Baba Ho-Tep!

I'm writing a piece about John Entwistle that's not finished yet so I thought instead I'd talk about my day to day stuff which I rarely do..because it's pretentious and mundane!
Friday was a fun day of spit up, window shopping and chai drinking at work with my delightful friend who turns 4 months on March 4th. We listened to Van Halen, JJ Cale and he's really starting to smile at everyone :) My guy came over that night and we tried to hook up my newly donated DVD player and watch Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis in 'Bubba Ho-Tep.' Between the disc being scratched and the DVD player being about as lively as 'Atari pong' my vcr looked really state of the art! We still had fun though.

After waking up on Saturday to Pete's last few blog entries it was time for a
birthday party for another young friend who just turned two. The party was at the legendary Fentons Creamery on Piedmont Ave. My good friend and guitarist Brian and I worked on music afterwords and watched 'More Than A Miracle' and 'UP!' Two very different films! We just can't seem to get a bassist so our drummer Rodger (Brian's roommate) was only seen briefly as he was leaving to go out on a date.


Xaos Monkey is the name of the guy who is supposed to be our new bassist. He still had not been able to get his bass amp back and the pagan convention in San Jose had him unable to make any rehearsals so we may just have to wait-or become a duo. 'Tatoo', 'Jaguar' and 'The Punk Meets The Godfather' are standouts mainly because they are the only ones we really both know! I took some 'honest' pictures of myself which means I had absolutely no makeup and a merry 'muffin.'

Woke up late on Sunday preparing to go to the 108th Meher Baba birthday celebration at the Masonic Hall across from the Baba Center in El Cerrito but started to cave in and get spiritually lazy when the weather turned stormy (I don't drive). My guy encouraged me to go which coincided magically with a ride from my housemate on his way to Tai Chi (can you tell I live in the Bay Area?) materialized and I found myself at the 7/11 convenient store across from the Baba Center trying to to get a warm drink and pick out a snack to bring with me. It took me a few minutes to realize that
Ruffles Mesquite BBQ potato chips just don't seem to have much reverence and that I should just bring myself. The nice kid from Eritrea who was behind the counter made me laugh because he had no idea how to restock the hot chocolate machine and it almost exploded when I went to use it!

Baba's birthday party was packed. Everyone was friendly and we watched a dvd plus a few local performers. Pete's name was mentioned and everyone smiled. A really cool guy named Harry told me about how Pete came to a meeting during the 70's and how it was such a wonderful surprise. No one is ever preachy or pushy at the Baba events I've been to. You just celebrate this wonderful man who wanted the world to be a loving place. A really funny puppeteer was onstage towards the end and he was joking about 'God Speaks' which is the heaviest of the Baba books that has a creation map that look very much like Pete's site map for TBWHM. The puppet reminded me of Calzone! I left with books, posters, more chai and the feeling that I could do anything I wanted in life and be happy.

Ended up at best gal pal's house Robin where we hashed out our plans for our trip to London in April. Tea at the Savoy, peri-peri chicken at Nando's ala Pete and me walking on air because England is to me the greatest country in the world. Brian will be going too with his guitar and Ewa Sonnett sonnets. Wish my boyfriend could go but he'll be busy working.
Went online and flirted using Roger Daltry song titles in between showing Robin all of Rachel Fuller's blog. It was a blast to go back into Rachels'archives and look at all the charming memories and photos from the past 7 months-so much fun came out of that one blog! Sat down to dinner and ate a wonderful risotto with greens and petrale prepared by Cordon Bleu trained Robin, got a refund on Bubba Ho-Tep at the video store and then came home to my computer. Jai Baba! (found out today you say it like "J" and not "Jhai" which would rhyme with 'chai...')

Happily Ever After Quiz!

Which one (or two)of these fairy tales is your favorite?

In my voluminous research and reading of fairy tales from around the world , I've found that one's most beloved bedtime story can tell a great deal about a person romantically and philosophically. Many wonderful fables exist but the strongest archetypes seem to be found in the below selections.

Please choose one the examples given as your favorite of these seven stories. It's a simple quiz and read the answer-I promise that you will be most enchanted by the results ;)
Thanks,
Amanda
1.Cinderella: You have a even and kind temperment that makes the best of any situation and takes risks. Your love has had to overcome a few obstacles but its all part of life.

2.Snow White: A bit more work than Cinderella. There are quirky little friends, near death experiences and jealously but its all in the story of life and you work it out.

3.Snow white and Rose Red: You just can't choose. You have two best friends, two guys, and want to never settle down and decide.You want to live in the country and tame the bears.

4.Sleeping Beauty: You are so beautiful, royal and asleep! You want to wait for your love to 'wake up.' The wait can be a LONG time!

5.Beauty and The Beast: You want him (or her) to wait for YOUR evil self to change. You expect others to give up years time because you or they feel someday the time will come when they will work through the anger and pain. Hopefully it will be worth the effort and struggle!

6.Rapunzel: You are all about the goddess or god in the ivory tower. You want it all but get nothing. You can gaze, gaze, gaze...climb up and get cast down again. You are always fixated.

7.12 Dancing Princesses: You want all the fun all the time! Boat rides, dances and midnight romps. Life is a giant party and pleasure should never end-why have one when you can have 12?

Five Things About Me In A Flash

I was tagged about a week ago and I'm finally delivering the goods :)


My Friends Are My Happiest Moments:
I'm exceedingly loyal and have friends that I've known since I was a kid. Getting a big gang get together and putting on a show in the 'barn' is where I was at growing up.Being there for your friends doesn't always mean they are going to show you the same protectiveness but I've been lucky and made good choices. I have platonic male friends whose girlfriends are also my buddies and best gal pal moms who would take a hot wheels across the hand for me. There have been a few times when I was not a decent friend I have not forgotten those rare but bad mistakes. My friends are the gold standard for everything else in my life.

I Lose it When I Deal With SBC Yahoo/DSL: Unflattering to admit but true. The infernal maze of voice mail, trouble tickets and terminal hold has many of us justifiably riled and writhing. It took two tech guys, six hours and about two weeks to get my connection up.(See? Sbc can even make the plot of a cool 70's porn sound bad, they are evil incarnate) My anger is still awful though, I could just sit there on the phone for three hours with tech support and just be 'chill' right?

I've Finally Slowly Started Dressing Like a Sophisticate: Gradually I'm getting higher necklines, nicer shoes, Armani sunglasses, Chloe Paddington bag ala Rachel Fuller...When I finally get it all together I should look pretty chic ( and broke!)! But I can never find shoes that fit: For any girl that can just waltz into a shoe store, and find your size, never EVER take that for granted!!


England is where I'm The happiest: Past life stuff? Who fan thing? A place where I'm welcome? Desperate for decent tea? I'm not sure but I love that storied realm. I have a birthmark on my left thigh that is shaped exactly like England so the fairies had designs on me finding my way back. Many happy adventures await!

Public Speaking: I was a Lion's Club and Rotary speaker as a teen and then went on to speech and debate in college. I wanted control over my topics and prose so I ended up butting heads with the department directors who thought that reading Dougal Butler's 'Full Moon' was just not up there with Albee and Miller. I'm now working on a speech about Paul Robeson, hoping to fill out my FBI file some more.