Like The Moon

What do you do when you get a crush on someone?
Submitted by Desi.

I don't really have anything that's exclusive to crushes...I just sort of do my damnedest to hang around them, be a little more flirtatious than usual (but nothing too overt--unless the fella comes on equally as strong, in which case I consider the game afoot). Brief touches on shoulders and arms is a good indicator too, because if he shies away from physical contact then we probably wouldn't have much fun anyway.

But anyway, there was the cutest guy at the LAN party last night. He had that sort of UK-punk look going on, I mean DAMN. I complimented his boots--they were from England. And from what conversation I heard him having with another guy, he's been to the Czech Republic.

I HAVE TO SEE HIM AGAIN. :O He was so handsome holy shit. And smart, and philosophical. Plus he, Casey, and myself turned the wrong way leaving the party and collectively had to pull into people's driveways and turn around. We're all lost gooses!

I don't want to go to work. I want to find out if he's on Myspace or Facebook! I'm leaving this entry public because maybe, just maybe he'll find this entry and be like "Hm, I was just thinking the same thing."*

*(Stfu and let me dream.)

"Don't you wish yo dinna could look so fine?" :P Tonight, we have:

Red beans and rice with lambrusco. Do they go together? I dunno. I like red beans and rice; I like lambrusco. Your mileage may vary!

This cat has been hanging around our house alot lately:

Dunno where he came from, but he doesn't look to be starving or mangy. I think he's got a home somewhere, because he'll disappear for a couple of days and then be right back again. Maybe Billy has started some sort of goodfellas club here at the house, because it's always the two of them bumming around outside yowling at each other. The cat's beautiful though, he's got two different colored eyes! I tried to get a shot but he wouldn't cooperate. One's blue and the other is yellow.

Maybe this cat and Billy are drinking buddies?

Oh well, I guess we have a new cat around the house. I say we name him Red, just to be delightfully ironic (and in tribute to one of my dad's cats they had when he was young, named Red).

A quick meme before work, courtesy of Sarah!
Rule:  Summarize your life in a six word memoir, with optional photo illustration.

How's that? :D I know, I cheated. Don't make me get that witch hat!

Participate if you like :P

A guy I know from highschool, Joey, was on the college Jeopardy semi-finals today, and he won!! He's going on to the finals!

Downside: The other two finalists are from universities I've never heard of in my life, which means they're probably private, and they're probably fucking Einsteins. Also, one of them is Asian. Oh shit.

But Joey was totally the comeback kid! He was down at first, but suddenly just started gaining the lead! I was just like "DAMN JOEY REPRESENT MISSISSIPPI STATE WHATWHAT!"

Blog365 is really for people with, I dunno, lives or something. I just don't feel like doing it anymore. This is my two weeks no, immediate notice as it were, hahaha.

I'm in a pessimistic mood today. But I'll tell you one thing, my sister's being a raging bitch. So am I, but you would be too if you had to put up with and clean up after sister and her boyfriend day upon day without fail. Abso-fucking-lutely ri-damn-diculous.

So dig this--for Mother's Day, I always like to do things that genuinely help my mom out, like cook breakfast, get up and make her coffee, clean house, etc. Well, the fact that I have to work the morning shift tomorrow just shat all over my grand breakfast plans (cuz who wants to get up early on a pampering day?!), so instead of buying just an over-priced Hallmark card I decided to put the little money I still have toward a tube of lavendar & lemongrass shea butter lotion, handmade by Lady Ciran at Southern Enchantments! Before I leave for work in the morning I'm going to leave her a coupon by the coffee pot to be redeemed when I get home mid-afternoon for an "all-you-can-stand" foot rub with the aforementioned lotion. Sounds good, huh? Not to mention my hands will also come away smelling quite delicious :D I damn near ran out of gas coming home from Wicca class in Columbus, but it'll be worth it for mi madre.

There's gonna be some bad storms tonight too, so I hope Mr. Rota TingSup Ercell doesn't think he's coming in for round two ;P

This one goes out to all the moms out there!

Yesterday I went to the Von Braun Center in Hunstville to see the Divine Performing Arts troupe perform a show called the Chinese Spectacular. I was reminded of a line from the movie Moulin Rouge, which became the subject for this post: "Spectacular, spectacular! No words in the vernacular!" And it applies most fittingly. It was spectacular in every sense of the word! Costumes, music, dance, it was all beautiful and if there was a flaw, I didn't see it! I had one of the most perfect views possible--middle row of the orchestra, middle seat!!

One song in particular moved me (one of many things that did), it was called "I Sing For You", and was performed in Chinese by soprano Min Jiang. The lyrics were as follows:

"Dear friend, it's for you I sing with heart so true
Fifty years of deceit have built the Red Wall.
Though rogues have tarnished our once glorious culture,
The values of honesty, kindness, and patience endure.
Don't be taken in by the system's claims,
Use the goodness within to weigh right and wrong.
For when you have arrived at the truth,
Then comes the hope of renewal.

Dear friend, it's of truth that I sing to you,
Heaven evaluates us, each and every one.
History has always dealt the depraved the same,
The corrupt dynasty is made to perish;
And the kind and civil are restored.
Break free of the confusion that lie have wrought,
And avoid the Red crooks' fate.

Deep. I could go on for pages and pages about every song and dance in the show, but I won't. I'll just sum it up and say that with the women there were beautiful, graceful dances with fans and bowls on top of their heads, long sleeves, ribbons, and smiles as if there was no effort whatsoever in the dizzying spins and leaps and massive displays of finely-tuned muscle control. With the men there was much of the same, only more displays of bravado and drums and, oh dare I say it, bare chests!

There were beautiful pieces dealing with the heavenly Bodhisattvas, Chinese heroes like Yue Fei, and goodness of the human spirit in general. There was a beautiful song called "Predestined Relationship" which featured an instrument I'd never seen before, called an erhu! I recognized the sound from Chinese folk music, but had never seen such a thing. It's a traditional instrument similar to a violin, except it only has two strings and the sound resonates from a small, barrel-shaped box at the bottom.

The soloist Mei Xuan was fantastic; I found the song on Youtube with a lady named Xiao Chun performing on the erhu: "Yuan (Predestined Relationship)"

The range of only two strings and its distinct sound! What an instrument, yeah? I think it goes without saying that the latter part of the song is my favorite, haha, so lively!

Two pieces of the show in particular that moved me the most were "The Risen Lotus Flower" and "The Power of Awareness", both dealing with the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners in communist China. I could go on for a few more pages about the situation, but this website probably does so more succinctly than I could.

Aside from the show itself, getting to work backstage was a delight. Most of the volunteers there spoke mainly Chinese and broken English, but despite that I found that, while steaming out wrinkles from the performers' costumes (which were BEAUTIFUL and I was elated just to touch them) that
a) there really is no language *barrier*, just a little molehill of a hurdle, and
b) laughter speaks volumes in all languages.

This was also my first time being around so many people who also practiced the Dafa. It was weird that, when someone's watch alarm went off and they went "oh, time to send righteous thoughts!", the whole lobby or hallway or wherever we were stopped and performed the meditation. An interesting thing to note as well is that all of the performers with Divine Performing Arts practice Falun Dafa! It was explained to me (and makes sense) that, since they travel so much for an entire year and perform nearly every day, the Dafa fills them with the energy and spirit needed to perform so beautifully every time.

Leaving at 5:30 in the morning in Mr. Lin's van and not getting back until 3:30 this morning was totally worth it. The free food was a plus too, it was the best Chinese food I've ever had in my life! After the show was over and the performers got food to eat I swear Mrs. Lin and the rest were pushing food on us like crack:
"Here's a couple of slices of pizza--"
"*laughing* Mrs. Lin, I'm not hungry!"
"Here, some chicken."
Hahaha!

I dunno if my roommate heard me come in at 3:30 this morning, but if she did I'm glad she didn't jump out with a knife and try to stab my ass thinking I was a burglar. It's the little things. ;P

I only wish I hadn't had to get up at 4:30 this morning. The fog is beautiful in the morning rising from the dells and lakes; I only wish I could keep my eyes open.

Today will consist of trying to clean off this hard drive of my photography (on the family computer, which is running out of room and I really ought to have my photography on my own computer anyway), eating strawberries, then driving to Starkville in order to be up at 5:30 tomorrow morning to leave for Hunstville with Chyi-Hong and his wife to see the Chinese New Year Spectacular at the Von Braun Center. Discounted floor tickets for the win, but why so early? I have a feeling I'm going to be in the kitchen helping. It'll probably be fun, though, maybe.

It'll be the first time I've ever really been around a lot of Falun Dafa practicioners--I'm anticipating either good times, or awkward times. At least we'll be coming back that night.

Beltane, aside from a couple of bad alcohol-induced moments of drama, was fantastic! We had a little one-on-one SCA-style sparring (I beat Josh, and then was soundly trounced by Ari who ended up being the champion of Beltane), then we danced the Maypole (Lady Hawk forgot to make the wreath for the top of the Maypole, so I didn't have to break my neck trying to reach the top of that damn thing! But the Maypole was beautiful). Then came some amaaaaaazing fajitas for dinner, then ritual (which was lovely, as always). Afterwards we lit off some good fireworks that Ari bought in Pennsylvania, we drank, and made merry!

Probably the funniest part of the night (and the inspiration for my subject line) was when Josh, in a completely drunken state, wandered off from the outdoor bar/kitchen area to take a piss. A couple of minutes later, we hear this *scream* and Josh comes hauling ASS back, talking about little men swinging from trees! He told us he was over "there" talking to a man (which freaked us out because the only other male awake at that point was standing in the kitchen with us being drunk), and he looked over and saw a little man swinging from a tree. We then realized that the "man" Josh was talking to was, in fact, a slender pine tree with a Greenman mask stuck to it.

The little man was, of course, a resin sculpture of a gnome on a swing in one of the trees (there are lots of gnomes around the Grove, if you look ;P). We laughed until we cried at poor Josh.

What lushes we are! I finally had to just part ways with good company at three o clock in the morning and go try to get some sleep. Because despite my late hours, I was still awoken by the early rays of the sun raping my eyes through the tent. Needless to say, there were lots of hangovers (myself not included).

Whoo, can't wait until next year!