… and then the ferry finally docked, and I. Had. Survived.
I thought I might have scurvy though.
Regardless, I made my way off and over to the new Magic van/bus for the South Island part of the trip. There were more people on this bus, but we quickly got underway. The driver was probably in his 40s and possibly one of the kindest men I’ve met. … and well, I’m not normally one to judge people on music considering the number of *NSYNC (and related) concerts I’ve been to, but the entire drive to Nelson and then the following day to Greymouth was accompanied by the entire Kelly Clarkson catalog with some James Blunt thrown in for good measure. It might have been very slightly better than Skrillex (who I generally like) at 9pm in the Grampians in that bus with the drunk people when I was sick, but it was a close call.
There was a line a hundred-people deep at the VirginAustralia economy counter in Melbourne. I had exactly ten minutes before my flight started boarding. I was torn for a couple minutes: I like following proper procedures, but I also like making my flights. Most times, there’s an announcement like so: “Will anyone for Flight #164 please come to the front of the line (or counter #4)?” This time, there wasn’t. I stood in indecision, realized I now had two minutes before boarding started and made my move to the very empty business class counter, shrugging apologetically and explaining I’d miss my flight otherwise.
Five minutes later, I was on my way… but it’s always when I’m already running late that my gate is literally the one farthest from the check-in desk.
This was not a particularly auspicious start to my trip to New Zealand.
Nor was the fact that there was no one waiting for me at the YWAM base. The front doors were locked, there was no one at the front desk, and I couldn’t find anyone on my walk around. Eventually, I found an open door that led to a courtyard and several people learning a Maori stick dance. I just strolled on by them and into the building, so clearly, security wasn’t a big deal. After I opened the front door and brought my bags inside, one of the dancers was sent in to find out who I was and eventually got me situated in a room. Room to myself! Four days to myself! Moderately decent wifi! Bliss.
After sleeping in to a ridiculous time on Wednesday, I caught the local bus to Auckland proper. I was on a mission, to first find Burger Fuel, which Phil Keoghan (host of the Amazing Race and a NZ native whom I met once) had posted a video about on the Amazing Race website, and then to find warm clothes. It was supposed to snow next week. My new inability to pack weather-appropriate clothing meant I only had two pairs of jeans and a summer jacket with me, along with shorts, t-shirts, and sandals, none of which would obviously be useful.
Auckland isn’t a very tourist-y city, and I actually spent most of my time there sleeping, eating, and getting ready for my bus tour of New Zealand. There’s three main bus tours: Stray, Magic, and Kiwi Experience. Kiwi has the party reputation, and Magic had a special on when I booked, so I went with them, and I’m so glad I did. After some Dunkin’ Donuts – which sadly might have been the highlight of my time in Auckland – I was on my way!
If you didn’t know, New Zealand is made up of two major islands, creatively named the North Island and the South Island. My tour went from Auckland on the North Island to Christchurch in the South via a ferry that left from Wellington. This first half of the tour was just on the North Island, and our first day was spent traveling from Auckland to Rotorua… although I opted out of the last bit of the drive because we were passing through something known as Hobbiton.
I’m not a huge Tolkien fan; I’ve read the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit, and I started the Silmarillion, but I don’t own them nor have I read them more than once. I have seen all the movies though, and I couldn’t pass up the chance to see the Shire. It’s just as amazing as you would think. Unfortunately, the Green Dragon pub was still being built, so it wasn’t part of our tour. Also, it was cloudy and drizzly; I’d love to go back on a bright, sunny day!
the one with black socks is the one I fed
And then I got to bottle-feed a baby sheep! There was even an Irish pub in Rotorua, where I had actual, real Guinness (whilst others had bottles of Corona… why?) and way too much food.
Tawhai Falls
The next morning, we stopped at the thermal mud pools and drove by Tawhai Falls where our driver insisted it was used in LotR in the scene where the people of Gondor find that Gollum has followed Frodo and is bathing in a sacred waterfall. It very well could have been, but the Internet is divided, and it didn’t quite look like the waterfall in the scene.
Taupo – our next overnight stop – had a beautiful lake and a picturesque river and a really excellent Chinese restaurant, but I was way more interested in the fact that it has the cheapest skydiving in NZ. I’d never really thought about skydiving before, but I was all about it as soon as I got there. It could be in part because NZ is an “adventure” destination, and there was no way I’d go bungy jumping – in short, because if the cord rips, you could just end up maimed for life whereas if your parachute fails, you’re likely dead. I’d rather die than be maimed for life?
Unfortunately, the weather was rainy and cloudy, and they weren’t allowing anyone up. I was determined not to let that ruin my dreams of skydiving though.
From Taupo, we headed into the National Park, by way of Waitomo Caves. If you’ve never heard of them, they’re famous for glowworms. There was a darling general store and not much else in the town, but that didn’t really matter because we were only there for the caves. You could spend an extra 20 NZD to go on a boat ride through the caves, but the basic tour we all did was enough. I saw glowworms hanging from the ceiling, stalactites and stalagmites, and cassowary bones.
mud pools
entering the cave
they’re so dangly!
I even learned how to use my camera, as one of the girls from the bus was incredibly kind enough to give me a short tutorial on it and then take it completely to set the right manual conditions for the near pitch-black darkness. Unfortunately, everyone else kept using their flashes to try to take pictures of the glowworms, and hardly any of my pictures came out.
government building
When we got the National Park, it was still cold, wet, and miserable, so I made my dinner, forewent the walk around where there was still a ski resort open as I favored not getting completely soaked and I didn’t have a proper coat, and went to bed early. It was supposed to snow. I had no desire to actually see snow in September. (I might also have realized there was only two weeks until I was back home after nearly six months and therefore been a tad bit homesick.)
The drive to Wellington was a quick one, which was nice; Wellington’s a vibrant city, even if its architecture leaves something to be desired. It was absolutely freezing, so I spent the afternoon in the Museum of New Zealand. They had some really brilliant, interactive exhibits about colonizing a new planet and contemporary Maori art… and a colossal squid, the only complete colossal squid on display. Now that was cool!
It started hailing on my way to find dinner. The weather on the North Island was seriously the worst. Cold, wet, miserably, rainy, etc. We had about two hours of sun the entire four-day tour.
Then the crossing from the North to the South island the next day was literally the most harrowing boat ride I’ve ever been on. The older people taking pictures out dirty window with fancy cameras were hilarious, but there were times when the ferry was literally at a 45-degree angle with the sea and other times when the entire front as far as I could see was underwater. I mean, I’d always wanted to see the sea life in the Cook Strait, so it’s all good?
Next month, I get off the ferry in Picton – clearly, a very long ferry ride – and journey around the South Island. There aren’t any more pictures on my blog, but there are some more right now! Random pictures:
I am broke. Let me re-phrase that. I am so broke that the last time that I ate something that wasn’t dollar pizza was in December. I have a B.A. from a decent university, and I’m working at Urban Outfitters. I live in New York City, and the most exciting thing I did all week was clean my apartment and spend forty-five minutes on the phone with Rashida from Con-Edison trying to make my electricity bill disappear.
Here are the facts: 53% of college graduates are underemployed. And I’m pretty sure that 99% of my friends are part of that 53%. Okay, that last statistic was fake, but you get the idea. I have friends with Masters degrees who are too old to be covered by their folks’ insurance, but not employable enough to be able to pay for their own. I have friends who accept odd jobs–like being baristas or dishwashers or stocking shelves at department stores–that are completely irrelevant to their actual life goals. One of my friends is actually working as a PA on one of those ghost hunter shows. And I bet if a demon possesses her, her parents’ insurance won’t even cover it.
There are certain landmarks that tell you where you are, for example, when I woke up dark and early for my business meeting and headed out from my hotel and saw the Alico sign, I knew in that instant, I was back home. I was a little foggy that morning and did not have my morning coffee yet. I was dressed for the big meeting and had my laptop bag slung over my shoulder. I honestly could not tell you where I was at that moment, but when I came around the side of my hotel and looked up, there it was.
Fun fact cinco: Australia has the world’s weirdest-named creatures – echidna, wallaby, kangaroo, koalas, dingo, cassowary.
Fun fact seis: It also has some of the world’s deadliest creatures – of course, the great white shark, but also the box jellyfish, taipan snake, crocodile, blue ring octopus, stone fish, and a bunch of other snakes.
Keith dropped me off in Melbourne CBD bright and early Monday morning where I met up with “John,” who was the driver/guide for my bus tour to the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians (Previously, I’d been to Sydney, Cairns, and Phillip Island).
Why a bus tour?
- I’d never done a bus tour before; I figured I should ease my way into it before embarking on the 12-day New Zealand one in about a week.
- It was an easy way to get to the GOR and Grampians.
- It was also the cheapest way I could find.
- While I prefer to travel at my own pace, I also like to learn about where I am and where I’m going. Can’t read a guidebook whilst driving.
- I would be traveling solo but yet with other people. Best of both worlds?
And I knew we were off to a good start when during the first roll call, two people turned out to be on the wrong tour bus.
I feel compelled to write about Valentine’s Day since this post is appearing on February 14th, but I really hate Valentine’s Day. I always have. I have no affinity for it, no interest in it, and quite frankly I’m annoyed by the whole day. (Yes, my husband loves me a little more for this.) I am not cynical and I do like romance, but Valentine’s Day feels too contrived. I particularly dislike the commercialism of the day and after noticing several horrid commercials about expressing true love by way of flowers, chocolates, and cards — I noticed that passion was a word thrown around fairly frequently. I think of passion as an intense, heavy word and I found myself increasingly irritated with its use in the flippant commercials. Therefore I decided to look it up on Wikipedia; their definition follows: Passion (from the Ancient Greek verb (paskho) meaning to suffer) is a term applied to a very strong feeling about a person or thing. Passion is an intense emotion, compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for something. It is particularly used in the context of romance or sexual desire, though it generally implies a deeper or more encompassing emotion than that implied by the term lust.
When we first met, I hated you. You were dripping wet, soggy, disgusting, a pathetic little excuse of a town. You were littered with strip clubs, tattoo parlors, and taco stands. I didn’t know what to make of you. I hated your flat, dusty landscape and your humid August skies. I hated your hailstones, your bicycle lanes, and your greasy fast food joints. I still don’t understand how most of you is still in business, what with the endless stretch of parking lots and high-rise garages that blanket the downtown area.
But I have to admit that when we met, I was in love with someone else. I had been in love with her for years, you understand, and it was nearly impossible for me to let go. And based on first impressions alone, she was winning. Los Angeles wore her midnight blue, sparkling evening gown and welcomed my red-eye flight home. She was dangerous and dirty, but she challenged me and helped me grow. She was everything I needed until I met you. Continue Reading →
The new Local Natives new album, Hummingbird, dropped on the 29th of this month!
My friends, I don’t speak lightly when I say that this album is a must have. Hummingbird shows its diversity within LN’s genre. That’s what I love about this band. The songs sound so different from the last. Almost like they could have been from different albums, all gathered on one. And finally three years later, there is a second album to feast your ears upon. This album really showed me, personally, that they’re not just another indie band that sticks to the rule book. Their use of different piano progressions and chords, ridiculously skilled guitarists, and their catchy use of heavy tribal percussion shows exactly that.
Local Natives is an indie rock band right out of Silver Lake, a smaller area within LA. Most of the guys in the band attended high school together and after a year of college, moved in together and began writing for their debut.
The debut, Gorilla Manor, was released through Frenchkiss Records in 2010. Through Frenchkiss you can also find amazing bands such as The Dodos, Bloc Party, Passion Pit, and The Plastic Constellations. Not to forget, Gorilla Manor features Local Natives own spin on TALKING HEADS’ Warning Sign. ITS BRILLIANT.
Right now, they’ve got Hummingbird for sale on their website. CLICK HERE
They’ve got some nifty bundles up for grabs right now. Each bundle has different items at a different price! My personal favorite bundle includes buttons, a t-shirt, 12″ Deluxe or standard versions (including digi-download), and an autographed lithograph. Other bundles priced lower, but include less goodies!
Whether or not you buy anything from this band, at least give them a listen! You can find their tracks on iTunes, Youtube, and just about any other music streaming site.
Also a quick recommendation, their NPR session on YouTube. It features three songs off of Gorilla Manor played acoustic. It’s simply chilling. You can see the passion radiating off their bodies when they play.
I would recommend this band for anyone. They’re easy to fall in love with. I picked up their album two summers ago at a record shop in LA and I’ve been hooked since. I hope they hook you too.
Fun fact tres: Because Australia is in the southern hemisphere, your notions of up and down in relation to weather are wrong, i.e., the north is warm, and the south is cold. Florida is Maine, and Maine is Louisiana. This is confusing.
Fun fact quatro: Antarctica is the only thing south of most of Australia.
Previously, I’d gotten to Australia via England and spent a couple days in Sydney and about a week in Cairns. So there I was, basking in the warm sun in Cairns, enjoying the tropical breezes, getting soaked in a rainforest, eating ice cream every day, and really excited about going to see a friend of mine who lives in Melbourne. I spent my last night in Cairns extravagantly: I got the pizza at the Woolshed.
And then it was off to the airport, where I had Burger King, [but it’s not actually Burger King; it’s Hungry Jack’s because originally they couldn’t have the name Burger King (already in use by another chain) in Australia, so they renamed it Hungry Jack’s. Then years later, BK decided it was sick of having Hungry Jack’s in Australia, so they tried to also bring in Burger King franchises. Now there’s both. But they’re the exact same thing? I don’t understand mega-corporations.]
The second the plane landed in Melbourne (which I was on before that tangent about BK), I had a cold.
It’s one of the weirdest things I’ve ever experienced: I was completely fine in Cairns and the entire flight to Melbourne, but the second the wheels touched down, I was sick as a dog. I struggled through getting my bags, getting into Melbourne (SkyRail’s a deal: $20 for roundtrip to and from Melbourne CBD), and then finding the right local train my friend had told me to use.
Well friends, we are halfway into January and the weather has gotten much colder. I have my first vacation already scheduled and the anticipation is driving me nuts, that means cabin fever has officially set in. I have a need for some sunshine and a boat ride across the bay.
If you have read my previous blogs you’ll recall that I am in love with the Texas coastline, especially around the Rockport and Port Aransas area. I can’t stop thinking about it! I’m listening to more songs about the ocean and my Jimmy Buffet playlist is starting to complain about being played too much.
Fun fact: Australia is pretty much the same size as the US.
Fun fact dos: Australia (and New Zealand) are in the southern hemisphere, which means their seasons are opposite to the US and Europe.
I actually knew all of this prior to deciding to go to Australia as I, you know, passed primary school; I just completely disregarded it when making plans to go there for five weeks and split the time between Australia and New Zealand in late summer. Or, well, I thought it was going to be late summer-like and forgot it was going to be early spring in Australia and more late winter-like in New Zealand.
To be fair, two-and-a-half weeks were enough time to explore New Zealand. It’s just not enough time to explore a country the size of the US. But seeing as how I had forgotten my primary school lessons, this means when I first started planning my trip, I decided to go to Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef, Melbourne (have a friend who lives there), Coober Pedy, Uluru/Ayer’s Rock, and Darwin.
This is the equivalent of going from Florida to Maine to Louisiana to Texas to St. Louis to Detroit.
see? big.*
Clearly, I needed to scale back. In the end, I ended up going to Sydney, Cairns (for the Great Barrier Reef), and Melbourne (with side trips to Phillip Island and the Grampians). I’ll have to go back to get to the center (and to Melbourne, but more on that in two weeks). I also only packed summer clothes, throwing in a couple pair of jeans at the last minute.
I travel budget, and you might not want to do that, but regardless, here’s some insights I’ve picked up along the way that are applicable to anyone.
Obvious tips are obvious
I feel like this should look more beat up.
Make sure you have a passport. Make sure you know where your passport is.
Make sure your passport is valid for six months after the date you plan on returning to the US. You can’t normally get visas otherwise.
Check out what outlets are used in the country you’re visiting. Buy an appropriate travel adapter. They’re like, 3 bucks on Amazon. It’s unlikely you’ll find one in-country anywhere, even in England, so BUY AHEAD. You don’t need a voltage converter for electronics for the most part, but double-check if you’re worried. You want to be able to charge your camera battery, iPod, phone, laptop, etc. This is vital.
yellow fever, rabies, polio, japanese encephalitis = sore arm
Buy a good camera. Nothing’s worse than using a crap camera when you’re visiting iconic places. Sure, it can be expensive, but it is worth every penny. I have the Canon G12; it shoots video in HD and stills in RAW. I also edit in Lightroom 4 (or will edit again once I’ve saved enough to buy it; my trial ended in August).
CHECK VISA REQUIREMENTS. When you think about going to a country, when you book the travel, before you get on the plane. I cannot overemphasize this enough! Also, make sure you meet the vaccination guidelines. http://travel.state.gov is your friend.
Guidebooks and Travel Websites
When you’re going to a country that’s not a normal touristy place, Lonely Planet is your friend. It doesn’t have to be your best friend, but it is an extremely good starting place and guideline. Once you get somewhere and have met a couple people, then you might not need it as much as you can get local recommendations, but it’s really been worth the money for me every time I’ve bought it.
Along that same line, I never book anywhere in a developed nation without checking everything out on TripAdvisor. Reviews by real travelers can be a lifesaver. Now, granted, you have to take them with a grain of salt. A review by someone who is out of the country for the first time and doesn’t understand why hotel rooms in Europe are “so small!” doesn’t carry a lot of weight; all hotel rooms everywhere except in the US are small.
I do laugh hysterically at the reviews that complain about towels or cleanliness because that is the last thing I ever look at for a hotel or hostel. Your mileage may vary, but a thin towel doesn’t necessarily equate with an awful hotel, nor does dust or a misplaced hair. Often, those hotels are family-owned and operated and awesome. Also, I’ve stayed in some pretty awful places, so I start from a lower cleanliness requirement than most people.
When people ask what it was like to have Christmas in the middle of Summer in Chile, I point out that Christmas Eve was the best time to go to the beach. Two reasons: it was beautiful weather (true any day around Christmas); the beach was deserted other than the occasional tourist. Why? Because Chileans are much worse procrastinators than Americans when it comes to Christmas shopping: they are all crammed into the stores !
That said, this year I find I am almost as bad. I shall be mailing my mother’s present tomorrow (Christmas Eve). None the less, recently I have bought both musical and literary items which would make great gifts.
Romania. It’s the land of traveling gypsies and vampires. (And tuberculosis, but no one thinks of that except public health people.) I love Eastern Europe, primarily because I think of it as this mysterious, mystical, mythical place of ethereal beauty where anything could happen. This is not helped by the fact that Lord Voldemort was in Albania, not too far from where we were. And although the Irish Travellers in Ireland and the UK are not “gypsies” as one would traditionally think of, watching their shows on TLC only made me think gypsies were even cooler.
If you’ve seen Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, that’s what I thought I’d be walking into.* (also, I love RDJ?)
I always thought of big forests and mountains… interspersed with Soviet-era stark grey buildings and Orthodox churches. The reality was pretty far from my vision. At least where I was.
My husband and I have recently become enamored by the demo version of Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, released by PlayStation3, so I decided to blog about it. This role playing video game is a collaboration between game producers Level-5 and Studio Ghibli.
If Studio Ghibli sounds familiar, you might recall that they are that amazing Japanese animation company that has produced such classic works of cinematography as Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away, and Princess Mononoke, all written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The idea that this particular studio is collaborating to produce a game is quite enticing.
Images from Howl’s Moving Castle (my fave of the three):
I’ve always wanted to learn a foreign language, really learn it, to the point where I’m dreaming in it.
I can speak fluent Pig Latin, but rarely am I called upon to demonstrate my skills. I can carry on a creditable conversation in Spanish as long as it’s in the present tense and is about food. I can ask the time and point out a watermelon in Greek. But aside from the Pig Latin, I’ve never been gifted with the ability to communicate smoothly in another language.
Enter the current insanity: I’m teaching myself American Sign Language (ASL).
I left Maine on 30 March for a training course with Youth with a Mission, a Christian missions organization, staying for about five months in Nuneaton, England, which is nearly exactly the midpoint of England, with those rolling hills full of green and dotted with white sheep and oh, the history! I was living in an old boarding house; it was every anglophile’s dream. While I won’t get in the nitty-gritty of the lectures, I was really excited because for a portion of the training, we were going to the Isle of Man and Romania. Continue Reading →
I’m not sure I fit what I define as “Bohemian.” I play World of Warcraft and kill grubs on Gears, and my favorite movie’s a toss-up between Jurassic Park and Back to the Future. I mean, I used to have Independence Day completely memorized.
I guess I think real Bohemians are a lot like traveling gypsies, and as I found out this year whilst in Romania, traveling gypsies don’t actually exist anymore – so my “real” Bohemians must not either.
I kinda fit the actual textbook definition though: I’m an itinerant person, a vagabond. I’ve lived in 44 different homes in four countries, and 26 of those were by the time I was 18. Been to 34 states, 29 countries. Probably not surprising my life goal is to visit all seven continents, right?
Come on, we all do this, you probably did it today.
You told yourself you were going to get something done, then you put it off. You had plenty of time to get it done, but hey, what fun is that? I wanted to work out early this morning, didn’t happen. I’ll just do it tonight, right …..
So to all my procrastinating partners, here is a poem for you:
Thursday, I posted a story about a breakfast of thanksgiving, but considering it was set in a land far, far away in both time and distance, it clearly was not an American Thanksgiving, even though it featured a typical American recipe from 200 years ago.
So where does this holiday, “Thanksgiving” come from, only celebrated by the US (in November) and Canada (in October) ? Continue Reading →
The elven boy looked at his sleeping father’s face. The poor man looked so exhausted when he arrived home, his long ears drooping, barely enough energy to give the boy a hug before his slender form collapsed into the sleeping furs. The boy had carefully wrapped those around his father’s long body: winter had come early, and it would be a cold night. But that gave him time to work on his morning surprise.
It had been a long month, home alone. But at 72, the boy knew he was half an adult, certainly capable of taking care of himself for a few weeks, even in the City. He thought back … Continue Reading →
In recent years we’ve lost some very talented singer-songwriters. One of the best was Illinois-born Dan Fogelberg, a mostly “soft rock” lyricist/performer whose nine albums are characterized by poignant and sometimes achingly dark lyrics. His career spanned more than three decades (1971 to 2003). Dan Fogelberg died from cancer in 2007. He was 56.
Fogelberg’s most commercially successful piece was the 1980 love song, “Longer”. Its lyrics are tender and sweet, but it is simplistic and (in my opinion) not his best work. The full lyrics can be found at this link http://www.elyrics.net/read/d/dan-fogelberg-lyrics/longer-lyrics.html (I have copied the first couple of stanzas below).
Longer than there've been fishes
in the ocean
Higher than any bird ever flew
Longer than there've been stars
up in the heavens
I've been in love with you.
Stronger than any mountain cathedral
Truer than any tree ever grew
Deeper than any forest primeval
I am in love with you.
Fogelberg’s first real “hit” came in 1974, with the single, “Part of the Plan.” Its lyrics are more to my liking:
Something I very much like to do is disappear into the past. I put on a circular tabard a friend made me 30 years ago, and I disappear. Gone is Gary Lee Webb, modern software engineer. In his place is Friedrich von Holstein, one of the thousands who answered Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont with “Deus Vult!” ([God wishes!]). One who went on an armed pilgrimage at the end of the 11th century – you’d call it the First Crusade – reached the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
Not one of the Frankish hordes that the (Eastern) Roman historians described as an Army of Locusts, but one of the Knechte who provided his own equipment, tried to learn the local languages as he went, and paused to discover whether the people he met were friend or foe, and did not simply attack anyone who looked wealthy (the Peasant’s Crusade was notorious for stealing from everyone in their path, and gave the Crusaders a very bad reputation). My personas tend to have this in common: they speak many languages … badly!
Gary Lee, Sharon, and Linda Webb at the Texas Renaissance Festival, 2009. [photo taken by John Wissinger]
And yes, once he reached his destination, defeated the infidels, and prayed at the church in the Holy City, Friedrich had a few too many wineskins to drink celebrating the victory. Managed to drink from the fountain of youth while he was at it … although he cannot remember where it was [Losing track of where the fountain is that gives you eternal youth ... now *that*is drunk].
I often think of the moments in my childhood when I would come to understand the world, what my role was to be, and notions of my purpose. There were some realizations that I came to that were instinctual rather than rational, and these instinctual conclusions were sometimes put into a hibernation state when outside influences were thrust upon me. Sometimes, I put my deepest and somehow most profound beliefs away. These outside influence were all around me and everything was affecting my instinctual realizations. However, inside, I was still growing even though the true essence of myself was hidden away– for fear that the world would destroy that beauty. I now realize that our truest form of expression and our ability to dream can be stripped away or diminished by the world, and somewhere after the fight it becomes clear that if you look inside, it never went away.
We are currently relying on the Gods of Wi-Fi for our internet needs, and the Gods provide us with mixed blessings. Sometimes the internet superhighway is fast and clear, sometimes it’s rush hour, and sometimes there are potholes. At our current location, the potholes are wide and deep.
It’s times like this, when I don’t have the Universe reliably at my fingertips, that I resort to the games on my hard drive for amusement. These are a shameful waste of time, and are very addictive.
We have some awesome bloggers and writers here at Bohemia. It is a great pleasure to work with everyone. I want to tell everyone a little more about myself. I want to share how I got here and how it all started. Here are a few paragraphs from my book, “Coconuts and White Bread.” I hope this gives you some idea what dreaming and hope can do for a person.
Chapter 1
Betito and the Tomatoes
“Mommy, I want to go to college.”
“Si mijito, but for now I need you to finish picking those tomatoes, and hurry, it’s getting late.” Actually it wasn’t. The “blue norther” coming in over the Texas Panhandle made it appear later than it actually was. The temperature would hit the freezing mark tonight. If the crops were not picked in a hurry, they would freeze on the vine. That was not good. Frozen tomatoes are only good for ketchup. When the cold fronts rolled in we had to work faster. No matter how young or old you are, being cold, wet, and tired feels like a chilling spear through your spirit.
I still remember the blue sky and flat land of the Texas Panhandle around Plainview. I guess that’s where it got its name. It is just a “plain view.” It is perfect for growing crops but there was no scenic beauty from where I was standing. I was knee deep in mud and the world was not very scenic from there. At four feet tall and five years old, I could barely see over the plants we were harvesting. My mother had prepared me for the workday by dressing me in the best a migrant’s pay could buy in 1969.
There are flags flying up and down my street, and I would guess that a majority of my readers do not know why we do that on 11 November. “It is because it is Veterens’ Day” most would reply … no it is not. Veterens’ Day has been moved around by Congress, and will probably be moved again – for 7 years it was the fourth Monday of October. And it will be celebrated tomorrow by some states and many organizations.
But 11 November is the anniversary of the armistice which brought peace after World War I, the War to End Wars. The last designation is ironic, since the reparations which the French insisted upon after the war were so severe that they sowed the seeds of the second world war. Be that as it may, in 1918, the folks were jubilant, and there was some great artwork to celebrate the end of all war. And until after World War II, November 11 was Armistice Day in the US (changed in 1954). It is still Remembrance Day within the British Empire (and former British Empire). Continue Reading →
I am now in the fifth month of my diet exercise plan and things are going great – mostly! I have now lost a total of 55 pounds, but I am really stuck at 189 pounds. I hit 188 for a few days about three weeks ago, and I have been bouncing between that and 192.
Why do we procrastinate? Generally, it does not save us time; in fact, it can cost us time. It can cost us money. It can even cost us the opportunity to do something important. Yet I do it, and I suspect we all do.
It’s 9:17 in the morning on a Saturday as I start this post. Husband is petting Tiny Kitty and sighing in the nostrils-full-of-sleep way that people with chronic allergies have upon waking in the morning. His hair sticks up in angles-a human hedgehog, though I think hedgehogs have more control over the direction of their spines. Sunlight stripes his face through the blinds.
His first words are “I has cats-hungry cats.” Sammy and Fletcher have jumped on the bed on top of him, and have slowly moved on either side of his legs, strategically planning their next move. They are staring at him, cross-eyed Siamese twins. Tiny Kitty continues to sit serenely in the crook of his arm, smiling her cat smile as he pets her.
Last Friday, Waco saw another exciting exhibit open at the Croft Gallery on Austin Avenue in Waco. Based in Fort Worth, Silvia S. Thornton really dominated the floor. As soon as I entered the gallery, I knew she was the artist. On the other hand, her paintings dominated the walls. They had an attraction I can only begin to explain. Fortunately, readers will have until the end of the month to see for themselves.
My family and I, and several friends, took advantage of the ComicCon event in Austin last weekend to socialize, shop, see the stars, and even learn a little. Of the people I know, the happiest was my old chess buddy, Mario Leal and his son, Miles of smiles, seen here with many of the actors of several Star Trek series. But my family and their friends enjoyed the many events and shopping, not to mention watching the thousands of Con goers. And I thoroughly enjoyed meeting such folks as Dr. Rebecca Housel and comic legend Ken Levin.
Mario and Miles, with the crew(s) of the Enterprise, Cheryl Gates McFadden was kind enough to provide Miles a seat. Mario is between Jonathan Frakes and Patrick Stewart. Photo courtesy of Mario Leal.
Sandy was a big, ugly, nasty witch. And grotesquely fat, too — 900 miles wide! She was powerful enough to whip up the ocean and turn it against the land, flooding anyone who wasn’t on high ground, carrying away SUVs and boardwalks, grabbing up homes and tossing them upside-down, filling up tunnels with freezing water, turning roller coasters into metal pretzels, demolishing famous vacation resorts, unearthing 200 year old graves, taking out electrical grids all along the coast, burning up an entire neighborhood, and forcing a huge hospital to evacuate the most vulnerable of victims in the pitch dark fury of that storm. Sandy was even big enough to make the governor postpone Halloween!
NASA image of Hurricane Sandy [29 Oct 2012]
Many people say that the best thing to do around a witch like Sandy is to stay as far away from her as possible. Those people are absolutely right. But there are always those who demonstrate foolish bravado: “No witch is gonna make me run away from my home!” or “What can one puny witch do to a huge city like this?” There are also “first responders” who cannot leave. And, unfortunately, some folks are simply too old or too sick to run.
In my recent moments of pondering I have been compelled to think things through from a philosophical perspective and in doing so have begun to reread some of the early influences from Plato, and Aristotle. Through this new influence I was able to write some poetry not intended to summarize what my reading have been about, but more as a personal response as to how I come to examine what I am seeing in my journey through life. I hope that you all enjoy what I have come to gather in dissecting my views in response to some of the questions that come to us all and have been pondered upon in current times, and even in ancient ones.
I know there are many women who rock all over this planet– personal preferences may vary. And there are many woman that I love that are currently representing Central Texas! I adore their talents and their music– it is true! I am a fangirl for them.
Read on to find out about these Central Texas ladies (& more!):
Bohemia reaches out of Central Texas sometimes to admire other artists doing their thing. I recently encountered the work of Johnny Tie, through a Bohemia Journal Twitter connection. When I saw his work, I knew it was something that our Bohemia audience would enjoy and I liked it very much myself. He is a great, down-to-earth guy and said he was excited for me to make a blog about his work and send him some interview questions.
The ties in Johnny Tie’s work to Bohemia are eerie. For example, Bohemia did a horror movie issue back in October 2011 and here a horror movie inspired picture that Johnny Tie did:
This year, I published my first two fiction stories and I have been accepted for a third. One will be the first chapter in my novel about Pollonien the Elf. It is entitled “A Dish Served Cold” and talks about how my favorite elf became an adult. The second is “A Ghostly Blessing” and is the tale of how La LLorona, the crying ghost, kept a band of pirates from raiding a city. Both are in Bohemia Journal, on page 38 of the July 2012 and pages 34-35 of the Fall 2012 (October) issues respectively. The third will be “The Awakening” to be published in the Winter (December 2012) issue. I am planning another Pollonien story for the January 2013 issue. So why wasn’t I always a fiction author? How did I become one? Why now ?? Continue Reading →
For those of you looking for a one of kind vacation – I have a fantastic idea. How does a weeklong vacation in the Czech Republic sound? This central European country was formerly known as Czechoslovakia is a magnificent hub of cultural history, brilliant views and its connections with neighbor Germany. And if you are in the Czech Republic, how can you afford to miss Prague – the capital city of Bohemia?
With Halloween Weekend fast approaching, a haunted holiday playlist is a must-have for any spooky shindig. Check out a few of my favorite ghoulish grooves.
This is a post by regular contributor, short story writer, Kelly Digh.
Writing In A Vacuum
Merriam-Webster defines a vacuum in several different ways, depending on the usage, but the one definition that applies here is the third: “a state of isolation from outside influences.” Apply that to the concept of writing, and you get “writing in a vacuum,” or writing in isolation, without the feedback or the criticism of anyone else. And that’s death to a writer.
Perhaps like me, you’ve never given a lot of thought to what goes into competitive giant pumpkin growing.
I’m not sure what prompted me to pick this book up, other than my abiding love of the bizarre. I’m kind of a sucker for what are sometimes called “monomania” books, books that take a single subject and examine it finer than frog hair split four ways. (Other examples would be “Cod” by Mark Kurlansky, or ” The Tulip” by Anna Pavord.) I’m glad I did pick this one up however, and will never look on giant pumpkin contests with the same eye again. These people are dedicated in a way that I can never hope to emulate. Continue Reading →
Image over substance seems to be the best way to describe what I have witnessed in the past few weeks as I have become steadily suffocated by all the media coverage around the presidential election, and with what I have witnessed as I watched the debates throughout the last three weeks. One thing is certain that I have come to conclude in regard to what the real focus seems to be, and that is that the candidates are better known as celebrities and image moguls. Continue Reading →
The recent announcement that our closest stellar neighbor, Alpha Centaurus (also known as Rigel Kenturis, the Foot of the Centaur, and abbreviated as α Centauri), has at least one earth-sized planet makes stories (such as Cry from a Silent Planet, which I reviewed 13 October) much more interesting. That book assumed an advanced, technical civilization only 50 light-years away. The first question most readers will ask is: “What are the odds?” Continue Reading →
Listeners of my radio segment, “Likely Stories” know it airs on the first and third Thursdays and the following Saturday and Sunday mornings. However, four times a year, a month has a fifth Thursday, and I usually do something special. My favorite thing for these extra shows is an author interview. The next 5th Thursday arrives in November. Continue Reading →
