Been trying to be patient about the whole house getting situation.Bated breath is an understatement.I have been trying to do things a little differently.go to a different coffee shop, use the computers in the library instead of at work (to avoid being written up),just going places that normally don't so that i can distract myself from the fact that i am fucking WAITING.

We actually had snow for the first time this winter.It's been cold as hell since mid-fall and we are just now getting snow.Not that I love the stuff,like some folks do.I don't get snowdays,so I have to get out in it,but it was really pretty to look at.I feel like I have been so boring lately,since I am trying to save up money for the prospective move and I can't g out like I normally like to.I am so used to going out every night.I have also been staying in because of the cold.I am not native to cold climates,and I know you are thinking.....Memphis,a cold climate.....and laughing your ass off,but seriously,I am from tropical climes and this is fucking freezing.

okay,i am being boring.WANT TO MOVE!!!!bye

from the year that I was born....

It is winter in earnest now.It's been below freezing for the better part of a week and I am already fed up with it.Today wasn't so bad,but it's the first day that it's been above freezing,and it felt damn near tropical.

This weekend I decided to lay low and keep to myself.Last week was so busy busy busy,I just needed some time to snuggle down in my bed and dream.I have also gotten more sleep in the past two days than I have in the past two weeks.For a while there I had nothing but really bad,really stressful dreams every night.Alot about war and guerilla fighters and deserts and jungles.I think that it was in part because I have been following the news lately and I think it also had a bit to do with the news I got a few weeks ago about how Jericho was killed.So I just stopped sleeping for the most part.I decided to stop following the news.If something important enough happens,then someone will tell me about it.

But I finally had a dream over the weekend.I was at college,I think,like a study period or something.I don't know if I was a student or a professor.It was really frenetic and everyone was all running around and I was dancing with some girls that looked familiar.Then I left there,and I was driving my old 87 Celica (I loved my little sportscar)that I drove when I was 19.It was so exhilarating and then I ended up in some bar/coffee house that kinda reminded me of Earnestine and Hazel's downtown.I ended up in the back room on a couch making out with this 6'7 guy that I know socially.I remember thinking to myself that I didn't want to take him home,I just wanted to make out with him for a while and then go drive some more.Then meaux woke me up yelling about the bottom of his foodbowl being visible.When I told Boss about my dream, she giggled at me and said that she thought it was cute how I equate driving cars with sex.

I miss both my celicas.the first one that I drove was a 1975 that had been modified a bit for racing.Basically it was one of my uncle's friend's hobby car,and he had gotten bored with it.There was no back seat and most of the dashboard was gone,it was light as hell and had these massive tires on it.It was fast as all-get-out and I was only 14,and my uncles thought that I needed a ride,so that they didn't have to cart me around.I was thrilled,and learned to drive a 5speed in record time.

I fell in love with the high rolling hills on the edge of town(or it was before it all got developed in the past 15 years or so) that ran thru the woods.I could catch serious air,because the car weighed practically nothing.I think that at that age the concept of danger was the most sexy thing on the face of the planet.I would grab my friend Shannon and we would ride on those hills in the fall with the windows down and the heat on the floorboard,wrapped in thick scarves,singing Bob Dylan songs at the top of our lungs and drinking spiked coffee.I had never felt so free in my life.

It made a lasting impression on me and to this day,if I am feeling hemmed in,or sad,or I just need to clear my head.....the first thing I do is grab my car keys.My big ancient volvo might not be as fast as those little sportscars,but she still does the trick.Calms me right down.I still open the windows and put the heat on the floor and sing as loud as I can,and I remember exactly who I was and who I still am down in there somewhere.

Been busy as hell lately.Things are good though and I am starting to feel alive again.I have had a good bit of business for the past week or so,and I have been making plans to play with alot of different people.I have also been considering moving back into Clark House with Deb.I found out that it was up for rental and it would be cheaper for both of us if we were splitting the bills.She has been pestering me to live with her again for about a year now.

I was thinking that maybe it isn't the best time for considering this,as it is mercury retrograde,but then I really thought about it.Retrograde usually has to do with things coming back from the past,and we have lived there before.Of course the last time we lived there we almost died,and the DEA was watching the place because one of our roommates was selling crystal mest,and we didn't find out until pretty late in the game.Then again,the crystal meth eventually saved my ass.It was a pretty fucked up week.

It started when the police came in and searched the house.One of my other roommates(there were five of us) had let them in while we were all asleep,except the meth dealer,who was likely out dealing.I still cannot believe that the police rummaged through my room while I was out like a light the whole time,and I am a very light sleeper.They found nothing,and resumed watching from across the street.

Later in the week,a friend of ours from knoxville was visiting and had brought this stuff called GHB.I had no idea what it was and since they were drinking it out of shotglasses,I thought it was alcohol (like PGA or something) and drank a shot of it.turns out that you are supposed to mix a capful into a gallon of orange juice and drink a shotglass of that.I found deb fished out in the bathroom and tried to keep her under control,which was not easy,seeing as I was getting pretty lousy myself.Somehow a couple of friends of our showed up at the house to try and find out what had happened to us.Sunshine,who had brought the GHB to town was passed out on the couch. The Dame,who is a 6' hoss of a woman,woke up when they tapped her on the shoulder.Deb lost consciousness and then stopped breathing.So SuperDave and Heffe bit the bullet and took her to the hospital.I however,went catatonic while trying to crawl down the hallway to find her.

I have to say that my biggest fear in life at this point is being in paralysis.I could think and I could see and hear and that was it.My best friend at the time,B,kept me in his lap and tried to keep me from passing out and keep me breathing for a few hours.I couldn't even say anything while he just kept telling me to look in his eyes and not to die on him.I don't think that he knew I could hear him when he told them that my heart was slowed almost to nothing.Then my speed dealer roommate showed up along with one of my oldest friends in memphis.They decided that since they had a substance on hand that could speed my heart back up,they should blow it up my nose.After the second session of this,I came to....with three men telling me "you need to snort these lines of meth,or you might die".....needless to say,it was the last time that I ingested speed,or did experimental drugs for that matter.

We all moved out of that house the next day.Deb and I couch surfed for a month before finding a place together on Belvedere.Now,you might wonder why we would want to move back into a house that we nearly died in......I will tell you.Because it is an amazing apartment with the biggest clawfoot bathtub ever made by man.It is HUGE and has amazing windows.I love the attic that I used to live in.I love the fact that there is a washer and dryer in it.I love the kitchen and all the windows.Most of all I love the roof that you can crawlout onto from the bedroom windows.It is big enough to throw a party in.I am hoping that we can rent this house!!!I can deal with being a little creeped out by the hallway.I want my attic back!

these are a few of my favorite things...

the blue of the sky about 15 minutes after the sun goes down on cloudless days.
swimming at night,especially in lakes or the ocean
reading and smoking in the bath
red apples
laughing with my sisters
the distant sound of trains late at night when my windows are open
talking shit to my cat(he takes it so well)
thin mint girl scout cookies that have been frozen
mixing up scents
high thread count bed linens (i am a fabric whore)
going to parties where I know and really love everyone there
the right color red
camping (especially with Deb)
taking photographs
living in midtown
finding and adopting things that have been used and given away or abandoned
wearing chinese doll shoes
nan goldin's photographs
driving late at night (sanctuary)
pecans
making up haiku
slow dancing
songs in french
juxtapos magazine
conversations with strangers
getting lost and finding my way back
throwing things
the botanic gardens
painting
listening to music in my studio at night with the lights out and the blinds open
talking to someone while sitting in a parked car in winter(usually drinking for warmth)
swingsets on cloudy days
the 1970's
my volvo!!!
making mixed cd's(since I don't make mixed tapes anymore) for the people I love
shuffling through dry fallen leaves that make swish-swish-swish noise
Steely Dan (particularly the song "deacon blues")
Gustave Moreau
being barefoot
the way that the air smells when I take a hot bath after I've been wearing china rain oil
calico patchwork
being alone
my bed!!!
writing and smoking in the mornings
getting off work and knowing that I have the next day off
the "house is clean,laundry is done,kitchen is stocked" feeling
stained glass windows in cathedrals
ruby port wine with chocolate or tawny port and those little mandarin oranges

2009.....rise and shine

So.I had a really nice New Years Eve.I decided to pass on all the crazy events.I decided to stay home and have my sisters over.I worked three spells and worked a few with Boss.I consecrated my new anthame that I got for Yule from Lelyn (love him)and it was a really good night.

2009 started with dancing and singing with my sisters.We made things to burn for the new year and honestly,it was so much better than going out.I just couldn't decide what I wanted to go to,so I said fuckit and stayed in.I didn't want to deal with a bunch of drunk people and tons of smoke and the risk of kissing the wrong person for new years.I don't care what anyone says,the first kiss of the year has a lot to do with how your year turns out.It never fails,if I don't pay attention,someone strange comes along and lays one on me,then my year turns out screwy.Last night we decided to forgo any stupidity and so I kissed my sisters.The last year that happened turned out to be a wonderful year,so I think that this will work out for the best.

I was actually thinking last night about a New Years Eve from over a decade ago.It was '96-'97.
I was with my family that I had before I got divorced from my exwife.We were hanging with some really amazing people back then.Every single one of them had light in their eyes.I don't know if it was because we were young(or because we were a bunch of hippies)but spiritually,I felt like I truly belonged with those people at that time.We brought in 1997 dancing and singing to eachother about love.I brought in that year being held by some of the most beautiful beings I have ever known.I still miss them intensely.

Somewhere around 2am,I got the bright idea to go across the street to another party where a bunch of my old friends were,it was this facility called Spirit,Mind,and Body.Apparently,I passed out during this process and collapsed in the middle of Cooper st.Big Scott picked me up and carried me back into the house and snuggled me into my friend Kathy's bed,I never did make it to that other party.It turns out my ex-wife had passed out around the side of the house in a flowerbed.It was a wild party,But I felt totally at home and I wonder if I will ever be able gather together a family like that ever again.

I know that the people I am with now have light in their eyes,it's just on a dimmer switch.You just have to find the switch(I can still spot a black hole from 20 paces & I have learned to keep my distance)I wonder sometimes,if I just shine bright enough,if others who shine the same will come to join me.That is how it worked the last time....and I am tired of hiding.