as i was catching up on reading my links, i came across this on peacock's site. i have seen versions of this before, and they were eye opening then. presented as it is here, it makes you pause - to think and reflect. likely feel guilty, as it puts the consumerist lives we live in america in perspective. 6 people - 6! own 59% of the Earth's wealth. why don't they share? if every person on this Earth were to live like americans, we would need 7 planets to provide the resources we needed...but, in reality, we only live on our:

one miniature Earth

--!

on a less serious note, i was paging through sacramento's weekly free paper, the news & review. i came across this ad, which took me by surprise. yeah, i know they are so big on the east coast, and quite popular here, but wow. quite an ad. worried about not being able to sell out the show?

dave matthews band. 5.21.02

and they changed the name of the sacramento valley ampitheater to the 'autowest ampitheather'. grr. *grumbles* strangely appropriate, as you will sit in your car for hours in impossible traffic on the one two lane road that goes to the nowheresville (aka marysville) where it's located. damn corporate sponsorships. they better not change shoreline...it's one of the few left that haven't sold out their name.

i need to listen to people when they recommend music. my friend jason told me about jack johnson almost a year ago. he always has great music recommendations. finally, this week, i started listening to him. losing hope has been on repeat on my computer all day. wow. wow. WOW. now i need to go buy 'brushfire fairytales'.

happy valentine's day! tell everyone you love how much they mean to you.

omg. ben and jerry's does it again. new flavors! half baked frozen yogurt! woooo! *happy ice cream dance* actually, *happy frozen yogurt dance*, makin whoopee - marshmallow and devil's food cake, butter pecan...mmm...butter pecan!!!, peanut butter truffle, and the full monty - maple ice cream! safeway makes a maple ice cream with maple cookies that is fabulous, i am really looking forward to ben and jerry's version. i just hope they are all easier to find than the damn osw. i was going to hit the scoop shop today, but it was raining, and i hate driving that far in the rain. maybe tomorrow...tomorrow...the sun'll come out...tomorrow...ahem. sorry. annie moment there.

it has a name!!! i threw around a bunch the past few days, pages thru the dictionary, listened closely to everything i heard, and scanned every written word i saw, and i came up with one i really like. i hope you do, too. if not, well, i guess you are just gonna have to deal. sorry. i think another design is in order soon, too...and now, the new blog name (cue trumpet music):

kaleidoscopeyes.net

i love this line from 'lucy in the sky with diamonds' (well, i love the whole song, but especially this line). and 'kaleidoscope' means: anything that is quickly changing from one thing to another. along with the tube through which you can see different patterns of light made by pieces of coloured glass and mirrors. i am happy. :) now a search for a place to host it. i have had problems with the hosting company i use for avenue13.com, so i am gonna search for something else. but i have a name! yay!

this kind of stuff freaks me out, and makes me realize i am nowhere near being a kid anymore. a kid inside? sure. but when my childhood fashions have become retro, and found on trendy websites...it's just strange. i have some of these barrettes still hanging in my old closet. i think i even have one with a feather.

i was in safeway today, on a quest for cookie dough (making some valentines cookies. cheating, of course. i really have to be in a baking mood to pull that whole 'bake from scratch' thing) and the elusive 'one sweet whirled' ice cream. no osw. ben and jerry's ice cream was on sale, though, and they had both festivus and phish food frozen yogurt. 2 for $5. sweet!

picked up some sugar cookie dough, and went looking for icing. i don't normally shop at safeway, so i went by the asiles, reading the signs...'2 - frozen dinners, frozen pizzas', '3 - soft drinks, juices, bottled water', '4 - cake mixes, baking supplies, diet foods, health foods'. now, of all of the items to share shelf space, those last couple don't seem to go together. a 'what's wrong with this picuture?' make the people buying the cake mixes feel guilty, and offer delicious temptation to the dieters. one side of the aisle is 'diet' the other has the baking supplies. you may be picking out those rice cakes...just don't turn around, there's cream cheese icing to tempt you. on sale, too! 2 for $4! (safeway seems to be big on this '2 for' thing) who was the genius who organized this store?

alas, still can't find that damn 'one sweet world' ice cream. the co-op had every other flavor - even chubby hubby and s.n.a.f.u.. a guy at safeway was unloading a new shipment of b&j's when i was there. hmm. maybe, just maybe...didn't see it. asked the guy working, "um, do you have any new ice creams there?"

"huh?"

"well, they are making this new flavor..."

"what kind?"

"it's a dave matthews band ice cream...you know, like phish food. (i hold up my phish food pint, like the ice cream guy wouldn't know. duh) i think it's called 'one sweet world'"

he looks at me as if i have lost my marbles, and should be scrambling to pick them up off the shiny tile floor. hey, that's only partially right.

"no, we don't have that. are you sure they're making it?"

"uh, yeah" i shuffle away...as he stacks pints of half baked into the freezer.

damnit, i just want to try the ice cream. two of my favorite things in one - dmb and ice cream. how much better could it get? (ok, a lot, but humor me here)

happy fat tuesday! happy mardi gras! yeah, i know. they mean the same thing. amazing how much better it sounds in french, though. if you are in new orleans, besides the fact that you likely won't be reading this and if you are you are too drunk to understand it, be careful. from the faqs:

What if I'm arrested?
Bad, bad career move. During Carnival, you'll have to work to get arrested, but if you are, you'll stay in jail until at least Ash Wednesday. This is city policy. And you do NOT want to spend any time in the New Orleans drunk tank.

------!!

happy chinese new year!
the year of the horse. giddy up! :P

This is a year in which you may find that you are asked to do things which you don't want to do. Weigh up carefully what is being asked. Although short term gain may not be evident, it is the nature of the "Horse in the Military" to act first and ask later. You will need to balance personal feelings with the wider good. Rather like the person with a carrying pole with buckets on each end you must keep two weights balanced and then the journey will be much easier. Imbalance brings difficulties that you will have to carry for some time.

ok, i thought i knew what i wanted to call this damn thing...but now i don't like what i thought i liked before...so i still haven't come up with a name. bah.

if you have a credit card with a $3000 balance and pay it off at a 29.9% interest rate over 24 years you will end up paying $13,459.02 in interest. wow. yes, 24 years is a long time, but, still...if you always keep a balance of $3000 on your card, that's a lot of money. crazy. and banks are raising their rates on high-risk accounts to make up for lost profits in the bad economy. so, they are drawing new profits from those least likely to have extra money to fund their company. interesting. one credit card for me...the mortgage payment is scary enough. if i lived in this house for 30 years and pay off my loan, i would be spending almost twice what my home cost me.

hmm. what a depressing post.

sunny days, sweeping the clouds away, on my way to where the air is free....can you tell me how to get, how to get to sesame street?

i thought you might need something smile-y after that post. now it's time for coooookkkkiiieesssss....a la cookie monster. i think i left pbs on too long this morning...

a spectacular sunrise, a spectacular sunset. as i drove home from the climbing gym, it sunk through a lattice of pink and grey clouds - the midnight blue slowly overtaking the sky. i wish i would take time out to witness this every day. to pause, reflect on things beginning and things ending. knowing that tomorrow it will happen all over again, without fail. can you think of anything more certain than the sun rising and setting every day?

i have been feeling introspective and slightly melancholy reccently. i am not quite sure why, but it has been an interesting mood to watch myself wade through.

just for today i will live the attitude of gratitiude. i will not worry. i will not anger. i will do my work honestly. just for today i will show love and respect for every living thing. - the five principles of reiki

the sun is rising right now...the sky is amazing...pink clouds over a bit of glowing orange that is peeking over the rooflines, framed with a purple ring that leads to a clear blue sky...and to see the skeletons of the trees, stark and black against this glorious sky...a beautiful contrast...mmm...

meaning doesn't lie in things, meaning lies in us. when we attach value to things that aren't love - the money, the house, the car, the prestige - we are loving things that can't love us back. we are searching for meaning in the meaningless. money, of itself, means nothing. material things, of themselves, mean nothing. it's not that they are bad. it's just that they are nothing.-marianne williamson

i just had an absolutely fantastic weekend with friends. old friends, new friends...my house was filled with talk and laughter and wonderful people. i am truly fortunate to know them. it's amazing how just being with people you care about can fill your heart with so much joy. we skiied, we ate a huge dinner and drank the big bottle of wine (which was so delicious, so smooth), reminisced, told stories, listened to music, played the drums...

THIS is what life is about. and this is what makes it worth living. i didn't care about a messy house, the risk of broken wineglasses or that 12 people were sprawled about...i reveled in the fact that i was surrounded by so many people who mean so much to me. go tell your friends how much you love them. :)