don't forget to..

don't forget to.., originally uploaded by smoooch.

love is a napkin to help keep the crumbs out

napkin_10-16-01_beauty, originally uploaded by digihuman.

There's lots I'd like to say right now about accountability and the value of basic truthful honesty. The kind of honesty that comes from the core, not the kind that comes from some place that tells you what you think others want to hear or what you think you should say to protect anothers feelings. I'd like to talk about the kind of honesty that comes from your own true experience and your steadfast desire to not rob your loved ones of that with embellishment, exaggeration or outrite fibbing.

Instead, I'll tell you about a liitle story I found about a father with not two, but three daughters and his deliberate presence in their lives and the message of love he silently, yet continually he gave them every day as he sent them out in to the world of adolescence, exploration and growth.

It touched my heart in so many ways and I hope it touches yours. "A series of drawings and quotes on napkins put in my daughters' lunches for jr. high and high school every day over a 5 year period." Please click this link to read and see the the story.

yeah for Elseware's

I recently put in a purchase for two quite lovely things: A super great necklace and a groovy new t shirt with a nouveau lily, as you can see here. Naturally, my tag says 'more kisses please'. The order went smoothly, the packages arrived safely and the packaging was minimal and soundly done. Browsing through the array of items from the multitude of designers has brought me to one conclusion...internet shopping will be the death of my bank account if I don't watch it.

I want more tags, more tshirts, more songs, more everything. Stay tuned for my second Neighborhoodie hoodie. I already have one that says, you guessed it, More Kisses Please. The next one is super and I can hardly wait to announce it.

gotta luv wikipedia

Here is an interesting link about the neighborhood I live in, called The Drive. I know it to be full of coffee shops and a few great restaurants. Dominated by early Italian immigrants, the coffee is the best in the city, I'm sure. During World Cup Soccor, the drive is quite boisterous and exciting as all the coffee shops are full of italians and portugese cheering on the teams. In the summer, it is a major hippy hangout with its leftist leanings and healthfood stores.

Yes it's true, it is home to the Vancouver Dyke March. You gotta love those girls, the way they got themselves kicked out of Joes Cafe for a little too much PDA. It's also true that the Drive had Canada's first Amsterdam style coffee shop openly selling marijuana. It was called Dekine and it lasted 4 entire months until they went super public to CBC and the pressure was on for the cops to do something.

The night was warm and humid. One of those summer nights when the sun starts to set around 9pm. Moisture hung in the air and a nighttime rainstorm was in the near future. The local movie crews had set up on one end of a block and were filming the pivitol scene in The Fantastic Four where the man who was made of stone hides behind the bushes and calls his girlfriend in effort to explain his change in appearance. (You know the scene, the one where the blond in the blue negligee runs out into the street. Ya, ok.)

Anyways, at the other end of the same block, the police set up baricades and with a force of 8 cop cars, and twice as many cops set forth to shut down one little cafe that admitted on the national news to be openly selling marijuana in effort to get those ridiculous laws changed. Well, in the summer night heat every hippy, pot smoker, activist, wannabe activist, bystander, passerby, or resident with some gumption got in on the action. The end result.. Fantastic Four production was halted, a few people were arrested and Dekine was no more.

Incidentally, the drive is also "a popular place for Vancouverites who want to experience a safe version of North American counter-culture." That, I did not know. I mean that sounds like there are bongo players with berets, young girls with flowers whispering poetry, and tour buses filled with the curious intrepid traveller flowing peacefully down the street. With all the heroin addicts, panhandlers, and meth junkies I would have guessed something different was going on.

100th post- Chrysler Bldg

Chrysler Building, originally uploaded by Manzari.

I miss it, I love it, I am fascinated with it, I can smell it when I think hard enough. Thank you life for the opportunities I had to experience it.

ps..not my photo, but a fantastic one of my favorite building ever

spooks

Which is the better image??

tomkat vs. brangelina

Ok, while I avoid pundetry mostly, usually...

As we probably all know Tomkat has had their kitten and named the little bundle of joy Suri. Lovely. Suri Cruise. Or will it be Suri Holmes Cruise? Anyway, apparently Suri "has its origins in Hebrew meaning 'princess' or in Persian meaning 'red rose'." I also heard it uses all the letters in Cruise except the E aqnd C. That would be clever. If Katy was spelled Kcaty, I can think of another name.

Well, I employed my skills of goo-diligence and found Suri has origins in the Khoekhoe tribe of South Africa and Namibia, where the name also means…to envy, or begrudge.

Looks like Tomkat went and stole Brangilina's thunder right out from under them.

6 wants and the recent channeling the spirit of Helen Keller

What that means is lately I have felt mute. Nothing to say. Not seeing. Probably not hearing very well either. Feeling kind of stormcloud rather than rainbow about some things that have happened, choices made, that kind of thing. You know, trying not to see some opportunities as burdens and difficulties. Trying to not regret some decisons. Wondering if I will come to dread and resent them. Am I looking after what I need or further doing things because it would 'mean so much' to someone else.

The rest of the time I've been trying to break decade long habits with the same amount of success as I've always had. Trying to start new ones that leave me sore and tired, worn out. Communicating all day long for a living and then spending the rest of my time barely feeling numb and not wanting to talk to anyone. Mumbling and stumbling through coffee and grocery transactions. And finally wishing I had more energy to be more social to have more friends to balance my life that feels increasingly unbalanced.

I want to take a course in web design.
I want to be fit and healthier and 30 pounds lighter.
I want to take a trip that doesn't involve family or family obligations.
I want to own my own apartment (houses in Vancouver may be just be too much of a stretch)and paint the walls if I want to.
I want to join a club and talk to people that don't involve my 'other' life.
I want a boyfriend that will go beyond where I've been sitting for the last 2 years.

too lips two

too lips two, originally uploaded by smoooch.

party

party, originally uploaded by smoooch.

bloom

bloom, originally uploaded by smoooch.

my back yard

not yet attended, originally uploaded by smoooch.

Hotel Chelsea Balcony Detail

Hotel Chelsea Balcony Detail, originally uploaded by Eric in SF.

beautiful capture from Eric in SF, from Flickr. Really, its a shame we don't decorate staircases the way we used to.

Joe's cafe

One of my favorite sketchy place to get a great late has started their own website. This could be a landmark moment for Joe's. First they started with a postcard, then some tshirts cropped up and finally some signs on children's craft paper posted in the windows announced the presence of a website. Naturally I had to give them all the photos I've taken of their spectacular coffees in perfect layered glory and they have put them up on the sight.

Apparently, back in the day, it was quite the place to be. A real hopping joint. It got a little popular with the local lesbians. Maybe it was the recurring theme of bullfighting decor, from the stuffed bull heads, to the wood carvings of matadors, to the velvet painting of capes flying in full bullfight regalia. Whatever it was, the ladies loved this place. So much so, that one day, 2 gals decided to show everyone else how much they loved Joe and each other by engaging a steamy makeout session at one of the tables at the front windows (so the tale tells..)Well, Joe, being of old school caliber, lost his cool and kicked them all out loud enough for the local press to take note. Ever since, despite the rainbow mural and lovely and delicious coffee cocktails, it's had a must cooler, subdued and quiet vibe.

Ok with me. Lesbians are ok, but give me sketchy anyday.

PostcardX is one of my favorite things as no email can ever really replace the joy of non-bill mail waiting for you at the end of the day. Always will they be unexpected surprises. Miniature gifts lying in wait. Long live the mailman and snailmail.

Thanks Girlonaglide for the great postcard!

more kisses please

Did you know public kissing might land you 5 lonely years in a Indonesian jail. That is if a new parliamentary bill goes though. Debates are raging over the "anti-pornography" legislation. Tourist sunbathers and tradtional indigenous tribes are at risk of criminal incarceration if the bill gets passed.

So, remember, when you go to Indonesia, do not smoke the hash or try and take some along further down the road with you. That's a guarantee of never seeing the light of day. Do not expose yourself to the sun or to your fellow breathen unlesss you want to share a stinky 3 world jail cell with them and what ever you do NO PUBLIC KISSING, EVER.

However, in an odd twist of events, Bali holds a annual kissing festival. (This is when I'll be going!) According to news reports, 300 people took part over the weekend. Apparently the kissing festival is meant to ward off unxexpected evil and unforseen dangers.

Like going to prison??

postcardx-south africa

I got this great postcard about a week ago. Thanks to postcardX, I found a few addresses to send a few postcards from my favorite coffeeshop. I tried to find people who liked coffee and were far far away. I sent someone in South Africa one of those cards and I got this one back. Really lovely. Thanks Cuan for the snail mail. I hope you see this. I'll send you something again!

musical companionship for lonely nights at the gym

IMGP0798, originally uploaded by smoooch.

Which incidentally doesn't neccesarily help.

222, West 23rd St

Illustrious former Chelsea Hotel resident and more, Sparkle Hayter, has found one my photographs of of the same hotel and like it enough to put it up on her blog.

I'm so pleased that that disatrous visit to NYC produced photographs of interest and value, to me and now the joy spreads.

Thanks Sparkle.