goddesscafe

Friday, December 28, 2001 :::

public apology to kurt for standing him up on thursday -- i should have called, bro. anyway...

as you may know, the archdiocese of cincinnati is very powerful. very catholic town. archbishop pilarczyk is a pillar of the community and all that. needless to say, the archdiocese is also very wealthy. wealthy enough that they can pepper 30-second recruiting advertisements all over the cincinnati television stations.

i swear, three or four times a night i see this strange, vaguely homoerotic commercial for catholicism -- young stud with a come-hither look making doe-eyes at the camera, and saying, "you know you've heard it. you know you've gotten the calling. come be a priest."

or, maybe my brother and i are reading too much into it. will, has gordo seen this thing?

and laura, i really enjoyed "the ruins of babylon." great voice, good arrangement. "tinsel town" had some funky, bowie-esque dual-guitar lines that i liked as well. "it's big," though, was... what would alura say... intolerable . very gong show, though.

::: posted by kevin seal at 10:01 PM

Have returned from Cincy, which was a brief but intense visit...and we went to the famous Comet, which Guy blogged about a few weeks ago. Anyway, I'm at my dad's now...his crazy best friend from high school, who lives in a trailer in the Mojave desert and occasionally works as a movie extra (his biggest part to date was the blind bathroom attendant in Austin Powers...his face was onscreen for a few seconds), has put his band's stuff online. (lovely background image, I know) He wrote dad: Now you can all hear "It's Big", the song about an erection that we sang on "The Gong Show" in 79 for the edification of millions and Five other songs. "Tinseltown" about the reality of being a starlet in Hollywood," The Main Train" the one about being an artist in America, "Sickness and Death" the one about the effect of the environment on our health. "You Gotta Learn" about how to become a white negro and forget all your cares. "The Ruins Of Babylon" which nearly predicted the events of Sept. 11th twenty years ago. He also has a page with some of his art and poetry.

::: posted by Alura Allumeuse at 10:27 AM

Thursday, December 27, 2001 :::

kev, while i research spokesmodel school, someone flatteringly (is that a word?) suggested i become a tights model instead. that would put me in a realm with tina turner. TINA TURNER! *e

::: posted by elissarita at 4:57 PM

driving with kurt to visit laura last weekend, i was playing an old cassette that i'd had since age 9. i had borrowed an LP of tom lehrer songs from my 4th grade teacher, the hip, MENSA-member matriarch of wyandot elementary school, mrs. carol richter-flum.

Wednesday, December 26, 2001 :::

so is lis off at spokesmodel school now? when do we get to see photos of elissa a la vanna?

i watched outside providence and harry potter and the sorcerer's stone this weekend, and both of those movies cast blonde guys as the villains. the snitch (o.p.) and draco malfoy (h.p.) were, in both cases, the only blonde males, and completely evil. if i had tons of time and cared more about this, i'd compile a list of blonde-guy bad-guys.

old high school chum rob bokon now runs the tour almanac on a popular dave matthews band website. only problem is, JUSTDMB.com looks way too much like JUSTDUMB.com.

Tuesday, December 25, 2001 :::

If blogger is telling you your password doesn't work, type the number 1 as your password. Just that. Then go in through blogger to 'edit my profile' and change your password back.

::: posted by Alura Allumeuse at 7:31 PM

so I was out from 10pm til 3am with the Pettengill Brothers -- John, 28, engineer in KY; Patrick, 27, doctor in MI; and Jamie, 24, bio grad student in NC. On 4 drinks, Alura was ecstatic to be caught up in the most seriously fucking intellectual conversation about 9-11 and capitalism that she's had to date. And it was classic birth-order positioning -- John the conservative who reads The Economist and watches MSNBC, Jamie the liberal environmentalist and anti-globalist, and Patrick, a misanthrope who hates everything equally. John's positions interested me the most -- I don't hear or read many unique views these days, mostly due to my own natural bias and the people I'm surrounded by. He's not a full-blown conservative (we actually agreed on many points, but he really dislikes the left), but, unlike Jamie, he's generally pro-American (he says this is a recent thing, that he's reevaluated all his beliefs since the attacks) and has a lot to say about American intervention overseas and why it's usually been a good thing historically (stopping the spread of communism in Europe, keeping fascist regimes in places like Egypt because they crack down hard on Islamic terrorists, etc), and why Europe is a bunch of whiners who don't rightfully attribute their success to American aid. (he told a story about being on an NYC subway in late Sept, and a bunch of British kids were throwing their trash on the floor. When a cop told them to put it in a garbage can, one sneered "Fuckin' America, 'land of the free, home of the brave,' whatever." He said his friend had to physically hold him back from attacking the kid. To him, this represents common Euro superiority attitude and disdain for us, which he resents). Anyway, it was terrifically interesting, all the points of views and arguments. I can't describe how great I feel when surrounded by people and conversation like that...it's like I literally feel my brain whirring harder to keep up, which I love.

Happy holidays, y'all. May your brains be highly engaged in the upcoming year, full of creativity and ideas and analysis, and may our brains all continue to interact with each other in fascinating ways. :*

::: posted by Alura Allumeuse at 9:51 AM

i just set up my mom's very first email account, now that there's a computer at her house. so, if any of y'all want to give her a shout, she's katherineseal, and she's at yahoo. she's reluctant to check it, though, so don't hold yr breath for her responses.

::: posted by kevin seal at 8:52 AM

Monday, December 24, 2001 :::

so kurt and i were out from 10pm to 4am with a huge crew of old ih alums -- leningers young and old, russells young and old, frakes the elder, bokon, hepfner, duderstadt, zipf, freije, and caples. (muthafuckas got some weird-ass teutonic surnames in hamilton county, i tell you whut.)

this following list is merely for k and me, so that we can fill spencer in on all of this... forgive me if it all sounds like inside-joke shorthand from a h.s. yearbook, but that's essentially what it is.

incredible stories:
1) getting the tennis bleachers on the roof of the school (a fond memory for me)
2) infamous c.r. and c.f. electrocuting themselves on the fence meant for keeping horses in-bounds
3) c.r. and t.z. getting into a b.b. gun war over a traded copy of "the legend of zelda" (cue line: "hand me my knife!")
4) s.y. and others attempting arson on a reading construction site, and filming themselves doing it
5) something i cannot post in public regarding "devil's church" in perrintown
6) dupps' bizarre tighty-whitey-clad male friend on the technology trip to toledo, where the hotel room was re-created, t.v. and loveseat and all, within the hotel elevator
7) b.s. having a redneck pull a knife on him while driving to gatlinburg (i was driving right behind him -- i'd forgotten about that one)
8) s.z. filling all 500 GB of the school's servers with microsoft works documents featuring only the letter "q," all attributed to little k.k.
9) b.h. urinating on the russells' rug
10) t.k. lighting a table on fire at chaser's in mt. adams, for s.c.'s 21st
11) the "ghetto bird" helicopter being flown in by cincinnati police to bust up d.f.'s party
12) c.h.: "i thought about it, and no, you can't have my tickets." (thank you for letting me grab your ass, though.)
13) c.h.'s "dodecahedron" burger at mcdonald's, "ohh, maaaan," haggling for the price, and the resulting refund
14) me and p.k. losing k.k. in columbus, only to find him the next morning in cincinnati

::: posted by kevin seal at 1:35 AM

Sunday, December 23, 2001 :::

So I have met the infamous sweet Kurt! I thought I should stick holiday M&Ms up his nose to wake him up this morning, but he said he woulda snorted them at me anyway. Alas, the boys were only here for under 24 hrs...went out for hilarious times with Trish and Chris last night, went to lunch with my always entertaining dad today (where he told us about a creationism museum that's being built near Cincy), saw mom for bits in between...hell, I'm going back to bed now, and avoiding xmas shopping. Trying to get Mr. Seal to return to Indy later this week. Promises of stimulating conversation and surreptitious nookie won't do it...am now resorting to appealing to his musical sense -- his IU boys Johnny Socko will be in town Friday.

::: posted by Alura Allumeuse at 12:10 PM

ha! yep, that's me on the left, in my professional work attire on the lap of my fave mailroom guy.

the events that followed this pic may lead to a drastic change in my career path (not that i have any idea what that path is NOW), but i'm putting that silly idea of going to med school to be a gynecologist on hold, and i'm-a gonna be a spokesmodel! somehow i ended up on stage at our work party (i think it was the tights) with the flamboyant gay MC of the charity auction (yeah, there's only one flamboyant gay guy out here in the burbs - and you know i always find my SF Castro people wherever i'm put.) anyway, he led the auction and i ended up his sidekick, running around with the prizes, making the token spokesmodel faces and striking glamorous poses that would make anyone want to bid on ceramic vases and stained glass who-knows-whats. it was great fun and the president of the company and two of my other bosses found me after to tell me i was quite entertaining and that jimmy the MC and i should be a team. (i thought, well jeez, it must pay better than graphic design, and it's gotta be easier than med school!) and who knew that making a fool of oneself would lead to such great networking?! ...photos of the spectacle are apparently appearing on the company website wednesday, so i'll post if you want to see elissa a la vanna.

for now, happy happy to all and may your respective gift-givers be good to you...and remember, naughty kids deserve naughty gifts (^_^)