Serenity Now

Inspired by Leslie's pictures, here are some I took of Lake Ballard in my parents' neighborhood. It is now part of a nature preserve called Hoffler's Creek. But it used to just be a lake in the woods where we would go and smoke and make out in high school.

Oh, and I used to throw things in the lake that belonged to my ex when he would piss me off.....um, guess I didn't really grasp the concept of "littering." But, hey, I apologized and we made nice. Me and the lake I mean...not me and the ex. Anywhoo, it doesn't seem to have hurt the lake any.

Ok, G, time to follow through on your threat of the 100 foot Ferris Wheel....I only hope your pictures come out better than mines did. Better lay on the ground.

The Ladybug Graveyard and other maladies.

I’m THANKFUL December starts Friday. Not that November wasn’t a fabulous month, it really was - just a few too many events and goings on to ever get a full handle on what just really went down in 30 short days. And the fact that visits from the family leave me feeling a little like Ramona Quimby, for weeks after they are over. Ramona P, An 11 year old version of me, rendered voiceless and enslaved to divorcee conversations, gun control matters, and all things “murriage related”.

MURRIAGE: definition; mountain mispronunciation for marriage, except with a lot less romance and a lot more teen pregnancy. Dates involve speeding around Wal-mart in vehicles which featured either enhanced or (oft-times) non existent mufflers.

I’ll begin with the ladybugs that have plagued the city of Covington since the summer. And when I say plagued, I mean with a swarm of Ladybugs of biblical proportions. Apologies were posted at local restaurants, hotels, and stores. “We apologize for the seasonal visitors, please be aware we are doing everything in our power to remove them.” Relatives fighting them anyway they could. Vacuums, shoe bottoms, brooms, and ladybug traps..you name it. I became a ladybug vigilante at night...leaving one light on in the corner of the room at night to draw them in and then sucking them up in the dirt devil by morning (you shouldn't them squish because they stink).

At some point, we made friends. I’d came to see them as fashion accessories and baby cat seen them as protein supplements. We adapt as did the other animals.

My uncle (an authority on all things UVA, Redskin and deer related) states “As the parks service would have it, they brought in the ladybugs to kill aphids that were killing certain indigenous trees and local farming crops. Well they did. Except they made more ladybugs and have upset Covington’s ecosystem. There are swarms of ladybugs everywhere. To make that matter worse Coyotes were brought in to reduce carrion (dead animal carcasses), they are doing that but relieving people of their small domestic dogs and cats as well. “Here Kitty, Kitty” is met with silence in several mountainous homes. And the worst...the worst of that is that there are mountain lions running across the roads along route 220 to Roanoke.”

I wouldn’t have believed it either until my mom’s friend nearly ran over one (mountain lion) in the middle of the interstate.

God help Tidewater if the the Parks Services figures out Norfolk. I’m waiting for an ostrich to pass me in the HOV lane.

My brother was here for a week in which we: seen Borat, walked on the huge ship parked on Waterside drive, ate at Chilli’s (which should be named LESLIE’S as it is Meca), went to beach, an Imogen Heap concert, and concluded the week with a Granby Street trip. Imogen was pretty awesome, although I spent a majority of the time giggling at someone near me who kept saying “HOW MOVING, IMMIE!” To which I responded, “Yeah it’s like watching a live birth”. Borat was funny, but then I pictured Christian Finnegan from Best Week Ever, saying “Leslie, what do YOUR movies say about you?”

Happy Feet Anyone!?

Towanda!!!!!!!

If you don't have anything nice to say, come sit next to me

Ok, not sure what's going on, but I have missed a lot of posts. Moon Paparazzi, New Kicks, Home Trip, Our Electronic.....Lamentations (love the ellipses!)..... I check it often, so I don't know how I missed them. I think the time has expired for comments, so I won't, but I wish I hadn't missed them.

Eh....That is all. Everything I was going to post was mean or negative, so I will keep it to myself, and maybe vent offline.

I'll give you a hint as to the topics of my ire:

Four-way stops (not the hardest traffic sign out there, but man, people just don't get it!)

The Mike and Bob Show ( I can barely type it without vomiting a little in my mouth)

Moon Paparazzi

It was a full moon last night and I tried my best to get a decent picture of it, but this was about the best I could do. If you COULD see it, it was pretty awesome. I'm hoping it was a sign of impending social change, but in actuality full moons (for me) usually end up meaning someone I know is preggers.

Just a reminder...

Tomorrow is election day, it's super important. So go and do it. It's hard to listen to the complainers, when they are usually the ones that didn't vote. It only takes 30 minutes or so. You get stickers, coffee, and usually get to meet some pretty opinionated people that might impact your day. Plus, hello late for work!! Wooohhooo!

New Kicks

I've been on a quest for the last few months for some new sneakies. But more often than not, the ones I'd encountered in stores were too busy. I just wanted some brown sneakers. No obnoxious logos, not meant for any other purpose than to walk and maybe stand around at concerts. So I dug back into my younger years, and remembered my favorite sneakers of all time, Simples. I had a pair of the OS Simples in Sand in high school, and my friend Kristy had them in Blue. And since we wore the same size, we'd frequently trade one shoe and be the bees knees for the rest of the day.

They're just trusty, comfy sneaks, and I'm so glad to have some again.

I know, I said I wouldn't go there again....

At a certain point in my work day it becomes almost imperative to meander about the internet for a few (cough) minutes and look at mindless pieces of webjunk. This one's a few months old but it's pretty silly.

Enjoy!

Home Trip

So I traveled westward for Clifton Forge's very own fall festival this weekend. Not alot to that, just a celebration of the leaves turning.

Speaking of which above are a few pictures of the leaves at Douthat State Park and Humpback bridge. Both only about 15 minutes from my house. Happy Cold AT LAST FALL!

Boiling Oil!

This news is totally ganked from Lifehacker, but it definitely merits mentioning here, and I'll tell you why.

Starting today, you can get episodes of This American Life in handy podcast form fo' free!

I've been a huge TAL fan since a hundred years ago when Temp tipped me off to it's dopeness.

Basically, for the unhip, This American Life is a radio show with a weekly theme, consisting of poetry, stories, songs, & interviews around that chosen theme. The theme could be Superman, American Soldiers in Iraq, Babysitting, whatever. Any way you cut it, you're bound to hear something totally out of your own little box and refreshing.


AND, the very first podcast available (fo' free!) happens to be my favorite of all time, "Fiasco!". Around minute 24, there's a story called "What we wanted to do" by Ron Carlson, which is a mea culpa by the guy who designed a village's ultimate defense system, which didn't exactly work out as planned. This story in particular makes me cackle every single time I hear it.

So get thee to iTunes & listen!

Our Electronic.. Lamentations?

I promised G today that if she didn’t have her laptop by next Christmas (the one following this one) I would be forced to buy her a laptop because she needs to begin “The Next Great American” novel. Why? Because OEF is starting to come undone like that character in the Wally Lamb novels. You know, you just keep reading because it’s got to get better - right? For reals? Or maybe I just need to come back here to this website because it was home before one of my high school friends posted a half nekkid lady in my comments page on Myspace.

The original intent of OEF is stated in it’s banner. Friends living in separate states trying to find a way to chat each other up on a regular, without driving, expensive phone bills and well the melodrama that can sometimes inadvertantly erupt over instant messenger. There also was the unwritten rule (at least in my head), that somehow by banding as a team we’d push each other creatively. We did at first. We were honest in our internet Garden of Eden and then with any friendship: the inevitable changes came.

Myspace was the first attack. When suddenly faced with the choice of adding friends or writing meaningful (in our heads) essays, the three of us were powerless to it’s charms. I mean for heavens sake you even get a theme song on your profile page! I think part two was the inevitable “girls can be catty” phase. In the olden days when there was a conflict, you’d handle it out on the play ground. Some pulled hair, some torn up book bags and problem solved. In college town, there was the “house-meeting” where you’d converge on the helpless miscreant of your apartment and decimate her self esteem rendering her useless as a feeling & thinking person for the next four years of said life (when in all honesty you probably really could have dealt with this person had they just washed a dish.) Brutal but efficient. And now as it becomes harder to see people everyday, how else is one supposed to react to social blights, but to say snarky things about others for the world to see via the world wide web. One good snarky comment deserves another and the battle rages on.

Oddly as OEF’s mantra started to come undone, the phone started ringing, and the road trips started. We didn’t have to write electronically if the people were sitting in the living room in the flesh. We didn’t have to write to kill time if there was work and productive engaging work at that. Plus well as added incentive, at any given moment we are all only two paychecks away from poverty. So what’s a blog to do when it’s owners have all grown up?

Lately I’ve felt my internet toilings are flailing. I read my last few blogs and was like “Dude, stop being a cry baby." I don’t like reading politics. I don’t like watching them. I yell at Bill O’reilly when he’s on at the gym. Why am I writing about it? .....Sidetracked....... I need to be writing about how AWESOME Law and Order is and how I think a whole channel should be dedicated to it. Or hello - who else is watching “Heroes” on NBC. Perhaps the funniest event of this month was Cattina sending me pictures of a stranded owl that somehow found itself staring RIGHT AT HER (and did not move) during Hurricane Ernesto a few weeks ago. Or even about how awesome it is to be off work. Not so awesome to be stranded at home without power. Boo.

To be honest, I’m like Simon and I like to do drawrings. My favorite OEF endeavor has to be “Flour-Face” as he is the embodiment of anyone whose ever had a superior that has no idea what he/she is saying. Mumbo Jumbo..kerflaffle mumble.

Is this a goodbye blog? Nope. Maybe just an attempt at a commitment of non-malicious, snarky, or venomous blogs. As Alumni Leslie would say to High School Leslie... “I’m just not THAT angry anymore.” I guess where I’m going here is that on the eve of OEF’s (GASP) 2 year anniversary (October I think). it’s time to get happy.