Vibrant.(Still) Unrepentant. Badass. Old. Queer

Good lord, kittens.  It's been awhile since I've filled you in on all the strange and wonderful things going on in my life. So, let's see ... Tap class has ended.  It was only 5 weeks long, but it was fun.  Most of my classmates are signing up for "Next Steps."  However, because that class starts at 8:30PM, I have registered to repeat "Intro."  It's like I'm being held back.  I'm in Remedial Tap.  Oh, well ... The "real" reason I'm staying in Intro is because I want to get home at a semi-reasonable hour on a worknight.  If I took Next Steps, I wouldn't get home until around 11.  And that is way too late for someone who has to wake up at 5:45 the next morning.  Tap class starts again on September 9th.  The day after I run a half-marathon.  Joy.  Yes.  I'm running the Parks Half Marathon on September 8th.  If you're local, come out to cheer me on.  If you are hyper-local, give me a ride to the starting l...

In preparation for a visit by a World Renowned Author, Professor, Ex-Blogger, I have been cleaning out my spare room.  During which, I discovered a treasure trove of memories.  One of which being the above drawing of a 48-hour chick embryo.  Which I made during the most difficult class I ever took, Comparative Vertebrate Embryology. So, I posted the photo to the facebooks and a former classmate said she had also saved all her drawings and reminded me of the nickname we had given ourselves (ourselves being the 8 students in the class): The Pig Masters. This was because we spent way too many hours every week in the lab staring into a microscope making sketches of cross-sections of a 10mm pig embryo.  Oh, yeah.  Good times.  And, at 3AM, things could get a little punchy ... AND, then, tonight, I phoned my BFF from College (who was also in that class) and she was at her mom's house for the rest of the week.  Her mom is amazing (of course, everyone ...

Good Evening, Kittens! Let's play catch-up!  Two weekends ago, I flew to North Carolina.  It was my Dad's 75th Birthday.  So, after work (and after a couple of martinis), I caught a plane to my brother's place in Greensboro.  Then, the next morning, we drove the 3.5 hours to my parents' town.  There we had a lovely lunch with about 10 of my parents' friends in the beautiful (if somewhat stinky) town of Canton.  Canton's Paper Mill  After lunch, we just chilled at the parents' house and eventually had dinner at a Thai restaurant.  It was not that great.  It started snowing.  "The snow's supposed to stop around 6PM," Dad said.  It snowed all night.  The View from My Parents' Deck Because it was (a) snowy and (2) 24 degrees F outside, I decided to wait to do my 11 mile run until I got to Greensboro.  Which is what I did ... And, then, I had an early dinner and several cocktails with my brother, his gf, and the...

Good Morning, Kittens. Way back in 1995, my family visited me in Japan. My brother really liked a photo of the two of us, which was taken in my apartment. So, he had copies made for the family. 15 years later, at my 40th birthday party, a friend took another great picture of the two of us (which was improved by Michelle M's amazing photoshop skillz!). So, I had copies made and will give mom one for a (very belated) Mother's Day present. I'll send one to my brother. And, the other one will cover up a 15 year old photo in which I had a hairline ... and no eyewrinklez. I think we're only getting better with age. *smooches*

Happy New Year, my sweet sweet kittens. Maybe the start of a new year is not the time for reflecting on years past, but that's what I find myself doing. Ten years ago, I had finished my first semester of graduate school. And, I spent the turn of the millennium with my friend, Anne-Marie, who I had worked with in Japan and who had taken my position at a small junior college on the outskirts of Beijing. Here are a few photos I found from that trip ... Top Left: Mao Ping (Anne-Marie's boyfriend) and I in Tiananmen Square at Midnight(ish) (Neither of us had a watch) Top Right: Anne-Marie, her friend Louise, and I enjoying lunch Bottom Left: Louise, me, Anne-Marie on a traditional street having a traditional snack Bottom Right: Anne-Marie and I play in the snow at the school In 10 years I traveled internationally (China, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, England, Scotland); I earned a graduate degree; I became vegetarian; I worked; I got laid off; I found a new job; I made new friends; I re...

I started smoking my Junior year in college. When I was stressed out, usually during exams, I would take a smoke break. Once I graduated and started teaching, I continued to smoke, mostly because being a beginning teacher is stressful as fuck. I don't think I ever smoked more than a pack a week. Once I quit teaching and moved to Japan, I stopped smoking almost entirely. I would light up once in a blue moon while drinking with friends. Since I've been in the DC area (just over 10 years), I can count on one hand the number of times I've smoked. On Friday night, after a superfun day (and evening), I had an inexplicable craving for cigarettes. So, after disembarking the metro, I wandered around in search of a convenience store. On the walk home, I smoked two. On Saturday morning, I was reminded of one of the reasons I quit smoking: hangover + cigarette skank = no fun at all. I doubt I'll smoke any more of that pack even though the initial nicotine buzz was fun and th...

And the lemon flower is sweet. But the fruit of the poor lemon Is impossible to eat. I grew up with Peter, Paul and Mary, listening to their albums on the first piece of furniture my parents bought as a married couple - an RCA stereo cabinet. That cabinet is in my living room now. When I lift the lid, I can smell the memories, and I'm back in our house in Murphy, flipping through albums ... Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand, The Sound of Music , until I find Peter, Paul, and Mary . Green carpet. Plaster walls. Sooty fireplace. And the lemon tree. Peter, Paul sans Mary and the world is a little more empty. In other news, Boozy Lunch with Ms. Bluestocking was quite fun ... and boozy. I got to find out all about her hot new burning hunk of love. Plus, she read over my short story and gave some input on how to resolve the issue I have been having. I came home and took a nap. Wine at lunch time can do that to you. Before lunch, I mailed the two cute little baby hats I knitted re...

This was my high school graduation present from Dr. Liz : Still looking good even after 20+ years, eh? *smooches*

Good Morning, Kittens! It's a bright sunshiny day out there (but coooooooooooooold ). At some point, I need to venture forth unto the bank, Whole Foods, and likker store ( I iz almost out of GINZ! ), but it won't be today unless it gets a bit warmer. Yesterday was mostly a wash. I scoured several job sites with no luck. Bah. On the bright side, I did manage to set up a simple spreadsheet to keep track of participants and donations made in the 10% Refund Challenge. Are you participating? [Visit the Facebook Event page here .] Have you made your donations yet? When you do, please let me know. Really, it's just resume fodder so I can be all "organized a fund-raising event which donated X dollars to Y organizations." Well, it's resume fodder ... and a whole heap of dogooderyness. I *heart* dogooderyness! Also, pottery class was mostly successful. Even though I didn't throw any new pots, I trimmed the two vases and 3 mugs I made last week. Plus, I pulled handle...

Good Morning, Kittens. Are you ready to take a trip? Because I'm about to take you on one, a trip into the past ... the Once Upon a Time and the Long, Long Ago ... back when VUBOQ was just a wee lad (or a college Freshman) and looked like this: (and please, everyone give a big hand to my college friend, Ginger -beautiful Mother of 3-, who uploaded these photos to Facebook last night and inspired this post. *APPLAUSE*) Some of you may know that I attended college on a (somewhat) prestigious fellowship, the North Carolina Teaching Fellowship, which is awarded to 400 NC Seniors per year [at least it *was* ... I don't know if it still is]. I was in the first class of NCTF recipients to attend Elon College (now university). Elon, in order to woo the program to their hallowed campus, set up all sorts of wonderful (and free!) programs for NC Teaching Fellows. One of these Fabulous Programs was a three week stint in Washington, DC, in January 1989. We attended lectures. Toured embassie...

When I was 6 years old, my family moved from Belmont, a mill town which was transitioning to a Charlotte suburb, to Murphy, NC, a town whose only real claim to fame was as part of the saying "from Murphy to Manteo," the westernmost and easternmost points of the state. The drive from Belmont to Murphy is a little over 4 hours. In a U-Haul moving van, it's probably more like 5 or 6. Our trip took two days. On the first day, about 3 hours into the trip, the U-Haul broke down during a torrential downpour. The truck couldn't be fixed until morning, so we checked into a motel and went out to dinner. During dinner, the power went out in the restaurant and in the motel. The next day, about an hour outside of our destination, a young man was walking his horse along the side of the road. My dad eased the truck around them. The truck had almost completely passed them when something spooked the horse. It bucked wildly and kicked the van. My parents said the horse broke its...