2ndclepunkbuddha

(I took a trip to Graceland in February 2005 with my old boyfriend.  That was a long time ago now but as I had just reread some passages from Priscilla Presley's memoir Elvis And Me and thought I would share some thoughts on it.  Plus this was before I had put my blog onto this forum.) She stood before me at the front desk while checking and unzipped the garment bag she was carrying.  Inside was a big, poofy white wedding dress bedecked and spilling out sequins and sparkly things on the carpet.  I asked what this was about, she had traveled from Ireland and was getting married tomorrow at the Graceland Wedding Chapel in the Woods, adjacent to the Graceland house across the street.  I was in Memphis, Tennessee at the world famous Heartbreak Hotel and had come to take a long anticipated trip as all rock and roll fans aspire to take one day, I had come to see Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley.  Exactly why I was here, I was not sure.  In the b...

Today I took a standardized test.  This is my inner old lady coming out, but I seem to remember in my day that standardized tests were not as corporately controlled nor was it such a process and check in security as they were in my day.  The last time I took a standardized test, I was still in high school taking the SAT.  On that day twenty plus years ago, I was shuffled into a large lecture hall at a local public high school with about seventy five to a hundred high school juniors and seniors (none of which I knew) who remained in relative silence.  You could see the range of emotions in the eyes of them, which varied from anxiety to apathy, as we were designated to our seats.  I listened to the instructions of the monitoring person, then began in the language arts area and leading into the math section.  On occasion the monitoring individuals would pause at the end of the rows, of which I was on the end of, silently checking up on the test takers.  I...

Valentine's Day is once again approaching.  This is the commercialization of love once again which is totally annoying, when we are to show someone that we love them by increasing the national debt.  I know plenty of men and women from all walks of life who have things to say on it.  Stereotypically women will show their inner gold digger when they do not receive diamonds or roses for this day, men want to vomit on their TV sets when they see commercials for said diamonds or roses and get bent out of shape when they don't get sex out of it and make fun of women who think it's about romance novels and chick flicks.  (You won't believe this, but studies show that women who openly or secretly read romance novels have twice as much sex as women who don't.) On this coming Valentine's Day I am, once again, unattached to anyone in particular.  It's not the worst thing that could happen to anyone, of course, but I choose in my annual V Day blog to be a sort of con...

Today something brought me back to a movie that I had not thought of in many years.  It's strange how that goes, when you find something in a hidden corner or something that was in plain sight for a long time and you just never thought to look in that cranny or see it for what it is or isn't.  Today on Netflix I decided to give The Dark Crystal a looksee, since the last time I saw it was probably twenty some years ago.  I had just done a Star Wars marathon of the first and middle trilogies the week before, it's funny to see how the older movies like the middle trilogy as well as The Dark Crystal are considered "dirty movies" now.  Not dirty in the fact that they are X rated, but that technology did not exist as it does today with computer graphics programs, animation was still drawn and recorded somewhat by hand, and every creature was a puppet on wires or by remote control, or in some extreme situations it would have to be a little person dressed up in a costum...

It's now the end of the year, and it is once again time to wax poetic and reflect on the lessons of this past year.  2014 had its ups and downs as most recent years have been, but unlike last year, I face the new year with more hope than the last year brought me and all of us. The biggest accomplishments of this year were in educational, professional and artistic achievements.  I finally finished the degree and made it through the machine of CSU.  It was a rough road, one that I did not anticipate would be as such but I learned as everyone else does when they start down the path.  The last two classes were taken, the last assignments were graded and submitted, and, at last, the degree was earned.  It's easy to see why it is that people drop out of the place because they make it so hard for you to actually graduate from the institution, you get so frustrated with the changing and the nagging.  If there is one thing I can tell anyone out there who is curre...

The day had at last come for me to once again to do my part for the film.  The director, cast and crew had been working diligently despite all the slings and arrows to make it happen, all were dedicated and the ones who had proven themselves unreliable had long since disappeared.  I arrived at the art school a few weeks ago to do the first phase of the bit agreed upon.  Here the camera was rigged onto a platform where I was to be on display.  Still photographs as well were displayed on the secret Facebook page, and I allowed two of them to be published.  In one I was covered in a makeshift sheet / kimono, in the other I was hidden behind the snapping board that the crew uses to announce takes and reel numbers.  This time, however, I was in a more obvious situation.  I took everything off and put on a robe and flip flops, as did J.  We were to be models in an art class, sitting upon a platform on the second floor.  J laid back so we were ...

Earlier today, I regret to inform, a member of the tribe past was lost.  Mary Campbell Nir was a truly wonderful person, and that's not just nostalgia talking either.  I knew her when she was a kid, but her qualities were felt and enhanced as she went towards adulthood.  Not even the most talented of writers of trashy books or soap operas could have come up with her life story, and her story should be remembered. Mary was an adopted child.  If this story about her adoption and discovery is true or if some of this is myth and legend, perhaps, but this was the story I was told.  Baby Mary was found in the back of a church in a laundry basket somewhere on the west side of Cleveland one day in 1978 (or thereabouts).  The only documentation about her birth came in the form of a hand written note from her birth mother, explaining how and why this came to be.  According to the fabled note, Mary's birth mother and father were college students who were no lon...