Last week, a co-worker brought it to my attention that the recent slew of celebrity/notable people who have sadly passed away all pretty much have the letter M as the first letter of their first or last name. Over the weekend there were two more:
-Ed McMahon
-Farrah Fawcett-Majors
-Michael Jackson
-Billy Mays
-Karl Malden
-Molly Sugden
-Steve McNair
-Robert McNamara
How’s that for creepy? Coincidence I am sure, but too crazy an observation regarding all the celebrity deaths to not share.
And by the way, I counted (yep, I used my fingers) and M is the 13th letter of the alphabet!
Filed under: Celebrity, celebrity deaths, entertainment, observations | 3 Comments
Tags: Celebrity, celebrity deaths, entertainment
I have been trying to beat my mom at Scrabble for as long as I can remember. I beat everyone else I play. I know strange two letter words. I love anagrams– all those Anagram Magic Square puzzles in the Penny Press books I did as a kid until now paid off. I can rearrange letters to make new words. I recently chimed to two friends, Matt and Jim after I came up with something quirky about a word, “I like letters.” I sounded like a third grader when I said it, but I was sincere. I do. But when I am up against my mom, I just can’t win. I beat her once in my early 20s and once again when I was 26 or 27. That’s it.
I tried again on fourth of July. I threw down VETO. Not bad for a first word considering the poor selection of letters I had. Next up? Mom was dealt a seven-letter word- STOCKING. She commented, “Ya know, I’ve been playing Scrabble online and people just leave. They just leave in the middle of the game. I don’t get it….” Could be because she’s like Rainman with Scrabble.
I had to soak up the glory, but I sandbagged for a few minutes, sipping coffee, pretending I was looking hard for a word to put down. I sighed. Then, I threw down my own seven-letter word. LOUNGES, also making VETOS. I took the lead. Woo hoo! My mom was sweating. She said so.
We both ended up with one more seven-letter word each as we played Scrabble. I got INTEGRAL and mom got RETREAT. I had the lead several times, but overall, she kicked my ass at Scrabble once again.
MOM: 402
ME: 332
A good-scoring game, but I still hung my head in shame and she threw the score sheet in the box with all the others. We date and save them all, and it’s sad that most of the dates are birthdays and holidays. We really need to get together more, because even if I lost, it’s still fun, quality time.
Filed under: family | 2 Comments
Tags: family, games
Twitter Up a Storm: A simple photo leads to “front” page news in Wilkes-Barre – Scranton newsapp
This is a blog post about a cool Twitter thingy that happened Friday evening. This would be a perfect example to use in a class or workshop on social media on how news can travel fast… of course this is not as cool as what happened with the Hudson Plane Crash and my client Janis Krums who took the first picture of the crash… (read about his cool story, here in the NY Daily News and also an article I wrote about Twitter and Janis, here.)
Some of my favorite cohorts and I were relaxing in the dorm before getting ready for the Wilkes University Creative Writing banquet/graduation when the thunder clouds rolled in. The wind started to blow. We ran from one side of the Ten East South Street Apartments to the other, checking out the view on either side of the building. The clouds were incredible. I took a picture with my iPhone and Twitpic‘d it right away, as did my friend Jon. I took a bunch more with my regular camera as well.
A few moments later,I get a direct message from a fellow NEPA tweeter who works for Times-Shamrock (publisher of The Scranton Times, Citizen’s Voice, among others) asking for permission to use the picture. Of course I agreed.
Meanwhile, people were retweeting my picture. The pics of the storm were spreading as fast as the storm itself. The news organizations Twitter accounts, as well as people I follow were sending the picture around. 
Then, while at the Wilkes banquet, I checked Twitter through my Tweetie app and saw the the Scranton Times website had posted its story or the wicked weather. An early version just had my picture, then they later updated the story with reports on the damage. There is another really cool picture someone else submitted of an uprooted tree.
This is a testament to how news being tweeted as it happens, as well as gathering photos and eye-witness accounts to help research the story– and then for more in-depth stories- users can later check-out the news outlets websites, publications and broadcasts. I just this was cool to share. And yes… it stopped storming before we headed to campus so our hair and outfits were all good. To read the whole story in the Scranton Times, go here. The only thing that would have been cooler is if this happened BEFORE my panel on “Social Media for the Anti-Social Writer.”
Filed under: Twitter, internet, nepa, news, pennsylvania, social media, weather, wilkes | Leave a Comment
Tags: media, social media, Twitter, weather, wilkes
Sometimes I feel as if I should have a separate blog for all the Wilkes Creative Writing Program stuff I blog about, but then again, this blog is about me, and Wilkes is definitely a huge part of me. So, before I delve into several blog post ideas inspired by residency, I’ll start with the Twitter stuff.
A month or so before residency began, I pitched a craft class on social media for writers to our program director. I work in it for a living at Solid Cactus, and know that writers can benefit from social media– and that’s it’s still relatively new and unexplored by most in my program. As it turns out, the husband of a Wilkes creative writing faculty (and novelist/memoirist) Kaylie Jones is a social media expert. He and I presented “Social Media for the Anti-Social Writer” on Monday afternoon. The class was for the upper-level MA and then the MFA students, as well as open to faculty and alumni. It was a great session, but one hour was far too short to discuss all the Facebook and Twitter can do to help a writer not just promote work, but more importantly, engage and share within the community.
Before the session, me and a few others were tweeting using the hashtag #wilkes, but after the session, everyone using Twitter and then the newbies to Twitter started to use it as well. If you were to do a search on Twitter for #wilkes, you will find some great tweets and retweets about the program and week-long residency.
Here are some of my faves:
lucianacelestne Sad that the #Wilkes residency is over. Back to the real world…hoping to keep the high for as long as I can.
KaylieJones I’m home from the #wilkes mfa residency. I had a wonderful time and love all my students.
Jonathan_Rocks On the way home from #Wilkes residency. Always bittersweet…
donnatalarico Residency = over. Donna = sad. #wilkes
sarahtv3 And just like that, it was over. Awesome residency. #wilkes
Jonathan_Rocks RT @donnatalarico: So yeah. I said this before, but decision to join #wilkes Creative Writing program = best decision in my life. Ever.
Jonathan_Rocks RT: Congrats to my amazing classmate @rfellinger and mentee of @kayliejones for winning the Hiscox award!! #wilkes Congrats, man!!
TomBorthwick The good life at #Wilkes. After-Party w/William Kennedy and a ton of fabulous writers!
lucianacelestne Just got back from rocking it out with the #Wilkes crew at Burt and Urby’s. Amazed at how fast the res is going by.
donnatalarico Closing down Bart & Urby’s w/ #wilkes peeps- my last jukebox song is “hotel California” bc it’s symbolic bc I can never lv Wilkes since 96
JackieNash Great morning -Woke up still inspired by readings last nite #Wilkes brilliant-Happy I’m part of this tribe. Phenom job Kaylie
James_McCabe If Twitter were a martial art, I’d be a yellow belt. Cheers to @donnatalrico & @kevinheisler. Getting all geared up for film night.
I found myself tweeting at all hours of the day- either after a thought-provoking class, or even on a night out on the town… we were there in person together, but Twitter helped us creative writers share that enthusiasm through another medium.
I started this new blog, www.social-media-for-writers.com too soon, as I haven’t had time to keep up with it because of the MFA program, but I am going to start blogging more actively there as well because it needs to be done.
Filed under: Twitter, wilkes, writing | Leave a Comment
Ah. Relief. I presented my MFA thesis paper this morning– Survival in Childhood Memoir: Propelling Story by Building Character. It was a chore to cut down a 20 page paper to a fluid 15-minute presentation, but I think it turned out well. Of course I am always my own worst critic, but aren’t we all. I was uber-impressed by my cohorts as well. Mixed in with our MFA paper presentations were students in the class behind us (where I was in January), who presented readings from their MA thesis drafts. Heard some great stuff!! The readings finish up tomorrow, with another chock-full day. Can’t wait to hear more.
Then, Monday, the class work begins. For the MFA at Wilkes, the first and only residency is mornings dedicated to publishing and the business of writing- then a craft class shared by both MA and MFA students- then the afternoon class on the arts-in-education track. Ultimately after this residency, we in MFA go on to teaching or publishing internships. At first I was leaning toward teaching, but I feel like with my promotion, sales and marketing background, I am now considering a publishing internship. We’ll see. That’s what this week is about.
But all in all, today was about seeing all the friendly faces, most of which I haven’t seen since January. I am so excited for this week to roll out!!
SCAVENGER HUNT
So, I sit at my iMac writing this blog, but I should really be tending to the torn-off spiral notebook page with random contents. It’s as if I was sent on a scavenger hunt in my own apartment: can opener. hair dryer. wash cloth. clothes in dryer. cough syrup. These are some of the things I forgot in my hasted to unpack a suitcase from a five-day stay at a hotel in Boston to re-pack for a seven-night stay in a dorm at Wilkes. I live three miles from campus, but I choose to live on campus because it’s just the thing to do– to be near everyone, to bond, to have fun and to be close to both classrooms and barrooms. : )
I will try to blog more from the residency, but they say the MFA residency is intense once Monday starts. And WI-FI in the dorm is sketchy.
P.S. I am actually leading a craft class on Monday on “Social Media for the Anti-Social Writer” where the main focus will be Twitter, but bascially, I will get to use my everyday job to tie it into my passion of creative writing. So excited about that!
Filed under: academia | 1 Comment
Tags: wilkes, writing
In about 16 hours, I leave for Boston again! Woo hoo! I had never been to Boston before Memorial Day weekend (read about that here), but Beantown quickly became my fave new city. And now, I get to go a second time less than three weeks later- and with one of my same friends, who also happens to work with me at Solid Cactus. We’re headed there for the granddaddy of trade shows for our industry.
Internet Retailer (from Vertical Web Media) is pretty much the mother of all things e-commerce research. They publish a monthly print magazine, have a slew of e-mail newsletters and publish annual guides on e-commerce trends. One of those annual guides is the Internet Retailer Top 500- the list of top e-commerce sites by revenue. My company actually has more clients on the IR list than any other developer, which is pretty cool. Finally, Internet Retailer holds various conferences each year, the biggest of course being the Internet Retailer Convention & Expo (IRCE 2009). My first year at Solid Cactus it was in San Jose, CA and last year was in Chicago. This year, of course, in Boston and I am proud to have been selected to represent Solid Cactus with a few others on our sales and marketing team, as well as our art director, who is actually one of the featured speakers!
I absolutely love trade shows. I was in San Francisco for Online Market World last September, but IRCE is about ten times the size. I am uber excited to meet and greet with e-commerce business owners and tell them about all the Solid Cactus can do to help them start/grow their businesses. Of course, trade shows are also about networking, so I’m sure I will meet other e-commerce vendors, too. If you are reading this blog and are going to IRCE 2009, visit Solid Cactus – we’ll be at booth #443- one of the bigger size booths, right near Yahoo!.
But back to Internet Retailer, I use their news every day in my position, constantly sending out their articles to clients (and even coworkers) when something strikes me to be of importance. They really know e-commerce– and etailers should be paying attention to the reports/trends/advice put out.
Definitely looking forward to checking out more Beantown pubs, while there, too!! I will be sure to be tweeting from the event as well!
Filed under: ecommerce, internet | 1 Comment
Tags: ecommerce, travel, work
Time flies when you are having fun. So much so that I didn’t even realize that yesterday was my two-year anniversary at Solid Cactus. It seriously feels like I’ve been here longer than that!! The past 730 days have been awesome, learning something new about e-commerce and social media every day, helping great entrepreneurs start or grow their e-commerce businesses, meeting clients in person at events like our Boot Camp and trade shows and more. It’s been quite the adventure and I look forward to more!! I could not ask for a better place to work- I get to wear jeans and witty and nostalgic t-shirts every day and get to share quarters with some of the most creative and innovative people I’ve ever met! (Not to mention funniest!) So- just had to say something here about Solid Cactus.
I blog a lot about work… read all the posts, here: http://donnatalarico.wordpress.com/?s=solid+cactus
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I had the cover story in the June 3, 2009 issue of The Weekender, focusing on the recent increase of violent crime in Wilkes-Barre. For the story, I interviewed Mayor Tom Leighton, Police Chief Gerard Dessoye, a sociology professor, a business owner and a city resident to get all views. Despite the tough subject matter (I mean, it’s about death), I enjoyed this story because it was one that needed to be told! Thanks, Weekender for asking me to tackle this current event story!
Here’s a snippet:
Anywhere but Wilkes-Barre. That’s the job search criteria for one local young professional.
Steve Moyer, 25, of Wilkes-Barre’s North End is looking beyond the local classifieds because he said the city isn’t as safe as it once was.
“[Deciding to leave] the area did not originate because of the violence, however, that is slowly becoming a reason. …,” he said. “The recent escalation has me looking for greener pastures.”
In 2009, there have been seven homicides in Luzerne County. Four of them have been in Wilkes-Barre — fourth most in the state. Wilkes-Barre, with an estimated 41,069 residents, is the 22nd largest city in Pennsylvania, according to the 2000 U.S. census. In murders, however, Wilkes-Barre has a much higher ranking, trailing only Philadelphia (1.5 million residents), Pittsburgh (311,218) and Harrisburg (47,196).
You can read the entire story here.
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Tags: nepa, writing
I got back from Beantown and had to dive right back into an eventful work, school and social life, so I didn’t get a chance to blog about Beantown! I took a four-day, Memorial Day weekend to Boston with two work friends– and we had an absolute blast!
We left around 6am Friday morning, and arrived in Boston shortly before noon- only stopping to pee and for more coffee along the way. We first checked in to our hotel, Nine Zero which is a boutique hotel near Boston Commons. It was a really chic, hip place! The hotel had daily wine socials, but we were so busy– or napping- that we never made one. After checking in on Friday and setting up camp, we headed on CHARLIE (the subway system in Boston) to Sam Adams brewery for a tour. We had an adorable tour guide. I stayed up front the whole time, asking educated questions, impressing our guide, Shaw (or so I like to think.) We then headed to the tasting room where we were able to sample three types of Sam Adams: Boston Lager, Summer Ale and a new brew, Brick Red, which is only available in Boston, on draught. That was my favorite one, and I continued to drink it all weekend. We were taught how to experience and taste a beer, and we didn’t leave without embarrassment- our very own Lindsey spilled beer (she over-poured) and was asked to stand and give an apology, to which the tour of probably 60 people or so, applauded.
Later that night, we hit up a neat Irish pub called Kitty O’Sheas for dinner and drinks. The food was amazing, the service friendly and the crowd was awesome as well. It was one of those places you meet instant friends. Later in to the night, the bar turned into a dance club as a DJ came on. I stayed into the night, making a new circle of friends and danced all night… meeting locals, people from Texas, New York and more. It was here that my camera was stolen. I was tweeting and facebooking all night about how nice people were and how much fun I was having, and that had to happen. I’m over it now, but I hadn’t blogged about that yet, so figured I’d add that. (And of course, I have no pics from this portions of the trip.)
Saturday, we slept in and woke up to no water in the hotel. For that, we were given free breakfast at the posh hotel restaurant. We did some site-seeing around town, the coolest being the SkyWalk, where we were able to get a view of all sides of Boston from atop the Prudential Building (where there was a anime convention also happening, so lots of cool costumes). On the interior of the Skywalk were little museum exhibits. Lindsey, Karen and I also had a total blast– and a tearful laughing fit- in two separate photo booth experiences. Total fun! I also found a Ritz camera where I purchased a new camera. I could not be without a camera for the rest of the trip.
Saturday night, we did the Red Sox game- Sox vs. the Mets. It was my first major league baseball game and it was a total blast. I had a Fenway frank and lots of Sam Adams. I was even bathed in beer from a Mets fan behind us. I went into the game rooting for no one. I told everyone around us that Lindsey was Sox, Karen was Mets and I was Switzerland. (Which of course led me to tell the story about the one time in San Fran where I made out with a dude from Switzerland.) After the game, we got a little lost- not necessarily lost, just trying to find an alternate route home than the other thousands of people. We had big plans of a post-game booze fest, but decided to crash instead.
Sunday morning we got up in the late morning, got ready and had a great breakfast– well, but this time, brunch- at the Beantown Pub, which was right next to the hotel . We did some of the Freedom Trail. There was a huge thunderstorm that sent us back to the hotel. We hung out in the hotel for a while and when the rain stopped, we went for a walk around the beautiful Beacon Hill section. I went to a psychic and then the three of us had a great dinner at The Sevens, a dark little pub where I had the most awesome tuna melt ever and finally had real Boston baked beans. After a day of walking, we went back to the hotel to get ready for a last hurrah in Beantown.
We ended up back the Beantown Pub, where we had breakfast, and had a great night. I introduced Boston to the school bus shot that I am known for– and we met some awesome guys from New York who were also in for the game. I hit it off right away with them , so that’s who I bought the school buses for! They returned the favor with Jagerbombs. We had a hysterical time joking and laughing (silly jokes, riddles, bar tricks) and one of them even threw up on my foot, but we were all having so much fun, it was like it never happened. Hard to sum up in one paragraph the instant camaraderie you can build with complete strangers- and even though the next day we’re out of each other’s lives- being part of one of each other’s stories you’ll tell over and over again is pretty damn cool. Good times!
This trip was just what the three of us ladies needs. It was part brewery. Part sports. Part history. Part scenery. All fun. Boston is seriously my new favorite city. And I found out yesterday– I am going again for work! Internet Retailer convention on the 14th-18th.
Filed under: beer, travel | Leave a Comment
Tags: beer, friends, vacation
(This blog appeared at www.papergirlmemoir.com first- re-posting here because it has more traffic.)
14 years.
That’s about half my life. And that’s how long it had been since I’ve seen Tony Talarico. I don’t want to get too emotional in a blog post or anything right now, but I feel I have to post something about what happened Sunday.
You could say I am somewhat obsessed with my childhood. It was the best part of my life and I wanted to hang on. My favorite movies are still the childhood adventure movies I watched as a kid. My favorite songs are still the songs of my youth. Other than my late 20s, and now 30th year, those early years were the best years of my life. It’s when my values and view of the world was formed… it’s that grounding that I think protected me from the not-so-great tween-teenage years. At any rate- that’s all in the memoir. So, during the writing of PAPERGIRL I no doubt began to terribly miss the people who were no longer in my life. Mostly- Tony– technically my adoptive father, but really, the father who raised me. I haven’t seen him in 14 years.
I was nervous to call him. Scared of that initial awkwardness. Years passed. Fast.
As I said above, during the writing of this memoir, I began to use the “new” social networking sites to look up the Talarico family and found some “long lost cousins” and some of Tony’s musician friends. He heard about this. Through exchanges with several of them, I was invited to a reunion music festival Tony was putting on in Jim Thorpe. I was a nervous wreck, but finally got up the nerve to go. And, looking back, I had no reason to be nervous. We’re people. We were only separated by geography, and then time. Too much time.
It was a tearful reunion- (when he saw me he said, “There’s my kid….”) but the tears lasted just a few minutes. Tony went off doing what he does best- organizing musical events (not only is he in entertainer– but was also a promoter/talent agent) and put on a hell of a show. It was just like old times- I became a kid again as he took the stage with the Holt Twins. I was a 30-year-old sitting on the grass, but I saw my ten-year-old self swaying up front by the stage. I helped load the van after the show, just like when I was a kid helping him and my mom tear down their equipment.
When the three of them played “Circle” by Harry Chapin- I got teary-eyed. It was like a circle– coming back to the songs of my youth. Then, when they played “Cats in the Cradle,” also by Harry Chapin, more tears came, because after all, it’s a song about a parent-child relationship strained by lost time. Harry Chapin died on my third birthday- right around the time Tony had met my mom- and I learned that despite our separation, Tony told that story every time he introduced a Harry Chapin song.
I realized that even though not physically there, I have still been an important part of his life the past 14 years. My picture was on a frame at the merchandise stand– one of me when I four-years-old. An image of me is used on the High on the Lehigh compilation CD that was sold at the event. A hand-drawn rendition of a photo of Tony and me whitewater rafting (when I was ten) was the artwork for the festival t-shirts. I’ve never left him. I realized over time how important he is to me, and the impact he had on my life while writing the memoir. I have played around with how to frame the memoir, and I think after Sunday’s reunion, I may have a new idea. But more importantly, he’s back in my life.
Tony’s brothers- my uncles- were there. My great aunt and uncle and second cousin were there. Dear old family friends were there– all for Tony’s special concert… but they were also there to witness our reunion.
There could not have been more perfect circumstances for our meeting. It was right. It was meant to be at this music festival, with these people.
I teared up a few times, but was pretty fine most of the day, reminiscing and laughing. My uncle Dave and aunt Kathy- each with three daughters- both brought up my imagination as a kid. Both talked about how the instant I showed up for visits at their respective houses, I’d want to write a movie. Dave was red with laughter as he remembered word-for-word some of the things I wrote as a kid. I looked down at my new “imagine” tattoo and knew I got the right word inked on my wrist, because after 14 years- that’s exactly how people remembered me. I was proud to still be that happy-go-lucky person they remembered. I was happy they were the same, too.
All day, people were coming up to me telling me that I made Tony’s day, and thanking me for coming back into his life. (He had a bout of illness that left him in a coma a few years ago– he almost died. I was unaware of that until Sunday…. He’s also legally blind now, and relies on his support network of friends/family to get him around– including promoting this concert that past six months.) To think that this reunion may not have happened hit me hard.
What choked me up the most was at the end of the day, a gentleman came up and said, “Hi Donna. You were so busy all day talking to people, but I am glad you are still here. You don’t know me, but I had to meet you. I’ve known your dad two years now and it means the world to him that you are here….” he went on from there, but to have complete strangers come up to me was such an amazing feeling. Tony has impacted the lives of lots of people over the years, and the dozens of family members and personal friends that were there, were there for him at his reunion show to give back. And now, I am too.
I should probably really sit down and write a nice piece about this reunion day, but I wanted to get something down quick, even if they are random scribblings on a blog. If you are my Facebook friend, the full album is there for your viewing pleasure.
Writing a memoir has been a life-changing event. If the story never sees the light of day, it doesn’t matter. It’s my life. I lived it. I’m still living it. And– I was able to in one day change the course of this life story.
Where will it go next?
(NOTE: I have a story about meeting my birth father as well– at age 21. One day I will also tell that. Finally, I write a lot about my mother in the memoir- I don’t want anyone to feel hurt or left out because of this incredibly happy blog post about one event– you all mean the world to me.)
Filed under: family, writing | Leave a Comment
Tags: family, writing
I started walking again last week. Makes it sounds like I walked a lot aleady, eh? In typical Donna style, I started on the Back Mountain Trail last Wednesday, but then had to get ready for Boston, then go to Boston for four days and recover one day from my amazing trip. So today was Day #2. I didn’t bring sneakers and there was a threat of rain, so I decided to just walk around the neighborhood. I walked Oliver Street in Swoyersville to zig-zaggin all the streets up and down Lower Luzerne (yes, the non-hilly part). I walked for about an hour, just getting lost in my Pandora Quick Mix– but what really got me was the multi-sensroy experience of walking.
In many of my craft classes in the creative writing program, or even in crtiquing each other’s works during writing retreats, we always bring up smell and how it seems to be the sense we forget about most when building setting or creating scenes. Today, I as I walked up and down the streets of Luzerne on a perfect spring evening, I took in lots of smells and it’s amazing the memories that come along with smell. The olfactory sense, they say, is most associated with memories. Here are some things I whiffed while I walked:
- Fresh Mulch
- Honeysuckle
- Fabric Softner
- Dog poo
- Freshly cut grass
- Hamburgers on the grill
- Italian cooking from Perugino’s (a tiny little hidden treasure in Luzerne)
- Gas (probably from a lawnmower)
- Faint whiff of a port-o-potty
- Other flowers and trees
I think by far, my favorite smell of the season (aside from the grill) is honeysuckle. At any rate, this is just one of those observation blog posts talking about a peaceful moment I had, just taking in the quiet, multi-sensory scenery. I think we all need that break every now and then.
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Tags: observations
Before I delve into a blog on my fantastic Boston trip, I’ll get this quick one out of the way. I am stoked to see Bob Dylan-John Mellencamp-Willie Nelson in Allentown on July 14th. I never saw any of them, but Mellencamp has been one of my long-time faves. I always liked him, but over the past several years, I really, really got into Dylan, and plus, he’s a total legend. And Willie is just awesome, too. But it got me thinking about who else I really want to see.
1. Blitzen Trapper. A friend suggested I check them out when I put out a call for new music suggestions to help me out of my comfortable classic rock bubble. James was dead-on with it because I absolutley love them. And, Blitzen Trapper has no tour dates scheduled this side of the Mississippi (when I spell that, I still say it out loud, just like I learned in second grade). I did friend them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. So, I guess I will know the second they add dates, pending they keep up with social media.
2. Augusten Burroughs. His official website’s event page is empty. Therefore, I am sad. I want Augusten to come closer again. He is my favortie memoirst and has impacted me- I would have went with fiction for the MA and MFA if he wasn’t so inspiring and now that I am clearing on the end of the writing portion of the MFA at Wilkes University (the internship is next), I feel like seeing him again would just be a nice little way to keep the motivation and momentum going.
3. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. They have no tour dates scheduled and after several decades of making music it’s a well-deserved deserves a break from touring. But still. I saw him when I was still with Mike, which means, it’s been forever. My CDs, my iPod, my jukebox money and local cover band requests are holding me over, but not for long. There is a new Tom Petty tribute band locally that I am seeing Saturday night, but yeah. I’d love it if my favorite rock star would tour again soon.
Okay. That’s it. I want to see tons more people, but those three I’ve been thinking about for some time.
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Just a quick observation. I am staying in a great boutique hotel in Boston this weekend, Nine Zero. It’s hip and has lots of amenities and I really overall love the feel of the place. The thing about boutique hotels is that they are all pretty much unique from from one another, as opposed to a chain hotel. So, I figure my hotel idea would suit a boutique hotel, but really could go for anything…
We are three girls who will probably take 3-4 showers each during our stay. And, in trying to be green, we will save our towels for use the next day. Which leads to this question: Who’s towel is who’s? They are all white. Towels are always white at hotels, at least all of the ones I have snored at for 7-8 hours per night.
My Solution for the towel ownership dilemna?
The staff can provide three unique sets of towels, or a set per person, upon check-in. So, my towels are pink, while Companion #1 has blue and Companion #2 has tan. This is kind of like when you play minature golf, and each person is given a different color ball. I think it could work, and could also be a lot of fun– and add some character to the bathrooms. All towels can be coordinating shades, of course. This would help eliminate confusion and also help people keep their towels longer without washing them– right now, if there is a mix-up, we can just throw them all in a pile and call housekeeping.
So, that’s my brainstorm as I relax before going out on the town!
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ZZZZ Feels Ahhhhh
I sleep everyday, as do most. But sometimes I forget just how amazing sleep really is. I took a power nap last night after I got home from work. My mind was still racing from the day at work and I just couldn’t slow it down to focus on writing an article I am doing for a freelance project. So, I thought a nap would take care of it. Plus, I was a little physically tired as well because I hiked for the first time the day before. I didn’t set my alarm– I just let myself sleep. I woke up about a half hour later and felt great. I just think the sometimes we take the human body and all its interworkings for granted. It is truly amazing what sleep really does for us. I laid there for a half hour and was brought back into focus, felt more alert mentally and a little better physically. It just so cool to close your eyes, and let your mind do the seeing as it drifts into dreamland and while asleep, your cells replenishing… I just love the science behind sleep, but I will stop talking about it now before this blog post turns scientific. But, at any rate, I had a wonderful nap yesterday and it just made me stop and think again about how truly our body’s cycle is.
Day off with Nothing to Do
I took Monday off to catch up on some school work and some writing I need done. Sometimes, as stated above, I get home from work and it’s hard to immediately shift gears to my school and freelance stuff. I also had some phone calls to make. There’s not much you can achieve on a lunch break, so I figured I had the vacation day and may as well just take it. Until yesterday, every day I took off this year so far has been because if illness, where I stayed in bed all day or for a trip out of town, where I was busy having fun. Monday was different. It took me back to the days where I was between jobs or working freelance (wait- that’s the same thing, ha), where my days were open. It truly felt great to just not have anywhere to be at any given time. I ran some errands and accomplished a lot on Monday. While I had a lot to do, it felt great not to be tied to a schedule.
#TwitterTee and Threadless
Ever since I was a kid, I like puns and word play. Hell, when I was three years old and moved to the Poconos from Montgomery County, I poked my nose the whole time, saying, “Poke a Nose” repeatedly. So, at any rate, over the years I’ve contributed t-shirt ideas and greeting cards. I had one greeting card picked up by Oatmeal Studios in 2000, which was something I was really proud of. My new obsession is with Threadless.com which is a user-generated e-commerce site- it’s one of the coolest concepts around. Users create artwork and/or slogans for Threadless.com, and its three other t-shirt companies, my favorite being TypeTees.com. The community votes, while the staff also sifts through slogans and graphic designs for new shirts. TypeTees launches two new shirts each week. I have about seven shirts from TypeTees.com and have submitted a few dozen ideas the past few months.
This week, Threadless announced a new brand: Twitter t-shirts. I have one on order and I have submitted a few Twitter slogans. I came up with an idea I really like, so check it out here and vote for it if you like it, too!
Okay- that’s all I have for now.
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Tags: sleep, Twitter
First of all, Town House brand FlipSides cheddar pretzel crackers rock. I am eating them as I write and I had to verbalize that to someone.
I posted yesterday- right below this post- about plans to get the tattoo- and here it is! I went to 5-7-0 Tattooing in Kingston and was worked on by Ben, who is also a great artist- he has some great artwork hanging around the studio. Nicholas was also a great help! Good experience there. So, I took the pic at the same spot at my desk here as I did of my blank wrist, over the rough draft I’ve been editing from. At any rate, I am hoping that this will be a reminding to continue to be creative. Oh, and if you look to the left of the “i” up a ways, you can see a scar. That’s from olive oil splattering on my wrist when I carelessly flipped chicken.
Also, I just have to show you how funny my mom can be. A few weeks ago I had done one of those silly Facebook surveys that said, “What kind of tattoo should you get?” and my result was exactly what I was planning to get- a word. So, I commented how spot-on the stupid quiz was. And… my mom commented back. This led to a conversation about Scrabble, anagrams and silly word play– after getting scolded of course for the tattoo plans because after all, she’s not just my Facebook friend, she’s my mom. Here’s the thread:
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Tags: family, tattoo
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