Junior High Galaxy

I made it through Jr. High without a lot of scars. I never really got picked on and that was only because I made the meanest girl in school laugh during Home Ec. She totally protected me, like to a fault. She was always offering to hurt people and I was always saying no, but thank you. Only twice did I get called names: Dolphin Teeth & Boris Yeltsin. Not bad for two very potentially scary years.

I sort of enjoyed that time in life. Mostly because of the sneaking around town at night (a great and dangerous thing for a country kid). There was the excitement of standing on the lawn of the school in the mornings and being friends with boys. Orange and blue nail polish, galaxy printed purses, and big white t-shirts. But the hands down best part of those years was the music.

And so, 10 songs for all the Mountain Dew and No Doubt. 

Sunday Morning: No Doubt

Shadowboxer: Fiona Apple

Everlong: Foo Fighters

Tonight, Tonight: Smashing Pumpkins

Glycerine: Bush

Mint Car: The Cure

Tha Crossroads: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

Doll Parts: Hole

Lightning Crashes: Live

Fade Into You: Mazzy Star (she was and still is one of my all time favorites)

Listen Here: Junior High Galaxy

In Brights

A recent weekend day in brights.

I never really know what to do with jewelry. So it all ends up in multiple trays that I like to knock over from time to time.

That ring finger ring is the tiniest and brightest thing I own.    

 As kids we were threatened about leaving popsicle wrappers behind the couch in the summer. We did it anyways and I'm not sure why. Still, if you go to my parents house there are bounties of bright popsicles, thank god.

Neon pie sign at a local diner. Pie is fine and this sign is cute but I mostly would rather eat a bowl of cake icing.

I love to highlight all things that don't need highlighting. 

I used to favor black and greys. I still love them and all but I welcome little brights like these.

Look up more.

I certainly don't live in the greatest city or nicest town. 

But really I prefer it most days. I feel less compelled to worry about the constant buzzing of what's next or better or nicer. 

Despite all this, I sometimes want to leave here and quickly.

So I try to actively look for the pretty and recently I've found a lot of it in the building tops of this tiny town.

 Please look at the top of this one. The building is called The Harmonizer and those people hugging the earth together just kills me.

There is truly charm where I live. And good people, and hope, and living life to help others. 
All of it.

Birthday Dog.

 My best little friend and roommate turned 4 in early June. 

I really believe that he is one of the funniest things on Earth. 

I'm unsure if this is a wink or a glare.

Here is the little fat cat with his birthday treats.
And oh my god, I think that is icing on his nose. 

One thing about Henry, he has a myriad of nicknames. Like I come up with a new one almost monthly and use intensely for a month then again in 6 months when I remember I haven't called him that in a long time. 

We ended his birthday with a 3 mile walk and paused to let him embarrass himself by rolling in the grass.

Happy Birthday, Henry James Miller.
Or Henbot, Henny, Hen, Shark Eyes, Ping Pong, Wig Wam, Wing Wong, Idiot, Guy, Thunderdome, Meesh Moosh, Thundercat, Best Friend, Squirrel, Long Dog, My Favorite One, Lion Heart, Little Gold Lion Heart, and Tiny.

Truck Sales: A Poetry Reading

This is exciting. To be reading with these people is nuts. Brett is a rock star in the poetry world and she is MY FRIEND. I cannot handle that. I'm a bad friend by the way. 

This reading makes me nervous as hell. I wrote some new things; they include nods at the moon, mat weavers, Saint Death, and some horse circuses.  

If you live around these parts, come watch. But know that we are a group of people with the potential to offend nearly everyone.

Fermenting Tea & Aliens.

 I recently bought a kit to brew Kombucha at home. The amount of money I was spending on single serving bottles was embarrassing. 

In absolute honesty, I did not want to start the brewing process, I always mess up recipes and directions. Example: I love to bake but the first go always includes a mess up, like 1 cup of salt instead of sugar.

The kit is perfect. Tea, sugar, brew jar; all included.

Tea brewed.

Cane sugar added.

I was worried about the sugar part. I've tried to largely cut sugar out of my diet so brewing a tea with a cup of sugar was upsetting. I did some more reading and found that the sugar isn't for feeding me, it's for feeding the little alien bacteria that grows and ferments the tea.

Baby aliens need sugar.

 There is some waiting involved in the process, my other baby alien took full advantage of this time to sleep.

Alien.

Alien & tea and some more waiting. Like 2 weeks of waiting.

The tea atop my fridge, probably turning into moldy alcohol but hopefully fermented tea.

All this alien stuff made me think about Sci-Fi. I never claimed to like anything Science Fiction until recently. I'm not sure if it was watching Firefly or Super 8 or both but my love for aliens in stories has grown this year.

In mints.

My day in mint greens.

Breakfast grapes. 

If it isn't grapefruit, I'm crushing on grapes.

 My skirt on the way to work. The breeze these days is mostly perfect.

My earrings after a long day at work.

Sidewalk paint that brought my run to a hault.

Breaking in my 12-year old boy shoes.

Not in mint greens. A photo I took of the moon as I wrote this from my living room floor. 

And I've got Perfume Genius playing in the background. 

It is a good night.