Push pin city

Okay, kids, time to get out the old National Geographic United States map and all your colored push pins and mark where Accumulate Man has sent off applications these last few months....

Boise, ID
Fern Ridge, OR
Issaquah, WA
Ridgedge, CO
Santa Clara, CA
Puyallup, WA
Prineville, OR
Pueblo, CO
Twin Falls, ID
Nampa, ID
Pocatello, ID
Lakewood, WA
New York, NY
Spokane, WA
Silverdale, WA
Los Angeles, CA
Port Orchard, WA
Pasco, WA
Caldwell, ID
Eugene, OR
Prossor, ID
Woodland, WA
Moscow, ID
Tacoma, WA
Seattle, WA

Some of those cities have called for multiple applications. Some apps coming up include Stevens County, Washington, Bakersfield, San Diego and a little town outside of Chicago called Glendale Heights. I've even considered Louisana. For the gumbo? No, for work.

It's been one grand geography lesson. Know that I just might end up anywhere which is fine by me. Anywhere has a paycheck. PO? Well, let's just say it's been swell.

Salud!

Sideways moment

Forget the Terminator or Transformer sequels. Sideways was my favorite movie this last summer. I have this bad habit of catching up with movies long after their release date and this was one of them, but gosh, what a film. It has the potential of making me weep every time I see it. Great actors, great script, helluva story. Plus, it's made me a mad man for Pinot Noir. If you haven't seen it, see it, then go take a road trip out to the wine country here in Washington with a good friend. Sip, breathe, enjoy. Just try not to crash the car, ok?

Salud!

A fellow tip-of-the-hat to Sideways:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/popcornprejudiceamovieblog/2010638403_looking_backwards_at_sideways.html

52 things

Happy New Year!

New Year's resolutions? No, instead I make lists. What's written dowm on my old lists doesn't matter a wit and my new list only has power over me while I'm writing it down. The variables of life change so fast, heck, they can change the moment you set down your pen. These lists I post here annually are alot like those little pieces of paper that the Japanese hang on trees on New Year's Day or like the messages to the ancestors that the ancients would toss into the bonfires on the Solstice. For me they've been an annual laundry list of dreams and wishes and desires to send off to the gods, to the ancestors, to the universe. As a "pie in the sky" exercise goes it's not a bad thing. These lists are clarification tools, grand things-to-do lists, action plans, packages of hopes to lay my head down on at night before I go to sleep. So, find below the latest list, circa 2009. Let's see where it goes.

Happy New Year to those of you who follow this heartfelt blog and may all your hopes, wishes, dreams and desires come to pass!

My 2009 list of 52:

1. Strive to be happy regardless of what life brings to my doorstep.
2. In the midst of that happiness, remind myself to appreciate and find joy in what I have.
3. Walk more.
4. Buy less.
5. Concentrate on finding work in the library sector no matter where it lands me.
6. Sell the house, and if it doesn't sell, rent it out.
7. Find my way back to selling online and unload all the old toy soldier stock.
8. Buy a couple turntable needles and play my old records.
9. Get back to three new recipes a week.
10. Renew my WA sellers license.
11. Look into that lithographed box thing so Nathan and I can have something to work on together.
12. Continue to polish up my resume.
13. Get that darn new Kitchen Aid mixer out of the box and make something with it!
14. Make a file of all the movies that I own and then strke that list of films against those that I have watched.
15. Take good car of my children, my car, my friends, my body, my heart and my health.
16. Make good on all those FB connections I've made and renew friendships with those folks who have reached out to me.
17.Get back to writing my book.
18. Say goodbye to the Professora and mean it.
19. Make the drive to Boise at least once a month to see the kids until my ship comes in.
20. Continue to work with the foodbank even after I find paid employment.
21. Finish the painting and tiling projects before spring.
22. Drive to San Francisco to see my oldest. Be prepared for the wrath and renew that relationship if at all possible.
23. Take Spanish lessons and put them to use daily.
24. Ride the new lightrail in Seattle all the way to the airport.
25. Pay off all my old debts to friends and creditors alike.
26. Go to Seattle at least once a month just for the hell of it (and for Dick's burgers, too).
27. Watch more sunrises.
28. Breathe.
29. Put those weights and barbells in the backyard to use.
30. Embrace gardening once again.
31. If I find a job that turns out to be local, figure out how to love this house all over again.
32. Find a companion for my cat.
33. Find one relatively unknown band, director and writer to champion and learn all there is to know about them.
34. Make more Vietnamese, regional Mexican and North African foods.
35. Buy and learn to operate (safely!) a chain saw.
36. Continue to don costumes and play.
37. Find a way to get down Ren Faire in Northern California this coming fall.
38. Go see the swifts in Portland with Punkin.
39. Get down on the floor more often with Thomas.
40. Look into my old LA movie contacts for Will.
41. Find a cat for my Estranged One to replace Louis (can that ever be possible?)
42. Embrace the fine art of letting go.
43. Get a passport and then try it out.
44. Make up my mind on this last name thing and then stick with it.
45. Get a tattoo.
46. Learn to love again.
47. Laugh more often.
48. Make love more often.
49. Fight less.
50. Worry less.
51. Get more sleep.

and

52. Live today like there's no tomorrow.

Love, Accumulate Man

A grand award for a great ex-librarian

Some of us, not all of us, in the library business dream of someday finding our own works on the shelves of our local branch library. I know for I started a book not too long ago. I hoped it would shake up the literary world and send those who sent me packing to the local big box store to pick up a copy of their own. Hasn't happened yet. All the same it's great to read stories about colleagues who share that love of reading and writing and storytelling and, in turn that love into published books. Ms Patron did one better: she turned her imaginative work into a Newberry Award. How wonderful is that?

Nice story. Now it's time to find a copy of the book. See you at Barnes and Noble.

Salud!

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez30-2009dec30,0,5078340.column

NY Times reader's photographs of the decade!

Sometimes the best photographers are the ones who aren't getting paid to pay attention to the world at large. They're just normal folks like you and me out there taking "pichers". Take a look at these snaps. Some ruly wonderful and wooly and tragic stuff captured in those photos. This was our decade. Be sure to post some of your own.

Salud!

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/2009-decade.html?hp

Holiday greetings!

Merry Christmas one and all!

May your day be a wonderful one!

Love, Accumulate Man

Brutal, relentless, beautiful

Michael Mann's Public Enemies, right along side Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde and the Coen Brother's Miller's Crossing, is the quintessential gangster flick. It has all the trademark features of a Mann film that you've come to know and love: lush cinematography, incredible set and costume design, fantastic acting, a rousing score, roaring action sequences, all of it. It is one outrageously mesmerizing film, but, as a reviewer put it, one without humor or let up. You start the movie, take a breath and finally breathe out two hours later. How good was it? Okay, I don't usually watch a movie twice in the span of twenty four hours these days, as I have too many movies backed up and only have so much time in the day to watch them. But this one? I didn't have to think twice about what film would be my kick off flick for the evening. And I look forward to seeing it again soon.

Incredible stuff, Public Enemies. Watching Johnny Depp play Dillinger will wipe away all those images you might have of him playing that simpering Jack Sparrow character for Disney and have you believing in him and his acting abilities once again. Check it out and be sure to bring an oxygen mask, you'll need it.

Salud!

Roger Ebert's review:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090629/REVIEWS/906299997

DVD Verdict review:

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/publicenemies.php

Old to me, new to you

Digital thinking. Hmm. I don't know if jacking plugs into card reader boards counts but I've been into computerized employment since the mid-seventies. Let's blame it on that darn typing class I took in high school. If I hadn't struggled through that elective I might of ended up sorting mail on an aircraft carrier somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean. I have to wonder where I'd be right now if I had gone that route.

No, computer work then was nothing like the "geek squad" kinds of things they want kids to get into now. My kid has already been taking game building classes in high school, but hey, codes a drag and I have to wonder if, in the end, that'll be his passion. I don't think that all of us out here utilizing computers in our daily work lives need to cosy up to hardware repair or software building but I do think we need to demystify the beast and make everyone comfortable working with computers, or, at the very least, have the courage to challenge them when they get ornery. But I have to admit when I worked at the desk I would see very few internet issues with the young breeds. It seems to be almost instinctual these days. Now if we can only transfer that comfort level into paid employment.

So here's to the new science and computer learning initiatives. I'm always happy when someone gets excited about something new, even if that something is pretty old hat to me. I suppose I felt the same way about the movie Jaws when I first watched it, almost twenty years after it's release. What's new to me can be very,very old to you. Good to go on that.

Salud!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/technology/21nerds.html?_r=1

Governor Moonbeam's rock

I always's thought that Pat's boy was the man to beat. California's Attorney General Jerry Brown has always been a stand up guy. As governor was beyond bright, spiritual, economically frugal, dated a beautiful singer, liberal, progressive and just an all around nice guy, a man who was not just part of the machine but occupied the soul of it, too. So after I read the story posted below I was a bit sad. It wasn't because of the sculptors' timerity. Sure, he dodged a bullet, or played it save, whatever, by carving the visage of John Wayne instead of Jerry Brown. And sure, when folks go to Christian University library where the rock is stored they go to see the face of a great movie star, not the image of a long time politico.

But still.

Maybe that was the moment where things turned. Maybe when that rock was denied a great face Governor Moonbeam's shot at being president all went away. We all say silly things out loud, but I suppose when you are living in the public eye those things take on a life of their own. Pity. Life would have been a heck of lot better with Jerry Brown in the White House.

So, let's go out and find that man another rock. Better late than never. Yeah, Jerry Brown for governor (here we go again!)

Salud!

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-then20-2009dec20,0,2486738.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fmostviewed+%28L.A.+Times+-+Most+Viewed+Stories%29

Buzz words of 2009

News stories generate new words, and I'm a sucker for new words. Sometimes,when I can't find a good book to read, I'll pick up a dictionary and cruise the pages for some new term or phrase to bandy about, to laugh over, to use over and over again until I'm completely and totally bored with it. Today I stumbled on this nifty article and thought that maybe, until the 2010 edition comes out,that this list needs to be printed out and pasted into whatever slang dictionary is handiest. Fun stuff. Yeah. thank goodness for new words. Life would be much too boring without them.

Salud!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/weekinreview/20buzz.html?_r=1&hp

Writing and books at the end of the decade

I cannot see a life spent without books. My house is saturated with them. I have them by my bed, on shelves in every room, in the car (breakdowns!) and sometimes, for the hell of it, small ones tucked away in pockets of coats. There hasn't been a time where books haven't been part of my collecting mania. As a boy it was all about war comics and Mad magazine, Famous Monsters of Movieland and Cracked. The book jones was always salted with the pulp I couldn't buy but could always borrow from the library. That was the place where all the serious stuff was found, where all the classic literature and heavy paper art books and interesting illustrated stuff dwelled. I couldn't have made it without the library in my life.

It's no small wonder that I got into the profession that I did, that all my truly close friends are writers or artists or collectors of books in some capacity or another. I can't go out into the land of commerce without wanting to come back with some kind of printed matter or another, be it a pamphlet or a bookmark or yet another cookbook to add to my collection. And while I don't necessarily find the world of big box bookstores my favorite kind of place to buy books, they're always a port in a storm when I'm out and about and want to escape the madness of the crowds at the mall.

So these days I mostly settle in with light stuff. I haven't read a novel in months, and printed matter mostly comes into my life across the screen or throughy recipes in the kitchen. But when I read the opinion post below I had to wonder about that new Sophie book technology he mentioned. I've always dreamed of a device that would let you not only dive into a great piece of literature but would also allow you to take off down various alleys of thought and ideas as they came up or were inspired by what you were reading. I love the idea of not having to set down a book to check out a fact or see a visual reference or a painting or hear a piece of music, to have the reading experience be more than something that's only taking place in your head.

I love books and reading if only because of the interconnectivity with life I find in them. My favorite novels, my favorite cookbooks, my favorite reference resources have always taken me deeper into the things I love, or want to know more about. Call it literate one stop shopping if you will, but reading about Sophie got me excited about books and reading all over again. This is technology waay past Kindle and that lot. We're on the verge of something truly grand., damn near mystical in it's level of excitement. Just can't wait.

Salud!

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-ca-decade-books20-2009dec20,0,6874483.story

One grand vampire flick

"Let the Right One In". Not too hard to find, Hollywood Video foreign film section. A true coming of age bloodsucker of a film that will leave you breathless in the end. Wow. In an age where vampires are cool and chic a la Twilight this one will rock your world in a way that Universal's old b/w film did to 30's audiences, the way that Hammer's Christopher Lee films did to 60's horror fans and the way that Near Dark did to the genre twenty some odd years ago. A new fable for a new age. Timeless horror, grand cinema, great vampires..catch it now, and watch it in the dark.


Salud!


http://www.allmovie.com/work/let-the-right-one-in-430230

Need some serious laughs?

This definitely falls under the joys of "pratfalls" or "slapstick" (not endured, just watched). Think Chaplin or Keaton or any of those great old Keystone cop silents. Impaled ninjas in Seattle,who would have guessed?

Salud!

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/theblotter/2010286564_police_would-be_ninja_impaled.html

Panic Attack!

Just read the story on Yahoo and then watched (to the best of my computer's ability) one sweet little sci-fi piece out of Uraguay. Seems the director made the film for 300 dollars and now is in the midst of bidding war for his services to the tune of, what, 30 million? What a great return on his investment! But still, you can't buy talent in the software department of Costco. This guy has it in spades. Check it out!

Salud!

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/buzzlog-uruguay-to-hollywood.html

A quote of the day that was meant for me to find...

"I think we have all experienced passion that is not in any sense reasonable." Stephen Fry

Christmas in Vietnam and other interesting holiday blog pieces

Just a few interesting holiday posts and blogs I stumbled upon looking up images of Old Saint Nick:

Operation Santa, including a great link to NORAD's Christmas Eve Santa tracking device:

http://www.operationlettertosanta.com/index.htm

The Tropic Lightning newspaper, circa 1969:

http://www.25thida.org/TLN/tln4-51.htm


An overview of the real St Nicholas:

http://www.stnicholassociety.com/Office/


Santa "primitives" from Kentucky and then some:

http://www.kentuckyprimitives.com/


Old St Nick and Old Nick in cahoots:

http://krampus.xanga.com/

The story of Coca-Cola's take on Santa Claus:

http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/heritage/cokelore_santa.html

Lastly, a strange and wacky little blog, this post featuring an old Mexican lobby card:
http://thoughtviper.com/inexob/arch67.html

Great chart..now what to do with the info but wait!

"I'm not an old man, I'm not an old man..."

Love and life in America..when your 57-85. So far, so good. Come the end of the year I will inch ever closer to being a statistic on this chart. I figure I might as well live well until then and then see where the chips fall. Right now the chips (rather, mashed potatoes and roasted chicken) have me up at three in the morning with a bit of indigestion. I've seen more of that in recent months than I have my entire life. I'll just chalk it up to fiscal worries and financial anxieties. Hmmm. Funny. I didn't see that small malady on the chart, but then again I didn't see stats listed for fifty one year old unemployed men whose partners and children live five hundred miles away. Maybe I need to get out my glasses and look at the fine print about living and loving large.

Salud!

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/12/14/opinion/20091214_opart.html

SantaCon 2009

Somewhere, somehow I've missed out on what seems to be the biggest and most fun Christmas party happening out there. Can you imagine a convention hall full of Santas, Santas of every shape, size and description, all having the time of their lives? But then again I have to wonder how many "ho, ho, ho's" a person can stand!

I stumbled upon the photo spread posted below in this morning's LA Times. Man, I need to sign up for that. It'll give me a legitimate reason to grow a beard (that is, outside of the costume needs of the annual Pirate gig here in PO), to go out and find a Santa Claus suit, and, best of all, I won't have to tear down all my Christmas decorations after the holiday. I could consider it a matter of getting in the right mindset!

I can see it now, this somewhat Scroogy ol' Papa Bear being transformed into a jolly man of mirth and giving and happiness once again. Sounds like too much fun. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus! Hundreds of them! Thousands of them! Yeah, time to gather up the candy canes and fire up the sleigh, a SantaCon is happening in Boise next week!

Salud!

This photospread may have changed my life...

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-santacon13-pictures,0,882145.photogallery

General info..

http://santacon.info/

Strange doings in Vancouver: http://burningvan.org/santacon/index_files/2004Tri.SantaCon.jpg

The scrolling Flickr show on this official site is worth a few moments of your time, believe me...

http://santarchy.com/

Sushi and Tacos and BBQ, oh my!

I hang out with The Hot Dog King for a few minutes most days Monday through Friday. Those few minutes coming and going from the foodbank are a far cry from the hours I was burning up there back in September. Not that that was a bad thing. No, it was alot like Outland's Man's Couch strips san guys sitting around in their underware. Lot's of hairy chested bantering, all too much commentary. The best part about hanging out with him though was talking food, well, food talk in-between customers and all the mandatory NY style banter that goes on.

We've talked of all the foods that we've known and dreamed up menus and then every once in a while turn that pie in the sky into a slice of reality. If it wasn't for all that chit chat about Tommy's burgers and Coney Island dogs we would have never gotten Chili Dog Tuesdays (and Thursdays!) off the ground. We did a beta test on tamales a few weeks back and have been looking for proper restaurant gear to keep bao and fried rice at a proper temp. Asian food Mondays might not be too far off.

So we dream and launch when we can, but after reading through the list of foodstuffs that are available down sout on LA on foodtrucks, well, I know that we have only one way to go and that's to the used food truck lot. If a four wheeled kitchen is what it takes to truly expand our menu, well then, it's time to get a business license, a food handler's permit and a bigger dose of dreams. Well, the dreams come easy, I can see it'll be a bit of a hassle for two big egos to come up with one name to grace the side of that big ol' chrome shingled beast!

Dos Pendejos? Bi-Coastal Fusion? Pancho Schwartz Rides Again? The business name opportunities are endless! Take a look at the article posted below and see why I have a secret agenda for wanting job offers to come from down south!

Salud!
http://theguide.latimes.com/Elina-Shatkin/lists/178178/nouveau-food-trucks

Dog of choice

Ah, Jane and her well matched pups! I think I'd like to get a couple of those myself!

Quite a number of years ago, when I was still with my third wife, we were gifted with two brand new chihuahua puppies. We named the brothers Vago (Wanderer) and Meil (Honey). Their names fit all too well with their personalities. Vago was the tunnel digger, as an afterthought I should have called him Bronson. He helped to keep my fence reinforcement skills up. And Meil, well, he was the lapsitter, the prototypical shakey small dog with the big eyes and the sad/happy disposition. Apart they were great, but when those two dogs got together, man, it was fireworks. You would have thought those two were pitbulls the way they behaved instead of Taco Bell spokesmen stand-ins. The would size each other up, growl famously and then have at it, fur and blanket parts and squeeze toys flying everywhere. Then, after their bloodlust had cooled a bit, they would sit around and lick each other's wounds, pride themselves on their oversized cajones, and then curl up to nap, pals and brothers once again.

Sadly, I had to give up those two when landed here in the Puget Sound. Couldn't find a house for them and so I put an ad in the paper, free to a good home. Tons of response. Finally found them a home outside of Snohomish. Old couple who had lost their chihui lately. Later found out that that sweet old couple ran a Chihuahua stud farm. I'm sure it never bothered those two oversexed dogs a bit.

So, I can easily say that I had a pleasant experience with those pint sized pooches to have wanted one in my life once again. My Chihuahua jones spiked about seven, eight years ago, but unfortunately that was at the height of their new found popularity. My neighbors had a connection to a breeder and picked one up for themselves. When my Estranged One asked if she could get the number of the seller she was told that "we had the babies, they got the dogs", something like that. Very snarky. No more Christmas cards for them.

No matter, I waited as I always do for these kinds of things to pass and now, it seems, that with a bit of driving and a small outlay of cash that this dog can have his day and a chihuahau, too. Hadn't planned on getting a dog but once my ship comes in and my new location is secured, know that Guapo is going to have to get used to having a canine brother around the house.

Operation Chihuahua, indeed. My grandmother and my great aunt both had chihuahuas. I've had a couple myself. Hell, that made me and my family cool long before Legally Blonde ever came on the scene. And my two tough barking perros would have laughed at that sissified character "Bruiser" in the film. Hmmm, yeah, they would have barked him right out of the doghouse.

Wee perros practically for the taking. Gosh, yet another reason for a nice long roadtrip to Cali.

Salud!

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-chihuahuas10-2009dec10,0,4465673.story

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-chihuahuas10-2009dec10,0,4465673.story

Oh, go ahead, Drag Me To Hell

Sometimes it takes me awhile to catch up on new releases. I've been a Sam Raimi fan for years, and have tried my best to keep up with his oeuvre. But tonight, after too many years of wondering if all he had left in him were those great Spiderman films, I watched a movie that took me back to those early Sam Raimi Evil Dead roots, to a place filled with fantastic and outrageous terror, a kind of good and crazy scary that he christened "shock-a-blast". Drag Me To Hell was both hilarious and terrifying, the sort of scary movie you'll delight in if you like your frights spinetingling and goosebumpy without too much gore. If The Others and Orphanage and Paranormal Activity are your kind of scary then this flick will deliver the goods. Great production values, great cast, great script and plenty enough shocks to make you and your jaded horror fan pals holler out loud. Great sitting-in-the-dark-on-the-couch popcorn flick...catch it if you dare and be prepared to scream..and to laugh a bit, too!

Salud!

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/drag_me_to_hell/

That's entertainment...

First we get the multiplex thrill of a multimillion dollar making horror film made on the cheap in someone's suburban San Diego home (Paranormal Activity) and soon we might be able to check out the big screen antics of Youtubes "Fred". Take a moment and tune into that guy's crazy site. As the article points out, it's an aquired taste, funny in small doses. Just like with"Jackass" films, shows we really haven't moved too far from the days of bread and circuses. Mishaps, craziness, Christians being eaten by lions. One good banana peel is all it takes and we're good to go for the day..

Salud!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/movies/08fred.html?hpw

Yet another reason to move to LA..

In-N-Out burger..yes, yes, yes, THE reason anymore these days why I make that long and wonderful drive down south. Sure, the weather in the springtime can be sublime, and who can knock those beautiful sunsets when the smog is just so? I love to go to Disneyland, see my old toy soldier seller, hit up Western Bagels and drop into Santa Monica for a quick spin at the Los Angelese Museum of Art and a quick walk on the pier. But when it comes to food, burgers and LA reign. Yeah, great Mexican, wonderful Thai, fantastic Vietnamese down in Little Saigon, all those great taco trucks, a man could go on and on. Now into the mix this little upstart. Doncha know that I gotta try it out? Road trip, anyone?

Salud!

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-review9-2009dec09,0,4545014.story

What Calvin would truly wish for for Christmas if he had the internet at his disposal..

There was a photo in the Seattle Times this morning that showed a happy family playing in snow in their front yard. Problem for the rest of us is that we haven't had snow come through yet. How to solve this sticky situation when the temps are below freezing? Make your own snow machine at home, or, if you are well-heeled and can see uses for a high pressure washer around the house the rest of the year invest in a well machined and dandy looking snow set up. I think that Bill Waterson's cartoon boy would have completely grooved on this set up and would have driven his folks mad for oned. Why beseech God for snow when you can now blow your own?

Salud!

http://www.snowathome.com/our_products/SG7_Snowmaking_Package.php

Story of my life..

I know all about the electronic dragnet, about being caught up in hard to dismiss world of cellphone bills, internet histories and errant blogs. I should of warned Tiger, knowing how easily one can fall when your head is blissfully in the clouds and your fingers are happily typing away.

Salud!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/us/09text.html?hpw

Recipes for holiday treats

An annual list for sweets that needs to be heeded. I would post this list on the recently defunct Cooks Talk! blog. Make one or more and enjoy the sweet giddiness of the season!

Salud!

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/foodwine/2010243143_holidaycookie11.html

Joys of the day

It was a good day.

There wasn't much there in terms of what counts as "big thrills" in today's action packed, consumer world. As a matter of fact it was a pretty simple day, and, if held against other days of my life, might be considered small, or even bittersweet.

But today we had sunshine, even if that sunshine was laced with an occassionally wicked bit of windchill factor. Today I got off not one, not two but three old fashioned, snail mail type application packets to places all over the West. One was across the pond for the librarian pool of the King County Library system, another went off to Pueblo, Colorado (they're looking for a Circulation Supevisor with an MLS attached to their experience). The last went out to Prineville, Oregon, to the Crook County Library. They want someone to fill a duel role, to be a children's librarian as well as an assistant director. A big wow there. I think I may be overshooting but maybe, well, just maybe, I'll get a nibble, a nod before they shred it. Remember, hope dies last.

So, I topped that off with a visit to the Hot Dog King (too cold to chat outside while he peddled dogs to those brave customers heading up the street to the Tree Lighting Ceremony), then a run to Hollywood (rented Jim Jarmusch's Limits of Control and Lu Chuan's epic Mountain Patrol). Took in some chili and baked potatoes at Wendy's, ran into Jane and wished her happy birthday a week early, then headed back to downtown PO and wandered about. Light crowds this year, no snow, no laser shows or fireworks to keep folk hanging around.

The Hot Dog King and I hit up Gino's afterwards for appetizers and drinks, I stayed on for late night happy hour, but only for their wicked Blackened Chicken Caesar salad. I walked uptown to the Historic Orchard to grovel before my old supervisor and he put me on the schedule once again. Having that strange hobby/volunteer gig there pays off as I was able to get in sans admission price and watch Black Dynamite (groove on it if you dare!). Not much more to do after that as it was cold and late, so I went home, put on Bill Paxton's The Traveler and crashed with the cat.

So, you might wonder, where was the joy and mystery and wackiness of the holidays in all that? Sure, everywhere you go you hear the music, see the sparkley things, feel the consumer buzz. But I found more joy in going places and seeing folks I know or who once knew me and chatting. I found more holiday spirit in those two guys at the movie house who didn't care about why I hadn't come around but that I finally showed up. I was filled with happiness breaking bread (literally) with my best man pal, as for years I didn't have one and who taught me what it takes to have a good friend (you have to be willing to 1)make time and 2)listen).

But what cost me some bittersweet tears was that silent wave I got back in regards to that accidental run-in I had with Jane. It was an across the street, car running kind of birthday wish, a drive away moment. I wonder if that's all we'll have between us for the rest of our lives. Chance encounters and long stretches of nothing in-between.

Yesterday was a good day, one that, even though not totally filled with contemporary Christmas buzz, was tinged with a delightful dollop of holiday spirit, and with just enough mystery and hope that I feel that maybe, just maybe, we might squeeze another Christmas miracle out of all this yet.

Salud!

It's the little things...

It's the little things, like..

..knowing that my Christmas tree is up and that I have a month or more to thrill to it..

..having a full fridge and being able to groove on fried eggs on top of day-old enchiladas after a pot of presspot coffee..
..finding all the old Christmas things up in the crawlspace and knowing that their emotional content, once as fatal as Kryptonite, has mellowed and are worthy of digging through once again with the family by my side..
..watching The Fantastic Mr Fox with my boy, who is no longer really even a boy, and enjoying it thoroughly (even though I put up a really great argument for Ninja Assassins and could have easily just watched that by myself, instead, since they both started at the same time)..
..knowing that the huge upholstered chair I found second hand in Boise works in this little house of mine, and that my good friend The Hot Dog King has the same one at home and probably paid ten times what I paid for it back in the day when he was well heeled in California and that my cat loves it to death (I am sure that it came from a cat friendly home considered the "abrassions" on the legs..is it time for an extra cat?)..
..waking up warm and toasty under the covers inside knowing that frost has been laid down thick outside overnight..
..discovering the joys of "Two Buck Chuck", Trader Joe's famous (maybe infamous) three dollar wine from the Charles Shaw Winery of California..
..finding Indonesian masks and Russian fairy tale prints (sadly, the latter torn from some quality book or another) at the Helpline thriftstore, all to be wrapped and placed under the tree for me..
..thrilling to the idea of and gearing up for a holiday party here at home and planning one, maybe, two, more drives to Boise before Christmas..
..having good friends who, even after everything I've been through and knowing the full story behind my travails, have stuck with me thick and thin..
..witnessing the selflessness of the community behind all the hard work at the food bank and knowing that, without their support and generosity, that the hungry in the South Kitsap area would be hungrier and colder than they already are..
..hearing the overly laid down yet infectiously joyful Christmas tunes everywhere I go these days..
..knowing that the weight gain that I have seen come back into my life these last few months would really irk my doctor, thrills the secondhand stores (more pants to buy! Probably the same ones I unloaded at the beginning of summer!) and affirms that while I have not gained that weight through sloth or not caring about myself that my mantra "I will live until the day I die!" is fully engaged and actively seeking even more good times to gain weight about..
..seeing moonlight on the water and sunrise splashing on the Olympics both at the same time right outside my living room..
..hearing raves about the "Tommy's chili" I still continue to make for The Hot Dog King, even though he is seriously in arrears..
..knowing that the kids and the family are happy, healthy and well taken care for Christmas (in a big way) even though I am outrageously broke and close to being busted..
..finding job opportunities out there that lead me to believe that there could still possibly be one more Christmas miracle waiting for me..
..running into old friends out in town who are still happy to see me, regardless of everything..
..knowing that I gave my all to love and that while love let me down for the moment I will never give up on love..
..knowing that the ton of movies, the raft of wine and the full larder I have laid up over the last few months gives me peace when I find that the world is too filled with angry souls, boring people and far too much angst than is necessary..
..knowing that there are little gals working major chain coffee houses who are out there spreading misinformation to travelers about fifty cent refills on coffee and then finding out that that only applies to in-house purchases and then only within a halfhour of purchase and then finding out that there are all other gals who will override that rule ("..just this time") and who willingly show smiles when you commend them on their bravery for overriding rules for the sake of good customer service (and leave them a tip, besides)..
..the overwhelming assortment of used Christmas loot to be found at second hands these days (oh, and you should see the six foot, Fifties plywood Santa I found at St Vinnies the other day..what a kitchy score that was!)..

..but mostly it's the joy in living I am feeling right now that is filling my heart and life with so much meaning. Sure, I could be worried, actually, I should be worried, but I am filled with hope and baby, hope dies last. Things will work out because, well, just because they will, and that's one big thing to top off all the little things that are bringing peace, joy and happiness into my life these days..

And what about you? What are you finding to be happy about these days?

Salud!

Long time gone, Accumulate Man!

Happy Holidays, everyone! Eat enough turkey? Set up your Christmas tree yet? Been smooched under the mistletoe? Accumulate man is on it, even though that mistletoe action might have to wait. And some might say "well and good" to that last part. Maybe a break from that kind of drama, for the moment, anyway, is, as Martha might say, a good thing.

Otherwise it's been over five months since I've graced the halls of a certain organization and only in some ways do I miss it. I miss the paycheck, sure, but I miss my old patrons even more. But what's funny is that most folks, when I see them around town, wonder where I've been and tell me that they miss me, too. I've gotten cards and emails from people in ways that say to me that I touched on folks lives and that no matter what or where I go I will not be forgotten. Good feeling, that.

I miss, too, the supposedly easy comraderie of the desk, the supposed connections I had with work "friends", but the farther away I get from that old life the more I realize that most of those folks who were friendly with me at work were not friends at all. That more than anything was the biggest lesson I have learned yet.

But what is funny, too, is that folks are coming around and seeking me out with social networking tools, finding and "befriending" me in ways that says to me that I am not the pariah that I was made out to be, either in my head or in my heart. It was all "just business", and while that business cost me hard cash it was also the greatest and best wake up call I've ever gotten in my life. Whatever it was that hit me, bus, train, carload of loons, it was the finest lesson a man could ever ask for. I am happier now than I have been in years. My heart is a little more ragged, sure, a bit more jumpy and achey from all the wear and tear of uncertainty that's been thrown at it, but I am, at least for now, okay. I am in daily communication with The Estranged One and all is courdial on that front. As for all the other grand players, friends and bad actors and actresses in my life who have contributed to the greatest drama of my life I have been keeping them or winnowing them out as I see fit. Some have been fitting in cameo appearances, and then, once they have graced the stage, like Snake Lady and Stick of Wood, have exited stage left, never to be seen or heard from again. Strange and wonderful all at the same time. Showed me what they were made of.

SO, all of that leads me up to now. I still won't grace the halls of my former employer and I'm sure that they are happy about that, too. I am still gracely unemployed and playing my part but sending out three applications or more a week. I have sent them out all over the place, and have made a complete reversal on that "I'll never do library work again" theme I was on up until recently. I have applications on deck for the Grand Canyon (a federal job), an assistant director/children's librarian position (Prineville, OR), a circulation lead in Pueblo, Colorado, a volunteer/children's position in Veneta, OR (home of the Oregon Country Fair) and assorted other places. I have been focusing on positions with various state employment departments and agencies thinking that it was close to the kind of work I did before, but those jobs have been hard in coming. So, instead I'll fall back on what I know and apply to the kinda jobs that are near and dear to my heart, the ones that truly say to me "Public Service".

In the meantime I've been working my tuckus off at Helpline. We have been hyper-busy from the holidays. Hunger never sleeps. No matter how much we get in the form of donations it all goes back out the door as fast as it comes in. Some days I've had to wonder who'd been messing with the clock. Even on my busiest days at the branch time never moved so fast as it does when I'm busy filling baskets for the least fortunate of the community.

Okay, so now you're caught up. I'll be heading to Boise, if it doesn't snow, for the holidays. The cat is doing fine. My oldest turned eighteen, the next in line is making his own stop motion piece at Arts West, a toney art school in Boise. The middle ones are doing well with lacrosse and dance, and the youngest is grooving on being the baby of the family. Thanksgiving went well for a change and I am thankful for many things...good friends who stuck by me during my travails, health, a tight roof. some spending cash and a reliable car. I have been happy even without the Plaster Saint in my life. I am happy even with all the uncertainty that being unemployed has brought into my life.

In fact, for over five months now, as crazy as it sounds, I have been the happiest I have ever been. I stood my ground, maintained my integrety, lived and loved outside the box, cared for folks that mattered, and did what I had to do, and so far, so good...I am alive and well and doing the best I can with what I have.

Thanks for checking in. And who knows, maybe I'll even see you under the mistletoe.

Salud!