charm", that's the phrase, right?)
but, i thought i would just write and let everyone know that my favorite boston based motleys are playing upstairs at the middle east on thursday, may 26. for those of you who aren't 'in the circus/sideshow music know', i'm referring to the amazing 'beat circus'. they will be playing along with another favorite of mine from brooklyn, 'barbez'...which happens to include the hottest living actual theremin player in the universe...pamelia kurstin. yes, that's right folks, she actually plays, as opposed to just fondling the theremin for her own personal enjoyment (as i've been know to do).
also, playing will be the guitar/accordian project 'gutterhelmet'...alec k. redfern, you rock my socks with your accordian box. (that sounded much more naughty than i had intended)

so, if you're in the boston area, come to the middle east up, on thursday night, may 26. you will be shocked and amazed.

les yeux noirs!!

wednesday...one of those days when you know that laying on the couch and watching horrific reality tv will only leave you with a television hangover in the morning, so you force yourself to go out, do something, and you feel so much better for it...so much better.
on these midweek nights when ernie and i need to get off the couch and away from the tele, we go down to davis square. last night i had noticed that there was a band from paris called les yeux noirs playing at johnny d's. a "russian french yiddish gypsy fiddle driven ensemble"...honestly, how could we go wrong??
all i can say is that the cd's that they were selling were horribly overpriced at twenty american dollars, (i am assuming because the dollar is crap), and i readily and easily handed our twenty over to the lovely french fiddle player...with a smile, no less.
they were, astonishing.
to anyone, and everyone who has the chance, please, i implore you, go see this band. not only is the brother fiddle duo quite 'easy on the eyes' as the girls would say, but they're absolutely talented as well.

updates

i never meant for this site to be about 'updates'...but here are a few affecting my life right now:
-i am engaged, with a lovely sapphire and diamond ring
-it is warm today in boston, it is spring in boston, i am happier in boston (rare)
-my brother daniel is home in tennessee from iraq, he is alive
-my brother nigel is out of prison on bail, his trial has been postponed until august, he is alive
-my parents are deeper and deeper in debt, almost to bankruptcy, but they have their two youngest sons home for at least a short while, and they are happy
-my bike is out of the garage for the first time in two years...rode it with ernie on the cape next to the ocean this weekend...so beautiful
-my 'to do' lists are getting longer and longer
-still miss ny, it's still my 'goal'

i'm sure it's chemical, but even with all that is still happening with my family, the fact that it has warmed a bit in new england has changed my mood considerably for the better. anxiously awaiting my first summer swim at walden pond.

secrets

maybe jumping the bandwagon late...but in my obnoxious job above the garbage dump, this website helps me with my day.

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sent to me by a very talented craftster swappee... 

la vie en rose...

may i humbly suggest to anyone in the boston area, to please go to the lizard lounge on saturday, april 9th at 8pm to see ZIAF (playing the songs of edith piaf). i've seen them twice before, and they are wonderful. the lead singer, while not sounding exactly like piaf, (but who could, really?), has an amazing voice.
they will be playing two sets, along with some other local bands, including 'cirkestra', a three piece (accordian, violian, bass fiddle) who play circus sideshow americana type whatnot.
salut!

a fine city indeed...tres bon

i should change the name of this blog, to the 'a-ok' blog...since i've no reason whatsoever to want to chronicle the awful stesses that are actaully happening. only the good. to all of the morose, my apologies.
a much much needed weekend trip to montreal...a break from massachusetts...a break from this country...a break from reality. my first visit to the fine french city...i'm absolutely in love.
rekindling my adoration of the language, i bought some cd's to help me begin my quest to master the language and undo all of the damage my highschool french teacher, with a tennessee accent, might have inflicted. over the weekend a friend of mine commented that if she learned to speak fluent french, her 'stock' would go up 100 points. i heartily agree, and intend to invest fourfold in my 'stock', as i'm almost thirty, and being able to hold a perfect french conversation (and roll my 'r's in all of the right places) would most likely distract from my continually sagging ass and laugh lines. more charming than botox, i'm sure.

happy birthday miss rockmore...

today is miss clara rockmore's birthday. she would have been 94 years old. she passed in 1998. thank you miss rockmore.

only positives

there is much more negative than positive in my life as of late...so today, i will not write about the negatives. they really don't deserve any more of my time. it's just as well, most of the negatives are so unbelievable and sad that they don't really transfer well to the page...unless of course, i'm dave eggars (harharhar).
positives: (they are small, but they are strong)
*massive amounts of snow in boston this winter, lending to many nights of sledding and pizza. yes, i'm sick of the snow, but the sledding has made it much more bearable. in fact, the sledding has made many things in my life much more bearable.
*finishing my first stencil design on a shirt, it turned out well. learning more about that devil program photoshop to use for my crafting advantage.
*finishing my first knitted wire bracelet with beads. my fingers were blistered, but it looks quite nice.
*found an amazing, kick ass pair of 1970's leather knee boots at a thrift shop for only five (5) bucks!!
*the beat circus show at tt's. long, drawn out, they didn't play until 12:30am (on a school night, no less) but it was well worth it.
*finishing "hunger" by knut hamson. wondering why i hadn't read this much much earlier in my life. highly recommended.
*discovering a new writer in the new yorker, that i actually like.
*reading on the bus.
*knowing that certain members of my family are safe, and alive.

these are all of the positives i could muster. there are the usual suspects...ernie, he is always a positive. my apartment, always a positive that i have a roof, and my warm bed. but i find it's easier and more comforting for me, if i focus on the smaller things. makes the reality of certain things seem much less horrible than they actually are.

manolo says super fantastic...

while doing some nonsensical searching on the internets...i came across this completely ridiculous blog...manolo's shoe blog. disregard the fact that it's mostly all about shoes and fashion, and it's one of the funniest things i've read...today, at least. don't miss the cafepress store, where you can buy a coffee mug that reads...
"manolo says, the hassellhoff, he is comfortable in his celebrity."

yay!