sunny Florida!!

Oh glorious florida-- a chance to be in the sunshine with my wonderful grandmother a million miles away from the chaos of Baltimore...

waiting patiently for spring...

This piece of fabric was part of a MICA students thesis work hanging on the wall of the station building last December... I was at the time madly consumed with my own thesis work, but seeing this piece on my way to class or from class brought all that madness to a halt. I stopped and stared... after a few minutes I snapped a quick photo before running off to whatever was next on the agenda; sadly without getting the name of artist... My deepest apologies to him or her... but I'm posting it because I love it, for so very many reasons. It epitomizes my love of the creative process and beauty in life, it expresses hope, it speaks to spring and rebirth... to put a very few of my own bumbling words to it. 

A late summer flower from my porch which speaks all the very same sentiments to me.

So on this cold grey day, sitting in a coffee shop waiting indefinitely for my car to get fixed for some exorbitant sum... I feel glad and hopeful! Simon and Garfunkel in the background doesn't hurt either...

OtotheBtotheAtotheMtotheA!!! OBAMA!

I was at the 1st Mariner Arena downtown Baltimore last night to hear Obama speak before the "Potomac Primaries" here today- wild, crazy, fun, hopeful energy rocked through the place! Everywhere people were SMILING... 

I rode the light rail down with a middle aged/middle class white fellow- a Republican who wanted to see if Obama really is all he's cracked up to be.  In the stadium to my right was a 30's-ish, gay, black man who took the day off work had been standing outside since 10:00am to hear Obama speak; to my left a fuddy-duddy-looking 60's-ish woman sat primly reading her book while we waited (and waited and waited and waited), but stood and sang the anthem loudly (off key) but loudly, and cheered right along with the passel of college students in front of us, and the man and his daughter behind us... From what I saw, just about every age, every color, every orientation seemed to be there- and really one of the most impressive things- everyone was SMILING... Such hope!

Ok, not a very impressive photo to go with- I have a fun video of the entire stadium doing the wave, but I can't seem to upload it... RATS. 

photo shoot

My photo-friend Christy just bought herself a little old box camera on ebay and rigged it up to work with her digital for some fun effects. She came over last weekend to take fun photos... very cool. 

check em out:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/forqueenvictoriastudios/page2/

(the photos of my house are from 'detail' to 'living room')

Internet and TV... necessities??

Since moving into my new place the internet has become a scarce resource... (incase you hadn't noticed my lack of posting...) I keep thinking do I really NEED internet at home?! I can live without it, right? And setting it up is such a horrid chore- I've done it before and I know its going to be an agonizing month-long battle with comcast or verizon... when can they come? when can we be here? we're here they don't come... we're not here they come... somethings wrong with the equipment... another run around on the phone for an hour... we wait another week for another person to come out and say the same thing... and then it starts all over again. ARG... SUCH a pain. (And this is EVERYONES story with the two monopolizing internet companies... leastwise in this city...) Is it worth it?? 

Because sometimes it works... a day here a day there... sometimes a week at a go with full bars from the neighbors, and I think, I can deal... sitting backwards on the couch getting a crick in my neck (the only place we get reception) Until when you really need it and sit down check your loan status... and... nothing. 

And then there's TV. Now, we neither need nor want ten million channels, but oh-sweet-joy when we figured out how to rig it up to get a relatively clear ABC and NBC to watch the the primaries... (go obama!!)...

And really, wouldn't it just be lovely to not to rely on the internet and not to have non-stop tv at home? Oh yes, the allnaturalgranolagirlminimalist in me says! I don't need all this technology... But then who am I kidding... I kind of like writing and receiving emails and posting photos... and checking blogs... and knowing whats going on around the world, and whats a bust in this crazy city... 

Well, for not its working at any rate... we'll see how long I last...