I’m single and ready to meet new people and go out!!!!
Current mood: adventurous
Category: Romance and Relationships

I know it's been a long time since I've been on myspace, or added anything new. There's been a lot of changes in my life this year, and I'm just now starting to emerge from my cocoon. I am single now, for the first time in many, many years. I'm free to do as I please and I want to meet new people and have some fun. Anybody cool out there? It can be for friendship, or a date, to hear live music or drink coffee and talk...whatever. Bottom line, I'm lonely and ready to meet some new people. Please no psychos, users, druggies, or abusers. Just nice, interesting, funny, cool people, ok? Thanks.

10:36 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

ballet is evil...
Current mood: uncomfortable

Well...it's official: Ballet is EVIL. I decided to take a class called "The New York City Ballet Workout" which is supposed to be the warmup exercises that the NYC ballet dancers do (not the ballet part, just the warm up) but on my first night of class I ended up with a stress fracture in my ankle. Ok, so maybe I'm too old for ballet (little girls' bones are rubbery and any ballet dancer over age 20 has brittle bones and osteoporosis from anorexia), so what the hell do I think I'm doing taking it now? But seriously. It was supposed to be a workout, I thought it would be like yoga but with classical music. But the first night of class the teacher had us jumping up and down with our feet turned out, doing all sorts of ballet stuff like plie, releve, tendu, etc. Shit! I don't know nothin' 'bout none of that stuff. So, like the dork that I am, I end up with a cast on my foot.

And to top it off, the Doctor tells me to stay off my feet for a few weeks...HA HA. he's joking, right? How, exactly, am I supposed to do that? I have two kids, and a dog, and I live on the second floor. Sigh.

But I was talking to my friend on the phone today and she has two LITTLE kids (1 and 3) and she just threw her back out and is really laid up. We were comparing notes on painkillers and such. And then it got me thinking. Life is hard, but we have it really good, compared to most people. We have support systems, and money, and our health, and medical insurance, etc. There are so many people way, way worse off than us.

But ballet is still evil.

Luv,
Noa

Currently reading : Now You See Her By Whitney Otto Release date: 07 March, 1995

11:43 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

FIRE!!!!!!!!
Current mood: claustrophobic
Category: claustrophobic Life

After two days of sitting in the house watching the t.v. show neighborhoods all around us burning ("0% contained") we got the mandatory evacuation call (reverse-911 call from the police, very dramatic!) and we decided to go up to Newport Beach (1 hour away) rather than join the other 25,000 evacuees (and our Governator) at Qualcomm Stadium.

It was kind of awkward going to my Ex-Mother-In-Law's housefor 2 days and 2 nights, but we actually managed to have a pretty good time and she was very sweet and hospitable.

When we saw on the t.v. that we could return to our homes, we started back. On the way down, as we were passing San Onofre (nuclear power plant!) on the right we witnessed these flames on the left (only the 5 freeway, which we were driving on, separating the two).

That fire must have just started because there were no firetrucks or anythingthere yet. I took these picture while driving. It was kind of scary. That is now being called the Camp Pendleton fire and is quite large. I guess i got the baby pictures of that fire. We were pretty darn close. It felt very strange to be driving TOWARDS where the fires were. I don't think I would like to be a firefighter. It goes against my natural instincts to go towards danger.

We are all getting a bit sick of being indoors, but the air quality is quite bad, so we have to stay inside until further notice.

I hope that you are all safe and sound. I'm would love to hear from y'all...

Currently listening : Ammunition By Tim Easton Release date: 16 May, 2006

2:45 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Austin City Limits September 14-16
Current mood: excited
Category: Music

Yay! Joy and I are going to Austin City Limits for 3 days and nights of LIVE MUSIC (and scrabble)!

I'm so excited. Some of my favorites will be there: Bob Dylan, My Morning Jacket, Lucinda Williams, White Stripes, Indigo Girls, Wilco, Ziggy Marley, and many more.

Anyone going?

I can't wait.

xo
noa

Currently listening : A.M. By Wilco Release date: 28 March, 1995

12:36 AM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

dusting off the cobwebs from my space...
Current mood: quixotic

It's been a long time since I wrote anything here. My life has been freakishly busy and I had to prioritize, so blogging fell by the wayside. But I just got a job with vMix.com to cover the SXSW Music Conference this year in Austin. When I say cover, I mean photographically, but also supplying a daily blog to vMix about the goings on at SXSW. So I figured if I'm going to get paid to BLOG, I'd better bone up on my blogging skills. SKREEEEEEK....SKREEEEEEK....uh oh...I'm really rusty. I've forgotten how to blog. I hope I can still take pictures.

I'll be back when I have more self-esteem...

sigh.

Currently watching : Office Space - Special Edition with Flair (Widescreen Edition) Release date: 01 November, 2005

8:42 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Happy Friday the 13th Birthday to Me!!!!
Current mood: okay
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes

I haven't written anything here in so long that I really feel I need to write SOMETHING, just so if anyone checks it out it won't be so horribly stale...that, and also, it's 1:01 a.m. on Friday, and it's my birthday, and I've been on this computer all night and I just can't seem to stop, and this is like a totally run-on sentence but I don't care....

I was perusing the "category" category to see what I should pick, and I came upon "Goals, Plans, Hopes" which seemed like a nice, cheery, optimistic thing to choose for a new year. I really don't like getting older. Time goes by so fast now, it's making me dizzy. I want it to slow down. I want to have time to take a breath and relax and look around and be in the moment, but that will have to wait. Alas, I am busy, busy, busy. I am trying to finish all of my WORK, and then take a few months off. I really want to, but it's hard to say "no" when people want to pay you to take pictures of them. That's why I never get a vacation.

So, I've been on this "Gluten-Free" diet for the past month or so, and I have to say, I feel much, much better. I definitely have a gluten intolerance, if not a full-blown allergy to wheat. I read this book called "Dangerous Grains" and it explained how bad wheat is for you, and since I stopped eating it I feel so much better. Luckily, there are lots of rice/cornstarch/potato/tapioca flour substitutes, and I can even get bagels, pizza dough, etc. with no wheat or gluten in them, which is really amazing. Anyone who is feeling icky (pretty much any symptom you may have from migraines to rashes to bloating and insomnia) should give this diet a try...you may be very surprised how fast you feel better.

I have three wrapped presents waiting for me to open, and my daughter is making me a gluten-free birthday cake. It's supposed to rain this weekend (yay), and I'm going out to a special dinner tonight downtown at this Tiki Club, so I would say, all-in-all it should be a good birthday (knock-on-wood).

Thank you all who have sent me birthday greetings...let's see if my Dad remembers my birthday this year...it would be a first! (do I sound bitter...? hmmm...)

I need new music. If anyone wants to send me new music I would love them forever. I'm really bored with everything I have. And if anyone has any jokes for me, please tell them. I need a good laugh.

Thanks, peace, ciao...
Noa

Currently reading : One Thing at a Time: 100 Simple Ways to Live Clutter-Free Every Day By Cindy Glovinsky Release date: 01 July, 2004

1:00 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

a dream...what does it mean...???
Current mood: anxious
Category: Dreams and the Supernatural

This is my dream: I'm driving on a sunny day...i have kids in the car...i happen to glance to my left as we drive past an apartment building and out of the corner of my eye I see through the window of an apartment up on the second floor what looks like a naked man standing in the window. Through the thin, gauzy curtain I can see the outline of another person (man or woman, I can't tell) sitting on a bed or chair...in the brief moment that I look I see what appears to be the man punching the sitting person. We are driving past and it's a brief moment, but I can see the black silhouette against the white wall, the moment is frozen in my eyes like a black and white photo. A punch -- violence-- I think to myself "I should do something" but what, really, is there to do? Am I involved because I think that I witnessed something, am I a witness to something or was it just my brain seeing something that wasn't there, maybe it was an innocent gesture that just looked like a punch to me, like in "American Beauty" where the psycho Dad thinks his kid is giving Kevin Spacey a BJ when in fact he was rolling a joint while Kevin Spacey pumped iron, but the shadows made it look so incriminating. But what if I DID see something? Is there anything I could do to help? It could be a dangerous domestic situation and it would scare the kids if I stopped to find out. I'll always wonder, I'll never know...what should I have done? I drive on, but I feel shakey and scared and guilty.

I awake in a panic. My heart is beating, my hands are clammy. I am reminded of the last time that I took a train. About a minute out of the station a woman committed suicide by stepping in front of the train at 80 mph. It was horrible. They made us stay on the train for 4 hours until the coroner came and collected what was left of her. By killing herself that way, she made me (and everyone else on the train) be part of her murder weapon, in a way. And yet we were not really "involved"...as soon as they let us off the train we resumed our normal life, shaken certainly, and forever changed, but not truly affected beyond an annoying 4 hour delay. We go on...we tell our friends about the experience, maybe we feel a bit queasy for awhile, but basically, we forget about it and go back to our lives.

This dream, and the train experience, both make me think of the state of the world right now. Everywhere, it seems, is this violence, this turmoil. And yet my life is actually pretty boring (thank goodness). I am so lucky to live in a safe, beautiful place where people act civilized, but what about the rest of the world? I can't watch the news because it's so horrifying...I feel I should DO SOMETHING, everyone says "SOMEONE SHOULD DO SOMETHING" and yet we feel completely powerless to do anything at all except maybe write a check to assuage our guilt at being so privileged. Our government's idea of "Doing Something" is to send troops to add to the violence/destruction...not exactly what most people mean when they say "SOMEONE should do something"...and yet, it continues. I feel panic-y just thinking about this. I can't sleep, my heart is palpitating, I feel nervous, unsettled, scared. My doctor prescribes Xanax and sleeping pills...that's a good solution, Doc. Let's just all chill out and go to sleep and hope it's all just a dream.

10:06 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Give me a break you HOH (homophobic old hag)!
Current mood: weird
Category: Religion and Philosophy

On her radio show recently, Dr. Laura Schlesinger said that homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance.

The following response is an open letter to Dr. Laura which was posted on the Internet.


Dear Dr. Laura:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's Law and how to follow them.


1. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

4. Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2. The passage clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there 'degrees' of abomination?

7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev.19:27. How should they die?

9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two differentcrops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? - Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Your adoring fan,
James M. Kauffman, Ed.D.
Professor Emeritus

Currently listening : The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust By David Bowie Release date: 28 September, 1999

11:19 AM - 3 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

I'm awake and in the mood to babble...
Current mood: sleepy
Category: Dreams and the Supernatural

I just woke up at exactly midnight. weird. I was having a dream about my car. Now, some of you might think, "so what?!" but you obviously have never learned about how to analyze dreams, so I will explain:

When you dream about your car (which I do, A LOT) you are not actually dreaming about your car. Your car, or if you dream about a train or bus or taxi or whatever, your MODE OF TRANSPORTATION actually represents your life. It's like, the vehicle that you are going through life in. So, for instance, if you dream that your car gets broken into, it could mean that you are feeling violated. Get it? So, anyway, I dream about my car a lot. The funny thing is that it's always my white 1986 Nissan Dentra (ooops, I mean Sentra) that I dream about. It was the first car that I bought all by myself, and paid 17 percent interest on for 5 years (man, did I get hosed!).....anyway, the point is this (some of you are saying, "yeah...get to the point...is there a point?"): oh, shit, I forgot what the point of this whole blog was. something about dreams? I'm so tired....

I love the movie "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" because I think that it really is a good representation of life in a microcosm. I could watch it over and over and over and over and over and over and over. "It's no joke, Tuco--it's a noose. I want you to go up there and put your head in it..." (wah wah wah wah wah....wah wah wah).

Oh lordy, I think this might be my lamest blog yet. sorry.

I need a hug.

If you had to die from burning up in a fire or freezing, which would you pick?

g'night.

one last thought: butterflies might look nice as they flutter around, but if you look at them up close, they are bugs, disgusting, creepy crawley bugs. Don't let the pretty wings fool you.

xoxoxox

(can somebody please tell me which is the hug and which is the kiss, x or o, I always do that but I have never known).


Love,

Noa

Currently watching : Margaret Cho - Assassin Release date: 08 November, 2005

12:50 AM - 5 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

David Byrne music video -- it's cool, watch it here if you like
Category: Music

Do not watch this if you are an epileptic.

Enjoy...

6:14 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Buddy Blue Tribute Concert Pics 4 sale: Good Cause!!!!!!!!!!
Current mood: working
Category: Art and Photography

Hey Everyone,

I want to let you all know about a very special concert which I photographed recently. It was a tribute concert/fundraiser for Buddy Blue, a San Diego musical legend and a great family man, who passed away recently. Many of his musician friends got together and had a concert to raise some funds for his 4-yr old daughter, Lulu, so she would have an education fund. I took pictures at the concert, and am selling prints online, with all of the proceeds going to this fund, so please check them out and if you like them, purchase as many as you can, as it really is a good cause.
You can email me if you have any questions.
The website to view/order pictures is

Buddy Blue Tribute Concert Pics

and you will click on the link at the bottom of the page.

Thank you all,
God Bless you and
God Bless Buddy Blue.

xoxoxox
Noa

P.S. Happy Mother's Day, Annie...and to all the other fine moms out there! Much Love.

Currently listening : Hunky Dory By David Bowie Release date: 28 September, 1999

6:09 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

my SXSW Article in Indie-Music.com...read it here!!!!
Current mood: bouncy
Category: Writing and Poetry

Yay!!!! I'm so excited to announce that the article that I wrote and illustrated with my photographs about SXSW 2006 is finally published and available to be viewed...Click here to read my Indie-Music SXSW article, "At SXSW a picture is worth 1,000 lyrics"

The editor originally asked for 20 pictures of which she would pick 10 to include, and said that I should write some comments/captions for the pictures, and my impressions of the conference. I ended up writing over 4,000 words, and they included all 20 pictures, and didn't cut out any of the article, or even edit one word. I am so stoked! I had a glorious time in Austin and I'm sure you will be able to get a good feel for it when you read this and see the pics. I can't wait until next year. Please comment me so I know what y'all think.

Currently listening : Hollywood Barn Dance By Dave & Deke Combo Release date: 16 April, 1996

3:30 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

More FOOD for thought...
Current mood: nauseated
Category: Food and Restaurants

ok...i'm not obsessed with food or anything, but lately i happen to be having very strange food experiences. Like today, for instance. I went to get my hair cut and decided to have lunch at the sushi place next door to the haircutting place.

The green tea I ordered was like some kind of green slime water that you would get out of the lilypad pond in Balboa Park (it even tasted vaguely koi-ish) and cost $2.50 a cup (I guess if they had to drive all the way to Balboa Park to get it, the gas alone would justify the price, but still....).

The lunch special today was something I couldn't pronounce, and the picture looked like something that my dog barfed up last week, so I decided to forgo the lunch special and look at the sushi menu. I don't know about you, but I always feel like I am filling in a lottery number form or a scantron when I order sushi. They give you this long piece of paper with all the various types of rolls, etc., and a little yellow library/golf pencil to fill in the little squares, and then you have to figure it all out and decide what to order. It wouldn't be so bad except I was alone. I have decided that sushi is definitely something that should be eaten with someone else, if for no other reason than to have someone to giggle and snicker with about some of the things that they are trying to pass off as food ("salmon skin roll"...huh? isn't the skin the part you throw away when you are making a salmon roll?).

Another problem with sushi is that if you order one kind and don't like it, you should have someone else there to make them eat it, because it's so darn expensive. And I always have this vague feeling that it is very rude to leave any food, a morsel of rice even, in a sushi restaurant. It's not like Souplantation where you take plate after plate and leave glutonous waste on the table without a second thought. (I don't personally do that because I was raised to "take what you want, but eat what you take" and I feel very guilty about the starving children...but I see people doing it). But I digress...

Since this was my first time at this particular place, I didn't want to get too adventurous, so I ordered the old standby, California Roll. Now, some of you sushi connoisseurs are thinking "pshaw...she's not a real sushi-eater...only pussies eat California Roll..." I know you are thinking it so don't try to deny it. And ok, maybe I am, but at least I can recognize the ingredients. And I like the rice to be on the outside, so sue me.

But then I redeemed myself. Scanning down the menu I spotted something that I could not NOT order...are you ready? I swear to you, this was on the menu and I ordered it, simply so I could write a blog about how I ate...dadadaddadadadad (drum roll)....MONKEY BALLS. Yes, there they were on the menu, clear as day. Monkey Balls, and only $7 for an order. Seemed pretty reasonable. I decided that California Rolls, Monkey Balls and Green sludge made for a very nice lunch.

When my Monkey Balls arrived (gee, it's so fun to say Monkey Balls...try it, you'll see) I was a little bit surprised to see that they weren't round. A bit disappointing, actually. A monkey ball, according to the waiter, is a mushroom stuffed with spicy salmon and tuna, then breaded in tempura batter and drizzled with some sort of super-hot mystery sauce and green onions, on a bed of some sort of long, grey stringy stuff. It was very hot, and the consistency was funny, and it didn't taste like salmon, or mushroom, or tempura. It tasted like Monkey Balls. And of course I had to finish every bite, so as not to insult the cook, or piss off the god of starving children.

I made sure to have a nice big piece of pickled ginger to clear my palate and leave me with a familiar flavor in my mouth. Lunch cost me $20 ($17.00 plus $3.00 tip, it would have been fine if I had someone to split it with) and left me feeling vaguely uneasy and sort of queasy.

When I got home I sat down at my computer, and on a lark decided to google "Monkey Balls" (damn that is fun to say) and was a bit perturbed to find that the only thing that came up on the first page of google was a video game.

Currently listening : Tyrannosaurus Hives By The Hives Release date: 20 July, 2004

4:20 PM - 3 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

sand art...who knew?
Current mood: anxious
Category: Art and Photography

Currently listening : Ladies of the Canyon By Joni Mitchell Release date: 25 October, 1990

12:32 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

these are just a few of the things that are floating around in my head at any one time...
Current mood: the whole list
Category: the whole list Life

Now do you understand why I am so distracted, forgetful, and always late? It's starting to make a little bit more sense, huh?...you gotta cut me some slack, look what i'm dealing with here...


check back for updates as they become available...

Ok...first it was Brad and Jennifer, and that was hard to deal with, but Jason and Tristan, broken up?!? I can't stand it...wwwaaaaaahhhhhh...what will I do? this is worse than when my parents got divorced!!! aaaaaarrghhhh!




...at least the Z's are still together...whew!





If you need a mood lifter, watch all three of these...


Watch this if you like goats:




Watch this if you want to smile:




Watch this if you want to crack up:

Currently listening : Chinese Vacation By Steve Poltz Release date: 23 September, 2003

1:29 PM - 5 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment