Is This Heaven No It's Sweet Home Chicago



Happy Joe's Famous Taco Pizza

I should be packing up the rest of my stuff; I made the big move last night and am currently back at my old place (literally-- built in the 1870’s) gathering all the little things that we were too tired to deal with last night. Also I have a load of cleaning; underneath all the furniture subsisted whorls and swirls, entire vortexes of cat hair. However, I find so many more fun things to do, such as stuffing my face with last night’s pizza and going on YouTube. Mind you, my initial purpose was to listen to some background music as I toiled over my multitude of tasks, but my back badly needed a break. Tomorrow is another day indeed.


I planned on having Buddy Guy distract me from my aches and pains. But I struck gold and landed this version of Sweet Home Chicago, my favorite blues tune. Now that Mr DaveyGie reads my blog I will add that every time I hear this I think of James Kind cause he use to always play it for me whenever I would catch his show (I do pander to my fan base except for those who refuse to admit who the best guitar player ever was and IS). Within seconds of my viewing pleasure all I could think is that when I die I hope this is what heaven is like. Wow! Check out Johnny Winter, another favorite Texan geetar-player of mine.

Rock n' Roll Hootchie Coo

Blogspotting

I am moving next week so I awoke this morning at 6:30am to procure boxes. The last time I was conscious at that ungodly hour I was leaving work. I prefer that when I see the sun in the east I am heading for my bed rather than leaving it. So there I stood, at the customer service counter of the closest mega-mart at 8am talking to some bright-eyed and bushy-tailed clerk. She told me that I would have to come in earlier in order to obtain boxes; otherwise they are crushed. Earlier? So I hatched a plan. I will call the stock people tonight, long after the mainstream clerks have left, and make arrangements to pick up boxes before I go to bed, like at 3am. I even have a connection, Jason, a coworker’s son. Hey, my mama didn’t raise no fool.

After battling early morning traffic I find myself back home, copiously caffeinated, with nothing to do. I had planned on spending the morning packing, but now what? I usually don’t wake up till eleven so my most important email of the day hasn’t arrived yet. I send him one before going to bed in the wee hours and expect one in the morning before responding. Even though he awakes at the crack of dawn  (yes, a day person) he knows he can wait till midmorning, but today is an unusual day for me so I am peeved that it is not there. Why did he have to be born in Oklahoma and me in Iowa? http://mapq.st/HLNloO Finally at 8:45 it arrives, allowing me now to put my mind to other matters. What men put us women through and visa versa.

I’ve pretty much retired from the cooking/baking scene. After twenty odd years of at least one big meal on the table each day and a never ending supply of homemade cookies, well I’ll just say it’s not an essential part of my day although I do spend considerable time leafing through culinary magazines; it’s in my blood. Nevertheless I am antsy so I decide to whip up a batch of pumpkin white chocolate muffins. I complete that task (yes, it was a task; I would rather have been packing). While waiting for them to bake I find myself on my laptop checking out my sister’s latest blog—“Damn Sixty.” Ha, I knew someday there would be more pros than cons to being the little sister. And then I make the mistake of clicking on the little “next blog” button. I have done this a few times in the past and usually end up totally bored by the antics of either christian moms and their unending pictorial plethora of their ever-proliferating progeny (don’t they know pedophiles cruise these sites?) or blogs of young self-absorbed women flaunting their latest make-up/hair/fashion techniques. 

Before I continue I would like to add a “rider” to this commentary. When one puts something on the internet it becomes, in essence, public property. Therefore I have the right to quote, interpret, and/or make crap out of anything I peruse online; just as anyone has the right to quote, interpret and/or make crap out of anything I submit online. Fair is fair.

Is this cake for real or did someone spike my Coke

The first click brings me to “Posy Partycakes-- photos recipes and reviews by the cupcake cutie.” Wow. I gorge on Posy’s vivid photos of multihued gastronomic goo. Incredible. I click on my Favorites button and add it to my incessant list. My eyes feast particularly on the many photos devoted to Double Rainbow Cake. Regarding this cake that takes the cake she states, “Next time I'll pay attention to which way is up and hopefully won't end up with upside down rainbows! I don't think she noticed though” (she inserted pics of her young daughter-- no Posy, no). I don’t think anyone else noticed either; so screw it, Posy, and just relax. It's a party, have a few beers, or I suspect you prefer wine-- whatever. Damn it, I became so engrossed in the genius of Posy that I burned my first batch of muffins.

After that treat I click and honest to god, cross my heart and hope to die, stumble upon thewilliamsfamily5.blogspot.com entitled, Loving My Life. I shake my head and silently utter, “why me, lord?” as I read and process the title of the first post, “With My Hands Lifted High.” Ms. Williams (I presume) posts, “It has been a few weeks since I have gone to church and this morning I was wanting nothing more than to surrender myself during worship. And so”…I never find out anything more for I quickly click the next blog button. Praise the lord for high speed internet.

Next up is “Popular Enthusiast, Bringing tomorrow's ideas to the forefront of today's late afternoon.” I scroll down and read “I’m gone. Catch me at popularenthusiast.com. So I do and within a few seconds I am reading: “Roentgenizdat is the practice of imprinting an audio track on to discarded x-ray plates to then be played on a record player or gramophone, developed by underground music pirates in the Soviet Union during the 1950s until it was made illegal by the Kremlin in 1959. The name roentgenizdat comes from the combination of roentgen ray (another word for X-ray) and samizdat (“self-published”, or underground literature). As well as literature, much western music (including rock and jazz, etc.) was banned… X-ray records were of poor quality and seldom lasted for more than a few months, but they still contained the precious forbidden music, and as such were treasured by all who could get their hands on them”—Whoa! That’s pretty damn interesting. I dedicate this one to my Russian readers.

Bear with me, it does get better (well maybe; Posy is hard to beat). On to putumchas.blogspot.com who also must have had some hassles with blogspot because he launches off with: “Moving”-- No, its not the song. Today I am writing 'cos crazydrop's had some issues with blogger and is moving to wordpress (same name)." This sucks cause he had posted a youtube video of Led Zeppelin performing “Since I’ve Been Loving You” and when I click on it I receive the message: “This video is no longer available because the uploader has closed their YouTube account.” Bummer. Oh well, I go to his new blog address and sadly see that he has not included this particular oldie but goodie. However he does have many other artists so I click on “Teenage Dirtbag” by Wheatus, thinking I’m going to sit back and see some good old kick ass Sid Vicious type punk. Wrong. Wheatus appears to be nothing but upper class white college kids spreading their wings. Maybe later I’ll spend some time perusing Zeppelin and Sid via YouTube. Ah, the good old days.

Now I’m getting a little excited for today’s blog search has been more interesting than usual (except for Ms. Williams, but that’ll happen). At my next click I come to, “Creation, Passion, Clarity, Serenity. . . I always wanted a blog...somewhere to release all the tension that people seem to accumulate on a daily basis. Writing is my release. Even if it's just for me, and no one else sees it, it's a need, not a want. Let's see where this goes...” I read her first post and as I come to, “Lately, I've been feeling so lost. I don't feel that I have any more direction or purpose, but the reasons behind my melancholy have become clear. I recently got a metaphoric slap in the face by the most unlikeliest of places. So I plan on making some changes, or at least traveling down the road of less negativity and more positivity. Let's see where this goes...” Scanning hurriedly down her blog I see such titles as “Emotionally Exhausted”, “Falling Off The Edge”, “Broken Heart”, “The Things That Hurt Me The Most.” Enough, I think, and by the way, acquire  a sense of humor….pleeze. (or maybe a trip to the doc for antidepressants).

Which brings me to the blog, “My Little Notepad-- the musings of a nineteen year old with too much time and love of the written word,” She continues with “I have lived a sheltered life” and “everything is getting real now. I don’t like it.” All I can think about this is, welcome to planet earth and if you can’t handle your little pink cotton candy existence I would be happy to send you the means to end it all. God, I’m mean.

Am I having fun yet. . . yes indeed. Lizzyhizzy writes, “I write everything down. I make food to pay the bills (points in her favor). My kitty is the most loyal man I’ve ever met (many points in  her favor). My favorite color will probably always be purple.” Give this girl an A+!  I continue reading and all I can think is Janis Ian is alive and well. Enough said.

Last, but certainly not least on today’s journey thru blogland I stumble, rather click on Honorificebilitudinitatibus (well, as we use to say, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious to you, young man) who tells us he is “putting this blog on indefinite hiatus until the semester is over.” I skim over his prose and am pretty impressed with the gist of his writing assignments he must work on. He leaves me with one little golden nugget, “I’ve been a big fan of the Tintin series for years, and I’ve been excited to see it come out for a long time." Tintin Rocks!