A clarification

Quote for Friday, July 18th
“When someone is impatient and says, "I haven't got all day," I always wonder, How can that be? How can you not have all day?” - George Carlin

just a quick clarification....when i say "Hooch" i mean as in Hooch: a colloquial nickname for an illegally distilled corn or grain-based alcoholic beverage, also known as moonshine, PGA (pure grain alcohol), or creek water. It is a general reference to booze. I got tired of using that word over and over. I have not given up drinking creek water since I don't actually drink creek water. I have to say though that if I was in fact drinking creek water I would be completely fine giving it up, for more than two weeks even. Although if you are one that does dabble in the drinking of creek water I suppose the idea of quitting it would not enter your realm. Just a guess.
I did not want to confuse people into thinking I meant any other sort of Hooch than the alcohol kind.
As in...
Turner and Hooch (not booze but a good movie none the less - ah come on you know you watched AND liked it! "what exactly does that do for you?" Turner to Hooch)Hooch's name is actually Beasley.

Or as in the Hooch: a single pont foundation, pre-fabricated tensile structure
OR as in a Hooch: a minor character from Scrubs television show.
Or lastly as in a Pieter de Hooch: a painter during the Dutch Golden Age

Day Four operation no hooch

Quote for Thursday, July 17th
"That would be a good thing for them to carve on my tombstone: Wherever she went, including here, it was against her better judgment” - Dorothy Parker

wow oh wow i slept great last night! Only 6 hours, which actually is a lot for me. It was that sort of sleep where you sleep so solidly, so like in a dream state - not dreaming - and you wake up, sort of, once and think oh no is it really 4:40am? You look and it is something like 1:45am...YES! So excellent. this no hooch dealo is really working well so far. my body feels so rested! by the way, you all know that when this one says, "NO, none, zip zilch" she means "one per day"? Hey me and the cold turkey have never been friends. Wait, don't smirk or call me a player...yet...Because i set in motion the idea in my head, in my routine NO booze for these two weeks I have been very conscious of it all and only HAD one drink a day. And that is the truth! I had a glass of wine Monday night (mostly to clear it out so not to be tempted! - ah...logic may not be my friend either), one beer Tuesday night, half a beer last night (it was skunky smelling so I tossed half of it out), and this eve I will have one drink...my brother's new bar is opening so I have to celebrate with him. Technically not his bar as in ownership, name on legal documents, large amount of money invested into...but his sweat and many tears definitely into it and that often counts more, in my book!
Then it is operation "michelle and her The Monti Story" for the weekend. Eat, breath, drink and sleep my story I am telling on Tuesday, July 22nd at The Monti in Chapel Hill.

day one of operation no hooch for 2 weeks in full swing

I feel sort of outside of myself today. as if i am walking a few steps behind me. nice butt. no not really. but more just in and out of it. Tuesdays have an odd affect on me. or it could just simply be the onion rings i had for lunch...and then some pepper and sea salt potato chips. my body is screaming for veggies! keep on toots. off to work on my story for The Monti - Tuesday, July 22nd. Be there! Me, microphone, telling a story of my childhood...what could be better? Don't answer that. Simply say, "goodnight Gracie" and close out the window.

my liver, my weight, my wallet

That is the theme for the next two weeks kids.
My liver, my weight, my wallet.
I have a lot coming my way for the next two weeks (all good)and i need to focus, work my butt off and make it all happen, and happen well!

so for the next two weeks (from now till week of July 28th) no booze. I am doing this cause i think i have a problem. I am confident in stating that I don't have a classic alcoholic problem - and i would never make light of such a disease, ever. alas, when it comes to booze, really just beer - been a while since i have done shots, etc on a regular basis...it does cause me problems. Oh there are many days I don't drink, i never get up in the morning and drink, and when i drink it is always about happiness or celebration, to relax after work, but i honestly feel not as an escape or due to pressure. But, when I do, the aftermath, the hangover, the next day, causes me to not be productive, get things done and just overall it zaps me. it is the mixture of getting older (not old by any means) and beer that does this to me. my recovery time becomes longer and longer as i add years onto my life. the aftermath of it is my problem.
I just feel that at this time out of my day job, the bar job and writing, performing, and drinking (goin out, socializing) something has to give. And I choose beer.
I have some very fun and important shows this month I want, need to focus on em! That means doing the work (ack!) and getting sleep. When i drink, even just a beer, i don't sleep or sleep well! so there. i said it, wrote it.

my goal? no drinking of the beer or any other alcohol till end of July. I am giving it up for two weeks and see how it goes. I am thinking that maybe i then need to look at caffeine consumption. But that is just too overwhelming to even fathom, today or at all, right now!
I have a wedding to attend the first weekend in August in the BIG Apple, a good friend taking the plunge! A lovely time to celebrate with a beer.

I am excited about this because it will be good for my liver, my weight (I am not fat but the beer does add a few pounds on that if not there would allow me to fit into a few of my jeans...jeans I love and I don't have any extra dough to buy new ones)and it will certianly help my wallet usuage.

ok thanks for reading kids. and if you are around the area check out the following shows where I will be performing -

DSI Comedy Theatre
Carrboro, NC
Thursday, July 17th, 8pm
Stand up spot
http://dsicomedytheater.com/

Spice Street
Chapel Hill, NC
The Monti
Tuesday, July 22nd, 7:30pm
Telling a story
http://themonti.org/

The Cave
Chapel Hill, NC
FEMME FEST Finale
Friday, July 25th, 7:30pm
Stand up spot
http://www.caverntavern.com/

the blogging may be low over the next few weeks...check my links on this blog for other good stuff to read, blogs to check out.

see ya!

not much today but...

Quote for Thursday, July 10th
"Hold the dates!" - Me.

I am doing two shows soon...

A stand up spot at DSI Comedy Theatre in Carrboro
Thursday, July 17th, 8pm
http://dsicomedytheater.com/

A story telling spot at The Monti in Chapel Hill
Tuesday, July 22nd, 7:30pm
- super excited about this one cool cats!
http://themonti.org/

Then I am doing another stand up set, they say, the headliner, gulp!
At The Cave in Chapel Hill (psst....look to the right for details)
Friday, July 25th, earlish...7pm, 7:03pm....

Just when you think you can't go on and wonder where i am...POOF! There I am performing somewhere. Just stand in your dwelling of living, close your eyes, whisper POOF! and there you will be and there I will be. "Hello!"
If not, go to plan B. Drive, walk, take the bus...see ya there.

a quick update to my day...

This is where i live people...ah man, just when i said, "ok this eve I am NOT going to have a few beers while writing..." I saw this article off of our intranet.
Now? Well I don't want to get depressed, voluntarily!

I like the mice vow to voluntarily drink for 28 days. You had me at, "establishes a casual link..." I mean who doesn't enjoy a casual link every once in a while...or every other 28 days. A thought...isn't 28 days the standard or average length of time for rehab? Ok, now I gots it. I am riding all the wheels now. All you people just off of rehab and want to drink? Maybe you are onto something.

But wait! Then just at the end, so as not to encourage drinking, they wrap it up in a nice little bow, "The study also found that treatment with an antidepressant drug during abstinence prevents the development of depression, a statement says."
Who this hell is this statement dude?

Oh well, all ok, all good again. And just think only a tree was wasted in this story! (tee hee)

Tuesday, July 8, 2008 - 2:56 PM EDT
UNC study links alcohol abstinence with depression
Triangle Business Journal

Cutting back on drinking could possibly lead to feelings of depression, according to findings from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

UNC researchers at the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies announced the results of their study Tuesday. The findings appear online in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.

Senior study author Clyde Hodge, a psychiatry professor at UNC, says the research "establishes a causal link between abstinence from alcohol drinking and depression." In the study, mice that voluntarily drank alcohol for 28 days exhibited depression-like behavior 14 days after they stopped drinking.

"This research provides the first evidence that long-term abstinence from moderate alcohol drinking - rather than drinking per se - leads to a negative mood state, depression," Hodge wrote in a statement.

UNC researchers postulate that the abstinence from alcohol after drinking somehow impairs the brain's ability to create new nerve cells. Recent studies show that the development of the nerve cells could regulate people's mood; thus, UNC says, impaired creation could lead to feelings of depression.

The study also found that treatment with an antidepressant drug during abstinence prevents the development of depression, a statement says. The authors of the study say their work could help lead to better treatment options for people who quit drinking.

UNC's research was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

some decisions to be made

Quote for Wednesday, July 9th
“I think that somehow, we learn who we really are and then live with that decision.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

I am in the middle of a few things right now.
Decisions to be made – from big ones to very small little ones!
I have to make a decision about a place to live in the fall.
I have found two places. Both have great attributes with small disadvantages.
Truly, not complaining here. I have options and that is wonderful. Yet with options come headaches. Careful what you wish for.
I often think of Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny…he and the lovely Marisa Tomei enter a diner in the small town where he has just arrived to defend his cousin in court. Oil has come to water town – the basic premise of the movie. With a very big dash of funny added!
Anyway…they enter. Sit down. It is a dive. A small town dive diner – ah yum!
Joe asks for the menu.
The greased up rather large older cook hands him a small menu, grunts and turns his back to the couple.
The camera moves down across the menu, giving the audience a view of what it has to offer.

MENU
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner

Camera up, Joe’s close up, he says,
“Well I guess I will have the breakfast” Smirk and all.
It might be nice for it to be that simple.

My great “Day job” has real potential to be a career – gulp! Good yes.
A decision to be made? Yes!

Do I work at the bar this eve? – in at 9pm, out at 3am – up at 6am Thursday for full time job.
Tired? Yes. Make money so I can eat out with friends Thursday night? Yes.
If not work, allow more time to work on story for show? Yes. If work, have to work on story after day job, before bar job, cutting out nap? Yes.


Some weighing has to take place. I suppose it is better that life is heavy than not weigh anything at all. Yes. Sigh.

Quote for Tuesday, July 8th
“The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” - Mark Twain

Jesse Helms died on the 4th of July

Quote for Monday, July 7th
“Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things” - George Carlin

Jesse Helms once said in response to North Carolina wanting to build a new Zoo, repair the existing one, in the town of Asheboro, "Well, you don't need to do that. Just put a fence around Chapel Hill and call it the NC Zoo."

Rest in peace Mr. Helms, honestly, I wish you peace and rest.
No hard feelings. I actually like the zoo, always have, always will.

And afterall, Bono liked you...have not always appreciated his music, or been a big ole groupie of U2 overall, yet I do so admire him as a person for his beliefs, convictions and the ability to follow them to the end, for himself and for others.
If you, Jesse, had this cat in your corner well you must have been doing something right. Beliefs, convictions and the strength to follow them to the end has to be admired whether you agree with em or not.

I would say that completes "the three" (Russert, Carlin and Helms) but really don't like groups of three people die every day, all day long, here, everywhere? We just don't know their names and they are not famous.

4th of July eve

Quote for Thursday, July 3rd
"Books are a narcotic" - Franz Kafka

a day off, a day to read, to relax, do laundry, have a beer, watch USA network, ponder on some story ideas, drink some coffee, rejoice in not taking a shower, savor freedom to do nothing.

Happy day before 4th of July.

It's my friday, ya'll!

Quote for Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
"The simplest answer is to act."

new site to check out

very funny, very talented guy

http://www.peteholmes.com/

did a few shows way back with him...go see, read, learn, laugh. be.

again, really? it is Tuesday already? darg!

Quote for Tuesday, July 1st
“Wha?” – Me, waking up this morning remembering my early morning dream.

I woke up this morning around 4am. Padded off to the bathroom. Sleep peed. Scuffled back to bed. Smiled due to the thought I had two more hours to sleep…well till the snooze ritual was to commence at least. Fell right back to sleep and dreamt the following…

I was on a bus trip to somewhere (been there several times, I like it). Andrew Shue was sitting next to me for the trip. Andrew Shue of Melrose television show fame or you might know him of LA Galaxy Major League soccer team fame. We hit it off, chatting and giggling the entire trip (yes, giggling, not laughing – a difference as you well know). We get there. It is the bus station, old and no longer in existence at this location bus station, in Chapel Hill – where I currently reside…and drink. I put on my coat, Andrew helps me, then pulls out my cross necklace (ah?) that is stuck in my coat. He smiles. I smile. My tummy flips. Me likey. That part of dream then over. Flash forward to me in the streets of NYC, a specific street I recognize but don’t have a name for. There is a movie being made. I am in the middle of it. I am walking through the set. People every where. Noise, loud, like on a set when not filming. Andrew is there, I can sense he is, but I cannot see him. I am walking yet very slowly and I cannot seem to move any faster. I am struggling to take a step, to move down the street. People are whizzing by me. Every one else is in regular motion, speed and I am in definite slow mo. I am unable to get to the end of the street. I then pass, finally, a table of scripts…of the film being made. Then I hear “Feel the vibration” being sung by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. Ah, snooze begins. Hit it, open eyes, look around for Andrew, see he is not there, and then…”Wha?”

What does it mean? Well here is what is happening in my life right now…see if this sheds any light…

Transitioning into a new, more responsibility, a tad bit more money job at UNC, looking for an apartment for August, September (just found one that is amazing – no really – but a tad bit more than I want to pay…gulp!), struggling on this book thing, working at a pub a few nights a week so up late causing sleep lose, debt debt debt, boys boys boys….not exercising, eating OK, but not great…

So what does that dream mean? More than likely? Not a damn thing…yet I cannot help but think something. I checked, Andrew is still married and living in LA so a literal translation of that part more than likely not there. I am not in NYC, in a film there currently and I seem to be walking in regular motion today, so far. So no literal on that part. Mmmmm…..maybe, ah, well, no ok ah perhaps….symbolism. Ah I want to be head over heels in love, I am not sure where to live so I am dragging my feet (I did turn down a good place, in my price range with what seemed to be a cool roomie just yesterday), I am not writing as much as I should be, I had a great successful set the other night at a club (has not happened in a long time – and no notes!), I am meeting with a producer of a story telling show, a successful one here locally, this week and I got no ideas - now - and I still truly want to be a live performer yet have not found my niche. Or…I am lacking sleep and it all means nothing at all. Or it is just Tuesday. Yep, that is it more than likely, just a Tuesday. darg!
But...if a Mr. Shue happens to read this and is interested...I am more than willing to re-evaluate my interperation of this dream.

Monday, Monday, a day a day

Quote for Monday, June 30th - the last day of June...for a while that is!
“I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one” - Mark Twain

If you live on the Eastern Shore of Virginia...

or are planning to be there this weekend, June 27th weekend, please go and check out this event in Belle Haven, Virginia! It is for a VERY VERY good cause and it will be a great fun show.



ESO SAVE OUR SCHOOL


“pay what you can” BENEFIT CONCERT
Bring the Family!
June 28, 2008 6 – 10 pm

MR. ‘B’ & the Boys
BLACK ELVIS
PATSY “CLINE” GOARD
MARGOT’S ANGEL


EASTERN SHORE’S OWN, INC.
http://www.esoartscenter.org/
KING STREET, P.O. BOX 147
BELLE HAVEN, VA. 23306
757-442-3226





pssst....he won't be there...so the coast is clear for you to support the arts and have a good time and he will never know!

Thursday, still love them even though...

Quote for the day Thursday, June 26th

"My man" - Denzel Washington, American Gangster
My Thursday you ask?
Growling stomach
large bags under eyes, almost kissing my cheeks bags
3 hours of sleep under my belt
89 bucks richer in my pocket (pulled a bar shift at the Dead Mule Club)
cramps a creeping...I just know it
Material running through my head for set tonight
Humidity hanging on me like a hyper little kid
Broken toe almost healed
New blister on top of other toe from flip flops
Coffee breath
I am pretty sure a pimple developing...inside my nose - really?
thong on...no time as of late to do laundry
Running on fumes
Knowledge I can do this

And you? Have a day.

oh and this is a cat named Michelle

no title today, only words

Quote of the day for Wednesday, June 25th

“The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.” - George Carlin

This morning as I got my coffee and bottled water (i buy yet still cannot believe that i pay for water - not angry at the end result that i buy "tap" water in a bottle, more miffed that i did not think of it FIRST...or did something about it first!) I noticed a family eating breakfast in the dining area. I work in a hospital. Before I even saw what they were eating I made an assumption, a judgement I guess you could say, think. From their appearance, stature, I knew they were eating large amounts of eggs, bacon (or some other meat product, maybe multiple other meat products), biscuits, gravy, more than likely drinking a diet soda of some type. As my eyes moved from the family to the food in front of them I was taken aback. it was worse than I suspected. the parents were indeed eating large amounts of the above mentioned items but the kids? one was eating sugar coated, artificial colored gummy worms and the other kid was eating chocolate covered pretzels, both had their hands on a soda product. what the fuck? and we are in a hospital. I know we have a fat problem in this country, we are obese, we don't eat right as a general population, we don't exercise regularly (shit, I walk to the bus every morning, 5 minutes, and that is my exercise - weak!), and all of that crap, but I just could not believe what I saw. I really don't have any commentary on what I saw, but that for I am writing this I suppose is just that, a comment. I am not the best eater that is for sure and to be honest I have been blessed with good metabolism, I am yes what you would call average. I am not my ideal weight yet I am nowhere near overweight, this is true. So I do feel lucky, I guess blessed that I can eat poorly at times and not exercise and still stay relatively thin, well not thin, I am not comfortable saying that word when talking about myself, but I am not fat. That works. I am not fat. I just was so taken aback on what they were eating to start the day off. That the parents were letting it happen. They purchased it for them even. This incidence is not a big deal in the realm of all the world and its problems yes this I know. Yet I cannot help but feel maybe it is indeed a big deal, bigger, more reaching in the result of this small happening in an average day here at the hospital. I paid for my coffee, my bottled water, walked down the stairs to the lobby, sat down, finished my current book, cried at the ending (yes it was good!) and then proceeded off to my office. Another day. Another observation.

well you ain't no Wednesday, thats for sure

Quote for Tuesday, June 24th

"It's absolutely stupid that we live without an ozone layer. We have men, we've got rockets, we've got saran wrap - FIX IT!!!" - Lewis Black

Tuesday is here.
Uncanny how it arrives directly on the heels of Monday
Etching pictures of events to come upon my brain
Securing a weekend now gone
Demanding a decision for the future ahead
Ackwardly prepelling me forward
Yearning for its partner the big W

Tuesday is here. Tuesday will be gone. Tuesday.

I forgot about this one...had to share

thank goodness that video, cd, film, television, box sets, YouTube, Google, Barnes & Noble, VHS, LPs, Larry King, HBO...(ok you get the idea) exist. Because as long as all that crap exists, we have him. I forgot how much i love this routine. I share with you, you share with someone else, and so on and so on....

George Carlin - A place for my stuff
Actually this is just a place for my stuff, ya know? That's all, a little place for my stuff. That's all I want, that's all you need in life, is a little place for your stuff, ya know? I can see it on your table, everybody's got a little place for their stuff. This is my stuff, that's your stuff, that'll be his stuff over there.That's all you need in life, a little place for your stuff. That's all your house is: a place to keep your stuff. If you didn't have so much stuff, you wouldn't need a house. You could just walk around all the time. A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it. You can see that when you're taking off in an airplane. You look down, you see everybody's got a little pile of stuff. All the little piles of stuff.
And when you leave your house, you gotta lock it up. Wouldn't want somebody to come by and take some of your stuff. They always take the good stuff. They never bother with that crap you're saving. All they want is the shiny stuff. That's what your house is, a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get...more stuff! Sometimes you gotta move, gotta get a bigger house. Why? No room for your stuff anymore.
Did you ever notice when you go to somebody else's house, you never quite feel a hundred percent at home? You know why? No room for your stuff. Somebody else's stuff is all over the goddamn place! And if you stay overnight, unexpectedly, they give you a little bedroom to sleep in. Bedroom they haven't used in about eleven years. Someone died in it, eleven years ago. And they haven't moved any of his stuff! Right next to the bed there's usually a dresser or a bureau of some kind, and there's NO ROOM for your stuff on it. Somebody else's s--- is on the dresser. Have you noticed that their stuff is s--- and your s--- is stuff? God! And you say, "Get that s--- offa there and let me put my stuff down!"
Sometimes you leave your house to go on vacation. And you gotta take some of your stuff with you. Gotta take about two big suitcases full of stuff, when you go on vacation. You gotta take a smaller version of your house. It's the second version of your stuff. And you're gonna fly all the way to Honolulu. Gonna go across the continent, across half an ocean to Honolulu. You get down to the hotel room in Honolulu and you open up your suitcase and you put away all your stuff. "Here's a place here, put a little bit of stuff there, put some stuff here, put some stuff--you put your stuff there, I'll put some stuff--here's another place for stuff, look at this, I'll put some stuff here..." And even though you're far away from home, you start to get used to it, you start to feel okay, because after all, you do have some of your stuff with you.
That's when your friend calls up from Maui, and says, "Hey, why don'tchya come over to Maui for the weekend and spend a couple of nights over here." Oh, no! Now what do I pack? Right, you've gotta pack an even SMALLER version of your stuff. The third version of your house. Just enough stuff to take to Maui for a coupla days. You get over to Maui--I mean you're really getting extended now, when you think about it. You got stuff ALL the way back on the mainland, you got stuff on another island, you got stuff on this island. I mean, supply lines are getting longer and harder to maintain.
You get over to your friend's house on Maui and he gives you a little place to sleep, a little bed right next to his windowsill or something. You put some of your stuff up there. You put your stuff up there. You got your Visine, you got your nail clippers, and you put everything up. It takes about an hour and a half, but after a while you finally feel okay, say, "All right, I got my nail clippers, I must be okay." That's when your friend says, "Aaaaay, I think tonight we'll go over the other side of the island, visit a pal of mine and maybe stay over." Aww, no. NOW what do you pack? Right--you gotta pack an even SMALLER version of your stuff. The fourth version of your house. Only the stuff you know you're gonna need. Money, keys, comb, wallet, lighter, hanky, pen, smokes, rubber and change. Well, only the stuff you HOPE you're gonna need.
From George Carlin, A Place For My Stuff, Brain droppings, 2000.
SourceEvolutionary psychology Humor Traveling light
2003-11-25 Jef Allbright's blog

one word, two words, a few...

Quote for Monday, June 23rd

"bummer. shitty. unbelievable. stunned. weird." - Michelle, aka Me, reading of this news from Sunday.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/06/23/carlin.obit/index.html

I originally said there would be more later...that was a few hours ago. In those hours no new words, insights or revelations really have popped into my head about George Carlin's death. Nothing radical to say, to write lingering on my lips, at the tip of my chewed cuticle bearing fingers. Only one thought that keeps running over and over in my head, "it just doesn't make sense." Its like he is one of those people out there I thought would never die. I do realize that that thought is not based in reality. Still it is a thought that keeps running through my head. I just think he is that sort of person, could never die...and so that has thrown me for a loop. I am not delusional. Just having a delusional thought. There is a difference between being delusional and having a delusional thought. Take my word for it...that is based in fact. Sort of like the difference between skiing and being a skier...

I've read a few other blogs on George today. For as one can imagine, I expected, the comedy world is all a flurry and 100s, 1000s, millions of people are out there today busy posting on this subject. The ones I read so far, all different in content yet similar - enough - in theme or message; sad.

I ran into someone over lunch and we chatted on it for a few minutes. I told him my thought and how I was feeling. That I am in shock and just felt he was one person I thought would never die. I added that I knew that to be a silly emotion, delusional. See it is not so much that I feel sad it is that I feel weird and disoriented. And don't know why or actually if that is how I feel...as my friend walked away to go eat his lunch he did say something to me that makes sense and I feel does sum it up, explains a little bit how I do feel.

He said, "Oh no I do understand what you mean, get what you are saying. It's like the world feels like less of a place I want to be in now that he is dead."

Yep. That sounds just about Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, and Tits right!

see, http://www.erenkrantz.com/Humor/SevenDirtyWords.shtml, for George's original comedy routine on the Seven Dirty Words

I love Thursdays

actual yummy peanuts you can purchase at the DMC

Quote of the day for Thursday, June 19th

"Baby, even the losers get lucky sometimes." - Mr. Tom Petty

Nothing really to report today. My boss is out of the office and I am actually working...well not right now but outside of now I am, I am, I mean it. It is Thursday. I love Thursdays. More so than Wednesdays. Such potential and possibility does Thursday possess. What am I yoda now? Sometimes when I wake up in the morning and first look in the mirror I see yoda. But then after a hot shower, lots of age defying (yes, I am taking a stand on something!) lotion and some valuable Almay cover up, I look like me, only older. Better looking, I think, honestly, but older none the less. An older more mature better looking me. I ain't complaining...about this.

Worked my first shift last night at The Dead Mule Club - see this link for history, story of the dead mule http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06E4D71F3AF930A25755C0A96E958260

very interesting and routed in where I now live and work!

and this first shift, this first time was fun, profitable and simply good.

Not sure about the rest of you but not three things I have been known to say after a first experience doing "something". Not many virgin experiences left.

As my best guy friend from college use to say, "I am a virgin every time my friend"

Pleads a true case for it really is how one CHOOSEs to see life, situations and their sexual history.

I am back there again this eve just to help out for a few hours. Mr. Ben Jones is there signing his new book. Mr. Ben is best known for his Cooter character (that was the character's name, ahem) on the Dukes of Hazzard televison show that ran from 1979 to 1985 - possibly one of my favorite shows in a whirlwind time period of good television shows!

His book is called, Redneck Boy in the Promised Land Confessions of "Crazy Cooter"

Check him out at http://www.cootersplace.com/- He has lived quite a life to date and is a still rockin on. He went to school here in Chapel Hill and hung out at an historic yet no longer there drug store called Jeffs for many of his wild years. I remember my pops telling tons of stories of Cooter, Aka Ben Jones, for he truly was, at that time, Cooter! They were good pals back in the day. Cooter says when he was a drinking, he has since become sober, he estimates he consummed around 48,000 beers...and other substances....I am sure my pop shared in a few of those beers...Anyway...if you live here come by the DMC and say, "hey", grab a drink and pick some pig. Like I said, Thursdays is just brimming with possibilies and I am filled with potential!

I don't care who you is, this is funny!

Quote of the day for Wednesday, June 18th



DS Andy Wainwright: You do know there are more guns in the country than there are in the city.


DS Andy Cartwright: Everyone and their mums is packin' round here!


Nicholas Angel: Like who?


DS Andy Wainwright: Farmers.


Nicholas Angel: Who else?


DS Andy Cartwright: Farmers' mums.



I laughed out loud for an extended period of time at this one. Watched this movie last night with my roomies. It is a good one. Highly recommend it!

art is fun

love it! It is Tuesday. Don't ask me nuthin! This is my new best friend. He is also my new spanish friend. My new work friend. Just an all around friend friend. He is creative and goofy. I am so lucky to have found him here. He loves his computer camera and now I have just learned he also is quite crafty with paint-by-number paint application. (I just made that up but in this day and age I am sure that is what it is, called at least!) Tuesdays for some reason are difficult for me. Much, way worse than Mondays. I actually like Mondays. So he sent me this picture and it not only made me laugh but it shot be right forward to Wednesday already. All is well and lovely.
p.s. i like is art work so much as you can see with the pic of me up top...from harbor party on the eastern shore a few weeks ago...my pulling beer gig.

A Day

Pierre says, "The first thing I do in the morning is brush my teeth and sharpen my tongue.” Well actually Dorothy Parker said it yet it sounds cuter from Pierre. It is that sort of day - this is the quote for the day by the by. till tomorrow keep on keepin on!

and this too....

Dr. Raymond Stantz: Everything was fine with our system until the power grid was shut off by dickless here.

Walter Peck: They caused an explosion!

Mayor: Is this true?

Dr. Peter Venkman: Yes, it's true your Honor. This man has no dick.

time is mine

Quote for Monday, June 16th

"Ah man, I should have thrown the chicken bone on the boat!" - My brother, in the back seat, hungover, eating Bojangles chicken wings, me driving us to the eastern shore of Virginia for our cousin's wedding.

It doesn't make sense and that is why I like it. We said this over and over throughout the 23 hours, 32 minutes (ah yes!) that we were on the shore this weekend. We just made the 24 hour turn around time for the toll on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel - hey that is 7 bucks or more apropos; almost two gallons of gasoline! I am glad we went. It was a very nice, breezy, fun wedding. The band was good but stopped playing too early, as at most weddings. No sooner than you have consumed just enough booze to feel limber and talented to get out on the dance floor to boogie it up you hear, "OK folks we have to get out of here so here is one more song to get down to" "Boo"
Booing, which just so you know for the future is not attractive to the band and in no way then causes them to continue to play. In fact it seemed to speed up the packing up and getting the hell out of dodge process.
It was great to see the family, friends have not seen in a while. The bride Laura was beautiful - it was on the beach and very pretty. My favorite part? When the priest performing the ceremony said, "these two people have no idea what they are doing, getting into" Love it. It was a statement about all getting married and not totally specific to them. That no one knows what marriage really is, what it is truly like, until one is in it...and then it is too late As most events, relationships that one can and does enter into. He went on to say that for if we did know no one would do it! Sort of like eating Sushi, graduation from college and actually wanting to work, and body piercing.
I am tired today and I am sure it is because of lack of sleep, the drinking and the toll of driving on the bod...what I also am is happy that we went. It was worth it. I read today and I was reminded of something I have known and believe in for some time now; that every day, every minute of our lives we have a chance, an opportunity to listen, to see and decide how we will interpret an interaction, a situation, an occurrence. That it is up to us how we will take it in, feel about it and let it affect our lives. My bro and I decided around 1am on Friday night, I mean Saturday morning, to go to the wedding on Saturday. To leave Chapel Hill in the morning, drive the 4 and a half hours to the shore to attend the wedding that same day. To then have to come back the next day. Sure I am tired and I did not get the stuff done at my house I had planned to accomplish over that 24 hours. But in return I got to see my cousin come down the isle looking amazing, hang out with some good friends (hey Lara, Erika, Mom, Pop, Cousin Petey....) and laugh uncontrollably with my brother for 23 hours, and 32 plus minutes. I chose to say it was a good decision, a wonderful time and be grateful that I have such a family and area to call my own, to go to for just under 24 hours. Plus I love coffee and any excuse to drink as much of it as I can works for me. Peace.

It is Friday, June 13th, Friday THE 13th...

This was my last show, last night at First Wednesday Show at the Chesapeake in Cape Charles, Virginia. Love that show, the people, the artists. Good times indeed.

Quote of the day for Friday, June 13th

“Oh yes! Oh hell yeah!” – Me, after the nurse, on the 8th time, and her big ass ear sucking instrument got all the wax out of my left ear! I did not even realize how much I was NOT hearing for the last 4 days. Sure it cost a crap load of ones but hey it is my health, my ear. And yes I do have two of em but there is a reason for that and I like em both in tact, working together as a team. Good to have ya back leftie, very good.

And check it out....the Google ad is now for ear wax candles...triple drat! If only I had known last night I would have gotten a to go bag.

So, it is June 13th…Friday the 13th…which means?

Tomorrow is Saturday the 14th. That is it. And then of course you know what that means? The next day is Sunday the 15th. There is a pattern here of some sort. I will figure it out soon.
So as I was lounging in the lounge of the main part of the hospital (where I work) it hit me how much I really like my “day” job. So much that I am starting to think of it as not a day job and maybe, ssshhhhh, a career? I actually pictured me being here for an extended period of time. A retirement package? Say what? I say yes! Have a nice paying job and write, and perform some funny stuff? Could it be? I can see, imagine that just maybe….again, ssshhhh don’t tell no one. I realized some of the perks of working for UNC, for the state, for a University hospital and here there be:
If I get sick, collapse, fall down, feel peevish at work I can just walk down the hall a few feet and there be a whole bevy of nurses and docs to take care of me…and get this, I would only pay 20% of it!
In the summer time every Wednesday there is a farmer’s market in the lobby. I mean come on!
Hot young, and some sexy older ones, doctors to look at. Sure most of them are married but all I need or can handle right now is to look anyway. I am sure there is a new class of students just on the horizon…some that dig older gals.
My co-workers are fun and treat me well. Odd I know.
After a certain amount of time, of service, you get a cute little pin you can wear on your lapel. I don’t really have many if actually any pieces of clothing with lapels but just knowing that if I did I could. And who doesn’t like free stuff?

There is more…or there will be more. For now that works for me. Potential is a good word, maybe even the best word. It has been a long time since I have felt so solid, even happy in a job, a geographical location and a mental state. Who knows what is to come? Today, for this time, I plan to linger here and let it all take place. And you know what that means don’t ya? Absolutely nothing. I like that. I like that a whole lot.

and the problem is?

perusing the CNN.com as i finish my brownie from lunch (it was employee appreciation day in my office - yummy chicken salad, tuna salad, pasta salad, fruit salad...hey wait a minute!) and came across this diddy. Not P, but H...I really don't see the big deal! It is "news" (loosely used kids I know) like this that gives me HOPE. Peace.

http://www.ogpaper.com/news/news-02094.html

untitled

Quote for Thursday, June 12th

“I don't have a bank account, because I don't know my mother's maiden name” - Paula Poundstone

Here is a thought I had today; what if someone wrote all of these things, tasks, activities, habits, etc down as if they were doing them but actually were not. Only doing them in writing? Just a thought...not related to me at all and that I am struggling with my plan...nope not at all related...oh look is that a shiny object? oohhhh....

P.s. Ear still clogged. Home remedy sorta working...drat. Health insurance does not kick in for another month. Don't get me wrong, very grateful it is a comin...can the hear hold out till then? wait, what did I say? I suppose that is my answer. drat, drat and double drat.

Quote for Wednesday, June 11th

"If you pursue celebrity you will lose your soul. If you pursue creativity you will find your soul." -
Some well known actor that I cannot recall his name in a movie I randomly saw last night called, "Undiscovered", off of the hulu site. My new fave place. You can watch TV shows, movies...download em to your laptop. excellent! Even though Ashley Simpson was in this movie it was pretty decent. She wasn't the lead so her on screen time was limited...she is a good little lip sync er, I will give her that. Not that she needs anyone, especially me, to give her anything.

And I realized something this morning as I was at work getting my morning coffee...there is this great small coffee shop inside the hospital that I love to go to. Run by artists, people in bands, have tattoos, funky black clothes...my people...or at least the kind of people I like. They probably don't think of me as their people. But what they don't know won't hurt em. I am harmless. Most of the time.
Anyway, so it hit me as I was pouring my java flavor of the day. I don't recall it right now, not sure if I even knew it to begin with, I just order it and drink it. I am edgy like that. Oh is that an envelope? Cuse me while I go push it!

A phrase popped into my brain as I sipped the lovely hot delicious coffee; It is really, truly the little things in life. What prompted this phrase to appear in my tiny compact brain? I noticed that often I do not take a plastic coffee lid. I go without. And that has got to account for something, to help in some way, yes? Yes! So I started thinking about other little things I do that make a difference in the day of the life of the earth and the people here that inhabit it. I sat down, drank some more coffee and jotted them down. And now here they are for your approval, disapproval, or whatever oval you so desire.

Top five little things that Michelle Maclay does to help the environment, her friend da earf:


1. I don't blow dry my hair - I let it air dry, often, at least 4 days out of the 7 we are given

2. I add my half and half for my coffee FIRST, pour it in first and then add the coffee. Therefore, no need to stir with a plastic or wooden stirrer thing. This is good for my health as well; one less task, activity, to do with my wrist - hee -

3. 3. As noted before, when I get coffee I don’t use a plastic top…I go topless. Of course as a side note I always get a to go cup even if I’m not going. It keeps the coffee hotter. I suppose that cancels out the not using the top part? But really people I mean don’t you think you should have gotten to me earlier in the process of the cup making? The cup is there, already made. Me not using it is not going to help. Plus, I just left the house with wet hair. I have already sacrificed. Brave people need their caffeine.

4. I ride the bus to and from work each day. Saves gas, saves me money. Therefore, I have more money to spend on beer. That makes me happy and I am giving income to a local establishment. Giving back to my community.

5. I originally thought I would come up with 5 things I do to help out but then realized that 5 would take up more space on the paper then 4. So if I only write 4 then I am saving space on the paper, which means less paper used, so then less trees killed. Ah ha!

And you? What will you do today that will help the earf? Us here on it?

oh it is fine. afterall I've got two of em!

Quote for Tuesday, June 10th

“Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please?” – Little Sam, my friend’s son, asking to go to the store to get a new video game, in the pool on Sunday.

The kid’s got staying power. No game was gotten but the effort was commendable.
We did some swimming in the apartment pool. It was hot outside. The water was pretty warm, yet cooler and just plain better than not being in the pool. We stayed in the pool till we were thoroughly pruned from head to toe. When I got out I had some water in my ear, left ear to be precise. I did the usual acts, tricks to get rid of the ailment. Jumping on one foot, head a tilt, shaking of the head - this cannot be good for many reasons the most critical being you, I rather, looked silly…nothing new so no worries. Thought problem solved. I felt the rush of warm liquid push out of my ear, escape, run down my neck; all good. Alas though not to be true. Took a shower and when the Q-tip ritual was over my ear was back to being clogged. Ah crap! Two days later still clogged. Wax build up I now suspect. It does not hurt much only feels clogged. It is an odd feeling to say the least. I feel as if my life volume dial has been turned down to three and I am unable to reach the dial to turn back up to 11. “But why don’t you just make 10 the highest?” [Pause, perplexed look], “but these go to 11!” I give ya a dollar if you can guess that movie. It is not hard. I took a trip to the drug store in search of a remedy. I found some ear wax remover…an entire system actually. Consisting of the ear wax remover solution (hee) and a cleaner outer thingy that is blue. I am not sure what to do with that piece yet…I think it is to wash my ear out with warm water if the four days of drops don’t work. I started treatment last night. Quite simple really. Place a few drops in ear, tilt head, let drip in, commence feeling of iciness, and stand still for 3 minutes. Lift head and hopefully dissolving of wax process begins. All through the night as I was in and out of sleepy town I did feel some opening. Today still clogged but I feel it dissolving. At least that is what it feels like and so I have decided that is what indeed is happening. It is to take fours days. So I will keep a positive attitude. Nothing is torn, punctured, and only clogged. And really is it not a great opportunity to pay more attention to my other senses? My other abilities that allow me to function properly in the world? It seems to be working as already today, this morning; I am very aware that I am more hungry than usual. Ah crap!

oh and the best thing happened to me this weekend!

i had the best weekend. i relaxed...did laundry, sipped on yummy cheap red wine from Whole Foods, and watched television Friday eve. Got up early Saturday and went to the Farmer's Market in Carrboro, petted some newly born chicks, had delicious middle eastern food for lunch, found some good deals on clothes at two consignment shops with my god mother (which i love...having a god mother AND a god father, for reals!), lounged on the couch in air conditioning, trained as a bartender at this cool little pub called The Dead Mule Saturday night, got up early Sunday drove around, drank coffee, got a good deal on shorts at The Gap, wrote on my blog, paid bills (had the money in the bank to do it, nice, very nice), did some swimming in a pool, drank some cold cold brews, cooked out, got my fix of law and order CI (THE best one - a new new episode on USA where Goren is undercover...man he is sexy no matter what, crazy or sane!), and hung with my bud from high school and his son and then got some nice sleep and here I am Monday morning. And the best thing that happened to me throughout all of that lovely stuff? Every time i tuned in to the television all four of these movies were playing...four of my favs! It was outstanding!!! Completed an already brilliant weekend. Hot temperature wise and hot fun wise. me so lucky.

Quote for Monday, June 9th

"Chaos in the midst of chaos isn't funny, but chaos in the midst of order is.” - Steve Martin

I had a deadline at the end of last week that I could have totally gotten done before if I had not goofed off earlier in the week. At first when I realized this (at 6:30pm still at work – I usually leave at 4:30pm) I was upset, a little bit mad at myself. Then after a few more minutes of obsessing on it I realized it was all ok. The time I had spent goofing off earlier in the week had totally been worth it. It made sense that I was now in this current position and it was not such a bad place to be really. Most people get out of work regurarly around the time I was leaving this one day, the first in my new job. I realized and comprehended that it all evened out. There was a balance. What was the big deal about having to stay a few extra hours today? I had no plans for the eve, still light out since summer and I get paid for the time. Ah ha! I felt very balanced and happy. It is the simple things in life after all…one just has to listen out for them, be open to seeing them.

obsession...another...

Quote for Sunday, June 8th

Me: "So what kind of patients are on this floor?"
Co-worker: "Sick ones."

I am obsessed with thrift stores and refinement shops. Apparently I enjoy other people’s stuff. It is cheaper than me buying the stuff the first go round (not crap by the way, stuff). And since I now live in a very affluent area the stuff is great! It has allowed me to institute a new rule of shopping, purchasing for me. I am not allowed to buy any pair of shoes that cost more than 5 bucks. I have bought 3 pair so far all either at 5 or under 5 bucks. Well OK, you got me. Last weekend I bought a pair for $5.50! They were marked $11 and so of course after seeing that I placed them back on the shelf. Nope those are not the shoes for me. Alas, as I was walking around the store I overheard two lovely ladies chatting about the sale taking place that day in the store. Ears a perked and blood a flowing I casually sauntered up to the counter to inquire. “Buy one pair of shoes and get a second pair free”, uttered the young perky gal behind the check out counter. Well, well how grand is that? I whispered to myself. I tried to make another pair work but to no avail, no free shoes. And even though they were free I did not just take a pair – I purchased my one pair at $5.50. Why keep a pair of shoes from another person? To take something just to take it? I also found a cute summer dress for 3 bucks. To which I have already worn twice!

ssshhh....i missed yesterday. a quote for yesterday? well I cannot really go back in time, but if I could here is the quote I would use;

Quote for Saturday, June 7th

"I think about having kids. I ask myself often do I want kids? I mean sure. I like owning stuff as much as the next guy, ah gal." - Michelle Maclay, shopping, dodging renegade strollers.

planned thoughts

Quote for Friday, June 6th, 2008

"Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy." - Steven Wright

So today I thought again about my plan, my schedule that I have set up for myself. What I thought a lot about was that I am not following it. This is hard. I have realized, or it has truly hit home, that just saying you are going to change is not enough. That is only the beginning. Yes creating the plan and documenting is good, necessary even. Yet how does one then go about actually doing it. Getting it done. Making it a part of you. One step at a time. Do one thing on the plan. No matter how small. Therefore today I got up a little bit earlier than usual (about 10 minutes) and simply got out of bed, went to the kitchen, got a glass of water, and sat on the couch. That is it. Then after about 7 or 8 minutes I got up, proceeded to the bathroom and to the rest of my usual morning ritual. It was great. I felt different. I am trying to develop a pattern of getting up earlier so I can either run a few miles or write a few pages, a blog entry before the day gets started. Especially now that we are entering into the “fuckin hot” season of North Carolina. Best to get all outdoor, indoor, around the door, any, activity done before 9am. Remember just a step at this point is what is important and I need to focus on. The process and not so much the actual activity or task that eventually I desire to accomplish and shall do so in the future. And the next step? Well to get up even earlier of course! Extend it to 15, then 20. For 20 is the number I am shooting for to get in a run, a write, a blog entry. They say it takes 21 times of doing a new behavior before it becomes a habit, develops into a habit. Ah, excellent. Only 20 more times…of 10 minutes earlier. Then 21 times of 15, 21 times of 20 minutes earlier. At that rate I will be actually running and or writing by say end of August, the start of fall? Brilliant. Simply smashing to have a goal and fall seems just right.

perky married people

psst...this is Pierre. He is not a dancer, but he plays one on TV.

Quote for Thursday, June 5th:

"When a dude in a pick up truck drives by you at the bus stop and honks his horn, smiles and waves at you does that mean he wants to date you or is he only acting out a scene from a movie he just saw?" - Michelle Maclay

good morning kids. hope all is well in your little worlds. i am back in the office world...in a hospital office world technically. I like my new job. I like the people I work with yet I have noticed that the married kids in my office, and I have to say in any office I have ever resided in, have some perks that us single kids do not have access to. This does not make me bitter. I just want the same rights. Example? If one is married and has kids one can say to their manager, boss man or lady (all equal employers I have worked for), "ah yes I have to leave at 4pm today to pick up my kids at daycare and they look down on me, frown you might say if I am late and they have to wait." Now you would never hear a single person say to their boss man, lady, "so yeah ah I have to leave at 4pm today to go meet my bartender at my local pub to get smashed and he looks down on me, frown you might say if I am late and he has to wait."
I am sure there are some perks available only, morally and legally, to single kids that are not to the married ones. Like being able to attend formal functions or any event and take a different date each time, sleep with them and then not have to go visit in-laws for Thanksgiving...and others that are not coming to mind. As Chris Rock says, “You are either married and bored or single and lonely.” It is good to be one and or the other for different reasons. The good news and why I am truly in the cat bird seat? I am single now, at times a tad lonely but mostly simply alone, but someday I shall be married and bored. Wait a minute that is good news? Ok so then the goal is to not be lonely when single and not be bored once married? I can do that. Oh look there is my manager, my boss lady, “Hey yeah I need to head out early today…

da plan

George is back in my town baby! nice to have you back mister. now what are you doing this weekend?

Ok, so I have already strayed from my executive decision…argh! I missed one day. Here goes. I will get it. Damn it.

Quote for Wednesday, June 4th
“I’m single because I was born that way.” – Mae West

I love it. I am actually really liking being single right now.
I have a plan and I am sticking to it. Here is the brilliance; since not focusing on it ah hello getting asked out.
Now mind you I am not going out on these dates. Not part of the plan right now. I know it sounds dumb but hey I’ve never really had a plan before and I am starting to think perhaps that is the problem. Well not a problem just some things have not turned out the way I expected, desired or rather the way I planned them to come out. Could be cause I didn’t really have a plan. I mean even skinny white pretty girls have plans (not a reference to me at all. Sure I am pretty and white but since I moved here a few new pounds have arrived and taken up residence on my bod…not fat just perhaps a tad bit more of me to ask out)…the SWG plan you ask? To throw up. At least they got that, they know what they need to do each day. My plan now that I am further down south is to truly get this damn debt paid down, organized and to focus on my humor writing. The memoir that is drifting, floating weightless deep down inside of me. I did a 10 minute set the other night at a bar. A nice bar, very nice yet still not a comedy showcase location. A “professional” comedy show so they say… truly still an open mic. Which is fine. Some of my best shows have been at an open mic, ahem, but let’s call it what it is shall we? The kids are doing a great job and I am sure they will get there. Hey creating a good, high quality, funny (ah yes this takes work) long standing comedy show requires time, focus and quite honestly pain. Which is great, works out cause pain and struggle be quite hilarious...if delivered correctly of course.
So, while I was on stage at this show teetering dangerously close to bombing…tends to happen when one does not have any material and says, “ah sure I can just wing it”, gulp, hiccup, ah sure babe! It hit me. Not a tomato or a mean comment. The crowd actually enjoyed my struggle on stage and we had a good time together…I pulled it out you could say – finally I can say that phrase, pulled it out, and it is a good thing and not a line item on a police report. Ok, so there I was and a revelation hit me; the performing is the journey and the writing, the written product is the destination. What the hell is this gal speaking of now? Well the last few years have been about me working on, struggling with who I am as a performer, a comedian, an artist, etc. I love to perform live and be in the moment with the audience and quite frankly I am damn good at it. I am also not too shabby at the writing part. Yet for some reason the two together combined into a category called “stand-up comedian” just have not worked for me, clicked into place within my skeleton. I am starting to get it. Write this memoir, this story of you and your life, adventure in humor and perform it live, share it with others in a live, open, in the moment arena. Perform as you write yet view as fun, a tool to tweak and hone the writing. I love it. I sensed I was on the right track when I moved here and now it is confirmed. In this area at least. Men, owning property, investing in the future, health insurance and a work out regime, all the other "normal" crap? Still checking the signs, reading the map…get to that later people, truly later and really I will...or I won't. And I can honestly say looking back on all the experiences in stand up comedy in my past were all worth it. All of it. It got me here and that is brilliant all in itself. I also had that realization that all those years, shows and interactions with audiences and other comedians was so great, so wonderful and not a waste of time at all! - Whew I am spent for today. Plus my boss just got here and I have go do some executive assistanty stuff. Have a day.

Executive decision

ok so my blogging lately is the pits. not the actual content but the actual process of WRITING on the damn blog! Which I guess if you think about it is also the content since you need the first part to then have the second part. a chicken and egg sort of dealo.

in the past i would do a quote a day either by someone famous or me. I liked the idea of doing a quote a day for many reasons. One by the off chance that I through the course of any given day thought of some insightful, witty or enlightening idea or phrase that I could then have a place to document it, share it. Another reason being that it encouraged me to write each day. It was working for a while but as of late, the last month, it has done the opposite. Taunted me and brought slamming to the surface that fact that I am not writing...as much as I should, could and need to be. Could be my recent move and getting settled has caused me to not write as much. Or that discovering and trying out new bars is taking way more of my free time than I originally planned. Who knows and really who the hell cares? The one time where the journey is NOT the important part and the destination is what it be all about! So here I am in the "not writing on my blog" land.

Therefore, I've decided that instead of having a specific area for a quote a day that now I will do a quote a day in my actual blog entry. That way I have to write everyday. I have to because for some reason I have to post a quote a day. Which actually now that I am here and thinking about my blog, that statement is not true. Since there have been many missed days of quotes. Ok, again, stop focusing on the journey, and get back to the destination.

Also, I am sure that my audience's ("hey, Lara, Chip, Deb S., Robin") lives have been empty these last weeks without my enteries!

So, my quote for today? thanks for asking...

"If you feel as if you are going through hell, keep going, you are on the right track." - Michelle Maclay.

And my entry for today? Ah hello, look up, return to top of page.

Peace and all that crap...till tomorrow.

P.s. a pic of me at my new job. Don't be jealous of my amazing desk...I know I am not!

P.s.s I love my new job...no really, I'm not being funny...or at least I'm not TRYING to be.

no mood to write but here a glimpse of a good weekend on the shore!

i am here...

i will write some this eve...just getting settled, working, writing, meeting people....ahhhh and loving it. lots of funny, interesting stuff to report! I be back!

I'm...

missing. I am in missing. Out of it. Been out of commission here for the last few days. It is a true reflection of me, my life, my place in it right now. Moved here going on three weeks now. Went to the shore this week for a few days to get some more crap and see some people - it was good, familiar, odd, validating and just well it was. I love the shore, the water and that is truly the piece i miss in my new location down further south. Yet I have to say, to write, that as I was tooling along the highway to meet up with some cool kids for some even colder brews it hit me...I do so love this place and in that love I am happy I am not a resident here no more...for now. It did its job and so now must I. I savored that feeling, that revelation for the rest of my ride. It does not happen often I fear, suspect to me or to anyone much I am willing to bet; the grounding knowledge that a place you have been was good...so good that it is great you are now gone from it. It has let you go and so to it you release it as well. I am missing. I am missing that water, some people for sure. I am missing in action and that is just where I want, need to be.

sunday revelation #9

i laid in bed till 10:30am today - missed my show - ack! so i came up with quite a few revelations. alas this one is the one worth telling, ahem, or ah me remembering....
why does one make their bed? you are just going to get back into it in about 12 hours. or maybe one makes their bed cause they think they will get lucky and not be back in their own bed till say 24 hours? me? today? aint making it. i'll be back there this eve...

get a wha?

i got a job today! mommy gets to eat this eve. what a super day i've experienced so far and all cause i am employed. people i am pretty sure are nicer to you if they suspect that you have a job. here are a few examples to prove my point: the surly a tad bit overweight just out of the closet dude at the "we think we are in NYC but wait a minute we are not" coffee shop even smiled at me and gave me my coffee WITHOUT me asking twice for it. but maybe he was hungover or there was a cute stud boy with no shirt on standing behind me and i grabbed that gesture as if it were for moi sort of thing. i've discovered as of late that one truly does have to snatch what is out there and claim it for their own or nothing is what ya get. sort of reminds me of the old west where people raced on horses and stuck sticks in the ground and claimed the land for theirs - this was sorta like that, i think...or was that the rerun of Bonanza i just watched on TV LAND last eve? Which by the way was such a predictable show that my pop use to tell me he was one of the writers on it and to which my grade school i did ah carry such information to and share with classmates! Much to my dismay did not get me a seat at the popular peeps table but alas a piece of asphalt next to the "we smoke, wear black and we dont even like ya" kids...but alas as usual i have drifted way off of course of my story...so back i go! Then later in the day at the grocery story the little cute high school boy that bagged my fruit, TP, the mint 3 muskateers bar, and wine into one compact plastic bulging bag (the esssentials i likes to call em!) smiled at me sweetly and cooed, "oh miss (ahem) would you like me to carry this out to the car for you?" I declined for fear of akward conversation potential as we walked to the car in the early afternoon sun and then the "ah well shucks i cant seem to reach my purse for a tip" shuffle that i knew would take place. then again maybe he feared of my age that i was too frail to carry such a full bag? wait a minute no i am pretty sure that he was impressed that someone, I, who not yet showered for the day could look so stunning and exude such confidence! his thoughts i am sure ran there and then ended on, "yeah girl you got that job!" at least this is the story i am stickin with...that be my story morning glory. afterall attitude IS half the battle and i actually believe more than not over half the battle, maybe even 3/4ths but i am not ready to quite commit to it. till then i'll be here sitting in the sun, sipping on a cool Sierra Nevada, reading a good memoir (research indeed!) and figuring out how to buy some new clothes for my new job that starts in a week....stay tuned....

so what have i been up to?

way down here in north carolina in the last few days? thanks for asking. drinking some carolina brewery cold brew, searching for sublets for the summer, crying over the loss of a family friend and then drinking a crap load of cheap red wine in her honor till 5am...looking for work and finding it, meeting new friends and reuniting with old ones, tooling around a town i recognize under all the new and fangled shops, bars and restuarants, checking out the hoola hoopers at weaver street, catering a party where at the end i drank mucho yummy pink champagne, hanging out with my little bro and loving my move to the big NC.
The flowers are blooming, the birds are a chirping, sun peaking out more and more warming the bricks, green grass and rich orange mud along side the winding roads. Spring has sprung! Enjoy it, soak it up, relish it and love it! that is what i been doing you best get on doing something too.

i am here!

what a way to go out; work the beer truck and get gas money for my trip! thanks cape chuck. it was a blast. got up way too early on saturday morning and headed south. got to my catering gig on time, worked it up, drank it up...hence the car still not unpacked. unfortunately a dear dear family friend is very ill so been chillin with that family...i am super duper beyond sad and numb. glad i am here though. my pop is here too so it is like i am gone from the shore but sort of not. i shall see ya round some corner soon when you least expect kids! Till then keep on keepin on.

peace!

Till later....

i am out. as i get settled over the next few days in NC the blog enteries may be scarce...they may not be...the point? i dunno what they will be!
my parting words to the shore?

you know how some people leave their hearts in San Francisco?
I am pretty sure I am leaving my liver in Cape Charles!

ok that is my time. You have been a lovely audience. Don't forget to tip the bartender and see ya round!

say goodbye, gracie, i mean michelle

a few things i shall truly miss from the eastern shore (my home for the last 19 months, truly a home)

1. blue herons, my neighbors, flying past me as i have morning coffee. i shall even miss them arguing into the late afternoon...so angry!

2. people waving at me i don't know

3. kellys gingernut pub

4. first wednesday show in Cape Charles

5. The ESO in Belle Haven

6. Cape Charles Coffee House in Cape Charles (the best damn office i have ever worked in!)

7. Harbor Parties (oh wait i won't miss those cause I am not going to MISS those!)

8. The Turkey Pen Pickers and The Chair Place concerts in Craddockville

9. The Bear and Cub Coffee Shoppe in Pungoteague

10. sunsets from my bedroom window

11. The Sterling House, my home away from home

12. Cold brews on the beach

13. Tess

14. Mariahs

15. the water, the water and the water

16. Angus dog...he is the best man i know!

17. The Yellow Duck in Exmore

18. Kristen and Jamie's delicious, yummy coffee

i am sure there are items, places, things i am leavin off the list...

a big warm hug of thanks to all i met here on the eastern shore.

as i drive over the bay bridge tomorrow, just as i get to the top of that first leg of the bridge i predict i shall whisper ever so softly, "eastern shore, eastern shore" (not ringing any bells? google Prince of Tides)

Good night kids! It has been a wonderful ride and for all i've met, partied with, hung out with, gotten to know and love, i thank you from the heart of my cute little ole bottom!

thanks eastern shore!

pics from my send off tuesday night....

i have been lame i know!

not written in a few days...been too busy dancing it up at the Renovator's Ball, slurping down Sierra Nevadas, sipping on Coastal Roasting coffee, spending my unemployment dough, and laughing it up with my pals here on the Eastern Shore. Only 4 more days and i am out...heading down south. A good friend of mine asked me the other day, "well now that you are moving to North Carolina won't you have to change your blog name?" My first response? Who the BLEEP are you, the blog police? ha ha! Which of course I just said to try to be funny. I say try cause he did not laugh and therefore since my only audience, it was not a funny! My second and honest response? ah i had not thought on it and so don't rightly know? Maybe i can change it from maclayontheshore to maclayofftheshore? feedback needed peeps? let me know, tell me what to do!

if you are out and about anywhere near Kelly's Pub this eve anytime after 7 in the PM, come on BY to say BYE to moi! smooches kids, smooches indeed!

m