return of the ring

return of the ring

Even though I was practically hyperventilating while walking to the piercing place, I somehow managed to keep it together. It took 10 minutes total, 8 of that involving paperwork and chat with the piercer, who was very kind and warm to me. She found the original hole, so no re-piercing was necessary; she just had to get the new jewelry in. That part wasn’t bad at all, more of a dull, annoying ache than anything. Here is a self-portrait! Don’t let the expression fool you — I am extremely happy to have my nose ring back. Just unbelievably...

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Posted on 31 Jul 2003 | Comments Off

writing exercise: character

What follows is a piece I wrote for my creative writing workshop, an exercise on describing a character. The original draft of this appears in my journal several years ago; it has been only slightly modified. Mr. Personality is my favorite library patron, by far. I am convinced he is an alien being. His features are the epitome of “chiseled”, refusing to move but for a small curling of his upper lip, Elvis-like, when he is tired and Needs Stuff Now. He is nearly seven feet tall, arms thinly muscled, bound to his sides like jungle vines stiffening from lack of use. If he could be bothered to hurry, he would lope on his long wolf legs. Tiny wire-rimmed glasses are stapled in place by his furrowed brow. I would not know the color of his eyes...

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Posted on 31 Jul 2003 | Comments Off

astrolab…e?

Some of this astrological profile from Astrolabe is merely accurate; the rest is downright uncanny. Bold text denotes something that is particularly true for me. Rising Sign is in 07 Degrees Cancer. Very sensitive by nature, you prefer to be in your own familiar surroundings. Cautious and conservative, you make changes in your life only very slowly, if at all. You do not open up easily to strangers. Friendships are made for life, however — once given, your trust is forever. Your mother, your home as a child and your early family life in general are very important to you. You are also very sentimental. When you feel self-confident, you are gentle, giving and protective of the needs of others. But when you feel insecure or threatened, you become overly...

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Posted on 30 Jul 2003 | Comments Off

re-pierce

So I’ve decided to get my left nostril re-pierced. It was originally pierced in early ’93, with a piercing gun — BAD IDEA, but I didn’t know any better at the time — and it healed perfectly. I loved it so much. In October of ’01, I took it out for a theatrical audition, and decided to keep it out for a little while. That little while turned into many months. When I tried to put my nose ring back in, I could only get it halfway through: the hole had partially healed up. I was utterly distraught, and didn’t know what to do. Last fall, when I had to remove all of my jewelry for the MRI, I was unable to get the captive-bead ring back into my daith. I went to Area 51 in downtown San Rafael and a piercer there put it back...

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Posted on 30 Jul 2003 | Comments Off

flip-flop

I’m writing more personal entries in my LiveJournal; if you do not have a LiveJournal account and would like to read my friends-only entries there, please let me know, because I have many invitation codes. I will keep this part of my website as a repository for my poetry and prose.

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Posted on 30 Jul 2003 | Comments Off

big water

Birmingham, Alabama did not suit me. One magnolia tree became my favorite place in the entire city, and it was surrounded by concrete, firmly on UAB’s campus, behind the library where I worked. It reminded me of myself, so desperately trying to bloom when the season occurred to it, but the thick cream petals would fall a day later. It would try and try again, and I along with it, and neither of us figured it out. Later, standing on a cold, windy beach and facing the Pacific Ocean, I would understand that my happiness has always been proportionate to the amount of water I lived near. In Pennsylvania, Lake Erie sufficed; Lake Michigan buoyed me through the Chicago years, and then mid-state Alabama, landlocked and humid, the heaviness of the air that nearly...

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Posted on 30 Jul 2003 | Comments Off

dialogue with the absence

Would you keep this for me? Put out your hands. No, wait; close your eyes first. Then put out your hands. Here. Open your eyes. I know it’s small, but it’s shiny, isn’t it? Just a trifle. I have had it for so long that I have forgotten how to be without it, but I will learn again. So keep it. Wait; you’ve dropped it. Here, let me pick it up for you before you step on it. I know it’s small, but you can remember this little thing, can’t you? No! Look where you’re going! You’re going to step on it. It’s so small, but it’s shiny. If you just keep an eye out … Here. Open your hands again. Please? Just one hand? It’s small enough to fit in one of your hands. You could slip it in...

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Posted on 29 Jul 2003 | Comments Off

good as gone

My life is happening faster and fuller than I can write about. I love it when this happens. Friday night I went to dinner with a friend of mine at Sher-e-Punjab, which is my favorite Indian restaurant in San Rafael. The subject of my singlehood came up, and the tone of the meal immediately changed. I am unused to rejecting people romantically, which is not to say I haven’t done it before, but usually I have had a societally-prescribed Good Reason to, e.g. not being single. The expectation seems to be that if you’re single, you are aiming to cure this affliction as soon as possible; if not, you are considered “playing the field” and open to trial-and-error immunizations against the long-term disease of spinsterhood. Needless to say,...

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Posted on 29 Jul 2003 | Comments Off

craigslist goodness

O, craigslist, how I love thee! To all the women that take a #2 in public restrooms I just spoke to your dog groped by an 8 year old

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Posted on 28 Jul 2003 | Comments Off

multi-directional dork

Can I tell you how annoyed I am by having both a journal on my website and a LiveJournal? I cannot figure out why I am so utterly obsessed with consolidation, but I am, and I know you are all so tired of this. Maybe I’ll just embed my LiveJournal in my website and be done with it. Speaking of my website, I received a hilarious email the other day. Here it is, for your enjoyment: I was looking over your site, and I thought “Wow, what a self-absorbed prima donna.” Of course being such is not as bad as preventing people – via your password protections – from responding to your posts. You want people to read your life story, yet you allow almost no one to reply. How selfish! The Web is a multi-directional communications tool, but...

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Posted on 27 Jul 2003 | Comments Off