*** if anyone else wants to participate in the quiz contest, do so before the next time i check myspace (you've gotta couple days). i'll be revealing the answers & alerting the prize recipient then. thanks to everyone who played already--it's been most fascinating. if you're confused, see blog entitled 'quiz'***


so, i've been tracking the progress of one unopened yuengling in a tree crook on my block since just after bele chere. initially, i thought, score! and nearly drank the fruit. i surpassed this temptation, deciding investigating the adage about the best hiding spot being right under one's nose seemed sweeter. i was right. one day, 5 weeks & counting, i discovered the tree had dropped her pre-fermented fruit. in a bush across the street. and only the bottle remained. strange habits, beer trees...

have realized my distinct lack of geographical knowledge & feel a bit embarassed at my inability to orient myself physically in relation to the lands which accompany the one i'm standing on.  decided to rectify this & study up on the places of the world & was promptly gifted two books on the subject.  so i'm gonna test myself on country placement, basic info, etc. 

in my studies i've been questioning the understood relationships of plate tectonics.  the book does admit that scientists really don't understand the causes & effects, but have made educated guesses.  of course, this is one sentence after a slew of inarguable-seeming pronouncements on the ins & outs of earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain formations, etc.  they say the crust is a thin layer of rock, covering the thick mantle of super hot rock, covering the inner layer of liquid, covering the solid core.  my question:  how the hell do they know that?  why would the core be solid?  does it just make us feel better to think something stable holds it all together, b/c last i checked nothing is solid--cells and atoms and everything else seem to be infinities of non-solidness.  i'm all for science: making observations & pursuing knowledge, but we seem to have ceased the pursuit.  there are logical connections.  but who's to say our understanding of what these connections are is remotely accurate?  what if we're looking in all the wrong places?  or at least only one of them.

i've also garnered this bit of knowledge thanks to an exceedingly difficult restaurant patron.  let's get one thing straight.  to be insecure in one self will always translate into disrespect for others.  as one believes oneself to be separate (from the self & now also the others), so will one disrespect the others.  so one must let it go to be just and free.  it is the fear & allowance of disrespect that makes this suffering so. 

en route to this computing machine, i saw a dozen or more pairs of shoes dangling over the lines at an intersection.  i don't know why they reside there--some theories/rumours i've heard:  somebody got punked or quit their serving job & chucked their shoes or it's a secret code for sketchery of some manner...regardless, i was delighted to realize that won't be no cre8rix shoes thrown over any lines today.  cuz i'm wearing flipflops.

oh, yeah!  and i almost forgot...one of the agr editors has shared what may be the single most telling & ridiculous story of the year.  the american library association is who receives the formal complaints that sometimes result in book banning.  last year they banned thirty due to complaints received.  this year the most complained about book?  'it takes 3 to tango'--a nonfiction book about 2 male penguins who share the upbringing of a baby whose mother died.  the complainers say it promotes homosexuality.  though as i understand it, the penguins were not gay together.

wow, has it really been a year since this time last year? probably not, actually, as i've just learned that every 100 years there is no leap year observed, while every 400 years it's observed again. the layers of lies & general confusion are just astounding...and what happens when you're born on leap year day?

i'm so relieved.  and feeling most luxuriously grounded, like lolling in a grassy field.  oh, that tricky mystery.  the dream stands correct:  getting here has required a head-first, upside down & backward maneuver.  pretty glad i pulled it off.

running my feet and mind ragged in this quest for creative simplicity. facing the possible fact that my reunion with saturn includes overcoming some misguided attachment to an outdated meaning and modus of employment. this girl who's worked overlapping multiple jobs since before she could drive has struggled seemingly relentlessly for stability in this sector as saturn's traced his no-nonsense path back to that center of the cosmic thumbprint. in what way do i create my identity through the work i do and just where must i change my mind for that to be consistently lucrative?

nonetheless, my creative successes and strides have been both broad and colorful. men's jewelry being featured in 411 Magazine out of FL this month. women's jewelry available @ Honeypot now, as well, with sales and requests for commissioned work steadily trickling in. the amazing Bulgarian photographer Jacko Vassilev approached me two days in a row requesting my modeling services for his upcoming photo documentary on americans.  have manifested my studio space & a number of useful tools for my trades. now, if i can just pay the rent midst all this magic unfolding, i'll be golden...

hey, all you myspacers & ashevillains. so, my internet access is dicey these days, thus the lacking communique. but i love and miss all you who i don't see in the real world, and expect to be back around these parts more soon...

just a heads up that i've unleashed a lovely new array of cheap & fabulous summer earrings upon the Honeypot (on Lexington Ave in Asheville).

bright & funky new salvaged styles, made from...
*old-school eighties charm necklaces (yes, those plastic ones--you know you remember)
*painted wooden disks & berries--the colors make me think of fruit salad

please go check them out asap, as they're running on a trial basis for a few weeks, & you could be accentuating your tan for a measly $6-12 a pair.

meantime, feather & stone earrings still available at the Asheville Art Museum Store @ Pack Square. feathered necklaces, bottlecap earrings, and shades earrings all to be had @ Pura Vida on Biltmore Ave.

buying local is good for your karma.

intense days of late.  i got word this week of a friend passing quite suddenly from this world into the next, reminding me in no uncertain terms of our limited time here to do what we will and love as we're able.  this lesson is coming repeatedly & pointedly these days. 

i may have been bitten by a brown recluse last nite, but seem to have saved myself with a charcoal poultice.

my boheMen jewelry line sets sail in a few short days for the baltic sea...

and i'm off now to interview for my hopeful next career move.  wish me luck. 

i've got to say goodbye to my merry band of moose. i may be biased, but i tend to think my moose are the best moose. what a very lovely bunch of creatures.

i learned a new term today from a tiny & sassy old lady. topic of mustaches was broached: attractive or not? i contend they're scratchy--said lady cracks up, 'yeah, i don't need no womb groom!'

sometimes i ask for dragonflies to affirm my decisions. just as i voiced a pondering over one involving my sister, a dragonfly flew through the auto window & landed on her head. then she landed next to my seat, remaining at my side until i picked her up to hold her near the open window. got outta the auto and lifted up my hand to set her free, but she refused to leave. finally, the sister managed to place her on a frond and she flew off into the sky.