wallpaper hypocrite

i remember talking to my mom on the phone about a year ago, cringing as she let me know that her big weekend event would be wallpapering the downstairs bathroom. ugh! wallpaper! i was not surprised, i was sure it would be forest green & cream colored with a coordinating border of loons or wildlife. i was right, i went home to visit last summer and found exactly what i had anticipated.

why do i write about this? because i have spent many hours searching online for the perfect victorian inspired wallpaper (preferably the exact wallpaper from the apartment in lucky number sleven). i have become a wallpaper hypocrite. i always swore that wallpaper was the devil's craft (bear in mind i also mocked my mother's cross stitching obsession)...well, no longer.

i still rent, so full wall covering is not an option. a carpenter friend of mine cut me three 16 x 16 panels that i hope to cover and hang. that way, my lovely victorian wallpaper can travel with me. i will post pics as soon as complete my project & find antlers to compliment it.

strong like one

a mantra is defined as a religious or mystical syllable or poem. mantras originated in the vedic religion, hindu tradition, buddhism, sikkism & jainism. the focus of the mantra is on the pronunciation and the sound. while the use of mantras varies in the modern world, they are thought to instill concentration in the devotee.

in terms of modern use, personal mantras seem to have nothing to do with traditional religion. are they a good idea, do they calm us down, do they make us focus? or are they all hype, are they simply tattoos waiting in the wings? i tend to over analyze situations, my character, my skills, my situations. someone told me a while ago that i should start meditating & repeat a personal mantra while doing so (ie, chanting). i found that i had little time to meditate, because all my quiet time was spent over thinking the aforementioned items. my thoughts have changed. i think that some of life's situations require mantras, or as i like to call them "slogans." they let you retrack your thoughts, concentrate on the big picture & get you through your little road bumps. i will bring myself back from spiraling over analyzation with a simple three word slogan (thanks for the text).

forgotten & lost

i've always loved looking at my parents' and grandparents' old pictures. in fact, old black & whites and costume jewelry were the majority of what i took to remember both sets of grandparents and maternal great grandparents. i also have fond memories of resenting my brother and sister (10 & 12 years older than me) for having great white-framed, sepia pictures of them as kids that my dad took and developed himself. i was browsing and stumbled upon look at me tonight, thought you might like to take a gander at other family's lost and forgotten pictures.

regretfully yours

i missed the cut chemist show on october 25th here in seattle. it's true, i don't know why or how it happened; the venue was in walking distance of my place. maybe because it was a wednesday night before a big weekend or because my halloween costume had taken over all mental reasoning. anyhow, i bought his new album the audience is listening on monday. it's incredible, the track the garden got me and what's the altitude makes me become the asshole rocking out in the driver's seat on the way home from the gym.

my first memory of cut chemist was back in april 2003, when i saw jurassic 5 in grand rapids, mi. the show was a lot of fun and after was even better. a friend had let charlie in on a little secret and we were then able to have a beer with them in their dressing room. i noticed that neither cut chemist or dj nu-mark hung out. after we had worn out the welcome, we hopped in our car and began to drive away. i looked over toward the dumpsters behind the venue and begged the driver to slow down...there sat cut chemist, smoking a cigarette on top of a large green dumpster. i rolled down the window, yelled "great show," he nodded and lifted the hand holding the smoke and then we drove off. i always thought of him a little differently after that night.

my point is, check out this album.