Digital Ghost

"Digital Ghost"

by Tori Amos

It started as a joke

Just one of my larks to see

If somehow I could reach you so

I swam into your shores

Through an open window

Only to find you all alone

Curled up with machines

Now it seems you're slipping

Out of the land of the living

Just take a closer look

Take a closer look

At what it is that's really haunting you

I have to trust you'll know

This digital ghost

But I fear there's only so much time

'cause the you I knew is fading away

Hands lay them on my keys

Let me play you again

I am not immune to your net

Find me there in it

I won't go even if in

Your heart only beats ones and O's

Switch you on my friend

Pull you from that rip current

But only you can fight against this

Take a closer look

Just take a closer look

At what it is that's really haunting you

I have to trust you'll know

This digital ghost

But I fear there's only so much time

'cause the you I knew is fading away

Fading

Fading

Away

Christmas

I love Christmas. I know it is not the most popular sentiment. Most people seem to now take as much pleasure in reviling the holiday, than there are people celebrating. But I can honestly not think of an aspect that I don't enjoy.

I love the lights, the tacky ornaments, paper chains and crowds out shopping. And I loved them even when I was working in clothing and running crazy trying to keep all those spenders happy. I love picking out that perfect present, and how their face lights up when you've gotten it right. 

Christmas just makes me feel good, overall. Life seems a little bit more pleasant. I have an excuse to bake tons of unhealthy snacks. It's okay to spend more money than I actually have on people I love. I can watch George C. Scott in A Christmas Carol as much times as I want and listen to Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is You", without shame or remorse. 

I feel sorry for people who can't find some way to enjoy the season. That can't take pleasure in wrapping presents, baking cookies and decorating the tree (o the tree, how you fill my home with that fantastic smell...). 

I'm sleepy now. Tonight I watched Scrooged, next to my lit tree, knitting a sweater for Griff. That was heaven for me, that little moment in time. And my weekend was more of the same. As hectic as the holidays are, life slows down and I enjoy all the sentimentality a bit more. 

Tomorrow I have to pick a few last things before we pack up to fly home. I will stand in a queue that is far too long to mail Christmas cards to people I could hand deliver them too, and I will probably be listening to carols on my iPod, whilst wearing that same miserable expression that everyone in post offices usually wear. But I will love every second of it and go home completely content and wrap presents.

Enjoy the holidays. That's my Christmas Wish for you. 

A List of B's

1. Barack Obama- My President, who gives me hope that change can happen to my broken country. 
   
2. The Beatles- My favorite band. John is my favorite Beatle
3. Breakfast- best meal of the day. I love a few scrambled eggs, a toasted bagel with apple butter spread and a cup of tea followed up with some juice (apple or o.j. either are tasty)
4. Batman- the best super hero EVER.
5. Bette Davis- my Icon. I love her style, her films, her bitchiness. The woman was amazing.
6. Boston- A city I want to go to.
7. Bono- my arch-nemesis. In the end of days, we will do battle and I will strangle him with his own Joshua Tree. 
8. Banjos- make me tap tap tap my foot
9. BUST- is my favorite magazine
10. Brown- makes me feel smart, so I like wearing it to school
11. Books- are both my savior and my vice. I can never turn them away.
12. Bed- is my favorite place to be.
13. Blue- makes me sad. So i can never wear it.
14. Ballroom Dancing- is on my list of things to-do one day
15. Biscuits and Gravy - i miss them very much!
16. Blog- is something I need to get better at, because I do actually enjoy doing it 
17. Bride-to-be-that's me!
18. Basements- I want to have one, one day, and turn it into a movie room and make it dark and cozy with lots of  horror film posters on the walls. 
19. Banks- they hold my money hostage!!
20. Bacon- it is apparently one thing that can break a vegetarian. 

Let Us Begin with "A"

 Totally stole this idea from someone else's blog. I'm admitting that up front. You base the topic of the blog around a letter of the alphabet. I figure, this will be a good way to get into the habit of blogging, and by the time I get to "Z", I'll be so used to it, I want need it anymore as a way of getting started.

So I've been kicking around the letter "A" and thinking what I could talk about. And there are 2 things. Apples and All About Eve. Not that the two really go together but I'll discuss the 2 anyways.

1st- Me and apples. When I was 18 I got my first tattoo of a small green apple on my right foot. It is a testament to the first band that ever stole my heart. The Beatles. They are really the first and only band I have ever fallen head over heels for. I remember the first poster my mom ever allowed me to have (besides the kittens and horses and such....) was of the Beatles. I put up next to my bed. I cannot tell you how much I probably spent on batteries, because I constantly was playing their CDs on my portable CD player. But it did become I full fledged obsession. My room was COMPLETELY wall papered in their posters, and I was constantly on the hunt for a new t-shirt. The prize of my collection I found at the Pickens flea market of a Paul McCartney bubble bath bottle. It would probably be worth a pretty penny if it didn't have a HUGE crack running down the back of his head. 

I think of all the phases a pre-teen could go through, The Beatles was probably the safest bet for my parents, and I sometimes wonder if they were heaving a major sigh of relief. My Dad always let me know that the 60s were just a time of dirty hippies, and he hated out I liked to wear the bell bottoms and light incense. But you have to think, the music I was listening to was overwhelmingly positive, so I was pretty pleasant (until I was like 15, but hey- no one's perfect). 

Since getting my green apple tattoo, people have decided that I must LOVE green apples and all things included. Which now I kinda do, and it's fun trying to find stuff. Gum, perfume, necklaces etc...so that's interesting and I love collecting things, so I don't really mind that so much. (And yes, I am typing this from my Apple Computer...do I love the Apple logo? Yes I do. And lately I have been craving apples to eat a lot, so there's my apple rant...

So now on to my other "A", it's probably a bit much to go on. I could just end at apple, but Saturday is the 100th Birthday Celebration of the fabulous Ms. BETTE DAVIS, and I know I will be celebrating by watching All About Eve (and probably Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?). I will say that I was captivated by Bette Davis, from the first class viewing we had of A Marked Woman. She is absolutely a treat to watch on a big screen, but NOTHING compares to her performance as Margo Channing in All About Eve. 

All About Eve is one of those rare movies, where everything is so perfect, as an avid film watcher, I want to just scream it is so brilliant. The performances (not only Ms. Davis, but also those from Anne Baxter and George Sanders) are amazing. And while Marilyn Monroe has only a short appearance in the film, it does prove how her mere presence made the camera pay attention, because the scenes she is in, she does steal. The direction could be easily overlooked, but when you realize how perfectly in sync it is with the action, the pacing and movement, the choice of close ups....brilliant. And the screenplay is practically flawless. I recently was able to attend a showing at the BFI, and I have said it many times, but there is so much more to hear and take in when you see something on a big screen. And back to Bette Davis, it is THE defining role for her as an actress. If you see only ONE Davis movie in your lifetime...make it this one. You won't be disappointed. And o my God, before I forget, her dress in the dinner party sequence, makes me wish I could have that dress designed and tailored for myself. I would wear it everywhere and is the reason I have such an affection now for dresses that have pockets. It is one classy piece of work. 

A quick side note: that was really not the best writing about All About Eve and I assure you that my essays for class are much more thorough. It's just so late and I'm sleepy and I knew that if I didn't start this today I never would. 

Updates and such

It's been awhile since my last blog...I would say it's a failure, but I'm trying again. I've been reading other people's and it's making me want to try. Again.

So updates, I am working in the school shop. Not the best job in the world, but I've definitely had worst and it brings us in a little extra income. This semester is not my favorite. I'm really just getting through it so I can enjoy the summer, read lots of books and look forward to our holiday.

Griff on the other hand is on fire! I am so proud of him! He recently was promoted to Microsoft Licensing Expert, and this is within 6 months of working for the company. He worked really hard, really wanted the position and is now so happy. He really takes pride in his work (I think more than he would like to admit), and I'm just over the moon for him. So now we're talking a bit more seriously about finding a house.

I am so ready to nest! I love the flat we are in now, but we are definitely outgrowing it, and rapidly. I think we might literally spill out into the streets in another 6 months. But I really love it, it has the beautiful huge windows, and high ceilings and a proper sized kitchen. I'll be really sad to leave. We found a a great place for sale, literally, down the road for us. It's going for about 250,000, which is a bit over our budget but it is so perfect! Two double bedrooms, fireplace, kitchen with decent cabinet space and a back garden. So we'll probably be looking at places outside the immediate Kingston area, which makes me really sad. I love it here. But it's not like I'll be the first person to ever make a commute tho :) There will be so many advantages to us having 2 bedrooms tho. Mom will be able to stay a LOT longer and Mimi will be able to come more often. I know for a lot of my friends who haven't visited yet, the cost of staying somewhere is more of a burden than the actual plane ticket, so it would be very beneficial. Also I would like to host more parties and this place is just too itty bitty. 

What else has been going on? My knitting is coming along really well and I definitely want to post some of my work up soon. I cannot describe how satisfying it is to a finish a project and know that I made it.  It can make me want to tear my hair out, but I love it. So that will be coming soon....