This Scarlet Mourning

I'm not going to bother with the "it's been forever since I've posted" nonsense again, because at this point I only post once in a few forevers in the first place.

You should be used to it by now, and I'm sorry for that, and plan on doing better. I apologize to my mysterious Russian fan base which I love wholeheartedly, as well as my moderate fan-bases from Belgium and Japan.

I'm back out of the blue because I want to support a pretty cool cause.

There is this awesome band called This Scarlet Mourning.

They are in the process of recording their first album and have started a Kickstarter page to help them with the financial costs. A mere $1000.  And they're currently $222 closer to that goal, with 8 days left.

I will say that I may be biased on a personal level (see: drummer), but this band is pretty damn awesome.

This song is probably my favorite. It somehow manages to bring me back to early high school years, when I kept a secret poetry journal and used to star gaze out of the window from my twin sized bed while dreaming of my unrequited crushes, thinking that surely everything must mean something, somehow. And yet, it's not a copy of anything I used to listen to back in the day.

So in conclusion, let me list a few good reasons to support this band:

1: You have good taste and an eye for talent.

2: You hate homogenized rock. (See: Avril Lavigne, Nickleback, Myley Cyrus when she feels the need to be hardcore sexy, etc.)

3: You hate that 90% of the music industry runs on sex appeal and autotune. (Redundant, I know...)

4: You reminisce on the days when you would hear a song on the radio so captivating that you would listen for hours if needed, just to figure out who it was...and then listen for days more just to be able to record that one song on tape.

Back then, music was good.

Let's bring it back.

So if you have $1, $10, $20, or $1000 to give, every little penny will be well appreciated and loved.

Promise.

Donations can be made here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1030773355/this-scarlet-mourning-debut-album

Oh Happy Holidays!

So once again I haven't posted in a long forever. I was busy with non-internet stuff.

I'd like to say that I was busy writing a novel, learning a new trade, putting together a gallery exhibit, paramedic training...

But no.

Long story short, I spilled a glass of coconut water on my newly beloved four month old laptop with the neat built in webcam. Rendering it useless, null, void, gone forever and ever in .3 seconds flat.

 I did everything in my power (which started with a hairdryer and ended with prayers to a god that has long ago forsaken me) but shockingly enough, nothing worked. 

So last week I finally broke down and bought a new power cable on Amazon for approximately $16 to bring my old, heavy, clunky compaq back to life.

 And here I am again.

Christmas has come and gone.  It was a dizzying whirlwind of spending ridiculous amounts of money, miles of metallic curling ribbon, cats forced into wearing holiday garb, and Sutter House pinot grigio.  All of this ended with a 48+ hour baking marathon resulting in some of the most remarkable cupcakes I've ever produced, and me hitting the cold hard wall of exhaustion at mind bending speeds once on Christmas eve, and then again on Christmas day when I nearly threw up crab rangoon while brushing my teeth. It was awful. Christmas on the whole though, was very good.

Which brings us to New Years. Which was wonderful all around.

I spent the night of NYE in a glamorous matching flannel PJ set (courtesy of Mum for Christmas), making home-made ranch dressing with Pat while he showed me why Portlandia is one of the best shows I will ever live to see.

We watched the ball drop from the comfort of home, had some cheap champagne and slept till 1 the next day.  And then made beef stew. Still in pajamas.

I'm going to guess and say it was 2003 (might have been 2004) that I ventured into NYC for New Years Eve with a Japanese friend. After fulfilling his ridiculous request to visit Harlem after dark, we set off for Times Square. We ended up mooshed in a frantic crowd about a half-mile away from the epicenter.

The clock struck twelve, and we saw spotlights blazing, microscopic glitter from a distance...all the while I had been having my behind grabbed inappropriately since approximately 11:48 by some unidentifiable face in the crowd. It was like Tokyo rush-hour subway meets party of the century, and I just happened to be in the same car as groper for the win, BANZAI!

Not fun.

And on that note, here are my 2012 resolutions:

1- More vegetables, less hollandaise and stealing bits of fried chicken that "fall out" of the wraps I make.  I'm not going on a diet.  I simply refuse to make myself a slave for Arnold bread thins, egg whites and crap that isn't even worth eating. However, my hips have gained more than their fair share of territory in my allocated jean repertoire. While I can still wear them, there is little room for things such as doing the "twist and shout" or simply bending over. I would like to be able to reach into my pockets again without the fear of skinning my knuckles. 

2- Doing Yoga again. Because it just feels awesome. And I'm good at it.

3- Growing my hair long. I'm taking biotin. This is easy. I'd like to have one really easy goal.

4- Exploring the idea of baking on my own, as a business.

How the hell do you ship red velvet cupcakes across the country and have them arrive looking as good as when they were first made? I don't know...but some people do this....somehow....