Category Archives: bummer

Remembering Etta

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I love Etta James — I’ve been a big fan for a long time, so I’m saddened to hear of her passing today at the age of 73.  She had myriad “demons”, as they say, and was plagued by health issues, but in spite of all that, was an amazing artist and a gift to my musical education.

I could go on and on about her — but it’s all been said. Instead, I’ll leave you with this piss-poor tribute: a terrible, occasionally pitchy recording of me singing “At Last” after 3 vodka cocktails in 2007, courtesy of Daniel.

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Blues

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I am surprisingly upset right now. Far more upset than I thought I’d be. Not that I ever thought I’d be crying over my former boss — especially not over this, no one wishes for this.

My friend and former coworker, “Stella”,  just sent me a note through Facebook alerting me that our old boss, the doctor in the optometry center where we both worked, met and became friends, is in the end stages of what sounds like a terrible cancer I’d never even heard of until about 4 minutes ago.

I’m… stunned and well, I’m just floored.  And I’m so very, very sad for her and her beautiful family. Such wonderful people. It seems so unfair.

I met Dr. M in 1992 when I walked into the mall to get an eye exam.  First I met Stella, who gave me my pre-exam, then Dr. M, who five minutes into the exam pulled back the keratometer and said, “I like you! Do you want a job here?”

And there you have it. I’d never even had an eye exam, but within minutes, I had a job as the new optometric technician. It all just clicked and I knew right away that I wanted to work for her. I didn’t even hesitate to say “Yes!” even though I already had a perfectly decent job for slightly more money.  I started in a few days and over the next few months, Dr. M. and Stella taught me everything they could about being a great optometric assistant.  They even taught me to fit contacts so I could study for my NCLE (which I never did end up getting — I’m wishing I had now, for some reason).

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Godzilla, Lord of the Dance

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I figured I’d blog today… you know, to give a update to the patient people who still keep up with this blog or who don’t follow me tweets.  Matey.  That should have said “my tweets”, but we have this thing where if we typo “me (something)” we follow it with “matey”, no matter what.  So I did and… well, now you know.

For those who don’t know, I’m moving out of my apartment in a week and a half.  I am really going to miss Casa Cocktail and all the good things about it, but lately the crap has started to outweigh the good things.  To start, Slick (a.k.a. Guitar Hero) picked up the electric guitar and bass as a hobby, which he played  every day at 4pm for 2-3 hours.  Is it not bad enough that his girlfriend made sex sounds like a caffeinated baboon, he had to fancy himself The Edge at least 5 days a week?  But… a blessing!  He moved out in April and took Ape Escape with him.

But then, GFI moved out.  I don’t know who the hell she thinks she is just moving out and having a life and stuff. I mean, god, lady. Don’t you know everything revolves around my happiness?  Obviously I’m kidding, but I miss her as a neighbor.  She never made a peep, we were BNF: Best Neighbors Forever.  I could text if she needed help when I heard she might’ve dropped something, she could text me to ask if I had margarita mix, we could sit on the patio and gossip about the neighborhood and I never, ever had to hear her pee. Continue reading →

Fickle

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So… I changed my mind about doing a session at BlogHer.  I would rather do something with Kathy and since she can’t be there this time, we’ll wait until next year.  A 30-minute session is pretty darn short to cover much that requires actual instruction, at least from a design standpoint, which is why I wanted to make it more of a “conversation with the Moxie Girls” — a place to just hang out, dish and answer questions about blogging and design.  But, despite the positive response it got, there was also a little confusion, so I think it’s better to just go this year to get a vibe of what the attendees want out of a session.

I was also kind of unclear about how BlogHer handles the submissions and presenters. It would be perhaps several weeks, if not a couple months before I even heard if my panel was chosen, and since it doesn’t appear that speakers get free admission (like SXSW), I wanted to make sure I got my ticket before “early bird pricing” passed me by.  Then I decided if I was going to pay for my ticket, I didn’t really want to be anxious about presenting, too.  Despite my gregarious nature, I get a little nervous speaking in front of groups… alone.   I want to enjoy myself, network, sign some books (I’m working on setting up a signing with our publisher) and mingle with all them fine ladies. :-) Continue reading →

A Blossom Fell

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I just heard that one of my favorite singers, Blossom Dearie, died at 82 over the weekend.   She has such a distinct, sweet voice and style… not what you’d expect from a jazz singer, though she didn’t care to be pegged as “just a jazz singer”.  Some of you may recognize her voice from Schoolhouse Rocks favorites like Figure 8 and Unpack Your Adjectives.   But she could definitely swing!

Here are a few of my favorite Blossom Dearie tracks…



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I hope you enjoy the tunes… she’ll be missed.