Spring Cleaning

Last year, around this time, I took everything I owned, boxed it up and into storage it went. Since last year I have managed to dispose of a few odd treasures. One step forward, 100 steps back:I gave a pair of shoes to Savers and then one week later happened upon them again at Savers and bought them back. Seeing them on the shelf, they looked better than I thought. I thought of the ensembles I would not longer be able to wear because my shoes were gone. The shame. I parted with shoes again, tonight. This time I thought hard, searched my feelings, appraised the wardrobe, the closet,listened to my heart and then into the garage sale box they went, they all went.

This evening I have downsized the storage space by 5 square feet. It's a huge difference in price and possessions. I no longer own the largest vintage, stereo console in Texas. I breathe better and sleep better knowing it is no longer my possession. I gave up new storage racks for 45's, even some 45's (hey maybe I should hold on to them for an art project .....ARGH! there I go)

As I moved from one storage space to the next I felt happy about the chance to organize everything again. This time, straight towers of boxes, straight rows, everything cataloged, boxes numbered with a notebook detailing the contents of every numbered box. A book corner, out of season clothing corner, Xmas decor, furniture here and then.... I have a large collection of weird sized and shaped casings. My Underwood, my vintage record player, my Echoplex, and other such things. They are all encased in ugly, luggage looking, black and grey containers made from what feels like lead. UGH, they got their own lopsided corner as I tried to stack them neatly in the unit (they weren't made with flat sides). This ruined my perfect storage space attempt. It is destined to be in the order I recognize but to you...just a pile of junk that leans to the left a bit too much. Mind you, nothing I have packed and stored has ever broken. I have a system.

Meanwhile, back in the jungle, my garage sale goodies are looking good. I'd buy them from me again, I'd take home again(proved that with the Savers shoes incident) all smiles thinking I have the best garage sale find ever:
Dear Garage Sale Forum,
I was on the hunt as usual expecting the usual when in the early morning sun, there stood, in all it's exotic glory, and yet so indescribably coy, seducing me aggressively with bits and pieces of Depression glass, a tinge of the Art Deco and oh,oh the Atomic Era with it's kitsch. Quivers. The Garage Sale of my dreams! A retro swag lamp all gold and rhinestones. As I explored it with my eyes only, I have never seen such unique and delicate characteristics in a swag. I paused to gather my poise but I was immediately mesmerized by the sensuous shapely retro Donut Phone, so voluptuous and a tease as it was not quite white but a creamy ivory and able to bring any room together.......................................
Yeah that's what my garage sale is shaping up to be.

It's all what I have bought and held on to through most of my 11 apartment moves. I am much too sentimental to part with anything I was ever given. From now on, I collect nothing, I just take whatever comes my way. When I return from Mexico, my neighbors and I shall post on Craigslist.

Lil Accomplishment

Awesome! Today I was asked if one of my flickr photos could be used in a children's math book! Yay! More like:Lil luck.

I know you from somewhere

I have lived in Austin long enough to know you if I saw you before when I see you again. I have a good memory for faces but not always good in placing them or their names.
I may not know your name but I used to see you at Emo's in the early 90's. Maybe I saw you at parties when Austin had tons of parties and you could go to seven in one night or you hung with friends of friends or worked at Quacks when it was on Guadalupe or that book store where Denim Edge was or I would see you at the UT gym, hmmm by the way, remember Les Amis and their onion soup and black beans, anyway, or maybe you were part of the University Grotto or maybe you just came into that vintage store I worked at or hung out with those people I ended up not liking too much but hung out with for awhile anyway because they knew my roommate or maybe you came to my big party in 1996 or lived across from my apartment or maybe we had a class together or we could have been in that student film in the mid 90's or hey maybe you were at that audition for Snake Tails, maybe we'd wait at the same bus stop waiting for a shuttle or a bus or you could have been in the group interview to work at Central Market that one time or maybe you worked at that fast food place in the Union and I saw you when I went to see the John Cassavetes movie series and Seymour Cassel was there live and in person or maybe you sat in front of me, next to me or we met while walking out of Husbands or maybe you were at that swimming hole or record store before it went out of business, maybe it was in the bathroom at Liberty Lunch or maybe at Magnolia's after a show or at a Mr Fab show or during one of those first SXSWs when Crust would play at the Ritz or darest I suggest I saw you at a Retarded Elf show or hey you may have come to see a rental I was trying to sublet or maybe I saw a rental you were trying to sublet or maybe it was when I worked at that bookstore or at Ego's or maybe just walking down South Congress before it was SoCo and there wasn't much there so I'd know I seen you or maybe you used to go to that park near Elizabet Ney's or maybe just on campus when I started working there or maybe it was just at Starseeds, Tamale House those few times I went or maybe a hike at the greenbelt or was it Mt Bonnell or maybe it was at Enchanted Rock with a group or once coming out from the backyard of that house on 37th St around Christmas time and you were going in, or at 21st St Co-op or Family Thrift or maybe you were in a line at the Paramount (vague recollection), or was that line at Basics or were you there when that guy was dancing with a lizard crawling all over him to a Depeche Mode song or was it Fiesta at 2am or when I worked for that telemarketer downtown,maybe it was Emo's but I have seen you before and keep running into you from time to time, but I know you, sort of.

Lists

Recent movies I have seen and LOVED!
Pan's Labyrinth
Summer(Rohmer)
The Painted Veil
A Summer Tale (Rohmer)

Interests Du Jour:
Vintage house supply and salvage
Linen
Lenny Bruce
Spring
Florida: Mythical and Vintage Florida as well as The Keys(Cuban food and music, proximity to Cuba), Tampa, South West Florida beaches
Limrick,Ireland and their cute, roofless and gutted stone cottages for $55K...Euros of course
Ruth Orkin

Missing or can't find:
Music from the early to mid 90's
Squished penny from Hemingway House
Box of vintage glass door knobs and hardware(ce la vie)
Vintage St Theresa triptech

Found:
A marathon outside my door Sunday morning
$8.10 in my purse
Vintage red Pendleton coat at Savers
Cool exercise regimen
Brand new bird's nest
My lucky, jeweled wishbone charm
J.P.S. Brown!

Wanted:
Bangs to grow out
Outdoor cat to be more tame, less skittish and to stop crossing the street
To know the future of Koenig Lane
A good pair of linen capris
Embroidered Mexican shirt

Pet Peeves:
Drivers who never signal
SNAFUS
Insincerity
The fair weathered

Always In:
Sparky Marcus
Luddites
Genuine people, the real deal
Anyone with real convictions
Natural fibers
A good pair of pants

The Omega Man

Finished the weekend with The Omega Man but it's kicked off a Heston Fest at our house. It's a fave! We had to keep stopping the dvd to re-watch Heston (who was uber hilarious) grab his bare chest and let out lecherous, gross, old geezer noises. I know no other way to describe this.
Stump -
"Charlton Heston"[ from the album "A Fierce Pancake" (1988) ]
The pyramids were in construction
The pharoah glowed with satisfaction
But then to his immense surprise
His empire fell before his eyes
A hundred thousand busy slaves
Downed their tools and stood and stared

The Red seawalls stood like a canyon
The pharoah pulled up in his wagon
And saw within those walls of glass
A herd of whales go racing past
A hundred thousand fishy tales
Crossed his mind about the day

Then Charlton Heston put his vest on

The broken tablets had been mended
The golden calf had been up-ended
And old folk sitting round the fire
Would talk of voices from the sky
Babies sailing down the Nile
The recipe for locust pie
A hundred thousand frogs per mile
We'd always ask them to describe

How Charlton Heston put his vest on

Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal
Shalt not commit adultery
Boils the size of fifty pee
Lights! Camel! Action!
Bushes that refuse to burn
See these sandals hardly worn
Raining blood, raining bread
The night we painted Egypt red
Thou shalt not covet, shalt not lie
Thou shalt not bonk your neighbour's wife
The recipe for egg fried lice
A hundred ways to kill a fly
Love your daddy, love your mummy
Put your bread in milk and honey
Loved his fish, he did, he did
Never beat the wife and kids
Slouch though desert, slouch through sand
Until we reach the promised land
Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal
Shalt not commit adultery
Boils the size of fifty pee
Lights! Camel! Action!

Minutiae

I watched End of Suburbia (2004) last night. It was a better documentary than I thought. Basically we have peaked in oil supply and are now on the decline and the words du jour are sustainability and density. However the density described in the doc refers to modern urbanist's plan to return to the old fashion grid system not bringing big box stores into old neighborhoods and creating $400K duplexes.

A 55 story high rise with $500K condos is not keeping with the modern urbanist plan for density. What they have been planning for Mueller, for what seems like eons, seems to be. Density seems like it may be easier to accomplish if people could cut back on their wants and needs  (mentioned in the doc). A good grocery store is always needed in a hood, not so much an art gallery/jewelry store or a Chicos. That's just me. I grew up with a grocery store, bank,library, pharmacy, hardware store, furniture store, stationary store, five and dime, dept store, movie theatre, park, city hall, church and school all within walking distance from my home. It was that great, old fashioned grid system in place and it worked great.  Growing up in this setting for so long really influenced me, can't you tell? I still find "city" life uncomfortable and so much retail redundant and useless. If it was not in town, it was not needed and I did without it okay.

I thought the Internet was going to do away with store fronts but it didn't. I thought it would be a good thing if it did offering space for more necessary things like residential areas, parks and such things. Parks are necessary. Can you imagine a place of just concrete and buildings with a tree and 4x4 patch of pathetic ground cover and what it does to a person to only have that? Parks are necessary. I would have gone nuts when I lived in apartments if there had not been a park or weekly excursions to a nearby park, Pease being my all time fave.


Watch The End of Suburbia, be forewarned, it could make you want to scale down.

If I don't blog it...what?

I spent some time with a friend of mine recently who asked why I didn't blog about it a few days later if I had such a good time. The truth is, I blog minutiae, stuff that I wouldn't mind telling a group of strangers at a cocktail party while sober. I also blog stuff I wouldn't mind a bunch of strangers knowing about me. In other words, hanging out with X friend was tres personal and I don't have much to share. I am not a fastidious, want to reach out to you, know me, know me, sort of blogger. Just because you don't read it here doesn't mean it didn't happen, or I didn't have fun doing it or I didn't find it interesting.

I also keep this blog primarily for friends and family. They all know what I am up too through this blog and it probably makes more sense to those who know me and can read between the lines.

I blog writing ideas I may or may not expand on later for mags, I blog things that will remind me of design ideas later, clips and URLs I want to keep but not have attached to a bookmark list ... see, simply, minutiae. Sometimes reading lists are too telling so I don't do the reading list (but I'm reading) or what I've been listening too sort of thing (though I've been pining for Townes Van Zandt and Tim Buckley's tunes). I will post announcements like:
This weekend I am purging of just about all my comics somehow. Claude? I kept a few like the Ivan Brunetti's and Twists but the rest...eh.

This blog began as a place where I could gather all things Kerouac and Beat to inform and entertain myself, but ended up as a place to store all those little mental notes, opinions and anecdotes that are insignificant in the bigger scheme of things. If you love me or know me this blog is nothing but a vital news source for all things Tera. If you don't know me I hope some of what I type out gives one a sense of solidarity (used as noun). Knowing that there is someone out there who may think along your lines in your world may be pleasing.

Disclaimer: There is so much to what goes on in a day and what makes impressions and what I find interesting and love and detest that this blog doesn't even really scratch the surface.

Minutiae of all minutiae

1.Nothing like opening a purse you haven't touched in over a year only to discover a brand new eyeliner, the best shade of lipstick you thought you had lost, lots of change and an old wallet you thought you had mistakenly given away.

2.Homemade carrot juice is the best!
Rich dark chocolate, not so much. Caffeine makes me ill, a weird sort of ill, I get hyper, jittery, happy and chatty but crash uber fast and end up nauseous. In college I had to be carried home from Quacks when it was on the drag. I had 2 espressos for the first time in my life, I was 18. The taxi driver thought I was being carried because I had too much to drink, booze wise. It took all weekend to feel better. I rarely, if ever, partake in more than a sip of coke or coffee and milk chocolate is all I can take. Green tea is a no-no as well.

3.Have been living with the Undertones these last few days. Check out their sweaters. Awesome music but really awesome sweaters! Feargal will be the name of my first born son,teehee.

4.Cooked leeks with lemon juice is what I die for these days for some reason. Artichoke hearts sauteed in olive oil with garlic and lemon juice then placed on a bed of lightly warmed spinach is the other.

5.Sinaloa, Mexico has a surfing school! Maybe I'll have time to check it out? Lots of swells.

6.Still loving this. Spring is coming, the air in the morning smells different like Spring air. I think of Mimi and Richard Farina in the Spring now since I read Positively 4th Street last April. they were such a cool couple.

Preparations

This morning I woke up after having a dream about my Abuelito. I dreamt he was there at the house in Los Mochis. He won't be and I'll be facing that for the first time when I visit. I was watching La Boheme when, for some reason, I went to the window and looked up at the sky. The clouds were arranged around the sun in such a way that makes you think of those tacky, dime store paintings about God and heaven. I thought, My Abuelito has died today. I sat back down to finish watching the opera and memories of him distracted me. Earlier that same year I had a similar experience when there was another death in the family. I didn't know if all this was real or just melodramatics brought on by the fact that I was watching opera and my mother was in Los Mochis, called there because her father was ill. A few minutes later I got the call and my mother said,"He's gone."

I went outside and sat on the stairs then the tears came. I had not seen him in years. I passed on a few trips because I was in college trying to cover all I could over the summers. If only the trips could have been taken in between the semesters. Did he know this, thatI was doing what he said and getting an education? Now I wondered, did he know I loved him so much and thought of both him and my Abuelita everyday and planned on seeing them again and visiting Los Mochis once I was finished? I cried and felt guilty for not putting family before college for at least one summer. A butterfly caught my eye in the distance, it was huge and looked as if it could barely carry the weight of it's own body. It danced around a little closer, I cried hard, butterflies meant something, but then the butterfly flew towards me. Usually anything benign or not coming towards me makes me skittish but instead I looked straight at it and didn't care. It landed on the tip of my nose and I didn't know how to take this. My Abuelito had loved butterflies, he painted them with such precision in his later years that they looked as if they were dried and mounted. I let myself take this as a sign, one that I didn't quite know the meaning of just yet. It sat until I said in my mind,"Te quiero mucho,Abuelito".

After that day I began to think that if I never returned to Los Mochis, Abuelito and the rest of my family there would forever remain the same. No one has to pass on ever again. I was unable to travel there once I started working because it had become so expensive. I missed everyone but the idea of walking into the house and having to face facts didn't appeal to me, but I missed everyone terribly. This developed into a thing over the years. It's what I would think about when there was nothing to think about,what I would worry about when there was nothing to worry about, it was: When would I go back to Los Mochis, how. There were a few attempts that fell through. Never enough time from work, always something. My Abuelita came to visit me in Austin twice already.

I have to keep reminding myself that there won't be the same sleeping arrangements there used to be when I last visited in 1989. Those family reunions when the whole family stayed at my grandparents house and slept in every room, three bedrooms, a living room, den and office. I would sleep on a cot in my grandparents room. It was a rather large room and I would sleep near their bureau. I would always sleep there whenever I would visit and was envied by the other cousins because it was spacious and comfortable. I would move my cot as close as I could to their bureau so I could catch the sound of the window unit a/c and the scent my Abuelita's perfume along with the faint scent of my Abuelito's paints coming from their closets and drawers. I was a rather morose kid because I did this with the thought that there would be a day I would never smell these scents again and I wanted to take them in as much as I could. I was right except they have managed to last me decades.

We all catch the world from so many points of view that involve all our senses even when we think it's just our eyes catching what is tangible in front of us, it never is. So I am hoping that though the house has changed, the city has grown tremendously, my Abuelito is gone, there will be those little things that no one can really see or change that will still be there to soften the realization I will be facing.

The Austonian...Johnny Nucleo

Wowsers. This place has it all. Does it have a revolving restaurant on top of nuclear reactor at the very top? Sorry,recently we watched the SCTV spoof a popular movie in the early 80's involving a very tall building. The ha-ha was the revolving restaurant sitting over a nuclear reactor situated at the very top.

It looks pretty tacky to me, ha-ha.

News

Yesterday I was surprised to read that the economy hit at all time high during the latter part of 2006. Everything I had heard was the complete opposite. Then today, from the same "news source" came this:

WASHINGTON - People once again spent everything they made and then some last year, pushing the personal savings rate to the lowest level since the Great Depression more than seven decades ago.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the savings rate for all of 2006 was a negative 1 percent, meaning that not only did people spend all the money they earned but they also dipped into savings or increased borrowing to finance purchases. The 2006 figure was lower than a negative 0.4 percent in 2005 and was the poorest showing since a negative 1.5 percent savings rate in 1933 during the Great Depression.

For December, consumer spending rose a solid 0.7 percent, the best showing in five months, while incomes rose by 0.5 percent, both figures matching Wall Street expectations.

In other news, the Labor Department reported that the number of newly laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits dropped by 20,000 last week to 307,000. That improvement pushed the four-week average for claims to the lowest level in a year, indicating that the labor market remains healthy.

The savings rate has been negative for an entire year only four times in history — in 2005 and 2006 and in 1933 and 1932. However, the reasons for the decline in the savings rate were vastly different during the two periods.

During the Great Depression when one-fourth of the labor force was without a job, people dipped into savings in an effort to meet the basic necessities of shelter and clothing.

Economists have put forward various reasons to explain the current lack of savings. These range from a feeling on the part of some people that they do not need to save because of the run-up in their investments such as homes and stock portfolios to an effort by many middle-class wage earners to maintain their current lifestyles even though their wage gains have been depressed by the effects of global competition.

Whatever the reason for the low savings, economists warn that it the phenomenon exists at a particularly bad time with 78 million baby boomers approaching retirement age. Instead of building up savings to use during retirement, baby boomers are continuing to spend all their earnings.

The savings rate is computed by taking the amount of personal income left after taxes are paid, an amount known as disposable income and subtracting the amount of spending. Since the figure has dipped into negative territory, it means consumers are spending all of disposable income and then some.

Wowsers! The Religion of Consumerism, Church of Retail. Everyone wants your hard earned cash. Growing up, both sets of Grandparents would tell me over and over save your money. I still hear it from them and still try.