Oh my god...

I want to move to Austin more and more every day.

World Record Shattering THRILLER Sync Dancing in Austin: 881

Freeze Tag

Mademoiselle Kolleen tagged me in an online task that involves posting "five non-important things/habits/ quirks" about myself and then tagging five friends who have blogs to do the same. I am not sure, however, that I have five friends who have blogs so I am only doing the first part.

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1. Often, when I find a song that I love, I can happily listen to it over and over and over again... probably up to 100 times in a row before its magic begins to dim even a bit!

2. Just in case it ever happens, I sometimes like to consider how I might conduct myself if I got sent back through time into my infant body, but with my my current adult mind and all my memories.

3. I almost never wear identical socks, and have not since I was probably about 12. I put great care into matching my socks... coordinating colors, patterns, or themes between the lefty and righty... but they are always from two different pairs. The one exception to this is when I am in my work uniform and wear two identical black socks.

4. I credit the movie Jurassic Park with being the combustible that ignited years of horrible teen-and-young-adult depression. I remember lying in my bed at my family's beach cottage, my mind replaying the scene where the Brachiosaurus rears back on its hind legs and the music swells... I was overwhelmed. I didn't think anything in real life could ever be as beautiful as that Brachiosaurus.

5. I get so nervous about my front teeth jutting out again like they did when I was a kid, I have developed the anxious habit of pushing on my teeth with my thumb.

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Now, I extend an all-inclusive tag to anyone who reads this. Give it a try... it's a fun writing exercise!

He Looks Just Like His Father!

Per request, I decided to upload another old photo. Guess which scene in which movie this pic reminds me of...


I'll give you a hint. The scene contains the quote, "Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!"

Dig that haircut? When my Grammy was alive, she loved to tell me how people would see me as a small child and say, "He looks just like his father!"

Electricity

Why doesn't some homemade superhero/supervillian try to harness the power of static electricity?

Once, when I was probably four or so, I ran down a carpeted hallway in socked feet to give my sister a kiss. The moment my lips touched hers - BLAM! Her lip exploded. Exploded! My parents later told me that they heard the "pop" all the way downstairs (and they certainly heard the horrified wailing that followed too).

That example aside, haven't you all heard the stories of how static electricity can cause fires at gas stations?

For such a little spark, it can sure cause a lot of damage.

i love words

JASON: ... so keep your ears peeled.
(Laughter from LOLA.)
JASON: What?
LOLA: I don't think that's the expression.
JASON: Oh. (Laughs.) That's right. Keep your eyes peeled and your ears... to the grindstone?

She Bangs

Recently, I took a pair of scissors and gave myself some bangs. Also recently, my parents moved from Hopedale to Plymouth. In the purging process that accompanied their move, my mother gave me a stack of photographs from my childhood. So, tonight I celebrate two things:

1) Having bangs for the first time since grade school.

2) My scanner working again.



Clearly, my mother decided that the best way to offset my asymmetrical teeth was with asymmetrical bangs.






This is me with childhood pal Danielle at my family's once-upon-a-time beach home in Rhode Island.

Oh, little Lola... so much angst for such a young girl...




This is me with my guinea pig, Woody (that's right. Woody.)

This photo demonstrates an interesting fact about me: when i abstain from tanning, I am capable of achieving a level of paleness usually only reserved for albinos.

wowza beautiful!

Oh, I love it...

7 Abandoned Architectural Wonders of Modern Asia

I don't know when I first developed a love for the haunted, morbid beauty of ghost towns - maybe it was when I was about six years old and visited Mayan ruins near Cozumel with my family. Maybe it was when I was seventeen and traveled to Italy, where I spent a day walking through the narrow, ash-dry streets of Pompeii. Or possibly it happened when my friend Tessa turned me on to a website managed by a woman who was able to get permission to ride her motorcycle through the abandoned areas surrounding Chernobyl and take pictures.

Ghost Town



Some day, I would very much like to visit some ghost towns here in the U.S.