Aint Got No on the Finally Freakout Friday

It is a time of reflection and moving forward. What have we got? What have we lost?

I had a scare a few weeks back. In the middle of it I wondered if I truly contributed more than I have taken from this life. The answer is, I could do better.

I have to make choices that will take me into uncharted lands and people. Not that I shy away from such possibilities but I need to make more of an effort not to be complacent.



I also need to kick the gratitude thing up a notch or two. By word and by deed. This is a musical reminder from Miss Nina Simone who had a way of making her point in 88 keys.

For me 2011 means going forward but with no resolutions I'll do it or I won't. But I'm willing to give it a try.

Dudes Still Don't Get It - Women Can Talk Tech

It continues to happen and short of wearing microchip pasties I don't know how much more we can do to help the fellas get a clue. Brick and mortar retail stores are still dissing women walking in to buy products and services. How stupid is that?

Answer, very. Beloved menfolk, we don't hate you; we hate the attitude that you assume all women do not know anything technical.

• Yes, I can bake a cake. So can some men.
• Yes, I can install my terabyte drive without help. So can some men.
• Yes, I do know the difference between a Dual Core and Core Eight and really don't like it when you try to make me pay more for obsolete hardware.
• No, I will not walk into your retail store to buy a computer because you ignore me unless I have a guy standing next to me. Even if I didn't know the difference between a Pentium and an i5 laptop does not mean you should not offer sales assistance to women.
  

I value my time and money so I shop on-line where my gender is not that important to the vendor. I've never been to the Consumer Electronics Show known as CES.



I'd like to go but the budget and time does not permit it. These are people who work and write for CNet. This is a pre-show about the possible stuff that will be presented like Smartphones, cars and aps. Not necessarily iPhone/iPad aps.

I want to hear about the Android Tablets. And e-Readers and hopefully tune in to some skivvy about the potential to convert an e-reader into a tablet or maybe some manufacturer will get a clue that there is a chunk of the population that would really gronk a quality under $200 tablet. Not a crappy one, a good one.

For those fellas in brick and mortar retail I don't want to tax you any more than is needed. A stretch a day is good.

Just sit back and listen. Get use to women talking about electronic goods and services. This is a basic general discussion but get use to the vocabulary and the fact that women are using these words.

It could profit you in the long term. Or not. The choice is yours.

P.S. I also would like to go to Photokina in Germany, SXSW and a bunch more and there are others just like me. Some women do shoes, some buy tech.

Respect us either way.

Lady Teena Marie Has Made Her Transition

I don't want to believe it. I just don't. But CNN, People and other media sources are saying that Teena Marie passed in her sleep.

This is Teena in a classic music video, Lovergirl.



Mercy. I'm not happy but if her spirit is at peace and pain free then so be it. This is Teena performing a rendition of His Eyes Is On the Sparrow.



Not ready to let my musical icons go but it seems I have no choice. Much peace and respect to her family and her extended musical family of fans who are hurting something awful tonight.

Pema Chodron on Fear and Fearlessness

My neighbors are whooping it up in celebration which makes it hard to be in a contemplative mood. Can't blame them and who am I to tell folks not to sing and dance.

Pema Chodron is a teacher who can explain ancient wisdom for western ears.



Anyway, I'd thought I would share some stuff from Sounds True. Sounds True is a place where you can find inspirational talks and teachings from a variety of disciplines. It is a commercial business but that business is helping others find healing tools and techniques for living.

I have a subscription on iTunes and recently there are a few video excerpts that I think folks would be interested in checking out.

This Is What I Want to Remember

On this day I have what I want and what I need. I try to remember that each and every day but there are some days and weeks that make me want to separate myself from everyone.

I get lost in the woulda, coulda and the pernicious shouldas that I forget that there is beauty around us.


I have proof. I was in a room of people talking and no one really saw what was occurring out the window. I almost missed it because I was scarfing down lunch but my eyes shifted and I saw the light burst through.

I could curse myself that I didn't have a better camera to take the photo but that is not the point. The point is that even in the darkest hour there is beauty in the smallest things.

There is a spot of peace in the middle of turbulence and it might take a shift in perception to see it. A willing shift in perception. But if it happens by accident that is cool too.

It is a reminder to be kind to ourselves and to each other. It is a bit of natural wonder to be respected. It could be my emotional overlay telling me not to curse the bad times but to appreciate the good times more.

You bring to it what you will.

Deep breaths, healing thoughts and best wishes.

Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse 2010 by Kareem Brown

Once of the reasons I'm crabbing about the rain is that there was no way to record the lunar eclipse that happened on December 21, 2010. Fortunately other folks with cameras and camcorders did not let that stop them.



Kareem Brown shot this time lapsed video of the event. The actual eclipse was four and a half hours, this will take about 1:30 to watch.

Have You Ever Seen the Rain on the Finally Friday Freakout

It is raining in Los Angeles. We have skipped Fire season and headed straight for the drips.

Don't get me wrong, Fire season is nothing to be desired but it was a bit warmer and you can do more stuff outside. We never got our heatwave. We didn't even have a proper summer, if you ask me.

No, we have, and I do appreciate on a certain level, rain.



It rained on me this week. It was one of those challenging weeks where I couldn't ignore my body. I caught a cold. I do not like to be sick. Hate it. This is the second time this year I had a really bad cold.

Dear people, If you think you have a cold or flu stay the heck home. I know you have a job to go to. I hear you. This is what sick days are for. To stay home and be sick. You'd be so much more comfortable than snapping at co-workers. And infecting people like me. Think about it.

Last weekend it was 80 degrees and I couldn't enjoy it. I missed out on recording 20 poets. Sadness. I had no choice. I was on bed rest duty. This weekend I'm better and it is a steady rain outside.

I know. I live in a desert. We really need the water. You don't have to shovel it and the plants are very happy.

I'm not.

Courage.

Say A Little Prayer on the Finally Friday Freakout

Sister Aretha Franklin is in many of our hearts and prayers this day and in the days to come. I'm not ready to let her go just yet but God knows it is not in my hands.



It is harder to think of a family that hasn't been touched by cancer. You'd wish it be more selective and take out the crumb bums type of folks that need to leave the planet quick, fast and in a hurry.

That is me being spiteful. I meant it but it isn't a nice thing to say or think.

So let me try again.

I remember being a kid and walking around the neighborhood. Folks had either table radios or transistor 9 volt radios. I could walk around the block to the corner store and hear her music.

I don't mean to diminish the other singers of the time. Aretha made you pay attention. I wanted to sing like that woman. I still do. I can't carry a tune in a bucket but I try.

She makes you want to try.

So I'm a little fretful that the shadow of the Hard C is stoking up to take another passenger. I'm trying to brace up but I hope it is a very long time before I have to bust out the tears.

I'll say a little prayer instead.

For Aaron's Birthday - The Full Dose of the Funky Chicken

There are times when you are funky and there are times when you need the power of The Funk to lift you to a higher space.

I don't know Aaron Vest because his wife twitters 72.8 times more than he does. I have met him once or twice but not a day goes by without Mrs. Vest throwing a tweet or two in his direction.

This is for his birthday and since I don't know what to get a man who has everything, even in the mist of a hell, high water and is that a tsunami about to break? kind of year.

This is the full get up off that thing version of Mr. Rufus Thomas and the Funky Chicken. Grab a thigh bone and do what you can. Those with wing trouble can sway and cluck, same thing but don't over do it.

Pace yourself. These are professional dancing cluckers.

Listing To Rain and Other Thoughts About Lonlieness

It is raining on and off. This is strange. You see, this is supposed to be our fire season. Some doofus either sets a fire or nature causes a spark that has everybody nervous. It is better without the fires. I know that.

But it is raining. This isn't right.

You see we have our rain season between February and April. Los Angeles generally has really warm weather between September and November. I love my hot Santa Ana's winds. It is like being in love with an air stream.

Those with allergies do not love the Santa Ana's as I do. Those that hate high heat ain't crazy about them either.

Me, I adore them.

The winds haven't come as yet. Instead we've been having weather like San Francisco. It was so cold last week I voluntarily turned on the heater. It was a three blanket night.

Weather like this helps to make folks feel more isolated. Me? I'm good but I bought some DVD with classic movies that I use to watch on the Late, Late show.

For $9 the DVD set included:

• An Affair to Remember with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr
• Leave Her to Heaven
  
• Letter to Three Wives
• Peyton Place

The mini documentary on Peyton Place was most interesting. The author Grace Metalious
was a hard knock dame who shook up the home town and nation by bringing sex, sexual violence and morals into plain view.

I have to say I've never watched the movie nor viewed the television show more than I had to. I was too young.

I'm a Sci-Fi girl, I can watch a good romance movie but I don't seek them out. I still haven't watch the DVD but I have been reading about Grace. If she could have eased up on the liqueur and got into the 1960's she might have found her space and time.

Now if somebody wanted to film Grace's story I'd pay cash money to see that. Trying to carve a path in the time of the real world Stepford wives was a mental battle not many of us would take one. It did kill Grace, along with the booze.

Writing can be cathartic but it isn't a cure for what is missing in your soul. It is important to remember that that thought when the rain comes down and there is no place to go but where you sit.

But if you have to drink and write I think fruit smoothies are the way to go. Reduces the chance of brain damage that way.