Hello Monkey, I have missed you so...

So first a headnote, prologue - whatever.
I have an idea - this blog has been meandering all over the place without much direction, or action actually. Similar to both the above sentence and it's author. Anyhoo - my sweet monkey - how abouts you and me write each other via this little blog?
Granted, the posts will be a little more intimate then originally intended - but I quite like the idea and what is this whole big fat life if not an experiment, where on the best of days you are the mad scientist and on the worst of days your'e a research monkey or lab rat? Or maybe that's vica versa?
Also, we should pepper these letters with soundtracks. Give us a 'lil sumthin for the ears then, gov? Maybe recipes too - here we goes...

My Dear Monkey,




I am doggedly pursuing my happiness and I miss you so very very much. This evening, I was wasting time on the internets - trying to find a piece of myself somewhere and lo, I came across this. I can't tell you how happy it made me to read your words, see your photos and listen to the music you are fancying. I suppose that isn't true - I could but it would take up the whole damn page and there are other things I would like to tell you.
So strange to write you this way because I am wanting to blurt out everything that has happened to me recently - but am acutely aware of the privacy lacking in this here forum. Which funnily enough is a big part of some things I've been thinking about lately. It's hard to get your voyeuristic fix on the computer when you delete your online presence. Believe me, shit has not been the same since giving the social networks a big fat pink slip with "I think you're the DEVIL" scrawled across it (for good measure). The time spent on such sites has fostered in me a desire, as I mentioned, to be a voyeur of ...well -myself. Why am I so preoccupied with seeing my reflection on this electronic screen? Says the blogger to the pot in betwixt them both picking on the kettle. It isn't even good enough to just see ourselves, no - we need to groom and cultivate who we are on the intergalactic super highway. Always keeping in mind that someone, somewhere is watching. What kind of existence is that my friend? And how would it change you internally if you couldn't exist without premeditating how you are perceived externally? Well, as it so happens some would theorize it ain't much different from the existence women have been living for the past, um... fucking forever.



(there are 4 parts - i highly suggest watching them all)

So Monkey, in my pursuit of happiness I say "Well self, the silver lining is that the narcissistic nature of today's internet culture is distributing the wealth of persecutive insecurity us women have been hoarding." Always the optimist, I am.

I am so pleased to hear about the tattooing and schooling, I have continued to excel in my academics. It is amazing but it's hard not to perceive my success and stability as a wedge between myself and everything I've ever known. Confidence really is a stain you can't wipe off. And I've learned people are very particular about what kind of dirt or stains they'll tolerate or accept.



Please tell Freedom Denied I love them and think they are rad. You could tell yourslef that everyday until my next letter too.
Yours in absentia,
Rats.

Gypsy django anyone?

NOT TO WORRY: Most of the gulf oil spill has "evaporated into the air"

WoW! It's near three months since last anyone posted... I am ashamed of my absence from both the blog and my friendship to rats. I'm sorry; no excuses.

I guess life has been carrying on as usual in our own pieces of the world and what's new doesn't seem like news at all but I'll fill you in on MY BORING LIFE anyhow...

A friend of Rats and I, who also happens to be the owner of Hotel Skin (a tattoo parlour in Niagara Falls, ON) said she'd show me how to tattoo; if I supply the grapefruit. I have yet to take her up on her offer -though I am truly aching to know everything there is to know about tattooing. I think I could be really good at it and I've suddenly developed a passion for the art.

With that in mind, I have decided NOT to take Journalism this September. Instead, I am considering switching to the Personal Support Worker program come January 2011. I figure a lot of the curriculum applies to learning about tattooing as well. [don't ask me to explain how, just trust me; it does.] Plus, if tattooing isn't my thing after all, I'll have something to fall back on.

OH! I went to the G20 Summit protest in Toronto on the 26th of June. The pictures I took were AMAZING

and Chris got some excellent interviews with protestors, including the International Executive Director of Greenpeace. I thought he was going to write something about it but I don't know now. Either way, cool, cool.

After that we met up with friends at Duffy's Tavern in Toronto to celebrate my 30th with Freedom Denied. I had a killer time and saw some rad people I hadn't seen in yeeeaars.

Speaking of Freedom Denied, I hear they'll be playing their final gig in August @ Sneaky Dee's. More on the exact date and time to come.

*P.S. I think Rats should come to that one if she can find her way to Toronto next month.*

Oh, and I keep forgetting to mention the band Brown Bird. They're a super-cool indie/folk/country/blues/grassroots band, originally from Seattle...now settled in Rhode Island. Their album The Devil Dancing is my new favourite. David Lamb is a brilliant singer/songwriter and they are all supremely talented musicians. Have a listen @ http://www.myspace.com/brownbird/music/playlists.

I don't know what else to write about, unless you want to hear about my tubular ligation. No? Oh, well, then I guess that's it for now folks.

Peace!

Somebody else always gets to be the PJ to my Nicks. Ugh.

SLEEPING REALLY IS THE ONLY LOVE...

6 inch skull cuts, with edgy dull knives availible now!!

HOW MANY DAYS HAS IT BEEN SINCE I WAS BORN, HOW MANY DAYS UNTIL I DIE?

love for the piano men is in the air this spring...




How many days has it been
Since I was born
How many days until I die
Do I know any ways
That I can make you laugh
Or do I only know how to make you cry

When the baby looks around him
It's such a sight to see
He shares a simple secret
With the wise man

He's a stranger in a strange land
Just a stranger in a strange land
Tell me why
He's a stranger in a strange land
Just a stranger in a strange land

How many miles will it take
To see the sun
And how many years until it's done
Kiss my confusion away in the night
Lay by side when the morning comes

And the baby looks around him
And shares his bed of hay
With the burrow in the palace of the king

He's a stranger in a strange land
Tell me why
He's a stranger in a strange land
Just a stranger in a strange land

Well, I don't exactly know
What's going on in the world today
Don't know what there is to say
About the way the people are treating
Each other, not like brothers

Leaders take us far away from ecology
With mythology and astrology
Has got some words to say
About the way we live today
Why can't we learn to love each other
It's time to turn a new face
To the whole world wide human race

Stop the money chase
Lay back, relax
Get back on the human track
Stop racing toward oblivion
Oh, such a sad, sad state we're in
And that's a thing

Do you recognize the bells of truth
When you hear them ring
Won't you stop and listen
To the children sing
Won't you come on and sing it children

He's a stranger in a strange land
Just a stranger in a strange land