More than words

Hey people. It's the final "Gettin' It On Feb" Fav Music Fri post and it's a doozie.

First up is something a friend sent me. It's pretty funny, but also makes me just shake my head. Be sure to click so you can read this.

Next I have something to be honest I wasn't sure about sharing on here, but it just so damned funny. It is, however, one of the most obscene things I've ever seen, even if it is just line drawings, so be warned-- adult content-- totally NSFW. I'm just going to post the link so there's no accidental views. It's an ad from French t.v. (ah, the French).

Then there is today's music pick. This one has been in the bullpen for a while, and is a gorgeous song. It's so simple-- just guitar and voice. I think it's funny their drummer & bass player are still in the vid, just reading a magazine and hanging out. "Take five dudes." Enjoy "More Than Words" by Extreme.



Been a tough week here in paradise. Was not feelin' the love much AT ALL a few days ago. Hubs kind of lost it and had a very uncharacteristic spaz-out at me in public. He didn't make a huge spectacle of himself, but first of all, it always sucks to get yelled at no matter the circumstance, secondly-- what upset him wasn't really even my fault, and lastly-- I really HATE drama, especially in public. I felt like he'd just stormed out of the double-wide in a stained t-shirt and hurled beer cans at me in front of a bunch of my friends. (and not even friend-friends, acquaintance friends, who probably just thought he always acts like this.)

I felt like total shit.

Anyone who knows hubs at all knows this is completely strange. Is probably having a hard time even imagining this. He is one of the nicest, mellowest guys you'll ever meet. It was pretty freaky, and upsetting. We all have our moments don't we?

After, I was really bummed and thought it would take a long time for me to feel good about us again. But he rallied. He could see how it affected me and we talked and talked until I felt as good as I could about it at the time, which still wasn't stellar. The next day he actually went to the card store (I know. Big.).

It wasn't the card. It was the fact he made a special trip there on his own, and how he wrote a very heartfelt "please forgive me" note in it detailing what went wrong and how bad he felt about it all. Way to pull it out of the dumper hubs. Good save. We still have some more talking to do. That's how it works. That's why it's a real-life 26 year long relationship and not a lifetime movie.

But all in all, we're good.

The reason I'm letting you all rummage around in my private life is partly to let anyone who witnessed the big freak-out know that was a really bizarre incident, not just the way things roll around here, and that everything is now fine. Another reason is to remind everyone relationships are awesome, and sharing your life with someone gives your life dimension and having that connection is irreplaceable-- but it is a lot of work. Worthwhile, but always work.

Ever hear, "You get what you pay for?" You have to be willing to do the hard stuff too.

What if there were no rules?

Hey people. Today is kind of a philosophical Weird Wed. I met a guy the other day who was trying to explain his lifestyle. I have to admit, at the time he caught me I had a bunch of other stuff on my mind, so was kind of distracted and my brain was kind of fried. To top it off, his explanation involved lots of legalese. When someone says, "In 1971, the supreme court ruled bla bla bla" it's about as meaningful to me as a complex math equation.

You know what happens next right? In my brain? That's right-- this:

Anyway, what I got out of it all was that this guy does not file or pay taxes of any kind, doesn't have tabs on his truck, doesn't make house payments or credit card payments-- he's basically opted-out of the entire financial system. He claims this is all legal, because of various constitutional stuff and legal decisions etc he was quoting. He thinks the government is too big. He thinks big corporations should pay for stuff like social services. He gets his mail general delivery. He says 35 million people are living this way in the U.S.

I have no idea if this is true, or why this guy isn't in a cell or homeless. I did a quick internet search and found some wiki stuff about tax resisters/tax protesters, but still don't feel like I know anything about this. There is a chance everything this guy was saying is true. Maybe we've all been had.

I guess the interesting question to me is, say this was a viable option-- opting out-- would you take it?

Hold that thought.

I've also been having a few other interesting convos lately. Someone else I know is very upset about "capitalism." When I questioned them further about this their main beef seemed to involve the way Americans in particular have fallen into a pattern of retail therapy. He said marketing/advertising is designed to chip away at our self-esteem and make us feel unless we are able to acquire this or that thing, or brand, we're "less than", etc etc. I think this person feels large corporations are controlling everything in some malevolent way. He's trying to figure out a way to opt out.

I think many of us have felt that large corporations abuse power when they can get away with it, but they also fund major research etc. I don't like to see that unhealthy type of consumerism that bothers this guy either, and Americans can be, let's face it, kind gross in this way.

But is the free market fundamentally broken or do we just need to be more cognisant of our purchasing choices?

Hold that thought.

I also had a convo recently with someone I know who is really religious. I'm not. I'm not "anti" per-se. If someone feels they get something positive from church or whatever, good for them. It's just not my thing, and I do resent people who are pious and self-righteous. This person has a hard time understanding my thinking. If I'm not religious they tend to think I have no beliefs at all, which isn't true.

I don't believe in hell. This other person does. Their position was, of course, "it says in the bible" etc etc, but I kept after them trying to get them to think beyond their programming and they eventually said hell was something that kept people in line. That it was a consequence of not obeying the way "God" wants people to act/be.

My response was, "So, are you saying the only thing preventing you from going on a giant killing spree, or stealing everything not nailed down, or being generally a big ass-- is fear of going to hell?"
Them- "Um, ... no?"

So if there were "no rules", would there be complete mayhem or would human nature dictate some basic agreed upon, if unspoken, standards of behavior? Would group think level out at about the same point anyway?

It is so interesting to me the way people think differently about things. Right now with globalization and the internet, it feels like it could be a time of a real shift in the way people think. Long held conventions could begin to crumble. This is scary to some, exciting to others.

I like to still believe in the fabled "great society," -- where everyone contributes, and there are wonderful public works projects like parks, and an infrastructure that functions seamlessly, and the sick and old are cared for. For some reason when I think of this it's always set in either the turn of the century (not this last one, the other sepia-toned one, with the ice skating and bustles and giant redwoods), or in the distant future (you know, the one with- silver spandex jumpsuits and monorails, and jet packs, and, of course, flying cars).

I guess I would not opt out, but I also don't feel everything works perfectly.
What do you guys think about all this?

And that, People, Is How To Drift...

Hey people. Here's a Video of one of the side events from a mountain bike race I checked-out yesterday at the trail. There was other cool hijinx going on too, that of course my camera battery died just in time for.

This is called the "Ice Burn-Out Competition". I was really surprised more people didn't step up, but oh well. Rich and Verlon kept us entertained for a while anyway. Verlon (red shorts) was ruled the *winnah*.



I have tons more pics and footage and am working on a longer more comprehensive video but it will take a few more days. I'll put it up when I get it done.

In other SueNews:

I now have 7 weeks until my next show. I finally checked the calendar-- Hmm, those things come in handy when planning stuff don't they? I've got ideas. That's a start. I just need to get my butt out there and weld.

Mostly I feel like writing right now because my WIP (work in progress) has taken a major u-turn. I had a neat little YA thriller all mapped-out-- I'd done and re-done my outline, and re-wrote the first 10k words 4 different times before starting totally from scratch.

I think the thing is-- I've never been into puzzles. You dump out all these pieces, and you already know they're all part of it-- they all fit some way and it will all make sense-- and you already know the picture on the box, so know what it's supposed to look like. Your success is virtually a lock right?

That is just way less interesting to me that wandering into some secluded, overgrown shed full of weird old crap and just digging around and seeing what happens.

So bottom line-- I'm letting the story just run out now (with a few very rough outline notes) and hoping by the end I'll have something publishable. So far it feels really mint. You never know-- maybe this will be the one. Maybe I've finally learned enough from the other 4 or so under the bed.

Kind of glad after the April 10th show my calendar is pretty clear except for a few commissions. I should be able to write a lot.

Hell of a Weird Wed discussion tuning-up. See ya then.

Get fighty

Hey people. Two Feb fav Music Fri's left for Gettin' It ON Feb. Today I did have this just plain gorgeous love song picked out, a couple actually, but I am just not feeling sentimental today. A little more of a "someone got me wet and fed me after midnight" vibe in Sue Land, so you get something a little different.

This first one is a shout-out to all my roughed-up gal pals. When love takes a dump on you, all you can do is drag yourself up off the mat, process a bit, and rock being you, even it's a brand new version of you. Enjoy "Fighter" by Christina Aguilera. She might be pop, but still has the most amazing pipes ever.



Keep fighting the good fight-- to be awesome and rule your world, benevolently. (But kick ass when you abs have to.) Be the king of you. ~fist pump~

This next one is just plain fun. I went through a phase where I was super into Big Band music, and used to really wish I lived back then-- in WWII. It seemed like such an exciting era. Now I'm quite happy to be here-- now, but they did have some cool tunes back in the day.

I love how she plays with that here, and dirties it up a little in a playful way too. Playfulness is about my favorite quality in people, assuming they've got the honorable, general coolness nailed down. Here's "Candyman", also by Christina.



In other SueNews:

Very psyched about another mountain bike race this weekend. It's the last one of the winter, and the biggest, and there are lots of extracurricular activities and hijinx planned so I should be high for a couple days off it anyway.

My camera came back all fixed from the warranty repair center. People are def more motivated to help you out when you're super nice to them.

I tried riding the trail this week-- ~fail~. It was pretty hilarious actually. What spurred me on was running into this sort of imaginary nemesis over there one day. I took my bike (Penny) over to ride through this little zippy race course they made in the back parking lot, but was mainly going over to hike around and go sliding.

So I'm riding around with giant snowboots on, and my big mittens, and a saucer sled strapped to my back, when this lost dog showed up. I invited it to join my tribe. (I'm real good with the doggy peeps. I used to want to be a trainer.) After getting over her initial, ruff-bristling fear, she did, and then hung out with me while I rode up and down looking for her owner, or at least someone with a cell (she had tags).

Who shows up, but this guy who was in the Halloween race with me last year. We sort of plagued each other. There was one section where people kept getting backed up, and he wanted me to move out of the way, but there was nowhere to pull off, and five or six people right in front of me blocking me. When I could finally let him past, he was in MY way because he couldn't ride up the hills. So without meaning to, and it not being anyone's fault, we were sort of frustrating each other.

Since he was over there riding on the day of the lost dog (owner found, dog returned safely home btw), it made me feel I needed to de-wuss and get on it and try winter riding again.

Like I said-- ~fail~.

First Penny tried to eat the pants right off my leg, which was a drag because they got a big rip in them, and it was frustrating because I couldn't climb hills hardly AT ALL. In summer when it gets tough I just stand up and hammer, plus I'm carrying more speed into the climb-- but on snow you can't. Your butt needs to stay on the seat to keep weight on the back tire. When I lost forward momentum my tire would start to spin out. That wrecks the trail, so I'd have to get off and walk.

Pushing your bike through the snow is def not as fun as riding. The worst news of all, is that so far arch nemesis is winning you guys! I know! (can not abide) I'm going to have to figure this out. Or just settle for totally owning him this summer.

If only you got points for trash talking. I'd be the effing KING then. ~struts~

Olympic fever

Hey people. I'm going to take a ton of crap for this because almost every woman I know is actually into this aspect of the Olympics, but-- I'm sorry-- ice dancing just makes me want to puke.

Yes, I get that they're in super shape, train like crazy, sacrifice anything resembling a normal life to pursue their "sport", but, come on.

I'm pretty sure even Sir Elton John is going, "Seriously?" I've been trying to think of ways they could, I don't know-- jazz it up a little. Put a little lipstick on this pig. Perhaps have them skate through clouds of balloons? --Or have "back-up skaters", you know, like Lady Gaga has?

I'm sorry. Dancing with the stars, performed on ice, may take athleticism, and skill, but good fricking lord! Does it HAVE to be so completely effing freakish? I'm pretty sure if My Little Ponies were actual living beings, they'd somehow be herded onto the rink and included in this fiasco.

Best line ever (from a twitter pal) -- "I get to put my hand there all the time, without having to suffer the humiliation of being a male figure skater." *win*

Bitch please. What more is there to say?

This gem is from The Onion. Be sure to click to enlarge so you can navigate the complete course.

Personally, I think there should be an event that involves assembling an entire Ikea six drawer dresser in the freezing cold while onlookers mercilessly clang cowbells at you.


Should be a snap.

In all seriousness, look for "saucer running" in the next winter games. And perhaps pix/vid when I get my camera back from the repair shop this week.

I also think wood sled surfing behind an ATV would be a great addition to the games.

What imaginary sport would you invent?

Way to be awesome

Hey people. As promised-- this week we pull it out of the dumper and get back to being *awesome*. (I totally want shirt like this.)

So how do we do that? -- you ask. There is something to be said for fake it 'til you make it. To a large extent being happy is a choice you make. All over the world people work shit jobs and have terrible health problems and struggle against crushing poverty, and still manage to smile and crack jokes and make friends, and be, you know-- happy.

I feel a shift happening already.

One thing that helps me feel good is good food. You can abuse that sure, or you can use it positively, treating you and your body good by feeding yourself really healthy, good foods. This is what Dan made us for V-day breakfast. Looks not very healthy, but the bread was the good kind (plus, cherries are a fruit right?), and later we had fish and veggies. Balance.

Beauty is another mood lifter for me. I'm lucky. All I have to do is look right outside my window. But you can find beauty anywhere if you try. Seek it out.

Get moving! This is KEY for me. Those endorphins! I feel kind of gross and fat right now-- and most of that is just my bad mood, but I know when I start running this week (TODAY!) I'll feel loads better.

Check out how awesome the trail is right now. I'm going to try a new mode- running with my saucer! Then when I get to a hill I can "help groom it" for the riders by zooming down on my sled, then resume my run. I predict this will become a new fitness craze. "Wee!"

Other ways I know of to fight the blues-- Get out of your head. I'm going to make it a point to try to spread awesome vibes to at least one person a day. If you're concentrating on trying to make other people feel good, it makes you feel good.

Get busy. Let's face it-- inertia is not good when you're feeling down. It might feel like a forced march at first, but you'll build momentum as you go. I've got plenty of work to do, so not problem there for me. :) If you've got nothing-- find a project. Now.

Get together. Make a point of scheduling some stuff with friends/family. Isolating may be very tempting, but avoid it. It's like carbon monoxide.

Get the flow going. This is kind of a weird concept, but I picture energy flowing through me like a straw, and when I'm feeling all blocked and crabby, it helps to get rid of the "old" energy and make room, or pull "new energy" into me. This is kind of like "get moving", but can be something less active too, like singing. (just an example) I don't subject other people to my loud bad singing, but it feels great to do it. It probably even just helps to visualize this happening. (?)

What do you guys do? Are you up for a shift in attitude right about now?

Get your heart ON.

Hey people. It's Valentine's weekend in case you have been under a rock or anything. Single or about-to-be, bitter, unhappy, gal-pal-peeps, I feel you guys, but this one's for the true believers, so you might as well tune out now. See ya next week.

For anyone sticking around-- I have some really cool songs for you today. I have to admit I think I posted this one last year, but I just can't help myself. I love me some Dave Grohl. This vid is so powerful I think, because of the denial of gratification-- the desire is so strong but they're both being held back by the glass. The frustration even gets violent. I'd be going NUTS. RAWR. ~shatters glass with awesome smashing side kick~ ~then totally makes out with Dave~

(If you push the button with the 4 arrows pointing out it will expand and you can get rid of the ad. Push esc to get it back to the blog.)



This next one is from one of my very favorite groups-- The Black Keys. This is a fan vid with some cool graphics. The song is "So he won't break," and I love it. I'd actually love to make a video of slo-mo mountain bike crashes to it someday, but in terms of a gettin'-it-on song, I think there will always be something incredibly seductive to women about the idea of being THE ONE who hits the nerve in a guy. Plus, the song just has that rolling, dirty rhythm that is perfect for making-out to.



Got into an interesting convo with Dan the other night. I can be a lot of work sometimes. I like a bit of attention (in case you hadn't guessed), kind of demand it actually. Sometimes I ask him for reassurance too. Sometimes I feel invincible, sometimes like a total train wreck. I can be hyper one day, and really bummed the next. I'm always concerned about how he's perceiving me. I feel a certain pressure to be "worth the trouble." I want him to feel "lucky" to have me, but that means I have to be pretty awesome right?

This plays out with me trying to make sure he likes coming home to me, trying to be fun, trying to look as good as I can, trying to make him feel good about himself, to anticipate his wants, trying to remain hot on some level-- lots of things. I want to add to his life.

I asked him if he ever thinks this way-- worrying how I see him.

Um... He's a guy-- so-- shocker! No.

He pretty much goes about his business and doesn't really think about how I am feeling about him. If I'm not pissed, he assumes everything is great. (If he detects any level of mysterious "pissedness" a whole other type of guy calculus begins to take place involving avoidance/deflection ratios etc, but that is a whole other post.)

It's so weird how different we are (men and women). I envy the way they take things at face value, and their confidence. (The very things I find so attractive in them -- hmmm.) (There's lots more, but their self-esteem already seems pretty up there, so I'll leave it at that.)

I've often wondered if it comes from how in Jr. High/High School, if you're a guy-- your face is your face and your hair is your hair. "Good luck to 'ya." But if you're a girl you're taught how to "fix" everything that's wrong with you with make-up and hair products and devices. And you are made well aware there is A TON wrong with you, and it goes way beyond just looks.

Wow- this got a little off track didn't it? I guess it's just funny how each sex seems to think the other is holding all the cards. Guys have the power of selection, girls of rejection. (This is what we each think anyway.) What a double-edged sword.

As usual I love hearing what you all think. Comment it up.

Play some good music while you make-out this weekend if at all possible. Have fun! (If it's not fun pick up a manual or something because you're def doing it wrong.)

Just... Weird.

Hey people. Only thing weird around here this week is me. Just not feeling it much. This episode of Weird Wed is a bit of a phoner- but it entertained me for a few minutes so maybe you'll get a kick out of it. It is actually pretty amazing.



In other SueNews:

Writing has ground to a screeching halt for no real good reason. I need to get back on it. It's just a discipline thing-- which usually isn't my issue but symptomatic of my present "off-ness."

Lot's of welding has been going on which is a good thing because I have a show in about 6 weeks. 7 I guess. About. The weldy mojo never really abandons me totally. Auto pilot mode.

Very mood-swingy this week. Short bursts of fun, broken up by bouts of inertia and feeling disconnected. Seems to be going around from what I hear. Am telling myself things will improve next week when I'm going to start running again, and writing every day.

See what I did there? Now if I don't follow through I'll begin the cycle of broken promises and berating myself. I've been there enough times to know it's way better to just do whatever it is I've committed to doing. Time to get back on track.

Where are you guys now? Everyone's bootstraps pulled up or what?

Perfect Storm

Hey people. Over the weekend I was remembering more funny stuff from our trip to hell and back. Like when Dan insisted on eating the canadian bacon from my Egg McMuffin-- you know-- for the orphans in Haiti, and how he kept saying, "That's what I do" enigmatically.

There was also a moment where I said or did something, (neither of us can remember what), and his response was, "I think I have enough thrills in my life thanks." This baited me into imitating Jack Nicholson on and off for at least half a day, yelling, "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE THRILLS" into his face whenever the mood struck me.

I know. Poor Dan. I can sometimes get him to play with me-- like this day we went sliding together, but it is super hard for me to find people who like doing all the dumb stuff I like to do.

Sat I had a really fun day. There are times when I get this tight feeling in my chest and it feels like I really need to vent off some steam or I'm going to SPLODE. Lately I've been feeling like that a lot.

I began the day going for a 10k ski with Trusty Pam and Dan in the snowy woods. It was really pretty, and fun. Pam and I have been skiing our butts off this winter. The snow's been awesome. Now the hills that used to scare us are kind of boring though. We still like it, but now it's like we can never go fast enough. We even resorted to climbing through the barrier of a hill that was closed for being "too screamin' fast", and even it was barely fun enough.

After our ski I went over to the trail and started plotting a new course through the woods for myself. Now that I know my leg isn't re-breaking over and over I'm going to start running again. I'd like to go over there whenever, regardless of the weather, and not worry if I'm messing up the bike trail. So I tromped though knee-deep snow for over an hour checking out a route.

After that, some people showed up to work on the trail, mostly shoveling snow, and I helped with that the rest of the day. There was also some really fun goofing around that I can't go into detail about, (because the friggin' man may try to keep us down) but let's just say when I got home I was practically leaping around the house like a Labrador Retriever because I was so hyper from all the wee-age.

You'd think that would "cure" me for a few days right? No-- it just makes me want that feeling back again as soon as possible like those rats who keep pushing the little treat button until they SPLODE.

In summer, when I found mountain biking, it was kind of like getting a permanent cure for a while. Dan has been a little weirded-out by my sudden, intense interest in this and we've had a few talks about it. One night I was trying to explain it again, or I guess just trying to make sure he wasn't getting annoyed by me, or my thrill-seeky ways weren't coming between us or whatever, and I said, "You see how this is like the perfect storm for me right?"

He did some little affectionate thing to show me it was okay and said, "Yeah. I get it."

It (riding) has the perfect combo of ingredients for me-- It's really difficult. --I can throw myself at it as hard as I want and still not succeed enough at it that it's ever gets boring. But it's a learned skill-- so I can have just enough improvement to keep motivating me to try. It's got an element of danger that's very narcotic and distracting. (--This is something I've (sometimes unwittingly) chased, or tried to smother, my whole life.) There is an optional social aspect to it that has no pressure, isn't intrusive, and chock full-o-nutballs (my favorite kind of people), and the whole works goes down in the middle of the woods. It's kind of "out there". Perfect.

The only problem is I'm not very good at it (yet) and have had to try to otherwise occupy myself during the winter. Sat was awesome because it was like uncapping the hydrant. Now it's Mon and I have a bunch of work to do, but it seriously feels like some monster is trying to pry open my ribcage.

I think I'm going to have to go over to the trail at lunch and go for a little run, and bring my saucer sled to whiz down a hill or two.

Do any of you guys relate to this at all? Sometimes I feel like such an alien.

UPDATE:
Pam skipped out early today and we went sliding down a bunch of big hills at the trail, so this rat has satisfactorily pushed her button for one day anyhow. Much better. Ahh. Now, back to welding. :)

Bowmp-chicka-mow-mow...

Hey people. Welcome to the "Gettin' It Effin ON Feb" edition of Fav Music Friday. My first bit of advice to any guys out there looking to, you know, get some-- is, if at all possible-- be Dave Grohl.

Okay. Sorry. Just kidding. Any excuse will do, really, to work him in. In all seriousness, V-day is coming up, and I do have a few thoughts. Lot's of women buy into the whole grand gestures deal, thinking if a guy comes up with flowers, or jewelry, etc it means he super lurves you. The Valentines Day industry is built on this myth. Maybe it means that, maybe not.

I know a few guys who are good at gifts etc, coming up with ideas all on their own, because they are thoughtful, and into their women, and they get it. (These men are all taken of course.) I've also known plenty who are good at that kind of stuff, because they get it too-- in a manipulative bastard-y way, or, just as pukey-- a showboat-y "look what an awesome guy I am" way.

So don't let the whole gifty, window dressing thing be the deciding factor. It's a plus, but it's not necessarily an indicator of "love." Sometimes, the guy who sucks at gifts & special occasions, but scrapes off your windshield on a random Thurs, and is super reliable, is the keeper.

Men and women are wired differently (if you haven't figured it out yet.) Let me crack the code for you. (There will always be gals who like interestingly damaged men, and guys who are into infantilized women who can't think their way out of a paper bag, but assuming everyone here falls somewhere on the pretty normal spectrum...)

Women want to feel so desirable, that they are worth almost any amount of trouble. This is why they really get into things where the guy shows he's gone to some kind of effort-- like planning ahead. They also like to feel they drive the guy so out of his gord, it ignites his baser male instincts. Which is why they like when he actually decides stuff all on his own, like what restaurant to go to. (rawr)

Men like to feel virile and indispensable. They like when they do things-- like fix stuff or make themselves useful-- and we notice. It might be somewhat expected that they do certain things, but it doesn't hurt anything to show a little gratitude. They do, after all, come in handy.

(I had a joke here about them liking it when we make a big deal about their muscles etc, but some random guy hanging out in my living room, whose name isn't Dan or anything, totally rolled his eyes.) I had a hard time pinning him down on exactly what guys like about how we behave towards them-- something besides how we look. Guys are so visual it's scary.

Finally we settled on -- when we show them any signs of being "into it", or "into them", they like it. (RAWR)

People-- like to feel like they are smart, and funny, and cool-- that they're loved, and liked too. They want to feel connected, and safe-- like there's a level of trust & intimacy in their significant relationship that sets it apart from all their other social interactions. Everyone likes to feel like they matter, that they are heard, and cared about. (purr)

Just food for thought. :) I'd love to hear what you guys/gals think about this. Weigh in.

This song has basically nothing to do with romantic love. It's purely about getting it on. Enjoy. Here's hoping everyone gets lucky this weekend. :)

Bonus Post- (how did we all get so lucky?!!!)

(If you're here for the race vid scroll down to next post.)

Not that my life is oh-so-fascinating, but I just got back from the bone doctor and am super hyper.

So, some of you guys know about my tibia-- what an asshole it is. It's been cracked for literally 3 years now (from running). Here's- an x-ray. (Not actual x-ray, artist rendering. DUH.)

I was told to have a rod put in it, but didn't want to. It's a bone-- shouldn't it just knit back together by itself? So I had this other treatment where some masochist (physical therapist) ground plexiglass objects into my flesh and turned my entire leg, hip down, various shades of purple, green, and yellow, (super sexy), and sent on my way. (That was supposed to somehow piss-off my leg and make it rise-up and heal itself.) (Yeah.)

Since then it periodically hurts, especially when I get back into running. Even when I've been in a running mode, any time I try to increase my speed or distance, it flares up and kills. Last week I went for a super wussy run and after it killed just to walk around Target, so I went back in.

First the bone doc told me he's never met anyone with this kind of fracture that had one for this long, or that didn't go for the rod. Then he looked at my old x-ray, (above), and said I'd probably have to be in a cast & on crutches for 6 to 8 weeks, and might still need the rod, even after that.

I literally almost started crying. Not be able to ski, run, or ride the bitchy off for 2 months??!! No. Way. Seriously-- I'd lose my flippin' mind (what's left.) Shit would def have to be destroyed.

Then he comes back in after making me get another x-ray (below), and voila! (This too, is not an actual x-ray, but merely an artist rendering. Seriously people, catch-up.)

He said I'm apparently some kind of exception-- he actually called me the longest case study of a black-line fracture in medical history. My bone had pretty much mended itself, forming a ton of new bone around the crack, and making its own cast, kind of. He said it still hurts because the crack is still there a tiny bit, and every time I start up running again, or try to get more intense, my bone has to actually "get used to it". (?) (I know, sounds made-up to me too, but whateves.) So, I just have to "be careful" and eventually, it will heal all the way.

No cast! No crutches! No rod! No burgeoning homicidal tendencies! No psych ward!

Also, for those of you who keep asking about the famous Suby from our trip to hell and back-- here it is in all it's all-wheel-drive glory. So far, so good.

Not bad for a 10 year old car huh? (You can get away with this stuff when your hubs is mechanical.)

Race vid + man babies + me making an ass of myself, kind of.

Hey freaks. Fear not, Weird Wed has not been totally preempted. Hang in there. After this initial bit of business you'll get your disturbia on.

First, another mountain bike race vid from Hillside. This has gotten pretty fun for me. I'm still learning the basics, and haven't even figured the camera all the way out (which already tanked btw and has to be sent off to be fixed. Bad sign.) But, since I'm not riding right now, it's fun to watch other people hit it, plus, I love music, love tromping around in the woods, and editing footage is pretty fun too.

The more I figure out what works and what doesn't, the more creative I'll be able to be with this. It's fun to have another medium to fool around with. I've already got ideas for future projects-- an all girl vid w/b awesome, and one of purely "antics" could be really fun.

One thing I think I need is a cowbell. Some people weird-out if I don't say anything (and I'm usually just trying to not interfere w/ their ride), and others freak if I cheer them, and then they mess up. If I had a bell I could clang it before people get right to me to warn them.

I also need to be less shy about asking people I don't know to pose with their bikes etc. Basically, if you are a rider and reading this, assume I want to shoot you, so find me and say hi. :) And girl riders-- feel free to ham it up if you see me shooting in the woods in any way you feel comfortable.

Anyway, here's footage from the rescheduled Cold Bear Challenge (Skinny) Race. The music is Foo Fighters "All My Life". Kind of repetitive, but I was trying to get everybody in it, and like I said, learning curve... (if you click "watch on youtube" you can full screen it. big file version)



Okay. Way to be patient Weirdos. This is a reader submission from Slagporter Kris. There is a whole website with tons more pics if you're into this. "Manbabies" = mui creepio if you ask me.

In other SueNews:

Mah braynes iz mostly un-fried now. Enough to weld at least. Waiting a few days for the novel. That takes more cortex.

Last night me and Pam shot the "Gravity Box" at Woodland Trails. WOOOT us! This is another of those things we said we'd probably never do. The first time we saw it we were like, "How come there isn't a big pile of dead bodies down there?"

But, now that we're ruined by mountain biking, there are no more never's, and the fun just gets scarier and scarier. ~shivers~

Anyway, we did it, it wasn't even that scary. It was pretty fun. After, we were in another section approaching another caution hill and trash talking just for fun. (This is sort of a hobby of ours.) I go, "Oh good-- caution just means FUN to us, because we are that bad-ass now." And right then this guy on skate skis blew by us with a giant smirk on his face. ~Bows~ Yep. I should have known better than to feel all BIG, but, oh well.

It was pretty funny.

Fried, green, brain-matos.

Hey people. Last Thurs at 8 a.m. Me and Dan left MN to pick up a ten-year-old used Suby, in Florida. Yes-- 1400 miles away.

I borrowed TPam's GPS & road atlas, packed a carry-on with road food and a couple changes of clothes, pulled on my new awesome "Natasha" boots (get out the friggin' bullwhip), and hit the airport.

At our very first connection they gate-checked our carry-ons because the overheads were too small-- and somehow lost them between the door of the plane and the baggage loader thingy 10 feet away. They not only lost them, they didn't scan them into the system so it was like they didn't exist.

If you haven't just gasped and scooted closer to your screen, you don't understand people. This bag had my kitty hat in it! And my choppers! And my cool new end-of-the-season-sale Van's! And the new scandalous undies I bought at Target. The elderly man who rang me up went to a lot of trouble for these-- turning all red while fumbling with the little plastic hanger thing and getting all exasperated. Not only that-- look at this haul-- headlamp, ninja wear, other awesome hat, south beach diet bars...

By the time the Delta employees determined, "Yep. You guys are pretty screwed alright." we were almost missing our next connection. We were supposed to take this little train to the next terminal-- but it for some reason went down as soon as we got on. After figuring out it wasn't going anywhere any time soon, we got off and ran. We ran through this whole underground passageway thing, past 3 of those moving sidewalk deals. I had a hold of our one remaining bag- the messenger bag containing our laptop & electronics, so was kind of dying after a while. It was like running with a big bag of kitty litter.

Dan was ahead of me and I was getting really pissed he wasn't waiting. Then he goes, "Well, here. Let me take the bag. I'll be able to run with it better." (Really? It's easier to run not carrying a giant heavy bag? Seriously??!) Those who know me well, know that was enough to make me refuse to let go of the bag ever. He'd have to pry it from my Charlton Heston hands.

We made the flight. We made the next connection, and arrived in Tallahassee a mere 8 1/2 hours later. They still had no clue about our bags. So I'm now in Fla, wearing snow boots and a wool turtleneck.

Eventually we got them back (six hours later), after this whole stupid episode of them being locked in an empty office in the ghost-town airport. There were NO employees, no people, anywhere-- and they knew we were coming because they'd called to tell us where to pick up.

I resorted to putting on a show for the security camera- pretending to kick down the door, flipping double-barreled birds at the dark office, and shadow boxing at the camera, trying to get someone to come out of somewhere. I suppose I'm lucky TSA people didn't tackle me. Finally they let us have them.

Let's just say, things continued to go down hill. If I was Godzilla, the city of Tallahassee would be a smoldering ruin by now. There would be crumpled cars and burning piles of shit all over the place.

By 1 a.m. we'd taken a $60 cab ride, lost our other bag (the one with our computer etc in it.)-- (Not to name names, but hubs left it in our cab), dealt with the used car people (whose computer kept crashing so we were trapped there for a while while I frantically tried to locate our cab driver), been directed all over town looking for a hotel by the GPS which was apparently freaking out, making us do U-turns all over and bringing us back to the same skanky Super 8 over and over like freaking groundhog day.

The last time we wound up there I just started laughing. It was that or cry. So we sat in the lot and laughed like a couple idiots, then went, "You know what?-- Screw it. Let's just drive." It was like the city had become a venus flytrap and we were the hamburger. So we fired up the so-far not-very-trusty GPS and headed north.

I was so trashed by now from all the stress and lack of sleep, it took me a while to realize the GPS had somehow decided we should avoid interstates at all costs, and was routing us through every back road in northern Florida/southern Alabama. When I finally figured out another way from the maps, we were stuck waiting for this bizarre middle-of-the-night parade of at least 50 'Bama state troopers, and various other vehicles with government seals on the doors to pass before we could get on the highway. It was kind of like a David Lynch movie.

35 hours from the time we left on this mission, we decided neither of us could function, and pulled off to find a hotel. This was me. I stood three feet from the elevator turning in a circle looking for it. Yeah, fried. Nothing 12 hours of sleep wouldn't fix.

Insert angelic choir music. This was our bed.

Look. Behold the super cleanness, the soft comfy-ness... When we laid down it was like, "TIMBER!" I could feel all the fluid in my body leveling. We were both out within minutes.

Here's me after sleeping for twelve hours. Okay, not straight. If I'd have been a robot there would have been little access panels hanging open and stuff sparking inside, and probably smoke drifting out. I woke up about every 2 or 3 hours feeling like total crap-- sweating, shaking, disoriented. I drank as much water as I could. I suppose living exclusively on caffeine for that whole time was a bad move health-wise.

I thought I was all normal the next day, but things tipped me off I wasn't. Like not knowing what town we were in, and having no memory of eating my banana, and two minutes later wanting to eat my banana and finding only the peel. My brain was trying to reset.

Got home Sat night. With nothing going on sun I decided to check out the mountain bike race at the trail. Now that's a fire!

Some of the girl racers-- Sam in the camo, Lisa in red, and Kristi in the orange. Kristi is basically superhuman. Races with the advanced men. I'm obviously in total awe of all these gals.

Someone showed up with this bike-- super skinny road tires. The guy doesn't go with the bike.

I took a bunch of video and visited with some people. It was fun, but I still wasn't right and started getting an ocular migraine (where my vision shatters and becomes tunnel-vision and I get kind of disoriented). I was like that for a couple days after my big crash, but hardly ever get these, only a few times in my life really.

I still feel kind of weird, but will just drink lots of water and eat actual food for a few days. If I can help it, I'll never fly delta, or go to Tallahassee again in my life.