2ndclepunkbuddha

Those who follow my Facebook posts and read with regularity know that every once in a while I will have made a reference to my neighbors in the apartment building in which I live.  Honestly, in the many years that I have now lived her, there is little to complain about living in this building.  It is populated by mostly older people (as in those who are well past their retirement age), most if not all are mindful and silent, and have made living here, for the most part, pleasant.  There are few if any younger people here, and I'm happy to know that there are a few older women who live here who I consider to be my friend.  And that's a good thing, which one cannot imagine doing in this day and age to have an actual friend outside of an academic setting where one is free to do and say and feel freely rather than the nonsense that has become the world that we live in now.  But that's another blog of course...  If you have never had a terrible neighbor to deal ...

I got a letter in the mailbox today asking for a donation to my high school's annual fund.  I have supported these things in the past, it helped shape who I am today like it or not.  The summer before last, I decided to go to my 20th high school reunion.  I asked myself why I did this, to this day I am still asking myself why I did it.  One often times ends up wearing their yoga pants and wearing "This is what Awesome looks like" T shirt down to the mailbox and nearly choking on that bag of cookies you are eating when they open a letter like this.  You then break out the yearbook and wonder what happened to the one voted Most Likely to Succeed, and realize you did not live up to that and would be voted Most Likely to Wear PJ Pants During a Late Night Trip to Wal-Mart.  This letter today asked me, the alumnae they are asking a donation from, to reminisce about their favorite memory from high school.  Here are some of the questions they asked: 1)  ...

One would have to argue that I have had some rather hilarious experiences in life.  Much of it comes from a love of travel, a tendency to risk take, be slightly blinded by enthusiasm until it hits me in the forehead, and want and need to collect freaky, eccentric, and anywhere from slightly to extremely unstable people.  The other week was just such an adventure; and, oddly enough, involved a-ha.  As many of you know (or have just learned like the majority of people in the US), a-ha broke up in 2010 after a twenty five year history together in fits and starts.  Quite by accident, I discovered that they never had another hit in the US after their super single "Take on Me", did some internet searches, met some people, etc.  When they announced their break up, we, the US a-ha fan clique, was disappointed and saddened.  One thing that we loved to do as a group was to have a weekend together.  In the host city, we would arrange a tourist acti...