Saturday, February 2, 2002
Birthday Songs
On my birthdate (which I won't tell you)...OK, June 30, 19(a really suck year in music), the #1 hit in the US was 'Quarter to Three' by U.S. Bonds. What the heck is that?!? I like the UK #1 better: 'Runaway' by Del Shannon.
I was born in a really suck year for music...a couple years after "the day the music died." Then when I was 2, The Beatles came.
What was the #1 hit on your birthdate?
Posted by Ann @ 09:49 AM CST ..::Link::..
DREAMS
Oh my, did I have the funniest dream. Actually, there were two dreams, and I'll tell the last one first because I want to save the best for last (no fair peeking). One thing that these dreams tell me is that I watch way too much HGTV home remodels where they do an "on a budget" before and after and the after is always many times worse than the before (yes, I've found a tv network that I actually like...amazing) and that I'm too easily amused by disturbing search request. Anyway, on to the show: I dreamt I was with Stan's (adopted) sister and her family. It was like we were in their "home" but for some reason, it was our house and they had remodelled our bedroom and bathroom. They used absolutely the opposite sorts of color schemes than what we have. Our bedroom is made up of blacks, dark blues, blue greys, pale pale blue greys, greys, and bordeaux purples. Our first floor (master) bathroom is black, white and grey. Well, they remodelled them in leaf green and pale yellow plaids. Aaaaack!!!!! OK, now here's the first dream, the third, I believe, in a continuing series of where a web page is manifest in the flesh, or literally as a piece of office paper or office supply. Last night the web page was one on one of those Astrobrite papers (Orbit Orange, I think) from Kinko's copies. It was in a collage format, with lots of words, but the one phrase I remember that stood out so much that I even remembered after waking up several times was "VAGINA STRANGELY," all caps in block lettering like Impact 24 pt. Mwahahaha! Vagina Strangely! I think it was someone's disturbing search request. (Well, now you have it here folks...google bait). Isn't that a hilarious name? I picture this as a Bond Villainess...."Mr. Bond, I would like to introduce to you my assistant, Miss Vagina Strangely."
I just love the unconscious.
Posted by Ann @ 09:16 AM CST ..::Link::..
Friday, February 1, 2002
The Continuing Saga of the Peterson Street Bungalow
Marlee's post in the Ann-archy entry got me thinking about once when we rented the main floor of a cute little 20's bungalow (for only six months...long, sad, story) in Colorado. The landlords were creepy, but that really should be a separate post. For some weird reason, somehow--and I don't know how--we got put on the Welcome Wagon list when we moved in to it. Now this was 1985, and I had lived in Fort Collins (mostly with my parents) since 1971. Stan had lived in Fort Collins as a college student since 1979. We moved into an apartment together in late 1983 before we moved to the bungalow, so I have no idea why we got on a Welcome Wagon List at that time. It's not like we'd sign up for it ourselves or anything. I don't even think my mom was visited by the Welcome Wagon Lady when our family moved to Colorado. Maybe it was part of the Extremely Evil Disney Witch landlady's modus operandi (cast: Glenn Close with short corporate hair; Harry Dean Stanton as her henpecked landlord husband). The bungalow had the most incredible plant room in the front, so naturally, I filled it with plants. It was plant heaven. I sure miss that room. We converted the small dining room to a studio; I covered the floor with cardboard to avoid getting art materials on the carpet. We visually divided the dining room from the living room (which included a very nice second hand couch we found at Salvation Army) with some of Stan's seven-feet tall and two-foot wide gothic paintings in a series called "The Guardian Angel Series" (I specifically remember one title--The Guardian Angel of Cabbages). When the Welcome Wagon Lady came, it was right out of The Addams Family. She really looked scared, like she'd walked into Gomez and Morticia's abode, a situation that she just wasn't prepared for. This just wasn't the typical suburban ranch that she was accustomed to. I remember her showing us all the goodies in her Welcome Wagon kit and telling us "newcomers" about the local businesses, and I'd nod my head and say "yes, I've been there many times." She was thoroughly confused. I remember she said something to cut the ice..."so...you like...plants...and...art..." I sure wish I had that episode on tape.
The picture above was taken of the aforementioned house in the fall of 2001 on our trip out to Colorado. It looks fairly similar to the way it did when we lived there in 1985, but then it was white with dark green trim. I don't like this new paint job.
Posted by Ann @ 10:12 AM CST ..::Link::..
Thursday, January 31, 2002
Appraisal
Holy deleted expletives, Batman! Stan just found out from Cousin Dave the results of our house appraisal. It's gone up three grand in value since the first appraisal in December! And I was so afraid they wouldn't appraise it for enough this time. The appraiser was actually really nice. She had a puppy with her when she came and it really enjoyed playing with Hieronymus (we temporarily put BratBoy in the car because he's not good with unfamiliar dogs or people). Now we get to close either on the 6th or on the 12th (our 14th anniversary) and put Stan's stude loans into our house (mortgage). What a great emotional relief that all will be.
It's amazing that a home can appreciate over three times its value in the course of a decade (yeah, we bought it pretty cheap back in '90, back before it became such a trendy neighborhood.
Yes, it's a trendy neighborhood, or at least that's what our neighbors are calling it in their For Sale By Owner ad. He got a transfer to Denver (of all places) and they're needing to sell their house. I don't think they're asking enough for it...it's a really nice house with two big bedrooms, a bigger-than-average yard (for the neighborhood), three 100-year old oak trees, nicely finished off and everything (unlike ours which still needs help in many respects!). But maybe it's because they only have two bedrooms and one bath...that always makes it harder to sell. That's probably why ours appraised for more because we have three bedrooms and two full baths...makes it more saleable. And ours is larger too (we need the extra room for art studios/computer room). It also is amazing to think that only 20 years ago or so (before we lived here) the "East Side" was the place in Madison where one didn't want to live. Now, thanks to targeted urban development areas, it's trendy. Weird.
Posted by Ann @ 07:02 PM CST ..::Link::..
Ann-archy
It's one of those days that I'm finding myself equally angered by stuff I'm listening to and reading on the right as well as on the left. Basically, each viewpoint angers and alienates me. I don't think I'm a lesser person because I'm not politically active. I don't think I'm a lesser person because I enjoy going to greenhouses and buying plants and going to antique shops and buying retro items that remind me of things from my childhood that I never had. I don't think that buying cheaper, non-organic fruits and veggies makes me evil. I don't think those things make me a selfish, materialistic, right-wing American. I don't think I'm a lesser person because I'm not in search of the post-Reagan American dream and work my ass off at a job I hate just so I can have an exterior that impresses people impressed by exteriors. I don't think I'm a lesser person because I can't afford a cell phone and use a dial-up internet connection. I don't think I'm a lesser person because I am in pursuit of a completive life, and art and aesthetics as my vocation, and not the almighty dollar. I don't think I'm a lesser person because I think there is a serious problem with the income disparities in this country. I don't think these things make me a freakish lazy slacker left-wing American.
People see that I have my own house, a terminal degree, speak well without any regional American accents, and appreciate fine foods and they immediately think I'm a a yuppie snob.
People see the rusted car I emerge from, my Converse AllStars covered in paint and my tattered sleeves and think I'm a welfare recipient.
What an easier life it would be if I were either of those. I would only be alienated by half the views I encounter, not all of them.
Posted by Ann @ 01:57 PM CST ..::Link::..
Wednesday, January 30, 2002
DREAM
I dreamt I was looking at a web page. I remember trying to find information on Velvet Goldmine. The webpage was about fantasy creatures like fairies. There was a picture of an etching of a rather genderless fairy with wings on the page....you know, the kind of fairy that flits around in a garden amongst the posies. I was a bit annoyed because it was the wrong kind of fairy, if you know what I mean.
Posted by Ann @ 01:32 PM CST ..::Link::..
Tuesday, January 29, 2002
Candy-Coated Clowns
As heard on NPR this morning, you can vote for a new M&M color from the pool of contenders, Pink, Purple and Aqua. Is it just me, or is purple so totally under-represented as a color? I mean, wasn't purple the last color to be a charm in Lucky Charms? It's a secondary color, it has just as many rights as orange and green. Purple should be a shoe-in. They already have red, why do they need pink? And aqua? Come on, it's a tertiary color...tertiary colors get no rights until all primary and secondary colors have gotten their chances. And since blue was the last one inducted, don't you think aqua should wait a while? Leave it to the green/aqua/blue end of the spectrum...you give them an inch and they want a mile. Isn't it enough that bluish greens are totally over-represent in web colors due to the fact that blue and green are primary colors of light...now it wants its own M&M in the name of Aqua. Heck, if Aqua gets it, I DEMAND they give the next color to Chartreuse. I dare them.
Posted by Ann @ 04:15 PM CST ..::Link::..
Monday, January 28, 2002
Referrer
Yes, folks, we have contact!
The Googlings have found us.
Posted by Ann @ 12:09 PM CST ..::Link::..
Snowdrops
We have to get yet *another* appraisal on our house for the refinancing (because we decided to go with another mortgage company and the appraisal from the first company doesn't count for them). She's coming this afternoon, after getting ahold of us just last night. Speak about short notice...no time to clean or anything, except she says that doesn't matter. Yeah, right. She sounded awfully young and confused. I just hope she appraises it for enough. If we get screwed over on this deal, I don't know what I'm going to do. Despite that the first company was crooks, the contractor they got for the appraisal (who supposedly is not associated with the crook company) seemed to know what he was doing.
You know, I think I dreamt about hearing something about that crook company on the news. I wonder if I really did, or if it was just a dream.
OK, as promised, here's the picture of the snowdrops that were starting to bloom yesterday morning.
Posted by Ann @ 11:27 AM CST ..::Link::..
DREAM?
I wonder how much of a dream can be called your own original unconscious creation, and how much of it needs to be credited to the sounds in your room at the time. I was listening to "As It Happens" this morning and they had a topic on Haggis. Yes, Haggis. In fact, it was about Haggis as an aphrodesiac. This is what the promo on their site says:
"Misty hills, lonely castles and sheep stomachs...all the elements of scottish romance. The Highlands Tourist Board promotes an aphrodisiac Haggis to lure love-bird visitors to their glens."
They announced the topic at the beginning of the show, and inevitably, I fell asleep during the segment and didn't awake until I heard the bagpipe music afterward. Heh. But I think my mind was hearing it and I started dreaming about Haggis. Now I've never seen Haggis, let alone tasted it, but in my dream I was looking at this weird ground beef sausage looking stuff. But that's all I remember dreaming about.
Posted by Ann @ 09:21 AM CST ..::Link::..
Sunday, January 27, 2002
He's not the master of my domains.
I have seen everything today. This morning I went outside and photographed a blooming snowdrop flower, picture forthcoming (need I remind anyone, I'm in Wisconsin).
But that's nothing.
Later, I found that someone had searched Eyeblog for Jason Alexander Nude. Oooookaaaaayyyy...whatever turns you on, I guess.
I mean, of all the actors...
Posted by Ann @ 04:07 PM CST ..::Link::..
DREAM
Sad dream...nightmare, really. Stan and I were with our friends Lamya and Russ at their house in Colorado. I think they had male roommates, like Russ's old roommates from college. For some reason, we were relinquishing Plato to them. I didn't want to give Plato up, but Stan told me it would be ok, and that we could get another dog. I didn't understand why we couldn't keep him. Also I remember something about walking through a building like an old library that had a lot of modern art on the wall...it was rather neat, and also, Plato would shed his arms and grow new ones.