Chaos

Things are a little chaotic right now. We are finally nearing completion of Unit #14 which will be our sales office. However there are some things, which still need to be completed before we may move in and I have some issues. Such as the kitchen!

Here the backsplash is being installed. It should have been done last week.

Oh look! The refrigerator is too short and where the hell is the stainless steel panels. Oh and while I'm at it why is my double oven laying on the floor in the breakfast area and not installed in the wall? AND don't get me started on the cabinets. They look like crap!

Wait is that furniture delivery? OH.MY.GOD.

Quick clean the floors! They were filthy. The plaster and dry wall dust got through the paper covering the floors and then ground in. On top of all this the painter’s tape that was used to keep the paper down has stained the floor. The floors may need to be replaced!

My wonderful dinning room selection. WHAT THE HELL! Why is there a toilet in my dining room? Oh I see it's for convenience and extra seating.

There is no electric, no A/C and no running water as of yet. I'm losing my mind and I need a drink!

Goal Achieved

I am happy to report I have reached my goal of returning to a size 32 waist! I have not been in a size 32 since 1993. Woo! My diet and exercise has been paying off.

I just treated myself to two new pairs of trousers in celebration. It’s the simple things that make me happy. ☺

People! (part 3)

Yet again my theory that people suck has been reinforced. I was just sitting in traffic on DeRenne Avenue on my return from North Jacksonville, aka Southside Savannah. I'm minding my own business waiting patiently for the light to turn green when out of nowhere three young heathens hurl a large cup of coffee at my car from the side of the road!

As I was reaching for my gun to shoot them they ran off. Bastards!

People! (part 2)

Last night after several cups of Chamomile mint and Kava tea I finally chilled out from the day’s events. I got to thinking that people really SUCK! Yes, it is true.

It dawned on me that not one person stopped to see if we were all right from the accident! It was a three-car pile-up and there were plenty of witnesses, but they all pulled out from behind us and drove off. How rude and if I dare say, illegal. The idea that the South is full of polite people is just as myth. We can be just as inconsiderate, rude and selfish as any Yankee or anyone from anywhere else for that matter.

After the accident we pulled our cars off the road into a car dealership parking lot. This process took a little time because people were being inconsiderate and would not let us move our cars to free up the road. They kept driving on by gawking. Once we got into the parking lot the owner came out and asked if everyone was okay and mentioned he called the police. I thought this was nice. At least someone cared, but then he tried to sell us new cars! I'm totally serious.

A half hour later the Thunderbolt police arrived with sirens blaring. A half hour later! The officer jumps out of his cruiser and says; "Is everyone alright?" We all looked at him in disbelief. I said to someone if there were injuries we would be dead by now. It took a half hour for them to arrive because the two police stations were arguing over who had the jurisdiction. Savannah or Thunderbolt?

The dealership address states it's in Thunderbolt. Duh!

People!

I have had too many car accidents in my 40 years of life upon this earth plane. I have had enough! In all these years not one has been my fault, not one have I been held accountable for. I have a perfect driving record and it has been said by someone that I drive like an old woman. Frankly I don't find this fair since many old women here in Savannah drive horribly and for that matter so does this certain 40 something year old living in Ardsley Park. (Oh!)

Yet again I'm rear ended (y'all, need to bite your tongue) in traffic, which wasn't even moving! This is always the case, I'm usually not even moving. People just seem to see me and hurl their vehicles at me! WTF?

Stop it stop it STOP IT!

Suckety, Suck, Suck!

I'm in a mood! It looks as if I may not be able to go back to graduate school. Apparently I can't get all the funding I need. I have to try another option now, but I am not sure I'll get it. Perhaps I should consider a State school, but this means I'll have to go for an MFA. I want an MA because it will only take a year to complete and it's less money.

I guess I could look at UGA again, but if I go there I'll have to move to Athens and I would have to move my business too. I have many contacts here, which has been great for business. I would have to start all over again. Ugh!

This SUCKS!

Unexpectedly Busy

Business is rolling along. My biggest client is taking up a fair amount of my time though. As stated once before this client is a builder. I have a contract with them to decorate their model home. The only problem is it's taking a very long time to complete construction on the model. There have been some "issues" which I really can't write about, but needless to say it's holding everything up. In the mean time I don't get paid for the contract.

Things aren't too bad though because in the interim they had hired me in as a part-time "designer" for their spec houses and some design related office work. I am learning a lot and there has been so much to do that it's becoming more then part-time. So all in all it's working out.

Currently I am designing a new website for my business because the current one is rather boring and uninformative. I originally threw the damn thing together rather quickly so I would have something out there, but it's time for something more professional.

On top of all this I am working on getting together a new portfolio. Some of you know this from conversation, but for you that don't I have decided to return to graduate school to finish my master’s degree. It's been a very long time since I originally began my masters and quit in disillusionment. Now I am returning to classes at age 40 and I think I finally have my head on straight, figuratively speaking that is.

I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a major in Painting and a minor in Art History, Graphic Design and Photography. Yes, that many minors. I took 10 years to get my bachelors!

Do I paint anymore? No. Do I dabble in graphic design? Not really, but perhaps a little web design is related to that. Do I still photograph? Sure I do, but not in the manner I was trained.

What career do I have? I'm an Interior Decorator. Yes, I know ... how gay. I finally embraced what I enjoy doing and have enjoyed for most of my life. Many, many moons ago I almost went for a degree in Interior Design, but I decided against it for what I perceived as too linear and ridged a degree for such a free flowing individual, such as myself. ;) I am more concerned with the decorating aspects then the drafting. You see I really don't like drawing straight lines. I always looked at Interior Design as "Architecture Light", but I have decided to bite the bullet and return to graduate school for my masters in Interior Design.

I have to make certain this new portfolio is brilliant because I would like to avoid as many prerequisite classes as possible. Since my bachelors degree is in a completely unrelated field I need to show I understand the basics in Interior Design such as elevations, electrical drawings, terminology and the like.

I think I will be okay. My business is related and I have a certain process I go through in every project, which is similar to that of an Interior Designer. I have a tremendous amount of resources at my fingertips via the builder I work with. They are excited for me and said they would help me out. So why not? In the end I'll be able to expand my business.

So here I am unexpectedly busy!

A Good Weekend

The above image of Jeremy pretty much sums up this weekend. It was a good time had by all! I am finally over the funk and thank you everyone for the kind words of support during the past week and a half.

We went to Lu Lu's Chocolate bar and met up with friends. I was feeling so good I ended up having three chocolate martinis!

Afterwards we went to Venus De Milo for a change of atmosphere where I had another martini. Then we decided to head over to Club One where for some reason I had a gin and tonic. Then we got a wild hair and decided to drive out to Tybee Island.

On the way there we stopped at the Huddle House on Whitemarsh Island and consumed mass quantities of food. I don't normally frequent such places because it's not the most vegetarian friendly environment, but I was happy to get something in my stomach.

Then we headed to Tybee. We pulled into North beach and found a wonderful spot to sit and watched the ships that were lined up to enter the Savannah River. The stars were really beautiful too and we got to see several shooting stars. We spent a fair amount of time talking and just having a really good time.

I eventually crawled into bed at 5:15 AM!

Cheney in 1994 on Iraq

Unbelievable! Every news station should run this and Fox News should be forced to run it every two hours. Thanks be to Steve for forwarding this to me.

Summer Funk

I haven’t been in a mood to post much lately because I have the summer funk. It’s some kind of flu. I have never been in sick during the summer months before. People have said to me that being sick in summer is the worst. It seems to last longer. Currently I am inclined to believe such statements because I just can’t seem to get better.

I think I am starting to heal though because it seems to have left my lymph glands and throat and has moved to my head. However I developed a horrible cough at night. Last night I woke up out of a deep sleep because I started to cough. I had to sit up in order to get some air. The coughing would not stop and I thought I was going to cough out a lung!

Then I continued to cough on and off for the rest of the evening. It was awful.

I think it’s my own fault though. You see two weeks ago I decided to go out and live a little. Several of my friends have this misguided view that I am uptight because I don’t sleep around. When I explain to them that I have tried it and it’s just not me they still insist I am uptight.

Anyhow it had been over a year since my last sexual encounter so I decided that perhaps it’s time for me to “live” a little.

The outcome? Well, I did meet someone and went home with him. NOW I’M SICK!

Whenever I “live” a little I end up getting sick. This is one of the reasons I don’t do it often. It’s like the gods have something against me. They’re fine as long as I don’t enjoy myself. If I enjoy myself too much they send out the fates to get me.

I have had some crazy things happen to me for having random sex. I am not going to post about it because it’s embarrassing. Thankfully it has not been life threatening or require ongoing treatment. I am clean, healthy and strong, but it’s been enough for me to consider becoming a Buddhist monk or at least retreat back into my shell, which I find more comfortable, then a messy one-night stand.

I think I am good for another year. Well, of course if I were to find the right mate then I will reconsider, but I am not keeping my fingers crossed. I mean I do live in the Vortex of Goo.

Memories

This picture was taken in 1998. I was living in Atlanta and my friend Jimmy found my Polaroid camera (remember those?) and snapped this surprise picture of me. The crazy expression is because I was attempting to tell him to stop, but it was too late. You see I had plans for that last piece of film though almost ten years later I can't remember what for.

Anyway I just came across this image in a folder of scanned photographs on my computer. It made me laugh and remember fondly the times I spent with my friends in Atlanta.

This Saturday Past

It was Melissa's 50th birthday party. I'm still in recovery!

Something Strange

Do you ever have the feeling something very strange is lurking around the corner?

Yet another image appropriated from my friends at Fabulon!

Photo Of The Moment

Grasses at the edge of the marsh.

New Ad Campaign

Thanks be to my friends over at Fabulon for the idea!

Busy, Busy, Busy

I have been really busy with work these days. It’s good though, but it’s not my own business per sae that is keeping me busy. I currently have only one active client. My client pool is kind of drying up like the Ariel Sea. I am however, working part-time for one of my clients, the people who are building the town home development so it is related and a continuing learning experience.

This part-time situation is turning out to be a little more like full-time at the moment, which is good since it’s my only main source of income at the moment. I am pulling together all the details on the spec houses. This is to say I am making decisions on the type of floorings, cabinets, countertops, plumbing and lighting. I also get to do some design work, which means I get paid my design fee.

This morning started out at a Bath and Kitchen showroom where I got to ogle and caress quite a few extraordinary vessel sinks. This showroom had a fully functioning sok® overflowing bath for two with effervescence and chromatherapy. It was amazing! I almost stripped down and stepped in.

Tomorrow I have a meeting with our cabinet company to discuss the final details for the model home. We have decided to change direction on the interior design and so I have to come up with a whole new design. After lunch I have to meet with two of our tile suppliers at their locations. This means I will be let loose upon two fabulous showrooms of state of the art tiles.

I’m so excited!

Who Might You Be?

Your results:
You are Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic)

Medicine and physical healing are your game, but wooing women isn't a strong suit.

Click here to take the Serenity Personality Quiz


Wooing women isn't a strong suit? Well, duh. I am okay with this pairing though because I have always admired this man's sense of style.

Thanks to The Other Andrew for the link to this site!

Lost Items

Have you ever lost some thing you still wish you had? At the moment I wish I still had these glasses. I loved these glasses. Yes, they are silly, but I loved them. It was 1992 and I was 25 years old. I was living in Athens, GA attending university.

I had some crazy times in Athens. I attended UGA, was part of an experimental band, The Vomits. I created a tremendous amount of art, explored bisexuality extensively (oh!) and just had a blast.

Anyway where was I? Oh yeah, I lost these glasses while me and some friends were visiting Ricky Wilson’s grave. The cemetery caretaker was a mean, nasty old man (probably my age now) who used to chase people away from Ricky’s grave. He would come after you with a pitchfork.

One day while paying homage we were chased away by this man. We panicked and ran up the railway embankment which was covered with kudzu, crossed the tracks to the other side of the embankment. What we didn’t realize at the time is the other side of the embankment was much steeper. The kudzu grew up at such an angle over old bushes and trees we didn’t know we were going to be swallowed up alive by impenetrable kudzu!

Now I must admit we were all rather stoned. So we took a tremendous fall and tumbled down the embankment, much like Buttercup in the Princess Bride. The good thing about this situation we vanished out of sight from that horrible man with the pitchfork.

My glasses disappeared when all this happened. So I am thinking some where in that kudzu are my glasses.

Perhaps I need to make a trip to Athens.

Too Much

Stupid me. I believe I drank an entire bottle of wine. Too much, too much, TOO MUCH!

The evening started at Steve and Jim's house when I popped in for a quick visit. I was offered a glass of wine. Then I met Nicholas, Calvin and Jeremy at Gallery Espresso where I had a glass of wine. Then we ended up at Lulu’s Chocolate bar where I had two glasses of wine. Oh, and then we popped in next-door at Venus de Milo where I had two more glasses of wine!

Actually I don't think I finished that last glass of wine and now that I think about it I probably drank more then a bottle. Some of those glasses are like two normal size glasses. Anyhow I had to spend the night at Nicholas's apartment and ended up sleeping on his most uncomfortable settee. Now my back hurts.

I think this is going to be a rather lazy day. Though I will say we had a swell time.

My Dead Body

$4575.00The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth

Hey Lewis, apparently my body is also worth more then yours! Ha, ha!

Gallery Opening

Last night Calvin, Nicholas and myself went to a gallery opening at the Telfair Museum of Art’s Jepson Centre. I’m afraid I can’t remember the name of the artist the opening was for. There was an unimpressive installation piece of painted clay babies that ascended the stairs in the museum. It dealt with race and such.

At one point I was expecting Nicholas to fall and roll down the stairs in one of his uncontrolled spiritual possessions by Anna Nicole Smith, taking out the installation on the way down. Thankfully he managed to ward off her spirit long enough until we left the museum.

During our walkabout I was more impressed by the works of Hilary Brace. What an amazing artist! Her work is small, mystical and painstakingly tiny. I don’t know how she does it. The images I viewed were in charcoal on polyester film. Very cool.

Below are some photographs taken inside and outside the museum for your enjoyment.


The baby installation.




Looking towards the reception area.


Rome?




The old post office tower.


It was a lovely evening.

Lazy Sunday

Last night some friends and I went out to eat and then hit Venus De Milo for a while and then onto Club One. I was out until 1:30 AM and so I am running a little low on energy. Thus it's a lazy Sunday, but I guess that is what the weekends are for. :) I had a good time.

Today I am at work for five hours. Hidden Pointe Townhomes is a client of mine, but I also work for them part-time as part of their design team. Another thing I do for them is hand out information and give tours to interested buyers. At the same time I give them my business card. It's good advertisement for me. The builders are currently selling the properties themselves so if a sale should go through I get a commission. So far I haven't sold anything. Who knows, perhaps I will.

Currently I am trying to design a medallion for a courtyard for one of the units. It's to be made of brick. We have some extra brick so I was asked to come up with something. Brick is such an odd material to create a medallion with so I am afraid it won't be too intricate of a design.

Untitled

Around, all around, the shadows gather.
My dread grows as the dagger of your words falls against my naked soul.
It crushes me, and darkly my soul drips to the barren land.
In numbness I hang my head while nothingness looms.
Now alone, my supplication falls upon dead eyes.
This is because of you

Heading Home

Well I am heading home this morning and not a moment too soon. This place drives me CRAZY! It's always nice to visit with my mum and I always like to come back to Fort Myers to reconfirm the knowledge this town lacks soul.

I met a couple of Interior Decorators while visiting. They are going to make some drapery for my mothers bedroom. We hit it off rather well and they think I should relocate here because they believe I would be busy all the time. I know this would probably be true because people are moving here constantly and have money to burn, but I did not have the heart to tell them I don't really care for Fort Myers and Florida in general.

The cats had a good time. They enjoy having a full house to run around in and they definitely enjoy going out on the lanai. This morning a giant herrin flew down right in front of them which naturally sent them into a tizzy. Then a rabbit came by to torment them and just stared while it grazed.

Well I guess it's time to get the car loaded and head home to civilisation. ;) Hopefully the 8 hour drive will go by quickly and uneventfully. On the way here a stone flew up from the road and cracked my windscreen. I'm still pissed off about it.

Fort Myers

I spent today walking around downtown and if I dare mention, I visited a Star Bucks Coffee House. I really don’t like corporate coffee, but there isn’t anything else here. Downtown has been cleaned up quite a bit from the way it used to be. Unfortunately there isn’t much to do. It’s mostly made up of restaurants and bars and shopping is limited.

At one time it was full of antique shops, but they are all gone. You used to find all kinds of kitsch things. The city planners ran them all out because they wanted to revitalize the area and in doing so the rents went way up. It’s really quite a shame.

It seems the people here prefer to frequent malls and strip malls, which is evident from the suburban sprawl. The downtown area is completely dead because of it. It’s odd to me because in Savannah the downtown or historic district is the place to be.

Of course Savannah has its architecture, history and an art school which breaths life into the city. Fort Myers doesn’t have a creative scene. I believe that plays a big part in its lifelessness.

Downtown Fort Myers has the potential, but they have not discovered it as of yet so there are empty buildings everywhere with For Lease signs.

Below are some photographs I took today. Most of them are in sepia tone. Enjoy!

Florida

I am about to leave for Florida this morning. I was supposed to go this past Friday, but Nicholas wasn't home from Texas yet and then I decided to go Saturday, but we partied too late and then Sunday, but I was wiped out. So now it is time!

It's time to clean the litter box and toss the kids into the car. (This should be fun) Generally Nora-Grace and Tabitha travel pretty well, but for the first 20 minutes or so they are kind of freaked out.

Apparently since the rains started to fall the fires in Georgia and Florida are about out. It is said they are 100% contained so this means I can travel I-10 without issue.

Well, I'm off!

Too Hot, Too Humid

Today has been unbearable. IT'S TOO DAMNED HOT AND HUMID! I hate hot, humid weather. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it! I'M CRANKY!

On top of this I have been driving around Nicholas's car for the past week. Oh, by the way Nicholas is "N". I have his car because it's a beautiful 1973 Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL. Actually I don't have it because it's beautiful, but because he had to drive down to Jacksonville, Florida to catch a flight home to Texas.

We decided it wouldn't be a good idea for him to drive his car such a distance because of its age. That and the fact it sucks up fuel like I do water. It has a monster-sized fuel tank. I believe it gets something like ten miles to a gallon. So he has taken my car and there it sits with its icy cold A/C in a parking garage in Jacksonville. Y'all don't understand. I had to peel myself off those lovely comfortable leather seats once I arrived from the Southside to Downtown. My back was completely drenched. I really HATE THAT! Again, I am cranky.

Nicholas should return tomorrow sometime :) and then on Sunday I will be heading to Fort Myers, Florida to visit with my mum.

Scary Savannah

As a vegetarian I find this totally disgusting, but some friends of mine such as Melissa finds nothing wrong with it. I find it scary and so it now has a home in my new Scary Savannah Series.

Get your smoked pork butts! Mmmmmm.

Fire

Our state is still burning. It’s crazy. The fires here in Georgia and Florida have been burning since the middle of April. The amount of land that has burned is greater then the landmass of Rhode Island!

In Florida an 18-year-old volunteer fire fighter had been arrested for arson. Wait; aren’t you supposed to fight fires? Fucking moron. He is accused of setting fire to a building on US Highway 301 and setting six other brush fires around County Bradford. If this young man is found guilty, he could face 45 years in prison. What a waste.

Here in Georgia fires have collectively burned more than 462,000 acres. All of the fires have caused a little more than $40 million in damages, but that does not include damage to property.

In County Bulloch, which is about 40 miles west of Savannah, two juveniles were arrested and charged with suspected arson. Last week the smoke was so thick here in town. It's scary because I didn’t realize it was so close to Savannah.

People are just crazy. Why would someone set fires? I mean isn’t there a better way to get some attention? There was a time when people would just streak to get attention or become a performance artist or sing show tunes in a bar. What happened to those days?

Friday

On Friday “N” and I went to Charleston. He invited me to go along on one of his classes’ field trip. They had to tour Fort Moultrie and its batteries on Sullivan’s Island. Unfortunately both of us got sunburned for not wearing any protection. It's amazing how the sun can wipe you out.

Afterwards we had lunch at Poe’s Tavern. Edgar Allan Poe was stationed at Fort Moultrie so his name is passed around on public buildings and businesses. It’s rather like Ethan Allen in New England.

We walked around a little and then met with many of his friends. They were all very nice and a lot of fun. I could tell they all missed him and it’s easy to see why. He makes everyone laugh.

One of his friends made arrangements for all of us to have dinner at Vickery’s. We met everyone there after they got off work. The food was good and the company was great. Afterwards we headed down to market and went to a wine bar. It was kind of crazy in the market area because it was the first night of Spoleto and the wine bar was too loud.

Since we ended up staying late into the evening we didn’t get back to Savannah until around 3:00 AM. However I had a good time and ate some wonderful food and drank some really good wine and met some nice people. It was a nice break from the routine.



Here architectural history students look down a large hole.


Here we are exploring the Pit of Hell. Actually it is inside one of the batteries owned by a fire company. They use it for test burns. The professor dragged us all inside as an endurance test. I kind of liked it, It was dark and dank and reminded me of a tomb.


Here we are being lead down the Steps of Doom. It was a damaged staircase hidden by over growth upon the Temple of Doom. Okay, actually it was battery dating to about 1898.


The structure off in the distance is none other then Fort Sumter, the very spot where the War of Southern Independence began and the War Between the States started.

One Of Those Days

I am having one of those days, again! How about you?

Geek Issues: Blogger Messed Up

My blog has been slightly messed up these past few days. My good friend, Robert left a comment recently, but it would not show up as being there. Then today when I added a post concerning the fashion show it too would not show up.

In order to fix whatever was wrong I had to update my template, which deleted my header, fonts and sound. Blogger states the new templates give you more control. Well yes and no. I usually copied my template into Dreamweaver when I wanted to make changes and now it won't let me do that.

I can't change the size of my header easily and when I uploaded the previous header it was so huge it was out of position. They don't tell you the required dimensions so you must keep changing the size and uploading until you get it right! The above header is my original from when I began the blog. It was the easiest to resize.

I have been toying with the idea of moving my blog over to my .Mac account because it's something I am paying for and not utilizing. It's limited in other ways, but at least it's not as unreliable as Blogger. The only thing about that bothers me about .Mac is you need to know the address to get to it.

Oh hell, I don't know. We shall see.

Party

Last night was the 2007 SCAD Fashion Show. I didn't have tickets this year as I kind of forgot about it or didn't think about it for whatever reason. Anyhow "N" wanted to go so badly I thought he was going to have a nervous breakdown over it. Actually I should state he was more concerned about the after event party.

He wanted to crash it so we did. This year it was heavily guarded with police, SCAD security and two determined ticket takers. They would not let us in of course, but "N" called a mutual friend of ours who has the ear of a family member to the president of the college. Ah, nepotism!

Needless to say this person came down to the front door and the way was parted and we entered triumphantly as we made our grand entrance. Okay, so it wasn't so grand, but it was fun! The place was packed and the drinks were flowing. We met some other friends, acquaintances and freaks.

When the party ended we made our way over to Chuck's. It was quite the letdown. It was very smokey and they were having bad karaoke. It seemed the trailer parks from the surrounding counties had unloaded all at once in the bar so we didn't last long and headed home.

All in all it was a wonderful evening as was the company.

About Me

I believe I am too sensitive. Yes, I know I am. I have Cancer rising. I should think more on things before reacting. I am going to consciously work on this for now on.

If you wish to know more about me I splay myself out below for your enjoyment.

Little Willie

Little Willie, on the track,
Didn't hear the engine squeal.
Now the engine's coming back,
Scraping Willie off the wheel.

~ Cathy Snider

39.1

Well today is my birthday. 39.1 years! Hah, okay I'm 40. Where has the time gone?

Doofus

I can be such a doofus sometimes. It seems all is well with "N" after all. I was in Gallery Espresso this afternoon (imagine that) and "N" came up to me. It was a pleasant surprise. He wanted to know what happened this weekend.

I said I'm not quite sure, but I did remind him he said he was going to call me on Saturday. "N" said he didn't remember he said that, but that he text messaged me. Text message? I laughed and said I never received it. So we talked for a while about this and that. He added he had a nice time and would like to go out again sometime and I agreed.

He invited me to an architecture lecture this evening, but I have to pick up Steve and Jim from the airport. They were at the Kentucky Derby this weekend. So I suggested I call him when I get back and he agreed.

So a doofus I may be, but happy I am. :)

Date

I had a date this Friday night past. You will think this crazy, but it was my first real date in over four years. One reason for this tremendous lapse in time is because I was in a relationship for close to five years. I have been out of said relationship for a year and a half so regardless it is time to date again.

Anyhow there is this guy that has sparked my interest for sometime. I shall call him "N", the first initial to his name. To tell the truth the first time I had seen "N" was in 2000. I was working the circulation desk at the Jen Library and he was a student. My friend and coworker Emma got his name for me. She was trying to push me to talk to him, but I would not. Mainly because I had recently entered a relationship with the above mentioned.

I would see him around from time to time and just think how cute he was. Time moved on and so did he.

Well, this is the guy I had a date with last Friday. I had a good time. We went to Saigon and had dinner. I had Phad Kee Mao with tofu and he had some poor lamb. The waitress pointed out how completely opposite our meals were. Yes, I am a vegetarian and he is not.

We basically talked about many things. Our conversation started off on skin lesions, food allergies, our mothers, movies, TV, etc. He asked me what movie or show I would like to see right now. Really the only thing that came to my mind was the Animaniacs. Yes, a cartoon. He laughed because he said he was watching the Animaniacs while waiting for me to pick him up. Isn't that crazy! Isn't that crazy weird? He doesn't have cable so he rents movies and shows from the public library and the Animaniacs was one of the rentals.

After dinner we walked over to the Pink House with the intention to have some wine in the lounge, but it was insanely packed with tourists in bad attire. So we high-tailed it out and headed to a new pub called WG's. It used to be a gay establishment called Faces. Well, it's not a gay establishment any longer. It felt awkward being in there, but we did have a glass of wine and talked for a while. Then a huge crowd of poorly dressed tourists descended upon us in a continuous row. We bee-lined it out and decided to go have coffee at Leopold’s.

After coffee we drove to his apartment, which is a cute little former slave cottage. Yes, slave cottage. This area of town has tiny little structures that were built for indentured servants and slaves. Most have been renovated into condos and apartments and some are in better areas then others.

We had some more wine and watched an independent film called "Clockwatchers". I highly recommend it. There are so many scenes I can relate to which reaffirmed my desire never to return to an office environment ever again!

After the film I went home. I gave him a hug good-bye and said I enjoyed the evening very much. He said he too had a good time and that he would call me Saturday. Well, he did not call. I figure he must have had other plans, or assignments to work on. He is an architecture graduate student so I am sure he has something to work on.

However I got to thinking isn't it polite to call someone when you say you will. I mean, is it not polite to call and say thank you for the evening? Especially when the other person paid for everything?

Perhaps I am thinking on it too much. I don't know. I did not kiss him good night because I thought one should do that on the second date or the third. In the past I have always jumped right into it and this time I feel like I wish to get to know the person first. Perhaps I did wrong. Perhaps I am thinking "old-fashioned". Perhaps I sent off the wrong signals by not offering a kiss. Perhaps it's my age. I am almost 11 years older. He turned 29 in March and well, I turn 40 this Wednesday!

Oh, hell I don't know and you know what? It's okay. I had a swell time. It was what it was. It was nice to go out once again and especially with a really intelligent, cute guy.

Thank you "N".

Smoke

I noticed last night a rather pungent smell of pine smoke wafting through town. It's happening again right now, but much stronger. I just remembered a large swath of southern Georgia is burning not too far from Savannah. So that must be it. It's giving me a headache so it's time to close the windows and crank up the A/C.

Hard Hat

Okay kids, how do you like my new look?

According to OSHA I have to wear a hard hat while in certain areas on site. The hats get passed around from person to person and the cushioned forehead strap gets drenched with sweat and oil. Gross! So I decided to purchase my own.

This picture wasn't taken on site. It's a Photoshop composite just for fun.

I think I am going to grow my beard back because I miss it. However since I am not fond of hot weather I am not sure how long I will keep it. We shall see.

Becoming My Mum

I am becoming my mother. When I was child my mum would have these very strange dreams and then she would awake "howling". Actually it was more like a "woooo". She would do this periodically and wake my father half startled. My siblings and I would also awake sometimes from the strange ghoulish noise. Or if we were up we would think to ourselves, what the fuck?

She would never say what she dreamt of. Perhaps she did not remember? I don't know. I think it's time I ask her if she does remember because I did the same thing last night!

In my dream I was in my car at night. I wasn't driving. I could not close my door fully because something was blocking it. There were wolves outside the door. For some reason I was making a noise and pissing them off. They would growl every time I opened the door a little. They growled and I would try and close the door again. I realised there was a dear hoof stuck in the upper half of the door preventing me from closing the door.

I tried to push the hoof out from the door and for some reason I taunted the wolves with that strange noise and they proceeded to growl and attack the door. Well I woke up making that "wooo" sound real loud. It terrified my cats so they made a beeline out of bed like bats out of hell.

I sat up and said loudly; "Oh fuck, I am turning into my mum!” I then fell back to sleep.

Tybee Island

Since the weather was so beautiful I decided to drive out to Tybee and go to the beach. Tybee Island is considered Savannah's beach, but Tybee is its own "city". The drive out is a pleasant one. You have to drive over several rivers and through the marsh islands to get to it.

The QuickTime video below is my first podcast, you could say. Anyhow I took the video using my digital still camera and I think the image came out rather well. I pieced the whole thing together with iMovie. It's cheesy, but it was fun.


Click here to get your own player.




The Tybee Island Light House



This picture was taken on north beach facing where the Savannah River empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The jetty at one time was much taller. The sea has since caused the boulders to sink and cover them with sand. When I was in my late teens and early twenties I used to climb up them during tropical storms and stormy weather and hope for a big wave to take me away.

One day it nearly happened! I decided no, no I don't want a big wave to take me away and never did that again.

While standing on the rocks and looking out over the ocean you can see Daufuskie Island and just a hint of Hilton Head Island off in the distance.


When I was younger these boulders were fairly new, in that they were recently placed to form the jetty. Since then they have been covered in barnacles and seaweed. They have wonderful texture now.


On the way back into town I decided to stop along the road at one of the entrances to the old railroad tracks. The trains stopped running a very long time ago. In the 1980's the tracks were taken up and a trail was created for people to walk, run or ride bikes on.

At one time the train was the only way to get to Tybee. It must have been wonderful to travel on the train. As you can see from the photograph this narrow strip of land is all that separates your from the marsh on one side and the river on the other. What a view it must have been sitting high up zipping past the palm trees.


Marsh view near the train path.