I need to remember this

I love Barry Hannah's writing, and I'm really sorry I didn't take the time to read his stuff before he died. Sorry! He slips things in to otherwise ordinary paragraphs that just jab you in the ribs and make you wonder why you didn't think of it first.

Like this:
"In this state [Mississippi] live men and women nostalgic by age eleven. For things rambling, wooden, rain-worn, wood-smoked, slightly decrepit. The heft of dirty nickels. They flee to lakes from hateful pavements, concrete and glass. They are certain the great wars were fought for cheap fishing licenses."
- from Yonder Stands Your Orphan, which I am reading now.

Also, he describes nursing home residents as "convicts of time." Brilliant!

Anyway, I enjoy the heck out of his books, and so I am trying to take it slow and savor each one, since I know he won't be writing any more. I started with Geronimo Rex and then read The Tennis Handsome. Geronimo Rex was really awesome - his debut novel and a great way to start reading Hannah. Bonus points for me because I went to Mississippi College and so did he, and the novel is loosely based on his experiences while a student there in the '60s. I never felt like I really fit in at MC, and I don't think he did, either. If you know anything about the school, you'll understand why.

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I keep saying that I'm tired of all the cool people leaving Jackson, and it's true. There are still lots of cool people in Jackson, but it seems like every other week or so someone else announces that they are moving away. I do get it; I left once too and thought I'd never come back. But I guess I just assume since I got my sh** figured out and have decided Jackson is the place for me, that everyone else has also figured that out. Of course, that is ludicrous.


The latest ex-pat is Johnny Bertram and his wife, Emily. The two were so beloved around town that it's hard to believe they weren't actually from here in the first place. Johnny's musicianship permeated the Jackson scene, to the point that he was playing with a few different groups of people before he left. The Bertrams are heading back to the Northwest, to Portland, from whence they came. Do I blame them for leaving the 100+ degree heat for the deliciously cool, laid-back Portland? No. I wish I had a summer home there, myself. But Jackson sorely misses them already. It's funny, the connection between PDX and JAN. Many Jacksonians have moved outhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif there and stayed, or moved out there and returned, and Johnny & Emily were the first that I know of who moved from PDX to JAN with no prior ties to the place. I'd love it if there were a direct expressway from here to Portland, really, and we could all visit each other from time to time.

The picture above was taken at Johnny Bertram & the Golden Bicycles' last show in town on 5.29.11. It was at North Midtown Arts Center -formerly known as 121 - and I'd never been outside for a show there before, but it was pretty sweet! One of those "This doesn't feel like Jackson" moments. Which hopefully those moments will eventually evolve into "This is SO Jackson" instead. It's people like Johnny B. that have helped make transform this town into the blossoming arts community that it is today. So I am okay with people like him and others leaving Jackson, just as long as they leave something good behind. Or - even better - come back eventually, and bring something good back with them.

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I have a new member of the family now. It happened a week or so ago, completely at random. This little pup appeared in my sister's back yard, and my sister couldn't take care of it along with her 3 dogs and small child, so she and my bro-in-law called me to see what to do about it. It had a hurt leg, and one of the local shelters (that is not a no-kill) had already said they would probably just have to put her down because of the leg. So I caved, went and got her, and took her to my vet the next day. She is scheduled to have surgery this week to see if they can save her leg, but even if they can't, she will be ok with 3 legs. She already runs around as if nothing is wrong. I have named her Lula Belle (after my great-grandmother, HA!), but call her Lulu 90% of the time. She is sweet as can be and gets along great with Sally. I have felt a bit guilty and worry that I am not showering Sally with as much attention as she usually gets, so I have been overcompensating big time. The BF feels the same way. We're constantly saying, "Oh Sally, you're a good dog too, we love you, blah blah blah..." I think she is really fine, though. She seems to like having a playmate, even if Lulu is 1/10 her size. I don't think Lulu is going to get very big, and this is weird for me. I've never owned a dog smaller than 30 lbs. or so. But it's been fun so far. I don't think I need kids now; I have 2 already. And I will try REALLY HARD not to dress Lulu up in ridiculous outfits. I can kinda understand why people do that, though. I keep wanting to put her in bags or boxes or anything small that she can fit in. I don't think she enjoys that as much as we do.

Here's Lulu and Sally, both sleeping after a hard day of playing together.

Good Times

What a crazy week. I normally wind up celebrating my birthday for a week or more at a time, but this year was really almost ridiculous! Not that I'm complaining! It started the night before my bday - the BF made delicious jerk pork chops with black beans. Then, on my actual bday, I went out that night with friends to Pi(e) lounge for drinks + pizza. It was great to see some old and new friends there. Thursday night, I went to Downtown After Dusk and then Babalu with another group of friends. Babalu has some of the best food in town, and great atmosphere + service. My friend Rachel took much better pictures and blogged about our night here.

Friday I went back to Pi(e) to see another old friend who came to town this weekend, and then later that night the BF took me to Spice Avenue, the best Indian restaurant in town. I'm disappointed that they don't have a website, but just trust me, it was delicious. They are a little overpriced in that you have to order rice and Naan separate, but you can eat well on the cheap if you know how to order. We got the vegetable biryani and chicken tikka masala, and the biryani comes with rice. It fed us for 2 meals!

Saturday, the BF and I met my sister, my niece and my parents at the zoo. After some convincing that it is safe to go to the zoo, that is. I'm too tired to re-hash it right now, but my conversation with my mom about meeting us at the zoo (instead of meeting at my house, which a year or so ago was considered in a "non-safe" neighborhood according to her - now suddenly it is the safe house?) started with her story about a "terrible thing that happened" one of the last times she was there, which was about 25 years ago when my sister was a toddler. The "terrible thing" that happened was that a strange man was trying to talk to them in the parking lot. Horrors!! Anyway, I grow weary of defending my city to my parents, particularly my mom, who is afraid of everything and has nearly no basis at all for her fears. It is smart to be cautious, to not be naive, but it's a whole 'nother thing to be so scared of everything that might possibly ever happen that you barely want to leave the house. I love my mom, but she wears me out with that nonsense. We did get to see the sweet baby giraffe though! Isn't she cute?

I also took a picture of the train at the Zoo:

It always reminds me of the opening credits for the show "Black Gold," which used to come on when I was a kid. A local version of "Soul Train," Black Gold was filmed here in Jackson and hosted by Lee King (who is still around Jackson and worked at the Auditorium restaurant until its demise a year or so ago). The train was featured in the opening theme, maybe as a nod to Soul Train, I don't know... if I can find a video I'm posting it here.

Anyway, I digress. Saturday afternoon I went to BeBop Record Shop for what was probably the last time. The BF got me a gift certificate for my bday on the day before BeBop announced it was closing its last remaining store in Jackson. It was a wonderful gift, but bittersweet. I loaded up with vinyl and wound up using the entire gift cert. + the same amount in cash. The store was packed when I went in, which was strange to see because even on Record Store Day a few weeks ago it wasn't this packed. I saw people that I never usually saw when I shopped in there, loading up on CDs. Now, call me crazy, but I decided to go vinyl-only. CDs just don't hold a lot of nostalgia for me, but albums are one-of-a-kind. Plus, most of the ones I bought came with a code to download the digital album for free, and one even came with the CD inside.

Here's what I got:

1. Van Morrison - Tupelo Honey
2. Super Furry Animals - Dark Days Light Years*
3. An Introduction to Elliott Smith**
4. Jolie Holland - the Living and the Dead***
5. The Jam - This is the Modern World
6. El Obo - Oxford Basement Collection
7. Cheap Trick - Live at Budokan****
8. South Pacific - soundtrack

*(45! And a Double Album!)
**I introduced myself to Elliott Smith about 13 years ago, but this album has a lot of the greats on it, so I could not pass it up.
***My "twin" Jed-0 (we share the same bday, just a couple years apart) gave me a CD that he burned for me with some of Jolie Holland's music on it. I had not heard her stuff before, but oh my word. She is fabulous! I set out on Saturday hoping to find something of hers on vinyl, but was honestly shocked when I found this one. It's the latest album, but she's not uber well known, so I really didn't think I'd see it there. Thanks BeBop.
****If you aren't familiar with this album, you almost can't call yourself a rock fan. I haven't owned it until now, but I've been a Cheap Trick fan from the get-go.

While I was shopping, Prince was playing loud on the overhead soundsystem, probably a little louder than usual because, hey, they're going to be gone in a week, so who cares if it bothers anyone? People were bobbing their heads along with "Alphabet Street," and "Kiss," but when "Purple Rain" came on, it was hard not to tear up a bit. I mean, come on... BeBop. This is the end of an era. I remember shopping at the one by Metro in my college years, buying tickets to Jubilee!JAM and other concerts there, buying CDs at the one near Northpark, and of course in the last few years at this one in Maywood Mart. The BF and I could ride bikes there from his house. I was so happy to know they still had vinyl and even carried new vinyl. Now I don't know where I'll get the new stuff.

I'm thankful for people like DJ Young Venom (although I'm sad he's not on 97.7 anymore) who has organized a great record swap called 4 The Record, which is happening next weekend. There was one a month or so ago too, and I'm hoping this will be a recurring thing. My collection has grown since I got a record player a year ago (imagine that!), but I'm always on the lookout for some new stuff.

Saturday night, a group of us gathered at Parlor Market to celebrate a friend's birthday. His girlfriend arranged for him to be able to work in the kitchen for a night with the staff, which had been a dream for him. He's a great cook in his own right, just not professionally trained. It was fun to see him in chef's whites, and we could tell he was having a good time. The food was excellent, albeit pricy, but it was worth it to spend time with good friends and celebrate May birthdays. I joke about not liking to share my bday month with so many others (I used to hardly know anyone with a May birthday), but in reality it is a lot of fun.

After all of this partying, though, I am worn out! It has been nice to sit at home with the dog and listen to records. This week is going to be busy, but short. I'm definitely looking forward to the long weekend that awaits at the end.

Before I go, I also have to give props to my friend Anna Kline and her Grits & Soul band. They wrote a song about Ol' Man River, and it was featured on NBC affiliates throughout the country this past weekend! She is a super talented musician and has found some great people to play with. I'm proud to call her my friend.

I have a few famous friends. My friend Martha and her beau Mott Roland were featured in the Weddings section of the New York Times this week, too. The New York Times y'all!! It's all about Mott Roland moving cows away from the flood waters so's they can still get hitched. They're getting married next weekend and I am so happy for them. Martha is a new friend, but she is already one of my most favorite people in the whole world. Read their story here.

I'm also going to post some of my pictures of the river at Natchez from last weekend to close this week's post:

Down with the Sickness*

So Sally and I have both been a bit under the weather this weekend.

Friday night, I filled in for a friend and "hosted" the Singer/Songwriter's Showcase at Sneaky Beans, and the BF and his friend Bill joined me. I put "hosted" in quotations because I really did not have to do much - just introduce the artists and let them go to it, which to me is the best kind of "hosting" there is! Sherman Lee Dillon, Taylor Hildebrand, and Drew McKercher (who for some reason I wanted to call "Jeremy" all night, he looks like a Jeremy I guess,) played some really good tunes. Kudos to my friend Anna Kline who put the whole thing together. Next month she is doing an all-girls' singer/songwriter showcase, so check it out.

I had to go to Oxford Thursday for work, and I stayed with my good friend Emmy, who has two cats. I am allergic to cats, and Emmy does a good job of keeping them out of the spare bedroom so I won't be too affected, but I still had a pretty big allergic reaction, in the form of sneezing, wheezing, and itchy/watery eyes. I used my puffer (I have mild asthma) multiple times over the two days I was there, and by Friday my chest was hurting a little bit. I figured it was just because of the overuse of the puffer. Nonetheless, I went to the most awesome breakfast place with Emmy on Friday morning, Big Bad Breakfast, and had my fill of scramby eggs, ho-made sausage (they make it fresh on-site), home fries and a biscuit. I have been telling everyone I know about this place - go check it out if you are in O-town.

So I had to board Sally until Saturday morning. The BF and I picked her up and took her home, and I got to making lunch, which was Pad Thai with tofu and bean sprouts. We noticed Sally was not her usual spry self, and shortly thereafter she decided to puke on my carpet. After that (and I made the BF clean it up), there was a series of horks and gacks, dragging her to the linoleum floor of the kitchen, only to have her barf on the carpet when we weren't looking. Every time I took her outside, she would graze like a little moo cow. For those who don't know, dogs eat grass when their tummies are upset - it makes them barf. I don't know what they fed her at the vet's, but next time we are taking our own food, that's for sure!

Later on that night, I started having mild chest pains again. I didn't want to scare anybody, but it was rather annoying. I told the BF, and he made me lie down with my feet up. We had a healthy dinner of seared tuna over mixed greens with strawberries, goat cheese and pecans, and I took a couple of BC powders, which made me feel better. We took my blood pressure, which was a bit high, and I went to bed at a reasonable hour. I slept until about 10:45 this morning.

Today has been okay - Sally has still been a little under the weather, but she did eat some kibble and just a few blades of grass. We totally missed the snow, or at least I did. BF said Sally tried to eat it when he took her out early this morning. I managed to do some yoga this afternoon, and wanted to take my BP afterward, just to see the effect, but my stupid digital sphygmomanometer (how's that for a $5 word?) wouldn't work right. So I really have no idea what my BP is this evening. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow to get it checked out. I need to lose some weight - that much is obvious - but only like 10 or 15 pounds. I think that will get me back to normal BP and everything, but until then I might have to take something. I want to be able to continue my running (which was going pretty well until this happened), but I don't want to be found lying in a ditch somewhere, either. I can just see it now - the headlines would read, "Pudgy woman found dead of a heart attack on her pathetic less-than-a-mile running route."

On the money-saving/making front, I went to the grocery store for the first time in a week on Friday, used coupons which saved me like $20, and should have enough food to get me through until the next weekend, or even the next paycheck, who knows? Also, there is this event going on next weekend at a local hotel where you can go sell your gold, so I may go check that out and see what I can get. I actually have a little more money than I thought I would at this point after paying bills and stuff, so maybe I am saving a little bit? Stay tuned chickens!

*Sorry for the reference to a pretty lame hard metal song - I don't remember who does the song but I did rock out pretty hard to it whenever it used to come on the radio. So there's that.

Bring on Spring

I'm tired of Mother Nature being a tease. It was 70 degrees a few days ago, now it's like 25. STOP MESSING WITH MY MIND!





The good news is, I can bundle up and hide my fat rolls a little while longer. Maybe if I can step up my workouts and tone down my snacking, I'll be presentable by Easter.





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This past weekend, Jackson experienced its first "V-Day," and the Vagina Monologues was presented for the first time here with a wonderful cast that included many good friends of mine. I stayed in the background, serving food and wine, and enjoying the play twice in a row. I'm so happy I got to be a part of this performance, and I'm already looking forward to next year, where we undoubtedly will see if we can push the envelope just a little bit further...

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On the money making/saving front, I am doing pretty well so far. I have only gone to the grocery store maybe 3 times in the last two weeks, and only one of those trips was a "big" trip. I have received some help from family members, which I did not ask for, but surely do appreciate. And I am still planning to sell my gold, I just can't seem to remember to go down to the jewelry store. I better do it soon, before they decide something else is worth more money. I'm also still saving cans and have a rather nice pile going near my trash. Now I just need to find somewhere that will pay me for my tin.

Last night after the Vagina Monologues, I was invited as an "honorary cast member" to the cast party. It was at the home of one of the other cast members, and her home was AMAZING. Awesome, open living area, totally made for entertaining, and an even more impressive back yard complete with fire pit and goldfish pond. I was totally jealous, of course, but also very inspired. The owner told me she bought the house herself years ago and put nearly every penny she made into making it what it is today. She had only recently remarried. So even if I am dirt poor right now, I still feel like it's possible for me to have a nice home one day too, if I really want it and work for it hard enough. I'm tucking that away as a non-immediate goal, but a goal nonetheless.

I'm actually into the Oscars this year, so I'm going to stop here and go back to watching that little gold man hop into the hands of various and sundry celebrities.

Up on the 12th Floor

Can I just say it?

I love Jackson.

When I first moved back here from Memphis, I was really at a loss for words or thoughts. I had thought I would stay in Memphis forever. I didn't think that Jackson had all that much to offer. I thought I already pretty much knew everyone there was to know around here.

I was wrong.

It was a lot like when I decided to switch colleges after my freshman year because I realized that it was actually better to be where I knew some people. And once I got to that second college, where I originally thought I already knew everyone, I was pleasantly surprised to meet people from all over that I never would have known otherwise.

Anyway... tonight I attended a meeting of a group of young professionals that really care about this city that I have always sort of taken for granted. We heard William Winter speak, y'all. I think he is my new hero. He is so wise and so kind, and has always been ahead of his time, I think.

This group is planning some really great things, and I am so glad to be a part of it. It was good to get the BF out of the house, too, and he made some promising contacts for his private practice adventure. I am calling that an "adventure," because so far that is what it has been! He's getting some cases, slowly but surely, and that is a good thing. Making money is good!

I'm not going to use this blog to talk about my job -- but the thing is, I really love my job so far. I am happy that it is something I can really jump into and get excited about doing. I don't dread getting up for work every day like I used to. Don't get me wrong -- getting up early is a bitch -- but it's okay, I have to remind myself, we like this job.

As for other jobs, I am working on an article for the new BOOM Jackson publication, and so far I'm not pulling my hair out, so that is good. It helps that BF and I have been trying our best to get out and do something every weekend, too -- especially outside stuff. There really are a jillion things to do around our fair city. So far we have:

*Walked the nature trail and roamed the Natural Science Museum
*Gotten a big batch of crawfish and eaten them at a park in Belhaven
*Gone to a show at Cafe Seven
*Visited the Zoo and heard some great jazz music
*Gone to the art museum

And this weekend I think it's the Belhaven Market. This is my favorite time of year in Jackson!